The Wind

Addy absolutely LOVES the wind! We are under a small dog warning around here for the next few days so she is going to be in hog heaven! She crawled out onto the deck and was having the best time letting the wind blow her around like crazy!








Jake is very pleased with his camo cast that was put on today. Addy keeps trying to pull it off! We went to the orthotist doc today and they recommended placing her in Sure Steps now, no more AFOs! Addy even picked out her pattern, she was so funny, flipping through the book and she kept going back to the page with ladybugs and grasshoppers on it. I asked her which ones she wanted and she kept going back to that page, she finally handed it to me and said "Bah" which I'm pretty sure meant "Bugs" :) Of course, Addy says "bah" for everything but she's trying!

It's Broken

What a way to end spring break! Yesterday Jake was riding his Rip Stick at the neighbors house. I was downstairs and when I came up he told me that he really hurt his wrist when he fell. I asked "Why didn't you tell me you fell?" his answer "I don't know but it hurts now!" I gave him some Motrin and some ice and after a bit he said it felt better. He could move his fingers and his wrist so I wasn't too concerned. I texted Scott (he was out cacheing, shocker I know!) and he asked if it was the thumb side or pinky side that hurt. I told him thumb. He replied "that's good usually that side is a sprain". Okay whatever. This morning Jake was in tears holding his arm, "Mom is REALLY hurts! Can you take me to the doctor now?" Well, I had to teach JAM (Jesus and Me) this morning, Scott had a migraine so I told him I would do it as soon as I got back. Fortunately Scott's headache was much improved when I got home so I left Addy with him and off we went. Jake was so smilely and bubbly I thought "there's no way this is a fracture, he's too happy now". Nope, wrongo, he has a broken radius, we go to the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow! I hope no surgery we've had enough of that in this house!

Shocker Mama knows best!

In February we had a professional development day at school. Usually these days consist of me sitting in meetings that have absolutely nothing to do with my job but I am required to go! This time I was more than looking forward to our speaker, it was Dr. Pierce from the Vision Enhancement Clinic in Springfield. He was so interesting to listen to. Did you know that 40% of school age children have vision difficulties!?!? Vision problems aren't just acuity of course but I was surprised that it was that high. Anyway, during a break I asked him a bit about Addy. Her pediatric ophthalmologist told me last March that Addy has Mild Hyperopia and there was no need to see her back. He also said that this was common in children with DS (duh, I already knew that but whatever). I told him that I was concerned about her crossing her eyes still and having trouble with tracking and when she was working on stacking she would overshoot her target. He said "It's common in kids with DS she's fine". I knew right then and there that I wouldn't be taking her back to him but he's the only pediatric eye doctor in Springfield (I hear there is now another one but who knows). Anyway, after meeting Dr. Pierce in Feb. I knew I wanted him to take a peek at Addy, I knew that something was not right!! We had our visit with him today and I am SOOO glad that I listened to my gut! Dr. Pierce did a functional vision exam (not just an acuity exam, very important!) and after about twenty minutes of doing all sorts of different things with her and looking in her eyes he sat back and said "Cammie, your daughter is severely farsighted. I'm not just saying severe, she has SEVERE farsightedness." Yes!!! I knew something was not right! He did say that even though Addy is three we are catching it pretty early and hopefully by the time she is a teenager she may not even need glasses anymore! So my sweet little one is going to be getting some glasses! This is going to fun!! I asked about getting frames from Specs 4 U and he agreed, no problem! We did try on some frames in the office to find the right size etc, it was hilarious, Addy wanted no part of it! She did finally realize that we were going to be putting these things on her face and she just had to play along! We first put on the plastic looking frames and I didn't like them at all, they looked way too big and bulky. We did find one pair that fit pretty well and they were adorable! We found a comparable pair on the Specs website so the eyeglass girl is going to be trying to get those! I am so anxious for Addy to really be able to see all of these things that we are constantly showing her! She can see some up close but he said that it is definitely blurry or double, I can't remember what he said now! So hopefully in another week or two my daughter will be able to see! That is after the repeated re-application of them on her face!

She's so smart!

Yeah!!!

I was so excited today! Not only did my oldest son turn 11 years old (pics of him coming after his "party" next week) but we were able to meet up with the Urbans today! We LOVE the Urbans! We just had a short visit but it was so nice to see everyone! I got to see Ava walk!!! I nearly cried! It was a gorgeous 68 degrees so we met at a McDonald's so the kids could play. We are under a winter weather advisory now, snow coming tomorrow! Gotta love the Ozarks!

