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!

Riley's Children's Hospital with Leona

We were at another doctor's appointment today, only the 6 hour round trip in the car made it all the more interesting! Leona actually enjoyed the whole trip! She barely fussed, which is not normal for such a long time in 1 day.

We met with Dr. Stanley. She spent 2 HOURS with us! We really felt listened too! She confirmed that Leona's regular pediatrician, Dr. Wendy, was doing everything right! We guessed this all along, but it was great to hear that out loud from a pediatric developmental specialist.

Dr. Stanley's first step will be to look at how she intakes food. She has ordered a Feed Study. This is basically when the doctor's x-ray her while she eats & drinks. She also wants to have a pediatric specialist review her recent MRI. All in all, she feels there is definite concern to watch her growth carefully! Her length to weight ratio is not well balanced. Due to this concern we met with the dietician for ways to beef up her calories. We will be changing her to a Pediasure equivalent only with Soy.

We are praying that we will be able to do the Feed Study here in South Bend, but the dr. only approves of 1 dr. up here to do it. Otherwise, we will be traveling the trip twice in the next 2-3 months!!

The ups & downs of 2009 have continued into 2010, but we are so thankful for God's faithfulness in our lives! We are truly thankful for His peace & provision. Not only are all of Leona's medical bills taken care of, but He has provided a tutoring job equalling over $300 the past 2 weeks, several Leona's Lovely Bows orders, an on-call pay check for Ben, a free gift card for our anniversary meal on Friday & some free cash from Ben winning the Biggest Loser contest at work---losing 20 lbs. in 6 weeks! Need I say more?