Happy New Year!

The Blizzard that left us with 14'' of snow

I cannot believe how quickly time passes. Last time I wrote was in October. That seems like forever ago already! Some great things are going on in the Craniosynostosis area. The CAPPS people are working really hard at getting the word out about craniosynostosis and also distributing brochures to pediatricians through out the country to better educate themselves and their patients on what Craniosynostosis is. I find myself "head picking" lots of kids these days. I have not gotten up the courage to actually say anything about the things I see, so I don't know if that is good or bad. There are just some things you can see on little heads of some kids that really look like they fall into one of the Cranio area's, but if the parent doesn't seem to notice, who am I to say? Each time I see that (which has not been that often) I always say a little prayer that I am wrong.

Back in November Gabby ended up getting ear tubes placed. It was the easiest thing ever. The whole process, once she got to the OR, was probably 10 minutes tops. I wish we would have done it sooner. Our ENT (whom I have to say is wonderful!) said that she had this paste like fluid behind both ear drums and that he had a hard time suctioning it out. Pleasant, I know. She had a hearing test done prior to the surgery and was a bit below where she should have been. The hearing test was repeated several weeks after the surgery and she was hearing perfectly! Yeah! I have to say her speech picked up a lot once she could hear better. Anyone who knows her knows that she is very chatty and always has been, but now we get to hear lots of words in there too:)
She finally has enough hair for pigtails! YEAH!

Christmas was exciting this year. Alex is now 3 1/2 and was totally into Santa. I may have been just as excited about Christmas as he was this year! Seeing it through the eyes of a child is simply irreplaceable. It was so fun watching them open all their toys and seeing the excitement in Alex's eyes when he realized Santa had brought him exactly what he has asked for- a CD player and a snow ball maker. Yup, a snowball maker. The funny thing is that is actually works really good!


Beat after a morning of gift opening!

Mark and I were really lucky this year to be able to get out of town for 4 nights the week before Christmas. We headed down to sunny Mexico with 14 friends. It was great to get to hang out with friends we really don't get to see that often. It was also fun to spend uninterrupted time with those friends that we do see. We had a blast and it was nice having a tan for Christmas! A big thank you goes out to Mark's sisters for helping us out and watching the kids!!



There has been some news that has caused lots of worry in my family, but I am sure is just another blessing in disguise. My sister is expecting my nephew, Owen, in February. They have found out that he has skeletal dysplasia. It has been challenging news, but Owen has been blessed with a wonderful mother and father and a huge family here to help him along the way. Please keep them all in your prayers. My sister just started a blog about their journey. If you would like to follow Owen on his journey you can find them at http://owensabor.blogspot.com.

That's all for now! Enjoy the photos!

Covered in applesauce

Our princess:)

October

Gabby and I would like to thank everyone who was so generous and donated towards the Briggs and Al's Walk for Children's Hospital! We were able to donate $650 dollars to the hospital! YEAH! I found out that we were able to designate where the money went so it should be going to the Craniofacial Department. Gabby did great on during the walk. She got a bit antsy at times, but we survived the cold!

We were able to spend the weekend with my sister Dawn in Milwaukee. It was just a girls weekend as Mark and Alex stayed home. Dawn's cat Petey was not so thrilled about a one year old in the house, but Gabby was thrilled he was there:) We were able to visit one of my good friends, Heather, and go for dinner. Gabby actually did really well at the restaurant to so that was helpful.

When we got back on Sunday we headed over to the Pumpkin Patch to get some pumpkins. Last year Gabby was to small to thoroughly enjoy the pumpkins. This year was different! She and Alex had a great time! Here are some pictures from our visit.





and still more pictures:)







Happy October!!

Children's Hospital Walk!

So summer has come to an end. I cannot believe how quickly it went by! Gabby is approaching her 6 month post op date already! She is doing fantastic! She started walking early this summer and now is trying to keep up with her brother. She is babbling like always, but is now able to say a few words. She loves our dog, Sadie, and cannot get enough of her. It is fun to see her personality shining through. She is getting to the age tantrums and can through them with the best:) She is a big stuffed animal fan and when we go to stores, or even the library where there are stuffed animals she goes nuts. It is entertaining some times, but keeping her in a shopping cart can be a challenge.

We have been dealing with another round of double ear infections that won't go away. This time though, she has learned to clench her jaw and refused to take the medications. It was definately a challenge, but we got some in her eventually. Her doctor is now just watching because there is still fluid in both of her ears. If this continues we will be going the ear tube route. Gabby is kind of clutzy in walking- she trips a lot. Her doctor and I think it may be related to her ears. I hope this all goes away soon!

