A little frustrated.....

I got the report from the speech pathologist in the mail on Wednesday. I was actually shocked to receive it in less than a week, since my last experience with medical records did not go as well (if you recall). I scanned and emailed it to the therapy center we've chosen for Maggie for their review. They reviewed it the very same day (yay!). They called me last night and said that they did not feel that TCH provided a thorough enough evaluation of Maggie and they feel she requires more testing to fully examine all her needs. 

While I was happy to hear that they are so thorough, I was frustrated because basically that evaluation at TCH is worthless (as well as my half day of vacation time that I took to take Maggie down there). Oh well. How are you going to know?

Ok, that's fine. Let's schedule further testing/evaluation. Well, because she's on Medicaid, we have to wait 30 days before another evaluation can be done.  What?! Are you kidding me? That's ridiculous. But that's the system folks. It is what it is. 

So, while I had hoped to get her in earlier and already have a few weeks under the belt before school started, I do feel confident that we have Maggie going to the right therapy center. It's just going to take a little longer than expected. Which is what I should've expected :)

De-clutter.....

I'm sure you will all agree with me when I say that we just have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!  While looking through some old photos the other day, I came across a few of when we first moved into our house 3 years ago.  Man. Talk about organized. spotless. orderly. everything in it's place.  We had moved from a 700 sq foot little house into an 1800 sq foot house, so at the beginning, it looked quite sparce.  Um....not so much anymore. Add 3 years and 1 child later. Enough said!

I've been wanting to clean out things and declutter our house but just haven't had the energy or wanted to make the time for it.  Well, this weekend, I had this sudden urge to just do it.  But I decided to take it one step at a time, instead of my usual way of insisting that it all be done....right now!  So, as the weekend went by, I'd cleaned out this drawer, or that cabinet, this closet, organized this room. I went through every cabinet and drawer in the kitchen.  It's amazing what you find hidden.  You know all the little things that you put somewhere to just get it out of the way or because you're too lazy to go and put it back where it belongs. For instance, (not that I found any of these items in my kitchen or anything...) ~ screwdrivers, wrench, duct tape, measuring tape, broken candles, heating pad, receipts, bills, water gun, doll clothes, crayolas, pictures, art work, stickers, hand lotion, earrings, bracelets, toilet cleaner, dog toys ~ ok, I think I can stop now :) 

Anyhoo....

I was able to go through every cabinet and drawer in my kitchen, including the ever wonderful junk drawer (you know we all have one, or two, or three).  Reorganized the closet that holds all of our cleaning supplies and cleaning tools.  I think I'm covered with the vacuum, regular mop, wet swifter, regular swifter, electric broom....good grief!  I then moved to Maggie's play room.  Seriously, that girl has WAY too much stuff.  Ridiculous.  However, I do have to be very careful about getting rid of things with her, as she still has a hard time adjusting to things being taken from her or discarded.  She was playing with Buddy quite a bit, so it was a little easier to sneak things into the trash bag.  I also went through all of Maggie's clothes and shoes (watch out Sariyah!)

In the end, I threw out 2 bags of trash, have 2 bags for Goodwill and 2 bags for our friend, Sariyah. 

I'm not done but it sure does feel good to declutter!

Happy 2nd Gotcha Day!

Dear Maggie Joy,

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of the most important day of our lives.  The day you came home and we met you, our daughter! 

I can't believe it has already been 2 years, and yet it feels like it's been many more.  I don't even remember life before you, sweet girl.

I still remember being so nervous about meeting you. Wondering what it would be like to see your sweet face in front of me.  We had only seen a picture of you the week before, but it was engraved in our minds.  We instantly fell in love with you and knew at that moment, you were ours.

When we opened the door, our hearts exploded.  You were here. You were ours. Our family was now complete.

Momma & Daddy love you so much. How much?  Thiiiiiiiiiiiiissssss much!  You have brought us so much love, joy, happiness, and laughter.  We are so proud of you and so thankful for who you are.

When we prayed for God to bless us with our family, He blew our socks off.  We waited so long for you, Maggie Joy....and you were worth every minute of the waiting.

Always know that Momma & Daddy love you, that we are always here. We will never leave you.  You are always safe and always wanted. No matter what.

Thank you for changing our lives and for being our sweet daughter.

All our love,
Momma & Daddy

Underestimated & Validation

Maggie was a late talker. When she came to us at 17 months, she only spoke about 5 words.  Her vocabulary gradually grew and greatly improved when she started going to Mother's Day Out. However, she was still behind the "normal" track.  She was putting 2 words together around 2 1/2. Over the past few months, really since she started going to preschool, her vocabulary has just blossomed.  She is quite the talker but she has been a little difficult to understand.

Up until recently, we've had no problem interpreting what she was saying, although others struggled.  However, over the past few months, she has grown increasingly more difficult to understand ~ which has just caused her to get really frustrated ~ which is understandable. 

