Day 26 of recovery

7/26/14

Day 26 of recovery

Yesterday turned out to be one of those really hard days, Alexa was in a lot of pain most of the day.  We tried to take her out to the store for a bit but she just couldn’t do it.  It turned out to be quite a boring day for us too, just sat around watching movies & being bored.  Today I got up fairly early & went down to get some laundry done.  That’s always an adventure since one of the dryers down stairs doesn’t work & I had to put one load down stairs & take the other one clear up to the 3^rd floor & we are on the 2^nd floor.  At least I got plenty of exercise, haha!!  We decided we needed to follow Dr. Chinikotla’s advice & get Alexa out & about today so we got all ready with all of her meds, insulin & paraphernalia & headed out.  BTW, I found out I was spelling Dr. C’s name wrong & this is the right way, I had the last “t” & the “l” switched around.  You think that’s bad, you should see his 1^st name!!  We decided we wanted to find the Saint Paul, Minnesota Temple which was about 20 min away.  We also wanted to find a Costco since my GPS had started messing up really bad & we needed to exchange it.  The temple is very pretty but very small.  There weren’t even any gardens or anything around it to walk thru like they usually have.  We will probably try to do a session & baptisms when Chelsea & Shayla come.  Oh, did I mention that Shayla is coming the 1^st week in Aug along with Chelsea?  We are lining up some fun things to do while they are here.  After seeing the temple we went to Costco & had no prob exchanging the GPS, that’s why I shop there.  We decided to eat lunch there & while we were eating we noticed that Alexa’s feeding tube wasn’t working……again!!!  Ty bought a bottle of coke & we headed out to the car to try to unclog it again.  He worked & worked on it & on the way home pulled over several times to work on it some more.  After we got home I called the transplant dr on call & told them what was happening.  I explained to her that we couldn’t afford to keep going into the ER every time it gets clogged up since we have a $100 ER deductible.  She felt really bad but said since it’s a weekend & Dr. C was in surgery for another 3 hrs, that’s the only way we could do it.  Ty was pretty determined not to have to have her admitted back into the hospital so he continued to work on it & was finally able to get it unclogged.  I think the “plumber” was coming out in him!  He said if he had his compressor & shop vac he could keep her unclogged, haha!!  Hopefully it will stay good for the night & all day tomorrow!!  I took a pic of Alexa’s morning meds, they are very colorful aren’t they?  We have to crush pills & soak them in water & get all of these ready every morn & night & it takes about ½ hr.  Tonight we ate with the Clements here at RMH.  Austin got out of the hospital yesterday & is doing really well.  He brought Risk over to our apt & the kids are playing that tonight.  We are so glad he is here.  It will be so good for these kids to have each other & keep their minds off their pain!!  Austin’s Mom, Ann, reminds me so much of Vickie Dawson & makes me miss her!!  We just need prayers that we can keep this darn feeding tube unclogged now & that Alexa can start eating on her own so we can be rid of it!

 

 

Day 24 of recovery

7/24/14

Day 24 of recovery

Well, we wouldn’t think that everything would go absolutely smooth without any probs, would we?  It hasn’t!  Yesterday we decided to be really adventurous & go to Target to get some groceries.  The hospital had given Alexa a gift card that she wanted to spend also.  Dr. C had told us that we needed to get Alexa out to do something every single day.  He said that we needed to go to Twins games, the zoo & whatever else we could to distract her from the pain.  By the time we got to Target & started walking around for a bit, Alexa was in so much pain.  This was the most awesome Target though.  It was 3 stories & the escalator was really cool.  It had sort of a separate track for you to put you cart on next to the escalator while you were going up.  It was pretty hard to find things though.  By the time we got out of there & got back to the RMH Alexa was pretty bad so she just rested.  I got some laundry done later after dinner & Ty & the kids were excited to find the unfinished game room next to the laundry room.  They had a good time playing for a while.  Alexa’s feeding tube clogged up a couple of times during the day but the alarm didn’t go off on the pump like it was supposed to.  After getting back to the room from the game room we looked at the feeding bag & saw that there wasn’t near enough gone & it was supposed to be almost empty.  The tube going into her belly was empty but the pump was still pumping & hadn’t sounded the alarm so she had been without any food for a couple of hrs!  That was really bad since it would throw off her blood sugar too much.  I called home health care & told them & they said they would have a new pump sent out in the morn.  We started working on getting it unclogged with lots of really warm water & were finally able to do it.   We were able to get all of her syringes of meds down it but a few min later it was clogged again.  Ty worked & worked on trying to get the clog out for about ½ hr but was unable to get it.  Home health told us we needed to take her to the ER before her blood sugar went down too much so we all loaded up & went down there.  They worked on it & couldn’t get it to move so tried running a wire down it & put medicine in to dissolve it but still couldn’t get it.  They finally decided she would have to be admitted so they could get her hooked up to an IV & get the clog out the next day.  I left for a min & when I came back everyone was so happy!  The nurse had gotten some coke & was finally able to get the clog out so we were able to go home!  When we got back I called home health & told them we had to have the new pump that night so they sent one over.  Just when we got to bed & got into a deep sleep the alarm went off.  Ty was able to get the clog out & I didn’t budge, we were so worn out!  He got back into bed & a few min later, there goes the alarm again!  He got the clog out again & came back to bed & there it went again.  We both got up then & he worked on it for over an hr with lots of coke & warm water but just couldn’t get it.  I took Ty & her over to the ER & then went back to the RMH to stay with Tyson & try to get some sleep, haha!  As if I could sleep!!  They got her admitted into a room pretty quick & they were able to get a little bit of sleep.  They didn’t want to change out the tube while she was awake since Dr. C had put a stitch inside the tummy to keep the tube from flipping.  They had been having probs with it flipping in lots of kids & they have to open them back up to fix it. 

