IEP and Easter Egg Hunt

Davis' annual IEP meeting was this past Monday. If you aren't familiar with an IEP, it's basically an instruction manual (technical term) specific to each special needs child. His or her therapists, teachers, and parents sit around and decide on goals to set for the child in the upcoming year and special requirements needed to help him or her thrive in the school environment. I left the meeting feeling pretty good. IEP Meetings can be extremely stressful for parents. For me, it's another reminder that I have a kid that will always be 'different' and I will forever be a part of and exposed to this stuff. Stuff that I'd never know anything about without Davis. I'm better because of him. I'm smarter because of him. I'm lucky because of him. BUT...I stress about whether or not I advocated for him as well as I should have. Overall, I have so much more to think about than your every day, normal child's parent. Above sending my kid to a school with the newest equipment, the nicest classrooms, the best teachers, the highest academic scores, etc., I have to worry about whether or not he can physically get around and if his teacher is going to have a freakin' clue how to 'deal with' a special needs child. Thanks to his rights and mine as a parent, those 'kinks' will hopefully get worked out. If enforced properly, an IEP can be a wonderful program to have in place! It helps give kids like Davis the opportunity to excel and learn as much and as well as their 'normal developing' peers.

Now let's get really deep here...

Davis had his Easter Egg Hunt at school, today...

And one at G.G.'s on Sunday...

13 Weeks Post-Op And Returning Home

As you can see, from the '13 Weeks Post-Op' video, the two weeks we spent at CECO helped Davis become so much stronger. If you watch the '9 Weeks Post-Op' video, he could barely take 5 steps before his legs grew tired. We still have a lot of 'kinks' to work out, but we're definitely getting there!

Balancing on a wobbly trampoline (something he couldn't do 2 weeks ago)...

The Executive Director at CECO fell madly in love with Davis when they realized they have a common interest...Monster Trucks. When Davis asked her his generic question, "What's your favorite monster truck?" and she actually had a response, they became besties. Her boyfriend, 'Toyota James', is a real, live Monster Truck driver! She gave Davis a DVD full of truck competitions, a Grave Digger remote control toy, and cried her eyes out when we left on Friday!

We spent our last afternoon in Orlando with my girlies at the pool. They were all down for Mandy's Bachelorette Party. Davis entertained them with his amazing dance moves (Stacy...you HAVE to post the video) and Reese was her usual gorgeous self.

The drive home from Orlando...alone...with an extremely energetic and chatty 4 and 1/2 year old...and an extremely hungry and teething 6 and 1/2 month old...went surprisingly well. I made it home a little over 6 hours! I was on a serious mission!

Justin welcomed us home with these pretties...

...AND a clean house! AND an empty laundry basket! AND a bottle of wine! SO GLAD TO BE HOME!!!

Gotta have a Boogie pic...

CECO Renovations

As the result of changes in building codes, CECO was almost shut down since it didn't meet the new requirements. A handful of local businesses and organizations stepped up to volunteer their time and man power and donate money (over $100,000) needed to knock down and expand the entire back side of the building, install exit doors in every classroom, lay down a sidewalk (yes, this special needs school didn't have a sidewalk!), and repave the parking lot. Yesterday was their first day back in the building and the place looks amazing now! For the first week of therapy, classes were temporarily held at a nearby church preschool.

I don't have any pictures to share of what it looked like before, but here are some post renovation shots...

These hallways, which lead to the classrooms, are now double their original widths...

The lobby is also double in size...

Classrooms...

And the new sidewalk...

One of CECO's volunteers, who works for a local news station, filmed the 'after' portion of a documentary he's putting together to give this wonderful story some much deserved exposure.

Florida Weekend and Sentiment

Our weekend here in Orlando was spent doing things us Georgians won’t get to enjoy until, like, May...sunburns and swimming pools...IT’S SO STINKIN’ HOT HERE!

We drove to Tampa on Saturday and hung out at my girlfriend, Michelle’s, pool. I managed to stay completely out of the sun, protecting Reese, all day…somehow, though, my upper back is fried turkey. Bummer.

My dad flew in to Orlando for work on Sunday and we met him at the Gaylord Palms to hang out by the pool. This hotel was so awesome. They have an alligator and turtle filled pond winding through the whole place and a really neat family pool area with an octopus water slide! Davis had so much fun!

I took the kids to the Orlando Science Center on Friday night. Davis had so much fun in their Curious George Exhibit.

Boogs Update…I can’t believe Baby Sister is going to be 7 months old soon. I get so emotional thinking about the fact that this part of our life is almost behind us. I’m definitely excited for the ‘raising kids’ chapter we’re headed towards, but there’s NOTHING like having a baby around. Justin and I are so obsessed with her right now. It’s like we’re both clinging to every fleeting stage she enters. She just figured out how to move forward in her walker and I know we only have a few more months before she’s running around the house, trying to keep up with Brother. I just want to freeze time and enjoy her baby-ness for a little while longer…all the la la la da da da’s, the lone tooth poking through her gums, the 2 inch long hairs sticking straight up on her head…I’m so not ready to lose all that. And…scene.

And don’t even get me started on the fact that I’m about to have a kid in elementary school.

Why We're Here

After 4 days (10 hours) of Conductive Ed, Davis has definitely made improvements. He's getting stronger with each day and really building his endurance. He still falls all the time and isn't walking the way I'd like to see him walk, but the Conductor seems to think that it's all due to weakness and, with time and therapy, he'll get there. I WANT IT NOW, THOUGH!!! The CECO building is actually being renovated right now so classes are temporarily being held at a nearby church preschool. I was am worried this would will affect Davis' outcome. We'll see, though. We're supposed to be back in the building on Monday. I can't wait to see the changes they've made.

I went out and bought him a reward for working so hard all week...

Getting There And The First Three Days

It took us about 2 hours more than it should have to drive down to Orlando on Saturday. It was a really beat up move by us to head south on the first day of Spring Break.

We went to Sea World on Sunday and HAD SUCH A BLAST! We even went back on Tuesday morning, before therapy, to get our money's worth.

Davis' favorite part was this...

And his least favorite part...

Dadda: "You're such a tough boy. Why are you afraid of flamingos? Davis: "They're birds!" Makes sense.

Conductive Ed is going well. I'll post all about that later.

For now, though, here's some pics of our stay so far...

I'm obsessed with this tree...

...and these people...

'Therapy' dogs visited the RMH on Monday night...

My nappers...