Faith's Mom's Blog

Shortly after arriving home from my cardiology appointment yesterday, Faith asked, "So was everything A-OK at the doctor's mommy?" Although I had been dreading the first part of my appointment - the stress test - everything really did turn out "A-OK." Doing a stress test is not fun for many reasons. First you have to take off your shirt and bra and put on one of those flimsy hospital gowns. Then they have to hook you up to like a dozen electrodes. You have to try to keep everything intact as you push your heart to it's maximum limit. And in my case, while all of this was going on, a good-looking young guy who was an intern at Mayo was in the room. Thank goodness I had two wonderful nurses who helped to keep my gown closed and wires untangled while I was on the treadmill. The first three minutes of the test weren't so bad but then they raised the incline and the treadmill sped up. Towards the end of the three minutes I started noticing my legs getti

Yesterday evening we went over to my brother and his wife's house for a barbecue. The weather was perfect, unlike today which has been filled with sporadic rain, thunder and lightning. We had a great time visiting and meeting some of those whom Todd and Barbara went to Argentina with on a missions trip. And I must say, even though I have never seen my brother cook before, he is a pro on the grill. The food was fantastic! Todd grilling up some corn on the cob. Relaxing Nicole and Barbara Sorry Chatzi - no food for you! Faith and her new friend, Alex Thanks for the food and fun!

By Lori Borgman - written May 12, 2002 recently posted on www.amazingamelia.blogspot.com My friend is expecting her first child. People keep asking what she wants. She smiles demurely, shakes her head and gives the answer mothers have given throughout the ages of time. She says it doesn't matter whether it's a boy or a girl. She just wants it to have ten fingers and ten toes. Of course, that's what she says. That's what mothers have always said. Mothers lie. Truth be told, every mother wants a whole lot more. Every mother wants a perfectly healthy baby with a round head, rosebud lips, button nose, beautiful eyes and satin skin. Every mother wants a baby so gorgeous that people will pity the Gerber baby for being flat-out ugly. Every mother wants a baby that will  roll over, sit up and take those first steps right on schedule (according to the baby development chart on page 57, column two). Every mother wants a baby that can see, hear, run, jump and

Today Faith had her annual eye appointment. Her special education teacher from school came along because she had some questions regarding Faith's vision. Larissa has noticed when working on reading with Faith in school that if there is a sentence of three words like: The Big Ball Faith will just pick out the word she knows and say that one. And if she knows all three words in the sentence she just looks and  picks one but never says them in order from left to right. Also, Faith's teacher said that when there are three lines of numbers like: 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9 Faith can read them if Larissa is pointing to them individually but Faith can't read the numbers from left to right without them being pointed to. She just zones in on one number and says the one that catches her attention. I am so thankful for Faith's amazing special education teacher who goes out of her way to make sure Faith reaches her fullest potential. I've noticed at home that when

A typical Wednesday afternoon for Faith... Faith getting her stretches in the pool Faith uses a wet noodle to help kick her legs behind her while working to keep her head up After all that work, it's time to relax a little Faith has come a long way since her first day in the pool when she screamed during the whole half-hour session. Rob had to get in there with her the next time then after that she was fine and started to have fun in the pool. After we get out of the pool, I hurry and get her dressed so she's ready for her physical therapy session. One of the reasons she has hydro first is so that her muscles are more relaxed enabling her to use them more effectively in physical therapy. Look how tall Faith is standing in her gait trainer! And notice her new tennis shoes! Faith in her gait trainer taking some steps Even though it is hard work, Faith really does enjoy her physical therapy sessions - as you can tell in this picture! I know one reason she en

For the past month or so, Rob and I have been trying to go through every closet, every drawer, every box, basically every thing in our apartment. This Friday all of our un-needed treasure will be up for grabs at a rummage sale we're going in on with a friend of ours. This morning, Rob realized he had forgotten to go through his clothes so he hurried into the closet and grabbed all of the hangers with dust on them. A lot of his clothes he has shrunk out of since losing weight. Wish I had that same problem! Another reason for our reorganizing frenzy is because we had to make room for Faith's new bed. While shopping for a better mattress for her, we were at TW Warehouse when we discovered the Dr. Breus Bed . Dr. Breus developed six different mattresses for different kinds of sleepers. The mattress we found for Faith is made especially for people with fibromyalgia or arthritis. Though she doesn't have either of these conditions, we figured it was worth a shot to see if it w