Spending Time With My Big Sister

What a week!!! A lot went on last week and I apologize for not updating. On Monday Annabel's urine looked very murky so I took a sample to the lab. Sure enough on Friday I got a phone call saying that Annabel has another UTI, but this time it is not e-coli. Other than testing the urine, I would have never expected her to be sick since she is not showing any symptoms. She is eating, sleeping, laughing, and loving life as if she were feeling great. The beginning of the week went fairly normal. She went to school for half a day on Monday and Wednesday, and Mom took her to therapy all day Tuesday. Thursday morning mom left for her ACTS retreat all weekend and Annabel spent the rest of the week with me, Tara. All I have to say is that parenting is no easy task. It is hard to remember everything that needs to be done within a single day. By night time I am not sure what time it was I cathed, fed, or tube fed her last. The days become one long blur of cathing then feeding then tube feeding then lunch then cathing.... you get the picture, every hour and a half there is something that needs to be done. So the weekend started with Thursday. We went to therapy where Annabel got her new wheelchair. At first I wasn't so sure about a wheelchair but she loves it and it suits her completely. After a full day of therapy, I was lucky enough to have LaLa come in the evening to give me a little breather. That night Annabel wasn't much for going to sleep for me.. as usual! For some reason she associates playtime with big sis. Well when 11:30 rolls around, playtime isn't exactly what I am going for. Once she fell asleep she was out for the night. Friday she went to school all day. Obviously I need to work on my mommy skills because I forgot to pack her lunch. Oops, I remembered her movie but not her lunch... shows what I rank as important. As I was picking her up from school I received a phone call... it was mom and she needed an Annabel fix. We met up with her for a few minutes so that mom could see Annabel and her new wheelchair. Friday night was fairly lazy. We just hung out at the house and played. I think that she was worn out from not sleeping the night before because she fell right to sleep around 10 o'clock. Wahoo I am getting the hang of motherhood (so I thought). On Saturday, dad and the twins went to Tyler so Annabel and I were left home alone. That qualifies for being lazy and sleeping in. That afternoon a nurse came to watch her for a couple of hours while I spent some time with my puppies. Things were looking good that evening and I thought that Annabel was going to go down great, but she felt differently. Around 9 I started rocking her to sleep and succeeded, but as I was walking her to the bedroom mom called and she woke up. After that she was wide awake and wanted to play. Finally she went to sleep around midnight. We got up early on Sunday to go to church with mom and have lunch with her. Its amazing to think that Annabel is slow mentally because she expresses her emotions all the time. When she first saw mom, she would not even look at her or acknowledge her. She gave her the cold shoulder almost all the way to church. Annabel definitely knows how to show you that she does not appreciate it if you don't spend time with her everyday. I know that when I go away for a weekend she gives me the shoulder as if I have been gone for months. After church the three of us went to eat lunch at a cajun seafood restaurant down the road. As we were pulling in the parking lot, mom looks out the window to see her sister walking up the stairs. What are the odds!! So we had the pleasure of eating lunch with my aunt, grandma, uncle, and their friends. Sure enough, what always comes after a big meal?? Nap time!! Annabel got home and crashed with mom for the rest of the afternoon. That about raps up my weekend of playing mommy. I enjoyed every minute of it, but parenthood is not for me right now. Today, Tuesday, Annabel started her antibiotic for her UTI. Luckily this antibiotic isn't furadantin so she won't lose her appetite. She also went to the dentist to have her teeth cleaned this morning and everything looks great. After that she went to her pediatrician for him to take a look at her button. The skin around it continues to grow so he applied silver nitrate to it to deaden the skin. Hopefully this will help with the healing around it. Other than that, Annabel's health is doing great. Thanks everyone for the prayers and support. It's hard to believe that Annabel wasn't supposed to live because I can't imagine life without her!!
Tara