Play date & Lake trip

Last Friday Ally and I had a play date with our friends Libby and Natalie. We met up at Mt. Trashmore Park (worst name for a park ever! Love the concept of turning a landfill into a beautiful park, but seriously... pick a better name!) It was a windy cool day so Ally was all bundled up in the BOB for our walk. She got to sit in a swing and go down a slide (with me holding her upright) for the first time. She really enjoyed both activities and all of the fresh air. These pictures were taken at the end of our park time when she was all tuckered out. Don't you love her little pink pilot's cap? We had lunch at Chipotle- they finally opened one up in Virginia Beach- so exciting! Libby and I had a nice chat while the girls ate their lunches and made quite a mess.
Matthew came home on Friday afternoon. Ally and I were very happy to have him back home with us. We celebrated with a nice evening together. It was quite apparent that he had really missed little Ally! Saturday was nice and lazy. We had brunch at our favorite local spot then Matthew worked in the yard while I went for a nice long training walk with Ally. Matthew had to put in an appearance at the HC Ball- an event for all of the helicopter communities on the East Coast. I had to stay home like Cinderella because we didn't have a sitter for our little pumpkin. Truth be told, I wasn't too upset about it- I'd rather stay home with my girl any night! He was still home nice and early so we had a little time together in the evening.

On Sunday morning we got going nice and early and drove down to the lake house in NC. Our friends Martin & Katie and their son Robby were passing through town on their way to Annapolis, MD from Pensacola, FL. We met at the lake house and spent the day together. It was really fun to see Ally interact with another kiddo. Robby is 14 months old (although he's such a giant- you'd think he's at least 2!) and was a little ball of energy! We had gorgeous weather and enjoyed a nice walk outside and lots of football. After dinner Matthew, Ally and I headed home while the Wrights stayed the night at the lake.
I took Monday off work to take Ally to her first feeding therapy appointment. It went about like I expected and was mostly just an introduction. The therapist watched me feed Ally a bottle, then she tried to feed her a bottle. She watched me try to feed her some solids, then she tried to feed her some solids. The therapist agreed that there were some problems that most likely originated from the reflux. Even though we think the reflux is controlled now with the new medication, Ally has developed some bad habits and an aversion for eating since she associates it with pain in her tummy. I'm not exactly sure what course her treatment will take, but the therapist seemed confident that she could help us. We have our next appointment next week on Tuesday. In the mean time, we're going to keep doing what we've been doing with the bottles and I'll start trying to introduce solids again- even if all she does is play with them and spit them all over the place. With any luck, we'll have the situation under control within a month. I'm optimistic anyway.
Fall is in full swing here. The days are getting shorter and the temperatures are dropping. Ally wore her winter coat this morning for the very first time! It was way too big, but she still looked pretty snug. My parents are coming for a visit on Friday so we've got a fun weekend ahead of us. Matthew's parents will also be returning from several weeks in Florida this weekend so we're going to have a grandparent fest! Just in time for Halloween. I'll post some pictures of Ally in her costume soon.