Sorry for the delay

Wow, it's been a long time since I've updated. Sorry about that, it's been a very busy few weeks!!!

Hubby was gone the first 2 weeks of December. Then, once he was back he was very busy writing a report for the company he had been at for the past 2 weeks. He has pretty much been working 24/7 for a few weeks.

Meanwhile we had all our stuff going on for the holidays. So, it's been really crazy busy around here. I was able to escape the first weekend of the month to Mom's Weekend Away, a retreat put on by the church I attend. Zak and my mom were gracious enough to come and watch the girls for the weekend since Hubby was in California.

We've had party after party, festival after festival. Courtney had her festival on the last day of school that Hubby, Kasey and I attended. Last night we went to Phantom Canyon with some friends and neighbors to celebrate my neighbor and I's birthdays. Her's was this past Monday, and mine is the upcoming Monday.

Plus on top of all that going on of course is Christmas shopping, and some dog sitting (we've had 2 different dogs here this month for different periods of time). And of course on top of all of that, we have had just normal family things going on to. So, I have been busy and swamped! I am almost all ready for Christmas except for the fact that my house is a disaster.

My neighbor and I were going to swap kids today/tomorrow. She was supposed to take my girls for a few hours, and tomorrow I am taking her girls for a few hours. But today about half way through the the morning, she called to say that there was a small accident. Ava's head ran into Courtney's mouth while they were jumping in the bouncy house. Because of this, Courtney's tooth was bleeding. This was her upper front tooth. The one that she still had left. When I got there and looked at it, it wasn't looking so good. The tooth was cock-eyed and bleeding. The tooth was already loose prior to this incident, so not a huge deal. However, I knew she needed to get seen by a professional. I called our dentist, and discovered he is in the Bahamas for the holiday. They referred me to several other dentists. After calling 3, finally a pediatric dentist got her in right away. So, off we went. Hubby met us there.

After some Novocaine and nitrous oxide, they extracted the tooth. After seeing the x-rays, it has been hanging on by a string! So, 3 days before Christmas she now officially wants her 2 front teeth for Christmas!!! It's quite cute!

Once we got home, it took her several hours to recover. But once she recovered, she was back to her normal self! She now has a very cute little lisp. They said her adult teeth haven't dropped yet, so it will be a while before she gets her teeth back in. She also has a loose tooth on the bottom. Pretty soon she is going to be a toothless wonder!

Well, I still have 10,000 things to do, so I better run!

Merry Christmas to all!!!

November already!?

Well, it's been about 3 years that Courtney has been in therapy now. I am fried. It's been very difficult with school and having 3 different therapies to attend each week (plus having a non-therapy kid in tow)! So, I am so thankful that we are just about at the end. She only has 1 or 2 more physical therapy sessions. She was very close to the end of her feeding clinic, but I was just too burnt out to continue on right now, plus she has been making great strides. And her behavioral therapist expects to release her in the next month. Thank goodness!

This has been a long, hard road! We knew going into it that it would be. But we also knew we wanted to do it then so it wouldn't affect her school. I also learned a few months back that as kids get older insurance covers less and less therapy visits! So, right now, she gets 20 visits per discipline per year. (20 for speech, 20 for occupational, and 20 for physical). But as she gets older, the number of visits you are allowed per year begins to decrease. So, another reason I am so glad we did this all now!

She has come so far from where she once was. It's just amazing. It hasn't been easy on anyone, but it's been worth it to see how far she has come! Will she need more therapy in the future? Only time will tell. But at the moment, she is all caught up!

She is loving her new school. She is in such a better mood when she comes home. And the newsletters we get just make me smile and remind me just how thankful I am that we switched her! This was no doubt the best decision!!!

Hubby was in Moscow this past week for 5 days. He had to go out for a client. He has never been to Russia before, so pretty exciting that he got to go! It sure does look like a beautiful place!

He arrived home about 9:15pm last night (Saturday night) and then he left again for the airport this morning at 7:15am for Washington DC. So, a whole 10 hours at home. Several people have asked me why he even bothered to fly home, why not just fly right to DC? Well, 1) he got to see his family even if it was for a brief snippet of time and 2) he needed different clothes. Russia was much more dressed up and COLD. DC is not as dressy and not quite as cold.

Did I mention before that Kasey has started crawling out of her crib? Yes, about 2 weeks ago. And once she figured out how to do it, there was no stopping her. So, we have now converted her crib to a toddler bed. My mom had one of those rails you use to help kids NOT roll out of bed that fit a toddler bed, so we put that on her bed so she won't fall out during the night. It leaves her a gap of about 10 inches to crawl in and out of.

Ever since we did this, nap times have been so difficult. She just does not want to stay in her bed for nap. Don't get me wrong, she still needs her nap, she just fights and fights and fights. So by the time she does end up falling asleep she only gets about an hour nap before I have to wake her up for some reason or another. But the good thing is that most nights she is so exhausted by the time she goes to bed, she just falls right asleep. Although, the other night she was pretty rested and pretty wired at bedtime, so I had to make her get back in bed a dozen times or so. I just look forward to the day when it's not so exciting for her to get out of bed every moment! Come on phase, be done!!!

I am doing my best to try and build up my 31 business. I now have a consultant under me, so I really need to get another one and build my own business so that I can start making a decent income from it. SO, if anyone out there would like to host a party for me (in the Colorado Springs area), I would REALLY appreciate it!!!

I have been keeping busy. Between 31, putting hours in at the office, the 2 girls and their schedules and the million other things going on, I crash at bedtime too! But, I know life is going to be like this for a while as well, so I will just try to make it to bed at a decent hour and get a good night's sleep!

Speaking of which, I better get off the computer and go get the few things done I need to do and then head to bed!

Halloween

Courtney started her new school on Monday. Yes, on Halloween! It actually was a really good time to start her! It was a party atmosphere, and we went back at 10:30am for their Harvest Festival, so she really only had 2 and a half hours without us there. So, it was a great way to ease her into her first day! She had a great time too. Here she is in her class singing a song about a pumpkin, dressed as a unicorn!

Halloween night was madness at our house, but good madness! We had 3 other families over for pizza prior to trick or treating. Yes, that made a total of 8 adults and 8 kids, 16 people! And of course the kids were SO excited for dinner and then dinner to be over so that they could head out. Finally we said "time to put on your costumes!" And they were all so excited! Here are all the kiddo's prior to heading out the the door!

Kasey was Scooby Doo. She was cute, but she would not wear the hood which was Scooby's head, but people were still able to figure out what she was.

Once we were starting to head out, our neighbor's carpool friends came to join us too. So then we had 11 kids and 4 adults. The Mommy's except for the one carpool dad took the kids. It was crazy for a bit. We made one trip around the block, then had to head back to the house to regroup and get the wagon and a stroller. The littlest kids were struggling to keep up with the big kids.

Meanwhile the dad's were set up in the driveway with all the candy and treats handing out candy while having a Halloween drink or two. Two of the other families were neighbor's and both the dad's decided they wanted to all hang out together instead of all being at home alone to hand out candy. So, they went home at the beginning of the night, got their candy, and put a sign on the door instructing trick or treaters to come to our house for candy. At one point another one of our neighbors also joined them with his candy bowl. He, however, had had a few too many Halloween drinks, and didn't last long. He did leave his candy for the other guys to hand out, and he went home. Ah, Halloween memories were created that night!

Kasey started crawling out of her crib last week. So, to be sure she didn't hurt herself, we took off the front side of the crib (it was made to do this). My mom had a rail to fit a toddler bed to make sure Kasey doesn't fall out. However, now she can get in and out of bed really easily. The first night we went in to check on her and this is how and where we found her:

She is behind the rocking chair in her room. She loves to hide back there. We have had a hard time keeping her in her bed at nap time, and when I go in to check on her, she hears me coming and RUNS to hide behind the rocking chair. I am currently thinking we may need to find a tent for her bed so she can hide in there. Maybe that will keep her in bed more... I just can't wait until this phase is over. It's a tough one. She has hardly napped this whole week which makes for some tough evenings. However, come bed time, she does normally stay in bed and crashes quite fast.

Courtney has really enjoyed her first week at school so far. She didn't go yesterday due to snow, but today was her 3rd day. They are doing a lot of testing with her to find out which levels she needs to be at. She was already put in the 1st grade math, but she doesn't have to go to the 1st grade room. The other kindergarten room is doing a 1st grade math program. They were testing her reading, letter sounds and site words this week.

