.:EEG:.

This past Monday, Reece had to go up to Primary Children's Hospital to have an EEG. For 4-5 months now, she has been doing this thing where she tenses her legs up and grabs at her diaper, or clings on really tightly to whatever she is holding at the time. It started out as just something she does when in her car seat or stroller, so I first thought it was something related to having straps between her legs. But it has gotten progressively worse and more frequent - you can almost guarantee that she is going to do it when getting her diaper changed, it's gotten to the point that she will be crawling around playing and will just drop to the floor, sometimes on her face, and tense up. While she's doing it, she is not usually very responsive at all.

I was just going to wait to talk to her doctor about it when I take her in for her one year checkup next week, but there were a few bad days in a row about a week ago, and I just decided to take her in because I hate watching her do it. Her doctor was seriously puzzled by it. Josh and I think that it might be urinary refux. Our friend's daughter has it, and Reece does the exact same thing that she used to do. But her doctor doesn't seem to think that is it. He wanted to try two different things before we re-evaluate. One is a cream for her little goodies. The other was to take her in for an EEG to make sure she is not having seizures. He was concerned about that because Josh has a history of having very mild seizures (so mild he doesn't even know he's having them) and because she sometimes zones out when she is tensing. He doesn't believe that either of these are the problem, but wants to rule them out. We don't really believe she is having seizures either, and I haven't noticed a difference since starting the cream. She has never cried when she does it, but she is very obviously uncomfortable while she does it. Sometimes she even grunts a little bit.

I'm sure lots of people think we are being hypochondriacs, but I can't really worry about that. I am home with Reece all day long, and I'm the one that has to sit and watch her do it and it's so sad. Why not rule things out and at least give us some peace of mind along the way? At times people have thought it was cute or funny, but I've never really seen it that way. She is so uncomfortable, and I don't really believe she is doing it on purpose for whatever reason. Her doctor is especially confused because she is such a happy, sweet girl who is developing right on track and meeting her milestones. That is at least good news! Right now, he is kind of leaning towards it being some sort of learned behavior that she does for whatever reason. In some ways I can kind of see that, but as I said above, it's so uncomfortable for her that I don't know why she would do that to herself. But who knows?

So Josh and I took her up on Monday to get the EEG. They applied 23 probes to her little head. She was SO GOOD while they were doing it, and just laid still for them. The techs were even so impressed with how well she did. They wanted it to be sleep deprived, so she hadn't had a nap that morning. They got her hooked up, wrapped her head in gauze so that she couldn't pull the probes off, then left Josh and I in a dark room with her to get her to sleep. I just held her and rocked her to sleep. She fought me for a minute - she doesn't like to be held to go to sleep anymore - but she was out within minutes. I have to admit, I kind of enjoyed the snuggle time. They monitored her for about 20 minutes, and then came in and did a strobe light test to see how she reacted to that. She didn't appreciate that at all, and that was about the only time she cried! And after that we were done! Took the probes off to reveal some sweet hair underneath, wiped off the gel, and headed home for a real nap.

She was such a good girl, and I was so proud of her. I'm sure she was a little scared, but she didn't act out at all. We haven't heard the results yet, but we're not really expecting to get any bad news from this. Just ruling it out!

Even with her mummy head, she still looked pretty dang cute!

Getting all wrapped up!
The view from the back
Getting ready to snooze with Mommy
Getting un hooked after
Sweet hair
The side view

.:14 Weeks - Second Trimester:.

I hit 14 weeks this past Sunday, which means I'm now officially in the second trimester! I can't believe how much more quickly this pregnancy is going. I guess having a little one to chase around really makes a difference!

I had my appointment with my doctor this morning, and things are going great! The baby's heartbeat came in at 150 bpm. It was - and always is - so reassuring to hear that everytime I go in. Reece was so perfect the whole time we were at the hospital. On my appointment days, if it is early enough, we usually car pool with Josh. I had to get some blood drawn this morning as well for the second part of my screening blood work. She was so good throughout everything, she always makes me so proud! At my appointment I also found out that my cystic fibrosis screening came back as negative. All of my other blood work came back great from the previous appointment as well. I won't know the results of my other screening tests until about a week from now.

My doctor also gave me my ultrasound slip to get it scheduled! I stopped by the maternal fetal medicine office, where I'll have the ultrasound, and they don't have the calendar for November up yet. She said to try calling back at the end of the week and they should have it by then. G-Day (gender day) will be sometime the first week of November! I will be 19-20 weeks at that time! (Confusion because my doctor's office has my due date as March 28th and the maternal fetal office has it as March 21st or 23rd!) Either way, I'm just so excited to see this little one again and know if we'll be thinking pink again or venturing into the world of blue!

Here is a picture of me at 14 weeks. I 'popped' quite awhile ago (try 10 weeks!) but for some reason, on Sunday I started feeling - and looking - pretty big! I've been wearing my bella band for weeks, as well as using the old rubber band trick to keep my pants up since they no longer button. I've also been able to wear quite a few of my maternity shirts without looking like I'm drowning in them. This is the bets part of pregnancy - feeling great and showing! I love it!


I'm editing this to add a picture my sister sent me from OMSI in Portland. They have an amazing exhibit where you can see fetus' at the various stages of development. They are real, which is sad, but also very neat to look at. Her hand is there for comparison. Thanks Dani!

.:12 Monts - 1 Year:.

We have a toddler!

I can hardly believe it! Reece turned one this past Friday, September 25th. I have gone through such a mix of emotions. I felt teary - a lot - leading up to the day. I don't really think it's because I'm sad she's older, but more because I just can't believe that it was just a year ago that she wasn't in our lives. I can't imagine our lives without her, and I feel so incredibly blessed to be her mommy! I'm also so proud of the little girl she is becoming. She is such a happy, sweet girl and we just couldn't ask for a better daughter!

