We had a very busy week. New York Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit which is always an exciting happening in our home. The Prince and Princess dolls have many adventures when Grandpa is in the house! Grandma, Grandpa, Lauren, Carmen and I went to the Dutch Market and had lunch and did some shopping. Grandma introduced Lauren to chocolate truffles and Lauren was quite impressed!

A friend, Claudia, came over on Wednesday and worked on a school project for one of her Early Childhood Education classes. Claudia brought craft materials and observed Lauren building a castle, people, flags and a horse. Lauren had a blast! Monica (Hospice volunteer) also came over on Wednesday to help out. I worked on cleaning the bathrooms and Monica vacuumed! Thank you Monica!

Carmen’s seizures are increasing in number and intensity and duration. She now has a pulse oximeter so we are able to monitor her heart rate and oxygen levels. During the seizures, Carmen’s levels drop for the duration of the seizures- about 3 minutes or so. I am glad that Carmen’s neurologist appointment is this Wednesday.

Carmen had a follow-up GI appointment on Thursday and her G-tube looks good. We are now giving her 600 calories per day. She started out at 800 calories per day but gained 3.5 lbs. in two months so hopefully 600 will be the right amount for her. Carmen gets 12 hour night feeds and 3 hour nap feeds and then water flushes various times throughout the day. She has more time off the feeding pump now and pretty much is only fed while asleep. This gives us a little more freedom to move her around.

One of Dave’s former coworkers sent Zoobie Pets for the girls. Zoobies are the cutest pillow animals that unzip into a blanket. Lauren got a hippopotamus and Carmen got a giraffe. I can see why Zoobies are very popular! Thanks Mike!

A few weeks ago, Rachinee, a Cookie Lee consultant,(and mom of 5 and wife to Dave and MOPS coordinator and decorator of all things at the church and a very wonderful friend, etc!) held a fundraiser (“friend-raiser”) for Carmen. The total came in and Rachinee raised enough to pay for our trip to Tampa for the NTSAD annual family conference- $1500! What a wonderful blessing!