Our life has been full of appointments this week.
Two trips to Children's Hospital this week--one to genetics, one to opthamology. We went to see a geneticist to find out what kind of Down syndrome Moriah has (there's a fun fact for you that you probably didn't know: there's more than one type, and more than one way DS is created, and it's not always hereditary). In the end, I was glad for the information (it's not hereditary in our case), but it really doesn't make a difference, as no geneticist of any other kind of doctor for that matter can tell us exactly what Moriah's course of life will be. I will say it was enormously frustrating to be asked questions like, "How far did you make it in school? Do you have any history of mental retardation?" and so on. Frustrating because I shouldn't be embarrassed to be asked such questions, but felt a need to defend myself, which only shows how much of my pride and life still hinges on a narrowly defined view of "intelligence." Afterwards, I thought I should have answered with something smart-aleck-y, like "Well, I really enjoyed fourth grade until I dropped out." :) In opthamology, we learned that Moriah does not need glasses (yet), but will if her shifting eyes don't self-correct, and if she continues to cross her eyes now and then. We go back in six months. My favorite part of that visit was when the Harvard-trained opthamologist asked me, "How often does she cross her eyes?" and I actually replied, "I don't know, I haven't counted." I think I'm suffering from appointment-fatigue and from feeling like there are a zillion things that "can" go "wrong" with a kid with DS, and I'm expected to keep "tally" of all of them, rather than just enjoy my daughter. It's energy-draining.
Today's appointment--back to GI. He promised me a month ago he wouldn't change Moriah's formula again, but she IS having trouble with reflex, and if he finds blood in her stool again, goodness knows what he'll decide. Today, I'll get to answer really fun questions like, what color is her stool? how solid is it? how frequent? why do you think she has reflux? and so on. Maybe it's the questions I'm finding so very tiring.
Also, the pediatricians this week for her two-month vaccinations (she's late because of her surgery), a visiting nurse, EI...this staying at home thing has NOT been the slow-paced life I thought it would be.
Moriah, though, is a joy. She's laughing now, and smiling a TON. She talks incessantly, to the surprise of our nurse and EI--they say she's advanced in that department, which is no surprise, since I pretty much talk to her nonstop. :) She's beginning to learn about her hands, and has a mean grab. It's pretty fun to hang out with her these days.
No news yet on our house...speaking of apponitments, house-shopping has added quite a few. :) We're hoping our offer on a house in West Bridgewater will be at least responded to by day's end today. In the meantime, we keep packing a box here and there when we can, and we're making plans this weekend to clean up our yard, put our garden to rest for the winter, and get some more packing done.
Off to GI...with boys in tow (they're home today)!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
big, big news
Dear Family and Friends:
I know that some of you are going to find this news shocking, but we are moving out of Lynn to Jason's hometown in West Bridgewater, MA.
There are so many reasons for our move. Our friend downstairs has married and was moving anyway, making this a convenient time to list our house as a community. The boys have had a difficult year here in this neighborhood, feeling unsafe and lacking places for privacy and for play. And particularly since Moriah's birth, the need-level within our family has risen, leaving us less able to attend to the needs without. We are looking for a safer harbor nearer the love of family (Jason's parents and two brothers and their families all will be living nearby). We'll be part of a different kind of community--this time, not of friends, but of family.
We have talked on and off through the years of wanting eventually to be closer to family, and Moriah's birth brought those conversations to a poignant head. Originally, we had thought that Jason's parents might need us, now we see just as clearly that we need them. And we're really grateful that we'll be just as close to my mom living there as we would if we were to stay here.
A month ago, during Moriah's surgery, Jason took three weeks off from work to be home during her hospital stay and the start of her recovery. We were able to have a lot of time for conversation and prayer then, and quickly reached some conclusions about what our family needs. In three weeks, we went from thinking about a move to actually moving ahead with the idea. Two weeks ago, we listed our house on the market, and within three days, received a full-priced offer.
We were--and are--shocked, as life is moving much quicker than we had planned (this seems to be the common theme of the last few months, doesn't it?). We have until December 4th to pack up and move out; just yesterday, we went dumpster-diving for boxes and began packing up our office, making our plans more real than they had yet been.
We also put an offer on a home in West Bridgewater yesterday; we're waiting to hear whether that offer is accepted. At Thankgiving-time, we plan to move to West Bridgewater and stay with family or friends there while we close on a home. We hope to move in to a house by the end of the year.
This is big news, and we have such mixed feelings about it. We feel a pervasive peace about our decision, and yet great sadness to leave a city we have loved for eleven years. For now, we plan to continue to work here, which will help to alleviate some sadness, as we won't be leaving entirely, and all at once. But we will miss so many people, and feel a general sense of disbelief that our life has changed so quickly. We keep looking at each other and asking (as we did yesterday, while sitting in the Genetics waiting room at Children's), "How did we get here?" I am reminded again of the Kingsolver quote, that our task is to begin again from the "glorious debris."
Thank you for your prayers for all of us in this time of transition. We so appreciate you.
With love from a hopeful Team Winchell
I know that some of you are going to find this news shocking, but we are moving out of Lynn to Jason's hometown in West Bridgewater, MA.
There are so many reasons for our move. Our friend downstairs has married and was moving anyway, making this a convenient time to list our house as a community. The boys have had a difficult year here in this neighborhood, feeling unsafe and lacking places for privacy and for play. And particularly since Moriah's birth, the need-level within our family has risen, leaving us less able to attend to the needs without. We are looking for a safer harbor nearer the love of family (Jason's parents and two brothers and their families all will be living nearby). We'll be part of a different kind of community--this time, not of friends, but of family.
We have talked on and off through the years of wanting eventually to be closer to family, and Moriah's birth brought those conversations to a poignant head. Originally, we had thought that Jason's parents might need us, now we see just as clearly that we need them. And we're really grateful that we'll be just as close to my mom living there as we would if we were to stay here.
A month ago, during Moriah's surgery, Jason took three weeks off from work to be home during her hospital stay and the start of her recovery. We were able to have a lot of time for conversation and prayer then, and quickly reached some conclusions about what our family needs. In three weeks, we went from thinking about a move to actually moving ahead with the idea. Two weeks ago, we listed our house on the market, and within three days, received a full-priced offer.
We were--and are--shocked, as life is moving much quicker than we had planned (this seems to be the common theme of the last few months, doesn't it?). We have until December 4th to pack up and move out; just yesterday, we went dumpster-diving for boxes and began packing up our office, making our plans more real than they had yet been.
We also put an offer on a home in West Bridgewater yesterday; we're waiting to hear whether that offer is accepted. At Thankgiving-time, we plan to move to West Bridgewater and stay with family or friends there while we close on a home. We hope to move in to a house by the end of the year.
This is big news, and we have such mixed feelings about it. We feel a pervasive peace about our decision, and yet great sadness to leave a city we have loved for eleven years. For now, we plan to continue to work here, which will help to alleviate some sadness, as we won't be leaving entirely, and all at once. But we will miss so many people, and feel a general sense of disbelief that our life has changed so quickly. We keep looking at each other and asking (as we did yesterday, while sitting in the Genetics waiting room at Children's), "How did we get here?" I am reminded again of the Kingsolver quote, that our task is to begin again from the "glorious debris."
Thank you for your prayers for all of us in this time of transition. We so appreciate you.
With love from a hopeful Team Winchell
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