2 Year Pictures

Once again I tried to get Zoe's pics taken and once again she cried through most of the session. Thankfully my Mom went along and she got Zoe to laugh, especially since the photographer kept acting like she just wanted to get it over with and get us out of there. Maybe the fact that she was training 3 new people on their new digital system had something to do with it. Here are the results.

Summer Fun

Zoe's Surgery

Zoe came through her eye surgery with flying colors. The doctor said it went exactly as he hoped and there were no problems with the anesthesia. The nursing staff at CHKD were wonderful. They gave Zoe a sedative to start getting her drowsy while we were still with her so she wouldn't get upset when we left. It made it much easier to get her changed into hospital clothes and check her vital signs. And when the anesthesia nurse carried her into surgery she didn't even cry.
Her surgery was about 1.5 hours and we allowed to be there while she woke up. She was a little unsteady the day of the surgery, so we kept her quiet (she slept most of the day), but she was back to normal the next day.
At her follow-up visit, the doctor was very pleased with the results. Not only were we able to reduce the strength of her glasses, she is already starting to focus with both eyes. Before her surgery, she had the strongest prescription possible, her eyes still crossed even with glasses, and she only used one eye to focus with.
Praise God that this surgery was a success and there were no complications. Thanks also to all of you who prayed for us that day. God answered those prayers and we felt His presence there with us. We are very thankful and truly blessed!

Pictures

I took Zoe for her 18 mo. pictures recently (she was 19 mo. until we actually had them taken). She is starting to get scared about it and cried through the whole session. I believe she thinks she's at the doctor. The photographer was wonderful though and she managed to get a few pictures of her smiling. I don't think it helped that I tried doing two outfits, but here are the results!

Growing Up Too Fast

I haven't had a lot of time for blogging lately (posting or commenting), but I did want to post an updated picture of Zoe. Its hard to believe she's 19 mos. old. I'm sure I'm a little bit partial because she's my kid, but I think this is one of the sweetest pictures.
Everything is pretty much the same as far as her reflux. She's still unable to tolerate dairy or soy and is on the highest possible dosage of a new medication. And she's still almost off the growth charts because she's so tiny, but at least she keeps slowly gaining and hasn't stopped thriving (she's in the 5th percentile for weight). Praise God between the medication and a bland diet (for the most part), she is doing better and actually has been sleeping through the night. We were able to cancel her endoscopy for now at least (I did not relish the idea of having to give her anesthesia).
Also, her right eye has shown improvement with her glasses, so we were able to hold off on eye surgery and hopefully she won't need it ever. The Ophthalmologist was very surprised the glasses worked, but it was confirmation to me Who is really in control. God has graciously answered our prayers concerning Zoe and so wondrously provided for us and we are so thankful!

What We've Been Up To

I haven't had a lot of time to post lately, but here is a quick update and lots of pictures of what Zoe has been up to. I started working from home for the same company as Katrina in November and that was a very busy month. It has slowed down this month, but with Christmas shopping and decorating I haven't minded too much.
Zoe went to see a GI specialist in November and he thinks she just needs more time to outgrow the reflux and dairy/soy protein allergy. I have decided to continue nursing instead of going the formula route (the only option since she can't have milk), so I am back on the no dairy/soy diet too. The upside is that I won't have to worry about any extra holiday pounds!
Zoe's cast has come off and she uses her arm as if nothing happened. It has been a lot of fun watching all the new things she is learning. She has started climbing (not so fun) and loves to "help" cook. I give her a bowl and a spoon and occasionally add snacks and she stirs them up.
Paul has been working 60 hour weeks lately and starting tomorrow he is off through most of the holidays. I think he has to work one or two days until after New Year, so I am rejoicing that we will have some family time! Hope all of you have a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

And Its A Pink Little Cast

The orthopedic surgeon was able to see Zoe first thing this morning and his diagnosis was a broken arm. He did not take another X-ray since he thought cartilage was hiding the fracture and it would not show up. I learned something new at least--toddlers very seldom ever sprain anything and toddler's fractures as they are called are fairly common.
And Zoe slept through the whole examination and only woke when they were completing the cast. That was a blessing! She did cry out during the exam when the doctor twisted her wrist (which was his confirmation it was broken), but she went right back to sleep. It may have been the Tylenol I gave her, but I felt like God helped her stay asleep too. For Zoe to sleep like that is unusual, so I was very thankful.
Zoe will have to wear this cast for the next 3 weeks. The cast is much lighter than the splint, doesn't pull her shoulder and accommodates clothing with sleeves. Once the cast was on, Zoe felt the cast and then her other arm trying to figure out what this thing was. It was rather comical.
After we left the doctor's office, I took Zoe to see her Aunt Hannah at work. We got a cup of soup and a muffin to share there and had lunch while Hannah was on break. And I learned one advantage to this cast there--when your child is holding her purse in one hand, she can't grab displays with the other. However the cons outweigh the pros, so I'm glad its only 3 weeks.

