8-28-10

Quinn and Amelia having a fun afternoon!




What a crazy, exciting, tearful, wonderful, hard week we have had. (beware, this is a long post)

First, we are out of the hospital and doing great! We had another first this week! Monday Quinn was still in the hospital, and doing great, so I went to work. It’s the first time I have been working when she has been in the hospital. I thought I might have a hard time, but we did fine, thanks to Grandma Martha for hanging out with her, and the nurses were wonderful! I really thought we would be going home on Saturday or Sunday, but it was Monday. The doctors did not want to push anything and got lots of antibiotics into Quinn to help her out first. That does however mean Quinn missed her first day of school. Actually due to doctors orders she has missed the first week of school. With that being said, besides all the snot, we have had a great week! Chrissy and Quinn had a wonderful week, with books, and coloring, and trips to the park. Quinn also got to start playing with Amelia. Amelia is also 3 and has had many of the same struggles as Quinn, as she had complications early in her life and is now in a wheelchair with many of the same challenges as Quinn. Amelia is not known for doing much talking, but Quinn is helping her change that. Chrissy has said that the two girls are loving cuddling up on the couch and jabbering away to each other! They have lots to talk and jabber about and they are going to bring out the best in each other, I just know it! They don’t get to spend a huge amount of time together, as both of them are in the excite program at different schools in the morning, and Amelia goes home before her afternoon nap, but I know this experience is going to be great for both of them.

Oh, I mentioned how Chrissy and Quinn were coloring a picture, well Chrissy noticed how Quinn relaxes as she is coloring. The first color she chose was orange, no surprise there, and at first she was coloring small more controlled lines, but 5 or 6 colors later, she was down to brown, and her strokes were huge and free. How interesting is that! I almost feel guilty that I have not noticed that, at the same time, I don’t think I have ever colored that long with her and that many colors! Yikes as an art teacher, I better step up my work with Quinn! To top it off, guess what Quinn did for Chrissy today? Went potty! Yes! Quinn was jabbering to Chrissy, and Chrissy figured out in her “Quinn Whisper” way, that she wanted to go potty, so took her to the potty chair and she pottied a little! Wow! On top of that, she is saying Chrissy in a crystal clear voice! Wow, I’m excited to see where we go from here! I’m on Quinn is amazing over load! You go girls!

I do have to say that one of my favorite moments of the week was Thursday morning as I was waking her up, after getting rid of the snot, we were cuddling and talking about our day, and she started giggling and laughing and loving on me and it was so wonderful! I don’t think anything can top that moment! What a great way to start the day and I needed it, as Thursday was a crazy emotional day. So let’s get to it. Starting out small, Quinn is so smart and likes stimulation of all kinds. Be it books, or music, people, what ever, and if she is not getting it she finds ways to get it, and one of her favorites is to rub her ankle on her wheelchair and she rubs it until it bleeds, so now we are trying to break her of that habit, but she is stubborn and willful and strong, and I love that about her, but wow, we have now, thanks to Chrissy, figured out a way to stop that from happening, with some ladybug material and Velcro around the foot rail of her chair to block her from getting her foot around to where she rubs, but already she is trying to figure out a way to get her foot around the material, wow she is crazy smart, naughty in this case, but crazy smart!
We also met with Dr. Swisher today. It was a pretty good visit, and Quinn has been given the all clear to start school, so that will be wonderful. We did talk for a while about how when Quinn gets sick, she can go downhill so quickly. It was nice for him to talk to us about different options we have ahead of us, if this continues to happen. So we are asking for prayers for Quinn to love school and build her immune system up so she can continue staying in school, because I believe she is going to love it! Just wait until next week for pictures!

Next, we have gotten an offer on our house, and praying everything goes through as we will close at the beginning of October! What a big deal and a great celebration for us, as now we can start working on our plans to start building. I’m not going to get into it to much now, but thanks to a few amazing people and God bringing them into our lives, we are more then humbled and thankful and excited to start the venture of building a house, there are going to be lots of stories and learning opportunities throughout this experience. We met with a table full of people Thursday night to talk about all the special equipment and space planning that will be put into the house to make it accessible for Quinn in all areas. So hold on to your hats, I’m so excited to take you on a joyful ride with us as we get into the building stage. On that same note, if anyone knows of any good apartments, we are going to be looking for one, as we don’t want to live in a box outside of Zeman Elementary for a few months. But Wow, we are excited for this opportunity.

Finally on a sad note, I want to extend my deepest love to my cousins Riley, Paige, and Morgan on the passing of their dad, my Uncle Tom. He was in a car accident yesterday and is now in heaven. I can’t imagine loosing a parent. I feel like we have had our struggles, but some times I am reminded just how lucky we are. So to end I’m sharing a quote I was just given by a friend.
Uncle Tom, you will be missed!

“Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So, love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth the ride!"
-- Unknown