As she gained new experiences and spent more time away from us (aka at school), we were having a harder time understanding her conversations.  We no longer had the context in front of us. It's easy when it happens in front of you and you can figure out what they're talking about.  When her teacher and her play therapist also mentioned that she was hard to understand, we knew that we needed to do something. So, we moved forward with getting Maggie evaluated by a speech pathologist to see if therapy was needed.

On Thursday, we trekked down to TCH in the Medical Center and met with the speech pathologist to get Maggie evaluated.  Ms. Anna was really wonderful to work with and she was great with Maggie.  I was amazed at how well Maggie behaved (thank you!!!!).  The evaluation took about 45 minutes and Maggie actually sat still for the entire thing. This had never been seen before!  (those of you who have been around Maggie for longer than 5 minutes can attest to that!)

They go through a series of tests to check out her actual knowledge and comprehension. I sat in the corner in absolute awe at how well Maggie was doing.  As the tests got harder, I kept thinking - oh, there is no way she's going to know that answer...and then boom...she would answer it correctly.  I was just amazed.  I honestly felt like I should apologize to Maggie for underestimating her!  I mean, I always knew she was smart...but to have someone else tell you is pretty great!  In the end, Maggie scored at a 4+ year old level :)  This was one proud Momma.

Then she moved on to articulation....and this is where it got interesting. Maggie only passed at about 20% level for her age.  She scored below a 2 year old level.  Validation that this was necessary!

The pathologist recommended that Maggie start speech therapy as soon as possible, twice a week for an hour long session.  She wanted to encourage me that even though Maggie's issues were fairly significant, it wasn't without hope (and a lot of hard work!).  The common issues that kids Maggie's age have with speech are not a problem for Maggie.  Those tend to be worked through as time/education/age goes on.  Maggie's issues would definitely need assistance. 

We have tried to do as much as we can on our own (repeating everything she says back to her, asking her to show us what she's talking about, etc) but she needs further help.  So, we have already started working on getting her scheduled in to see a speech therapist not far from the house. Thankfully they are open 8-8 weekdays AND on Saturday!  The other groups are only 8-5 M-F....I just don't see how working parents  can do it?!  We are thankful to have found her therapy group and to be able to get in with them.  There are some insurance requirements (aka more paperwork/red tape) to get her approved for the therapy, but hopefully that won't take long, and we can get her started right away.

Our lives are about to get just a little busier, but it will all be worth it in the end.

Buddy

Our newest addition to our family arrived about a month ago (I know, I know..I'm lagging on the blogging!) We brought home a 14 week old, miniature dachshund.

We asked Maggie what she wanted to call him. She said puppy (of course). Then she said "boy". But after we explained that he needed his own individual name, something that only he would know, she kept calling him Buddy....and that stuck.

We've never had small dogs so this has been a little different, but one that we've gotten used to :) Everything is smaller, which is a good thing...and we have a lap dog that is truly a lap dog :) (not a 60 pound lab trying to be a lap dog!)

It has been an adjustment having a dog in the house again but it's also been really fun to watch Maggie bond with her "Buddy". She's also done a really great job of feeding him, making sure his water bowl is full, and loves to take him out on the leash. They wrestle, run, and play together all day long. I think Maggie may have found her match in Buddy!

When it rains...it pours....

and I'm not referring to the 11 straight days of rain here in Houston!

Sickness. Everywhere. Ugh!

It all began about 2 weeks ago when Maggie did something (who knows what?!) to her middle finger. Somehow it got infected and was getting pretty nasty. This had happened one other time before (actually during Hurricane Ike) and so I knew that she needed to get on some more antibiotics. So I called to make an appointment on Thursday for the following day, but they were actually going to be closed on Friday for the 4th of July holiday and would be opened on Monday. Ok. Fine. Scheduled it. In the meantime, Maggie was coughing...and coughing...and coughing...and it wasn't getting any better. However, over the long weekend, while taking one of her super long baths, the skin broke on her finger and it was almost instantly better. That was good...but her cough was bad. So, I was glad that I had the appointment.

On my day off from work (oh the joys of a out of the home working momma!), Maggie and I trekked up to her pediatrician and she was diagnosed with a bad case of bronchitis and also the flu. How in the world did this girl have the flu? She didn't even have a fever up until the time she was sitting in the room at the dr's office. They said she had the swine flu, but I'm not sure that's even possible, being that they usually have to send the cultures off for those results. I checked with her teacher at school and none of the other kids have been out sick, and we hadn't been around any sick kiddos/adults either. Hmmmmm.....anyway, we walked out of there with more albuterol, a cough medication, Tamiflu and Ibuprofen. This is one of those times that we are more than thankful for her Medicaid! The dr said that if she didn't improve, to bring her back in due to possible pneumonia (she sounded pretty raspy that day).

I still can't figure out how someone hasn't come up with a good cough syrup or remedy because NOTHING and I mean nothing has ever worked for Maggie and her coughs. That poor thing! The nights are especially difficult and due to all her congestion, she hasn't been able to sleep with her CPAP machine - which has just increased her sleeplessness.

