3rd Trimester Exhaustion

Once I hit ~7 months pregnant, I hit the exhaustion of the 3rd trimester.  I think I feel better than the first time around.  Chasing, squatting, and crawling around with Shayna has probably helped with that but she's also getting more understanding when I sit down and tell her, "Ima need a break."  With SJ due on Jan 29 (or Feb 3 if you ask the docs), we've got 3 weeks to go before he's allowed to enter the atmosphere.  Shayna loves to go to the doctor's/midwife's visits with me to listen to the baby's heartbeat.  (She ask to go this morning.)  She's getting familiar with all 4 faces of the people we meet with, 2 midwives and 2 doctors with a 3:1 women to men ratio.  Overall it seems like a great crew (the one guy doc is the only one from the Shayna's birth but it was only a 2 doc operation then also).  Nahum and I are preparing by filing the massive piles of papers that have accumulated in the office over the last several months.  I'm also planning on cleaning out part of the garage to make room for a freezer (I long to buy in bulk).

Shayna continues to amaze us every day with her new verbal skills.  She started trying to put 2-3 words together about 4 weeks ago, 2 weeks ago the gaps between those words disappeared and this last Thursday she used "me" for the 1st time twice.  She still says "you" a lot ("Ima catch you" "Ima take you" etc) but I'm making an extra effort to start using personal pronouns at least 1/2 the time so she gets a better idea of their usage.  2 weeks ago Sunday she finally made the physical achievement we've been waiting for, climbing into a straight backed chair w/o assistance.  We now have to make sure our computers are closed and there are no glasses of water on the table as she loves to "type" and will grab anything else within her reach.  She's looking more an more like a little girl every day.  Our greatest pleasure is still just watching her play with a close second of gushing to each other over how wonderful and amazing she is.
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I wrote that on Sunday thinking I'd add pictures and videos but no such luck.  Here's a link to the latest video on youtube.

Tomorrow I turn 30!

Too Much Excitement

A lot has happened since my last real post including the exhaustion of the 3rd trimester of pregnancy kicking in.  All I want to do in the evenings is sit around and veg these days, lucky for you I'm finally inspired to write instead of just sit.

We had our 1-year post-transplant Pittsburgh visit on Monday Nov. 22 and it was terrific.  Shayna was her usual adorable, sweet self so got stickers, crayons and coloring books.  She even let our transplant coordinator give her a hug before we left.  They are pleased with her progress and labs so we even got to drop our evening anti-viral.  Her weight hit the 50th%-ile, her height the 19th, and her head is somewhere around the 110th or so.  They scheduled us to fix her belly button hernia this week but with the crazy weather, we're going to look into a locally recommend pediatric surgeon.  Hopefully we'll get all that straighten out this week and she'll have a cute little belly button by my 30th birthday (Dec 31).

We drove to Pittsburgh (7 hrs) Sunday then drove straight to Newport News after the appointment Monday (almost 10hrs).  Thank goodness for the dvd player in the new car.  Shayna watched the10min portion of Finding Nemo where Nemo's dad and Dory hook up with the turtles, the 10min portion near the beginning where Nemo has his first day of school, and the PBS episode of Curious George and the Bunny Hunt each about 15 times.  (She's picky about her tv; it has to have lots of action and nothing remotely scary.) 

We got really lucky for Thanksgiving as my Uncle David and his wife Vickie were traveling to Newport News, VA to visit Vickie's sister Hollie and her husband Jack for the holiday.  We'd never met Jack or Hollie but were invited to stay with them for the week anyway.  What a wonderful trip!  It was nearly vacation-like for me as Vickie and Hollie did 85% of all the kitchen duties.  Shayna endeared herself to everyone with Jack offering to take her off our hands if we wanted at the end of our visit.  One of Shayna's favorite things about the visit was Tilley the dog, an old, gentle mixed breed that isn't used to small children around.  Shayna followed Tilley everywhere and mimicked about everything Tilley did.

She laid on the dog bed together.

They sat together to read books.  

The most Tilley ever did was give her many looks of, "soooo, you're still here are you?"  Thanksgiving dinner was one of the best I'd ever had.  There was so much traditional food and it ALL tasted great.  

We came home the following Friday to fall into the throws of Shayna's Liver Day party for Wed. Dec. 1st.  Becca, Nahum, and I managed to pull off an amazing party even with my parents Michael and Melinda having to spend a night near Dullas.  Winds forced their plane to land at Dullas instead of Roanoke on the 30th but they got here on the afternoon of the 1st.  (Shayna was so excited the minute they got in the car with us.)  We had a wonderful catered dinner with great friends, lots of happy kids, and an ice cream cake with a liver on it. We even got visits by two of Shayna's local doctors.  It was such a magical time to see Shayna having so much fun.

