Blogger is being uncooperative this morning. All of those "rolling blackouts" of stuff not working correctly, reported so often by other bloggers, has finally seemed to catch up to me. I was all set to change things up and go from the natural beauty of the garden microcosm to the natural beauty of the sun my own planet revolves around, Samantha. Pictures all lined up from the weekend, pictures that Blogger won't let me even attempt to upload.
Patience is a virtue. Taking deep breaths, waiting patiently. Nah, it's so much easier to just get ticked off and rant about it, right?
Thank you to everyone who commented on my photos yesterday! I am so appreciative of all of the positive feedback, and inspired to keep looking for the beauty in everything. That's my goal. And for those that asked, I use a Nikon D40. The lens I used for those shots is the one that came with the camera body: 18 mm - 55 mm zoom - f/3.5-5.6, on the Macro setting.
I don't have too much to say today (I think I say that a lot, then proceed to write a novel), but was thinking about summer and how there's just so much to do and so little time to do it! Right now it seems like there's a birthday party pretty much every weekend for one of Sammi's friends. I'm about to start her in swimming lessons, too, probably falling in the middle of the day on Sundays, which pretty much scraps any weekend away plans for 5 weeks. I had been wanting to do private lessons, but the swim instructor contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in semi-private with one other family who has a 4 year old. At first I thought no, but then realized that a) the price would be lower and b) Sammi does well with peer models, and I think if another child is doing what the instructor is asking, she may be more likely to follow suit.
I'm not so sure how she's going to do, though...for one, this kid can't comprehend holding her breath in the water. She knows how to take a deep breath, but I can't tell if she's holding it when we practice. I think she finds it funny and just pretends. This is also a kid who doesn't know how to spit (I know most moms would be thrilled if their kids didn't spit, but this makes brushing with flouride toothpaste a real challenge!), and doesn't know how to sniff (in). If you ask her to smell a flower, she blows out of her nose. I honestly don't even have any idea if she can even smell anything, although I suspect she can because I know she can taste things. It's so frustrating when she gives no indication. Eh, it's the little things that most people take for granted that seem to stump us, but none of that is new to us, right?
Sammi's ENT appointment is next Wednesday. I'm a little anxious about it. I'm really hoping they can prescribe some sort of alternative to long-term medication or surgery to help rid her of her chronic sinus infections. She gets them pretty much every time she gets a cold, and I seriously don't want to have to medicate her with antibiotics every time. Have any of you had a similar situation? I'll certainly update next week after the appointment.
Next Friday is my (ahem) 25th high school reunion (okay, okay, stop snickering, you young'uns!). It's being combined with the year before and the year after, which is pretty cool. Steve and I will be going with some of my friends, with whom I have stayed in touch over the years (thank you for making it easier, Facebook!), but I looked at the RSVP list on Facebook (yes, and thank you again, Facebook, for facilitating the reunion organization and details!) and don't actually know that many people. Of course, the school was huge. Our graduating class had 618 people, so I can imagine that the year before and the year after had similar populations. The day after the reunion we're making a beach day. I can't wait! Samantha loves the beach, as do Steve and I. Still have to figure out how to finagle a beach week some time this summer...before it all ends!!
Anyway, tomorrow, most likely, I will continue the series of Selling my Soul to Cereal with Part 3 of 4 and talk about the role taste and nutrition play in my breakfast choices. There will also be another great giveaway! I won't tell you what it is yet, but mine arrived yesterday, and it's pretty darn cool!
Congratulations to Erin, random winner of last week's giveaway, who said, "Since my "healthy" cereal is about the same as the sugary stuff, I feel less guitly about giving Emma her cerel. Great debate in our house is the 'cereal for breakfast is okay or not'. Ummm, I win. It's good for dinner sometimes too. Just sayin."
I hope you all enjoyed my novel.
The End.
6 comments:
25th HS reunion? You couldn't be! That makes you... almost as old as me ;-) As for swimming, I don't know if JM will be able to hold his breath either. Scares the pants off of me... and yes, he blows out for sniffing flowers, but then he does sniff in when I exaggerate the action. For toothpaste, he says, "pit" and pretends to spit into the sink, but it mostly ends up being swallowed. It does get frustrating sometimes, but these are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. I hope swimming goes well for Sammi!
Love your blog. I'm following now :). Hope Sammy is well.
Ok, you have to email me privately, laceyrugg@hotmail.com and tell me what camera you have. And if you photoshop the pics at all. We are playing with Ray's camera, and although it takes fantastic pics, they never pop like this!
A swim coach for Special Olympics taught me to blow really hard in Eon's face just before I dunked him under to teach him to hold his breath. Worked! :)
Yep, sinus infections. Hannah had a CT of her sinuses when she was 5. It showed that she did not have impacted sinuses. In fact, it showed that her sinuses were not very developed at all (I never knew sinuses "grew").
Of course, as with most thing medical, as soon as we shined the spotlight there (paying out the wazoo), Hannah seemed to have fewer sinus infections. There were a few things that I believe helped her recover from her colds faster without secondary infections.
1.She was growing
2.She was stronger so she had a more productive cough
3. She learned to REALLY blow her nose.
4. I became very diligent with spraying saline solution in her nostrils--twice a day--and every 2 hours or so if I thought she was getting a cold.
You might want to try using a piece of tissue paper or feather on the table and have her take a big breath, close her mouth and have her exhale through her nose. You can make a game of it, each person blowing it across the table to each other. As she figures it out and gets better at it, you can use a pompom or tiny ping pong ball.
I have Nikon D40 too, and I need you to give me a tutorial! I have no camera mechanics intuition.
Has Sammi had her tonsils/adenoids out yet? Lilly hasn't had a sinus infection but she had those out at 13 months and has been relatively healthy ever since. Also - has she done a sleep study ever? We found at 10 months that Lilly had mild sleep apnea which is why we had those removed... Her doc said that most kids with DS have them out eventually so we went ahead and did it early. I hate surgery (esp for Lilly) but it made such a huge difference in her breathing, and her snoring stopped!
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