Faith's Mom's Blog

January We spent a lot of time indoors to avoid the frigid winter temperatures. Faith is enjoying playing PlayStation 3 with her adaptable controller. February Talking to Rob's parents on the computer during the USA vs. Canada hockey preliminary game during the Winter Olympics. The USA beat Canada in a huge upset! It was also a birthday month for both of her parents.  March Faith was busy at school in March. She went to Sylvan Learning Center for a Dr. Suess event, Mandan for AgDay, and also had a school program. April  Part of our Easter celebration included Faith flying a kite for the first time! In April, we also participated once again in the Great American Bike Race with Faith's team, Faith's Fantastic Ten.  May If you look closely, you can see that Faith lost her first tooth! Also in May, Faith treated her me to a Mother's Day Spa in her classroom and she went bowling with her Kindergarten class. June One of Faith's favorite sum...

Christmas is over. The joyous holiday ends once again, just as it does every year. And now we will all try to catch up a little before celebrating the start of a New Year. The holidays continue the day after Christmas in Canada with Boxing Day. So, on Boxing Day we tried to communicate via Internet with Rob's parents and sister. Unfortunately, SKYPE no longer works for us, which we aren't sure why, so we resorted to using Yahoo Messenger.  It wasn't as good as SKYPE, but it did the trick. We got to see Grandmother and Grandfather, Auntie Johanna and even Joh's new cat, Ruby. When we asked Faith if she liked Ruby, she answered very honestly, "No I don't like that cat." We think she is partial to Joh's other cat, Lucy, whom Faith has actually met in person. Talking to Auntie Joh Also on Sunday, Rob had fun putting Faith's Toy Story 3 Train set together. Yes, I did say Rob had fun. Faith had only mild interest. She would rather play her new car...

Merry Christmas Daddy and Faith! This stocking was a gift from one of Faith's aides at school. It came as a kit so that Faith could create her own stocking. Isn't it adorable? It wouldn't be Christmas without our Happy Birthday Jesus Cupcakes! Let the gift opening begin! Faith opens her Toy Story 3 Lego Train set! Gifts from my dear Canadian in-laws! The impressive coffee gift basket Rob got from my parents! Spending our Christmas evening at some friends' house WE HOPE EVERYONE HAD A WONDERFUL AND BLESSED CHRISTMAS!!

This week has been quite the week with Faith missing three days of school due to being sick. She started getting sick on Sunday and didn't sleep well at all that night, so I kept her home on Monday. Tuesday she actually seemed to be getting better and I was hopeful about her going to school on Wednesday so she could take part in all of the pre-Christmas festivities at school. But Tuesday night was a horrible night for sleep and we both ended up sleeping until 11 the next morning to catch up. Yesterday I finally took her to the doctor and here she has not only a sinus infection but an ear infection as well. Poor girl! So of course, now I am kicking myself for not taking her in sooner. The thing with Faith though is that even though she is sick, she doesn't act sick. She's still smiley, still laughing and yelling, still her cheery self.  If I had a sinus infection and an ear infection, Lord knows I would be anything but cheery! And even when she just has a simple cold, she ...

We recently received Faith's report card of sorts called, "Annual Goals, Short-Term Objectives, and Periodic Review of Services." Which basically lets us know how Faith is doing with her therapies and special education/academics at school. These are the goals that we set up for her at the beginning of the year when we did her Individual Education Plan ( IEP ).   Getting ready for school   I was so happy to see that in each area, she is making " some progress ." In occupational therapy, they have been working on self-feeding. This has been a challenge for her as it involves fine motor skills. She does have high tone in her arms, so she has to work through that in order to bring the spoon directly to her mouth. Her therapist in this area says that Faith fatigues during this exercise, but that she is really motivated to work hard. One of our goals is for Faith to begin to read. I am so proud of her that she knows all of her letter sounds and at schoo...

