Well, hope you are all getting excited about Christmas being round the corner. We certainly are! It's so great having Ashling's first "normal" Christmas.....at home! Can't believe that she was in hospital this time last year. It feels like a lifetime ago.
Things are really good here. Ashling has become a much happier child in the past couple of months and is developing a great little personality. We are really enjoying her! She's really starting to make her presence known these days and is becoming a right little chatterbox. No idea where that's coming from!!!!!!! (Ger I spose!)
In relation to her oxygen, she still needs it at night but she doesn't need it at all during the day anymore, which makes things so easy for us. She's so much more portable! We're hoping that she won't need it for much longer at night either cause she's getting much stronger. hmmm......Fingers crossed.
Think one of the reasons that she's so much happier is because she's getting more mobile. She loves bum shuffling around in circles. The faster the surface, the faster she goes; it's hilarious to watch! I will put a video of her doing it on utube in the next few days.
Hopefully she'll start moving forwards and backwards one of these days (and then I'll regreat these words!!!). She also spends time in a standing frame everyday now, which is really helping to strengthen her legs. She still buckles at the knees a bit when you try to put her standing independently but she's taking a bit of her own weight now, which is great.
Unfortunately, feeding Ashling is still a major issue but one which has improved a wee bit. She still only takes part of her meal herself and we have to put the majority of it down her tube. We're hoping to start pulling back on her meals in the New Year in order to make her hungrier. As you know, it's been a real battle between trying to get her to eat, but also making sure that she grows cause she's been so slow to gain weight. However, despite the fact that she's getting plenty of food and milk, she's still not putting on much/any weight. So we're starting to think that we might as well just go for it cause she' s not really growing much anyway. We will just need to make sure that she doesn't loose much weight cause she's got very little reserve. Please say a prayer for her as this is so important to us all - to get Ashling to eat properly and to get rid of the bloomin tube in her tummy, which has caused her a lot of discomfort.
Looks like she'll always be a littlie but who cares! You know what they say - "Good things come in small packages!".
Generally, things are much much better. We are really glad that the year is coming to a close and hope that 2009 will be a better year for our family. It's very exciting to be finishing the year, feeling so positive and happy about things. Ashling is a delight and makes us laugh every day now.
Well Merry Christmas to you all. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Lots of love Always, Car, Ger and Ash xxxxx
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