We even sang "Happy Liver Day" before she blew out her candle.

Michael and Melinda left today.  As Nahum is leaving to take them to the airport Shayna is saying, "with Shayna....with Shayna," in her most pathetic (but not winy) voice because she wants them to take her with them.  Shayna had soooooo much fun with Grandpa and Grandma.  Grandma even replaced Ima as Shayna's potty partner of choice.  Besides having play buddies all day long at the house, we also went to the gymnastics studio Thursday, 

the library for her first books Friday, and swimming on Saturday.  Plus a little adult only outing Friday for sushi and the new Harry Potter movie (both were awesome).

Nahum is doing well and working hard.  As mentioned, I've hit the exhausted part of the pregnancy.  We're just over 7 months along, or 32 weeks.  SJ seems to get bigger each day.  He only hangs out on the right side and seems to enjoy having his butt wedged into my ribs frequently, but at least it's his butt and not his head.  Every time we hit a new week, I tell Nahum something like, "only 8 more weeks until SJ is late."  I learned not to hope for an early baby with Shayna but I can't wait to have my body back so I can be the bouncy, silly parent I used to be able to be with her.

Happy Liver Day Shayna!!!

Happy Liver Day Shayna!!!  A year ago we took a leap of faith, the only one we could, and today we have a smiling, healthy, happy little girl so full of life you'd never know what it took to get her here.  Science produced another miracle by giving our little girl a second chance at life, and a reason for 2 cakes a year.  We're so happy you're here with us little Shayna.


We had a beautiful party of which I'll post some pictures soon. Thank you everyone.  I'll also give you a full Shayna update.

Jumping, Running, and Climbing

Nahum is gone for the week (Sunday night to Saturday morning) and it's rainy and dreary here so I've been looking into the indoor play programs here.  Today we tried the gymnastics studio Virginia Techniques and had a blast at the Preschool Playzone (walking-5yrs).  She climbed onto the springy floor, walked a few steps with big eyes then took off running for things to jump, climb-on and explore.  It was one of those miracle experiences for me as she demonstrated such strength and independence during that hour that she seemed to grow up in front of my eyes.  Along with the usual springy floor space, bars and beams was a blow-up jump castle, a 40'x5' trampoline the kids can run on (which we both did), an in-ground trampoline Shayna can walk onto, a 7' regular trampoline that Shayna climbed onto by herself, and a foam-cube pit which I would toss Shayna into then help her out.  Next time I'll get some videos and pictures but the link will give you a good idea of the fun things we played on.

I posted pictures from October, including Halloween, about a week ago.  She was an adorable little duck, loved her suite and had no problems taking candy from strangers.

What's this bucket got for me? 

"Ima, open pease." (she doesn't quite have that "el" sound yet)

Shayna the duck-dog.  She loves to imitate what the dogs are doing when we see them.

Reading books with Shayna this evening brought back memories.  She likes "There's a Wocket in My Pocket".  I remember reading this to her around 16-months-old and, her pointing out the steps and saying "steps".  I was so excited because it was one of the first things she identified in a book on her own.  She now has names for a couple dozen of her books and will tell you which one she wants to get if you ask her.  She also likes to read them herself ("self, self") and she'll talk about the different activities or things on many of the pages.

Other signs that Shayna is growing up: She can jump with both feet off the ground (a 24-month skill) and she is starting to throw toddler-style fits (she cried when we had to leave a friend's toy to go home).  It's gotten a little worse since Nahum left Sunday night as she really misses him but I'm thinking we'll be in for a rough ride with our independent little girl even when he gets home this weekend.

Next week we go to Pittsburgh for our 1-year post transplant appointment and the week after that it's Liver Day Party!!!

Proud of Myself This Time

I sat for the 8 hour Professional Engineer (PE) Exam yesterday!  It feels wonderful to have actually done it and I still think I have a fair chance of passing.  I’d put my odds at 50/50 or even 60/40.  I struggled where I thought I would during both the AM (breadth session where everything I learned as an undergrad is fair game) and the PM (depth session where I’m just tested on structural design stuff) sessions.  Overall, I’m quite proud of myself for working hard and being able to give myself an honest chance on the exam.

