What A Week...

This past week was dress up week at Annabel's school. Each day had a different theme of what to wear. Annabel has been healthy and happy all week long so hopefully her urine infections will stay away for a little while this time.

Monday: Pajama Day.
Today Annabel wore her favorite PJ's to school. She has been eating all of her meals excellent and taking in fluids throughout the day. Today she only went half a day... I am trying not to stress her out on days that she doesn't go to therapy. I have also stopped giving her feedings throughout the nights. I was worrying that it was causing her to possibly have reflux or congestion from it.

Tuesday:
Annabel did not go to school today. She had a rough night sleeping so I decided it would be best if she slept in before therapy. She had speech, occupational, and physical therapies in the morning. It was great to see her finally showing progress since her surgery setback. She ate almost a whole twinkie in speech before spitting it back out. She has begun to stick her tongue out and spit the food if she doesn't want it in therapy. It's hilarious to see her smile afterwards like she knows exactly what she is doing. She worked really hard in OT and PT on standing and sitting. She had complete focus when she was grabbing the toys in front of her. She is really coming back to life compared to the week before. Always smiling and laughing as if she is part of the conversation. After therapy we went to Luby's with Meemaw then laid down for an afternoon nap before speech. Annabel was still kind of groggy for speech, but made it through with just enough effort. When she got home so was full of life as if she had just needed a little time to get going.

Wednesday: Sunglasses Day


Today Annabel got to wear her sunglasses to school. Lucky for her it was perfect because the class took a field trip to see the Rodeo. Tara went along with the class to take pictures of her first school field trip. What an experience... as we get into the elevator to go to our seats, a boy that was inside with us pressed the "call for help" button on the elevator and alarms started going off. Not only that but the elevator wasn't moving. Not sure what to do, they evacuated the elevator. A few moments later the noise stopped so the three of us decided to test it out again. This time was a success and into the Rodeo we went.
Annabel got to go down beside the horses and see them up close. I am not for certain that she understood what they were, but I found her to be more scared of our dog then the horse. She laughed and smiled at the animals as if they were there to amuse her. While we were at the Rodeo, we came across a good friend from church, Denise, who is always a pleasure seeing. As the trip started to wind down, Annabel got to go outside and see the longhorns that were in the cage outside the doors. She sure did have a smile on her face when we went outside, but it could have been because she was trying to see out of her sunglasses.

Thursday: Hawaiian Day


Today was the longest day of them all. Annabel went to school in the morning so that she could get in her occupational therapy from school. She went dressed for the occasion of hawaiian day in her lei and skirt. She worked hard for her OT and got to swing on the pillar.
Obviously her OT got the job done because Annabel was exhausted leaving school. Next Annabel went to speech therapy where she ate beans and rice... she wasn't to interested in the beans, but the rice went down fairly good. She was all smiles for OT and PT after that. Annabel is showing excellent signs of focus and hand eye coordination. She is sitting longer while playing with toys, standing with her arms propped up, and reaching for toys that interest her. After therapy, we went to Luby's again with Meemaw then hit the bed for a quick nap before speech. Speech was a lot better today than Tuesday. Annabel showed a lot more focus and energy towards the activities that she had to do. She was still quiet with her sounds so we did an experiment. At the end of the session, her therapist and I pretended to ignore her to see if she would speak... sure enough as soon as we started talking Annabel jumped right in the conversation with ga ga ga and da da da, smiling as if she was telling a story.

Friday: Spirit Day
Today was Spirit Day where the Kindergarten class put on a program in the morning and then the school day ended with a pep-rally. Annabel went to school all day and looked as happy as can be when I picked her up. Last night she had the best night of sleep in awhile and I do believe that it truly effects her days. She appears to be more alert and aware of what is taking place around her when she has gotten a good night of sleep. Hopefully the weekend will continue to be as successful as the week has been.
Sorry that it has taken so long to post about her week, but as you can see it has been hectic. She has been on the go and loving every minute of life. Thank you all for helping her through prayers. God has his path for each of us and Annabel is showing us how he believes life should be lived... through love, laughter, family, and friends! Thanks again.

Praying for Jacob...

We would like to ask for prayers for Jacob Ryan Fahmer. His link is on the sidebar of Annabel's blog. If everyone could get on their knees and ask God to give him comfort and rest, for his body to heal and his organs to produce. He is a precious Angel who God has blessed with over 100 days. I have never met him, but have followed his story almost daily. I would also ask that God give his family the strength, peace and comfort to meet each of his needs daily. Annabel's issues seem so small in the whole picture. I am truly grateful for all who keep Annabel in their prayers but to please add this precious child to your prayer list. Thank you and I will post updates of Annabel very soon.

A Day In The Life Of Annabel

Therapy Thursday... at least that is what we refer to it as. Tuesdays and Thursdays are Annabel's days of therapy outside of school. On the T days, Annabel starts the mid-morning off with back to back therapies. At 11:30am, begins her occupational therapy. As the pictures show, her therapy begins with swinging on the platform for a few minutes. When Annabel really enjoys the swing she will talk and laugh and giggle... it's too funny. After that, she got to play with vibrating toys to help work on her tactile defensive nature with her hands. She also wrote her name a couple of times on paper with a vibrating pen. Finally to round up her session, she worked on sitting straight up and using her hands to play with toys in front of her. She has really come a long way since she first started therapy, but since she has been sick it has set her back physically.
At noon comes speech therapy to work on her eating and mouth movements. Here her therapist attaches stem to her cheeks and throat. This stimulates the muscles to help make them stronger. It also helps her to develop the proper technique to swallow and chew.
The third therapy before her lunch break is physical therapy. During this time, Annabel works on her standing and sitting. We are trying to build muscle strength so that hopefully one day she can walk. Her surgery and being in the hospital have really set her back but hopefully starting next week she will be back in the stander and working hard again. Once physical therapy is finished, we go have lunch and head over to her grandma's house for a nap.
To finish the day off, Annabel goes to speech therapy in the afternoon. Here she works on her motor development skills. She uses her hands to pull and pick up toys. She also listens to music while working on learning animals and objects.
By the time we get home Annabel is ready to sit back and relax on the couch while watching some cartoons. Hope everyone enjoys this little insight on what all therapies that she receives during the week. Her urine has been back and forth lately. One day it is crystal clear and the next it is murky. She hasn't shown any outward signs of feeling sick so hopefully this is a good thing. On Tuesday she didn't feel very good, but since then she has been all smiles. I have begun to use her feeding machine as an IV during the night to make sure that she takes in enough fluids. I try to continue to pump water and bottles into her during the night. During the day, she gets water and cranberry juice through her button and eats all her meals by mouth. Thanks everyone for all the help and the support each and every day!! God bless.