Ag Day Adventures

What an adventure we had last week trying to make it over to Mandan for their annual Ag Day. The day began by adjusting Faith's feedings so I wouldn't have to do it at the event. Thankfully, she was up early that day and I was able to bring her to school about 30 minutes late. By the time we were getting ready to leave the school she had her second feeding and was ready to go! Or so we thought.

When I went to pick up Faith she was surrounded by all three Kindergarten classes standing in line trying to contain their excitement about their field trip. While the kids impatiently waited for their bus to arrive, Tina and I got Faith loaded up in her van and away we went. As we drove into the parking lot of the Mandan Community Center, Tina received a phone call on her cell phone. Apparently, the paperwork for the bus had not been finalized so the kids were not able to go on their field trip afterall. What huge bummer for all those kids. Tina and I decided to go back to the school to pick up her kindergartner who was supposed to travel with the rest of her class by bus. We figured she and Faith should still be able to get to go.

At the school as Tina ran in to get her daughter, I noticed a flurry of activity with parents running here and there, all with booster seats in tow. As I wondered what was going on, out came Faith's class. Her teacher came over to inform me that they had rounded up 19 booster seats so her class was still going to go! I was very impressed with this feat!

Meanwhile, in Tina's van, we drove to Mandan for the second time that day. We were so thankful everything worked out as our daughters had a great time petting all of the animals. Faith laughed when a little Holstein calf sucked on her hand. She also got to pet a bunny, a puppy, baby chicks and even a chicken. The people who worked at the event were so good about holding up the animals so that she could reach out and pet them. She also got to see a horse and her foal, a sheep and her lamb and a llama with her baby who had just been born that morning. It was such a wonderful experience for her and I know as she continues to go on these adventures, her confidence will get higher and higher!

Comments

Getting Used to Our New School Schedule

Today marks Faith's 8th day of school and we are all adjusting to a new schedule. Faith has made huge strides this past summer in sleeping better and having more energy so we decided to have her go to school from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 5 days a week. This is a change as last year she did not go Tuesday and Thursday afternoons due to how tired and worn out she would get. Faith's first day of 4th grade School starts at 8:30 a.m. but we asked if it would be okay for us to get her there at 9:00 instead. This allows us to more time to get her first feeding into her before she even gets to school. Her aides noticed last year that when we brought her to school without any food in her tummy, she was pretty sluggish and tired upon arrival. Sometimes, after getting her to school she wouldn't start getting her feeding until after 9:00 a.m. which meant, that because she gets a feeding every 3 hours, her last feeding of the day didn't end until 10:00 p.m. Another advantage to

A Real Pain in the Arm

Last Wednesday I had my yearly doctor exam and when she said I should get my tetanus shot updated, I didn't think twice about it. The nurse said my arm would be sore for a couple of days, gave me a handout and stuck the needle in my arm. The next day my arm was sore and although I found it a little harder to pick up and carry Faith, I was glad the pain wasn't going to last long. Boy was I wrong! But not only was my arm sore, my whole body was. I felt achy and extremely tired. According to a medical site on the Internet, these were mild side effects of the Tetanus shot. If these were only mild side effects, I would really hate to have them at a moderate or severe level. On Friday, two days after getting the shot I felt so tired that I took a four hour nap after getting Faith off to school. Then on Saturday I took a three hour nap up until 7 o'clock but still felt tired and was able to go back to sleep around 10. On Sunday, finally the fatigue started wearing off and I didn

Goodbye to Our Special Tomato

Today we said goodbye to our Special Tomato adaptive car seat. And special it was. It helped Faith stay safe and secure in our Hyundai driving her back and forth to therapy appointments, shopping excursions and many other activities. It also helped us through our time of not being able to afford an accessible van. Like all adaptive equipment , the special car seat was expensive and although it is the law that a child is secured in a car seat while traveling in a vehicle, neither health insurance nor Medicaid would pay for it. Thankfully, we were able to receive funds from the fundraiser, the Great American Bike Race ( GABR ) which helps families pay for services and equipment that insurance doesn't cover for kids with cerebral palsy and related disabilities. After doing research on the Internet and talking to Faith's physical and occupational therapists, we decided to go for the Special Tomato adaptive car seat. You would think something with that name would be r

Faith's Mom's Blog

Search This Blog