I got a "new to me" camera a few weeks ago, so I've been snapping away. And, be honest....it's why you come to the blog anyway :)
Kennedy LOVES the water. I took her to the YMCA earlier last week and then we went up to Daddy's Pool on Saturday. She does a great job floating, splashing and kicking. She also "talks" a lot while in the water...maybe we need to move speech therapy to the pool :)
One of my favorites!
Before swimming at the Y early last week.
Grandma & Grandpa came to visit April 13 - 18. We loved having them here and wished they could have stayed longer. The day after they got here we (minus Danny who had to work) traveled to see Great Grandma & Great Grandpa in South Texas. It was a 6 hour drive each way, but well worth it. We left Thursday morning and came back Friday night. It was great to see everyone down there.
While they were here we made a trip to Galveston. It was VERY windy, but we ventured out to the beach to put our feet in the gulf.
This is where Kennedy's glasses end up several times a day. We do our best to keep them where they belong. (About the picture of just the glasses...it's a scrapbook thing)
This is what I see every morning when I get Kennedy out of bed. Is there a better way to start your day???
Holding her head up like a big girl. A little dissheveled, but holding her head up nonetheless.
Kennedy got a new toy a few weeks ago. It has a suction cup and sticks to her high chair tray. I wish I would have gotten it for her a long time ago. She really likes it and it is great for her fine motor skills.
Here is my Public Service Announcement for today: if you use pay at the pump use a CC not a debit card. Twice I've had to dispute charges (which is a lot harder to do w/ a debit) because people put these card readers on the pump slot. It saves your info & they come back later and get it. Then they transfer it onto an old card with their name or a hotel keycard and use away. So frustrating!!!
Danny 'bought' $198.92 worth of swimwear at Everything but Water in Orlando, FL. Earlier this year I 'spent' over $400 on gas in Canada and $65+ at McDonalds.
This post won't have pictures, but I did post some in the previous post "Blogging on the go"
The last week or so have been pretty crazy around here. First, we have decided to venture into house hunting. Our lease is up at the apartment at the end of August and it is ridiculous how much rent is and you get no tax break for it. Plus the obvious things like upstairs/downstairs neighbors, no backyard & no patio. And even though our apartment is a pretty good size as far as apartments go...a house will just give us so much more room. Half of our stuff is boxed up and/or stored in the garage. It will be like Christmas when we get to open them again!! We found a house that we liked and were going to put an offer on it yesterday, but someone beat us to the punch. I guess it wasn't meant to be. And so the search continues....
The other thing that has kept me busy this past week is setting up therapy for Kennedy. We have been doing 2x a week of physical therapy, 1x a week of occupational therapy and 3x a month of speech therapy (all 45 minute sessions). Last week her PT suggested that we look into an Intensive Therapy Program. I've posted a youtube video of what it looks like. The Cage they show in the video is just part of the program, but it is 3 hours a day, 5 days a week for 3 weeks. She really felt like Kennedy is a good canidate for this because of several things. 1) She wants to do things. She does things that show us that she wants to move from point A to point B, just can't figure out how to get there. 2) She has made progress consistantly since we started therapy 3) The Intensive Therapy program uses pulleys, weights, etc during their sessions and those are things that currently we physically can't do at the house.
I started researching the program and saw a lot of positive feedback. There are just over 100 places in the US that use this program. Luckily, one is only about 5 minutes from us. What are the odds, right? Well, I called them and they don't take our insurance and $6300 was a lot of money! So, the research continued...Hudson, WI has a location. Awesome, but I thought what are the chances that they take our insurance when the one down the road doesn't? Apparently the odds are 100%. They take our insurance and we would only have to pay a copay for each visit. Granted that can add up too, but it will be less than 1/4 of the cost.
Avanti is 15 miles from Jessica (my sister) so we could stay with them. I was getting excited and the possibility that this may work...not only for the therapy that Kennedy would get, but also because I would get to be around my family for 3 whole weeks!! The last week has been spent going back and forth with them on insurance, prescriptions and scheduling. I talked to the lady today and paid the downpayment. Kennedy is scheduled to start on May 9th! I will book our plane tickets later today and we will be all set. My mom's friends, Jeff and Lori, have graciously agreed to let me use their van while we are up there. We would have made it work somehow, but with their van it will be so much easier on everyone. Thank you so much!!!
Her sessions will be either from 9-12 or 10-1 and the last 30 minutes are so will be spent in the pool doing aquatherpy. I am so so so excited to see what this will do for her!!!! I can't even imagine the nap that this girl is going to take every afternoon! Hopefully I can keep her awake in the car long enough to get back and have lunch before she conks out :)
We will resume our normal therapies down here in June. With the kickstart that we are hoping the Intensive Therapy will give her she should have an awesome summer!!
I'm off to look at more houses online. Wish us luck!
I've installed an app on my phone that allows me to post from anywhere. Since I take a lot of pictures with my phone I'm hoping that this will get me to blog more often. We'll see how it goes. Here is my first attempt.
I was super excited when she was able to do this during therapy on Tuesday!!
She has also learned how to tear apart her play mat.
Kennedy and I flew to South Texas from the 26th through March 2nd. We didn't have any big plans while we were there...just wanted to visit. We took lots of walks & golf cart rides and went to the outlet mall one day. It was great to see them.
We had to bring her car seat so I bought the thing that attaches to her car seat and make it a stoller. It worked great!! Highly recommend it if you travel with little ones and need the seat.
Playing with Great Grandma
While on vacation you have to improvise since you can't take everything with you. This is how I got a shower on Sunday morning while G&G were at church
And as long as it was in the house you might as well use it to enjoy some cartoons.
Danny's mom came for a visit at the beginning of February. She got in just before the ice storm Thursday night. Danny didn't have school on Friday because of the weather so we just hung out at the apartment.
I had to go out and buy Kennedy a winter coat because the weather was getting to cold for the light jackets that I had for her. I was able to score this jacket at The Children's Place for $9.99!! I was super excited!
Luckily it cleared up by Saturday so that the Regional Swim Meet could happen. Kennedy, Natalie and I spent Saturday at the pool watching his swimmers do really well in the prelims. Most of them qualified for finals on Monday. Unfortunately because of the weather they had to adjust the schedule and Natalie wasn't able to stay for the finals. She was able to spend time with Kennedy (and us) so it didn't really matter in the end.
Just a cute picture
Kennedy got some new things again this month.
Here she is in her SPIO Vest. It is a compression vest that helps her with stability in her trunk.
In the middle of February we all went to the State Swim Meet in Austin. Danny had one diver in the meet (he got 5th) and we were also able to see some former athletes swim as well. It was great to see them and their parents while we were there. One of the moms took some pictures of Kennedy that I will put on her once I get them. Thanks Becky!
And...the biggest thing she got in February was glasses. She is so stinkin' cute in them.
Also a pretty big deal...she fed herself a cookie.
The blue things in the back go under her booster cover (that was in the laundry) to help her sit up. They are just cut up swim noodles.
Kennedy and I also went to visit my grandparents at the end of the month, but I'll post pictures of that in another post.
