The Gile Family News: Bring On The Good Stuff!

YIKES! I never updated last week! Sorry everyone! Luckily, it's been a pretty non-eventful couple of weeks so not a whole bunch to report!

Therapies are going wonderful as usual! PT and OT have let us know that the work we do with Addison shows each week they come to see her. It's a nice compliment to hear however Addy is the one doing all of the work. I'm so happy that she's so receptive to the exercises we do with her. She's still not holding her head up however we are trying to do as much tummy time as we can to help her out. PT seems to think she'll be crawling before we know it! Speech is going quite well. Addison was able to have some watered down apple juice last week and seemed to like it. We give her 'tastes' via a medicine pacifier. Instead of dipping there is a little attachment on the end that hold up to two cc's of liquid. It's a nice controlled way of giving her a bit more than a dip of the pacifier. At the end of her last Speech appointment, Gail told me that we should mix up some rice cereal for Addy and do some dips this past Saturday. She wants Addy to try it out because this coming Wednesday she'll be giving her some rice cereal - WITH A SPOON! We're thrilled. We did the tastes on Saturday and Addy really seemed to enjoy them! Keep your fingers crossed that she does well!

Addy actually had a follow up with Dr. Yoon today so he could see how she's doing with her new glasses. He examined her eyes and said that her prescription is a bit weaker than he wanted however not enough that he's going to change it quite yet. He let us know he's going to be following Addison very closely so he can stay on top of her prescription. He let us know that Addy's vision could actually get better! He did say that he can't guarantee 20/20 vision however her vision troubles are able to improve! She definitely won't have peripheral vision from her two previous laser surgeries which we already knew. Dr. Yoon did tell us that he's noticing a little bit of eye crossing that he wants to keep an eye on as well. He said it could correct itself as she continues getting used to her new specs. Downside is if it doesn't correct itself, Addy would need to have another eye surgery. Let's hope we don't have to go down that road! Addy also had blood work done to check her electrolytes since she is still on diuretics for her Chronic Lung Disease. She had a CT scan done as well because we'll be going to see Dr. Bowman (Neurosurgeon) in a couple weeks here. We stopped up to the NICU to say hello. Dr. Farrow was there who was one of Addy's first Attendings when she was transferred to Children's. She seemed very happy with how Addison is doing. It was awesome to see her and some of our old nurses! After we were finished with Addy's appointments, we met Lindsay (Addy's Primary Nurse) and Lindsay (Addy's favorite Respiratory Therapist) for dinner. It's always so much fun to get together with people from the NICU. RT Lindsay hadn't seen Addy since we left. Addy snuggled up to her right away. She even let RT Lindsay hold her on her tummy which she only allows me to do! Of course she snuggled in with Nurse Lindsay right away as well - they always had lots of cuddle time when Addison was in the hospital. We definitely had a good dinner with the two Lindsays and look forward to doing many more!

So - the big news of the past week was Dee Dee turned the big 3-0 on the 22nd! She's handling it a lot better than I expected. Addy sent Mama flowers on Thursday at work since Dee Dee was working from home on Friday. She picked out a pretty bouquet of mixed flowers from a florist that we like. Mama was very surprised and brought them home to enjoy over the weekend. They smell awesome. Friday - my Dad and stepmom, Jill, came down and took Dee Dee, Addy and I to dinner at Weber Grill. We all had steak and all thoroughly enjoyed it! Addy slept through the entire meal which she tends to do at restaurants. Saturday I took Dee Dee to the city for dinner at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. Britton, Matthew, Kevin, Trish, Matt, Kim, Kim's kids and Pam all came to have some delicious Tapas and Sangria! It was SO much fun. We'll definitely be going back there. Sunday - Dee Dee's parents - Wally and Rose came out to celebrate Dee Dee's birthday. Rose made an awesome dinner of breaded pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes and peas. Later on, Shelly and I decided to go see The House Bunny (hysterical!) while Grandma Rose cuddled with Addy and chatted with Dee Dee while Wally slept on the couch from the delicious dinner.

I THINK that's all there is for this week! Granny Nan is coming home next week from Florida! We've missed her!

Addy - sleeping in the car and catching flies