Happy New Year....

...and welcome to battle of the bedtime.  I don't care what day Shayna was born (Feb 27) because she is officially a 2-yr-old by attitude.  I love that she can get out of bed in the morning (it means I can stay in bed a few more minutes and she doesn't have to cry) and after nap; however, she has been freely getting out of bed at nap and night time.  It took 6 placements in bed to get her to fall asleep at nap time (no talking/scolding/scowling/etc, just pick her up and put her back in), but I'm on at least number 8 (this number has been increasing since I first started (final count: about 14 over 80 minutes and she's finally out)) for tonight.  I'm tired but I can't get mad since it's normal toddler behavior.  She's trying to assert herself and have control and it takes every ounce of strength not to laugh at her engagement attempts.

She has really blossomed in the last month from Dec 1 to the start of the new year.  Four word sentences are no longer tongue twisters but said fluidly.  She's getting good at using present and past tense correctly.  She grew 1.5cm (5/8in) and 400g (14oz) to the 22nd and 60th %-tiles, respectively.  Climbing in and out of the ball pit (see video from last post) has beefed up her upper body finally.  We had a lab scare at the beginning of Dec but both lab results since have been good, including the EBVirus coming down even with the lower dose of anitviral meds.  We both got sick last week after a 2-yr-old b-day party the week before.  She and I both had a cough and achiness.  Since she never sick, I took her to the doctor to make sure it was just a mild virus where he discovered her first ever ear infection.  I was so thankful I took her in and fell more in love with her pediatrician that before.  He didn't want her to start antibiotics right away since everything was very mild but trusted us enough to give us the prescription should things deteriorate per his description.  She (and I) has since gotten better and we didn't have to add to her medicine regime to get there.

SJ's due date is still Jan 29 per me and Feb 3 per docs and I'm not going to fight them on it as is gives me an extra 5 days to go into labor per their due date.  I've been reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and learning a lot more about what goes on during both natural births and hospital births.  It's quite fascinating but is also making me wish for a nice relaxed home birth.  At least we've got our doula to help us fight off the crazy medical system.  I can pre-register at the hospital starting Thursday and SJ can arrive anytime after next week until Feb 18.  Personally I'm hoping for him to wait until at least the end of the month since I've got quite a long to-do list.

My 30th birthday was wonderful as Grandma Carole entertained Shayna for the morning as I tackled the biggest thing on my list: my office.  I did 3 mornings at the beginning of Dec and have done 2 1/2 mornings with Carole's visit.  I love just going to the door and admiring the clean floor.  I've even inspired Nahum to work on his side.  Hopefully the next post with have beautiful before and after shots.

I'd love to share some pictures but I need someone to show me how to find them on this mac.  I know how to go from iPhoto to facebook but not from Safari to the file like I did on a PC which is how blogger seems to work.

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.