Merry Christmas Everyone!

With Christmas around the corner I suddenly remembered that I had a blog for our little princess, and thought I should probably say hello. We have been doing great! Everyone is in good health. We have finished Christmas shopping, holiday cards, and even stocked up on sweets and a gingerbread house. I have started a new hobby of couponing, so I have been getting some really sweet deals. I bought 2 sparkling grape juice bottles for $1.oo total! The grandparents are coming in to town early next week. Everyone is excited. Grandma has been purchasing way too many gifts to spoil the kids, and she talks to them about it every time she calls. Now the boys think that everything in the house is from Grandma.

Abigail is doing well. We visited the doctor last week and discovered that our new diet for her has been successful. She lost 5 pounds and looks great! For awhile she had a bit of puffiness in her face, but she has really evened out. It is so funny, she is growing up so fast! She is getting longer, and just looks more like a little girl than a toddler. Grandma Sherry sent a beautiful Christmas dress for her birthday. I am going to do my best to take some pictures and post them on this blog. Since starting school she has been going to bed on her own at about 7:30 each night, so we were able to remove the Melatonin from her medication list. She has also been going to the bathroom on her own, so we were able to eliminate another bowel medication from her list (the Biscodyl suppository). So she is now down to only one bowel medication, Miralax. God's willingness to heal us physically and emotionally amazes me. When I think back to the time of her accident, I don't know if I ever beleived life would return to normal. He is faithful. The Hassinger family is not just "making it". We are blessed and have much to be thankful for this holiday season.

Abigal has been receiving cranial sacral therapy on a weekly basis, thanks to a generous donor from our church. We are coming up on three months of therapy. I cannot say for sure whether or not there have been changes related to the therapy or not. Please pray for us as we decide whether or not to continue this therapy, or to pursue something else.

Abigail is doing well at school and continues to do well with her eye blink switch. We are going to be doing vision and hearing testing in the near future just to give our therapists more information to use in choosing the best devices to use in working with Abby. She is seeming to improve a lot in the area of speech, particularly with lower lip and mouth movement. I am hoping that the lower lip movement will continue to improve so that she will be capable of increased facial expression. I have already told her that I want an Abigail smile for Christmas. She is also doing more mouth and toungue movement. She moves her toungue out of the way when you suction her of clean her mouth. She also makes kind of an "o" shape with her lips whenever you put something in.

Thats all for now. Please give me a hello and let me know you are out there!

Angie