I couldn’t sleep at all that night & finally ended up getting to sleep at 5 AM.  I got a call at 9:30 from Dr. Clavel’s office reminding me that Tyson was supposed to have an apt with PT at 9:00.  I explained to them what we had been thru & she told me they could see him at 1:00.  I started packing a suitcase & showered & got all ready to go to the hospital & then got a call back from Dr. Clavel’s office telling me that Dr. Clavel had been thinking & researching about Tyson’s headaches & doesn’t want him to go to PT without seeing him again & he wanted to be present during PT to make sure they didn’t do anything to make him worse.  I guess it was meant for us to miss that apt!!  I’m so happy to have such a good dr that is really trying to help us finally!!  Just as we were getting ready to walk out the door Ty called & said there had been a surgery cancellation & they were able to get Alexa in right then to replace the tube.  He said he thought it was going to be a pretty quick procedure so I decided not to take our stuff over there.  BIG MISTAKE!  I should know how slow hospitals move by now, haha!!  By the time we got over there we sat in her room for quite a while & then called Ty & found out she hadn’t even gone back yet.  We headed over to the OR & were able to go back & visit with her before she went back.  It was really funny when we walked in & the 1^st thing Alexa said was that she was so starving & really wanted the cake & cookie that was at the RMH.  Ty said she had been talking about it all day & was so worried that I was going to throw it away.  During dinner the night before there was a really cool cake sitting on the counter that hadn’t been cut yet & Alexa wanted a piece.  When I went down later I saw it had been cut so I took a couple of pieces up to our room.  Her eyes got really wide & she was so excited I’d brought her some.  Then we waited & waited in the OR waiting rm.  We were starting to get a bit worried since it was taking so long but finally the dr came out & said everything went fine & the new tube was in place.  Ty was able to go back to the room & nap for a couple of hrs while Tyson & I stayed there & waited & waited for Alexa to finally wake up.  I think she was just enjoying finally getting some nice sleep.  When she finally came around she was absolutely starving & started getting pretty shaky, her blood sugar was pretty low again.  All she could talk about was getting home to her cake, haha!!  Tyson thought it was hilarious!  We finally made it back to the room around 4:30 & she had to start eating things to get her sugar back up.  She ordered a huge meal & took a couple of bites from each thing when we got back to her rm.  Tyson was happy to help her finish a few things.  After they got her blood sugar stable then they finally started her tube feeds again & now they are telling us we have to stay for an hr or so to make sure they stay stable.  Here is it 8:00 PM now & we are still here waiting.  Ty & I went back to RMH earlier & got our stuff so I could do this update & he is having a nice nap now, which is good.  He can stay up tonight while I get to sleep, haha!!  Poor Tyson has been quite bored today but it is good for him to be here with Alexa.  She is still really happy to have him here!

Thanks so much for the letters & cards that have been sent, Alexa absolutely loves them.  She is so worried that since we’ve left the hospital her mail won’t catch up with us but when we went for our dr apt on Tues they had her mail waiting for her.  She got a couple of letters today at the RMH, one from Gfather & Alba & one from Sarah Smartt, who has been thru so many trials of her one with her brain cancer.  We are so thankful Sarah shared her story with us & she is in our prayers!! 

