Evalynn at 1 Year

I think the fastest way to have a year go by is to have a baby. I feel like it just flew by and I really am in shock that Evalynn is now a year. We have continued forward with her ECI therapy and have also met with her pediatrician post ECI evaluation. I don't really feel like we have any answers as to why she is slow to develop...and in someways that's great. If we knew why, that would mean we would know for sure that something is not right with her. Between her therapists, pediatrician and Curt and I, we feel like the next medical step we should take is getting her vision tested. There are a couple signs that she may not have the best sight. She can for sure see, but she doesn't hold eye contact well. She also seems to loose sight or interest if an item she is looking at goes too far into her peripheral vision. The biggest concern is if she had a vision problem, it may be why she is so insecure about the world around her. She just seems so unsure of the world, being out of Mom or Dad's arms or not feeling securely held by her parents or in an unknown seat. Between the pediatrician and the therapists, this month we have heard all sorts of terms such as special needs, Aspergers, autistic, vision problems, neurological problems, and the terms we we've heard for several months now of cerebral palsy and chromosomal abnormalities. It's been an emotionally hard month to hear these terms used to give explanations for your kid. Ultimately though, I feel pretty confident it isn't autism or Aspergers. I still just hold to the hope and my intuition that everything is just a result of being in the NICU for two weeks. I still think that it is a pretty good chance of that too. The pediatrician is ready to move towards getting her to a neurologist, but isn't pushing at all. I'm not quite ready to go yet. If something were actually wrong, I do think it is better to know. However, if nothing is wrong, I'd really hate to subject her to tests and lots of doctors. She just hates people so much, so that makes it extra hard. As far as therapy, she is doing slightly better. She now allows her two therapists to get on the floor with her. She still gets nervous if they touch her or if they get to close but she is acknowledging them with smiles and is curious enough at their computers that she is okay getting near them to touch their computer screens. At her appointment last week, we played ball with her and she did so well. She even got super talkative, happy and animated. We do a lot of strength training and make her stand assisted on her legs bearing her own weight. Lately I've started to feel like she has a desire to move even though she just can't seem to figure it out.

Here is a more complete list of what she's doing at one year:

1. She is trying to get up on her knees when holding onto something. While she can get some air under her bum and get some weight on her knees, she cannot get one of her legs out from under her.
2. She loves books. They are probably her favorite "toy." 
3. She can sit and in the sitting position she can turn herself in circles on purpose. She does tend to scoot herself backwards some while sitting, but she doesn't do it on purpose or realize she's doing it. 
4. She loves hair. She laughs when I shake mine. She loves when she gets a chunk of it in her hands. She loves running her hands through my bangs. She will even play with one strand of hair stuck in her hands. 
5. Her favorite non-book toy is probably a ball. She really likes rolling the big soccer ball back and forth. She will also pat it.
6. She is more talkative this month than in previous months. I would still describe her a pretty quiet though comparatively.
7. She is more and more tolerant of being tickled. 
8. She loves to cuddle with Mom and Dad.
9. She lights up when Dad gets home. She loves when he comes and picks her up.
10. I feel like her tolerance for not being in Mom or Dad's arms is worse this month than previous. It just seems to get worse and worse. She starts screaming at even the motion of being put down. 
11. She side sits like a pro and changes which leg is tucked in and which leg is to the side easily. 
12. She's doing much better with a spoon and even better with a fork. 
13. She loves all table food. We don't even attempt baby foods anymore and rarely any smooth foods. 
14. At the beginning of the month she started to travel by rolling. After three or four days of doing really really well and giving me hope of her enjoying being on the floor more, she stopped. She hasn't rolled to travel around the room in probably three weeks now. 
15. She uses her big toe to slowly inch her way forward when she is on her belly. If she wants something that isn't too far out of her grasp, she will reach for it and slowly get there so she can grab it.
16. She still has yet to put anything in her mouth at all.
17. She has slowed down on how much she sucks her fingers. Consistently, she really only always does it in the car seat. Even in her sleep to sooth herself, she's cut way way back. 
18. She still grinds her teeth.
19. She grabs her toes now on purpose.
20. She is more tolerant of Ruger and is starting to be more interested in him and happy to have him around. 
21. She doesn't respond much to pain. If she does start to cry after being hurt, the instant I pick her up, she's over it. 
22. She cannot sit herself up. She can't pull herself up. She can't crawl. The only thing on that list that I feel like she's making any effort to learn is pulling herself up on to her knees...not her feet. 
23. She is happy to just watch people as long as she's being held by Curt or I. 
24. She likes when we click our tongue at her. 
25. At her well child appointment two weeks ago these were her stats:
1. Weight: 20 pounds 10.2 ounces          68th percentile
2. Length: 29.25 inches                           64th percentile
3. Head Circumference: 17.75 inches     60th percentile

August in Review

Our month of August was pretty full. We had lots of stuff to fit in and not a full month to do it in as school was starting. We started off the month with Evalynn's first ECI appointment. You can read more about that here. 

