Cardiology Appointment

Katie had a cardiology follow-up on Christmas Eve. If you're looking for a good time to make a doctor's appointment when you can get in and out relatively quickly, Christmas Eve is the time to do it! We were in and out of cardiology in an hour and 40 minutes, which may still sound like a long time, but was a record for us! It's usually well over 2 hours.

Katie got a clean bill of health from her cardiologist. He said the echo they did in the OR back in July when she had her dental work done looked great, and her blood pressure, pulse, and EKG all looked normal at this follow-up appointment too. So he doesn't need to see her back for another 3 years. Yay! It's so nice to see Katie's medical issues stabilizing and her appointments starting to get farther and farther apart.

Christmas Break Has Begun

Katie's last day of school this year was this past Friday. Her class had a holiday party at school, and she enjoyed participating in all of the games and activities. She is becoming much more tolerant of things like this at school. In past years, class parties were too chaotic for her, and she usually had to leave after a few minutes because she would get overstimulated.

Katie's classroom teacher gave her three books and a certificate for a pizza. Her support educator gave her some foam puzzles and a book, and her interpreter gave her a Winnie the Pooh word game. That was so nice and generous of them to give all the kids gifts like that!

We have a busy week planned. Katie has a cardiology appointment on Wednesday afternoon. We're hoping it won't be busy since it's Christmas Eve and that we'll get in and out quickly. Cardiology is usually slower than Christmas (no pun intended!). Then we'll go to my parent's in KY on Thursday, and Arlin's parent's in northern OH on Friday. I still have a little shopping to do and ALL the gifts to wrap, not to mention some work that has to be wrapped up by Wednesday, so I think the next couple of days are going to be busy!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Stomach Bug

Katie ended up finally catching the stomach bug that is floating around her school. She got sick after dinner Friday evening and was sick all day Saturday. She seemed a little better yesterday, and even ate a little bit of lunch without it bothering her. But then she didn't want any dinner, and she ended up sleeping 10 hours last night (which is a rarity for her). She seemed real lethargic this morning and didn't want any breakfast. We sent her to school, thinking that might perk her up a little, but the school called after only about an hour and said she just didn't seem to be feeling well, so Arlin has gone back now to get her. Hopefully, it will pass soon, and Arlin and I won't end up with it. I know some friends' kids who had it for several days before it went away, though. Ugh.

New Adventure!

Guess what Katie did today? Went ROLLER SKATING!!! Her class went this morning as an activity for area Special Olympics participants. Arlin and I didn't get there until late, so we only saw her for a few minutes. But when we walked in, there she was out on the rink, on skates, with her interpreter and teacher helping her. They said she had been skating for an hour and 20 minutes straight, and every time they stopped, she'd sign "more"! I walked around the rink a couple times with her and helped her, and she seemed to be enjoying it. I didn't get to take any pictures--it was kind of dark on the rink, so I don't think they would have turned out, anyway. But I wish everyone could have seen her--she was having a blast! I guess I know something else to put on her Christmas list now!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We've been busy here lately, so I haven't had time to post any updates in the past week or so. Nothing out of the ordinary going on--just work, school, errands, life!

Katie had a good Thanksgiving break last week. We went to my parents in KY for Thanksgiving, and then went to Arlin's parents in northern OH on Saturday. Katie did really well on both trips. She discovered a new favorite food, too--green beans! She couldn't get enough of them on Thursday and Saturday!

We're heading back to KY this weekend. I have a class lunch on Saturday and a baby shower to go to on Sunday. Arlin and I may sneak away for some Christmas shopping and dinner Saturday evening. Hard to believe that Christmas is only three weeks away! Besides just a tiny bit of shopping, I haven't done anything yet! No decorating, no cards, no baking. I think it's going to be a busy month!