Thursday, April 28, 2011

Sikeston Again!

Hey everyone! Long time in between posts again. Life has been crazy busy!! We have so many exciting things going on, I don’t even know where to start….

First off, Lilly and I are in Sikeston, MO, at the Kenny Rogers Children’s Center. We got here Sunday and have almost completed our first week of intensive therapy. Lilly is doing great! Since our last trip here in Feb. 2010, Lilly has gained so many new skills. She is crawling everywhere, cruising on all surfaces and doing some independent standing. So our focus this session is walking independently. Brandy, the therapist, is trying to work on some tightness and break some bad habits Lilly has learned.

Something Brandy also realized quickly was that Lilly seems to have an issue with depth perception and even some midline shift. In a nut shell it means she may not be seeing things as you or I do. They may just be off to the left or she may not be able to see how far the floor is from her bottom. After wearing some prism glasses for a couple days, they feel this may be the case. The glasses just shift everything back to where it should be. We have an appointment in St. Louis in 2 weeks to see a specialist who will evaluate her and look into getting some glasses and/or therapy. It’s funny….she seems to really see more and when she looks at me….she REALLY looks at me. Not sure how to describe it.

The videos at the bottom are some fun activities Lilly is doing. Shhhh….don’t tell her she’s really working!

I have some exciting things going on with me as well. Recently I have become a part of the team at Family Network TV! We are a website that produces programming for the special needs community. I am involved in many different aspects of the site and also sales and advertising. I just got home about a week ago from Los Angeles after attending an Abilities Expo. We travel to all the expos across the states, interviewing attendees and exhibitors. I had the pleasure of interviewing Henry Winkler in LA and he is such a nice man! He gave us a “heyyyyy”! After we get back from Sikeston, I will be going to NY for the next expo.

On Monday nights I am co hosting an online radio show with 3 other moms of additional needs children. It’s called Mom Squad. We attack the issues that all of us deal with. The ones we love to talk about and the ones that are more difficult. It is a call in show and I have really enjoyed connecting with other mothers out there. And my 3 new friends are really great! Check us out at 7cst on Family Network Radio. The shows are also archived.

Gunnar is about to finish 4th grade and I can’t believe it! He is such an amazing boy! He’s so brave and unselfish to let me leave like this. He’s at the age where we are developing our friendship and I enjoy our time alone when we can talk. I drag him along to the store just so we can have some time. He hates it in the beginning but on the way home he thanks me for making him come along! Just last night I was telling him I had had a sad day because I missed him and his dad so much. He quickly told me I was much stronger than that and I’d be ok. I really miss him a lot this trip!

Well, here’s some videos from this week. Enjoy!******week 1. We just started wk 2. It has taken me this long to get it on here and for the rain to stop so I would want to get out to wifi.******

2 comments:

The Lundgrens said...

oh my word!!! Look at her walking! She's amazing! That is so crazy about the glasses. If you do end up needing glasses, I can tell you where to get some cool frames. :)) Luke's should come in on Friday..I'm excited!
Ugh..I'm such a bad friend...haven't listened to even ONE of your radio shows! Blah. Home all day (about 12-13 hours) by myself with the boys on Mondays. That's my only (lame) excuse. :( Hope to be able to listen in more often.
Pray you have a GrEaT time there in Sikeston.

Anonymous said...

Tara that's amazing! I'm crying:))) way to go Lilly! Miss you both so much so proud of you both! Love, Jenny