Clara's Second Summer Surgery

Tomorrow is the big day, surgery #2 for the summer. This is the big one. This is where we stay overnight (or longer if needed), this is the one that takes her weeks to heal from. This is why we have been concentrated on doing things with and for her thus far. We never know how long she will be down after a surgery like this one. It could be 2 weeks, it could be more. It all depends o

Going into surgery day is never easy. That's not just something we say, it's not an exaggeration, it's true. You don't ever reach a point where you just become used to it. It's never easy to hand your child over to the surgeon, it's never easy to let them go under anesthesia, it's never easy to see them afterward, all bloody and sewn back up. Recovery is the hardest part though. Her being in physical pain, not able to eat and barely able to drink. She can't really move on her own for awhile either. Most of the time she's in a wheelchair for a few days after this type of surgery.

Her last big surgery sent her into unexpected panic attacks. She had them really badly for about three weeks afterward. That's the surgery that they almost lost her twice while in ICU recovery. The scariest time of my life. This time shouldn't be anything close to that, as this isn't supposed to be as invasive a surgery as that one was.

Please just keep her in your thoughts tomorrow. Her surgery is around 11am. I'll update as soon as possible.

Also my Aunt Colleen is having surgery tomorrow, so keep her in your thoughts as well.




n how her body reacts and how fast she heals.

Clara's Hearing

Clara is losing her hearing in her right ear. She had her ENT appointment Wednesday of this week. I had hoped that they would tell us the same thing they said about Mary, that it was a faulty test, but they didn't.

Clara was born with hearing problems. She heard for the first few months like she was under water. They did the tubes in her ears a few times and then gave us the all clear. We had no idea that we needed to be having her ears checked periodically. And maybe that's our fault, but as parents who had never had to deal with anything like that up until that point, we should probably have been told to continue with a yearly checkup.

But that won't help now. So from here we move forward. As her mother, I am struggling with this internally. My heart is broken for her. She came into this life with nothing but struggles and hurdles to jump over. For it to just continue is so unfair. At least I feel it is. I know the Sunday school answer that it's for a reason, it's all part of the plan, etc, etc, yadda, yadda, yadda..but it's not easy to just accept something like this.

Will she be completely deaf eventually?

Will she hear the voice of her future child?

Can she drive if she's deaf?

What other limitations will be put on her?

What if she's somewhere that she needs to hear to remain safe? And she cant.

Will it spread to her left ear? Can it? Is that even a possibility?

All of these questions just running through my mind. My beautiful little girl. My smart, gifted, talented child who has her whole life ahead of her and she is going deaf in her right ear. I know, it is small potatoes against some people's struggles, right? I know it's not a death sentence, it's not cancer or worse. But it's still devastating.

Everyone told me that I should be thankful for Mary's arthritis being "just arthritis" and now my baby is losing total function of her right hand. Her hand is becoming like that of a stroke victims. Like my Mawmaw after her stroke, when she couldn't use her hand. (What a difficult memory)
I'm sure I will hear this about Clara's hearing as well. But to me, to us, it's a huge deal. It's another handicap that could limit her. So it's scary.

They are going to make her wear a hearing aid. (Which I'm already sure will be turned off or turned down most of the time) :P

Clara already has such a low self esteem. She does not understand her worth. She doesn't see her beauty or her intelligence, or how wonderful she is. All she sees is a distorted version of who she truly is. I don't know how to change that for her. And I'm terrified of how this change will impact her view of herself.

I am trying so hard not to breakdown over this. (My emotions bother Clara) That's why I didn't write this until now. I needed to try to process the new information. And while I still feel the lump in my throat, and it has been difficult to type this out, I think I have been handling it fairly well..for me. I haven't broken down, I haven't freaked out. I am actually able to hold it all in, which is new for me.

She has surgery in two weeks, on June 27th. Please pray things go smoothly for her. She needs an easy one, she needs a break.

Controversial Ramblings

DISCLAIMER: Before you go any further into this entry, please be aware that it will be highly offensive, very much politically INcorrect, and it's all MY opinion and how I see things surrounding this particular subject. There's nothing saying I'm right... or wrong.

So we were sitting together in the livingroom this morning, talking about different things we have seen on Facebook, which is something we normally do because our lives are simple and boring...

