Rest of summer

We had a great summer with the girls and family! Took them to Fairystone park to swim one Saturday, we went to the Columbus Zoo w/Nana Donna and Cousin Jennifer in August, girls spent several nights with Nana & Papa H., Maddi's 2nd birthday was so much fun on the weekend before July 4th! Olivia was back at Lakeside for the summer and got to go on multiple field trips (Pump it Up, Duck Pond, Museum, Parks, etc.) Maddie and her had "swim days" each week, too, and we filled up our little pools in the back yard a LOT this summer :)

Summertime fun

Princess Olivia

Surgery on April 29th, 2011 went great. Olivia did excellent and thank the good Lord that we were able to bring her home the following afternoon! This was by far the hardest thing Brian and I have faced since her first emergency surgery. I talked to Olivia the day before and she didn't say much except when I told her she'd have to stay in the hospital for a night or two and she said "No". When I woke her up Friday morning, she said she didn't want to sit in the chair (she hates dentist, beautician, etc. chairs!)...and then later said she didn't want to go to sleep in the hospital :( Bless her little heart, she was nervous as we were and even got sick while we were waiting to see Dr Apfel before the surgery. She's so brave though, and trusted that mommy and daddy were telling her the truth and that she'd see us soon. It was so hard to expain things to her this time. I went to the O R with her again this time and left her side at 7:30am. Call from nurse at 9:45 that Olivia was doing good, but it'd be awhile longer. We kept checking at the desk, and got a call at 1:00 that they were closing up. 2:00 a call from Dr. Apfel, things went well, just long because they had a lot of work to do on the synthetic piece. CT after got her to the PICU and it showed a perfectly shaped head! surgeons were happy and of course we were too. She got sick a couple of times that evening from the anastesia or maybe the loritab on an empty stomache. But she woke up at 2am and ate some goldfish and let me brush her teeth. Then ate breakfast, lunch and we were released at 4:00pm Sat.! Home for a nap, then dinner and playtime with mom and dad. She has slept all night every night since being home. Hospital stays always messed up her sleeping in the past, but not this time. She woke up from anastesia saying she wanted to go home :) So glad this is over and just want to thank everyone for support, thoughts and most importantly, PRAYERS!!! Our miracle baby keeps on amazing us and we thank God for her every day!
Sutures come out Monday, May 9th, and follow up w/neurosurgeon May 25th. She'll go back to school right after Memorial Day, 4 1/2 weeks post-surgery. She hasn't been on her ADHD meds since April 22nd. We may just keep her off of them through the summer now.

Olivia's 5th Birthday!!!

Cupcakes in her preschool class and Chuck E Cheese for dinner, yum! :) Girls were worn OUT! And Sunday at her party, there were 12 kiddos total, with two little bitty babies which we were glad attended! Thanks to all for coming, we had such a fun day and made great memories for Olivia in the upcoming difficult days for her. Please pray for her surgery which has now been moved to Friday April 29th at 7:15am. It was moved back 4 days, due to the synthetic piece being to specific to Olivia's gap. Dr Apfel wants it bigger so she can trim it once in surgery and make sure it fits her exactly. All these last minute changes, even though the doctor's office did call the manufacturer to make sure the CT scan was done in enough time for the scheduled surgery (4 weeks out) Anyway...what's done is done. Olivia will have spring break next week and get to spend time with Nana and Papa in the days before her surgery, this way. She probably will be in the hospital for 2 nights and kept out of preK until the day after Memorial Day (4 weeks post surgery), per neurosurgeon's suggestion. We want her head to be healing w/o chance of being hit by another child or fall.
In God we trust! As Pastor Tom told us, Olivia is in God's hands, the safest place that she can be! :) I love it.

Olivia

We have the CT scan for Olivia scheduled for March 22nd now. Her surgery is still scheduled for April 25th at 7:15am, which means we have to be there by 5:15am!!! yuck. The week before the surgery we have an pre-op appointment at Dr. Apfel's office w/PA Amy, who've we've seen before a couple of times. Please pray for the CT scan next week...not sure how to explain this to Olivia. They will be medicating her so she'll be absolutely still for the scan, the images have to be so precise to send off for them to make the piece for her head. Probably won't be going back to school that day so we can keep an eye on her (Nana babysitting :) ) I tried to trim Olivia's hair tonight in the tub and not talking about what I was doing, since that didn't work at the salon last week...well this didn't work either "I DON'T WANT YOU TO CUT MY HAIR, MOMMA!!!" OMG, she gets SO anxious about this and will not sit still! Just like at the dentist! Brian had to help me afterward so I could trim the back all one length, as I'd already started the trim in the tub! and I just did some random cuts on her bangs...hoping I didn't chop it all up! We'll see in the morning. Girls sleepover at Aunt Gi-gi's last Sat. night, so fun!!! Girls love her so much and did not want to leave on Sunday!

Follow up on meds

Back to UVA this week to follow up on ADHD meds for Olivia. we've upped the dosage once and it's working well at pre-k. Her appetite is definitely affected at the beginning of the meds and when we upped the dosage, but seems to level off after about a week. She's lost a pound or two, and we're keeping an eye on that, it seems to be coming back up now. We'll be meeting with her teacher soon to discuss what's best for Olivia next Fall. Also got her fitted for a new brace for her right foot @ UVA this week, she picked a purple one with rainbow velcro :) It'll be taller than her current one, but will help her with dragging her right toes. We'll have to go back to C'ville in a few weeks to get the brace, then follow up with Dr Norwood in 4 months, then back to Dr Montero in 6 months, so we'll be seeing a lot of 460 & 29 in the upcoming year :) Getting ready to schedule Olivia's CT head scan to prepare for surgery end of April. Also, she has show an enormous amount of "anxiety" at dentist trip last week and hair cut appt today :( She's fine until it's time for her to sit in "THE CHAIR" The DREADED chairs...but I pray that most of her reaction is from her age and she'll outgrow it (please!). Madi did fine w/haircut once I held her.

Madi is wonderful, doing great at daycare still and learning new words every day it seems. Her fav's are "Where'd it go" while throwing her hands up; "Sissy!"; "Look" while pointing; among others...she will say two if you say one, she's going to be a smart cookie :)

Winter 2010/2011

Olivia's doing great in Pre-K so far. We were back at Kluge at UVA in December and Olivia has been diagnosed with ADHD due to her brain injury. So, she is on generic of Adderall and it's helping a lot at school! Her teacher is very impressed with her ability to focus more now and sit still, follow directions, etc. etc. So glad first med. we tried is working!
Madi is in the Small Impressions class at Daycare at our church and is doing great, as well. She is making little girl-friends and learning how to paint and color among other things!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas this year--girls are now 18 months and 4 1/2, hard to believe!
We have Olivia's surgery scheduled for April 25th at Roanoke Memorial to repair the same bone defect in her head...this time using a patient specific graft so it'll be permanent. We are also looking into a CIT program at UVA (contraint induced therapy) for Olivia maybe this summer or next, depending on our ability to pay, since insurance is not billed for this. Her new doctors and therapists think Olivia is a great candidate for it and it'll help her the most with using her right hand. Stay tuned for fundraising events this spring/summer to help us fund this!! :)