Bye-Bye HELOC

Monday, June 9th:

I sent Theo and his nurse, Tracey, off to ESY while I went to work in the basement.

I called my Family Doctor and scheduled my yearly exam and a mammogram since I'm turning 40 this year. Can you believe it?!

Josh got a Nintendo Switch before going to Alaska and we've been playing the new Mario games at night. But it just makes me miss my favorite N64 games, so we bought the N64 package! It has so many classic games like Starfox, Pokemon Snap, 007, and (my two personal favorites) Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64!

Tuesday, June 10th:

Again, Theo and Tracey went to ESY while Josh and I went to work. They said that Theo had a great day and after ESY we went to see Sherman and his friends!

Wednesday, June 11th:

While I was in the basement working I tuned into YouTube to watch my fellow advocate, Nancy, and her son, Charlie, testify on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. They were asked to speak on how Medicaid Cuts would affect them. I got pretty emotional when Nancy was talking about her sweet boy and the challenges they would face if Medicaid was cut. If you have time please give this a watch: Spotlight Forum

I grabbed a few screen shots of Nancy and Charlie. I just loves the way he looks at her! He's so proud of his mom!

Thursday, June 12th:

Our big news this week came today! We sold our second vacation rental house in Orlando! YAY! With the money we made we were able to pay off our HELOC (Theo's bathroom renovation and garage lift) and our wheelchair accessible van. I'm so happy to be done with high interest rates!

If you were not able to stay at one of the houses don't worry, we still have the Toy Story themed condo that's located in the same resort!

Please reach out to me directly for friends and family discounts!

I'd love to get more Bonsai trees, but we gotta keep the ones we have alive first! This setup would be cute in the backyard!

This is our Dawn Redwood Forest. He went into shock after we brought him home. Josh gave him a nice trim and we are already seeing new growth, so hopefully he'll be okay!

It's supposed to look like this:

He'll rebound! 

At ESY Theo had PT and they practiced washing Ms. Vicki's car! 

Weekend:

Over the weekend Theo went to We Rock the Spectrum. It's a nice indoor play area for kids. Of course, Theo LOVED the swings!

We also took Theo swimming at Ms. Jess' place!

We celebrated Josh and all the great fathers out there on Father's Day! Josh is the best dad to Theo and Theo loves him so much!

And I want to wish a very happy Father's Day to my dad! He's pretty great and I am excited to see him in just a couple of weeks in Ohio!

First Week of ESY

Monday, June 2nd:

Back in March we took Theo to the dentists for his 6 month check up and cleaning. They suggested we get in touch with the dental group at Lurie's just in case Theo needs work done in the future.

Today Josh and I took Theo into Chicago to meet with Dr. Ashlee Consantino and the Lurie Children's Dental group.

Theo was a little nervous, but we kept him pretty happy with Peek-a-Boo Barn. We chatted for Dr. Ashlee for a few minutes, so she could understand Theo and why we were there. She then did a physical exam. Theo was pretty upset, but she was able to get a good look at his teeth. She said she didn't see any issues and we need to keep doing what we've been doing! She said we can continue to see our dentist at Bite Size and if we have any issues or need anything done under anesthesia we can always come back to them. YAY!

After visiting the dentist we walked down to the street to get something to eat at The Brunchery. This place was recommended to us by one of Theo's nurses.

Theo did great sitting in his chair and playing with this iPad while Josh and I enjoyed brunch.

Josh got a skillet and I got these amazing cinnamon roll pancakes!

We'll definitely be back!

Tuesday, June 3rd:

Theo missed ESY yesterday, so today was his first official day of ESY. Nurse Tracey and Ms. Jess said he did a great job and even tried some oat milk, strawberry, and banana yogurt that they made!

After ESY we took Theo to see Sherman at the Legacy Ranch. He did such a great job today!

That night I had a meeting with my fellow Chapter Leads at Changing Spaces Campaign. We had a representative from Smirthwaite attend the meeting too and he showed us some of their amazing changing tables like this Hi-Riser and this Mobi Changer.

Remember back in March when Theo and I went to the new YMCA in Morris and talked to Executive Director of the YMCA about changing tables and she said they were going to look into it?! Well, the Regional Director reached out to me a few days ago and they want me to come to the YMCA this week to talk to them about installing some powered, height adjustable, adult changing tables! So this meeting with Smirthwaite could not have come at a better time!

Wednesday, June 4th:

Theo went to ESY and had another great day! They had Theo smash pickle balls and he even put some of them in his mouth! I'll have to get some for the house!

Thursday, June 5th:

I sent Theo off to ESY with Nurse Tracey and then I printed off a bunch of pamphlets, grabbed my tape measure, and headed to the YMCA. I met with the Executive Director of the YMCA and the Regional Director. They took me to the private family bathrooms and we took a bunch of measurements. It looks like they have a few great options for installing powered, height adjustable, adult changing tables! I asked them if they had any intentions of putting similar tables in their new locations and they said they did! I asked them to keep me posted and I gave them the contact information for the vendors we endorse. They said they they want my final approval on the tables they pick so they will be in touch! I am beyond excited! You have no idea how many people just ignore me whenever I reach out. It would be nice to get a victory!

Friday, June 6th:

Theo does not have ESY on Fridays, so he was home today with Nurse Milto. They went on a walk to the park and played at home. That afternoon Theo's PT, Becca, came over. She showed us some new stretches we can do to help stretch out Theo's hip flexors and she wants us to work on Theo grabbing and throwing balls.

That evening Josh's dad, George, arrived. He drove all the way from Minnesota to hang out with us for a few days. We got Giordano's pizza for dinner and made plans for the next day.

Saturday, June 7th:

Theo was super spoiled today because he had 2-3 nurses with him all day! Milto was scheduled to watch him from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM and Maxim wanted him to train another nurse, EJ, who needed more experience with g-tube kids. EJ was with us from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. AND then Ms Jess came by to hang out and introduce everyone to a dog, Becca, that she was watching. 

We went to the local park, to the Hope Helps accessible park in Coal City, AND to the dog park. It was a very busy day!

[Theo had a little mishap with the nail cutters]

[Theo with Becca and Milto at the dog park]

[She's a nice puppy!]

Josh and George went to Lincoln Park so they could attend the 25th annual Rib Fest!

I looks like they had a great time!

Sunday, June 8th:

Josh made breakfast for us and then George headed to Wisconsin to see his brother. We are so glad he was able to hang out for a few days! 

[Tickles!]

[Three generations]

I sent Josh this picture of what we need our bonsai garden to look like. I don't think this goal is realistic since we are struggling to keep our second bonsai alive 😬

Maybe some day...

Our Changing Spaces Campaign Chapter Lead from Iowa posted that she was visiting Chicago with her family. She was so excited that there were a few changing tables in Chicago for them to use. This is why we need more! It will open the doors for people to travel to Chicago!

Check out our map that shows where the tables are located! Hopefully we will be able to add a few YMCAs to that map in the near future!