Happy Happy Birthday Baby...

Well back to the grind this week. After that last pukey post Annabelle started havin some good blow outs, ewwww. And then mommy got it! bleck for being up all night and then not being able to move off the couch for a day and a half.


Last week the lil one and I traveled to NY for her 2nd birthday party (take advantage of the free under 2 flying as loooong as possible). It was an exhausting but wonderful time! Annabelle absolutely LOVED her Elmo party. She woke up from a nap to a decorated house and going "Oooh elmo! Ooooh Ernie! Ohhhh Abby!" when she saw the curly-q's hanging from the ceiling. Then she went into the living room and almost died when she saw the Elmo balloons that her Aunt Kris had gotten her, "ELMO BALLOOOOON!" Oh my gosh it was too funny! Annabelle also loved being the center of a lot of attention from the whole family (she's such a ham) and meeting new little friends that are about her own age. All the little kids seemed to get a kick out of the pinata, as did some of the adults (tip, hide some mini liquor bottles in the pinata, the "big kids" were all over it once the pinata broke open!)



On her actual birthday, Jim and I took Annabelle to the aquarium. It took her a little bit to warm up. When I first tried to put her down so she could see some frogs she literally screamed and wrapped her arms around me super tight in a scared way, that was the first time I've ever seen her react like that to something. She loved the otters though. She got lots of presents and lots of junk food, I'm pretty sure she had a great day.

Playing with the kitchen her daddy and I made for her

Enjoying some birthday cupcake and ice cream

So like I said, now it's back to the grind. I'm back to work, Annabelle had therapy this morning and Jim is back to school. Annabelle is going to get casted for her righty arm next week by her OT with a removable cast so that we can do a bit more intensive work with left hand. The OT has been hesitant but I was pushing for it. OT is worried that Annabelle will spend the entire time just trying to get the cast off. She was also worried that if  we did "real" constraint therapy and left the cast on all the time, she could get really hurt. She still falls over a fair amount and does not have a protective reflex to put lefty arm out to cushion the fall. So it won't be on all the time, but I think Jim and I need a lil more structure to work on that arm more. Saying "use lefty" just ain't cuttin it no more!  Her botox should also be around its peak now too. I'm sad to say I have not noticed a HUGE difference like we did with the last round. She is easier to stretch but she is still ignoring her left arm most of the time, fisting at least 50% of the time and her gait is none better (in my opinion). We shall see...

So with all that going on, my triathlon training kind of took a backseat. BUT now that we are officially into May and streaking month and the Tri is only 17 days away I'm back on my regular schedule. Since the weather is much nicer now I've been able to bike and run outside a bit- OMG is it so much harder than at the gym... Gotta keep pushin for now and geeze I hope I don't die on the day of!!!