Monday

We're back.

Baby Emerson Dawn Kelly arrived healthy and perfectly beautiful on Sunday, October 16, at 9:06 a.m. Click here to see her adorable newborn photo. Mommy and baby are doing wonderfully, Daddy is beaming and big brother, Jacob (21 mos.), seems slightly curious but mostly oblivious.

And? Caitlin and Joel are married! The wedding was fabulous, the bride was gorgeous (seriously, she looked like an ad in a bridal magazine) and the reception was way fun. Loads of dancing, the most touching speech by a best man (Joel's brother, Jose) and 8 mos. pregnant Lianne looking way too cute in her bridesmaid's dress. Say a prayer for Caitlin and Joel that they won't get blown away by Hurricane Wilma as they venture to Disney World for their honeymoon.

As for the assessment, Liam's testing is not quite finished. We have to go back to Cincinnati on November 11th for an appointment with one more department then we'll have a diagnosis summary with his Developmental Pediatrician, Dr. Oppenheimer, later that afternoon. We love Dr. Oppenheimer. She is wonderful. Every single person we met at Cincinnati Children's Hospital was incredibly nice and for a few days it was comforting to have a team of experts taking care of Liam and documenting his challenges. Though we won't have an official diagnosis until the 11th, we were given some opinions and first impressions by the different people we saw. I'm going to try to gather my thoughts a little and write more later. The bottom line, though, is that we were told that Liam does have issues, particularly with communication. We were given some encouraging opinions as well as some sobering first-hand looks at how he processes the things he hears and what he understands about certain aspects of life around him. Obviously we'll know more after the full diagnosis. But the process has been worth going through and seeing those doctors interacting with Liam and understanding him in a way we can't has been good for us.

Photos and more to come later on.