IMOT, Keppra, Baylor Checkup and Happy 14 Months Melody!!

Melody Rose, I cannot believe you are already 14 months!  You turned 14 months 10 days ago.  The biggest change over the last week is that you have become a WALKER!  Wooo hooo!  You are pretty much walking more than crawling.  You are sooo proud of yourself and can tell that you are doing something pretty big!  Everything has taken off so fast since your first step.  Addison started walking at 16 months and it took awhile for her to consistently do it after her first step.  So I am pretty shocked at how fast you have caught on to all of this!  I know pretty soon you girls are going to be chasing each other all over this house!  You have really been standing up to Addison and it's pretty funny to watch.  I think it's good for her.  You will put up a MAJOR fight when she tries to steal anything out of your hands.  I'm glad to see you aren't being a pushover!  I think it's important to share and I believe Addison has been learning some important lessons lately:)

Right now you have 5 1/2 teeth.  You have the bottom 2 and 3 1/2 straight across the top.  I feel like you're getting a new tooth every week!  I really can't believe how fast they are coming in.  Over the last month you have become super possessive of me.  It's been kinda hard and I'm sure it's just a phase.  You will completely freak out when I start talking to Addison, change her, hug her or anything really to do with her.  You will scream at the top of your lungs and make a beeline for me immediately.  You will just tug on me until I stop what I'm doing and pick you up.  You also want me to sit with you or hold you constantly.  If I walk away to do anything you get sooo upset.  AND you don't want anyone else to hold you.  We have been using the baby bijorn ALOT this past month.  I can say all of this but deep down I LOVE how much you love me!!!  

One of your all time favorite shows is The Backyardigans.  I'm pretty sure you love the show because of the theme song at the beginning and the end.  You get the biggest smile on your face when they sing the song and you immediately start wiggling side to side.  You still love to dance!  Tonight was the first time I saw you dancing while standing!  I have to admit it was a pretty awesome sight!  I can't remember if I've said this before- but when I sing a song you will join in and imitate what I'm singing and it is pretty right on tune!  It is hilarious!  You are VERY musical!  

Some things you really don't like are the vacuum cleaner and the mixer.  Oh wow, you just get hysterical when I turn one of those on.  I even have to warn Addison that you are about to start crying really bad cause if I don't warn her she will get sooo upset and worried about you that she will get hysterical and then it becomes a really viscious cycle!  

I have been trying to read to you more and more.  I have so much guilt about this cause I began to read to Addison from the moment she was born.  Now that things are busier I just have a hard time finding the time to sit with you and just read.  I don't think you are as interested in books as Addison is but I will keep on trying!!  Your favorite book is called Baby Faces.  It's just a picture of a baby on each page making a face and there is a one word description on each page.  When we get to the "yum yum" page you always say it and smack your lips.  You will hand me this book over and over even if we have read it 5 times already!  Atleast it's a book!

 

Addison started IMOT three weeks ago!  The program is 5 days a week 4 hours a day and for 3 weeks.  She finished the program yesterday and will get to continue doing IMOT 3 days a week until the end of the year.  We are so grateful for insurance!!!  So, when you started IMOT we made the decision to temporarily take you out of school during all of this.  The main reason was to keep you as healthy as possible so that you wouldn't miss many sessions.  You were staying sick with school and we know that school is not the priority right now.  IMOT stands for Intensive Model of Therapy.  It is a very specialized program where they put this neuro suit on you and you wear it for one hour out of the four that you are there.  The purpose of the suit is to align the body in the proper position and to retrain the brain.  The suit has all these bungee cords everywhere and everytime you take a step or move any part of your body you are moving against the resistance of the bands.  This program is known for helping kids make huge gains and break through plateus.  It is exhausting for kids but you were amazing and powered through it all.  I had to send tons of snacks and drinks for you and when you would get home you would typically sleep from 2-5:15.  AND I would have to wake you up at 5:15!  The first week it was pretty hard for you but your therapists said your endurance improved so much every single day!  Yesterday they held this "graduation ceremony" where they got us all lunch and we got to eat up there with you and all your therapists.  They presented you with a trophy, certificate and a Disney princess kit.  You LOVED your present and totally enjoyed all the attention!  You have such a BOLD personality!  We all talked about your progress and they said you made sooo many gains and were sooo impressed by you!  They are obviously trained to see things that we don't but they named so many things about balance, coordination and core that drastically improved.  We were sooo very proud of you!  It is amazing to me that even after the first week they could tell a difference!  I think you are pretty worn out and we have decided to let you take a whole week off of therapy this week.  It is the week of Thanksgiving and you won't have school either so it will be good for you to just recover and play!  You do miss school and have been begging to go so much!  There were lots of mornings where you would just fight me on getting dressed to go to therapy.  We finally realized that you are just TIRED and know that therapy is really hard work and would rather go to school where you can color and sing!  

Riding the bike!

Another big milestone is that you were able to stop taking Keppra!  That was the seizure medicine that you have been on since the accident.  You never had a seizure thank the Lord but it was just for precaution.  We are sooo grateful to get rid of this medicine for good and now only have to do the Baclofen for your muscles.  Your calf muscles are tight which causes you to tip toe when you walk.  Therefore we have to give you the muscle meds to help pull your heels down a bit.  The braces also help with this.  Therapy has helped over time and hopefully they will fully drop one day. 

Taking your last dose of Keppra!

Melody LOVES to spy on our neighbors!  She loves Mr. Bill and is always checking out the scene to see what's going on that day.  She just loves being outside and we have tried to take advantage of this nice weather before it gets too cold!

We had Addison's Baylor checkup a few weeks ago.  We stayed at Great Wolf Lodge again and Addison had a BLAST.  Her memory is sooo good and I have honestly never seen a bigger smile on her face when we walked into the water park.  She knew where everything was and knew that it was gonna be an awesome day!  It wasn't so awesome when we had to leave though.  MEGA MELTDOWN.  and we got some big time stares from every single person there! Oh well!  Totsie kept Melody while we were in Dallas which was pretty much necessary.  We were so busy with appointments and making sure we were on time to every little thing! 

Sitting in front of the fire at Great Wolf

When we got to Baylor we went to check out your favorite fish tank.  We have made it a point to visit all your favorite spots everytime we go back.  I think it's pretty special to do cause every single time we come back you have improved sooo much!  During the 6 week hospital stay, we would visit these fish and each were given names by you and were treated like your very own pets.  Here you are pointing to each one and saying what their name was.  What a good memory!

Here you are visiting with Dr. Raji.  We LOVE her!  You weren't sick but you insisted on wearing this mask and at times the gloves!  You know her very well and talk her head off.  You walk around those halls like you own them and they just get the biggest kick out of you!  It's sometimes hard for us to recognize alot of progress cause we are with you everyday.  We were wondering what she would think and were so very excited to hear what she had to say.  She was amazed at your progress over the last 3 months and just described all the areas that you had improved-( we are talking about walking).  She takes a video of you walking down the hall each time so that she can compare at the next appointment.  We see her every 3 months.  When we finished we of course walked down the hall where your old room was.  We said "hi" to some nurses we recognized and I over heard some new ones whispering and saying, "She was a patient here"?  I glanced over without them noticing and their expressions were priceless.  They looked as if they couldn't believe you were ever there!  You could tell they were shocked that it was only 7 months ago.  Dr. Raji still says that your progress is very speedy and we are so thankful for that.  She says because of that they believe your recovery will be wonderful!  

Here is one of the playgrounds at Baylor that we would bring you to.  We love to see you on this equipment each time we come.  It is amazing to us cause we have vivid memories of you not even being able to walk out there.  Now you are walking, climbing, sliding- pretty incredible stuff!  You can see Addison climbing up the stairs at the bottom left.  I also love this pic cause it shows the Dallas sky line.  All of my favorite buildings right there:)

Now this was funny!  We walked pass the therapy room and you insisted on us going inside.  We walked in and said hey to everyone we knew and you just owned that room.  I even have a video of it.  You walked all over looking at specific things and you could tell it was as if you remembered everything from a dream.  You would pause and stare at something and think real hard and move on.  Then you went to the corner and stared for a second and yelled, "Where did the treadmill go"?  They all cracked up laughing!  You were right.  That was the exact spot they kept the treadmill.  That was the place you stood on your feet for the very first time.  Wow.

Checking out the therapy room at Baylor!

Addison's 1st Halloween Party and some Trick or Treating!

Addison had her first Halloween party at school and it was so cute!  They strongly encourage 1 parent to attend these types of things and I was more than happy to do it!  Truthfully it helped calm me down since I would be able to monitor everything she ate or wanted to eat.  Her school has been amazing with her allergy.....it won't be long before they declare it a "peanut free" school.  They have been great clearing everything with us before they do anything like this.  

Anyway, back to the party.....I decided to dress up as my typical pumpkin cause they encouraged parents to do so.  I thought, "I really don't want to do this cause what if I'm the only one who does?  Or worse, what if I'm the only one that doesn't"?  I decided I would rather be the only one that did and at the end of the day it was really about making Addison happy.  She LOVED my costume and thought it was super cool:)  By the way, I was the only mom dressed up.  Addison went as a ladybug.  She wore the very same costume last year but we had no problem repeating it cause she obviously didn't remember!  She also really enjoyed it this year!  She insisted on wearing her hat and last year she wanted nothing to do with it!  We also weren't sure about trick or treating cause of the allergy and too many risks associated with that so we thought it might be silly to get a new costume for nothing!  I know this will be the last time we can get away with something like this!!

Here is the majority of her class.  They were sooo good lining up against that wall!  All the festivities took place outside and they divided them up in different groups so it wouldn't get too out of hand. 

There was this table full of yummy snacks and each kid got to scoop up their own in their bags.  They were telling all the kids to come make some "Monster Mix." Addison loved this cause it was all her favorite food!  She pretty much ate the whole time.

Never come between a girl and her oreos!!

They did a bean bag toss which was pretty exciting to you cause you do that in therapy!  I think you're getting pretty good at it too!

Picking out your bean bag and holding tight to your snacks!

Then it was story time.  Everyone got in this huge tent and ate their "monster mix" while listening to the pumpkin book.  Mrs. Blanchard had the story on tape so she got to sit back and turn the pages.  She was still very animated though!!  Mrs. Blanchard was also a ladybug!  You thought that was so cool!  I need to write this down cause I would hate to forget it......She is so wonderful with you.  I can tell that y'all have a special connection and that you hold a special place in her heart! 

Now THIS is funny!  So, this is the setup they had made for the cute individual picture.  They will take these pics and put them on a fall craft that you did at the festival.  Anyway, your turn was up and Mrs. Rose was doing everything she knew to do to get a tiny smile out of you.  I watched in amazement at the teenage face you were giving her.  So THIS will be the pic they will attach to your craft!

NOW, 5 seconds after she walked away I decided to give it a go and see what would happen.  Well look at that!  A big ole smile for momma!  I tried with Mrs. Rose but you wouldn't do a thing until she walked away!  I had to laugh and I might have to replace their picture with ours!  AND if you look close enough you can see the oreo mouth!  I believe you had just finished your second helping. 

You do this funny thing with your arms when we try to take your picture.  You always say, "DA DA DAAA."  It sounds like some super hero saying or something.  Then you will bend your arms and swing them when you say it.  I have NO IDEA where you got that one from!

Here y'all are singing to a few songs in music.  I believe y'all were doing the "Hokey Pokey."  Wow, you LOVE doing that song!  Oh, and that's Henry in the black.  You've had a little thing for him since day 1.  You have always loved talking about him and get the silliest smile on your face!  Oh boy.

When you got back to your room y'all got to do some more crafts.  This was just poking pipe cleaners into little holes in the pumpkins.  I was just sweating with fear cause this type of thing will set you off in a tantrum in no time.  I kept looking at the number of holes verses the number of pipe cleaners.  You were gonna have about 8 left over and I knew it would send you into a tailspin!  I had to explain that there were no more holes left and that we could give the extra back to Mrs. Blanchard.  After much convincing you quickly gathered them up, walked over to her while she was in mid conversation and started stuffing them in her hands.  She quickly caught on to what you were doing and just laughed.  You are such a little helper!

Showing off your pumpkin!

These are just some random pics of Melody.... just hanging out in the playroom.  She sure does like the camera!

SO HAPPY!

Now it has pretty much been decided that Melody will always get Addison's hand-me-down costumes until she really knows what's going on!  This year she was a flower.  I LOVED this costume on Addison and I was so excited that Melody would also get to wear it.  By the way, have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE having girls??! 
So, this was Halloween night and we decided to just get the girls dressed and sit on the front porch to hand out candy.  Our neighborhood is wild during these things and it is just fun to people watch.  After awhile we decided to go to Bill and Charlotte's and say hi to them.  Addison of course couldn't have the candy but she didn't even care!  We had her a nice little stash that she carried at all times.  She has found a new love of Sour Skittles. 

Putting on the costume piece by piece!

I think the headpiece is so precious!  I thought Melody would refuse to wear it but she did really good.  At first she kinda pulled at it and then I guess realized it wasn't going anywhere!

Addison was more than happy to put her ladybug back on.  Here we are walking to Bill and Charlotte's.  She wanted to show us her red tongue- thanks to the sour skittles. 

This is just priceless.  I wanted to include this cause one day I will look back and see all these smiley pics and think how easy it must have been.  NO!  Things are sooo not easy!  This is what happens about 90% of the time.  Actually both are usually screaming/crying.  And they feed off of eachother.  Ah, it's just a season and I always tell myself to not wish it away.  It will be gone in a flash and I really do try my hardest to slow it down and just enjoy the moment. 

These little antennas gave us problems last year.  They would hang in her eyes and really aggravate her!  So this year I just twisted them and problem was solved!  Didn't totally resemble a ladybug after that but that's ok!

Once the costumes were on (which was a HUGE fight), Melody was happy playing on her own.  I still cannot believe she left that hat on!  This is a little girl that won't even wear the tinniest little bow!

LOVE this one!

Have I mentioned that this little lady is a "momma's girl"?  Ha!  Everything is right in her world as long as I'm always holding her!

Fueling up on Sour Skittles!

Melody definitely enjoyed going through Bill and Charlotte's candy bowl.  She would grab a piece and try to give it to Bill.  Then she would put it back and try another one.  So sweet!!