A Wonderful Blessing!!!

I havent posted since Aleah's third birthday but since then I applied for Aleah to get a special wish from the make a wish foundation. I asked that she would get to go to Disney World. I just know she would love all the singing, music, disney characters and colors. I recieved a phone call on monday that Aleah got her wish!!!!! I couldnt believe what I was hearing when they were telling me on the other end.... that I would get to take my little girl to disney world!!!!! I got off the phone and said out loud thank you God!!! She has been through so much in her short three years here and she deserves this wish so much!! We havent decided yet when we will be going for sure, but we are thinking sometime in february so its not so hot in florida. It is still surreal that we get to go to disney and I cant not wait to capture all the wonderful memories we will be making there!! I dont know if I had mentioned in the last update that Aleah was getting fitted for her ankle braces and we did get to pick them up a few weeks ago. Aleah is loving school and making us smile everyday, here are some recent pictures of our little angel......



In her pretty jammies mommy got for her, they even have angel wings on the back!



Smiles for the camera!



Aleah with her new ankle braces!







Her girly ankle braces ;)

Aleah's Third Birthday!

We had a great time with Aleah on her third birthday on friday. She had a Dora party and her mammy even got her a special dress complete with a custom bow made by mommy. She got lots of toys and pretty clothes, spoiled as usual :) She even got a dog named violet for auntie Amber that talks to her while using her name, spells her name says I love you Aleah, its so neat! Heres the best news of all.....Aleah said her first word the morning of her third birthday!!! At school they were working with her on thursday, teaching her to make the mmmm sound and sign for more. Well all morning she was doing just that, making the mmm sound and signing more, and her nurse and I were sitting with her and we were talking and just like that we heard Aleah, clear as a bell speak the word MORE!!! We were both instantly crying tears of joy because we heard her speak her first word. Aleah is such a miracle and continues to inspire so many people. She loves school and is doing very well, she loves to swing and loves circle time when they sing songs. It is hard to believe she is three and I am sad that I cant technically call her my baby anymore, she is a big girl now. She is so beautiful and we are all so proud of her!!! Here are some pix of her from her birthday, Enjoy!


Her Pretty Birthday Dress!



Mommy and Me, Look how big!!!



Dora Cake


some of her presents


Aleahs cupcake ;)


Aleah and her new pal Violet


Mommy's Card to Aleah


opening the present mommy and auntie amber got her

Looking back.......I thought since Aleah was three now it would be neat to look back on how much she has changed over the last three years, here is a picture of her when she was born and a picture of her now!! Wow how much she has changed in three years!! Aleah we love you so much and you have taught us all the true meaning of love and to cherish every moment!!! Love you forever!! ~your mommy


Our Precious Baby Girl!



Im three now, I am living proof of Gods Miracles!!

First Day of Preschool

Well Aleah's first day went very well! To my surprise I didnt cry, she has a great teacher and her class room was very nice and clean and her nurse will be going to school with her so that gives me piece of mind. I didnt stay long but when I picked her up her teacher and her nurse said she just loved it, and had a ball! They had circle time where they sang songs and she loved hearing everyone sing, they read a book, went to gym glass and got under the big parachute, rolled the ball to eachother. Someone held Aleah while they rolled the ball to her, when they color they will even do hand over hand so that she gets to color too! She went outside and got to swing, and they found her some light up music toys, which we all know how she loves those! She even had a boyfriend already on the first day!! I guess he gave her a kiss on the arm, uh oh we are in trouble, its already starting in preschool! We will have to keep an eye on those little boys. I will be taking her tomorrow and she has no school on monday because of labor day so she will start riding the bus on tuesday. I took a few pix of her before I left so here they are, she was so happy I think she new she was going to school! More pix to come! Enjoy!


Getting ready to go to my first day of preschool!


Me on my first day of preschool! September 1st 2010

The big day is September 1st

Our little girl will be starting preschool on wednesday september 1st! Mommy is excited to go get her a back pack and school supplies for her first day of school! She will go Monday through Thursday from 9 to 1130 am. I had a meeting today with her teacher and all other therapists and assistants in the classroom that will be involved with her education while at school. I really liked her teacher, she was very nice and has many years of experience working with special needs children. She will get physical, and occupational therapy there at school and also speech therapy. They will tie all of that in to her daily routine at school amoung the many other activities she will get to do. She will also have some kids that are developing at a normal level in the classroom too so that will be good for her to interact with them since she doesnt get that interaction at home. I think it will be really great for her developement to see and play with all the kids and she will be exposed to activities that will help her in so many ways that she doesnt get to do here at home. They will work with her on making choices and how to communicate her needs. She also was casted on tuesday for her ankle braces and should get those in the next couple of weeks. These will give her a little more stability in her ankles to help to her stand for longer periods of time. I will post pictures of her on her first day and send the camera with her nurse on the first day so all of you can feel like your part of this big event! :) Keep praying for our little angel xoxoxoxo from Aleah!

