Wildfires

Very scary day on Friday, we had a grass fire directly across the street from us, the road is the only thing that kept it from coming into our yard. It was terribly smoky, I had to pack up all of Emma's gear quickly and get out, thankful my sister came to get me and we went to pick Ella and Derek up from school. Their school was not letting walkers leave. We are all ok, except Mom has a little sore throat from breathing the smoke. The entire state of Oklahoma seemed to burn yesterday, we were very lucky, many people lost their homes, and I pray for them.

Here is a pic of the Emma's Mimi took from our driveway. At the time of the picture the fire had been put out close to the black fence. It burned up to the black fence, and further out past the fence on the left hand side by the trees. The people in the picture are standing in our front yard. The picture does it now justice, and by the time this was snapped much of the smoke had cleared. I even had soot falling on me in my yard! They say someone threw a cigarette down!

Sissy's glasses

For all of those interested here are pictures of Ella with her glasses and with her eye patch on. She is doing very well with them and we just thinks she is so darn cute! Not the best pictures but we are so proud she is doing well with them, despite breaking the glasses already, she is so rough on things. We did get them fixed and have ordered her a new pair as a back up, they are memory plastic so they will bend without breaking as easily.

Update on brother and sister's school happenings

 Last night we went to parent teacher conference, my sister came and watched the kids for me. We did Ella's then walked to get an icee and then went to Dereks. Here is what I found out:

Ella is branching out and playing with more children, not just her best friend anymore. She is learning more numbers and letters and her teacher is excited to see if her reading gets better now that she has glasses and can see. She is a good girl in class and is very well behaved.

Derek is his teacher's little helper. The class printer is broken so he runs to another class to get printed things for her. She said he does lots of stuff for her and that if she let him he would probably teach the class! LOL  He now does all his work AND turns it in, he used to hide his work in his desk! He tested on a 7th grade level for reading and 5th for spelling, even though he is in 3rd grade. His teacher said he goes the library almost daily, the librarian told me the same thing, I kind of already figured that. His teacher said he is doing awesome. They take standardized tests in April which will hopefully help place him in Gifted and Talented if he does well, since the gifted and talented test alone does not for some crazy reason. They tested him 2 times a year since he started school and every teacher is shocked he hasn't been accepted to the program yet. So the CRT tests will help with that. He is also well behaved and the teacher really seems to enjoy having him in class.

Emma got to sit with me and talk to the teachers, they both thought she was cute, despite the drool that kept running out of her mouth. She was like a faucet yesterday. She made a promise not to tell brother and sister anything the teacher said that might be "bad" but they had no bad things to say!  

Emma got new hair bows from Nanny and Poppy for Valentines and she wore a red one yesterday. Today is shopping day so not sure what bow she will end up wearing, she looks so pretty in all of them. Every time I take her out now people flock to us to look at her and tell me how cute she is. What can I say, I make cute babies. Oh yea I forgot Emma is a big girl now. We are trying to move away from cute "Baby" type stuff because she is 6 now and getting grown up. 

Thanks for reading, I will keep trying to find things to update about. 

Lost a tooth and pics of Ella's glasses

The tooth fairy came to visit Emma last night, she lost a molar yesterday while I was cleaning her teeth. It just sort of popped out. She was happy to find a dollar under her pillow this morning. Yesterday the Respiratory Therapist came to check her vent and had to switch them out (they do that once a year for maintenance reasons) She told us she would get Emma a backpack for her ventilator that would go on her wheelchair, that will be nice since it will hold all the tubes and such out of the way, I sometimes smash them or roll over them with her chair OOOPS!

As promised here are pictures of Ella in her glasses. My sister took them on her cell phone, and Ella was none to thrilled. She was all sweaty from playing at school, and the pictures make her one eye look really big, while her glasses do make her eye slightly bigger looking, its not near as bad as this picture makes them look. Plus her glasses were a bit crooked looking that day, we have since adjusted them. You get the idea though, they are brown with a tiger print on the inside of them. She is doing well with them, her eye patch should be here later this week.

Church and prayer request

Since losing our internet a lot of changes have happened at our church here in Norman. Our lead pastor and his family left, and we are moving to a new building! They moved on to bigger and better things and we are so happy for them. We ask that you please pray for our lead pastor Justin and his wife Sarah, they moved to Kansas to start a new church, taking with them their 3 small children. We ask that you pray they have great success in their new venture and that God will provide them all they need to begin the new church there.

Next week should be our first week in our new building. There were some financial issues and we could no longer stay in our church building so we are moving to another church which has upgraded to a new building so we get their old one to use until its sold. Its a beautiful location, and we are happy to be staying with Generations church through the move. We also request that prayers be said for our church so it can thrive and get out of its debt issues. Its a great ministry and even though its fallen on some tough money times it has not faltered at all in providing a wonderful spiritual experience for all those who attend. We love our church and our church family so much, its become a big part of our lives and its made us super happy to get to do so. Emma loves it there, and I can't wait to take her to the new building so she will have new things to look at!

