PT & Speech Evaluations

Tues. April 28th: Today Maria had even more evaluations. At 3:30 the Physical Therapist came to the house. She ranked Maria at approximately the 12-13 month level with her skills. She will be recommending PT 2-3 times per week.

Maria had her Speech Evaluation at 6pm. It was fun to watch someone give Maria a test that I've given to so many other children before. Maria really liked the speech pathologist--I think it's because speech pathologist's are absolutely great:) I think speech with be recommending 2-3 times per week as well.

We'll be having some major decisions as far as Maria's concerned. She can stay home and receive Speech, OT, PT, and a special ed teacher, all at different times for 2-3 days/week each. She can go to Cerebral Palsy Handicapped Children's Association's program every day for 3 hours in the morning or 3 hours in the afternoon, or she can everyday for 5 hours. The therapists seem to be recommending the 5 hour one, but we're still making up our minds.

Maria's Toddler Shower

A shower for Maria was on Saturday April 25th at my friend Miriam's house, put on by my friend Bev. It was so nice; friends from our old Whitney Point church and family came out. They were even good enough to remember Macella & Kirstie as well.

Each person made little picture cards of Maria with an acrostic made for each letter of her name. Then we had a nice snack of assorted fruits and brownies---yum yum! Then I (Marsha) gave a talk on getting Maria and played our adoption day video. Finally we had present opening. Maria looked in a few bags, but didn't really care to open anything. She enjoyed being the center of attention though.




After the shower we all went to visit Gary's dad. Then we walked over to Gary's brother and sister-in-law's. Finally we ended up at Aaron & Bev's house for a bonfire. It was Maria's 1st bonfire!

Sunday the 26th-Back to WP church for a visit. Maria enjoys her friends in the nursery there! Then we headed to Grandma & Grandpa Gordon's for lunch.

Maria is feeling better too, so we are so glad about that!

Churches, & Back to school & work!

Sunday the 19th, Calvary Baptist had us go to the front of the church to introduce Maria. They gave us a nice gift, so that was very nice. Sunday afternoon we got a surprise visit from Gary's co-worker Stu and his fiance Karen. They brought Maria and Kirstie & Macella some great gifts.

Monday the 20th: Macella & Kirstie headed back to school and Marsha started her externship at Cayuga Medical. Marsha's mom is now staying with us to be with Maria during the day. Maria was running a fever and was very congested, so once Gary and Marsha got home we headed to the pediatrician. They were very nice, but were concerned since we have little history on Maria. They were pretty sure it was a virus, but to be sure they sent us to the hospital for more blood tests and a chest x-ray. Poor Maria had to have blood taken once again. She did really well considering they had to put the needle in twice again. She yelled through the chest x-ray, but it was painless. At any rate, at the end of it all, the pediatrician came to the hospital and told us that the blood tests were all negative and the chest x-ray didn't show pneumonia. We are certainly ready for Maria to feel better.

Macella & Kirstie did a great job getting back into the school groove. They had a lot of extra work to catch up on. Macella pretty much woke up in the morning and went to school then came home and stayed up until 10:00 doing homework each night. It was nice to have Marsha's mother here to help with the transition of Marsha being gone all day.

Wednesday the 22nd, Marsha introduced Maria to the kids in the Olympian Club at Pine Valley Church. It was fun listening to the kids try to guess where she was from and how old she was. Kids are so cute:) Maria's certainly becoming famous in all these different churches!

Car, Mom, & Aunt Joy

Saturday 4/18
Today was a busy day! We left Macella & Kirstie with the Proper's and took Maria and headed to Whitney Point. We just found out yesterday at 4pm that we could get a bank loan for a used car, so we were headed to pick it up. Gary signed all the paperwork and then dropped Marsha & Maria off at Marsha's mom's house. Gary then went to the Broome County DMV for paperwork.

Marsha, Maria, and Mary (Marsha's mom) went out to a diner for lunch. Then they headed to Grandma & Grandpa Glezen's for a visit. Maria enjoyed meeting another set of Great Grandparents! Then Gary showed up from the DMV, so we all went to pick up the new used car. That meant we had 3 cars between the 3 of us. We drove to Marsha's Uncle Tim's to say hello and goodbye before heading home. We left one car with Marsha's Aunt Joy, so she could join us later (she's leaving for Florida tomorrow morning from the Elmira airport).

We headed home, picked up the Macella & Kirstie, unpacked the cars, and cleaned up the house some. Marsha's mom brought lots of things, as she'll be staying with us for 8 weeks. She came, so we would not have to put Maria in daycare or take her to a babysitters while Marsha finishes her internship for Speech.

The house was lacking in groceries, so Marsha & Gary left to pick some up. In the mean time Joy was driving over. Joy, Marsha & Gary all got back around the same time. We put away the groceries and ate sloppy joes and then icecream! We all had a nice evening together.

Thanks for your prayers for a vehicle for us. We needed on by Monday and we had to get it fast, but we got a very good deal. It also gets good gas mileage:)