A lot to think about...

As we approach February we have a lot to think about. We have a big appointment in March with the general surgeon to talk about Molly's LADDS procedure (the surgery on her intestines). We always had the excuse that we were giving her heart time to heal. Well, her heart is so much better and we really can't use that as an excuse anymore. So we are leaning towards doing the surgery this summer. We want to get through her birthday in May and the Children's Hospital walk in June. So we are looking at any time after that. When it comes to Molly's medical needs Jay & I are almost always on the same page. We have done our research on this surgery...read about other families experiences, looked at statistics, spoke to the doctors. And everything scares us to death...until last night. I told Jay that I wasn't really scared going into this procedure anymore and he said he wasn't really either. Are we nervous...hell yeah but less. I don't know why. It's a 6-8 hour surgery. It's going to put her even further behind with standing and walking. But she could not be in better health going into this. We have had this surgery hanging over our head for over a year now. We are constantly thinking about it, talking about it, worrying about it. We just need to do it. It's a long hospital stay (no where near as long as the first one but it's long enough) and I really REALLY do not want to do this but we just need to put it behind us. Not that it will ever be behind us because she can still develop a blockage, etc. But if something does develop after the fact we will know that we did everything we were supposed to do. We still have some questions for the surgeon but for now that is the way we are leaning...for now. The good this is with this surgery occupying so much of our thoughts, we really haven't had too much time to stress about her surgery in April. See, there is a positive to every situation!

Everything else has been pretty quiet. She's just chugging along. She even allowed me to go out to dinner with one of my friends Saturday night while she stayed home with daddy. We did arts and crafts Sunday night. I had the brilliant idea to make Valentine's Day gifts. A one year old plus finger paint does not make for a good time for me. I don't do well with mess. I like organization, neat and clean. So the finger painting stressed me out. When I feed Molly a play a game with myself to see if I can feed her without getting any food on her bib. I know, I'm a loser! But I really have no adult interaction so I have to create things to amuse myself.

It's been 6 months since Molly's last Early Intervention assessment so she has one coming up on Tuesday. I'm curious to see where she scores but it's always difficult to hear how far behind she is. I was speaking with our feeding/physical therapist about the next step after Early Intervention. EI only goes up to the age of 3 and since Molly is going to be 2 in May I was curious as to what we would be doing after it ends. Once Molly is 2 1/2 we will write a referral with EI to get her enrolled in public preschool. I don't know how I feel about her being exposed to all of those germs. I know she needs to be exposed to germs but that's a lot of boogies. It's a long way off and I don't want to worry about it just yet but time flies by in my life and it will be here soon. As sad as it makes me to think about Molly going to preschool it also excites me a little bit. A year and a half ago we never would've made plans for her future. We were living week to week. We wouldn't even buy anything that she would use when she's older because we didn't know if she was going to live to be old enough to use it. But now we are buying clothes and putting them away for next year, making plans for her future, planning vacations, doing a fundraiser in June, thinking about her birthday party (actually I started thinking about it in June of last year). I'm big on making plans. I like to know what I'm doing at all times so this makes me very happy.

I also wanted to thank everyone that has donated so far to the Children's Hospital walk that we are doing on June 10th. There is still plenty of time to make a donation. If you are interested in helping out here is the link: http://howtohelp.childrenshospital.org/walk/team/Molly-Moo.htm

Once you have copied & pasted the link, click on one of our names and make your donation. Any dollar amount is appreciated. If you are interested in walking with us, let me know and I will tell you how to join our team. If you can't donate, we completely understand. All of your support to this point as been more than enough!

Kerry