Dining Al Fresco

On Thursday we had preschool in the morning and then in the afternoon we had an appointment at the ear doctors. We are still trying to get rid of our ear infections.

Well I didn't want to lug her kid kart upstairs so she could eat lunch. Instead I thought we could eat outside.

Bella patiently waiting as I go get our food.
It was a nice sunny day, and not too hot and humid out....yet.
We thought the puppies would like being outside so they could run around, or just sun themselves.
Bella gets a ham sandwich blended up, and her water in a straw cup. Mom has a slimfast bar and a Dr. Pepper.

And I'm happy to report, that while we still had fluid in our ear, we do not currently have an ear infection. Although it's the fluid in her ears that causes the hearing distortion for her. So hopefully as she gets bigger and the ears get bigger, the fluid will eventually be able to drain on it's own. Well that and someday maybe she will be done teething, as we think that is the cause of the fluid in the first place.

Drama Queen

For the third day in a row at lunchtime we bawl, we throw a fit, we spit out our food. This goes on for 5 minutes, while mom patiently puts food back in our mouth. And then finally, we stop, actually taste what went in our mouth, and then proceed to gobble it up.On another note, we went to visit our new preschool classroom this morning. When Bella turns 3 this fall, she will start preschool in her own school district. Since her birthday is so close to the start of school, she actually gets to attend when school starts in August. So we went and meet her new teachers and therapists.

They were all very nice and friendly people. They are very excited to have Bella in the classroom next year. In fact all of the therapists were so excited to have a student like Bella, one that challenges them, and makes them think outside the box, one they hope to have a very large impact on.

I am very happy they all take such a liking to her. But it also crushes me a little to have "that child" the one that they get to pull out all their special equipment for, the one that will take so much more therapy then all the other students, the one they haven't seen anything even close to in 5 years. Yes Bella is just that special.

The preschool students also got to meet Bella. It amazes me how the first words out of their mouths are "She is so beautiful". There were two little boys enamored by her, who kept coming over to check her out. One little boy was very excited when he put his hand near Bella's and she grabbed on to his. Of course the boys also think her wheelchair is cool, and asked if they could go for a ride in it!

I find myself wondering at what age will they start to think she is weird and an outcast. Because I know it will come.

Call me lazy

It's just too hard to reach up and adjust my sunglasses, so since I can't see anything, I think I will just close my eyes and take a nap.

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Here are some of the pictures from our recent trip.

Out for dinner
Friends we meet from Canada. The resort had many different nationalities staying there, in fact English speaking was the minority. Many times servers would guess we were German or Dutch, before we opened our mouths to speak of course.


The beach, which was always windy but helped to keep you comfortable in the heat.
Cat Tapa, which served the best seafood, and was the resorts "romantic restaurant by the lake", okay it was basically a shallow swimming pool. The Dominican's were extremely nice and friendly people, who really made our trip great.
The gym, where Jesse went almost every morning. I only went once (I was on vacation).
The pool with the swim up pool bar, where we spent most of our time.
It was a great trip, and nice to relax for a week. And that is pretty much all we did.

Bella's Graduation

We attended Bella's preschool graduation yesterday afternoon. She actually is going to still be attending Children's TLC through the summer, but will start in our own school district this fall when school begins. They don't have a summer graduation, so she participated this spring.

Here she is with her teacher and therapists.

They were reading a top ten list for Bella and the list says:

1. Best Halloween Costume - Our own Miss Piggy!

2. Best Bump Ditty- Bumper

3. Fastest communication switch user (to which they had programed "I love you mommy and daddy")

4. Most popular kid in the class - no one even close!

5. Beckett's favorite play date

6. Best at spitting out Mr. Tim's sausage

7. Best DRAMA QUEEN - to get out of anything she doesn't want to do!

8. Employees the best personal shopper

9. Most beautiful curly blonde hair

10. Cutest girl in the world when she looks in your eyes and uses all her sounds to talk to you!

We're back

That's right, we just got back from our one week vacation to the Dominican Republic, while Bella spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa Sneller. I'll upload pictures soon.

It's too cold for new sandals

But we thought we would show you anyways.