Madison turns THREE

Madison turned three today....it is just unbelievable how fast time goes...Mike and I relived that big day again...trying to only focus on the happy part of it. Madison has been such a joy to have in our lives and family. She truly is our "little angel" (Mike's nickname for her)....she had grown leaps and bounds in her short little life and has overcome tremendous obstacles....we couldn't be more proud of her and can't wait to see what the next year of life reveals to us!

We started the day off with a birthday pancake...then we went to work on her trampoline...and later about 5pm decided it was time for cake, presents and ice cream...we even skipped dinner. Ash and I made her a Barney cake...I know I know Barney is the PURPLE dinosaur and it truly looked purple in person! Ha ha....another one of my cakes lives in infamy! But at least this one tasted good! Thank you to all who sent gifts she had a good time opening her presents and cards.

Time Flies -- last two weeks of March

Ok, Ok...I know life is busy with a husband and two dogs but geez add in three kids and I never seem to have enough time to get this blog updated! So here goes the last two weeks in a nutshell (except Maddie's birthday I will save that for it's own post)....my Aunt Kim finally came out for a visit...she got to lots the kids alot for us because it turned out that the three days she was here we had Madison's IEP meeting and as evaluation at St Ritas. So she took the kids to the park and even got to squeeze a movie in with Zach and Maddie. Thanks Aunt Kim!!! Then we hosted an Apraxia playgroup at the house, finally...we have been here for what 8 months and we are finally have other kids over...Ashley worked extremely hard on a English project...she had to created this massive scrapbook of her short 13 years of life...she did an awesome job and the final product was fantastic...she got an A! My exciting life consists of running kids to and from school and therapies....oh, had a dental appt! Mike is just working and working!

Update on Maddie -- Last week she walked up or set of 7 stairs without help and using the railing...I was besides myself....now we just have to work on the aternating her feet...way to go Madison. She finished the county's preschool on 26 March...she brought a feast of jellies to the school to share with her classmates...(such restrictions on what kids can bring these days) She will be starting on 6 April at her new preschool. She has already gotten to meet her new teacher, Mrs D....she will be wearing pull-ups so keep your fingers crossed that by June she is potty trained. She also passed her eval for St Ritas so now we are waiting to hear if she gets accepted into the program for the summer...we are going to see how our school district works with her to determine if she goes there next year or to St Ritas (if accepted)...our trip to CT was canceled on Monday the 30th...Maddie got really sick on Sunday night, her birthday....and is still quite sick....so we will have to reschedule that and it looks like Mike gets to go on that trip, being that I am having surgery in 10 days or so.....

Ok, just typing this all up is making me tired!

Week of March 9-15

This week was supposed to be my rest week. I ended up coming down with bronchitis and a sinus infection....but alas, no rest for the weary! So on Tuesday we had massive amounts of blood drawn from Madison. Poor girl, when we pulled up to the hospital and I told her and Zach what was happening she kept saying, no no mama! I decided fun should be had by Zach too, so he got the first of 6 shots to get ready for the next school year....although he was a trooper about the whole thing. Then Ash had her physical for the upcoming track season. No shots there but she wanted one...I said really! Teenagers.....

The weather has been wacky this week....a few gorgeous days....had to take Maddie out for an outing at the park to be topped off with riding her bike...included some footage there. She also, said her name this week, and can sing Old MacDonald with assistance....and even got from A to G in the alphabet....she is making tremendous strides.

Ash started track....and is running like crazy...seems to be enjoying it.....Zach started soccer....we can't wait to be spectators at both events!

On March 11, Mike received exciting news that he received his next promotion! We are soooo proud of him and all of his hard work!

Lastly, to top off the week we got new granite counter tops put in. The look great! Now our cabinets look dated...hoping that with new hardware they will be OK, otherwise we are going to have take out that paintbrush again! (pictures to come later)

Week of March 1-8

Ok...trying to keep up daily just isn't working anymore so I am going to give you play by play for the week! This week I observed a preschool classroom in the Centerville school district. The teacher was phenomenal....so I think we will be requesting her room. I also register Zach for kindergarten next year (hoping to get him into the Early 5's but we will see how that goes)...can't believe my baby boy is almost ready for school. Then Mike and I had date night on Friday night....just as I was starting to come down with something....we ate at a yummy steak restaurant...then ran off to pick up shin guards for Zach. A local church in the area does a once a month date night for families with special needs kids; it is first come basis. It is free and the folks there are fantastic. The kids have a great time. Then that night we were asleep and at about 11 pm...I heard Madison make a strange noise. Jumped out of bed and touched her...she was burning up....got medicine down her throat, stripped her of her PJs...and tried to bring the fever down. We weren't sure if a seizure was coming, then we saw her starting to jerk and then administered the diastat (I so hate these febrile seizures).....the seizure didn't last as long as they normally do and Madison definitely fought her way through the whole thing. She was visited by the ambulance folks who brought a stuff bear.....So far we aren't seeing to many side affects to this seizure. So much for the countdown to 8 months.