Hello to those who still check in on me. Things are good, but so very busy these days. Thankfully it is the good kind of busy. We have a ton of work for the business to get done. Maddy has a full calendar this summer and next week we are going out of state for a quick few days away. Once we return we will begin Special Olympics swim season which lasts from June to October since Maddy will go to state this year.
The best way to stay in touch with me and see what is going on is Facebook. Tons of Maddy pictures over there.
Feel free to friend me https://www.facebook.com/ja.davidson?ref=tn_tnmn
Once things settle down again I will try to post until then stay safe and have fun!!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Roller Coaster
Things have been crazy around here. A roller coaster ride is the easy way to illustate it. We have had ups and downs, twists and turns non stop. Soon I hope to post and catch everyone up.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Beginnings of a Super Summer
This weekend was the start of a very busy and fun filled summer for Maddy. Let's face it, last summer was pretty darn sucky! We have started track season and she had her first tournament this weekend.
We are always so amazed at the number of wonderful volunteers who come each year and make the tournaments a great experience for the kiddos. Katie is also a great volunteer at church and you can see we love her LOTS!
After Maddy went to the staging area and she was paired up with the girls in her heat she was MOST unhappy. She was in the same grouping as the girl who beat her twice last year. I explained to Maddy that she needed to be in the grouping that would give her a challenge to make her a better runner. We reviewed everything we had been practicing and I reminded her of the endurance training we had done so she would have energy at the end of the race to "BURST" to the finish line.
In practice she was a pretty consistent 18-20 seconds in the 100M dash. We set the goal at the race for her to try to run it in 16 seconds. She ran it in 16.5 seconds and was a good 2 seconds in front of the girl who had beat her last year. She was over the moon happy with herself. This was her first gold in an individual event. If you want to see the video of her and me being an excited Mom check it out on my Facebook page.
After the tournament we had about 2 hours to rush home, toss Maddy in the shower and head to the Dress for Barbara Event. This is a non profit that provides prom dresses to girls who can't afford them. They set up a special time for all the special needs girls at church to get free dresses, jewelery and make up hints. Everyone one of the ladies was open, loving and pampered the girls with love and let them try on as many dresses as they wanted. There were about 200 dresses there and I think Maddy would have tried them all on if I had let her. She did try on about 10 dresses. Pictures are below. Her best friend Sarah was there as well and they loved asking each other about their thoughts on each dress.
Maddy decided on the Blue dress and she loves it so much she had to put it on when we got home to show her Dad and all the neighbors.
Days like this remind me of all the love for others still exists and how lucky I am to have Miss Maddy.
We are always so amazed at the number of wonderful volunteers who come each year and make the tournaments a great experience for the kiddos. Katie is also a great volunteer at church and you can see we love her LOTS!
After Maddy went to the staging area and she was paired up with the girls in her heat she was MOST unhappy. She was in the same grouping as the girl who beat her twice last year. I explained to Maddy that she needed to be in the grouping that would give her a challenge to make her a better runner. We reviewed everything we had been practicing and I reminded her of the endurance training we had done so she would have energy at the end of the race to "BURST" to the finish line.
In practice she was a pretty consistent 18-20 seconds in the 100M dash. We set the goal at the race for her to try to run it in 16 seconds. She ran it in 16.5 seconds and was a good 2 seconds in front of the girl who had beat her last year. She was over the moon happy with herself. This was her first gold in an individual event. If you want to see the video of her and me being an excited Mom check it out on my Facebook page.
After the tournament we had about 2 hours to rush home, toss Maddy in the shower and head to the Dress for Barbara Event. This is a non profit that provides prom dresses to girls who can't afford them. They set up a special time for all the special needs girls at church to get free dresses, jewelery and make up hints. Everyone one of the ladies was open, loving and pampered the girls with love and let them try on as many dresses as they wanted. There were about 200 dresses there and I think Maddy would have tried them all on if I had let her. She did try on about 10 dresses. Pictures are below. Her best friend Sarah was there as well and they loved asking each other about their thoughts on each dress.
Maddy decided on the Blue dress and she loves it so much she had to put it on when we got home to show her Dad and all the neighbors.
Days like this remind me of all the love for others still exists and how lucky I am to have Miss Maddy.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Oh hi there
Figured it was about time I checked in. A whole lot of this and that going on. Spring has sprung and here in Houston we are feeling the first waves of summer heat and humidity. This is the time of year that my calendar fills up faster than the speed of light.
We got all the paperwork in and Maddy was approved for SSI and Medicaid. We are already beginning to see the results of the months it took to get it done. Within the next 3 weeks everything will be set and Maddy will get speech, physical and occupational therapy once a week here at the house. Yep at the house!
