Christmas is right around the corner...

Not a lot has happened since Lauren was released from the hospital. We have been preparing for Christmas and have had a lot of follow up appointments this month. She went and saw her developmental doctor. He was very pleased with her progress and said he hoped that she would be walking the next time he sees her. We don't go back until April. I thank God for all of the good reports we are getting. It is only because of Him! We also went to see her pulmonolgist and he was pleased with her progress. We don't have any follow up appointments with him. He is referring us to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor because he thinks Lauren either has scar tissue on her vocal cords or a paralyzed vocal cord, both due to being on the vent for so long. We go and see him next week. We had a follow up appointment with her GI doctor for her g-tube today and she did another culture just to make sure the infection is gone. It is still a little red. She should know something by the end of the week. The big news to report for Lauren is that she is now saying the Ahh sound, baba, dada, nana and mama! I was so happy to hear the mama one. She also has her two top teeth. They are slowing working their way in.

I am so excited about Christmas this year. Lauren will be home to share it with us and Kristen is at the fun age. She is excited about making cookies for Santa. When we went to go see him I thought she might not do very well. She understood who Santa was and what he does, but I thought she would only want to see him from a distance. The Santa we saw was very nice and actually talked to her. Last year the Santa sat there like a bump on a log. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She said toys. He asked her if she wanted a baby doll and she said yes. I had asked her the week before what she was going to tell Santa she wanted for Christmas and she said apples. I thought that was cute. I told her that Mommy can get her apples at the grocery store and Santa brings fun toys. She looked at me and her eyes got very big. For the past few days she has learned a new phrase. She keeps saying I really love you Mommy or I really love you sissy. She is such a sweet girl. Below are some new pictures. I tried to download a couple videos, but I must have did something wrong. I will try again some other time.

If I don't post before Christmas, we hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday!










I put Lauren in Kristen's house we made her. Lauren was very happy...Kristen not so much.

Quick Update

I thought I would give a quick update while I was home for a few minutes. Lauren is back in the hospital. She got her Mic-Key button for feedings placed on Wednesday. She was a bit uncomfortable afterwards. Wednesday afternoon she seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable, but I wasn't sure if this was normal or not. They had told me to give her Tylenol every 4 hours, which I had been doing. Wednesday night she was up for most of the night. Around 5 am I decided to try and feed her since she was awake and crying again. She felt hot when I got her up, so I fed her and waited a little bit to take her temperature. It was 100.3. She went back to sleep around 7:30 am and surprisingly slept for and hour and a half straight. At 9 am I took her temperature again and it was the same. I called the doctors office and they said to bring her in around 12:30. Dr. Kessle said it was red and swollen around her button and she thought the balloon holding the button in place might have came outside of her stomach and sent us to go for an x-ray. During the x-ray they injected dye through the button and it looked to be placed perfectly. Dr. Kessle said that she needed to be admitted to the hospital and started on antibotics. Yesterday she just felt horrible. You couldn't even touch the button or around it without her being in pain. This morning the redness had gone down and it is looking rather well. You can actually touch the button and she doesn't seem to be in any pain. They sent a culture off and we should get the preliminary report today as to what infection it might be. She did have two periods last night where she got sick, but they aren't too concerned about that. She didn't eat too well this morning. She seems tired, but over all pain free. We are hoping to be released today, but the nurse said that Dr. Kessle might want to do feedings through the button for a night before letting her go. Yesterday she stopped all tube feedings and we were only able to feed her by mouth. She is expected to come and make rounds around 2 pm so we should know something by then. I am thinking we will be spending atleast another night. I will keep everyone posted.

Busy...Busy...Busy

Things have been pretty busy at the Harris household. Paul and I have been working around the house to get our house ready to put it up for sale. Yesterday our realtor came out and took pictures and I am glad to see a for sale sign sitting in our front yard. We are very anxious to get out of our neighborhood and pray that if it is God's will, we will sell our house fast. It will be bitter-sweet. This is the first house Paul and I bought. We brought both girls home to this house and have went through a lot in this house. We will miss being here.

It has been a task to try and keep the house clean with two little ones. This morning when I went into Kristen's room all of her toys were out. I told her we had to clean up. She said, "No, I have a headache. I need to go sit down. You clean up." The things this child comes up with. It is hard to keep a straight face! I can now have a conversation with her and some of them are rather comical. She is so expressive and says the cutest things.

