My Sweet Daughter

"It's time to go to the hospital so Monkey can listen to Elijah's vagina," said Shayna as we headed out the door Wednesday afternoon.  I love what 2-yr-olds put together.  1) We were going to the hospital and I had attached Monkey (Shayna's stuffed monkey and favorite toy) to the backpack as a comfort item.  2) We listen to Elijah's heart beat regularly as a precaution in case he has a tachycardia episode.  Shayna likes to help and listen as well.  3) We had to take Shayna to our local hospital at home for some unrinary tract tests involving a catheter and radioactive dye.  She remembers well the catheter and is still talking about "the lady looked at my vagina." (It was not a pleasant experience for the poor child.)

Nahum and Shayna finally got home just after 5pm after a very long, uneventful day at the hospital.  The ultrasound of her liver looked good and the liver numbers had gone down.  We'll repeat labs on Monday in Virginia and just enjoy the rest of our visit until then.

I was wrong about the spots on Shayna.  They've doubled since yesterday but I'm posting a little video of her in the bath post hospital to show you that she's still in good spirits (It's loading right now but if you go to my youtube channel in 15min it'll be there.  www.youtube.com/mrsarava. Just sort my videos by date to find it.).  She was quite a trouper today and didn't give her Aba any trouble, just the medical professionals.  She knew what was happening from the moment she woke up with, "remember we went to the hospital?  We have to go back to the hospital and do more labs."   She doesn't seem to let it affect the rest of her life as she enjoyed our evening visitors and their little dog then jumping around with me on the deck/patio like it was a normal, fun, toddler day.

Here some pictures of Shayna and Nahum from the beach trip with Yael and Kobi.

Enjoying Socialism

Shayna got a fever Tuesday morning (that made us cancel our trip to the north) followed by a sparse, full-body rash that afternoon.  The fever went down a little by Wednesday but the rash was spreading so after nap time we went to see a doctor.

Schneider Childrens Hopsital is 25 minutes from us, is a quality facility, and was our best bet for getting to see a doctor who can evaluate the situation properly.  Israel has a lovely national health care system so the emergency room is not crowded with the uninsured, is a nice place for actual emergencies, and is staffed by quality professionals (unlike the crazy ignorance we've encountered in the states).  (Shayna had the best IV insertion I've ever seen.)  The rash and fever we now know are probably (cultures pending) from a common virus in the enterovirus family.  It probably made it's presence know because Shayna is immunosuppressed but since it could be masking other (bacterial) infections we're doing a round of iv antibiotics.  Nahum is currently back at the hospital this morning (we're 7hrs ahead of EST) for a 2nd round of labs and the 2nd round of antibiotics.  (I'm at home with Elijah.)

We went AMA last night (and are of course very proud of it).  They wanted to admit her for observation in the off chance there was some sort of bacterial infection AND the antibiotics administered weren't doing anything.  This means pour sleep for Shayna with the night-time prodding and no sleep for Nahum because of something that is highly improbable.  With the hospital so close and sleep so essential for recovery (and good descision making), we took her home.  What they were worried about in the night didn't happen.  Shayna only had a slight fever this morning and the rash is starting to go down.

With the virus resolving, we'll probably still be Pittsburgh bound when we get home since Shayna's liver numbers are worse than they were the week we left for Israel.  We're supposed to get into Roanoke Sunday morning.

Beautiful Israel

Vacation is a lot of work with two small kids but oh so worth it when you see their eyes light up with a new experience.  Okay, Shayna does that mainly.  (Elijah lights up when people talk to him but that's pare for his age group.) 

We've been enjoying lots of Saba and Savta time at Lea and Dov's complex.  There's a playground across the street which Dov takes her to and we play in their swimming pool ever other visit.  Shayna walks into their aparment and says one of two things.  "Oh, there's Saba Dov," or "Where's Saba Dov?"  She reaches up to hold his finger when they walk down the cooridor and he melts each time. 

We've been to the beach twice and have two more trips planned.  The first time her eyes just about popped out of her head when she spotted the Mediteranean water stretching off to the horizon.  In her accessable memory it was the first time she'd seen the sea (we went sailing last summer so she saw and enjoyed it then but that's more a memory in pictures).  She loved the waves washing over her feet and the feel of her body when I held her in the water letting the waves float her up and down.  Nahum and Shayna built sandcastles until it got cold enough that she was shivering as she dug.  At which point she cried as Nahum took her away from the beach to go home.  Discovering the world with your 2-year-old is such a beautiful, simple thing.  Elijah alowed me to play a little with Shayna by taking a beach nap between two towel, other than that it's not the greatest spot for an infant.  This afternoon we'll go meet some friends of Nahum's and their 3 kids at another beach.  With more arms to hold Elijah, I hope I can swim a bit.

