Smarty Pants

Lily: Mom, what does eating your dinner have to do with starving children in China?

Mommy: *****ROFL*****

PS. Can you tell we watched A Christmas Story last night???

PSS. Is she, um, exactly and scarily like me as a child?

Pure Joy

Martin's mom Jody is suffering from a form of Alzheimer's with an advanced type of Aphasia. She can't read written language anymore and understands only some spoken language. She can verbalize minimally- usually in halting and broken speech- with many words jumbled or mixed up. She doesn't understand what is happening to her. She has gone from a fully functioning adult to this in about 3 years and she's only 58 years old.

I feel lucky that she has spent enough time with Lily and I in the last two years that she still recognizes us- though she knows Martin and his voice without a doubt.

Since she doesn't understand exactly what is going on with her, we weren't sure what to expect with our visit this last weekend. We didn't want to agitate her too much by coming and then going again, but felt it was very important for us and the girls to visit as soon as we were able and hoped that the visit wouldn't do more harm than good.

We headed over on Saturday to the Memory Care unit of the nursing home - which is basically the "lock down" wing. She didn't see us come in at first and we watched her for a minute finishing her lunch. Finally the nurse told her she had a visitor and she turned toward the door. As soon as she saw us she was on her feet. She ran over to us smiling and saying, "My babies! My babies are here!" She hugged us all together tightly. She picked up Lily to hug her and remembered her name. She tried to pick up Kendra too but she's just too big now.

We talked with her a little, talked with the nurses then she herded us back and forth from the visitor's lounge to her room and back again. It became apparent that she thought we were there to take her home. She kept saying "Let's go" and at one point said "South Bend." I didn't know how to explain. How could we?

It hasn't been easy for any of us. I can't even imagine how she feels. But that moment of recognition when we first saw her- that spark of life and excitement in her eyes-it was all worth it.

Our (almost) 4 day weekend

I had to work for part of the day on Friday but it still felt like a 4 day weekend. We of course were able to squeeze in all kinds of fun pretty much every day.

Thanksgiving- The morning started off kind of rough- I had a *slight* pumpkin pie disaster- but it ended up just fine. We had a long but fun day seeing everybody, having some really great food and being thankful for all we've got.

 That night both girls built a tent fort and decided they wanted to sleep in it. I couldn't see any reason why not..

Friday- After I got off work we went for a walk on the trails at Scriber Lake in Lynnwood. It was pretty muddy and quite chilly but it felt good to get some fresh air during a break from the rain we've been having.

Saturday- We went on a very long trip to Shelton to see Martin's mom at her new Assisted Living place (more on that visit later). We decided to finish the rest of the loop and drive up to Bremerton to take the Ferry back to Seattle. It was well worth avoiding the I-5 corridor on the way back.

Sunday- We spent the day decorating for Christmas and getting our living room ready for our Christmas tree which we'll get next weekend. We didn't get the outside lights up yet but it was pretty rainy out again today..hopefully sometime this week or next weekend. 
Both girls did so well together all weekend. Every night they slept either in that fort or together in Lily's bed. I just love it when they get along! I'm so thankful for my amazing and wonderful children!

Just wondering.



Lately, Lily has become more interested in what she's wearing. We have frequent talks about making weather appropriate as well as activity appropriate choices.The last several days though, she has chosen black stretch pants and a black long sleeve shirt. The image of Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face flashed in my mind and I wondered if she would all of a sudden break out in song and start dancing.

And then I began to wonder...what will she be like in 10 years... or 20? I am so curious and excited to watch her grow into what ever she wants to be. Will I look back at these days and see them as a beginning? I don't know but I can't wait to find out.

Operation

The girls' artwork from this last weekend...a very detailed copy of the Operation Game box. They are so silly : )

*************

We are all so excited for Thanksgiving this week. At school Lily's teacher asked her what she was thankful for...she said, "Thanksgiving!"

November Flashback

November 21st, 2005

November 19th, 2006

November 19th, 2007

November 19th, 2008

November 22nd, 2009

November 21st, 2010

The trouble with Escalators

"Mommy!" Lily yelled, her face blanched and eyes wide with fear.

I turned and immediately realized she hadn't stepped on the escalator with me. At the last second she got scared. My first instinct was to run back up the downward travelling stairs but dismissed it knowing I was already holding Kendra's hand, didn't want to leave her alone and didn't want to hurt myself trying to go the wrong way back up.

"Lily, look at me. Stay there. Don't move. I will come back up for you. Just wait."

I could see the indecision in her face- deciding to listen and stay, even though she was scared. Or look her fear in the eye but also disobey. "Mommy!" She yelled again. I just hoped she stayed.

"Don't worry. I will be right up. Just wait." I rode down the escalator backwards- facing her- making sure my eyes didn't leave her for a second. All I could think was how quickly could I get back up there and still not take my eyes away. All the possible things that could go wrong- every possible scenario- ran through my mind in a flash.

Just like that though, another Mom walked up behind her and asked if she could help. I, of course, said yes. Lily took the lady's hand, rode down quietly and we reunited at the bottom only seconds later. The whole incident was over in less than a minute. And minutes later she seemed only minorly traumatized. I, on the other hand, won't forget the look on her face- or forget to grab her hand the next time we decide to brave the escalator.



Martin caught us being silly getting ready for bed over the weekend (I'm the one giving the bunny ears!)



Wednesday What's Up (Late, as usual)

This week we are looking forward to a three day weekend- all of us together! We honestly don't have any major plans in the works but I am thinking about a craft project or two the girls and I could come up with to give as Christmas presents. I'm going to have to be a bit creative (financially and well, creatively too) for Christmas this year. I'd like the girls to get in the habit of creating gifts as well. So...hoping we'll be able to come up with something affordable and fun.

I am finally getting into seeing a Rehabilitation Specialist this Friday for my neck and shoulder which have been causing me a lot of pain lately. After 12 sessions of physical therapy this summer I was feeling much better- and stronger- but, long story short, my doctor told me I wasn't strong enough to be exercising the way I was and advised me to stop and only do stretches. That was the biggest mistake ever! Since then I have been in more pain than I was before and pain that I thought was gone has come back. I hate being in pain and feeling so lazy. Here's hoping this rehab specialist knows what she's doing (more so than my doctor!)

My camera is gathering a lot of dust lately. I haven't taken hardly any pictures for weeks- except the few at Halloween. I wish I had more to show what we've been up to but it really just hasn't been that exciting. Work, school and chillin' on the weekends pretty much sums it up.

Couple of things I am thinking about this week....

       >I really do need to take those pictures of my scrapbook pages. I'm a slacker.
       >Deven's 1st birthday is next week. I can't even believe it.
       >Warm 106.9 isn't playing Christmas music yet. Why the heck not?
       >What am I going to do for our Christmas Cards this year...needs to be pretty close to "free"- any ideas?
       > When did I become an old lady?  I practically had to close my eyes during the, uh, more "risque" scenes in the Rocky Horror stage production last weekend.
I'll try to bust out my camera at least once this weekend to prove we're all still here.