Broken Arm

Yesterday Zoe was happily playing and carrying a little dress around with her. Somehow in the course of traversing the den with it she tripped and fell. It seemed like just a normal toddler fall that happens all the time. However she started crying immediately and when I picked her up she wouldn't be consoled. I noticed she kept holding her left wrist and she wouldn't use it to reach for anything, so we decided we should get it checked out. After a very long wait (3 hours) at the emergency room, they finally took X-rays. The X-ray tech was pretty sure it was broken based on how it looked and Zoe's actions, so she was very surprised that no breaks showed up on the X-rays. Then the doctor took less than 5 minutes to look at it (they were so backed up that there were no rooms available and Zoe got treated in the hallway) and decided that it was probably broken even though nothing showed up on the X-ray. His evaluation was that she fell on her hand and bent the wrist back causing a hairline fracture. He also said these types of fractures usually do not show up on X-rays until about 3 - 4 days after the break. His assumption was that it will show up on the X-ray done by the orthopedic surgeon. The good news is that no bones were out of place and they did not have to set the arm. The bad news is that they couldn't confirm the break or even where exactly it occurred in her arm although they were pretty sure its broken somewhere. I will feel much better after we see the orthopedics, but in the meantime Zoe has a plaster splint from elbow to wrist and an ACE bandage wrapped around her arm. The nurse thought Zoe would probably have to wear it for 3 - 4 weeks, but its up to the orthopedic surgeon.
She did start playing much more happily with her arm immobilized. She can certainly still get into just as much stuff with one hand as with two. Thankfully it hasn't seemed to phase her. She doesn't have any clothes with sleeves large enough to go over the splint, so hopefully the weather stays warm enough for sleeveless for awhile.
We've also been fighting a cold/flu bug here and Zoe has a very bad cough and runny nose right now in addition to teething and the broken arm. So life has been interesting, but its comforting to know that God never gives us more than we can handle and He is in control of each situation. And Zoe got lots of treats like Oreos, chicken nuggets and french fries out of the deal along with the Honey Grahams her Grandma brought her today and lots of extra attention (like sleeping with Mommy), so I don't think she minds too much (until we go see the doctor again of course)!

Zoe's Birthday

I wasn't sure about doing a theme for Zoe's birthday since I know Zoe won't remember it, but it turned out to be a lot of fun! I went with a Teddy Bear theme and it worked out very well. My sister had a bear pan for the cake, so that was an incentive for the bear theme too. I'll let the pictures tell the story, but I felt very fortunate to find teddy bear plates & napkins at Wal-Mart on clearance. We also had french bread and spaghetti since they are Zoe's favorites. It was a special day!

What Would You Eat?

Zoe had her one year appointment this week. Other than the fact that she remembered what happened about a month ago when she had the flu, it went very well. She cried during the weight check and when the doctor examined her like she knew something bad was going to happen. Then she got happy until the nurses came in for the shots and she realized she wasn't home free after all.
Dr. Barkeley said we should start introducing dairy into her diet now. I have been nursing her 4-6 times a day partly because of the allergy issue. Once we know if she can tolerate dairy products, I will start weaning her.
We went to the store afterwards for a few groceries and it felt very weird not to have to worry about ingredients. I also had to resist the temptation not to buy everything in sight that I haven't been able to eat. I finally decided on taking it slow and starting Zoe on yogurt once she is over the effects of the vaccinations. And I decided it is probably better for me to gradually ease into it also and not overload her system since she still nurses a lot. So I left the pizza behind and put the ice cream back and settled on yogurt and milk and cheese.
I haven't given Zoe any dairy directly yet, but I have started eating foods with cheese on them again. And Paul ordered pizza for us last night since I hadn't had pizza with cheese for nine months. I did not eat much, but it tasted wonderful! And I went to a brunch this morning and ate small portions of Quiche and Cream Cheese Danish and a few other items. This is actually taking some getting used to since I either brought my own food or drove the hostess crazy trying to find out what was in the dish and its become somewhat ingrained.
I am taking my time with this because I don't what to eat too much and start enjoying it again only to find out Zoe is still having a reaction. And I almost feel guilty for eating "good" food again. However I am definitely enjoying it! I'm curious to know what would your first food be if you had to be without dairy or soy for awhile and then were allowed to have it again?