And we got on the subject of illegal immigrants, Islamic Law, Radical Islam, Muslims, cultural differences, etc. Uh-oh! *Controversial subject matter ahead*

I had reposted a story about a mother who was in a store at the check-out line when she turned from her buggy that her two year old son was sitting in to speak briefly to a woman behind her in line, when another woman (a foreigner), tried to unbuckle and pick up her son! The woman saw her doing this and told her to stop, to leave her son alone! This was a much nicer response than she would have received from me and more than half of the general population, I'm certain. But anyhow, the foreign woman wouldn't make eye contact with the mother or even acknowledge her.

Our conversation with my 11 year old daughter and 11 year old niece was about Sharia Law.

(Now, don't any of you extremist idiots come blow me up or shoot me, there's no need, my voice is small and my life is insignificant to making any changes against you).

We discussed why Islamic women are not allowed to look people in the eye when a man is present, why they must remain covered all but their eyes, and the many, MANY differences in their beliefs and culture vs ours.

The look on Clara's face was priceless, y'all. I could see the fire inside of her, the thought processes that were going on in her mind, and the "Oh, I wish they would..." all over her little face.

Being a woman that was raised and has lived her whole life in the U.S.A., I just cannot fathom their laws, beliefs, ideals, etc...I cannot imagine what it must be like (or have been like for women in our own Country so many years ago), to have to bend to the will of a man, (Yes, I understand that for most of them it's not by force, but it would have to be for me). They would have to shoot me, cause I couldn't do it. My mouth alone would get me in serious trouble the first time a man "punished" me for making eye contact with the person talking to me. But the physical attack against him that followed my smart alec mouth, would most certainly do me in.

I am fat. I do not like heat. I can't stand clothing. When I come home from being out anywhere, the first thing I do when I hit the door is start throwing off clothing. I wouldn't survive the burka and the hijab. (Even though my eyes are my favorite feature) :)

And I know a lot of people who would be very unhappy with the 100 lashes they'd receive for their extracurricular activities over the weekend. Or the 80 lashes for the busybodies who talk without seeing anything with their own eyes.

America may be in a deep, dark hole right now and that may not change for a very long time, but we do still have certain freedoms that I don't believe any of us would be very willing to just hand over. Especially us women who would suffer tremendously. I have 3 daughters and 6 nieces who I would not want anywhere near any of that mess.

My daughters have been taught that they will NOT depend on anyone, for anything, at all. They will be strong, independant women who can make it on their own, and if they meet that someone who they wish to give their hearts to, they will be with them because they want to be, not because they need to be. And let one of them tell one of my girls that they can't do something because they said "No", lol
Or let my son try to pull that on his significant other. Yeah, that's not going to go over too well.

Our cultures are so very different, and I for one am thankful for what little freedoms we have left as American women. I enjoy going out in my tank top and shorts, and I am an active listener. I find it disrespectful not to look the person you're talking to in the eyes.

I am also very loud and overly opinionated. I believe in rights and freedom for everyone, including women.

How some could see women as less than will never make sense to me. We bring them into this world. We protect, nurture and nourish them. Our breasts keep them fed, our shoulders hold their tears, our arms comfort them when they have been hurt. Without women, no one would be here on this beautiful planet.

And women are beautiful. Why cover them up? Why hide them and their beauty? What is sinful about a woman's lips, shoulders, legs, ankles? What is sinful about anything on a woman's body? The sin isn't in the body, it's in the mind of the sinner. It's in the man who looks at a woman and only sees sex and deviant things. A woman needn't cover herself to protect a man from his own sinful thoughts, that's his issue, not hers. If a man can't keep from objectifying a woman, he's the one who needs to cover up. He needs to cover his eyes. Don't look. No more problem.

A man believing he could ever get me to comply because he "said so" is sadly misled. Johnnie likes to try that sometimes just to see how far he can get...he doesn't get much further than that first sentence before I'm laughing. Not gonna happen.

There's not much in this life that I'm afraid of. A man is at the bottom of that list. Let a man put his hands on me. He might win that battle because he's built to be stronger, but he won't win the war, I promise. He has to sleep sometime. ;) I wish he would. SMH Or better yet, let a man think he can get away with laying hands on one of my daughters...HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! This momma is not scared of prison, especially when it comes to the well being of one of my children. I swear y'all, they better hope they marry smart men. And Aiden will definitely know better.

