old videos

Well, my computer is about to kick the bucket. So I am saving pictures and videos beforehand. Here are 2 videos I want to keep so I am putting them here. They are on my facebook, but better 2 places than one :)

 

Merry Christmas!

Lifting Sarah

I do not use a 'lift' for Sarah. Someday I might, but not yet. This is for a few reasons. One is that I do not use a wheelchair in the house for her. She sits in her rocking chair, or at the table in a regular chair or she stands in her stander. And I carry her from destination to destination. It's easier and less time consuming. I keep her moving. It's better for her to have different seating/standing changes throughout the day rather than sit in one particular chair, all the time. Using a lift means having the seating right at the bedside to transfer her into. It does not mean rolling her in the lift to the living room or kitchen to sit in one of the stationary chairs. Moving the lift with her in it for any length of space is unsafe.

So no lift.

I do not have a wheelchair accessible van so Sarah rides in the regular back seat of my car. I carry her from the house to the car and put her in. I do not use the wheelchair for transfer from the house to the car because it's just more lifting to get the chair into and out of the trunk. I keep her chair in the trunk all of the time, like a stroller, for when we are out and about.

So there's the set-up. It's been this way for years. Sarah has stopped growing, so that's a help. But there's one variable that continues to change and challenge me in this whole lifting thing. That would be my age. I cannot do anything about the fact that I am getting older and lifting her is becoming harder for me. Not drastically harder, but challenging enough that I have had to change a few little things to keep going in the past couple of months.

One thing that is different is the way I lift her. It used to be a hoist from under her arms and up to my shoulder. But that is bothering my right arm. So now, it has to be a scoop: one arm under her shoulders and one arm under her knees. That works well. The next thing is how often I lift her. I try to condense some of the lifts. And she doesn't go out in the car quite as much. She still goes out, cause she loves it, just not quite as much. A third thing that's different is that I now have another girl at riding help me with the lifts onto and off of the horse. That makes a big difference. I just cant do it by myself anymore.

So, why this entry about lifting today? Well, Sarah has a dentist appt Wednesday and usually I lift her from the wheelchair into the dentist chair and back again. But this time I will ask them if they can do her teeth while she remains in her chair. I hope so.

Little changes, but changes nontheless.

Tree Trim

I am sure this is the earliest I have put up the tree in a long time. It wasn't planned to be a 'go' today, we were merely going to check some out at a local lot on our way to dry the laundry (yup, dryer not replaced yet).

 However. We got there and there was the perfect tree. Just standing there. So, I figured we might as well just get it now and leave it on the porch. So we drove it home.

John plopped it down and said 'doesn't it need to go in water?' Yup, he was right. Well, then, I guess we might as well put it in the stand in the house. So, in it came. And there it stood. In the stand all wrapped in netting.

I said "you might as well take the webbing off so Mia(kitty) doesn't eat it and so that the branches will fall'.

So John took the webbing off. And there it was. Naked and green. Just standing there.

So I had to decorate it.

And I did.

And Sarah had a ball, with the Christmas music, the silver garland, the lights, the beads and most of all the tissue paper that surrounded each breakable ornament.

Sarah loves the scrunchy sound of tissue paper. As you can see!

And so the tree is up, hooray! And John? Do you think he put any ornaments on the tree? Nope. (OK, maybe one). This was because he had a couple of glasses of wine and looked like this:

HAHAHAHAHA  HO HO!

Twas way before Christmas....

And all through the house, not a creature was stirring at 1:30 in the afternoon.

Everyone is asleep, except for me, cause I am getting ready for work.

Sarah is in the land of sweet dreams. John is snoozing and kitty is napping under my quilt.

Why are they all sleeping in the middle of the day? Well, first of all, it's raining. And secondly, this is Sarah's usual midday siesta.

As for John? He worked from 4 am to 11 am. He came home, cooked some eggs and hit the hay.

and Mia? Well, suffice it to say that she has been sick and $500 later, she is medicated and recovering.

It's been a busy December so far, but we are still on track.

John has an interesting job interview with the NBA tomorrow, down in NJ, so fingers crossed that it goes well.

Like everyone, there is so much to do right now. But I am trying to slow down, enjoy Sarah's health, John's presence and Mia's silence :)

Off to work. Ho Ho Ho!