fort worth geneticist — sara priddy

We drove to DFW on Thursday. It was a long drive, but it was all worth it: we drove straight to Sanger and ate at Babe's Chicken Dinner House with Kalissa and Dusty. It was amazing. All you can eat mashed potatoes, cream corn, biscuits, salad, and green beans. Hungry?

K & D were sweet enough to let us stay with them all three (rainy) nights. They might have come to regret that, but I'm not going to ask... Friday morning, the girls, Adam, Kalissa, and I checked out the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. We spent most of our time in the children's garden, and next thing we knew it was lunch time.

We ate at Rodeo Goat in Fort Worth, and I had the nanny burger. It had goat cheese on it, and I looove goat cheese. The fries were hand-cut like wingstop fries. So go there next time you're in Fort Worth. If you can't tell, meals are my favorite part of the day.

The doctor's appointment was next (more below) and then we headed to the stockyards to see the cattle drive. It was storming so they cancelled the drive. That was a little disappointing, but nothing like a little retail therapy to make it all better. Not really, it was just stroller shopping (we can't fit the double jogging stroller And all the kids in the car at the same time so an umbrella stroller was on the need-to-buy list). Next we picked up Angelo's BBQ to go. It was good (especially the potato salad), but it made me think BBQ tastes better when you eat it At the smokehouse. Especially when there's taxidermy on the wall.

We went to the Dallas World Aquarium Saturday morning. It was cool, but not cool enough to do again (at those ticket prices). We were supposed to eat lunch at a well-reviewed Mexican restaurant, but it happened to be closed for lunch. Our plan B was a Greek place. The lamb kabobs were not so awesome. Next we got to spend a few hours at North Park Mall with Hannah and mom. It didn't feel like hours though.

So...the doctor's appointment. I really liked her, even if we don't know more now than when we left for Fort Worth. She wants to do whole exome sequencing on Emme. She says the insurance will deny it at first, then she'll submit a letter and hopefully they'll cover part of it. They'll take blood from Emme (of course) and Adam, and me and if all goes well, in six months, we'll know what's going on with this sweetheart. There's a chance we won't know though; only about 25% of those tested find answers. I did a little independent research and it looks like for those with white matter issues, the percentage is in the forties. The doctor also ordered another MRI of her brain and an MRI of her spine. She wants Emme to do more therapy than she is now doing, and she is ordering leg braces as well.

I think we're doing about the same emotionally around here, if only because we stay super busy. So these photos. They're great, aren't they? Cristina is awesome for getting so many beautiful photos of us when we're anything but easy to photograph. Case in point:

Finn peed on Adam first thing. See the wet spot? Yep. And I didn't have time to get the clothes together like I wanted so all the kids are wearing tees. I did find the time to buy shoes for them all- only the girls' didn't fit so Willa is wearing her John Deere boots and Finn is barefoot. But Cristina rolled with it, and I am so thankful for her kindness (always) and her God-given gift of photography.

Proof that Willa is a camera hog. She's in just about every photo because she was (as you can see) right up in the lens at all times. Finally! a kid who likes her photo taken!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and time and space. We love you, sara (and fam)

oh, and p.s. for those of you who don't know: Willa usually introduces herself as follows, "Hi, I'm Willa, but you can call me batman." Sometimes she gets a little irritated if we call her anything but batman and if you ask for help, she's in. Even if you're a panhandler. Help is help and she's a superhero.