Busy as always

I feel like BUSY has become my new normal. I can not believe it's only been a week since my last update... I feel like 2 weeks have gone by. Let's see, this is what I've done this week.

Monday Autumn had her ECI Christmas party which she HATED!!! She's become a very unsocial child and does not like strangers or lots of people around. So, I held her the entire time has she clung for dear life to my shirt. She cried meeting Santa and closed her eyes when I tried to get her to participate in the activities. She thinks if she closes her eyes no one can see her anymore and she will not have to do anything she does not want to. She can be frustrating at times. ;) That day I also read to Gage's class, PT for Autumn, and gymnastics for Gage. I also managed to hire a new nursing agency that day to get things going on getting our nurses hired and us approved through insurance/Medicaid.

Tuesday since I had no nursing just yet....my SIL and I loaded up Autumn for a fun day of shopping. I also decided to change up Autumn's feeding schedule where she gets most of her feeds overnight and just a few ounces during the day to hopefully prevent gagging/vomiting since she never does it while sleeping. It made a huge difference that day and Autumn did AWESOME on our shopping trip. She was good the entire time and only had to be suctioned twice and had not one gagging episode. I was so thrilled! My evening ended with attending Madison's last Christmas choir concert.

Wednesday the owner of our new nursing agency came over to do all of our paperwork. It took about 4 hours but so far I LOVE them. It's a small company and very family oriented. They even have a support group going for trach/vent moms twice a month. She was very personable and open about her life and the company. I was very pleased. They were also able to get one of my night nurses started back that evening and she even gets paid more so it worked out better for everyone.

Thursday was spent doing my last minute shopping for Christmas and groceries. I also made the kids teachers oreo balls and stayed up late to finish cleaning my house for my company coming over.

Friday was busy, busy. Started with speech therapy for Autumn. I then loaded her up and took her with me to the kids Christmas parties at school. I had lots to bring so I had her stroller fully loaded. She did okay at first but then started her crying and wanting to be held...she does this at home now when I sit her down so I rarely can get anything done anymore if I do not have an attendant or nurse around. We hung out with Madison and the 6th graders for a short time until it was time to go to Gage's party. She finally let me put her back in her stroller while I helped set up Gage's party. It did not last too long though and she was wanting back in my arms. By this time, I was hot and my arm felt like it was about to fall off. We made it through 2 hours of partying and then I took the kids home early for school for their 19 day break. Yes, 19 days! The day ended by my cousins, aunt, and uncles coming to visit (they are from California, Houston, and Odessa) and we all went to dinner for my 3rd cousins 13th birthday party. I also let my house be the host home for her slumber party. Since there was scheduling issues with the party only 3 girls were there so it made it an easy one. ;)

Saturday I took Madison to the airport to fly to Lubbock to have Christmas at her great-grandmothers and then to head off to San Antonio with her dad. She beat me to Lubbock before I could make the drive back to Rockwall from the airport...traffic is horrible during Christmas time. I was able to get a nap in that afternoon and we skipped church since Autumn has been having a cough off and on this past week...we also discovered a groove her trach tube has made at her stoma (the neck hole) and it has caused some yellowing and bleeding which I will have to get checked out on Monday. James, Gage, and I spent some family time playing Uno...over and over again. I think I had eaten too many oreo balls though that day and ended up sick to my stomach all night.

Sunday (today) I cleaned half the house...AGAIN...and played about 100 games of Uno with Gage. He cheats but still loses....yes, I am one of those mom's who will not let my kids win on purpose! I got bills paid, laundry done and then took Gage to Six Flags since he missed going the other weekend. It was SO packed that I had to park in the last parking lot...we still had a great time until it was time to leave and I still had not gotten him any cotton candy and so in 10 minutes I walked through the ENTIRE park seeing if I could find one vendor still open selling some and couldn't. He was one mad child and had a bad attitude. I hate when good times end badly. :( I was able to have a 30 minutes talk with Madison on the way home so that was good. ;) So, here is it after midnight and it's time for me to get to bed. Tomorrow the agenda is to call the dr. about Autumn, maybe clean my SIL's house (still undecided), pack for our trip, clean the upstairs, Autumn has PT, Gage has gymnastics, and then suppose to have dinner with my growth group from church. We leave Tuesday morning for Christmas in Austin with James' family, home on the 23rd, and then off again on the 26th for Midland to visit my family for Christmas and then back on the 31st. Maybe things will slow down in January? Will post pictures this week if I get a chance but no promises. ;)