Whitnee's Toileting System

Whit got her new toilet chair yesterday, it is made by Rifton and so far has been wonderful, she has really loved sitting in it. She actually went on her second try, I think Mom was more excited then she was, I got some strange looks when I was praising her. Her reward for going was a bowl of ice cream with chocolate fudge topping. YUMMY!!!!!!!

What I did not realize when we ordered this chair was that it is also a shower chair, WOW was I excited to see that, my back won't be able to take much more lifting from the tub. Now to just remodel her bathroom in ripping out the tub and replacing it with a shower.

(If you are interested in more info on this chair go to www.rifton.com)

BYU Daily News

I got a phone call about a week ago from the BYU Daily News to do a story on how Whitnee attends Preschool with the BEST preschool ever ACHIEVER PRESCHOOL in Spanish Fork. Apparently they read about it on our blog and found it really interesting. (he did say that he would give me a copy of the story so we will be able to post it here later).

They will be coming to film Whitnee in class tomorrow morning. I am really hoping that we have an AWESOME connection with SKPYE tomorrow. With my luck we won't and will have reschedule. LOL, no we have not had any problems lately.

So yesterday I took her to get her hair cut, which turned out way way cute, it totally fits her personality. THANK YOU PAM!!!!! (Kort got her hair styled way cute too). I will have to post a picture later, trying to get my office cleaned so no one see's how I really function. LOL (no it amazes me how a 7 week stay in the hospital throws everything off, including filing papers and how fast piles of paper can stack up, I am almost caught up.)

Our 4 year old

Today Whitnee woke up asking to get out of bed. Which usually does not happen till her treatment is done, which consists of getting her Nebulized treatment of Albuterol, cough assist and suction, along with drinking her Nutren Jr. So I pulled her out of bed and took her into lay down next to daddy. All you could hear was giggling and mommy I sleepen, giggle giggle.

We then sat her up to see how long we could get her to sit on the bed and to our surprise she made it 3 minutes (I think the bed is way easier then then floor) Way exciting. She then turned to her daddy and said call Nic, and handed him a fake phone, he proceeds to talk with Nic and then hands her the phone and there was more giggling.

We then took her into start her treatment, where we put on Barbie Rapunzel (Barbie her FAVORITE thing to watch), and I handed her her barbie purse full of barbie make up, cell phone, barbie money and anything else she could stuff into it. She then picked up her cell phone and called Nic (at school) and said "Nic a hamburger, okay" and then hung up. It was so funny to watch her asking her BIG bro to bring her a hamburger. LOL

She then pulled out her watch and put it on, then as we were doing cough assist preceeded to say "mom it 3,4. mom it 3,5 mom is it 3,5,6 I thought it was so funny that she was telling me the time. She had Barb here today (her P.T.) at the beginning of the year we made goal with her a few of them being able to sit for 5 min unassisted, to roll 5 times to each side by her self, to be able to lay on her tummy and lift her head and to be able to move around in her pony (walker).

Well to our surprise today Whitnee sat for 4 min 20 seconds on the floor playing and picking up toys. She then rolled with some help to both sides and did some tummy time with OUT crying. :) She then did some moving in her pony pushing backwards. It is so fun to watch her do all of these things. She surprises me almost daily, I honestly did not know if she would ever be able to do these things again or ever. But I believed with all my heart that it was possible, she is such a determined little angel and I am so grateful that she is my daughter, she gives me such strength and helps me to see that ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF YOU JUST APPLY YOUR SELF!!!!!!

(the picture above is from this Christmas, she was given this darling TuTu from a dear friend of ours and thinks it is so pretty. Her big sis wishes she had one too!! :) )

( I will also try to spotlight each one of my kids in the next couple of weeks with all their fun things going on)

I thought this year I would quickly post a little recap of our year.

Kortnee (12) advanced into the Young Woman's program this year, her very first activity was girls camp, they were gone for 4-5 days (sorry I can't remember). She had so much fun with all the girls and leaders. She is now in 7th grade and I think she enjoys it but tries not to let on about it. She is working really REALLY hard for straight A's the reward is a new cell phone, I won't be surprised if she reaches her goal! She is such a smarty!!! She is also the world BEST babysitter and does do babysitting here and there around the ward. She is a great deal of help around the house and with Whitnee (she can do all her treatments and knows how to work every machine Whitnee uses). Kortnee is such an amazing young lady and WE are so very proud of her.

Nic (9) is now in 4th grade and loving it, he was really concerned he would not like his new teacher this year (which I must say after having Mr. Goodman, is hard to compete). But he does like her and is doing very well, he informed me the other day he is known as the class clown (great). He is now a Bear in the scouting program and loves it! He also is my athlete, this year he has become our star football player (at school I should say). His father can not wait for football season to start next year so we can get Nic signed up. (missed it this year due the our hospital stay). Dad says he has a great throwing arm. Nic is also a great deal of help around the home, he is also learning how to use and assist with Whitnee and her machines. He is growing up so fast and into a very handsome young man, (mini Nate)! We are so very proud of him and his hard work.

Whitnee (4) has been busy this year! She spent 7 weeks in the ICU with croup this summer (literally our whole summer break). With a few surgeries and scares, she pulled though it and is doing amazing, she has surprised her preschool teachers, P.T. and O.T. with how strong she had gotten, she did not lose any ground with her strength during that stay THANK GOODNESS!!!
She made her wish with Make-A-Wish during her stay in the hospital and received it this November. Her wish was a HOT TUB and she is in it all the time and loves it. She has made some great progress with her P.T. she is now sitting on her own for a minute and a half and can roll to her right side on her own. YEAH!!!!! She now stands in the pony and can push her self backward :) and we are working on pushing forward (hoping to get her walking). Our biggest surprise with her this year is that she has made great progress with eating by mouth, she is now eating pretty much what we eat. (before she was diagnoses she could eat mac n cheese& chicken nuggets-but very little, she then lost most of the ability to swallow things like that). We are really liking the fact that we all can eat together as a family. Whitnee is also attending preschool over Skype with Achiever Preschool (the best school around) and has learned so much. we are so grateful for her progress and determination to do the thing she sets her mind too. What a great example of not letting your limitations stop you from achieving what you want to. We are very proud of her too.

Nate (??) is really busy with all the things he has going on, Sundance Canyon (our boys home) is doing well, and he stays busy doing the marketing for them, he also works on his ATV site www.atvtrailreviews.com quite a bit and was quite disappointed he did not get in as many trips as he would of liked this year, but next year is a new year and hopes to get out there more on the 4 wheeler. He is still with Prosper, coaching, so as you can see very busy. He is the ward Cub Master and does a really good job too. (Nic loves it too). He also works really hard around the house too, I am so blessed to have such a great and supportive husband!

Anna (??) staying busy with the kids, Whitnee really keeps me busy with therapy, school, pool therapy, treatments, and just being 4. Keeping up with the other two has been a blast, I am loving the cute personalities that are forming. I have had to accept that fact that my house does not have to look or be perfect, because none of us are perfect and I am okay with living in a "lived in home" look! I have started my own business www. accentcottage.etsy.com and am loving it! I also am trying to decorate my home, and it is going a lot slower then planned but that is okay, the longer it takes the more ideas I get and want to do. But I have discovered how much I love decorating, even if it is one room at a time.

So there you have it, the Stoddard's quick year in review. We hope all of you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! and hope that CHRIST'S spirit will be with you this time of year!