Long day of therapy

This past summer has been the craziest summer since I can remember! Besides Kent starting his business, my students and the girls lessons we had harp institute (which I was in charge of), high school reunion-10 year (I also helped with that one), 9 days in Wisconsin for Suzuki teacher training, a weekend with the girls and my family in Portland, Oregon and then the next weekend in Camden, Maine with Kent for my cousin's wedding. CRAZY!

We survived (barley) and now are getting back to a routine of lessons, therapy and preschool next week.

Yesterday was our consultation for the hippotherapy program at the National Ability Center in Park City. We have been on their waiting list since March and were so thrilled when they called a week or two ago with the news that they had a spot for us! So Claire and I headed up to check it out and is was fantastic. Kim, the therapist was so sweet and energetic that you couldn't help but be convinced that you were in the right place. Claire rode a Norwegian Fjord named Rebekah and only cried when they had her riding backwards. Let's be honest though, who wouldn't be scared to ride a horse backwards?!

Then we came home and had a short nap before we headed off to physical therapy with Lisa. Claire did a great job and is really close to walking I think. I am posting the picture of her after a long day of therapy with her big gulp. What baby doesn't need a big gulp?:)

Emma on the other hand spent the day with our amazing babysitter Danielle. She has been the lifesaver for our family this summer. She took Emma to her house to play then took her to the movies. They had a lot of fun and it was so nice to know that Emma was getting a fun day out with Danielle. We will miss her as this is her last week and she is heading back to college.

I don't know about you but I am really liking the school starting, and the craziness of summer over. Someone remind me to "just say no" so next summer isn't the same!:)

I've been tagged!

So I just got tagged by my friend Jamie Doggett! Thanks for including me Jamie.:) Here my answers as of today.

MY JOYS
1. My greatest joy is my family. I have been really blessed with a patient and supportive husband and two amazing little girls. They all keep me balanced and in check of reality. I am lucky I have this! I am also extremely blessed to have a wonderful extended family on both sides that I learning from and leaning on in my times of need.
2. The gospel. I have times in my life where I think I totally get how important it is to me but then I seem to go on "cruise control" and get things thrown at me that keep me realizing how important this is to me and how much joy it can give me.
3. Harps! This is a joy as well as an obsession for me. My family can attest to this fact. I love the harp! I love playing it, teaching it, talking about it and really almost anything to do with it. Once in awhile, (like this summer) I get a little bit too much harp but for the most part I am pretty much obsessed with it knowing that it brings me so much joy!

FEARS
1. My greatest fear is that Kent will die before me and then I have to figure out life as a single parent.
2. My other fears are that something will happen to my kids.
3. Mice. This is seriously a fear of mine. If you ever see me with any type of rodent I will freeze up like a statue and it will take me at lest 5 min before I thaw out.

CURRENT OBSESSIONS
1. The Twilight series. I LOVE these books. I know these books bring on a strong feeling either for or against, but I haven't been able to put these books down for the last couple of years. I have forgotten how many times I have read each book. Simply put, I love these books. (Probably the escape of reality once in awhile!:))
2. Harps. See above paragraph about my joy and obsession on harps.
3. Candy. I love candy so much. If you come to my house it is like Willy Wonka's. I can't help it. My mom didn't buy it as a kid and I think it is my way of rebeling.

SURPRISING FACTS
1. I like my friend Jamie am pretty much an open book so most people know everything about me. I think one surprising fact might be that in my first year of music school in London, I almost went and got a tatoo. I know that most of you think I am bluffing, but I am quite serious. I was going to have a butterfly put on my right foot. I know, not original but it was my idea of rebelling. I opted instead to get my haircut all off which was not a good look for me and took me the other 3 years of school to grow out.
2. Some of you may know this but most may not. When I was 14 years old I performed a concerto in the Sydney Opera House in Sydney. It was so amazing and a good thing that I was to young to get really nervous.
3. The only other thing I can think of involves Kent and I am not sure he would want me to post it. If you have to know, call me and I will tell you what it is!

