Lots and lots and lots

I'll start out this blog by killing two tags with one stone. Ages ago Brenna tagged me to write 7 interesting things about myself and Karen just tagged me to write 7 quirks I have so I'll do them both at once:

1. I am totally squeamish when it comes to veins and needles. I can handle lots of other stuff but even right now as I'm typing, my hands are resting on the keyboard tray and I am painfully aware of the bulging veins on the inside of my wrists and it grosses me out. I can't have anyone touch my wrists because it freaks me out. Weird, I know.

2. I love doing laundry and loading the dishwasher, but I hate dealing with putting the clean stuff away.

3. I love to alphabetize things - all our DVDs and CDs are in alphabetical order (and if you saw how many we have you would know it's a big job). It really bugs me when Maddie pulls them all off the shelf and they get mixed up.

4. I have no green thumb - I try my darndest but I seem to kill every green thing that enters this house. They may appear to flourish for a while but it never lasts.

5. I love to read but I always do it too quick - my mind and eyes keep jumping forward to find out what happens next. Sometimes I even start at the bottom right hand corner of a page and read backwards. I often miss important details though and so I like to read books over and over until I have all the info.

6. I am a list maker. I even made a list of what to write for my 7 quirks before I wrote them down. I sometimes even write things on my "To-Do List" that I've already done, just so I can have the satisfaction of crossing them off. Some may feel that is cheating but I don't!

7. Whenever I eat pineapple, my tongue gets really itchy.

8. Because I'm so weird I have to add an extra one - every time I see billboards or brand names or any words when I'm bored...I count, in my mind, how many vowels are in the words and add them up. I would do this at university when I was bored with a lecture. Sometimes I even count rare letters - like x's or z's or q's. It helps me pass the time.

I would love to hear about the quirks/interesting facts about Jenny, Tanis and Sarah - if you have the time!

We've had a busy few weeks. Here's some highlights:

Madeline enjoyed playing with Uncle Robbie's new cymbal. She would run over to it and balance on it. It was pretty funny to watch.

We spent a day at the zoo with other kids from the CNIB and we got to meet lots of "behind the scenes" animals. Here is Madeline chasing the petting zoo animals. She would run from animal to animal, giving them a pat and moving on to the next. She just kept going and going!

I loved watching Claire interact with the animals. She was so gentle and careful and sat very still when she was meeting them. Our guide was so kind to the kids and made sure they each had enough time to explore. Here Claire is meeting a ferrett in the restricted area that only we got to see! We also got to touch a snake, chinchilla, skunk!, bunnies and chickens.
The girls were in heaven.

We also got to meet an armadillo and it was super cool!

Another fun activity put on by the CNIB was a visit to the Build-a-Bear store in West Ed. The ASVI gave the kids $20 each to put towards a furry friend so we had a ball picking out the sounds and accessories. Here is a picture of the lifeless bodies we picked out for the girls.

Here's Claire hugging her bear Sunshine - we picked it out because it was yellow and sparkly and picked a giggling sound for her button.

Madeline was going crazy in the store because there were so many fun things to look at and grab. She loves her Fraidy Cat and how she meows.

Luckily I had the help of Natalie and Robbie or I couldn't have done it.

It takes three of us to handle the two girls! One for each and one for damage control!

One rough part of last week was that we noticed some seizures again during the night. It's a really scary thing because it just seems like Claire isn't really there and we can't get her back for that minute or two until it's done. It was even more of a blow since we haven't noticed any since November and we thought we had things figured out. Now it takes another EEG, another day at the hospital and probably another "wait and see" or "up her meds" solution.

I love to look at pictures of Claire when she's just purely happy - she is never fake about what makes her laugh and what makes her happy. She equally as able to tell us when something scares her or hurts her. I wish I could take those scary times away from her but I'm trusting that Heavenly Father is allowing this to happen for a reason - although I can't see it now.