Now I just get to play with Shayna, get the house ready for SJ and Shayna’s transplantiversary party, sort through and file the last month and half worth of mail and relax with just the usual work of life.  Today we’ll go to the farmers market where we usually meet up with friends and Shayna plays on the grass with other random kids there.  Then we have a little just-for-fun party at a friend’s.  In the afternoon, we’ll got down town for Halloween and a local church’s trunk-or-treat followed by a Halloween party for kids at the community center.  Next week, I’ll finally have the time to take Shayna on a bus ride.  She loves pointing out the busses, but I hope she won’t be disappointed that it’s not a school bus.  (She wants to ride on a school bus to school with other boys and girls.)  I think we’ll take the bus to my polling station on Tuesday to vote then head over to campus for some duck feeding and a visit to Aba.  Wednesday we resume Shayna’s vaccinations (she hasn't been shot since before transplant).  She knows about shots because she saw Ima and Aba get them.  Since we didn’t flinch or cry, I don’t think she thinks they’re that bad but I know she won’t be happy when it happens to her.

Shayna’s learning her Hebrew letters with this great placemat I got in Pittsburgh.  Here she is studying them.  She can point out 4 letters reliably and likes me to spell her name and Aba by pointing to the letters with her finger.

Graduation

Today Shayna graduated from the Early Childhood Intervention physical therapy program as she has met all her goals and then some.  Post-transplant she went from being 13-months with the gross motor skill of a 9-month-old to 19-months with "advanced" gross motor skills (don't know what the "advanced" exactly means but I sure enjoyed hearing it from professionals about my daughter today).  The whole experience has been wonderful thanks to our great physical therapist Lynn who actually started with Shayna a couple months before transplant.  We will miss Lynn's visits a lot.  Shayna really enjoyed their play time and especially showing off how good she'd gotten with the tricks and games Lynn had previously taught her.

Shayna is also graduating to a toddler bed.  She did great at nap time yesterday and today but fell out of bed at 11pm both of the last 2 nights.  I finally have things pillowed properly to keep her from rolling out but allow her to climb out on her own should she choose to.  Yesterday's nap was the big deal for Shayna as I removed the side of her crib from her room totally so she couldn'y ask for it to be put back on anymore.  She asked about  it, "side, side?"  I told her it was gone because she was a big girl and didn't need it.  She was concerned about this but went along with it.  After Becca read her the last book in bed, we watched the monitor with baited breath.  While she tossed both monkey and lamby out, she never climbed out herself.  She did do a lot a talking about the situation before she finally drifted off.  "side, side," while shaking her head then, "big," etc  We're very proud of her.

Shayan likes to talk about her friends a lot these days.  She tells me that Lana (3-years) swims and plays with Shayna's ball that Shayna shares. ("Lana," "swim," "ball," "share.")  Hannah (also 3) ran around our house yelling. ("aaahhhh" while running then turns to me, "Hannah.")  Shayna took a bath with when his parents watched Shayna and swims with Sawyer.  ("bath," "Sawyer, Sawyer," while nodding her head, and "swim.")  There's a lot more to the conversations than that with my full sentences and talking about what we did or will do and Shayna repeating things.

We had a wonderful time at the Sinkland Farm's Pumpkin Festival this last Saturday with Sawyer, Serena, and their respective families.  I forgot my camera but luckily Sital has a great camera phone and got these shots of us.

Shayna loved the animals and even showed off her amazing strength by climbing the fencing you see, while I spotted her of course.  We saw horses, a cow, goats, turkeys, rabbits (which she reached through to pet), pygmy goats, grown chickens, and best of all baby ducks and chickens.

A much happier than last year Serena and Shayna posing in the same spot with the pumpkins.

Shayna and Nahum enjoy ice cream for lunch.

A year ago Nahum had just completed his living donor evaluation.  We revel each day in how far we've come.

Here are some of Shayna's latest activity videos: video1, video2, and video3.

My Amazing Water Baby

Fridays are my days with Shayna and away from the books so we met up with our usual swimming buddies at the new Christiansburg Aquatic Center.  It wasn't as quiet as we'd hoped as there were 3 buses worth of 4th & 5th graders.  Luckily, Shayna loves to watch other kids play as well as has great confidence in herself so will walk right up to them in the water to see what they're doing.  Her favorite was the kids laying under the bucks (see pic left) waiting for them to fill and dump water on them.  She thought that was hysterical.  Shayna also likes to go between the fun, regular pool and the warm therapy pool.  While were not really allowed to go in there, one of our friends is connected enough that the manager gave the lifeguard the okay for us (poor Shayna's lips were turning blue too).  The pic below shows the nice, gradual ramp the kids like to play on so we spent a lot of time walking up and down (or "in" and "out" as Shayna says).  Now this is the amazing part: She's gotten the concept of "under" (the ball rolled under the bed, the duck is under the water) so today she showed me she could do it to herself.  She would squat or lean forward usually just covering her mouth and/or nose but sometimes her whole face with water and hold her breath for at least 2 seconds at a time!  I've tried to teach her to blow bubbles, which she can more of less do, but holding her breath I didn't think she'd understand until much later.