Lauren continues to amaze us everyday. She is eating gerber puffs and cheerios! We continue to thank God daily for all of the progress she has made. She now says Dada, Baba, and nana. When her OT came last week she did get up on hands and knees in the crawling position and stayed there for a little bit. She hasn't done as good for me, but she is doing better. Her weight gain has not been the best. She just doesn't have much of an appetite especially since she gets fed 10 hours at night. She does like her snacks though. She has a few appointments during December. Both Kristen and Lauren got their second H1N1 vaccine. I got mine too.

I took a couple videos of the girls. Lauren babbling and Kristen reading the "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" book. I will try to see if I can post them onto the website.

We hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Website Giveaway

I have came across a wonderful website, www.growingyourbaby.com. Their articles are very good and have enjoyed exploring their website. I thought I would let those of you with children know about a great giveaway they are having. They are giving away a Step 2 Lifestyle New Traditions Kitchen. All you have to do is go to their website to enter. Good luck to those of you who decide to enter.

Vote

Just a reminder to those who live in Virginia. Don't forget to vote today. Yes, you can make a difference!

Halloween

Here are some pictures of the girls tonight. Kristen enjoyed trick or treating.

Lots of things...

I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted last. Lots of things have happened. Lauren went for another follow-up appointment with her GI doctor. They weren't able to place the button, but she will definately get it in December. I am kind of dreading it because they said it would be painful for her. They said to give her some tylenol before she comes. She did weigh 13 lbs 13 ozs and is still in the 3% category. She is following her curve on the growth chart and sticking with that 3%, so they are happy. We did get her RSV shot back in October. She wasn't approved, but our doctor had one on hand to give her. She then had to jump through hoops, but was able to get the insurance company to approve her getting the shots this season. She goes back in next week for her second one. We did decide to go ahead and give the H1N1 vaccine to our girls. After a LOT of prayer and discussion we decided it was best. So far so good. They do have to get a second one on November 23rd. Paul and I will get ours when it becomes available for us. Lauren's lungs are so poor that we doubted that she would be able to fight it off.

We took Kristen to go pick out her pumpkins for halloween. It was so cold that day. We didn't go to a pumpkin patch, and I was glad we didn't. She really didn't care to much for picking out pumpkins. She was more into the cars going down the road than anything. Below are a couple pictures. Kristen is going to be Cinderella and Lauren is going to be a flower. I will post pictures tomorrow of them in their costumes.


Which one will it be?



This is the one!



Picking out one for her sister.

We also took Kristen to go see the Disney on Ice. We sat next to the fog machine, so most of our pictures turned out foggy. It was a good show. Kristen did get board at the end because she hadn't seen the movies they were acting out. She did get to shake Cinderella's hand. There were a couple parts where she got scared, but overall she enjoyed herself. I would definately take her again.


Kristen holding up her Cinderella doll she got.



Getting ready for the show.

Here are a few pictures of Lauren. We are starting to give her regular milk once a day. She really likes it. I don't blame her because if her formula tastes like it smells, I am sure milk is a good treat. She continues to amaze us every day.


Go Cowboys! (Sorry Jennifer and Craig)



Kristen teaching Lauren how to count.


Lauren opening her Halloween gifts from her Nanny and Grandaddy. She likes to chew on the rubber ducks beak.



Kristen opening her gifts from Nanny and Grandaddy. Her poor hair...it's like really bad shag carpet. I don't know what to do! I hope it grows soon and starts to look normal.

Speech Therapy

We are doing our best staying in for the winter. I don't have cabin fever yet. We have had some appointments and October will be a busy month for us. Paul and I got our flu shots last Monday. Kristen and Lauren got theirs on Wednesday. Kristen still has a bruise from hers. On Friday Lauren got her 1st RSV shot of the season.

I think Paul and I have decided not to give the H1N1 vaccine to our girls. It is a hard decision because they are saying the virus is very mild for healthy people, but unfortunately for us Lauren is not in the "healthy" category. Do we take a risk, not know the long term affects or short term affects for that matter, and use our kids as guinea pigs? If there was more concrete research I would be the first one standing in line with my two girls to get it. This means we are going to have to be extra cautious. We are now debating if Paul and I should get it for the girls sake. I think that might be our best option, especially since we are the ones who will be going out. This has been a very difficult decision for us both.

