Shriner's Spokane Visit/First Ballet Class

Lots of things happening lately.  Kyla and I went to Spokane last Monday for her appointment at Shriner's, had to stay over night since it was at 7:45 am the following morning.  I drove my little car in the snow and of course our hotel was just down from Sacred Heart so all that area around there is all hills.  Where we live doesn't get much snow anymore so I'm not really used to driving it in and don't have snow tires or 4 WD...so needless to say we got going down a steep hill and I couldnt get stopped, luckily the other drivers knew to watch out for idiot drivers like me.  The roads in Spokane are so horrible - whoever designed them did a poor job, so I also believe I went down a one-way going the WRONG-way twice... :/ But we did get to her appointment on time and it went really well.  I totally forgot though that at these things, like Seattle Children's you always get bombarded with people who want to see your kid or hear what you have to say, medical students, directors, prosthetists, etc. so the nurses warned me that there were going to be a large group of people who came in to see us.  I said OK, and then got nervous, but was like whatever, I can't get nervous, I have my 4 year old here, I'm the adult, just go with the flow.  It's awkward especially having to do this appointment all by myself, but I was fine and it was kinda like me giving a presentation to 6 doctors/medical students all surrouding the room walls, but it went good and we are now setup with Shriner's and they will help all thru Kyla's years growing up with medical costs our insurance won't cover and out of pocket prosthetic expenses that aren't covered by insurance, which is awesome, but we do have to make an annual trip there, which is fine.

The two times I have been to children's hospitals, both Seattle Children's and Shriners are very humbling - there are so many kids there that have major, life threatening things going on, or are permenately handicapped for the rest of their lives, it is amazing to see the parents of these kids with them though - they aren't sad - they look happy.  I remember the first time we went to Seattle Children's and I wanted to cry seeing the little kids that were obviously there for cancer and then I finally did end up crying once we were back in our room with the doctors - it was just overwhelming to see all of that all at once.  I didn't cry at Shriners though, LOL definately not as severe children there.

I've done some more talking with our local community college and to sum things up it looks like I will most likely be heading to Spokane to live for a year to do their ultrasound program there.  Lots to figure out but I will probably have to take the girls and my Husband and I will be doing a lot of commuting.  I plan to start the pre-reqs here for the Spokane program very soon.

Other quick thing - I've got a 23 lb toddler laying on me like she is a baby while I'm trying to type....  Kyla had her first day of ballet class last Thursday - she LOVED it, did amazing and I was nervous before hand just because I didn't know how other kids would respond to her and treat her, if the other Moms would look at her like "why is she here type thing" but nothing like that happened at all.  I did hear a little boy say "look at that girl, she has a broken arm" and the Mom was like "where? and said it wasn't a broken arm but a prosthetic..." was nice to hear her explain to him.  People often times think her prosthetic is a cast - I don't know why, probably because it has the fabric and isn't flesh tone.  I was surprised to find out that Kyla's ballet teacher is her same swimming lessons teacher from this past summer that let her sink to the bottom of the pool.  I had no idea that her swimming teacher also taught ballet lessons, but go figure, it is the same gal.  She is a good up-beat teacher and I believe an out of water venue is best suited for her.  :)  Anyhow Kyla is so excited to go back so we will see how this week goes, it's just an hour once a week until like the beginning of June, which is nice, a long activity for her to be a part of.  I can't wait for her to perform, will be adorable.

Other quick thing - we've had snow here recently and spent the past two days going sledding with the girls and some friends yesterday.  Lots of fun.

 Skating at Rollarena for her cousin Averi's birthday party.

 

Kyla is a dare devil sledder - she likes to go down backwards on her knees, or flat on her tummy with her eyes completely closed. 

 Ready for Superbowl party at our friend's house - go Seahawks!

 Isn't her leotard so cute?  I loved the bow on the back and the attached ballet skirt - keeps her a little more covered up than the other leotards they had to chose from at the ballet shop.  And her bun in her hair....