Update on Ellie

So today we decided to get something done with her eye because there has been something on the eyeball for the last 4 days or so. It makes the white part of her eye really red and it's not coming off. Ryan took her to the eye doctor this afternoon and he said she has an infection on her eye. So we now have new eyedrops 4x a day and ointment to put at night to help the infection. It wasn't bothering Ellie but it needed to be looked at since it wasn't something just stuck on there and going away.

So last week we had her in to Iowa City eye doctor for a check up and her right eye has improved marvelously in vision and movement. It went from 20/80 vision to 20/30 vision. So the atripine drops we have been putting in her left eye has helped her right eye get a lot better. She also has full movement of her right eye back! Celebrate! We are so happy to hear of the wonderful improvement. We are continueing the atripine drops to see if the right eye's vision can improve more.

Then we had her in to see the rehab doctor she had at Covenant to get new orders for evals again at EDI to see if she needs more therapy. The doctor had Ellie run in the hall and
noticed Ellie still holds her right arm funny and she also does not fully extend her right leg to run like she does her left. She still favors her left leg but she does have much better balance in the right leg. So balance is improving but the doctor thinks there are still more goals to work on so she gave new orders for evals at EDI. So Ellie has come a long way and there are just a few fine tuning that can be done to help her.

We are so excited about this update and hope to get her eye healed soon. She'll go back next Friday for a follow-up with the eye doctor to check on the infection. Oct. 28th is the next Iowa City appointment with all the doctors to check everything.

School is going well for Ellie. She loves it! Nate's doing great and the fam is back into a routine! Hope you all are doing well! Have a great weekend!

link to KWWL video

Well I blogged kind of late that we were going to be on KWWL to talk about the benefit so I have found the link so anyone of you who missed it can watch it. Or if you go to the main page of http://www.kwwl.com/ on the right is a large box of top videos. We are the video titled Eastern Iowa Benefits on page two of videos. Enjoy!

http://www.kwwl.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=4142466&h1=Eastern%20Iowa%20Benefits&vt1=v&at1=undefined&d1=210034&LaunchPageAdTag=Station

Let me know if you have trouble using this link.

Channel 7 News Saturday morning

Meghan signed us up to do a news spot with Danielle Wagner this Saturday morning at 7:40am. Meghan and I will be on talking about Ellie's health and the benefit. Ellie may be on sitting with me. We aren't sure if she'll actually do it. Just wanted to give you all a heads up if you want to see it. This Saturday, Sept. 19th 7:40am KWWL Channel 7 with Danielle Wagner.

Kids pics

Thank you to a friend of mine, Jenny Bruss, for taking pictures of the kids again this year. We went to the Prairie Lakes area where we found a neat tree, bridge and prairie grass to capture shots of the kids. I love them all!!

Yes, by the end Ellie's eye was beat red and looked terrible. But she asked to do a lying down picture so this is what she came up with.
Best picture Nate gave us.

Ellie's signature look with a flower behind her ear. Remember the dandelion in her ear last year. This year she upgrated to a real flower.

Explanation of the benefit

So I have been getting a lot of questions about what the benefit is going to be like.

There is no charge to get in. There will be a free will donation if you want to give something. We want this to be a time for us to thank everyone for all their support and to enjoy an evening of desserts, dancing, music and socializing. Ryan's dad, Richard, plays in a band so they will play some classic rock and country for part of the evening. Then Richard will DJ music the rest of the evening. We hope you bring our dancin' shoes so you can dance with us! There may also be a special dance with Ellie you can take part in, or maybe a dance contest or two that Ellie will get to judge, pick a winner and give away a prize. You'll have to come and find out what's planned. Lots of fun!!

There will be an assortment of desserts to enjoy, soda, water, lemonade and the bar will be open if you wish to purchase anything else. I will bring some books, crayons, paper and other sorts or activities around for kids to enjoy.

The silent auction is coming along quite well. We are getting many donations. I am so excited about this hearing about all the things people are gathering up and donating for this. Through the silent auction is where we hope to raise money to help us pay off the current, and possibly help with future, medical bills. I believe if you aren't there at the end, and you've won an item, we will contact you to claim it. I also believe it will be the type of auction where you write on a list your bid and others will come around, see your bid and choose to bid higher or not. So you may want to keep checking back to see if anyone has outbid you so you can bid higher if you really want that item. I believe the silent auction will run from 7pm until 9 or 9:30pm. If there is still a lot of bidding going on then we may extend it. Now this is just a bit of what I've talked about with my friends who are planning it but I may be slightly wrong on some of it. But this gives you an idea. If you have an item you want to donate I believe Meghan and Jamie are collecting the items before the day so they can prepare the sheets for each item. So you can contact Meghan at megclaw3@hotmail.com or Jamie at jamiebachman@hotmail.com to make arrangements to get them the donations. If you see Ryan and I, or our families, and just want to give it to us that is fine also.

Please let me know if you have more questions I can answer for everyone or contact Meghan or Jamie. Thank you all and we are looking forward to this evening!

First week of school

Well Ellie has finished her first week of kindergarten and she is having fun so far! For the first 5 days of school all she could tell us was that she ate. So when we asked her what she did in school she would say, "we had snack, then we ate lunch, then we had an afternoon snack and then another snack at Jane's!" Jane's is her afterschool daycare. We just laughed and laughed when she told us the same thing all week. In the past she has never been able to remember what she ate and now she is only remembering that she ate. Maybe has something to do with the huge eating growth spert she's having these days. She seems to eat a lot lately, more than Nate who usually ate more than her. Anyway, these past two days of school she's been able to tell us something other than eating. I think days six and seven things are finally sinking in and she's getting used to the routine of things she remembers what she does now.

She got to swim on Thursday which was fun for her! She gets to go to the library on fridays which she loves also. She brought home a recipe book of valentine treats. Not sure if she thought we'd make those things if she brought it home or if she really just wanted to look at it and read the yummy recipes, but we did. She knows they played a game in PE and they, "rolled balls at this thing and the blue team got to go first." Not sure what this meant but that's what they did. Mr. M has been the letter they were studying and she doesn't get to sleep during rest time because, "ALL THE OTHER KIDS ARE TALKING!" is her expressive way of saying why she didn't sleep. The nurses are doing awesome giving her the eye drops every two hours! All around Ellie is very happy! SO ARE WE!!

Thursday night was the first NU High home football game in the dome. Ellie wanted to dress in black and orange for the day and then go to the game. So we loaded up and headed to the dome. We got to see some teachers and other staff we knew from our years at NU High. We also ran into some other alumni we know. Ellie found friends right away and wanted to be social with them. Geez it starts already, didn't want to sit with the fam for the game, she wanted to socialize. I guess I was the same way, a social butterfly, so I'm happy she's social also. Oh...but she would sit with us when she was hungry and wanted food. I see how it is. It's starts now, she's only in kindergarten and like tomorrow she will be graduating. hhmmmmm....

We have a long weekend coming up and I am on the work crisis line. I believe it's going to be a quiet one. Ryan is working on his dad's house finishing up the brick all weekend so I'll be entertaining the kids and doing house upkeep. Fun times...Well that's all for now folks and I'll be seein' yall soon! Have a good one!