It happened!

Last night Maddie came into our bedroom saying her tooth was loose. I've heard this story before so I didn't get too excited. Well, when I looked at her tooth sure enough, it was loose! I began to cry, of course. My baby daughter is growing up, her first loose tooth! We both went through quite a few emotions. At first she was excited, then she noticed a little blood, so the tears began to flow, then she was worried it was going to hurt and then she decided she didn't want to lose her teeth! Craig was at the movies with his dad so we waited until he came home so he could see the loose tooth. Maddie was once again excited, but decided she did NOT want daddy to pull her tooth, he agreed. This morning she woke up excited that she hadn't swallowed her tooth in her sleep. We went to church and everyone now knew she had her first loose tooth! Tonight we went to Mimi & Papa's for burgers, Maddie was playing outside with her cousin and came in to say her tooth hurt. She showed Craig and asked him to pull it and he did! Oh, what a joy to lose your first tooth!

Maddie's first loose tooth

Look it's gone!

Last week was very busy, we had VBS at church every night. Our whole family was involved. I taught the Bible Challenge rotation which was a lot of fun, Kayleigh made her acting debut along with her cousin Megan, at the Bible Story rotation, Maddie of course was one of the many kids we were able to minister to and Craig showed up each night to help in any way he was needed. He was also a great chauffeur! Maddie invited her friend Lauren and we picked her up each night. They had a blast together. It was a fun experience for our whole family.

Kayleigh & Megan at VBS

Maddie also had another first this week. She had her friend Lauren spend the night. WOW! That was interesting. I made a palette for the girls on the floor in Maddie's room and they laid down at about 9:30pm at 11:15pm I went to check on them and they were still talking! I had to lay down on Maddie's bed until they fell asleep! And at 6:45am the were standing beside our bed staring at me! Again, WOW! All in all it was lots of fun.

Maddie & Lauren spend the night buddies!

Fletcher had a dysphagiagram (swallow functioning test) at Baptist Hospital on Thursday. When we began feeding him by mouth last October we always put his speaking valve on. He's not a big fan of the speaking valve, he tolerates it but he doesn't like it. Anyway his speech therapist wanted to see how he swallowed without the speaking valve and he did okay. We will not be able to give him thin liquids like apple juice because that came out his trach, not good. He did have a few problems swallowing and now his speech therapist will talk with Fletcher's doctor and the nutritionist at TCC. In all honesty, it was disappointing to me. I mean really, why does this have to be so hard? All I want is to be able to feed my baby some baby food. I do want to do what's best for him. And I'm sure it will be worth the wait. The best part of this trip to Baptist was that we were able to go up to the PICU and see our sweet friends there! Fletcher showed off for them and boy were they impressed! These are the very nurses and RT's that saw Fletcher at his worst and they helped nurse him to health. I'm sure it does their hearts good to see how far he's come from being a 7 lb, malnourished, failure to thrive, intubated little mess to a 21lb, smart as a whip 21/2 year old!

My sweet boy!

I'm sure there is a lot more to tell you but it's getting late. I'll blog again soon!