Hi! I'm here...

Hey there. I know, it's been a while.

A lot has happened, really. A lot besides health issue stuff, if you can believe that! We had company this past weekend - my beautiful, young at heart Grandma from Cali and her trusty Cajun man, my Aunt and her hubby and cousins. Finally, we had the opportunity to share some of the extra space around here and it was great. I love seeing family; they help make our house a home.

We went to the traditional touristy locations and more importantly, we spent time together and talked.

Then I took Hannah to see High School Musical on Ice with her best friend and mom. The girls had a great time although it was a long walk from parking to the show and amazingly crowded. Our seats were pretty good and although Hannah didn't know what to make of all that high-pitched screaming and flashing lights, it didn't take her long to warm up. We've caught a couple of figure skating competitions on TV and she claims she wants to ice skate. I wonder how she'll feel when she hits the ice and finds out it's STONE-COLD and HURTS when you fall?? :)

Yes, I have pictures but that'll have to wait for the next post.

Next news: Cohen's therapy services were temporarily put on "follow up on him and wait a while" mode. We all agreed, so don't think they're taking something away from us that I'm demanding or anything. The therapists think that right now, Cohen is in "survival mode" and unpredictably intolerant to therapy. He's basically one cranky buddy who doesn't feel like playing when they try to work with him and they feel like we need to tackle the health issues before he can even absorb the therapy. I agree, but it really sucks when your poor kid is so miserable all the time that it interferes with, well, life in general.

He had his annual IFSP and they asked me various age-appropriate questions like is he throwing things and watching for them to fall? Is he kicking a ball? Is he stacking objects? Is he pretending with cars and trucks? Does he say any words, besides ma-ma (the only word in his vocab so far).

The answer? A resounding, heart-sinking NO. A big, fat, gut-heavy NEGATIVE.

I guess moments like this really hit those of us blissfully ignoring passing milestones by just loving our kids and appreciating what they can do. Moments like this also make me wanna crawl in bed and bawl. WHHAAAH! I'm okay, really, just...sad. We determined that mostly he just wants to walk around and flap things back and forth in front of his face. Okay guys, I know what this sounds like and what you *might* be thinking. I'm praying that on top of his gut-issue, whatever that may be, that he has not acquired some form of Autism. I'm not really entertaining it, but it is an emerging big black BUG on my windshield. I'm praying and hoping for the best. Our appointment with one of the leading Metabolic geneticists is on the 31st of this month. I really hope he holds the key to our locked door. And then I really hope I don't get my hopes dashed again. :(

Finally:

After counting last night, I am on word 52,251 of my book. Our story. Writing is good therapy, really. So that is why I haven't been posting as much these days. Every available minute (and there've been few and far between) I've been pounding the keyboard like crazy.

I'm hoping by sharing, something good can come of all of this. Maybe we can help someone with what we've been through. Sounds so cliche, doesn't it? Oh well. Then again, maybe I'll be the only one to read it, me and a handful of agents who reject it. ;) Fingers crossed!

Hope you are all happy and well!