More Updates

All is well with Harlie's belly!  Woohoo!

Saturday afternoon, we took Harlie and Cooper for a walk to a playground nearby.  Murphy was playing with our neighbor so they didn't want to come.  That was a little weird.  Since when does he not want to go with us to the playground????

Anyway, that got Harlie up and walking a bit.  I think that really helped her belly get moving.

It's so nice when they play nice together.  You know, those rare moments!

Walking like a little old lady, but walking!

Good, quality time with the kids...

I forgot to mention in my last post that on Friday Harlie woke up with a very bloody mouth.  I have no idea what that was about.  At first I thought she lost a tooth.  But after I got her all cleaned up, I realized that wasn't it - there were no missing teeth.  Who knows?  Even though she's making so much progress in communication, it still kills me when I don't know what happened to her or if something hurts her.  I don't know why communicating her pain is still so difficult.

On Saturday night Tom and I went out on a date night.  I made him take me to Petsmart so I could start thinking about all the stuff I want to buy for our little guy that we get in TWO WEEKS!  I just can't wait!  More about that later.  And I mean my excitement about his arrival!  I know you can't wait for all the puppy photos!

Anyway, on Sunday, Harlie woke up and her belly was almost back to normal.  What a relief it is to not have to worry about that anymore.  I know it's crazy, but I'm always afraid that it's going to be something seemingly "little" in comparison to some of the bigger hurdles she's overcome, that will have a devastating impact.  As much as I tell myself to not think like that - fears aren't exactly rational.

Later that day the kids went outside.  Tom worked in the yard and made them a little fort with some clippings from a tree.  They loved it.

Finally - a smile!

She is definitely feeling better.  Still walking carefully and guarding her incision.  Unfortunately, her incision was bleeding, which I found odd.  We were five days post-op on Sunday.  I took a picture of it and sent it to Katie at the hospital.  She called me this morning to tell me that they need to see her and before our scheduled appointment on Friday.  So, we go back in the morning (Tuesday).  They are going to have to take off the steri-strips and clean it to see what's going on.  I really hope it's not infected.  And I totally dread the process of cleaning that incision!!!  I debated on whether I should post the photo, but I figured if I have to see it, so should you.  Hey, I said I was going to be more honest!

On Sunday night (going back and forth a little here, sorry) two things happened that I consider amazing forward progress with Harlie's oral feeding.  I think it's pretty crazy how she seems to do this (make jumps forward) after a hospitalization and/or surgery.  She's such a crazy kid!

Anyway, she asked to eat dinner with us.  I mean that she wanted to sit with us at the table AND eat with us.  This is something we've wanted for years, but just haven't been able to make it happen.  I've tried to feed her at the table with us, but it never goes well.  She always has a better feeding when I can focus on her.  By the time I got her food all ready, everyone was gone from the table and she no longer wanted to eat.  Next time I'll be ready.  We don't always get to sit down at the table, so we'll just have to see how things go over time.

The other thing she did was ask for ice cream!!!  On Sunday night, we took the kids across the street to Brusters for ice cream.  We all just got the baby cones.  Well, except for Harlie of course.  After a few minutes, Harlie signed ice cream.  I asked her if she wanted some and she nodded yes.  So I made her say, "I want ice cream" on the communication device and Tom got her a cone.  And for the first time EVER, she willingly licked ice cream.

We were so excited!  We were all, "Good job Harlie!" and "Tom, take her picture eating ice cream!" and I couldn't help but wonder what all the people around us were thinking.  They were probably thinking we were a bunch of freaks.  Oh well.  We were happy, so who cares.

Today (Monday) she did well, I think.  She had a good morning, but then seemed to feel bad in the afternoon.   I gave her some Tylenol.  I tried to get her to tell me that she hurt - but she would not confirm or deny.  But, she was holding her incision (which I covered with gauze and tape, by the way) and she just looked like she didn't feel good.  So, I figured she probably was hurting.

Tonight was a Daisy meeting.  I hate that she had to miss it, but I just didn't think she was up for it.  And I was afraid that she would hurt herself by being more active than she was ready for.

Well, I need to get to bed.  We have to leave the house before 6am to make it to the hospital on time.  Hopefully it will be a quick trip.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Thank you!
~Christy