Wave bye-bye.

Little PP's birthday is in 11 days. She will be three years old, and MAN, has the time flown by.

The past three years have been the best I can recall! Thanks to my girl, I have had the pleasure of meeting all sorts of different folks. Teachers, social workers, doctors, therapists, other families with children who have a disability and many others, have all made a huge impact on our lives. I always knew the day to say goodbye to them was unavoidable, but I never really gave a thought to it. 

Reality set in about a week ago.  

Last Tuesday marked the first round of goodbyes. It was such a bittersweet day. I dearly love PP's therapists because they were our go-to people for anything we couldn't understand about her. They helped shed light on so many of PP's mysteries and were more than willing to help in any way they could. These ladies always went above and beyond for our family. We were incredibly fortunate to have the same teachers for the duration of these challenging times and I count on my lucky stars for that! Each of them would visit PP on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis spanning over every school year in the last three years! That's a lot of time to spend with any person, and it gave me a lot of time to make very close and unique relationships with each of them. It's hard for me to imagine not having someone come to our house to 'play' or listen to our challenges of the week anymore. It's really quite sad to think about. 

On a brighter side, the amazing work of PP's education team is the reason my girl can walk, feed herself, wash her own hands and play with purpose. They are the reason she is SO ready to go to preschool! They have been keeping my sanity intact since PP was just a month old and are only reasons why I am OK with sending PP off to preschool. I can't thank them enough for everything they have done for our family! Also, PP and I are welcome to drop by their offices to say howdy anytime! So maybe it's not so much of a goodbye, it's more like a see-ya-later. 

This past Tuesday was the day I had to say goodbye to PP's Teacher Lezli. I took that pretty hard. I cried. She has been there for me as a mom in every way possible while teaching me how to understand and properly nurture my daughter. She really understands what it is like to be a Special Parent. I already miss her terribly. I will be sure to bring PP into her office soon and tell her all about preschool! 

Today marked our last day of ECFE class. The class is called Special Friends and the name couldn't be more perfect. By going to this class, PP was introduced to other children and a school setting at a very young age. She met a bunch of other kids who were as far from being typical as herself and I had the luxury of meeting their parents. I can't find the right word to express the emotions these kids make me feel. I've been lucky enough to have the opportunity to watch PP's awe-inspiring classmates grow up for years. They have taught me (and their own parents) things I never could have imagined! The Special Parents are some of the bravest, most supportive and genuine people I've ever met. It's very odd to think that we were all just strangers brought together for the sake of our children because I fondly think of the parents of Special Friends as a family. Finding common ground in uncommon children has saved all of us from feeling lost, hopeless and alone. Our parting words brought tears to my eyes. However, today was definitely NOT the last time I will see them! I'm just sad that PP and I won't see them every week anymore. 

I think it goes without saying that I have been feeling sad and crying a lot this week, but that's OK. If I've learned anything from school it is that tears are welcomed. I have grown so much because of everyone involved with PP, and that includes letting myself show my emotions when I feel down. 

Don't worry, I'm also happy when I'm happy! Which is my mood most of the time. 

I am especially happy today because it's HALLOWEEN! I've known that today would be the last day I would give farewell hugs and tell PP to wave bye-bye. After the hard parts were over, I whipped up a really awesome DIY no-sew hooded cape for PP's "Plague Doctor" costume, got myself excited for new beginnings and candy. 

Preschool, BRING IT ON! It starts Monday! Wish PP good luck! It's gonna be quite an experience. 

Also, please make a note that today is the 4th anniversary of my relationship with Chris. In a nutshell, we have been through a helluva lot and we still love each other. We both forgot it was our anniversary today due to the unusual pace at which we've been operating for the past two weeks, but I know we will have many more anniversaries to celebrate so it's not too much to fret about. Now we are gonna go make sweet cards for each other to apologize. Aren't we cute?!

 This was our Halloween costume this year.

He kissed a 'boy' and LIKED it!
I manned up to show everyone to VOTE NO in Minnesota. 

We hope you do, too!

Freedom to Marry isn't scary!

Spooky dreams and sweet candy

XoX

Hair from brown to gray, it only takes a day!

Moving at a constant, quick pace is hard to do for days at a time, but here I am, about to embark on day 8 of craziness. Until November 11, my pace will be this constant 'Where the blob are my coffee and keys and other shoe?!' so I'd better get used to it.

This past week PP had an appointment/therapy session every day. On Monday she had three therapy sessions! She even snuck in a couple spontaneous ER visits. What a card, that little PP. 

Aside from the normal routine, PP did her final tests for enrolling in Pre-K school on Monday. Tuesday was the BIG meeting with all of PP's teachers, which went swimmingly. It helped me become more comfortable with this tricky transition into a big school. We even moved her start date to November 5th, a shocker to me. I really don't know how it will go, and PP might hate it, but there are SO many people who are really excited to work with PP! I can't imagine she would dislike it for more than a few days. 

This experience with PP and school is most comparable to a roller coaster ride. It's been thrilling, terrifying, and most definitely the craziest fun I've ever had. 

