News Report

We're settling back in after our vacation (which means doing load upon load of laundry and putting away the thousand new toys we came home with). Jamie is spending the weekend with my family in RI, so Shawn is taking this opportunity to finish painting the living room (yea!) and I am going to seriously go through the toys and throw, throw, throw away. (Or at least put away, put some in our yard sale pile, that kind of thing.) Clare is going to enjoy being the center of attention for the weekend!

To update on our lives, Clare had her last RSV-antibody shots this week. Hip hip hooray! She is done with them forever. After receiving two shots a month for the past five months and doing this last winter as well, both Clare and I are glad to have that over and done with. I must say, I don't know if it's the shots, but she has been remarkably healthy these past two winters. For such a peanut, she has only ever had one real bad cold last winter which turned into croup. And Jamie can get cold after cold, but it does not pass on to Clare. That's one strong immune system! Clare also had her follow-up with the pediatrician for reflux. The medication is working beautifully, so we are not going to change anything. Her weight was actually down a couple ounces (after all those Krispy Kremes, I was shocked she wasn't tipping the scales), so I don't think she's going to hit 20 pounds by her second birthday (or even 19 pounds for that matter), which was my personal goal for her. Her pediatrician printed out her weight history for me. All in all, she is still gaining, which is the important thing. I was looking over this record and I couldn't believe how many doctor's appointments she has had since she was born. 59 appointments. And this is just to the clinic where five of her doctors are - that does not even count her ear doctor, eye doctor, audiologist, therapy sessions (let's not even go there!), blood work, x-rays, echos, or our trips to Children's Hospital in Boston. Going to the doctor's is such a part of our lives now that it is routine. I never really think twice about it anymore. Now that I personally am going every two weeks (and soon every week), it doesn't even phase me. Which I guess all things considered is a good thing. Going to the doctor's used to be a huge deal and take up a good portion of the day. Now we just go with the flow, get in and out as fast as we can, and leave it at that. So we are learning some stuff!

We went to our fabulous photographer to have the kids' pictures done this morning. It has been a year since we updated our professional portraits, so I was praying all would go well. Jeff, the photographer, is an amazing artist, but he has had one goal since Clare was born - to get her to really smile for a photo. It has not happened yet. Well, he achieved his goal! We did some photos of Jamie and Clare individually and then together. Jamie was a total camera ham. He would ask Jeff how he should be posed and even posed himself and Clare for their first photo together. Too funny! Clare took a little more coaxing, but we let her sit on a trunk (which was the prop for her picture) and eat her snack first. When she was done, she was all smiles for the camera. The photos are beautiful, as always, and I cannot wait to share them when we get our prints back.

This weekend I am attending a mother's luncheon for the New England Region of the Williams Syndrome Association. I am looking forward to having this time with other moms of children with WS. Plus I get to finally meet one of my other WS blogging mommies, Kerry. She only lives an hour and a half away, but that can be so far when you're busy busy with your family!

P.S. Thank you to all who have contributed to the WSA Valentine Fund in Clare's honor. We are so blessed with the continued generosity of family and friends (and strangers!) to aid in the research being done into Williams syndrome and providing a better future for children such as Clare. If you are interested in donating on Clare's behalf, you can visit this link: http://www.williams-syndrome.org/valentines/ClareRouillard.html