Oh, one really funny thing that happened when Tyson got here on Tues.  He went in the bathroom to brush his teeth & came out with Alex

a’s hemorrhoid crm in his hands asking if this was the toothpaste he was supposed to use.  BAHAHAHA, we had such a great laugh about that!!!  I should have just let him use it!!

Well, we just got home finally & it’s 9:45 so good night!

 

 

 

 

 

This is Jerry, the RMH dog that roams around. He's kind of a snob & doesn't come to you unless you have food but Alexa really likes him. His brother's name is Tom, haha!

 

This is Caleb & Lisa Betts. Caleb had the same surgery about 2 1/2 months ago & they went home today. We are going to miss them!

 

 

 

 

This is the cool shopping cart escalator at the 3 story Target!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tyson loved playing in the RMH castle playhouse!

 

 

 

This is the unfinished game room at RMH. Ty & Tyson have already talked to them about letting them help fix it up while we are here! They have to have a project you know!!

 

 

Alexa waiting to go in to get her feeding tube replaced, she's feeling a bit anxious!

 

 

Tyson made himself a bed while waiting for Alexa to come out!

   

Day 22 of recovery

7/22/14

Day 22 of recovery

Wow, the last couple of days have been really crazy!  The good news is we are finally out of the hospital.  Dr. C told us we were going to go home on Mon so on Mon morn I got up & started packing things up.  I expected that it wouldn’t be very early that we would finally get to leave but I figured it would be some time in the afternoon.  At about 1:00 the pharmacist came by & showed us how to give Alexa all of her many, many medicines in her feeding tube.  That literally took about 1 ½ hrs!  By the time we were done we were starving so we went down to get something to eat really quick before the next people came to show us things.  Caleb & Lisa came by & visited while they were between doctor appointments so that helped to break up the time & we had fun visiting with them.  Finally the nurse said she was getting our paperwork ready to get discharged.  We thought that would just take a minute but we waited & waited.  When she finally came in she said that usually the discharge papers are only about 2 or 3 papers but Alexa’s were about 9 or 10 pages long!  Just as she started going over the discharge papers with us we had a visit from some friends that I met on Facebook.  Their daughter, Alyssa, was here for her 1 yr post-op visit & she looked & felt great.  I was so excited that they came by!  They are from Arkansas, right around where Ty grew up & are the nicest people!  We enjoyed visiting with them for about an hr.  When they left the nurse came back in it took another hr to go over things with us.  We finally broke out of there & got to the Ronald McDonald House about 7:30.  We felt really overwhelmed having to give Alexa all of her many meds, which took us an hr to get ready, & get her feeding tube ready with the crushed enzymes in it, & check her blood sugar.  We were having probs with the feeding tube & the enzymes were making it clog & it kept beeping so we ended up staying up till about 2 in the morn trying to get that to work.  Then we had to have our alarm set for 4 Am to have her check her blood sugar again & give the 4:00 meds.  She ended up waking us up again at 6 so we ended up staying up & getting her 8 AM meds ready & didn’t go back to sleep.  So that was our 1^st night!!  We were really missing the wonderful nurses about that time, haha!! 

Today was pretty hectic too.  The home health nurse came this morn to change the dressing on Alexa’s picc line.  She got here just as I was getting out of the shower & was here for about an hr.  After that Alexa hurried & showered & then we left to go to the airport to pick up Tyson.  We were pretty nervous about him flying alone since he hadn’t flown before but Chelsea & Melissa took him to the airport & Chels was able to get a pass & took him clear back to his gate!  We parked the car & all went in to meet him.  Alexa & I were really excited to see him.  He snuck up on us as Alexa & I were sitting there putting some meds into her feeding tube.  We all thought he’d grown another ½ inch when we saw him!!  After that we had to hurry to Alexa’s dr apt with Dr. C.  On the way we stopped at Taco Bell & Alexa actually wanted to try eating a bean burrito.  The dr had told us she could try whatever she wanted so that’s what she did.  She actually ate about 1/3 of it!  The day before she ate about ¼ of a grilled cheese sandwich & didn’t have any probs!!  When Dr. C came in & we told him he was so happy.  He kept saying, “That’s good! That really is great!!”  He is so pleased with how she is doing!  He says if she continues to eat well she will only have to do the feeds thru the tube 12 hrs a day instead of continuous!  He wanted to do an xray since she hadn’t been pooping really regular for a couple of days but she was fine.  After that we rushed over to drop off Alexa & Ty at the RMH & I took Tyson to his apt with Dr. Clavel, the headache specialist that is also Alexa’s pain dr.  We were there for about 2 hrs.  I think he is going to be able to help him.  I sure hope so anyway!!  We came back & ate dinner & then just enjoyed having Tyson here.  It sure is good to be with him again!!  This little apartment we are in is getting smaller & smaller!  We talked to the people in the office about getting a bigger room but they don’t have any available right now.  We really just feel lucky & grateful to be here though, even if we have to squish.  Tyson was in heaven when he saw all the snacks on all of the counters that he can help himself to any time!  We noticed that Alexa’s dressing on her picc line was all wet inside the bandage so I had to call the home health nurse again.  She had to come out & change the dressing again & said it was good we had called.  I guess when Alexa took her shower we didn’t wrap it well enough.  Hopefully she will get that out soon.