Sometime during the morning on Wednesday PP hurt her ankle. I don't know what she did exactly, or where it's actually hurt, but PP won't put weight on it for more than a second. On Thursday I brought her into the ER and she didn't have any signs of injury: no bruising, redness, swelling or fractures, but obviously in pain. So they splinted her little leg and sent us home. Jolly good.

Early Saturday morning, at about 3AM, PP woke up crying and making weird noises. Papa Chris went in to see what was up and discovered that PP had thrown up all over the place. She was COVERED in vomit,  giving me the idea that she was vomiting in her sleep which was slightly petrifying. I was beyond thankful she didn't choke in her sleep and that she usually sleeps on her side. I only had a tweensie-little moment to be scared and then get unscared because I had a very frizzy Papa Chris throwing a hysterical, crusted-vomit covered (and vomiting) PP at me. Mind you, it is blindingly early and I only got an hour of sleep before all this crap. The only thing I could think of was to put her in the tub. As I am scraping the chunks out of screaming child's hair and nose, Papa Chris is frantically ripping her bed apart trying to assess the damage. It's really, really nasty. We threw pretty much everything away. The contents of PP's stomach prior to the explosion were a hefty amount of Count Chocula and some cheese pizza with green peppers, so if you use your imagination you can see the colors and smell the smell. ISHY POO! So much for our Friday-night-girl-pigout event. 

We got to the ER around 5am and were out by 7. The doc said it was most likely a flu virus, but they took a urine sample per request from Momma and Papa. We know our girl, and she doesn't 'just get sick', it's never the easiest explanation with PP. Ever. The quick test done in the ER came back negative for a urinary infection as well, but there would be a culture grown from the urine sample with the results coming back in a day or so. So we took the doctors word for the flu and went home to recuperate. 

ALL DAY on Saturday PP laid around and slept. She was so pitiful and adorable. It was wonderful. Papa was working, so I had most of the day to myself. When PP was awake all she wanted to do was cuddle. She still has a hurt ankle, making walking impossible, so when I set her down somewhere she stayed put! I figured that I would get the flu within a day so I did some deep cleaning in the bathroom and kitchen while PP was sleeping. I made a delicious dinner for one (with LOTS of leftovers because who wants to cook when they're sick) and watched a movie. 

Then it happened. 

Early Sunday morning, a mad dash to the bathroom revealed the next victim of the flu bug...PAPA CHRIS! Poor Papa. HE IS SO SICK. I've been taking care of him and PP is doing her best to keep his spirits up by tickling armpits and being cute. She's feeling much better today so we ran some errands and junk.

Then another thing happened. 

I just got a call from the Nurse Practitioner in the ER at Children's saying that they found a very high count of bacteria within the urine culture collected on Saturday and PP needs to start antibiotics ASAP. 

GRRRRRRRRRR! 

I finally had a really simple explanation for PP being sick. Now it's not so simple. The NP said it wasn't too much of a concern, nothing a phone call to the Urologist can't handle. Just one breakthrough infection is better than all the other ones she had before her surgery this past summer. I guess. 

Well now that I've had my 30 min of sit down time, I am off to the pharmacy! Again! 

Peace and quiet

XoX 

I'm still here!

This will have to be short and sweet because I am tired.

PP and Epilepsy: Still not a formal diagnosis, but "seizure form activity" was read on the EEG and now we have been working on increasing amounts of anti-seizure medication for a few weeks. She seems to be responding positively to treatment, which is encouraging! It seems to be easier for her to focus on an activity for a longer period of time and she is retaining the parts of speaking that we have been working on tirelessly for the past few months. These are huge gains and I am thrilled with the progress!

PP and school: Test after test, we have made it to the final stretch in preparation for pre-school. We only have one more test to go through, which is on Monday, then Tuesday is our BIG meeting with everyone at PP's new school. This will be the last day we see all but one of PP's current teachers, and the first day we sit down and really get to know the new teachers. Saying goodbye to her current teachers will be hardest for me, I'm sure. They have been with us since PP was a month old, each of them coming to our house once a week for months at a time! They know PP in a way that is so unique. The past three years have just flown by and it's such an odd feeling to know this chapter of PP's life is coming to an end. I'll be blubbering like a wee-baby.

It makes me sad, but I'm excited. I think PP is SO ready to go. She has a hungry mind. And she loves buses.

Everyone should know by now that PP has a very lucky birthday, 11/11, but most of you don't know that as of right now, PP's  'First Day of School' will be on November 12. Yep. A Monday. The day after her third birthday. *We are gonna party like there is school tomorrow*

Cue heart attack.

Other than that, we have been busy doing stuff around the house and taking care of business all the time, or TCOBATT. Usually chicken-with-no-head style TCOBATT, but it works nonetheless.

My weekend will be spent making sweet thank you notes for PP's sweet teachers, and probably making cookies and junk and singing badly. I'm just waiting for November 11, then 12. The latter is the first day of the rest of my life. I'm ready!

Live long and prosper
XoX