What a difference a year makes!

First things first: Madeleine is doing very well medically and the fallout from surgery is now a distant memory. We are now back on track with focusing on developmental milestones and keeping her healthy thru the winter.

On to the good stuff: We have had a very fun two weeks. Last weekend (Oct 25th) we took Madeleine to a pumpkin patch. We saw cows, pigs, chickens and a texas long horn. The first place we went you had to get on a hayride with other children (AKA virus carriers) and I decided that a trach and hay weren't a good combo. So we got the feel for a real farm and got out of dodge before we caught anything! We then proceeded to buy our pumpkins from a church parking lot! Virtually no hay there :-) It was a beautiful fall day one we will remember forever.

We had a check-up with surgery on Monday where she was thrilled with Madeleine's progress and assured Brent that the weird bump on her tummy was just a place where she put in a double row of stitches to ensure it stays put. She said by our final follow up it should be gone. She also noted that she was surprised at how much large intestine Madeleine had left. Either it was improperly noted in her chart or it had grown over the year. Regardless this is good news for the future.

On Friday we went to speech (we call it school and it is a big outing where we wear our BEST clothes). She is learning three signs - more, all done and music. She played with a barn and the barnyard animals. She practiced taking them out of the barn (she is good at that) and putting them back (not so hot). I am thrilled to say that after a weekend where I probably said the word more about one thousand times she now does the sign when I say the word. I don't think she has a clue what it means, but that is step two. Now we will have more food, more music, more bath, more toys, more computer, more etc.....

Saturday my Aunt and Uncle Jenny and Willy came to visit and play with Madeleine. We had a great time seeing them and catching up. It was especially cool because they came to visit six months ago and at that point Madeleine still had the NJ tube, vent 100% of the time and the colostomy bag. It was only when we reflected on their last visit that it really set in how far we have come in such a short period of time.

And now for the title of the email: What a difference a year makes! We are probably one of a few families that gets to use the same Halloween costume two years in a row. As you may recall Lauren and Rebecca our PA's from the NICU bought this costume for her last year. They thought it was a ladybug costume but after a good laugh we determined it was a strawberry. She didn't like it very much and the only good picture I got was on my cell phone. Who likes getting shoved from head to toe in polyester, I can't blame her! It made a good picture though...

Probably the question we get most often these days is "How is she eating?" So I'll give a report on that. She is doing great! She swallows more than she spits out and is doing well. We are finding that she eats more when she has been off the feeding pump for a long time. You may be thinking DUH - as were we! It's hard to motivate anyone to eat (except my husband) when they aren't hungry at all. We also noticed that she enjoys eating a lot more when we are sitting at the table doing it as a family. This has been aided by the fact she stays up a little later now days. She almost stays awake until 8pm!

Finally, we need some help. Brent and I had a bit of a 'debate' this weekend about the state of toys in our living room. AKA disarray. I wanted to buy toys and he was furious based on the fact that we have so much stuff and no possible way to organize the stuff we have - why would we want to get MORE? My idea was to put things into different baskets based on activity - aka a music box, sensory box, etc. Do any of you in blog-land have an effective way of organizing toys so that your house doesn't look like a daycare center?
Take care and I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

Kirsten

PS I have attached a video of her talking up a storm. The Picassa site has also been updated with October pictures - lots of cute ones from the pumpkin patch.