Anna Updates

Things are so good in the land of Anna. God continues to be good to us. I took Anna to the GI doctor on Friday and he was pleased with her progress and weight gain. He fussed at me a little for not having her allergy testing done but I explained that we are all doctored out and I just decided to try and introduce milk and soy into her diet and see how it went. He was not happy with that answer but happy that she is tolerating some milk products. She is still not tolerating soy but who cares. He wanted me to take her to an allergist to address the soy problem and I politely refused. I just don't see what good it would do. Avoidance of the offending allergen is the cure and we are already doing that. He said that now our goal is to increase her caloric intake even more by adding butter to everything- even giving her plain butter to eat by itself. This is so hard for me to grasp since I have tried to keep Kenneth and I away from butter due to our cholesterol and his diabetes. I cringe at the thought of straight butter in my baby's hands but I guess if it is good for her I will do it. She had a cat bite that got infected and has required antibiotics this past week but otherwise seems healthy right now (knock on wood). Early Intervention came out to see her yesterday and were so pleased with her progress as well. They cannot believe my baby who couldn't sit at 8 months is now running at 14 months. They are going to come out and see her again next month and then in April they will reevaluate her. She will probably not require any occupational or physical therapy sessions from that point forward. They think she may require some speech therapy but that isn't even for certain. She is just a tad behind in her speech but she also couldn't hear well until we got her tubes so it stands to reason that she is a bit behind and will catch up in that too. I am so thankful that her mind "woke up" and that she has just turned into a pretty normal kid. I was so scared for so long. We don't follow up with the neurologist until May or June and I am hoping they will discharge us from their services as well. If Anna is not a testament to the power of prayer, of Christ, of a mother's intuition, of Early Intervention, and of the human spirit then I do not know what is. I have seen a child transform before my eyes and I could not be more proud...