Izzy's birthday

Just thought I'd share this pic of Izzy looking at Dad while he was singing happy birthday to her... it was so sweet.

Izzy is five years old!!!

I can't believe my baby is turning five
I'm so thankful to God that she is alive
the last three years have been a struggle
therapies and learning many things to juggle

So many prayers offered for my little doll
I love and appreciate them all
I can't wait to see what the next five years bring
seeing Iz progress I shall joyously sing!

Happy Birthday Isabelle

izzy update **updated (added pic)**

How can we be so busy and yet not have that much to report?
Funny huh?
Well, here is one of the pics Izzy's Summer occupational therapist, Debbie, sent from last Wednesday's session. Thanks Debbie for taking the time to take pictures and to email them!

Izzy's new stroller was delivered right before school on Wednesday.
It is huge!
Izzy does seem pretty comfortable in it so we'll see what the p.t. thinks of it.

This is how the stroller looks right now. I ordered a new one not only because Izzy is outgrowing hers, but also because it is so heavy to lift it in and out of my suburban. This one is in two pieces and I haven't quite mastered the assemble/disassembly.
That metal part is pretty heavy, but I am hoping I get used to it.
A friend and fellow ND parent has a lightweight umbrella type stroller she isn't using now and is mailing it to us for those quick run in trips. Thanks Dawn!

We went out today so I took a quick pic of Izzy actually in her new stroller!

Bailey and Emelia have spent the week at art camp. They had such a good time. Bailey was in a film class and at the end of the week brought home a video the class made. He is the 'star.' It was so cute! and Emelia took a jewelry class so she came home looking like a different kind of 'star'... She was definitely in her element and enjoyed all the jewelry making.
Amanda is continuing to help with Izzy's therapy during the day.
We are also putting Izzy in the stander and on her tummy several times a day.
She is doing great and is so incredibly healthy it is amazing, God is good!

That's all I have for today, thank you for your prayers and the love you have in your hearts for our sweet little Izzy!

july 7 pics!

Bailey & Emelia

Emelia & Izzy

Bailey

Izzy with Emelia

Matt helping Izzy float

Amanda (she didn't swim with the group) she went to a work day at church...

update...

We've stepped up Izzy's schedule... with Summer we were a little lax, but Coach Matt has given us all the pep talk we probably needed and things are going well. Since Amanda is without employment he has employed her here. She is doing an hour or two of Izzy's therapy per day and other various jobs for us. It is working out well to have her on the payroll (:o)) I am thinking a job away from home is probably looking really good right about now. The good news is that she can also use her therapy hours for National Honor Society. She also gets to use hours from the Canada trip.
Our home has been a kid magnet all Summer! The neighborhood kids enjoyed popping all their fireworks right in front of our home and come to swim a lot! Bailey had a guest all weekend and then another friend stayed Monday-Wednesday. Emelia's little school friend just showed up too! Earlier Emelia was in the kitchen with a line of sandwiches she was making to carry out to the 'hungry' neighbor kids... I think I've painted a picture of what life is like around here :o).
No school this week for Izzy as it was fourth of July. I think the multitude of fireworks was great visual stimulation, so much so that she fell asleep watching them. Our neighbors chose this romantic holiday for their backyard wedding. Rumor has it they also dressed as Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam. I miss all the good parties. The best part was the after wedding firework display we were able to watch from our front yard.
Lots of therapy, tummy time, standing, swimming, rolling etc. for Izzy. I cut a few inches off of her hair this afternoon because it was just so long it got in the way of things. I almost regret it, but I know it will be easier to brush out and she will be more comfortable not getting it caught all the time.
Please continue to say those prayers for faith for our sweet little Izzy!

summer school~

Izzy went to Summer school today... she spent time with Camilla (her favorite & mine too) in the walkable & with Margaret (st) and with Mary (ot). Here's a pic Emelia took of Iz and herself in the car on the way home (with my cell phone camera).

izzy...

Nothing new to report this morning, we saw bear yesterday and he just kept saying, "she just looks better to me." over and over. She (Izzy) does look good and she is doing great!
A new friend "Kaedra's mom" emailed this pretty believe sign to me this morning so I thought I would share it!

update~

Just a quick update on Izzy...

• Izzy had her first day of Summer school today. She worked with the pt, ot and st. They said she did very well today. She was a little fussy with Margaret (ST) but that is usually the case.
• Izzy went to see Bear Monday. He does great things with her. He massaged her vocal chords and had her howling. He is really good with her and she seems to like him almost as much as he likes her.
  