I am still learning about Medicaid but I will master it! We got a letter this week from AT&T stated that since Maddy was on Medicaid our land line bill would be reduced. Hopefully we will continue to get little happy surprises the next month or two.
This is shaping up to be a wonderful, fun filled summer for Maddy.
This weekend is the last weekend of basketball cheer.
All the girls were excited this year, because it was the first year of "real" cheer uniforms.
Maddy is madly in "like" with a new boy. He lives in Livingston which is a good and a bad thing. The good thing is they are far enough apart they don't have the time or ability to be all about the other person. They get to do their own thing and talk about it on the phone. Mom lives in Livingston and Maddy is already planning trips to see her Banma stating she never gets to spend enough time with her. Yeah right, we all know it is a way to see the boy more. However I am so happy that will be spending more time with Mom.
Maddy is in SO track again this year. She is running better than she did last year. She loves going to practice and can't wait for her first meet on the 31st. Hopefully she will come home with a ton of medals!
That gets you caught up for this month.
We got all the paperwork in and Maddy was approved for SSI and Medicaid. We are already beginning to see the results of the months it took to get it done. Within the next 3 weeks everything will be set and Maddy will get speech, physical and occupational therapy once a week here at the house. Yep at the house!
I am still learning about Medicaid but I will master it! We got a letter this week from AT&T stated that since Maddy was on Medicaid our land line bill would be reduced. Hopefully we will continue to get little happy surprises the next month or two.
This is shaping up to be a wonderful, fun filled summer for Maddy.
This weekend is the last weekend of basketball cheer.
All the girls were excited this year, because it was the first year of "real" cheer uniforms.
Maddy is madly in "like" with a new boy. He lives in Livingston which is a good and a bad thing. The good thing is they are far enough apart they don't have the time or ability to be all about the other person. They get to do their own thing and talk about it on the phone. Mom lives in Livingston and Maddy is already planning trips to see her Banma stating she never gets to spend enough time with her. Yeah right, we all know it is a way to see the boy more. However I am so happy that will be spending more time with Mom.
Maddy is in SO track again this year. She is running better than she did last year. She loves going to practice and can't wait for her first meet on the 31st. Hopefully she will come home with a ton of medals!
That gets you caught up for this month.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
When your kiddo makes you so proud
Maddy will often repeat what she hears and several times is so funny, other times it is inappropriate which honestly is still funny.
However last night I listened to a conversation she had with a friend and my heart almost exploded I was so proud of her. What she said came from her heart and was very touching.
We were in the car taking her friend home and this was the conversation.
Friend: I don't know if you noticed but I have put on a little bit of weight lately.
Maddy: That's ok, you are still my best friend.
Friend: I really, really need to stop eating so many sweets.
Maddy: Just tell yourself you can do it, you can do it.
Friend: Yeah that is a good idea.
Maddy: You like grapes right?
Friend: I love grapes!
Maddy: See then it is easy then, when you want a sweet, go get the grapes instead, if you like apples then you have a choice of apples or grapes.
Friend: You are so right I can eat those things instead. I like carrots too, should I eat those?
Maddy: Heck ya! I love carrots.
Friend: Thanks for helping me with this.
Maddy: No problem, I had noticed as well, but I did not want to say anything and hurt your feelings.
Friend: It is OK, I just need to stop with the sweets.
Maddy: I know you can do it!
It was nice to know that she was able to give encouragement, good advice and be kind to her best friend. After we dropped the friend off, I told Maddy how very proud I was of her.
However last night I listened to a conversation she had with a friend and my heart almost exploded I was so proud of her. What she said came from her heart and was very touching.
We were in the car taking her friend home and this was the conversation.
Friend: I don't know if you noticed but I have put on a little bit of weight lately.
Maddy: That's ok, you are still my best friend.
Friend: I really, really need to stop eating so many sweets.
Maddy: Just tell yourself you can do it, you can do it.
Friend: Yeah that is a good idea.
Maddy: You like grapes right?
Friend: I love grapes!
Maddy: See then it is easy then, when you want a sweet, go get the grapes instead, if you like apples then you have a choice of apples or grapes.
Friend: You are so right I can eat those things instead. I like carrots too, should I eat those?
Maddy: Heck ya! I love carrots.
Friend: Thanks for helping me with this.
Maddy: No problem, I had noticed as well, but I did not want to say anything and hurt your feelings.
Friend: It is OK, I just need to stop with the sweets.
Maddy: I know you can do it!
It was nice to know that she was able to give encouragement, good advice and be kind to her best friend. After we dropped the friend off, I told Maddy how very proud I was of her.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
MIss Maddy
Today Maddy and I went to the nail salon. She loves her manicures and pedicures and we always go to the same place so everyone knows her. Since it was a week day the place was pretty empty. During the pedicures we were chatting about all kinds of random things. When some of staff did not understand everything in English the lady doing Maddy's toes would re-tell the story to them.
