The Ardern Family

Well, I looked on my camera awhile ago to see if I could post any new pictures and of course I haven't got any new ones. What's up with that? I'm a momo! I need to be better, like my friends and family. Oh well. So I thought I'd update on things going on with us. The other day we finally got rid of our stove and fridge....don't worry. We didn't go into debt for this. We received our tax return last week and just had the new ones delivered on Saturday. We still have money left over to add to our growing savings for the new baby (which we have enough, just want to add more savings to it for unexpected things...like NICU. Not like I expect it to happen but we didn't think Charlotte would have complications either). It's nice we don't have to cook in an old dinosaur now! It seriously was driving me nuts. Everytime I baked desserts or breads it baked them too hot and the middle would be undercooked. Talk about a nightmare! And Wade's sunday roasts would always turn to jerky. The recipe calls for the roast to cook for 5 1/2 hours on 325. The last time we cooked the roast in the oven, it was on 200 and it was dried out. Our fridge freezer never really worked and the one in the garage has a smell that makes you gag when you open it. So thought it would be good to invest in some good appliances. Maybe I'll take a picture of the new ones so that you can see pictures on the blog! yeah!

Charlotte got her old walker back today and loved being in it. The physical therapist was amazed at how much she bonded with her walker and that since she had a different one, she really was affected physically by it. It's nice to know Charlotte loves her walker and wants to be mobile.

Sound Beginnings is amazing. We love this school. She goes twice a week now. It starts at 9:30 and ends at 11:15am. On Mondays, she has one on one therapy for 45 min. after class ends. New words she has learned: bubba (bubbles), and moo. I'm sure there's more, just can't think of them right now. She signs a lot still but loves to talk. She's always chattering in the car and will start singing 5 little monkeys or head shoulders knees and toes. She will do this to you or to anything that looks like it has a face. She always goes into her solo during class which everyone seems to enjoy...I hope they do at least!

Her eating has gone back up again. For a few weeks it has gone down. We think it was related to not having the walker. We stopped her appetite stimulant medicine because it gave her a chronic night cough (that's a long story there too!) but since we've stopped it, she's kept up with the eating. She is eating a lot more variety foods i.e. apples (no skin), tootsie rolls, taquitos, etc. So whatever can help her chew and learn to eat, the better. She now also needs to be able to eat enough to sustain her own weight and then I think we can start looking at getting the g-tube removed. yay for Charlotte!! But I do have to say her favorite foods are vegetables. I am NOT kidding. We'll have nice dinners and give her the rice and chicken sauce (minus the chicken of course) and peas or green beans. Sure she'll eat SOME of the rice and sauce but she will go nuts on the veggies. I love that she loves them. She'll eat mushrooms too. The thought of that makes me want to lose my lunch but I can't be selfish and not let her eat things that I don't like. We'll give her bites of salmon (from the tastes at Sam's Club) and tuna and she loves it.

As far as sleeping goes, we finally went last week to the pediatrician. I couldn't stand the several hour wakings in the night. Or if by chance we were lucky, she would only wake up a couple of times but it still took a lot to get her back to sleep. He told us to first try benadryl every night. If that doesn't work, we'd have to go to trazadome or something stronger. I didn't want to put her on too strong of medicine...just enough to keep her drowsy to want to stay sleeping. This past week she's woken up but has gone to sleep straightaway. What a miracle! AND for the last two nights she didn't wake up! I'm hoping this trend continues until she has established a good sleeping pattern. A year and a half of this has gone on too long and I'm so happy we (so far) have been able to correct this. Go Charlotte!

Wade is about to start his last trimester of the school year. He's looking forward to it and more importantly to the summer. Especially for the new baby to come and to see his parents again. It will be a fun time. And as for me, I get to take care of Charlotte. I love her so much and she makes me happy! She's going to be a great big sister and I can't wait for her to be with the baby.