Now we are in Memphis for a bit! Spending time relaxing with family, and we hit a movie. Quinn went to the auto parts store with both her grandpa's for a fun morning, and we are heading out again to enjoy the day.

7-19-11

Well, summer school is already over. I don't know where the summer is going. Quinn started off summer school, not opening her eyes, and all, but by the end of it was doing much better. She was not totally into it, but much better! Before you know it we will school time again.

7-12-11

Quinn is doing better with school. They are doing lots of painting projects and how she loves to paint! She has come home with glitter all over her, in her backpack, everywhere, and I love it! We have had time to read and go to the library. We have done a few exercises here and there, and I am enjoying every minute I get to spend with her.

After school today, Quinn got to go hang out with Chrissy, Annette, Casey, Alexis, and Michael. They went and did some shopping and made pizza. I hear it was pretty good, Casey pushing Quinn, while Alexis held her hand as they were walking through the isles. Love it! Then pizza making, I love it how they get everyone involved.

Then after a quick nap at home, we went to therapy. This was a bit different then a regular session. We started fitting her for her power chair. Instead of a regular seat, we are spicing it up! Quinn when she is calm, sits great, but sometimes you can tell she gets tired of sitting, and so she squirms all around and kicks her hip out and moves her pelvis forward, and I think wow, look at you moving, but her therapists thing, OH NO! That is not good posture, and that can lead to all kinds of issues down the road, so we are looking at making her a special seat that keeps her in proper alignment. You know only the best for our Quinn! Goodness.

So now you can see her sitting on this beanbag chair, and they would push and pull the beans around her until it was nice and snug and then they sucked all the air out of it, all the time making sure Quinn was in good alignment. I was not sure what to think, but after seeing Quinn sitting in it so nicely, I loved it. She held her head up better, due to the extra support around her torso. Then Suzanne and Chrissy started sharing how with that extra support, Quinn should be able to hold her head up better, and kids tend to do better with many other things, as they don’t have to worry about how to hold up their bodies so much. We will just have to do extra work in her walker, so she stays as strong as possible. Then after they molded the chair around Quinn, and pulled the air out, the mold stayed in place, and through amazing technology, they ran this cord over the chair to record the placement of the beans, an electronic mold was created! We accomplished another step in the process of getting Quinn her wheels. Oh, we also picked out colors today. I personally was not going to go with yellow, as Quinn will look like a bumblebee, but as Kurt was naming off colors, Quinn went nuts when he said yellow. So I asked her a few more times to try to sway her to a nice silver or pink, but nope, she was more then sure that she wanted yellow, so a yellow and black chair she will have.

We don’t waist time at therapy, as everyone was pulling and tugging on those beans, Stacie and Quinn were busy eating lemon pudding. I was impressed, with all the hustle going on around Quinn; she was loving the attention, and still doing a great job eating her pudding. What a great day! As we loaded up in the SUV (soon to be van, so please start praying for us, as we get started looking for a different vehicle to drive Quinn and her soon to be, new wheels around in) I could tell Quinn was tired. By the time we got home, she was sound asleep! What an exciting, busy, wonderful day she had today!

july 11, 2011

While I was working out at Madonna a couple days ago, I saw a bunch of families walk by me to go out to the pool. Sometimes I wish that could be us, where Quinn could simply walk out to the pool, we could splash and I could teach her how to dive, and tell her not to run on the cement. The simple things I once planned on doing with her. Well instead of getting to emotional over it, I started thinking of all the things that we can do, and by the time I was done, I knew how good we have it. So here are just a few things that I thought of as I was walking on the treadmill at Madonna.

What I love about Quinn. I’m thankful that Quinn likes to snuggle into me and hold my hand. I’m thankful she loves to hear the music at church, and relaxes and smiles when we go there. I’m thankful that we can park close to the stores in special parking just for us. I’m thankful that Quinn pushes me away when I go to kiss her sometimes, while other times calls out for kisses. I’m thankful that Quinn could sit and read books with me for hours. I’m thankful that Quinn is interested in going potty on her potty chair. I’m thankful Quinn wants to drive a power chair. I’m thankful she has been seizure free for along time, and out of the hospital. I’m thankful she is so stubborn, that is a very good thing sometimes. I’m thankful that she giggles when she hears we are going to wash her hair. I’m thankful that I get to cuddle up with her at bedtime, even if she does not like to go to bed until it’s way to late. I’m thankful she does not throw fits in the department stores. I am thankful that she will throw things onto the floor of that department store if I put things on her lap. We make a game out of it. I just know better then to give her breakable things, while we are shopping. I’m thankful I get to pick out cute things for her to wear, and that she likes wearing them. I’m thankful I get to do her hair, and she does not complain too much. I’m thankful she sits at restaurants with us so nicely. I’m thankful for my friends and family who love her for who she is. I’m thankful for all the people we have met because of her special needs. I’m thankful we have been able to share our story with a few folks here and there, and hope we can inspire a person or two, a little bit. I’m thankful she will holler for me, when I’m cleaning or not right next to her, and she wants to know where I am, and once she sees me, she gets quiet and looks the other way. I’m thankful she likes to cuddle and sing.
We have got it pretty good!