I guess she just picked it up on her own.  This kid blows my mind every day.  The stronger she gets (and we're about to graduate from physical therapy), the more she experiments with her body and all objects and structures around her.  The more she talks, the more confident she is in herself.  She also must have this unflinching trust that we'll always be there to lend a hand or help when needed because she'll just wonder off on her own.  I guess that could be scary for some folks, but we keep an eye on her and take it all in with pleasure and pride.

Life continues to be good.  SJ's getting bigger and stronger and both Nahum and Shayna are noticing it.  Nahum and I got to feel him kick with our hands for the first time Tuesday night and Shayna seems to notice that my belly is getting bigger.  She also asks to see the baby since I say he's getting bigger.  I'm starting her on the word "huge" so I can keep saying "bigger" then add that he has to get "huge" before he can come out to see her.  Shayna also recognizes the letter A and 2 Hebrew letters.  She seems to understand the concept of 1 and 2 and has been working on 3 in the last couple days.  All I do is talk to her about what we do and she just picks things up or she'll ask about pictures (she's got a place mat with letters and pictures).  Shapes and colors seem to be coming along too.

Having Fun In September

Yay for Friday's and time with Shayna (and nap time after that).  I get to play with Shayna on Fridays instead of study for my upcoming engineering exam (only 5wks left).  Today we met friends at the park then went swimming.  Shayna did some great climbing, a bit of swinging and a little sliding.  We also found lamby in the car when we got to the park (tiny stuffed animal from Israeli family, been lost for a month, so small the head just sticks out of her hand when she carries him around) so he got to do everything with her with many a, "Shayna," and, "Lamby," said along the way.  At the pool, she insisted on going in the jacuzzi.  I got her to play in the regular pool for 1/2 an hour before she climbed out, turned to me, and announced, "all done, hot." As in, I'm all done swimming here and now I'm going to the hot pool.  I love how she knows what she wants and tells me.

Tonight we're trying something new too.  Shayna will be going to her friend Sawyer's house (he's out big swimming buddy and they like each other) while Nahum and I go to a retirement dinner for a colleague.  She's never stayed at another person's house w/o us so I'm curious to see what will happen but also excited to get an adult night out.

I posted some September pictures on facebook and some new videos on youtube (video1, video2, video3).  Enjoy.

Holding Steady and Being Amazing

Shayna's Tuesday labs were good again with just normal liver number fluctuations.  Her EBV load in her blood dropped even more, which was nice to see.  We're still struggling with a strange rash that started behind her right knee a month ago.  Initially it looked like poison ivy (we'd gone blackberry picking a couple hours before I noticed it so that made sense) but it didn't go away with steroid ointment.  I also noticed bumps on her palms and soles which the doc said was probably a virus but couldn't explain the spreading bumps on her body.  The back of the knee began to look fungus like so Pittsburgh said to stop the ointment and wash her in Selsum Blue (the selenium sulfide is an anti-fungal).  This dried her skin to the near cracking-bleeding point so we visited the pediatrician again and went back to steroid ointments Wednesday.  Ped thinks it's a virus like HFMD while Pittsburgh's new thought is it could be something to do with the preventative bacterium she's on, so we knocked one oral med off our list.  Two nights with just the ointment change and her skin was already looking much better.  The important thing through all this is that Shayna has been happy and unaffected except during the first week when she was fussier, had trouble sleeping and didn't eat much.  She has been engaging in many feats each day that show how amazing she is.

We had a precautionary ultrasound Friday for which she laid perfectly still while a stranger jellied and probed her belly.  Granted, I did feed her a light fruit breakfast when she was supposed to be on a 10hr fast (ridiculous on so many levels) and brought my computer with Finding Nemo.  I was blownaway by the fact that she just lay on the table perfectly still the whole time.  

She's also getting to be quite a good climber with the ability to coordinate her hands and feet on irregularly placed steps an other "odd" climbing surfaces.  She's started looking at where she should place her feet next instead of blindly reaching upward.

Her language understanding is increasing at an incredible pace.  One daily conversation usually goes:

Shayna: "Aba", Me: "what about Aba?", Shayna: "bye-bye", Me: "yes, Aba went bye-bye.  Aba went to work"  This is the typical conversation about most people and things Shayna mentions.

Today all 3 of us went on the deck to watch the Apache Helicopter fly over.  I'm holding Shayna and she says: "Aba", Me: "what about Aba?", Shayna looks at Aba furows her brow and thinks hard for a few seconds (you can see in her face she's really pondering how to answer this since the usual answer is not appropriate) "Watches" she declares to her parents' utter delight.  Needless to say, I thought my child was the most brilliant child on earth at that moment.  

In the Market for a Mohel!