Clara's ENT Appointment

Clara's appointment was at 9:30 this morning. She does have some hearing loss and they are recommending a hearing aid for her. They want to see her back again to continue monitoring her hearing. :(

I can't even process this yet to even begin trying to write about it beyond this information here. Stay tuned, after my breakdown.

Today's Adventures, Tomorrow's Appointment

This morning we went and picked up a bunk bed for the kid's room. We needed this bed badly. Clara, Mary and Kathryn needed a space to sleep, and in order for that to happen, Aiden had to have his place that was all his own, cause he wasn't giving up an inch of the queen bed to his sisters.
Now he has the bottom bunk and he's perfectly happy with allowing his sisters to have the queen bed. :) 

Now we just have to get Aiden some Avengers bed sheets for his new bed, and Clara wants a short little curtain to close off her bed when she wants to be left alone. All in time.

This afternoon, we thought we would beat the storms that were coming in, so we headed out to take the kids swimming. I'm trying to get as much swimming in as possible before Clara's down for the summer. With the surgery that's coming up, she'll be down for at least a few weeks, and that's if there's no complications.
We pulled up at the house and got around to the pool and BAM! thunder. *eye roll*
It sounded far off still so we decided to chance it. There were no bad clouds, there had not been any rain or lightning, but we knew it was coming, so we thought we'd get at least 30 minutes in. 

The kids dove in, then the adults. I was on my third lap when I put my hand on the outer edge of the pool to push off for my fourth lap and somehow got shocked really badly. The tingle and the pinching feeling was instant and very painful. I pulled my hand back and told my kids to get out of the pool, NOW! just as the big, ugly, mean looking black cloud rolled in over us. We all got out of the pool just as the first big rain drops started to fall, followed by loud booms of thunder and blasts of lightning. I couldn't believe it. It was nowhere to be seen until it was right on us. So we cleaned up the pool area, and ran to the car. Once on the road headed toward the house, the sky just fell out, leaving me driving blindly.

Kat was in the backseat, and as you can probably imagine by now, she was squalling, and begging for her Daddy. Clara was in the far backseat and had to climb up to sit next to her to try to calm her down, but once Kat is in a fit like that, there's really nothing anyone can do but ride it out and just continue to try to calm her, soothe her and distract her. She cried the entire ride home, which is only about 8-10 minutes, but it seemed like forever.

When we got home and pulled into the driveway, I threw the truck in park, slammed on the emergency brake and jumped out to grab Kathryn from the backseat to run her inside to her Daddy. She grabbed onto me for dear life and wouldn't let go or even lift her head up off of my shoulder until we were inside and she heard Johnnie's voice. When she heard him, she threw herself into his arms and started crying again. He was the only one able to calm her.

She swore she'd never go swimming again, but I have a feeling she will change her mind when we want to go back next week, when there's no rain or storms in sight.

I learned a lesson today. Never think you can outrun the storm. Stay home when the weatherman calls for storms for any part of that day. It wasn't worth the fear that Kat went through. (And my hand hurts)

Tomorrow morning, Clara has her ENT appointment to check her hearing. Her hearing doctor at craniofacial believes she is in need of a hearing aid, so we shall see. 

Summer Fun

Today, Aiden had his second piece of watermelon. He loves it!! And he was so stinkin cute eating it with Pawpaw. He thought he was one of the big boys, sitting on the porch eating his melon. :) <3

We've been to my Aunt and Uncle's pool just about everyday since summer began. I'm getting some really great exercise and color, but man I am wore out!! I think I will stay in and do P90X tomorrow, if they let me get away with it that is.

We went again today and had fun until the weather started to sour. We got 40 minutes in though, so that's still a good workout for me. :)

On the flip side of fun, we saw the counselor again a few days ago. She told Clara and Mary to keep a daily journal of their feelings and the things that set them off. They are supposed to keep a log of their fights, arguments, happy moments, sad moments, and what made them feel each way. So far only Mary is doing it, and the fighting isn't any better, (yet).

With my brother here, they've been trying to use their manners, saying "Yes, Ma'am and No Ma'am" and such. He's had them doing really well, but he wasn't here today and they were instantly back to being defiant and mouthy. So I guess without him here to back me up and teach them that I am to be respected, they won't do it. It's really sad.