All summer long we tried to get together with the Whitworth cousins on Thursday mornings to go swimming somewhere. A lot of the time it was at Great-grandma's apartment pool. It was a perfect pool for little kids and great grandmas alike. It wasn't too deep, had ramps to get in and out, beach entry/play place for Ruger and lots of shaded seating. While it was great to get to swim with cousins, it was even more wonderful that Great-grandma Francis got to be in the pool with all the kids. We had a great time going over there and spending time with her. After swimming, we always had a picnic at her apartment too and sometimes she would try and tell stories from her childhood. 

The girls had an amazing first weekend of the month. The three of them got to go over to Grammie's house on Friday afternoon. They got to go school supply shopping, first day of school outfit shopping, tennis shoe shopping and had dinner out. Then they got to have a sleep over at Grammie's for the first time ever. They have been asking for about a year or more and they finally were invited to stay. They were so excited. The following day, my mom took them to seethe play The Little Mermaid at the local theatre. It was a very full weekend of being spoiled. They loved it. 

Grandma took the kids to get a couple of outfits for school during tax-free weekend. Ruger found this hat and immediately became very attached. He's still pretty attached. He really likes it. 

Our washing machine broke and one night we went over to Curt's parent's house to do some laundry, and the kids went swimming in the kiddie pool. It didn't go over all that well because the pool was just too small after spending all summer in large swimming pools. Too many kids and not enough space. This cracked me up though:

Miraculously we had some pretty awesome weather in mid-August. We had several thunderstorms and the weather cooled off some. My kids don't handle extreme temperatures well and won't tough through it and play outside. I can't say I really blame them. Curt made them a rock box at the end of May, but they've only ever played in it a few times because it's just too hot. However they did get some get time in it during the cooler mornings. You know the 90 degree weather instead of the 100+ degree weather. Since Evalynn doesn't put anything in her mouth, I put her in the box too. She definitely like it. I'm excited for the nice Fall weather when I can take Ruger and Evie out there to play. 

We had one last back to school cousin swim bash and invited the Whitworth cousins over to my parent's backyard. Our backyard has a large hill down to a mostly flat creek bed. We put a slide on the iron fence, a very large sheet of plastic down the hill and let the kids go slip n sliding down. It's a lot of fun, albeit, very grassy and you're guaranteed a lot of scrapes and some bruises throughout the day. They also have a zip line and the kids also loved doing that. Once again, I didn't take any pictures, but it was a fun time to get together before school started. 

The girls were excited to finally get to go to Meet the Teacher night. Emery and Ella were both put in Isabelle's kindergarten teacher's class, Mrs. Smith. I love Mrs. Smith and the number one reason to have Emery and Ella put together, was to be in her class, but I really felt that it would be for the best if we separated them. Ella really wanted Mrs. Harwell, so I chose to have Ella removed from Mrs. Smith's class. Unfortunately, Ella didn't get Mrs. Harwell, but the only other English speaking kinder teacher Mrs. Tooke. She said she was okay to go in her class but I was really nervous about her having the one kinder teacher we didn't know of the three of them. It's all worked out, but that day, I was really panicked if I'd made the right choice. Everyone was so happy at Meet the Teacher. It was very exciting for Emery and Ella. They've been ready for Kindergarten for a year. Isabelle has a new primary friend that moved about three houses down from us. She and Isa are in the same class and we were very excited about that. Now they are in Primary, school and the bus together. I am very very excited about them being friends. She also had two or her three best friends from her class last year in her class this year. Academically we don't worry much about Isabelle, but she has had some rough days/weeks/months socially. We have our fingers crossed that this year will be great for her socially since she already has so many friends. 

 Mrs. Smith and Emery

 Mrs. Tooke and Ella

 Mrs. Whorton and Isabelle

The last few nights before school started, each of the girls got to go on a date with either Curt or I. Emery went first because she has been really improving with being good and helpful. I forgot my phone though, so we didn't get any pictures. Isabelle went the next night. She talked my ear off. Ella went with Curt. Everyone went to Dairy Queen because where we live there are not many options. 

Curt and I have been working to get our garage cleaned out. It is a constant state of disarray because we have a lot of stuff to store and a lot of projects going on out there. We also have a lot of tools and wood because that's were we run my business from. It had gotten pretty bad during the hot months and with us needing to start preparing for Holiday craft fairs, we really needed to get somethings cleaned up. Once again, since the rain was making the weather tolerable, we spent the day getting all of our scrap wood together and some of the bigger pieces of wood left over from projects cut down to size and we burned it in our backyard. We had quite the bonfire going for most of the day. Ruger loves when we are out in the garage. Both because he wants to be in the garage and because he wants to be out in the front yard on his tricycle. He's hilarious to watch as he Flintstones it up and down the side walk. He is very intense sometimes in his focus. Excuse our dormant grass that we can't afford to water cause our water in the country is outrageously expensive. 

