Wow...it's been a while

Well, it's been a long time.  Here's a brief medical synopsis. When we last posted I mentioned Julianne was having a bone age scan and various other testing for short stature.  Her bone age showed she is about 2 1/2 years behind.  That's actually a good thing!! It means she has more room to grow after other kids have typically stopped growing!! She had another follow-up with the Endocrinologist this month and, guess what!!!?? She grew!!! Almost 1 1/2 inches in 6 months! He was super happy with that, as were we, and felt like we could continue to delay growth hormone therapy.  Julianne will continue to see the Endocrinologist every 6 months for the next year and a half or so and as long as she continues to grow, he will discharge her from his service. The problem was that she didn't grow almost anything for about two years.  So, we're praying this growth continues! And, by the appearance of her pants today, she is still growing!

Julianne had a Cardiology appointment in August and did great.  All is well. :-) She had her 5 year old well visit in October and everything was super awesome there too! She also saw G.I. this month and he was happy with everything too.  He said call him when we haven't used the g-tube for 6 months and we'll remove it.  Yikes! Really all we use it for these days is meds, miralax and water flushes.  I still don't feel like she drinks enough water, but we'll see. :-)

She had an Ophthalmology appointment in October too.  Guess what? My beautiful princess got even more beautiful when she got glasses!! She had a moderate astigmatism in both eyes, with one eye being weaker than the other.  Her doctor felt it would interfere with visual development if we didn't correct the astigmatism at this point, especially with one eye being weaker. She looks SOOOOOO cute!!





Julianne turned five in September. I'm overcome with emotion when I think about her turning five.  God has given us so much. We're so thankful to live life with this precious girl!

We started homeschooling Julianne in August.  We're doing Classical Conversations.  She LOVES IT! It's such a great program.  Her favorite part is doing a presentation in front of her class every week.  It's precious.  We're calling this Pre-K for her although she's doing mostly Kindergarten work. All three of us feel blessed that this is an option for us.  I am really enjoying teaching Julianne and watching her learn! The day before her first day of Classical Conversations Julianne prayed, "...and please help me to not tell my teacher what to do and say."

We just finished a wonderful Thanksgiving week in Gulf Shores with my family.  For the first time Julianne really enjoyed the beach! The water was pretty cold, but Julianne still played in it (so did I ha ha). We even saw a belly-up (maybe dead) sting ray! She found some really special shells on the beach and built many castles for snow white and her bad queen. We played putt putt and even did some black friday shopping! It was such a joy to see her having a great time. :-) Of course there were a lot of pictures.

There are so many more things I could write about.  Like when we had this conversation:

Me: (after finishing a story about princess Julianne) ...Princess Julianne woke up and she was all well again, and she lived happily ever after!
Julianne: MOMMY! I do not live happily ever after! I do not have a husband!

Or this conversation with Kent:

Julianne: (standing on the ottoman in launching position) "Daddy, I'm gonna jump on you and you will tickle me.  Everyday. And it will be funny."

There's so much joy in everyday.  Julianne has so many questions. Many of them come from KLOVE songs. "What does redeemed mean?" "How can I be found in God?" "What's a soul?" "What's mercy?" "When are my teeth going to fall out?"  I once counted how many questions I answered during the 30 minute ride from our house to baton rouge. Fourty-two.  Fourty-two questions answered in thirty minutes.  It can be a bit overwhelming at times, ha ha! It's a pleasure and a challenge to explain all these things and more to my little sponge as she absorbs it all.  I feel like not only is God using us to teach these things to Julianne, but He's using her to remind us of His mercy and redemption and more as we explain them in the simplest of terms.  I'm so thankful to be called mommy by this girl. :-)

Thank you for continuing to love and pray for Julianne.