No, we didn't fall off the face of the planet

Welcome back readers, sorry we were gone for so long, but in Sept we had to drop our cable service to save money, and we are just now getting back on.

As some of you know, Emma's Daddy lost his job in November of 2009. He spent most of 2010 unemployed with the exception of a few temporary jobs. It was a very hard year and we would have never made it through with out support from our friends, family, and church. Thank you! In December he started a permanent job as a dishwasher at our local hospital, so far he likes it and its been a true blessing that he found it.

Since Sept Emma has been doing well. She got another nasty leg infection in October but quickly got over it. She had a wonderful Christmas. Not a lot of news to share about her, she is just growing and her hair is getting longer.

Her big brother Derek just recently got straight A's on his 3rd grade report card and we are so proud of him. He is almost as tall as Mom now, just a few more inches!

Twin sister Ella received a Kiwanis award at school for being a Terrific Kid because she was inclusive. We were proud of her and Emma had fun going to the school to watch her sister. Ella also just got glasses this week and will be patching her eye too. She has Amblylopia or lazy eye. Hopefully in the next few years it will correct itself and she can go on with her life glasses free after that.

Above are a few recent photos my sister took of the kids, some at the awards for Terrific Kids and Derek at the National Weather Service's festival in Oct sitting in the Dominator from tv's "Storm Chasers", thought you might like them.  I will get some pics of Ella in her new glasses and patch soon. Keep reading for more updates, I will try to do so frequently now that we are back online.

8-24-2010

Wow its been a long time since I updated here. Not much going on with Emma she is just hanging out enjoying life. Derek and Ella started school, Derek is in 3rd grade this year and Ella is in all day Kindergarten. That means its just me and Emma all day long! All the fun stuff we can do without interruption now. I am researching things to hopefully start music therapy with her soon, she loves music and I figured it would be a good way for her to learn things. I will be homeschooling her so I figure the more things I can do with her the better. Here are two pictures I took of Emma yesterday, hope you enjoy them. I will try to update more as we home school and look for new ideas on things to do with Emma, if anyone has any therapy tips or ideas for me let me know! She can't really use a pencil or talk but she hears well and learns though touch I think, and of course we are working with her physical therapy and trying to keep her muscles as lose as we can. She likes to get her massages and work out every day with me, its fun for me too!

July 10, 2010

Not much going on around here. God has blessed us with a very uneventful year with Emma so far, which is good considering the way last year went out (the ulcer hospital stay).

Emma got a afghan today from heartmadeblessings.org it was requested by my sister, Lisa. I love this program and thought I would share that link with all of you. Their site says: Heartmade Blessings is a world-wide group of volunteers dedicated to providing hand-crafted items to those people suffering a loss, tragedy, or going through a rough time that need to be reminded of the simple fact that people care.
Heartmade Blessings come from all the wonderful people who donate squares for afghans and bearghans. They are also made possible through the efforts of the warm, caring people who donate their time in assembling and organizing the distribution of these items to those in need. We truly believe these people are nothing short of a "blessing" themselves.

So if you know someone who needs a little comfort check out their page, and if you are crafty and can help make afghan squares please check out how to volunteer your time. Its a great group. We have sent afghans to our friend Jaye and to Emma's boyfriend Daniel before he passed away. We have been lucky to get this beautiful one today and a bearghan for her when she was little.

The summer has been rainy and hot here so not many out door things going on for Emma, tomorrow we will be walking to church, she hasn't been in a while due to various reasons I have had to leave her at home, I am sure she will have to much fun getting back.

June 7 2010

Finally some new pics to post! And a quick update. We didnt make it to our March of Dimes walk back in May. Rest assured your donations did, but we stayed home. It rained a lot and they moved the walk inside to a small gym, with a DJ and music and lots of noise and people. We really worried it might set off Emma's seizures so we did not go. Not to mention we would have had to take the bus in the rain way across town and risk getting her vent wet.

She is doing great! No seizures, no icky sicky's lately. Just hanging out with brother and sister for the summer.

Yesterday we went to cousin Killian's first birthday party. He turns 1 tomorrow. That's where are pictures are from. I had to include a few of him on the blog, because he is adorable! It was a very nice party and we all had a great time.

That's the update for now, nothing earth shattering to tell just enjoying life.

March of Dimes

We are raising money again this year for the March of Dimes. Our walk is in 33 days and we are still in need of more donations. Can you help? Even the smallest amount will help us. As you all know, this is something that is so close to my heart as I will be walking in honor of Emma and Ella who were born 9 weeks early. Again I walk with a heavy heart in memory of my nephew Gabriel, who went to heaven before we even got to play with him, on June 9, 2004. Please help if you can or pass our link along. God Bless!

Easter 2010

"For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father." --John 10:17-18

Happy Easter everyone!

Church was wonderful today, the kids had tons of fun and got lots of candy filled eggs and learned about Jesus! We then came home to hunt some eggs of our own. Ham is in the oven and dinner will be awesome, it smells so good.

We are so blessed with our friends from church. I won't get into details, but we were given something very special from another church goer today, something that will help us, as we go through a rough patch in our financial life right now. Thanks be to God, his work is being done through his people.

