A few new pictures to share

Life is good!

Watching Conner play soccer and cheering him on

Go, Conner, Go!

And he's done.....

Conner has a good cheer section

Trying to coax him in to playing (didn't go over well)

At the pumpkin patch

Grammy and Papa came with us

When you tickled his nose, he made the funniest face.  This entertained us (ok, maybe me) for a loooong time

 I love cheesy cute smiles

Madi LOVED playing in the corn and was covered with corn dust by the time we left

 Madi loves her papa very much!

Of course she loves her grammy too ;)

Note to self:  When you have two adorable kids, and one is in a wheelchair dressed like tinkerbell, expect that EVERYONE is going to come up and talk to you and plan accordingly

Taking a ride on mom and admiring her new pumpkin

Madi let me put her hair up and actually kept it up for over an hour... our new record!

Pumpkin carving.... Madi chose a cat

We love family traditions (and Conner's eyes in this picture ;))

 How do you keep a baby entertained while you fill out paperwork, wait for testing, and wait to see her neurosurgeon?  Floss!

And maybe a funny mirror or two....

And who could forget the pretend corn?



And we are home!

Thanks for all of the prayers (you know how much we covet those :)).  The drive went amazingly well, though the shunt series and cat-scan, not so much.  The results were great, but Madi was NOT happy to have them done.  I held her hand and sang to her as I wiped her tears and told her I promised it wouldn't hurt, but it didn't make a difference.  Big scary machines are just not on her top 10 list this year.  We both survived, though, and Dr. Moss said everything looks great!  There are no blood clots or areas he is concerned about, and though there is more fluid on the right hand side, he is not worried.  It was there the last 2 times they checked too.  I told him next time I was not going to come right before a Disneyland trip we had planned, like we've done the last two times, because I always get nervous we'll have to be admitted in to the hospital and miss the trip.  We always have a plan of how David and Conner will go and we will meet up afterwards if anything isn't right, blah blah blah.  Anyhow, I brought Madi's wheelchair and she had a ton of fun showing off.  She did turns and went forwards and backwards and tried not to smile when everyone said they were amazed at how great she was doing.  She got told she was beautiful about 200 times, and that she was smart about another 200 or so, and she enjoyed every second of it!  When she would wheel past someone new, she would go really slow until they said something to her about how cute she was or how great she was doing.  Then she would smile and zoom off to the next person.  No one believed that she was not going to be two until next month and all the nurses said they have never seen someone so young move around like that.  We already know she is amazing, of course, but it was fun watching how excited she got when someone else told her (she's used to hearing it from us ;)).  I'll be back later with a few photos. 

A quick update and a small call for prayer

Today Madi had her first wheelchair accident.  She was trying to get into the grass/sand area at my parent's house and tipped forward when she was coming off the sidewalk.  Thankfully she was strapped in, but it did scare her a lot.  She got a little egg knot and a little scratch on her head :(.  Poor baby.  She, of course, needed a few mommy kisses and hugs, but then felt as good as new.  She got back up, too, and didn't let her fall keep her from trying again!  Such a little fighter she is!

Tomorrow Madi has an appointment to get a shunt series and a cat scan to see how her shunt is doing.  Afterwards she will see her neurosurgeon, Dr. Moss.  It's about a 40 minute drive, which isn't too big of a deal, but I will be doing it alone with a girl who hates the car, so wish us luck!  I will be packing snacks and signing times dvds for sure!!  Please pray her shunt is looking well and doing it's job.  Madi hasn't been sleeping well at night lately, and of course, I always worry.  She also tells me her head hurts.  Her fontanell feels fine, though.  She could be teething, and also has a small cold, so that could be why too.  In all fairness, she also says her arm, teeth, stomach, and anything else she knows how to name hurts, so it might be nothing.  Anyhow, please keep my little gal in your prayers and I'll update when I can.  Thanks!

We got it!

