Leaps and Bounds

Well, I'm off work today with Chloe who's had 2 diarrheas this morning and has spit up 2ce and Sadie who also had an "accident" yesterday at school. Better safe then sorry with all that's going around. I don't want to risk exposing anyone else. So, I'm going to try to take some time today and catch up on my blog.

Chloe has been doing so much lately. I'm not even sure where to begin! I have video, which I'll be posting soon, it's just on my "old" computer (I got a new one for Christmas - sooooo exciting) so it probably won't happen today. Chloe turned 17-months yesterday so this seems a good time to do an update anyway.

So let's see, Chloe's health first. She's had a cold off and on for months now, but it never turns into anything, so I look at every day as a constant reminder of how strong she's become and how great she's doing. And how glad I am that she's gotten the RSV vaccine along with the seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccines. It's worth all the pokes! Chloe's sweet friend with Ds and repaired AVSD (same heart condition Chloe has) just got out of the hospital after about 12 days from RSV. We are counting our blessings!!!! (and so glad he's finally back home and doing better!) Chloe's still primarily feeding through her feeding tube. She just isn't too interested in drinking liquids from anything (bottle, cup or straw), but we continue to try and work with her and hopefully one of these days it'll just click. So in the meantime, she eats her solid foods 3-5x a day and gets 2 bolus feeds and 1 continuous feed per day. We assume she's growing since her weight hasn't been checked recently, but she'll go to the doc tomorrow and hopefully he'll plop her on the scale (I'm sure he will). She hasn't changed clothes size so I'm interested to see if she's still gaining. Having diarrhea and spitting up can't be helping! Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that she's getting about 5 teeth right now!!!!! She'll have 8 when it's all said and done. Her four molars and then the 4 front teeth - 2 top and 2 bottom. The could be the reason for the diarrhea, but I'm taking any chances because other kids have it. Her front tooth that's coming in is a jagged sharp dagger! WATCH OUT! Yikes!

Developmentally Chloe has been making some tremendous strides. She is now crawling on all fours perfectly, climbing up the step in our living room with ease, working on going up a few stairs, pulling up to her knees on EVERYTHING, feeding herself with a fork and spoon (with help and with quite a bit of mess!), expanding her babbling sounds to include "mama" :) , signing "more" and making gestures for Itsy-Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle and Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and pointing to her our noses and then her nose when asked. It's all so very exciting!!!!!

The other kids are doing great too. We put a backyard hockey rink in and Xander is enjoying being able to skate every day. Sadie is learning to skate and that is exciting for her. She's really taken to it right away. Sadie goes to PreK 3 days a week and loves it once she gets there and Xander is enjoying 3rd grade and all that brings (including girlfriends and break-ups and 8-9 year old drama)! Sadie is loving ballet and tap and Xander is busy busy busy with hockey 3-5x per week!!! He's even tried out being goalie for awhile (and discovered it's NOT his favorite thing! LOL)

Me, I'm hanging in there. Doing better then I've been doing and able to enjoy my kids and all that is going so well for them. I miss my step-dad every day and still find myself in disbelief of the whole thing (we lost him suddenly back in October). Our finances are still a mess and our living situation remains up in the air. I don't blog very much because in general I'm overwhelmed and can't find the time or the mental energy. But like I said, I'm starting to feel better so hopefully I'll be on the upswing now. And finding the joys in my children's lives keeps a smile on my face and gets me through the days. I hope to be able to get back to blogging regularly. I miss it.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support.