The first day of school finally came. To say we were ready for it is quite the understatement. Everyone loves their teacher and Ella wanted to go back about an hour after being home. Isabelle isn't constantly telling us how 2nd grade is dumb, so that's a good sign. I think it's going to be a good year. 

About an hour and a half into the day, Ruger started crying and asking for "Imbelle and Ella." We are having to find a new normal with only the three of us home during the day. I for one and absolutely loving it though. Ruger is always so excited when the girls get home. He has huge hugs for all three of them and is so happy to see them. 

We spend a lot of the time in Isabelle and Ruger's room because that is also where the toys are. I am trying really hard to get Evalynn okay with being on the ground, so we go in there and I lay on the floor beside her while she plays. She has always preferred books to any toys, and it hasn't changed. I specifically took these pictures because she's holding the book with both hands at the same time. She hasn't really done that before now. 

Ruger's learning to play on his own a little more. I snuck into the room to take this picture the other day. He's really loved dinosaurs for probably almost a year now. Lately, he's become more attached after taking a break to love The Lion Guard and Jake and the Neverland Pirates figurines this summer. 

It was a fun and busy month. Not included as a highlight is getting our washing machine fixed, getting ten Etsy orders, doing a small craft booth, getting some holiday sign prototypes ready, Ella's stitches and trip to the ER that you can read about here and a random inpromptu sleepover at Grandma's house because Ella had to go to the chiropractor for the first time after a slip n slide accident. I'm very excited for September!

Ella's Stitches

Last Thursday night, we had a little bit of an incident in our house. Ella and I were in the kitchen talking about dinner and I left the room to go ask Curt a question. Right as I was done talking to Curt I went to turn to go back to the kitchen when I heard a bang and Ella started screaming. I didn't see it happen, but I saw her laid out on the floor immediately after. She hit our laminate floor, full steam ahead, but didn't hit any wall or item on the floor...just the floor. She had run to catch up with me in her socks that she kept on after school and totally ate it. After picking herself up, she ran into the room to her dad and jumped into his arms. I was trying to figure out what happened and what she hurt but I was standing and Curt was sitting so Ella was below me. She moved her head and a big blood mark was on Curt's shirt. She was freaking out and considering how much and dark the blood was on his shirt, I knew it was pretty bad. I finally got a look at her face and realized she hurt her chin. I pulled her into the living room to inspect it and immediately knew she needed stitches. When I told Curt, Ella flipped out. Her cousin had stitches a couple of months ago, so she knew what they were and she's definitely my most anxiety ridden child, so the thought alone was very traumatizing to her. 

 We have a limited health insurance plan as to where we can go/who will take our small provider. We also currently have urgent care insurance, so initially we thought to go there. After Curt left, I decided to try and go ahead and figure out where we could go and use our insurance. Of course, it was the opposite direction as Curt was already traveling so it took a while for him to get to Cook Children's Urgent Care in Southlake. Once he got there, they got in very quickly. The doctor looked at Ella's wound and quickly assessed that the cut was a lot deeper and worse than we thought. The skin was of course cut open, but the muscle had been torn too. Therefore she needed internal stitches in addition to external stitches. She would need a wound care technician to stitch her up and the urgent care facility didn't have one. So, they were referred downtown to the full children's hospital. Back in the car they went. By this time, it was about 7:30. 

By the time they got downtown and parked, it was about 8:20. They got back to a room quickly since they had referral paperwork. They immediately put a numbing gel all in her wound. That was a huge relief for me as I was super super worried about her having to get a shot. That would not have gone over well at all. Plenty of people came in to talk to her and ask her what happened. She had the numbing gel on her for about an hour and then the wound care technician came and stitched her up. At the promise of a popsicle, she was a total champ. She laid back, tucked her hands under her, laid perfectly still and didn't fuss at all. Curt wasn't sure how many stitches she received inside, but she got seven on the outside. 

She was rewarded with her popsicle...her only dinner of the night.

They finally got to leave the hospital a little after 11, and by the time they found the car and got gas, Ella fell asleep before Curt could get her dinner. She was totally wiped out.  

I tried to get her up the next day for school, but she was totally out. She slept in till 9:00 and really just laid around the whole day. She was totally exhausted. She was pretty sore too, but not enough to complain or need any Tylenol. 

I ended up taking her stitches out on Tuesday night. It definitely was an ordeal. After the first two, I was regretting not taking her into the pediatrician. She had a hard time staying still. I had a hard time getting the stitches out because they were so scabbed over. But we got through it and now is looking so much better. She's very happy to not have to have a bandaid on anymore...especially at school. 

In the end our second ER visit turned out okay and not too traumatizing, which I am so grateful for.