Beach visit 1.

Burrying her foot and building "sand castles" with Aba.

Can anyone guess what this is?

Beach visit 2.

Elijah was mildy interested but reallly looking forward to his sling nap.

We didn't pack her enough food so she got ice cream for dinner of which Elijah sampled and enjoyed.

We took a 1 1/2 hr drive to the south just outside Beer Sheva to Kibutz Hatsarim to visit Nahum's Aunt Edna (Shayna is named after Edna's mother and Elijah's middle name Yaakov is after her father), her husband Uri, and all of their family.  Shayna and Elijah were again traveling saints and Shayna continues to fall right in with whoever we're visiting.  She adored playing with the kids.  Since her Hebrew understanding is improving, she knew a little of what they were saying but she only speaks in English so they new nothing of what she was said.  Still they had a blast.  The youngest is 6 so being older they doted on Shayna and she ate it up.

Riding with Uri.  She loved that little "motorcycle."

She does that everywhere we go.  If Nahum and I are relaxed, she just follows suit and treats the new people like old friends.  Her attituded has made visiting with Nahum's brothers' families easy and fun.  She has 5 cousins there ranging in age from 10 to 17 and she adores playing with all of them.

Running with Ben.  He's played with her enthusiastically since we stepped off the plane.

As long as it's after 6am (we have an earlier riser), it's so fun to hear her door open, her little feet pad into our room on the tile floors, and she says, "it's Ima," or "it's Aba," then climbs into bed to lay between us.  She finishes with a, "wanna go to the park?"  She loves living so close to two little parks here.  The parks are more varied that the cookie cutter ones we find in most places at home and also more challenging so she loves it.  She'll also just sit on the swing with one of us pushing her for up to 1/2 an hour.

It's been a delight to watch Elijah develope here as time is measured with a vacation start and end date in place.  He has become so much more observant of and fascinated by the world around him.  He loves being on his belly and lifting his head to look around.  Even his vocabulary of baby noises has exploded and I'm starting to catch onto what some of the noises mean.  His most obvious is a little squawky yell that says, "i'm awake. come get me."  Then he just lays there and waits for someone to get him.  I've never seen such a patient baby and he's been like that since the day we brought him home.  If he's not 20lbs yet he will be by the time we get home on his 4-month birthday.  Luckily, he's also very strong and the increasing head control makes it easier to carry our little "beefcake" around.  He continues to shows no interest in rolling but loves to stand and sit on our laps while he tries to control his heavy head long enough to make eye contact and grin.  He can scoot from one end of his crib to the other so there's no more leaving him on elevated surfaces unattended anymore.  He's still easily overwelmed by toys (the flashier the freakier) but delights in watching people and all things outside (trees swaying in the breaze, flags flapping).

We both find so much joy in our children that every little thing they do makes us smile, even when it shouldn't.  (We also have a sweetly mischevious 2-yr-old.)

Shabat dinner.

Our wonderful tiny bathtub we use as an indoor kiddie pool.

Lag Ba'Omer.  Some celebration/holiday where everyone collects wood and makes a bonfire.

Ba'Aretz

It was a smooth trip after all and we all arrived safely and semi-rested about 4:30pm Israel time (9:30 EST).  On the plane, we got a bassinet for Elijah and made a bed for Shayna under the bassinet.  Both slept like angels and Shayna didn't scream once.  She listened to me when I asked her to be quite when she was starting to fuss each time.  Nahum's brothers and their families met us at the airport.  What a beautiful site to see family after so long.  We ever saw Savta Lea and Saba Dov in the evening.

Our apartment in wonderful.  Shayna's sleeping in the bomb shelter room (one comes standard in Israeli construction for each apartment or house).  They both are asleep now so we better get to bed ourselves.

Nothing Says, "Ready for International Travel," like, "Shayna Needs a Liver Biopsy."

I wrote this at 8pm on Thursday May 12, 2011 but blogger was down for maintenance so I'm posting it now.

I've been wanting to do a quick update for while so I'd at least have something recent before our trip to Israel.  Well, there's nothing like a little stress to make me want to write.  Since I'm short on mental capacity and need to preserve a little for some packing/planning tonight, I'll give a short version of the last 36 hours.  Keep in mind, we're planning on leaving for Israel this Saturday.

