Hey to all of you!

I just wanted to let everyone know that Mom and Dad are doing well after the transition to Anna's house.  It has been a week and all is pretty good.  We have 2 sitters who are helping out with Mom's care.  Liz is there monday - friday and Sara is there on Sat and Sun.  They come a 7 am and leave at 7pm. 

Overall, Mom is getting stronger.  She looks good.  Her color is good and she is starting to really try to communicate with us using hand gesters and grunting noises.  Some times she makes noises if Dad is doing something wrong or something else is not right.  The othe day, Mom started making noises when Anna was in the bedroom helping Dad change his clothes from a accident.  Anna said the drawer was open just a little bit and Mom was making a noise and seeming upset.  Anna went over and closed the drawer and Mom was ok. 

Anna is a bit better at finding out the meaning of Mom's gestures.  Some are pretty easy, like she will point up at the light if she wants it off.  But the other day, she grabbed my right arm and kept squeezing it and moving her hand up and down my arm.  I never did figure out what she wanted.  I think maybe Dad was messing with her arm that way and she wanted him to stop, but I am not sure on that one.  Then there was one time she was adament that she wanted something and she started out by patting her chest over her heart, then she did the arm squeezing and then we finally figured out that she wanted to be changed.  Sometimes Anna and I feel pretty stupid not knowing what she wants and then she looks a little frustrated that we can't figure it out.

Yesterday, Sara was reading some of Anna's little books to Mom, and then she got this toy that you write on with a magnetic pen ( when you are done you slide a bar over the screen and erases it- I forget what you call them, but it is not an etchasketch), and Mom wrote her name a bunch of times.  Her signature was much better than it was a few months ago. 

Jerry and I are still working on the shower.  We have all the tile placed and need to grout the floor and around the soap dishes.  Jerry got the grab bars installed yesterday and got the shower knobs etc set up.  So not too much more to go.

We also had Mom and Dad out on Anna's back porch/patio yesterday afternoon and Mom was very anxious to get out the bed and into the wheelchair.  It must be hard to be in bed all the time and she loves the time out of bed, but it does tire her out when she is in the wheelchair.  She moves her left leg alot and her left arm alot.  She was sitting up pretty well yesterday and her she was holding her head up some of the time.  Way to go, Mom!

Dad is doing ok.  He had some problems last week with not getting to the potty on time.  I also changed his depends to a size Med.  Well, the large said it was for waist 44-54" and his is only 38", well he must need the extra room for pulling up and getting himself situated.  So he is back on the large size.  I did the same thing with Mom's and got her the mediums, but she needs the large ones for the leg room.  They gap alot around the waist, but Anna uses some tape and closes it up some.  It bugs Mom if it gapes.

Dad told me yesterday, that he dreads going back to Fl because it is a long trip.  So I told him not to worry about it and he can stay for a while here at Anna's and he was ok with that.  I brought over some of the amarylis (sp?) flowers that are blooming now.  Jerry and I call them Easter Lily's but they aren't the white ones, they are the colored ones.  We have alot of them blooming in our yard and I thought Mom would like them.  So I cut one stem that has 4 flowers in bloom and they are white and red.  Dad and Mom have some of the same one's at their home in Fl. 

Mom gave Anna some of the bulbs years ago and she passed some on to me.  So when I brought the flowers over yesterday, Dad asked me how the house was (in FL).  He thought I drove down there and cut the flower and come back to Anna's. I told him it was too far to go and that they were in my yard.  I also told Dad that Joan would be down there to check on the house this week. 

Well, gotta get back to work.  Chat at you later.

Love and hugs to all,

Mary