Fishing for Babies

First Day of School

Quit being silly and look at me!

Look at ME, not Spongebob.

I can't tell what your sign says...

Come back and let me take a good picture...please!

Forget it, let's just go. (At the school putting stuff in his locker!)

 Despite the traumatic event of a little boy getting a bloody nose on the playground and the woman who was "not very nice" and wouldn't let him finish his lunch, it was a good day.

He thinks he'll go back tomorrow.

Problem Child

Today Grace had another CT scan and follow-up appointment with her neurosurgeon. We are trying to make sure her shunt is at the right level for her little head, so it's taking a lot of follow up. Just a reminder, about three weeks ago I took Grace to the doctor because she wasn't acting right. We found out her shunt was over-draining and her ventricles had collapsed. Since the ventricles collapsed, the fluid was collecting on the outside of her brain by her skull. Her ventricles are recovering well, but the pockets of fluid outside her brain are not getting smaller. Normally they would be showing some signs of decrease. We can't leave the fluid on the outside of her brain because it will eventually calcify and take up space where her growing brain should go. But he also doesn't want to perform surgery unless he's completely confident we've exhausted all other options. This surgery would include drilling holes in her skull and he just doesn't want to put her through that and risk infection, etc. unless it's necessary. So we are giving it a bit more time and will go back in three weeks for another follow up. And of course we were given instructions to call if ANYTHING changes.

While he was considering all of our options, he tickled her and said, "Grace, you are a such cute little girl, but you are certainly a problem child!"  :) Thankfully we've always had great outcomes, but it seems that Grace's little head doesn't always do exactly as it should.

Kicked back, snoozing at the park.

I am so grateful that Grace has such a kind, caring and experienced neurosurgeon. I know he cares about Grace and always, always looks out for what is best for her in the long run.

Please pray for Gracie's fluid to go down so she won't have to go through another surgery!

I Could Hide Out Under There

I just made you say 'underwear'! (Thank you Barenaked Ladies for your wonderful lyrics!) 

But seriously folks, stop for a moment and think about your underwear. Bras, panties and such. If you are anything like me, it's a sad, sad thought. I honestly can't remember the last time I purchased new 'underthings' for myself (besides the nursing bras I bought before Grace was born - NEARLY A YEAR AGO!).

Aluminum can underwear. OUCH! No thanks!

My friend Carmen has started a challenge - The Bra & Panties Challenge. She believes every woman should make herself a priority and be sure she has pretty, functioning underwear and bras (That fit!). I joined the challenge and splurged on some new undies from Victoria's Secret (Victoria doesn't make bras big enough to cover my Secrets, but that's a whole other blog post!) and let me tell you...it does put a little extra bounce in your step knowing you're wearing something pretty. I think she may be on to something...

You don't have to have a glamorous lifestyle to wear nice underwear. You don't have to look like a Victoria's Secret model to feel pretty. It's okay to want something nice for yourself!

New underwear makes your butt smile!

So are you woman enough to join the challenge? Pop on over to her blog and check it out!

12 panties, 12 bras, 12 months. Lets do this!

(Follow her blog to join in on the challenge.

I'm interested in knowing who else is spicing up the panties drawer!)

In the Right Direction

Gracie had a follow-up CT scan today and things went well. Her ventricles are puffing up perfectly, but now fluid is pooling around her shunt again. It's not as bad as it was in May, but we have to watch it carefully and keep her sitting up as much as possible. Sally, the nurse practitioner extraordinaire, said they kind of expected it to do this. The fluid pools mostly when she is playing on her back. If it continues to do this she'll have to wear her fancy headband again until things even out.

We'll go back next week for another CT scan to make sure everything is still going in the right direction. Now it's kind of a game to see which level her shunt should be on. She is doing really, really well - getting such a silly personality. Here are some pictures I took tonight while she was playing (and cuddling!) with Riley.

Beauty Shop

Brenna and I went to the "beauty shop" on Saturday and got her first official haircut. She did such a good job! I was thinking about cutting it into a cute bob, but once we got her up in the chair, I couldn't bear to see her hair all chopped off! So we just trimmed it up a bit.

I told her to smile and this is what I got. Goofball!

 I also got my haircut. I was going for this look:

But once my hair was cut my curls got ultra tight and I look more like this:

Off to research ways to relax curls! Not sure I can pull off the "Jewfro"!