Alphabet social distancing part 2

Monday after Ella’s surgery we started back in on the letter of the day. Josie picked J and she had a grand plan that Josie is the boss of the day. I said that wasn’t an activity for all of us, it was just for her. She also wanted to do jump rope, but because Ella is in a wheelchair I said that we couldn’t do that and we needed to do activities she could participate in. So we did jenga, made jello-jigglers and painted Jaguars. 

For lunch we had jumbalaya, jelly sandwiches, jalapeños and a juice box. 

I had the H and I had big plans for this letter. We first did hair salon and I did all their hair with curls or spikes.  Then we made hot air balloons for a craft. We used coffee filters and paper.  And the next activity was a hunt. An Easter scavenger hunt. This was cool! To include Ella she was the “clue queen.”  She had all the clues and an envelope with everyone’s name on it. Each kid would pick up a clue from Ella, go find their item and return it to their bucket (next to Ella) before they would get their next clue from Ella. Ella picked someone to get her items for her and bring it back to her bucket.  The clues were all over the neighborhood and that included my house and the 2 other neighbors houses. This took up an hour and half of the day, gave them a lot of needed outdoor exercise and they super enjoyed it.  They each got a bucket of loot they wanted to check out as well! Ella was happy with being clue queen and being included that way. 

Here a few more pictures of the hunt.  It covered a large area between the 3 houses.  We parked Ella just up our road so she could see quite a bit of what was going on. At the end there buckets had treats, water, small toys, crackers and so many other little goodies. It was a perfect activity on the first 70 degree day!

Ella has XYZ today. We put all 3 together cause they are hard letters.

So her first activity was for X and that was watching the show Xavier Riddles.  I didn’t really care for this one but it’s not my activity. Plus these were hard letters. For Y we did Yoga! Yoga was fun and Ella did what she could. Check out her boat pose! Nailed it! And for Z she had us do a zebra craft. Eli helped me so we have a little color in our Z zebra. Lunch was a bit sketchy. We had zucchini bread, yogurt, zebra striped banana and zebra striped gum. I also added protein and veggie for filler cause there was no way that would keep them full.  I found Yahtzee in the basement today...woulda been nice to play for Y. Eh well.

Letter L was Eli’s. We made hearts to put up in the windows that people are doing during social distancing so you can spread Love not germs. So we finally got ours made and up. Then we played Left right center which is actually good for girls learning their left from right. And then we did lite bright which was a pretty big hit and Ella could :) 

Ella had the letter T. We did trains which Eli thoroughly enjoyed and played teacher. Ellas was the teacher and we were the students. Josie had an idea for an activity and it was we all had to try Tabasco sauce. I got some videos of that. Lol! Ella liked it and it was kind of a fun activity even though my lips were on fire! 

For lunch we tuna or turkey sandwiches, tator tots, tomatoes and more Tabasco sauce and then Toberlone chocolate for dessert. 

Today letter U was brought to us by me! We started with a unicorn craft, I have a bunch of toilet paper rolls in my recycle so it was perfect.  Poor Eli, we make him do a lot of girly things. Then we played a cut throat game of Uno where Eli won! He didn’t know what he was doing, but he knows what it means to win! And the final activity was around underwater. So I tricked Eli into getting in the bathtub at 4pm for going underwater and then his bath for the day was done :) The real underwater activity was making an underwater world craft. It’s so pretty! 

For lunch we the un-U lunch of McDonald’s! How many U foods do you know? Cut me a break! 

Josie has the letter O, we played Osmo which is a learning program on their tablets. They did math and reading/spelling for a long time. Then we did a little science and made an “ocean” using different liquids that represent the different layers of the ocean. Which we then talked about density of liquids and what that meant. Eli shook our ocean before I could get a picture....  We also made ocean creatures to go with our ocean! For lunch: Omlettes, oranges and Oreos. Josie enjoyed making the omelettes which means she liked them. Which is funny cause I’ve made them before and she said she didn’t like them. KIDS! 

