October brought a big change for Siena. Over the summer when Siena went and saw the pediatrician for her Jr. High shots, they noticed one of her shoulder blades stuck out more than the other, a sign of scoliosis. So after xrays, seeing an Orthopedic doctor, Siena has a 25% curvature and needs to wear a Scoliosis brace. The brace is worn 18 hours a day and does not correct the curve but prevents it from getting worse. If it gets around 40% then she has to have spinal fusion surgery which is just awful. So she is wearing the brace to prevent that from happening. So October was the month she got the brace. It was rough at first, as we knew it would be. Lots of tears, lots of shopping for new clothes that are loose fitting, getting a new mattress topper to help her sleep in it, etc. Lots of family was so nice sending her cookies, bringing over ice cream. I ordered her this cute scoliosis brace teddy bear. It took about 2 weeks to get up to the 18 hours a day but she is now sleeping in it, wearing it to school and except for the occasional venting session she is more than entitled to she is doing great with it. Wears it without me having to bug her about it. The other hard part of this is she has to do 24 sessions of Physical Therapy, which has proven not only hard physically but a pain to fit it in our busy schedules. She'll have to wear it until she stops growing which they think will be in about 2 years.
We went to Frightmares at Lagoon a few times in September and October. The kids love the haunted houses and how decorated it is for Halloween.
Our big event for October is we went to the Imagine Dragons concert. Jaron is a huge fan and we all really like their music and it's probably the most played music in our car. So we were so excited to get tickets. The Taylors came with us and it was such a fun concert. They put on a great show and one that is clean and appropriate for kids which I really appreciated.
We took our annual trip to Gardner Village to see the Witches there.
We had free tickets to the zoo and only Aria wanted to go this year. So we had such a fun time looking at the animals and no one was rushing us to leave. We got to go see some animals a few different times. It was a fun day spending some one on one time with her. Our favorite parts were the wild horses, the leopard and the red panda.
Jaron's school had a come eat lunch with your child day. So I got him McDonald's and had lunch with him. It was fun sitting with him and all his friends. I was mostly glad he even let me come and didn't seem embarrassed to be with me.
Siena and Aria had a great soccer season. They won most their games and both girls improved a lot. Aria mostly played defense and it really good at stopping the ball. My favorite thing she does is when she does a pull back. Siena mostly played forward and was great at getting the ball down the field. She even scored a few goals.
Carving pumpkins is always a fun night. I love how they each do their own and how cute they all turn out. My job is to cook the pumpkin seeds and help clean up. Shane helps clean them out but the rest they mostly do on their own.
Jaron had his last Halloween parade. He dressed up as Messi, which means he wore his Messi jersey that he wears just about every week as it is. Still fun to see everyone dressed up. He trick or treated with the neighborhood kids and also a couple of school friends.
The girls coordinated with their friends and all dressed up as prisoners (and one cop) They wore the costumes to school, stayed after for a Halloween dance and then went to their friend Alexis' house for dinner and then trick or treated over there. So I hardly saw them at all that day but they had so much fun hanging with their cute group of friends.
The saddest part of the day was Aria's fish she got for Christmas died sometime during the day of Halloween. Aria of course was so sad. She really loved that fish and took such good care of him. She got extra stuff for his tank and would always analyze how happy he was. I remember when I bought him he was swimming around so active and happy and that is how he was for a long time in Aria's room, always coming over when you would walk in the room.
