Where Have We Been?

I can hardly believe that it's almost the end of January!  It feels like we were just celebrating New Year's but Christmas is already a month away.  So what have we been doing??  Well, getting over being sick, for one.  Just as we got feeling better from our holiday sickness, Leah came down with the flu.  It happened very quickly.  She started feeling sick on a Friday night - high fever, coughing, runny nose.  Poor little girl!  But thankfully by Monday her fever had broken and she was starting to feel much, much better. 

Then she was working very hard to get a few teeth to break through.  She was up a few nights for several hours at a time.... yes, I said hours.  Like as in from 12-2am.  That was... interesting.  She wasn't really crying or fussing, she just didn't want to be put down.  We had a couple tired days and I went to bed at 8pm a few times so I could be sure to get at least a few hours of sleep.  But I'm happy to report that 1 tooth has finally come through (YAY!) and I can see a sliver of white from the 2nd one peeking through the gums.  She's been sleeping great this week, so hopefully we've turned a corner on the teething front.

Last weekend we had a very exciting trip back to Illinois to visit my family.  Leah is becoming quite a pro at traveling, this was her 5th airplane trip.  This was our make-up trip after canceling Thanksgiving because of her shunt surgery.  We were all healthy, we had no weather or plane issues and everything went very smoothly.  I had picked this weekend for our visit because Saturday was my oldest nephew's 4th birthday and I thought it would be fun to be able to go to his birthday party.  Since we live so far away, we've never been able to go to any of the boys' birthday parties and now we were finally able to!  

There was an unexpected twist to our plans when my grandma passed away.  Her health had been getting worse over the past several months after breaking her hip last summer.  She went into the hospital for a routine procedure and a few days later really took at turn for the worse.  The next day she passed away peacefully.  She died on January 17, which was 5 years to the day after my grandpa.  We were able to change our flight to stay an extra day for the funeral.  I'm not sure how she knew but I like to think she planned it that way.  We'll miss you, Grandma Ellie!

Ahhh, Quiet

Happy 2013 everyone!  I hope all of our friends and family had a very happy and joyful holiday season.  The last 11 days for us have been the craziest, busiest, most hectic we've had in a long time.  Last Saturday we spent the day tidying up the house, grocery shopping and doing final Christmas shopping before Ty's sister, brother-in-law and niece came to town.  We hosted them all week, which was awesome because they hadn't met Leah yet.  It was so much fun seeing Leah meet her 2-year old cousin and getting to spend some good quality time with all 3 of them.  Then we hosted Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities.  Just as one set of houseguests left, my parents came to town for the weekend.  The biggest damper on our holiday was that all 3 of us were sick at some point.  Leah picked up a cough and runny nose, then Ty got a cold and I rounded out the trifecta with the stomach flu.  Ick!  

Sickness aside, we had a very fun and successful Christmas.  Leah was totally spoiled!  She got lots of new fun toys, books and clothes.  This year she was more into everything than last year (when she was just 6 weeks old).  She loved the Christmas tree and looking at the lights and ornaments.  And she was able to help open some of her presents.  Even though we were sick for a part of it, I loved spending lots of time at home with the fireplace going and hanging out with my family.

So now it's back to real life.  I am looking forward to getting back into a routine.  We really haven't had much of a routine for the past month or so.  Leah had her shunt revision and was out of daycare for almost 3 weeks, then picked up a little cold, and finally we had 11 days of company in the house.  I don't think she's had the same bedtime 2 nights in a row or napped or ate at the same time.  Poor girl, it's hard on her to be without a routine for so long.

Even though we won't be quite as busy as we've been, January will still have lots going on.  Leah will have her weekly Physical Therapy appointments, we also have her big MRI in a couple weeks.  We had to cancel this during our appointment in December because she had a little cough, so hopefully she'll be totally healthy in 2 weeks.  We also have our other monthly appointments like Early Intervention and Cranial Sacral Therapy.  And, most exciting, she'll be getting her leg braces and stander soon.  I'm cautiously excited for this.  I say cautious because this will mean some extra care for her that we're not doing today.  It's going to be very important to keep her feet and legs healthy and her skin clear.  Since she can't feel pain, she won't be able to tell us when they hurt or if she's getting blisters.  This can be a big deal to her overall health if we don't pay attention to this.  

Then there's the business of getting her teeth in.  She still has only 2 teeth!  But just yesterday I could feel 2 more coming in on top and not the 2 front teeth... though I think she's working on those too.  I can tell she's in pain because she's chewing on everything she can get in her mouth, including her hands.  Sometimes she just wants to sit and snuggle instead of playing with all her toys.  So as much as I enjoy my cuddly baby, I would love for those silly teeth to come through and give her some relief.  

We have a lot to look forward to in 2013.  I hope we will continue to be as blessed as we were in 2012.  Happy New Year!!