The Clara Report

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your kind comments about Clara. Thank you for your concern and your willingness to help.

I figure it's about time I let you know how she's doing. It's been at least a month and a half since I last posted about her. If you missed it, go check it out so you can see the before pictures.

She is doing SO MUCH BETTER! It is night and day! We could not be more thrilled about how well she is doing. We feel like we have our little girl back, and we're loving every minute we have with her.

Look at how much rounder her face is and how her arms have a little bit of meat on them. She even has a little roll on her neck, and you can't see the bones on her chest. And look at that smile! Before, a smile was hard to come by, but now that's mostly what we get! It's wonderful and melts my heart into a big, sloppy puddle!
Before she had no energy to play and always protested getting wet. Not now! She loves to play and she loves to get wet. I love watching her play and enjoy life again.

Can you see the cute rolls by her bum? So cute! She never used to want to play on playgrounds. Now she screams when we leave them.
Sometimes she has too much energy and too much curiosity for her own good. She thinks she's big and wants to ride Noah's new bike. Pretty cute!

Grandma Orton and I decided she is mimicking the exercises she's seen me do on my exercise ball. Silly girl!

I had to include this recent picture of her sleeping. You just can't pass up watching a baby sleep! When she was sick, she was always laying around and wanting to sleep. Well, she still likes to take long naps and sleep lots at night, which I'm grateful for. The key is that she is rejuvenated and has energy to play like a normal toddler.

Not only does she play like a normal toddler, she is silly as can be! Here she is playing with Daddy under her blanket. She thought this was hilarious and was laughing so hard! It's so good to hear her laugh again.

She loves dressing up in other people's hats and shoes. She loves her accessories!

Eating ice cream always makes me happy!

Another good thing that's come with her gluten-free diet is that her anxiety is not near as bad. She no longer screams when I drop her off at nursery, she doesn't scream when I take her to the car wash (the water on the car scared her, so did the vacuum when I cleaned the inside of the car), and she's more willing to try new things that can be a little scary.

She went to the doctor last week and has gained 3 pounds since the last time I posted about her (in the middle of July). She's still small- 19.3 lbs., but she's finally growing! She's finally starting to grow out of her clothes and shoes, which means all the cute clothes I bought last year for this year, she can actually start wearing. Plus, I had to go buy more shoes, which she was completely okay with.

Her life is amazingly better. She can enjoy life because she feels so much better. We're so grateful! Even Noah can tell she's better. He's mentioned how she doesn't have the big, hard belly anymore. They also actually play and laugh together now. She was always too grumpy before. I really cannot express enough what a change there is and how grateful we are. Sure, feeding her a gluten-free diet isn't easy, but I don't care. It breaks my heart when I think about the way she was when she was eating gluten. I never want to see her like that again. We'll keep happy, healthy Clara! That's a zillion times better than having a donut.