Ellie’s recovery

Ellie is nearly 3 months post surgery. She is making great progress in physical therapy. I’m proud of her for working hard at the exercises she’s been given. She is walking well again. She does sometimes have ankle pain though. I pray the bones are healing better and that the ankle pain does go away after the surgery. I’m proud of the patient she has had and the tenacity she has shown working at healing.

At the post surgical appointment with her doctor he indicated her healing was going well and she may be able to return to high impact activities around four months instead of six. This is all dependent on how the upcoming MRI goes. We both received it as good and exciting news. It gives Ellie hope and I believe it’s part of her inspiration to truly follow the PT program she’s been given.

In the midst of it all she is preparing for her eighth grade formal. The nice mall is conveniently located near the physical therapist office. Ellie and I have spent a few evenings shopping together recently looking for dresses and shoes for her as well as me. It’s been a nice experience spending this time with her.

She has found her dress and put together a very cute outfit. We even found shoes that she’s excited about and that seem feasible with her ankle healing. This is not her chosen dress below. I’ll save that for the night of the formal. I’m excited for her. It’s fun watching her approach these little milestones and get excited about things.

Happy 9th Clair Bear!

The day started out just as she planned. She was up in plenty of time for a good snuggle before we headed down to make pancakes before she even turned nine. 

We stopped to celebrate at 8:55 AM the moment she turned nine.

She had a lot of request for very specific food today. It started off with Mommy making homemade chocolate chip pancakes with the berry compote and fresh whipped cream. She enjoyed her breakfast tremendously. 

Then, grandma joined us for the celebration. Bringing with her some presents for Claire they had some good snuggles on the couch while watching House hunters international and waiting for a time when it was right to open presents. Ellie had had a friend spend the night so we didn’t wanna do it until she had headed out for the day. Claire was very excited. She had a long list of little things she wanted for her birthday this year and as she commented post opening her 17 presents “I got everything on my list!”

I’m very proud of his coat; I stitched her name on it. 

After present it was time to head to Frederick for two soccer games. Max was first and then we would have a bunch from Pizza pretzel creation. And then Clair have a game. We had a picnic at the park between the games and the kids played on the parks a little bit too.

Clair soccer game started off quite well when she scored the first goal for her team. It was also her first goal for the season. I love the way her face lit up when she scored that goal. She also had a huge smile as her team celebrated at midfield.

That smile is the best!!!!

After the games grandma headed down to aunt Katie‘s and we headed home. At home Clair began playing with her gifts and enjoying exploring each of them. I was on duty to begin making homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner. Everyone enjoyed dinner and we got to the homemade ice cream cake, which everybody enjoyed as well.

It was a really great day and Clara got to do pretty much everything she asked. The only downside was the sunburn that the kids came away with because I forgot to bring sunblock to the fields today. Bad mom!

This is the engineering kit she put together. It’s a pendulum that draws to make cool designs the glow in the dark. It’s really neat. She did it with only a little bit of help from David.

I may have made a mistake when I treated each of my kids birthdays like their own mini Christmases. Yes they are spoiled. And yes it’s exhausting. It starts weeks before with a gift procurement  and planning. The night before requires decorating including putting up the birthday treat balloons and fun stuff every year. They have come to expect it. I hope with all the spoiling that with my kids are grown up they look back and say boy our parents worked hard to celebrate us each year, I know they love us. I hope we haven’t spoiled them to the point that they don’t know how to appreciate celebrations that are not full of gifts. 

As Clair Bear comes in to nine, she’s just amazing. She is a joy to be around. She brings happiness and is a clear reminder of God‘s love every day and in every situation. Hey Joy is visible. She’s also very smart and she enjoys interesting adult conversation. She’s doing great in school. This Girl can be anything she wants to be. She will eventually need to figure out how to organize her self a bit, but no doubt that will come with time.

She is still determined to be a doctor when she grows up.

She loves her family and she loves God. When I asked her after prayers tonight what was the best part of her day she said spending the day with my family. She’s known to tell me that quite often. 

The baby is turning 9

Clair has been counting down the days until she turns nine. She has been very excited about her birthday. Tomorrow is the big day. She had instructions for the day that includes lots of cooking and fun and decorations and presents. I have spoiled my children. I set a precedence that their birthdays are in many Christmases. At least they will grow up knowing that we treated them special on their birthdays.

Here’s a picture of her but I took before putting her to bed.

When I said this is your last picture eight she said no. She told me to lay down beside her and take a picture of a snuggling. My girl loves her snuggles and her mommy time. And I absolutely adore this about her.

Clair is a great busy and loving child. She brings positive energy and happiness to every situation. She sees the good in the world and then others. She can tell when others are stressed and she tries to bring them up. She has a heart for God and I truly believe Jesus lives in her heart and I absolutely am so thankful for that. She has plans for this world and I believe she will accomplish every single one of those plans that she wants to accomplish.

