I cannot believe I have not posted since July! Wow, does time fly! Everyone is doing fantastic. I had a minor setback in August, having to have my gallbladder removed and then having complications that put me down, in bed, for 28 days. It was a miserable time for me, but my husband and daughter, Natalie, really stepped up and took care of things and me, when I was so sick. Hooray for them, I am proud of them both.
Now on to kiddo updates. Arielle is walking and running all over the place, she is a little toot toot. She doe not verbalize much, but she is using her signs a lot more to communicate her needs. We signed up for Gemiini and both girls watch it several times per day and love it. She had a sleep study done and does not have sleep apnea or any other concerns in that area. She is a pretty healthy little girl. About her only real health issue is having eczema really bad and having to find ways to treat it and watch for certain foods that make it worse. Arielle takes therapy twice per week, working with developmental things like attention and playing, and also still working on gross motor skills trying to teach her to step up small steps and get in and out of thresholds without crawling over them.
Arianna is doing fantastic. While she was at the hospital having heart surgery we did a swallow study and found that her liquids needed to be thickened in order to help her learn how to swallow effectively. We have been thickening her liquids and it has made a lot of difference in how she eats and swallows and she no longer has nasty gurgling inside her lungs because she is not swallowing liquids down her air pipe any more. She still takes thyroid medicine, but the good news is after an ultra sound of the thyroid gland, they found it to be fully developed and healthy, so she may get off medicine down the road. She has become a lot more mobile, she sits and scoots all over the place, which is exactly what the therapist does not want her to do, but unless you follow her all over the house and stand over her, you cannot prevent it. However, she is actually putting her feet down when you try to stand her. Before she curled them up to her body like an infant. They measured her for leg braces which should be in this next week. Once we get them, they have a special type walker she will strap to, stand and either try to walk of just stand there. It has straps where she cannot sit down or fall down in any way. It will give her the opportunity to try and move her feet to get around. We have a goal of having her weight bearing on her legs and pulling up to furniture and stuff, by the end of the year. Our second goal is to have her walking by February when she turns three. She will also start school for half a day when she turns three, so this is important to me. I don't feel comfortable having her go to school not walking, especially since she is not a wheel chair candidate. I cannot believe how smart Arianna is! Cognitively she is right on her age, she totally understands when you speak to her, she will do what you ask. She cannot really speak words, but she sure mumbles and rambles all sorts of things like she is talking. Arianna has therapy four times per week. She is working on feeding issues because she still packs food in her cheeks or the roof of her mouth. She has physical therapy and speech language therapy along with developmental therapy with Arielle.
Natalie has started second grade and so far we are having a very nice year. This is our second year to home school and we changed our curriculum up a bit this year, moved stuff around and things are working much better for both of us, it has been very nice. She is a very smart young lady, who can read and spell on a much higher level and to me that is important. If she can have an excellent literacy in reading and spelling, then everything else will be easier for her. If a person struggles with reading and spelling, than life is harder in all other areas. Natalie is part of the American Heritage Girls and loves it. She has already earned so many badges and tries really hard to be kind and caring. This year will be her first communion and confession and she is very excited, but also nervous. She is scared about talking to Father Ken about her sins. We talk a lot about what types of things are considered sins and the process of confession. She already knows so much about it, but will really be ready by the time January gets here. Natalie is taking Jazz and Ballet again this year, it is her 5th year and she is doing very well. She wants to add gymnastics, but we will assess that later. We are already too busy and not sure we could add it, but she does not want to give up dance to replace it.
Carissa is attending preschool as a four year old at the Montessori at our church. We decided to continue the same process we did for Natalie, which was three years in the private school, then after completing Kindergarten, which is the third year, I will home school her as well. I love how they learn so much about God and mass, the behaviors expected and not allowed in mass Plus she loves doing all the things they do.. Carissa is taking ballet/tap for her second year, she likes going to dance like her big sister.
Both of the older girls loves playing with and attending to their little sisters. Natalie has learned how to change diapers and has fun with it. She can also dress the babies, like they are big baby dolls. Carissa enjoys reading books to them, or telling them the story she thinks the book says! Both babies are fascinated with the older girls, which really helps them with learning things and speaking.
Shawn and I went on a much needed vacation for our anniversary. We went to the Cayman Islands and snorkeled and went deep sea fishing, it was a blast. My older daughter Brandi did a great job staying at our house and watching her little sisters. We were very thankful she was able to take off work and spend a few days here. Her little sisters lover her so much!
We had a fund raiser to attend for friends of ours whose baby boy is deaf. They are trying to get cochlear implants for him. But when we arrived we just so happen to get in line right behind Shawns parents and Uncle. His Uncle turned around and was friendly as always, talked to the kids and met the babies. Sad to say, his parents, the grandparents to our children, never said a word. They turned and looked at our children, turned around and never said anything. They have never met the babies, and as their actions have shown the past year, they have no intentions of ever meeting them. They are the most hateful humans on this earth. My sister in law, Shani who used to talk so badly about them, used to not have anything to do with them for years, never accepted presents from them for her children, now, defends them. It is really sad, that she only wants a relationship with them because they are getting old and she wants to be a part of the Will when they die. I am so thankful to have great friends who love and support us, a community who knows how his parents are and believes they are such angry hateful people, and tries to make up to our children for the short givings that come from their grandparents. I am thankful and happy to have a husband who loves me and his children enough that no matter what his parents and family do and say, he will stand by us and he will follow the commands of the bible and leave his parents side for his family. I am thankful that we don't need any member of his toxic family to make our family happy and to meet the needs of our children. My mom and sisters provide that to them, as well as our good friends the Beckers and Hoffbauers who act as Aunts and Uncles.
On another note, I am taking another class this semester, so I am really very busy. I attend observation of a classroom once per week and am loving the thought of teaching other children someday.
The Lord has blessed me so much this past year. I cannot believe that He has allowed me, and us to be the parents to these wonderful precious children. We will do right by Him and raise them in the way they should go, teaching them about His wonderful works and leading them to salvation.
