izzy is 6 today!

Izzy spent her sixth birthday sleeping in late, watching Gram and Grandpa John cook, and swimming with mom, dad, and brother Bailey.


Here she is in one of her new birthday outfits (from Gymboree)! So cute!

Swimming with mom!

Mom got this cute dress for Izzy. She wore it to church this morning and looked adorable. The sun was so bright she couldn't keep her eyes opened!

Her hair is so long! So long. I am seriously considering a cut. Like 10 inches... for this.

happy fourth...

A pic of Izzy from today.

summer school

Today was Izzy's first day of Summer School, which is basically a short session with PT and OT at school. It is on Wednesdays throughout June and July. Today we saw Camilla (our favorite :) ) and the representative from an equipment company came to try her out in a semi new product called Kid Walk. It is really hard to describe, but it holds her in place securely while allowing her oppportunity to move. It is really a neat thing and I was impressed with several things.

1. She is never very happy in any type of standing device and she seemed pretty comfortable in this.
2. She looked pretty good in it and her legs looked good.
3. She could easily move.
4. She did try to initiate a step or two at the beginning.

It did make her very tired. We moved from that to try a lightweight stroller because she is outgrowing hers and she almost went to sleep she was so comfortable in this. We are hoping to get a good deal on this demo model. They retail for about 2K and so we'll see. He's supposed to let us know about pricing later today. I don't think insurance will pay for another stroller yet because she got the big one about a year ago. We can't use it because it's too heavy to get in and out of the car so it's brand new. It is also really big. This one is lightweight like the one we've been using, just bigger. It was really comfortable to her and that's huge because she is rarely comfortable in anything.

I took a few pictures of her in the equipment because it is so hard to describe. Of course she had a slew of therapist messing with her the entire time. I'd like to see her in it alone, just left to do whatever and see if she tries to move. I think she would!

pics

See Izzy's new tooth!

an update... finally!

It's been a while since I've posted an update so I thought I would tell you a few things going on with Isabelle lately...

At school they are constantly looking for ways for Isabelle to communicate and share her choices. They use several things and one way they are giving her a choice is asking her to blink once for yes, and no blink for no. Camilla was with Izzy in pre-k and told her it was time to move to her purple chair. She said Izzy fussed. So she explained it was time to get into the purple chair again and Izzy fussed again. So Camilla looked into her face and said, "would you rather sit in your stroller?" and she said Izzy gave a very exaggerated blink for YES! She is getting pretty good at using this method for letting her views be known.

Yesterday Camilla was with her again in pre-k class. She said that she was in her stroller and she had put Izzy's feet on the foot rests. Izzy usually doesn't like to keep her feet in this position, but Camilla told her to keep her feet there so she does not kick her friends. Camilla said she was very careful to keep her feet in that position. She was at the play doh table and Camilla was talking to someone when she noticed Izzy had reached for a cookie cutter the kids were using to make shapes with the play doh. She was sliding it towards her. A friend helped her cut her play doh and Camilla said she opened her hand to hold it.

She continues to do little things daily that show us and others that she is so aware of her environment and she really wants to participate in things. She has been ringing her bell more and more.

Isabelle is getting so tall and is cutting one of her front teeth (finally). She has been a snaggle tooth girl for a year now.

We're coming up on four years since her accident. It's been a long four years, but we know God has been right here with us every step of the way. He has guided us and strengthened us. He has sent just the right people at just the right time to help and encourage us. I want to thank each person who has continued to keep Isabelle in prayer and has believed in her healing. Walking by faith, not sight is truly easier to place on a pretty plaque than to live, but we continue to believe God's promises over what our physical eyes see or what the world says.

IEP

Today was Izzy's IEP at school.
I can't say I was looking forward to this day.
It is mostly a lot of paperwork.
I liked the positive tone of the answers to the questions on the forms.
The teachers, therapists.... Izzy's team... they are all very positive. I can't imagine dealing with negativity at school. I came away feeling like I had a great support, working with me to help Izzy. It was good.
There were goals set for the next school year.
There was no question that Izzy is very aware of her environment and that a primary goal is to help her communicate more effectively.
She will have a few new faces working with her next year. She will have her own paraprofessional who will be with her the entire time she is in school and will work with the vision therapist about an hour a day. She will also spend time in kindergarten every day. She loves her friends from pre-k so it makes sense that she will move up with them and spend circle time in that setting.
Overall Isabelle is doing really great, and next year will be a whole new chapter in Izzy's story.

happy easter.

Spring break is coming to a close with a really nice Easter Sunday. Isabelle had a good week and is finally recovering from a little cough that has been hanging on for a few weeks. She is such a healthy little girl! I think she has missed going to school this past week. This morning in Sunday School her teacher, Melissa, gave her a ring with lip gloss inside. When I put her in the car Emelia reached over for some lip gloss and Izzy jerked her hand away. She didn't want big sister taking her lip gloss ring! It was pretty cute.

Happy Easter!

