Galactosemia foundation conference

We went to the Galactosemia Foundation Conference last week in Dallas, TX. This was our 2nd time going. We left early Thursday morning. Thanks to my mom working for Alaska Airlines, Gregory has flown a lot and is a little pro!

 

We got there around lunch time TX time. We stayed at the Hyatt at the airport where the conference was held. It was really nice. We checked into our room and then headed to the Lobby to see what there was to eat for lunch. When we got down there I ran into a mom and her 2 adorable boys who I met through this blog!!! That was so exciting! Her youngest is Gregory's age and has Galactosemia! Here is Gregory and his new friend! I just know we'll be friends for a life time!

 

Then we had some lunch. All the restaurants in the hotel had a "Galactosemia Friendly" menu which was awesome! I wish every restaurant had this!!!

After lunch we headed down to where they were taking volunteers for research being done on Galactosemia. I filled out some paperwork on Gregory  and then they took his height and weight. He was almost as tall as Elmo! We then headed back up to our room for a much needed nap.

After nap time we left Lamby all tucked in and headed downstairs to register for the conference, ate galactosemia safe candy, got our picture taken, talk to people, met friends, got some dinner, and headed back up to our room to get some rest for the night . . . only after switching rooms due to our AC not working.

The next morning was the first day of the conference. Started bright and early at 8:30! They provided some breakfast before hand and we dropped off Gregory to the child care they had there. We listened to various topics like . . . research being done on fruit flys, grants that were given and the research that was done, speech in Galactosemia, Genotype-Phenotype correlations in Galactosemia, Special Education/IEP, How to teach your child to recall facts, ect. Sounds fun, huh?

 

Then it was lunch time! So nice to just let Gregory eat what he wanted there. All Galactosemia friendly!!! Yummy too! At our table we met a family from last time and met a new family that we really enjoyed! I know we'll keep in touch! They have a 1 year old with Galactosemia. 

Gregory's eating corn on the cob in the picture. 

After lunch we dropped Gregory back off to child care and then off to go learn some more . . .

Afterwards we picked up Gregory and went up to our room to relax for a bit. Dallas got a huge monsoon as we headed up to our room. This was the view from our room. 

 

Then back down for more hotel food.  Then that night was the Sweets Social. All sweets Galactosemia Friendly! We were pretty tired so didn't stay long. Back up to the room for a good nights sleep. 

Day two. Pretty much the same as the day before. More to learn like the diet, fundraising, complications in Galactosemia, speech issues, bones and calcium, ect.  Met more families. Lunch was Mexican and pretty good! Here Gregory is eating a taco.

The desserts at lunch this day were yummy!!! Mousse, macaroons, and sopapillas!

These pictures of Gregory eating the macaroon (that he loved by the way) were just too funny. No one can ever accuse Gregory of being void of expression! 

 

Tried to get Gregory to take a picture with me. He refused! You stinker!

He held still with daddy though. Urrr.

 After lunch is it was more learning and more fellow-shipping. We checked out of hotel, ate some dinner at the hotel . . . again . . . let Gregory run around to kill time before we had to catch our 9:00 pm flight to go home. 

Here is our precious boy asleep on the plane between us both.

 

All in all it was a great trip. We're really glad we went!