Esthetician, Laundry Room, and Allergist

On Monday, August 22nd, I put Theo on the bus and then headed to see the Esthetician. We talked about my skin, my skin care history, my current skin care regime, and my sunspots. She recommended I use cleanser, serum, moisturizer, and sunscreen every day; gave me samples of ones that will work with my oily skin; recommended that I used those samples over the next couple of days; AND THEN come back in for a facial. Sounds good to me!

[Theo's outfit 😍]

[Theo getting ready for snack time at school]

Our fabulous carpenter ladies came back today and finished installing the wall tiles, painted the cabinets, stained the "waterfall," and installed the crown molding. They brought samples of grout and we decided to do a color similar to the kitchen.

Theo had three seizures today.

The next morning (Tuesday, August 23rd) the carpenter ladies came back and grouted the tile on the wall. It has to dry for 24 hours before they can install the floating shelves. They finished staining the shelves and planned on coming back the next morning to install the shelves and put the doors on the cabinets.

Theo had a great day at school and he worked hard at OT that afternoon. He did fall asleep at the very end of the session, but that's an improvement!

Theo had one seizure today.

I put Theo on the bus the next morning (Wednesday, August 24th) and then headed back to the Dermatologist office so I could get my facial with the Esthetician. I've had facials before, but they were always done at nice day spas where they play soft music and give you a little massage while the mask does it's job. I assumed that this one would be different since we were at a busy doctor's office, but I was wrong and I'm glad I was! The facial was fantastic as was the arm, shoulder, and neck massage 🙌🏻🙌🏻 When I was done I went to Costco, Target, and Cups n Cake to get the Carpenter Ladies some macarons. 

While I was gone the ladies installed the cabinets, put up the floating shelves, cleaned up the garage, and left. I was bummed when I got home because they were gone and I had treats for them, but they were planning on coming back on Friday to install the final handles on the cabinets. Phew! I guess I can hold onto the macaron's for a couple of days!

Theo had another great day at school even though he slept a lot. He did end up having two seizures really close together, which worried his aid, but he didn't have a third, so they didn't have to give him his emergency meds.

8/24 is Kobe Bryant Day, did you know that?

Theo had three seizures today.

Thursday morning I drove all the way to my allergist office for my yearly appointment with the PA. She determined that we should increase my shots dosage and I should continue coming in weekly for those shots. I said that sounds great and then I asked her if I would be getting that increased dose today or next week. She then told me that because of our insurance they won't allow me to see the doctor and get shots on the same day. What?! She said it's a dumb rule and it makes no sense, but sometimes the insurance companies make no sense 🤷‍♀️ UGH!

I left the allergist and headed to Target to look for some fun new things for the laundry room. I bought this basket, but I'm pretty sure I need Missy to come visit so she can help me pick out some fun decorations. 

Theo had another busy day at school, and his aid said that it seems like he is "waking up more," so we'll take that as a win!

Theo only had one seizure today.

As I was getting Theo on the bus the next morning (Friday, August 26th), one of the carpenter ladies showed up to install the cabinet door handles. I thanked her for all their hard work and gave her the macaron's. She was so excited and said she had never had macaron's before! 

The ladies are going to come back in a few weeks to install the doors on the custom cabinets and do a board and batten design on the long wall across from the washer and dryer. I'm obsessed with how everything has turned out so far!

[Look at all that stuff! It fits so nicely!]

I then headed back up to the allergist office to get my weekly shots. It's a 30 minute drive one way, so it's a good thing I have plenty of podcast's to listen to. 

I usually go on Thursday's for my shots and the nurse that does them is very gentle and I almost never bleed. But the nurse on Friday's is a little rough. The shots don't hurt, but I bled a little.

[Oops!]

I then went to pick up Theo from school. His aid had to swing by his old preschool and his preschool teacher had this shirt for him! The back of it has the names of all his classmates/friends! I love it!

This picture is of Theo at PT. It summarizes his week pretty well. We made it through his first full week of school and therapy! He slept a lot during school, but everyone is so supportive and we know he'll adapt.

Since our week was a little busy, we decided not to go anywhere over the weekend. Theo slept in both days and took plenty of long naps.

