A funny trick!

Austin and Adah have discovered a new trick and Adah just loves it!!!

Eden's MRIs

Eden had an MRI on Jan. 2nd.  We were supposed to go to IC on the 21st of Dec. but because of the weather (after we drove through Waterloo and took the exit to CR) we decided to turn around and reschedule the apt.  So Jan. 2nd was our make-up apt.  The MRI showed some drainage but he was aiming to have the valve open a little more so they opened it to 1.5 (it was at 2.0) which is what a typical patient with a shunt is open to for their lifetime (don't ask me what the number really represents).  He's hoping to get it draining a little better with that number.  We will come back in two weeks to make sure everything is stable!  Read on to hear about that apt.

Eden had an MRI today just to see how everything was going since her surgery and since he opened the valve a couple weeks ago.  I was really nervous she wouldn't hold still enough because then she would have had to come back for a sedated MRI in a couple weeks but we made sure to keep her paci away from her all morning and she wasn't able to have a morning nap so when I laid her on the table thing and gave her her paci and bear and blankie she was in heaven and hardly moved a muscle!  They were able to get the pictures they needed and the results were fantastic!  Her shunt appears to be in tact and the ventricles are going down.  Not much but enough that they didn't feel like they needed to open the valve any more than it already is.  They were also able to see the cyst that is in there and it is...drum roll please...ALMOST GONE!!!!  Having put in the shunt to drain the ventricles is also connected in some way to the cyst and is draining that also.  Praise GOD!  He is so good to us!  The doctor was extremely happy with her development and seemed so surprised that her cyst was almost gone.  He didn't expect that either!  So that's what I call a miracle!!!  Another great trip in the books...now for the not terrible but not great news...they still want to do a sedated MRI, just not as soon as they were thinking.  They are planning on sometime in April.  They just want to make sure that what they are seeing with the cyst and drainage is what is going on.  There is always some movement in the quick MRI that we typically do.  Plus when she is sedated they take a lot more pictures and they are more detailed pictures.  I am not looking forward to it but if they see what they need to see maybe (fingers crossed) this will be a last!  We can pray for that, right??!!

Eden is 13 MONTHS!!!

Already over a year old!  I didn't realize how much she looks like Charlie Brown in this outfit until I see it in pictures!  She's the cutest Charlie Brown though!  Eden doesn't sit still much for pictures anymore!  She would rather play peek a boo or try fancy tricks holding herself up with one arm and one leg!  This kid is so full of energy and ALWAYS has a smile on her face.
A funny/neat thing about Eden that I have noticed her doing a lot this month is she uses her other hand to 'help' the opposite hand do something.  For example: I have been helping her learn to turn lights on and off by grabbing her hand and using her finger to do it so now she uses her own hand to 'help' her other hand do it.  She does this with so many things I have taught her to do.  It's amazing, really that she would pick up on the fact that my hand is helping her hand.  She doesn't do it all the time...only when she is having a hard time doing something.  I guess maybe it's her way of telling me to help her!
Something not so funny/neat is she has the most ear wrenching mad 'cry'.  If she wants something and you are telling her 'no' she lets out this awful screech.  It's not loud necessarily...it's just, well, annoying!  And it makes you want to give her whatever she wants immediately just to make it stop!
In tooth news...Eden has another tooth!!!  The right front top one is finally in (12/27).  AND She is getting in two new teeth. The ones on the outer edges of her two front bottom teeth (12/19/12).
Eden is still a good nurser.  Nursing five times a day.  Sleeping 12 hours at night and taking two really good naps during the day.  She is tolerable if she misses her morning nap, but it's still not on the horizon for dropping it altogether.
Eden continues to watch and learn about anything and everything her sisters are teaching her!  She is such a fun addition to our family and I couldn't imagine life without her toothy grins!

Learning...

Eden is learning so much!  Whenever AEA comes to work with her I learn new ways to help her learn and figure things out.  She is always exploring but it's different the way she does it and rarely figures out how to use a toy without being shown first.  We have been working with her on this toy and she is only recently fully understanding it.  She has known for a while that when she pushes down the blue lever the ball comes out but she couldn't figure out how to reload it.  Then when she figured out she had to put the ball back in the top she would try to just throw the ball at the opening and most of the time it wouldn't make it in.  Now she is able to place the ball into the opening on top and do the complete reload/unload cycle.  She is doing this same way of learning with other things.  I think it is just amazing to watch her learn things.  She just has to be taught a couple of times and she gets it most of the time.  For someone who doesn't have a corpus callossum, learning won't come easy, but I am thankful for these little teaching moments!  There is still one thing she is going to learn about this toy and that is the yellow dial.  She isn't grasping the turning of things yet, so this toy will be teaching her for some days to come!!

I think this photo is great!  She is really starting to like the bath and is learning that water isn't something to be so afraid of!  She splashes like this from the moment she gets in to the moment I get her out!  It has earned her her own bath time so the girls aren't constantly being splashed.  Plus, it gives her some time to have a big tub all to herself to enjoy it!!

A little photo shoot...

We are almost two weeks past our month pictures...but here is Adah at about 3 years + a month.  And of course Eden had to get in there and have some pictures taken too! And who could pass up photos of these two cuties!!!

Eden doesn't regularly chew the edge of the table...she only does this when she is getting another tooth!  I thought it looked funny because she has to make a pretty big effort to get low enough to bite the edge!

Eden is so full of life and always brings a smile to my face with her sweet grin and big beautiful eyes!

Molly Maxine turns 2!!

Today we celebrated Molly's 2nd birthday!  Lots of wrestling, playing and of course eating birthday treats!  Happy Birthday Molly girl!  We love you!

Christmas break happenings...

Shirtless finger painting...

Wrapping ALL the animal masks around ourselves...

Putting together Kez's bike from grandma and grandpa Smith complete with spoke beads and a baby carrier (doesn't she look soooo big?!!)...

practicing our balance on the balance beam...

getting our rolling/cuddling/goofiness on (the girls go nuts when we lay a blanket out on the floor)...

pretending like they are off to school (I think as break comes to an end this is some very wishful thinking!!)...

And getting in lots and lots of cuddles...

I do have some photos of Austin too, however I won't embarrass him by posting them!! Ha! Ha!

(all these photos are from between Dec. 27th-Jan. 2nd)