SOOO BIG!

In mid January, Leona was evaluated by a team of therapists at Memorial's Mo's Diner.  It was pretty encouraging.  They watched her eat & play.  They said that she was right on target!  So no need for Occupational Therapy.  YAY!  They did suggest looking into food allergies b/c of her inconstant vomitting schedule.

How big is Leona? SOOOO BIG!

This past week Leona went to her pediatrician for a check-up & to discuss what's going to happen next.  She was 19# 9oz. right before Christmas.  Monday, she was 21# 5oz.  We were so pumped.  She hadn't eaten very well over Christmas in Ohio or for the first few weeks of being back home, but had finally picked up the last 2 weeks before the appt.  The big difference is that she hadn't vomitted, but 1 time.  Before Christmas she had vomitted every night for about 10 days in a row.  HUGE DIFFERENCE!

Leona is still having tummy pains that wake her up at night on occasion, so we are going through the process of getting her into a GI dr. at Riley's Childrens Hospital in Indianapolis.  This will take a few months, so it should be around April.  If she continues to not throw up or have tummy pains, we will cancel...we're hoping to not make the trip :)  If so, we'll have to hit the zoo down there when we go!

Leona is growing in other ways too.  She loves saying "Abby", "Daddy", "Elmo" & "Nite-Nite".  She says them with such clarity!  It is really amazing to see her grow-up into a toddler.  She runs all over & gets into lots of mischeif.  She gets several time outs a day for touching the remote or being stubborn.  It seems to really get the point across.  She doesn't scream or cry to go in to her crib.  She just waits it out & signs "All Done" when she is ready to come out.

She loves riding on her cars!  I just wish we had more room in our house for them.  It gets kind of crowded!

She loves to "give kisses".  She clicks her tongue from far away or close up.  No slobbering kisses in this house :)  You gotta see it!  It's adorable!

She went in the snow for the first time a few weeks agon when we got over 10".  She HATED it!  I think Daddy was disappointed!

As you can see, it was very traumatic!

Lately she has been watching more TV & movies b/c of my back.  She loves watching Elmo, Super Why?, Go-Go-Go (as she calls it; The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot about That), and Wheel of Fortune....Yes, the Wheel of Fortune.  She loves calling out her favorite letters "D", "O", "I", "E"...& then she claps when they do!  SOOOO ADORABLE!

A Long Day at the Hospital

Well on Friday we spent over 3 hours at the hospital with Leona!

Leona was scheduled for an MRI at 10 AM. We arrived & signed in! We got to the radiology department waiting room. After waiting about 10 min. we were off to a waiting room.

We were nervous at how all this was going to go. I mean, how in the world do they keep a little 1 year old still for a MRI?? Well...they knock them out!! We kept her busy walking the little hallway until they were ready for us. Many patients loved watching her Be-bop around the hall!

She got MANY comments like...
"Oh how cute!"
"She is so little!"
"She is such a happy baby!"

After 2 1/2 hours of waiting we were ready for the sedation process. They gave me the oral sedation medicine to give her. She was so good! She just sucked it down for Mommy & Daddy! In about 10 min. she was snoring away!

The MRI process went well. She did twitch for 1 test that they had to re-do. Even asleep she doesn't sit still!!! HA! Afterwards she was still zonked. It took about an hour to get her up enough for the nurses to check her so we could finally leave!

SO---I am sure you are wondering if we got results. I called the pediatrician's office this morning. The nurse said that the dr. had written an exclamation point & NORMAL MRI

We are just praising the Lord for His goodness to us! Now--we just have to face the trip to Riley's July 14.