Children's Museum and other updates....

I decided, against my better judgement, to take Sophie to the Children's Museum this morning. It was on my calendar, but after the week I had I thought I'd rather just cancel it! My sinus infection and allergies were kicking my butt, and Brody was seriously sitting on my sciatic nerve, but i decided that Sophie needed some serious playtime. For any of you who haven't been to the new and improved Tot Spot at the museum really need to go, it's great! It was a bit crowded since it was a Friday, and that meant "field trip day" for elementary school kids, but Sophie still had fun. I think she could have played there for a couple more hours, but unfortunately we had to leave because I needed a nap more than she did at that point. It seems to be that way all the time these days. Pics from the museum are at the bottom.

Well, Sophie has been on her gluten free diet for about 4 days now, and it could just be me...but she seems happier. I was thinking there for the past 3 weeks that she was going through a "defiance" stage (which I know she will be going through soon anyways). But ever since we started her diet she's just happy as a clam all of the time! Thanks to my friend, Lizzie, we now have two toasters to use.....which makes thing easier. Who knew you had to separate all the regular food from the GF food. The good news is that I bought a grocery guide to tell me which brands at the store are GF, and we actually have a lot of those foods already in our fridge. So, now that I'm passed the overwhelmed part I can focus on making dinners and stuff for Sophie. We have officially started our trial run and I'm not sure how soon we'll know whether she has celiac disease or not.

As far as the pregnancy goes, I'm already getting a bit depressed thinking about how my days won't just consist of me and Sophie hanging out, soon there will be Brody to take some of my time away. I just get sad for Sophie. I guess it's those good ole pregnancy hormones talking again! I have never experienced the last 6 weeks of a pregnancy, and so far I'm glad I skipped out on it the first time. I feel bigger than ever these days, I can't sleep whatsoever, I'm pretty sure I've developed that pregnancy waddle, and my sciatic nerve is sending crazy pains down my left leg every hour or so. So....on that note, as much as I loooooove Brody, I will be excited to have him OUT in 5 weeks!

A giant light bright, that toy took me back to my childhood!

Sophie wearing a bowl on her head, imagination at it's finest I guess.

She was very unsure about the slide, normally she charges down them.

Probably a bit young to be riding in cars with boys, but we won't tell daddy!

Of course, her favorite place....the kitchen! I had to coax her to leave that place. I am sensing that we should get her a kitchen for her 2nd Birthday.

Dreaded test results

Sophie's GI Dr. called on Friday afternoon to tell us that the biopsies looked okay except for the one from her small intestines. That one indicated that she has symptoms of celiac disease, which the blood test Sophie had done a month ago came back negative for celiac disease. But her Dr. said that things like that happen often, and they rely more on what the biopsy says. So, we are now supposed to put her on a gluten free diet, which means no wheat, barley, or oats (and I'm sure many other things, I just haven't done all my research yet). We are told to try this for 3 months, then head back to TCh for a routine check up appt. with her GI Dr. So, if this diet changes Sophie for the better, then her Dr. is more likely to label her with having "celiac disease." If this diet shows no changes in Sophie, then I guess we will decide where to go from there, in 3 months, with her Dr.

In the meantime, I have WAY too much reading to do about this subject, and I have been doing a lot of contracting (for being due in 6 weeks!) I am tired and stressed out at this point, so any support or help you have about this subject would be greatly helpful to me, I am just trying to get Sophie on this diet ASAP, and it's proving to be very challenging! With those being the results, atleast we know where to go now....it's just a matter of taking all the steps amidst a new baby coming along, and all of that chaos added to it.

Prayers and thinking positive thoughts would be great right now!!! Also, these are just a couple of the sad photos of Miss Sophie at TCH before her endoscopy procedure last week.

In the waiting room at 7 30 AM!!! Too early!

Arriving at TCH at 7 30 with her paci and blankies....yes still half asleep, both of us!

Endoscopy

I will start at the end, and just say that I'm glad that procedure is over! Sophie's Dr. said that everything looked healthy, but that they did do 3 biopsies just to make sure things were okay. Those had to be sent out and will be back by this Friday (says TCH.....).

The procedure went okay, but that's about it! I went to wake her up this morning at 6 30AM(3 hours before she normally wakes up) and she had thrown up in her bed, so she woke up crying, and I almost cried along with her! So, after doing all the cleaning we headed to TCH. Not to my surprise, but to the nurses surprise, Sophie was a fighter...even at 8AM. I always laugh when people, usually nurses, underestimate her and how much of a punch she packs in that little body of hers. It can be deceiving! They struggled with EVERYTHING, including when Nick had to take her back and hold her down to get her to breathe into the mask. After she was finished, we got to go back and see her....which brought back horrible memories of the first time I got to see her in the NICU at birth. Just like back then, she had an IV, something in her throat, and monitoring wires everywhere! Once she started waking up, the crying started and never stopped until we got home.

That's why today has been quite a challenge, even more so since I am exhausted and very pregnant. So, we are supposed to just watch her to make sure she doesn't run a fever or get a swollen abdomen, and so far so good. She's peacefully catching up on her 3 missed hours of sleep as we speak. Thank you all for your prayers and reassuring words.

Prayers

I just wanted to send out a reminder that on Tuesday Sophie will be goin to TCH to have her endoscopy procedure done at 9 30AM. Well, we actually have to be there at 8 AM, then they will put her under, start her IV, then do the procedure at 9 30. They say it takes 30 min.-an hour, then we will be sitting in the recovery room for another hour to make sure Sophie's okay. Needless to say, it will be an all day thing since it's at TCH. So, I will keep everyone updated, but please say some prayers for Sophie and for me as well.....I'm a bit of an emotional wreck these days with being pregnant and having to take Sophie to this appt.(Nick will be with me of course, but Lord knows he doesn't ever worry about anything).

Milestones

Well, Sophie has reached a few new milestones these past few days. So I thought I'd send out some new pictures. She is attempting to learn how to use a fork to pick up her food, and it actually gets her to eat more....which is a plus for her! I think that's the technique that has helped her FINALLY reach the 20 pound mark. She is also wearing 18 month clothes, which has never happened with her, usually she's wearing 12 month clothes, even though she's 18 month old. Also, her swimming is improving and today she went through the whole class without crying! She actually played in the water and was laughing with the teacher, a HUGE change from even yesterday. So hopefully this is a turning point in her swimming, which reminds me, I will get more pictures and even some video up here sometime soon. Until then.......

She's such a ham!

She swims to the step now all by herself.

Swim lessons

I will start by saying sorry that I have no pictures to show for her first, not actually her first, swim lesson. From now on I will have my camera! Her swim lesson went very well today, especially since I practically handed her over to a stranger who then put her face in the water. But the class is only 15 minutes, and she was either underwater or floating on her back the whole time (Miss Kathleen isn't messing around)! I was most proud of her because she floated on her back all by herself for a long time, as if she'd done it before....when she never has. So, we are going back to swim everyday for 4 weeks, or until she's fully learned to swim on her own. Starting tomorrow though, we are going to have her swim back and forth between me and her teacher....so it won't be long before I have a fish on my hands!