They've been arguing with each other all day today as well. It's been exhausting to say the least. I just told Mary to leave my room and had to physically remove her, she is now standing outside of my door, her mouth still going. These are the things I'm talking about... No respect at all. She wants to say something, so she's going to say it, even if we tell her we do not want to hear it. The teen years are going to be really difficult at this point.

I'm thinking tomorrow will be a day of grounding. Because I'm just spent, there's no fight left in me at the moment, I need a break from this. So tomorrow we will not even risk the fights or arguments. I'm going to separate them early, put a book in their hand and call it a day. Mommy and Daddy need to take a breather, and these girls need to learn a lesson.
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As far as changes that are happening in our family and in me right now, the diet change is going really well. I say diet, but really it's nothing like a diet. All I've done is change how I'm eating, how I prepare the food and what foods I bring into the house, although I still have to bring some type of junk in for the rest of these people. *sigh*

Oh, and I have been working on portion control as well. I haven't cut out anything for anyone. If there's something someone wants or is craving, I make it and just control how much they get at one time. I'm trying to avoid cutting anything out altogether because I want this change to be forever, even for my kids.

So far, so good.

Have to cut this short tonight, Aiden is giving us a hard time and writing just isn't coming easy with the distraction. Try again later.

A Family Working It!

So we have been working really hard lately at working out and eating right. By we, I mean me, my brother, Jason and Marian. Kat joins in here and there too, but she bores fairly quickly and goes to do other things. :P

The three of us have been working our butts off though! Literally, I hope. I know my legs and butt are super sore today from all of the lunges and other workouts we did with P90X Plyometrics last night. I haven't seen much of a change on the scale this week, but my body is definitely showing progress, which I'm seriously happy with. My clothes are fitting more loosely too and that is a huge NSV (Non-Scale Victory) for me. I love my non-scale victories!! And I'm certainly ready to see some more of them! :D

I am so proud of all of us for sticking to it, but especially proud of Marian. Her little body needs this badly. Today, after Jason and I did P90X Ab Ripper X, we went to the pool to tread water for an hour, which is a serious calorie burner by the way. We also did some pull ups and chin ups, and water aerobics. Mary tried to do the pull ups but because her hand would not grip the diving board, she was unable to accomplish that particular exercise. I know she was bummed, but she just moved on to the next thing and didn't let it bring her down. She had a blast swimming, diving, jumping and exercising her little bit of exercises too. I am one proud Mommy. :) <3

It hasn't been easy for any of us here in our household, but we have also changed our eating habits. Right now, I'm snacking on a cup of greek yogurt with a little bit of raisin bran cereal and blueberries. It's awesome! And a huge change from the snickers bar and bag of salty, buttery popcorn I'd usually be eating right now.

With all of the sickness and such running through our family, this has been the biggest positive step forward for us. And I have no problem telling y'all, the difference in how I feel is tremendous! I do not feel run down, beat up, exhausted, depressed, angry, or hopeless any longer. I have more energy, my moods are better, my stresses are low(ering), and I just feel better (healthwise) all around. I don't know exactly how to put it into words, except to say that I don't feel so clogged. I know that sounds silly, but it's the truth. I feel clearer somehow, and I love it!

I'm also taking several daily vitamins. I take a multi-vitamin, Vit D3, Vit C, Biotin, St. John's Wort, B12, and Garcinia Cambogia. I feel like I am forgetting one, but you get the idea.
I have everyone in my family on vitamins as well, not the same as mine, but the ones that will benefit their bodies best. (Except for Aiden, he only takes his daily multi-vitamin).

This change is supposed to benefit each of us. We've just really begun but there's already differences, so I'm excited to see how it goes as the weeks continue to pass. Our next big feat is cutting back on carbs, dairy and sugar. I refuse to cut out anything all together right now, only because that's how I have failed so many times before. I am going into this slowly and consistently. I refuse to fail again.

I just wish that Johnnie and Clara would join us in working out, or at least walking. It would sure be great to not only have their support in this, but to also be able to involve them in helping to make their bodies healthier. But they don't listen well and they are super, super lazy. :P Ahh well, maybe one day.

The video below is Marian working out (with her cousin), to P90X Plyometrics. She was killin it! I'm so proud of this girl! :) <3

Mary's Workout

My Family

This weekend has been amazing! We got Clara back on Friday, and picked up my nieces and nephew as well. We have had so much fun, it's just been a really great, happy weekend.