For those of you not familiar with Jewish tradition, this means we're having a boy!  We were even able to tell on the ultrasound ourselves.  Shayna came and was fascinated by the pictures on the screen.  I wonder what her little brain thought of us, telling her we were taking pictures with a special camera of the baby inside Ima's belly.  She was also a little concerned about me as she had to be on the table with me the whole time she was in the room or she would cry.  SJ's estimated weight was 13oz +/- 0.9oz.  We're excited to know and I'm excited about the shopping I'll get to do (after I get all of Shayna's stuff packed away properly).

Shayna is doing great.  We had labs today and, while she wiggled much more than usual, she didn't let out a peep.  It was also teaching day for Nahum and Becca.  They each now know how to get Shayna's lab stuff together and where to take her for the blood draw.  Becca also got a tour of the birthing center (they're at the same hospital).  We're all ready for SJ and any issues along the way now.

Shayna's physical therapy is almost done.  The only thing she can't do is climb onto a straight-backed (dining room) chair so we're still doing a lot of climbing and crawling exercises in addition to the core strength bouncing and jumping.  She's well ahead of the curve as far as language goes with well over 50 words, some in both Hebrew and English.  She likes to tell us about everything she does and sees.  She'll even read some of her books to herself, pointing out the different animals (I heard her for the first time yesterday).  She loves books and loves to study each page of whatever the current favorite is (right now it's any monkey, dog, or new baby book; though, any animal book will do).  For those of you who aren't on FB, you should check out our latest youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM-sXfguaUk. Shayna also likes to help me in the kitchen these days.  I measure the ingredients then she pours them in the bowl.  She's also good at handing me eggs but not so much the stirring.  Here's a picture of us with our Rosh Hashanah challah.

Half Liver Life

Shayna has now lived a day longer with her Aba's liver than she lived with her own.  She celebrated by throwing rocks with friends and swimming in a creek at our end of summer picnic.  Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera to the picnic but I did get a nice shot of her with her friend Hannah at the neighborhood bbq.  (Shayna is always talking about Hannah.)

Just being cute with her balls.

Awesome Numbers (finally)

After 2-1/2 months of a gradual climb in all of Shayna's liver numbers, we saw a significant drop in them with Wednesday's labs.  While not alarmingly high, we would have had to do a biopsy if they had stayed in that slightly elevated state much longer.  She's also still growing quite well.  Her weight is about 25%-ile, height about 10%-ile, and her head circumference is off the chart (literary).

SJ is doing well.  I ask Shayna, "Where is Ima's baby?" and she pats me (she tries for the belly but any torso part she can get to works for her) and says, "Belly."  I feel stronger kicks all the time.  We will find out the gender some time in the 2nd half of September.

Free Candy for Being Cute

Shayna and I went to the hardware store yesterday to get a hacksaw to cut a pipe.  It's a local store so has a lot of older gentlemen standing around to help so I asked.  He showed me and got a grin out of Shayna at the same time.  Shayna then practiced her "running" while I paid.  She'll go about 6' from me, get my attention, then move slightly quicker than a walk towards me with a big grin.  I guess that just put her cuteness over the top as the gentleman ask, "does she like candy? Bring her over here and have her pick out some candy."  I'm thinking one little piece or something but no, it's little bags of candy that are quite large for a 1-1/2-year-old.  He got his money out so he could go pay when we finish picking and I can't say no because I can tell he's really pleased to see such a cute kid and wants to do this for her.  She likes fish so I pick a bag of Ju Ju Fish (gummies) and hand it to her.  She's very proud of herself for what she has even though she doesn't know it's candy.  She also seems to understand this nice man gave it to her for when I tell her to say "toda" to him (thank you in hebrew is better than no thank you at all), she walks straight up to him, looks him in the face and says, "Da!" Needless to say at that point I was in full agreement on her deserving the candy as well, which we all have been enjoying.  These are pictures from today with a mouth full of a fish and what's left of the bag in her hand.

 

To get her used to SJ, I bought her a baby doll Monday which she enjoys a lot.

Becca showed her how to carry it well so....

...she of course had to go admire herself with her baby in the mirror.

She's also working on learning to use a spoon (the fork was nearly mastered on vacation).  Yogurt seems to be the best as she doesn't scoop yet and yogurt coats and/or fills the spoon easily.

It's a little messy but I love the mess as she seems to enjoy herself so much.

I'm studying for the Professional Engineers licensing exam that takes place at the end of October so I'm extremely busy these days trying to get my brain back up to speed.  It'll take a couple weeks of intense work to get back to any sort of former abilities as I need to spend 3-4 hrs of intense study everyday until then working on it.  I'm up to 2, but they're a slow 2 yet.  This is also getting in the way of posts as spare minutes are devoted to study but I'll try to keep y'all up-to-date as much as possible.

