And since I'm already posting pictures:
Gabe and his littlest sister
Ponytail! Typically I think Ellie looks like Ben, however in this picture I see myself.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
I Don't Want To Jinx It...
...but eye patching has actually been occuring.
And since I'm already posting pictures:
Gabe and his littlest sister
Ponytail! Typically I think Ellie looks like Ben, however in this picture I see myself.
And since I'm already posting pictures:
Gabe and his littlest sister
Ponytail! Typically I think Ellie looks like Ben, however in this picture I see myself.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Eden Rose a.k.a "Baby Bear"
Oh my sweet and beautiful Eden Rose....sigh. Eden is 6.5 months old now and the sweetest little thing ever. A long time ago, I wrote about my desire for a normal pregnancy and infant experience. Honestly, I really didn't think something like that was actually possible for us. Ironically, that is exactly what I got. Before Eden was born, Ben used to say that both of our kids were incredibly special and very unique for very different and unusual reasons. He expressed fear that this wasn't the case with Eden. I was quick to tell him that Eden was incredibly unique and special for that very reason.....because she was so "normal".** While my wonderful Eden is way too little to understand this, she has healed many broken things in me. I loved and bonded with her instantly and this love is so uncomplicated. It isn't laced with fear or hard work. It simply is. Not that this means I love her any more or less than my other two children, absolutely not. It is just a very sweet and simple love. I'm so glad we have her. I feel so lucky after all that we have been through with our infertility (mine and Ben's from the cancer), all of the miscarriages, giving birth to a special needs child, to have her. As with my other two children, she feels like every bit the miracle to me
Eden has a really sweet personality and is pretty laid back for the most part (unless you are trying to change her clothes and she wants to roll...then not so much). She is the smiliest baby I've ever seen and its such a huge bright smile that goes right up past her eyeballs. As of her 6 month check up, she weighed 13lbs 11ozs and was 25" long. She is pretty petite for her age, but staying on her curve at about the 10%. Turns out, I make small babies. No big shocker there. She eats well and is totally digging solids. Sadly, my milk supply dried up this time at about 4 months so we are giving her formula. She is rolling and starting to push up a bit to her knees. I'm telling you, this kid wants to go. I've never had a real physical kid so this is going to be new to me. She is incredibly social and already loves being with her sister and brother. I really love this littlest girlie of mine.
Here is Eden in 2011:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:
**I know, I know, ALL children are unique and special. Please take this in the spirit with which it was intended, especially given our history.
Eden has a really sweet personality and is pretty laid back for the most part (unless you are trying to change her clothes and she wants to roll...then not so much). She is the smiliest baby I've ever seen and its such a huge bright smile that goes right up past her eyeballs. As of her 6 month check up, she weighed 13lbs 11ozs and was 25" long. She is pretty petite for her age, but staying on her curve at about the 10%. Turns out, I make small babies. No big shocker there. She eats well and is totally digging solids. Sadly, my milk supply dried up this time at about 4 months so we are giving her formula. She is rolling and starting to push up a bit to her knees. I'm telling you, this kid wants to go. I've never had a real physical kid so this is going to be new to me. She is incredibly social and already loves being with her sister and brother. I really love this littlest girlie of mine.
Here is Eden in 2011:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:
**I know, I know, ALL children are unique and special. Please take this in the spirit with which it was intended, especially given our history.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Walking
I put this video up on Facebook so some of you may have seen it already. Here is Ellie walking with her walker. She does a bit better with her AFO's on (ankle foot orthotics). I'm so proud of her, I can't hardly stand it.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Filed Under Boo!
I just realized in my switch back to Blogger, I lost all my pictures from the start of my blog (in 2004) through most of 2007. Sadly, I already deleted my Typepad blog and have no real way of knowing what the pictures were since they were loaded directly to the blog and not linked through an external site. This is going to take forever to fix.
Boo!
