KC Trolley Run

Trolley Team ~ Bella’s Barracudas 2009

The IncrediBella’s

Dear Family and Friends,

It is Trolley Run time-the four-mile run/walk that we participate in each year to support Isabella’s school, The Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI). The race is on Sunday, April 25, and we would love it if you would come walk with us. If you cannot walk with us, please consider making a donation to our CCVI Family Team, named The IncrediBella’s. We realize it is a tough economic time for everyone, but this is the time when CCVI needs us the most. Every donation, regardless of size, makes a difference.

You can donate directly through our personal website, listed at the bottom of this letter, or make a check out to CCVI and mail it to our home address at 1702 NW 63^rd Ter in Kansas City MO 64118. CCVI is a 501(c)(3) so you can write off your donation.

CCVI has done so much for Isabella and our family, that it is hard to even put those things into a letter.

*They gave us information and education to help guide us along this very foreign path to assure Bella is able to live a life to her fullest ability. Not to mention, along the way becoming our “Rays of Sunshine” when things seemed so dark and life altering. CCVI has been a part of our lives since Bella was 3 months old.

*CCVI has been responsible for teaching Bella to walk, run, climb up and down stairs and swim. The last being Bella’s personal favorite, jumping off the edge and swimming to the top, scaring her Mother to pieces and keeping her Therapist on their toes!

*CCVI has awarded Bella with the tools for communication, something in which she still has great difficulty. To not only participate in classroom activities, but also call the Grandparents on the phone. Isabella has been taught American Sign Language (ASL), Verbal speech and computer skills. In the last twelve months her verbal words have increased from 6 to 56!!! With attempts at placing two and three words together to make sentences. Isabella has become quite the little four year old with attitude to boot, yelling at her Brother, asking for more of a certain item or activity, saying “Momma”, or pretend playing with friends and toys.

*Isabella knows her colors, shapes, days of the week and ABC’s. Bella loves music with Mr. Mac on Mondays and circle time in the classroom.

*Now that the potty-training issues have been tackled, CCVI is working on independent activities, such as buttons, ties, snaps and successful washing of the hands without flooding the bathroom. Something Bella has been known to do from time-to-time.

All of this wouldn’t be possible without the therapy from CCVI. She gets physical therapy, aquatic therapy, occupational therapy, assistive technology/augmentative communication therapy, speech therapy , orientation and mobility and vision therapy. Because vision plays such a huge role in nearly everything we do, it is important for Isabella to get all this therapy through CCVI. There are a lot of things that have to be taught to these kids that sighted kids would learn just by watching others.

So, you can see just how important CCVI is – and this is just to one little girl. There are more than 300 other children that CCVI serves annually. We appreciated your support last year and hope to have your continued support this year!

Love,

Joe, Rachel, Isabella and Remington Riddell

http://public.eventunited.com/kcsc/sabateseyecentersTrolleyrun2010/TeamFundraising.aspx?tid=4207

Longest blog in history and catching up

I would almost argue with this blog thingy that it has been since October since my last post. Really? Where has the time gone?
The holidays have all come and gone and we made many new memories to store away in that little compartment I call a brain.

The kids were little blue monsters for Halloween. Which was adorable, yet very fitting for the two of them. (Here is a picture of them on Halloween at the KC Zoo)
Joe had to work Halloween night at his second job so I attempted to take the kids trick-or-treating all by myself. We armed ourselves with bags and flashlights (Thomas the train choo-choo light) and headed out after dark. At first both of them were a little thrown by the night-time activity, but as we walked and saw more children dressed up and walking with us, they quickly got into the spirit.
Remi was adorable with his train flashlight and almost used it like his security blanket. Every time someone or something would happen or come along that he was unsure of, he would click it on to hear the train whistle blow and that would seem to soothe him enough to carry on. Did I mention that he carried this important flashlight backwards the whole way. What I would've given for a picture of us walking from behind.

