Happy Birthday Ellie!

Can you believe this little runt turned 3 last week?

Ellie is full of laughs and energy, independence and compassion, nerve and courage.  She loves her froggie, her big sister, and Rapunzel.  She just moved up to a big girl bed and hasn’t had any trouble adjusting.  Her favorite colors are green and purple.  She’s a lefty.  She eats at least two breakfasts, a decent lunch, and not much for dinner every day.  She loves corn (all kinds including popcorn).  She drinks way more than the rest of us (milk, juice, water, you name it).

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We had her birthday party last weekend.  Thanks for coming, friends!  I thought the weekend was going to be a wash out, but it turned out to be perfect!  We spent all day outside playing.

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On her actual birthday, we brought Krispy Kreme for her class.  I intended to take her out to lunch, but we are a one car household these days (what is with all the drama in the Mauter house lately?) so lunch was a no-go.  We had dinner on the porch, which is where we always have our birthday meals for Sam (October) and Ellie (early May).

Here are all three dresses that I finished just in time:  Rapunzel, Minnie Mouse, and Mickey Mouse.  Brian was thoroughly concerned about making a Mickey Mouse dress, but I knew she wouldn’t care.  Sam wants one too.

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And the finale was the tent!

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We had her three year check up too.  She didn’t get any shots, so we got out of there pretty easily.  The doctor is somewhat concerned about her speech so we will need to see an audiologist and speech therapist soon.  I’m not really that concerned because she has always been “delayed” on speech.  She’ll get there on her own time, but if we need to have her checked out, that’ll be fine.

And her heart danced

On Friday, we went to the cardiologist to get a check up on the ASD in Ellie’s heart.

Sam heard me talking earlier in the week about taking Ellie to the doctor, and she had lots of questions. She was very concerned for Ellie and was sure the doctor was going to “slice her.” Yes, those were her words. When Ellie got up from her nap that day, the first thing Sam did was tell Ellie that she was going to the doctor to get sliced. Yikes! I began telling Ellie that we were going to the doctor to get a picture of her heart. She said “No, Mommy do it.” I apologized for not being able to do it. She said “Daddy do it.” I again apologized and said that the doctor had to do it. She said “ok.”

We went through the same routine again, getting an EKG first. Ellie laid down on the exam table and quietly let the nurse put 10 stickers all over her chest. It only lasted a minute or so before all the stickers had to come off. She didn’t mind.

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Next, we went back to the exam room for a sonogram. The doctor asked if she was ready to see her heart dance. They gave her a sucker, which occupied her sufficiently during the exam. She sat in my lap for most of it, but because she was doing so well, he asked if she could lay down on the table by herself. She had to crane her neck more to see the pictures, but she was so calm and nonchalant about the whole thing. We watched her heart beat, jump and dance on the screen. He turned the colors on, so we could see oxygen-rich blood and oxygen-poor blood coming and going.

The doctor spent lots of time looking at all the chambers and valves of her heart. He commented that her heart had a 71% pumping rate, which is very good. Everything looked good, and he couldn’t find anything abnormal. The hole has closed up and healed. Hurray!

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We came home with a sonogram picture to show Sam. I’m not sure what she was expecting, but a black and white grainy image was not it. You can see the 4 chambers of the heart, with the mitral valve open. I’ll try to get it scanned and added here.

UPDATE
Here is the sonogram picture. The line straight up the middle is the septum, separating the left and right sides of the heart. This is the ventricle side, but you can see the atria in the background. The mitral valve is open, which are the two squiggly lines on the right side (from the left atrium into the left ventricle).

What?  You don’t see that?

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Sam + Brick Wall = Doctor

After 4.5 years, we had our first real encounter with a trauma accident.  (I’d say that’s not too bad!)  Sam was at school playing with bubbles on the playground when she tripped and fell into a brick wall.  She put a pretty good hole into her forehead.  Obviously, head wounds bleed a lot (Alex, maybe you should stop reading here) and she was rushed to the office.  They cleaned her up as much as possible, gave her a popsicle and called me.  They told me that she’d probably need stitches.  So, off I go to pick her up.

(This happened on a Thursday.  I had a stomach bug on Tuesday, therefore wasn’t at work.  Ellie had an ear infection on Wednesday and needed a trip to the doctor’s office, therefore wasn’t at work.  I finally go back to work on Thursday and was called back for Sam.  Needless to say, not much got done at work that week.)

She was pretty shaken up, especially since we would have to go to the doctor.  Sam is pretty terrified of the doctor.  She made me promise to tell the doctor that she didn’t need any shots.  I promised.

The nurse had to numb the area.  It was a goo that took 20-30 min to work.  That was pretty traumatic.  Then the doctor had to wash out the wound.  That was even more traumatic.  Then the doctor glued the skin back together.  Oh, the horror.

When it was all over with, she’ll tell you how she got a popsicle, a sucker, some reese’s cups, and some nail polish out of the deal.  Maybe being hurt isn’t such a bad thing?

At the doctor’s waiting room:

Getting numbed:

At home afterwards:

Merry Christmas

This Christmas is a shaping up to be a little different for us.  We were planning to be gone most of the week after Christmas visiting various family.

However, Ellie has had a high fever since Thursday 12/22 at 5pm.  We visited the doctor Friday morning and discovered that she had a moderate ear infection in one ear.  Then, the worst hit later that morning.  We’re still in the midst of it, although there were a few hours this morning when I thought the worst was over and our little girl came back.  Otherwise, she’s sluggish, puny and pretty dog gone pitiful.

So, I pray your Christmas is healthy and happy.

Check ups and animals

I took both girls to the doctor this week for some check ups.  Samantha had a 4 year check up, and Ellie had her 18 month check up (is she really already that age?).  I am reminded why I don’t take them together.  I hardly remember what we talked about, and certainly didn’t remember to ask any of my questions.

The doctor tried to look into Samantha’s ears first thing, which she has always been resistant to let anyone do.  She has always been very sensitive about sounds or ANYTHING in/near her ears.  So, Ellie went first so she could be the example for Sam to watch.  Ellie is still long and tall, but is evening out a little.  She’s a little slow on speech, but can understand a surprising amount of what we tell her.  It’s surprising to me, but I’m sure it’s normal.  Just the same, it’s that amazing?  Sam was the same way.

Samantha’s check up went well too.  The doctor asked her 4 safety questions (which he told me were the top 4 unfortunate accidents – or worse – for children) like “What do you do when you get into a car?  Buckle up.”  And so on.  She knew all of the answers and gave a good High Five to the doc.

The nurse came in and gave Ellie her 2 shots.  She was consoled very easily.  Then, a strange animal that I had never seen showed up.  Was it a bucking bronco?  Was it an octopus, with 8 flailing arms?  Was it a growling wolf, showing its teeth?  Was it a screeching owl?  All of the above.  It was my Sam.  She got 5 shots (ouch).  She knew she was going to get them and backed herself into a corner, displaying the above said tendencies when it was time.  The nurse asked me if I needed some help to pin her down.  (She is surprisingly strong for her age and always has been, but at this point, I’m used to being a bit forceful when needed.)  The sounds coming out of her were from a possessed horror movie.  It was unreal.  I had never seen anything like it before.

Glad that’s over.  Until next year.