"Normal" Again

A "welpum" home hug for Jordan. Rumor has it that Avery missed Jordan and mommy alot. (But maybe not as much as we missed her.)

Jordan & I made it home to smiling faces & lots of hugs on Saturday afternoon. The flights home were much better, thanks to my sleep-deprived, teary-eyed, pathetic begging at the gate. On both flights I got to board first and get situated before herds shuffled in, and on both flights Jordan got her own seat, with "bucket." It was heavenly.

Avery came straight to the airport after a morning of fun with Nana Noma at a local pumpkin patch. They rode a wagon, picked out pumpkins, drank fresh apple cider, and got a blue dog painted on Avery's cheek. Getting Avery to sit for a face painting is a miracle in itself.

Daddy gives Jordan some much needed snuggles, while helping Avery steer.

Avery can do it all by shes self! Daddy, let go! (he let go, and she pushed for about 30 feet, then she just let go and walked away. Apparently it was either too big, or too boring. We're working on the "shes self" versus "herself" terminology).

Okay, maybe this one is more my size.

Hmmmmmm, which button should I push now? You can never push too many buttons, right? ALARM! (yep, that's what she did alright -- but not to worry, we weren't busted or anything)

Hey, I remember this place, it's where our crazy adventures began on Tuesday.

Last night I was asleep before 10:oopm, and slept straight until 9:00am this morning. It certainly helped, but I'm still feeling pretty worn out. It's a bit rainy out today, so we're just hanging out, relaxing and unwinding.

In reflection of the last week, I'd just like to say again that we really didn't hear anything from Dr. Chugani that we hadn't heard before. We did learn a few new details; more data to be added to Jordan's file. But the overall picture is still the same. Many doctors, many opinions. My devastation from Friday afternoon stemmed from his method, his tone, and even some of the topics he chose to discuss with us during this meeting (Devon conferenced in on phone). Now that I'm home, and things are familiar & comfortable again, I feel like we didn't learn anything new, but we did re-arrange some of the details in our minds. Things we had buried for awhile came to the forefront again, and other things will be filed into storage for awhile.

We spent so much time this summer and fall treating Jordan's seizures that I sort of lost sight of the big picture -- that she is a very sick little girl. I tried to remind myself of that before this appointment, but I guess I didn't do a very good job preparing for the consultation. I did sense that things would be bad: I practically begged Dr. Chugani to see Sophie's family first, so I could delay the inevitable that I knew was coming. It was just such a shock to hear it in such a cold & detached manner.

So now we're home and easing back into the same old routine, gearing up for our next appointments, and getting back to "normal." Our "normal," that is.

Jordan snuggles back into her spot on the sofa. It's good to be home.