She Eats But Can She Wear Clothes?

Beth has discovered eating (as long as the television is on or she has her Leappad to play with)! What a joy to have her consume an entire "am-booger" without major protest. Now we have just two problems to work through: getting her to wear clothes and using the potty! Funny how when we finally enter the winter season, she has begun to demand living "au naturale."

Each night, she gets a bath and we calmly dress her in cute pajamas. She sits on the potty (usually unsuccessfully), she brushes her teeth, I read stories and then she climbs into bed. Beth asks for a drink of water, we give her a kiss and then she says..."naked?" Off they go.

Guess there won't be much energy conservation in our house this winter.

Still Tiny

Can this girl grow!? We took a trip to our doctor for Elliott's annual check up and flu shots. Despite the fact that Beth was not there for a check up, just a shot, our pediatrician wanted to take a look at her. He checked her heart and ears. One can never be too sure when a child has heart heart surgery (the PDA ligation 4 days after her birth). All seems well except for her size - a mere 23 pounds!

We have taken her off of the Periactin because about three weeks into the med cycle, she stayed awake for two nights straight. We figured the only thing that might have caused her to do this would be developing some new response to the medication. Since taking her off, her appetite has decreased dramatically but we are using new tricks to get her to eat. The best one seems to be playing a television program of interest while surreptitiously stuffing food in her mouth. Puzzles and the LeapFrog LeapPad seem to work as good diversions, too.

On another topic...
One of my clients has put my work on hold through the rest of 2008 leaving me a big chunk of time. I have alluded to a little project I've been working on before but here is the real admission: I am writing a book. I am writing about the journey to get pregnant and the unbelievable journey to keep Beth alive during the midst of losing her sister. I spent almost 8 weeks in the hospital between the 18th and 26th week of my pregnancy. My time ended when Beth was born at 26 weeks and 0 days. Her journey is written in great detail in the early posts of this blog but the hospital time BEFORE she was born...well, that was a source of pain, fear and wrenching loss.

I had started writing while she was in the hospital as a way to work through my grief and fear for her survival. In that process, I discovered some things that I think others should be able to read like the ability of one's mind to overcome extreme adversity. What I am reluctant to share is the personal nature of our struggle. Since I have more time on my hands with one less client, I am turning the 60,000-word jumble of chapters and essays into a book that may or may not have commercial appeal. I just don't know. Writing about here just makes it a little more "real" and helps keep me committed.

I may publish excerpts here since the topic of our lives is so normal now--one might find recent posts about our lives to be boring. It may be more interesting to have something new to read (for those who follow our story.) I'll be interested in hearing feedback which will hopefully encourage me to keep going.

Halloween Photos

It is a little difficult for me to write a post since my father's death. I almost don't want to put another post up here because it will go above my tribute to Dad and I won't get to see his photo show up on my monitor every day. At some point I am supposed to move on and in reality, life has been moving along regardless of my desire to stop time. So here are some photos of Beth and Elliott in their costumes.