Hey, look! A Blog Post

Once again, I have neglected my blog. The last month has, of course, been a busy one.

I'll start with my super fun trip to Portland/Vancouver area in mid-Oct. My cousin (and BFF) lives up there, and I hadn't seen her in over a year, so I am so happy I finally got over my fear of flying and got up there. I really lucked out. One of my close triplet mommy friends's husband is a Southwest Airlines Captain and so she hooked me up with a free ticket. It was a stand by ticket, but I'll stand by for a free trip to see my bestie any time! I flew up on a Friday night and home very early Monday morning. We had so much fun. I finally got to see Roloff Farm. I've been a fan of the "Little People, Big World" TLC show for years, so it was a treat to get to see their farm and go to their pumpkin patch. It did feel a bit weird going to a pumpkin patch without my girls, but it was fun to see my cousin's little one enjoy the "punkins." My cuz and I went to the movies and out for late night munchies at a diner, followed by shopping the next day. Fred Meyer is my new favorite store to buy kid's clothes. It was also my first time ever flying alone. I am one of "those" people who has panic attacks on airplanes. I did really well this time and stayed panic attack free. The glass of wine on the way up there sure helped! I can't wait to fly up there for another weekend again!

What else has been going on? We finally closed on a house for Bob's mom. The last house we were in escrow on fell through. It was actually a blessing in disguise because we were able to find her a better house in an area much closer to our home. Right now, she is living with us but will be all moved in to her house probably around the first of the new year. I think we're all relieved that the search for another house is done. We'd been looking since April and put countless offers out there. Whew!

So Morgan has really developed so well with her language skills. I'm not in denial about her PDD-NOS diagnoses, but I wonder if she would still get that diagnoses if she were retested today. She has grown so much, it's almost as if she is a different kid. She's looking at me when she's talking. She asks me for things. She brings me toys she is interested in. These are all things she didn't do just two months ago. Only time will tell, but I am hopeful that she'll continue to blossom.

Our biggest concern right now is Rachel's feeding issues. In the past three days, her eating has gone from bad to worse. She is eating less than 500 calories a day and it's really scaring me. She's refusing her baby food and is down to 3-4 other foods, none of them nutritious. I really wonder if she is on the brink of change. Like, maybe she is tired of baby food. I think that is a real possibility. My thought is that she is afraid to try something new. I'm really not sure. It's like she doesn't even get hungry. Also, in November,  her pediatrician decided to do a full blood count and we found that her iron stores are low. She is not anemic but is in danger of becoming anemic. I started her on a liquid multi-vitamin called PolyVisol with Iron. She only took one dose of it a few nights ago. The next day she didn't want to eat much. I wondered if the iron was upsetting her stomach so I took her off it. I don't think that's the case though since the last two days have been exactly the same. She just doesn't want to eat. Her feeding issues have just been going downhill. She has gone from eating a variety of baby foods to just a few kinds. Now she won't even eat her "go to" foods. I am at a loss. I don't know what to do. I've been doing a little online research and am looking for a new feeding therapist or feeding program.

I've found a few options. There is a new type of feeding therapy for kids with Sensory Processing Disorder, which is what Rachel was diagnosed with. It's called SOS. The only issue is that the therapy is super expensive. There is also an intensive feeding program in Colorado I'm looking in to. I've got a call out to just about every place in town, one place in the bay area, and then the Star Center in Colorado. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get Rachel the help she needs. She's getting dark circles under her eyes and I know she's not getting what she needs. She has an appointment with her doctor on Friday morning. I'm trying to use every option that I have no matter what the cost. I'm done sitting back and just hoping things will get better.

I put this out on Facebook last night. A call for prayer! So if you would pray for my little girl, we would be grateful. I am giving this up to God. I believe He will work this out for us and lead us in the right path to help our Rachel!

So that's our update! Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season. I'm too tired to proof read tonight... and I took Nyquil right before I started typing. Darn cold... I've had it for four days now. ugh!