Saturday, January 13, 2024

2023 Recap: February

    For this post I weeded through my phone and deleted 279 photos and 13 videos and of the ones left over, here are my favorites:

  After remembering Emma's love of swings, including the one Michael set up for her in the backyard of our first house, we explored another neighborhood and were pleased to find a playground near the front. It was very cold that day and we only had one of her feet covered, so we didn't stay long. She had her foot probe on, with the sock covering and it was not so cold when we first left for the walk. Emma did not care for the slides. 

   There was a Preserve that Michael heard about, not too far from us that we checked out. I got a new mini Polaroid camera, using some Christmas money I still had. I do not get rid of/ pass off the other ones when I get a new one (I have been asked that before), but I had my eye on this one for a while because of it's distinct look, and it came in a "party pack" with film and magnetic photo frames! The party pack was surprisingly $10 cheaper than if I bought only the camera from another seller, both via Amazon. (First photo here- Emma is handing me a leaf.)

   We went on a few different trails, but had to turn back on a couple because they were not stroller friendly. I went again the next day with Sasha so I could explore those areas we didn't get to see. And I know she is old ~she turned 16 in August 2023! ~and maybe it's because she was really focused on getting to the car for water, but she did not notice that tortoise that was right there at all! :)

  At the beginning of the month, Emma had an Orthopedic appointment to get her legs looked at for a regular follow up, since they have been falling back into their "old habits" of bending backward at the knees.. where there are no kneecaps, part of her Meier Gorlin Syndrome. They usually get an Xray of her spine as well while we are at the Ortho appointment. The tech allowed me to take a photo, but Michael and I cared more about the condition of her lungs. Unfortunately the Xray showed that the left lung (which is shown on the right in the photo) is still closed. The left side shows her right lung, dark and filled with air. If you look closely, you can see that it looks like the right lung is expanding outward to make room for extra breathing. It is shown as a gray color near the top of the left lung and rib cage.

19 pounds, 9oz this month (Feb 2023)

   We invited another couple over for dinner, Rachel and Nora, who Michael knows from work. They were both very nice, and even brought us a beautiful bouquet of flowers that I refused to throw away for weeks, even after they expired; because even then they looked pretty! We ordered two large pizzas from Mariana's, including one that was a veggie without mushrooms, and, oh my goodness, that one was so delicious!! Rachel (who has the red hair in the photos below) spent a good amount of time playing with Emma, and at one point before they left Emma got both of them to play the "suction catheter game" with her:
   Step #1, Emma pushes her suction catheter down her trach (without the suction machine being in use). Step #2, the Player slowly pulls it back out. Step #3, Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for as long as the Player will allow. I don't think I've seen Emma be the one to stop the game and move on to something else!

   For Valentines Day, Michael and I bought each other flowers, but he had also secretly bought all of the replacement towel rods and toilet paper holders that I had been wanting him to put up. He also ordered hand towel rings for two of the bathrooms. My main issue was that the towel rods that had been installed with the house were awkwardly high, preventing me from being able to decorate one wall in the downstairs guest bathroom. Michael didn't like the style of them (we did not pick them out; it was an inventory home) and had been looking at more of a sleek, rectangular style. I liked those more too.

   Emma had her pretty little eyes on someone last Valentine's too. Wooo-weee! Doctor Conrad Hawkins, played by the ever so handsome actor, Matt Czuchry. I was watching The Resident on Hulu that month. The second photo must have been from a day when we were not watching the show, haha!

Other notes:

   Michael tried a smoothie bowl for the first time in his life and liked it more than he thought he would. Our next door neighbors had the construction for their large screened in patio begin this month, even though they said it was supposed to have started a few months prior. Just like how we were "supposed to" have moved in to our house at the end of July 2022 and it was nowhere near completed at that point.

   I hung out with Tonia and Ashlyn on February 11th, but Emma wasn't there for that so I'm not posting photos. We walked around Palma Sola Botanical Gardens followed by a more hike-type-walk at the Robinson Nature Preserve; both are free! Then we had a very yummy lunch at a spot we had never been to, but a place I would like to try again: Sweetberries Frozen Custard & Eatery. 

   Although I said I will make more of a "Full House" post later.. get it? ;) I am fine adding small notes about when we had to get things worked on after we were fully moved in. I did not mention for January that a few times a worker had to come paint over some spots, which had been damaged or scraped during the move in days, because the shades of "Agreeable Gray" on the walls kept being off once it dried. In February, they finally got in the center window joint for the double window for Emma's playroom, although it was nice that the silver part that had been showing through wasn't noticeable once Michael installed the blinds (all by himself!) in the second week of January. I probably helped a little. ;) You'll find out how much of a timely hassle this beautiful window ended up being for us during the build when I write about it later. The more I talk about it, the more I want "the build" to be my next post! We'll see.

