Build-a-Bear + IKEA + CP Clinic

Monday dawned in the hotel after a fun overnight get-away.  While we got prepped for the morning, the kids watched PBS (Curious George) in the living room and Disney Jr (PJ Masks) in the bedroom, which was almost overwhelming for their lack of screen time brains.  When we were put together, we headed down to breakfast.  There were plenty of choices - eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, bagels, cereal, oatmeal, and more, and everyone left with their tummies plenty full. 
We headed back up to do teeth and pack up before checking out and heading to a nearby mall.
The younger two had Build a Bear gift certificates from Nannie and Vance and got to use those for a fun experience.

Ameliya chose a fairy bunny, whom she proudly named Rosey.

She chose no sound, contemplated adding a scent and, after the associate helped her sniff each one, decided no, and had the most fun choosing an outfit for her bear. #fashionista

Washin' and fluffin'

She chose a white dress with matching slippers and a bow to go on one ear.

Zayden was not sure what to think of his experience, but he had fun!  With brother's help, he chose a hot wheels bear with a Captain America outfit.

He, of course, chose a sound, which I got to hear at 6:30 this morning when he crawled in my bed.

Hello, new friend.

He named his new bear Speedy but calls him Captain 'Merica a lot.

He kept saying, "I didn't build a bear yet."  He's in love with his new friend but I must not have explained what BAB was - I'm not sure what he thought he was going to do.  LOL

After waiting patiently for the little ones to build their loveys, the big kids got to do some shopping.  We took them to the Lego Store and the toy/game store to browse and shop.  Xavier spent nearly every dime he'd brought along plus some of mom and dad's dimes (HA) and thrifty Natalee chose one item to treat herself with and saved the rest.  She wouldn't even choose a second small item for dad and I to treat her to (after all, we'd treated Xavier a bit).  Watching her grow and save and learn money management is really interesting as a parent.

The Beelers hit the mall!  Thanks, Des Peres.

I was MOST excited to go to the Dough Company at the mall, after my sister's rave reviews, but as it turned out, we were all so full from breakfast that no one could even really think about lunch or food treats, myself included, so we didn't go to the food court.  Another time, maybe.

We left the mall, hearts full after a fun couple hours, and headed to IKEA.  This was our first ever IKEA experience and we had a good time wandering the showrooms, checking things out, and dreaming.  We actually went for a 3 tiered cart (one for me and one for a friend) and didn't buy *much* more than we went for.  We had a fun time trying things out though!

Zayden and his swedish gummies. ^^ He was sure we needed them and they haven't even been opened yet.  Ha.

Mommy and Mia pretending we live in one of the living rooms.  She liked the bedrooms with the "lady shoes" they put in the displays.

Natalee was wearing down greatly at this point and mom was a little bit but we'd learned from Nannie that we had to find the item in the showroom, look at the ticket and it would tell us what aisle and bin to find it at in the warehouse.  Okay....
So after playing in the showrooms, we went to seek out the warehouse.  We accidentally got into the marketplace and, while fun to look, at we weren't planning to walk through all of that.  We finally found a shortcut into the warehouse and Daddy got a flat cart for our items that also served as a leg break for Natalee (and by default, Xavier).

Daddy promised to take me back when we move or build sometime to make some other brain plans come to life.
We checked out and headed for lunch and then to the hospital for CP clinic.

We checked in over an hour early for our appointment and they took Natalee almost right away.  All in all, we were there for 3 hours, working hard, getting measurements, having hip x-rays, seeing the PT, catching up with our neurologist NP Miss Helen, and making a plan moving forward.

I had wrongly assumed that, with Mike present, our other 3 children would be able to play in the sibling playroom or run in the noisy garden upstairs and was really disappointed to be told no, those are only for siblings of in-patient kids.  It was a really long 3 hours for Mike and the other 3 as I hadn't brought much to do.  He ended up taking them for a walk across to Forest Park to burn some energy and kill some time.  He and I communicated via text regarding decisions needing made for Natalee.  Some days aren't perfect - sometimes it's just the best we can do.

Natalee's hip x-rays came back as "normal hips" with a slight height discrepancy.  The PT gave us new exercises for at home and also prescribed DAFOs with ankle stretchers.  

Natalee is not super excited about these but, not everything in life is roses, right?  I also need to call our PT clinic at home and visit with them as the CP team overall though increased out patient PT would benefit her right now.  She lost 5% range of motion in her ankles since we were at the neuro clinic last time in January.  Backwards is not the direction we want to go.  Along with solid pain management, we want the best plan of mobility for her so she doesn't need to become reliant on a walker or wheelchair for as long as humanly possible.

The PT also offered Botox injections, but I had reservations, and she agreed that it was fine to try increased PT, the DAFOs, and a more stringent at home regimen before resorting to the injections for relief of tightness (which causes the pain).
Overall it was a hard visit, but there was a reason I chose to move it up, and my gut was validated by the team agreeing that the plan needed re-visiting and adjustments needed made.
The benefit of aqua therapy was also mentioned and is something I'm going to look into again, here around home.  If nothing else, I'm hoping for increased water time for Natalee (and the rest of the crew) this summer.

We were beat after such a long visit and when we got in the van I told Mike to point us to home.  We briefly stopped in Kahoka to potty at Lauren and Lance's and dropped a box off for a friend in Memphis, but otherwise journeyed home.  The kids ate "van food" that I had packed and dozed on and off.  Driving home in blinding rain finished up our long but necessary day of adventures! 

