Home Again, Home Again!

Naomi and I returned home last night.  Our last day in Orange County was a great one.  It started with a wonderful surprise at breakfast.  Disneyland Resort had come to make breakfast at the Ronald McDonald House.  Most weekday mornings breakfast isn't provided so we weren't expecting anything so I was pleasantly surprised when someone called our room and asked if we wanted to come down to breakfast as some people from Disneyland had made it and they had "hats and stuff for the kids."  The hats I conjured in my mind were something along the lines of a Burger King crown but with a Mickey face on it and the stuff was a sticker or something.  We came down to the dining room and it was truly magical.  Each seat at the table had a Mouse Ears hat with the ears that glow and light up in different colors, with the ten hats at each table it was like a mini light show at each table in the dining room.  Then there were lovely baskets of pastries on the tables and the beautiful butter pats molded into flowers.  Once we got over taking in all the tables and just being amazed, we were lead by the Disney volunteers to the buffet that was teaming with beautiful and tasty food, there were yogurt parfaits, beautifully cut fruit, eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, Mickey Mouse waffles, Mickey Mouse coffee cakes and I am sure there was more but it was so much to take in.  They even had Mickey Mouse plates for the kids.  The volunteers were eager to feed us and for the first time since starting the feeding program Naomi was REALLY eager to eat.  After we sat they brought us drinks.  Naomi got a really cool Disney cup and I got juice in a fancy plastic cup, a square clear one, not the red Solo cups I had grown used to.  One of the other moms and I kept saying it feels almost like Christmas, it was just so special and so totally unexpected.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning our room and then travelling to the airport, flying to San Francisco and then driving home.  My mom picked us up from the air port and we needed to stop for dinner on the way home.  We let Naomi choose the restaurant and she chose Burger King (and got her paper crown).  It wasn't until hours later when I was home in bed I realized that, that was a momentous occasion.  It was the first time we had bought a kid's meal for Naomi and thrown away less than she had eaten.  I actually cried when I realized that.

Today was our first full day back at home and it was right back into the swing of things....kind of.  Sam has the stomach flu, thankfully he got over most of it before I got back.  I am very grateful to Nana and James for dealing with that.  So only three had to be off to school on time.  I took the big two to school and then went to meet with the principal to talk about Naomi returning to school while Nana took Mary to preschool and Naomi out to breakfast before returning home.  I had a great meeting with the principal and by 10:30 Nana was gone and the house, the kids and all of Naomi's feeding was completely my responsibility.  Full of assurance it would be a great day, I planned lunch and then called Naomi to set out to get Mary at preschool.  Naomi didn't want to go, she didn't want to put on shoes, she didn't want to get in the car and she really didn't want to get into her car seat.  I don't believe she was buckled in the most conventional manner as she had two feet on her window but I did manage to get all the straps latched and she certainly wasn't going anywhere.  The whole way to Mary's school she yelled "NOOO" over and over again.  I was desperately trying to figure out where this day had gone terribly wrong when she wailed. "I just want to go to school.  I want to play with my friends."  To this I could relate.  I miss my friends too.  We had a few minutes to hug before we had to walk across the parking lot and pick up Mary, Naomi refused to talk to her old teachers but I didn't push it.  I prayed the whole way home that lunch would go okay.  It wasn't awful, I've definitely seen worse but most of the praise was for sitting in her chair.  Enough food and beverage was consumed and we ended on a good note (and I might have even made some progress on Mary's mealtime silliness) so all in all it was a good meal.  Afternoon snack went great especially since it was all preferred foods, but I can give myself a break sometimes.  Dinner was pretty good as well, however tomorrow we get to deal with the disappointment of not going to school again.  She will return to school on Monday which allows us enough time to get the at home meals figured out and hopefully tomorrow or Friday I can figure out a short play date or two which will help with her missing her friends so much.

It is weird being at home and seeing all the remnants of tube feeding and knowing that is a thing of the past.  There are syringes on the kitchen counter, an extension that was hung to dry above the kitchen sink, button buddies on the dryer, closets full of supplies, an IV pole in her bedroom, and a mountain of formula in the laundry room.  I need to deal with it all, to send it on to new homes but that is a task for another day.  I am tempted to put Naomi on our bathroom scale but I am trying not to be too obsessed with weight and she sees her pediatrician on Friday so we shall see then how she is fairing weight-wise.  I'm a little nervous about that, I look forward to that milestone when I am no longer concerned about what Naomi's weight is and I can no longer give an exact weight in kilograms and pounds.

Coming home makes it all real.  I have a little girl who EATS and eats enough to grow and thrive.  I don't think I can say that enough.  NAOMI EATS!!!!