   The connection cord for the pulse oximeter monitor to Emma's foot probe (which was under the sock in the swing pictures at the beginning of this post) got a crack/ hole that slowly became larger within a couple weeks. Big enough that wrapping Coban around it didn't feel like a safe option. The probe sensitivity tends to seem faulty here and there to begin with, so I was able to get someone from her medical supply company to bring a new one to our house. Apparently Emma uses a lot of the older devices, so the woman on the phone made sure the driver brought the correct cord that would fit this specific monitor. Actually.. I think they mailed it first and a newer model was sent, so I had to call and tell her we couldn't use it because it didn't fit the one we use, then the correct one was dropped off in person. That sounds accurate!

   One morning, on February 26th, Emma was having a hard time breathing. Her heart rate was really high (over 170 bpm) and she was really warm/sweaty, so I took off her pajama top and started her nebulized treatments early. Eventually she fell back asleep. I kept switching out her washcloth for a new, cooler one. This photo was from 8am and in another photo (not used) from the afternoon, she was laughing and playing again as usual. Sometimes for Emma, especially with only one working lung, she can easily get in a coughing (or gagging on saliva) fit and her body needs an extra boost to help her out for a little bit.

   Michael and I continued with her therapy at home throughout the month, nothing official, using her gait trainer sometimes as well. And there were a couple days that I helped her write her name using the "hand over hand" method. She did not appreciate me making her write it six times in a row, but it got done! :)

   February was when I started the process of getting her enrolled in "school", via the Hospital Homebound program. This was something that I wasn't able to do until we had moved (and I wanted to be settled) into the house, because the apartment we were living in before was not in the same county as our house, which was still being built, so they told me I could not enroll her until we were in our permanent home/county. I also had to enroll her in an actual elementary school, the one she was zoned for, even though she would not physically be going to that school. With all of Emma's medical and developmental needs, we have to use a program where the teacher can come to our house.

Friday, January 12, 2024

2023 Recap: January

   To be honest, 2023 was difficult.. or maybe I should say: it was an emotional year. That’s probably a better word. The full year (May 1, 2017- April 30, 2018) between finding out “something was wrong” with Emma, which is when we started this medical-ish type blog, once my pregnancy was no longer normal, to the graduation from her extremely long stay NICU/PICU would probably be more in the “difficult” category. It was nice that Emma didn’t have any surgeries or procedures last year and we were finally done moving. We had a full year in our beautiful new house. But there was a lot of family stuff going on that we weren’t really expecting; not just the three of us, but we grew through it all and learned things about ourselves and each other, and hopefully came out a little better at the end. And we can use all of that to have a better time this year.

   Since I want to write more posts this year, and I only wrote one last year, I’ll do a monthly 2023 recap of all the best Emma moments, and family trips/ visits where she was involved. And because I tend to write a lot and it’s hard to narrow down all of her cute pictures, I’ll probably break it into two (or three?!) posts.. *Edit: who am I kidding? This seriously needs to be broken into monthly sections!!*

**I dedicate my whole year of 2023 to my “therapist” and BEST FRIEND, Lindsey Nicole, (not to be confused with my cousin, also named Lindsey Nicole, who will be mentioned in the May part of this post- now isn’t that a fun “cowinkidink”.) My BEST FRIEND Lindsey was there for me every single day, lending her heart and ear, giving nothing but continued prayers, love and support. We talked and texted almost every day and it was exactly what I needed. :) 

   So as you can tell from the blog post title, I have concluded from the amount of pictures I want to use that each post needs to be about it's own month. Fun fact: while picking my favorites to use here, I deleted 475 pictures and 15 videos from my phone, just from January!

Main Memory: Belated Christmas with Emma's Cousins ~ so we will start with those pictures..  Michael, Emma and I did celebrate our own Christmas together on December 25th like usual, but since that was in 2022, those pictures won't be in here (sorry!) and I didn't make a post about that back then either. 