We've gone swimming, quite a few times. I am so super thankful to my Aunt and Uncle for allowing us to use their pool every summer. The kids love it and we do too. It's great exercise and family time. I have so many great memories in that pool with my own cousins from when we were kids growing up together. I'm so grateful that our kids can make their own memories there as well.
I'm also working on my tan and me and Jason are spending an hour treading water as part of our exercise routine. :)

We've played a lot of games this weekend too. We've played Clue, Trivial Pursuit - Family Edition, Battleship, Jenga, Connect Four, and Harry Potter Scene It. We need to get The Game of Life, Monopoly, Uno, Sorry and Guess Who! We play games a lot during the week too. All of us really enjoy family game nights.

We've watched movies out on the lawn and inside on the projector. Last night was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

We've eaten all of our meals together, which is a really big deal to me. Family's need to do this more often. It's a lost bonding time.

We rearranged the livingroom, which was a huge, long process. We moved the huge entertainment center and all of the furniture from one side of the livingroom to the other. We were EXHAUSTED after this.
Now it's more of an open space facing the kitchen so we can watch projector movies inside. It's starting to get hot and humid outside now and it takes so long to get dark out. It's just more comfortable and much more convenient inside. Not to mention, we were all getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Georgia summers are horrible!!

We've also been cleaning the house, a lot, ridding it of lots and lots of junk. Being so compacted, we need every inch of space we can get.

We've laughed and just enjoyed each other's company, with very little stress (Kat is rarely at zero stress level). Anything that we can do with little to no stress is amazing. We have so many people, with such different personalities, that chaos reigns in this house more times than not. Any bonding that we can get in without all of the chaos is very much a good thing for us.

And Saturday we finally got to meet with the counselor that will be coming to the house for the kids (and us). She was awesome! I'm so glad she has a great sense of humor and that she's laid back, because she's definitely going to need it in order to be around all of us for any extended period of time. People with no sense of humor rarely like us because they just don't get us. Snobby people usually don't like us too much either.

If you don't know us already, let me just tell you...my family is loud and obnoxious. We joke a lot, but are not really funny (especially to outsiders). We use words that may make you question our intelligence too - in other words, our language can be quite "colorful" at times. For some of us, our jokes/comments may not always be too kid-friendly. We don't hide our bad habits either, so we may pick our noses, blow our nose at the table or fart and not even realize we're doing it, but someone not in our family will notice it immediately, lol.

If you find yourself in a room with two or more of my family members, you may feel a bit overwhelmed or like you need a set of earplugs. We are a crazy bunch. We're not too keen on being politically correct, we'll most likely offend you - quickly and often, and not because we're trying to, it just comes naturally. You'll either love us or hate us, there's really not much of an in between. :P

I love my family though, I wouldn't trade any a one of us for all of the money in the world.

This weekend was a much needed bonding experience. Being in this little house together, all 12 of us spending the weekend together, just having a great time, it made us really focus on each other and how much we love each one of our family members and how much we miss it when everyone is off doing other things or just not around. I truly hope they have made memories this weekend that will stay with them for a very long time, and if they start to forget...Mommy/Tía took lots of pictures!! :)

We did have a few setbacks, like Marian has had a bit of a hard time this weekend with pain and swelling in her wrist. She's also not been wanting to take her meds. Last night she was in pain and ended up needing her therapy bear. She's starting to lose mobility of the fingers on her right hand now as well, and it freaks us out (a lot). I can't wait to talk to Dr. Vega about this. They need to begin her physical therapy NOW!

And Aiden got bit on his big toe by something a few days ago, so we've been keeping an eye on that as well. It started our just swelling and he was complaining of it hurting, so I took him to the ER. They out him on an antibiotic and then it started swelling and turning a blackish red color under the skin. It got so bad last night that I had to lance it with a tiny little hole to allow the blood to come out. Now we are just watching it and I'll be making an appointment with his PCP tomorrow.

 Kathryn and Brychan (My brother's son)

Marian and Lana (My brother's daughter)

Sabrina (my brother's daughter) and my brother, Jason

Clara and her Daddy, my Husband, Johnnie

Brychan, Sabrina, Clara and Marian at our Aunt and Uncle's pool

Jason and Lana, Lana's getting ready to launch from his shoulders

Marian, Brychan, Jason, Clara, Kathryn, Sabrina, and Lana taking a break from having fun in the pool to pose for a photo

Clara and Sabrina, two peas in a pod. They plan on moving to Tokyo together after college. Just the beginning of their plan to take over the world. 

