Bonsai Help and Severe Weather

Monday, March 17th:

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Theo was not into it, but he looked cute in his green Baby Yoda shirt!

At school they made green slime! FUN!

After school I took Theo to OT.

Theo had five observable seizures today.

Tuesday, March 18th:

Theo didn't go to school today due to an appointment we had at Hanger to get his new AFOs and SMOs.

[Dinosaurs!]

That afternoon we went to PT and then to see Sherman at The Legacy Ranch for lessons with Ms. Kaylin.

I had a very stressful day and could not shake this headache. At bedtime, I laid on my Shakti Mat and used my face massager. It was great!

Theo had four observable seizures today.

Wednesday, March 19th:

Theo headed off to school while I stayed home and watched the weather. We knew storms were going to be moving in in the afternoon, so we decided to stay safe and do a Zoom with Ms. Jen that afternoon.

During our Zoom with Ms. Jen the tornado sirens starting going off, so she jumped off the computer and took cover in her basement. Luckily for us the storms cruised by and only caused minimal damage.

[The clouds were moving in a lot of different directions]

After the storm passed we checked in with Ms. Jen and she was safe and sound!

Theo had three observable seizures today.

Thursday, March 20th:

Severe weather yesterday and snow today! Welcome to Spring in Chicago!

[Theo was NOT into it!]

After I sent Theo to school I went and got my allergy shots. Allergy season is getting longer and more intense, so it's good to be prepared! 

My mom ended up in the ER today 😭 She fell and broke her wrist and sprained her ankle super bad. They had to set her wrist and then she went and saw a surgeon who determined that she needed surgery. My mom is not old enough for us to be worrying about her falling down! 

After school I took Theo to OT with Ms. Laura.

Theo had four observable seizures today.

Friday, March 21st:

Theo had an early out today, since next week is Spring Break. While he was at school I made this giant calendar to help keep Josh and Theo on track while I am on my trip next month 🙂

Are you guys following March Madness?! Every year I make a bracket and compete with my college friends for a mannequin head of Adam Morrison. It's very fun! Anyways, I was watching the BYU game and I recognized someone from my childhood. Dawson Baker is the youngest brother of one of my friends from High School. He was just a little kid when I was in college at BYU! Congrats to him and the Cougars for moving on to the Sweet 16!

After school I took Theo to PT with Ms. Cody.

Theo had two observable seizures today. He started a new seizure medication last Friday and I think it's really helping!

Josh in Alaska:

When Josh went back to Alaska he was promoted to the daytime Lead QC guy. This week he got his own room! YAY! Perks!

[On the ice]

[Beautiful sun halo!]

[The sun looks strange when you are at the top of the planet]

[Look at these cute power lines. How do they survive in that killer wind?!]

Josh just has one week left in Alaska! We can't wait for him to get home!

Bonsai Tree:

I joined a couple Facebook Bonsai groups to see if anyone could help me with my Bonsai Tree. I posted this paragraph with the following pictures in a few of the groups:

"We got this beautiful Golden Gate Ficus (Ficus microcarpa) in March 2024. At the end of July the ficus dropped all of its leaves. Some small buds started appearing, but then they turned brown. I thought it was going to die, but I continued to nurse the ficus by providing plenty of water (but not too much) and I also got a grow lamp. In September, it started to grow some new leaves out of the lower knots that didn’t have anything growing out of them before. The ficus is growing a ton out of the lower three knots. We repotted the ficus at the end of February and it is continuing to grow. There are new leaves almost daily! But there is no new growth at the top of the tree. Any advice to get some growth up there? Is there a chance that the top part of the ficus is dead? How can I tell? Thanks so much!"

[Three lower knots with the new growth]

[Nothing growing out of the top]

Unfortunately, most people in the group think that the top of the tree is dead. But that's okay! They said I can cut the tree a inch or two above where the new growth is. We can then wire the new branches so that they will start growing up instead of out. I hope that when we are done it will look like this:

Wish me luck!