Overnight Get-Away

Last week I called our cerebral palsy clinic and asked them if we could move Natalee's appointment up from July to discuss some pain management needs that I didn't want to put off for two more months.
They surprised me by getting us in on Monday.  Since we were already going to be an hour east at Theo's birthday party I decided to treat the family to a hotel suite to have a little fun.  We all needed this, desperately, mom included.

When we loaded after Theo's party I said everyone needed to nap.  Zayden said, "but I not tired...."
Three minutes later

We were able to get a nice price on a suite (2 connected rooms - living room with pull-out and bedroom) that suited our needs with the bonus of breakfast in the morning and a pool.  I was surprised when we got there and they were having "anytizers."  We called it supper and everyone was happy (mom most especially because we didn't have to drag back out again for supper).

Daddy also enjoyed his complimentary drink ticket (wink)...

After we ate we all got swim ready.  This was the activity the kids were looking forward to the most.
I got my suit on but after they said the water wasn't particularly warm I opted out of actually getting in.  I stayed designated as lifeguard and potty runner.

swimming outside...crazies!

The pool was busy when we got there but we outlasted the other families and eventually had it to ourselves.

potty break with Mr. Goggle Eyes...

Zayden got tired first so I took him up to shower and had him all cleaned up by the time the others came up with Daddy.  After showers and jammies we had snack (popcorn, courtesy of the hotel and cookies Lauren sent from Theo's birthday party), vitamins, probiotics, teeth brushing, and late bedtime!

The kids were excited about the bed accommodations for the night.

The girls were on the pull-out, Xavier on a roll-away, and Zayden was going to sleep on that long footrest but mom ended up chickening out and making him a pallet on the floor.  I put him beside our bed with the anticipation that he'd crawl in sometime in the night but he was too tired, I think.  I didn't sleep great and finally got out of bed around 6:30 and lifted him in next to Daddy and he snuggled right up.

Everyone else slept soundly with a fun day behind them and the anticipation of a busy day the next day.

Theo's 3rd Birthday

Theo turns 3 on the 7th and we celebrated Sunday the 5th.  We skipped church and went early so the kids could play play play.
For the third year in a row, Theo lucked out with a gorgeous sunny day to celebrate his birthday.

His gift from his parents was this sweet set of wheels.  Turns out neither boy was a great steerer (Mia won that award), but they sure had fun when one of the dads trekked alongside to make sure they didn't ditch it.

 We call the the Three Amigos.

Theo's gift from Nannie, Vance, Colby, and Emma was a kitty.  He loves him.

 
Mia loves him, too.

We got the birthday boy the much coveted Super Wing Donnie and Spot It Jr.!  (determined to turn him into a game lover)

He unwrapped his box, brought it to me and said "this is for you, Gigi."  No goonie, let's see inside....I think it's for you!

My Donnie!

Candles and singing time!

with his sidekick close by!

We love you, Theodore Alvin.  We're thankful to watch you grow up alongside our own children and enjoy watching every wild moment of you and Zayden's friendship.

We wish you good health and happy memories in year #3!

Dentist Appointments

All four children had dentist appointments today and all four checked out cavity free.
(Thank you conscious dental hygiene practices and good genetics.)

I'll be real honest, because that's who I am...Natalee is 10 and this was her first dental appointment.  I'm not proud of it, but as a friend and I often remind each other - no looking back, only doing better forward.  I'd always been nervous to take her because she's pretty sensory.  Then weeks turned into months turned into years, and ...... here we are.   Also, I am petrified of the dentist.  Yes, at 30+ years old.  So, that played into the ease at putting off this task, I'm sure.

Today's appointments were stacked on top of each other, so Natalee actually had to go pretty well on her own (I was there for the dentist check and the run down of how things looked).  She did the cleaning, the bite wing, the x-rays, and all of that independently (knowing I was somewhere and she could ask for me!) and I'm really so proud of her.  She's grown up so much lately.

The little 2 were called back right after Natalee and did wonderfully.  They were obedient and compliant.  When the tech asked me if Z would "let" her look in his mouth, I said, "he will do what he's told."  Expectations = results.

I was shocked to find out Zayden has a front tooth that's had trauma to it, and is actually loose and going to come out.  (I'm a little sad - he'll be without a tooth until the permanent one comes in!)  I've wracked my brain to think of when this happened but can't come up with a specific instance.  Truthfully, if this was going to happen to a kid I'm not shocked it's him - trampoline, bike riding, couch/stair jumping, daredevil boy that he is - but I do feel bad that I didn't realize.  I brush his teeth everyday and didn't know that he had a loose one or that it had a bit of an infection.  I'm so grateful that we were there today and they were able to tell me - I can imagine my panic had it fallen out here unexpectedly - like imagining that panic gives me panic.

The dentist complimented Mia on her lovely tie revisions - I told her that this girl of ours had a thousand dollar mouth before she had any teeth - ha!  Xavier hadn't been called for his appointment yet, so he actually sat in her room while I was next door in Zayden's room.  It was sweet to hear him being her big encourager.

Xavier was the last one to go through and he did great for his first time, too!  We all got to watch him get his cleaned because he was the last one.

After such a good report at the dentist mommy treated the kids to fast food - because to them it is a treat and I also did not want to cook.  They all thanked me multiple times for the treat - LOL.

Three different people complimented me on our children's behavior today.  At the dentist's office, at Walgreens (she even shook my hand to tell me how much she appreciated my efforts as a mother), and at Burger King.  Not every moment is glorious, but I do notice (especially when we are out) that the high expectations we set for them daily are resulting in well mannered children....grace covers the rest (wink).

Bonus...Zayden tonight -he's not sure what he thinks about one of his teeth coming out.