Watch Your Mouth!

Conversation with Olivia tonight:
O - mommy when I get big can I say bad words?
Me - well I hope you don't but it will be your choice when your big. I hope you make the right choice
O - well I don't think I will say a lot of bad words but you know sometimes things just happen and they are like "awkward" and you just have to let it out, right mommy. 

Oops. Maybe they've been slipping out here and there. I guess to many "awkward" moments.

And then suddenly innocence is restored.  I asked her (Olivia)to be honest with me and tell me what bad words she was referring to. And she said she couldn't. I said just tell me just once and you won't be in trouble. She tells me "but mommy God will still hear me" so I explained he would give her a pass just this once and then she whispered the list in my ear "stupid, I hate you, oh my God!" Love this kid.

We Miss You Mommy

The end of this month I had to travel to Oklahoma for 4 days.  This was the longest I had left for.  The girls were sad but putting on the brave faces.  Liv had the great idea that we should take pictures of one another so that while I was gone we could look at them.  So here are the beautiful pics I got of them.  

 And yes, Liv is taking my pic with my old android phone.

 I am taking all precautions.  With so much flu going around and such frigid temperatures in Oklahoma I was a little nervous.

 Then face time with the girls at night.

 And this is what I wake up to in the am:(

 And when I get home this is the baby that missed me the most

Introducing the Daisy Scouts

 This month we have started a new journey with the Girl Scouts.  It's something I have thought for a long time and I'm glad we are in!  I love what the Girl Scouts stands for, what they encourage and just the sisterhood of it all.  I like that both of my girls will belong to something great.

So nothing like hitting the ground running.  Our first meeting was Cookie distributions!  So the next day, with blue tunics on we hit the pavement to try and sell some cookies.  Unfortunately sales were not too good on our block.  We got everything from "I have diabetes" to "I don't like cookies".  Come on people - buy the cookies and give them away.

 Then we went across the street to Mr. McCarty, who was actually interested in buying cookies.  So he asks Olivia what her favorite cookie is, to which she responds, "Chocolate Chip".  Ummm.. . . . . there is NO CHOCOLATE CHIP!!!!  Then it occurred to me that neither girl has tried a single girl scout cookie ever in their life.  So we made a b-line to the house and opened every single package and had a cookie tasting.  It was kind of fun.  We each took a bite of the each cookie and then described it and decided whether or not we liked it or not.

 Then I asked both girls what their favorite cookies were.  These were their top choices - yes all of them!

 Then we had to fill the orders that Daddy had taken at work.  Juliana was checking the list and Olivia was packing the boxes.

 And of course they both LOVE this stuff because it's like playing store but with real money!

Way to go God!

My favorite Olivia comment of the day: in the car she is covering up one and she says:
O - hey mommy, if you cover up one eye you really can't see much at all. 
Me - yup. It's true. 
O - good thing God used his noggin and gave us two eyes so we could see everything. 

Yes God - way to use your noggin!

Meeting Baby Joy

So one of the many unfortunate things about Rett Syndrome is that we go through a lot of therapist.  Juliana gets Physical therapy, Occupational therapy, Speech and Massage.  And unfortunately we go through many many therapist.  We tried to count the other day how many therapist she has worked with since we started this journey and we could come up with at least 27 in about 6 years.  And thankfully I have to say that most of her therapist have been AWESOME!  The first couple times we lost a therapist I would cry.  Ok, bawl.  It was like we had lost a family member, someone we had learned to trust and had gotten to know and celebrated all of our little mile stones with.  I literally would grieve, until we got to know the next one and I quickly learned (1) There are a lot of really awesome therapist out there and (2) each person that has touched Juliana has added something in a positive way or brought something more out of her.  So, as with many other things on this journey, we have learned to trust God, he truly knows what he's doing and who we need in our life.  

Wow - all that being said, we still get really attached to some of our therapist.  One in particular was Ms. Kirsten.  I want to say she worked with Juliana for almost two years and she really "got" Juliana. She believed in her, encouraged her and loved her.  So you can imagine how sad we were when she decided to stay home with her new baby Joy but we couldn't me happier for her.  Joy is a lucky baby.

And so Ms. Kirsten stopped by to introduce Juliana to the new baby and Juliana was so excited!  She loves babies!

 She just couldn't contain herself!

 And then before I could stop her she planted a huge kiss on little Joy's face.  (Kiss = open mouthed lick!)

 And maybe she snuck in one more little kiss.

The smiles and giggles just went on an on.

 Then finally Olivia got a turn.  Unfortunately by the time Liv got her she was a little fussy.  In her defense she has been at a shower earlier and was well due for a nap.

 There we go.  Nothing that a paci couldn't fix.

 Then Juj got some Ms. Kirsten cuddles and giggles.

 Good luck Ms. Kirsten on your new adventure.  Stay in touch!

Rett Potion

During prayers tonight Liv prayed, "And God, please let there be a potion invented to cure all the girls with Rett Syndrome." Yes God, I would take a treatment, a cure most of all or even a freakin' potion! Whatever it takes! 

Vitamins

Ugh! I went yesterday to the natural store and bought some liquid vitamin supplement that was supposed to be amazing. I get home and try it . . . YUCK!!! It is just poly-vi-sol that Juliana used to take. So I go to return it today and in the car I can even smell it. Disgusting. The I realize it's dripping out. So now there is vitamin dripping g down the sides and onto my gloves. I look around and find wipies. Pull one out only to find they are dry as a bone!!! Ugh! Wait I have a bottle of water. I will poor that in to wet them again. Apparently they were so dry they were incapable of absorbing any moisture so I just ended up pouring a full bottle of cold water over my legs and crotch. Ugh! And I still have vitamin all over the bottle and now my gloves and now wet pants. — feeling annoyed.

Living in the Wild Wild West

So Liv comes out of her room crying a while ago that she had a nightmare. This was the conversations:
Me - what did you dream about?
O- someone came in and was going to shoot Juliana and me. 
Me - (terrified at this point) where did you see something like that? (Thinking to myself she's only allowed to watch Disney or Nick and only the jr versions!)
O- I didn't, I just dreamed that
Me- you had to have seen something like that. (You dont just dream that stuff up)
O- ok. I watched a cartoon about the wild Wild West. And Texas is like the Wild West 
Me - relieved she was only dreaming about a saloon and dueling cowboys.