It's Been A While...

It's been a while since my last post.  Sorry about that, but sometimes, life gets in the way!  I can't complain, though. 

Reilly's visit to Chicago in December went fairly well.  Her shunt is still clotting in the same area so in March she will undergo interventional radiology therapy (they will access her shunt through a vein in her leg and balloon it and clean it out) at her follow up visit then.  Hopefully, that solves the problem and we will continue as normal (well, normal now!).  I'm not going to talk about if it doesn't work because I'm keeping a positive mental attitude and I don't want to talk about that anyway. 

Reilly is feeling fabulous and seems to be meeting milestones.  She is in the 25% for height and 5% for weight.  She saw Dr. Noel this week and it was a GREAT visit.  She gained 3 pounds (which brings her to a whopping 38), and will return to follow-up shortly after her March visit to Chicago and then hopefully not again until around October!  Her INR (clotting time) has been all over the place, but her ammonia levels have been staying low and well within normal limits since November!  It's amazing, really.

On a side note, the kids got to pet one of the Budweiser Clydesdale horses at Children's Hospital NOLA the other day after Reilly's appointment.  HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?!?!  It was awesome.  I love what they do for kids there!  I love that the community partners to give children and their families really amazing experiences and memories.  Definitely a neat thing to pet a giant horse under the front portico of the hospital, germ wipes and all!  

Reilly can read now.  Yep, she felt like she won the lottery when she informed us that she can read, and read to us from her book the first time.  I LOVE that she has such a fire for learning!  This year of Kindergarten has really helped her bloom and blossom.  She is still sassy and still hysterically funny, but she is now a little girl and no longer a baby.  (Just ask her, she will tell you). 

All things considered, Life is Good right now.  We actually even made it through the worst of the flu season with not even a runny nose in the entire house!  Unbelievable.  I will cheer for the smallest victories!  (Even though I am probably jinxing things just by posting that).  The kids have been to the parades, I think Reilly was Cole's biggest cheerleader when he got to march in one of the parades this year.  Someone screaming for you like that has GOT to feel like being a rockstar! 

I apologize again for the delay in posting, but we have been busy making lots of memories and enjoying the holidays, SuperBowl, easing in to Mardi Gras and getting ready for Valentine's day!  Please continue to keep Reilly and our family in your thoughts and prayers.  She is making progress every single day, but she still has some hurdles to overcome and you can NEVER have too many prayers!