Another picture taken at school with Izzy in her pre-k class.
Yesterday when I picked her up from school she was coming in from swinging outside and Niecie stopped by the pre-k class for Izzy to tell her friends goodbye. Several kids came to her and some kissed her cheeks. When Niecie turned her around to me she was smiling. She loves her friends and school. She also saw Bear on Monday. He sure gives her a good stretch! He showed me a few new stretches to do at home daily.
She has been really happy this week, lots of smiles.
She is really enjoying listening to books on tape while looking at the books. I ordered several from scholastic.com for her to have at home. They haven't arrived yet, but when they do I'm going to look for a portable cd player and earphones like the ones at school. They have several earphones so her friends can listen too.

Izzy had another good school day working hard. She spent a lot of time with Camilla and was very intent on listening to her conversation with the vision therapist helping out. She did assisted walking again and did well, relaxing and taking cues to relax. The letter of the week is Q and her ST said she was trying to make the q sound in st. Her little pre-k friends played dress up with her yesterday and here's a picture of Izzy wearing fake hair and boa!

back to school

Izzy sure was ready to get back to school today! With the week off due to the ice storms and then two weeks for Christmas... it's been a long break!

She had a good day today and was smiling when she saw me come into Camilla's pt room to pick her up.

I had a little meeting with her teacher, Barbara, about the future. I have been so blessed with the love and encouragement these teachers and therapists have shown to Izzy and me over the last few years.

Isabelle has started moving the curtain back in the mornings to reveal the light from the sun. Matt is looking for a bell that she can ring when she wakes up since she has been doing that several days now.

This week is national week of prayer and fasting. We are participating and praying for specific things everyday, today is "situations that seem impossible." I have a few of those (: ...

Hello!

Just a quick note to let you know Izzy is doing great this week!
She enjoyed Christmas, but is ready for school and her friends. I explained to her (again) today that she is out of school for two whole weeks, I got a growl in return!
She is healthy and happy.
Izzy mostly got cute clothes from Gymboree for Christmas, along with some toys, bracelets, movies, and a snow globe that is musical. She will have lots of choices when it's time to go back to school... what to wear, what to wear? :o)
As always Isabelle was a trooper over all the days of Christmas celebrations. She is such a good sport about being lugged around here and there.
I re-did her blog design today, it was just too Christmas-y... now that Christmas is over!
My goal is to take a pic of the kids and mail out New Years cards with their pic since I didn't get it done for Christmas... but hey, maybe picture valentines?
Izzy made the cutest calendar and book in school for Christmas. I love them. She has the best and most creative teachers ever! They insisted she come for the party last Friday, she did... she wore the snowman dress in the picture below. She was so cute!
Thanks for continuing to pray & believe!

merry christmas!

a couple of pics...

Here are two more pics of Izzy at school!

Izzy at Pre-K

update

It's been so long since I have updated this blog... so much is the same, and yet things are continuing to change and progress continues to be made. I am so proud of how well Izzy is doing in school this year. It really makes me happy to hear all the good reports when I pick her up. I believe that even if the reports are less than positive, I know she is still improving... but hearing good things is always a good thing. Some happy things going on with Izzy lately ....
... she loves pre-k and continues to really respond to her pre-k friends. Kathy went to class with her Thursday and said she was amazed at how much Izzy has improved since last year. She also said Izzy reached out to take a toy house. That's new!
... Izzy loves letters. She pays close attention when looking at letters! She (with Niecie's help) wrote an E last week. She took the marker in her hand and held on to write. She wanted to do it.
... She has been very vocal and communicative, more all the time.
... She had some stuffiness again over last weekend and first part of the week, but is all better now!
... Bear is still doing great with her. He said Friday he could see improvements since our last visit.
... Jana, Brook, and baby Nikki visited tonight. Nikki (10 months old) was climbing on Izzy and she pushed her away.
There are so many little things but that's all I can think to write tonight.
I can't close without thanking you again for keeping Izzy in your prayers.

I had to take a picture of Izzy today when she finished her bath.
Then I had to share it with you.

orlando - final post

We started our morning (Monday) visiting with Pluto and Mary Poppins.

Pluto was a sweetie!
The girls with Goofy.

We left the village and headed to Universal Studios!

Our first ride was the Dr. Seuss ride.

Izzy really did like this ride! After the first spin she was really holding on though.

We stopped in the I Love Lucy shop

Not long after we came out we saw the actress playing Lucille Ball.
She was so sweet. The girls were up on the sidewalk taking her picture and she stepped down into the 'street' and knelt down to visit with Isabelle and told her how beautiful she is. Very sweet. I didn't spend a lot of time visiting the characters, but found her attention to Izzy to be very endearing and genuine.


Another ride that we all loved including Izzy was the E.T. ride!

Here's Izzy on the E.T. ride!


Well, that almost concludes our trip.... We spent our last evening at the Villa, had dinner and packed. It was a wonderful wonderful week! Thanks for sharing it with us.