On another note, Lauren is starting speech therapy in a few weeks. We had her evaluated and they said it was something we should start because she was only making the Ahh sound. She was trying to say baba and dada but she wasn't putting any sound to it. Of course, the first thing that pops into my mind is brain hemorrhages. It is hard for me to not always jump to that conclusion even though Paul says I shouldn't. So I prayed about it and realized that Lauren is on her schedule and to realize that my job is to get her all the help I can and God would do the rest. Well, a couple days later she started putting sound to the baba and dada and throwing in some other things that I couldn't tell what they were! Isn't God Great!! So all that worrying for nothing.

Kristen is now into the Princesses. We just got her the Snow White dvd and the first thing she said this morning when I woke her up was "I wanna watch Snow White". She hadn't even opened her eyes yet. When we first got the dvd and came home we sat down to eat dinner and she thanked God for her Snow White. Paul and I are taking her to the Disney on Ice on October 23rd. I am so excited. She is going to absolutely love it. I just pray we don't get sick because there is going to be a lot of people there.

New Pictures

Hi Everyone! I thought I would post some new pictures. Everything is going good here. Tonight I did have to call one of the doctors about Lauren's tube. The disk on the outside was coming out, but the tube was still in (it was moving in and out too). The doctor said it sounded like she just needed a bigger tube. So, we taped it and I am going to call Dr. Kessle on Monday so see what she wants me to do. I am so glad we didn't have to make a trip to the ER, especially with all of the H1N1 cases. God was looking out for us.

Kristen wasn't too happy to be sharing her chair with Lauren, but they semi-matched so I wanted a picture.

Kristen taking an important call while riding around.

I thought this was the cutest picture. Lauren was all smiles this day.

Kristen wanted Lauren to wear her hat from the NICU so bad. She tried everything to get it on and finally settle for half way.

Lauren eating a Cheese Puff. This was her third one. She loved them.

Kristen helping me make muffins. She loves to help.

These are made from scratch pumpkin cupcakes that I made tonight. They were very good. I even made the icing from scratch too.

Clothes....Clothes....Clothes

The time has come to change out the clothes for the kids. I spent all of the morning and some of the afternoon noon packing up summer clothes and pulling out fall and winter clothes. I think the part I dispise the most is the total mess my house is in until I can get things in place. And ofcourse the laundry that comes with it because I wash everything before putting it away. The kids did good and kept themselves entertained most of the time. I made a list of the things I still need for both of them for the winter time.



Kristen playing dress up while I switched the clothes out.





Lauren sleeping in Kristen's bed while I switched the clothes out.









Lauren went to see the pulminologist yesterday. He said she sounded good and looked good. Hopefully if we keep her illness free this winter we won't have to go overboard next winter. Her lungs are still very underdeveloped so that is why it is still very crucial to keep her healthy. Plus any sickness would most likely land her in the hospital and would delay the growth of new lung tissue. He said if she did good this winter he didn't see any issue with Kristen being able to continue to go to church and maybe start a preschool next winter. She will get her RSV shot again this year. I have to call tomorrow about that.

The dietician was very pleased with her weight gain. They want Lauren to be in the 90% for body/weight ratio. This has nothing to do with the growth chart, just with how porportioned she is. At the last visit on August 11th she was in the 80%. At this visit she was in the 89%. They want her to gain around 20 grams per day which is a little less than an ounce. They estimate that since she has gotten her tube in she has gained 19.2 grams per day.

Here are a couple more pictures I snapped during the week.

Lauren sitting up all by herself.

Kristen and Lauren watching T.V. together. The cutest thing about this picture is that they are holding hands.

Lauren eating. She has just realized she has a tongue.

Kristen in her dress up shoes. She loves to put these on and clank her way around the house. What a girly-girl.

Another Cake

Yes, I made another cake for my dad's retirement party we threw for him today. He will be officially retired on September 31st. I can't remember how many years he has put in at Dupont, but it is a lot. He was there years before I came along. We are so happy for him!

