"Lovey"

I love that term...."a lovey". That's what the new "hip" term is for a blankee, a dolly, a whatever object your kid carries around for comfort. It's the thing that gets old, worn out and falls apart, yet your kiddo can't live without it.

Well, Sophie has not had a lovey. She's never been interested until recently. She got close to having a "lovey" a few months back with a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal she stole, yes stole, from the hospital. She took it out of a playbox in an exam room (it still had tags on it and hadn't been used). She simply grabbed Mickey and took off down the hallway laughing. The doctor started cracking up because she had just given Sophie a shot and finally said, "Well, if she likes it that much than she should probably keep it." It was sort of like she was doing a baby's version of "an eye for an eye"..."oh yeah mean Doctor??? You stick a needle in my arm???...well I TAKE YOUR MICKEY!!!" So, Mickey comes to the hospital with us every time now to visit his "home". Mickey has become a buddy who lives in the crib and Sophie only wants him when it's time to go to bed.

She has recently developed a "lovey" of sorts though. It is definitely a lovey of the unconventional sort, and is most likely in response to all the medical interventions she's had as of late. You see, the girl has been afflicted with an ear infection for MONTHS. She is constantly tugging her ears. Finally, she had surgery to place tubes in her ears and she is doing much better, but I think the ear tugging has "stuck". She will often just reach up and play with her ear lobes. It's her soothing thing now. Some kids twist their hair or suck their thumb..my kid rubs her earlobes! In fact, she does not only rub her ear lobes, but tends to rub EVERYONE's earlobes!

That's right! My kid is obsessed with ear lobes. Here's how we've come to realize this: Sophie has begun crying out at night again. 11:30pm to be exact. She cries out, we eventually come get her and she crawls into bed with mommy and daddy. (after the normal 3 or 4 attempts to let her cry it out) Once getting in bed, she gets nose to nose with mommy, puts one hand on my left ear, one on my right and begins her rubbing...She continues it for most of the night. If she does wake up and realize that mommy's ears have moved out of reach, well then she goes on search of Daddy's. Sometimes, she lays in the middle, one hand on daddy's left ear, one on mommy's right ear and twirls away. It's like she is trying to dial in an AM radio station or something. Cracks us up! If only I could find a doll with life like ears!!!! Because, it sure will be difficult for mommy and daddy to fit in her back pack on the first day of kindergarten! : )

Maybe she will grow up to be an ENT doctor??? Who knows?

Where did the time go??? Part 2

This is a little "snack time" conversation. Sophie didn't want to play, but momma persisted and we got some good stuff! BTW, the "friends" sign came from a Doctor at Ruby. She taught her "friends, beautiful, girl, and your welcome!"

Where did the time go???? Part one:

This picture is entitled, "Frog Girl". Hahaha Take a look at her eyes. See the puff around them. At first, I thought she just took after daddy, who has similar eyes. Actually, we have found out that she was filled with gunk in her sinuses. This was a week or so before the latest hospital stay.

I'm going to try and post a series of things on here that I have been meaning to get out there and haven't had time to lately. So, read forward/back and make sure you didn't leave anything out!

I have been totally amazed at my daughter lately. She is a true champion. Even in the hospital, she keeps a positive spirit. Notice her 80's style dress. We had to make room for the IV. This WAS after she got all her doses of IV and fluids for the day, so she was feeling so much better. By the way, the first guy you see on the link on the page...Dark haired doctor with a kid with a head bandage....that is the man who had his fingers in my kid's brain....Dr. Collins, aka God of Pediatric Neurosurgery. If you live in M'town...you should pray everyday that he is here, because, God forbid, your kid ever has an emergent situation for their head requiring surgery, he is one of the best in the nation. Aunt Mary Kathryn would be SOOOO proud. Our girl loves to brush her teeth! Even in the hospital she was sure to have good hygiene. : ) You can sort of see her puffiness in her face/neck on this picture. That is the infection she is battling. Truthfully, I can't really tell...but the docs point it out all the time. Maybe it is because she has had this congestion for so long that I thought that was what she looked like normally.

