Ella started the day feeding well, and Tina and I finished the day feeding well.

Miss Ella rocked down a whole bottle of food today!!! Yup, she took in the entire 75ccs during her 9 o’clock feed!!! What an incredibly exciting milestone. It was a bit of a bonus for me too because I just happened to be the one feeding her =). This is a huge first step towards our goal of having her take in a whole bottle every time she eats. During her next feed though, she only did about 20ccs, but we are content with the overall forward progress she’s making.

Tina, Ella, and I just got back from dinner at Maggiano’s. “But Josh…”, you say. “There is no Maggiano’s in Gainesville.” Oh, you are so correct my friend. You see, we all had such a great time escaping Gainesville last week, that we decided to do it again. Only this time we ventured out to Jacksonville.

The drive out to Jacksonville was pretty uneventful, except for one green light. Well, it was a red light when Tina decided to take a drink of her iced coffee. It turned green right when she started to take a sip. Having no idea that she was even drinking from a large mouthed mug (she was in the back seat with Bun), I do what every normal driver does at a green light and hit the gas. Needless to say, Tina wasn’t too thrilled about the coffee all over the front of her white shirt, but at least she brought a sweater that she can wear over…oh…whoops…she just spilled formula from Ella’s g-tube on the sweater. Ahhh…good times.

So, what was our main draw to Jacksonville? I’ll give you one guess…yup…a mall. More specifically, the St Johns Town Center Mall which is an outdoor mall with a lot of chichi retail outlets. Not that we did any shopping (Ella did try and convince us that Louis Vuitton had baby clothes), but the fact that we could stroll around outside, in the fresh air, on a picture perfect day, with the Bun.

We started at one end of the mall and worked our way down to the other. We originally thought we were going to get some food to go from Maggiano’s, but we discovered they had an outdoor seating area which would accommodate us and minimize Ella’s exposure. What really made us feel comfortable about eating there was the corner they were able to tuck us into, and the fact that Tina could stroll Ella right to the table from outside, without even entering the main restaurant.

Ella handled herself well, and didn’t fuss too much, at least until her feeding time around 9pm. We were able to discreetly bolus feed her through her G-Tube which in turn gave her good reason to fall asleep. Tina and I were then able to finish up dinner, with Ella sleeping contently next to us. We had a fabulous time enjoying the moment and the food. Maggiano’s is my favorite Italian restaurant (chain), plus, we didn’t have to pay for dinner because one of Ella’s biggest fans hooked us up with a gift card (Thanks for the love Jeanie!!).

At this moment (1:00am), Tina is asleep next to me, and the Bun is asleep in her travel crib. We’re staying overnight in Jacksonville and will drive back to the apartment tomorrow.

Something that struck me during dinner tonight (this happens on a pretty regular basis), is really how far we’ve come, and what a true miracle Ella Renae is. It’s so hard for me to imagine all that we’ve been through. If we didn’t have this blog, with its daily record of events, I don’t know I would believe all we have been through. But we have…and we are so blessed to have gone through it.

Thank you again for staying with us during this journey. You faithfulness in support and prayer continues to be our strength. It means so much that you connect with us through the blog on a regular basis. May God Bless you and your family in your faithfulness to Him, and to us.

Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving thanks.
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.