Bella was all about ringing the doorbells and saying (signing) "thank you" for her candy. It was a pretty slow moving walk since each house in our neighborhood has several stairs leading up to the front doors, but she was such a trooper. We made it all the way around our block and finished the night by answering our own door and re-passing out the candy we had just collected. The kids were so excited to hand out candy to the monsters/vampires/football players, etc that they didn't realize their evil Mom was giving away the huge stash of candy which they had just earned.
The kids and I ended the night by eating a piece of candy and going to bed (or at least they went to bed), I waited up on Joe to get home so I could tell him every little detail and moment that he missed out on. And I might have cried a little on his shoulder because it was so sad that he missed such a fun night and we will never have it to do over again. Those memories that the kids and I made are just my memories, they are too young to remember and Joe wasn't home and that just doesn't seem right.



Thanksgiving- Um, yeah. Pretty sure we just ate our way around the different houses and moved right on passed this one. I know, us and the rest of America, but this holiday seems to be waning in it's popularity. Joe says its his favorite holiday. Read; he loves pumpkin pie.

All I can ever think about with Thanksgiving is back in 2001. After we had finished stuffing ourselves full of turkey at the Riddell household, walking into the front room where my then sweet dog, Angel and our new little puppy Diablo, were stuffing a little turkey in their own way. Two months later we were "blessed" with two cute bundles we named Missy and Minnie. Missy and Minnie will turn 8 years old Jan. 21 (Thursday). Wow, did I mention how fast time has went? Yes, I think I did.



Bella turned four at the first of December (12-4). We had a big birthday party. Read; family and only one special friend from school, but with family alone this house is busting at the seams. Bella loved ripping into each gift and then tossing them aside so she could open the next. Pretty typical behavior for a four year old, I love when I can say that about her.
I could get all mushy and tell you about her gains this year and even from birth from what they expected, to what actually transpired and is still progressing, but I will save that for another day. I would hate to make this the longest blog in the history of blogs. So we will just move on...



Christmas was so fun this year!!! The kids were both super excited (or maybe they just fed from my excitement) and we filled each day with something fun and special to mark this holiday. We baked cookies (a few times), made popcorn balls, went shopping, visited with Santa, sang songs, took pictures. You get the idea. ha We had our first white Christmas since forever and white it was. It started snowing Christmas eve and didn't stop for days. I think we ended up with 12 inches with another several inches after that. It was pretty and perfect, but too dang cold for us to play in it, which kind of defeats the purpose of snow.

Bella's favorite Christmas song this year (which you would've heard on my voice mail if you called me anytime during this season) was "Jingle Bells". It all started one night when I was doing dishes singing away, not really paying any attention when I noticed Bella was chiming in on the side lines of the song. "Laughing all the way..." she would chuckle. "Jingle all the way..." and she would yell, "HEY". So we ended up singing this song a lot, which was perfect in the end because it was also one of the songs they sang for their school program.
Which speaking of school program. Bella was awesome and amazing this night. Sometimes you may hear a Mother speak about their disabled child as having a great day or an "on day". These are days where the kid is just doing things that may be hard for them normally or it may even be difficult to remember what the disability even is on these days.
This was an "on day" for Bella. She hopped right up there with the rest of the kids, singing, clapping, signing and laughing instead of being overwhelmed or overstimulated, like she has been in the past. I was so happy and excited and weeping all in the same moment.
I love when God blesses us with small moments like these. It gives me hope and encouragement for the future...

Remington was a hoot all around. He loved touching the untouchable ornaments, singing to a Big Bird ornament that hung at eye level. He looked too adorable for words in his Christmas best. He loved to beg for more Christmas stories at bedtime as soon as we had finished with one. He was interested and scared to death at the same time of Santa Clause, never making it to his lap for a picture.
He helped pass out presents to everyone before ripping into his own and yelling, "elmo", "choo-choo", and "arrrarr" for his dog book, perfectly happy playing for hours with his new toys.
Seeing him act and react makes me understand why Christmas is so special for children and feel blessed that we were able to give them a very merry Christmas this year, something that has been very tough for the last few years past.

This holiday season really had me feeling the *tug for a bigger family...more on that to come.

