The Rowes in the Rose City: Rampin' It Up

Along with the wheelchair come many new 'needs'. One is to be able to get Jordan into the house safely, and for that we need a ramp (there are two stairs no matter which way you go). We had this in mind when we designed the mudroom, so we've been thinking about it for a few months. We also intend to get the doorway from the mudroom widened -- it's on the list of things to do (with about a million other things, but of course that's a different story).

So, Devon spent Saturday night & Sunday building a ramp in the mudroom. It took alot of forethought & planning, and more than a few trips to Home Depot for supplies. It took him awhile, but it was worth it.

If I were a ramp. . . . (deep in thought)

Meanwhile, Jordan has taken to sucking & even drinking from a bottle again. I guess she must be getting over her colds (the speech pathologist said that because it's hard to breath with a cold, she probably was having a hard time breathing & sucking, so she quit sucking). She sucked down an ounce of water last night. It's pretty funny, though, she's not very good at it, and there's lots of smacking going on (we have to partially hold her mouth in the right position), and sometimes she even startles herself with the smacking noises. But add this to the smiling, and I'm about in 7th heaven with what she's doing these days. We're working hard on straightening the spine & strengthening the neck muscles (stander & wheelchair). Heck, who knows, she could be crawling next week (okay, okay, I guess I'm jumping the gun, but it really is nice to see things going forward with her, instead of nowhere, or even backward).

All this for me? Who can resist these cheeks?

Avery's new obsession these days is Free Willy. She's got the movie at nana Noma's house (& Free Willy 2 as of Saturday), and a little whale bath toy she plays with all the time. Last week nana Noma made her a new pillow for her bed, and she got to pick the fabric -- Free Willy fabric. [Note: she gets mad if you call it a cow!!]. And today when she was swinging, we had to play "you're a whale," "no, you're a whale" every time she got a push. Don't know why, we just did. That's what you had to say while pushing her. Lots of pretending and certainly lots of silly Free Willy-ness in this house these days.

It's a big pillow -- there's a whole Avery INSIDE it!!