Ho Ho Ho...Merry Christmas!

OH.  MY.  GOODNESS!!!  I really didn’t mean to go missing for two weeks!  Things have been so very busy around here.  We’ve had the Christmas parade, birthday parties galore, school, work, Molly Michael’s Christmas program and more.  I am determined to spend the next week getting what I need to get done at work and the rest I will be spending time with Molly Michael, Madie and Matt.  So I will be completely honest and tell you that this will probably be the last you will hear from me until the 26thish. 

Madie’s swallow study went much better than I expected, but of course, I am no expert.  I honestly thought they would have a hard time getting her to swallow anything but I was wrong.  She did really well especially with puree and liquids on a spoon.  She did aspirate some liquids when they were given to her by syringe.  The good news is that when she did aspirate, she would cough to protect her airway.  If she didn’t cough, that would lead us to believe that she did feel that it was going down the wrong way and they call that a silent aspiration.  If she were to have a silent aspiration we would have no idea if she was aspirating or not when trying to reintroduce solids so thank the Lord for that cough!  Our speech therapist Ashley suggested that we start trying to give her 8 or so small bites of baby food twice a day.  We can already see improvements in her “eating” from when we started two weeks ago.  Madie’s head control is getting much better and we are starting to see some improvements with coordination.  She loves her baby dolls and you can now lay one beside her and she will roll to pick it up.  We have taken her out and about to a few different places and she has done great.  She just takes it all in and looks around at everything and everyone.  We took her to her Supper with Santa, which was great by the way, and we took her to the Molly Michael’s Christmas Program.  It brings me such joy that so many people that have been following Madie’s story have had a chance to see how wonderful she is doing.   

Now I will brag on Molly Michael and Trinity Pre School just a tiny bit.  I thought I would talk to Molly Michael about what Christmas means and why we celebrate it.  I am pretty sure by the end of the conversation she had taught me a few things.  Trinity has done a great job of teaching these precious. kids about Christmas.  Molly Michael told me all about the Angel telling Mary she was going to have a “baby Jesus” and how they went to Bethlehem.  She told me that they had to stay in a manger and there was no bed for baby Jesus so he slept on hay and Mary wrapped him in a cloth because there was no blankie.  Everything I asked she had an answer for.  I was really impressed with her interpretation of Christmas. 

We are so excited about Christmas this year.  Last Christmas Madie was only 6 months old and this time last year I expected to have two little girls running around, both of them unwrapping presents, playing with toys and fighting over toys.  While that isn’t exactly how things will be this year, I am confident that it will be the way things will be again soon enough.  We are so grateful for all of God’s gifts that he has given our family this year and we consider ourselves very lucky and blessed to still have TWO little girls this Christmas.  I have no doubt that our home will still be filled with lots of smiles and laughs on Christmas morning.  I know that Molly Michael is looking forward to ONE more Christmas of getting to open gifts for her AND Madie! 

Please pray for Madie’s continued healing.  Also please pray for safe travels for everyone who will be on the road for Christmas.  We hope that everyone has a stress free, Merry Christmas!

With greatest gratitude,

Kristin