Clara and Sabrina and Lana and Marian playing water chicken. Brychan and Kathryn were watching and waiting patiently for their turn. 

Clara and Sabrina and Brychan and Kathryn playing water chicken

Marian posing like the DIVA she is. 

The whole bunch sitting around the livingroom on their electronics after a long, busy, exhausting day. 

Marian, Brychan and Lana being silly together

Marian, the goofball

Lana, also a big ole goofball

Clara on her laptop, her very favorite thing to do, ever!

Lana and Marian in the car

Kathryn and Lana, silly lilly's

5 of the 7 the cousins, (Aiden and Kat stayed home for this walk), I lined them up oldest to youngest - in the wrong direction! LOL oops! So it goes youngest to oldest...(left to right) Brychan, Mary, Clara, Lana and Sabrina. 

Again, (left to right) Brychan, Mary, Clara, Lana and Sabrina. 

Mary putting her hands in the water. She loves the water. 

Clara, Sabrina, Mary, Brychan, Lana and Jason down by the lake. It was such a gorgeous, cloudy/windy day.

Clara, Sabrina, Brychan, Lana, Jason (Mary's hidden by Sabrina)

Jason and his kids. <3

Jason and his kids again. <3

Mary and Clara playing in the water. 

Jason was telling the kids about the lake, I think. Some idiot spray painted a "bad word" on the sign. :(

Jason and the kids were looking in the water and he was telling them a story about the lake. 

All of them looking at the lake and enjoying the nice weather. 

Headed back home now. Our walk break is over. 

Mary and Lana are always silly. I love that about them!

Lana is so much taller than Mary, lol, she had to bend down. 

The whole bunch standing on the bridge, looking at the water below, except for Brychan, lol

Playing Jenga! Kathryn is off to the side in the recliner, so she's not in the picture, but she screams the highest, most piercing scream every time the Jenga game falls. The first time she did it, I was standing right next to her chair, not expecting it and she scared the crap out of me! LOL

Mary's ENT Appointment

So this morning, Johnnie and Mary had to be up extra early to make it to Atlanta by 8:10am for her first ever ENT appointment. I don't know if many will remember, but Mary failed her hearing test at her previous Pediatrician's office, six times! They were recommending that she be checked by an ENT to see if she would need a hearing aid. So we set up the appointment.

She went through all of the testing today and she has perfect hearing!! :) No problems at all. They said that a lot of the time, the PCPs just do not have the correct updated equipment and have less than par results, sending the kids to them only to find they have great hearing. Which is fine by me! I am ecstatic to finally have a positive answer to something. And I know Mary is. Although, I think she is disappointed that she won't be able to use that as an excuse for not listening to me anymore. :P

So today when they got home, we - Me, Mary and Jason(My brother) went for our walk around the block. We walk it twice so that we get a mile in the morning and then again in the evening. After that, we went swimming and enjoyed a few hours working out in the pool, laying out in the sun and just watching the girls have fun. Clara's still at camp, so it was different without her there. I think her sisters missed her being there, I know I did.

We came home, ate dinner and went to walk again. Only this time, we added some distance and a huge, unfriendly hill to the walk. When your lungs are hurting and your legs are on fire, you know you're getting in a great workout. :)

I have now gone from 289lbs to 265lbs! I'm good with that loss so far. It feels great!! :) And I'm still going. I'll be super hot this time next year. lol

I love that Mary is joining us now too. She walks with us, she gets exercise in the pool and she works out with me sometimes. It's good for her and for her JIA.

Unfortunately, she is losing more and more motor function of her right hand everyday. It's really hard to type that. The emotional distress for me is overwhelming, I can't imagine what is going on inside of her head. When she stops to think about it and tries to talk about it, she breaks down in tears and needs me to hold her. She's scared to death and I don't blame her one bit..I am too. I cannot even begin to explain to you the horrible, terrible fear that comes over me as her mother when I try to imagine her future and the limitations that she will face. She's right handed. this arthritis is robbing her of a lot, now and in her future. I just wish there was a cure.

Anyway, here are some photos of our day at the pool. We had a blast. :)