Piano

I am so excited that we are getting a piano.

It is an old piano, that needs some love.

But I am so excited.

Madi is so excited as well...she really wants to play.

I wish I had a picture of it...but it's not at our house yet, hopefully it will be soon.

I tried to find one on the Internet that kinda looks like it.

This kinda looks like it, only mine is darker.

And much cuter.

I have no idea the make and model....but it is a piano....oh, and did I say I was getting it for FREE?!?!

Can't complain about that!

Spoiled.

There's nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.

This little boy talked me into buying him this lighting McQueen fabric, which I made into a pillow case.

I was at Hobby Lobby, and he and Elsie were being pretty good.

He saw this fabric and went nuts.

But I didn't get it for him.

He was sad, but still good about it.

Well, the next day I needed to go back to Hobby Lobby.

And I just had to get it.

It was on sale for heavens sake!

He was a happy boy.

Elsie was cute too.

She didn't even ask for anything....she just wanted Porter to get Lightning McQueen.

So cute.

And, I think it helps him sleep better.
It is a great addition to his bedtime collection of 'must have's'.
#1 his baby blanket
#2 his Emmy blanket
#3 sippy cup of water
#4 lights on.
I told ya, spoiled.

Madis Field Trip with Dad.

Today Madi got to go to the State Penitentiary, the Statehouse, and a pioneer grave yard.

All very exciting things for Madi.

And even better, Dad got to go with her.

Apparently Madi went pretty picture-crazy....like 116 pictures worth...

Where in the world did she get that from??????

I just picked a few from each of the spots so she could remember them....even though I would LOVE to post all 116 of them!

They had a pretty fun time.

Missing Grandma!

Grandma Ene bought Elsie a book a while ago that had this cute little horse shoe necklace.

Well, Elsie just re found this necklace yesterday....and she was the happiest girl in the world!

But she was sad too.

She started crying, saying she missed Grandma.

I told her that when ever she misses Grandma, all she had to do was give her little necklace a kiss.

That made her happy.

She was so excited to go back to school today...but even more excited to show everyone her cute necklace.

School went well for her, but she came home absolutely exhausted!!!!!!!!

I hope that she sleeps well tonight.

And we will be there to see you soon, Grandma!!!

Elsie's story- part 4

If you have missed them, here is part 1, part 2, and part 3.
*******

So next in line on our Cerebral Palsy journey was to get Elsie's MRI.

I was a good blogger at this point so here is what I posted that day:

Repost- March 17, 2008

Today we had Elsie's MRI. She is one tough cookie...poor thing had no idea what was going to hit her! The nurses were so nice, and of course Elsie was all smiles...UNTIL they put the IV in...she was MAD...being held down by Mom, Dad and a nurse, with another nurse sticking the IV in...HORRIBLE!!! But then it was in, she calmed down, I rocked her for a little while until they took us to the MRI room. They told me to be aware that when they sedate her, her body will go limp, and could stop breathing, but not to worry, they have people there just in case, as if that makes me feel better! Anyway, they start to give it to her, she cries cause they said it burns as it goes in, and then all of the sudden her head falls back and her legs seize up...then they say "Go ahead and lay her on the table now." I was so worried, but they said she is okay she is just going asleep, so I laid her down. That is when I broke down...my baby laying there with her arms all floppy, still a little conscious, but her body completely lifeless...oh man...so hard. Then they took us to a room to wait. We were supposed to be there when she woke up...but when the nurse came in she said "Well, she is awake and laughing at us" So we went in there and sure enough...our little Elsie was as high as a kite! So funny! Anyway...she is a trooper! We love that girl! We should get results in the next couple days.

Before the IV...she has no idea what is coming!!!

Daddy loves this girl!!!
Very mad about the IV in her foot!!!

Getting calmed down after the Iv stick
Here is Elsie VERY loopy!!!
Still a little loopy!
On the way home with her new friend from the hospital, Buttons... (very cute it is hand-made and donated to the hospital)

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We didn't have anything solved by doing the MRI.
Which was kinda frustrating.....but what can ya do.
The next big stride that Elsie made was when she started being able to hug us.
She was so week in the arms that to put her arms up and around our necks was just so hard.
Here is my post about that.
She melted my heart that day.
I remember it like it was yesterday.

Repost- April 4 2008

We have never gotten real hugs from Elsie.

The lack of strength in her arms has made it hard for her to stretch her arms to go around something...when you asked for 'loves' she would be very sweet and lay her head on your shoulder, but you never got a wrap around squeeze from her...

So in the last few days she has grabbed us around our necks and she won't let go...my heart is so happy to see her able to express her love the way she wanted to.

Nothing makes me happier than to get one of these squeezes from little Elsie...and she is more than happy to hand them out!!!

Anyway, just thought you would all enjoy some pictures of Elsie's newest milestone!

Then at the end of April 2008, Elsie started to cruise at 33 months of age.

