July 19

Summertime fun is in full swing!  Little Sweetie is enjoying her summer, but still is in a bit of a culture shock at having her big brother home all the time!  This sharing toys and attention is for the birds and I think she is counting down the days until school starts back!

Even with all the screams of "that's mine!" I have enjoyed the times when they actually show each other how much they love each other.  I am glad they get to have this time together (although it is wearing Momma out)!

Fun at the pool (with special thanks to Ms. A for making this day possible!  I can't safely take them both to the pool by myself, so her help is so appreciated)!

Though they don't look like it in this picture, it has been fun getting back to Boot Camp with these two cheering me on from the sidelines!

     

     

Watching them play together in our little backyard lagoon makes my heart swell.  I hope she always remembers how much her brother did try to play with her as much as he was able.

Family story time with Daddy.  

And, of course, always a willing WILLPower representative!  Here she is with Little Buddy and their babysitter, Olympic diver Ms. K!  We can't wait to cheer Ms. K on in Rio next month!

But don't worry; she's still getting into plenty of hijinks on her own!

     

Like when she's a super hero cowboy...

...or when she's helping Daddy with building projects...

     

...or when she is having her own personal dance party in a restaurant booth (I thought I was getting  video of this amazing choreography, but only got pictures instead...I was so sad)!

Height and Weight

And she's at 30.8 lbs right now, but at least staying above 30 consistently now.  And still a shorty at just 35.75 inches!

Personality

She is so inquisitive and really wants to know why and how things work or do what they do.  I love these moments because I can how much she loves learning.  I hope that I can continue to instill that quality in her. She also talks about herself so positively, about how brave and strong and fast she is.  All I want is for that self-esteem to last and last.  It's definitely a work in progress to raise girls with this mindset and help them keep it!

Developmental Milestones

Again, she is ahead in so many things in terms of her development, but the one thing I want to comment on now is her emotional maturity.  She knows Bubby is different and she knows that I take him to Minnesota for medicine.  But she also knows that Bubby needs more help and attention from me.  Although she does take advantage of me having to pay attention to Bubby in order to get away with silly antics of her own (like running around a restaurant), I also see her trying to help me.  She knows that she can walk around in a store and that Bubby needs to stay in the stroller, so she offers to look for things or hand them to me.  Around the house, she knows that Bubby often wants his water cup or his Prince Wednesday doll and will take it upon herself to go look for them.  

I hate everything that she has to go through with Sanfilippo.  I want her to have a full and rich sibling relationship and I wish she didn't realize that she needs to grow up a little quicker because of her brother's condition.  But I am very proud of the person that is emerging from these circumstances.  Very proud.  

Fun Tidbits

Remember what I said about adding bedtime rituals in order to delay her bedtime?  Well, now she has added "tell me a story" after her normal book reading portion of the evening.   This usually involves Momma making up a story about a central character that happens to share a little girl's name and her adventures in space, a castle, a forest, etc.  It's funny, but it's funnier still to watch her try to stall dreamland, especially when she needs it (naps during the summer are much shorter thanks to Big Brother being home)!

Good night all, 

LSM

Little Sweetie's Momma 

Family Date Weekend: Jellystone Park!

As we try to make the most of our summer together, we decided to cross another family activity off of our list:  Camping!  Both kids had been asking to go camping for awhile, so we decided to do a trial run at nearby Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park!

We are here!

We got a cabin by the lake and the kids really enjoyed exploring it, especially the loft part upstairs!  We spent the first night settling in and reading stories.

Checking out the loft!

Reading stories by flashlight!

The second day was the big day for the kids.  We got to meet Yogi (although Little Sweetie thought he was better from a distance) and played all day at the water park!  We finished the day with an ice cream social, ceramics painting, and Little Sweetie trying her hand at fishing!

     

Hi there, Yogi!

Chatting with Yogi before the pool opens!

     

We didn't get a ton of pictures at the pool because we were so busy, but lots of fun had by all!

Little Buddy devouring his ice cream at the ice cream social!

     

Little Sweetie making up her own version of the Snoopy game in the cabin.

She ended up LOVING fishing!

Our last day started pretty uneventful, but finished as anything but.  We enjoyed a pancake breakfast before packing up the cabin to head home.   However, during the packing process we had a mishap.  You see, Sanfilippo has robbed Little Buddy of his attention span.  He can no longer focus on anything for any given time.  Having to pack up while a hyperactive six month old is running back and forth in an non-childproofed cabin is not an easy task.  We can't even put on a show for him and trust him to sit still and watch it, sadly.  However, the cabin did have a screened in front porch and Little Buddy loves to pretend to sweep.  The porch was empty, so we put him out there with a broom to sweep and jump around to his heart's content while I packed the cabin and Daddy loaded the car.  All was well and good until I heard the screams and saw the blood.  :(

Little Buddy had somehow pulled the cap off of the end of the handle of the metal broom, exposing a sharp circle of metal, which he then put in his mouth and tried to run with.  Of course, since it was a mouth injury, there was blood everywhere.  I steeled myself so that I could calm him.  At first I was concerned that he had knocked out a tooth, but when we leaned him back to look, I noticed that he had scrapped the roof of his mouth.  We calmed him down and cleaned him up and soon he was fine and even drinking water.  Because the bleeding seemed to stop, his tetanus was up to date, and he was driving and acting fine, we decided he was ok.  I held him while Daddy packed the car and off we went.  We event stopped to get lunch, which he ate just fine.

But that wasn't the end of it.

Later that night, I noticed Little Buddy clearing his throat oddly, so we laid him back to look in his mouth again.  Initially worried that the scab on the roof of his mouth had opened, I was horrified to find that this time I could see back further into his throat and that he had actually cut a dime-sized chunk of flesh out of his throat with the broom!  We immediately rushed him to the emergency room, thankful that our neighbor was home to watch Little Sweetie while we did so.

To make a long story short, the ER doctor said that Little Buddy was going to be OK.  He had injured himself over his hard palette and it would heal on his own.  We just had to administer an antibiotic and use a mouthwash to prevent infection.  It was scary to hear, though, how lucky we were.  If the injury had been just a few centimeters to the side, Little Buddy would have cut over his soft palate and possibly into his carotid artery.  My heart stopped as the doctor told us that.

We knew that our lives were going to be harder with Little Buddy's Sanfilippo diagnosis, but this was the first time that we came THAT close to a live-threatening situation.  We are immediately putting measures into place to help keep him safe, including looking into have a secure chair to put him in when one of us can't be with him or hold him.  We love our Little Buddy so much and we hate what this disease is doing to him.  But it is our reality; so we will adjust so that we can keep making memories together as a family.  Because our time together is what matters most.  

Starting the day with pancakes...

...but ending in the ER.  Thanking God that Little Buddy is ok!

Hoping for many more adventured-filled family dates, but maybe with less injuries!

Good night, 

Little Sweetie's Momma

LSM