It has been too long since I updated the blog. I appreciated the messages from our blog family, checking in to make sure that we are okay. Thank G-d, we are all doing well.
It took everyone awhile to get over all the sicknesses, but thank G-d, we are all healthy and well. It has been very busy in our home for the past bit. For one, everyone was sick and we were just going back and forth from the doctors to the pharmacies. At one point, I had been at the pharmacy 6 times in 8 days. The pharmacist said to me, "Wow! You're back again! You must be having a hard week!" Then she smiled. I had a hard time smiling back and replied, "Yes. It has not been going very well." After she handed me the medications, she said, "L'hitraot!", which is a normal casual greeting and means "goodbye" but literally means "See you soon!". I responded, "No. Goodbye."
But thankfully, we are all back to our normal selves. Tehilla had started that new blood pressure medication at exactly the same time that she got sick and daylight savings time changed here. So, she was all sorts of crazy and was waking up at ridiculous hours. There was no way to know if any of it had to do with her new medication. But as of right now, she's just a regular two year old.
Speaking of which- temper tantrums. Oh my goodness. We are really in the throws of temper tantrums. The other day, Tehilla was eating corn and took a crayon and started coloring her corn. When I turned to her and said, "Oh no! We don't color our corn or food! Only paper! We only color on paper!" She started screaming and crying. She then threw her bowl of corn and hit me.
Two years old is a lot of fun. But thank G-d, that is what we are dealing with. Most days go by, and until it is medicine time and she gets 5 different medications, we mostly forget that she has a heart defect, at all. We are beyond blessed that Tehilla is doing so well.
We had hoped to put Tehilla into a private daycare. She is very ready and would greatly benefit from being with other kids. Unfortunately, when I called two highly recommended places, Tehilla was rejected. Because of Tehilla's heart condition, these places did not want to take on the responsibility. I have to say that it stung a bit. I tried explaining that in practicality, there really isn't much added responsibility. There are a few things to look out for, but overall, Tehilla looks and acts like a normal two year old. I couldn't stomach calling any other places after those responses.
Something that I haven't really mentioned, is that Tehilla is categorized by Bituach Leumi (National Insurance) as 100% handicapped. She is entitled to several special rights because of it. Upon turning two, her case file was up for review. We had to submit over 200 pages of Tehilla's medical history and they will re-evaluate her handicap status.
While submitting the paper work, we requested that she be entitled to a "sa'ayat refui", a medical shadow. Our cardiologist wrote them a long letter describing her heart's condition and we had him specifically write that she needs to be monitored and would benefit from a medical shadow. Our hopes are that she will be granted a medical shadow and we will then be able to send her to daycare with the shadow.
Other than that, we are in the midst of renovations on a bathroom. The previous owners made changes to the bathroom and installed the piping backwards. So, if you wanted to take a bath, it would flood the whole house. It has been pretty crazy here, but thankfully, it should be completed within the next few weeks.
Tehilla's speech has taken off. She is now putting words together and doing very well. Here is a video of her talking:
