Month: April 2015

Today is the 49th straight day writing my blog. It has been so wonderful to use this as a tool to reflect, looking for the positive and to share our amazing girl with all of you.

Each day I read to Madison the post from the previous day, show her all the pictures and tell her how lucky she is to have so many people who are cheering for her and love her so much!

This will also be special to keep for her to have when she is older as a digital scrapbook of her life.

I am also thankful for all the new people I have met and connected with through sharing our life with all of you. It’s nice to chat with parents who “get it” and who we can teach and learn from in so many ways.

The reason I have chosen today to look back is I stumbled upon a feature in my settings of my blog. I am able to see how many visitors I have had to the blog and how many views I have had. It is extremely overwhelming and so amazing to know how much love is being shared for Madison.

Madison has had 919 visitors and 4,140 views since starting 49 days ago.

Thank you for supporting Madison, joining us on this journey and continuing to cheer for her in the weeks, months, years to come.

Madison’s morning started off with pajama day at daycare…

And ended with a successful swimming lesson with Ryan!

Madison did an awesome job at swimming! We met Ryan in the bigger pool today, I passed her over and left the deck. She was a bit sad at the beginning,  but the tears only lasted about 5 minutes and then she swam, blew bubbles and was entertained with ducks and balls and flutter boards. I hid in the pool lobby so she wouldn’t see me and chatted about the weather and such with other parents who were hiding from their kids eye sight too. She was all smiles when I picked her up. So proud of her! Victory!

At the end of a difficult day, watching your little one sleep brings peace and happiness.

“Sweet Dreams”

Watching you sleep,
Watching you breath,
A peaceful end to
Another playful day.
More than a glowing sunset,
More than the shining stars,
You, my little one,
Take my breath away.
-Crystal Perry

This morning Madison got to hang out with our neighbour’s Pam and Medford while I caught up on house work and made many phone calls to coordinate schedules of many upcoming appointments, physio etc. Let’s just say that May is going to be a crazy month for Madison…kind of like toddler boot camp.

We Are so lucky to have such great neighbour’s who love Madison and help us in so many ways.

This afternoon Jennifer from Motion Specialists dropped by to check on Madison’s walker and to attach her new accessory – padding to the hip guides. Madison’s waist is so tiny that there was space on either side of her hips so when she would walk in the walker she leaned to the side. Now with the extra padding it will help keep her up straight and stable.

Madison also worked on her stair climbing this afternoon. Madison has now learnt that if you tickle behind her knee or under her foot, that is the part of her body she has to move to be able to climb the stairs in the right sequence. I try and keep each step in sequence so she learns the pattern, but it’s even hard for me to remember sometimes.

We hope that you all had a wonderful Easter long weekend! Thanks for reading!

Madison had a great day visiting with friends and family. She is very lucky to have so many people who love her so much. She wore her new dress shoes for her AFO’s that worked ok. They were kind of big but they fit the braces and most importantly looked cute. Madison has also been “unsure” about new textures and is timid to touch something she is not sure of. I was proud of her bravery today when she pet a goat and liked it. She had a day full of family, gifts, way too much sugar and lots of hugs.

Happy Easter!

Here is a photo recap of her day.

Madison spent her morning at a Walmart helping her friend Ruby who was fundraising to get herself to Nationals.  Ruby is one of the girls I coach in the Athletes with a Disability category in synchronized swimming at Variety Village. Nationals is out east this year and the girls did a great job raising funds. Madison was a good cheerleader/supporter and did her job of getting people over to Ruby ‘ s table.  Ruby and her Mom Sara spent the whole day at Walmart and raised lots of money for the cause! It was so nice seeing Madison more like herself today and not so much under the weather. Her and Ruby made a great team!

On our trip to the pharmacy this morning to pick up Madison’s refill of puffers, we went to Sunset Grill for breakfast. James and I watched Madison sit independently in her booster chair, using her fork to eat her breakfast and it made us think that 1.5 years ago she had to be tube fed and now she is eating by herself with a fork.  It’s so crazy to think all of the things she has accomplished in such a short period of life.

We then went for a nice walk to the park for the first time since the snow has melted. Madison went in her swing that she loved this past summer and she tried out some of the other playground equipment for the first time. She is a big fan of the slide! The only thing we realized is that her AFO’S get her legs stuck so once she is sliding on her own we will have to think of a way to keep her legs from getting caught…maybe head first!

Thanks to Grampa Gregoire we were able to enjoy Duckworth ‘ s Fish & Chips for dinner. Thanks for the great dinner Nana and Grampa and for waiting in line in the rain. This was Madison’s first time having fish and she loved it!

Thank goodness it’s the long weekend! Traffic was brutal…took me 1.5 hours to pick up Madi from daycare. When I got to daycare I realized Madison was suffering from something teenagers have to deal with…acne! Madi had zits around her eyes….great! You all know what that meant…trip to the walk in. ..just where I wanted to be on the last day of school before the long weekend. The good thing about the kids walk in where we go is you can drop your health card to hold your space in line, leave and they will call you when you are next to see the doctor. Its so great we don’t have to sit in a room filled with germs while we wait. So Madison and I went to pick up her new bags we had made by Mini Pixies!

The top bag is to keep her AFO’S in while they are off (naps, swimming etc.) and the other is to keep her puffers and meds in when we are out and about/for daycare.  We then went back to the clinics parking lot and sat in the back seat together watching bubble guppy episodes on my phone and ate berries.

After an hour wait we got in with the doctor. Good news is that it wasn’t viral. Turns out she is teething so much she is drooling out of control. Her hands are in her mouth constantly and then she rubs her eyes which is what caused the zits. Quick trip to the pharmacy to pick up some cleanser and cream…picked up dinner…and home 3 hours and 15 minutes after leaving school…I’m currently enjoying a glass of wine…bring on the long weekend!

Tonight Madi had her first solo swimming lesson. We swim together all the time and she has participated in a parent and tot swim class with James, but tonight was her first lesson with her “coach” Ryan at Variety Village.

Ryan is a speed swimming coach of the Flames swim team and he has lots of experience teaching kids with CP how to swim.kids with CP like Madison can learn how to swim but the process and techniques are different then how the average kid learns how to swim.it was important for us to have her working with someone who not only understands speed swimming but also understands how cp can effect how your body moves in the water. Madison is still young, but our goal right now is to allow her time to get comfortable with Ryan so that as she gets a bit older she can start learning from someone other then her mom.

This picture was taken after her lesson when Ryan left to work with his next person. As you can see from the look on Madison’s face it did not go so well. I didn’t start in the water with them. The first half of the lesson Madison and Ryan just swam together. Madison cried the whole time and got so worked up she puked in the pool. They scooped it out in time so that they didn’t have to shut the pool down. Thank god she wasn’t responsible for a pool closure on her first lesson. After she puked we decided I should get in the water with them. She calmed down a bit but still cried the entire 30 minute lesson. Ryan was such a trooper and assured me it would get better and we are going to try again next week. I was shocked at how upset she was. She sees so many people with all her therapies and doctors Appointments that she warms up to people and is comfortable pretty quickly. I’m hoping each week will get better as the pool will be an important place for her in her life to be able to stretch out, relax, activate her muscles and to compete in a sport that she already loves to do. Stay tuned for how next weeks lesson goes.