Green Star Wars Sword!

OH, NO! Evidently there is a GREEN Star Wars light saber sword.

At least there is a commercial with a green one in it. I saw it the other day while sitting next to Kimmie. I gasped. She poked me and signed "green". Her sister laughed.

Maybe we won't be able to find a green one at our stores? Maybe I can keep her out of the toy section?

Oh, well. She does play with them.

My little collector.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, see the February 16, 2010 post titled "Kimmie's New Collection."

--Mom

WDW 2010

That's where we're headed on our next vacation, Walt Disney World. Kimmie kept asking and we decided to take her.

We figured she's had a rough year. She could use something fun to replace all those bad memories. Everytime she starts talking about the hospital, we talk about Disney World.

She wants to hug Aladdin and the Blue Genie. She wants to shop for Aladdin playing cards and an Aladdin coloring book. I sure hope they have those two things or she may be one MAD little girl. There's suppose to be an Aladdin store near the Magic Carpet ride. We'll see.

--Mom

Sleep

Some prayers must have been said after my last post about Kimmie not sleeping. Since then, she has slept through the night 3 times, 3 times in one week. Not consecutive nights, but that's ok. It's a start.

Amazing how much that helps us feel better. Like we've come out of a dense fog.

--Mom

4-Months Post-Surgery

Tomorrow it will be four months since Kimmie's scoliosis surgery.

I would like to be able to say we are all fully recovered and everyone is doing great. Unfortunately, that's not entirely the case--for the most part, that is true.

Kimmie's back is straight. Her shoulder blades are almost in the correct positions now. She's only missed one day of school since the beginning of January.

However, she continues to be up in the night, often several times a night. Or one of us has to sleep with her. Or she wants to sleep on the couch, and one of us sleeps on the other end of the sectional.

She tells us her back hurts and continues to want it rubbed, almost more than before the surgery.

We are always analyzing and trying to figure out why. And trying different things to see if she sleeps better. It's all a guessing game since she can't tell us much. But we've kinda stopped the analyzing and have just accepted that it's going to take her a long time to get over the trauma of the two surgeries.

One of the scary things is that she tells us that on Thursday (the day of the scoliosis surgery) the doctor put brown medicine on her back. We didn't think she was suppose to be able to remember anything from the operating room. If she remembers that, what else does she remember that she cannot express? It's pretty understandable that she could be having lots of bad dreams and fears upon awakening in the night.

It would be nice to get a few nights of uninterrupted sleep, but for now Kimmie needs a lot of comfort and reassurance that we are there.

--Mom