1/23/14

I didn’t get this ready to send before I went to bed so here we are this morn.  The night wasn’t too bad this time.  We are getting the routine down pretty well of checking her blood sugar every 4 hrs, which btw has been perfect every time!  I will be glad when we don’t have to get up so much during the night!!  I’m going to come home with bags under my eyes, 20 lbs heavier & grey hairs, haha!   

Leaving the hospital

At the airport

Waiting for Dr. Chinnakolta

Tyson's table bed at Ronald McDonald House

Day 20 of recovery

7/20/14

Day 20 of recovery

Today has been a hard day for me.  I stayed with Alexa last night & things went pretty well.  When I woke up this morn the thought came to me that maybe Tyson would have a bad day today.  I don’t know why but Sundays are really hard for him having to sit thru 3 hrs of church.  I called him before church & told him I thought he should get up & walk around outside, even if he was late for classes, he should get out & walk a bit.  About 11:00 our time I got a call from him & he was in so much pain he could hardly talk.  He said he was in the empty room next to the library at church & his head was hurting so bad & his body was going numb again.  I had Ty get on his phone to see if he could get ahold of someone to go in & help him but no one was answering their phones since it was during Sac mtg.  I hung up & was trying to call Shayla, who was in singles ward Sac mtg & then tried to call a few of the singles that I had the numbers for but no one would answer.  After praying, finally Shayla answered her phone.  I had her go over to our church & take Tyson’s muscle relaxer & told her to see if she could get someone to give him a blessing.  Ty finally got Craig Parry to answer his phone & he had gone in there too.  I was so relieved to finally have someone in there with him.  It was just killing me to not be there with him when he is suffering so much!!  After Shayla got there they helped him out to her car & I told Shayla to find Dr. Sharp & see if he could come to the house to check him out.  He was nice enough to come over.  We are so blessed to have so many friends to help out so much!!  Before too long his head started feeling like the “normal” headache almost. 

Ty & I were able to attend Sac mtg today & it felt so good to be able to go again.  We went to Kaia’s ward about 20 min away in Bloomington.  It was a great mtg, it was the farewell of the son of the ortho that I took Alexa to.  He is a member of their stk presidency.  The ward is very friendly, we had so many people come up & talk to us!  It was fun to see Kaia & meet her family.  Ty got to see a bit more of MN & how beautiful it is when you get away from the hospital.  Tonight Kaia came by to visit & brought 3 of her sons.  It was great having them come & it was also a great distraction for Alexa since she was in so much pain about an hr before her pain meds were due.  It really helps to keep her mind on other things.  I really think getting out of this hospital will help so much so she won’t be lying in bed thinking about being sick so much.  It will also be so great to have Tyson here with her.  Overall, things are going very well.  It is a very slow process to heal from this surgery & we just have to have lots of patience & take things a day at a time.  I thank Heavenly Father every single day for all of the friends & family who love us & pray for us.  We are really so blessed!!!