She certainly has been coming home in a better mood, and more talkative. Not sure if this is due to the new school or due to the fact that she is only half day, but I like it! I can't wait to get in there and volunteer and see how things really work!

Winter has come. Not really since it doesn't start until December, but we just had our 3rd snow, and it's COLD. I miss summer already.

Yesterday Courtney was asking me why she and her friend Ava do not go to the same school. I told her that Ava goes to a catholic school and we are not catholic, we are Presbyterian. She then asked me "Why are we vegetarian?" Ah, it's the little things they say that make me laugh!

Snow again

Well, we are getting our second snow storm of the season. The weathermen all hyped this to be a huge storm and all of us really feel like the hype was for nothing. So, we do have about 4-5 inches at the moment, and it is still snowing, but it doesn't seem all that exciting. Courtney's school was not delayed at all, which I am not surprised. By Friday it will be in the 60's again. And Halloween is looking nice!

Courtney has her last day at her school today. She starts her new one on Monday! I can not wait! I am so excited for her!

Kasey crawled out of her crib yesterday for the first time ever. She scared me to death. I went to get her up from nap, and she was NOT in her crib. I turned around and looked around the room and didn't see her. I looked in the crib thinking that she just HAD to be in there, but she wasn't! I turned around again, and finally saw her hiding behind her chair. She looked up at me and said "Hi Mom! I done!" Meaning she was done with her nap. For those few moments that I had no idea where she was, I started to PANIC! Whew that was scary!

Well, I am off to run errands!

New School

Well, we had a very quick answer to prayers. I can't tell you how much this whole school thing with Courtney was eating me up! 4 days after we saw the neurologist my friend called that I hadn't spoken to for a few months. She asked me for a Courtney update, so I filled her in. She asked me if I had heard of the new charter school in district 11? I said no. She told me all about it and the name. As soon as we got off the phone, I looked it up online. I read all about it and realized it was just what we were looking for. But just to be sure, the next morning I called and set up a tour for Hubby and I. The following morning we went and took a tour and confirmed our suspicions. This school was made for Courtney. The very next day we met with her teacher (her current kindergarten teacher) and following that appointment we drove right over to the new school and put in her enrollment packet.

So, let me back up. This new charter school is named The Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning. It is only in it's second year open, but it was started by teachers and parents from a private school that closed a few years ago called The Renaissance Academy. Apparently that private school was very similar to this charter school, but the owners drove it into the ground, it had to close suddenly and parents lost the money they had paid in tuition. Apparently the idea of the school was such a hit, that this charter school was formed. Charter school means no tuition!

The school has 1 full day kindergarten class and 1 half day kindergarten class. The half day kindergarten class had one spot open. If we didn't move Courtney into that spot we would not be guaranteed a spot for 1st grade. If we didn't put her in the kindergarten class we would be put on a waiting list for 1st grade and then it's a lottery if you get a spot or not. We didn't want to risk it, so we are moving her at the end of this month.

That part was a little tough. Moving her 2 months into the school year is not ideal. We spoke with her current teacher who we do like and respect. I think she was really trying to convince us that Courtney is being challenged enough where she is now. Which she may very well be, but overall this move is a wonderful thing for her! This school deals a lot with double diagnosis kids. So, they are very used to kids with sensory issues and therefore every teacher knows how to work with it! They have a lot of sensory kids there. I am learning that Courtney is very common in the way that kids that have issues similar to her are similar to her in many ways. A lot of kids that have gifted areas, especially mentally or academically gifted, usually have other issues that go along with it, and sensory issues are very common! So, she is going to be in a crowd of kids just like her. She will not stick out and she will get exactly what her sensory system needs. I just can not tell you how happy all of this makes me.

The school is a K-8 school and everyone in the school does the core subjects at the same time. For example, the whole school does math at 8:30am. If a kid in 1st grade is at a 3rd grade math level, at 8:30am that kid would go up to the 3rd grade class for math. Kids can go up or down in the different subjects as needed.

We are thankful for the time we have to work to transition her. She will have a morning this week over there and hopefully one the week after that. The only only downside is the fact that we can't walk there. This school is about 5 miles away and it will be a 20-30 minute drive in the morning. I am hoping once we get in there we will find some families to carpool with.

Other than that things have been going along. Courtney has been sick this past week and missed two days of school. The school was closed on Friday so she got an extra day off without missing school. She still may stay home tomorrow too, we will see how she feels in the morning. It's just a bad cold. The bad thing is that it looks like Kasey is starting to get it now. And we all know how well she does being sick. Here's to hoping it doesn't turn into croup and an asthma flare up for her.

Well, I need to go and give in to my indulgence of late Sunday night TV! Hugs!

Busy September

Wow, September just flew by! But then again, I'm not too surprised. Every weekend has been busy.

I last updated my blog the night before the Race for the Cure. Well, that has come and gone, and I survived! I ended up having to walk up the 3 large hills on the course, but I ran other than that. Of course it took me 42 minutes to complete the 5K, but I did it!!! And the best part? My mom was there and waiting at the finish line. That made it all worth it.

Of course the next day I again questioned my decision. I was so sore, it hurt to walk. But I felt a huge sense of of satisfaction for doing it! And again, my mom was at the finish line!

We had a great team too. It was me, my sister, Zak, my friend Kim, Maddie and our cadet Grant all ran the 5k, and Brian and Courtney were signed up to walk the 1K family walk. Although they didn't walk it this year. The timing just didn't work out for it this year.

From the race we went to my parents house to have a birthday party for Courtney. I can not believe she is 5. Well then again, yes I can. She has been acting older the last few months. So we had a little party for her on her actual birthday.

The next weekend we had her friend party. We let her have her party at Chuck E Cheese. She has only been talking about it for over a year now. I tried to offer her a party at other places, but she was stuck on Chuck E Cheese. So, off we went for her friend party. I must admit all the kids had a great time. It was a little chaotic feeling for me, trying to find everyone as they came in, show them where our table was, get them tokens, make sure we had all the food we needed and such. But the good thing is that I didn't have to clean up anything once it was over! Plus I didn't have to clean to get ready for the party. So, overall, it was a success.

The next weekend we had our supper club meeting. This time we did something really different. We went up to Manitou Lake and had a grilling out dinner. We also did some fishing. Rick bought Courtney a fishing pole for her birthday, and he was also kind and bought Hubby one as well. I can not believe how the girls took to fishing! Including Kasey! They loved it. Kasey loved it so much she would barely stop to eat dinner. She ate a few bites and then said "go fishing again!" Kasey kept trying to steal everyone else's pole, so I guess we will need to get her one of her own.

The only one to catch an actual fish, though, was Hubby! We stuck it on the grill, as he caught it just as we were finishing up cooking the hamburgers and hot dogs. So, we all had a bite of his fish as well. Nothing like a very fresh fish right out of the lake! We all had such a great time, we have to do that again. Too bad we figured this out at the end of summer. I can't wait to take the girls back up to the mountains and go fishing again!

Hubby is happy, it's Hokie season again. He's been watching his Hokies faithfully every weekend. But he was unhappy when they lost for the first time this season, yesterday. He also watches the Air Force Falcon games too. They are currently 3 and 1 as well. Not too bad of a start for his teams.

Yesterday was the first Saturday in October. That means that it was Harvest Festival time! I just love taking the girls to the Harvest Festival. This year we met up with the P's, and Maddie came with us as well. The girls did all their usual fun things. The candy scramble where they dig through hay searching for candy. The maze where they crawl under around and through bales of hay to find their way out. And of course the hay ride. We also had a bottle of old fashion cream soda that was the best cream soda I have ever tasted. Everyone left saying they had a great time. Maddie had never been over to Rockledge Ranch before so she really enjoyed seeing the ranch too. The girls also got to pet a horse and get really up close to the pigs. Pigs really do smell by the way.

Friday we went and saw Courtney's neurologist. He did some testing on her and confirmed what we have suspected all along. The girl is brilliant. You would think parents would jump for joy when someone tells you this. We are more freaking out. We are now trying to figure out our next move and our next moves for the next 12 years of school. We are still working to process the news and thinking about where to go from here with it.

She has made great progress over the past few years in all of the therapies she's been in. Which is great, because I am really ready to take a break. I am finally feeling really burnt out from all the therapies for the first time. I think I am really feeling it now because it's more of a juggling act now that Courtney is in school. It was a lot easier when she didn't have as much school to work around. So, I think that soon we will be taking a break for a bit. From all the therapies except behavioral therapy. We still really need to work on that one.