We were so excited....

Again, thanks to blogging here ya go.

Repost- April 23, 2008

  

So Elsie has been making great progress.

In the last few weeks she has learned to do a lot of fun stuff and I wanted to document it.

Last week she started to pull herself up standing. She does it all the time and she is perfecting it now. She also will cruise a little bit along the couch, and she laughs the whole time, both the excited and scared laugh all mixed into one.

She still can't stand alone without support, but that is what we are working on now.

She has also managed to learn to climb a few steps...perfect timing now that our stairs are hardwood!!!

And she has finally learned to use a straw. This has been very hard for her to figure out. The muscles in her mouth are so weak, and her tongue tends to push everything forward, and it still does, she just learns to cope with it and get it to work for her anyway.

It started with Capri Suns..the straws are thinner, so takes less suction to get the drink up...after a little bit she caught onto that, and then we tried the big straws. She gets very excited when she gets a drink up the straw, and chokes up a little bit some of the time. But she loves it.

I love that with every little thing Elsie learns she is SO excited! She makes me appreciate all the little things we can do ourselves with no problem!

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Next up was Elsie's new ride!!!!!

We knew she needed some kind of aid when walking.

She just did not have the balance, but she wanted to do it so bad!
We started with a loaner from Katie, her P.T.
But then she got her very own shiny GOLD one!

Repost- May 5, 2008 

Elsie's Physical Therapist brought this to us today to try out. Elsie knows what she needs to do to walk. She just has trouble with her balance and her legs tend to buckle under her. So we have been thinking about getting a pediatric walker for her, but we weren't sure if doing that would hinder her from walking on her own some day. We didn't want her to become dependant on it. But we decided to give it a try. She loves it. This one is an old model, and we are going to go next week to a open house thing where there will be many vendors and we can figure out what would work best for Elsie and her needs, but for now this is our loner, and you can already see how much she is loving it.
Madi had to help her out on the grass, it was a little harder to push around there.

Repost- May 16, 2008

Elsie got her new ride today!!! She is loving it. This one works MUCH better for her...first of all..it's GOLD...how could that not be better, right??? NO, but really, it stops when it starts to roll backwards...which is a good feature. The front wheels swivel, which makes it much easier for her to maneuver where she wants to go. She loves it and has worn herself out today walking with it. Her little legs get tired pretty fast, but she loves it, so she keeps going! She will sleep good tonight, that is for sure. Sorry about all the pictures, but she just looks so cute...I can't help it! I should post a video, I will do that another time.

Loves and kisses for her daddy! That girl has him wrapped around her finger!!!


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Okay, that might be enough to post for now.
Again, the girl amazes me.
She is such an angel to us all.
I am so Thankful to her.
I plan to continue to post these until I am up to date.
I had been totally fine with the diagnosis up until she turned 3.
That is when I had a hard time.
I will get to that.
Thanks for reading.
It really is so important to have other aware out there of not only Cerebral Palsy, but all other disabilities out there.
They have a heart and soul too.....I think sometimes people forget that.
I also wanted to out out there, don't be afraid to ask questions.
We would much rather you come and talk to us instead of staring.
Elsie is perfect for this....she doesn't wait for someone to come up to us....she is always there with a big smile on her face saying "HI" to all who will look at her.
More to come.

Mr. Man.

I think Port would spend the whole day in the garage if I would let him.

He loves tools and working out there with Dad.

Except he was sure missing Dad out there today.

He even threw a fit saying "I want Daddy!" at one point.

O have a few projects in the works right now.

For a while now I have been wanting to paint my cabinets white....like for over a year or so.

I am finally getting to it.

Kinda.

I figure if I just take one door down a day, get it sanded down and hang it back up, then by the time the weather is good enough to use the paint sprayer, they will be all ready to go.

That is my plan anyway.

So Porter was out there today helping me out.

And no, we did not get out of our jammies today.

Well, not until it was time to put new ones on.

He really does do a good job and pays attention to what he is doing.

I mean, it is of course more fun to hang out with Dad in the garage...

But I think we had a pretty fun time.

Silly boy.

Love his squinty eyed 'cheese' face.

Lovin' the outdoors!!!

The weather forecast doesn't look so great for the rest of the week.

So we decided to take advantage of the great weather we had today!

I kept Elsie home from school again.

She seems just fine, but still has a runny nose, and they don't want that there at school.

Hopefully things will clear up tomorrow, but we will wait and see.

When the big girls got home from school we headed to the park.

Actually, Madi went to activity days, but the rest of us went to the park.

(Us, being Jenni, her kids, and the 4 kids she is watching for this week.  So we had quite the herd!)

We love having this park so close!

Then when it came time to go get Madi from Activity days, we decided to walk there....all 10 kids in tow.

It was a nice little walk and not many problem with the kiddos.