"Rock, rock, rock, rock."

We're in Boulder, CO now and I don't have regular internet access so can't do many updates (Nahum is putting Shayna to bed so I sneaked out to use his computer).  Thought I'd let you know we're doing well and having fun.  Today we drove up Boulder Canyon to the 4th of July Trail Head and Shayna so thoughtfully pointed out 90% of the rocks to us on the way.  She LOVES rocks.  She likes climbing on the big ones, walking over the medium ones and picking up the little ones to throw, usually in water.  We did a 3 mile hike to a little waterfall on the way to Diamond Lake.  The lake was our original destination but being green to hiking with kid we were happy to make it 3/4 of the way.  Shayna LOVES water as well so was more than happy to enjoy a lunch looking at the falls while sitting on a boulder.  She made sure all the other visitors saw the falls too.  "Hiya," with a wake and then she'd point at the falls to make sure the hikers admired the wonder as well.

Shayna and I head to Pueblo tomorrow for some time with the grandparents, both honorary and official.  We'll be back up Thursday so Michael and I can go mountain biking while Melinda takes care of Shayna.  We've got social plans packed into every other spare second, including 1 more family hike and 2 longer hikes for Nahum and several dinners.

Here are some pictures of what we did in Seattle.

Shayna took advantage of every second with Melinda so she had a constant play companion.

Shayna likes beds, even doll beds apparently as she kicked to poor baby doll out of her's.

Looking out over the water near our campsite in Washington Park near Anacortes, WA.

Shayna was in her element with a full day of sailing in the San Juan Islands.  She did take a 2 1/2hr nap in the cabin but when she was awake she pointed out all the waves, birds and rocks she could see and would just stand and watch the water.

Grandpa Michael did the honory wheel barrow rides.  Melinda even got her turn; though, Shayna wouldn't let Melinda ride with out her.

Chasing Grandma Melinda was also a hit.

We got a visit from the neighborhood peacock.  Uncle David promptly scooped Shayna up and whisked her outside to get a glimpse.  The peacock then hung around for the next few hours.

Shayna's Special Announcement

Hi All. This is Shayna filling in for Ima as she's a little tired from all the work she's been doing lately and I just finished my typing course so had to try out my new skills.

I'm wonderful of course, but I don't need to tell all of you that. We're in Seattle, WA at Uncle David and Aunt Vickie's house. Uncle David is just as funny looking as Ima said. Grandma and Grandpa O are also here to spoil me. We had a wonderful weekend camping, sailing, and hiking but on to the bigger news.

I have a little secret to share with the y'all: Ima is making me a brother or a sister!!! My new baby is due at the end of January 2011. With me being so wonderful and all, I'm sure Ima and Aba are going to let me pick out the name for the new addition and I've got just the perfect one: Shayna Jr. We'll call it SJ for short. Ima misplaced the 12wk 2days pictures so she'll post those later but SJ looks beautiful and healthy.

June Pictures

I finally added captions to June's pictures so here's the link for all you Shayna junkies.

June Pic's

The Amazing Growing Baby

For all you chart and numbers people out there, here's Shayna's latest growth chart from 12-months to now.  The astounding thing is the 330g gain between this week and last week.  I wouldn't have believed it except we had a doc apt on Tuesday that show her at 9.8kg making the 9.91kg (21#13.5oz) today plausible.  (That's a jump from the 17%-ile to the 24%-ile.)  She doesn't show any obvious fat rolls from the gain and her belly actually has looked smaller this week (her large liver piece still makes her belly girth much larger than normal) so I'm wondering if she got taller too.  She's definitely getting stronger as her climbing skills and little shoulder muscles are much more evident.  My guess (from past experience) is she'll hold steady and take a couple weeks to actually reach the 10kg (22#) mark.

On the internal numbers side, things looked good this week.  We just checked liver numbers this week and they were holding steady with the last two weeks making both Shayna's doctors and parents happy.  If the numbers go up we're looking at another possible rejection episode and, with her immune suppressing drugs low, there's a distinct possibility of that.  Right now we're fighting the EBV (a virus that causes a harsh flu in normal people with the worst case leading to mono; in an immune suppressed person it can lead to EBV hepatitis where the virus attacks the liver and worst case leads to lymphoma (cancer)) so we've had to drop her immune suppressing drugs to try to get the active virus level in her blood stream down before it attacks organs/tissue.

