Doing New Things

It seems like over the past week or two Rachel is doing more and more new things. The latest...going from room to room turning on the lights because she is apparently growing and can now reach the light switches. LOL. Which would be okay if we weren't in an energy crisis and trying to not use as much electricity during the day so that we can run our beloved air conditioning. LOL.

The other thing...opening doors! We keep Hannah's bedroom door closed to keep Rachel out, mainly because she has this habit of making a mess. However, now that she can open the door, it's impossible to keep her out!

In the last month, Hannah has been given the occassional chore of unloading the dishwasher, today, Rachel thought she should help.

Speech

Today was Rachel's Speech day. We've been going to Speech once a week for the last 14 weeks. She's getting better at talking with Adriana, her therapist. And she jibber jabbers all day long at home. Defiantely improving.

After todays session, we have five insurance approved sessions left. I asked Adriana what her plan was for Rachel. While she has improved tremendously, she'd like to go ahead and evaluate Rachel as to how far she has come and then request five more sessions from our insurance to finish working on a couple of letters and do some "cleaning up" of her jibber jabber.

I'm hoping that because I asked early enough, she can get to working on getting approval from our insurance so there won't be a lapse in therapy once our five sessions are up.

Rachel, The Friendly Pirate

Arghhhh!!!

Rejoicing Over the Simple Things

As I was surfing some of my routine blogs this morning, I found this exciting post by my friend Theresa.

Her son, Ethan, was born a week before Rachel with the exact same cleft...unilateral, cleft lip and cleft palate, as well as a cleft in his aveolar ridge, the gum. Our stories are almost identical, and the kids have had their surgeries sometimes only a week apart from one another. It's been nice knowing someone else was going through what we were going through at almost the exact same time.

Ethan mastered the art of drinking through a straw last night! The thought of drinking from a straw being impossible or a difficulty may never have crossed one's mind. But for a parent of a cleft affected child, something so simple, when accomplished is cause for great rejoicing.

For the record, Rachel does drink from a straw. She mastered that in March. Like Theresa mentioned in her post, forgetting the sippee cup when out to eat or out in public, isn't a good thing. I know, I've done it.

Pool Fun with Gracie

I found a little wading pool today, just like the one Rachel enjoyed so much at the 4th of July church function. Even better it was 50% off and I got it for $2.50!!

Before naptime, Rachel and Gracie dawned their swimsuits and gathered at Gracie's pool for some fun. Who needs a pool, when you have a bucket?
Just like the bucket says, "It's all purpose".

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! Our day was a busy one. Starting off with our church's celebration at the park. We had a huge BBQ, water games for the kids, water slides, watermelon eating contest, cook offs, bake offs, you name it! Rachel had a blast!! She especially loved the little plastic pool, so much that I'm thinking of trying to find one for her. LOL. Following our church celebration, we had a block party on our cul de sac. Again, we had a BBQ and everything contributed, and ended our evening with watching the fireworks being shot off the local mountain, in addition to all the neighbors shooting them off. We had a bounce house/slide this year. Rachel absolutely LOVED it. She could climb into it on her own, and then up the stairs inside it to the long slide down. By the end of the evening, she was getting pretty close to climbing up the slide!!!

Keeping Cool

We've been home from our vacation for only a day and we're miserably hot. We hibernated all day with the blinds closed tight, the air conditioner running, watching movies all day long. Staying in, out of the heat.

After getting haircuts, we went for an ice cream cone, in attempts to cool off. As always, Rachel loves her ice cream.

A Haircut for Rachel

We took Hannah to get her hair cut this evening, not planning at all to get Rachel's hair cut. However, when the woman asked if I wanted Rachel's hair cut and I said I didn't think she'd sit still, she was confident that she could get Rachel to sit still. So I went ahead and had her cut Rachel's hair. It needed it. Bad. I was amazed at how still Rachel sat to get her hair cut. She always wiggles and squirms when my mom cuts her hair. She did such a wonderful job and got a sucker in the end.

Part of the "Club"

Rachel is officially a member of the Madonna Inn goblet owning club.

For over 15 years, my mom has been collecting Madonna Inn goblets. When I got married, my mom started my collection, as she did with my sister in law, Grace. So now, every time were are in Central California, we almost always make a trip to get goblets to add to our collection.

This trip, Gramma bought Rachel and Haylee their own goblet. Hannah and McKenzie got their goblets a couple years ago for Christmas. Today, after some of the unpacking, Hannah insisted that Rachel open her present. Rachel loved it and wanted water in it right away!