January 18, 2012

I have been so overwhelmed the last few weeks with dealing with Catherine's medical journey and trying to figure out how to catheterize her, as well as trying to get as much home schooling done while I can, as well as representing my clients in court as needed, that I have been quite absentminded lately.

Tonight I had some time to upload pictures off two separate cameras and found some pictures I completely forgot we had taken.  Yet, I am so glad we took these pictures.  It is such a gift to find a picture that records a moment in time!  Here is Catherine right before her bladder/colon surgery:

This picture is special for me because it is taken in the holding area right before Catherine is taken into the operating room.  We have been through a lot of surgeries with Catherine, but I still have that little twinge of fear that she may die during the surgery.  We have had a few operations that did not go as planned, so that fear is ever present.  But, I don't want Catherine to be afraid, so I have to act like I am not afraid.  We just tell her she is taking a "special nap."

Another special aspect of this moment is that Robby is there.  Catherine's bladder/colon surgery was scheduled for 1 p.m.  Our plan was for Robby to work in the morning and drive over during the lunch hour.  But, the operating room and surgeons were available early so the hospital told us at 10:30 that they would start at 11.  I called Robby, who hopped in his car at the Smyrna Home Depot Headquarters and drove to Egleston.  He walked in about three minutes before they actually took her back.  Yeah!! 

We were able to say a quick prayer with her and take a picture with her doll of the day, Princess Belle.  Then, they rolled her away on the gurney and we went to the waiting room for the next five hours.

Here is a picture of her abdomen two weeks later, when we were at the surgeon's office to remove the tubes.  The upper tube is the Mitrofanoff, which goes through her belly button into her bladder.  The lower tube is the MACE, which goes into her colon.

These two holes look like open wounds, because they are actually the ends of her appendix.  It is living tissue, so it looks like an active, sometimes bloody, site.  We were very concerned about it, but the surgeon says that is exactly what it is supposed to look like.  Not these tubes are gone (they were temporarily sewed in) and we insert new tubes every time we need to use them. 

Her abdomen still looks quite distended in this picture.  Since then, she has passed a lot of fecal matter and her colon blockage has loosened.  So, her abdomen is a lot flatter.

We are still having a lot of trouble learning how to use these tubes, especially the Mitrofanoff.  But, we are learning and it has only been a week that we have been doing this on our own.

Space Day

Catherine has asked me to do a lesson on the planets.  A few weeks ago, I rented a Bill Nye the Science Guy video about the planets (I only let them watch dvd's in the car and they sadly spend a good 30-60 minutes a day in the car, so we go through a lot of dvd's).  Catherine said she wanted to learn more about the planets, and was actually able to name a few of them, just from watching that video.

It is not part of the science curriculum which Georgia Cyber Academy gave us, but I found some Do-A-Dot pages for each of the planets.  We made "planet books:"

 Catherine frequently makes silly faces and poses when I take her picture.  So, Sabrina does too:

Then, we used chalk on black construction paper to try to draw the solar system.  I think they understood the concept of "orbiting:"

It amazes me how special papers become if I staple them together and make a cover page with the words "Sabrina's Planet Book:"

Our plans for that day were to go to the Planet puppet show at the Center for Puppetry Arts.  The girls loved the last puppet show and I was sure they would love this one.  But, a tenth of the mile down the road I realized I had a flat tire.  I could not even begin to tell you how to change a tire, so I called Robby.

We just bought this car (well, six months ago) and so neither one of us had any idea how to change the tire.  First Robby had to read the owner's manual:

Then we (well, he) had to crawl on the ground to unhook the spare tire from under the front seat of the car.  At least the weather was good and the flat tire occurred during the day.

Sadly, we were unable to go to the puppet show.  By the time Robby got to the neighborhood from work and changed the tire, the show was over.  Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men ...

Catch Air

We recently visited Catch Air, an indoor fun place on Barrett Parkway.  The girls had a blast.  I have never seen a lighted dance floor for children before:

There were several inflatable play structures.  What goes up ...

 ... must come down.

 Robby tried (unsuccessfully) to ride one of the unusual tricycles:

 Catherine riding a stuffed poodle:

 Sabrina holding on for dear life on the ball swings:

 I love how the kids just run from activity to activity.  It is so hard to watch both kids at places like this!

 They had an enormous, three story slide:

 My wool pants were so slick that I flew down the slide much faster than I anticipated:

I highly recommend Catch Air.  Of course it would be more fun with fewer kids in it, and especially with only smaller children.  Some older children there ran full speed while my children still had to navigate their way through the place.

Black and White Pictures

I love the simplicity of black and white pictures.  Here are some black and white versions of the Daddy-Daughter-Daughter Dance shots:

Daddy-Daughter-Daughter Dance

Every year our church hosts a Daddy-Daughter Dance near Valentine's Day.  This is Catherine's third year attending and Sabrina's first (the minimum age is 4).  They loved getting dressed up for it.  Catherine loves to "pose" for pictures:

Sabrina's bangs are starting to look normal after she chopped them off a few weeks ago:

 Here is all three of them:

It is such a blessing to see how much my girls love each other:

And because we rarely get formal pictures of Robby, I insisted:

The Crafts Continue

My girls have always done a lot of crafts.  I try to make them more educational, instead of just fun.  Catherine using chalk to make a snowman (this goes with a story she wrote):

 Sabrina painting (we made butterflies to go along with our insect study):

 Sabrina cutting out and coloring the names of mammals, and then making a poster of them:

Sabrina tearing little pieces of paper and gluing them onto an acorn, making it pink:

Math Manipulatives

Math is a subject which is harder to photograph, so it does not appear in the blog as often.  We do a lot of work sheets and flash cards.  We also use the Base Ten sticks and cubes to teach Catherine to add and subtract two digit numbers.  She learned to carry much quicker than she has learned to borrow. 

She enjoys using the Base Ten blocks and has moved past them when adding two digit numbers.  But, with subtraction, she still insists on using the math manipulatives.