Monday, September 06, 2010

August Round-up

August has been a busy month and I can't believe September is already here. We had the beginning of school, the beginning of preschool and the beginning of some new adventures.

First, we had the beginning of gymnastics at the Y. The girls LOVE it and were only ramped up a little by the multiple viewings of YouTube gymdawg videos by Daddy. They both love jumping down the tumble track and swinging on the bars. Katie Jo is perfecting her back bend and Georgia is perfecting her listening and waiting on her turn skills.

We also got a trampoline. The last 7 months have seen a lot of sacrifice due to losing one of our family dogs, watching our neighbors/friends move away, and going through a grueling campaign. So Jay and I decided it would be fun to get a family gift for us all to enjoy. The girls love going out to jump and it doesn't matter if it's 100 degrees they'll do it anyway. We do have to sweep it off a lot but that's ok.

Katie Jo began Kindergarten. She loves her teacher, riding the bus, and going to recess. She is very good in school and her teacher has already lavished lots of praise on her good behavior. She is an eager learner and I suspect we won't have any trouble watching her grow this year. I look forward to her beginning to read although this won't come until later in the year. She is a precious child and we couldn't be prouder of her.

I celebrated my 35 birthday. I am glad to be another year older and was happy to celebrate it with my family and friends. Jay got me a pedicure certificate and an itunes card which was great (especially since it came straight off the list I had Katie Jo write!). Our friends the Weaver's came over and helped celebrate with cake and ice cream.

Georgia began preschool at the end of the month. She has only gone one week to date but she was SO excited to get started and I'm sure missing Katie Jo had something to do with it. She has lots of friends from last year's class so she was very comfortable going in the first day. So far she has done well and we hope that continues. I would like to see her listening skills improve and overall just enjoy being there. She continues to be such a sassy and funny little girl.

This month we also got an answer to a lingering issue we've been tracking for several months. Katie Jo was diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis. We had noticed back in January that she limped, ran with a short gate, and had trouble doing things that should come normally to a 4.5 year old. After meeting with the pediatrician and having labs run it seemed things were all normal. Again in April we revisited the issue and had additional labs run. This time an elevation was spotted in one of her labs which indicated joint inflammation. We were referred to a specialist at MUSC. We were finally able to get in with him in August and he gave us the answer which finally put this subject to peace. She has a mild form of arthritis but we are already taking an active role in helping her to get better and hopefully move beyond this diagnosis. We can see a huge change in her already after taking advantage of some of our options in helping her. She is still an active little girl that is growing and developing right on track. We look for her to use this challenge to grow her even more and see that you can never work too hard or try to hard to stay active and strong.

See you again in September!