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.