After we got home. Our first "girlie" hair style! I keep picturing the old Pippy Longstocking shows of the past...

My favorite of this set of pictures. Why??? My kid is a the best of all worlds rolled up in one. A little baby (pacifier), a little girlie (pig tails), a little "diva" (pink fur coat), a little tom-boy, (the sweats and hiking shoes, and of course....a little "Rocker Chick". We bought her the coolest thing from One Step Ahead. They are floating drums for the bath tub. They are pitched and can adjust based on how much air is allowed to be under the drum...so essentially, they are a set of bongos! So much fun!

Speaking of One Step Ahead...THANKS to our friend Valerie for pointing this website out to us. What a cool website for kid stuff. Educational and functional. We purchased our floaty drums, a juice box holder (no more squeezing the juice box and shooting it all over mommy!), and finally the most amazing potty chair!

OK...BRAGGING time!!! I know, I know...This is a fluke. It will NEVER happen this way again....I get it, I get it... BUT I'm going there anyways. So brace yourself.....

MY KID PEED IN THE BIG GIRL POTTY ON THE FIRST TRY!!!! We bought this cool potty seat based on a recommendation from Valerie. It is so smart for us! So, today I decided to try it on for size. I took Sophie in after breakfast, sat her little naked butt on the potty and said, "It's a big girl potty for you! Do you want to go peepee in the potty??" I turned on the running sink water to aid in her efforts and seconds later....tinkle tinkle!!! R U KIDDIN' ME???????

I know, Iknow....I'm totally jinxed now....but I sure was so proud of her. We did the pee pee in the potty dance all around the house!

By the way, we aren't ACTUALLY trying to potty train her yet. We were just told by several friends and the docs that Sophie's recent habit of holding her pee until the morning diaper change is a sign of being ready. So, we bought the potty to get her used to the idea. We aren't pushing things...just having the equipment ready when she is. We'll see!

Check out my kid and her head!!!!! YaHOOOOOO!!!!

My child is very "creative"...This is her new favorite hat. I could think of a million funny things to post here...but I"ll leave it up to you to decide! This one she stole off of her "Huggins Bear, MONTI". Love the fingers full of crayon leftovers.

Now, the following pictures may be a little creepy to the average mom. BUT NOT TO ME!!!! So if you don't want to see the inner workings of my kid, LOOK AWAY!!!!!

This is a post of celebration to me. More than anything I have been able to celebrate for a while. Please note the date on this scan. It was about a year and a month after her surgery to implant the shunt. It shows the same brain (and water) ratio that was there at birth. No marked change from 7/08 to 7/09. In case you need help reading, the black areas are fluid filled ventricles. This is a year AFTER her surgery, so you need to realize that this was way after the shunt began it's work of draining fluid and relieving pressure.

This was the latest CT scan when we went in at Christmas. No one had showed me, or the neurosurgeon's office the scan until our visit on 2/4/10. The nurse popped up the screen and exclaimed, "HOLY COW..." "You've GOT to see this!!!"

Folks, These are essentially, almost normal ventricles!!!! Of course, a little more fluid on the right side...(image is reversed in a CT scan, so it appears on the left). She was as excited as me. She said it was really GREAT!!!! She hadn't seen this drastic of a change in a long time! By the way, to bar any "fancy imaging" slant...she took images from the same "slice" of pictures. Almost the same exact slide...

Here are the kind of eerie..."HEY! MY kid has a rod in her brain" photos!!!! And, to top it off, the one image caught her optic area, so it is really creepy....but this is another side by side comparison. Very close to the same image. The actual size of the shunt is more accurate on the left picture... Again, I know people, CREEPY!!! But it's our life and our daughter and she has a real, growing, thriving brain!!!!! So join the band wagon and cheer for science, and smart neurosurgeons, and ultrasound techs, and therapists, and pediatricians and parents, and friends, and family, and prayers....all that has helped this kid!!!!!