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Katelyn Marie Crites 
Katelyn Marie Crites. Our MIRACLE from GOD with her Best Friend Big Katelyn
Welcome to Katelyn's Web page. God blessed us with Katelyn on June 19th 2000. She has been a joy ever since. Katelyn has a two little brothers (Wesley) whom she loves so much and they are always playing together and (James) whom she wants to hold ALL the time. She loves to read and play with her babies. Her favorite place to be is outside or in my lap (especially at bedtime). She also loves to dance to music. Katelyn is so full of life and she can lighten up any room with her presence. Katelyn is a normal 10 yr old girl. She plays with Barbie’s, brushes their hair, gets in her mom’s make up, changes her clothes three and four times a day and even helps me do dishes and clean the house. She laughs at jokes and rolls around on the floor playing with her brothers and daddy. She looks at books and sings with her Karaoke machine. She LOVES talking on the phone. She washes her play dishes in the bathroom sink and grins at me when I catch her. She doesn’t like to get her hands dirty and she will get upset when she spills something on her clothes and wants a bath and a new change of clothes (my mom says she gets that from me). She can melt any heart with her smile and gives some of the biggest hugs in the world.
Katelyn is an amazing person that has lots to share with her family and with the world. If you are coming to this page and don't know Katelyn, please remember that Katelyn is a normal girl first, she just has special needs.
Katelyn was blessed with two great sets of grandparents that love her dearly and she loves them as well. I don't know what I would have done without them over the last 10 years. When you read the next section, please rember this; having a child with a disability isn’t a burden. To our entire family it is normal. Katelyn reminds us of the innocence a person has and how caring people are. She reminds us that you need to slow down in life and look at the whole picture. She reminds us that it’s what’s on the inside not the outside that count’s.
We began wondering about her development when she was 3 months old and still not holding her head up. After numerous test and trips to Dallas, we were finally told she had hypoplasia of the pons and decreased mylenation. The pons is the relay station for the brain and hypoplasia means it is small. They said this is something that will never change. We were told she would develop slower than others her age. We have been told that Katelyn has an overall neurological disorder with no one specific diagnosis. Just that her neurological system didn't develop correctly during utero.
Katelyn first sat up on her own when she was 9 months old. She began crawling at 2 1/2 and took those first steps 3 months before her 3rd birthday. Katelyn still doesn't talk but she communicates through sign language. She has been given the gift of a Dynavox V Communication device and we are learning to use it together. We aren't sure as to why she doesn't use words, but trust in GOD that one day she will.
In December of 2002, Katelyn had her first surgery. She had a lamanectomey of the C1 joint in her neck. This was to relieve some of the pressure at the base of her brain. She then had her second surgery in January of 2003. This was to release a tethered cord that she had. Katelyn was also diagnosed with a swallowing disorder in July of 2004. She had to have all her liquids thickened to keep from aspirating on them. This has been resolved and she now eats normal food, with supervision. Katelyn had her third surgery in February of 2005. She had to have her C2 and C3 joints fussed together. She had some ribs taken and placed in her neck and she is fussed from the top of her spinal cord down to the C4 joints. This fussion was done, because Katelyn had some spinal cord impengment and instability at the C3 and C4 joints.
Katelyn has been such a blessing to her daddy and I and all the wonderful family and friends that are a part of her life. I have been told by many people that GOD gives children with special needs to special people. I believe that GOD choose us to be Katelyn's parents for a reason, but God isn't the cause of her special needs. God is going to the healer of them. We will always thank GOD for her and continue to remember that HE is working miracles in her life. She is now free from having to drink thickened liquids. Thank you God for all that you've done and continue to do in her life and ours.
I want to thank you all for visiting the web page and I hope you enjoy it. If this is your first time to visit, please read the journal history to see what's going on.
Katelyn doing patty cake with James
Visit Katelyn's Smile Quilt
Visit Katelyn's Quilt of Love
*HUGS* TOTAL!
give Katelyn more *HUGS*
Get hugs of your own
I decided to put this poem back up on Katelyn's page....
Welcome to Holland
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a
disability or special need to try to help people who have not shared that unique but wonderful experience to
understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...
When you are going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous trip to
Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The
Coliseum, Michelangelo's David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy
phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your
bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight
attendant comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say, "What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm
supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and
there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a
horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease.
It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new
language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would have never
met.
It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than
Italy. But after you've been there for a while and catch your breath, you
look around and notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland
even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all
bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your
life, you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had
planned."
The pain of that will never, ever, ever go away, because the loss of that
dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact
that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special,
the very lovely things about Holland.
Written by Perl Kingsley
Here is the second part to the poem above...."
The following poem was posted on Katelyn's website on her 5th Birthday
Celebrating Holland- I'm Home
By Cathy Anthony
(my follow-up to the original \Welcome to Holland\ by Emily Perl Kingsley)
I have been in Holland for over a decade now. It has become home. I have had time to catch my breath, to settle and adjust, to accept something different than I'd planned. I reflect back on those years of past when I had first landed in Holland. I remember clearly my shock, my fear, my anger, the pain and uncertainty. In those first few years, I tried to get back to Italy as planned, but Holland was where I was to stay. Today, I can say how far I have come on this unexpected journey. I have learned so much more. But, this too has been a journey of time.
