Swallow study

We had a good week this week. Taylor had an interesting test on Tuesday - a swallow study at Children's Hospital. She continues to struggle with eating - the poor kid mostly eats an oatmeal/baby food mixture for every meal and we've been stuck in a rut. We're on a mission to help her make progress in this area. For a number of reasons - obviously there is more to life than oatmeal and baby food and we can't wait for her to be able to enjoy other foods. She has also had a real problem with constipation - which is absolutely miserable. We've had to resort to suppositories a few times and regular doses of Milk of Magnesium (which her pediatrician recommended) to keep things moving. The infant oatmeal she was eating was full of iron, so we've switched her to fiber rich regular oatmeal - which we grind up in our blender so it it's too lumpy for her.

The good news - the swallow study turned out fine. They essentially x-ray'd her while she sat on my lap to see how fluid and food went down her throat. I could see the screen and it was amazing to see how it literally went down her throat. The hard part - she doesn't really like eating on a good day and she was not thrilled to be in a little x-ray booth with strange ladies talking to her. She did not want to eat so it was sad for her and messy for all of us, but we got what we needed. Her plumbing is working fine, so there is no physical reason that she shouldn't be able to eat more solids. So, it's largely a texture, sensation issue that we need to work through. We'll work on getting specific feeding therapy lined up now that we know there isn't anything physically wrong. We're ready to tackle it and make some progress.

Otherwise, life is good - the big kids are happy and looking forward to Thanksgiving. They insisted on unpacking two bins of Christmas decorations this week-end, despite our best efforts to wait until after Thanksgiving. You gotta love the exuberance of young kids over the holidays. We're also trying to reinforce the importance of being thankful - Lauren took cereal boxes into her school for a food drive and we've talked a lot about our blessings. They are growing up so fast - Lauren is almost up to my shoulder now and Jacob isn't far behind - it's amazing given their genetics. I will definitely be surpassed in height soon.

David and I had a date night on Saturday! It was good for us to get out and we're doing well on our "fun" resolution. The kids were very cute - they chose outfits, including jewelry and shows, for mom and dad's big date. Thankfully, Taylor goes to bed early - so she went to bed shortly after our sitter arrived. This helps with our peace of mind - it is still nervewracking to leave her with people beyond our small circle of folks that understand her condition. But, we all made it just fine and David and I had a great date!