Ah life. What a kicker.
I have to start with the good stuff because it's all mostly good stuff anyway. Please accept my apologies in advance for using bullet-style yet again..sometimes it's all I know:
*Natalie IS OFF OF OXYGEN THERAPY YAAAHOOOOOOOO! She uses it only as needed and that's if she's sick or for any other reason appears to need a little. We will now take an O2 case with us wherever we go but we can keep the cannula out of that poor child's nose. She had her cardiac checkup this past Friday and check this out- her room air saturations (tested for the first time since before surgery) is at 85 ti 88%!! So folks, looks like her operation is showing us who's boss! We.are.loving.this. Natalie has always kicked CHD in the butt, but now she's just completely crushing it. Words can't even express how happy I am for her.
*I am still trying to pry out of Natalie what theme she wants for her birthday party. We're doing something very modest and at our NEW apartment (yay NEW!) and I think so far she's asked for a butterfly and/or a purple party. Again, very modest party with a few friends and some family. I think Rick, having the same birthday which is the 21st, really only wants the cake and maybe a clown. I don't do clowns. So, sorry sweetie!
*James is still loving writing his name and does it with sidewalk chalk outside, on paper, on his doodle pad, you name it. It's incredible how much this kid has learned with school. His speech blows me away (with his paragraphs and detailed questions and everything) and he's been so easy to deal with since he now understands what we ask him, particularly with a very steps of a command ie. "James, can you put your shoes away, wash your hands, and come to the table?" He has been so awesome with Natalie that I know how sickeningly sweet that sounds but wow is it true. They both have their moments, don't get wrong, of screaming at the other, telling the other to "go away now!" and all of that jazz, but they usually get along beautifully. James is always saying that he wants to teach Natalie all sorts of things and he really does.
*The kids LOVE their new bunkbed! At first, James was pretty terrified of climbing up top but now he's unstoppable. He climbs up and down from it like a champ. He wants to teach Natalie how to climb it, which is so sweet..but to be honest, I'm slightly glad that she can't yet since she's so young and well..two jumping monkeys on top of the bed scares the crap out of me. But, the other voice inside my head says, "YES THAT WOULD BE GREAT JAMES TEACH HER!" Because Natalie does love climbing and it works those muscles.
*Natalie's physical therapy is going really really well. She just had her 2nd therapy appointment this morning and this is where she's at physically:
-an early 2 when it comes to using her ankles and hips
-right on track just about with jumping and running
So, what the plan is now is to get her signed up for gymnastic classes at the rec center down the road..and also see if we can get her signed up for soccer classes and swimming..anything that's appropriate for a 3 year old so she can be around more children who ARE physically on track. The thing with Natalie is that she plays with other kids her age and tries to keep up with them. She is very very persistent in learning how to keep up and the best medicine for her is to just simply play with more kids her age and maybe even a little older. If we sign her up for early 2 year old classes or younger, she'll just revert backwards. So not what is good for her. Plus, Natalie's other skills: cognitive, fine motor, etc are still right on track or past her age so she's ready to go. Beyond ready for school. Man, this kid rocks.
She will continue with physical therapy but not for much longer. Maybe a few more months and it'll just be us parents keeping her active because that will be what gets her right on track. Sounds like a good plan (and truly fun) for me. ;)
*Remember that stomach virus that she had last week? well, she got very sick again early early Thursday morning. I had a touch of it yesterday but all in all, looks like (so far) it's leaving the household.
*And also, what Easter wouldn't be complete without an early morning trip to Denver Children's? Actually, everything turned out great and it was a good thing we went, even though we were brain dead from moving on Saturday. I was so out of it I could barely answer correctly to the basic of questions that the nurses were asking us. What prompted us was the NASTY (truly nasty) horse-like, seal-like cough that James had and with how Natalie was coming down with it too. Come to find out it was croup again (ugh) and a shot of steroid did it's job well. Before that, regular remedies like the cold outside air, warm air, and humidifier did nothing to help for them. After the steroids, it all helped. So glad we went. I found out from Natalie's physical therapist that they, too, were at the hospital on Easter for one of her children having a mysterious 105 degree fever! The germs are weird. So weird.
I've been keeping the kids home all week until today..today we venture outside in the warmer weather and to my post-op checkup. Tomorrow we'll get outside more too. And I think this weekend we're having a picnic and trip to the park and lake. These kids needs fresh air.
*oh and the new apartment? ROCKS!!!!!!! It's quiet, things get fixed promptly, plenty of parking, it's clean, the laundry room is right next to our door INSIDE so NO more going outside to head to do laundry only to find out that it's taken (I hated going back and forth in the snow..dropping socks, stuff like that..oh it was awful), and we had a few inches of snow the other day and it was shoveled quickly, too. We're moving on up you guys!
I think my favorite thing about this place is that we never get direct sunlight. So, in the summer (since we have no AC but plenty of ceiling fans) the apt. will stay cool. Now, that is awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment