Quilts and Children

As I've mentioned before, had it not been for Ellie I probably would not have started sewing in 2014.  The main two reasons I started were:

1 - I was home more and was in need for a little "hobby" to connect with my brain for a few minutes in a corner of the house :).

2 - I had two girls now - the thought of matching dresses did it for me!

When I started out I had two big goals to shoot for.  One was making the girls' Holy Communion dress.  The countdown clock still shows a little less than 2 years on that one thankfully. The other goal was to make a summer blanket for our bed that was very lightweight and 'breathed' in the hot months.  

I started this massive project - a king sized quilt with 394 appliqued flower petals - back in early spring.  I wanted to get it done by the summer and thanks to a husband who has summers off and keeps the children distracted from the aforementioned corner of the house - I finished it last week!

As always I find great meaning in sewing.  Making mistakes (one really big one on the back that took 4 hours to pick apart and start again!), slowing down, attention to detail, doing a simple task in an almost meditative state....all of these things give me peace and help me look at daily challenges with raising children differently. I try to slow down with them and enjoy the little things as much as possible. 

Here they all are - they celebrated the completion by running around with it then all lying under it when I told them I was finished!

The pattern is called "Wallflower".  I thought it was beautiful and I liked the meaning of sometimes standing back and taking things in for a change as a wallflower.  Not my natural temperament so hopefully sleeping under the quilt will help inspire me to know when to get involved and when to just be a spectator of the beauty in front of me every day!

Summer Trip

Ellie and her siblings had a great trip to our second home in Tennessee this summer!  We started out at an amusement park we love!  Ellie was able to do more this year than last...but was also a little reserved about some rides.

There was a boat chute that she was not so sure about!

I had her facing forward but she spun around so fast and straddled me like a little monkey!

This one might have gone a little too fast for her.

There we go - much more her speed!!!

Daddy walked around with her some while Mommy tried not to throw up rode some rides with the other children.

We enjoyed a water park where Ellie got a little brave and had a blast.

Kept safe by  her brother.

Kept dry by her Daddy.

She loved the merry go round!

Things are going "round and round" over here in their usual fashion this summer.  Some big developments are possibly on the horizon for Ellie getting an "extreme makeover" of her bedroom!  Stay tuned!

Blood Work

Last week Ellie had a bad day :(.  Because of this little nugget of information...


Hypothyroidism is the most common endocrine problem in children with Down syndrome. It is estimated that approximately 10% of children with Down syndrome have congenital or acquired thyroid disease. Hypothyroidism can lead to symptoms of fatigue, mental sluggishness, weight fluctuations and irritability.  Hypothyroidism can occur at any time from infancy through adulthood.


...Ellie has to get labs done every two years. Two years ago or so she was still in her medical fragile days and we had it done while in the hospital.  But this time we were on our own and had to get it at our local hospital.  We've done labs there before when she was only a few days old (same screening) so we knew our way around our local hospital and the children's section that handles minor childhood issues.  But, a major factor when she went in to have the blood taken Friday - we (both I and the phlebotomist) were unprepared for how much Ellie was going to hate having her blood drawn!


It was rough.  There were tears.  Mine, hers...it did not go well!  First the phlebotomist got the needle in, then Ellie started screaming and thrashing and knocked it out and when the lady tried to stick her again it went even more downhill from there. I could not console her - no lollipop or goldfish would do the trick. Running toward the exit was her way of communicating!  So we left.


I worried/thought about it all weekend and started formulating a plan for how it could go better.  I had a "vision" and prayed that it would work out.  The big thing was whoever answered the phone at the lab Monday. I was lucky the girl was very nice and listened to my ideas. She spoke to her supervisors and they agreed to the plan.  This time I took my faithful assistant - Julia! 


Here are some notes so next time we need to get blood I'll know what worked.  Some of this was taken from an experience we had back in that initial appointment right after she was born where they couldn't get enough blood to fill a tube. Back then we had been sent up to the children's floor to a nurse who was used to sticking new babies with tiny veins.

• We went to the children's floor and the phlebotomist met us up there along with a nurse I had requested to assist us.
• We played in the family toy room and picked out some special things Ellie liked and found a wagon to make our walk fun.
• We met the head of that floor who was the one that stuck her years ago and she was very happy to open an actual patient room for us.
• We logged onto the internet with our tablet and started playing Ellie's favorite show.
• I was holding her on the bed, the nurse made a curtain between her face and her arm with a blanket I'd brought from home, the video was playing to the side and Julia was doing a little story with Mr. Potato Head.
• The phlebotomist started and when I tell you I did not even KNOW the second she stuck her - there was no flinch, cry, whimper - nothing!!!!  All of the sudden two tubes of blood were full, just like that.
• Then Ellie got to choose a Band-Aid from a book of hundreds of choices and we were on our way!

Here's Julia pulling her along.

I am happy to report the results are in and...she is not one of the 10% that have thyroid disease.  Thank you God!

Athens

19  years ago the Mommy and Daddy of Ellie met in Athens, Georgia. Last month we took our four little bulldogs back and had an absolutely wonderful time!  Here are some highlights - thanks for going down memory lane with us!

Ellie in her new fancy stroller - item one of three that we've applied for this summer (you might recall the grant/insurance paperwork piled on the kitchen counter).

Lunch at a famous grease pit restaurant.



Ahhh, the famous Arch.



Where it all began!  A shared major, a spilled coke in class I helped Jeff clean up, a small group of close friends with common interests...1997 and 1998 were wonderful years!  But I must admit, so were 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 too.

Go Dawgs!

The dorm we both lived in - a year apart.




Jacob was in a golf tournament at the University course!  He placed second and had a blast.  Ellie was happy to see him when it was over.



Ellie shares her muffin.



Silly goose kept carrying him around like that.

The library café where we first started "studying" together but really talked and got to know each other outside of class.



Ellie does not stay in one place for long - can I share that fact about her current phase in life right now?  :)

Happy Father's Day to a dad willing to climb mountains (and stairs) for his children!

A bench we spotted downtown around graduation and said we'd come back "in 20 years" and sit there together with our children.  Can you believe that?  In 20 years though, it had been very loved by apparently every single bird in Athens so....there was no sitting.

The Student Center - Jeff used to get popcorn here for lunch I used to take a 30 minute nap here between classes.  20 years later - he's still eating popcorn and somehow I still manage to squeeze in a nap most days!  Not much has changed in some ways! 

Air

Ellie outside getting some fresh air and scooting along on her tricycle.





Little miss used to need air inside the house through oxygen tubes - and those tubes got taped to her face with cloth medical tape. To remove the tape you absolutely, without a doubt, had to use these adhesive remover wipes.  We first got introduced to them in the hospital but when we came home with none - how on earth were we supposed to get the tape off her sweet face at bath time every day?  I called the hospital to find out what these thingies were called - these little individual wipes in envelopes that are magical! It turned out insurance covered them and days later our first box came in the mail.  Just last week I realized I had a few left in the medicine cabinet that I've used sporadically over the past two years when any of the kids needed bandages removed. I just wanted to honor these little hard working cloth wipes for all they did for the precious face you see above.