Naomi had a lovely birthday - she got lots of girlie presents and toys. Over the summer we had a great holiday in Holland - if you have kids who like swimming and rollercoasters check out www.duinrell.nl as it was excellent. I've just returned from Zambia which was amazing - Naomi spent time up in Newcastle with the Geordie grandparents and Granny M-R looked after the boys. Naomi completed the mini Great North Run for the second time a couple of weeks ago - and this year she wasn't 15 minutes after the person who came second last!! Healthwise all is preety good at the moment - we're starting to make plans for starting school nexr Septemeber too as I'm sure it will be here before we know it!!

love Jill et al x

7th June 2007 - Where does the time go??

I can't believe it's so long since the last update - but that's good news as everything is going well. Now I have to try and remember what we've done in the last couple of months - she has had chicken pox and her first tummy bug since being at home and getting over it without a hospital trip which is quite a big deal. She has also started swimming lessons and dancing classes which is really grat news. I must try to update more frequently as I can't remember anything else and I'm sure there has been much more.

love Jill et al x

1st April 2007 - Walking in her Wellies

Naomi did her sponsored walk today and managed 5+ laps of the field (she kept forgetting to get her lap counter signed) so she walked about a mile!! Joseph, Zak and some of the other children walking completed about 30 laps each and one boy decided to keep going and did 40 laps - about 10K / 6miles. We didn't have a huge turn out of people but those who came seemed to enjoy it and we raised 250 pounds for Demelza with some more sponsorship and raffle money still to come in so pretty successful all round.

love, Jill et al x

12 February 2007 - More Milestones

Naomi is really growing up - she started preschool in January and has settled in very well. She attends two different ones on the basis that if they have tummy bugs going round I'll keep her away and hopefully they won't both be affected in the same week. One is quite small and is the closest one to home so lots of the children there will go to the same school (unfortunately the little girl she has talked about constantly since the first day is older and will go to school this September) At the other which is in a large village hall a boy who lives in our street has taken her under his wing and shown her the ropes (again he goes to school this year) but I'm pleased she has made friends so quickly and I'm sure she'll get to know lots of children who start school the following year with her.
The other milestone is that Naomi spent a week on holiday at my parents house while we took the boys skiing - Naomi has been pampered and introduced to hundreds of people by the sound of it. The boys did fantastically well with their first experience skiing. I just don't know how their legs don't seem to ache by the end of the day. Mine were killing me but luckily the knee survived without any problems (I had an ACL reconstruction in 2002) so I guess we'll be up for doing it again.

love Jill et al x

Christmas Eve 2006

Merry Christmas everyone - just wanted to give a quick update - I know it's not as often as I used to but then life is a bit more 'normal' than it used to be!!
Christmas 2003 saw us in hospital with a very poorly 3 month old baby with not a great prognosis for the future and waiting for major bowel surgery which she had in January 2004.
Chrismas 2004 marked the end of a year of huge improvements (with many ups and downs thrown in). It and was the time that Naomi first left hospital to live at home and she was on the waiting list for a liver transplant. But then she started an even more rapid improvement phase and came off the transplant list in January 2005.
Christmas 2005 marked another huge milestone and it's difficult to remember that this time last year I was setting up a milk pump for what turned out to be Naomi's last pump feed although at the time I think we had only dared hope for a few days off the pump.
As I look back at 2006 I suppose the improvements are less dramatic but have nevertheless made a huge difference to our lives - Naomi getting off the milk pump turned out to make a big improvement in stools and meant that we could think about potty training - quite amazing because if you had asked me about it this time last year I would have said she might have to start school in nappies. Naomi has managed to grow and keep most of her nutritional elements normal with a standard diet (although probably a lot more food than most 3 year olds). B12 is the only one she seems to be deficient in and she will need injections to compensate but initially they will be annually until we see if that is enough.
Perhaps the big news for next year is that Naomi will start pre-school in January - we will have to be careful when bugs go around and I'm hoping that the staff will cope with the days that Naomi still doesn't get enough warning for the loo but I think it will be good for both of us.

Happy New Year to everyone, love Jill et al x

P.S. I'm hoping Santa might do something about our broken camara so look out for new photos next week!!