For the first time in a long time - pretty much the last 17+ months - I feel like we are swimming with the current instead of against it.  That isn't to say though that all things have been coming up roses because I had a fair number of days this week where I was pretty sure I would end up bald.  From pulling my hair out.  Mike was in Costa Rica all week and I had to be a lot of different places for work.  Then, Nate got sick...and I got sick.  But you know who wasn't sick?  Miss Exhibit A below.  Once her last cold cleared, its been smooth sailing with her.  She has been doing phenomenal.  I must remind myself that Finley is a much different little girl that she was that first year.  She has been so much more resilient and seems to bounce back so much better these days.  She is strong.  So strong!  She has been lifting herself up (like the pic below) SO high off the ground.  She is also doing this in her crib - which is adorable because if you are standing on the other side of the bumper pad - you can see her peeking over the top.  I absolutely love it!

Exhibit A

This kid LOVES to get in to boxes.  It could be the smallest box ever and he will find a way to fit in it.

Nate playing with his crazy little car that Aunt Anne got his for xmas.

She is also trying really hard to crawl these days.  She started this the week before last - much to our surprise, there she was up on all fours with her forehead planted firmly on the floor.  She hasn't quite figured out that she needs to lift her head, and, the 5 point crawl (demonstrated below) is a common starting point for CHARGE kiddos.  She is up on all fours like this all of the time though now and every single time I see her like this I feel so compelled to grab my camera!  AMAZING!






And since its been a while since my last post, I owe you an update on our most recent appointments!  Lets see, on the 19th we saw the endocrinologist, Dr. Kim.  she was extremely please with Finley's progress and how well she'd been doing on her bolus feeds.  She even told us (ready for this?) that we don't have to test Finley's blood sugar anymore - unless she is sick or we are trying a new type of bolus feed (like increasing her volume and time off the pump). NO MORE TESTING!  While it was something we have become very used to, it was also something we hadn't even considered would be going away.  Now, don't get me wrong, we are still testing her a few times a day as we get used to her bolus feeds - but overall, she's stable baby!  Hearing those words out of the endocrinologist's mouth was AWESOME!  That said - Finley has been rockin' and rollin' with her bolus feeds and is up to a hour on and 2 hours off!  We are doing two bolus feeds a day now and our next step will be one hour on and three off!

We also saw the gastroenterologist.  This is the second new doc that we've added this month and we really liked him!  We saw Dr. Lee Bass - he had prepared for our visit by reading through Finley's records and reaching out to her ENT and he spent a lot of time talking to us about all of the things that could possibly be causing Finley's reflux.  For now, we have decided to change from Prevacid in solution to a Solu-tab which dissolves in a tsp of water.  This differs than the solution because the solution is basically regular Prevacid pills dissolved in calcium carbonate.  It has a 2 week shelf life and it has to be shaken really well before drawing it up.  So along with the Prevacid Solu-tab we are also doing Zantac at the same time - one suppresses acid production and the other reduces the acidity of the acid.  When Finley goes in for her next bronchoscopy, the Gastro is going to do an endoscopy to make sure that none of the irritation in her throat is because of an allergy rather than reflux.  Needless to say - we've never seen any outward signs of her reflux and to be honest - Nate spit up/threw up WAY more than Finley has.  Finley really doesn't throw up unless she is sick.  Stay tuned..

Seriously one of the best pictures ever!

And from the cute picture above, this is where she ended up - under the chair.

And last but certainly not least. I am about 12 hours away from my Step Up for Kids start time of 9 am.  Its a good thing I am climbing 80 flights of stairs tomorrow since I just at the most gigantic and tasty Red Velvet Cupcake from Mariano's. A girl needs her fuel, right?  A couple of weeks ago I got this silly idea of having shirts made for Gina (who is climbing with me) and me.  And so first I asked her if she'd be embarrassed if I wanted her to wear matchy shirts for the climb.  And because Gina is up for anything, she offered up the saying on the front and I worked with a gal at One Hour Tees to design them and what you see below is the final product.  I have to say - I am so psyched about these shirts and they turned out absolutely perfect!  Now my mom wants one too so I will be putting in an order for more shirts at some point so if by some odd chance anyone is interested in a "Powered by Finley" shirt - let me know.  I don't know exactly what they will cost (they will be cheaper than the two I ordered since I don't need them rushed) but they should be under $10.  Cool huh?

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