Both of our kiddies started school this week. Mary Elizabeth’s 1st day of FIRST GRADE 
(can you believe it???) started rough because the bus never came (although we found out after we waited 45 minutes for it, it came 3-4 minutes after we left) and mommy had to drive her to school. Only a mile from the school a utility truck was on the side of the road where there was a lot of branches and debris – and we went around the truck and as we came back into the lane there was a huge rock that we proceeded to hit as we didn’t have a clear view of it ahead of time. This nice big rock dented the rim and thus – a flat tire. We spent some time on the side of the road but thankfully we had a lot of help from the people at her school. She made it to school and eventually mommy and Drew made it back home (but a little longer than we planned because the car decided to become possessed or something and wouldn’t start yet the windshield wipers wouldn’t turn off – even with the key not in the ignition). Grandpa helped us out when we got home and we were able to have a company fix the dent in the rim. We were also helped out by a client of Daddy’s with tires! So everything turned out fine and ME had a GREAT first day after all! She is in uniform now, but it’s a flexible one, she can wear any color polo or button up shirt with a collar, and dresses, skirts or slacks that are black, navy, khaki or grey. She looks super cute in anything as we’ve learned.
Drew had a great first day at Preschool as well. He was excited to have quite a few buddies in his class that he’s been friends with for a while at church now. He has a nice new teacher and we are really partial to his teacher’s assistant…. Grandma Ray! 🙂 He is very excited about going to school and very into it this year! He was adorable looking on his first day dontcha think??? Because of his sister’s fiasco the day before he missed his orientation- but that’s ok, we’re not new to the school so we know how it goes. And we’re just grateful that he didn’t have the same first day as she did, because he certainly would’ve missed it. The poor lil guy was stuck with mommy on the side of the road most of the morning with his pjs on, no shoes and no food in his belly as we didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast. But he did so well considering. What a good little guy!
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In other news, the previous update we told everyone that ME was going to have a steroid injection on September 19th. That was cancelled. The area that was worked on in August was pretty aggravated and Dr. Waner suggested we do some sclerotherapy. While we thought we were nearing the end, we realized we have more steps. Such is life- right? So we’re moving on to that and Dr. Berenstein who does her Sclero is ordering an MRI for her. We have that set for September 29th. Unlike previous MRIs, she will not be having anesthesia. She is older now and very good with handling her doctor visits and things she needs to get done- so they suggested we give it a go. And we showed her pictures of the MRI machines and explained it all to her so we found her practicing laying still on the couch a few times. She’s funny! She will need contrast so they are going to stick her with an IV, I think that’ll be the only part she’s gonna put up a fight about. But, we know- she’ll do it. After the MRI is done we will meet with Dr. B and then schedule sclerotherapy. So we’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime the kids are well, and we are back in routine for the year!
The little princess has turned SIX on May 20th. We really can’t believe it. She is looking and acting so much older, and just saying the word SIX reminds us, she’s not a toddler, she’s a little girl. WOW. And what a beautiful, strong, happy little girl she is!
doesn’t mean we can forget about our little Drew… Here he is waving to ya. Lately with all the birthdays going on (cousin Evan, his sister, his grandma etc) he is not happy that his isn’t close by. He’ll tell ya his birthday is in November, but he wants November to be tomorrow! And well anyone in NY or nearby, knows we hope November takes a LONG time to get here so we can enjoy this weather. He’s growing up fast though… and learning so much. He is nearing the end of his first year of preschool. Mommy & Daddy think they have decided that he will attend preschool for 3 years. His teachers think he’d be ready, but they also agree that there is no harm in holding him back. With his birthday right at the end of November, and the cut off being December 1st, he could go either way with when he starts Kindergarten. We’ve heard a lot of people say they wish they held their children back (that were end of the year babies), but we’ve never heard them say they wish they didn’t hold them back. Being the oldest in his class is something we’d rather than him being the youngest and it’d be a nice and easy transition because there are 3 different classrooms in his preschool and then he’ll start a whole different school after that. So he won’t notice at all. He also gets a little bit more time before having to go to school all day long. Which is a nice thing for him, and hmmmm not as nice for mommy. hahaha. Just kidding, the one on one time with him has been nice with Mary Elizabeth is in school, and I think it is great for both of us to enjoy it a bit longer. Anyway, these are just our thoughts for now. We shall see.
Boy did the kids have a blast! We had a great time, great weather and it was just all around a great experience. Wore us out a bit- sure… but unforgettable none-the-less. We were there for 7 days and spent 6 of them visiting Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios (some we went back to again). From 8:30am til 9:30 pm (some nights MUCH later) we were on the go. By the last day we were exhausted so we decided to use that day to go to Typhoon Lagoon. It was a great water park and we had a lot of fun, but I won’t lie- we spent a good amount of time in the Lazy River or just hanging out in the “pool” type of things they had. It was refreshing and relaxing. And it was EXCITING because Mary Elizabeth had her first experience in water with the trach out. She was in that water right up to her shoulders. And she went down the little kiddy water slides and all. It was a dream come true really for all of us. Finally!!! Now here comes the sad part. The water park had water everywhere and it really wasn’t ideal to have your camera out. And it wasn’t smart to leave it sitting on a table with your towels especially if you have an expensive one like we do. So we bought one of the disposable water proof cameras they were selling there. We took all sorts of pictures of her first experience in the water. Later Drew got a hold of it and mommy & daddy both thought the other parent got it from him. But apparently neither of us retrieved it. And thus it was left behind. So far Disney has not been able to find it. They have tried though. So we have no photos to look back on of her first true swimming experience. 🙁
We had a great Easter with the family and the kids loved opening their baskets and going on their Easter Egg hunts etc. In with all the fun of it, they did focus on what it was all about. And that meant so much to us to hear it from their little mouths.
We had a great Christmas, and hope all of you did as well. The kids got lots of great presents from Santa, and our loved ones. And then we moved onto New Years.
With that, we’ve already seen that Mary Elizabeth herself is going to have some new experiences. One in which she just experienced – riding the bus. Who would have thought that riding the bus was that big of a deal. But back in September when it was her first day of school and she eagerly awaited the bus, it was then we had to let her down because there was no nurse on that bus (as there should have been). Mommy has been fighting with the district to no avail. They simply could not find a nurse to ride the bus with her all this time. So after the trach removal we scheduled a meeting because obviously she no longer needed a nurse. That meeting happened this past week and finally she RODE THE BUS! Seems like such a small thing but it meant the world to her so we were soooo happy for her
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Ever since Drew’s 2nd Christmas, he hasn’t been too fond of Santa Claus… at least not up close. You can’t really count his 1st Christmas because he was only 3 weeks old when we took the picture!
2008 – I plopped Drew down without him knowing really what was going on and he immediately started climbing off and crying. Photographer was fast and took the picture as Drew first started getting down.