Cartwheels for Jackie!!

Emily is doing cartwheels for her little friend Jackie. We met Jackie and her Mom, Cyndi at Dance School when the girls were in the same class as 2 and 3 year olds. Jackie was diagnosed with Lukemai (AML) on December 24, 2006. She has had a long and often scary treatment course and recovery. Jackie and her Mom have been out of state at one of the best hospitals around to treat sweet Jackie. She had her last chemo on August 5th and just this week her counts have slowly started to rise. This is WONDERFUL news worth a "hundred million cartwheels" according to Emily since that means that hopefully in the next week or so, Jackie and Cyndi can come home so she can be reunited with the rest of their family. She also has a Make A Wish trip scheduled for mid September that they are all hopeful to make.

So, join us in the cartwheel celebration!!!! Most of all, join us in prayer as we pray for Jackie's continued recovery as well as for her Mom and sisters. They have all suffered the effects that chronic illness causes in a family when a family member is seriously ill.

As I stated in my last post, the Fall symbolizes the beginning of new experiences for many. For Jackie and her family, it symbolizes a new beginning of a healthy and happy lifetime full of love and family.

Yo Gabba Gabba

What is it about this new Nick Jr. show?? My girls LOVE it. I rank it pretty close to teletubbies...which is not high on my list of personal favorites. I actually like Wonder Pets. So cute.

I really try to limit what they watch. I pretty much only let them watch a dvd or Noggin or some Nick Jr shows. Emily will shout for me if she thinks a "fresh" show is on LOL.

Anyway, more noteworthy news is that my Mom is out of the hospital. YIPEE. The girls missed her so much. She is home with home nursing as she still needs daily wound care and IV therapy.

One more week until the new school year starts. In a way, I am ready. This summer flew by and was pretty eventful..not the fun kind LOL. I love the Fall. We have lots of new experiences to look forward to. I have a whole new crop of kids coming to school, Emily starts kindergarten and then Chinese School. Alyssa goes back to school and I am pretty sure I found a great daycare center that she will attend 3 afternoons a week after she goes to her Early Intervention class in the morning. This will give my Mom a much needed break. Believe me, she (my Mom) NEVER complains about watching either of the girls...but Ali is a real handful. I really don't feel too guilty as she will still be with me in the morning (she attends the school where I work) and she will pretty much nap in the afternoon.

Have a great week!!!

Alyssa's New Look

Alyssa got her new eye glasses today! They look cute and so far she is great about keeping them on. She BETTER keep them on for what they cost. I think it is crazy that my health insurance will pay for surgery and eye exams as often as we want, but they won't cover the glasses that will help the eyes stay in alignment so we don't have to repeat the surgery. These glasses are top of the line LOL They are scratch proof and so flexible she can pretty much make a figure eight with them and they won't break. The price tag is proof (yeah, right)! We shall see how long it takes her to break them. ;-/

PS....on a side note, my Mom has been in the hospital since the beginning of the week. She had an abcess on her hip (that started as a boil) and it ruptured. It wasn't healing with all of the oral antibiotics that she was on, so they admitted her for IV antibiotics. The doctor told her yesterday that she has cellulitis....not sure if it is all the same or if it is a progression of the infection. I really haven't been able to be up at the hospital since I have very few people to watch the girls. Luckily, I am on vacation until the 4th of September. She may be released this weekend. They are just deciding whether she will go home on oral or IV antibiotics. Please keep her in your prayers!!! The girls miss her so much!!

The AFTER photo shoot

I LOVE Emily's haircut!!!! It is excatly what I wanted. Alyssa's haircut went just as I anticipated...........as you can tell from her "haircut" it didn't go so well. Oh well....maybe next time. She was impossible, hysterical, and the "pop-pop" bribe didn't work.

During the "haircut"

So....what do you think? How did it go????

Today is the day.................

We are off to go get "back to school" haircuts. I *think* I am going to get both girls a short haircut......unless I change my mind in the 15 mintues it takes to get to the shoppe. It also depends on how well little Miss Alyssa sits. She already told me she wants a "popop" (lolipop) which I think she has had ONCE before. Hope that helps her cooperate.

Stay tuned.......................

Future OT

One of the services that Ali gets is Occupational Therapy. An OT usually works on fine motor skills as well as Sensory Awareness. Alyssa's fine motor skills are pretty on target and we only expect them to improve further once she gets her new glasses. She primarily gets OT to address sensory concerns. Ali is VERY active with little safety awareness. She gags easily and is apprehensive when being touched or touching different textures. Her motor planning and organizational skills aren't that well developed either. Her eye contact is improving, but still not great. Her ability to adapt to changes in her routine is getting better and better, but she is still a routined kind of kid. These areas are all impacted by a child's ability to process sensory information. One of the things that we recently started doing with her is a "brushing" program. You use a therapuetic brush (like a soft surgical scrub brush) and you systematically brush her extremities and her back. Following the "brushing" you do joint compressions which is supposed to organize the nervous system. You have to do it every 2 hours, so Emily has been quietly observing....lol. Tonight as I was washing up some dishes, I turned around to see Alyssa very willingly allowing Emily to "brush" her. Sooooo cute. Emily had the program down to a T!!! Alyssa asked her to "brush belly!" Emily gently reminded her, "no Ali, we don't brush your belly...now let's count 1.2.3. " It was so darn cute. She even remembered to do the joint compressions!! I see an OT in the making!!!

Brusha, brusha, brusha

Some joint compressions