Andi Bean Turns 3!!!

Yesterday, Andi enjoyed her 3rd birthday!  The morning started with several helium balloons decorating our living room, presents galore on the floor, and some extra attention from her visiting uncle Chris.  We had a great day that included a trip to the local aquarium and dinner out on the town, where Andi ate like a champ.  It was a fun day full of laughter and moments of pausing to appreciate how far we've come in three years.

Over the past several weeks, I've worked on a Powerpoint presentation capturing a glimpse of the past three years in photos.  the slide show is set to music and it is, like life itself at time, extremely long.  Had I realized how difficult it would be to get it online, I would've chosen a different program.  Apparently, I have to convert it to a video file to get it up on You Tube, and then there's the whole size issue on top of that... basically, I'm sharing it through MailBigFile, which I renewed my subscription to - so if you haven't seen it and want to, shoot me a message with an email address, and I'll get an invitation to download it to you.  

Preschool!

Andi's first week at preschool has been a tremendous success! 

The preschooler's breakfast of champions!

Preschool dancing with Bunny!

First ride to school!

Arriving in the classroom!

First day pick-up!

First day celebratory dinner:  Tom's Pizza, which she devoured.

"pizza! yum-yum-yum!!!"

She has seamlessly transitioned into the school, impressing the teachers and therapists.  Upon leaving school after her first day, we recorded this: 

So, her new words this week are "school", "backpack" and "Hi. How are you?!"  She's very friendly and outgoing, although not everyone understands her words.  She is very small compared to the other kids, but pretty happy and considerably well-adjusted.  Some of the other kids talk a lot, some don't talk at all.  They are all adorable in their own way.  One little boy actually dropped his teacher's hand and grabbed mine, as if to have me walk him out to the waiting bus. 

The teacher is pretty pleased with Andi's command of signs and words.  She said she has had a fairly easy time communicating with Andi, which is wonderful.  Andi's new PT is going to get her a different walker.  One that allows all four wheels to rotate, thus hopefully eliminating the steering problem we currently have.  As of now, someone needs to walk along side of her and correct the direction of the walker, as it pulls to the right.  The new walker will hopefully give her a little more independence. 

I'm trying to figure out where I can best spend my time while Andi is at school.  I've been trying to find a place I can set-up a mobile office, using their Wi-Fi.  I have tried two different Starbuck's and neither of those really worked for me.  Too small, too crowded, too loud, and dang it, their coffee just ain't all that great to me anymore.  Today, I left the overcrowded Starbuck's when there wasn't a place to sit and ended up sitting in my truck with my laptop & cell phone.  At one point, I look up and notice Andi's class moving outside to play with balls under this large canopy structure.  The teacher led the bunch, the speech therapist flanked the group carrying Andi's walker, and the teacher's aid, carried Andi.  I sat there and watched from the confines of my truck, and as I continued to watch, tears welled up in my eyes.  It was one of those times when I really noticed how "different" Andi is compared to other kids.  It broke my heart.  She was stood next to her walker and encouraged to join the activity of kicking the ball.  They seemingly worked to include her, but she was definitely an outsider, unable to run and chase the ball with the other kids.  I know being in school will help propel her forward faster than without. I'm thankful she's going where she is going, as I feel these teacher's are really well-equipped to deal with kids with multiple needs. I'm also glad that Andi really seems to like school!

A Brand New Chapter

This Monday, May 13, Andi will begin a brand new chapter that will continue for what we hope will be at least another twenty years, SCHOOL!!!  She will attend pre-school from 8:45 until almost 11 a.m., four days a week!  She is in a hearing-impaired pre-school where they will speak & sign, work on speech, learning, social skills, listening.  Our new OT and speech consult will happen during preschool hours.  I'm pretty excited for Andi because she will be exposed to so much more in the classroom, surrounded by teachers that can help her in ways I've probably never even thought of, and engaged by peers who will challenge her in every way possible.

I'm pretty thrilled this is happening just before her 3rd birthday and at this exact time.  I found out this week that our deductible went up from $500. to $2000. and so our therapy appointments will cost us around $150. each hour visit.  So, we're going to take a nice long break from both speech and physical therapy through our insurance provider.  There's no way I can afford to continue those therapies at this time.  For that kind of money, I think I'd rather pay for her to get hippotherapy.  That's just an insane amount of money they expect me to shell out each appointment.  Also, my deductible accrual seems to have reset based on the new contract.  I need to ask about that, because I know we'd met the $500. deductible - as it's a balance we're paying on as we can.  I have always said that if you use your insurance, you should pay for it, but given our situation, this seems seriously unfair.

