Week at Mimi and Papa's

James was out of town last week and so Ava and I spent the week down the freeway at my parent's house.  We had a great time.  I really would have been overwhelmed and so exhausted without their help.  We had a great week!  My Mom is a teacher but had this week off for fall break.  My poor Daddy worked very hard all week but we did get to do some fun things with him as well.  James got back safely tonight :-)  Ava was so happy to see him!  They are so darling together.  Here are some pics of our mini vaca!

Beauty and the Beast:  On Tuesday we went to see the play, Beauty and the Beast.  It was a very special night.   It was a Biola Alumni event and we had a beautiful dinner before the production.

Shopping:  The next day us girls went to the mall to shop for my upcoming birthday!  We had lots of fun and rode the train before we left.   After the mall we stopped by my Aunt's work to visit her and Ava had fun walking around the office. 

Outdoor Fun:  My parents live by a beautiful lake and we enjoy taking the dogs on walks and feeding the ducks from the dock.

Relaxing Evenings:  Well, not totally relaxing I guess.  Ava went to bed pretty late most nights since we were out of our normal routine but we got to enjoy the pretty views and sunsets and great company. 

Hanging out:  We also did lots of coloring, made cookies, watched shows, and talked to Dada on the phone. 

 Fun times :-)

Little Ava wants to play, rain, rain, go away

I have personally always enjoyed the rain. This is my first rain experience as a mommy which has changed my tune a little. Ava seems to be fasincated with it but she does get pretty bored staying in the house most of the day.  Here is what my partner in crime and I have been up to on this rainy week!

- Cerebral Palsy and the rain do not mix well! My poor sweetie! Ava drags her right foot when she walks and is pretty hard on her shoes. With the wet streets and rain, she got a big hole in the right shoe. When I noticed it and took off her shoe her entire foot was drenched and frozen and pure white! We stuck it under the sink and let some warm water run over it. Poor thing had her foot in cold water for who knows how long. She is also not too proficient with the umbrella yet which presents another challenge.  But oh how she tries...so hard.   I know one of our favorite quotes as mothers is, I only have two hands! I just think of my equally busy five year old who only has full use of one. It's gotta be frustrating. BUT...Today I bought her a real rain coat...just in time for the rain to stop :-)  How crazy cute is this coat?!?!

 - Ava and I have been trying some new activities since we've been cooped up more than usual.  We made some beaded necklaces, played with melty beads, and made paper bag puppets.  Aren't they cute :-/  Also, our weekly date to Starbucks for coco was extra enjoyable this week :-)

- My crafts this week have switched from sleeveless dresses and skirts to scarves and hats.  Ava does were scarves well I must say.  She's quite the little model.  And no, I didn't make the hat in the picture below.  I made a fleece one which I haven't gotten a picture of yet.  My goal is to learn how to make one like the picture. 

Stay dry and warm

Dance

At Bible study last Monday the host put on worship music as we gathered in the room to start. Ava danced and danced to this song, "How He Loves Us". It was so sweet. I thought, "If she only knew how much He does love her." And then I felt God tell my heart, "If YOU only knew how much I love YOU." I guess His love is far greater than any human mind can know. Child or adult, we will never wrap our minds around the depth of God's love.
Since Ava has no speech, dancing is such a beautiful way for her to express herself. I love to watch her be free and experience God through dancing.

How He Loves Us

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,

Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don't have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way

6 Months

Ava girl first stepped foot on American soil 6 months ago yesterday. We celebrated with some cookies!  Life is very full.  We are a happy bunch!

Also...Ava and I took our second trip to the pumpkin patch with some friends.  We had a blast...

 

Big Changes for little Ava

So today we had a big doctors appointment with Ava's therapists and an orthopedist that children of CCS (California Children Services) see annually.  It was a great time for this meeting to take place considering Ava has been home for almost exactally 6 months.  James and I both didn't want to really do anything in addition to therapy until after she had a full 6 months to show us what she could accomplish on her own.  As much as she has grown and improved during this time, there are areas that have not progressed as the doctors would like and so extra measures must be taken.  I wont go into too much detail b/c I am not a doctor and I'm sure most of you aren't either.  So here are the changes in layman's terms..
.
1)  AFO (Ankel Foot Orthosis):
Ava's left foot is baring most of her bodies weight as she doesn't distribute evenly between the right and left side.  An AFO will help that right foot lay flat and will hopefully prevent problems in the future as she grows.

