Work, Josh to WI, and the Paris Olympics

We had a very busy week over here in good ole Illinois! Josh and I worked a lot, Ms. Jess watched Theo most days, and Theo and I went to Peoria for a visit with the ENT. Brodee started school in Arizona and Sara took him shopping for some new clothes. It's hard to believe he is in 8th grade! Once I get photos from Sara I will post them 🙂

Monday, July 22nd:

Josh headed off to work early and then I went to work in the basement when Ms. Jess came over. Theo loves it when she is here!

That evening I had a Zoom with my brothers to talk about our sibling trip in April. Christina and I have booked everything we can until October and (mostly) December when the Disney hotels and tickets start opening up. Sometimes it feels like the trip is just around the corner and then I look at my countdown and it's still 254 days away!

My flowers are doing really well right now. They struggled when it got REALLY hot a few weeks ago, but they are tough!

Theo had six observable seizures today.

Tuesday, July 23rd:

Ms. Jess came over in the morning to hang out with Theo so I could work and then run some errands.

 [Theo loves to show off his stretching skills]

That afternoon I took Theo to PT and then to see Sherman at The Legacy Ranch. Theo was really showing off today. He held up his head for the last two laps!

Theo had four observable seizures today.

Wednesday, July 24th:

Theo and I headed to Peoria for an ENT followup with Amanda Allen (APN). She checked Theo’s ears and said they both look clear and healthy with no infection. She said his left ear tube is gone, but the right ear still has the tube. We were hoping to graduate today, but we can’t since he still has a tube. She said they will continue to watch it and if it gets infected or struggles to come out on its own, then they will have to go in and remove it and patch his ear drum. We’ll see her again in 6 months.

That afternoon Theo had feeding therapy with Ms. Jen. He had two big bites of chocolate pudding with coconut cool whip. 

Theo had two observable seizures today.

Thursday, July 25th:

Ms. Jess came over again today to watch Theo while I worked in the basement. 

That afternoon I took Theo to OT and then after Josh got home I went and saw the new Deadpool movie!

Theo had eight observable seizures today.

Friday, July 26th:

Ms. Jess came over for the fourth time this week to watch Theo. We are so grateful that she is available and willing to hangout with Theo!

That afternoon Theo had pool PT with Ms. Cody at Ms. Becca's house. It only took Theo about 15 minutes to warm up to the pool. Then he started splashing and kicking his legs! They worked on standing, pushing off of the walls, and kicking both legs.

[His happy place!]

That night we watched the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics! It was so cool to see the Parade of Nations take place on the Seine! It was raining, but that didn't stop these athletes from enjoying themselves!

Theo had eight observable seizures today.

Weekend:

Josh made a quick trip to Wisconsin. Jessi (Josh's sister) and Samantha got married back in April and they threw a big party for their family and friends this weekend! Congrats ladies!

[Samantha, Jessi, and the kids]

[Josh and Suzi]

[Josh, Jessi, and Sam]

On Sunday Josh was able to attend his cousin Keith's celebration of life. Keith tragically died by suicide a few months ago.

[Josh and his dad, George]

[George and Susan]

[Josh, George, and Suzi]

[Julie Le Blanc and Josh]

[Julie, Josh, Lenny Pearson (Keith's brother), and George]

Usually when Josh goes up to Wisconsin he is able to see his dad and Julie, but this time he was able to see more of the Woodhull family that he hasn't seen in years. I'm glad Josh was able to make a quick trip up there to see both sides of his family!

I've been trying to take care of Josh's tiny bonsai tree. It needs a lot of light, so I put it outside for a few days. Apparently it was really windy one night and the leaves blew off! I brought it back inside and purchased a grow light. I can already see more leaves coming in, so I think this light will help!

While Josh was gone, Theo and I watched the Olympics!

[YAY! First gold for Team USA!]

Theo has been yelling a lot so I got out the cactus, so Theo could hear what he sounds like. He is not a fan!

I put Theo to bed at 7:00 PM and this is what I saw when I checked on him at 8:00 PM.

And again at 8:18 PM. This child and his stretches! 🤦‍♀️

Remember our tornado outbreak?! 

Pretty crazy that a tornado just cruised through O'Hare airport like that!

New Job and Tornado Outbreak

Monday, July 15th:

Today was a hot and humid, so Theo and I stayed at home all day.

