11/15/11

School so far

Noel has been in school since the end of August, doing an awesome job. It was tough leaving her in the dorm for a few days here and there but I think she probably enjoyed not riding in the car/ bus all day. All the teachers and aides at her school just love her to pieces, I feel so comfortable at her school I dont want to leave I could just sit with her all day and watch her learn and grow.

Noel has more of a vocabulary now and it amazes me everyday. She is not crawling as much she walks along the furniture and even takes a step or two.

Just met with the medical equipment company yesterday to get Noel a stander and a feeder chair for the home so we can work on these things at home as well, feeding is such a complex issue with Noel that we need all the help we can get.


9/3/11

Life's Decisions

Noel has officially started pre-school August 22, 2011, she started earlier this year too but that was only a month and was kinda a trial period. She seems to really love school and the staff there really seems to like her too.

Over the summer Noel has come a little further in her journey she is scooting a lot and very fast too she gets where she wants to be ASAP....... she will also now hold your hands and walk with you but not without assistance. She also is learning a few more words but its a lot of repeating.

We are still having the severe eating issues and I took her to Kennedy Krieger in Baltimore Maryland and they want to do an intensive feeding program with her for 2 months but financially our family can not afford for me to take off that amount of time. Ive had time saved up here and there but someone has always gotten sick or doctors appointments here and there and it just comes and goes.

So now its also Hurricane Season and thats my line of work ( disaster recovery ) so like a doctor needs sick patients and peanut butter needs jelly. We work - because of disasters.  So Ive had to make a huge decision along with my husband to place Noel in the dorm at her school during the week. This breaks my heart = literally to pieces.

She is not even four years old yet, not only am I seperating her from her family, her twin sister I feel like im abandoning her. Will she remember me or will she think that the houseparents are her parents. Will she hate me for this later on? Will she even remember it? I know they treat the kids great there, no doubt in my mind she will do just fine there; she is also non verbal as in speaking and answering questions. You say " Hi Noel " she says " Hi Noel " I assume thats from the autisum. Parents everywhere have to make choices about there children everyday, I know Im not the only one, its been a rough go since day 1 though and sometimes I just wish it would get easier: its one hard decision after another.

and so life goes on.....lifes decisions



8/1/11

Chobani


I wrote to Chobani two weeks ago and they are just awesome people over there. This is a yogurt that Noel just loves and I feel great feeding it to her because of all the nutritional benefits.

The breakdown:
  • Calories: 140
  • Total fat: 0
  • Cholesterol: 0
  • Total carbohydrate: 21g
  • Sugar: 19g
  • Protein 14g
  • Calcium: 15% (DV)
  • Gluten free and kosher, according to chobani.com

Chobani sent us 2 cases of yogurt directly to our house ( they will go fast ) at 2 at meal time. I'd love to show you a picture of Noel eating it, but she is quite a mess when she eats, she ends up with food all over her , me or whoever is feeding her, as well as tears the whole shabang.

Noel has issues eating period, she doesn't like anything in her mouth. Everything that we do feed Noel is pureed , how about that Whopper Meal pureed * gross *. Noel has an appointment with a feeding clinic this month, I'm excited but scared at the same time, this feeding clinic could be inpatient for her and that means she could stay there without me for up to 3 months. Brings back a rush of memories driving to and from Baltimore, Md when the triplets were born, but i know that she desperately needs this intense feeding clinic and Mommy is gonna do whats best, whether its writing a awesome company like Chobani or driving 2 hours one way to see my baby girl on the weekends.

I'd climb mountains to do what I need to do to give her  the best shot at succeeding in life.