I have started working some hours at the office now. I spent my first week cleaning like a mad women getting ready for the following week when there was a training class in the office. The refrigerator was the grossest thing I had to clean. Thankfully there are no bathrooms in the office space!

Phew, well I think that's enough for this update. Its hard for me to find the time to sit down and write one. I wish I had more time, I would add pictures in. Hopefully next time!

Minnesota and back!

Last Friday night we hosted a Parent's Weekend dinner here at our house. We had our sophomore, his parents plus his grandma. We also had our two freshmen who also brought their parents. One also brought his brother and sister. We smoked a pork shoulder for the first time. We followed an Alton Brown recipe and it turned out sooo good! We were highly impressed by the results. Probably one of the best things we have made yet!

We scooted everybody out of the house by 9:30pm, which was good because we still had to pack! We were leaving bright and early the next morning to drive to Denver to fly to Minnesota.

We got on the road the next morning about 6am. We stopped and got breakfast at Sonic. We made it almost all the way to the airport when suddenly Kasey threw up! Oh boy.... So, we got off the highway and found a gas station. Hubby went and got some paper towels and some wipes. Thank goodness we had our luggage! Plenty of extra outfits!

So, we managed to get her cleaned up as best as possible, same with her seat, and get back on the road. She obviously immediately felt better because she started asking for food and drink. So, something was not sitting well in her stomach, however once it was removed she was much better! We continued on the rest of the way to the airport with no more incidents. We let her have water and crackers at the Red Carpet Club in the airport and she seemed totally back to normal. So, we allowed her to have a muffin too. She was just fine from then on!

We had a direct flight from Denver to Minneapolis. We then picked up our car and started driving South East. We headed down to the corner where Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin all meet up. We ended up having to drive right to the wedding rehearsal, but we were going to be early. The really good thing is that we were going to be early because somehow I got the wrong directions and we ended up in La Crosse, Wisconsin! We were supposed to be in Spring Grove, Minnesota. Thankfully we were able to figure out where we were supposed to be and how to get there. We were about an hour away, but we still made it to the rehearsal with 30 minutes to spare!

Courtney was the flower girl and so she got to be in the rehearsal and practice her walking down the isle for the next day. The other flower girl was not able to make it to the rehearsal for some reason, so Courtney wasn't able to meet her that night. After the rehearsal we followed Toby's parents to their farm back in the town of La Crescent. (Again, about an hour away). Toby's parents were kind enough to let us stay in a bedroom in their basement. It was pretty late by the time we got their, and the rehearsal dinner was another 40 minutes away. So, we had to skip the dinner and put the girls to bed.

The next morning the girls got to see what the farm looked like in the daylight. They got to meet 6 week old kitties, see cows, a cornfield up close, and all kinds of large farm equipment! They had a blast! I was able to help out in the barn getting the reception stuff ready. The reception was held in the barn.

Finally it was time to get ready for the wedding and head out. We had to be at the church about an hour and a half ahead for Courtney to be in the pictures. She also met the other little flower girl who is Maddie's cousin from Australia! She is 3 years old. When the two of them met, and saw that they were both wearing the same thing, they stood about 4 feet apart and stared at each other! It was so funny. Courtney said "you're wearing my dress!" The other little girl, Juliette, said "you're wearing my shoes!" Once they decided the other one was okay, they were friends and holding hands.


Here are the flower girls with the bride before the wedding.

And here's Courtney with the groom before the wedding:
Finally it was time for the flower girls to walk down the isle! They walked so slow, it felt like 10 years for them to get down the isle, but it was very cute. They both did really well!
And here they are after the ceremony! Mr and Mrs Pedretti!

From there it was back to the farm to party!!! It was such a beautiful reception in the barn, and made for some pretty amazing pictures! Here's one her photographer took:
It was a great time, and Minnesota was so beautiful! The sunsets were incredible. Here are some pictures from the night:


We finally had to leave the party about 9pm and take the girls into the house. We had to get up at 5am the next morning to pack and then drive 2 and a half hours to the airport to fly home. It was a crazy busy weekend, with lots of driving, but it was well worth it! We were exhausted when we got home, and we all went to bed early.

Next day was back into our normal routine again. School, work, working out. The Race for the Cure is tomorrow and I am planning on running the 5K. I feel ready!

This week I also accepted an offer to work up to 12 hours a week at the office. They need help with keeping the place clean and getting some administrative stuff caught up. So, the week of Sept 18 I will go back to work, 12 hours a week. And I get to bring Kasey, so I don't have to worry about paying for childcare! Pretty sweet deal if you ask me!

Our weather is turning more fall like now. It's funny how it went from being 90+ degrees and HOT to being fall weather, cool and crisp. Our heat has been coming on at night.

Today was actually a Saturday that we had nothing going on. There was plenty going on around the city that we could have gone to, but we needed a day to just chill. Plus Hubby really wanted to catch a Hokie game. So, I have spent the day cleaning, making banana bread, laundry, and packing up all of the 24 month old clothes and replacing them with 2T clothes. Both girls are now ready to go up a size since we are heading into cooler weather.

In fact I just heard the washing machine buzz again. Time to go move laundry!!!

Ramblings

Note: I started this Sunday night and I am doing my best to finish it on Tuesday night. So, Start here with Sunday night's post:

I always have 10,000 things I want to blog about, and pictures I want to post. However, finding the time to actually do BOTH always seems so difficult!

It's been a busy few weeks and it's not about to slow down. I, as usual, am going to work backwards because apparently that is how my memory works best!

Today we attended the "Family Party" for Hailey. As you know, Hailey and Courtney have known each other their whole lives and are only 13 days apart in age! It's always so hard for me to see these birthday's come around. It means they are growing up! But at the same time, I am so happy to see that they still get to celebrate with each other! I am so thankful their friendship has at least lasted the last 5 years! HA! The two of them are pretty similar in personalities, so they do well together. I am noticing that most of the little girls that Courtney really likes to be friends with are all very similar personalities to her. I guess I always thought that opposites attracted. Especially for her, because she is such a strong personality. But the really nice thing is that since she does link up with the same personalities as herself, I have the mom's to commiserate with! HAHA

Anyway, sorry, got on a tangent there. Back to today. It was held at Hailey's (Grandma and) Grandpa's house. This is the first of the girl's birthday's since Kelly's mom has passed. It was difficult being in her home and she wasn't there. She LOVES to entertain, and she loves her granddaughters, so I felt a little sad that she wasn't there to share in the day. But the party was great, and it was so great to see everyone again. Kelly's family has become extended family to us. So, when we get together for these family parties, it just feels like a small reunion every time. Going home today I just felt so blessed to be a part of this wonderful circle of people.

The girls (ours) had a great time because the Z's rented a HUGE jumpy castle that was blown up in the backyard. Kasey is addicted to "jumpy house" as she calls it. I have known this before today. Whenever we are at an event where there is one, getting her to leave it is never an easy feat. She would barely eat lunch today, she wanted to be in the jumpy house too much! She would come out occasionally to get a drink or snack. It was hot today (in the 90's) so at least she would take breaks! Both girls took naps when we got home, which Courtney is really no longer a napper, so we know she was worn out!

We had some excitement the other day. I left the house at 3:30pm with both girls to take Courtney to her feeding clinic. It takes 30 minutes from the time I load the kids in the car to the time we walk into the clinic. Just as we walked into the clinic my phone rang. It was my neighbor. She told me that Maggie was just in her driveway and then took of running. WHAT? How did that happen?! Thankfully Brian was on his way home at that very moment. And he pulled up just moments after Molly called me. So, he drove around looking for Maggie. She was no where to be found. I left the feeding clinic immediately and headed home. Which again, is 30 minutes. Once I got to our neighborhood I drove around for a bit and asked everyone I saw if they had seen a lost dog. Only 1 kid had seen her, but it was still in our neighborhood.

Upon driving around more, I ran into a lady who lives on the street behind us who I just happen to know because she is good friends with Molly. She was sitting outside watching her kids ride bikes. I asked her if she had seen a dog, she said no but she would let us know if she did.

We all finally gave up looking and headed for home. Meanwhile my wonderful mother went to the Humane Society on her way home from work to fill out a lost report and to check the strays they had brought in that day. Which is much more of an ordeal than it sounds. Just as I was making dinner for the girls, the neighbor lady called. Her son found Maggie hiding behind some large electrical boxes! They managed to get a leash on her and get her into their backyard! She got our number from the tags and called me. PHEW! By then it had been over 2 hours since she escaped. I called my mom who was still at the Humane Society and let her know. She was very thankful! Hubby went and retrieved Maggie and brought her home. We were all very glad to see her!

