Just a little update

We keep thinking that life will slow down and yet it never seems to! So instead of putting off writing because I'm too busy, I'm going to write a quick update on our lives right now.

We are currently living with my parents who have been so gracious and hospitable. Even though we didn't leave our apartment on the best of circumstances (the flooding kind of led to a phase of chaos for us), it's been really nice to have the extra time with my parents. It's been especially good for Emma to have the extra attention from grandparents when they aren't working. :) Right now Emma is doing really well health-wise. She has her "normal", which is much different than the average persons normal. She is still on 8 meds/supplements 3 times a day, has to have vitals checked daily, has to have blood draws every couple of weeks, and has multiple appointments a week (doctors, dieticians, therapists) including a monthly trip to Seattle. We also deal with stomach upsets and diaper blowouts almost daily because of her medications. We are pretty used to the routine of it all, and it feels fairly normal to us. But it can still be exhausting. There are times that I hate the fact that she'll never get to live a "normal" life. But on the flip side, I am so completely grateful that she's alive at all, and she really does seem to enjoy life right now! If I stop and think about it, it all seems somewhat unreal. It just seems like a whirlwind has happened since she's been born. We expected to have a healthy baby and take her home and begin life as a family of three! Instead we had a baby who was born missing half of her heart, thought we would lose her, and then ended up spending most of her first year of life in the hospital, and she ended up receiving the heart of another child who had lost their life. It's just hard to fully grasp all that has happened in the past 16 months. Needless to say, I often struggle to even understand my emotions. But overall Emma is doing well, and she is loving life! She knows how to crawl and she crawls everywhere, even up steps! She recently learned how to pull herself up to standing and cruise along furniture, and she's been having fun getting around that way. She says lots of new words everyday. Some of her words are dada, mama, doggy (oggy), kitty, Minnie (mimi), hot, hi, baba (grandpa), papa, nana. Plus she knows "all done", "more", "please", "eat", "ball", "milk", and "music" in sign language. :) Emma loves to read books and listen/dance to music! She also loves to play with the doggies and has recently discovered how fun it is to share her food with them! She also really loves her Minnie Mouse doll now and if she doesn't know where Minnie is she will try to find her and then give her a hug. It's so sweet. :)

Mickey is on dayshift at work now which has been really nice. He used to be on swing shift and we didn't get to spend the evenings with him. Now he gets to come home and spend time with us after work, which has been a blessing! I'm getting ready to start working a little bit to help with bills. Money has been so tight ever since Emma was born. There were just so many unexpected expenses, but the hardest part was the time off from work, especially since I had to quit my job to be with Emma in the hospital. That was the best decision for our family at the time, but we are entering a new phase of life and I've been praying about other ways to help with finances. We are also getting ready to buy a house and will hopefully close at the end of this month!