It been a long time!

I know it has been a long time since my last post. Aleah is doing well. She is improving in therapy and getting better with eating in speech therapy. She is getting so big and tall and will be turning three in a few weeks. It is hard to believe seems like just yesterday we had her swaddled in a tiny pink blanket and now its 4t clothes, where has the time gone?? September tenth is the big day and we are going to have a lady bug or dora party, mommy hasnt decided yet. I will be posting pictures soon and want to try and keep up with this blog better, Aleah just keeps me so busy I have let this go for a while. Her seizures are under control now, we found a rescue med that really works for her so I am so thankful for that. God is so good to us, and even know we have to go through struggles with her he is always on time and brings us through! I am very thankful for my little girl and that she is doing as well as she is doing. Keep her in your prayers, I would love to see her walk and talk someday, and I am still holding out hope that she will.

A much needed update!

Seems its been over a month since I updated this blog last. Aleah is doing well, but keeping mommy very busy. We are getting ready to start back in feeding therapy to see if we cant get her eating some stuff by mouth, majority of her nurtrition will be through her g-tube for at least another year or so. I would like to get her eating some by mouth so that we can then work on getting her off her tube feedings. She is continuting to make progress in therapy but did regress a little from her surgery which is to be expected. We are still working on standing sitting up and getting her head up while on her tummy, she is getting stronger and smarter everyday!! She has kept mommy very busy with doctors appointments the last couple months seems like she had a couple a week. She saw her peds for her checkup today, he commented that her weight and it has stayed about the same since she turned two so its good that it hasnt dropped but we need to keep and eye and make sure she starts gaining some soon. He commended me for doing such a great job doing all her care and said she always looks very neat an clean and that I have done a great job with her. Being a single mommy to a special needs child is very rough at times and that feels really good hearing that from Dr. Zainey who has seen her since she since she had her very first well check. For those of you who want to see pictures of her I post new pictures of her on my facebook page send me a request because my page is private and I will accept so you can view lots of pictures of her.

We are home!

I am so sorry for such a late update, things have been crazy around trying to get settled back in at home after surgery and now we both sick on top of that. We have been home for a little over a week now. Aleah is on the mend, she is now on two antibiotics one for her ear and one for her respiratory infection. We saw the surgeon today for her post op check up and her tummy is looking good and healing good. She is our strong little girl and we so happy she is recovered from her surgery. We are hoping and praying this is the answer to keep the seizures away!! Keep praying for that! Here are some cute pics of our little girl enjoy and xoxoxoxo!


our little easter bunny!



too funny!


I thank God every time I look at her!! :)

Aleah is feeling so much better!!

First thank the Lord above for always bringing my little girl through so much, and for always hearing our prayers. Aleah is feeling much better today, she has been awake today without crying in pain and that makes me very happy. We are probably going to get to go home tomorrow. They started her on some clear liquids yesterday and started her back on her pediasure to make sure she could tolerate it, so we are looking forward to getting back home. Thank you for all the love and support from all of our friends and family :)

Post Surgery Update

Well sorry I havent updated since surgery. The surgery went well praise God. It was a rough the first night out from surgery, Aleah was up every hour on the hour. She is in a lot of pain, this is post op day two, so we are hopeful that with each day her pain will be less and less. Its awful to watch her be in so much pain, my heart aches for her. She is getting morphine, until tomorrow and then they will give her something a little less potent. Keep the prayers coming, its hard for all of us but its the toughest for her shes the one thats hurting. I will update as soon as I can.

Aleah's Surgery

I don't mean to spring this on everyone but it was pretty much sprung on me too. Aleah had two test done about a week ago because her GI doctor suspected she may be having some refluxing issues. Both tests show is having reflux all the way up into her neck or upper esophagus. I have a theory about this. I believe this is what is causing her seizures. I feel that she refluxes up and it blocks off her airway so she cant breathe and then causes a seizure. All of the seizures but two of them have happened late in the night while she is asleep. The body's muscles relax and so does the muscle at the top of the stomach that keeps the contents from the stomach from coming back up, this is why most all of her seizure have happened late in the night while she is sleeping. So now they want to do what is called a fundoplication. For a full explanation of the surgery and how its done search nissen fundoplication on wikipeida. It is a procedure where they stitch the top of the stomach around the bottom of the esophagus to try and tighten the muscle at the top of the stomach to keep the contents from the stomach from refluxing back up. She will be having this surgery on Thursday March the 4Th at 9:50am. Please say special prayers for her, she will have to have a three inch incision and they may have to move her g-tube to a different place in her stomach, if it gets in the way during surgery. Please pray for no complications, that her g-tube will not have to be moved and that her pain is well managed. I will update I soon as I can and let everyone know how her surgery went, thanks in advance for all the prayers sent up for our little girl. It means so much!!! xoxoxo Here are some cute pics of our precious Aleah from the past few weeks.



