For the first few months I put myself in a little bubble - trying to shield these precious moments I have with Neely from being robbed by the daily stress of our life. It worked for a while - we put some of Maggie's therapy on hold and gave her a break from her brace for a while and I thoroughly enjoyed the peace in our house.
But now I am back to real life and realizing that I can't escape from Maggie's issues forever. The countless doctors, therapists, orthotists continue- this time with baby in tow.
I'm sure having a new baby doesn't help this, but Maggie is really asserting her strong will. And when I say strong will, I mean STRONG WILL. I think James Dobson wrote his book about the strong-willed child with Maggie in mind! I know, I know - my mom says that Maggie has gotten as far as she has in life partially because of her strong will. I know that and thank God for her strong determination.
But she is really throwing me for a loop lately with her refusal to do what I say! I don't blame her because most of the stuff I'm asking her to do is not pleasurable: feeding therapy, stretching, strengthening exercises, tube feeding, and enduring her awful brace being snapped on. As one doctor put it, Maggie has a full time job being Maggie and three year olds aren't supposed to have full time jobs!
So I get it. I would be frustated and angry, too. But what do I do about it? As a mom of a child with a lot of needs you hear advice ranging from, "Oh just take a hiatus from therapy for a while to give her a break" to "it's the moms who push the hardest who see the biggest results when their kids are older." So where's the middle ground? I'm still in the process of figuring it out.
Anyways, we had our first vacation in years last week. We weren't able to travel during my pregnancy and Justin's been so busy with work, but finally we went to San Antonio with him last week. Maggie loves Free Willy so we knew Sea World would be fantastic for her - she absolutely loved it and so did Mary Lawrence. Neely was just along for the ride and was perfectly well-behaved.
Despite me getting sick, I have to say it was the happiest I've seen any of us in a long time. My girls were satisfied playing in the hotel room - not having any therapists or nurses bothering Maggie was a vacation in itself! But we enjoyed the zoo and other fun parts of the city, too.
(that's a tiger in the background-Maggie's favorite animal)
We also went to Little Rock recently and the girls had a blast with their cousins.
I was just asking Shelly how you guys were, I'm so glad to see everyone healthy and smiling. Keep your head up Momma, you still have a friend in Mississippi that prays for y'all always.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Sam