happy Easter

Not two days ago I was talking to Mike about how I didn't think Hope was going to be ready to start food this next month. She has an appointment with her GI doc on the 16th of May and we are supposed to start rice cereal the week before. I was thinking that there was no way she'd be up to it. She's just too little and completely uninterested in table food. But tonight we had our Egyptian meal to finish off our unit on ancient Egypt. I was holding her on my lap and looked down to realize that she'd swiped my pita off of my plate. She was gumming it for all she was worth. Then she got handed off to Grandma who decided she was up for trying some of the sugar water from our fruit mixture. Oh my goodness, was she excited about that! She's getting to be such a big girl.

She's done with the RSV, thankfully, as you probably guessed from the pictures with no cannula. She even went all night without oxygen the other night. How exciting is that?! (Of course, she hasn't been able to repeat it, but we'll get there soon.) She continues to be a happy, mellow girl who is so sweet. She even gives kisses now. Well, technically she just licks your face if she can get close enough, but it's still very sweet.

I've been told multiple times now that I need to update the blog, so here goes. Hope has been pretty sick. She came down with something about 3 weeks ago, but it seemed very mild, especially in comparison to Andy and Mary. It took a turn for the worse this past weekend. She started having coughing fits that were so bad they would make her throw up. Her oxygen needs started getting greater and greater. She has been to the pediatrician 3 times and the emergency room once. She has not needed to be hospitalized, but she's certainly scared us. I'm hoping she's over the worst now, but I guess we'll see. Her chest doesn't sound quite so much like a bowl of rice krispies today and she's down from needing 1.5 liters of oxygen during the day to needing 3/4 - 1. (She normally doesn't need anything during the day and is on 1/8 liter at night.) She's weighing in at 11 lbs now, down from her high of 11 lbs 5 oz. There is a bright spot in all this though. Hope rolled over 4 times on Tuesday from her belly to her back. Way to go, sis!