Faith's Monumental Visit to South Dakota

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When I received my niece, Sydnee's graduation announcement in the mail, I thought it might be the perfect opportunity to visit my brother and his family for the first time at their home in Spearfish. I also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see Mount Rushmore, which I had never seen before!  My nephew in Nebraska was graduating that same weekend, and my sister Dawn and I tried to put together a plan where we could go to both of their graduation receptions. I knew though, that Faith would feel left out and would want to go, too. I also knew it was going to be difficult to find someone to look after Faith over Memorial Day weekend.  Our finalized plan involved Dawn traveling to South Dakota with me and Faith and then her flying to Nebraska by herself. Faith and I would then drive back to Bismarck by ourselves.  3 adventurous travelers  I must admit, as the trip got closer, I started to get a little anxious about how Faith was going to do with so much drivi...
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Tuesday Tidbits - Rummage, Respite and Reorganizing

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For the past month or so, Rob and I have been trying to go through every closet, every drawer, every box, basically everything in our apartment. This Friday all of our un-needed treasure will be up for grabs at a rummage sale we're going in on with a friend of ours. 

This morning, Rob realized he had forgotten to go through his clothes, so he hurried into the closet and grabbed all of the hangers with dust on them. A lot of his clothes he has shrunk out of since losing weight. Wish I had that same problem!

Another reason for our reorganizing frenzy is because we had to make room for Faith's new bed. While shopping for a better mattress for her, we were at TW Warehouse when we discovered the Dr. Breus Bed. Dr. Breus developed six different mattresses for different kinds of sleepers. The mattress we found for Faith is made especially for people with fibromyalgia or arthritis.

Though she doesn't have either of these conditions, we figured it was worth a shot to see if it would help her sleep when her muscles were feeling tight. We've had the bed for a couple of weeks now and she still wakes up at least a couple of times a night, but we noticed she doesn't seem so grumpy in the morning. We think this might mean that she feels less achy and stiff in the mornings and is getting more sound sleep.

The other night I had put some of Faith's stuffed animals on her bed. When she noticed they were there, she said, "What's this mess on my bed!" Apparently, she doesn't want stuffed animals on her new bed.

Today we met with Easter Seals because we had to do a new personal care plan for Faith, which means we have been with them for one year now. We really like Easter Seals and appreciate the community activities that they hold for their families. 

We have some great respite care workers or direct support personnel (dsp) through them. Recently, one of Faith's aides at school began doing respite care for us. It works out great because she already knows how to take care of Faith! Their favorite thing to do together is bake. Last night they made some very yummy chocolate chip muffins!

Faith enjoying some time with her respite care provider

We also had Michelle over the weekend (who has been with us since Faith was a baby and who made the transition from our former support service to Easter Seals so she could continue to care for Faith.) Michelle took her for a walk down to Cold Stone Creamery and while there, Faith told Michelle, "Maybe if we're NOT polite, we'll get some free ice cream!" I really have no idea where she got that from!

Tomorrow I'm going to my friends where we hauled all of our rummage stuff to and am pricing everything. Then in the afternoon Faith has hydrotherapy and physical therapy. I'll try to remember my camera AND my SD card to get some pictures!

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When I received my niece, Sydnee's graduation announcement in the mail, I thought it might be the perfect opportunity to visit my brother and his family for the first time at their home in Spearfish. I also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see Mount Rushmore, which I had never seen before!  My nephew in Nebraska was graduating that same weekend, and my sister Dawn and I tried to put together a plan where we could go to both of their graduation receptions. I knew though, that Faith would feel left out and would want to go, too. I also knew it was going to be difficult to find someone to look after Faith over Memorial Day weekend.  Our finalized plan involved Dawn traveling to South Dakota with me and Faith and then her flying to Nebraska by herself. Faith and I would then drive back to Bismarck by ourselves.  3 adventurous travelers  I must admit, as the trip got closer, I started to get a little anxious about how Faith was going to do with so much drivi...
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