Tuesday, was my turn to go to the doctor. The previous Thursday evening, I noticed that I had a small bite on my upper thigh but didn't think much of it. By Friday morning, it was quite iritated and hurt pretty bad. That same day, I was bit by something on my face in 2 different places while at work. All in all, 3 bites and no idea of what they were or how it happened. Again, they itched badly but I figured it would just go away. WRONG. I was absolutely miserable all weekend and even debated on going to the ER, because all 3 sites were highly infected and extremely painful. But I just kept telling myself that they would get better and to just suck it up.

Needless to say, I was in the dr's office on Tuesday ready to have my face and leg cut off :) So, I'm sitting in the room and my doctor (who is more like a friend and about my same age) walks in and says - hey what's up (without looking at me). Then he turns to me and says "OMG - what happened to your face?!" Of course, I said well, if you think that's bad, just take a look at this (my thigh). He literally jumped back and said - "whoa - that must hurt like a mother!" And he was right. He said he couldn't tell exactly what had bitten me but the sites were highly infected and they needed to be drained. OH great. Just what I wanted. He told me to lay back, relax and take a deep breath. Oh. My. Word. He did "deaden" it (if you can even call it that) but that shot to deaden it was horrible. Then he proceeded to cut open the site on my thigh... and well, let's just leave it at that, as I don't want to disgust anyone. A few minutes later, my 3 sites were either cut and/or drained and I was walking out of the office. Oh yeah, and I also have bronchitis.

Now, it's Wednesday and Maggie isn't any better....so I take her to the ER since her pediatrician can't perform a chest xray. The cough was worse and the chest xray did show a small spot on her left lung. It was very small but they wanted to treate it conservatively, so she was put on another mediation.

Today, I finally returned to work and made it half a day. Came home and crashed.

Like I said, when it rains, it pours...and here's to praying for a drought!

My day at the dentist

Last week, Maggie & I went to the dentist. Enough said, right?! Well, it seems like nothing ever easy happens and this would again be true for our adventures with the new dentist. I was excited when I found a dentist that would take both our private insurance as well as Maggie's. Kinda like hit it all at once. I was even more thrilled when I was able to get us both an appointment on the same day.

Now, Maggie had already had her checkup but needed to have some work done, which required sedation and her previous dentist didn't do that on kids so young. So, I found one who could.

When I was scheduling the appointments, I explained the situation, the lady was super nice and said that Maggie wouldn't need another exam - just have the records sent over and they'll do the work on the first visit. Score! She said that they would give her something to drink to sedate her, to not let her eat/drink after midnight (yikes!) and we'd see them at 9am. I knew that would be challenging but we could do it. In the meantime, they were also going to do my 6 month exam (now WAY past due!) while she was being worked on. I explained to the nice lady that this would probably not work well, but she insisted and said it was not going to be a problem. That should've been my clue there.

Maggie woke up the morning of the procedure at 1am...that's right...1am. And NEVER.WENT.BACK.TO.SLEEP. Ahem.

Can you hear me when I say MISERABLE?! on all parts...and mainly because my sleep deprived child was starving and dying or thirst and this poor momma was so horrible in not giving her anything. (poor thing - she didn't understand the need to fasting). We eventually made it through to the time to leave for the appointment, arriving there, paperwork was already filled out online (gotta love modern technology!) and then they bring out the scale to weigh Maggie. Oh great! Now, is that really something anyone fears when they are small?! (Granted I avoid the scale like the plague, I'm just sayin') but my dear sweet child is terrified of scales (and she doesn't even know what they are?!) So, she had a major meltdown...and I'm sure it didn't help that she hadn't slept, or had anything to eat or drink since the night before.

While trying to console my daughter, the nice lady behind the counter wanted to know how I thought we should handle the 2 appointments. I thought - seriously? Isn't that your job? She didn't see how it would be possible to accomodate us both. Really? You don't say. So, I said, well, then, let's get Maggie's stuff done since she's fasting. However, another lady came from out of nowhere and said, well, I don't think she's ready for sedation. She's quite active and seems very anxious about being here. Maybe we should just have you do your exam, she can watch you and then the next time you come in, she'll be more prepared.

Ok....first of all, she's 3. Period. Second of all, give her the sedation and she won't be active. Thirdly, this was your bright idea. Fourth, she's been to the dentist 5 other times without any issues and actually gets excited to have her teeth worked on. I explained this to them and they looked at me as if I were crazy. Fifth, how in the heck do you think you're going to actually get my exam done with this "active/anxious" child in the room with me. So, it was now my responsibility to get my dental exam done with my never sit still, starving, won't stop touching everything precious 3 year old daughter. Needless to say, Momma WAS NOT HAPPY. And when Momma ain't happy....

2 hours later....yep....2 hours later....

We were finished and I walked out of there totally frustrated and exhausted. Of course, it would be nice to say that everything came out great in my exam and I don't need any work done, but that would be the understatement of the day!

The dentist was super nice, was great with Maggie and looked at her teeth (yes, she cooperated very nicely, thank you very much!) and unfortunately she needs to have even more work done that previously thought. Her work will require 3 more visits, all under sedation. Oh how I am so not looking forward to this...but hopefully the next visit will be better!