On the move, literally and figuratively

How do you entertain a child whose idea of entertainment is throwing down all her toys?  (She really enjoys this while she's in her stander.)

We had a delightful Sunday - church, lunch from The Fresh Market (YUM), and relaxing at home.  Well, Russell and Emma relaxed, while I went couponing at CVS (saved more than I spent, thank you very much).  We had a church picnic Sunday night, which was delightful for everyone.  During a pickup softball game, Russell hit a home run out of the t-ball field and had several church kids throwing their gloves at him - good fun for everyone, including Russell, whose only hope for hitting a home run is out of a t-ball field.  Don't worry, he admitted as much to me last night.  I do love him so much; what a funny guy.

BIG DAY TODAY!  Emma fed herself!  Emma struggles with textures, as many children with spina bifida do.  She struggles a little bit more because of her unique swallowing problems, so getting her used to eating adult food is going to be a challenge.  We have been starting with meltables - club crackers and some of the Gerber products designed to dissolve in babies' mouths.  Emma does pretty well with these foods, but she just never had any interest in feeding herself, even when I guided her hand to her mouth.  Until today!  I guided her hand to her mouth a couple times, and voila!  She did it herself three times after that.  Baby steps.  Delayed baby steps, but steps nonetheless.

We went to see Dr. Troup today for him to certify that yes, Emma's heart and lungs are fine to have general anesthesia and be intubated for her MRI.  We got some more information about this procedure that will be coming up on June 1.  I'm already nervous because they'll be sticking a giant breathing tube down her throat, which can make it scratchy and make her choke more.  On top of that, the MRI will probably show Dr. Troup lots of things that have changed with her brain and her spine since the last one was done a year ago.  Emma was a little doll at Dr. T's office, and she loved crawling up and down the exam table on the noisy paper towards Aunt Eva's cell phone.

Check out last year: May 16, 2010 and May 17, 2010

God has certainly blessed us with a smart, happy, and beautiful child.  As if I didn't know it already, a sweet child is proof that God loves us.