On the fun side, we did a little family outing today of the Blacksburg Gardens Tour and saw some beautiful gardens that people have put tremendous work into.  My favorite was the yard with lots of curving beds with colorful, textureful plants that looked like wild organization.  Shayna liked that one too but for another reason; it had a water fountain.  Her second favorite was the one with rocks and dirt she could play in.  She likes to show us the rocks and sit in the dirt, picking up fistfuls to pour on her legs.  She also really started saying "Aba" and "Ima" today quite distinctly and in context.  She's been able to say both for a while but just didn't want to until today.  Nahum turns into a little puddle on the floor every time she says Aba.

Bubble beard baby from 6/25.

Ups and Downs

Labs are back at every week for a little as Shayna's EBV went from it's holding pattern in the mid 60,000s to 170,000.  We only check the EBV every other week but we have to watch the liver enzyme numbers weekly in case they start to elevate, which indicates damage is being done to the liver.  We're back on the Valcyte (yucky-tasting anti-viral) but totally off prednisone (the steroid that suppresses her immune system on top of the lifetime immunosuppressing Prograf).  That's the bad news.

The good news for all you Shayna fans is that I've got 5 new Shayna videos on my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/mrsarava and my husband bought me a new car today.  We are now the proud owners of a 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE.  For all you non-facebook people I posted May pics last weekend and am working on sorting the June pics of the princess.

It's the baby's bath time so I better get going.

So Big

Happy 16-month Birthday Shayna!

We did her monthly measurements and boy did she grow.  She is 440g (15.5oz) heavier, 2.5cm (1") taller, and her head is 1/2cm larger since last month.

Ht = 73cm (28.75"), since it's height not length it doesn't work in the 0-36m growth chart
Wt = 9.50kg (20lb 15oz), 16%-ile
HC = 49cm (19.25"), about 98%-ile or off the chart as the chart only goes to 97%-ile

Her achievements for the week: She learned to kick her feet in the pool.  It took a month of working with her (only swim 1 or 2 times a week) but she finally understand the command, "kick your feet."  She does more of a dolphin than a flutter kick.  She signed, "potty" to me for the first time when she had to go and didn't know where it was (we were at a friend's).  While she'd started in her pants, she finished in the potty so I was still quite impressed.  She's done it once more but that's it.  Maybe another month and we'll be there.

Good News from Pittsburgh

We had our six-month clinic appointment in Pittsburgh Monday.  As usual, Gerry and Judy made Pittsburgh home by hosting us even though they just got back from 5 weeks over seas.  Since they've taken her as an honorary granddaughter, I think they enjoy our visits a little too.

Shayna's favorite thing about the visit was the stairs at Gerry and Judy's house as they have a 2nd floor so she got lots of stair practice and improved her down technique a lot.  There is also a 1/2" step into the kitchen that once she tripped on it and realized it was there became another favorite.  She practiced stepping into the kitchen and out of the kitchen.  It was so much fun to watch her walk back and forth and get better at handling the slight elevation change.  (When we get a chance to watch her discover things or practice skills without her seeing us, it is so amazing and fun to watch how much effort she puts into things and how quickly she learns and enjoys herself.)

Ima and Aba's favorite things were getting to talk to the doctor face-to-face, having 1/2 her meds dropped (especially that yucky anti-viral Valcyte), and having labs moved to every other week (from weekly).  It was nice to have the Dr. Sindhi give us such a thorough explanation of where he thought Shayna was and his opinion on our EBV issues.  Plus the fact that it was all positive; he thinks Shayna is doing great and he also stressed really treating her like a normal child with a little extra hand washing.  (It's nice to hear that what I do is good.)  Dropping so many meds just makes every day so much easier and the thought of any travel much less intimidating.  (I had no idea how we were going to get the Valcyte in her while camping this summer short of having my dad and uncle perform various skits for us every morning and evening.)  If the labs continue to be good, we could be moved to monthly by the end of the summer or sooner.  It is so wonderful to be within the normal range AND on the less complicated side of normal too.  It is also nice to see how happy the doctor and nurses are to see a happy, health, thriving toddler whose life they transformed.

Shayna's vocabulary is slowly expanding.  She says "eye".  She surprised me today by saying it and getting my attention to a picture in a book with lots of eyes (the bugs where hiding for miss spiders surprise birthday party).  Shayna wanted to make sure that she had identified the things on the page correctly and was very proud of herself when I agreed that they were indeed eyes.  She says both "hi" and "high".  While she says them in context (as a greeting and when I push her high on the swing), I really wonder how her little brain differentiates between the two.  I spotted her first little molar pointing its pointy head through her upper left gums last Tuesday.  It was nice to finally see progress after 2 months of chewing on fingers and drooling.  She has bumps on the bottom on both sides so she should be able to eat steaks soon.  She runs now.  Her upper body gets going a little faster than her legs so if she's not careful (eg we're playing and she's excited or she tries to run too far at one go) she does a face plant.  Her favorite place to practice is our closet (it's a big walk-through).  She goes over to the bathroom door, hoots at me to get my attention then runs through the closet to our bedroom, looks at me for praise and turns around to do it again.