Above are some pictures, Ella was pouting during much of the egg hunting, Emma got an egg she wanted! I did manage to snap a few that were worth sharing.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Easter, filled with love and family as we honor the one who who makes everything possible...

March 20, 2010

Ella has been a very busy girl lately. She went a few night ago to the ER with an ear infection. Its funny having her in there and not Emma for a change. She was really brave. She is doing better now, though she still coughs a bunch at night.

And the best news to share...Ella's wiggly tooth finally come out this morning! No more being jealous of Emma. This is Ella's 2nd tooth to lose and and she is excited about the tooth fairy coming.

It is the first day of spring, and despite 70 deg. temps yesterday we woke up to snow and wind. We have maybe 2 inches of snow so far and are supposed to get 4 to 8. This sure has been on crazy year for snow. Hoping tomorrow we can get out and make a snowman. Looks like just Mom for church tomorrow, no way Emma's wheelchair will go in the snow, and I don't want Ella and Derek all wet and icky when we get there. Hopefully they will still have church, and not cancel on us.

That is all for now. Emma is doing great, just hanging out with her brother and sister, enjoying the end of spring break and watching the snowfall from a nice warm house.

The toothfairy is coming! YOOPIE!

Emma is getting another tooth fairy visit tonight! 6 total, as you remember back on May 25, 2008 she lost 5 in one day! Her tongue pushes on her teeth so they get super lose. This one feel out when I was brushing her with a mouth swab. She didn't even notice.

Ella is kind of mad, she has had a "wiggler" for about a month, and its still not out. Of course she doesn't like to wiggle it much either.

Not much else going on. Up coming dr visit on March 18. Its for nutrition clinic to follow up since they changed her food during the whole ulcer problem. I think it will be fine, and we will have her weighted I imagine so it will be good to see how much she has grown since Christmas time.

I went to a women's retreat for Church over night last night, and let me tell you, Mommy needed that! It was a nice break but I sure missed Emma, Ella and Derek.

God Bless for now, time to go tuck this tooth safely under Emma's pillow.

As a dear friend pointed out, I should really update this blog! Sorry for the lack of writing but not much has been going on. Emma is doing the same as always...wonderful! She has just got over the little cold she has and is hoping that the snow that is falling today will melt really well so she can get pushed to church on Sunday. I think it will be fine to go on Sunday, most of the sidewalks are snow free. I will be so glad when winter is over.

Waiting on a call from one of Emma's doctors, wanted to get her in for some xrays. I have been noticing the curve in her spine she was getting is more curvy so I think its time to do something about it. Its very common for children in wheelchairs and who can't move around well to get scoliosis. We just want to make sure we keep it in check.

Here are a few recent photos of the girls and even one of me (in case my readers forgot what I look like)! None of Derek, he still runs when I pull the camera out or pop up the webcam. Also included is one of Emma's new doll. She got it for Christmas from Uncle Jay and Aunt Kim and I put a trach in its neck so it will look just like Emma, the dolls name is Ava.

Just a little update, not much going on around here. Sunday brought a return to church for Emma since all the snow had melted and her vent battery was replaced. 2 weeks ago I had her all ready to go out the door when we realized her vent battery was completely dead and broken! They replaced it quickly but she still missed.

Sunday also brought super bowl Sunday. We aren't big football fans in our house, unless its the OU Sooners, but Emma sat and watched most of the game while everyone else in the house did other things. Her eyes tell me it was a good game.

Emma is doing pretty good with her new brand and size of trach tube. She does seem to have quite a bit more secretions we have to suction out, but I am not sure if that is due to the tube itself, or the fact that brother and sister just got done having colds, so maybe she has some cold symptoms too.

Ella has been up sized out of her toddler bed and into a twin size bed. A move we really tried to wait until last min. to make since the girls share a room. Poor little Ella's legs finally got to big for her little "baby" bed and she got a real "big girl" bed. Their beds are in an L shape in their room, so we have some floor space left, its not as crowded as I feared it would be but its still a big change. Ella picked out a striped bedset that is really bright and she loves it. I told her she could have any one at walmart and she picked that over tinkerbell or barbie, what a big girl!

It is really cold here and we are longing for spring and park visits, Emma wants to wear her famous hippo croc shoes again and play outside. We had some snow yesterday but nothing stuck, thankfully.

That's the update, see I told you there wasn't too much going on around here.

Jan 30 2010

What an ice storm we got on Thur and Friday! We spent all day Friday without power, and just as we were leaving to go Grandmother's house the power company drove up and said it would only take 20 more mins! We were so glad to get our heat back on and power for all of Emma's equipment. We got about an inch of ice followed by 7 inches of snow. So no church for Emma tomorrow, because it will be too messy for me to walk her, but the plan is for me to walk in the snow and go, we just started a great series and I don't want to miss any of it.

Our praying mantis died this week too, she was old. The kids buried her and made a really neat little grave in the backyard

Posted above for your amusement are some of the pics I took around the neighborhood, plus one of the little grave we made for the mantis. The tree that is on the ground, is at the kids school.