Faith's Fun Birthday Week

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Yes, it's true that Faith has been celebrating her birthday ever since last week! I mean, a girl only turns 19 once, right? And this is the last official year of her being a teenager! Last Tuesday when she woke up she said, "I can't believe I'm 19 already!" She was super excited because not only was it her birthday but it was Tie-Dye Tuesday at her day program and she was bringing cupcakes to all her friends there! 

During the drive to Mandan, she asked if she was going to get any flowers for her birthday. I kept telling her I really didn't know. (She is still upset with me for throwing out the flowers that her cousins had gotten her in May for her graduation.) 

I wasn't planning on getting her flowers, but I was pretty sure she would get at least one bouquet. She had a blast at her day program and on the way home she said she couldn't wait to see the apartment (she knew I was going to put up decorations for her.) 

She was so excited to come through the door and not only see birthday decorations but one beautiful bouquet of flowers from her respite care provider. (Plus her grandparents had brought another bouquet!) As we waited for our birthday party guests to arrive, she had fun watching and listening to birthday messages that friends and family had made for her. During her party, we opened gifts, ate some chili, and had cupcakes and ice cream.  

Me and the birthday girl!

Faith with Grandpa and Grandma

Dawn barely made it in the group shot!

The perfect shirt for T-Rex Thursday!

One of Faith's staff at her day program even did her hair for her!

Faith with her gifts and cards.
As you can see in the pictures, one of her gifts was a t-shirt with a Tyrannosaurus Rex on it.  On Thursday at her day program, they have T-Rex Thursday where the staff and participants can wear things with this kind of dinosaur on it. She only has one T-Rex shirt, so I found a few more for her on Amazon. When I explained to everyone why she needed more T-Rex shirts, my sister got so excited. She had helped to come up with that day when she worked there years ago! She was so happy to know they were still doing it!

The next day we went to therapy, where she has 3 sessions two days a week. She has occupational therapy, physical therapy, and we just started speech therapy. There is also a day where she has physical therapy before she goes to her day program. Not only did we deliver cupcakes to all the therapists at Kids in Motion, but she also got to get in on their wacky Wednesday by taking a group shot with them. Even though she only works with three of them, she loves seeing all the therapists (and admin assistants) and getting to socialize with them. 

They may be wacky but they are pretty amazing!! 

 Earlier in the week I had asked Faith if she wanted to go on a trip for her birthday. She had been asking to go on a trip over the summer but it just didn't work out. She was excited and asked where we were going. I told her we could go to Fargo and go to a Bison game! The only thing is at that time I didn't actually have tickets, because as I learned that reserved accessible seats were kind of hard to get. Thankfully, I was able to call the day before the game when they said more seats would be opening up. I got 2 tickets for us and 2 more for our helpers - my sister and great niece! 

Despite having a moment of high anxiety about the trip the evening before, she was raring to go the morning of the trip! We managed to get the van loaded up and then just cruised over to my sister's to pick her and Gracie. We made it to Valley City before stopping and still had plenty of time to get to the game, or so I thought. 

We arrived around 1:30 - just 30 minutes after the doors had opened and all the accessible parking spots were already filled! We managed to find a spot that wasn't too far away. I sort of parked in the middle of two spots so that we still had room to let the ramp down. I figured someone would be mad for taking up an extra parking spot, but there wasn't much I could do. Like my sister said, they need way more accessible spots! 

After unloading, we made our way to the FARGODOME but I had to run back and get Faith's food, which I had put in the back so it would stay cold. After we got inside, we needed to go upstairs where the family rooms were so I could get Faith changed and her feeding going. (Way to go FARGODOME for having 3 private bathrooms with adult-size changing tables!) 

After all of that, we ended up missing the very beginning of the game where the players come onto the field. It's probably good that we missed it though, cause it was super loud! They play "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC, plus they turn off the lights, have flashing green and gold lights, and several loud booms. I think that might have been too much for Faith! 

We found our seats just after the first quarter started. It's funny because when I watch football on TV, Faith could care less, but she really liked the whole live experience! We were sitting near some of the opposing team's fans (Illinois State Redbirds) so when they cheered, she would cheer. I had to try to help her know when to cheer. She got the hang of yelling "first down," and loved the frenzy of when we scored. (She could have done without the two loud booms after each touchdown). 

We had great seats!!

Right behind us!

These 3 had never been to a Bison game before!

So much fun!

 

We ended up leaving right before the end of the 4th quarter because I knew she was getting tired. Plus, I kinda wanted to get ahead of all the traffic. (NDSU won by the way!) On our way to the hotel, the directions on my phone took us this really weird route where we were going through all these neighborhoods and side streets, but we eventually found our way to our hotel. (I wanted connecting rooms and the only hotel that had them available when I called was one in way southwest Fargo). 

I was thankful my sister could come along because I needed her to help me lift Faith in and out of her chair. I would never be able to travel alone with Faith on a long trip or do an overnight by myself because I simply can't lift her.

On Sunday after getting lost again, my sister was able to get the Popeye's chicken sandwich she was craving (she got me one too and it was really good!) All in all it was a great trip and I'm glad to know it's totally doable.  Also, Faith had so much fun she wants to go again sometime! I'm proud of Faith for being such a great traveler and for doing so well with her 5-year old second cousin.

And now that her birthday is over, I think we are both looking forward to having a routine week!

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