One of the reasons that I am so passionate about scrapbooking is it not only joins my two loves of preserving memories and being creative, but I find that I truly can count my blessings despite all the trials in my life. I have learned that no matter how painful, hard or unfair life is, there is always something to be grateful for. This layout highlights a trial Zach went through.
Many people see Caleb's visible struggles of battling a neuromuscular disease and being confined to a wheelchair. Most do not realize the tremendous obstacles Zach has gone through and continues to overcome.
Zachary has struggled with major learning disabilities, to the extent that he did not even begin to read until third grade. Although he loves school, he does not learn the same way a neurotypical child does. He struggles with ADHD, vision issues, Sensory Processing issues and when Dave died so suddenly, Zach was diagnosed with PTSD. It took amazing teachers, lots of patience, prayer and on Zach's part a lot of hard work, but he is in an amazing place right now.
This layout shows one of those memories that although wasn't pleasant, is a part Zach's story. I need to start this with stating Zachary absolutely dreads going to the doctors in any shape or form - and hates hospitals even more. (Zach's fear of hospitals started when Daddy went to the hospital and never came home.)
Jim and I had only been married a few months, but the kids were already super close. Zach was 8 and Alyssia was 12. Zach confided in Alyssia, his new big sister, that his mouth hurt but swore her to secrecy not to tell me. Not wanting to betray Zach's confidence, Alyssia wisely came to me and said, "I think you should ask Zach to let you look in his mouth." She was concerned and rightly so! I looked in his mouth and saw a sore. When I asked him about it, he said he had some spots that hurt.
I had to be at work the next day, and my dad offered to take Zach to the doctor - he had three abscesses! I was not thrilled with the dentist we had been seeing and was concerned that may have been part of the problem. Our primary care doctor prescribed an antibiotic and sent us to the pediatric dentist some of his other patients recommended. My dad took Zach from the doctor right to the dentist This was traumatic for Zach, but Dr. Battiste was phenomenal!
Apparently, in conversation with Papa and the doctor, Zach casually mentioned that he should probably stop chewing rocks. After questioning him, Zach said that he liked to chew on little pebbly rocks. I had absolutely no idea!
Zach has sensory processing disorder. His brain is wired to process sensory input a little differently than most people. His is sensory seeking, meaning his body craves sensory input. For example, when hugging Zach, he doesn't register a hug unless you squeeze him tight. At his kindergarten evaluation, I was embarrassed when he was thrilled to just run into the padded gym walls and "bounce" off of them. He always played so rough and that was his body's way of getting what his brain was craving! So, for whatever reason, he was getting sensory input from chewing on pebbles. We told him that this was not safe and not to do it again, and unfortunately, he learned this lesson the painful way.
After determining that Zach would need multiple root canals and fillings, the dentist recommended we have Zach go under general anesthesia. And as long as he was under, they were going to clean his teeth too and get that out of the way.
Jim loves to tell this part of the story. On the day we had to take Zach to the hospital for his dental surgery, it was a cold, windy overcast January morning. Zach stepped out on the porch with us, and as calmly as could be said, "Well, this doesn't look like a good day to go to the hospital." and he proceeded to turn around and go back inside! He wasn't going to get out of it that easily. My mommy's heart hurt so much having to take him in for this.
To help keep him calm before his surgery, we started taking some funny selfies and playing with my phone. That's how I ended up with enough pictures for a double page layout. Although he was scared, my Zach Attack was so incredibly brave. I was so proud of him. He also was adorable through the whole process.
Zach only vaguely remembers this day, but he sure has heard the story often enough! And I can assure you, he never chewed on another rock again!
Scrapbooking Tips:
I had a Tooth Fairy mini collection from Echo Park Paper and I thought they would be perfect for this layout. The only problem was the coordinating stickers did not really go with my topic. My solution was to fussy cut my own embellishments.
I carefully cut out the molars that were in the pattern paper you see in the above strips. I left a little bit of the color around the tooth mainly to prevent me from cutting out part of the tooth. However, I liked how the little pop of color looked after I adhered them to the page.
I used my foam tape to adhere all the teeth to add some dimension to my page.
I used my Silhouette die cutting machine to cut out the large teeth on the right-hand page. I actually had used them on another layout and had them left over. Thankfully I had saved them and they worked perfectly on this layout. I also added a few of the fussy cut teeth to create a cohesive look across the two pages.
Supplies:
White Cardstock: Bazzill
Pattern Paper: Echo Park
Embroidery Thread: Hobby Lobby Brand
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