As near as we can figure she slipped out the open garage doors as I was loading the kids in the car and I just didn't even see her! I will be much more careful from now on!

OK, jumping to Tuesday night now:

I forgot to mention that on Saturday I got to go over to Glen Eyrie for a day of training. Glen Eyrie is a castle right here in Colorado Springs! Originally it was built by/for William Jackson Palmer. I am not sure what happened between now and then, but now it is owned by The Glen Eyrie group which is a Christian organization. The castle and grounds are amazingly beautiful. Now a days they have weddings, groups (mostly Christian), teas, and they do have rooms and such that you can rent for a night.

We did our all day training there for MOPS and we got 30 minutes to go outside and have solitude time. The colors there are so vibrant that you almost can't believe it. It is just such a beautiful place in person. So peaceful, you really forget you are in the middle of a bustling city. It's so tucked away and hidden just to the north of Garden of the Gods that you don't hear any city noise.

Here's their website if you would like to see more: http://www.gleneyrie.org/

Other than those big events, things are just plugging right along. We are headed to Minnesota this weekend for Maddie and Toby's wedding! Courtney is the flower girl. Hubby and I have never been to MN, so we are both looking forward to it!

Courtney is loving school and she is already learning by leaps and bounds. I hope she doesn't get bored.

We have a garden going over in our neighbor's garden box. We recently picked 8 cucumbers, half a dozen spaghetti squash, some celery, a pepper, and I think that's it. Let me tell you what. When you grow your own food, it just tastes so much better! All though the cucumbers do have a pretty tough skin. But I remedied that by pickling them. In 4 weeks we will have pickles! I can not wait to find out how they will turn out!

We ate the pepper, we eat the celery, I got 1 tomato so far off my tomato plant (highly disappointing, but it's mostly my fault for not watering it enough). I am really really enjoying the taste of our garden veggies. To the point that it makes me sad to have to buy them at the store again some day. They just do not taste as good as home grown, especially the tomatoes! Those are absolutely the best homegrown! I am so sad I only have 1 so far. I do have a few more green ones, so I should get at least a half a dozen before the plant is done for the winter.

Well, I am sure more has happened that I could blog about, but you know what? I am exhausted, and this is a very busy week for us, getting ready to go to MN and all. We will have a house-sitter here to take care of the pets. So, I am off to bed! Night all!

Kindergarten!!!

Well, we officially have a kindergartner! Monday night we had our back to school night, for the whole school. The parents of kindergarten had their orientation last week. Courtney seemed so sure of herself, and her surroundings. I was convinced that she just didn't understand how things were going to go no matter how much I prepped her. Well, she sure proved me wrong. She was completely prepared.

The big morning came. We all walked to school together. The parents were able to take their kids into school that day. So, we walked Courtney into her new Kindergarten room. They had a "Treasure Hunt" for us to do as a family. The list included things like finding the office, gym, library, bathroom, water fountain, etc, around the school. It also had them find things in their classroom, such as where they put their lunch, where they hang their backpack, etc. The last step was finding her cubby and there was a new pencil in there for them! We then left her there. She has 3 other kids from her preschool class in with her, another girl and 2 boys. So, she at least had some friends already.

She was fine when we left her. I was the one who had tears well up in my eyes. Which surprised me, I thought for sure I would be ok. But apparently I am more of a softy than I thought. Thankfully Hubby knows me better than I know myself and he had tissues in his pocket for me! Her teacher, Mrs. Garcia, saw me well up and was very comforting to me!

Kindergarten is such a big step. And even more so for Courtney! She has had so many struggles in her past, this will really be a test if she is out growing all her issues or still needs more work. I struggle with being worried about her falling behind in some areas. But, we know enough to watch her and stay in close contact with her teacher, so hopefully she will not fall behind in any areas.

Yesterday, on day 2, Courtney and her friend Dakota were at the back of the line to go inside. Day 2 parents were not allowed to walk them inside. We have to get them in their line outside and then kiss them goodbye as they head in. It was funny to listen to all the parents say the same things to their kids. (3 of the 5 kindergarten classes line up together). You kept hearing: I can't come in with you today, today you walk in by yourself! Follow the person in front of you! Stay in line! It made me smile.

Anyway, this other little girl Natalie came up. Her sister, who goes to the middle school (also within walking distance), walked her to school. Her sister had to leave to get to her school, but Natalie didn't want her to. I asked Courtney to make friends with her. Courtney held her hand and Dakota's and the 3 of them went into the school that way. It was so cute! And I was so proud of Courtney for helping Natalie out in that situation. She did it again today. I see 3 fast friends forming there!

I don't know what to do with myself now, only having one kid. Ok, that's not really true. Day 1 I ran errands. Day 2 I had my first day of Ministry Team training for MOPS. Today I have been cleaning and I have an appointment to see my chiropractor at 10:15. I am finding ways for Kasey and I to fill the day pretty easy! But I still miss Courtney. However, I can tell that she is loving it! She is a happy kid!

Here she is getting her picture taken by her teacher:
Sitting in her classroom:
Hanging up her backpack on her hook:

Meanwhile I have been fighting something. Not sure what. I have had a cough for a week plus some congestion. Then Tuesday morning I woke up with pink eye in both eyes. I went to the doctor and he put me on oral antibiotics and eye drops. Today I am finally not coughing like crazy! First day in a week!

Kasey went up to Children's hospital last week for an appointment with a pediatric pulminologist. He diagnosed her with asthma. No big surprise, we have pretty much known it for a year, just no one wanted to use that word. She is now on Singular, Flonase, and Flovent twice a day. We are hoping that makes this winter a bit better for her. She was so sick last winter. However, she apparently caught what I had and it went into a croupy cough in a few days. The good news is that it only lasted about 24 hours. It may be another long winter with her again, but here's to hoping not as bad as last winter! And here's to hoping for no more hospitalizations!

The good news is that now that she is officially diagnosed it should be easier to care for her properly. At least that is what I am hoping. No more skirting around "she may have asthma". And the good news is that she should only get better as she gets older. Hopefully it will either go away all together or her symptoms will lesson. Only time will tell, but here's to hoping for the best!

Well, we need to head to the bank now! Hope all of you are well!!!

Just back from Vegas!

I just got back from Vegas last night, so did Hubby (later than me though, because he drove). We were out there for the conference DEFCON. It is a big hacker conference for all the people in the same field as Hubby. (http://www.defcon.org/).

Hubby and his company run the information booths at the conference. I go as a staff member. We direct people as to where they are trying to go, answer questions, etc. It's fun. We find ways to entertain ourselves too.

Hubby got us wives free tickets to Chippendales! So, Friday night all of the wives and one daughter went to the Chippendales show. Afterwards, we were given VIP access to the VooDoo lounge at the top of the Rio Hotel we were staying in. What a neat place! It's a dance club at night with amazing views, and a patio to dance and enjoy it on!

The rest of the weekend was working and socializing. We were lucky to get 4 hours of sleep a night. We also had an awesome hotel room with amazing views!

Hubby's parents flew in to stay with the girls so we could go to the conference. Sounds like all of them had a blast and now that Hubby and I are back home again, we get to enjoy their company for a few days!

We have been sooo busy the last month. It has flown by. We have done a lot of different things. Hubby and I went to an exclusive sneak peak of the new elephant barn they are building at the zoo. We also got to see the newest addition to the elephant pack, an elephant named Jambo. She has the prettiest eyes I have ever seen on an elephant.

I went with the girls to the North Pole. We went up with the P's while Hubby was out of town. That of course is always a big hit.
Hubby took a day off one week and we took the girls up to a water park in Denver called Pirates Cove. It's a scaled down water park, great for young kids.
We have gone swimming, played outside, and all kinds of different fun activities. Tonight we have our Kindergarten orientation, for parents only. Next week Courtney gets to go and meet her teacher, bring in her school supplies and meet her teacher. I did our school shopping a few weeks ago, before it started to get super crowded and busy.

Well, time to go and make a peach cobbler with peaches that Hubby picked up when he was driving back last night!

Teddy Bear days

Again, I am going to start with today and work backwards. I guess that is just how my memory works best!