The letter F came today from Eli. The kids started off the morning playing very well together with their fingerlings toys.  It was accidental until about half way thru when Josie pointed out they began with an F. Next we played some go Fish and then another game we have only played once, Flight of the Juaquin. There are 3 levels and the girls and I will play the hardest version of it tonight. Then we played the game 50 cent. This was mostly for the girls but Eli sorted his coins. I put a money amount in the bottom of muffin tins and the girls had to put that amount in the tin. It was actually a good learning activity. They struggle with dimes and nickels. Also I made them do each amount again a different way than the first time. 

For lunch: free lunch. The community had a free lunch pick up and that’s what did! Weird how these all fall into line. 

Josie’s letter was K. K got away from us today. It was earth day and our anniversary this day. We started the morning by going around and picking up trash for earth day. Josie says she found trash w the letter k on it. Josie was our Kitchen help and made us dinner. Dad came home for lunch and the kids gave us anniversary gifts including those homemade chocolates. And Eli was a monkey climbing the pole. Not much K food to eat so we  just had whatever. 

The letterS was Ella’s.  We made a ski ball game with laundry baskets and it was hit. We played that for like an hour. It also worked with the girls math skills as they added up all the scores. We then made a giant “Slides N Ladders” game outside on the driveway. It was just something Ella could do outside. It was fun! And of course, SLIME! they made and played with all slime.  I don’t get it with slime but whatever cause they love it! And later they did a scavenger hunt! Ella told them what to find and they brought it back to her to get the next item to find. 

For lunch, spaghetti, strawberries, salsa and chips and shredded wheat cereal. 

Q was brought to you but me! Josie received a quilt making kit at Xmas and started it but she never finished it so of course this was the activity I had planned. We worked for a long time on it but finally got it done. Eli really didn’t do anything but cause trouble :) I then did a Q and A with each kid. It was neat to hear their answers. I modified Eli’s to his level. I’m lazy and I’m not typing their answers out. And then we played the game 20 questions but forgot to get a picture. 

For lunch we had quesadillas and queso with chips. Yum! 

Josie’s letter was I and this is the second to last letter! Ella did ask when we finish can we do it all over again? Yay! That must be a mom win as she liked doing it. Josie’s first activity was making “igloo” forts. They were just regular forts but she put igloo in there to make work. Lol! The. She had us do ice cream taste tests. Everyone liked that one! And then I said we were going on an incredible walk/ride on this incredibly beautiful day. Eli was a champ on his bike! 

And last but not least the letter R!  We made rockets out of science book we have and it talked about friction and how it works. We did reading, which we do everyday but today we did more. Josie even read to Eli! And rainbow crafts. That’s Eli he taped to front door. 

For lunch we had roast beef sandwiches, Ritz crackers, refried beans and roasted red pepper hummus and carrots. 

And that’s a wrap! 

Next up is May Day baskets

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Ella update

I have been getting asked a lot how Ella is doing in her casts.  Honestly, she is doing AWESOME!  She crawls around and can now get up to the bathroom herself, transfer herself to the wheelchair and is ALL over the house.  It really hasn't slowed her down too much.  On April 17th we got 6 inches of snow so Eli and Josie and I went out to play.  Ella stayed inside and I went to check on her inside and she asked me to stay inside with her.  She was bored and wanted to go outside.  So I made that happen for her and she was excited.  Outside is the challenge for her cause everywhere around us is a hill so she can't be left alone and she can't do her wheelchair.  So this was good for her.

I really haven't heard her complain at all.  And a few times I heard her yell with frustration "I can't do that cause I have casts" when she is getting upset with Josie going up and down the steps and not staying where she is to play.

Piggyback rides are cool and save mom and dads backs.

We found her firsts casts in her keep sakes box when we were putting all her cards from surgery in her box.  Look how tiny those are!  7 years later....

All her crawling and scooting everywhere have really worn her casts down.  She had the area on top of her legs that are very worn but not all the way through and then that spot on her heal is now completely worn through. 

Everything has been an adjustment as you can imagine. Showering, bathroom, dressing and she even changed her room but she smiles right thru it! 

And here are some videos to show how well she does. 

I have tried to find activities that she can do and here is ski ball I made and she had to modify with a stool.

She really is doing quite well with the casts.  Don't get me wrong, we still know she is in casts and can't weight bear, but she is definitely doing way better than I expected.  I am ready for them to be off and for her to be able to pick up and clear dishes etc. but I am very happy with her level of independence and her good attitude during this time.  

