Finally, Some News

So, finally, after months of aggravation, it looks like Manolis is coming this Saturday night! It took him all day today at his immigration appointment, he said 4 people checked him out. But he said they were all very friendly with him and happy for him and the baby and our story. (Not sure why they've been so ugly up until now???)

Maria is still off the feeding tube, it's been almost a month now! Some days she barely gets her minimum 15 oz in, but other days she smokes! or drinks. Yesterday she had 28 ounces!! She has been drinking 1/2 cow milk with rice and/or soy and/or breast milk thrown in for good measure (plus the gellatinous thickener, blech). Plus she likes carrot juice, and we've been mixing her frozen cubes of pureed fruit with water and thickener to make fruit juice. She drinks best for Sue, the nanny/caretaker/babysitter/whatever she's called. Of course, she's still eating her solids like a champ and starting to do pretty well with chewing soft foods (fish, feta cheese, and bananas mostly). I gave her (pureed) buffalo the other day; like her mom, she likes that better than beef.

She's been swimming more, she's getting more comfortable in the water. Sue thinks her vision is getting better. It's still hard to tell if her hearing is better with the hearing aids. Soon she'll have an MRI, CT Scan, and ABR (hearing) test as preliminary screening for a cochlear implant. I'm still not convinced, but I'd like her to have another hearing test. She also has to have a speech evaluation. I've grown to really dislike the evaluations, more accurately I don't like reading the evaluation reports...

One of Maria's favorite toys is a squeaky dog toy, given to her by her physical therapist. She also likes her giggle doll she got for her birthday. She's interacting more with her toys. So all in all, things are going well! And soon, I'm sure, Uncle Andy will put some of the adorable birthday party pictures and perhaps a video on the website...