Month: October 2015

Madison had a great day with Nana and Papa. Her sleepover was a success!  After breakfast they went to the bluffs to feed the ducks and then later spent time with family at The Hunt Club for a big Thanksgiving dinner. She loved her visit with Nate and Molly. We are thankful for family and that Madison has so many people who love her and look out for her.

Madison moved into her big girl room tonight.  She loved it until it was lights out. This pic is from bedtime in her first big girl bed…not a happy girl

One hour later…out cold!

Madison’s new big girl bedroom was completed today. Mamma and Dadda spent the day getting things finished up and then went out to celebrate their Anniversary…which meant….sleepover at Nana & Papa’s for Madison!

Its hard to believe Madison has been in the same room for 2 years, and starting tomorrow she will be in her new room. Time is going by so fast, but she is ready for a new room, new challenges and time to adjust and develop new routines before her little brother arrives.

Madison’s sleepover started out with a nice walk in the neighbourhood and playing with her new pumpkin. She had her favourite dinner (chicken fingers & fries) and learned how to sing the Blue Jays song with Papa. She had a quick bath, snuggled into her new pj’s and was off to bed.

The moment you have all been waiting for is here…The Happy Soul Project Different is Beautiful calendar pre-order is now available. We will be doing a bulk order with 25% off. If you would like to order a calendar through us please email your name and how many calendars you would like to katherinegregoire@hotmail.com. Thank you to those who have already placed your order with us through Facebook. We will place our order on Thursday October 15th. The calendars are $25 and then the discount is applied. Here’s a sneak peak at one of the bio pages at the back of the calendar…see if you can spot our special peanut. We will have them all delivered to our house to avoid shipping costs and then we can drop off to all who have ordered.

Background info on the calendar:

“Our 2016 #differentisbeautiful Calendar “shouts from the rooftops” Happy Soul Project’s message, that “What Makes You Different Is What Makes You Beautiful.” This year it features 48 children with exceptionalities, rare disorders, cancer and vast syndromes, all proud to celebrate who they are.

This year’s calendar is dedicated in memory of Maiysn, the inspiration behind our Kick-It-Capes .

Please note this is a Pre-Order so calendars will ship as soon as they are printed in the next few weeks.”

Now that Madison is growing and is wanting to be more independent we are reflecting on our different layouts in the house to ensure she can access what she wants. We are still in the process of getting her new bedroom ready but one of the things we wanted to have in the space was somewhere she can sit to get herself dressed independently. Currently,  Madison is still being changed on her change table. Her OT recommended that she start learning to dress herself from a seated position. We got her a good sized sturdy chair and hung hooks (from her buddy Charlotte) fairly low on the wall next to the chair. The plan is for Madison to get out of bed each morning, side step and crawl to the hooks to reach her cloths and then sit down in her chair to get some help to get dressed. The end goal is for her to one day do this herself and to dress herself. There is enough room for her walker to be used in the space once she is using it more freely.

Today is World CP Day! People all over the world spent the day spreading awareness and celebrating the lives of people with CP. This is Madison’s first World CP day as this time last year she was not diagnosed. October 21st 2014 was Madison’s official diagnosis date.

Madison spent her day celebrating with her friends at school. She took in green cupcakes and wore green to spread her own awareness and joy.

After school Madison spent her afternoon with Janine and Suzanne having lunch and going to March of Dimes for her conductive ed class. She worked really hard and attempted walking with the 2 cane walkers. She then spent her night in the dark as the power went out so no leafs game watching for her.

Happy CP Day to all of our new friends and family in our awsome little community that we are so proud to be a part of!

Tomorrow is World CP Day! Toronto is raising awareness by lighting up the CN Tower and City Hall green tonight. Catch it on the news or if you live within eyesight take a photo and post to help raise awareness.

Madison tried her shirt on tonight and got all her green things ready for her party at school tomorrow.

Madison spent her afternoon with Nana and Papa and made Mama and Dada cookies for their anniversary. She also worked hard at colouring a picture for them. Nana and Madison worked on counting cookies to the number 10 and worked on her letters. She then went with Mama and Dada for dinner to celebrate!

Today was the Annual Mike Gregoire Memorial Golf Tournament. We are grateful that Madison was one of the recipients of funds raised in this year’s tournament for her rehabilitation fund. Madison just turned 2 and has already received more therapy then probably most people who attended tonight – and we think we had an astounding 250+ people in attendance which was fabulous!

Being exposed to all her services from such a young age has drastically improved her physical development and she continues to make huge gains each and every day.

Right now Madison uses her walker and braces to try and walk independently, but it is our hope that with continued support through her therapies that she will one day be able to walk unassisted. In fact one of her therapists believes she will be able to take 2 independent steps by the end of October.

We are not sure what the future will hold for Madison in terms of therapies, surgeries, medication and equipment she may need so we are extremely grateful for everyone who attended the golf tournament today, those who donated and provided silent auction and door prizes. Thank you for supporting us to help give Madison everything she will need to be the person that she wants to be.

We want to thank Lisa, Patrick and Jessica Gregoire for thinking of us when deciding on who they wanted to help through the tournament. We are so appreciative for their support.

We also want to thank the organizing committee – Gerry, Kathleen, Theresa, Marianne and as well all of our family and friends who continue to support us and Madison. Many people help us through taking Madison to appointments, different therapies, helping us talk through important decisions, following our blog and loving her so much with their kind words and giving spirit.

Thank you to all the volunteers today who were out on the course all day, setting up the silent auction and 50-50 draw and to Deer Creek for hosting us today and providing excellent food and service.

Today was an extremely successful tournament. We hope everyone enjoyed themselves and thank you again for participating and honoring Mike, our families and supporting Madison.

 

Madison loves to help around the house.  She especially was interested in helping James today as he built her new big girl bed. Madison handed him screws and held onto the bars. She loved using the rails to help her walk around.  Her new room is slowly coming together.

She also helped Dada type on the computer which is her new love. She knows the keys for the letters A, B and C. Madison will be the one writing her own blogs in no time.

After having some playtime with Elmo at Grandma Sandra’s house, Madison worked with Stephanie in the afternoon at Variety Village. They started with a warm up doing crawling up to an object, kneeling to stand up, pivoting back to a kneeling position and then back to crawling. They then worked on walking with a new hip brace. The hip brace is to help open up Madison’s hips to then help her legs and knees stay straight and not bump against each other. Stephanie let Madison borrow the brace and she is to use it over the next few weeks whenever she is practicing her walking.