• Still lots of standing for miss Izzy. She seems to be tolerating it all very well.
  
• Matt has been taking her for evening swims, she will kick her legs and likes the water (at first)... she gets tired of it and ready to get out pretty quickly. She also likes floating on the mat back and forth from Matt to me. She always makes sure she can see me when Matt has her.
• Izzy used the big girl pottie (#2) two times since this weekend.
  

Bailey and Emelia are at camp this week and Amanda is in Canada, so Izzy and me are having a nice quiet week.

The picture is from a my blog friend from Greece, Irene. She saw it on her calendar today and posted it for Izzy. She knows I collect believe signs.

standing & smiling~

Izzy's been spending a lot of time in the stander this past week.
This is a loaner from school. It works pretty well and she is staying in it three times a day for about an hour per time. She has to wear her foot splints while standing.
We are also doing her program. She continues to do well on the assisted crawl
I think she has grown a foot this last few weeks.
School is out for the Summer.
Izzy begins summer school this coming Wednesday, and will go from 2-4 p.m.
She will have pt, ot, and st while at school.
She goes to bear on Monday for craniosacral and myfascial massage.

We're seeing a lot more smiles & she is vocalizing so much.
She is very healthy & happy!

Look at her sweet little face, isn't she just the cutest?

Romans 10:8-10
"But what does it say? "The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.* For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved*.
*"saved" (in Greek, "sozo") means saved, healed, delivered, preserved, & in health!

Update~

Well, Wednesday marked three years since the day Izzy had her near drowning accident. It was an ordinary day, I had a couple of caring friends call to see if I was handling the anniversary okay. I was. Izzy went to school this week and had the usual therapies, along with playing in lots of sand Wednesday... so much so that when Jane came over to help with her afternoon therapy, we couldn't figure out what was on the therapy table. It was sand. She had a bath after therapy! I think I heard on of her teacher assistants named Kathy mention they built a sandcastle. When I picked her up that day she had been outside swinging for a while and was really enjoying the nice weather. It has been beyond beautiful this week. Perfect for swinging outside! Thursday Camilla had planned to put Izzy on the tricycle. I told Iz all morning that she was going to ride the bike Thursday and she did! Niecie and Camilla both said that she helped push the little pedals and that she smiled and seemed to enjoy it even though they spent much of the time trying to keep her properly aligned on the bike. She is very tolerant of all the positioning we do with her. She is actually very tolerant of everything from positioning to accidental hair pulling. She does let us know when we have done something wrong though. She saw Heath Tuesday and Thursday, but was unable to see Bear on Monday. When we arrived in Edmond, Bear had been called away to work on someone who was hospitalized. So we ran a few errands and called to find out he was not back so we will go back this coming Monday. Izzy has been very vocal this week and really interactive with us. We know she is just getting better by the day. I hope to have pics to post eventually of her riding the bike, they did take pictures and I think they will email them to me when they can.

1 Peter 1: 6-7
In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Izzy's Story

Izzy was 21 months old. It was May 16, 2004, a Sunday evening. We had been to church (morning and evening) stopped at the store for a few things, came home to read the Sunday paper and watch Extreme Home Makeover... My son Bailey who was 10 at the time was going outside (the side deck which is away from the pool) to lift weights for fun. Izzy was his constant shadow and he called to tell me Izzy was with him... to which I replied, "okay, but watch her!" I have to pause here to say that Isabelle was terrified of the pool. She even hated taking baths. I had just put her in the pool with Matt a few days before this and she screamed so I took her out immediately. I guess my point is she was afraid of the water and I felt like she would never get into it alone. I was wrong. Isabelle wondered away in a blink and got into the pool. I have replayed this a million times in my mind, the what if's ... what if I had said, "no, she needs to stay in the house." what if I would have glanced outside and noticed she was headed in the direction of the pool... etc. What did happen was I had a weird thought, "isabelle... pool" came into my mind which was odd for the reasons I stated. Amanda was walking by and I asked her to make sure Izzy was still with Bailey (just to be sure), she came right back and said, "Bailey is still on the deck." What about Isabelle? She went back out and before I could get there I heard screaming. Bailey pulled Izzy out of the pool and held her upside down. Matt came second and started giving her breaths. What seemed like hours was only a few seconds and the image I saw was a lifeless blue baby. It was the worst thing I have ever seen in my life and I prayed for a year for God to take that image out of my mind. I still get shaky thinking about it. I called 911, and took over cpr while Matt talked to the person on the phone until the ambulance arrived. I did cpr until a emt took her from my arms. After that I laid on the ground begging God to spare my baby. They worked on her for about 20 minutes in the ambulance. I wasn't allowed near. I sat with the kids and we prayed for her ... We were finally told they were heading to the ER. When we followed, we didn't know walking in whether or not she was alive. We went into the family room and were told they had gotten a pulse but were still working on her. Before five minutes passed there were so many people there we had filled the family room and the hall of the er. They then took her to the Children's Hospital by medivac. We followed again and were told that Izzy would probably not survive the night. The rest of the story would take a week to write, but she is alive... it will be three years in May! She is healthy and making progress and we have learned so much about our faith and about God. We believe that she will be completely restored.