Today we had another wonderful family day. Hubby had the idea this morning to take the girls to the zoo. It was "Teddy Bear Day" today. Which means you bring a teddy bear, or favorite stuffed animal, and they have staff on hand to help fix any "boo-boo's" your animal might have. Kasey brought her Hokie Bird and Courtney didn't have a stuffed animal with her (long story) so they gave her a little tiny teddy bear to take in. The lady who gave her the Teddy Bear told her that the teddy bear fell off the swing. When you check in they ask you what happened to your friend, so you tell them, they fill out a form and send you to where you need to go. We said that Hokie feel out of the nest. So they sent us over to x-ray. X-ray consisted of a desk lamp that turned off and on with a box over it, but the kids don't really know. The x-ray techs had some photocopies of x-rays to hand out saying what the problem was and then told the kids where to go. Courtney's Teddy broke his foot and hand, and needed to be splinted. Kasey's Hokie had a bump on the head. So, we took them to see two nurses who splinted Teddy's Foot and put his arm in a sling, and the other one put a bandage on Hokie's head. It was very cute. Courtney also asked for her Teddy to have a shot when she saw some syringes on the table. This is the girls watching their animals get fixed up:


They had several booths to walk around and look at and get goodies from. They also had an ambulance for the kids to get in and look around. So, Courtney and I got in and looked around and she asked lots of questions about it. The EMT on duty was very kind in answering all her questions. Hopefully it takes some of the scariness out of it for her God forbid she ever need to be in one.

Here are the girls at the zoo today:
Yesterday a friend of Hubby's from his days at Virginia Tech came to visit. He is in the Air Force and he and his wife and step-son are relocating here, he got stationed at Schriever. So, I spent the day cleaning the house, and then they arrived for dinner. It was nice to meet them, they were a very nice family. They also brought their dog, as they are staying in a hotel at the moment. She wasn't dog friendly, so we had to keep our dogs looked outside while she was inside, but it all worked out ok.

Friday I got my first hike in of the season. Which is a bummer that I had to wait so long, but I finally got an opportunity! My friend Trisha has 2 early teenagers from a previous marriage, and a 4 year old. Courtney and Trisha's daughter Maddison get along well, and are in some of the same classes at church. So, I brought the girls over to Trisha's house and her older kids watched the younger kids while we went for a nice hike. We hiked at Red Rock Canyon, which I had never been to before! There are so many trails in there! It was awesome. I can't wait to go back there someday, it was beautiful. This coming Friday we are going to hike in Cheyenne Canyon.

A few days ago we had some excitment around here. About 9am Courtney noticed a baby bird on our front lawn. He (we called him a he, who knows what he really was) hung around all day. He was a robin, and mama bird was hanging around too. We saw her feed him once. And she was sitting on the fence most of the day. He eventually hopped through a gap in our fence and into our backyard. He hopped all around our backyard. Our friend Kim and her 2 girls were here for a while, so the girls had a blast watching him all day. We had a pretty heavy rainfall that afternoon, and he looked miserable. We eventually called our vet and asked her what we could do. She informed us that unfortunately not very much. We put out a small box, on it's side, and using gloves put the baby bird in the box. By the time we did this in the evening, he really wasn't looking so good. Hubby and I were pretty sure he wasn't going to make it thought the night. The next morning Hubby went outside to check on the baby bird, sure enough, he had expired. He took the box and put it in the trash. We didn't let Courtney look in the box, Hubby told her that the bird finally flew away. Yes, we lied, but in this case we figure it saves just a little bit of heartache.

Here's the baby bird!:

On a happy note, Hubby got his motorcycle fixed. Well, kind of. He had a fuel injection light that was on and would not go off. Thankfully it was still on when we dropped it off. But guess what, when they went to plug the bike in to their fancy machine to get the code to tell them why the light was on, it went off. They tried multiple times, over multiple days to try to get it to come back on. No such luck. So after several days of the bike being at the shop, they called and said, "sorry dude, we can't help ya!" We went and picked up the bike and all seems fine now.

Last week Courtney went to see her neurologist. We took a copy of her MRI, which looked great. Well, I should say her brain looked great. Apparently her nasal cavities did not. Her nasal cavities showed major infections. But she had NO symptoms of it! Her neurologist said that she needed to see an ENT right away. I called her ENT the next day and they didn't have any openings for 3 weeks. I left a message for the nurse who called back and said that the doctor said to see our pediatrician immediately and still come to see him in 3 weeks. So, we saw her pediatrician a few days later. Her pediatrician was quite upset that the MRI showed the infection that was really bad, but that Courtney had no outward signs of it. She said that really worried her. She put Courtney on an antibiotic and a nasal spray. We will see what her ENT says in a few weeks.

Back to her neurologist, he is still pretty sure that she has a form of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). She does not have the hyperactivity that most people expect, but he is pretty sure that's what she has. We start seeing a new behavioral therapist this upcoming week.

The 4th of July was last week. We went down to my folks' house for it. Susan and Zak were down from Greeley. We also had our cadet Grant with us from the Academy. It was a beautiful (and HOT) day. We spent most of the evening outside. About 9:10pm we walked over to the dam to watch the Country Club's fireworks and the Broadmoor's fireworks. The girls loved them! It was Kasey's first time seeing them and she LOVED them! Here she is on the 4th teasing Phoebe with bubbles. Both of them love bubbles:


Last blog post I mentioned how I was worried about how Courtney would do at VBS. Turns out I really had nothing to worry about. She LOVED it! I had to drag her out of the backyard of the lady's house every day! And on Friday they throw a big party down at the church. The kids sing the songs they learned and then they got to go crazy. There was a bounce house, ice cream sundae's, crafts, tattoos, and a movie of all the kids from the week with popcorn! It was fun, Courtney really enjoyed it, and Kasey did too. She just has to do everything that big sissy does!

Recently I finished the book "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. WOW, what a good book. I highly recommend it!

Well, I think that's about all I have for now!

same old, same old!

Not too much new and exciting going on here! Which is ok by me! Just spending our summer days doing the same things, playing outside, having family time, doing whatever!

Today Courtney had a birthday party to attend. Her good friend Addison is turning 5, and she had a swimming party at the Y. So, we all headed up to the Y and swam for about 30 minutes (we were a bit late) and then Hubby and Kasey headed home for Kasey's nap time and Hubby has a report to write. Courtney and I stayed for pizza, cake and presents.

Courtney finished a round of swimming lessons last week, and I took the girls swimming once this week. Between all these times of getting in the water, she is finally getting a little better at swimming. She is really getting better at holding her breath and going underwater! Even Kasey was figuring out how to kick her legs and get herself moving today. She had on a flotation device and she was able to get herself around a little!

Yesterday the girls went to my parents' house while Hubby and I went up to the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur, CO. This event happens every year, and has been going on for as long as I can remember. They have their own little village built up there and for about 8 weekends in the summer it's open. And it's just a fun time. Last year we took the girls for the first time. That was a whole lot different than we were used to. Suddenly it was all about the kid rides, the fairy wings, the flowery crowns, the face painting, the food, etc. All the kid stuff! This year we left the kids at home and went with just the adults! We went with our friends the P's. This year was all about the shows they put on, and beer. Oh, and turkey legs. Walking around, looking again at all the stuff they have to entice kids who then beg their parents for that item made me look at Hubby and say "we are not bringing the kids back here until they are teenagers!" It's funny how it can seem like two totally different places depending on if you have kids with you or not!

It was hot, but we had a great time! We checked out 3 of their shows which of course made us laugh! We ate, drank, walked around, and rode the King's swing! We had to cut the day short because we had supper club that night, but it was still fun!

The girls have been healthy! (knock on wood!) Kasey is still finishing up her antibiotics. Courtney really seems to have some seasonal allergies but Zyrtek seems to really work for her.

Tomorrow Courtney goes to her first ever VBS! I am excited for her. I think she will be a little overwhelmed in the morning, but I have faith that she will settle in quickly and very much enjoy herself! Our church does it a little differently. Since our church is so large, they have people around town sponsor the week at their house. The church provides everything, people just open their homes as the place. This way, it's smaller groups, and it's near your home! I will be driving Courtney only about 10 minutes away. That will be nice.

Oh, I know something new that happened this past week. We hosted 2 Doolies in our home for Bed and Breakfast. This is a program that we heard about last year for the first time, but Hubby was out of town so we weren't able to do it. What happens is you are assigned 1 or 2 cadets, however many you ask for, who are flying in to begin basic training in the morning. So, Hubby picked up 2 cadets at 1pm at the airport on Wednesday and brought them to our house. We fed them dinner, took them to ice cream, and gave them the basement bedroom to sleep in. The next morning we fed them a big breakfast and then Hubby took then up to the Academy and they got on the bus and headed to basic training! The program really is called Bed and Breakfast!

