Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days - the whole birthday celebration was really exhausting.

First I want to say thanks to Sarah for asking for Emily's address - as everyone heads out on summer adventures, I know Emily would love to get postcards. Her address is: Craig Hospital-Room 215B, 3425 South Clarkson, Englewood, CO, 80110.

Emily had a wonderful 16th birthday. The Craig staff started decorating her wheelchair on Tuesday. By Thursday they had her wearing this ridiculous birthday hat (sparkley green of course). I honestly couldn't believe she was willing to wear it, but she seemed to be enjoying the spirit of the event. I'm not sure there are any helium balloons left in the greater Denver area - it's a good thing her roommate was discharged on Thursday! I also think she's gotten cards from every resident of Fort Madison and much of the state of Iowa. Thank you Grandma Nancy (and Grandpa Don, but I suspect Nancy's handiwork). Staff threw her a surprise party at lunch complete with a large and loud rendition of Happy Birthday and strawberry cupcakes. Everytime anyone asks her what she got for her birthday, the first thing she says is strawberry cupcakes. The incredibly thoughtful gifts and cards from the other patients and staff were so touching - roses and candy from Jon, a journal and Birthday Beanie Baby from Michelle, homemade cookies baked by Laura's son, a beautiful handmade wooden guardian angel picture frame from Virginia. It's just all so humbling.

Thursday evening we had a family birthday celebration in Craig's Friendship House party room. It was a beautiful night, so we got to eat outside near the fountain. Hannah deserves much of the credit for planning and executing the event. Once we agreed on a menu that Speech Therapy approved, she and Andrew shopped for ingredients and picked out and decorated a cake. Then Hannah supervised Uncle Gary's preparation of the twice-baked potatoes and helped him get everything to the hospital. Emily obviously enjoyed her first non-hospital food in 2-1/2 months.

All of the gifts from family and friends are truly appreciated. I'll get proper thank you notes out as soon as I can, but please know our thoughtfulness is appreciated. Emily now has nearly as many angels in her room as balloons.

In therapy Emily continues to make truly amazing progress. She now rides the exercise bike for at least a few minutes everyday. Her voice continues to get stronger - if you remind her to really take a deep breath it's very audible and as far as we can tell completely clear. It seems the concerns about slurred speech in the beginning proved unfounded. She's helping more and more with things - her transfers, her showers, getting dressed. She had a follow-up swallow test today and she got clearance for thin liquids and she'll probably be upgraded to a normal diet on Monday. Next week her days get that much fuller with an orientation group every morning at 9:00 a.m. and a session on the exercise bike every afternoon, on top of an hour with each of the therapists every day.

Last night Emily responded to an "I love you" from Hannah with a whispered, "I love you too." It meant so much to Hannah. Today, Ken gave me the afternoon off, so he got to go to Speech and PT with Emily while Hannah and I had lunch and saw a movie (Emily agreed with me that Hannah needed some Mom time). When we got back to the hospital a little before 5:00 Emily had just finished her shower and she demonstrated what she'd worked on in Speech by saying, "Hi Mom, I love you," in a very clear, audible voice. Her doctor asked me today if we'd seen any signs of anger or depression and I could honestly say absolutely not. You can certainly tell that therapy is hard and sometimes it hurts and she struggles, but she never gets angry or frustrated, she just keeps working at it. She's always all smiles when I get there in the morning ready for another day. She's truly an amazing person.