We officially have our first "Disabled Person Placecard" as the call it, and can officially use handicap parking spots when we have Madi out and about with her wheelchair!  YEAH!!  They wouldn't give us an actual plate, since the car is not in Madi's name, so we have a placecard.  Without further ado, here is conner holding our new placecard.  Ignore his blue mouth.  He went on a million errands with me while Madi and David napped, and I let him pick a treat. Of course he picked the most artificial and chemically-laden one, a ring pop.

In honor of spina bifida awareness month....

They said they saw the 'lemon sign'.

They said she had brain abnormalities.

They said there was fluid on the brain.
They said she had a neural tube defect.

They said she would need many, many surgeries.

They said she might struggle cognitively.

They said she would not walk.

They said we had a "choice".

But they forgot a few things.....

 She would be a fighter.

She would be beautiful.

She would be determined.

Her smile would make everything ok.

She would have an amazing sense of humor.

She would be strong.

She would find a way.

Nothing would slow her down.

She would be smart.

She would be full of life.

She would be full of love.

She would be our super hero.

She would be a blessing from God.

She would be perfect.

Choose life.





"Each child is sent into this world by God with a "Unique Message" to deliver, a new personal act of love to bestow".
- John Powell, S.J

Her first four word sentance

Today Madi said her first four word sentance:

"Conner is poo-poo head."

I have to admit I died laughing even though I tried not to!

I LOVE days like this!

Today is raining and it is wonderful out!  Since we live in Arizona and do not get too much rain, we take every opportunity we can to fully enjoy it.  Today we all went out to play in the rain.  For the first time, Madi wanted to play in the rain too, but did not want me to hold her, which brought on an interesting question; Is it ok for Madi's wheelchair to get soaking wet?  I don't mind letter her crawl as long as her legs are covered, but we do not have any grass and the ground is pretty hard.  What to do, what to do.  I decided to grab the old wheelchair and let her go.  She loved it!  She kept pulling off her jacket hood so her head would get wet.  I'm still not how well the wheelchair will take the rain, but I suppose we will soon find out!  What fun is life if you cannot play in the rain???

(Playing in the rain reminded me of one of my favorite quotes....)

"Life's not about waiting for the storms to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain."

~Vivian Greene

 

Nothing can stop her now!

Today we got to go pick up Madi's first ever wheelchair!  We had fun waiting for it and trying out different chairs while we did, as you will see below.  Madi calls it her "zoom zoom" and it is the cutest little thing I have ever seen.  Madi is already in love!  She amazed the therapists by getting on and zooming away.  She was so ready for this!  She got home and wanted in it right away.  She played at her play kitchen for a while then went to explore.  She even got a little help from her brother, who decided it needed to go a little faster.  Now we get to work on all kinds of fun stuff, like we never zoom in the street without mommy and daddy right there.  Without further ado, here it is!

We saw it right away!

Conner picking out his ;).... we have some major wheel chair envy going on

Testing them together

Finding other fun things to test while we wait

Testing her new walker

And there she is!!!

Learning how to use the wheelchair and adjust it

We are all excited!

Uh oh, she's already figuring it out.....

Cause I'm just too cute

Sittin' Pretty

Cooking food in the kid's kitchen

Extreme wheelchairing (within safe limits ;))

 Conner is such a great helper!!

And in other news....

Madi is frustrated by her walker and just wants to go.  Tami and I decided forearm crutches might be a great thing for her to use instead of a walker.  Of course, trying to order a pair would take another 4 months, and we need them now, so I went ahead and ordered them online with Madi's Amazon Associate's Account money.  Yeah for having that money!!!!!  I got her these.... http://www.walkeasy.com/shop/product_details.asp?ProductCode=562 and we should have them in a few days.  Another HUGE thank you to everyone who purchases with her link.  I know it seems like no big deal, since it's stuff you are ordering anyway, but it gets us the things we need to help Madi succeed, and that is priceless!  Thank you again!

http://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=missmadi-20



Madi's second wheelchair... http://www.aworthyjourney.com/2013/05/her-new-wheelchair.html