I worked hard. I bought new guidebooks. I learned a new language and I slowly found my way around this new land. I have met others whose plans had changed like mine, and who could share my experience. We supported one another and some have become very special friends.
Some of these fellow travelers had been in Holland longer than I and were seasoned guides, assisting me along the way. Many have encouraged me. Many have taught me to open my eyes to the wonder and gifts to behold in this new land. I have discovered a community of caring. Holland wasn't so bad.
I think that Holland is used to wayward travelers like me and grew to become a land of hospitality, reaching out to welcome, to assist and to support newcomers like me in this new land. Over the years, I've wondered what life would have been like if I'd landed in Italy as planned. Would life have been easier? Would it have been as rewarding? Would I have learned some of the important lessons I hold today?
Sure, this journey has been more challenging and at times I would (and still do) stomp my feet and cry out in frustration and protest. And, yes, Holland is slower paced than Italy and less flashy than Italy, but this too has been an unexpected gift. I have learned to slow down in ways too and look closer at things, with a new appreciation for the remarkable beauty of Holland with its tulips, windmills and Rembrandts.
I have come to love Holland and call it Home.
I have become a world traveler and discovered that it doesn't matter where you land. What's more important is what you make of your journey and how you see and enjoy the very special, the very lovely, things that Holland, or any land, has to offer.
Yes, over a decade ago I landed in a place I hadn't planned. Yet I am thankful, for this destination has been richer than I could have imagined
KATELYN'S PRAYER
written by Mrs. Dobie
(One of Katelyn's special teachers)
Dear God, I can't speak with words to you
But you know what's in my heart is true.
I know I'm part of your special plan
So please help Mommy and Daddy understand.
Thank You God for my family, teachers, and friends.
With them on my side there's no battle I can't win.
And God help Mommy not to worry if you can.
I know, just tell her you are holding my hand.
For Jesus Loves Me this I know,
For the Bible Mommy reads to me tells me so.
Little ones he loves the most,
And when we hurt he holds us close.
Dear God, remember I love you,
And watch over Mommy, Daddy, and Bubba too.
And God don't worry, I'm not scared
All because I've said my Prayer.
My three kids
Katelyn and Big Katelyn at Buddy Baseball
Journal
Sunday, August 22, 2010 9:58 PM CDT Hello all
Sorry we are just now updating on Katelyn and her scoliosis. Things just don't seem to be the same around here with another baby in the house. Especially one that doesn't sleep well.
We took Katelyn to the Scotish Rites clinic on June 30th. She has an "s" curve. The upper right curve is a 26 degree rotating curve and the lower left curve is a 21 degree curve. They said there is nothing to do at this point, because Katelyn is growing to fast and we will be seen back in their clinic in October. In the meantime, they did refer us back to see her nuerosurgeon. They said the curving of the spine may be pulling on the fussion in the neck and that she may be developing a tethered cord once again.
We saw Dr. Sklar, nuerosurgeon, on Tuesday. He checked her over and said that we did need to do an MRI and also an X-Ray of her neck. We did the X-Ray before leaving on Tuesday and I'll know on Monday when the MRI and repeat appointment to his office will be. I continue to give motrin and we give lots of hugs and love.
Katelyn is doing really really well on her board. She tells us she love us and then runs to give us a hug. We love to hear it, but still believe that she will say it with her mouth one day. She really likes to tell us "want McDonalds" as well. We have to tell her "no" a lot on that one. She'd live off of McDOnald's cheeseburger and frenchfrys if we'd let her.
Wesley is doing well. He's had a great summer with lots of cubscout meetings and swimming. He became a beginner swimmer at one of his meetings and hasn't even have swimming lessons. He just decided to try. So, he jumped off the diving board and swam, or flopped LOL, as hard as he could and with one breath, he swam the length of the pool. His den leader and I both told him when he got out, that it's okay to breath when you are swimming. Wesley was so proud of himself.
James is getting big. He will be 9 months old in one week. I can't believe it. He cut his first tooth last week. He's also all over the place. He pulls up and cruises the furniture all the time. He even climbs. He'll climb in his walker and climb onto the couch. He's going to be another smart one, just like his sister and brother.
Jimmy is doing well. He starts a job in Batesville MS on Tuesday. He'll be there for abou 4-6 weeks. We are sure going to miss him and will be ready for him to come home as soon as possible.
I'm doing well also. Just tired all the time. James wakes up about every 2 hrs. at night so I'm very sleep deprived. That's okay though. We still love him.
Well, that's about it for now. Katelyn will be starting school tomorrow and Wesley on September 7th.
The Crites Clan,
Jimmy, Krissy, Katelyn, Wesley and baby James
Read Journal History
Hospital Information: Patient Room: Katelyn's Room Home
Links:
http://www3.caringbridge.org/tx/tate/ Follow my buddy Tate through his battle with HLHS. He is having his third open heart surgery sometime in the spring.
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