2013 Recap

I've fallen way behind on blogging on all my blogs in 2013. I've not blogged any of the fun stuff we've done, milestones met, or even things related to the very reason I started Rachel's Journey, which are the things related to her birth defect.

2013 has been a very quiet year in relation to things associated with Rachel's birth defect and we are thankful for that.

She's been done with Speech Therapy for almost two years, but that's not to say she's not lazy in her speech, or what we refer to as 'mush mouth'. We need to be better at enforcing her to slow down and be more clear.

In July, a day after returned home from a week of tent camping, Rachel complained of stomach pain, had a bit of a fever, and even threw up a few times. We chalked it up to a stomach bug and kept an eye on her. It all changed Monday morning when she said her right side hurt. Within an hour I had her to our Pediatrician, he sent us upstairs to a surgeon, and after ordering a CT Scan, my suspicions were confirmed, it was her appendicitis. It was 11:00 that night when she finally went in for surgery. Due to a small perforation in her appendix, she spent two nights in the hospital on IV antibiotics. While this surgery was not related to her birth defect, this was her 6th surgery!

A little more than a week after surgery, Rachel started the 4th grade! It's been a great school year thus far and we absolutely love her teacher. She's the same teacher Hannah had in the 4th grade, which is why we requested her, but Rachel's learning a lot and enjoying the out of the box teaching that her teachers does.

First Day of 4th Grade

Turning 9! 

The end of August not only marked Rachel's birthday, but it was the beginning of Soccer! This was the first Fall season that Rachel has played and she loved it! She played on an all girls team and mostly played the goalie position, which she loved! The verdict is still out if she's going to give Spring Soccer another try, but last we talked about it, she wants to take some dance lessons. 

The year also held a lot of trips to Disneyland, to the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, bike rides as a family, and lots of other fun things. But the most important thing is that, aside from the appendectomy in July, it's been a healthy and happy year and we look forward to what 2014 holds for Rachel. It's hard to believe that 2014 is the year our baby will be 10 years old!!