Disney or Bust…

We leave for Disney tomorrow!  I am beyond excited!

Say What…

Erin was referred to a Speech Therapy assessment by our pediatrician at her 5 year check up.  She is smart as a whip but the doctor was worried about some of her pronunciations.  She has trouble saying “v”, “b”, “l”, “w”, and the “sh” and “th” sounds.  She knows words with these sounds but just can’t say them well.

The woman that did the assessment was goofy, goofy, goofy.  Tommy went with us and she stepped out of the room and he was making the hand gesture for crazy.  I had to laugh because I was thinking the same thing. She was good at her job, just Looney Tunes.

She had Erin sit at a flip chart and tell her what the pictures were.  They were testing her cognitive ability and her vocabulary and her speech.  She got a 114 out of 115 on her vocabulary and cognitive ability, but got a 62 on her pronunciation.  So, the recommendation is speech therapy once a week to get it corrected.

We did the testing at Texas Children’s in the medical center but they have a branch in The Woodlands.  We’ll do our therapy there and won’t have to go back to TCH hospital again for anything speech related.

She would probably have grown out of some of these, but not all of them.  We’re doing it now so it doesn’t impact her reading ability.  The doctor said her hearing loss is likely to blame for the poor pronunciation.  When you can’t hear, it’s difficult to pick up the subtle sounds of the English language.  We’ve gotten the hearing corrected so now it’s time to work on our speech.  Poor baby!

Momma Update…

Momma had another back surgery this week.  I’m at the hospital right now with her.  She’s on the 22nd floor of St. Luke’s in the medical center.  I have to brag on how friendly and helpful the staff is.  I was lost yesterday and a guy in scrubs stopped in his tracks and asked if he could help me.  Amy said the same thing happened to her.  They are just very nice here.

Momma had one of the top teaching surgeons who is also the head of the neurosurgical team perform the operation.  Her previous lower back fusion had come apart and was sitting on one of her nerves.  The surgeon before had used bone from the bone bank instead of metal rods.  The doctor was able to remove the old bone and insert the titanium rods.  He got the nerve that was badly impinged undone and told Daddy that should give her a lot of relief.  He said it was almost smushed flat.

Dr. Omeis also decided not to do anything to the other side.  The one side of the operation took 5 hours and the other side didn’t have impingements and he weighed the options of whether or not it was worth the risk to leave her under for so long.  He decided it was not.  Momma was a little upset to hear this but he was adamant that there was nothing pinched on that side and that the benefits didn’t outweigh the risk.  Daddy was completely good with the decision but Momma muled up on them.  She’s still a little upset about it.

The Physical Therapist came yesterday and they fitted her for a back brace.  She’ll be in it for a while.  They have her up walking around a little.  They are going to remove the catheter this evening so she’ll be getting up on her own then.  She was up this morning for the doctor’s visit and we brought Erin for about 30 minutes.  It seems to have wiped her out.  Everyone left and I’m here with her and she’s sleeping.

I’ll keep you updated as we know more.  Thanks for all the prayers!

Say Cheese….

We had another trip to the dentist for our check up.  Erin did great.

We moved to another dentist so I was a little nervous on how she would do.  The other practice just seemed so busy and chaotic.  There were kids everywhere and people walking all around.  It was so hectic it made Erin more nervous.

This was a calmer practice.  But… when I was talking to the hygienist she said they get super busy after school hours and that the best time to come is between 10:00 and 12:00.  Good to know.

The hardest part was getting Erin’s x-rays.  She kept moving around.  We finally got them and they showed one little spot that is going to turn into a cavity.  It’s a spot between 2 molars and isn’t a cavity yet.  It’s just a spot to watch.  The problem is that it’s impossible to get to it with her brush, and she’s 5 so how great is she really brushing?  She is so independent she won’t let me help her!

She was good when Dr. Andersen came in too but didn’t really want to have her picture taken with him.  He just laughed it off but it was pretty embarrassing.  She acted like a little toot!

Very pleased with her progress and her brushing.  Yay us! 

The Golden Gate…

We live in a small subdivision that has their own elementary.  For those of you who have never been to our house, it buts up to the driveway of the school.  Since Erin starts Kindergarten this year we needed a short cut to the school.  If you walk to the school without the gate it’s over 1/2 a mile.  So, Daddy and Pawpaw got to work.

It took 8 hours and 5 trips to Lowes but the Gate is in…