We had an appointment with the pediatric opthamologist a few weeks ago. I have not noticed Gabby's eye wandering like it was before her surgery. Dr. Ruttum agreed. She was cleared for another year. Yeah!

Gabby and I are going to be doing the Briggs and Al's Walk for Children's Hospital this year! I wanted to do something to try to give back to this fantastic hospital system we have here in Wisconsin. The money raised this year goes to the west tower addition. This addition opened while Gabby was an inpatient. The nurses raved about it. While we were their there was no room for Mark and I to stay in Gabby's room. We slept on the floor or tiny pull out for the 4 nights she was there. Now they made the rooms more geared toward having parents stay. They have added different PICU sections. If I remember correctly what I was told they would have a certain number of beds dedicated to neuro, heart, etc so that the scheduling would be smoother and with much more space to accomodate more children. If you remember, Gabby got bumped from surgery the first time around because there were no PICU beds available that day. They didn't have space for any children who came in with emergencies overnight. So the patients who could wait were bumped. This should not happen anymore. Anyway, I am trying to raise money for this addition. 100% of the donations go directly to this. If you are interested in donating, even $5, visit our website at: http://www.firstgiving.com/jodidanen (you may need to copy and paste). Thanks in advance!!

Three Month Check Up

Ok, so this picture has nothing to do with this entry- but it is the cutest picute EVER!!

What a fun and busy week we have had around here. Our holiday weekend started on Thursday when we made the trek to Milwaukee to see Gabby's cranio surgeon. No, that was not the fun part! We took the kidlets to the Zoo after her appointment. I do have to say I was nervous for this appointment. Now that the swelling has been going down even more, I can see that her forehead is not quite as straight as it had looked for awhile. I was just afraid that maybe the plates were starting to refuse or something. Dr. Jensen said that she is doing great though, so my worries were for nothing. Thank goodness! He said that she is not even laying down scar tissue yet and that she is still so close to the surgery that her skull may continue to change as she grows (for the better). She has to go back next April for another CT scan which will really show what is going on. He said by that time the plates should all be closed- so her skull will be all fused together- which it should be by that time. That will be good!

We spent the rest of Thursday at the Milwaukee zoo with my sister Dawn, who lives there- well in Milwaukee, not at the zoo ;) It was a really nice day there. Perfect weather. Alex was in his glory. He loves to watch those animals and ask a million questions!

We have had pink eye in our house and it has been a big pain! Both Alex and Gabby got it on the same day, who knows where from. Anyway, they had to do the darn drops every 3 hours. Gabby ended up being allergic to them and her whole eye lid and under eye was all red and swollen. They looked a bit rough. Luckily they are doing better now.

Friday we went to a beach in Kewaunee on Lake Michigan with my brother, sister in law, and 2 nieces. We had great weather, but it could have been a bit warmer. The kids however never seem to notice that it is not quite warm enough to go into the freezing lake- least of all Gabby. That girl LOVES the water!! She is a little dare devil when it comes to water- at least lakes. She crawls at top speed straight into the water and does not slow down until I scoop her up! She does not care how cold it is or that her head is going straight under water. I had to proceed to walk her in the water for the next half hour. She really needs to learn to walk on her own! Which in fact she is almost there. She can walk across the room, but then kind of will lunge for whomever she is going to. She just needs to work on her balance a bit more...

Saturday, the 4th of July, we spent at my parents house as we have for the past 3 or 4 years. My siblings and a couple friends all go over and we BBQ and swim in their pool. This year the pool was a wee bit chilly at a high of 55 degrees! The kids went in and didn't seem to mind. Alex wanted to go in to, but does not yet know how to swim so that would mean I would be going in to. Luckily I got him to hold out until my sister's boyfriend, Brad, arrived and he happily jumped right in that freezing pool and took Alex swimming. It lasted all of 2 minutes- because of Alex, not Brad!


Waiting to go down the slide.

Realizing the water was Freezing!

Gabby slept through the fireworks again this year. Maybe next year she will survive staying up late enough to see them. Alex loved them and got a kick out of his first sparklers. A good time had by all.
Alex and his cousin and friends.

Sunday we decided to invite some family and friends over to have all the kids play and to grill out. We don't get to see these friends often enough so we thought it was a good day for that. We had great weather and all the kids loved playing on Mark's makeshift slip and slide:) Compliments go out to Matt, who is the next Food Network star with his delicious gourmet burgers!!