In any case, a new chapter is about to begin and we're hopeful it will be the tool that sends Andi to learn, grow and develop even faster.  She is a little sponge, hungry to learn.  I'm excited to see watch her thrive!!!

Yearly Cardiology Check-Up

So today was Andi's yearly cardiology check-up.  We headed up to OHSU for our Echo, and then we went onto meeting our cardiologist.  It was 9:30 in the morning when I shopping for parking, and all the places were taken, even my usual hidden gem of a parking area.  I had to get a slip and park in the main garage.  I asked if they were having a party and the parking attendant seemed equally surprised by the amount of traffic they were enduring.  As I drove to the overflow parking lot, I considered it a sign that our luck was changing, as I haven't parked in there since Andi was a fetus.  So we parked and I carried Andi, my backpack purse, the diaper bag, and her walker to the end of our level looking for the elevators.  As I almost got to the end, I saw a sign saying the elevators were behind me.  So we turned around.  We got to the elevators and I questioned my sanity, and strength.  We rode up with another family and they got off on four, I went up to seven.  I figured it was the 7th floor that had the bridge that walked over to the children's hospital.  We got off that floor and saw absolutely no signs, no directions, nothing.  So we got back on the elevator and went down to four.  That took us through a hot tunnel with signs to OHSU, but I really just wanted to go to the children's hospital.   I ended up getting back on the elevator and returned to the second floor.  At this point my arm was dead and I decided we must have her stroller. So, I got out her stroller and packed it full of all the crap I was carrying -- including folding up her walker and hanging it off the handles of the stroller.  I secured Andi into the stroller and we ended up walking out of that parking lot hell of confusion. By walking back to the end where I started and saw the exit as soon as I rounded the corner.  Ugh.  So, at this point I'm pretty worn out and very warm.  We have to navigate a very odd few things including getting some elevator doors nearly closing on the stroller, and one of the three most busiest elevators I've ever endured, but we made it. 

Our echo went swimmingly well, especially after I pulled out the phone for Andi pants to play with.  Once distracted by the app's on the phone, she was no longer interested in grabbing the ultrasound wand.  She did great and her tech, Randy was really impressed by Andi.  She's a charmer!


After the echo, we went down one floor to the clinics. We checked her in and I expanded her walker so she could walk around a bit.  She walked over and said "hi!" to the fish, and enjoyed the plethora of bubbles the volunteer was putting into the air around her.  After that, it was time for a much-needed snack.  We grubbed on some food and were ushered into a room shortly after.  We were weighed, measured and updated.  She weighed in 23 lbs, 2 oz's, but they always seem to have a lower weight than Kaiser!  I wasn't too sure about the accuracy of her height measurement, because I don't think she was at the top of the device.  Paperwork shows, 2' 9.07".  We finished with the PA and a few minutes later Dr Kelly appears.  He is very animated with her and she seems to like him.  He kept telling her what a big girl she was... at the end of the appointment, I mentioned 'do you remember how small she was?' and held out my hands to indicate how much she's grown.  I mean, she's still super small, but compared to even a year ago?!  She's grown a lot.  So basically, the echo showed she still has mild to moderate valve regurgitation, but it's more on the "mild" side than the "moderate" side.  Everything looks good and he's optimistic that she won't require any more surgery.  We're to continue with the Enalipril, which helps reduce pressure in the heart, to help ease it's work.  He increased the dosage based on her weight gain, and sent us off with a chorus of "See You Next Year!" 

After that appointment, we rode up two floors and landed at nine!  We walked the bridge into OHSU, went to get another "scooby snack" and marched through the busiest floor in OHSU's main hospital.  We walked across and down the hall and landed at the Physician's Pavilion, where we had our third appointment of the day, audiology.  This was Andi's follow-up appointment to getting her hearing aid.  She was pretty crabby at this point and wasn't even all that thrilled to see who she was pretty smitten with just two weeks prior.  We sat and ate another snack, then I had her use her walker to the children's area, where Andi made a friend who wore a cochlear implant.  He was much younger than Andi and almost as big as her.  It was neat to watch her interact or even study another kid, as I don't normally get to see that.  The kid  ended up totally falling off his chair and landing on a book.  He started crying hard.  His Mom tried to comfort him and Andi was so upset that he was upset, that she started crying.  It was pretty cute.  She was so charming apparently, that when the audiologist came to take us in for testing, the kid was crawling toward her and freaking out.  His Mom said he has some separation issues, but it was pretty sweet. 

Andi did really well on the minimal amount of hearing testing they could do.  Aided, with verbal commands, she blew them away and tested just below 'normal'.  They hadn't yet really seen that, so it was nice.  But, Andi was pretty worn out at this point, so she wouldn't sit still for much. 

We headed home and although she was exhausted, she still took awhile to get to sleep.  Now, two hours later, I'm having trouble stirring a Bean!

