Word & Sound Part II

I've recently compiled a better list of Marley's words. She has really taken off! Mama Dada Mommy Ssshhhhhhew!! Love you Pup pup Baby Duck Stand up Thank you No Uh oh Bye-bye Hat Here Stop it Peek-a-boo! Eat More She'll also blow kisses and give kisses a lot lately. :) She crawls around the house saying "Mommy" all day, these last few days. It melts me every time. :)

Words & Sounds

I'm going to try to keep an updated list of Marley's words. She has far more than I thought she did once I sat down and thought about them. She doesn't always articulate them anywhere close to being understood- they sound more like sounds, but I know what she's trying to convey- and the fact that she's communicating with sounds and words is AWESOME, right!?

Stop!
No, no, no!
Shhhhhheeeew! (As she waves her hand in front of her nose because she's stinky!)
Duck
Hat
Mama
Dada
Thank you


I'm so thrilled!

More Awareness, Please?

You know how we don't have as much awareness about hydrocephalus as we'd like to have? How many people just don't understand what we're talking about? Well, each and every older lady in my town knows what it is. If you say, "hydrocephalus," they have no clue. But if you say, "water head baby," then they know exactly what you're dealing with. In modern times, if you say any term, people don't know what you're talking about at all.

I was in Wal-mart yesterday with Marley and Vincent, and in the check-out line behind me, and elderly lady was telling Marley how pretty and precious she was, getting little smiles. She asked me about Marley's helmet and why she had to wear it. So, I told her that basically her head was shaped differently and it was caused by her hydrocephalus. She said, Oh I'm sorry I've never heard of that. Then, surely enough, I repeated myself, "water head baby." And she nodded and said, "Oh bless her poor heart." I told her that Marley has a shunt to help drain the fluid, and she said, "Thank goodness they've come up with a way to treat it." She looked very sad, as if she'd had past experience with it. I'm thinking that people are now less aware because it is treatable, and the fact that people back then never had abortion as an option. I think most congenital cases are aborted before they're ever even given a chance.

Vincent's Third Birthday, Brake Failure, & First-person Chiari Encounter

Today was Vincent's THIRD birthday!!! My, how time flies. We had his party on Saturday, and I will blog about that day another day, when I have better time. Today was a little awkward, so here it is.

My big boy on his third birthday!

So today started out like most Tuesdays. I got up, fed the kids breakfast and prepared to leave the house around 1 PM to have them at therapy and Josh to work by 2PM.

On the way down the highway, I noticed the brakes felt "off." They just felt weird and sort of delayed. Josh told me he thought it was all in my head, then about 10 seconds later the brake light turned on. So when we got to his work, we bought some more brake fluid and filled it up. All was seemingly better, the brakes no longer felt funny to me.

So off to therapy we went. Both Marley and Vincent had great Tuesday sessions. After therapy, I went to Marley's SMO appointment and she was fitted. Upon leaving the appointment, the brakes started acting up again. This time, I would have the brake pedal to the floor, and the car was NOT stopping. It was very scary! Lo and behold, to my right was a building that read, "AUTO REPAIR." How lovely.

So I pulled in, and was wonderfully greeted by a smiling face. The auto repair place I was at was Griffin Brothers, which I will simply add right here, if you ever need car help, you're in great hands there in the Pineville, NC location. They have free fountain sodas, free canned sodas, and free fresh popcorn. They have a children's play room which includes toys, a train table with tracks and trains, coloring books & crayons, books, and a TV playing cartoons with comfy chairs and a bean bag chair. In the adult area they also carry fresh coffee, comfy chairs and a TV playing the news. I can't stress enough about how friendly the guys are there. It's really a great place. The man at the counter took my car back and got us fixed up. We had a busted wheel cylinder, so the fluid we put in earlier drained out again. If I had kept on going towards home, my car likely eventually wouldn't have stopped at all. I am thankful to say, it is completely fixed now.

So in the waiting room, I met a woman. She asked me about Marley's helmet, so I explained hydrocephalus to her, and she instantly looked interested. Then, she stood up and showed me her surgery scar from 2006 and said, "I'm a zipper head, as you can see. I just had a chiari decompression surgery a few years ago." As it turns out, she sees a neurosurgeon from the same practice Marley goes to. Small world? Always seems that way. She went on to explain her symptoms... she had a migraine that lasted for 3 weeks, constantly had body tremors, ringing in her ears (which has never gone away,) and severe balance issues. She said her cerebellum was 13 mm into her spinal canal, so I'm not sure which level of severity that equates to. After hearing the success of her surgery, it really inspires so much hope for my little buddies Owen and Kadyn, who are undergoing this same surgery in the not so far future.

Helmet Chick

Marley got her awesome new orthotic band to help with her head shape and slight facial asymmetries. Of course we got plain white so we could decorate it!! Her eye follow up lasted about 5 minutes... and we were told they're perfect! So many blessings. :)

The meaning of the name Adohi is "From The Woods."

I decided today that I would name my red-tailed hawk Adohi. This is when I thought she was a he. It turns out Adohi is actually a girl, but I'm known for naming animals opposite of their appropriate gender. The day I rescued Adohi, I wrote about what happened. I want to keep a reminder here of what happened that day.


I just had a huge emotional breakdown after watching a semi knock this full grown hawk for a loop. He was sprawled out on his back in the middle of the highway. I stopped my car, put on the emergency lights and walked over to it. It wasn't moving, but it I could see its huge chest move up and down. By this time I've infuriated at least 50 people with the entire highway backed up. I am so scared of the talons. I touch its tail to see if it will move. It doesn't. I touch its sharp talons, maybe to prepare for what I could be on the receiving end of. I take a deep breath and scoop him into my hands, holding firmly, but away from my body. In the few feet it took to put him in the grass from the pavement of the highway, he jolted awake and started cocking his head, looking at me curiously. I said out loud, "Please don't bite me, please don't bite me, please don't bite me." I put him down in the grass safely. A man walks up to me, introduces himself as Mike, a fireman from Lancaster. He gets the Carolina Raptor Center  on the phone. Mike wrapped up the hawk in his coat and is now transporting the hawk to Huntersville. We traded numbers, so he will be in touch with me and I will know if the bird makes it or not. Call me stupid, I'm a softy for wildlife.

 

This is Adohi on that day. February 21, 2012.

I was able to keep up with Adohi's progress at a website where the Carolina Raptor Center keeps track of all their daily care. You can view that website here and a list of their current patients here: http://raptormed.carolinaraptorcenter.org/

Adohi did remarkably well during her five night stay at CRC. Yes, you read that right, she recovered well enough in just five days. These birds are resilient.

Adohi was brought to my home this morning and released to 300 acres of dense forest with many creeks and a nearby cow pasture with a big pond. She will have a good life here.

I've learned some interesting things about red-tails. The first thing is that they're monogamous, which means they only mate with one other hawk for their entire lives, unless one dies. Hopefully, Adohi should have enough time to find a mate before this Spring. He will be her forever, companion.

The other thing is that a red-tailed hawk's call is exactly that of which you may think a bald eagle's is. If you search on youtube, a bald eagle actually has a cackling call. Red-tails have the super awesome majestic sounding scream.

19 degrees!

It is just now getting cold here! Last night the wind could really bite right through bones. I was browsing through some Winter jackets yesterday when I came across this little gem for Marley. It's double layered on the inside, so it's super warm! And the best part? It was on clearance, 50% off, so I only paid $12!!!


Marley's coat was way too small at this point and is ready to be donated.

I bought it a size too big in hopes we'll be able to use it next Winter, too!