Oh, I forgot to add the bad part of the weekend. We had an incident on Saturday where Alex ran full speed from across the room and accidentally knocked heads with Gabby. It was really scary because I was holding her and felt the force of that hit. Gabby was screaming, I was bawling, and Mark was trying to get us both to calm down. A call was placed to the on-call craniofacial resident at Children's to see if a hit like this could move or affect the surgery. I was so worried that something had shifted or something. He was more worried about a concussion and said that yes, things could get shifted, but it was unlikely. She was acting fine and eating fine, so she is probably just fine. I am still scared that something did happen with that hard of a hit, but am probably overreacting. I wish she had a helmet to protect that little head of hers!!

So all in all we had a fun weekend and are going to be recuperating for a few days:)

Gabby's 1st Birthday!

What a great day we had on Friday! It was Gabby's First Birthday! We celebrated by having a bunch of playgroup friends over to play outside. It was beautiful out- 77 degree's and sunny. The kids were able to play in the blow up pools and with squirt guns and run wild. Gabby had lots of little kids to play with too. They were all so cute in their swimsuits!


Alex was so worn out that this is how he fell asleep!


Saturday we had Gabby's birthday party with our families. She was looking adorable in her birthday tutu:) I actually ordered it while she was in surgery. That was my distraction- looking through the Etsy website picking out the cutest outfit for her birthday. I was so happy the day was here to wear it- and she kept it on- I was not sure about that! It was a rainy day on Saturday so we had to be inside- again. We got spoiled with the beautiful day on Friday. It continues to rain here, so we are starting to go stir crazy again. Some day summer will be here to stay...











Gabby is now really able to walk behind push toys and cruises around the furniture. She can balance standing on her own, but not brave enough to try steps yet. One of these days!
Sharing so nice!

She does have teeth!

If you look really closely, you can see bottom teeth appearing!


So we have been waiting forever for Gabby's teeth to appear! Finally they have made their appearance:) She got one bottom tooth about a week ago and now the other and two top ones are pushing through. She actually has not even been cranky about it either. I guess when you compare what she has been through, teeth are nothing!

Our Memorial Day weekend was action packed, but a lot of fun. Alex and Gabby got to have a sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Saturday night so Mark and I could go to De Pere Fest to see the old 80's band Night Ranger. They were ok, but hanging out with friends with the knowledge that I got to sleep in the next day was the best!!

I got my garden planted on Sunday. I am a total dork because I have been waiting to plant my garden since about February! Sunday night we had our nephew's 8th grade graduation party. We went to the local Memorial day parade on Monday and then to my mom's for a BBQ and then to a park to see a group of our friends whom we don't get to see as often as we should! Ah... we stayed home today!

Gabby did really well sitting through the parade. She was bribed with her first sucker.

She sat through the whole thing sucking on it. It helped that she got so sticky, that even when she let go of the sucker, it stuck to her had. No need to keep picking it up for her!

You can see that Alex was really excited about the parade too... He didn't really get into getting the candy until Seroogy's Chocolate was handed out. That perked him up!

Mother's Day

What a wonderful Mother's day we had at our house this year! Having Gabby here with us this year was so nice! The best gift I got was the card Alex made me and Gabby saying Mama for the first time on Mother's Day- how is that for timing?!!:)




Alex turned three on Saturday and we had a party with family here that day. He is just getting so big. I cannot believe he is already three!! Time really does fly by. One of my friends just did something similar with the progression pictures and I could not believe how big he had gotten! I wanted to do that with Alex so here it is!





6 months old



18 months

2 1/2 years old

3rd Birthday
Happy Birthday Buddy!!




We had my sister, Dawn, up from Milwaukee staying with us over the last two weekends. Alex (and Gabby too) really love when auntie Dawn stays over. Alex gets her to play with him for hours non stop. My sister does not have kids, so I think she gets beat while she is here and needs to go home and sleep for days to recover. As an example...Alex: (5:30 am Saturday) tip toeing into our room. "Where are my pliers? (He is OBSESSED with these play pliers he has- he carries them everywhere). Is auntie Dawn sleeping downstairs?" =Mark: "Yes she is" Alex: "Can I go down there?" Me: "NO" Mark: "Yes buddy- go right ahead!" On Sunday Alex walks into our room at about 6:00 am covered with blue icing from his birthday cake. He pulled a chair right over to the cake and went at it all before six am. Next question- is auntie Dawn downstairs?! Poor Dawn..., well, poor us for having to do this everyday:)

As for other note worthy news...Gabby got her first tooth today- Finally! Took long enough! She also got her first pair of real shoes last week and is now starting to let go of furniture for a second to get her balance. She can push toys around and kind of walk that way so more strides are being made! Go Gabby! I can tell the swelling is continuing to go down. I can see more pins sticking up a bit on one side. The healing continues.

Happy belated Mother's Day to all you mother's!!