INTERESTING FACT ABOUT JAMIE
I knew Jamie when we were both single in Britannia Ward in London. She was one of the most friendly and happy people I ever met. She is also a loyal friend who is a very straight talker. A good person to have on your side!:)

PEOPLE I'VE TAGGED
1. Sarah
2. Padgett
3. Dree
4. Elizabeth
5. Jorgs

Our life as we will know it...for now!

So once again it has been awhile since I have written and I am reminded about my journal keeping. I am not great at that and am not really great at blogging either. It is still fun and a good outlet.:)

Kent and I have had some crazy things happen in our lives the past few months and I have debated about sharing it with the blogging world. Then my sister E told me about another blog that has helped us so much and she said we should share in case it can help others. So I will fill you in and hopefully this will all make sense!

In January I took my second little girl Claire to a doctor to get a second opinion. She had not ever really used her left hand and our first ped. kept telling me that she was just right handed. Since I am not a doctor I believed him and went on with my life. He told me this at the 6, 9 and 12 month visits. After the 12 month visit I just didn't feel right, so that is why we got a second opinion. Sarah and Mike told us of a ped to go to and he was awesome! He said that it didn't seem right and ordered an MRI. I was totally freaked out because doing an MRI on a baby ment they needed to sedate her. That was my biggest concern at the time! Little did I know!:)

So on February 12 our lives changed as we knew it. Claire was diagnosed with Porencephaly and left sided hemi-paresis. I know, a lot of big words and things I totally didn't know were possible! Bascially they found that she had a rather large hole in the right side of her brain and because of that the left side of her body was half paralysed. That is why she never used her left hand!

So since March we have been doing physical and occupational therapy and in those sessions they have discovered that the hand is not the only thing affected by this brain disorder. Her left leg as well as her entire left side of her trunk is weak as well. So we are now working with Claire every day to try and help her learn to walk as well as learn to use her left hand. Along the way I also discovered that she LOVED horses. This is where I get slightly crazy!:) We decided to start hippotherapy which is occupation and physical therapy done on horses. That is where Pocket came into our lives. I felt very strongly that we needed to buy Pocket and use him with Claire as well as Emma. That is the other side of my story. How do you balance one child who has special needs without not paying as much attention to the other child? I am still trying to figure this one out. So Emma started her own riding lessons and Claire started hippotherapy. She has been doing pretty good with all her therapy and loves the horse therapy. Kent and I had a handle on our new life and felt like we were going to be OK.

Then we went to her 18 mo visit and our new ped. told us that we needed to go in for a speech evaluation. Like the MRI I had no inclination that there was somthing wrong but thay maybe we would need to do some speech therapy and work on the sounds and everything. Well the speech pathalogist at the Primary Children's Rehab Center diagnosed Claire with Developmental Speech Apraxia. Again, I felt like this was another moment like Feb 12 where I just went through the motions and later on realized what she was saying. Apraxia is a motor speech disorder where the brain can't send the signals to the mouth to make the movements needed to speak! So we are now coming to grips that our daughter might not be able to speak. She might and we are hoping that she will but are preparing ourselves for the possibility that she might not. We are starting baby signing classes next week as well as have a renewed sense of need to get her left hand to work as she will need that hand to sign. Isn't amazing how much everything in the body and mind interact with each other?!

So we don't know really where we are headed! We wish there was a booklet or someone to tell us exactly what the next step will be or when the next thing that she can't do will come to our attention but I do know this...that we are not alone! We have been so deeply touched by the outpouring of love from our families and friends! We have also realized that we have been so blessed with all that we have. That Claire is a fighter and that her personality is such that she will not let this stop her so we have to take her cue and follow suit. We have also realized that the Lord know us personally. He know what we are going through and that he will make sure we have what we need at the time we need it to help us. It has really been amazing how much we know this and rely on it daily!

