I'm so embarrassed! I am shocked that I have not updated here in so long. I sort of put this blog on the back burner while other things took over our life and felt slightly guilty but nothing more. Until I started getting the emails. Thank you all for your concern- I guess I never realized how many people followed our lives. Just to reassure you all; Hazel is OK! In fact, she is more than OK. She is totally nutso. I think that since she started walking last month, our energy has been sapped. I find myself napping when she naps almost every morning. Part of this is because of the multiple sclerosis making me feel like I'm constantly operating on two hours of sleep. Part of it is because Hazel is so busy that it takes every ounce of strength to keep up with her. Luckily she is still a big sleeper, as she has always been. She still takes a three hour nap in the morning, then a two hour nap in the afternoon, and continues to sleep a solid eleven to twelve hours at night. When she is awake though...look out! She is almost running now, and it looks so funny because she is still such a shrimpy little thing. She just hit 21 pounds and is about 28 inches tall. Little and chunky! Perfect!
She is also a little jet setter. She has been to DC now twice, just this month; once for a quick family get away, and once to visit friends and do the MS Walk in Reston, VA. She also did the Newburyport MS Walk up here in Massachusetts where we raised a whopping $3,800.00 for the Central Mass MS Society! She is very proud of herself.
Hazel also survived her first stomach flu, and survived having the TV as a babysitter for two straight days while mama tried to survive the stomach flu. We all got through it. Jamie also managed to get through the most hellish project deadline at work that had him loving at his office for two weeks. He billed 360 hours in three and a half weeks, and is long overdue for more of a break. So am I.
Our other big news is that Hazel had her post-op follow-up with her doctor at Children's Hospital and we got the best news we could hope for; she is doing great. She has been eating and swallowing so well and has only gagged/chocked/regurgitated food on a few occasions. She looks so healthy and happy, and there are no plans to do another esophageal dilatation anytime soon. For now, they don't even want to see her for six more months! It's just what we have been wanting to hear since November. It feels so good.
So, life has been hectic. I swear I have a TON of pictures to upload as soon as I have the time, but this child turned from a baby into a toddler overnight and I can't turn my back on her and her fiery emotions for a second. She is talking, too. I think she has about 7-10 words now, and has even used two words strung together to say, "Hi, dada." That is probably the most heart warming thing you have ever heard, in that silly, croaky little voice. She takes my cell phone and puts it to her ear and has whole conversations that sound like, "HHHHIIiiiiiiiii, dada! Hi, dada! Hi! HHHiiiiiiieeeeeee! *insert some bubbly giggling as if dada just said something really funny*" It's pretty hilarious. She also "woofs" at every animal she sees, points and demands "THAT." at every single object, and screams, "NAI NAI NAI!" for "no no no". Also, right before she does something that she knows I don't want her to do, like feed her food to the dogs, she looks at me with a very serious face and very earnestly shakes her head "no". As if to tell me, "This is something very bad that I'm about to do." It's damn near impossible not to laugh. Every day she has a new dance, she is absolutely obsessed with her Legos and will sit in my lap, focused as hell, and play with them for a whole hour. She has developed picky toddler eating habits overnight and now isn't really interested in anything but berries and cheese with the occasional spinach-artichoke nugget or tofu cube. She also, as all toddlers seem to do, has developed a fine crust over her face, hands and throughout her hair. She always seems to be dirty from head to toe. She is just as opinionated, stubborn, funny, happy, bright, healthy, smart, silly, flirtatious, outgoing, laid-back, adaptable, flexible, curious, interested, silly, and adorable as she has ever been. You won't believe how much she has grown up, if I ever can get these pictures up...
Thank you all for your concern, and for continuing to check in on us. We have been out and about, seeing friends, happy as Ipswich clams and looking forward to the nice weather hitting our little corner of paradise! Stay tuned.
Auntie Jen and her oldest son Owen
Photoshoot over!