Day 19 of recovery

7/19/14

Day 19 of recovery 

We are still doing pretty well!  People were not exaggerating when they said it would be 1 good day & then a couple of bad ones.  We had a couple of bad nights where her pain was out of control again but last night seemed to be better.  If you ask Alexa about her nights she will tell you they are all horrible but with us sleeping here with her we can tell when things are truly horrible for her & when things are getting better.  Her pain meds were wearing off about an hr before she was due for the next dose, which was every 4 hrs, & that last hr was really difficult to get thru.  They changed her schedule so she would get pain meds every 3 hrs & readjusted the dosage & things finally started getting better yesterday.  I was pretty exhausted from the 2 nights before so Ty stayed the night with her last night & said she actually did pretty well.  We pray every day for the nurses & doctors to be inspired & know what changes need to be made & we feel so blessed that things are going so well.  We are still on schedule to be released from here on Mon.  Alexa is a bit apprehensive about it since she is still in so much pain but I believe we will have what we need to keep things under control ourselves.  It will be tough since we will have to set alarms to get up & check blood sugar & give meds regularly but we will get thru it.  We should be pretty used to it since we have been getting up with her every night for the past couple of yrs!  We have been researching & asking around about things we can do around here to keep Alexa distracted.  We are excited that Tyson will be coming on Tues & then Chelsea is planning on coming the 1^st part of Aug.  Alexa is beginning to try more foods by mouth, which the dr says is a really good thing.  They said that she can have whatever she wants but just to try a couple of bites & see how she feels to begin with.  Yesterday she ate a small thing of dippin dots & did fine with it.  Right now she just has to keep track of the carbs & correct with insulin but eventually as her islets start “waking up” more & more, we will be able to keep going down on her insulin!!  She also has to take pancreatic enzymes with every single thing that she eats & will need to do that for the rest of her life.  

 

This is the nurse Fataya that we had for about a week when things were really rough. She was fantastic & we really grew to love her! I forgot to have Alexa put her retainer in with her tooth so she looks like an oaky, haha!!

 

  

Day 17 of recovery

7/17/14

Day 17 of recovery

We are progressing very well now.  Pain is staying pretty well under control & Alexa is asking to go to the library to check out movies & asking to go outside.  That means she is getting bored.  Austin Clements has been moved up to the floor already & is doing really well.  He is a great kid & I think Tyson & Alexa will enjoy hanging out with him.  Also Caleb is staying at the RMH & is excited that Tyson is coming.  He had the surgery about 2 months ago I think.  We are so grateful for the RMH, is has really been nice to have a safe place to go.  Tonight Famous Dave’s catered the dinner & we ate way too much!  It was so good!!  Yesterday was a bit of a hard day.  At 5 AM I woke up hearing 3 different nurses or doctors in there working around Alexa.  I just laid there quietly watching & listening while they were doing something with her picc line.  They were working on it for about an hr.  At one point one of them ran out to get something & the other one got on his phone & called someone & told them he needed them to come to room 32 quickly.  I was freaking out a bit at that point wondering just what was going on.  We had just been to that class on how to care for the picc line the day before & she told us how crucial it was to do everything just right & warned us about the possibility of getting a clot in it.  I heard them talking about having to do TPA.  After everyone left except for the nurse I asked her what was going on & she told me that both lines were clogged & they were going to put TPA in there which is a medication that will dissolve the clot.  I got up & looked it up on the internet which was a mistake cuz it only made me worry more.  The site I was reading from was written in 2007 & was talking about how it could possibly cause death!  I was so worried that at 7:00 I decided to call Ty & woke him up.  I felt better after talking to him though.  They were able to get the clot out of one side after about an hr & the other one a while later.  Well, in the afternoon she had a prob with her feeding tube.  I wouldn’t close tight & everyone thought the only way to fix it was going to be to put a new tube into her belly.  The nurse ended up taping it & when they put anything into it they had to have Alexa hold it tight so it wouldn’t leak everywhere.  When Dr. C came today he fixed it for us by sticking something in it & it won’t ever come out.  I guess it works now though, haha!  He says she is doing fantastic & told us that she will probably be able to go to the RMH with us on Mon or Tues.  She is only hooked up to her feeding tube now, which she will go there with.  She actually tried to eat 2 bites of ice cream today & didn’t have a prob.  They said that would be the best thing to start with since it can melt & we can open the g tube & let it melt out if it upsets her stomach, but it didn’t.  She also had the g tube clamped almost the whole day, yay!!!  Things are going really well & now Ty is going more & more stir crazy!  He doesn’t do well sitting around watching movies.  Things will get better when Tyson comes & Chelsea is coming later.  We are already planning all kinds of fun things to go see & do.  The RMH gets tickets to fun places a lot too so maybe we will be able to get some of those. 