Believe it or not this is actually the best picture of the entire group!

Aw!

Anyone wanna magically send us about 30 grand so we can go and get her! I think she needs to be Addy's sister!

Bye Bye 4 inches!

I finally broke down and cut Addy's gorgeous long hair! It really was too long I think it was bothering her anyway so off we went. She looks adorable (how could she not!) but definitely is losing her baby look!

Everyone kept telling her how pretty she looked so she kept signing "pretty" and touching her hair!

I love the squinty eyes!

Once we got home her diaper had leaked so we just put on jammies, I think I love how it looks from the back!

Cheer Banquet and Cupcakes

Last night we had Jarika's final cheerleading banquet! She won the "I can do that" Award. She won the award because even though she had a fractured elbow she kept saying "I can do that!" and a couple weeks post second ankle surgery they were working on stunts and dance and Jarika kept saying "I'm okay I can do that!" I think it was a very appropriate award for her! Her coaches made her a really cute scrapbook of her school cheerleading days, including Junior High. She and T were the only two seniors this year, here they are looking at them. Jarika got all teary! I'm so proud of her, she lettered Varsity Cheerleading all four years of high school and was nominated for All-American every year she was at camp! She also made it every year but one! She's so talented I love watching my girl!



Tonight I decided to make Rainbow Cupcakes, aren't they cute!?!?!

Calgon, take me away!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so last week Jake was diagnosed with strep. Yesterday Jarika says she's had to go to the bathroom constantly and Cooper had a headache. Get message about Addy's bacterial overgrowth and start her antis. Well, let me re-phrase that! I fully planned on starting the Flagyl, but as I was hooking her up for her 7pm feed. Her button was clogged. No food would go in at all. So I call Mr. Mechanical and he investigates. Sure enough, the little "nub" that closes the button has come off inside the button, therefore, no food is going in. GREAT!!! I call Dr. Surgeon's office, he calls right back and says she'll be fine until 8am when he wants me to bring her in to the hospital for a new button. Hmm she last ate at 3pm, how many of you are real happy when you haven't eaten for 17 hours??? I don't have a spare button but I do have the foley for emergencies. I managed to get about 4-5 ounces in by pushing them slowly with a syringe so I knew she would be okay but I was still stressing! So this morning I made Jarika an appointment to see if she had a UTI and went to Springfield with Addy to the hospital. Addy was happy as a clam when she woke up and was a little ray of sunshine at the hospital, waving at everyone and awing the nurses with how well she looks and how far she's come since they last saw her in February of 09. You might remember, she looked like this:



So fast forward to 1:15pm. I get a call from Cooper's school. "Hey Cammie, it's Nurse Kathy, Cooper is in the office and has a temp and a headache, you need to come pick him up." Okay so I go get him, bring him back to my classroom and work on paperwork till the end of the day. I was planning on sending Jarika to the doc by herself but fortunately he could fit Cooper in with her so I met her there, poor girl was so confused! As we are waiting for the doctor Addy's nurse called to let me know that she woke up with a 99.5 temp and wasn't acting right. She is usually 97. something so ... I'm thinking great! 4 for 4!! Ends up Cooper has strep (shocker) and Jarika definitely has a UTI so now all four of my kiddos are on antibiotics! Addy seems absolutely fine now so I'm just hoping she was just hot from her nap, it was pretty warm here today. So I plan on keeping an eye on her, please pray that she can fight off her siblings gunk!!!

Bacterial Overgrowth

This is actually a pretty good pick of her distended little (big) belly! No she had not just eaten and yes it ALWAYS looks like that!

Dr. Tummy's office called from Kansas City today and Addy's Upper GI and small bowel study from 2/22 showed that she has an area of bacterial overgrowth. What does that mean? I have no clue! I just talked to his nurse and she didn't say. She just told me that he ordered her to be on Flagyl for 10 days. I have no clue if there's a follow up or what. So I went and picked up her med and one for Cooper then realized once I was in the car that hers was in tablet form. So back I go into the pharmacy and the pharmacist told me that Flagyl isn't made in liquid form. Which I find quite odd since she's been on Flagyl at least three times for C-Diff and all three times it was liquid! He said they probably made it special for her in the hospital pharmacy. Probably, that is where it came from. He did tell me that I can crush it up and dilute it in water and send it through her g-tube so hopefully we are good to go. Now only if I can find my pill crusher!

Just Cause She's so Darn CUTE!