*you know that heavy heart feeling you get when you see or hold a baby or watch your own children accomplish something new or maybe as you are folding outgrown clothes to give away. If you are a woman, you know that tug. Or maybe I'm just loony and Joe should slip me a little birth control in my wine every night...



So that pretty much catches us up to the Now. I am going to try and post more frequently and see if it helps to write it out. And by "it", I mean stress and daily grind, parenting bull-whoohee.

~R

Been fighting a cold all week, kids too. Had a scare in Bella's preschool class over swine flu. Yikes! We've had the flu shot, but not the H1N1 shot yet. So far looks like a scare is all it is going to be.

Preschool put on a play today about the three little pigs and the big bad wolf, except there were more than three pigs and the big bad wolf is a real sweet-heart. Bella was a pig. We had worked on shaky her head "no" after the wolf was suppose to knock on the door, but yet when it came time today her fingers were stuffed in the mouth and participation was limited. Not sure if this is an age thing or a disabled thing. Maybe a little of both.

After Bella's transfusion at the hospital did some finagling around vehicles with my Mom and I stayed at the hospital to visit with one of Bella's classmates and his family that was in the ER. Now, we've had our fair share of ER visits, but that doesn't make it any easier when you walk into the room and the little kiddo is laying there without being his usual happy self.
Felt out of place, but yet right where I needed to be.
It's funny how people can come in and out of your lives and touch us so deeply without ever knowing so.

Did anyone read the article on CNN about the woman who only used half her brain and was doing amazing? I posted it on facebook and only did so because I couldn't believe what I had read and wanted to share with everyone. Joe and I sometimes will spend nights talking about Bella and how much she is affected in daily rituals that so many take for advantage and I usually end up crying and worrying about her future and what it will hold for her, but this article gave me so much hope. I just wanted to reach through the computer and give that girl a big hug for being such an inspiration and for sharing her story.

Did the bedtime thing by myself tonight with the kids since Joe is working at his second job for the next 5 nights in a row. Kind of got to me when I kissed him goodbye. I might have got a little teary-eyed and I might have hung on to the hug a tad long. I just don't understand where we went wrong in life. Why can he not find the "job"? We are down to bare bones here and we still are struggling. I know we are not alone in this fight, but man, as you are living it, it sure feels like a lonely road.

Well, I think on nights like these when I can just rattle on forever it is best to cut rope and go home.
So goodnight till we meet again.

Day Whatever.

Well, so much for the daily blogging. How do you keep up Sean Anderson? Might try for a weekly blog and see if I can commit to that.
I think I purposefully have not been writing because I have been so upset with myself and how I have been acting. Yuck and double yuck. I have been acting like I'm a sole mission to replace all this weight lost in one week and my moods have been gutter-like to match.

Today I have made a re-re-commitment to myself to try and do better. That's right there are really two Re's to the commitment. The weather has been perfect for running, yet I haven't run for a week. I have healthy food stocked in my fridge, but still order out. And the new size 6 jeans I had to buy are now too snug to fit, unless the muffin-top would come back in style. Yep, time to recommit to myself.

So far so good for the day. Even with Bella waking up at 5:30am to start the day, which usually makes me grumpy and the dogs going rounds with each other, managed not to compensate with a burger and fry for lunch.
So I need to plan for dinner before the day gets much later because this is my downfall. Oops it's 6pm and I have nothing fixed. Pizza it is! Not today...


On another note, Joe started his weekend job this past weekend and it wasn't that terrible for either one of us. Okay so Friday night was no biggie. I was reading my book and was so engrossed that the time flew by before I realized it was time for him to be home. Saturday was a little different. We had fought all day about kids and money which left me drained and wanting some peace, but once the kids were asleep I was so pent up that I couldn't seem to concentrate on any one thing in particular. Watched a movie, read through my emails, searched houses in Washington, stayed up until he got home at midnight. Ugh! With children that never sleep in, this will not be a great habit to form.

Hoping today brings great news on the Home front for his job search, but since I can't find my cell phone for the life of me, I'll just have to wait until he gets home tonight. Which makes the saying, no news is good news. Right?