[Theo loves to show people how he can stretch]

We had a small earthquake close by this morning. I didn't feel it 😊

Theo spent some time in his KidWalk. The vest really helps hold up his torso, so he can focus on strengthening his legs.

[He's just too handsome!]

That evening we cut Theo's fluffy hair, gave him a bath, and put him to bed.

We had an active weather alert all day because of the heat and humidity, so Josh and I turned on the news to watch the weather report.

[Feels like 106 at 6:46 PM]

We had a 10% chance of tornados and 45% chance of high winds. As we watched the news it became apparent that they underestimated this storm. We had 100 mph straight line winds, hail, rain, and lightning reported with the line of storms. 

And then three tornados popped up! We continued to watch the news and saw that the tornados were becoming more abundant and getting closer to us. At one point there were 10 confirmed tornados on the ground at the same time including one at O'Hare and one at Midway. Our alerts started going off and we decided to grab Theo and go into the basement.

Josh took Theo downstairs and I ran into our bedroom to grab my phone charger. While I was in there the wind got so loud! It sounded like a train was coming! I grabbed my charger and hurried downstairs.

Luckily, the storms moved quickly and we didn't lose power (unlike most of our town). After about an hour we saw that the line of storm had passed and the tornado warning was lifted, so we came back upstairs.

Even though we didn't lose power we did lose the internet and the bridge on the 55 was closed for a few days.

Over the next few days the number of confirmed tornados went up!

It looks like we were between an EF 1 and an EF 2 at one point!

We ended up with 30 confirmed tornados during this outbreak! One person was killed and a lot of people in the area lost power when trees were knocked down. I'm so glad that we have a basement, so that we can feel safe during these scary storms.

Tuesday, July 16th:

I was supposed to be trained today by the outgoing Office Manager, Ellen, but we still didn't have internet, so we rescheduled for Friday.

Ms. Jess came over and took Theo to the splash pad. We were able to fit Theo's wheelchair and his bathchair in the van, so she could take him through the splash pad in his bathchair.

She said he had fun, but didn't like some of the water spraying him!

That afternoon we went to PT and then to see Sherman. They still didn't have power at Sherman's house, so Theo had his lesson outside. It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze. Theo even started to doze off a bit!

Wednesday, July 17th:

Theo and I stayed home and played until I took him to OT. Later that afternoon Ms. Jen came over for feeding/speech therapy. Theo ate seven yogurt drop pieces and signed "all done" when therapy was over. 

Thursday, July 18th:

Ms. Jess came over today to watch Theo, so I could run some errands. That afternoon I took Theo to Thrive for OT with Ms. Laura. Theo kept trying to show everyone had good he was a stretching and grabbing his toes!

Friday, July 19th:

Ms. Jess came over again to watch Theo while I had training with Ellen. She showed me how to go through the inspector reports, up load the files to Sharepoint, and file everything in binders. I'm glad that I have some experience in this field or else this would have been very overwhelming! They are currently working on FIVE projects at the same time. You gotta be organized to keep all this stuff straight and being organized is one of my skills!

[Upstairs office area with binders, printer, and monitor]

Most of my work is done on the computer, so when Ms. Jess is here I can work in the basement with the dual monitors. When it's just me and Theo at home I can work upstairs.

[Basement office]

Training went a little long, so Ms. Jess took Theo to PT that afternoon. 

Weekend:

Once Theo was down for his nap on Saturday, I was able to start working. It will definitely be a lot easier to work when Ms. Jess is here or when Theo is at school, but we'll make it work! 

[Theo and Josh playing catch!]

You know it's Sunday because Josh is home and working on his Jeep!

I sent this to my best friends who live in Vegas where they are breaking records! It's way too hot!

The Tour de France ended today! Tadej Pogačar won in 2020 and 2021 while Jonas Vingegaard won in 2022 and 2023. I love both of them! They are friends, but are very competitive, which makes it so fun to watch! Two months ago Jonas Vingegaard got in a bad crash and spent two weeks in the hospital (punctured lung, broken bones, etc). He recovered, but they were not even sure if he would compete in the Tour this year. He did and I was rooting for him, but Tadej Pogačar won by over 6 minutes. Jonas Vingegaard came in second and Remco Evenepoel came in third. It was a fun 21 days! I know some of these guys are going to the Olympics, so we will see them there! 

Congrats Tadej!

You'll take it next year, Jonas!

I seriously just love these guys!