A while after her accident I joined an online support group for parent's of near drownings. I have come to learn that this happens far too often especially to children around 2 years old. I feel compelled to plead you to treat any open water as if it were a loaded gun. It is so dangerous for toddlers because they don't have the rational to know the danger involved and it happens so quickly. I have read parents stories of babysitters, grandparents, birthday parties, koi ponds, retention ponds, it happens everywhere in every way! You cannot be too careful.


Here are a few statistics...

• In 2000, there were 3,482 unintentional drownings inthe United States, an average of nine people per day.(U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)



• It is estimated that for each drowning death, there are 1 to 4 nonfatal submersions serious enough to result in hospitalization. Children who still require cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at the time they arrive at the emergency department have a poor prognosis, with at least half of survivors suffering significant neurologic impairment. (American Academy of Pediatrics)



• Drowning is the second-leading cause of injury-related death among children under the age of 15. (U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)



• 19% of drowning deaths involving children occur in public pools with
  certified lifeguards present.(Drowning Prevention Foundation)

• A swimming pool is 14 times more likely than a motor vehicle to be involved
  in the death of a child age 4 and under. (Orange County California Fire
  Authority)



• Children under five and adolescents between the ages of 15-24 have the highest drowning rates. (U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  


• An estimated 5,000 children ages 14 and under are hospitalized due to
  unintentional drowning-related incidents each year; 15 percent die in the hospital and as many as 20 percent suffer severe, permanent neurological disability. (National Safety Council)Of all preschoolers who drown, 70 percent are in the care of one or both parents at the time of the drowning and 75 percent are missing from sight for five minutes or less. (Orange County, CA, Fire Authority)

• The majority of children who survive (92 percent) are discovered within two minutes following submersion,and most children who die (86 percent) are found after10 minutes. Nearly all who require cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) die or are left with severe braininjury. (National Safe Kids Campaign)
  

little update...

Izzy had a great day at school today. When we were driving to school I said to her, "Izzy, you will be walking with Camilla today, I want to hear that you inititiated steps when I pick you up. And by initiating steps I mean you move your own feet when Camilla says to take a step." She vocalized something back.
When I went to pick her up Camilla met me in the hall and said that she initiated more steps today than ever before and did very well in the walkable. She even stayed in extra time because she was smiling and enjoying the walk.
Isn't God good?

Izzy update~

I haven't updated in a while, things continue to move along at a pretty fast pace.
We took Izzy to Bear again this Monday. He is really getting attached to her quickly. He told her she was his favorite client and that he looks forward to seeing her all week. He then offered to babysit with his wife anytime, he had me until he mentioned they had a really big dog (220 pounds!). He is sweet and I think the techniques he uses on her are really helping to relax her muscles.
She fell asleep Wednesday in school while standing in the stander with her foot splints on! They said they heard her snoring... so they took her out. She came home and slept for an hour after lunch too. Today she had a really busy day at school, OT, PT, and ST. After school she had her appointment with Heath (chiropractor).
Therapy continues to go well, she is tolerating the new program better and better. The assisted crawl is also going really well. She pushes along the 20 ft. each time and is beginning to use her arms to pull herself as well.
I think I mentioned that we had her IEP at school, planning for next year. They have decided that she understands so much that they want her to have more input. They are going to start her day in the normal pre-k class each day. She will go in the afternoons. I'm pretty excited about this! The group that works with her are truly a God send. I know that they all love her very much and want to see her do well. I appreciate their love and care so much.
Amanda, Bailey, and Emelia are great helpers with Izzy's therapy. Any of the three can step in to take a spot in her program and do it as well as any adult.
Amanda was inducted into the national honor society Tuesday evening. She will now begin to clock in community volunteer hours. The mission trip she is taking to Montreal will count and so will her hours she helps doing therapy. We're very proud of her!
Isabelle continues to be so healthy and strong. We're very thankful for that and for everyone who prays for her!

Pictures of the kids~