The Life of Ally: August 2019

Changes this Summer

I got a year older and celebrated my 46th birthday

Ally got contact lenses!

That is her above with them in for the first time going to gymnastics. So contacts...

For many years Ally has been concerned she would need glasses even though her vision was always great. And I would tell her if she needed to wear them all the time she could get contacts. Well this summer on our trip to California she wore her prescription sunglasses a lot. Enough to realize how much better she can see with glasses than without. But she still refused to wear her regular ones. Just like when she was a small child who refused to wear jeans I made her give me an explanation for why. (Back then it was because jeans were hard to move in and she could not as easily bend and stretch in them as she could in leggings.)

For the glasses this summer she told me “I don’t feel like myself.” Well that was a pretty good explanation to me so I asked if she wanted contacts and she said YES.

So I called the eye doctor and scheduled a consult. We had 3 appointments in 3 weeks:

1) initial consult; Ally was approved for contacts and was instructed to practice touching her eyes to get ready for contacts

2) she learned how to put in and take out the contacts. She had to do it 2 times in the office. Then she got a week’s supply to try out

3) back to see the eye doctor and report back on how the trial worked. Ally wore them to practice all day and loved it! So after another eye test with the contacts in and show the doctor how she puts them in and out. We then ordered a year supply of lenses.

Then on the 4th week I went and picked them all up! Ally is so happy. She wears them daily and has noticed how much better her vision is that now she wears her glasses to watch TV if she doesn’t have the contacts in.

I’m so proud of her.

And the other big change in August was that Ally got braces! She has been asking about them for years at her dental check up. Ally wants straight teeth.

She got them on her top teeth and then in a couple months she’ll have them put on the bottom too. Hopefully in 2 years braces will be complete.

Before the appointment. Last brace free picture for at least two years!

During the appointment

After!

Headed to gymnastics with contacts in and braces on!

Gymnastics Camp 2019

Honestly Ally was dreading camp this year. Last year she was the oldest camper and really didn’t enjoy doing so many of the recreational activities and wished it was more gymnastics focused. Her coach and the gym said that would change and it did.

Ally had the best summer yet of gymnastics. She attended camp 35 days this summer 9-330 every day. Which meant she was gone 8-4 because of carpool and commuting time.

She accomplished her summer goals, worked really hard and had fun. Hard to ask for much more than that.

Baby animals for the petting zoo one week.

Waiting for dance class to start.

Getting ready to Kayak. This year they had a visiting coach from the Ukraine, she is the blonde woman on the left, Olga. It was a great experience to work with her. Ally did a couple of private lessons with her and she choreographed Allys beam routine for this year.

Olga told Becky that Allys flexibility is fantastic and that Ally is the only girl in the entire team program (over 100 girls) who can do a vertical split. Pictured above. It was so great for Allys confidence to work with her one on one.

Carpool! With Eliana and her little brother Gavi.

Carnival week

As I told her would happen Ally is no longer the tallest! Kavi and Katherine (who is not pictured) are taller than Ally. Each week different girls are at camp based on their family schedule. The last week at the end of camp dance it was only Stella, Ally & Kavi from their team.

Ally is stronger than ever. Even if she doesn’t like to flex for the camera.

We have been so happy to see Ally happy. She had such a rough and challenging Spring being exhausted all the time. But with help from her doctors and a lot of self care, Ally has been enjoying gymnastics and life more than she has in a long time.

She sleeps well for 10+ hours a night, takes care of her skin, keeps her room clean all the time. It’s been wonderful to see and be a part of the past few months.

The summer with friends.

We set a summer goal to do more socializing with friends. Both camp friends and school friends. It’s been a wonderful summer for Ally has she has really become friends with her teammates and spent some quality out of school time with her school friends.

Ally and Olive really enjoyed the reptile show at the neighborhood block party.

Aunt Beth brought Ally and her friend Ellie to “The Happy Place” which is really just a pop up Instagram playground. But they had a blast

Colette (aka Coco) came over one afternoon and practiced her stage makeup techniques on Ally.

Yes that is a flesh wound made from a tissue.

It was gross and surprisingly realistic

Black eye from makeup.

Fortunately that washes off

Above is another day when we met up with Coco after camp to watch a group of friends in their summer play performance of The Little Mermaid. It’s so nice to see them supporting each other.

Recently Ally and I met up with Willow and her mom for dinner at Willow’s favorite restaurant for Hot Pot and then a quick shopping trip to the mall.

Another mom and is have taken turns hosting pool parties and then dinner a few times this summer for the team mates at camp. Just a couple pictures but it’s been great for the girls to spend time together out of the gym.

Our friends Liem and Khai we’re visiting from London and we were able to see them too:

Which meant us moms were able to reunite as well. Above is our core Preschool friend group plus a couple cousins.

Thanks

It’s 10 years since we met Deb and Nancy and their families. Hanh (who now lives in London) we met when Ally and Liem were just babies 6 and 8 months old. We feel fortunate to have such wonderful old friends.