Swallowing!

The past few days have brought lots of firsts for Charlotte! David turned 36, and so for his birthday we celebrated by going to the Baltimore Aquarium. Laura pushed the stroller while David carried Charlotte in a baby carrier for the first time. This has been a dream of David's since she was born. He loved every minute of it! Charlotte loved being able to look at all the brightly colored animals. Her eyes were as wide as saucers the entire time. Our favorite part of the day was the dolphin show. It is great to see how much being around other people and environments has brought out Charlotte's speech. She is talking up a storm like she is one of the girls when she is around Laura's friends. We also made our first trip to Nana's house in Delaware. This is the longest trip Charlotte has ever taken. She got to spend the day with her cousins Emmy and Logan and her Uncle Dennis and Aunt Erin. She loved watching Emmy do gymnastics. Logan played music on his tape player for her. They will be great babysitters when Charlotte is older. It has been about 14 weeks since Charlotte had her last swallow study. She had her swallow study at Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital, and she passed like a champion! She will be allowed to have small amounts of thickened food by mouth as tolerated. She has difficulty with using her tongue since she has not been eating for so long. So, an occupational therapist to is going to work on helping her coordinate her oral motor skills. Charlotte loves to sit in her big girl high chair to play at the table now. So, it on't be long until she will be sitting up to the dinner table with us for meals! Charlotte is 10 and a half pounds now. We are almost on the charts for weight according to her adjusted age! We've come a long way from 1.5 pounds. We visited and toured our first bone marrow transplant clinic, DC Children's Hospital, and we loved it. Charlote started talking during our meeting and had lot to add at our conversation. She is already going to be an integral part of her healthcare decisions! We will also be visiting The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia this coming Tuesday and Johns Hopkins on Thursday. Then, we will decide where Charlotte will have her bone marrow transplant. This hospital will do the typing to find her bone marrow donor match. Because she is young and caucasian, Charlotte has a great chance of finding a perfect match. If she was not fully Caucasian, it would be more difficult. That is why it is so important for individuals of all races and backgrounds to register to be a bone marrow donor. This will give others a better chance of having a life saving match. All in all, its been a wonderful few weeks!