So, as my sister and I discussed doing a party I thought...I will do another cake. I know people are going to get tired of me making cakes, but oh well. They are getting them whether they like it or not. So I looked on the Wilton website and found the cake I wanted to do. It was a big cake, but I enjoyed doing it. I practiced some new techniques from videos of cake decorating I had seen online and overall I think it turned out pretty good. The writing is what is the hardest part. I put in 10 1/2 hours on the cake, spread out over three days. Below is a picture. I also put a picture of the girls I took this week after nap time. I have been pretty lazy on the picture taking, but I have all winter to snap away.

Two Teeth

I am very happy to announce that Lauren has two teeth coming in. Woohoo! You can feel them and see them poking their little way out. She has done good with getting them. She hasn't been fussy, which is why it surprised me. I thought she was never going to get any teeth. I could just see us fitting her for little miniature dentures. I am hoping to get a picture of them when they grow a little more.

Appointments

Lauren had two appointments this week. On Monday we went and saw Dr. Monasterio, her developmental doctor. We are still putting the MRI off until Lauren is 2. He was very pleased with her progress. He asked if she was crawling and I told him that crawling was one milestone she had not hit. He said crawling isn't a milestone for all babies. Some just skip right over it and start walking and he wouldn't be surprised if Lauren is one of them since she doesn't like being on her stomach. He said overall she is doing things socially, verbally and interactively that a 8-9 month old baby would do and that he doesn't see her being far behind at all. He thinks that she will be caught up by the age of two especially now that she has the g-tube and will start gaining weight. Overall, the appointment went good and we don't go back to see him until December.

Today we went to see Dr. Kessel her GI doctor and the doctor who did her g-tube surgery. What an appointment! Once I got back into the room and was waiting for the doctor the fire alarm starting going off. The nurse came in and told me that we needed to evacuate the building because it was a fire drill. I thought...no big deal. I'll just get on the elevator and ride on down to the lobby and go out the building. Then Dr. Kessel came around the corner and said we needed to get out of the building because it wasn't a fire drill. The nurse told me to get Lauren and my purse and leave my stroller and head for the stairs. Major anxiety at this point. So after going down 7 flights of stairs and being behind the slowest people in the world, we made it out. During this time Lauren was very unhappy with the noise from the fire alarm and once we got outside the fire truck was just pulling in and that made her even more unhappy. Well, we were finally able to go back in the building and let me tell you, the worst part of it all was waiting in the crowd to get back on the elevator. I finally just sat down and waited until everyone had gotten on the elevator. Well, there was no fire...thank goodness. The sprinkler system started going off on the 3rd floor which caused the fire alarm to go off and the firemen had to come in order to give us an okay to get back into the building. Dr. Kessel was nice enough to come see Lauren even though there were two patients in front of her. She said this would be a fast appointment anyways, and I was happy because I was afraid that at any minute the fire alarm would go back off and we would have to repeat everything all over again. She was pleased with her weight gain, which she weighed a whopping 13 pounds! She said she was very pleased with the weight gain and miss Lauren is almost in the 5% mark on the growth chart! We go back on October 16th to get the "button" put in. It will be done in the office. She said just to give her some tylenol before hand. She did say it would hurt, but they would put some numbing medicine on it and would be really fast. I have to say I am very pleased with the g-tube and think it was the best decision for Lauren. I also feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I am not constantly having to think about food and calories to try and get her to gain weight. Life is much more pleasant.

So, we have no more appointments until October. I have decided, with all the colds and flu going around, to go ahead and start keeping Lauren indoors. So, she will only be going to doctor's appointments until next June. So, for those of you who come an visit, here are some things to keep in mind.

-Don't visit if you are or maybe sick, have been sick or have been around anyone who has been sick.
-No children please. Kids in the public school system or around other children in general carry many virus' and bacteria that can be very harmful for Lauren to catch.
-If you visit, please wash your hands and sanitize as soon as you enter even if you won't be holding Lauren. Please do not touch her hands. They go right in her mouth.
-Anyone visiting will have to have a flu shot.

You might think we are going overboard, but this winter will be another critical winter for Lauren and our goal is to keep her healthy.

Sitting Up

Lauren is now pretty much sitting up all by herself...woohoo! I never thought I would see the day. She is still a little wobbly, so I haven't had the confidence of just placing her on the floor by herself, but she is doing so good. I hope to snap a couple pictures this week to post. She enjoys the freedom of being able to play with all of her toys. She has two appointments this week. We go see her developmental doctor on Monday and on Wednesday we go to her GI doctor for a weight check and a follow up appointment. I think she has gained weight.