14th Anniversary

Joey and I celebrated our 14th anniversary.  We couldn't go out as there were no restaurants open and we couldn't hire a sitter cause of social distancing. So we've been doing what we have been doing for weeks and hung out at home.  Josie was doing a lot of cooking with Joey so I got the idea to encourage her cooking and asked if she would cook our anniversary dinner.  She LIT up when I asked her.  She had really big ideas, wanted to make us presents and couldn't WAIT to make us dessert.  Josie made homemade chocolates for dad and me a necklace for our presents.  Ella made us cards.  Joey came home for lunch with a special delivery for me.  The pretty tulips! :)

 

 

Then it was time to make dinner.  She cut the strawberries all herself and wanted us to have colored cool whip on top for dessert.  She made spaghetti and green beans and garlic knots for dinner.  She set the basement up for us to eat downstairs and then they ate upstairs.  She put the flowers down there, put on a table cloth and set the table for us.  She did AWESOME!!  I am soo proud of how good she did and how much she loved doing it.  I am not sure I could have asked for a better anniversary dinner that my daughter just SHINED doing!

She even served us and brought our dessert down to us and cleared our plates!  She gave me the pink cool whipped strawberries and Joey the yellow. 



She loved doing it and I am glad I asked her to make it!

Eli of course, couldn't really leave us alone.  He "sneaked" on us and then I guess was the dinner entertainment and climbed like a monkey

 

Our anniversary happens to fall on Earth Day!  So earlier in the day we picked up trash around the neighborhood.  So 2 celebrations in one day.

Easter

Well, Easter sure was different this year.  Covid-19 closed the churches weeks before Easter and weren't open for Easter and still not open yet.  We normally do an Easter brunch and see the easter bunny but this year the Easter did a social distant drive by.  Eli smiled but I think he likes the distance between him and bunny. 

The Easter bunny did find our way back to our house for the kids Easter baskets.  He hid them, but don't worry they all found them and all the loot he left.

Josie got rain boots, candy and back massager

Eli got a paw patrol watch and big shovel and bucket for beach season

Ella got this big shovel and massager and back scratcher. All 3 got buckets for the beach

Easter church looked quite different this year as we watched it on TV.  I did like the just sitting part but my kids were still not any better behaved.

Family Easter pictures.  This was the first time I had put makeup on in a month.  We didn't even do anything. :) I did get a 3 mile walk in after our Easter brunch.

And that was our Easter 2020.  Socially distant, mass on TV, easter bunny.  It was a nice April day.

Surgery

What a rollercoaster ride Ella's surgery was. Just at the time her first one was cancelled on the 10th corona virus and social distancing was taken off.  She was re-casted the following Monday following her cancellation and at that time I asked if they would even be doing her surgery or what.  They could not give me an answer because they truly didn't know.  Well in the time of re-casting and surgery, schools were closed for social distancing and many businesses as well.  I just really didn't think it would happen.  Then I got a call from anesthesia the Wednesday before her surgery and I couldn't believe she wasn't cancelled. So I called everyone to let them know she was go.  So the very next day our governor cancelled all elective surgeries. So I thought for sure she was not going to be having it.  I called on Monday and they said yes she is a GO! They said because she is in treatment aka castings that she is not considered elective per se.  I couldn't believe it and wasn't mentally prepared for it.  But I got there.  No grandparents were coming because of the corona virus so had to find a sitter for the other 2 kids. 

 

The morning of April 1st we woke up at 3am and headed to Iowa City.  Her surgery time was 7:15am and we had to be there at 6am.  The hospital was eerily empty and they were screening people for fevers and coughs at the entrances.  Only the 2 of us were allowed to be with Ella, no other visitors.  Every staff member were wearing these space helmet protection so they were "protected" from the virus. 

Here is Ella getting her casts off for surgery

Preoperatively, they gave her versed and here you can see the effects of it on her.  She didn't seem nervous really at all about surgery and I was happy about that.

Her surgery was about an hour and half long but with anesthesia and recovery time we didn't see her for about 3 hours.  Anesthesia gave her a caudle block which is in her very low back for post-op pain control and she was also under general anesthesia.  Here she is in recovery.  She was very drowsy.

She was overnight in the hospital for pain control.  Mom and Dad got her that big elephant which was a hit and comfy to snuggle with.