While Maddy was getting her manicure one of the ladies who was pregnant asked Maddy if after she had her baby could she hire Maddy to baby sit. Without missing a beat, and fairly loudly Maddy responded "I can't babysit for you, I don't speak your language". I thought everyone in the salon was gonna pee their pants they were all laughing so hard.
Gotta love a kid with no filter!
While Maddy was getting her manicure one of the ladies who was pregnant asked Maddy if after she had her baby could she hire Maddy to baby sit. Without missing a beat, and fairly loudly Maddy responded "I can't babysit for you, I don't speak your language". I thought everyone in the salon was gonna pee their pants they were all laughing so hard.
Gotta love a kid with no filter!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
I might get good at this after many attempts!
This week we released our press release showcasing the Super Bowl Info graphic we did.
Click Here for the blog post and a bigger image
In two days we have been covered in 15 different types of media ranging from newspapers, internet and a whole lot of radio.
I have already done two radio interviews. One I bunted and the other I knocked it out of the park. One of our partners did a radio interview today and we have one scheduled for tomorrow.
Soon we will catch the eye of the "big boys" and hopefully we will move up from the Triple A team to the big leagues in news coverage.
Enjoy the Super Bowl, drink safe and don't forget the commercials!
Click Here for the blog post and a bigger image
In two days we have been covered in 15 different types of media ranging from newspapers, internet and a whole lot of radio.
I have already done two radio interviews. One I bunted and the other I knocked it out of the park. One of our partners did a radio interview today and we have one scheduled for tomorrow.
Soon we will catch the eye of the "big boys" and hopefully we will move up from the Triple A team to the big leagues in news coverage.
Enjoy the Super Bowl, drink safe and don't forget the commercials!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Creating a monster
Our dog Bruiser is pretty darn smart. He knows a lot of words and we are always working on keeping him active and his mind busy. When we first got him we bell trained him so when he wants to go outside he will ring his bell. This was very easy for him to master.
To challenge him more I had my Dad build him a "dog brick" and within a few days he had that down to a science. A "dog brick" is a puzzle type box where you put treats inside and the dog solves the puzzle to get the treats.
Bruiser also likes to play with his shoe. We trained him to only play with his shoe and leave others alone. His favorite thing to do with his shoe is to "rodeo". He gets the shoe just right and then goes in circles with it and then will change directions.
Our next adventure with Bruiser might just create a monster, he will truly be able to boss me around. We purchased a couple of Bow Wow Buttons. Right now we have them programed with "Dog Treat" and "I want to go outside". He is taking to them pretty well. Today I have already given him two treats. Last night Mark and I were talking and all of the sudden we heard "I want to go outside".
After these buttons are mastered we are going to keep adding them and hopefully we can teach Bruiser to talk to us.
To challenge him more I had my Dad build him a "dog brick" and within a few days he had that down to a science. A "dog brick" is a puzzle type box where you put treats inside and the dog solves the puzzle to get the treats.
Bruiser also likes to play with his shoe. We trained him to only play with his shoe and leave others alone. His favorite thing to do with his shoe is to "rodeo". He gets the shoe just right and then goes in circles with it and then will change directions.
Our next adventure with Bruiser might just create a monster, he will truly be able to boss me around. We purchased a couple of Bow Wow Buttons. Right now we have them programed with "Dog Treat" and "I want to go outside". He is taking to them pretty well. Today I have already given him two treats. Last night Mark and I were talking and all of the sudden we heard "I want to go outside".
After these buttons are mastered we are going to keep adding them and hopefully we can teach Bruiser to talk to us.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Hit the New Year Running
No rest for the wicked around here. I have done fairly well with my trying to work out 4 days a week. I love our new exercise bike.
Most of my time lately has been focused on Maddy's SSI application and jumping through all the hoops. It seems like things are going well. We should have this all wrapped up in the next few weeks.
When I am not work with or for Maddy I have been a busy little PR queen for the business. The 20 bucks a month we invest in HARO each month has really paid off a good bit.
I look like a real business woman!
Check it out here and here. We are number 26 on the first article and number 3 on the second article.
We have been working hard on a Super Bowl info graphic and once we press release it I will give you a peek.
January is already halfway done...YIKES!
Most of my time lately has been focused on Maddy's SSI application and jumping through all the hoops. It seems like things are going well. We should have this all wrapped up in the next few weeks.
When I am not work with or for Maddy I have been a busy little PR queen for the business. The 20 bucks a month we invest in HARO each month has really paid off a good bit.
I look like a real business woman!
Check it out here and here. We are number 26 on the first article and number 3 on the second article.
We have been working hard on a Super Bowl info graphic and once we press release it I will give you a peek.
January is already halfway done...YIKES!
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