Exhale.

It has been a long time since I visited this blog. 

A lot has happened.

Obviously work and daily responsibilities have taken over my free time to blog.  We haven't had a free weekend in two months!  Between Justin's travel, Kamden's extra curricular activities, and Kendall's health issues, my days have been packed!  I'm not complaining.  Things are good.  But his morning at 5:15 (my usual time to get up) I walked out into the kitchen, made a cup of coffee, and turned on my computer.  I'm elated that I have the next 16 days to relax, read, and enjoy my family. 

I love having this blog to journal our daily happenings.  I love reading other blogs too.  I remember in our "early diagnosis days" watching blogs taper off when the kids were around four.  For me, that's kind of when I stopped trying to find a reason for Kendall's disabilities and changed the way I think about things.  Our family is at a point now where we look for ways to incorporate Kendall into the things we like to do, instead of making excuses why we can't do them.  And for me, one of those things is work.  I love working.  I've always loved working.  Yes, there is a lot of guilt involved some days when I leave and Kendall is sick, but when I merge onto the freeway, I get to be Jocalyn for the rest of the day instead of  just Mom.  And that has done wonders for me. 

So, backing up to October....we finally took the plunge and remodeled our bathroom.  Kendall weighs almost 40 pounds now.  Her tone tends to kick in when I'm lifting her or carrying her.  She thinks it's funny to kick her feet and wiggle.  I don't think that's funny when she's wet.  So we refinanced our house, and used that money to pay for our bathroom!  Where there's a will, there's a way.  Our Medically Dependent Children's Program money would have covered the bathroom previously, but they have had many, many cuts lately, and we just didn't want to mess with it. 

We knocked out a linen closet to widen the doorway.  We got rid of the tub, and added a new shower head with a handheld.  To save money, we decided to do the bathroom in waves.  We will replace the vanity when Kendall gets a little older.  Right now, we help her brush her teeth and wash her hands and enjoy the storage below the sink!   Instead of drilling down into our slab, we built the shower up a little bit and made an incline.  Her shower seat is also a potty seat, and can easily be rolled back and forth.  We are also able to roll her all the way to her room in the seat too, but haven't done that yet.  Kendall enjoys having the warm water run on her while she's getting bathed with the handheld!  I think it's working out lovely.  Here are a few before and afters:












I'll stop there for now.  I plan to update more throughout the break.  I have a lot of time to make up!