Catching Up

It's been so long since we've been in a good blog groove. Hopefully we will not let that happen again! Imogene is really changing these days. She's doing her version of waving, clapping, shaking her head as if to say 'no,' and playing peek-a-boo! The head shaking is humorous because she knows it's going to make us laugh, so she gets a big grin on her face and laughs when she does it. The clapping is so endearing because usually she keeps her right hand fisted when she claps. And the waving, sometimes it's just waving her arm, but a waitress waved at her tonight and she 'waved' (translate threw her arm around) back! The peek-a-boo makes me the happiest though! You put a blanket or a lovey on your head, and she takes it off and then hands it back to you. Sometimes she seems like such a little baby, and not really an almost 10 month-old. All these little milestones are reminders that she is developing right on track in so many ways. She's been reaching out her right arm a lot more lately, which for us is such a good measure of her progress. The fact that she never reached out with her right is how we first started to notice the hemiparesis. And then there's the scooting! Her own little Imogene "crawl" - she scoots her left arm forward, pulls the legs up a little bit and then just goes where she can. The distance is not far; she certainly can't get across a room, but she can get somewhere, which is fun for her. She appears to be a little frustrated being in one place!

All Imogene's bloodwork for the clotting disorders has come back. Three of the four tests came back negative, which is wonderful news. Only the C protein test came back abnormal. At first Dr. Baldrate thought she would be considered 'deficient.' She consulted a pediatric hematologist and he said that while her number is low, it is not cause for concern at this time. We'll run the test again when she turns two and take it from there. Whew! Escaped adding another tab to the ever-growing medical notebook!

We finally have an appointment with the physiatrist. January 26 at 9 a.m. It seems like a long time from now, but with the holidays, I'm sure it will be here before we know it. We see Dr. Madigan, the opthamologist, the week before. Combine that with her one year!! check-up, and January will be a busy month of doctor's visits.

Imogene is scheduled to get her booster seasonal flu shot and her first H1N1 shot next week, and hopefully Lily will be able to get the seasonal and her first H1N1 as well. (Children have to get the H1N1 in two shots.) It has taken me all fall to get the shot for the girls. There has been so much debate in the 'parent circles' here about whether or not to get the shot for children. Our pediatrician told us to get it, and so we're getting it. Maybe we should have debated it more, but she has two kids very close to our girls' ages, so I feel like she'd only advise us to do what she'd do.

Lily has strung together a few great days this week, which is a relief for both Mommy and Daddy. Sometimes we wonder where our sweet Lily went. Several times this week she has entertained Imogene in the playroom while lunch or supper is fixed. And then she will report "I'm doing a good job listening to you." Or, "I was a good babysitter for Imogene."

A big event for Lily this weekend is that her Whitney (pronounced Whitnnnaaayyy) is here. Lily met Whitney at Naney's house back in the summer. At first we thought she might be a little jealous that Ryan had girl that wasn't her with him, but she warmed up to Whitney in about oh, 10 minutes. The way you know that Lily likes you is that she starts making you do everything for her that she'd normally make Mommy do. Well Whitney fits that description exactly. Only Whitney can get Lily in and out of the car, only Whitney can put her to bed, help her basically with everything. She's so in love, and it's so dear! And not that we blame her. Even Imogene, who is pretty wary around strangers, seems to have fallen under the spell as well. We'll all be sad to see her go!