So this is our life as we are trying to know and understand it. We are just trying to have the patience to realize that we can't figure it all out now and that we will have to wait!

I just wanted to let you know that the blog that Liz told us about that has helped me keep it all in prespective is called www.charliecooper.blogspot.com.

Thanks to everyone! We love you all!!!!

A lot of stuff has been happening in the Phippen Fam the past few weeks so I apologize for not writing sooner!

Kent officially opened his car dealership on June 2.  It is named Go Motors and it is in Bountiful.  He is soooooo happy that I can't help but be happy.  The hours are long in my opinion but I am so thrilled at how it is going so far.  Kent is pretty chuffed as well!:)

Summer has come and that means Cherry Hill, Lagoon and swimming at grandma Simmons.  What a life our girls have!  Today they went to Cherry Hill this morning with Danielle, (our fantastic babysitter), and Lagoon tonight while I was trying to spend a couple of hours with the girls and waiting for Kent to come home.  It was really fun.  In case you want to know, Lagoon on Tuesday night is great!  The girls rode every ride twice!

I have learned how to trailer Pocket.  Pocket is our small Shetland Pony for Claire's therapy.  If you have any questions what a therapy pony is, just ask Emma.  She will tell anyone she can about "Polly Pocket.  Claire's therapy pony!"  It is pretty funny when your 3 yr old has therapy in her vocabulary!:)   So, anyway, last Thursday night I successfully loaded Pocket in the trailer and drove it to therapy and back again.  I am so proud of myself of this new skill I have learned. I feel like a total cowgirl!  Now all I have to do is learn how to back up and unhitch it. :) Who would have thought I would have ever been able to do this?!

Well, this is a small smattering of our lives these past couple of weeks.  I know it is random and not very well organized but you know, that is how our life is right now.  Random and organized chaos!:)  Does anyone else have that going on?

Dad's 72nd!

So today is my dad's 72nd birthday.  It is amazing because to me he will always be 50 and young and not in the 70's!  He threw a party this evening and invited all of his friends.  When I say all, I mean all 170!:)  At first I felt overwhelmed by the amount of people then I realized that dad is amazing.  What a great way to celebrate life. Not just the number of years you have been here on earth, but how many connections you have made.  The friends, family and loved ones who were there to support and honor my father was truly inspirational.  I can only hope that when I am 72 I can throw a party and have half as many people as dad had tonight.  So Happy birthday DAD I love you and thank you for all you have done for me and my family!!!!  I am so lucky to have you as my dad!

 

Love,

Maria

Emma's new haircut

So Emma got a new haircut yesterday. She has been fighting me about doing her hair everyday for the past year and I have finally given up! So we went to the new children's salon in Bountiful, Cookie Cutters. They are AWESOME!!!! She sat still the entire time, got her hair washed in a fire truck and got to watch the Barbie movie while sitting in pink car. What more could you ask for? Me, I loved the fact that she now can brush her own hair and I don't have to fight this fight every day. At least until the next haircut is needed!

On another note, I couldn't help but take a picture of Claire today. She is blonde and I don't know what to do with a blonde so I found her old swimhat from last summer to go out to the park today. It was the only hat I have found that she will wear and since she needed something I figured that would work. She had a great time and didn't get burned!

We are open for business!

Hi Everyone! So I have decided to join the fastlane and start a blog! I know, Crazy, but I feel like a bit of a sneak. So many months now checking out everyone else's blogs and lives and realizing how cool everyone else seems and how many interesting things people are doing. You have all made me want to join in hopes that our family will one day be interesing as well!:)

The reason we have called our blog Denbigh Road is because that is the road that Kent and I lived on our first year of marriage in London. Denbigh is in the burrough of Ealing which is a 10 min train ride away from London or a 45 min tube ride depending on the day:) We loved Ealing, and Denbigh and have decided that it would serve the purpose of having our blog name.

So to Becki....here goes nothing!