Zoe has been eating for a month!!!!!  It's till unbelievable to watch her, it still makes me cry sometimes.  She is tring more and more things these days,  The other day she ate 1/4 of an eggroll and a piece of shrimp when Jason and I had pho for dinner.  She is now eating bananas, quesadillas, string cheese, chicken nuggets, tater tots, bagels, basically anything on a carb product is A-OK with her.  She is just enjoying it so much, it's so fun to watch.  The other day Zoe and I were out running errands and I swung past a Taco Time for lunch and ordered her a quesadilla off the menu and she ate it and some tater tots.  It was an amazing moment to know I could order food for Zoe off a regular menu and know she would eat it. It feels so free to not travel with bottles of blenderized food and tubes.  It all happened so quick, sometimes I think it hasn't sunk in yet.  She is still getting about 300 mls (10 ounces) of water through the tube during the day and 7-8 ounces of blenderized food via the tube at night, but hopefully we will be able to stop the night feed after her 2 year birthday and weight check.

She is getting back to her old self now too,  not quite as clingy and weepy as she was for several weeks there.  She is stsrtign to play with her toys again, crawl around, cruise around the furniture and talking again.  SHe is cutting 6 teeth right,  yep, that's right- 6!!  All 4 eye teeth and two of her 2 year molars, needless to say, we've gone through lots of tylenol in the past few weeks.  

It' hard to believe she will be two in a few weeks, time has flown by and she has made such huge leaps and bounds the last few months,  Life is starting to feel almost normal.  Thanks for all the prayers and support for Zoe through this whole process,  once again she has proved how amazing she is and how lucky Jason and I are to have her in our lives!

I know it's been forever since I've posted and so much has happened!  Zoe started eating on Day 12 of our rapid wean and hasn't looked back since.  She started with cheerios and has moved on to bigger and better things.  The first few days when she started eating she was still sort of hesitiant and cautious when putting food in her mouth and then about three days in she figured it out.  She discovered SUNFLOWER SEED BUTTER!!!  She eats it by the tablespoon-  we have gone through 3 jars in the past 2 weeks!!  Luckily for us it is the perfect food, it is packed with protein, fat, and fiber- couldn't be a better food to be obsessed with.  She is now eating graham crackers slatherted in nutella, pop tarts, goldfish crackers, fig newtons, the occasional bite of cheese and some bananas.  She tries about everything, One night for dinner she ate some tortillas with beans and guacamole and another night she ate some pho noodles and a bite of eggroll.  We have a ways to go to get a balanced diet, but what 2 year old do you know that eats a balanced meal?

Zoe's weight dropped from 25 pounds pre wean to her lowest weight of 22 pounds 9 ounces about 10 days into the wean.  Once she started eating, weight just seems to be pouring back on.  She gained 2 ounces in 2 days, then 5 ounces in 5 days and today she went in for a weight check and she weighs 23 pounds 10 ounces, up 10 ounces in 10 days!!!  We are still giving her 250 mls of blenderized food at night and abotu 300 mls (10 ounces) of water over the day to keep her hydrated.  She is still not drinking much by mouth, but I think it will get there.  A lot of OT's and SLP's say that children who are learning to eat for the first time, tend to do one or the other at first until they get confident enough to try the other.  

It is an amazing, crazy thing to have a child that eats!  Every day Jason and I are in awe watching her shovel food in and smile while she does it.  It is almost as if she doesn't remember not eating-  she loves it!!  To make things even better, Zoe no longer vomits at all! We haven't had to catch any food in a bottle in over a month,  It feels like freedom - for both Zoe and us.  I can't even imagine how much better she feels, not having to throw up at least once a day and not to have these terrible hacks every morning.  Hopefully she never remembers any of this.

Other big news,  Zoe is now on a IV med (flolan) that doesn't require ice!!  This means she doesn't have to haul ice packs around in her backpack and it means we don't have to haul a gazillion icepacks with us wherever we go.  WoooHooo!!!!

Zoe's last ECHO went great,  her lungs seem to be functioning better and better and her heart is showing no signs of strain.  So for now, we are leaving the two holes in her heart as is and they will be repaired at a later date.

It's feels like we have turned a huge corner in our lives and like a huge weight has been lifted.  Zoe couldn't be more amazing,  she continues to stun us every day with her strength and perseverence.  It has all happened so fast, I don't think it has quite sunk in yet.  We are one month away from Zoe turning 2 years old-  Unbelievable!  I remember when two days seemed like a huge deal.  Miracles happen- Zoe's proof.

Jason and I are waiting to see what Zoe's next favorite food will be, and whatever it is we will love it!

Zoe having nutella party with Nana- Hilarious!

In a happy sunflower butter induced coma after a trip to the aquarium

Zoe's first homemade blackberry pie- just for her from Nana and Bapa-  she is a Strom, she like pie!!

Zoe loves Nutella and she loves eating!!!