10,000 Visitors

Wow, I just noticed that we have had 10,000 visitors the blog! I can’t believe that so many people have read our story… though I’m pretty sure my mom counts as several hundred views herself. It feels like a big milestone to have reached so far and wide. I hope that we’ve been able to educate others about Spina Bifida and provide awareness to what this condition is. I also hope to show how much Leah CAN do and what happiness and joy she brings to our lives.

 

We have had a few interesting things happen lately. Last week Ty and I had a meeting with Leah’s daycare. Typically they move kids out of the infant room and into the toddler room around 16 months. With Leah they don’t see her having the mobility to move up yet. While we agree, it was a difficult thing to hear. My biggest concern is that she’ll get more proficient with her wheels and they will still hold her back because of their concern about her being in a chair. This week one of her teachers in the infant room asked what else they can do with her to keep her busy and engaged, so clearly she needs more stimulation. She also needs to be with her peers and keeping her with the infants doesn’t help with language or social skill. We agreed to reevaluate her in 2 months, at which point I hope she will be totally proficient with her wheels and can easily move to the toddler room. If not, then I think we need to look into another place that is more accommodating to children in wheelchairs. I hope it doesn’t come to that.

 

Earlier this week we got her test wheelchair. This is a standard chair, unlike her zip-zac, and we’ll have it for a few days to test it and see how we like it. She sits up much higher in this chair and it’s a lot bulkier than the zip-zac. It has the ability to expand and grow with her so she’ll have this chair until she’s about 5 years old. The other nice feature is that it has a handle so we can help steer her. The first thing I noticed when it came in the house was how dirty it got. The delivery guy rolled it through the garage and brought in lots of dirt and snow into the house. As soon as she touched the wheels her hands got dirty and she was pointing at me to clean them off. This will be interesting! It’s also going to be harder for her to get in and out of this on her own, as she’s buckled in with shoulder straps and a seatbelt around her waist.

 

Seeing this chair made everything very real to us. Both Ty and I have said that confirms that she will be a wheeler… not that we ever really thought she would walk, but it’s hard to kind of ignore that thought when there isn’t a huge wheelchair sitting in the middle of the kitchen. It means that pretty soon she’ll be wheeling around independently at the grocery store and at church, and opens up a whole new world to us that we don’t have to deal with today. Things like people asking us why she’s in a chair, or worse, just staring at us…. Dealing with rude or ignorant people… Having others see the wheelchair and the disability before seeing Leah…. Or just pretending she doesn’t even exist. I told Ty that I allow myself 5 minutes of feeling sorry for her and myself each day, so there’s my allotment for the day!

Girl Time!

It was about time that this mommy took a break from mommy-ing and spent some quality time with my girlfriends.  In the span of less than a week I was fortunate enough to see all of my favorite friends... I didn't even know that could be possible, especially since my 3 closest friends live across the country from me.  Last weekend my 2 college buddies came to Minneapolis for the weekend.  Jodi flew in from Washington, DC and Jordan flew in from Chicago.  We had a pretty relaxing weekend of shopping, getting our nails done, going to a movie, and eating out.  It was a far cry from our wilder days (one of us was even in bed by 10:00 each night... hint - it wasn't the mom), but we had so much fun catching up with each other.  Leah really enjoyed having the girls here in person since she looks at their picture all the time.  She especially loved having 2 new people to entertain her.  The time always goes by way too fast when we're together. 

Then last Monday it just so happened that my 4 friends from work were all able to meet up for lunch.  These 4 girls and I started working for the same department - in basically the same job - within a few months of each other.  We quickly became good friends, and saw each other through weddings, babies, deployments, new jobs and everything in between.  Now none of us are with that same department, 2 of them aren't even with the same company anymore, but we've managed to stay connected.  Thanks Amy, Sara, Jodi and Lisa for being awesome friends!

Finally, this past weekend I got to see my very dearest friend get married.  Audrey, my best friend from high school, married John in St. Petersburg, FL.  This was also my first time away from Leah, and I probably wouldn't have done it for anyone else but Auds!  It was a quick weekend, down on Friday and back on Sunday, but the weather in Florida was beautiful and it was a treat to have a quick getaway.  Getting 2 nights of uninterrupted sleep was a pretty nice bonus as well.  They had an outdoor wedding at the shuffleboard club, and we all had such a great time playing games and enjoying being outside.  Audrey looked beautiful and I was so fortunate to be part of her special day.  I truly would not have missed it for anything. 

Mommy Instinct

Things have been plugging away lately.  Last weekend we got together with one of our Spina Bifida family friends who have a daughter just a few months older than Leah.  They also have a 4-year boy and they are both such cute and fun kids.  We went over their house, and they had made this awesome sledding hill in their backyard... complete with curves and banks.  Ty convinced me to send Leah down the hill by herself, though it totally freaked me out to watch my tiny little peanut all alone, she clearly had a lot of fun!

Last Monday night I noticed something was off with her.  She was really cranky and she vomited all over when I was putting her to bed.  She threw up again - twice - on Wednesday night, so we called Dr. Marker to see what's up.  He wrote a prescription for an anti-nausea medicine thinking she has a stomach bug (that is apparently going around right now).  But that just didn't seem right.  I had noticed that she also kind of smelled funny and her pee stunk really bad.  After doing a little bit of google-diagnosing, it seemed like she had all the symptoms of a urinary tract infection.  Last summer Dr. Marker's nurse had sent us home with a few kits so we could take urine samples just for this reason.  I dropped off a sample last Thursday and just got the call this morning that she does have a UTI.  Ugh.  Now that she has an antibiotic, hopefully she'll start acting more like herself.