A Week With Ollie

Someone asked me what is a typical week like for us?

Well here we go...

Every week day starts out at 6:15 when the bigs get up & get ready for school.  They load up on the bus at 7:05 then it's just me and Miss O...plus the basement condo dwellers until Maggie goes to work.

Ollie nurses then after a bit she eats breakfast.

On Wednesdays she had Developmental Therapy.  Some weeks it's from 8:15 to 9:15.  Other weeks it 11:45-12:45.  Samantha is her therapist and we love her.  She works closely with Ollie's physical therapist since we are mainly focusing on her gross motor skills right now.

The big things we work on are pushing up fully extended on her belly then reaching for toys, working her core muscles so she will be able to sit independently, and then getting up on all fours to prepare for crawling.  And this is totally in my words what we are doing...they tell me the real terms and I can't remember them!

On Thursdays from 8:30 to 9:30 we have Physical Therapy with Joy.  We also love her.  She's working on the same things. 

The last two weeks in developmental therapy Ollie has sat in a ball pit learning to bang toys together - she's awesome!

These are both in home weekly therapies that we have & after a full hour, Ollie is pooped.  She is a trooper though and will work most of the full hour without complaint.  Sometimes she tells them what for in baby language and I'm pretty sure it's not nice words she's yelling at them, but she pushes through it with smiles every time.

Therapy two times a week really isn't difficult for me time wise.  I see huge progress every week and it's totally worth the investment of time for Miss Ollie.  Granted she's tackling very small goals each week, but at the same time they are skills she couldn't do at all or could barely do the week before.  So seeing the progress before your eyes is very, very exciting.  I try to explain it to other people, but until you see the progress with your own eyes you just can't understand how awesome it really is!

Then, every 2 weeks Ollie has a nutritionist, Jo Sue.  We adore her as well.  She's full of helpful tips on how to get Ollie eating solids better or using a sippy cup.  She's a wealth of knowledge for me even after nursing 2 babies, I still learn more from her.  She also was on this journey pre-heart surgery so we leaned on her desperately.  She'd wheel in her large suitcase sized scale and I'd hold my breath waiting for Ollie's weight to pop up, praying it was always more than it was. 

So that sums up Ollie's therapy.  On top of therapy we go to her endocrinologist in St. Louis every 2-3 months for her hypothyroidism.  She also has regular blood draws & now that it's closing in on winter, we will see her peds Dr. monthly for her RSV vaccination since she still has a minor hole in her heart between her ventricles.  So my van gets a lot of mileage when it comes to doctors - luckily we have awesome doctors that I work closely with and trust.

What is the hardest part?  Not the scheduling, not the time, not the driving - I'd say it's the days when the bigs are home.  Because these sweet ladies come in with a bag full of toys that look like sparkling diamonds to my big kids - and it's hard to get them to behave & play independently in that type of environment.  I very much dislike it when my big kids do not listen & behave to me so anytime they are home at the same time & not minding me - ugh that is what's frustrating to me.  Oh and Trudie insists on sitting on the therapists laps - all of them - she is obsessed with them.  She is weird.