Kristen is still not doing good with potty training. I have figured out that if I ask her to go she will not go, so I have to let her do it on her own. On a good day she might go to the bathroom three times a day. I hope to conquer the potty training soon! She has been saying her own prayers at night and at dinner and she is so cute. She says "Thank you for my food (even at bedtime), thank you for my sissy, thank you for my Mommy, thank you for my daddy, thank you for my Kristen, Amen". She just started thanking God for herself. Tonight at bedtime she did thank God for her Ketchup and her cup. It is the random things that she says that I love.

I did bake and decorate another cake for my Dad's birthday. I have posted a couple pictures. I think I might check into taking a beginners decorating class at Michael's. I have really enjoyed doing it.

Christmas Shopping Already

Yes, you read the title correctly. I am determined to get my Christmas shopping done by November. We went and got the girls Santa presents done today. All we have left for them are stocking stuffers and a couple gifts from Mommy and Daddy and gifts from each other. They have such neat things and Kristen is getting to the age where she is fun to shop for. I wanted to by everything I put on my list, but had to narrow it down quite a bit. It is harder to buy for Lauren because she has gotten all of Kristens old toys and Kristen had a lot. We were able to find some things she didn't already have. They both already have so many toys that I have debated on putting them both in the same room and using one room as a toy room.

On another note, we are slowly working Lauren up on her night feedings. Her goal is 40ml per hour over a 10 hour time frame. She is not able to tolerate that just yet so last night we had to move her back down to 35ml. I hope she is able to get back up to the 40ml before we go back and see Dr. Kessel. I am very anxious to see how much she weighs. I think she is starting to look bigger to me. Well, we hope everyone had a good Labor Day.

Lauren is home

Lauren is finally home! We got home yesterday around 5:30 and boy is it good to finally be home. Lauren is doing good eating and we were able to increase her back up to her 26 calorie per ounce formula last night. She is tolerating the night feedings very well. She is getting a continuous feed at night for 10 hours. We go back to her GI doctor in two weeks. She likes to grab on to the tube so I am so scared she is going to pull it out. Kristen was so happy to see me yesterday and kept hugging me. She was also very excited to see her sister. Thank you all for you prayers. God has truely blessed us yet again with a successful surgery.

Lauren before surgery.

Lauren's little bracelet.

Lauren after surgery. Not feeling too good.

Lauren the day after surgery. She is such a happy girl.

Lauren's name tag on her door.

Lauren is doing well

Today started early with a 6 o'clock start. Lauren had to be at the hospital at 8. She hasn't eaten since 9 last night. I'm sure she's starving!! She was taken back this morning at about 10:15 and was done around 11:15. Michelle got to go and hold her around noon. They were speedy in getting us a room. We were in a room by 12:15. Lauren is doing well, and when I left this afternoon to get Kristen, she was sleeping. She does wake up and cry, but I think its because she is uncomfortable, not because of pain, yet. The doctors said she should start feeling sore about 8 hours after the procedure. They will then give her pain medicine. If she does well eating in the morning, they have said she may be able to go home as early as tomorrow evening. Michelle will be staying the night with her and I will be up there during the day with them. Kristen keeps asking me "Where's Mommy, Where's Sissy?" She will be happy to see them both. Thanks to everyone for your prayers for Lauren. God has pulled her through this one as well. He is faithful.

The Fair

We went to the fair tonight. Kristen loved it...Lauren hated it. I felt so bad for Lauren and my mom who ended up holding her for the whole night. She didn't like the noise, the lights, the screams, the heat. She just didn't like anything about the whole experience. She is very happy to be home, bathed, fed and fast asleep in her bed.

Kristen on the other hand loved it. I really thought we would have issues with her not wanting to ride anything, but she did really good. When we were eating prior to going to the rides she kept pointing to this one ride that wasn't a kiddie ride saying she wanted to ride it. The first thing she got on was the airplanes with Papaw and absolutely loved it. She even road by herself four times. I was so proud of her because at the beginning of the summer when we went to the zoo she didn't even want to ride the Merry-Go-Round.

