The Traveling Tapp's

In just a few hours, we are packing up the car and hitting the road for Boston. It's a trip we make all the time. This trip is a little different though. It will be the last time we will drive down I-90 east before the baby is born!

 I remember the first trip back to Woburn we made with Ella.


Ella's first trip to Woburn...and her first meeting
with her Great Grandmother!

It's only a two and a half hour drive and we stay at my parent's house, so it shouldn't be a big deal, but I think it took me two days to pack and prepare for that trip. Ella was only a few weeks old and just getting out the door to run an errand was a major ordeal. It's funny how times have changed and we have it down to a science now. I am sure adding another little person to the mix will shake up the routine all over again (expect to see a return of the Tapp train wreck, Mom!)

This trip, while it's significant in that it's our last before we are a foursome...is also an important visit to Boston Children's hospital for Ella. We have a follow-up appointment with the genetic endocrinologist that we met in January. She would like to see Ella every four months and actually has lab work done every month (thankfully that can be done in Albany). Our experiences with Dr. Holm have been very good up to this point. She calls to check in every month and update me on the results of Ella's lab work. I am anxious for today's appointment because it's the first time Dr. Holm will see a healthy Ella. Our last visit was the day Ella was discharged from Children's after the pneumonia. She was still a very sick little girl and had lost a lot of weight. At the time, there were no changes made to her medications...and there still haven't been any. This has proven to be a good thing. In the last four months, Ella continues to make so much progress. She is a lot more coordinated. She has a great appetite. She has been able to fight off little colds and viruses much better and her speech has improved significantly. However, we are well aware that it's a delicate balancing act and we can expect to have some tweaks to her doses along the way.

It will no doubt be a stressful day (doctors visits like this always are...no matter how many times you do it), but it will be a day that I will remind myself constantly to enjoy. I have to appreciate how lucky we are...to have such a happy little girl, to be able to make the drive to world class hospital, and of course, to be lucky enough to be getting ready to welcome another lovely lady into our lives. Today's little moments become tomorrow's precious memories :-)