Yes, I know it’s Easter.
And PRAISE JESUS FOR THAT!!!! 🙂
It’s just going to take me a few days to sort through all the events and pictures of the last few days… so sit tight if you’re waiting for pics of cute little boys in ties and a certain wee little girl in all her Easter finery.
Oh, and also be patient if you’re waiting for an update on the ol’ Don Quixote reading. I’m working on it slowly, but believe it or not I actually really like it. I find Cervantes to have a great sense of humor (he’s both self-deprecating and arrogant at the same time, which makes for pretty fun reading). If you’re still having a hard time getting started, I’d like to encourage you to at least read the prologue… and if that doesn’t pull you in, I don’t know what else will. Seriously, I’d like to know how you all out there in bloggy land are doing with it. Do we need more time? How do you want to proceed with this?
But first things first. Many of you have been asking me how Annie’s health is doing. We are so, so thankful for everyone’s kind thoughts and prayers. God must be hearing them, because she has been doing pretty well for this past month, all things considered. After her retest last month (which confirmed the RTA), the nephrologist (kidney doctor) at Children’s advised our pediatrician to take Annie off her meds for a month so we could work on getting her over her oral aversion… aka, her unwillingness to eat stemming from us shoving horrible-tasting yucky meds down her throat several times a day for a month. She managed to hold her own weight-wise this month, and at her 12-month check on Friday she had gained 9 ounces, weighing in at 15 pounds 12 ounces (we’re on monthly weight checks, so this is over a four-week period). Note that Bode, our second-born, weighed 15 pounds 11 ounces… when he was two months old. Yes, he was a giant of a child, but still. Sigh. Thankfully, our doctor is pleased with her gain at this point, since after Annie’s weight dropped drastically at 9 months she has been steadily gaining on her curve… a curve much lower than the range on the normal growth chart, but at least she’s not losing any more ground. So every month that she manages to keep that growth up is another month we have a reprieve from the medication.
In the meantime, we continue to work on her movement. She is now officially “gross motor delayed”… which basically means she’s not even thinking about crawling yet at 12 months… but the doc isn’t worried; the delay has been caused by the RTA, which among other things causes muscle weakness, but we have seen her progressing slowly but surely in that department as well. We appreciate you continuing to pray on her behalf, that she will desire to eat more so her body can gain the size and strength it needs to get her on her knees and moving. God is good, and we know that He is ordaining each and every of her (future) steps.
On a less serious note, as you know from my last post we celebrated Annie’s first birthday on Thursday. We continued the festivities by inviting several of our family friends over on Saturday for some cake and ice cream (I TOTALLY forgot about the ice cream during the party… and now we have three unopened containers of it in the freezer, mocking me, tempting me, calling my name. Drat. A little extra creamy vanilla, anyone?). But all we needed was a flower cake…
and a pretty birthday princess to go with it…
to create a great time and a wonderful memory. And — don’t we all expect them for a first birthday party? — here are some obligatory “cake eating” shots:
Wow, if we could just figure out how to make such yummy sugar-filled cupcakes nutritious… then we’d have her on her way with this whole growing thing. Sigh.
One more pic of our baby girl’s special day, this time with her proud momma:
Thank you to all of our dear friends for sharing your day with us! I won’t share pics of all the families — and their beautiful kiddos — since they’re not mine, and this IS a public blog and all. But you all know who you are! 🙂
Oh she’ such a cutie pie.
And 15lbs = MUCH easier to hold. Snuggle. Carry. All that stuff 🙂
Happy Birthday Annie! She is gorgeous. Hope all continues to go well for her and your family!
Well there seems to be an ice cream theme…. for the Starr family DQ stands for Dairy Queen! If Annie is anything like the rest of the Starr fam, ice cream will help her with the weight gain. It sure has worked on the rest of us! Great pictures! Annie is a doll! Lovies.
I am very embarrassed that when I saw “DQ” I instantly thought of an Oreo blizzard. 🙂 I still haven’t gotten then book, but I will. I will!
Happy b-day to your gorgeous one year old. She is just precious. And your cake looks too yummy to eat! Glad you had a fun time celebrating Annie, and I’m happy to hear her weight gain is headed in the right direction. I’ll be praying for her this week.
Hugs,
Robin