I had a very stressful day on Saturday. I had a last minute cancellation at our Airbnb condo, but ended up getting a last minute booking. I scrambled and got our guest checked in and all set to have a nice long weekend. I saw our guest arrive on my Ring camera and then I saw them leave with all of their luggage an hour later. I was really confused, so I reached out to them to see if everything was okay. I then got a message directly from Airbnb saying that the guest had filed a formal complaint with them. I've NEVER had this happen before. The guest then reached out to me and said they found hairs everywhere and the cooking pans were scratched and they didn't want to be poisoned by the toxic pans. I told him I can give him a full refund and they can leave or I can have my cleaning ladies come back over to clean again. He never responded. I was then lectured by Airbnb and they told me they would be issuing a full refund. That's fine. That's not what I am upset about. I'm upset because the guest didn't come to me first and let me try to fix the situation. I would have refunded them. No problem. I just hate that they went to Airbnb and now I have "a mark" on my record because of it. After talking to Airbnb I got in contact with my cleaning ladies. I then jumped on Amazon and ordered two new sets of pots and pans and a few other items. Later that night Airbnb sent me a few of the pictures that my guest had sent them. Yes, a couple of the pans had scratch marks. No problem, I already ordered new ones. They also sent in a picture of one of the hairs. No, there was not hair everywhere. But one is one too many. It just sucks. I hate getting in trouble and I feel awful.

My anxiety kept me up a lot that night. But it's okay. Amazon kept me company while I was up from 2:00 to 4:00 AM 🙄 😬

[My sweet boys taking a nap together]

Theo fell asleep while we were playing 🙈

I've been laying on my Shakti mat every night before bed for 20 minutes and I guess my phone noticed. Why yes, I would love to set a timer for 20 minutes, thanks!

Theo had two seizures on Saturday and one seizure on Sunday.

Theo's First Day of Kindergarten!

On Monday, August 15th, Theo and I went to Ottawa for his yearly/school check up with his pediatrician. We also got scripts saying that Theo's CNA can feed him, vent him, and give him water. It'll be so much easier for her to do that in the classroom instead of taking him to the nurses office and having the RN do it. I talked to the Dr about our upcoming trip to Europe and my concerns with taking all of his liquid food and medications. I asked if they would write us a letter stating that all of Theo's food is "medically necessary" and does NOT contain meat or dairy and they said they would. I'm not sure if we need a letter like that, but it doesn't hurt to have it just in case.

Even though we aren't able to ship Theo's food to the cruise ship like we planned, we are still going to ship a bag of supplies. Theo's diapers alone take up a lot of space, so we'll be shipping a resupply of those, his puppy pads, wipes, and syringes. Josh and I will also be shipping our "nice clothes" for our date nights on the cruise ship. It'll be nice to show up to our room on the ship and have this bag waiting there for us!

[Bag to ship]

Theo had one seizure today.

On Tuesday, August 16th, I "attended" (via Zoom) two meetings for our Windsor Hills properties in Orlando. The second meeting was a big deal and we were supposed to learn the results from a recent vote. HOWEVER, we didn't make quorum. It's SOOO frustrating that people can't vote. Why would you buy a property and then not care what goes on with the HOA and what happens at the resort. It's beyond frustrating. We are going to try again next month, but I have a feeling we aren't going to make quorum again.

That afternoon Josh, Theo, and I went to Theo's new school to meet with his teacher (Ms Kate) and principal. I typed up a list of things that I felt like they should REALLY know about Theo and passed that out at the meeting. When I did that, Theo's CNA turned to the teacher and said, "See, I told you she was on top of things!" 🙂 I know since this is a new program that they have a lot going on right now. I just want to help in anyway that I can. The meeting went really good and I think we are all ready for school to start!

After we got home we made a few videos for Theo's CNA. One showed her a step by step on how to feed Theo. And the other video showed her how to help him roll over his right ear. When I mentioned his ear, Theo pointed to his ear! Good job, buddy!

My dad had surgery on his back today. He has a herniated disk that is pressing against his static nerve, which is causing a lot of pain in his back and leg. The surgery went well and hopefully he will feel some relief soon!

Theo didn't have any seizures today!

THEO'S FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN! Wednesday, August 17th

YAY! We are so excited for Theo to start his all day, multi-needs Kindergarten. I am not worried at all! I know he is in good hands and that he is going to have a great year!

I told Theo we were going "buh-bye" and he got really excited (like he usually does). But once we got out side and I told him the bus was coming he got SOOOO excited! He looked down the street, saw the bus, and started to kick his legs and giggle. Good luck, Theo! We know you will do great!

The bus picks Theo up at 8:10 AM and doesn't drop him off until almost 3:00 PM, so I have a lot of free time. I ran errands while the carpenter ladies, that are renovating our laundry room, started getting set up in our garage.

[Laundry Room: Before]

The bus dropped Theo off at 3:00 PM and I put him right to bed. His feeding therapist was coming at 4:15 PM and I thought he could use a nap before therapy.

After an hour I went to wake up Theo. He was SOOOO tired, but he participated in feeding therapy anyways. 

Theo still takes a nap every day, so I knew that Kindergarten would be a big adjustment for him. BUT it's even harder on him because his Neurologist keeps adjusting his meds and those seizure meds make him very tired. Theo's CNA told me that he slept a lot during his first day. She said it was completely fine, but he can't learn and grow if he's sleeping so much. Hopefully he will get use to the meds in the next few weeks and will be able to function at school.

