It's like this...

Today, I bravely took Ashley to her constraint induced therapy at Children's hospital and left my wonderful hubby at home. Ash was whisked away from me at nine a.m. and I never saw her again until they came marching back into the ot/pt waiting area several hours later. Sorry it's so blurry. The camera woman man wasn't paying attention to details. So I asked her if I could take her picture by the whale. Yeah, that didn't go over so well. I took one or two more but she was running down the hall away from me so I figured I should stop before hospital security rushed in to see how I was abusing my daughter. We left the hospital and stopped at the grocery store to pick up some hot dog buns for our bratwurst lunch. As I was turning into the parking lot my eyes went. And by 'went' I mean I kinda sorta lost my vision to my old friends the flashing squiggly Christmas lights. I had to sit and wait it out before I could drive again--or shop for that matter. That h...

Today I didn't go to Children's with Ashley. I stayed home to play word twist on facebook clean house and make pizza for their triumphant return. Seriously--I made four pizzas. I really did. I made one with spinach and tomato from the garden with a ranch sauce. See? Ok, that was before I baked it. I also made a Hawaiian, which was to die for. No, really. I also made a cheese pizza and one with ranch sauce with sauteed onions and zucchini from the garden. Those were eaten before I could take a picture. All in all, it was a floury messy day in the kitchen. Lance sent me a picture of Ash playing cards at the hospital. I know she's probably happier than she looks in that picture. She got to have pet therapy as well today and she loved that. I gave Lance a small bag of plums to give to Peggy (Ashley's therapist) to thank her for all she's doing. Now...on to day nine!

Ashley keeps her cast on no matter what and I was concerned that she would be more frustrated than usual---but things worked out wonderfully today. Her friend Kiera invited her to go a movie with her and her mom. I was a bit concerned because she can't quite manage going to the bathroom by herself yet. I anxiously awaited a frantic phone call, but none ever came. Ashley came home from the movie in an incredibly wonderful mood. She had a great time and even managed to eat some popcorn! Yay Ash! Lance and I watered the yard and the garden this morning. My father left town yesterday and headed south with his truck and trailer, so the yard duties fall to us while he's gone. We picked some zucchini, tomatoes, blueberries, blackberries and plums. We have some spinach as well. I intended to make some pizza dough and then make several kinds of pizza; spinach and tomato with white sauce, one with sauteed zuchini and onions from the garden and then one with ham and pineapple. ...

Today was a most excellent day because Ashley was allowed to have her cast removed and go for a swim! So after two hours of therapy, it was off with the cast... and into the water! Ash spent most of her time in the pool with Peggy. The girls had a great time with their casts off. Time to move and scratch and play and then it was time to hit the showers. Thankfully I'd brought shampoo and conditioner. All the girls in the group needed it and so I stood, fully clothed, in the shower with all the girls and squirted shampoo and conditioner for everyone. Ayup. I came out looking like I'd taken a shower with my clothes on. Which is kinda sorta what I'd done. Then it was time to have the cast put back on and wrapped in the color of their choice. Ashley chose green. The problem was that there wasn't enough green to finish the arm. She was offered another color to make it a two-color job but she didn't think that was going to look very good. So upstairs we went in s...

Day four at Children's Hospital and Ashley did some art therapy. She was quite proud of her finished product---and she also created a card that she's going to give to her Daddy on his birthday at the end of the month. They worked on a room off the cafeteria there and it was blazing hot when we walked in. Soon the HVAC people arrived and began working on cooling down the room. It felt like a steam bath when we got there. Thankfully they fixed whatever was wrong and the work began. I spent the time in the Parent Resource Room online working on my curriculum for Spanish Class. It was soooooo hard to stay awake--but I managed somehow. After a few hours I went back down to check on my girl and found her playing Apples to Apples with the other girls in CIT Camp. As I walked in I heard someone say "Beer Bellies" and then they all laughed. I'm still not sure what that was about. When they finished, Ashley had to close a zip lock bag. Not an easy task with two go...

Ashley surely loves Peggy, her physical therapist. Or is it Occupational Therapist. Hmmm...I think it's the latter. Ashley had a great day today at CIT. There was no complaining or whining--just excitement. The time spent in the hospital isn't so bad, it's when we come home and are in regular living mode that things are more difficult and emotional breakdowns are more common. Today she worked with scissors to cut paper. They are a special kind of scissor that allow her to cut with her weaker hand. She was cutting some paper down so it would fit into an art project thingy. Don't you love it when I get all technical? Yes, a thingie. She had to cut the paper up and then put inside the thingie then squeeze paint in. The thingie then swirled around and created a piece of art. It's so pretty and she is quite proud of it. After that they played hangman, then she had to find objects in a bowl of rice and remove them. At the end they were playing a game toget...

I've come to realize that I essentially have a newborn again, in so many ways. Bathing, dressing, feeding, bathroom essentials... we are forging a new bond as mother and daughter. It reminds me of when she actually was a newborn. The constant contact...the touching and loving and diaper changes at midnight. The essential building of trust and the tuggings of the heart. She woke me at four a.m. this morning because she had to go to the bathroom. Something she can no longer do by herself. Not yet at any rate. She is remarkably unselfconscious as I perform these personal duties for her---most likely because we are so very close. She's never been allowed to take a bath completely alone due to her seizure issues, so that part of our new routine is nothing new. Other things are. After our time at the hospital today, we came home and she had a fit of crying, as she did yesterday. She wanted the cast off, it was too heavy, it was too hot, it was too much. I held her and told ...