Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Happy Day...and some extra prayers needed...










Kendall had a great day today! We were delighted to see our Vision team! Terri (teacher of the visually impaired)and Shay(orientation and mobility specialist) are amazing. Mrs. Terri bought Kendall the cutest Valentine's Day light stick. We've been playing with it all day. Kendall successfully tracked it while laying on her belly. From there she turned onto her back on her own for the first time with a purpose other than getting the heck off her belly. She actually wanted to look at the light. I tried to capture it on video, but couldn't. Instead I got the cute picture of her giving Mrs. Shay the sad face. Though Kendall does love Mrs. Shay, she is partial to those who don't make her work her body so much!! I'm thankful Mrs. Shay gets to make her mad instead of me :)
Right after that we had a visit from our ECI friends. Once again I was reminded of how blessed we are to have such compassionate people in our lives. I've mentioned before how lost I would be without them. They are so wonderful in helping me navigate through different resources. I learn something new from them every time. We're excited to begin working more with Kendall on sucking through a straw...and ECI is getting us some tools to help! (more on that later!) Lindsey (our coordinator) helped me talk through some of the upcoming things I'd like to get Kendall started in. Hippotherapy, Music Therapy, and the Listening Program to name a few. And Christy (our Speech Therapist) has a plan for Kendall's unique challenges with eating and drinking. Big things await!!!
Justin and I had an enjoyable Valentine's weekend, thanks to Nonny and Poppy. They kept Kendall so Justin and I could get out to a nice dinner. We enjoyed yummy Mexican food alone and a drink at Fred's in Ft. Worth (one of our favorite places...and where we met!) It was very nice to spend the day reading and relaxing without a screaming baby!
Speaking of that screaming baby, she is doing soooo much better. I'd say almost 100%. She woke up extra early this morning and gave me fits for the first 3 hours. Then, when our awesome nurse arrived, I happily handed her over! Kendall did a great job standing and took a great nap. She woke in great spirits, ate well, and enjoyed more standing time laughing at silly poems in her new book.
It certainly does "take a village" to raise a baby with special needs. I will never take for granted the amazing support system we have. When she turns 3, I might have a breakdown. Be prepared.
Thanks for all your prayers for my sick baby. Please keep Kendall's BFF Caleigh in your prayers too as she still remains in the hospital.
Oh, and my dad. When I didn't think it could get much worse than my mom being out of pocket with her treatments and being sick all the time...we found out my dad has some issues too. I do have older parents (my mom 38 when I was born and my daddy 40) so my hugest fear has always been their health deteriorating. Unfortunately my dad had an MRI come back showing he has Facets disease (a degenerative spinal disease.) He has an appointment with a Neurologist to discuss options. And tomorrow he is having a biopsy done of his prostate. His levels came back higher than normal, which may indicate Cancer. So please keep him in your prayers. If you talk to him, he's fine. The man has run more marathons than anyone I know. He hits the gym every day. He's the most active retired old man I've ever seen, with the biggest heart. He does so much for this family and our community. The thought of him being sick brings both my sister and I to our knees. So please send up some prayers for Big Ed.

5 comments:

megan manning said...

Hi! My name is Megan, Im Jill Manning's neice, I really enjoy reading your blog, refered there by Jill, anyway.... I saw you said you want to start Kendall in hippotherapy and I work at a thereputic horseback riding center in Mansfield. Hippotherapy is different from thereputic riding in that hippotherapy has a therapist- PT or OT at the session, and in thereputic riding the instructor is in control of the lesson. If you are interested in thereputic riding you should look up All Star Equestrian center, and get your application in quickly since our spring session is about to start, and if you are interested in hippotherapy Im not sure where one is closer, but there is a hippotherapy center in Ponder, about 5 mins south of Denton.

gilda said...

Sending many prayers for your parents. Glad to see Kendall's beautiful smile again!

Anonymous said...

Kendall did awesome today and I look forward to Tuesdays to work with her. Even her pucker, makes my day. She is doing so well and it is all worth the tears.
See you in a few weeks Kendall. Mrs. Shay loves you anyway......

Tara Bennett said...

Sorry to hear about your dad and definitely sending prayers.

Have you ever read the book 'Blue Sky July?' I highly recommend it! It is about a mom who goes through an amazing journey with her son and miracles happen. There were a few things in this post the sparked my memory of things that happen in the book. Anyway, I really recommend it if you haven't read it already. I think it would do your heart good :)

Jessica said...

Praying, praying, praying for your Daddy!! Love the smiley face AND the pouty face!! She is an amazing little girl, but I wouldn't expect anything less with the amazing parents and big brother that she has!!! Love you guys!!!