Happy Birthday Zoe

Today is Zoe's first birthday! She was born on September 23, 2006 at 9:30 a.m. She weighed 6.0 lbs. and was 18" long. Its hard to believe it has been a year and yet we can't imagine life without her. It has been such fun watching all the stages! God has so abundantly blessed us and we are so thankful! She is definitely a bundle of joy!

Happy Birthday Zoe!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend 2006 was spent preparing for Zoe. Its hard to believe it was a year ago, but I went for an ultrasound that Saturday because I was measuring small and the doctor thought we should make sure everything was ok. I was about 36 weeks and the concern was that Zoe was an IUGR (intra-uterine growth restriction) baby. Basically it looked like my placenta was wearing out and Zoe was not getting nourished. This could also potentially cause a stillbirth baby. The ultrasound did not have the greatest results so I got sent to the hospital for a non-stress test. That came back ok, but the doctor was considering bedrest so Paul and I went shopping and bought lots of groceries "just in case".

Thankfully I never had to go on bedrest, but I did have to go to the hospital once a week for non-stress tests and to EVMS for a high-risk pregnancy ultrasound. That in itself was interesting since they could actually measure the blood flow from me to Zoe. Anyway long story short, it was after the ultrasound at EVMS that the doctor decided to induce at 38 weeks. And her birth is another story in itself, but it definitely made for an interesting holiday last year.

So for Labor Day 2007 I had a pretty boring weekend planned--run the vaccuum, catch up on everything I was behind on, take it easy, etc. God saw fit to alter my plans. Friday morning Zoe just wanted to be held which was rather unusual. Normally she is squirming to get down and play. I didn't really think too much about it at first--just thought maybe she was tired or it was her reflux. We had taken her to the doctor a few weeks ago because she had started waking every 2-3 hours and would not settle down during the night. This had been getting progressively worse as she got older (I have since read that often happens as more food gets added to their diets). We had stopped treating for reflux after the milk and soy allergies got resolved and she stopped throwing up as much, but her pediatrician thought we should start treating it again as well as get some labs done. All the tests came back normal (praise God!) and the medicine worked wonders. Zoe slept all night the very first day we gave it to her. But I digress. By Friday afternoon Zoe had a fever. I called the doctor on Saturday and they told me to monitor her and call in on Tuesday if she wasn't any better. I did nothing but hold Zoe all weekend. She wouldn't sleep unless she was with me, so I took naps whenever she did since we were up and down all night. Monday I thought she was getting a little better, so we went to my parents for a cook-out. Monday night she thrashed around and cried and I couldn't get her calmed down (until we left for the hospital) so we took her to the CHKD emergency room.

We spent all night there while they checked for a urinary tract infection, ear infection, chest x-ray, etc. This involved a catheter which they missed on the first try and had to be repeated an hour later. Finally they determined it was a virus and told us to follow up with the doctor the next day. I'm glad we have a children's hospital locally, but it was much more reassuring to see the pediatrician the next day. She told us it was a GI virus that was lasting about 6-7 days. The big concern was that Zoe had not had a wet diaper for 12 hours, so we had to force her to drink from a syringe. The doctor wanted her to have 2 wet diapers by lunch the next day. She encouraged me to nurse her more since that had helped one of her other patients. Also, the doctor thought we were just getting to the worst of the virus. If she meant that's when Zoe would be the most miserable, she was right. Her tummy seemed to bother her more and she broke out in a rash all over her body. I was so thankful Wednesday morning when she wanted something to drink. And that was Labor Day 2007.


Zoe is finally over all the sickness although she's been a little cranky so I think she may be teething. Our next big event is preparing for her birthday on Sunday. We've selected a teddy bear theme and since Zoe likes spaghetti the menu was easy. I had hoped my child would not be such a picky eater, but the only vegetable she will tolerate is corn. Paul will feed her peas and green beans just to watch her spit them out (and to try to get her to eat them).


Below are a few pics of Zoe when she was sick. One nurse who did the successful catheter was so sweet. She gave Zoe the book she is playing with, got me a pillow so I could rest, and put on a Thomas movie for Zoe. She also sang to Zoe while we did the catheter and it calmed her down.

She Walks!!

Zoe started taking a few steps about two weeks ago. She gradually began walking 4 - 5 steps from furniture to toy, etc. and occasionally would walk across the room. Today, I guess she decided walking is her preferred mode. She doesn't fall as much and if she does, she gets up and walks. Its like she figured why crawl when I can walk? The funny thing is we really did not coach her very much. She just started taking steps on her own and now she's off.




I haven't figured out how to upload the video of her walking yet (if any of you have tips let me know), so I posted a picture of her doing another favorite pastime--watching Charlotte's Web. I rented it and she was so enthralled with the animals, that we finally bought a pre-viewed one.