Anyway, our two new Doolies were very kind kids. We may be sponsoring them for the year if we are able. The office that runs the Bed and Breakfast program is separate from the Sponsor Office, so we aren't 100% sure we will get them to sponsor. What a difference seeing them BEFORE basic! They have no idea what they are about to endure! The poor guys were so nervous in the morning, one of them was pacing the floor like a caged tiger! The other was making as many calls to home as possible before heading out.

I really enjoyed it, and I am loving the fact that we were able to get their mailing addresses! So, I have sent each of them a note already and have a card going out to each them soon as well! We also have been in contact via email with their parents and we able to give them updates and pictures from right up until they got on the bus! I look forward to doing this again next year!

Let's see, what else? Oh yes. Courtney had her MRI. Hubby took her. She apparently did really well. They left about 6:45am, and she was home and totally back to herself by 11am! She still has bruising from where the IV's were put in, and a mark on her chest from where the monitors were, but she is fine and you would never know she had anesthesia on Monday morning! And her MRI was clean, as expected. I already have a copy and the report which we will take to her neurologist next week for her appointment.

Hubby sold one of his motorcycles today. Both motorcycles needed work done to them, and we just can not afford to put money into them right now. So, he sold one and now he has money to get the other one fixed. He also needs to replace his helmet and he would like to get Courtney a helmet as well. She went for her first ride around the neighborhood the other night, with my helmet on. Of course the child loved it and is wishing to ride more and more. Am I okay with this? Uh, no, nervous as heck thank you very much! But as long as it's rides around the neighborhood for a while, I can handle that. I think...

Well, the sun just set, so hopefully the temperature is not in the 90's anymore. I am going to go and take a walk around the neighborhood before it's pitch black out!

Summer fun!

I just looked at my blog and I can't believe it's been since June 2nd that I last updated! In some ways that feels like a really long time ago! In others, time just flies!

I am going to work a bit backwards, or not in order of events. Just how I am thinking of things tonight.

Tonight we went to the zoo for their members appreciation night. It was open to all and any members of the zoo. We went to one YEARS ago, and have skipped the last few years of them. But finally our kids are of the age that they can stand to stay up a bit past normal bedtime, and it would be some good family time. And you know what? It was! Today was the hottest day we have had so far in 2011, it hit the low 90's. And early afternoon the wind picked up and it looked like big storms were brewing over the mountains. But we decided to go ahead and press on with our plans to go to the zoo. By the time we got their, any hint of a storm had left, and the wind had really died down. As of now (almost 10pm) it's picking back up again. And because it was evening, the temp had dropped a bit, but it was still really nice out!

We went to the monkey house first (that is Courtney's favorite!), from there we went to dinner. They had a big "cookout" for the members. We still had to pay some money, but it was a good dinner. (Hamburgers, hot dogs, and stuff to go with that). I am sure I have mentioned before that our head chef at the zoo is award winning (at least here in town). So, even the hot dogs tasted really good!

After dinner it was on to pony rides for both girls, (Kasey rode all by herself for the first time! No one walking beside her to make sure she didn't fall off!) then on to the merry-go-round. Merry-go-round rides were 1/2 off tonight! Desserts were also 1/2 off, so we got dessert after merry-go-round rides. Of course we saw several people we know too! We tooled around the zoo, and met up with several groups of friends and we all started traveling together. We didn't really see anything new and exciting, but I just love evenings at the zoo! I just love summer evenings in general, so add the zoo on top of that and it's a major bonus for me! It felt like such good family time!

One of the funniest parts of the evening was watching one of the keepers try to wrangle the bunnies! She knew the sprinklers would be coming on soon, so she was doing it as fast as she could, but they bunnies did not want to co-operate. There is a HUGE flowerpot in the middle of their enclosure, so they bunnies kept running around it, and she was running around chasing them. It was quite entertaining to watch!

We left as it was closing up for the night, so it was a long late night for the girls, but so worth it! Isn't this is what summer is all about! Staying up and doing special family things?! Man do I feel lucky!

Ok, on to a Kasey update. She failed her first pulse/ox test (the one I was telling you about on my last post). So, she had to do another week on oxygen. She did finally pass the one a week later! All in all she was on oxygen for 3 weeks!

She went in for allergy testing on Tuesday. I made Hubby take her, I just don't think I could do it. Anyway, she tested negative for any allergies! We could believe it! We thought for sure she was suffering from them! They also took an x-ray of her sinus and the doctor suspects she has had a chronic sinus infection! So, he put her on antibiotics. When she was in the hospital, they never put her on them! So, she may have had all this trouble, all this time, due to a sinus infection!

Hubby came home with 3 new meds for Kasey, in addition to all the ones they started at the hospital! She is now on: an antibiotic for 20 days, zantac for her tummy (they want to rule out silent reflux), flonase to assist with the sinus stuff, some other super powerful zyrtek like medication that is expensive and prescription only to help with the sinus stuff, and her flovent (her inhaled steroid). (sorry I don't know all the correct spelling of her meds). Plus we have to use saline as much as possible, and keep her humidifier on overnight (which we already do anyway). Prior to her going to the allergist, she was starting to go down the road of clear drainage and coughing again. After the meds that the allergist added, it's like she is a whole new kid! The nose stuff is gone, the coughing is gone! YAY!!!

So, now we wonder if maybe she doesn't actually have asthma like suspected! At this point we still have an appointment to see the pediatric pulmonologist in Denver at Children's Hospital, but if she continues be well, we will discuss canceling that appointment with her pediatrician!

Update time for Courtney. She got over her bout of croup really fast, but she too has had an ongoing problem with clear nose drainage. I am giving her Zyrtek daily and that seems to be clearing it up, so now I am wondering if she has some allergies.

She is currently in a feeding clinic once a week to help her try new food, and help teach us as parents how to help her eat better. The girl stopped eating most foods. She used to love steak and chicken and fish, and now won't touch them with a 10 foot pole. And she will not touch anything that is mixed together, such as a casserole or pizza. (the list goes on, this is just a snippet of items she won't touch) Her menu of what she WILL eat is very limited. She was evaluated a few months ago, and it was determined that she did need a feeding clinic to try and help with her eating habits. It's very interesting to watch. The parents sit on the other side of a one way mirror so we can watch and listen. And there is a therapist in the room with us as well who is helping us to understand how to help our kids at home. It's a lot of work and it's going to take a lot of time. Hopefully I can do everything correctly and we can get her eating back on track and have her trying new things too!

She is having an MRI on Monday. We really don't expect to see anything wrong, but it's a good follow up from the one she had when she was really young to make sure that all areas of the brain are developing correctly. Plus she had some blood drawn for some tests that her new neurologist wants done. That was not a fun thing. But, she got though it! It will be interesting to see how all these results come back. I am anxious to find out what her new diagnosis will be.

Other than that, we are all hanging in there ok. I now realize just how much of a trouble maker Buddy was even up until close to the end. He was the dog that always got in the trash if we left it down when we left the house (we used to have to put it up on the counter). And if a bathroom door was left open, he would get into the bathroom trash! And if the pantry door was left open (not latched shut), he knew how to get it open and then into the dog food container! I always thought Maggie was also a big part of that. She will steal food from the counter, so I always assumed she "helped" buddy with the trash. But since Buddy has been gone, we can leave the trash down! And the bathroom doors don't have to be shut all the way, if they are mostly closed, but not latched, Maggie stays out of the trash. If the door is left wide open though, sometimes that trash apparently is just too enticing for her.

But then again, looking back over the life of Buddy, I should have known it was all him! This is the dog that ate a pack of cigarettes once, and ArmorAll, and a small dead bird in one swallow, and many many other things that made us shake our head. He was quite the mischievous little fellow. Lucky for him, he always had that cute innocent look on his face.

He was also the dog that got me through a lot of hard and sad times. Granted, he suffered too, and let me know by peeing on my pillow in the middle of the night, when I was sleeping on it! But he and I got though it together. I miss my little Buddy. I can't wait to see him again one day (don't worry, hopefully a long time from now).

Hubby has been on a low carb diet at the doctor's order and he has lost about 20 pounds just by cutting way back on carbs! How fabulous is that?!

The girls and I are enjoying summer. We have had play dates, including one at a park, Courtney just finished her first round of swimming lessons at the Y for the summer, we are outside daily, ahh, it's so nice. Honestly, going into summer I was so worried about what we would do every day?! Some days we do have days that the girls watch too much TV, but mostly I do find we are on the go! Courtney started her OT up again, so now she has her feeding clinic, PT and OT every week. That also occupies our time. Hopefully next week the girls and I can get some swimming time in together at the Y.

