New York

I went to Olean, New York to visit my sisters this past weekend. I flew out on Wednesday, April 21st. I flew through Charlotte, North Carolina which was exciting because I haven’t been to North Carolina before. Julie and Kristilyn flew in from Utah that night too.

We spent the weekend playing with Daniel and Anna, cooking, cleaning, playing games, and talking. I borrowed part of Julie’s blog that gives a quick update on Daniel and Anna.

Anna (14 months) needs a lot of attention with all of her special needs. She has a feeding tube in her stomach and Katrina has to hook her up about every 4 hours. She also has a lot of other seizure medications that have to be taken at certain times as well. Anna has little seizures throughout the day and at least a couple bigger ones even with the medication. Even though she is 14 months, she looks like she’s about 6-7 months old and has the developmental level between 2-4 months. She has an occupational therapist, a vision therapist, and another therapist that come in the mornings once a week and Katrina is working on getting some respite care so she can have time to get other things done like grocery shopping, cooking, etc. Anna can’t sit up by herself, but she can kind of support her head and turn it somewhat. She has the most beautiful brown eyes, cute button nose, and soft curly hair. She feels good to hold and doesn’t cry very often anymore.

Daniel (almost 4) is just as bouncy and energetic as ever, and just as adorable. He loves to be outside, so we spent a lot of time walking around the block or following him on his big wheel around the block when it was both sunny and rainy. He likes to tease and say, “Come on.” He’s also being potty trained right now and trying to have “perfect days” so he can go to McDonalds. He was really pretty good the whole time we were there. His favorite movies are “Mr. Kruger’s Christmas” and “The Restoration.” He has a lot of other cartoon movies, but doesn’t want to watch them. He likes to dance to music, play basketball in the back yard, and play kid computer games. He’s very social and doesn’t like to be alone. He would prefer to do everything with a buddy, and we took turns being that buddy for the whole weekend!

Daniel is so sweet and caring. As we were leaving Olean, Anna was upset to be in her car seat and was crying. Katrina held her hand and she quickly quieted down. As we drove to the airport, I started to cry realizing I wasn’t ready to leave yet. Daniel, who was sitting in front of me, heard me cry. He held up his hand and told me I could hold his hand. It made me cry harder. While I was there I was sneezing a ton because of allergies. I also cut my finger open. Daniel asked me at least once a day how my finger was and how I was feeling. He is very observant to others’ feelings.

The weekend wouldn't be complete without a crazy sleep walking event. On Sunday night I had a weird dream. In my dream I was in bed and I pushed the blankets onto the floor. As I did, I heard a baby cry. I got so stressed out because I thought I had just pushed a baby off the bed. In reality I was sitting on the bed and then stood up on the bed. Julie woke up and said my name. It kind of woke me up but not fully. I said "Help!" three times. She sat up and grabbed my arm and pulled me down onto the bed again. I was so stressed out. I laid there for a minute and then I realized I probably scared Julie so I tried to explain my dream but realized that it didn’t make sense and I didn’t really understand why I was so stressed out. It was so weird. I don’t think I have slept walked since being married. I guess I was just over tired.