I love her so much and I am so grateful that I get to be her mommy

We put this little decoration up on her bedroom door. I struggle to believe it will still be there at least looking like it does right now in the morning, thanks to the cats who are very interested in it. We shall see.

Ellie has ankle surgery and is a trooper

A few years ago it was discovered, after a long time with ankle pain, that Ellie had a small bone fragment that is chipped in one of her ankle bones. It’s referred to as an OCD. At the time the local doctor said just watch it. Fast forward over two years later and she sees a new orthopedic surgeon for joint pain in her wrists and knees. He says he doesn’t see any structural issues in those joints but revisits this OCD. After imagining he recovers a surgery to repair it. The surgery is simple but the recovery is long- 6 months. Ellie says no but David and I believe that this goves her the best future and stability as an adult. So Feb 3, 2022 she has her first surgery. 

It takes place at JohnHopkins and she makes it through the day well. She was really nervous about it, especially the needle. But they give her the gas mask and then the IV so it works out for her. Doctor says surgery went well but he is not clear why this happened to her originally. 

It’s been 4.5 weeks since surgery. Ellie was home for a week and returned to school on crutches. She’s been managing like a champ. I’m really proud of her. She hates her crutches and that she can’t practice jujitsu for a while, but she has kept up with her school work and navigating the world on crutches very well.

She has started light physical therapy ans has a long road of Recovery ahead but she’s taking it day by day ans step by step. Her patience are surely a great virtue!

She sees the Doc on the 21st and hopes to be released from the book then. We shall see. 

I didn’t want to skip documenting this big part of Ellie’s teen years. I know this is hard for her and I’m really proud of how she’s managing it. 

Her scripture

Clair was invited to read scripture for church

A few weeks ago Clair was invited to read the scripture as part of church service by one of the leaders of the youth ministry. She quickly excepted the offer and awaited her opportunity. The opportunity came along with a very long scripture reading in comparison to what the visiting children usually get to read. I was proud of Clair because she approached it with joy, preparation and eagerness.

We were surprised to find out that being part of scripture reading meant showing up at 8 AM on Sunday morning to go through a rehearsal before the first service, reading at the first service, and then reading again at the second service. It meant a really long morning. I was worried that Clair might not be up for that but, once again, she surprised me with her happiness and willingness to go along for the journey.

On Sunday morning came she was up and easily ready to go. She had picked out her own outfit the night before and it was a good one. just her and I got up because we knew bringing the others along for a full morning at church would make grumpiness so we left the others at home to watch online. We had breakfast together and headed off to church on time. We went in and found our place. Claire loved being behind seen and had lots of questions about what was happening. She was very interested in the stage and the audience and the technology and the overall process. Many of the bandmembers were oppressed by her happiness and energy.

At the first readthrough she read it a bit fast and we asked her to slow down. At the first reading at the 915 service she did quite well and had to slow down a bit. I asked her to consider slowing down just a bit more for the 11 o’clock service. By the 11 o’clock service she had perfected it. I am so proud of her. She was literally bouncing off the walls with joy. She was also snuggling me backstage looking around and watching while waiting her turn to be engaged the next time around. The minister was happy with her today and told her she did a great job. Many people stopped her on the way out of church and told her she did a great job. She told the youth leader that she really wants to do it again sometime. 

As we were walking out of church between church services because I needed a little bit more of my coffee that I had left in the car, a few people stopped her and complimented her on her reading. As we were walking to my car she says “I am famous.“ That was followed by a little giggle.

As we were leaving the church around 1140 this morning she was still giggling and she told me that she was happier than she had been in a long time.

Clair does have a heart for God. We were so lucky that this verse was all about God‘s love which she fully understands and promotes and supports and lives each day. It was just a wonderful experience for Clair and I am so grateful that she had this experience and that I got to be her mom along for the journey of watching her be herself in the big world. She does have so much to bring to this world!

The Tiny Tea Shop

A few years ago kids made David and I are romantic dinner one night in the dining room where they served us. Ellie has been wanting to do this again. She decided she wanted to do it all granny was here for the three of us. Tonight we made it happen. You were menus as well as our reviews of the service as solicited by clair at the conclusion of the meal. 

Ellie was surely in charge of the whole deal, and she had to do a little convincing to involve her brother and sister. As a result of the convincing there was a bit of entertainment with the meal at centered around the fact that Max and Clair were captured slaves that worked at the restaurant.  Max put on quite a variety of outfits and craziness for us throughout the evening.

Clair enjoyed being a helper and tried to be silly a bit. She did come in and share a few jokes at one point. She enjoy dressing up and looking nice like her sister.

We had a delicious meal of salad, with borscht, and dessert.

Whole dinner experience went on for almost 2 hours. I think everybody had a good time and their dreams came true. I like seeing each of them get to add the room touches to an event like this. And it was wonderful seeing Max his pain was lower than it had been for a long time. I only wish I was able to stay that way but it’s spiked backed up before bedtime.