All is well

We continue to have very good days in the Bixler household. Maggie has been walking all over the house using toys with wheels. She is very interested in walking, even up and down steps, which can be quite difficult. We can tell she is still building up her strength and isn't quite ready to venture on her own yet, however her physical therapist has a goal set for her to walk a couple of steps by herself and stand on her own. She can stand on her own if distracted, but we are still building up confidence.

In the last few weeks, we have also hit a momentous time for us. Maggie doesn't have diarrhea any more! I am sure over half of our blog entries have been about diarrhea, but we are done posting about that. It was such a glorious day that we actually took a picture of her poo. I wanted to post it on here, but was advised that people probably didn't want to look at that. Maggie has also been going on the big, big girl potty some. It is not consistent and we normally start in our diaper and finish on the potty. It is quite funny to listen to her sit on the potty and say, "push, push." She got some Dora underwear at the store. They have not been introduced to her bottom yet, as she is not quite ready, but she is very happy to show everyone her new prize.

Maggie is also beginning to tell jokes. Last week we were sitting at the supper table and she turned to me and pointed to my chest and said, "Milk, in there? No...," and started laughing with her nose and eyes scrunched and her shoulders bouncing up and down as she laughed. This phrase continued for the next 5 minutes as she enjoyed making us both laugh.

We are finally beginning to see Maggie's personality. Though we don't know entirely what it will be, she has some bossy tendencies. She will tell us to do things and end her command by saying, "kay" (as in okay?). She has also learned the word "don't" and uses that quite often. I looked at Maggie in her car seat the other day and she told me, "Don't look me, kay?" You can't help but smile when listening to her. For so long we didn't hear much of anything from her mouth and now she is a chatterbox. It is very refreshing.

Finally, we had our monthly clinic visit yesterday. For both Andy and me, it seems like the days leading up to the appointment we are on edge. The worry of relapse is always on the forefront of our minds. When Maggie gets a new bump, rash, or even scratch the first thing I think of is always a relapse. I asked Dr. French when the worry will go away. Unfortunately his response was, never.

So Maggie received her prophylactic infusion for pneumonia yesterday and her counts checked. Thankfully, everything came back wonderful and we were able to breathe once again. I compare the days prior to Maggie's blood work as feeling like the end of times and when we receive good counts, it feels like Christmas. We can't help but celebrate each month when we get the good news that she is still on track.

We are very thankful that God has given us these "normal" days with Maggie. We continue to hear from others that she is a miracle, and we do believe that. God had many opportunities to take Maggie, and He didn't. We believe that He has big plans in store for her. We look forward to watching Him use Maggie as His Ambassador in the years to come.

Much of what Maggie does throughout the day is play downstairs. She walks all over the place and pushes her little toys. She's all smiles.

Maggie loves to dance with her Daddy. She loves to listen to music, and I find her tapping her foot to it. I look forward to the day that Maggie and her Daddy can do the father/daughter dance at her wedding. What a celebration that will be!

We got Maggie some pajamas, one with a tutu. She now has 2 tutus--this one and one that Aunt Morgan got her for her 1st birthday. She just finally put the purple tutu from her birthday on last week. I think this signifies how good she feels. The last 2 years have been pretty rough on her. She is just finally beginning to "act" like a little girl.

Maggie wanted to have her picture taken in the bathtub. She still loves her baths and will spend hours splashing and filling up her cups of water. We even spend so much time in here that we eat our snacks while playing in the tub.