Well, it's late and I am exhausted. So, I better run. Hugs to all of you!

Can a girl get a break?

So, Kasey came home, and I know she is feeling a whole lot better because she will NOT keep her oxygen on. I had 2 of the little pads on each cheek to try and keep it on, and she ripped the tabs off. Tonight she gets to take a pulse/ox test overnight to see if she can tolerate not being on oxygen.

Meanwhile, Courtney came down with croup. Yea, Sunday night. So, on Tuesday I took both girls into the doctor's office. Kasey for her follow-up and Courtney for croup. Courtney was put on oral steroids. She is doing better, but she is not 100%. She has napped twice this week. That is a sign for sure that she is sick. And she woke up from her nap today complaining her ear hurts. So, she may have an ear infection. I sure hope not.

And of course Hubby is still out of town. He is missing all of the lack of sleep happening for the parental units here. I am so wiped out. We have been staying home all week too. Any appointments we had I canceled. I need these girls to get healthy!

At the same time we are trying to adjust to being a 2 dog family. It's more of an adjustment than I thought. Having a third dog was also a lot more work than I realized too! It's crazy! And old habits die hard. About once a day I walk over to get Buddy's bowl first, when I go to feed them. It's so strange.

Well, I think that is enough craziness for now. I have to go prepare dinner!

Finally home!!

The last 2 days in the hospital were tough ones. On Friday Kasey was doing soooooo good with her oxygen. When I left for the night, she was down to .1L! The lowest she has been yet.

But about 5am the next morning they thought Kasey sounded wheezy. So they ordered an albuterol treatment for her. The albuterol caused her O2 level to drop like a rock and they had to turn her all the way back up to 2L. Thanks to that, they would not let her go home on Saturday.

The pediatrician doing rounds on Saturday decided to take her off albuterol and try a different med. Saturday she did great! She was off her O2 when she was awake, and only needed it for sleeping.

Overnight Saturday night (about 2am) they decided she needed another treatment with the new meds. And again, it had the same affect. It dropped her O2 level. So, it was decided then and there she would not receive any more breathing treatments unless absolutely necessary!

Finally Sunday morning they decided to release Kasey. I think Hubby laid down the law the night before and let them know that we pretty much would be taking her home the next day. So, they agreed to let her go as long as we agreed to have oxygen on her when she sleeps. No problem!

Apria was here delivering oxygen within about an hour and half of us being home. It was nice! I was delaying Kasey's nap as long as I could because I knew they would have to set the O2 up in her room. Finally it was all good to go and I was getting ready to put her down for nap. When I tried to put the oxygen on her, she would have NOTHING to do with it. I don't blame her, it had been a long few days in the hospital. So, I just waited for her to fall asleep in my arms (that only took about 5 minutes) and then I put it on her.

Overnight she has to wear it as well. We were up several times with Courtney, as she now appears to have a cold, or something. The first time she woke us up, we had only been asleep about an hour and a half. I checked in on Kasey and wouldn't you know the oxygen tubes were up on the bridge of her nose? So, I set my alarm for 2 hours. I woke up when my alarm went off and checked on Kasey. Guess what? Her oxygen tubes were again up on the bridge of her nose. Now, she has these little sticky pads on her cheeks but she can still push the tubes out of her nose and up. So, I was up every 2 hours putting them back in. I have a feeling tonight may be the same way.

Tomorrow I will be able to talk to her pediatrician and we can get all of this straightened out. We will find out about how long she needs to be on the O2, and the meds, and all that stuff. I really can not wait to talk to her own pediatrician!

Well, it's almost 10pm, and I need to get some sleep, cause you know I am going to be up every 2 hours. And Hubby leaves at 4am, so it's going to be a long night!

Yet another Kasey update

Kasey was kicking some butt yesterday with her oxygen. She was down to .1 L. Last night, when Courtney and I left at about 7:30pm, we really all thought she would be coming home today.

Then at 5am someone came in to listen to her and thought she was wheezing. So they ordered a neb treatment. Around 6am Kasey was given Albuterol. (I am guessing on the spelling of that.) For some reason that caused her oxygen to plummet and they had to turn her all the way back up to 2L. That's quite a difference.

So, when I arrived at 9am, I was informed by her nurse that no Kasey could not go home yet. The pediatrician doing rounds that day changed her medicine a bit, and added some meds for her.

By this afternoon Kasey was doing really good! She was running around the halls with no oxygen on! It may be that we bring her home tomorrow, but she has to have oxygen at night while she sleeps. That's fine with us! She will be HOME!

She has started to have some visitors which has been nice. Papa came by and played with her for quite some time this morning. She really enjoyed that. Yesterday several people stopped by, and a few more today. We are so blessed with so many good friends and family!

The P's have been a huge help too. They kept Courtney yesterday for the day while I was at the hospital and while Hubby was at the office. I also dropped her off out there for a few hours this morning too. That has been very helpful for us to spend time with Kasey and not have to worry about trying to keep Courtney entertained as well.

Well, it's time for me to head back to the hospital!

Kasey update

I am currently sitting at the hospital. Kasey is indeed still here. At first they thought it was just croup and a virus. But after the last few nights, the doctors are thinking it's more. They are calling it Reactive Airway Disease. That is a nice was of saying asthma without officially diagnosing her with asthma. Which is a good thing because asthma is a pre-existing condition.

She has had a couple of rough nights. When she is sleeping, her O2 level drops. Wednesday night they had to turn her O2 all the way up to 4.5L for a while. That is a lot. Last night was better. It was only at 2 for a few hours before they were able to turn it back down again.

I am adding in that she is on both an oral steroid and and inhaled steroid. I get asked a lot if she is on anything besides oxygen.

I gave her a shower this morning. I don't remember when she had her last bath and she has been here since Tuesday, so she was overdue. That seemed to help her O2 level for a little bit. And of course it wore her out, so she is quietly resting in bed now. We are praying she gets to come home tomorrow, but I am not holding my breath for that.

I am working on uploading the pictures from the past few days as I sit here too. So, feel free to check the website for new pics! Time to go get more coffee.

Poor Kasey

So, Kasey came down with a slight cold on Sunday. She started coughing a little bit Sunday night. By Monday morning it was sounding bad enough that I went ahead and gave her the oral steroids we keep on hand. By Tuesday afternoon she had a fever of 101.6, and couldn't go 30 seconds without coughing. So, off to the pediatrician we went.

As soon as we were in the exam room, they checked her pulse/Ox level and it was at 85%. WAY below where it should be. So, they immediately put her on Oxygen. Once she was examined by the Nurse Practitioner, she said Kasey needed to be admitted to the hospital. The good news is that right next door to the pediatrician's office is a hospital! So, I was able to walk over and do the paperwork to get her admitted while the hospital pediatrician came over and examined Kasey at the pediatrician's office to write up the orders for the night.

Then we just used their nice little sky bridge thing to avoid the wind and rain, and walked over to the hospital. And they already had a room waiting for us, so we went right into her room. They had already set that up for her too! Waiting was a brand new in the package pink sippy cup, a package of size 4 diapers, and other things just for her. That was nice.

They think she has a virus, which also caused her croup to act up. So, she is fighting a virus and croup. Her fever has diminished, thankfully. Now she is just dealing with the coughing and the low oxygen level.

We don't know when she will be released from the hospital. Right now it kind of feels like no end in sight even though it will probably only be another few days. She had a setback last night and they had to turn her oxygen up to 3 liters for a while. That's a lot. She hadn't been that high yet. So I am a little worried about why we keep having to turn the oxygen up and not down.

She is miserable. She feels miserable. You can just see it. And she is soooo grumpy. My usual happy go lucky kid is GRUMPY. She watches movies on her ITouch, and I brought her some toys yesterday. The hospital also gave her some toys too. But, she is so miserable, it's not too hard to keep her contained and quiet.

My dad is going to go and visit her today. It will be interesting to see how she does for Papa. I hope she is happy to see him. That will make me feel a bit better if she is.

Hubby has been spending the most time at the hospital with her. At the same time that all of this was going on, it was Air Force graduation time around here. Tuesday night we were supposed to go to the Commissioning Ceremonies for our 2 graduating cadets. We were really looking forward to those as we have never been allowed to go in the past. It was always only immediate family members that were allowed to attend due to a lack of space. But they have found larger venues to hold the ceremonies at, so they are allowing the cadets to bring more people. But, we ended up at the pediatrician's office and then the hospital instead. Courtney was with a babysitter at home.

