First of all, yes, we are alive and we're doing okay. Since I've last blogged in September we've had quite a bit good and bad happen. We'll just make a list:
Downfalls:
1. September 20-27 (and maybe the week before that too if you count Mallory) was not a good time to be around my house or us. Julia Grace, Tracy, and I all had the H1N1 (swine) flu. It may or may not have started with Mallory the week prior - we'll never know since she refused a flu test at the doctor.
2. October 1, 2009 - our house burned. not to the ground, but the kitchen is being gutted and being totally remodeled. The living room had heat and smoke damage and the bedrooms and bathroom had smoke damage. We're staying with my in-laws while the house is being repaired. The stove shorted out and burned the kitchen cabinets and pantry. No one was home during the fire and no one was injured.
3. October 27 & 28 - Court was postponed for Tracy regarding Mallory. Our attorney's wife had a mammogram and they found a place that they're having checked out - it didn't look good, and I'm not really up to speed on where his wife stands. I just know he was taking time off from court a few days to go to her visits with her. So add him and his wife to your prayer lists.
4. My mom's sister, Aunt Kaye, isn't doing well either. They took her off her chemotherapy for now and are re-evaluating. She's lost 16 more lbs in a month too. Please pray for her. We were going to go visit this past Sunday for her birthday, but didn't call to go because Julia Grace appeared to have a cold. It turns out Kaye was so upset and didn't want to see anyone so my sister and her dad didn't go either.
I guess now for the good:
Praises!
1. We all have natural vaccinations for the swine flu! No shots for us and Dr. Webb says there's not a chance of it revisiting since we've all had it.
2. The house burned - not really a praise but some things that I didn't like about the house and some things that needed to be fixed/upgraded in the house will finally happen. We also weren't anywhere near the house at the time it burned and therefore there were no injuries and that's a blessing too.
3. I think things with court may get worked out outside of court after all. I sure hope so. It was just so nice to have things spelled out in a court paper and there was no arguing. Like it or lump it, each side had to go by what it said. We've got to get on with the business of living and leave the arguing and haggling out of it. That's no way for children to grow up, ya know?
4. My mom is doing well. Her cancer had grown some and she had to come off the trial drug, but she is on a new treatment and she's feeling pretty good. Tired some days more than others but she looks really good. Please continue to pray for her! (when I say it had grown some, the bottom line was it was still way less spots than at first diagnosis and the visible one left is tremendously smaller than it was at diagnosis.)
5. Unless something really weird happens, I am the morning person at work now. Yay no more nights at Ingles! Boo for 4.45 a.m. but I like being home in time to get Julia Grace from preschool without worrying about scrambling to work. I take a nap when she naps some days and we're good to go!
6. Julia Grace was approved for Medicaid in September and it was retroactive to August 1. They will pay for an hour of private speech therapy at home. This is with her therapist from the summer, Brooke, that we LOVE! Brooke wasn't able to come out after Julia Grace turned 3 because she aged out of the state's BabyNet program. Now she can come back and Julia Grace loves it! We're also in the process of having her referred to a developmental pediatrician for some checkups and evals there. She's been referred, it's waiting on them to get together and contact us which could take as long as 6 months but I've been told usually doesn't.
7. Julia Grace is also going to a second preschool for developmental delays. She joins her friend from our moms group, Jayce, in the 4 year old class. She is the only girl and the only 3 year old. They put her in the 4 year old group because she's so stinkin' smart and needs the challenge (I know that was sorta bragging on her) but she does need the extra speech and possibly occupational therapy (OT). She will attend the Methodist preschool Monday/Wed/Friday for 2 hours and the public school Mon-Fri for 2 hours.
8. Julia Grace is up to 4 and 5 word sentence and is starting to use pronouns such as I, me, my, you! This is big stuff ! She was only using 54 words at age 3 and putting 2 words together with occasional 3 word phrases she'd heard others use. Now she says things like "I want to go potty" and "Mommy, I want a mammich(sandwich)". She also saw me in her classroom one week while they were in the bathroom across the hall and she said "Hey! My mommy!" That's the first time she's ever done that! Yay! :)
9. Mallory is working hard on the Nutcracker performance practices and she's super excited about them. I wish she looked forward to her other activities like she does these practices. I don't think it's just because it's a new thing to her either - I think she's genuinely that stoked about it!
That's about all I can think of for now. I'm sure I'll think of more soon. I have Halloween and Boo in the Zoo photos to post too. I'm having another mini-vacation from Ingles next week and I'm looking forward to it. I am off work Sunday through Thursday. I've got lots of little extras I'm going to this week for some mommy time too - looking forward to painting with MOMS today, and lunch tomorrow, and book club on Friday! Also hoping to make it to a card-making class next Tuesday too with some MOMS and MOPS folks. Happy rainy Wednesday folks and I'll blog more with pics in the next few days.
Keep the prayers flowing - God hears them all and they're appreciated!