Today Faith got to take a field trip to the Belle Mehus Auditorium to enjoy "Singing in the Season" put on by the Central Dakota Children's Choir . Faith and I made our way to the auditorium and then waited for her class to arrive. I was a little unprepared for the number of kids there were in attendance. Every first grader in the Bismarck/Mandan area was on this field trip! After we met up with Faith's class, we sat in the beautiful auditorium and enjoyed the concert. The Central Dakota Children's Choir Faith liked the Christmas trees! Faith was a little nervous when the lights were turned down. And when people applauded, she did startle a bit. But she definitely enjoyed the music! All in all, I think it was a very good experience for her.  I am so happy she gets to be included in these kinds of things at school! 

The cold weather this past weekend pretty much kept us indoors. I wanted to take Faith out to do some shopping, but her being all bundled up and her current growth spurt, makes transfers from her chair to her seating system in the car much more difficult.  Oh, how I am praying for a van by next winter! On Saturday Faith and I watched the exciting but heartbreaking NDSU football game as they played Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals for their NCAA division. It was a great game and Faith had fun laughing at me as I yelled, cheered, jumped and danced. Every time I got excited, she yelled, "Did you win yet mommy?" Unfortunately, no, I didn't win as the Bison lost in overtime. Oh well! They had a great season, one in which they weren't expected to get so far. NDSU during one of the many highlights of the game We did manage to get the rest of our Christmas decorating done, which includes our little Christmas tree that has survived the last five years or so. W...

We've been waking up to some beautiful scenery with the frosted trees Because of the snowstorms last week, we had a few rough days of getting Faith to school and back. Thankfully, my friend Tina was able to help out with her van and also one of our neighbors, who also has kids at Centennial, was able to push Faith up the hill one day.  Rob and I both think that maybe it's time to get Faith on the bus. I thought it would be easy enough, since the bus goes right by here every day and that all I would have to do is make a phone call and it would happen just like that. Not so fast, I learned! On Friday, I had a meeting with Faith's special education teacher, and she explained that to get Faith on the bus, her IEP team would have to meet and decide that because Faith doesn't have the necessary transportation to get to school, she will have to be picked up by the bus.  Even after all parties agree that Faith needs to take the bus, it is not guaranteed that the bus will ...

Faith has the sweetest, kindest, most generous instructional aides EVER! Recently, the school's 6th graders held their annual rummage sale. I of course forgot to send money along for Faith to buy something so her aides took it upon themselves to buy something for her. During the winter, I normally put these little pink booties on over Faith's orthotics to keep her feet warm, but this year they were pretty tight and hard to get on. The booties are soft and have Velcro on the sides, so they were easy to get on her feet even over her orthotics.  I can't find any boots like that anywhere and it's impossible to get regular boots on over her orthotics. Well, thankfully her aides found the perfect solution to keep her little feet warm this winter! Her new slippers are just ducky! Everyone gets a real kick out of Faith's duck slippers!

Despite all the great food we had over our nice, relaxing Thanksgiving, Faith and I felt the need today to bake a cake. And since we didn't have any store-bought frosting, I decided it would be so much fun to make our own homemade frosting. I looked on the Internet for a simple recipe and found the perfect one, or so I thought. After Faith and I popped our cake into the oven, we prepared to make the frosting. I asked her what color the frosting should be. "BLUE!" The cream cheese frosting recipe called for three cups of sugar. The problems began when I tried to mix the sugar with the cream cheese, water and vanilla extract the recipe had also called for. No matter how much stirring or mixing I did, it didn't turn creamy like it was supposed to. Instead, it looked like a big lump of mashed potatoes with lots and lots of sugar.   My very first attempt at homemade frosting Faith soon got bored and decided she would like to do something else. I ran to the Inter...

Fifteen below zero - that was the temperature this morning in Bismarck when I walked Faith to school. And you know, without the wind blowing, it didn't seem all that bad!  Nevertheless, I really bundled Faith up so she would stay nice and warm on our 3-minute trek to school. I actually think she enjoys these little adventures! And as long as the sidewalks are clear, I don't mind them either.  Faith all bundled up on her way to school On our way to school Winter Wonderland Hard to believe it's still Fall! 