Nahum and are doing well.  Nahum is currently trying to get though 80 proposals (like the ones he puts so much effort into himself) because he will be sitting on the panel judging proposals for NASA's Chandra X-Ray Satellite next week in Boston.  I joined the swim team last week at the B-burg Aquatics Center.  Since my friend is on a "competing" team, I am much more excited about actually practicing.  We're fairly evenly matched, but she's been doing a much better job than I at getting to the pool so I'm going to have to start working hard if I hope to beat her at anything.  I'm reading my first Danielle Steel novel.  It's low grade writing but the characters are all nice people so I think I'll finish it.

Pictures of the Princess:

6/2 Shayna plays with her toys in her beloved kiddie pool in the back yard.  That's my current favorite 4-5pm activity.  I moved to pool to the deck (gnats in the grass) so I can just sit in a deck chair and watch her play while I read.  She loves to climb in and out and fill and pour out her stacking cups.

6/5 Shayna enjoys an apricot on the kitchen counter.  She'll eat 1/2 of it then give it back to me.  I also have to be careful of the pits.  If she bites it before I take it out the apricot gets flung violently away from her.

6/5: Enjoying the hose since her pool got over run by older kids (2 1/2, 3, and 5-years).  She loved watching the water run down her arm or trying to drink from the hose.

6/11: Enjoying a snack while I get dressed after a play date swim at the Aquatics Center.  I had to fish her out of the water several times as usual as she still likes to walk in to her armpits but has trouble always staying on her feet.  At least she doesn't cry about it.  Just coughs a little, recovers for a few seconds on my lap, then goes to play again.

6 Month Anniversary

A lot happens in 6 months.  I handed a very sick baby over to a team of medical professionals for a life saving, 10-hour surgery.  Yet, only 6 months before that, Nahum and I had a healthy baby girl, for all we knew.  I was getting ready to go back to work and start Shayna in daycare.  6 months can sure be a long journey.  Thankfully these last six have been a beautiful journey with a vibrant, strong, independent little Shayna just bursting with life.

We had a magical water weekend over all 3 days.  It started with a little hike at Mountain Lake with friends down to the water (it’s a “little” low) where Shayna and I went swimming.  It was a bit chilly but Shayna loved splashing, stomping, and wading in to her chest.  Sunday I set up her kiddie pool which was shallower but colder.  She climbed in and out, stomped, splashed and laughed until I decided she was getting too cold.  Later that evening we had a thunderstorm pass over so I took Shayna out in the rain in just her little onesie.  She held her hands up as the rain hit her and just grinned at me then took off at a trot down the driveway pausing to look back to grin at me or stomp in the water.  Yesterday we met friends at Claytor Lake (a damn on the New River) for some swim beach action.  Shayna was so excited by the boys swimming around that she tried to join them.  (She thinks holding my hand will get her anywhere.)  She would shriek and splash whenever they got near.  Today we continued the swimming trend and met another friend and her 15-monther at the Blacksburg Aquatics Center for some play.  They’ve got a really wide ramp and shallow swim area leading to the lap pool where the kids can play.  Shayna loved walking up and down the ramp.  When she held the hand rail I didn’t mind so much as she could keep herself from going under, but she’d just head out down the middle of the ramp at times with no concern for the fact that at armpit depth she couldn’t keep her head up if she fell.  Needless to say, she did go under a few times.  She also fussed every single time we had to leave the water.

She has a couple other recent achievements that I’m quite proud of.  She can go down the little and big slides at the parks by herself.  She does it feet first on her belly.  This helps both in not losing control on the way down (she’s already laying down) and she can get off the bottom of the slide easily too.  The other amazing thing she did was say, “hep, hep,” without prompting this morning for me to come help her go peepee in the potty.  That's the first pre-pee, verbal communication I've ever gotten.

My fun was of course all those things with Shayna but I also had a swim lesson on Friday with a friend and a good coach.  It was wonderful to get some simple, helpful guidance on all 4 strokes.

Last Thursday, Shayna and Becca play in the rain.

Becca is teaching Shayna to stomp in the puddles. She caught on right away and has turned bath time into a little bathroom hurricane.

Shayna checks out the hail pieces we grabbed for her.  It was her first hail experience.  She melted them in her fist and ate other pieces.

Shayna, Patricia, Hannah and Fredrick splash around in Mountain Lake on Saturday.

Shayna's 2nd dip was al-natural with some swimming.  Here she is hiking back on the docks that used to float.  Check out her awesome new shoes.

Relaxing with Aba in the shade and watching the boys swim at Smith Mountain Lake.