We did labs with Shayna on Monday.  Yesterday afternoon I received a call from her stand in coordinator Nicole, "Shayna's [liver numbers] are elevated.  The doctors want her to have a liver biopsy."  Luckily, I've learned how to function well in a dead panic.  We were able to schedule a biopsy in Roanoke for 8:15am today with a 6:15 check in time.  Nahum and I packed the kids into the car at 5:30am and the 3 of us set off on this mornings adventure.  Elijah chose today as the day not to sleep well in his car seat but Shayna was an angel with the nurses getting her ready.  Once Shayna was out, Elijah and I went to our room upstairs on the pediatric floor so he could nap (a whopping 25 minutes after being up for 3 hours).  As expected, Shayna announced her return well before I could see her (that girl has some lungs).  (She had to be carried back as she tried to climb out of the crib to escape the nurses and look for me.)  This was followed by Dr. O, "We couldn't get the biopsy."  He couldn't get a clear enough picture around all the big veins in the portion of an adult liver in a toddler's body and the people with the special ultrasound equipment aren't available until Monday.  I then track down Nicole, she works quickly to get us another biopsy appointment for tomorrow (Friday) in Pittsburgh at 10am with an 8:30 checkin.  (As I lay out the new plan for Nahum, I am greatly relieved when he tells me he's coming with us.)  With the new plan in place, we head home to wait for the LFTs taken this morning with her pre-surgery labs in the hope that they will be better.  Halliluiah!  All 3 numbers improved enough to cancel the new biopsy, but the 3rd not quite enough to totally get us out of the woods.  We will be doing labs again on Saturday morning and packing like we're all going to Israel.  The lab results will probably come back as we're driving to the airport or checking in.  At that point one of 2 things will happen: 1) the numbers will have continued to improve and we will all happily board the plane.  2) The numbers will be worse.  A biopsy will be required.  Elijah and I will board the plane and Nahum and Shayna will go back home to go to Pittsburgh Sunday for a biopsy Monday.  They will then join Elijah and I later in the week.  The airline will move the tickets but will move us to a day that's convenient for them.  With just space needed for 2 people, this will allow more flexibility in the date but they would probably come a full week later according to what we learned today.

So, as you can see, our life continues to hold a small bit of excitement.  At least Elijah took an unusual 2hr nap in the afternoon so I could nap also.  

Besides that Elijah continues to be a beautiful, healthy, smiley baby who adores his Ima and Shayna gets smarter every day.

My wonderful thumb sucker.  I love it that he sucks his thumb as it's such an effective self-soothing mechanism.

Check out the mobil.  He gets freaked out by it pretty quickly but it's fun to watch him watch it before that point.

We spend a lot of time out side playing with water and a little time peeing in the grass (no pants).

Spring Flowers

My previously planted tulips are recovering from being twice chomped on by the deer.  Almost 1/2 of the flowers survived and another quarter where 1/2 eaten.  I'm curious if the half eaten ones will bloom at all and if so what they'll look like.  I planted some daffodils and crocuses that spent the winter in the garage (I'd meant to plant them with Shayna last November but the weather got cold and Elijah got big).  Today one of the crocuses actually bloomed so there should be several more to come.  The daffodils are coming up so they're another garden curiosity.  It was a wonderful warm March day when all were planted.  It was great to play in the dirt again and is now worth it with the one flower.  I've still got a lot of front garden spring cleaning to do but I'm enjoying it all at a leisurely pace.

I got Shayna to play in the dirt with me 2 weeks ago when we cleared a 5'x5' spot in the raised beds and put beet and sugar pea seeds in.  Shayna didn't really get the seed part but she enjoyed climbing in and out and using her "little scooper" (a trowel) to move dirt around (she still loves dirt).  The seeds have finally started popping up.  Since she likes to "walk on the mud" I'm going to wait until they're a little taller and more obvious before I show them to her so she'll be less likely to trod on them (she stays off my flowers quite well when shown where they are).  I love watching things grow so I check on it all daily.

