(mmm....I'm eating Jelly Belly's as a write....first one was a root beer!)
Greg, Alan and I set out for Dallas first thing this morning. About a half hour into the drive Alan quietly went to sleep. He slept the entire rest of the drive...two hours!!! This was especially helpful the last 45 minutes or so, as we were in heavy rain, just as we hit the big city traffic.
Alan did great getting his labs drawn. Greg had to do all the registering where they copy your driver's license and insurance card since all my important stuff like that is in a post office somewhere. (See previous post if you are confused)
We decided to go cheap and simple today and packed a lunch to eat in the van. Nice choice, since it was still raining. This did give us a long lunch break to fill. We came back into the clinic a little early and explored the gift shop. 'Clinic' sounds kind of small, but this is a 5 story operation complete with lab and x-ray and all sorts of things we've never needed. But as big as the clinic is, the gift shop is the size of a walk-in closet, so that didn't take us long.
(Black licorice...put that one aside)
Once we were done with the gift shop we made a fun (and useful!) discovery. (mmm...bubble gum flavored) Next door to the gift shop is a "Family Resource Center": a mini library of children's books, magazines, and two computers with internet access! Woohoo! There is also a little side room with comfy couches and a phone, and another room labled 'multi-purpose' we didn't go into. Looked like maybe tables to eat at? We have passed right by this room so many times, but now we know where to go if we have time to fill! :)
Met a new liver mom today. I first saw her at clinic in May when we were there for evaluation. Her little boy was so tiny and yellow. :( Saw them again today and introduced ourselves. I asked how they were doing and she said they had had a transplant! I peeked into the stroller and saw her little guy (forgot to ask his name!) and he looked so pink and smiley! He is six months old. Very interesting to me was the fact they were only in the hospital 12 days after transplant!! I also noticed he still had his feeding tube. This is a reality that has just begun to sink in the past few days: you don't always lose The Tube immediately after transplant. I'm sure it's possible, but I'm glad my brain is getting the idea that it's possible to keep it too, so it won't be a big deal to me after if we go home with our Tube.
The actual appointment went great. Alan loves the crinkly exam table paper. It's great for keeping him entertained while we wait.
Time to head home and it was raining again. Pretty steady leaving the city - thankfully we were early enough to miss the worst of the traffic. Then about 30 minutes into the drive we got into a couple of downpours that made it hard to see. At one point it wasn't raining where we were, but there was a dark cloud ahead that was very obviously dropping a lot of rain. I have never seen it come down in such dark sheets like that before. I thought it was fascinating and tried to get some pictures. Of course, it doesn't show as good in the pic as it did in person. (It might have been better if I'd opened the window, but I was too afraid of leaving my camera in pieces on I-30!!) 
Alan slept some on the way home. Dale spent the morning with my mom, lunch and early afternoon with Nana & PawPaw, and then my dad (Gramps) had him for the rest of the afternoon. Since Gramps was fresh (gotta be considerate to our sitters!) we went ahead and made a stop at Wal-Mart on the way home. Picked up some essentials and came on in to get our little buddy Dale! He had made friends with some singing/dancing stuffed critters and wanted to show them off to us. This is a very big deal to Dale, who has never wanted to have anything to do with anything that sings, dances, talks, snores, ho-ho-ho's, laughs, etc at the push of a button, squeeze of the ear, shake of the tail, whatever! He has always been this way (works out great for the hand-me-down toys...none of the sounds are worn out, lol!), and is very gradually getting braver. So after letting Dale show off his new friends and having a quick visit with Mimi, Gramps & Kristin we went home.
Nice to be all back together again, even if it had just been 24 hours.
(ooh! cinnamon! the jellybeans have been kind of boring, some citrusy stuff....a couple I couldnt identify...no need to interrupt with those!)
After a little play time we started all the bedtime rituals. Took a while, but everybody's asleep in bed (knock on wood), and Alan is medicated and snacking away...well...the pump's running anyway! :)
(dug down for one more cinnamon, and put the jelly beans away!)
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