End of our First Week in Graz

Hello All,
We have finished our first week and Graz and since Monday, Alex has only had 2 feeds via g-tube. The idea is to keep her healthy but still hungry. Many children actually go backwards with feeding before they proceed forward. She ate more at home orally than she is now. They say that this is because she knows that she is here to eat. Where at home, she would graze because she knew she could count also on the tube feedings. Since she has been here we have told her on the doctors advice that the tube does not work in Austria. They speak very directly with the children here and it makes sense. Anyone that knows Alex knows that she does not miss anything and understands all that you tell her. She is testing us in a way to see how far she can get. She is having trouble still understanding the she is not the boss. This is all part of the process. We have met a very nice couple from Germany who we are going to be getting together with. There daughter has a very complex syndrome known as Trisomy 18, she is missing her 18th chromosome. The government of Germany did not want to pay for the program because the statistics for the survival of this disease are very very rare beyond the second birthday. This child though is really beautiful and they have done a great job with her. She is 17 months old and still looks very much like a small infant. The german goverment told them that she would die anyway yet still she is here. We have it easy compared to them and their daughter has had the tube removed for one week and is still maintaing her weight. Yesterday we had a very nice afternoon going to the Advent Market in a very very nice part of town known as Hauptplatz. It is the main are where the town hall is located. They served hot wine and beer on every street corner. We needed a little English fix so we had lunch at an Irish Pub called Flan O'Briens. The buildings are just amazing. The architecture is breathtaking. We have learned that during WWII Austria was under the control of Nazi Germany. Although it was controlled by the German's the area was never bombed so the buildings were unaffected by the bombings. Currently, the law states that a mandatory jail sentence will be imposed for any person from here for abroad showing support of the Nazi German regime. We are fascinated by everything that we have seen. We also feel fortunate to be able to learn so much about other countries just by watching CNN Europe. In many ways Austria still is a bit of a culture shock. They are very very conscious about waste. For example today, I went to do a load of laundry at the home of the people who own the apartment that we are staying at and they did not have a dryer. So remember the old days when putting on your jeans was like putting on cardboard? Well that is what we can look forward to. I spent the morning doing laundry in the bathroom sink and hanging it on a drying rack. All part of the adventure. We start back on Monday with the program will write more then. Keep the emails coming. People have said that they are having trouble posting. I have made it so that you do not have to have a username and password, I hope this helps. Until tomorrow, keep the emails coming we love hearing from family and friends. All our love Tim, Michele and Alex