Giving Thanks Belatedly

I've been meaning to post for days now, but between work (we're screeching in to the end of the semester and my students are not the only ones who feel the pressure to get work done and handed in---or in my case back....on top of doing the normal reading and extra huge amount of grading [yes, I know, it's my fault for assigning it in the first place], there are also a bunch of other things that I need to do for work and that has kept me on campus late a few times this week and is making it likely that this weekend will prove to be a perfect storm of work. On top of this, it's been an emotional week, what with the holidays approaching (always hard for lots of different reasons) and Hallie's eating and GI tract making things a bit of a rough ride for us.

Nevertheless, I did not want to overlook posting our Thanksgiving because it was a very nice one (after we finally got out of the house after feeding and cleaning up the returns on three or four breakfasts and dealing with the fact that Hallie spit up her whole bottle in the carseat and all over herself a mere ten minutes into our hour-long ride to Aunt Laura's). The rest of the day went smoothly, so it's not like there was *nothing* for which to be grateful.

Actually, there was plenty, and is plenty, for which to give thanks. First, our family: since everyone at Aunt Laura's was well, we did, as I mentioned already, get to go down there for the day. The kids were really happy to see one another:



All of the cousins got to spend time with Hallie and Hannah and Adam were beginning to see Hallie as a peer. Hallie even got to play the baby in our game of house (I was the older sister, and Hannah was most certainly in charge). Here's a cute shot of Hannah and Hallie after dinner. Hallie lost pants privileges (not sure why) and looks very chunky in this shot:



And here's a picture of Adam just being his cute, adorable self:



Hallie somewhat willingly even modeled Adam's mouseketeer hat:



Dinner was very nice and both Sharon and I got to eat together at the table for once. Hallie was upstairs on the floor of Hannah's room (we were afraid that the little thrasher would roll herself out of bed) and we did have the monitor on downstairs just in case, but she slept soundly for at least forty-five minutes, which was more than enough time for both of us to eat yummy turkey, stuffing, potatos, and the like.



Hallie woke up in time to be fed dinner, which, in addition to the usual Stage 2 fare, included the filling of the pumpkin pie which she slowly but admirably well ingested. By the time we left (in a turkey-carb coma), Hallie was much more settled than she had been earlier on in the day and we got home without any further refund incidents. For this we were very grateful.

Indeed, we are grateful for so much:
*For supportive family and friends who help keep us (somewhat) sane and grounded in the face of it all, not to mention help us out with all of the awful and long doctor's visits.
*For Hallie's growth despite everything.
*For Ami, Hallie's nanny, who truly loves Hallie and who is helping her learn to nap in her crib, eat from a spoon, and learn the power of the word no. She also teaches her lots of fun things and Hallie very much enjoys the three days a week she spends with Ami and we enjoy the peace of mind that Ami provides us.
*For Hallie's whole team of therapists, who also love her and would do anything for her. Jenny, Hallie's speech therapist, actually went up to St. Joe's with us on Monday, she's that dedicated.
*And most of all, for Hallie, who has taught us so much since she came into the world and especially since she came home. And, no, not all of these lessons were about the fine art of stain removal. Not at all...

Anyway, other than that, we've had quite a week. As I said, we went to St. Joseph's on Monday and it turns out that Hallie has put on even more weight---she now weighs in at a hefty 23 lbs. 6 ounces (the scale might be a bit heavy, but it's no more than a few ounces off). This is good because it gives us some leeway to experiment with table food purees. This is harder than it sounds and so far things have been hit or miss (with more misses than hits) where feeding Hallie is concerned. But we are trying, and hopefully that will help things along. The extra weight means that we are up again on the Reglan dose to 1.5 ml three times a day. Gastric emptying is nevertheless still an issue and we need to try to get this under control to progress on the eating front). This is all very frustrating, but we are trying and hope that at some point things take. I am sure that this will not be my final post on this issue. Sigh.

But to end on an upbeat note: Hallie is now officially an independent walker. She walks all over the place, turns corners, pivots around on foot and dances a bit. It's great, and she is so steady looking on her feet.

And even more importantly: we just finished the day WITHOUT a single vomit. This makes it two days in the last month taht were vomit free, and that is great. I have no idea what tomorrow will bring (come to think of , it it is already tomorrow) but at least we have had a good day.

And on that note, I bid all a good night!