ICD

Today has been a busy day filled with pros and cons.

Cons:

1) Getting to bed almost an hour later than normal, only to have Jocie keep me awake from approximately 1am - 4:30am with all her jibber-jabbering, hollering, laughing mix! I don't typically mind as I always want to hear her voice, but that was a long stretch of it and especially with having to get up so early.

2) Traveling over three hours in the car. Not really all that much, especially when considering how often we are on the go with all of our appointments, but again, I was super tired. Jocie of course slept most of the car ride both ways.

3) There's been quite of bit of vomiting on Jocie's part today. Makes sense that after I write about how her reflux and vomiting have improved, that she would show me that she's the one that makes all the decisions around here. She vomited a little bit this morning at the beginning of breakfast, but then after traveling, I got her out of the car and a whole truck load of vomit went right down the back of my shirt. Sure, I have tons of diapers, wipes, spare towels and even an extra set of clothes for Jocie, but for me? Nadda thing!!! Ugh! I felt bad for everyone around me because I reeked of vomit and there was nothing I could do about it :s

Pros:

WE GOT TO SEE OUR ICD FRIENDS...FAMILY...SISTERS!!!!

For those of you who don't know, ICD refers to Infant Child Development, and I am specifically talking about the ICD in Salina, KS. Those ladies, and we are talking from the secretaries to the coordinators to the educators to the therapist, are seriously top notch!!! We see them sporadically (not nearly enough in my books, and I'm talking about for enjoyment purposes not therapy type stuff per say), but the visits although short, are jammed pack with great stuff and I always leave smiling because they continue to have such a special place in our heart and they LOVE Jocie SO MUCH!!!

As a side note, this was a super quick trip of down-n-back because there are so many there in Salina (and you know who you are) that I would have loved to have gotten to see, have lunch and spend the day with, but we really needed to get back at a decent time today.

One of the exciting parts of today was getting to see the new ICD Children's Center that has just opened. After we were all finished with our agenda, we got to take a tour of the building and it was so thoughtfully built and put me in awe. They had "viewing rooms" for future students, etc to observe a child's therapy without interrupting or hindering the process, each therapy department had their own rooms, they even had specific rooms for audiology & casting and the list just goes on and on! Did I mention it was so clean and pretty too?

Check part of this beautiful place out!

Also, so much of the building was created just as it should be --- with the children that need the services in mind. For instance, the hallways were extremely wide and doorways oversized, small foot stools in the bathrooms, unisex bathrooms because its nice to think of the daddy's too, handrails along the walls, and even a lobby had great toys that were easy to play with and that give instant feedback even to a child with the most severe impairments.

Here was a toy that Jocelyn couldn't get enough of while we waited in the lobby. The toy is called Magic Hands and even I was pretty entertained by its awesomeness!

{I have to admit, I'm always excited to see how long

and how well Jocie can sit in these big girl chairs!}

The other parts of the building had hallways filled with brightly colored artwork and my favorite? BEAUTIFUL STUNNING PICTURES OF REAL KIDDOS THAT THE ICD HAVE HELPED!!!

So, can you guess who was one of those sweet kiddos??

Yep! Jocelyn!!! SQQQQQQQQQUUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!

For your viewing pleasure:

How did Jocelyn feel about these pictures you ask? She felt like a total ROCKSTAR of course!!! I held her up to the picture of her with the clippie in her hair, and she instantly smiled and couldn't look away. Yes, she does love herself in case your wondering hahaha.

I'd say our pros outweighed our cons --- score for us!

All things aside, Jocelyn and I have been incredibly blessed by today. Getting to see our friends smiling faces warms our hearts and gives us that extra boost in knowing we always have an ear for listening, hands for helping and loving souls to keep us encouraged!

ICD Family - Thank you for what you've done and continue to do for us!