Surprise! It's Juliana
March 18, 2007 10:04 PM

I know I know. I keep saying that I am going to take the time to do updates, but anyone with or who has had an out of control 4 year old can understand. We are just crazy busy. Soccer has started for Kendra, Juliana is still taking speech therapy two days a week after school, and I am taking a sign language class right now. Every once in a while we get to all be together as a family.

We are preparing to head back to Miami on Tuesday. We have an appointment with Dr. Wolfe on Wednesday and surgery on Thursday to remove her "piercings." This seemed like such a long time with the hardware on. What an amazing difference it has made in her jaw. She is "talking" all of the time now. Yes, she did say "ooh la la." Of course she still won't repeat it though. She does say "Thank you" now. Or her version of it anyway. It sounds more like "aa ouu."

She is such a riot to be with now—sometimes. She tries to sneak up on us. She doesn't exactly breathe quietly. But she will crouch down and put her finger up to her mouth as she sneaks. We just act like she surprised us and she cracks up.

Friday at school the leprechauns had a party in her classroom. She didn't know what to think when she went in and the room was a mess with toys turned over and green streamers and green footprints on the floor. But the very first thing that she went to to fix was the teacher's easel. She did not like the fact that it was laying on the floor. She is very connected to that easel. We think that she may be a teacher someday.

Now for an example of when she is not so fun to be around. I went into the paint store yesterday. I had both girls with me, but I just needed a quart mixed—how bad could that be? Within the first five minutes in the store she managed to knock over all of the caulk and unplug her feeding tube. I am so blessed to have Kendra! She helps to keep me sane most of the time.

We are going to be venturing out on a family vacation this summer. We are driving to Maine in June for the high school graduation of Gregory (Juliana and Kendra's brother). If all goes as planned (I am being a little delusional) we will be gone almost two weeks. We will be in Maine for a week and then take our time coming home. We are going to stay a couple of days in New York and a couple of days in Pennsylvania. I really want to take Juliana to Sesame Place and take Kendra to a Philly's game. This will be our first family vacation that Daddy gets to go on with us. Every other time the girls and I have gone on vacation he has not been able to get away from work or has been on deployment.

I will post another update on Thursday after surgery is completed. Please keep us in your prayers.

—Tami