Right now Shayna's in bed with a fever, but other than today she's been wonderful.  She likes to nurse her stuffed animals when I nurse Elijah.  We have 2 boppies so we each have one wrapped around us.  She also will carry them over her shoulder while patting their butt/back like I do to Elijah.  We set up Elijah's crib and she views it as another place for her to jump.  She'll climb up there when I'm changing Elijah's diaper (changing table and crib are back to back) and he watches her in fascination as she jumps around and talks to me.  We went swimming for the first since January.  It was wonderful to play with her in the water again.  She's more hesitant than she was last summer/fall but also more skilled once she relaxes.  She blows bubbles and kicks well.  Her favorite allowable thing is jumping to me (which is more of a jump than a fall these days) and non-allowable is going down the last 3' feet of the huge slide there (I splash water up it when it's off and she slides down to me until we're told it's not allowed, silly rules).  Her monthly lab numbers continue to be good.  Her EBV level is at it's lowest since it shot up 2 months post-transplant so we're hoping to drop another med in the near future.  We don't know what's wrong today but suspect a virus that's been going around.  She got a lot of lap time with both Ima and Aba today to make up for feeling crumby.

Elijah's a growing champ.  At his 2-month appointment on the 8th he was above the 98%-ile in head circumference at 14.5", height/length at 25" (2" growth in 1 month), and weight at 15#12oz (6#3oz gain since birth).  We weighed him at home this week and he's now over 16.5lb.  I was kind of hoping he wouldn't double his weight by 3 months but it looks like I'm gonna have a 19lb 3-monther anyway.  He's now in 6-9m clothing.  His sleep continues to improve as long as he's not stuffy.  The last week was pretty rough as he kept getting stuffy from reflux (he also started spitting up a lot last Saturday so something changed).  He wanted to sleep but couldn't breath so started waking at night every 1.5-2hrs by the end of the week and was only napping for 30-45minutes at a time.  He didn't want to wake up but if you can't breath you have to wake and do something.  He was still relatively smiley and happy even when his voice started to get horse Thursday from lack of sleep (he cries very little).  I started nose drops every 2-3hrs yesterday and he slept from 7:30pm-3am, 3:15-6:15, and 6:30-8:30am.  He and I were both so much happier today.  He even took a 3hr nap in the afternoon.  Hopefully the trend will continue with another good night tonight.  He loves to talk, coo and smile at anyone near by.

We changed our summer plans from 3 months of work in Israel to 3 weeks of just vacation.  We've rented an apartment near Nahum's parents and plan to spend lots of time visiting friends and family and the beach.  It got to be too much work for Nahum to coordinate everything such that he would have no time left for his research until June after we were settled and that's too much to sacrifice right now.  (They're currently debating whether or not to postpone the fellowship or just take it back and make him apply again for 2 years from now.)  As he works all the time (6 days a week anyway), I'm really looking forward to having him around for 3 full weeks.

Here are a few pictures from this month.  For some more (including one with me in it), check out this.

April 5: He could almost hold his head up. We're also still in agreement that he looks a lot like my brother Aaron as a baby crossed with some traits from Nahum's father.

Shayna was happily playing with Nahum when I stuck the baby in for a picture.

April 14: Cool dude getting some vitamin D.

Shayna can put her shades on by herself.

It's snowing and blowing

We were supposed to spend the day outside at the farmers market and international festival (that our friend works really hard to put together every year), but the weather has not cooperated this year (last year was HOT and sunny).  Luckily, Shayna's friend Hannah came by to keep us entertain this morning (and her mom Yael and baby brother Noah) and it warmed up enough later for Elijah and I to get out of the house.  While Nahum and Shayna napped, Elijah and I enjoyed the festival (it was moved in doors).  (Nice work, Jenny!)  I enjoyed the outing itself as well.  It's so much more relaxed going out with #2, plus he sleeps better even with bumpy sidewalks.

The main excitement in our life has been Elijah and sleep, or lack there of.  Last Friday/Saturday he stopped sleeping during the day.  Catnaps here and there totaling ~2-3hr and his night sleep was getting worse.  Over the week, nights improved (still up every 3-4 hrs but he went back to sleep each time) but the days were the same.  After trying all soothing techniques known to man, I began to wonder if we weren't interfering with his sleep by doing them.  Sure enough he just wanted to be left alone and now, when tired, all I do is put him in bed, he squawks a couple times then goes to sleep.  His longest night stretches are reaching 5-6hrs also.  He's turning back into my easy baby again plus he's all smiles at me when awake.  He even gave Nahum and I his first chuckles today.

I've gotten too far behind on pictures but here's a few that the non-FBers haven't seen as they're been posted by my phone.  I just decided to skip ahead to March as far as updating my FB albums so here y' go.

March 30: Elijah at 7 1/2 wks.