Promoting Health & Well-Being

Lately, I really feel myself becoming "one" with the whole 'hippie' mentality I've laughed at over the many years I've spent in Oregon.  Today, upon arriving early to the gym for my tri-weekly class I live for, I had Andi use her walker to 'walk' herself into the gym.  Destination walking seems to motivate her.  My plan initially was to have her use her walker to get in and out of the library to pick up a few Signing Time DVD's I have on hold. I should have known that something was amiss when I pulled up to the block and every spot on the block was available.  I pulled in regardless, hopped out to get her walker out of the back, and saw the sign indicating library hours.  Duh, they're closed.  So, we used her walker on the sidewalk to the gym.  It's an opportunity, and one the weather allowed. So, Andi walked into the gym today.  Once through the door, she was greeted with her usual chorus of "Andi!"  Sometimes I wonder if they know my name, but they all know Andi.  Andi got even more attention using her walker.  One man was sitting in a chair by the door.  He was well over 300, maybe even 400 pounds (I have no idea), but he commented on how cool her wheels were and said that he might be using one of those devices soon.  I just kind of nodded and concentrated on Andi, like I tend to do.  But once I got her settled, I was more dumbfounded and fired-up about what that man said.  Here's a man with what I ASSUME is a healthy body, just an unhealthy life.  But anyway, that's not for me to judge.  Hopefully seeing a kid struggle to walk will inspire others to get healthy, be well, and appreciate their health. 

I've been making Andi walk with her walker as much as possible.  She gets a lot of attention and praise, which only eggs her onward.  The more she does it, the stronger she'll get, and hopefully soon it will enable her to stand on her own. 

We had one of the other pediatrician's look at her left (unaided) ear, as when they looked at her ear on Friday - when she got her new hearing aid, they said that ear was "VERY red".  Our usual Dr. is on rotation at the hospital this week, so we saw someone else we've seen a few times when we lived up at the hospital.  This guy is really nice, and did well with Andi.  He said the ear looked okay, but that the ear tube is just sitting there and should probably be pulled out by an ENT.  He gave it one try to get it out, and couldn't.  So, we are going back again on Friday to have an ENT remove it.  So, that's $20. today, $20. Thursday for PT, $20. Friday, plus I paid $30. for our minimum payment on our balance.  YIKES!  That's an expensive week.  Luckily, weeks like these are fewer now, but they still slash a big hole in my wallet.  It could be worse.... I'll just leave it at that!  :) 

So, Miss Andi is charging forward hopefully promoting health and well-being to all she encounters.  She certainly does catch the eyes of many, and is a rather big flirt.  She also has GAINED weight!  She weighed in today at 23 lbs, 5 oz's... so we're FINALLY out of the 22 lb, where we seemed stuck for SO long!   YEA!

Keeping Up With A Bean

Keeping up with a Bean, as well as this blog, is proving to be rather difficult.  So much going on, and not enough hours in the day! 

First of all, the roof is done!!!  They only found $1100. of dry-rot to be replaced, so...  well, at least it's done, and they're giving us 90 days to finish paying for it!  YEA! 

It seems like we've had a lot of appointments lately!  I'm not sure if that's really true, but it seems like we have.  This week we had the team from Portland Public Schools come evaluate Andi to transition her from the 0-3 year Early Intervention program to the 3-5 year program.  As she's about to start pre-school, we need to line-up services she'll need and update her IFSP.  We have the BIG transition meeting on May 8th, which will have a lot of people come together to make sure that "all T's are crossed and all i's dotted" and Andi will have everything she needs to access, succeed and thrive in pre-school.  It has been said that after the paperwork is wrapped up from that meeting, Andi can start school even before her 3rd birthday!  So, it is looking like she will start pre-school in mid-MAY!  I'm so excited because everyone agrees with me, she will THRIVE in school.  It will help her to see what other kids are doing, and might even encourage her to figure out walking quicker.  I have a good feeling about it!  The weird thing about all this, is after this transition meeting, we will basically be "released" by our 0-3 year old team - which means the people we've worked with since 10/10, will no longer be ours.  So, our OT, Kajsa (kay-sah) whom Andi absolutely adores and can actually pronounce her name really well, will no longer be our weekly visitor.  We seriously started working with Kajsa a month after Andi was released from the hospital from heart surgery, she was maybe five months old.  Kajsa is seven months pregnant, so hopefully we'll get to spend some time with them this summer as "friends" instead of 'therapist'.  But still... that part of this moving onward will likely be hard on us.  These people come into our homes for an hour and see the good, the bad, the struggles, frustration, whining, worry, hardship, stress, fear, happiness, milestones, joy, humor, and share all of it as a part of the family.  The expression of the 90's, "it takes a village to raise a kid"... well, these people are our village, more so than even our own extended family.  These people have helped us shape, mold, stretch, grow, aid, teach and strengthen our Bean.  It's going to be hard to let them go from our lives.  I actually believe we'll keep up with them, but, it won't be as often as we've been seeing them. 

