Faith's Mom's Blog

We are involved in a really good program through the University of Mary called, "Families as Trainers." Through this program, students who are pursuing majors in careers like social work and physical therapy can engage with the types of families they might be working with in their futures. Each semester, we get assigned such students. We have been involved in this program for two semesters and both times I have been impressed with the students we have met. I believe they learn a lot by physically being around a child with special needs as opposed to just learning about these kids in the classroom. This semester, we have had a group of three girls meet our family. Faith loves meeting new people and she especially likes hanging out with "the girls" as she calls them. Faith doing Easter crafts with "the girls!" Faith working closely with one of the nursing students Yesterday we had "the girls" come to our apartment where we did some East...

Our kids are spending far too much time in front of glowing tubes, especially the television. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry states that the average American child spends about three to four hours per day watching TV! All this time in front of the electronic babysitter equates to increased rates of childhood obesity and an increased likelihood to receive misinformation from their favorite programs. Luckily, there are a million fun things you can do with your kids to replace a few hours of their TV habit. Here are seven to get you started. 1. Write a Book Reading books with your children is always a good idea - but have you thought about making one together? You and your kids can let your imaginations run wild, creating the story and writing it down by hand. After you've got it on paper, add illustrations. You can draw pictures or cartoons, cut pages out of magazines, or add old photographs. Not only will it make a great memento from their childhood...

Today was the big day - Faith's first visit to a television station where she met Marci Narum and did a TV interview - all to represent the Great American Bike Race (GABR). When we got to KXMB, we were greeted by a few staff members and chatted for a bit. This is when I found out they were expecting me to be on TV with Faith. I really, really didn't want to be on TV. So, we asked Faith what she wanted, and she said, "Just me! Just me!"  Apparently, she wanted all the limelight to herself. Then, someone offered to get us some water but when she brought Faith's water in a Styrofoam cup with a straw, she refused to drink it because it was not HER cup. I think she has this star thing down! A little while later, Beth Thune (co-manager of GABR) came in and while we waited for Marci we were talked with Donnell Preskey, another reporter, about Faith's therapy. I mentioned that we purposely moved here from Watford City so she could get her therapy services without ...

I think today is Faith's first official snow day. There have been days we have kept her out of school because of the weather, but never because the schools were closed. I remember a couple of storms while she was in preschool and I was like, "I'm not taking my daughter out in this." This year there were a couple of days before she started riding the bus that it was just way too cold to walk her to school. Even though this storm was pretty bad, I was still a little surprised Bismarck had actually called off school! Faith was very excited! Rob - not so much as he still had to try to get to work. Our parking lot this morning. I watched him from a window in our hallway as he got our Hyundai Elantra out of the parking lot and thought he was actually going to make it. About half an hour later, he came inside and said he got stuck after disappearing from my sight as he turned onto Ithica. Thankfully, a good 'ol North Dakota boy with a four-wheel drive pickup baile...

Springtime scene on Century Ave. this morning

Imagine finding out that your beautiful new baby had a developmental problem or a congenital disease. Would you know where to turn for help? Would you wonder how you would find the money to pay for specialized care for your child?  It’s a scary thought, but for some parents it’s an everyday fact of life. Luckily, there is at least some cost-free help for infants with disabilities, in the form of Early Intervention programs. Early Intervention (EI) programs are federal and state funded programs available to all infants and toddlers with disabilities. The programs came about under the 1986 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which provided federal funding to states who established EI programs under a certain set of guidelines.  The programs are meant to help progress the disabled child’s development, aid their independence, minimize the need for special education, and to help families be able to better meet their kid’s needs. One of IE’s main benefits is how it fills a...

Today Faith and I both got to do something new together - go to a radio station and do a voiceover for a GABR radio ad. I was a little nervous and wasn't too crazy about having my voice aired over five local radio stations. And Faith wasn't crazy about the idea of going somewhere after school besides home. She reiterated this fact all the way to Mandan saying, "I just want to go home." After meeting the Medcenter communications director and the radio guy, at the station, we all squeezed into a little room with lots of buttons and a big microphone. I had about four lines to say and I guess it went well considering I did it in two takes. Faith must have forgotten all about home because after I was done, she cheered for me saying, "YAYYY!" Then, "My turn, my turn!" But when we told her what she needed to say, she said, "NO, I can't do it." When we encouraged her that she could, she said her line, but she was sort of laughing and it ...

It's hard to believe that the Great American Bike Race (GABR) is only a month away! We have been involved in this event since 2008 when I formed a team called "Faith's Rockin' Riders" with some ladies at work. In 2009, we sort of took a break since we were in the process of moving from our old apartment to our current, accessible one. Rob, however, still rode on MedEquip One's Team. Last year we formed Faith's Fantastic 10 which consisted mostly of our friends. And this year we are gearing up again but with a slightly different name - Faith's Fantastic 12 since we had to expand our team to 12 riders instead of 10! So now there are 1,200 riders taking part in the event instead of just 1,000! GABR 2008 GABR 2009 GABR 2010 We are especially excited this year because Faith, along with her friend, Tanner are GABR Stars this year! GABR stars help to promote this huge fundraising event which means their pictures are seen everywhere! Faith is pr...

It seems Faith was just getting over her last three-week cold when she started coming down with another one. "Oh no, not again," was all I could think.  Yesterday I sent her to school even though I knew she was tired because she hadn't slept well all weekend. One of her aides said it had been hard for her to stay on task and stay focused. Last night she was up at 3 a.m. so I knew she wasn't going to do well in school and kept her home.  She has been sneezing and sounds a little stuffed-up, but I PRAY she has a good sleep tonight and she can kick this cold much faster than her last one. Last week I took her in to see her pediatrician just to touch base with him since he was available. And of course she was perfectly fine then! He said she may have had RSV which can last three-four weeks.  Hopefully that is not the case again this time. I told him I was concerned about her throat because she seems to get a sore throat a lot and was wondering if something was going on...