Boo!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Better Late Than Never....Eliana in 2011
I plan to do this separately for the other kids too after I write their updates. However, since I wrote Ellie's first, here she is in 2011. When I was putting this together, I couldn't believe how much she had changed and grown up. Even though I'm her mom, I was kinda blown away by it.....my sweet, sweet Ellie Beans.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July (well, actually two for July, I couldn't decide)
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July (well, actually two for July, I couldn't decide)
August
September
October
November
December
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Update 1 - Ellie
The last update I wrote (albeit long ago) was on Gabe so I thought I would start with Ellie this time. Good gracious, where do I even start? Let's see....right now she is nearly 2.5 years old which is hard to believe. Maybe it would be easiest to attack this by category.
The Brain:
Knock on wood, but Ellie's shunt has been stable since she was 2 months old. These days we only see the neurosurgeon once a year and when we saw him in June, he didn't even order a CT scan since things seemed to be going so smoothly.
The Eyes:
Ellie's left eye is still slightly turned out. The doctor keeps saying that eventually they will do a surgery to tighten the muscle so that it is more centered. He thinks she can still see pretty good out of that eye and wants us to patch it daily for 2 hours. We have not had much success with that at all. We had a period of about a week where she kept it on and that was about it. I feel guilty a lot about not trying harder with this but what can I do?
The Foot:
Ellie now has AFO's (ankle foot orthotics) to help support both of her feet. Her clubbed foot still naturally turns in and her other foot is pretty weak as well. The braces really make a huge difference when she is standing. Unfortunately, she can only wear the braces when we are actively working on standing/walking with her since her heels slip out of them when she crawls around and that is not good for her feet. Ellie gets excited when I first put them on her but tires of them quickly. Early last year I took her to get a second opinion on her clubbed foot since it seemed like her current orthopedic doctor wasn't doing anything but the new doctor agreed with her current treatment. We haven't been back to see either doctor since even though we are supposed to see them every four months. Guess I better call about that this week.
Growth:
Oh, how I hate this topic. In the last year Ellie has only gained about a pound. She still only weighs about 19 lbs which is at the less than 1% on the chart. Her curve just keeps dropping off downward. I don't really understand why this is the case though because she eats pretty good, not like a pig by any means, but certainly enough to gain weight. Last spring the doctor ran a bunch of blood tests to check for several things and the only thing that came back weird was her growth hormone levels. However, these levels can vary throughout the day so it really wasn't a great indicator. As a result, we went to see the pediatric endocrinologist. This proved to be the most useless and frustrating appointment I have ever been to. The lady spent most of the appointment talking about me and how do I handle all the stress of three kids and do I have support. She blamed Ellie's weight gain issue on me having another baby. It was completely ridiculous because Ellie has had issues since the day she was born and even in the womb for that matter. She told me to add a carb to her dinner and get her up in the middle of the night and feed her a bottle of milk while she is asleep. Totally ridiculous. The pediatrician recommended we go to another pediatric endocrinologist but for now we are not pursuing this.
Development:
Ellie has been trucking along in this area at her own pace. Socially she is right on target. Last year her fine motor skills developed so much she shouldn't qualify for occupational therapy anymore through Early Intervention (she still gets it though since she is already in the program). Her speech in the last few months is going through the roof. She is saying a ton of words and making sentences. Her comprehension is great. Its been funny to hear her sweet little voice telling us things. She calls herself "yaya" and pronounces Eden as "Ena" or she will call her "baby bear" (which is what we affectionately call Eden). After a long lull, she is finally making some gross motor strides. Labor Day weekend, she pulled up to a stand for the first time and now she is cruising around furniture and climbing stairs. She is even taking some steps with a walker which is really exciting. Her physical therapist thinks that she will walk before Eden, but we will see.
The person that is Ellie:
Ellie is quite the fickle girl. She can be very grumpy and spend hours or days whining and crying. It can be very aggravating. She can also turn tail quickly and be silly and happy. She is truly a beautiful little girl and I think she knows it. She likes to flash this cheeky little "I'm cute" grin when she doesn't want to do something. She can be so sweet, nurturing Eden and her stuffed animals. She can be quite ornery too hitting, scratching, and biting her brother if she is in a mood. She is totally a daddy's girl and is happiest when Ben is around. In the last few months she has come out of her shell and is finally letting others see her cute little personality. It has been a lot of fun watching the changes as she moves from a baby to a toddler.