Anyhow, tangent....  whoa!  I guess I have some feelings about moving onward and upward!  HA! 

Tomorrow, we have our twice-monthly hearing impaired playgroup.  This is held at the school where Andi will be going for pre-school!  It's an opportunity for not only the kids to get together and realize 'they're not so different afterall' (anyone else singing a part of the song from 'Signing Time'?!?) but a place where parents can interact with other hearing impaired parents, and the teachers!  There's one Mom there with three boys.  The youngest is hearing impaired.  All her boys are adorable and Andi likes to flirt with the oldest!  She's someone I would hope to arrange play dates with down the road.  I find that my social skills are extremely rusty in these instances though and I'm rather embarrassed by my shyness at times.  I'm horrible about asking about others' kids and how other people are doing... I mainly speak when spoken to - which is rather shy of me.  Maybe just by writing that here, maybe - just maybe, I'll do better tomorrow!   

Anyhow, tomorrow afternoon we go up the hill to the hospital for Andi's 1st very-own hearing aid!!!  Yes, we will finally give-up the lender hearing aid from Columbia Regional.  We probably have to return our Signing Time videos we borrowed from the too.  Oops.  Luckily, we're getting them from the library now too.

And on that note, our exciting news is that Andi has taken the first steps toward potty-training!!!  We've been watching the Potty Time (Signing Time) video for weeks, introduced the potty chair, and even read a Potty book we borrowed from the library.  The stage has been set.  So yesterday, I got her to sit on the potty for two hours.  Two hours she sat there while we had Potty Time playing, toys to entertain, and a very full bladder.  It took two hours but she finally went.  The potty started talking to her (because it electronically registers that we've got a pay-day) and so we sang "celebrate" and made a big deal about it.  She said "bye-bye potty" and we moved on with our day.  Later that day she said "more potty" so we tried again, nothing.  Then when Kajsa was here for our weekly session, Andi decided again to strip off her pants and diaper and "more potty".  She likes to do the yoga pose 'downward dog' a lot from the potty.  That basically shoots her bare butt in the air with her poop chute exposed for all to see.  It's pretty funny if you're not disgusted with butt- chat like Daddy Bean is.  (HAHAHAHAHA!)  In any case, she did that several times yesterday, only to pop off the potty and "PP" on the rug.  She doesn't yet have the body-awareness, but, she'll get there!!!! 

On that note, I think I'll leave you all with the visual of naked baby downward dog pose.  Cuz if you're going to keep up with a Bean, well, that's our latest!

Sunshine

Not only does the g-tube NOT leak, but it's seemingly completely healed.  Andi is doing great!  She is plugging along, learning new words every single day.  She's learning them quicker and repeating them even more often.  She's starting to really put words together too.  'Hi Dad! How are you?'  "Where's Ashley?" (her favorite gal at Kid's Camp @ the gym.)  So, things are going really well.  We're trying to work on walking.  Yesterday we walked down the street to say "hi" to the trees.  Yes, we're destination walkers.  Gotta have a goal to strive for.  She walked halfway there with her walker, and the rest of the way holding onto my hands.  I figure whatever way we get there, the more she does it, the stronger she'll get.  I haven't noticed huge changes, but I did see something new yesterday.  I sat her on one of her three riding toy and we saw her actually proper herself forward using her feet.  I know that sounds pretty inconsequential, but actually, that's a pretty big deal.  She's getting stronger.

She had a cold a week or two ago, but that has finally gone.  Today, is by far the nicest weather day we've had since last summer.  I got the lawn mowed and some trimming done while Andi naps.  I would be out there now doing a bit more, but that requires some items from the garage.  And... well, when I went out there last time, I saw what I thought was a mouse.  Upon discussing it and it's size, we've determined that it was a rat.  It's just walking around my horribly cluttered garage, like a scene out of Hoarders or such.  I'm so completely grossed out, I probably won't be going in there to clean it out anytime soon.  Ewh! 

We've signed the contract to have our new roof, insulation & gutters done.  There are a lot of repairs to be done to the wood supports.  It's gonna hurt the finances bad, but, it HAS to be done.  Hoping it is smooth sailing with no hidden surprises.  Otherwise, I think I'll implode.  So, here's hoping that all goes without a hitch!  We could use just a little more good luck!  :)

Ooh, lil' bit is waking from her nap!  Time to go enjoy the sunshine!