At 12 months Reece loves:

- talking
- smiling
- laughing
- screaming
- silly sounds
- crawling
- walking!
- clapping
- pointing
- crinkling her nose
- standing
- reading books
- baths
- going for walks
- mom's jewelry
- toys
- keys
- babies
- buckles
- giving kisses
- kicking her legs
- giving head 'bonks'
- dogs

At 12 months Reece doesn't like:

- sitting still for diaper changes
- getting her face wiped off
- getting her nose wiped

Some fun facts about Reece:

- Her vocabulary includes about three words: dada, hi, and baby (baby is a new one!)
- She has five teeth: two on the bottom and three on top
- She has never had a drink of juice in her life (although I will admit that she has tasted Diet Coke, but don't worry, that stuff is not in our house at the moment thanks to this new little one!)
- For some reason, I call her my twirly girl. It has no meaning at all, and I have no clue where it came from, but that's one of her nicknames.
- This girl is not afraid of anyone. She has zero problem going to strangers! She's a social little thing!

There's so many more wonderful things I could tell you about our sweet girl, but I'll leave it at that for now!

Lots of pictures ahead....

On Reece's birthday, she woke up to balloons tied on her crib. She sure thought she was pretty special (and she is!)

Grandma Z and GPSTEW were here from Oregon, so they took us to the zoo to celebrate her birthday. She had fun looking at the animals and being outside. Thanks Mom and Dad!

That nite we opened a few presents to get her warmed up for her party. She was definitely more interested in tearing the tissue paper and wrapping paper into small pieces until we got the presents out and she could see that they were much better!

Saturday was her birthday party. I started the day off calm, but my mom and Nikki can attest to the fact that I slowly unraveled as the day went on! From a super hot clubhouse, to melted frosting, and my cake that didn't turn out, things actually turned out pretty well! Reece was a little cranky due to taking a horrible nap before the party, and another tooth coming in, but she had a lot of fun playing with all of her family and friends. We really appreciate everyone who came, contributed to the party, and spoiled Reece! It was such a special day!
After the party, we hauled everything back to our house and helped Reece open up the rest of her presents. We had a great evening watching her dance to her new learn and groove table, and walk ALL over the place with her new walker. What a lucky girl!

.:Random:.

Just a couple of recent pictures of our sweet girl!

Also, I'm looking for some book recommendations again! I didn't get very many last time! I need some good new reading material!

Mmmmm....raspberries!
Big girl in her new car seat!

Crawling around at cousin Millie and Ty's house.
Daddy is so funny!
Cute jammies with sweet hair do!
Close up!

.:Utah State Fair:.

Last nite we went to the state fair with Kris, Stephen, and their little boy Noah. Besides almost getting in a fight with some thug (apparently it was OUR fault that he was walking down the middle of the street, and walked right towards our car so that he could hit it with his t-shirt) and the weather being a little threatening at first, we had a fantastic time!

We first got there, and we were all ready for some dinner. After weighing our options, most of us ended up in line for navajo tacos. Those things were huge! But very tasty. Reece enjoyed helping me eat mine - she loved the beans! While we were eating, the Boyz II Men concert started. We weren't inside, but we were eating right outside where the concert was being held so we could hear it really well. It definitely brought back all of my jr. high glory days! They did sound pretty incredible, though. Reminded me a lot of Take 6....

Then we decided to take the kids over to see all of the animals. We spent a long time walking through to see the pigeons, rabbits, cows, goats, sheep, and pigs. Reece seemed pretty happy looking at them all, and even got her hand nibbled on a bit by a sheep. (Don't worry, I was right there with the wipes so that those fingers didn't make it to her mouth!)

After that, we walked around a little bit, watched the boys try out the jiggling workout machines (I don't know how else to describe them), laughed while Stephen was 'ghosting' people, and people watched. Lots of interesting people at the fair!

We ended the nite with me getting two of my pregnancy cravings: a soft pretzel with cheese and a slurpee! Perfect!

Thanks for a fun nite Kris and Stephen!

Reece and Noah
Reece with a cow
Reece getting nibbled by the sheep (can't blame them, she is pretty yummy!)
Kris and I

.:Our little walker:.

Last nite, Reece's Grandpa Andrus and Aunt Em came over to have dinner with us. Reece was a walking fool! We got a few videos of her practicing, and this is the best one. I can't believe that she will probably be walking all the time in the next couple of weeks! She's definitely not our baby anymore!

.:NT Scan:.

Today I had my NT - or nuchal translucency scan. It's an ultrasound, combined with two separate rounds of blood work, to check for chromosonal abnormalities. The ultrasound measure the fluid behind the baby's neck. Babies with more fluid are at a higher risk for down syndrome, etc.

Soooo....it was so awesome to see the baby again! I'm still measure 3-6 days ahead of where I'm supposed to be, but it's all within a week, so my due date stays the same. Baby was moving and waving, and looked so much more like a baby! I got to hear the heartbeat (which was 169 bpm) and hear it, too. The baby wasn't quite cooperating so the tech wasn't able to get a good measurement. She did the best she could, and she said from what she saw, everything looked great! I am not really worried about it - I just wanted to see the baby again!

Josh was at clinicals so he wasn't able to come, but luckily the tech gave me a dvd of the whole ultrasound, plus a few pictures. So here are the pictures! (Thanks Chris and Sarah for watching Reece while I was there!)

Heartbeat

That's one good looking baby if I do say so myself!