R is out of town this week. For 8 days. My parents are out of town for a week.
The kids had appointments in Dallas over the course of 2 days (I couldn't get all appointments on the same day) so I decided to make a little mini-vacation out of it.
Someone told me yesterday that they couldn't believe I took two little kids/baby to Dallas overnight by myself and to the hospital. I replied that it kind of felt like an escape and a break - no dishes to do, no errands to run, just a few appointments and lots of playing with my kids... & great rest in a hotel! We all took a long nap and slept great at night.
I may have to start doing this more often!
We waited for Ellie's uppers doctors for about an hour and forty -five minutes total! I am always so thankful for kids who can be flexible with their eating times and nap times when we are at hospital appointments. It seems to always work out that when I plan to meet a friend for a playdate after an appointment that I am just certain will be quick... it never is & we end up rescheduling. Thankfully, my friend, Laura, was flexible and gave me grace for being at the hospital for such a long time.
Ellie entertained herself with a book in the waiting room
and practiced one of her latest tricks - high kicks with one leg
Will tried to teach Ellie how to roll a ball
When we finally made it into an exam room, Ellie was so happy to see herself!
(This cheesy smile makes me laugh all the time!)
Ellie's uppers doctor is very pleased with her progress and is hopefully he won't need to do surgery next winter!!!!!!!!
YAHOOOOOO!!!
I'm praying she continues to progress!
He sent us to OT for new hand splints - she was wiggling out of her old, little ones so the OT made her some giant mega tough purple ones that go nearly to her elbows. It about breaks my heart at bedtime as I do her final foot therapies and place her feet and legs in hard splints and her hands and arms in splints... she's just so covered up.
But, little miss precious independent doesn't care for her new splints and when I got her out of bed this morning, she had managed to wiggle both of them off!
And when I checked on her tonight, already off!
Not sure what the ot will say when I call tomorrow but sounds to me like that's pretty good therapy if she can get them off by herself!
After a long nap, we headed to a friend's neighborhood pool.
It was so much to see the Krausses & play with sweet Matthew & Caroline.
Laura & I were college roommates & I love getting to see her so much since we are in Dallas all the time! It's fun to watch our children become friends as they are very close in age.
Aren't they so stinking cute?!
The pool had a waterslide.
Will is fearless.
He and the waterslide were almost inseparable.
He tried it on his back, his belly, his bottom, his side while rotating in a 360, & backwards.
He claims that the fastest way down is on the back.
I was so proud of him for heading up there with all the big kids, holding his own as I watched from a distance & could tell some were asking about his body, and then flying down that slide with the world's biggest smile. He just absolutely loved it!
He's a NUT!
So Will & Laura convinced me to do the slide with Ellie. Laura promised me that she did it with Caroline when she was only 4 months old so it was possible to do it safely with an infant.
She loved it too!
Little daredevils, these children of mine. I have no idea where they get it. Seriously - it is not from their mother.
Will loved running down the hotel hallway
And Ellie squealed with delight watching him. I love their zest for life - no where in the world she would have rather been at this moment than watching her brother run.
I kind of have to agree with her.
After baths I took Will to get a special treat snack and let him stay up and play as a very special hotel treat. (I had to tape Ellie so it wasn't like I could have put him to bed anyway on time.)
He thought he was big stuff & I was a great mom. ;)
(Tonight he told me he is thankful I am his mom. I teared up. Especially since he told me the other day that he wanted a different mommy - one who would give him everything he wants. Which I kind of took as a backwards compliment that he doesn't think he gets whatever he wants from me.)
We stopped by to visit Great Grandpa & Great Grandma
Great Grandpa has Alzheimer's and has no idea who I am. But he always knows Will. I introduced Ellie to him & reminded him that her name (Eleanor) is after his first wife. He seemed to vaguely understand me but really he didn't care what I had to say. He could hardly take his eyes off of Ellie. He kept reaching for her and smiling and so I asked if he wanted to hold her. He said, "Yes, I love girls!"
So, I plopped her in his lap & to my amazement, my baby girl who is very fearful of men lately, gladly went to him & sat in his lap.
And it was off to the hospital again.
I had Will's backpack packed with toys and books to keep him busy during Ellie's splinting appointment. By the grace of God, this girl was shadowing PT and our therapists assigned her the duty of playing with Will! So, I got to visit with Ellie's therapist & be near Ellie while Will was thrilled to have someone new to play with. SCORE!
And because he's a little Senator, he managed to make friends with another sibling and played with her too.
Ellie's splinting went fine. She has progressed some since her last appointment so that was better than I expected and feared.
We also were honored to meet another patient with Ellie's diagnosis who lives in our area - actually just a few minutes away! I was able to ask her mom lots of questions and get a better understanding of a general timeline for development for our precious kiddos. In many ways, it was a rather tough reality check for me but I was thankful for the opportunity to ask questions and get to know another family.
Finally, we needed to kill some time before picking up Aunt Dandy at the airport and driving home. The kids are very good nappers and the time we had to kill would fall during nap time...
so I knew we needed something exciting.
We headed to the children's museum and aquarium at Fair Park.
We didn't have time to actually go in the museum part but Will did get to see these very scary dinosaur robots. He never fully believed me that they weren't actually roaring at him and considering eating him.
The kids took this picture for their Daddy & G-Dad who are fly fishing right now. Will thinks it would be cool if Daddy would catch this.
He fed a stingray & both he & Ellie "petted" them.
Definitely a fun 36 hour little mini-vacation!
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