Its been a while (long post!)

Sabbatical from KPMG also means sabbatical from blogging I guess! Sorry for the delay in posting. Let's just say I've started too many projects...

Since Costa Rica last July, Maya and I have been busy going to therapy, bonding over meals, and watching Dora, Elmo, Barney, and a few educational things here and there. It's been so hot that we hardly go anywhere! That is SO unlike me! It's been fun though - hanging out with Maya.

A few tidbits here and there (by week):

Week of July 27th
Maya's Occupational Therapist from ECI had her last visit with us this week. She is retiring and ECI does not have a replacement, so we have a find a new place for her OT. We visited Nani in SugarLand on Thursday so that I could get all my CPE in by the 31st. I literally took classes ALL day. That's how behind I was on my education credits!

"Poo poo"
Maya has started saying "poo poo" when she has gone #1 or #2. As you can imagine this has been extremely helpful! Not like you can't smell her across the room, but still, it helps. Maya also let's us know when she is hungry - she points to her mouth for the sign for "eat" and also says "eat". Next, she tells us she is thirsty, "wa wa, wa wa, wa wa".

Week of August 3rd
Monday was Maya's 6 month follow up with her PM&R doctor, Dr Wechsler. We are very excited about going since this is the main doctor to write prescriptions for all her equipment needs. We went over a lot of items, some good, some bad. 1) Maya's hamstrings are started to get tight. So she showed us some exercises to work on with her. Other tight areas are her wrists and arms/triceps. 2) Maya's right hip is starting to pop in and out. She is also turning it outwards too much, which is bad because she needs to keep it straight and knee cap up. The doctor recommended an Xray to confirm the degree of popping/separation and to also start using a knee/hip splint at night. Poor Maya has to be invaded by therapy in her sleep too! We also got a prescription for a new OT, and a wheelchair eval. Unfortunately, the Dr wouldn't write a script for the exact wheelchair we wanted for Maya...that is a whole other story to be posted later.

Trip to Dallas
On Thursday Maya and I headed to Dallas to visit several friends. We stayed with Heather and Ryan (prior to baby) and visited the Keith's and Hemingway's new additions.

Babies R Us incident (beware to those with weak stomachs):
While in Dallas, Heather, Maya and I headed to Babies R Us to help Heather buy the rest of their baby registry. Not 5 minutes in the store and we smelled something. Sure enough preggers was right. Maya had pooped. I just figured it was a quick and easy change, so I just took Maya and the car keys to the car to change her. I did not take my phone. As I was walking out of the store, the smell was getting stronger and stronger. I recall changing positions with her in my arms. I get to the car, open the back and as I was laying Maya down, I saw it. Poop on my shirt and my hair was in it!!! GROSS! Then I saw that Maya had an explosion - the worst she has EVER had. It was EVERYWHERE!!! Coming out her shorts from top and bottom, the left side of my shirt was completely covered, as was the top of my shorts. And of course my hair. It gets worse. I put Maya down and as I did that, "plop". The sound of poop hitting my foot. I had to take all of Maya's clothes off, I had no back up clothes for her or me, and limited wipes. As to be expected, Maya then decided to touch her leg and then I proceeded with "NOOOOOOOOOO". Too late, poop all over her hands. Did I mention that I didn't have my phone? I was desperate to call Heather and even considered stopping someone in the parking lot - but then I remembered that I didn't know her number by heart. Stuck outside in 100 degree weather with poop all over me. Nice. I wiped Maya as much as I could and tried to find something to cover myself up with. The only thing I could find was her high chair cover. I propped it on my left side (to avoid spreading) and put Maya over my shoulder and went to get Heather. "We need to go, right now". Drove to the house, with high chair cover on my chest, and finally had a Mommy and Me bath. Funny looking back on it. Charlie and I discussed what he would do in that situation. I think he decided that he wasn't going out with her alone!

We visited Corsicana on the way home and had lunch and playtime with Nanny, PapPaw, Carla, Vince and Jamie. Maya acquired another one of Jamie's toys. This time it was a washing machine toy. She still plays with it everyday! Maya had a great time with all the dogs this weekend. She definitely wants a dog! We've already told Shawn and Amy that they can begin the search for another Harley dog for us!

Week of August 10th
Charlie celebrated his 30th birthday on the 15th. We celebrated by having friends over at the house, Rudy's BBQ and a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake! It was alot of fun and we were glad to see all the kids interacting with one another. We also managed to get out for a dinner date while Grandma took care of Maya.

A few other fun things that happened this week: our A/C went out (again), we visited the orthodics place for Maya's hip band and knee wraps. I interviewed 2-3 candidates for caregiver for Maya.

Week of August 17th
Maya's 18 month appointment (at 19 1/2 months old) - Maya weighs 20 lbs and 7 oz, she is 32 inches tall, and has 12 teeth - 8 on top and 4 on the bottom. She got 3 shots that day and continued to tell me about her "bobo" the rest of the week. Everytime she saw me she had to tell me about it, of course it also involved a cute little face and a little tearing up which always made me ask her if mommy could kiss it and make her feel better. I am such a sucker!

Maya tried a couple of wheelchairs this week. As I mentioned before, we can't get a prescription for the 8 lb wheelchair that Maya could easily push herself around in, but we found something almost as light - 16-18 lbs (see pic below) She looks so small in it, but this is just a trial and clearly not her size! Since there are really no other options for a lightweight pediatric wheelchair, it looks like we are ordering this one. It should take 8-10 weeks to arrive. If it doesn't end up working out, PawPaw Bill has offered to buy the 8 lb Panthera wheelchair for us!



This week so far:

A new year, a new class:
At church on Sunday, Maya moved to the Ducks room. She is now with other kiddos her age. For the past 6 months, we kept her in the 6 months class, but now Maya has a shadow to help her in class and make sure the other kids don't knock her down and to keep her safe as well as able to participate with the other kids. I am so grateful for this shadow program that I signed up to be a volunteer for it, too! Here's a pic with Maya and her dad after church.


Mother's Day Out
Maya started MDO today. She went back to Spring First Church. The teacher there was okay with Maya in her classroom and she knows she has to give her a little extra attention. The program is from 9-4 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we are going to try 3 hours each day so that she can keep her stander schedule and therapy schedules intact. Maya really needs to be around other kids so we hope this works out! She did okay this morning, but then a little girl came and snatched a toy out of Maya's hands. There was no calming her down after that. I had to pull out our lifesaver - the bubbles! She had a good time there today and we just hope this works out!

TLSO
We had Maya's appointment today for her modified-TLSO. Don't ask me what the letters stand for - but it is a brace. Just like she has braces for her ankles, this is a brace for her chest wall/back. It won't delay the scoliosis, but it will help support her posture. She slouches so much when she sits so we need to help counter the effects from her body being like that all the time. We get it in three weeks - I am shocked!

As for the plans for the rest of the week: we will be meeting another SMA family, Marie and Baby Ava, she starts with her new OT this Thursday, and on Friday we may head to Austin to see my brother and their new house.