We picked up Madi and Amber and headed home...now with 12 kids!

Craziness!!!

Then we got home and the kids headed back outside in the back for some more play.

That was nice, because it kept them busy while Elsie's speech therapist was here.

Then we had a late dinner, and then right to bed.

They seemed nice and worn-out....I hope they sleep that way!

********

Oh and Madi says she thinks she did a good job with her P.A.C.E. presentation.

I knew she would.

I am proud of her.

Great job Bell!

P.A.C.E. is almost over!!!

Tomorrow Madi makes her P.A.C.E. presentation!

This is a huge deal for her.

Her nerves are on overload, but she is rocking it anyway!

I am excited for her and nervous for her too....and I so wish I could go and watch her!

Here is one of Madi's practice videos that Brent shot of her.

Her P.A.C.E. project is about Patrick Gass.

And she made a power point presentation to go along with it.

That is why she is holding a fake clicker in her hand...so she will be prepared for that.

Good luck Bell!!!!

You will ROCK!

Sloughing church!

Elsie had a rough night last night.

She kept waking up because her nose was stuffy.

I would pick her up, and rock her and she would go back to sleep.

But she did that about 4 times last night.

So this morning, she was acting fine, but I knew she would be too tired to go to church.

I told her she would stay home with daddy and get better.

Then she started to fake cough and say 'cause she is sick'.

It was pretty funny.

I also left Porter home with dad, cause we are all better off if Port can get s nice long nap in the middle of the day, and that doesn't happen with 1:00 church!

So they all stayed home....

AND PLAYED THE WHOLE TIME!!!!!!

Goof balls.

Dad sure has been a lot more fun to hang out with than Mom is.

I told Brent that maybe he should be the one to hang out with her at 4:00 a.m.!!!

But Elsie was sad to miss church cause she didn't get to see Sis. Roll....but Sis. Roll surprised Elsie by bringing her some yummy cookies after church!

That was a fun surprise for her!

I hope Elsie sleeps good tonight and I REALLY hope we do not get sick around here!

********

Also....that dumb wind today!
We had crazy wind today around these parts!
The kids are always VERY careful when they open the car doors, but today, the wind pulled it right out of Cassi's hands, and right into the van next to us!
DANG!
I left a note, and hopefully we can get it fixed without it costing to much money!!!
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I loved (again) all the lessons given in church today.
Each and every lesson seemed to say the same thing....you get out what you put in...you see what you look for....you become what you read/watch/see....
When doing Madi's hair today, she was mad with me, cause she wanted to watch the Book of Mormon dvd's.
But I needed to get her hair done.
And she was complaining, and I told her that we need to all be like Dory. (Port is on a Finding Nemo kick right now.)
Dory is always positive.
Dory looks at the good, and good always happens.
Then our Home Teacher came over and talked about the same kind of thing.
The talk was "Looking for the Good" by Elder Uchtdorf
He read a story on different perspectives that different people can have.
When someone asked two different people what they thought of the local school, one person loved the school, loved the principle, and loved the teachers.
The other person thought the principle was an idiot, hated the teachers and would move out of the school zone if they could afford it.
This was the same school, how could these tow people have such different perspectives?
It is all in the attitude you have and what you are willing to SEE.
The theme went on as we went to church.
In Sunday school, there was a comment made about if we learn and read and strive to be like Christ, there is no way we can escape from becoming like him.
The same is for the other direction.
If we choose to hang with people not of our standards, choose to watch bad movies....that is also what we become.
If we act good, we will become good.
And in Relief Society we had a wonderful lesson on Charity.
When we put ourselves outside ourselves, and help those around us in need, we can't help but become better people.
So if we are down in the dumps, there is nothing better you can do then to reach out to those around you in need.
It will not only uplift them, but it will uplift you.
You will be able to see the whale half full of water, like dory!
(Sorry, Nemo on my mind again!)
Then while talking to my friend Jenni tonight, she talked about the same thing.
It was about our kids though.
It is all about our perspective.
If we see the good things in our kids....then we will continue to see the good things.
But if we dwell on the things they don't do so good, we continue to look and find more bad.
So give your kids a break...look for the good.
Then they will be positive when they go out in the world!
So my goal is to be more postive.
To do the things in my life that I actually want to be a part of my life.
And hopefully improve as a Mom as I go.

Havin' fun.

Madi got to go to Kara's birthday party today.

So we had Aubree over to play with Cassi.

They had lots of fun painting...playing the Wii....and laying out in the nice weather...

They were just a couple of goof-balls.

It sure is great to have great friends.

Thanks Aub for hanging out with us!

And Elsie Rose was loving it outside too!

isn't that just the best smile?

****

We had a really fun night with the kids playing Wii.

We bowled a little then put the little ones to bed.

Then Madi, Cassi, Brent and I bowled some more, played some major tennis.

Fun times.

I think I may have thrown my arm out....ha ha...