They did not put the fiberglass casts or colored casts on right away.  They waited until the plaster casts dried.  Here is a blood spot that was seeping thru the plaster at one of her incisions.  Not alarming at all.  It happens and is covered by the fiberglass cast.

Settled in her room where they have that personal tablet in everyroom.  You could order food, watch movies, you tube and do lots of things off that thing.  Ella loved it.  The block slowly wore off as the day progressed and by 9pm she was in pain.  I don't know if anyone has seen there child crying and writhing in pain, but it sure is awful.  She was so tense and crying so hard.  The nurse was giving her all the meds she had available and called the doctor for more.  It took about an hour and half before she was able to calm down.  Her eyes were swollen from crying so hard and just plain worn out.  I felt so helpless and tried my best to comfort her.  After that we gave her pain medicine around the clock and didn't wait.  Ella will tell you her pain was a 20 on the 1-10 pain scale.  I never want to see any of my children in pain like ever again. :(

Testing out her wheelchair and not having any pain! She was ready to go in this and was learning to turn and maneuver in her room!

This was a huge TV that they could program with her doctors name and picture and nurses and aids as well.  It was pretty cool.  If you see her picture is on it too!

And the view from her room.  We were on the 9th floor and it went up to 12 floors

On Friday, we were discharged and had a 2 hour drive home.  She needed to have her legs propped up due to swelling so this is how she rode home.  She was apparently comfortable as she fell asleep.

 

She was sent home on 5 different medications including oxycodone and muscle spasm meds.  We continued to give those around clock the first 3 days. 

Ella sure has a lot of great friends and family that love her.  She has been given so many things to help her in her recovery process.  She has been completely showered with well wishes and treats!

Ella had some messages for her on our driveway when she got home from Josie and Eli.  They were so excited to see her and missed her. 

 
 
 

After we got home we moved her bed and made her room again, into our toy room.  Since I didn't really think the surgery was happening until 2 days before, we didn't get her room changed again.  It didn't take long to realize our house is not wheelchair accessible.  It is a tight squeeze to get into her room across from ours and the bathroom is even tighter.  She really can only wheel around the living room kitchen and dining room and into her room off the dining room.  Going outside isn't really a great option either as we are surrounded by hills so she can't get her self up them so someone will have to be out with her at all times...  She couldn't fit under our table so we had this little table for her, but we quickly realized she fit with the arms of her wheelchair off so we leave them off all the time now.  She can't reach the sink so washing her hands is a pain as well as brushing her teeth.  She needs a stepstool to put her legs on when she goes to the bathroom so her casts don't dangle and because of that she sinks way into the toilet.  Joey changed the kiddy potty seat that was in the small bath to our bathroom and that has worked well.  Showering we put a plastic step stool in our tub and she sits on that with casts covers on.  We are NOT showering every night. The whole thing was very overwhelming and Joey was going back to work on Monday and I was very concerned about how I was supposed to do this all alone plus deal with the other 2 kiddos.  But things have progressively gotten better.  Ella is transferring to her wheelchair by herself from bed and couch.  She is crawling on the floor now and scooting up the steps to get to Josie's room. She is not having pain anymore so she is off her medicine.

Trying to find activities we can do to include Ella is challenging as Josie wants to go run and play as with Eli.   I was worried about how she would get along at her school because they didn't have an elevator, but I am learning it would have been way easier for her to go to school.  She would have something to do and people to talk to and also be able to wheel around the halls and playground by herself.  Her area is so small here and only so many things I can do with her. 

She was able to do her violin lesson the Friday after surgery.  At least she can still do that and be able to practice :)  We are also picking up packets from school to work on.  This has been quite the adjustment for us and I'm REAL glad I painted this past December so Ella can bang into all my walls with her wheelchair.  It's a constant reminder for Eli to have all his toys picked up so Ella can wheel around and Josie is getting annoyed with getting stuff for her and being her other big helper. 

May 11th she gets her casts off and lets just say the countdown has begun....

 

Ella has so far ROCKED this.  I have not heard her complain about anything other than pain.  Her attitude has been so positive and she continues to smile.  I have not heard once that she wishes she could walk or she didn't like the casts.  I am amazed and need to take on more of her positive attitude in this matter.  She is AWESOME!