Aleah on valentines day 2010


Gosh where has the time gone? Shes getting so big!! March 2010


Look at that face, precious!! Mommy <3s your little girl!! March 2010

Our precious gift

I have really been down a lot lately with just life, its gets so hard at times but when I look into her little face I am instantly uplifted. I have really just been thinking very hard about life and loving and how our time here is precious and so short. Please tell all those you love and care about how you feel. I do get down at times because of all of Aleahs medical diagnosis but I feel so blessed to say she is my daughter and I will do everything in my power to make sure she has the happiest life possible. I am posting some pictures of her, her eye is healing well and she is doing so great in therapy, she is getting so strong. Yesterday she had a hold of her crib bars and was trying to pull her self up and a couple of days ago she was laying on her side and scooted herself with her head to get to a toy she wanted, I know that may not seem like much to some but this is a great big deal because this means she is motivated to move for something she wants which is the first step to her becoming mobile. I would like to ask for special prayer to be sent up for Aleah. We are trying to get to the bottom of why she has her seizures, we are trying to figure out if she throws up first and then has them or if she has them and then throws up, please pray we can figure out a definite answer so we can figure out how to stop them all together. Aleah has been through so much and she deserves some peace and quiet, time away from childrens hospital, God love her I feel like she lives there sometimes. She got to play in the snow this week since we have had several inches of snow in the last week, she loved it! I will post some pictures of her make sure and check out how good her eye is looking. Have a good weekend!! God Bless!!
xoxoxo


Such a happy girl, her eye is looking good!!


she may not look too happy but she was loving it! Feb 2010


One of her fav toys her farm, it sings and counts and tells number and colors and lights up!


Aleah with her other beloved toy her happy bear her auntie amber got for her!


Because Valentines Day is coming up I had to do this one, mommy and her pride and joy!! I love you Aleah!! Feb 2010

Aleah is Doing Much Better!

Aleah has a severe seizure around 12:15am on saturday morning. I called 911 and she was rushed to dayton childrens by squad where she was put on a ventilator and stabilized, and put in the pediatric intensive care unit (picu) She is doing well now she came off the vent around 2:30pm on sunday and she is now smiling and playing with her toys. We are still in intensive care until they decided she is ready to be moved to the regular floor. Thanks so much for all the prayers you sent up, I truly believed the prayers and her strong will has got her over yet another hurdle so thank you so much!!! We are still talking with the doctors and trying to get to the bottom of all of this seizure stuff and what is causing them to happen. I will update again soon, thanks again for all of your love and support! xoxoxo

Aleah's Eye Surgery

For those you who dont know Aleah had a dermoid cyst removed from beside her left eye. The surgery went very well and she got to come home yesterday. She was a fussy yesterday after we got home but she is doing better today. We will have a follow up with the Dr. Bloom thursday to make sure its healing properly. Keep her in your prayers for quick speedy healing. Here are a few pics of her God love her heart she is our little trooper.


Our little trooper Jan 10


Aleah got a new toy from daddy after surgery

Our Big Strong Girl!!

First I would like to start out by asking everyone to say special prayers for a little boy named Logan, he had third open heart surgery at just 3 years old yesterday morning. He is doing well, just pray for a speedy recovery so he can get back to playing with his big brother Wyatt.

As for the title of this blog when you see the pictures that I post you will see why I chose the title. Aleah is getting over an illness that started on new years eve, it was a nasty battle with a respiratory infection and we had to visit the doctor on new years eve and take on a host of meds. She is doing better now but ever since then she has come across this amazing strength it seems. She will not stay still in her bed, I do her tube feeds in her bed some of the time. I will look at the monitor and see the back of her head because she has been sitting up and rolling her self to one side of the crib, or the other day I found her turned the other way and off her pillow!! She is getting so much stronger, and she did so good when help me grow visited this week. Help me grow offers theraputic services such as therapy and stimulating play to children from birth to age three. This week a physical therapist and speech therapist came out to play with her. The pt had her standing it was the coolest thing to see, and you should see how tall!! I will get pictures the next time shes standing to show everyone!! Aleah will have her eye surgery on the 21st, which is this coming thursday! We had to reschedule it because of illness so say some extra prayers for her, that everything will go fine! Enjoy the pictures and have a great weekend!!


This is how I found her the other day, a first!




our precious little girl!!



beautiful smiles!! Jan 2010


our little hercules!! that music box is not light, she pulled it on her face by herself!!