Day 15 of recovery

7/15/14

Day 15 of recovery

Today has been a great day!!!!  Yay, it feels so good to finally be able to say that!!!  Ty actually wrote a lot of the post for today so here it is:

I thought I would give Mindy a break and write this post for her.

 I know a lot of prayers have been sent our way and we couldn’t make it without them but I would like to request as many prayers as possible, however, not for Alexa but for gratitude to our Father in Heaven.

We had our 1^st good night last night with Alexa getting over 10 hours of sleep. Even though she is still in a lot of pain and has a long way to go, it appears that she might be topping over the mountain finally.

We have witnessed prayer after prayer being answered and miracle after miracle take place and my heart is so full of gratitude to my Heavenly Father for his tender mercies.  James 5:11“Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” I know we are on earth to learn to live by faith, however through his compassion towards us, our Father in Heaven will send us a little confirmation, a reminder or assurance when we need it the most, to re-assure us that he is there and if we trust in him he will take charge. 

I had one of those moments or tender mercy shown me just the other day. When nothing seemed to be working and Alexa seemed to be getting worse by the minute, Mindy had stepped into the bathroom and so I took the moment and I pleaded with Heavenly Father to help me understand what was going on. As Alexa’s father I needed to know what was needed to be done to help her turn the corner so she could begin the healing process. Nothing was working and something needed to change. As I was pleading and pondering I had the impression that it wasn’t because the medications were wrong but that for some reason she wasn’t absorbing them. I immediately went to the nurse’s station and told her, “I think she is not absorbing her medications”, and asked if that was possible. She said she hadn’t heard of that happening but she would bring it up with the doctors in the morning.

 I wasn’t aware that Mindy had gone into the bathroom to find a place to be alone so she could open her heart to her Heavenly Father as well. It was late in the afternoon and the Doctors only make their rounds in the morning but Mindy was pleading for help for her daughter and praying that the doctors would act quickly. Neither of us knew what the other had done. Mindy was back in the room when I returned. It wasn’t but minutes later before the Doctor came walking into the room. It was late in the afternoon, the time of the day you never see the doctors, but Mindy had prayed him there. It was just one of those tender mercies and a simple answer to her prayer, reaffirming to her that God is there and is listening when she needed it the most.

And then as a mercy to me, the first words out of the Doctor’s mouth were, “I think she is not absorbing her medications”. Some would call it a coincidence, those who are trying to know God, know better. The doctor changed some of the meds and her feeding formula and she immediately started to improve and has continued to do so.

Sorry for going on but this is why we would love to have prayers of gratitude offered. Thank you everyone for all you have done and are doing.

Ty and Mindy

“It might sound contrary to the wisdom of the world to suggest that one who is burdened with sorrow should give thanks to God. But those who set aside the bottle of bitterness and lift instead the goblet of gratitude can find a purifying drink of healing, peace, and understanding.` As disciples of Christ, we are commanded to “thank the Lord [our] God in all things,”¹ to “sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving,”² and to “let [our] heart be full of thanks unto God.”  Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Great quote and here is a link to the complete address on “Being grateful in any circumstances”

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/grateful-in-any-circumstances?lang=eng#17-10985_000_41uchtdorf

Today Ty & I went to a class & learned how to care for her feeding tube & picc line.  The only thing holding us here in the hospital is that she is still on the suction with her g tube.  She hasn’t been able to tolerate it being clamped for too long without getting nauseated so we will be here till she is able to tolerate that.  Here is lots of pics from today!

So tonight is the All-star baseball game & last night was a big pre-game celebration. At midnight the fireworks started & Ty said it shook the windows. That's the time Alexa got up to go to the bathroom & she got to see them too!

Look at her go!!  This is her 1st solo trip down the hall!!!



 

This is the sign Alexa got in the mail today made by Chris & Kristina Rowley's family! It made her face light up! Thank you so much!!!

 

Oh my gosh!! You should have seen Alexa's reaction to this!!  Ty had her walk to the gift shop a few days ago & she saw this stuffed cat & wanted it so bad. Ty's parents ordered this for her along with a balloon & card & when they walked into her room with this Alexa was absolutely speechless! She told them they must have the wrong room & had to check the card before they left to make sure it was for her. This came while Ty & I were at our class & when we got back she wanted to know if Ty had told his parents that she had wanted that cat. He hadn't told them a thing! She was so happy that she had to call them to tell them!!!

Here she is outside again. This time we stayed out for about 10 min. I was trying to get her to pose in front of the flowers but she wouldn't.