My Haylee Bug, part 2

So much has happened since my first post about Haylee's condition earlier in the summer.
I was able to do some research on other facilities for Haylee's preschool/treatment and after it all, we decided we would give Fairfield West a try.  I was very disappointed it was on 10 hours per week compared to the 15-35 hours per week that I found at other facilities and also that it wasn't autism specific, but I had heard good things and the fact that it wouldn't make for frantic mornings and Carter and Olivia could ride the bus with Haylee to school everyday led us to give it a try.  My favorite thing to report about her school is that she really seems to like it.  I haven't had one tear from her about it.  She always seems happy to go.  That is a huge blessing for me.  I have fretted about sending Haylee somewhere in fear that she wouldn't be happy and I wouldn't know because of her poor communication skills.  But that hasn't been the case.  She likes going to school.
I have considered researching the YMCA's program as they have an autism specific preschool that is 35 hours per week.  I really would hate to have Haylee gone that much during the week, but I find it extremely difficult to work with her still.  Finding time is hard with a baby and everything else that needs to be done, but it's hard emotionally since she knew how to do many more than she does now.  It's hard to go back to stacking rings and matching pictures when she was learning how to write her name and could easily do a difficult puzzle by herself just last fall.  The problem with the YMCA's program (at least, the only problem that I can come up with having not visited the facility yet) is that it would be an extra $500+ per month OOP for us.  Not doable.  But I could dig and maybe come up with funding.
Coming up with references for Fairfield's program was ridiculous.  I posted on the PTC and district's FB page my situation and the need/want for references since it was summer and nobody that was in the office for the summer could help me.  I was finally able to track down a few that had been through Kim Knisley's program, and they were happy with it, but had never compared it to anything else.  Kind of disappointing.
I did visit Cincinnati Center for Autism's facility in July and came away not feeling great about that place.  I can't put my finger on it, but it didn't feel right for Haylee.

Meanwhile, Haylee had her 41 minute EEG done and Dr. Valentine called on July 25th with those results.  She described focal specific abnormalities in the language area of Haylee's brain.  She said that they could be associated with seizures and so she wanted her to not only have her MRI done, but also an ambulatory EEG (24-hour) and to meet with a neurologist.
The following Wednesday we had Haylee's MRI done and while she was under anesthesia, we had her blood drawn for all the chromosome testing (which all came back normal).  When going to give Haylee the gas to help her fall asleep, they asked what calms her and I told the doctor and nurse that singing does.  "Great" they both said and started singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  I know they meant well, but those two singing that song quite loudly was the WRONG thing.  The doctor was in a hurry and said I would just need to hold her and she would get it done quickly and I told her to give me just a second.  I took 15 seconds to tell Haylee exactly what was going to happen and she listened.  I then asked her if she wanted to sing, "I am a Child of God."  She did.  I started singing it and she calmly let the doctor give her the gas to fall asleep.  Sometimes mommy's know better than doctors.

Much more to come...

August 2013

Forgive me.  The pictures aren't in order.

Olivia loves her new lizard, Thunder.

He's smaller than my thumb and his food is noisy so he had to move to the basement.  This was Olivia's first big purchase.  She worked hard for it too.  She picked him out a few weeks earlier and than had to prove she was responsible enough by doing extra chores and being on her best behavior before we would let her buy him.  She was so excited when the day finally came that she could bring this little guy home.  She chose this lizard over a hampster and it's good...though his food is noisy, he doesn't smell at all and I don't have to help her change anything in his cage as she's so good to clean up any messes that he has.

Meet the teacher gifts filled with candy, post-it notes and chocolate.

Love this little guy!

First day of 4th grade.  I hate cats, but Olivia loves them.

1st day of 2nd grade.

trying a hand stand

They picked this pose.

Bus stop excitement.  Carter wouldn't get in the picture.  Ella, Emily, Connor and Olivia.  Ella isn't in school yet, but that doesn't stop her from loading up her back pack to see her sisters off.

Carter's too cool for school pictures!

Haylee's first day of school!  Waiting at the bus stop.

Haylee seems to like school.  She never cries or makes a fuss about going.  I think she loves being able to ride the bus with Carter and Olivia.

For Carter's 7th birthday, he only wanted to invite a friend, Andrew, over for a play date.  We got the water slide out and tried to make it lots of fun with pizza for lunch too.

Ryan loves this brown blanket to snuggle with when he sleeps.

At playgroup one day, Haylee loved this tunnel at Hanover Memorial Park.  She would hang out in here and peek out at me through the little holes.  This little girl hung out with Haylee for awhile and I think Haylee liked her as she didn't try to get away from her.

Our biggest bill day came a few weeks ago.  We got these in the mail in one day and they were over $30K!

I'm kind of hooked on homemade yogurt right now.  The kids love smoothies as part of their breakfast and homemade yogurt seems to be an inexpensive healthy way to go.

Trying to clean our immersion blender and got my fingers instead.  It was traumatizing for me.  Luckily, Gary came over and bandaged me up because I couldn't stand to look at the dangling skin for awhile.

Carter slipped on our deck step a week or so ago and got his first black eye.

Carter's birthday cake...mine craft

Having fun with Carter and Andrew on his 7th birthday.

Carter has chosen to style his hair in a faux hawk now and so he's been asking for good gel to get it real spiky.  I gave him some for his birthday and he loves it.

Carter also got a minecraft t-shirt for his birthday.

Carter''s big birthday surprise...$100!  He's been saving up for an ipad mini and so all he wanted for his birthday was money to go towards his ipad.  We were so proud of his saving skills...he had saved nearly $100 before his birthday and so we knew that with money from his grandparents and us, he would have nearly enough and he did...just BARELY!  He had to wait a few weeks for those last $$ to come in, but he did so with patience.

Haylee got an ambulatory EEG done last month.  It's on for 24 hours and she did so good with it.  She was caught checking out her reflection in the glass fireplace door throughout the day.

Aaron mowing the lawn and Olivia was outside babysitting Haylee.  It started to rain and so Olivia took cover with her.

Carter is playing fall soccer and really enjoys it.

At the end of August, we went to Hueston Woods with some friends to play at the beachy area on the lake.  It was such a blast.  The water was warm, the company was great.  It ended sooner than we hoped with a nasty storm, but we are definitely going to be going back next summer!

Haylee ran up and down the shoreline nearly the entire time.  She LOVED it!

Ryan loved splashing in the warm water too.

Olivia made this tatoo arm in her art class.  I love it!