Thanksgiving/Zoo

This year Thanksgiving week was quite exciting!! Maree had just been potty trained and then some of our favorite people came to visit! The Roe family is quite special to us - first and foremost, they are responsible for setting Marc and I up (in addition to Carmen & Bill Anderson who also set us up in the same week!) But I also nannied for their then, 3 year old twin daughters, who are now almost 12!!! It was so fun to have them visit because it was like having 2 full time babysitters :)  

One of the days they were here we visited Phoenix Zoo… and this time Maree was much more excited to see the animals and could follow where I was pointing.  We did the feeding the giraffes experience and she LOVED that.  She kept talking about their tongues! Unfortunately the petting zoo portion was closed (I didn't mind missing out on the bad smells though!!) so to make up for it, Maree and even Ellie got to ride a carousel for the first time.

At the giraffe experience

Notice that tongue coming out for the lettuce!

Not sure who enjoyed this more!

Again, not sure who liked this more haha

Maree of course picked the scariest animals on the carousel

Ellie got to ride the royalty seat

I wanted a chance to take Maree too

The girls with David & Betsy!

So nice to have the twins chase Maree around

Then on Thanksgiving day they came over again & got to enjoy Despicable Me while the adults all had a few of Dr. Roe's famous cocktails.  It was our first Thanksgiving meal in our new house.. and the first time we've eaten in the formal dining room - so it was an exciting day!

I love that Maree gave up her nap nanny to lay close to Caitlin

They read her a bedtime story

All of us together  - Happy Thanksgiving!!

Potty Trained!!

Miss Maree has hit a few milestones here lately!  She turned 2 on October 2nd, and that was also her first day in her new big girl bed (A blog post of that is coming soon!)… she also started a two day a week preschool & got a terrible case of hand foot and mouth… so it has been crazy around here, but potty training was actually something we were going to start back in September, but we kept pushing it back because we never seemed to have 3 days straight without something going on - and this past weekend was the only one we had free until CHristmas, so I bit the bullet and did the potty training 'bootcamp' as I like to call it!

First, a friend that went to college with me, Jennifer, suggested this potty training ebook http://www.3daypottytraining.com I downloaded it and was excited that someone out there had success with training in such a short amount of time - I feel like everyone tells me how their kid kind of is trained, then regresses, or that it takes months to figure it out consistently etc.  This book addresses all of that, and now after experience, It can definitely be done in 3 days!

Next are my suggestions in additions to the book!  She suggests rewards and a potty chart all of which I do too.  The problem for me, though, is that Maree really doesn't like candy or ice cream!!! So offering her an m&m or sour gummy worm etc. held no appeal.   So I went to target before I started the training and raided the dollar bins for crazy things.. and after any successful potty she got to pick one out. By the end of the training she would go potty and then immediately say "My toy??"… but don't worry, after the toys ran out, I would show her the toy box that I had been keeping them in and said "All Gone"… she didn't even fuss… so don't panic that your kid is going to go into a meltdown if they don't get a treat after each time they go potty in the future..

This book also says to keep within like 4 feet of your child at all times during training… I actually found this to be the hardest part.  If I left the room for 10 seconds I swear she had an accident on that first day.  Anyway, I sent Ellie to a babysitters house for the first morning that I started training so my focus was 100% on her (this was very helpful)… but what I recommend that she doesn't say in the book… have TONS of crafts/games/movies etc on hand because you can't leave the house for any "sanity" breaks… I bought wooden Christmas ornaments that she got to color or paint, we had sticker books, model clay, playdoh, etc… but I felt like it worked best to have things she had never seen before because they allowed us both to play longer.

I have lots of other suggestions/things we did so if you're interested, feel free to email me or leave a message - I'm SO grateful Jennifer S. passed on her wisdom to me!!

I started the day off with 14 pairs of under ware… oh, and Maree ONLY goes
on the adult potty, this poor chair insert got used as a hat

She picked out her undies & sings the "Doc McStuffins" theme song each time we put a pair on
& We went through 9 the first day, by day 2…  4 pairs, by day 3 - no accidents!

First we threw all the diapers away
(of course I rescued them when she wasn't looking)

And the next 3 days the view of her little buns in big girl under ware just killed me!
So grown up!!

Examples of the dollar bin toys

we really did stay within 4 feet of each other!

