Princess

Samantha had her IEP a few weeks ago and it looks like they wont be accepting her in to the school district for special education services because she seems to be doing incredibly well! They will re evaluate her in late August to ensure that she is continuing to improve with her speech.
Her birthday party was a blast! She had many friends and family here, lots of super cool gifts and tons of food and games, boy was Richard and I exhausted but it was all well worth it!
She was very sad to leave school for summer break especially since she knows that she will be in a new class in August and won’t see her friends anymore, she refused to leave on Monday! She made lots of friends there and was very upset she had to leave.


The girly princess theme has been more and more predominate for her, I am not quite sure how I feel about the “sexist standard” for girls and princess but she loves it so I am going with it! Her temperate had changed quite a bit, I am not quite sure if it’s the age and she is trying to find her self or what. She has become very hard to deal with and disobedient beyond comprehension, its especially frustrating when it has to do with her safety. I wish I knew the special toddler language so I can help her help herself.
We are very much enjoying the summer, well as much as we can with the bad air quality. She loves the pool, picnics and the evening walks we have been doing.

OH NO! Not again!!

Ohhh….but this time it was the stomach flu! Samantha came down with it on Tuesday night and ended up in ER on IV fluids and anti nausea for 5 hours to hydrate her because she was getting sick so much she was dehydrated! I was so scared for her, my poor little baby was just sooooo sick. Today she had some of her energy back but she is still a little pale, she got sick only once, and has eaten only a few crackers and some juice. It’s been three days of no food so for and…..uugggg…..I can’t have her losing weight! It’s driving me nuts! I hope tomorrow is better for her!

Stripes & Strides

Last week Samantha had her speech evaluation by the school district to deem if Samantha is eligible for special education services once her Alta services ends at the end of the month. Given Samantha’s short attention span, a new normality for her these days, she did incredibly well. The speech therapist said her articulation is slightly below age appropriate levels and may have been a qualifying factor if her comprehension was not above average! In addition Samantha was inconsistent with her ability to articulate well which shows that her articulation is emerging and not quite as alarming. The therapist did ask me about her abilities in fine motor skills, she did notice they were not quite at what seemed appropriate but then she also stated that it was not her specialty and she could be wrong. Her gross motor skills seemed normal to her besides the inability to balance, noting that Samantha is abnormally “clumsy” however that would not be enough to deem her “specials needs” per the school district.

It was not the least bit surprising for me, her speech therapist through Alta, whom Samantha see’s weekly, is quite impressed herself with the strides Samantha has taken since she started therapy with her. I have to give Jessica, her speech therapist, my upmost respect, appreciation and gratitude. She is a wonderful person and is amazing at what she does. Samantha has come so far because of her. I feel like I have also found a new friend in her as well, I have enjoyed sharing stories with her; she too has TWO miracle boys of her own. She has been the support I need from another mother whom understands the difficulties that preemie mommies endure. We will miss her so much!

Samantha is so excited about her 3rd birthday coming up! She is really into helping mommy pick out the decorations, goodie bag items, games and prizes. She has even helped plan the menu. Because she LOVES ice cream we are going to have an ice cream bar with just about everything you could put on ice cream instead of the traditional cake. She loves hotdogs, chicken legs and chips, so that’s the lunch we will make. There is no set theme, its polka dote, princess, butterflies and stripes, some of her favorite “themes” with her favorite colors pink, yellow and light green! She loves bubbles, balls and water. So we will have a bubble machine going and bubbles for the kids to play with, 13 beach balls laying about the backyard, and a water balloon relay race. Sounds like a little bit of crazy with tons of fun!

Loopy Loo

Samantha came down with the nasty respiratory flu Richard and I had, it had been over a week that we were sick and we were hoping she would not get it. Wishful thinking! Samantha almost ended up in ICU, she was up to two liters of oxygen! She was put on antibiotics to prevent lung infection, Prednisone and had both her inhalers switched to “hospital grade”, so her doctor called it. Her body temperature dropped instead of increased and she has been out of breath for days. It was very scary. For a moment I thought she would end up back in ICU on the ventilator. Thank god we are on the other side of this now. She is still receiving her meds but she is no longer on oxygen and seems to have her energy back!

She seems to be doing well developmentally, she still requires speech and physical therapy but I am being told she is pretty much at age appropriate levels. She now rides her bike all by her self and she is super excited about it!

I have been researching the possibility that Samantha may have a mild form of Cerebral Palsy. Surprisingly I am handling the thought well, I have always had feeling she would be diagnosed. On that note, I will be so incredibly happy to hear that she does not have it and her remaining delays are just prematurity lingering.

just another week

My sweet little Sammie! She is just amazing! She has done so well with the baby I am watching. She has just taken on the maternal role naturally! She wants to do everything for Kate and she even calls her “My Baby!”

Sammie can almost ride her bike all by herself and she loves going for walks with mommy. Sammie is just loving school so much, every time she comes home from school she is singing me a new song and talking all about what she did at school!

I am doing well, I am not pregnant but I have lost 8 pounds! I am working every hard to get to my goal weight and maybe then we will work on having a baby. Until we are ready I think I will try to keep from the “accidents”

Richard still has not found a job, he has only had about 3 interviews so we are praying that something will come though that is right for us.

God please help us!

It’s been a very weird and sad day! I got my first client who started today at sweet 3 month old baby! Then just hours after I am trying to adapt to the life of a 3 month old and a 3 year old my husband walks through the door with no job! Yes, he was fired today! There are little to no jobs here in Sacramento for his industry and the ones that are available are playing crap, so that means that we have to prepare to lose our home! In addition to this yucky messy situation I think I am pregnant, I don’t know for sure yet I have another week to wait before I can test but things were going well for us and work “was” great and we were ready for another baby. I am scared to death of everything that is happening, you know between the really bad things going on with my side of the family, Richard losing his job after months of little work, things just started to pick up for him a month ago…I have no idea what is going to happen to us. I have been in tears since Sammie went to bed and I could cry alone and I just pray, I pray to god that he help us. I need some mercy, I really do its been years of bad things happening to us, with a few good things plopped in here and there. Please pray for us, I feel so lost

just thinking.......

I seem to be doing so much better since we received the news about Samantha. I thought, for a little bit, that I would end up having a nervous break down, you know in all honesty I think I was in the begging faze of one. There has been just one thing after another happing to us. Today we had a scare that Richard would lose his job, thank god he didn’t. The family I thought I had for in home childcare I am not so sure about anymore. We will see what happens. However I might have another alternative for work that I am equally if not more excited about. There is a position for a behavior therapist available that I completely qualify for, I am so shocked! Funny how this came to be, my mom was at a job fair and ran into the company, she spoke about me and every thing I have gone thought with Samantha, my experience working with special needs children and my little bit of education in the field. They were so impressed with my story they insisted I contact them for an interview. So once again, we shall see where god takes me