Ellie has a pet rock named Rocko. She picked him up on a recent trip to Cincinnati for Nora's visit to the neurologist (which went incredibly well). I had a pet rock when I was a kid. It didn't have a name but that rock traveled with me quite a bit. It is fun so see parts of yourself in your childre.
Nora has had several seizures lately, one of which was very scary and landed us in the emergency room. We have been trying to figure out the cause of the seizures for several weeks now. So far the MRI results have come back normal, and we are still waiting to hear back on results from an EEG. After that we will follow up with a pediatric neurologist.
Needless to say, we have been going crazy with worry, stressed about scheduling appointments, and grateful that we have such a supportive family who have been by our side as we struggle with the unknown.
We are optimistic that we will get news that these seizures are not caused by anything scary or life threatening, and that with a little bit more information we can treat them effectively.
Keep your fingers crossed that we get some good news!
My children are each experiencing their own sort of word explosions. Things are just clicking for each of them. I am both extremely excited and a little sad.
Gone are the days that Ellie called her sister Reera. Now she calls her Ora which is much closer to Nora than Reera. I will miss Reera something fierce.
Ellie now uses sentences so much more efficiently. “Boo-boo” has turned into “Mom, I got the boo-boo” (which makes me laugh every time she says it). She also tells us stories now. I particularly love the stories that involve her cowboy. “My cowboy is riding the horse, Yee-Haw!”. Her cowboy turns up every now and then and he always has a horse and yells Yee-Haw. I love that her imagination is running wild. I want her to keep that with her as long as possible. I miss that magic in my own life.
Nora is also speaking more. She now asks “What’s That” though it sounds more like “SSSat?”. She also yells at our dog Rusty just as well as her older sister. Poor Rusty, he deals with their verbal abuse with such grace. They love him and he loves them. Nora uses bigger words than most kids her age. I think this can be attributed to having a big sister. She can say SpongeBob, Nutcracker, Princess, etc. The list goes on and on for days. She is also trying hard to tell us things. She will have a conversation with us even though we have no clue what it is that she is saying. I love this stage of development. She is really working hard to fit the puzzle pieces together, and doing a marvelous job of it too!
No more snuggly baby time either. She is starting to realize it is more comfortable to lie in the bed than have mom or dad rock her to sleep anymore. One day soon, I will look up and find a child, not a baby looking back at me. It is a moment I am dreading more than anything else. But, unfortunately babies do grow and soon become children who then become teenagers and then adults. I have known this all along, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Today we inherited some Mardi Gras masks and beads. They were sent up from a co-worker in New Orleans for the girls. Daddy had fun playing with all the goodies too.
Our sweet Nora turned one on the 14th and we celebrated with a lovely party this past weekend. We invited our family and friends and Nora wanted nothing to do with the whole thing. She didn't get a full nap in so she was very sleepy and grumpy too. She barely left her daddy's side the whole time. It was still a very nice afternoon. Perhaps next year's party will be less stressful for our little Norabelle.
One of the nice things about my new job is that I can take off most federal holidays. I usually don't, but today I decided it would be more fun to spend the day with my family. Boy did we have a long day. We started out eating a late breakfast on the road, followed by a trip to see the famous Chuck E Cheese and play his fun games and ride a few rides. Nora took a quick nap and we were off to the doctor for her one year check up. She is now 29 inches tall and 23 pounds. She even got to test out some new equipment at the doctor's office which took pictures of her eyes and let's them know if she has any eye or vision problems (she didn't). Four shots later and we were finally heading home where we had a Yo Gabba Gabba dance party followed by a delicious pizza dinner. I love days like this...
We finally transitioned Ellie into a toddler bed this week. It has been so hard to accept that she is more than big enough to make this change. She has been so delighted to have the new bed. When we took her upstairs to show her the change, she was so excited that she jumped into the bed, pulled the covers up and demanded that we turn off the lights so that she could sleep. Now, if only we could get Nora to be as excited about sleeping in her crib…
This morning I wrote the second letters for a little project I have been putting together for the girls. Each year in January, I want to write a note to them and let them know how much I love them and tell them the little things they do that I might not remember when they are old enough to appreciate it. Each of the girls has two letters in her stack to date. I started last year when I was still pregnant with Nora, so this will be the first letter for her that references actual events, feelings, and general cuteness. I hope that I can keep this up throughout the years, and I hope it is something the girls appreciate once I hand them over to them.
Today Nora has really started letting go and taking steps all on her own. She has been cruising the furniture for a while now but hasn't really taken steps without holding on. 10 months is when Ellie started taking real steps as well. It must be a family thing :-)
Of course I didn't snap any photos of the actual events because I didn't have a camera handy, but I did get a nice shot of some of our snuggle time after the fact.