The first day of training, the toilet paper was more exciting than actually going

Getting stickers for each successful trip to the potty

Her favorite toy from the dollar bin - she wore it ALL day

Crafts - painting a lizard

Clay Magic delight

Poor Ellie might have suffered a little bit during this training - I would come back
 from the potty and find her like this or rolled up to a wall etc. 

by day 3, she was10 for 10x in the potty so we finally busted out of the house for
a little park play time

I was also nervous how well Maree would do with this whole potty thing outside the house too.  But here is how our week went - Potty trained Friday-Sunday.  Tues she had preschool & Tues night they had a babysitter.  Wednesday we went to the zoo, Thursday was Thanksgiving and we had 9 people at our house & she has done fabulously!! So don't panic that it won't stick even if you have plans after those 3 days! Again, I hope this post isn't making me come across as some self proclaimed potty training master… I just had someone pass on helpful things to me… so I thought I would do the same to anyone who reads my blog and has young kids :)

Halloween (A little late!)

I'm falling behind - I have so many posts to write and somehow I only seem to get everyone updated on my Bell's Palsy… since that is what I get the most questions about!  BUT, Halloween seemed to sneak up on me (obviously, since it is almost Thanksgiving and I'm just now writing about it!) Our neighborhoods go all out down here for this "holiday" and we are the scrooges on the block still… I have such a hard time justifying buying tons of outdoor Halloween decorations - maybe next year?!

This year I didn't really have any idea of what to have Maree be for Halloween… but Marc's business partner and wife watched our kids for a weekend and took her to Butterfly World and ever since then, she has LOVED saying "buh-er-fyy" in a voice of whispered astonishment.  SO, I figured she would enjoy being a butterfly/fairy.  The first time I tried to put her costume on… it resulted in a massive meltdown.  She HATED the wings.  I couldn't even get her to try them on.  The tutu was just as bad.  So I put the costume away and crossed my fingers that come Halloween she would be more agreeable to wearing it!  Thankfully, when the day came she was pretty pumped to try out the wings.. but the tutu took some bribing of sour worms.

The weekend before Halloween Highlands Church put on a huge fall festival and we took Maree… shockingly (insert sarcasm) she LOVED the bounce houses…she thinks she's 3 years older than she is and was getting flung all over the place by big kids… but she sure loved it.

Not really wanting to be a scare crow

Blurry.. but bouncy house joy

Maree and her friend Callie

Dads & daughters!

a little compilation!

Then for actual Halloween… Marc last minute tells me we should have carved pumpkins… so during nap time one day, I carved these… I was pretty impressed with myself considering I would normally never deviate from a pattern.

On Halloween we attempted trick-or-treating… I can't say it went the best.  Because it is such a huge party out here…. you don't have the concept of walking up to a front door… knocking.. saying trick or treat etc.  It was like a giant street party… with kids.  So Maree just walked around with her bucket very wide eyed.. she wasn't interested in the candy at all.

She did love Minnie Mouse though

Trick or treating with dad

This is what I mean by street party… a little bowl of candy for the kids.. Jello shots for the adults
I asked if they give out more candy, or alcohol.. they said it's 50/50!!!!

My two little butterflies

Never smiles for a picture...

But Ellie sure does!!

My two butterflies/faries

The next morning was pretty great too because Nana and Papa stayed
the night and she got to walk Toby!

Bell's Palsy - 7 Months

I wonder if there will ever be a day that I will not be aware of how long I've had Bell's Palsy.  I wonder if there will ever be a day, hour,  minute that I won't constantly be aware that my face is still partially paralyzed.  I most often wonder, will I ever be able to use my face and have it FEEL normal again, because right now, it feels like I'm having to re-learn how to use my face again. 

I hope this doesn't come off as complaining, because I'm so so incredibly grateful for the recovery I have had and I thank all of you who have been praying and continue to pray for me - I KNOW that it has helped my recovery.  I would like to ask that you all continue your prayers - for strength, for PATIENCE, for recovery etc.  Waiting to see if more recovery will happen is so hard, and believing it will happen is even harder.  Doctors gave me a 3-6 month window... and I'm at 7...

I should give you all an update though!  As I've said with the past, if you didn't know me, and just looked at me, you wouldn't probably know anything was wrong.  BUT, obviously, the people I'm with the most are the ones who do know me so they can obviously tell that things aren't back to what they were.  I would say it is a toss up this month between what is more annoying... the synkinesis, or the tightness.  My face CONSTANTLY feels tight.  Any facial motion I make, it feels like the "bad" side is like a rubber band pulled tight, but that I'm trying to pull it even tighter when I make any facial movement.  The synkinesis I'm describing is really bothersome too.  Have you ever had your eye twitch?  Take this times 100... and then have it last all day every day.  It is worse when I smile, when I yawn, when I do anything that invovles my mouth because the same nerve regrew to both my eye/mouth. So when I talk my upper eyelid twitches.  When I yawn, my eye completely closes.  When my face is in neutral, my lower eye lid just does its own little dance constantly.  I've read that this is also what is inhibiting my smile.. because opposite muscle/nerve groups are pulling against each other which leaves the side of my mouth paralyzed--- As of now, I've read nothing that fixes this problem.