Despite mine and Faith's major lack of sleep this past couple of days due to her bad cold, which became progressively worse on Wednesday night, we are relieved and happy because of the good news we recently received.  In my last blog, I asked for prayers for Faith as she was going to be getting her hip x-rays taken. Just a day later, we received a phone call saying that there has been "no significant change" in her left hip. Her last x-ray had been taken in May, so in six months the hip has not come any further out of its socket. Thank You Lord, for answering our prayers! Faith has stayed home these past couple of days due to her cold which I think is turning into a sinus infection, so we picked up some antibiotics today. Hopefully she'll recover 100% by Monday so she can make it to school all three days next week. I haven't minded staying indoors as the temperature has gotten steadily colder. I don't think it even hit 20 degrees today. With the onset of w...

I must say, after the long weekend, I am feeling a bit guilty. We didn't have too much going on, so we mainly stayed indoors, and I let Faith watch way too many videos. When Sunday finally rolled around, she was bored and a bit cranky. Before having kids, I always told myself I would not be one of those moms who lets the TV babysit their kids. Things sure turn out differently when you actually have kids! When Faith comes home from school, that is all she feels like doing. She is so tired from her long day, which not only includes classroom time but also working hard with her special education teacher, driving her power chair and any other therapies she might have for the day. By the time she gets home, she is spent.  I don' feel as guilty letting her watch so many videos after school but over the Thanksgiving long weekend, I am going to try hard to limit her video-watching time and find other things for us to do. I don't mind Faith playing on her iPad but it's too eas...

One of Faith's favorite things to do is bake cookies. She really likes to surprise her dad with a plateful of cookies when he is home working in the office, which is exactly what we had fun doing yesterday. Faith mixes up the batter while wearing her new, colorful apron. Who can resist licking the spoon? Yummy cookies!  Let's have one then bring them back to daddy!

Admittedly, it has been tough to find the right church that works for our family. We have tried several in the Bismarck-Mandan area with each of them having their own pros and cons. And a pro for one person in our family can be a con for another. Take the praise and worship time, for instance. The louder and more exciting the better, for me anyways, but not for Faith. With her CP, Faith has something called a "startle reflex." It's something newborns have but they grow out of it. When a newborn baby is startled their whole body reacts with arms flailing and legs going because they can't control those movements yet. For Faith, she has never been able to control those movements. It used to be that when she startled many times in a short period she would get very upset and would start to cry. Another issue she has is if she is somewhere loud and dark with the noise varying at different levels, she is very tense the whole time and her muscles just can't relax. Pla...

Faith is doing so well in school, and I am just so proud of her! When I take her to school in the mornings, she arrives with excitement, practically bursting at the seams to say good morning to both of her aides. Then she'll briefly turn toward me, blow me a kiss and we part our separate ways. I have no worries, no fears, no concerns...I know she'll do great. Then, after the morning and early afternoon has quickly passed, I return to school to get her and she greets me with a big smile, yelling out, "Mommy!" She's had a good day, but she is ready to go home and relax.  As I begin to push her home in her chair, she usually exclaims, "I had such a fun day at school today!" She then proceeds to tell me some of the things she has done which include calendar, reading, math, snack, driving her chair and any other special activities of the day. She also tells me about some of her friends who have helped her throughout the day. When she's done, she'll ...

Phew! What a weekend! I'll try to give a recap of everything that has happened over the last three days. On Saturday we went to one of Faith's favorite places - Papa's Pumpkin Patch. It was the perfect way to celebrate her birthday and the fantastic Fall season we have had. It was about 50 degrees but still nice because there was no wind!  Faith had a blast, especially with her a few friends from school. She was very blessed with lots of wonderful gifts, especially lots of new pajamas, which she really needed. Faith and her friends blowing out her birthday candles On Sunday Faith went to a friend's house for a Halloween Party. There was a total of about 25 kids all dressed up in very cute costumes such as Jesse and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story , a few princesses, a butterfly, a pumpkin, a cowgirl, a monkey, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz and Faith went as Supergirl. The highlight of the party was a blow-up haunted house that the girls would run through screaming a...