2)  Botox:
Strange huh?  Botox is commonly used for kids with CP to help the muscles.  In Ava's case the botox will be injected into her right leg.  This is something I don't know how to properly word so I'll just say what I do know about it.  I do know that, in combonation with the AFO, it is going to help her stay flat footed on the right side and distribute weight equally.  The effectiveness of botox lasts for 4-6 months.

3)  Medication for Drooling:
Most of you who haven't met Ava might be thinking...drooling????  Yep, our little sweet girl chronicly drools (a little string of drool, not a huge amount of saliva comparitively)  It is something that her and her occupation therapist have been working on twice weekly for several months.  We have seen slight improvement but not enough to feel confident that this is an issue she will be able to correct herself without medical help.  We are in the process of looking at the different medications and hope to find the best one for her in the next week or two.  This medication decreases the amount of saliva produced.  At the moment the muscles in her face are not strong enough to push the saliva to the back of the throat.  This is one that we are REALLY excited about if we find the proper medication for her.  The reality of how our life looks dealing with this issue is, never going anywhere without at least one rag to wipe her, changing clothes that are soaking wet at least 4 times a day,  not being able to comfortably allow her to play with other children's toys, dodging glances as she plays on public play equipment, etc.  It would be beautiful to not have this issue in our life anymore!   

As my Mother always told me..."Nothing is permanent...except for marriage and children"  I know that if any of these changes are not benefiting Ava, we can choose to stop them.  As a Mommy, it's both exciting and stressful.  Our life now is very comfortable and now these BIG changes are going to again require some extra time and patience from all three of us.  We will keep you all posted on how these new adjustments go down. 

  Thanks for keeping our little angel in prayer...don't forget Mommy and Daddy too :-)

Fall...

is not quite in the air but it is on the calendar.  I love fall...pumpkins, and costumes, and pretty colors.  Everything is extra fun this year because we have our little Ava home.  We have almost reached the 6 month mark of being home with her by the way.  So wonderful!  Here are a few of our fun fall activities...

We picked out a little pumpkin at the store last week and Ava was just in love with it!  She cradled it and started at it for hours.  We got some rain last week which was so much fun and allowed us to dress in long pants in long sleeves.  Now the weather is back to HOT and not feeling much like fall at all :-(

We carved that cute little pumpkin and our artist daughter was more than thrilled to put a face on her new best friend.

Sporting some festive colors

 We had a fun time at the petting zoo in San Juan Capistrano.

 Showing the love

 Did we buy an overpriced pumpkin?  No, but we did take pictures with them.

 Trying to get a family pic

 A for effort

 Sweet Cookie the cow was a  highlight.

And anytime we get to be with Mimi and Papa, it's a good day!

 This fall, fairies have very much fluttered into our lives.  Ava loves all things Tinkerbell.  She even made her very own book like the one in the new movie.  
 

We also made a fairy house at the Disney store in celebration of the new fairy movie.  We are soooo in girl world!

 This little, bear bottle as we call it, was given to us by her therapist and is used to help Ava learn better how to suck and use a straw.  She was using it the other day and shortly after, I heard her make the best "m" sound she's made to date.  I think this little bottle symbolized many great things to come for our girl. Her oral motor control is growing slowly but SURELY and we are so confident that God will continue to use therapy and the tools we've been given to bring speech into her life.    

This picture of the three of us on a walk at the beach last week really makes me smile.  Through any season, the three of us are united...loving eachother, loving God, loving the world and the people in it.

Happy!

Last night we had Bible study at our house and Ava was over the top excited to be the host.  She greeted everyone with huge hugs and loved showing off her room.  One of our friends commented..."I think God created Ava so she could make people happy."  As a parent that might be one of the best things you could hear.  I sure know she makes us happy...glad to know her life is bringing to joy to others as well.