Most of you I have talked to at some point relatively recently, but for those of you that I haven't, here is the latest update from the Keirnan clan. In February of this year, Rachel had to have a tonsillectomy because a sleep study in October had shown numerous bouts of sleep apnea. The surgery went well and she had two long weeks of recovery. I spent each day struggling to get her to eat and drink, but after about two weeks she perked up and all was well. Her follow up sleep study in May should much improvement, thank goodness, and the ENT told us that we did not need to come in for anymore followups! Yeah, one less doctor to have to keep up with. Rachel completed her second yer in school this May. she will be moving up to the 4-5 year old class room this year. We really like the school she is attending and all the therapists are very attentive to Rachel. We have loved her teacher and the aide too, but are glad to see Rachel getting a change of scenery after two years. She seems to like school, but the last teacher did not push them too much. Next year, Rachel will be old enough to go to kindergarten, so she needs someone to start pushing her.
Allison completed the third grade again this year. We held her back this past year to give her some time to mature a little. She had been the youngest in her class, making the age cut off by about two weeks. This seemed to work to her disadvantage, so despite her successfully completed third grade in 2007, we had her repeat it. The school she attends is ranked pretty high in the state of Florida, and they really push the kids hard, so I am hoping that giving Allison the extra year will help her survive the intense pressure she will have to face in the coming years.
Leah is going into first grade this fall. She is already so bored with school that she is starting to complain about already, and it is not even August. I sent a request to the school last spring to give Leah the most creative teacher they have. Hopefully, she will get a teacher that is not "boring." I have sent out pictures of Leah and her new haircut......she did this in April. She kept saying she wanted her hair shorter, so each time I took her I let the stylist cut a little more. Each time she came home, she was disappointed that it was not shorter. Finally, in April, I let her chop it all off. It has taken me a while to get used to it, but I think she may have won me over to the new look. You should see her in the mornings, though....it sticks up everywhere!
Mike has been working lots and lots of hours. He had a trip a couple of weeks ago that took him to Atlanta, GA, Greenville, NC, Indianapolis, IN, Minneapolis, MN, and Duluth, MN. He was so tired after that trip. The past weekend or so he has finally had some time off. This past Sunday he took his kayak offshore to fish and said he saw a manta ray and a sea turtle. He said the sea turtle actually came up under his boat and hung out for a while. So cool. In June, Mike got to have "men's" weekend, when three buddies from college came down for a long weekend. They checked out the tourist stuff here and chartered a fishing boat. We still have freezer full of fish, and the neighbors are getting tired of the fish we keep sending over their way when Mike cooks a batch. These college buddies are also friends of mine and it was great to have them around for a visit.
I spent the past year volunteering in Leah's classroom a couple of times a month and chauffeuring Rachel back and forth to school. She attends school from 8:00am-12:00pm, so it seemed that every time I turned around it was time to get in the car again. Now that Rachel is in school in the mornings, I got to go on a few field trips with the girls too. In May I did LASIK-for the first time in thirty years I can see with out glasses or contacts. It is great. It is weird too. Now when I wake up i the middle of the night I can see the clock across the room. It is cool. Two weeks ago I had a hysterectomy. It went well and I have spent the last two weeks trying to take it easy. That is not an easy feat when you have three kids to clean up after. The recovery has been easy, mostly me just trying to make myself take it easy. Today, I was taking Allison and Leah to zoo camp and Rachel decided she didn't want to walk. That is a problem, since I am two weeks post op and under orders not to lift anything, but after much cajoling I was able to get her to change her mind and we were on our way, thank goodness.
The rest of the summer, the girls go back to school August 18th, will probably be spent hanging around the pool and swimming-when it isn't raining. We have a neat get together August 17th. A family in the area hosts a Beach Bash each year for all the families in the area affected by Down Syndrome. It is great to see all the families and get a chance to visit. This is the third year they have done it and we have attended each time, what do you know, we have had a 'blast'. The have the local surf shop donate their instructors time so the kids get free surf lessons. Mike wishes they would let the adults participate in that.
Okay, I guess I will end it here. The girls are hovering, and Mike is waiting to use the computer. He had to come home early because he rode his motorcycle to work and he had to race the rain home. He just barely made it home without getting soaked. It is pouring here now. Anyway, he needs the computer for work stuff.
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