This will probably sound silly to some, but for us it is a huge obstacle to overcome for William, and we are so proud of him! Last night at dinner, I made everyone's plates like normal, giving them a little of everything to try. As I have made William's plate for the last 2 years, I always cringe, knowing that most everything will be thrown away. Maybe for some families that is not anything new, but for our situation with William, it has been a struggle to watch him eat, knowing he likes food, but is too afraid to eat it, and now too afriad to even try it for fear of choking. As I put the chopped apples on his plate, I knew he would not even touch them. He has not even let us put them to his lips for about a year an a half. He enjoyed sucking on them as a baby, but as soon as he could chew them, he realized he could not get them down. As with apples, William has associated many foods as a possibility of choking. We struggle each meal to help him know he can do it now, thanks to his vital-stim therapy he underwent a few months ago. Well, last night was a break-through!!! Natalie was arguing with Sam about wanting his apples because she had already eaten all of hers. Of course, our "Copy-Cat" William, who has been mimicking Natalie for several weeks on almost everything, starts telling Sam he wants Sam's apples too. Well William of course still had his plate full of apples. Sam was pointing that out to William, and to spite his daddy, William grabs an apple off of Sam's plate and shoves it in his own mouth. I couldn't believe my eyes! He chewed the entire thing up like pro and then began to eat the ones he had on his own plate. It was such a joyous moment for all of us. Even the other kids were cheering him on. He did choke on some peel, so we have to peel them for him, but at least that falls into the realm of what most other families do for their 2-year-olds. We are so----- happy to see him growing, and finally being able to enjoy the things most kids his age enjoy, EVEN APPLES.

After a year and a half of trying, we are expecting!! Things are crazy as always, so we have decided to keep our baby news on a separate blog, The New Hardy Baby Blog. The kids know, and are very excited, as we are also. Now our adventure begins of preparing for life with 5 kids. The kids are already making plans, and because we are not going to find out what we are having in advance, their plans are pretty funny! We can't wait!