Wednesday was graduation. I was able to go. We already had another babysitter lined up for that day, so Courtney stayed with a babysitter, and Hubby stayed at the hospital but was able to watch the graduation on line. I was so glad one of us got to be there for our cadets and their families.

Wednesday night we had a dinner for Toby and family planned at our house. I had all the food prepped and ready to go, I stayed up until midnight the night before cutting, chopping and preparing everything. So, after graduation, I went and picked up the cake, came home, changed, and then headed to the hospital. Hubby then came home and cooked all the food and served it.

After that they brought the cake and ice cream and gifts to the hospital so we could all be together for part of the night. I made both Toby and Scott a quilt. Scott's had some Chinese characters in it because that is what he studied. Toby's had a few squares made from Crown Royal bags, because that is what he studied. No, I am kidding. It just fit his personality.

A quilt, to me, is a meaningful gift. I choose the fabric to suit each one of them. The backing was their class color. And I worked hard and sewed a lot of love into it. I hope it is as special to them as it is to me.

Today brings a new day. Graduation is over. Scott leaves town today, Toby leaves town tomorrow. Maddie, Toby's fiance, just got stationed here in the Springs. So, she is staying with us until she moves into her apartment this weekend.

Well, I need to go and get dressed so that I can go pick up Buddy's ashes and then go to the hospital to hang out. I hope all of you are well!

Buddy

Well, we did it. We said good-bye to Buddy on Saturday morning.

I had to tell Courtney on Friday afternoon to prepare her, and so she could say her goodbyes. She wanted to give him lots of treats and take lots of pictures of him once she knew. As soon as I told her, she burst into tears. She didn't want Buddy to leave and go to Heaven. It was very sad.

So, she gave him lots of treats, and she took lots of pictures of him. We took him for one last walk after dinner on Friday night. Courtney walked him most of the way. It was nice, it stopped raining just long enough for us to do that.

I was a little worried about myself. I felt almost emotionless about the whole thing. I knew it was sad, but I just felt emotionless. It was kind of odd and I was a bit worried about myself.

Hubby got home around 11:30pm Friday night. Just about as soon as he walked in the door, my emotions hit. I guess without even realizing it, I had compartmentalized it without even trying. I guess that is what you do when you are a "single" mom. You hold on to those strong emotions and compartmentalize them until you know its safe to release them. Of course, once I started crying, I couldn't stop.

Hubby had a great idea, which was to sleep on the floor with Buddy that night. We woke Courtney up and brought her downstairs as well. The 3 of us made a triangle with our bodies, and we put Buddy in the middle. We affectionately call it the Love Triangle. Buddy slept soundly all night and right up against me.

The next morning we spoiled him with a breakfast of eggs and bacon. And I don't know how many treats Courtney gave him. It was a lot.

Hubby and I dropped Courtney and Kasey off at a friends house, we had all 3 dogs with us. We always take any other dogs we own at the time, so they are aware of what happened to their litter mate.

The dogs were all amped up because they were at the vet. We were not in a normal exam room, we were in their "saying goodbye room", but they still knew where we were. As soon as Buddy passed, Bristol and Maggie laid down behind us very sad like and didn't move until we told them it was time to go. It was very eerie and rather sad. Maggie was more interested in sniffing Buddy's body than Bristol, but the two of them were obviously very sad. It was touching.

We left through the back door and went and got the girls. When Kasey got in the car she immediately asked "Buddy?". We told her Buddy was all gone. She has done that several times over the last 2 days.

Courtney has bouts where she suddenly misses Buddy, doesn't want to be a 2 dog family, wants Buddy back, etc. I am sure this will last a few days to weeks.

I had prepared for this moment about a year ago. I had purchased 2 books that help kids understand the death of a dog and what happens. They are both basically about Dogs in Heaven and all the fun things they get to do. I think the books help me more than Courtney.

So, we are still reeling from the loss of Buddy. But I know he is so much happier and back to his normal self now. And I know that someday, when I go to Heaven, he will be there waiting for me, along with all the other dogs I have loved, and will love, along the way.

it's not over yet folks

As I said in my last post, this has been one tough week! It hasn't even been a full week yet either.

So, I had all that stuff last week with Courtney and her neurologist. Then this week it's been Buddy. Buddy has had dementia for some time now. He has bouts of it, it's not all the time. every time he has a bout, it gets worse and worse. He gets very confused, walks in circles, and forgets how to go outside, and goes potty inside, a lot, among other things. His quality of life is not the greatest. He is blind, going deaf, and forgetful. All he really does it eat, sleep and potty. Really. He's back to the newborn stage.

So, I also had to make the decision that it's time for Buddy to go to The Rainbow Bridge. We were going to wait until May 27th. That would be after Hubby is back, and after all our Air Force Academy graduation celebrations. But, it's been pretty bad the last 2 days. So, I changed the date to this Saturday.

All of this I have handled while Hubby is out of town. You know what I realized yesterday? I am pretty darn strong. I am a whole lot stronger than I ever gave myself credit for. I have not lost it, yet. Well, only once last week dealing with the Courtney stuff. Thankfully my sister was available to help out with that one.

Well, I am going to go veg out in front of the TV. I think I have earned it.

Tough week

It's been a rather tough week here for me. Hubby is on a 2 week trip at the moment. And Wednesday we went and saw a new neurologist for Courtney. At the place where my mom works, they have a new guy who's specialty is child development. He is fresh out of med school and residencies, so I thought getting a second opinion certainly wouldn't hurt.

Well, I may have been wrong. But it may have also been the very right thing to do. He spent an hour with me and Courtney, and Hubby who was listening on Skype through my iPad. He asked all kinds of questions, and I had brought a copy of Courtney's very old MRI. And when all was said and done, I had learned some very interesting things.

First, apparently Static Encephalopathy Central Hypotonia is a useless term. Nice, it only took me over 2 years to learn that. He said basically that means that something isn't right in her brain, and that is not changing, and her core muscles are weak. But WHY is a big question, and I guess more so is how does it manifest itself. Then he dropped a bomb. He suspects Courtney is ADD. (Attention Deficit Disorder).

I left there feeling punched in the gut. It took me a couple hours to figure out why. For so long when Courtney was younger everyone kept saying to us "she'll grow out of it". I guess I had interpreted that in my mind as a year or two. Which is why we got her into therapy so quick and at a young age. My thinking was, get her through therapy and this way it won't interfere with school. Suddenly a diagnosis such as ADD, or something else, is not something she is going to grow out of quickly. No quick fixes here, no growing out of it by age 5. That's tough to hear.

So, our next steps are: getting another MRI of her brain to see if anything has changed, make sure we didn't miss anything first go round, make sure it's developing as it should. She is also to undergo behavioral and psychological testing. We are also working to gather up all the blood tests she has had done to make sure she has had all the test that this neurologist would like to see. We also need to start her in some pretty intense behavioral therapy.

I called her pediatrician that day too. When she called me back she agreed that static encephalopathy is a useless term. And she said that when neurologists diagnose ADD, they are usually correct with their diagnosis.

Don't get me wrong, I really liked this new neurologist! In fact, I would really rather have an accurate diagnosis then just have her labeled under a general term. It's just still a punch in the gut to think that for the last few years we might have had her misdiagnosed. Well, not really misdiagnosed as much as not clearly diagnosed. And it's painful to think that she is not going to grow out of this as fast as I expected. In fact, if she is ADD, we will be able to get services through the school a lot easier.

The next day I had a parent-teacher conference at school. As far as that goes, she is a model student! She is excellent in class, empathic, shares well with others, the praise went on and on. Then I walked out of that thinking: how is this possible? How can she be such an angel at school and so opposite at home? I guess only time will tell. Hopefully over the next few months all my questions will be answered. I hope.

And of course I have stress induced IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). So, my IBS had been acting up really bad the past few days which really isn't much fun. Especially when you are trying to parent 2 kids by yourself.

Plus Grant, one of our cadets has been here the last 4 days. The really nice thing about having him here is that it's another adult to talk to. Plus I eat a whole lot better when I have to make dinner for everyone. When it's just me and the girls, I don't really make dinner, we more just scrounge things together. I took Grant back to school tonight, but Toby is coming over tomorrow night to stay a few nights.

Well, I am so exhausted, I really need to head to bed. Hugs to all of you.