On a positive note, I did start using essential oils on my face to help some of these issues - and I think they MIGHT be helping!! Frankincense seems to calm the spastic muscles around my eye.. and PanAway seems to help any pain I've been having.  AND Ellie has started sleeping through the night!! We sleep trained her at 5 months and it's been awesome - I'm not walking around tired all the time!  I think this is helping my face some too... while my smile still doesn't move all the way, it at least looks a LITTLE better.  The last piece of good news is that I've started being able to wear my contacts for a few hours at a time!!!  This must obviously mean that my blinking is a little better.. and I've just started getting a TINY amount of movement above my eyebrow if I try to wrinkle my nose.  I'm holding onto hope for more recovery still, since these latest improvements have happened recently!

So I guess the thing is, when I talk to people, I still actually feel the need to explain that I have Bells Palsy.. because as I talk the spit still gathers in the corner of my mouth, my eye acts independently of my whole face, the corner of my mouth doesn't lift/move, and my forehead/eye brow doesn't lift with expression.  Again, while others may not notice each of these... I feel all of these things constantly - all this twitching/tightness/partial paralysis is ever present with everything I do... so I assume it is noticeable to everyone else too.

 This next part is definitely unsolicited advice... so read this knowing that!!  Probably the worst is running into people and them asking/saying "Has your face gotten any better??"  This question is awful and deflates me every time... because YES!! Can't you see parts of it moving?!?!  Of course it's better!!  I know people struggle with what to say to anyone who has had anything really hard happen to them (sickness, cancer, loss of a loved one etc.)... I've been that person who doesn't really know what to say... and I'm sure I've offended people in the past by saying a statement like that, even though I had perfectly good intentions!  I don't want to speak for everyone out there... but often remarking on a persons strength, courage, love, faith, or even remarking on a positive change in attitude/looks etc is so much better ... but it is really hard to hear people bring up what is wrong with you... and then remind you of how bad things still are by asking that type of question.  Anyway-- sorry for the unsolicited advice.. I just get this statement a lot, so I thought I would throw that out there.

A few weeks ago-- my eye now gets smaller than my other one when I smile

Some days the tightness in my face really inhibits my smile

I did learn if I tilt my head toward the bad side, it doesn't look AS awful!

Ellie and I on Halloween

Pray for my mouth/smile to work again please!!

But again, I'm SO grateful for improvement...

For 4 months my face remained 100% paralyzed

And for 5 months my eye never closed! Yay for blinking/eye closing! 

This last part is to thank a few of the women in Pella - Laine, Paula, Jane, and Natalie... for sending me an AMAZING devotional!!  I got it a little over a month ago.. when I was really really struggling and Ellie never slept more than 45 minutes.. which meant I was up all night.. which meant my face was terrible that next day because it looks so much worse when I'm tired.  Anyway, I needed desperately needed strength and at my door arrived this devotional. For some reason, when I opened the book.. I didn't turn to the current days date.  I didn't turn to my birthday, nothing that we usually turn to first.  For some reason, I immediately wanted to see what this devotional said on the day that I got Bell's Palsy... April 6th.  I won't type the whole passage... but, this is what it said...

"Take nothing for granted, not even the rising sun.  Before Satan temped Eve in the Garden of Eden, thankfulness was as natural as breathing.  Satan's temptation involved pointing Eve to the one thing that was forbidden.  Eve focused on the one thing she couldn't have rather than being thankful for the many good things available.  This negative focus darkened her mind.  

When you focus on what you don't have or on situations that displease you, your mind becomes darkened.  You take for granted life, salvation, sunshine, flowers, and countless other gifts from Me. You look for what is wrong and refuse to enjoy life until that is 'fixed' "

When I read that I couldn't believe this was the message on the day I came down with Bell's Palsy.. I wonder how my outlook would have been if I would have read this THAT day?  Because I definitely spent a lot of time/a lot of tears being upset about my face.. looking constantly at what was "wrong".. taking my smile/blinking etc. totally for granted.  It was a wake up call to read this... and ever since that day I remind myself of not thinking negatively (I obviously still do on occasion, but I'm TRYING to be better)... and reading this devotional every morning has been a great way to start my day off - I highly recommend it to everyone :)