Disability Parking

Lately, I have been struggling getting Asia in and out of the car and carrying her long distances to get to where we are going-whether it be school, stores, Dr. appointments etc. She is getting so big!! I swear she has grown so much this year-yay! It doesn't help that I am so short and I just can't handle her height:) I use a stroller when I can but, she is also getting to big for the ones I have. I never in my whole life thought that I would request a disabled parking tag but, I did. I didn't even know that I could and that is why I am sharing this. I feel a little guilty because I know there are people who need those parking stalls way more then I do but, I struggle with Asia's hypotonia (muscle weakness) she always wants to be carried and I cant do it anymore. Dad can do that easily-I cant:) Asia has a lot of medical conditions but the Dr. said because she has epilepsy she definitely qualified. My intent is to just use the stalls when needed and I have only used it once-it was when I was alone and she had to go to a Dr.'s appointment. I have to say that is gave me a sigh of relief when I realized I didn't have to carry her through the parking lot. It was so nice. It was then that I realized that she really does have a disability (that could be indefinite) and I shouldn't feel bad because of my parking placard. I am getting a new license plate but I can not get it until my yearly registration is up.

What I did is I talked to Asia's pediatrician first about qualifying then I downloaded the application form-here's a link
http://tax.utah.gov/forms/current/tc-842.pdf 
I filled out my portion then dropped it off to Asia's pediatrician to sign. I brought that in to the DMV and they gave me the temporary Placard to hang inside until I can get my new plate. This is a sample of a Placard-I received two (for our two cars) then I will return one when I get the plate.

The license plate will just have a disable picture on it and I wont have to worry about the placard. This will probably be so worth it the older she gets.

 

~Asia is still doing so well-I love that I have a "mostly" happy girl in the morning when I get her up-she teases and laughs until I can not figure out what she wants to bring on the bus-then she gets mad:)

 

~She has been biting her arm....argh. Today she came home with this on her arm and I am guessing it was put there to try and stop it?? Good idea.

 

~I have to say I still have not noticed any recent seizures, I am dying- I can not express how happy I am! I think it's a combo of updated medication dosage a few months ago and no Miralax...If this keeps up maybe she will be able to retain information and start progressing more. We haven't seen a lot of progression this year:(

 

~Someone at school knows Asia and knows she loves Elmo-she brought this home today, so cute!

~We have our Now I Can benefit Walk/Run this Saturday. It's to raise funds to help children with disabilities and you can register all the way up until the race. I will be pushing Asia and I have got the whole family doing the 1mile, along with a ton of extended family-we should be having a lot of fun. Go Asia's Team! Will post pics.

 

~We have started learning a bunch of new signs at speech therapy. Asia did really well yesterday, I think it will be good.

 

~Asia is such a stinker-she was laughing hysterically while I was driving today and I didn't have any idea why until I went to get her out of the car. She gave the baby a open bag of chips and she knew it was going to be trouble:) Look in the background of this pic...

~I have had so many ask what we are using for Asia's constipation...sorry. I will get all that posted next! She is doing fine, no big problems to report in that area-such a relief. That is something so hard to watch your children struggle with. I feel for you and completely understand your pain!

 

~Asia will be attending the extended school year program. Meaning-summer school. I am actually so glad. She needs it. She needs to have something to keep her going during the day and to help her retain some of the information she is learning.