It is with a heavy heart that I let you know Lance earned his angel wings. He is free of Menkes now, but my heart is broken for his family. Please keep them in your thoughts during this hard time. His mother Tina is a friend of mine and just the sweetest, most caring person. I can not imagine how difficult this is for her. There just aren't words to express how sad I am for them.
Christmas Part2...
I got my pictures loaded on the computer. Ready for picture overload?
Christmas Eve:
(my mom and the girlies)
spotting her Amazing Allysen
Heather opening her doll bunk bed
Alison decorating a gingerbread man for Santa-nevermind her poor red nose. She is recovering from a double sinus infection. :(
Heather's gingerbread man(or benjamin man as she says)
Christmas Morning:
Later at my Aunt's house:
(girls with my cousin's daughter)
my aunt reading them Alison's personalized Christmas story Santa brought
Me and Heather (taken by my cousin's daughter on my new camera)-with my dad in the background half asleep
I have many more, but don't want to make those dial-uppers angry. ;O)
Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a great day. We had a day full of family, good food and fun. The 3 most important things for an Italian Christmas. ;0)
We spent yesterday afternoon over Bob's grandfather's house. My in laws and my SIL and her family were there as well as several of Bob's uncles. I then ran to the store to get dinner last minute for my parents and brother to have with us for Christmas eve dinner. We spent the night with them and it was nice. Heather got a doll bunk bed from them and was in heaven playing with it. Alison got her Amazing Allysen doll and would not put the thing down for a minute. I had to pry it from her for bed last night and again tonight. My parents totally spoiled us. They gave me an awesome new camera (woohoo..happy dance!), new knives(badly needed), and a few smaller fun things.
The girls were so excited this morning. Heather had no clue what to expect today, so gifts under the tree were a surprise to her. Alison was up at 4 am(I wonder if she ever did go to sleep). But she amused herself in her room until 7 am when I could function awake. Santa and Mommy had a lapse of judgement this year and bought way too much... Alison got the American Girl doll she has been begging for for many months, a phlat ball, princess drawing projector, many books, Cheetah Girls 2 Cd(joy, joy). She said that she got every thing she wanted and then said she even got too much. LOL. Heather got the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and a few figures, a Chou Chou baby doll that cries(she is a bit freaked out), and some books. I gave Bob some new dress shirts, a pac man video game, a Black sabbath book, and a cd he wanted. He gave me a palm pilot. He said, "You didn't ask for this, but you have no idea how much you need it." He is right. Our calendar is literally overflowing with appointments all the time. He also gave me some cozy new Pjs, a watch and a sweater. Told you, I was spoiled this year.
I do have pictures(like you thought I wouldn't!) Hopefully I will get them loaded on tomorrow.
I am sitting here blogging when I should really be doing something useful. Like cleaning my house or wrapping the mound of gifts sitting in my closet. Alison is home sick for the second day in a row and I had to cancel Heather's therapy for this morning. So I have some free time to actually read my emails. Alison has the chest cold going around and Heather started with the dry heaves at therapy yesterday. So it looks like she caught my mother's tummy bug. Even hubby is sick. He never calls into work and did yesterday. I am taking large amounts of vitamins trying to make sure I do not end up sick on Christmas. I am sick almost every year for Christmas.
I have been so busy that I feel like I need a month of sleep to catch up. I realized last night at 11 that I never had lunch or dinner. I have been collecting money for Alison's teacher gift, getting the supplies for her class party crafts, Christmas shopping and dealing with an over abundance of appointments. Heather has been going to therapy extra to make up for the days she will miss next week and on new Years day. I had an appointment yesterday, Alison has an ortho appointment at Children's tomorrow right after Heather's therapy,Thursday Heather has therapy again and I am going to a support group Thursday night for parents with sensory kids at OTA. Friday I am going into school with Alison to help with her class party, crafts and to present the teacher gifts. Exhausting!
I was talking to a mom at OTA where Heather goes for therapy. We were talking about how people really can't understand SID and how stressful daily life is living with a child who has it. She said something that I loved. She said she tells people, "I didn't ask to become a therapist, I was drafted." I couldn't have put it better myself. I spend an hour in the morning, an hour in the afternoon and an hour before bed working with Heather. Very tiresome, but hopefully will help her in the long run. At times I feel very isolated because I can't just take Heather and go out. It takes more planning and I can never count on things going as planned(not that any mother of a toddler can!) We have been housebound lately. She can't handle the crowds everywhere this time of year. She gets so overwhelmed. She hand flaps constantly and licks her lips and face raw. All while clinging to me. Breaks my heart. I really hope she can get into preschool part time next fall and that that will help her some. Her therapist told me that realistically, she may not be able to be in a room with more than a couple of other kids for a few years. But she is working with me on an IEP to get Heather into a special preschool near us for kids with a variety of needs. I figure if she can't handle it, I can always take her out.
I have to get off and head out shopping. I finished for the kids a month a go, but still have to buy for both sets of parents, my cousin's kids, my nephews and my brother. I hate shopping this close to Christmas. Super stressful.
We made it to Breakfast with Santa last weekend. The girls had a great time. Heather was afraid of Santa though and asked him to not touch her. :)
When we got home, I got our tree up and the girls decorated it. I love our pre lit tree we got last year. 3 pieces that snap together and you plug it in. No untangling lights and pine needles everywhere. My kind of tree.
We took the girls to our town's tree lighting on Sunday. It was freezing, but they had fun. We met up with some of Alison's friends and the kids had a great time together.
Standing next to their ornaments they made to hang on the town tree
Seeing Santa and Mrs Clause(or Clause as Heather calls her)
Life has been busy. Not bad, just hectic. The kids are getting excited for Christmas and I am almost through shopping. I found a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toy for Heather(no easy task) and Alison is getting the American Girl Doll, Jess.
Alison had her 7 year old physical yesterday. 98% in height and 20% in weight. Tall and lean like always. The Dr would like her to be seen by an ortho to check her legs.(She has something called tibial tursion, where the bones curve.) Heather is still loving therapy and I am learning new ways to work with her at home. Her therapist ordered some of the oral equipment for us to use at home. Hopefully that will help her with her feeding problems.
