Ella’s second year

I never realized how hard it was going to be to relive and re-read all of the blog posts from Ella’s life and try to recap them for you. I thought I’d bullet point it, but you miss so much, so bare with me on each of these posts. Here we go. We spent the year learning how to do a new normal with the feeding tube, but also started #vitalstim at @ourchildrenshousebaylor to work on her swallowing muscles.

We actually switched all of our therapies over to #OCH and were there 4 days a week. Ella’s therapists became my therapists as well and I met some of the dearest women who became my friends. They were my village. Between the therapists and the other moms, this was a healthy place for me all week long. We gained another cousin AND announced we were pregnant.

Side note: I was never scared to have more kids. Ella’s infection seemed so designed for her that I never feared what God had planned next. Plus, maybe getting pregnant so quickly kept me from thinking it all through too much. It was never a perfect time to add to the crew, so we just rolled with it. So, with a new kiddo on the way we ended up moving to Richardson from East Dallas. (yes, new baby and new house in the same year)

Also, Ella got her first adaptive stroller (wheelchair) and a new sleep safe bed that she still uses to this day. We had SO many swallow studies, eye surgeries (more than one) and, what felt like a million, doctors appointments. THEN we added William Cutler Mitchell to the mix and we were off and running with what felt like twins. I mean two kids who were practically infants. Therapies continued, I had my appendix removed, more of what felt like our new normal and yet realizing my life was so different.

I wrote a lot more about my disappointments that she wasn’t getting “better” and that communication wasn’t happening. God was gracious to give me small realizations at a time and I continued to write about HOPE. Little did I know that the next year would start to change so much that I needed to hold on so tightly to that hope.