Happy Halloween

I finished Addy's Tinkerbell costume this evening--not a moment too soon, right? She was very excited to try it on and told us all about her "Bew-few Tink-a-beyell costume"

Not to be outdone

Addy actually got in her gait trainer today for the first time in quite a while! I think being around some bigger kids while Nora and I were in the hospital helped motivate Addy to want to do pulling up and standing again. Whatever her reasons, I'm super excited! She scooted backwards a little bit and did a lot of "marching" (just stomping her feet without actually moving) and standing up (using the trainer only for balance). Yay, Addy!

Nora's first outing

It wasn't a super big adventure, but we did brave the cold* temps this morning to take Nora in for a weight check at the pediatrician's office. She's up one ounce from her discharge weight, and her bili count from the hospital was low enough that we didn't need to do a heel stick--yay!


*cold = mid 40's, which is unseasonably cool for this time of year, but is not truly cold according to my northern upbringing.

The wait is over

Baby sister is here! Eleanora (Nora) Cecile arrived on Wednesday evening, 6lb 2oz, 18 inches, and gobs of dark hair. She's doing great, despite being 4 weeks early. Mom is also doing really well, so with no reasons for anyone to stay in the hospital, we came home yesterday evening. No monitor alarms, no nurses to interrupt your sleep (that role now rests squarely on Nora's adorable, tiny shoulders). Ah, home sweet home!

Dipping sauce

Addy has decided that chicken tenders dipped in ketchup or applesauce (or both) is quite delicious. So, head's up certain fast food chains serving chicken nuggets in your kids' meals: in addition to honey mustard and BBQ sauce, maybe you should offer an applesauce cup. Just a thought...

Pesky monkeys

Addy was singing us the "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" song in the car last night. We managed to get her to do another rendition of it this morning:

Practice makes perfect

We're in countdown mode, waiting for Baby Sister's arrival. To help warm her up to the idea, Addy's nanny had set up a bed for the baby Cinderella doll and gave her a bottle and an empty baby food container. She's pretty darned cute with the doll at least!

Don't be silly, Mother

Addy usually has some toast with her breakfast. For the past couple of weeks, when she gets most of her toast eaten, she looks at the shape of what remains and tells us what she thinks it looks like. Most days it's a truck of some kind (firetruck, tow truck, etc) and some days it's an animal. This week she had kind of a long, skinny piece of toast left and she had stood it on end on her plate, so I asked her if it was a giraffe. She replied, "Uh, no. Toast."

It's all in the technique

Addy specifically requested "Ritz crackers with cheese" for lunch, so I made her Ritz crackers with American cheese slightly melted on top. She proceeded to peel the cheese off with her fingers and ate the cheese first, then used her teeth to scrape off the cheese that was melted too much to be peeled off. At least she also ate the crackers.

She has also decided to explore her world without visual input: she crawls around the house with her eyes closed. I'm glad that it's apparently normal development and not shunt failure, but it kind of scares the tar out of me since she keeps bumping her head on things and I worry about her hitting her shunt.