Never a dull moment with the Ellis'

As I sat in the big wooden, abundantly used rocking chair, tears rolled down my cheeks as I tried to sing to Mayla just now before nap time. Today was one of those days as a parent, you don't want to experience.

Mayla had an eval with an early on developmental specialist. We have been concerned about her speech, or lack there of for months, and we finally got together with the right person and was able to have an appointment here in the comfort of our home. Mayla roamed about playing with one toy after another while Erin the psychologist and I spoke about Mayla's birth, health and the way she started life. All the while, Mayla continued on the move, her usual quiet self.

Mayla never went through the cooing/gagaga/googoo stage of life, nor has she yet uttered dada and mama hasn't been spoken more than 10 times in her almost 17 months of life. No babbling, no jabbering! This coupled with her previous heart condition, lack of oxygen in the begging days of her life, inability to drink without coughing or eat without gagging definitely rose some red flags for Erin.

After an hour of her interacting, talking and questioning myself and Mayla, Erin came to the conclusion that Mayla was at the stage of a 7 month old. It took every ounce of my being not to lose it at that moment! There's something different about 'thinking' something was wrong with Mayla and being told mater of fact something is wrong. Even as I type, my stomach hurts replaying Erin's words in my head!

What's next, what does this look like for us, i'm not really sure. I do know that we will be in contact with our doctor as Mayla needs to have a diagnostic feeding eval done as well. Mayla gags and chokes often when eating and almost every time when drinking, something that makes meal times one of the most stressful parts of my day. Today she gagged, choked and then puked during lunch, i'm sure if she keeps this up it will be hard to find anyone willing to babysit her during meal times:)

Will and I pondered for a year now, wondering what God had in store for bringing us back here..and maybe it's now clear, being in a place where they speak the same language and can help get us to the place Mayla needs to be! I see a lot of appointments in the future, but I also see Jesus at those appointments with us. I felt him rocking with me in the rocking chair just a bit ago, Him holding me as I held Mayla.

She is an amazing, smart little girl, an absolute bundle of joy (even Erin said so:) and i'm blessed that I get to be her mom and help her along in this journey and I look forward to sharing it with you!!