It's hard to take pictures on moving rides, but we got lucky on a few. I hope to have them posted the website soon. We ended the fun filled night with a snow cone and a funnel cake. Fairs are much more fun when you have children.

Also, I wanted to add before I close that we had to delete out the whole website and re-add it in order to get rid of a "read more" icon that kept appearing. That is why all of the first three posts now have the same time and date stamp. Some people that were added as followers got deleted. Sorry about that. As I stated before, I am new at this.

Pre-Op Appointment

So, tonight our power went out right as Paul and I were eating. Having no power is horrible. There is nothing to do. It has made me aware that I am way to dependent on modern technology. And just think, I have always thought it would be nice to live back in the late 1800's. Not anymore!!! Electricity for me.

Lauren had her pre-op appointment today. We got the all clear for surgery. When I had talked to the GI doctor's office they said a pre-op appointment was optional. I decided to do it just in case and it is a good thing I did because the hospital says it is required. God was looking out for us there. When the lady called I had a lot of questions for her. Do I need to bring diapers? Do I need to bring her bottles? Do I need to bring her formula? How long is the surgery? I am going to be staying with her so will there be a cot for me to sleep on? Will she be in a double room? If so, will she be put with someone who has a sickness and is contagious? Will she be intubated? How long after the surgery will it be before I get to see her? Poor lady. She definitely had question overload. She said she would have to check with the Pediatric unit for some questions and asked if she could just call my home number and leave the response on my answering machine. I guess she was afraid I was going to think of some other questions. Even though it is "minor" surgery, which by the way, there is no minor surgery when it comes to your children; I am still nervous. Please pray for the doctors and a fast recovery and for her to start gaining weight soon.

Bath Time

I thought I would share a couple pictures I snapped tonight after the girls baths. I thought they were cute. Bathtime for Kristen was rushed because she didn't want to clean up. She thinks if she sings the cleanup song she can continue to play. When you tell her to cleanup, she looks at you with the most serious face and says "I clean up", like, don't you hear me singing the song Mom. She is a cutie but I will be glad when the terrible two's are over!

Potty Training

So, we have had a relapse in potty training. Our pastor's wife warned me this would happen, I just didn't expect it to be so soon. Kristen is no longer interested in the potty and when I ask her if she wants to go she responds "No, Kristen pee pee in her pants". I read an article in Parenting magazine about parents sending their kids to Potty Training School and within a couple weeks their child is potty trained without the headaches. I thought that this was ridiculous and a total waste of money. Now, I am changing my thoughts. I think these parents are quite smart and have obviously tried the potty training thing. I wonder if I have tried to potty train too soon. She seemed ready, but of course, I am new at all of this, so I really don't know. I will keep trying and hopefully we will conquer it soon. Any advise anyone can give is greatly appreciated.

Lauren's Occupational Therapist came out today and she was doing a lot of nice things. At one point she was standing up all by herself holding on to her peanut ball that my cousin gave me. (Thanks Tonya!!! We are able to do a lot of things using that ball.) The other day her bouncy chair was leaned all the way back and Lauren actually leaned up and ended up sitting up all by herself. I was hoping she would do the same today because I was so proud of her, but she didn't want to. That's okay though. We think she will be sitting independently soon.

I am working on putting all of our pictures on to a website called Fotki. (Thanks Pam for letting me know about this site.) I am hoping to have a link put on here tonight. Of course it will take me a little while to get all the pictures downloaded, but I will at least have Lauren's birthday on there for everyone to look at.

New Post

I have decided to create this new site for several reasons. First being that Lauren is doing so well. Caringbridge has been a wonderful site, but more for families in crisis situations. Because of God we have made it through that time and our prayer is that He will continue to bless our family and keep our children healthy and happy. Another major reason for me deciding to create this blog is because Kristen is becoming more aware of things. I have said from the beginning that I don't want Kristen to ever feel like she is in Lauren's shadow. Kristen is just as much a miracle as Lauren, it is just easy to forget. I don't want Kristen to wonder why Lauren had a site but she didn't. This new blog is going to keep family and friends posted about our family as a whole. I know it will be hard to get used to coming to this site, but I hope in time it won't be so bad. This is new to me, so be patient.

We want to thank everyone for following our journey on Caringbridge and hope you will do the same here