Great day at school and Brandy's baby!

8:30am

I’m at school with Harlie today (no nurse today), so I’m going to try to get some blogging done. 

Yesterday (Tuesday) I had a little pity party.  It was picture make-up day at Harlie’s school.  She missed the first takes because she was sick that entire week.  So, I picked out two shirts for her to wear, the one I wanted her to wear, and a back-up just in case she drooled all over it. 

Clearly, I should have reversed the order.  I should have put on the back-up first, and then had Terri (our new nurse) change her shirt right before pictures.  But, I figured pictures would be first thing in the morning and certainly she wouldn’t have drooled all over her shirt by then.  I was wrong. 

And it just made me mad that my 5-year old drools.  It went away for a while.  But, ever since her 6-year molars started to come in, it’s gotten awful.  There’s no room in her mouth for more teeth.  And I know it hurts her – even though she doesn’t complain.  She puts her fingers in the back of her teeth – something she’s never done before.  She has never “chewed” on anything – even as a baby teething. 

Pictures were at 8am (she gets to school at 7:45) and her shirt was dry when I dropped them off.  I had her wear her HME instead of her PMV to help reduce the drooling.  She seems to drool a lot more when wearing the PMV – I guess it takes more effort to stop breathing and swallow when wearing it.  I don’t know. 

It just made me mad.  I hate the drooling.  And I know I’m not alone.  Drooling is a major issue with a lot of mom’s with special needs kids.  It’s just one more crummy side effect to deal with. 

I was complaining to my niece, Maggie who came over to visit last night.  I said (okay, maybe I sort of yelled/whined), “What kind of mom has to pack back-up clothes for photos?” And Maggie said, “One with an awesome daughter, that’s who.” 

Sigh. 

She’s right.  Harlie is awesome.  And I AM lucky.  I know that.  But, sometimes the little things get to me.  Luckily those pity parties don’t last that long.  Especially when I have the kind of support I get from my family and friends.  Thank you all for that!

10am

Right now, we are in Harlie’s hearing impaired class.  It is my first time watching her in this class.  I can't remember if I told you already or not.  But, we changed up her days a little bit.  She now spends circle time in the morning with her general education class and then goes to the hearing impaired classroom for an hour and a half to get more concentrated instruction.  I'll talk more about that later since we have an IEP meeting next week.  

Anyway, there are just two girls, Harlie and L.  And I just heard Harlie count (verbally) to 30.  Her numbers 1 to 10 were clearer than I have EVER heard!!!  I admit, I cried a little.  She was understandable by anyone.  And even her numbers in the 20s were good!  Then I feel bad for complaining about drooling.  I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

And after seeing how she is in this class compared to how she is in her gen ed class, I am very thankful.  She is a different little girl here.  She participates.  And she answers questions. 

Right after HI class is lunch.  So we went straight there.  And for the first time, Harlie ate her pears.  She has never taken a bite of her food for me when I've been with her at school.  But, she drank some milk and almost entirely willingly, ate her pears.  And during lunch, she smiled at her friends.  And they even fought over who got to sit next to her.  And she used her device to say their names during lunch.  It was really cute.  I have to say that I actually enjoyed my time with her at school today.  It seems like she's liking school. 

After school, I packed up the kids and me and Maggie went to the hospital to see Brandy and her new baby girl, Brodie.  Maggie sat out in the lobby with the kids while I went in and visited with Brandy.  I was dying to meet Brodie and I've really been missing Brandy.  Here she is!!!

Me holding Brodie.

She looks so much bigger in the pictures than in person!  She is a beautiful baby!!!

Hello cuteness!

After I left, I took over for Maggie and let her go meet Brodie while I stayed in the lobby with my crazy kids.  When Maggie came back, Brandy and her husband Joe were standing behind her.  They were awesome enough to bring Brodie to the door to the lobby so Harlie could see her!  And she was awake!

Harlie acted all bashful and weird.  She definitely smiled at the baby and wanted to get a closer look.  So I picked her up and let her see her.  After we said goodbye (the boys started acting crazy and I had to get them out of there) we closed the door, and then Harlie started crying.  Like sad tears.  I think she misses Brandy.  It's times like these I wish she could talk and tell me what she's thinking. 

Now that Brandy's had her baby, she won't be working at all for a while.  And it's hard to know that we won't see her four days a week anymore.  She is part of our family.  And we love her.  And I miss her!!!  

Well that's it for now.  Thanks!

~Christy