   My parents, younger brother, Zach, and his two daughters, Peyton and Helena, who were 8 and 6 years old a year ago, came down for a long weekend and stayed in our fancy new house (we moved in at Thanksgiving 2022!) now that we have more room in a bigger space, compared to our previous house in the Orlando area! << That post is linked to the "photography blog" I had before I was pregnant with Emma/ before we got to the "rocky" parts of our big adventures with our tiny girl! :)

   The girls love doing my makeup when we are together. Don't I look simply amazing!? My mom did some relaxing face masks with us. Peyton rested still long enough for me to put on nice spa music. :)
I also usually let them borrow my mini Polaroid cameras while they are visiting and it's fun to see what kinds of photos they end up taking. Peyton took a selfie of her and Emma that turned out pretty hilarious, but very sweet at the same time. Helena didn't want to keep many of her pictures, so she gave them to me. I am currently very much into making colorful "junk journals" (none of the Google Images look like the ones I have started) and the purpose of that is to have a real place to put all of my hundreds of mini Polaroid photos, instead of continuing to let them rest cold and lonely in a box.

#GirlsClub!

   The second night of this visit, Michael went out of his super sweet and generous way to make sure my family had an amazing meal! He grilled a large flank steak, made hash brown casserole, grilled asparagus, and put together a little salad buffet to include fresh cut tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese and seasoned croutons. My mom cooked a Stouffer's mac and cheese for the girls, although everyone ate some because, hello, it's mac and cheese! Even my brother, who is a pretty picky eater, tried the specially handmade "caprese type bruschetta breads" and said it was good. He might have even taken a second one? Oh! Michael even bought these nice wooden platters for the steak and the bread for a nicer presentation! We didn't have these before that weekend with my parents! Such a top notch host!! Five stars! :) 
   My brain wants me to say that we also watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets this night..

 This picture below was a really important one to get because after looking through this old Jacksonville Zoo blog post again, from 2017, when I was still pregnant with Emma and I made sure to take a "Grandma and Grandpa with baby P&H", we realized that five years later, there was still not one photo of just my parents with their three granddaughters. We'll have to get another one this year too!

   Emma doesn't have a lot of kids that she is able to play with, so I really love when Peyton and Helena are able to come down or we are all able to get together somewhere (like a pool resort, etc). Emma has not yet been to Gainesville, where they all live, but I have it on my 2024 To Do List!! It will take a lot of work though for various reasons. She has played with my friend Tonia's daughter a few times, and there is a 10 year old girl who lives on our street who is really sweet with Emma. I keep thinking we should invite her and her mom over, but then always forget to! I had such a super fun time when Emma got to meet my friend Jenn's two daughters a few years ago when they were in town (when we still lived in Orlando) because they were going to Disney for a few days and we spent one afternoon at the beach and then got dinner together. 

   **Notes about other things that happened that I now remember since I am looking through all the pictures: We got the upstairs loft and guest bedroom completely finished, decorated, and cleaned on January 2nd, and I started to add those pictures but that isn't really Emma stuff, so I'm not adding that. Okay, here is one where Michael found Emma's graduation cap that he made before she finally got to leave the NICU!! I should make a "moving into our house" post at some point, but that will probably be a lot of work. Or do I make a building one vs a moving in/ unpacking one? We'll see how "bloggy" I feel, and if I keep up "the writing bug"! :) 

   Finding and using the circle rope swing near the back of the neighborhood at the beginning of the year was a huge win! On January 10th, 2023 Emma finally used a second sign with her hands, "More". I have been trying to teach her that one for years. She loved the swing so much, she just needed something to really want more of to motivate her to start using the sign. Even now she usually only uses it when she is on a swing. She got one from Santa recently that we have in our backyard now! :)

   On January 21st, we met up with my friend Tonia and her daughter Ashlyn, who is just one year older than Emma, at the De Soto National Memorial Park. Fun fact: Emma and Ashlyn both had the same due date of July 2nd (in 2016 and 2017), but they both ended up being born in June! The park was having a "living history" weekend event, but it wasn't as involved as I was thinking it would be. They had a small area open with a table with heavy armor we could try on (that was pretty cool) and a second table with small weapon type tools and packs with animal skins? I don't remember; I didn't go over to that one. A woman helped Ashlyn put on as much of the armor as her body could hold! We walked along some different trails and in the gift shop we picked up some sea turtle postcards and all wrote one to mail to our friend Mia in Colorado!

   On January 23rd, Emma lost her fourth tooth (lower right lateral incisor) and was given a glittery bank receipt from the Tooth Fairy that time instead of a couple dollars! Emma and I practiced some sitting and standing, using her therapy "cube chair", while she wore her KAFOs. At that point we were still on the waiting list for Emma to continue physical therapy with the outpatient location in Sarasota since we switched from the previous location once we moved. So since January 2023, she had not had official physical therapy since her last session with Liliana in September 2022. Sad spoiler alert ~ a whole year later, that is still the case!! Not for lack of trying..

Part 1 of 12 ~ the end.