Well, it's been a tiring week, full of love, cuddles, and naps. First, Quinn is loving cuddling with her 4 month old cousin, and she loves holding her, like she holds her baby doll. She continues to look over and make sure Kyra is doing ok. So fun.
Then it's nap time, Quinn fell asleep in her walker, notice her picture behind her walker. We splurged on a fun picture of her for the soon to be house. Just an FYI: she does have shorts on, they just rode up a bit, so this picture is totally G rated.
Finally I walked in on Quinn and dad taking a snooze, along with Ariel, who Quinn still loves to pieces.
Another fun story, as we were hanging out with family over the July 4th weekend, I went into the living room to see John, using his skills, as he has learned a few exercises to help Quinn learn to roll, well, he decided to help her cousin, Kyra learn how to roll. It was pretty stinking cute!
We also got to play with our cousins over the weekend, and it's always good to see family.

6-30-11

Ground Breaking happened on Quinn's House! I can't tell you how lovely it was. Thanks to Greg and Delrae for setting it all up! Thanks to Pastor Lux for saying a prayer for safe construction and inspiration for everyone involved. Thanks to all the board members and home builders and groups helping with the house. Thanks to all our family and friends who braved the heat, as it was 102 on my car's temp gauge. It was a warm fuzzy kind of moment! As one of my friends said, the moment gave her goosebumps and she was not hot at all thanks to being in the moment. Quinn loved it. The Quinn story from the day was when she was hanging out with Chrissy and Annette and Casey and the kids, she was talking and being her talkative self, and as soon as someone else would come over and talk to her, she would not say a word! What a girl! I love her so much! Thank you, thank you thank you, is all I have to say at the moment! Oh,except that it sounds like the real heavy duty digging is going to start in a week or so, as the digger is about an hour away digging levies to keep homes over in the Council Bluffs/Omaha area safe and dry right now, as the flooding over there is pretty bad, so there you go!







Blessings to you all! Wow, with how crazy life is, life is so good for us right now! We do send out prayers to folks who are worried about their homes filling with water, as we are so fortunate right now to start, we pray for all the folks worried about water in their basements, or not being able to live in their home at all right now. We also send out prayers to Quinn's friend Amelia, who is back in the hospital, along with prayers for her parents, I understand how hard it is to have a child in the hospital, it's exhausting! Whew, having a support system is such a big deal, and wow, we are growing our, how humbled and thankful and joyful we are! What a roller coaster live is! So hold on!

6-28-11

An afternoon of therapy! Not one of Quinn's favorite therapy appointments! (Usually she loves it)
Well, summer has gotten Quinn into the bad habit of going to sleep later then she should, and waking up late, like 8:30 or 9:00, well we have to be up on the bus by 7:15, so Quinn is not loving the new schedule. In fact she is not loving school right now. Shel loves Nadean, loves the bus, loves one of the kids that rides the bus with her, as she is one of the kids from Riley, who would love on Quinn like crazy. Quinn is not loving school. I talked to Quinn about starting school, I however did not think about telling her that school was going to be in a different building with different kids and different teachers. So far Quinn is not loving school, she is getting tight and closing her eyes for most of class. Nice, she is figuring out how to get the point across. Then as soon as she gets back on the bus, she is smiling and happy! OH boy! What a girl. Well today I had a meeting, so Chrissy picked Quinn up, and Quinn got to play with Chrissy, Casey, and Annette. Then she took a good hour long nap, and she did not want to wake up for therapy. So here she is sound asleep, and she slept through teeth brushing and upside down tipping.

She woke up in time for her least favorite activity, working on hands and knees, so having a 4 year old do something she does not like, when she is crabby equals a temper tantrum! Big time, but wow, we heard Quinn say "All Done" crisp and clear!
So we switched over to a new activity, something fun, but a tired cranky Quinn decided to start screaming instead!
As her mom, I have mixed reactions! Part of me loves to see her show her attitude, good or bad! I love to see her get her ideas across to folks, at the same time, she needs to learn to be upset when she is hurt, and not freak out when she is simply grouchy.
So after trying not to work, and trying her best not to do anything, the screaming started!
After everything was done, and Quinn had calmed down, I had a talk with her about how Suzanne and Stacie did not deserve to be yelled at, and Quinn said a very quiet, I'm sorry, and therapy was over! Wow, what a day! Here is hoping for an early bedtime tonight, let me rephrase that, let's hope for an early night sleep, as she will be in bed early, it's up to her as to when she goes to sleep! Phew! I'm exhausted!