When In Utah

Things I do in Utah that I don't do at home in California

Run in the rain 

(except I hear there was quite a bit back home yesterday! Yay!)

Run in rain that turns into snowflakes as my elevation increases

Flush the toilet every single time I use it 

(sounds gross, but I'm hard core in protecting the little water we have left in CA)

Shower for a REALLY REALLY long time

Give the kids a warm bath every single day 

(this drought has really messed up my life!)

Take a morning nap when my dad wakes up and says, 

"I'll watch the kids, why don't you go back to bed"

FREEZE daily. It's so cold here. I've become so wimpy

Snuggle with Sammy more often. I've had so much time to just be with her. I love it

Miss Callie and Marcus. I really miss them

Hang out with Bryan and Analisa regularly. That has been really fun for me

Get some of the best therapy for Sammy at Now I Can

I'm listening to happy squeals from Sammy. She's on her break and ready for a snack. I feel so blessed that we are here.

Getting her morning stretch on

Now I Can update

We're here at Now I Can and Sammy's been a really trooper. I'm so impressed with her. She is in the worst physical shape she's been in ... ever... and she's pushing through and working so hard. Our goal for this session of intensive therapy out here in good 'ole Utah is to avoid surgery. I'm not sure if that will happen. But I have faith and believe in miracles. Will she need surgery? Maybe one day. But we are taking this one day at a time and seeing if we can stretch out her muscles instead of having to cut them. It makes me sad to think about.

Coming from California, we didn't have "warm" clothes for November in Utah. I had to go out to Walmart and buy some clothes because we were all freezing. Sweats are working well for her.

Really working on getting that foot down.

Sammy is an angel. But something I learned last night is that angels apparently require no sleep. At all! She woke up at 1am and fell back asleep at 5am. This wasn't fun. Luckily my saintly parents are here and when my dad woke up proclaiming how he slept so well and then asked about me, he immediately told me to go back to bed and he'd take care of it all. Phew. I anticipated Sammy being a wreck today, but she's been doing so well. Hopefully she sleeps through the night and is ready for a weekend to recover before hitting it hard again on Monday.

Smiling but looking sleepy

Alone and Afraid

Who knew the San Jose Airport had this nifty contraption? We watched the balls go up, down, and around for 20 minutes before we boarded the plane. Pretty cool.

I have been not-so-eagerly anticipating flying alone with Sammy and Micah. Today was the day. In my gut I knew it'd be fine, but I still wasn't looking forward to it. Flying alone with kids isn't the problem...it's getting on the plane, off the plane, the suitcases....walking. Walking alone with kids in an airport...that's the challenge. You'd think throwing another kid in the mix would be difficult, but for many reasons I so wished Callie was with me. That girl is amazing and I didn't fully realize how helpful she is until I didn't have her as my bud on this trip. I credit modern technology and Halloween candy for our survival on the plane. Last minute I grabbed Sammy's Halloween bag...and the entire flight all she did was nibble on candy. She was happy.

Modern technology lulling my child into a deep trance-like state.

But we are here, safe, and the kids are asleep. Sammy did great on the flight but when we got out of the car to get into the house, she lost it. She cried, and cried (sugar withdrawals?)...which is not normal for her. And it was heartbreaking. Micah had fun but was confused as to why we had a new house. 

Halloween candy kept Sammy happy.

At 8pm, Micah was hungry (after refusing to eat dinner that Irene cooked...and was delicious by the way), so I cooked the frozen pizza Bryan picked up for us. Sammy and Micah ate pizza at 8:00. They should have both been in bed by 7:30. Oh well.

I had decided that Micah would sleep in a separate room...the room my parents will be staying in. My hope was that for just a couple nights that both he and Sammy would sleep well. Sammy wakes up early and I don't want her waking Micah up at 6am. And Micah has a habit of waking up in the middle of the night and coming to sleep in our room. I don't want him waking Sammy up at midnight. But at 10pm, after he was still not asleep, he told me he didn't want to be alone. I wish he had told me that about an hour earlier, but ok. So we snuck into Sammy's room and he laid down on a really squeaky bed. Sammy squirmed but stayed asleep. We'll see how this goes.

It was fun seeing Bryan, Irene, Analisa, Alex, and James. Micah loves James. He kept talking about seeing Jamesy tomorrow. 

I'm not sure why, but it feels strange to be here. I've done this trip for Sammy a few times, but being here feels odd. Perhaps because it all came about so quickly. Or that Callie's not with me this time. I'm not sure what it is, but being here feels a little surreal, like I can't fully believe I'm here. I think ak part of me always wanted to come back to Now I Can, but also believed that chapter had ended. That due to the difficulty of actually coming out here for 3-4 weeks...we were done. And yet, this is what we feel is best. It's weird to be here. But I am here. And we are doing this for the next 3 weeks.