Theo had one seizure today.

The next day (Thursday, August 18th) Theo went to school and I went to my yearly check up with the dermatologist. I asked her if there was anyway to remove the sunspots from my face. She said they could and she would set up an appointment for me with the esthetician next week. Great! After my appointment with the dermatologist, I drove north to go get my allergy shots.

I also sent a long email to Theo's Neurologist explaining why I didn't feel like we could increase his medication dose again (we talked about it at his appointment last week). I also asked him if he could send a referral to the Pediatric Epilepsy Center at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago. Theo is still having breakthrough seizures and we just can't increase his meds any more. He sleeps so much as it is and when he is awake he is very weak and doesn't want to do anything. If the VNS procedure can help him get off of the medications then we need to give it a shot.

On Monday and Friday Theo has PT at 3:00 PM and on Tuesday and Thursday Theo has OT at 3:00 PM, so I will be picking him up everyday but Wednesday from school and taking him straight to therapy. 

Today I picked Theo up from school, chatted with his CNA a bit, and then headed to OT. 

After we got home from OT Theo took a little cat nap and I hung up my new Harry Potter wands! 

Theo had two seizures today.

On Friday, Theo went to school on the bus and had a great day. He slept a lot, but when he was awake he played with his toys and had a lesson about sharing. That's my bad 😬😬 

[Theo with his fish bowl game]

The carpenter ladies came back today and worked hard getting the shelves installed.

While I was waiting for Theo to get out of school I got a call from the Neurology nurse. She said that she talked to the doctor and we are going to make some dose changes. She also informed me that they will be sending a referral over to the Pediatric Epilepsy Center at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago. I heard the wait is long to get in, so fingers crossed we hear from them soon and are able to get an appointment in the next few months. 

I picked Theo up from school and took him straight to PT. He promptly fell asleep in the swing, but Ms Cody knew he had a long day, so she let him rest for a little bit. 

She then moved him to the squeezie where he fell asleep again. Poor guy. This is such a huge adjustment for him, but we'll get there!

After PT, Josh, Theo, and I drove to Chicago to pick up my road bike rental and some Molly's Cupcakes 😋

The ladies worked while we were gone and made more progress!

They got the barn door installed! I love it!

Theo had one seizure today.

The next morning (Saturday, August 20th) I was woken up by thunder and rain. Ugh. That's not a good sign. I turned on the news and our weather guy said that the storms should stop around 7:00 AM and start up again around noon. I got ready and headed out on my rental bike.

I got about 31 miles into my 40 mile ride when it started to POUR! Ugh. I guess the next round of storms got in early. Luckily, I was close to a gas station, so I took shelter there. I called Josh and he and Theo came to pick me up. A little rain would have been fine, but lightning and standing water wasn't going to work for me.

[Taking shelter]

Besides the rain, I had a GREAT ride! Last time I did a 30+ mile ride I averaged 10 miles per hour on my hybrid bike (yes, I'm slow). But on the road bike I averaged 15 miles per hour! It's still slow, but SO MUCH FASTER than my other bike. This rental road bike is a true speed bike. The tires are skinny and the bike weighs half of what my hybrid bike does. That makes a huge difference. If I want to cover more miles then I'm going to need a faster bike. Time to do some research!

Theo had one seizure today.

On Sunday, August 21st, the carpenter ladies came back and worked the entire day on tiles.

I went on a 13 mile bike ride and felt great after my long ride yesterday. My legs were feeling strong, but my bum was sore. I have padded shorts, but the seat on the rental bike was pretty hard.

After my bike ride Josh, Theo, and I went into Chicago so I could return my rental bike. We knew the city would be crowded because of the airshow, but it wasn't too bad. It did rain on us a little bit, but that didn't stop us from walking around a bit and getting lobster rolls at Brown Bag.

Theo was tired, but he did really well on the drive and while we were walking around.

After we got home we put Theo down for a nap in his bed. He slept for about two hours, woke up for a couple hours, then fell asleep in front of his Tonie.

The carpenter ladies worked really hard today! We decided that we wanted the cabinets to go all the way to the ceiling, so they built two custom cabinets. They also laid most of the wall tile. It looks great so far! 

YAY! Pau! He deserves this!

Hot Topic: I don't really like Girl Scout cookies. Don't get me wrong. I was a Girl Scout and I ALWAYS buy them from the girls who are camped outside the grocery store. But there aren't any flavors that I am crazy about. And now they are introducing a raspberry cookie. BOOO! I don't understand why they can't make good cookies. The Girl Scouts discontinued my favorite cookie back in 1995 and I've been sad ever since. #First World Problems