The Brain:
Knock on wood, but Ellie's shunt has been stable since she was 2 months old. These days we only see the neurosurgeon once a year and when we saw him in June, he didn't even order a CT scan since things seemed to be going so smoothly.
The Eyes:
Ellie's left eye is still slightly turned out. The doctor keeps saying that eventually they will do a surgery to tighten the muscle so that it is more centered. He thinks she can still see pretty good out of that eye and wants us to patch it daily for 2 hours. We have not had much success with that at all. We had a period of about a week where she kept it on and that was about it. I feel guilty a lot about not trying harder with this but what can I do?
The Foot:
Ellie now has AFO's (ankle foot orthotics) to help support both of her feet. Her clubbed foot still naturally turns in and her other foot is pretty weak as well. The braces really make a huge difference when she is standing. Unfortunately, she can only wear the braces when we are actively working on standing/walking with her since her heels slip out of them when she crawls around and that is not good for her feet. Ellie gets excited when I first put them on her but tires of them quickly. Early last year I took her to get a second opinion on her clubbed foot since it seemed like her current orthopedic doctor wasn't doing anything but the new doctor agreed with her current treatment. We haven't been back to see either doctor since even though we are supposed to see them every four months. Guess I better call about that this week.
Growth:
Oh, how I hate this topic. In the last year Ellie has only gained about a pound. She still only weighs about 19 lbs which is at the less than 1% on the chart. Her curve just keeps dropping off downward. I don't really understand why this is the case though because she eats pretty good, not like a pig by any means, but certainly enough to gain weight. Last spring the doctor ran a bunch of blood tests to check for several things and the only thing that came back weird was her growth hormone levels. However, these levels can vary throughout the day so it really wasn't a great indicator. As a result, we went to see the pediatric endocrinologist. This proved to be the most useless and frustrating appointment I have ever been to. The lady spent most of the appointment talking about me and how do I handle all the stress of three kids and do I have support. She blamed Ellie's weight gain issue on me having another baby. It was completely ridiculous because Ellie has had issues since the day she was born and even in the womb for that matter. She told me to add a carb to her dinner and get her up in the middle of the night and feed her a bottle of milk while she is asleep. Totally ridiculous. The pediatrician recommended we go to another pediatric endocrinologist but for now we are not pursuing this.
Development:
Ellie has been trucking along in this area at her own pace. Socially she is right on target. Last year her fine motor skills developed so much she shouldn't qualify for occupational therapy anymore through Early Intervention (she still gets it though since she is already in the program). Her speech in the last few months is going through the roof. She is saying a ton of words and making sentences. Her comprehension is great. Its been funny to hear her sweet little voice telling us things. She calls herself "yaya" and pronounces Eden as "Ena" or she will call her "baby bear" (which is what we affectionately call Eden). After a long lull, she is finally making some gross motor strides. Labor Day weekend, she pulled up to a stand for the first time and now she is cruising around furniture and climbing stairs. She is even taking some steps with a walker which is really exciting. Her physical therapist thinks that she will walk before Eden, but we will see.
The person that is Ellie:
Ellie is quite the fickle girl. She can be very grumpy and spend hours or days whining and crying. It can be very aggravating. She can also turn tail quickly and be silly and happy. She is truly a beautiful little girl and I think she knows it. She likes to flash this cheeky little "I'm cute" grin when she doesn't want to do something. She can be so sweet, nurturing Eden and her stuffed animals. She can be quite ornery too hitting, scratching, and biting her brother if she is in a mood. She is totally a daddy's girl and is happiest when Ben is around. In the last few months she has come out of her shell and is finally letting others see her cute little personality. It has been a lot of fun watching the changes as she moves from a baby to a toddler.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year
One of my goals this year is to blog again. I'll write some updates soon but to start, here are some pictures of my cuties.
My littlest little...Ms. Eden:
Ms. Ellie:
All three kiddos (I would post a picture of just Gabe but he doesn't let me take his picture anymore. Its a miracle I have him in this one.)
My littlest little...Ms. Eden:
Ms. Ellie:
All three kiddos (I would post a picture of just Gabe but he doesn't let me take his picture anymore. Its a miracle I have him in this one.)
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