TGIF!

It's been a LONG week and I'm so glad to have another weekend ahead of us!  The early part of this week, I was sleeping TERRIBLY.  I'm talking up 10+ times a night.  I would wake up in the mornings with bags under my eyes and mom and dad were so exhausted and didn't know how to help me :(  They thought I was having night terrors because I would wake up screaming about random things:  "There's a bird on my back," "Make the monkey go away."  Then a half hour later I'd wake up and want to go potty.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  All.night.long.  We almost headed back to the pediatrician for another ear check, but I seem to have settled down a little.  I've still been waking up to go to the potty, but at least mom and dad can get a *few* hours of sleep here and there. 

Mom and dad had a date night last Saturday and went to dinner and to see South Pacific at the Kennedy Center.  Dad had never seen South Pacific before and mom knew all the words to all the songs - they told me it was a great show.  I was glad to have them go out for a night because it meant that I got to play with Ms. Sharon, my favorite babysitter!!!  We had such a great time together, though I didn't sleep well that night either.  Sharon told mommy that I was up every half hour from the time I went to bed and that trend continued for several more hours after mom and dad got home :( 

School was closed last Monday for Martin Luther King Day, so mom scheduled an allergist appointment for me and took a sick day.  After my last outbreak of hives at daycare last week, my pediatrician said it was time to see the allergist.  Mom prepped me that it might hurt, but that the doctor was going to try to figure out why I keep getting itchy rashes.  I got a little antsy while we were there (mom had to wake me up early from my nap) and I couldn't eat while I was there since a lot of the patients have food allergies.  I was hungry and found a bag of pretzels in mom's purse and got pretty upset when I couldn't eat them :(  But after the doctor talked to mom for a while, the nurse let me pick out a movie to watch while they did the tests.  I picked Finding Nemo!  I have a giant Nemo in my room, so mom thought I might be able to identify with that movie.  The nurse told mom to sit on the table with me across her lap and she put the movie in.  Unfortunately, the nurse then pricked my back with what felt like a ton of needles and I cried and wanted to sit up :(  Mom had to keep me laying down so none of the tests would run together.  I squeezed mommy's hand and she rubbed my shoulder to let me know it was ok.  I did finally calm down and we watched Nemo for a few minutes until the doctor came back in.  I did have welts around all of the pricks, but the good news is that I tested NEGATIVE for all of the allergens they tested for, INCLUDING DAIRY!!!  They tested me for peanuts, tree nuts, shell fish, fish, eggs, milk, soy, wheat, cats, dogs, dust mites, and a few others mom can't remember.  That's awesome - either I outgrew my dairy allergy, I was never allergic to begin with, I just have a dairy intolerance, or there's something else going on.  Mom talked to the doctor a little more about some of my history and he wanted us to keep a very detailed food diary for a month.  Including times, what I eat and drink, ingredients in each meal, how much I eat, and note any "issues" with my skin or bowels - times that rashes begin and end, etc..  After they talked a little more, the doctor had another thought.  He asked mom if he could scratch my skin and see what happened.  Of course mom said "Do what you have to do."  The doctor scratched my back with the tongue depressor and wouldn't you know, my whole back broke out in hives.  The doctor asked if that's what the rashes looked like and mom said yes, sometimes they do look like that.  So he feels pretty strongly that it's just a skin condition such that when my skin gets scratched, I get hives or rashes.  It could happen more at school than at home because I tumble and get bumped by other kids more so than I would at home.  And I could have gotten hives from a virus after my ear infection that made me itchy, then I scratched myself which caused even more hives.  He said if that's the case, we don't even need to come back for a follow up!  Mom decided to keep a food diary anyway because the rashes don't ALWAYS look like the one in the office and at least this way, we'll have some data to look at if I do break out again and we won't have to start from square one again.  The doctor told mom to bring me in even without an appointment the next time I do have a rash and we'll go from there.  So that's where we left things. 

So far so good.  Mom and dad even started re-introducing dairy to me - they've given me a tiny bit of cheese and some butter and I seem to be ok thus far!  This is so great because I can now start to eat some of the things that mom and dad do.  Mom said she's going to keep me on soy milk for now so my system doesn't get shocked, but I can start to have cheese and maybe even some yogurt.  We're going to take it slowly with the dairy, though, because I'm not eating much these days, so it's hard to tell if there's a reaction.  In fact, the past 5-6 nights, I've MAYBE eaten 2-3 bites of food for dinner.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to get a toddler to eat, mom is willing to listen...

We have another busy weekend planned.  We have my swim lessons tomorrow morning and I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow afternoon.  We started swim classes last weekend and I wasn't so sure about the whole thing.  I had been in a pool before, but for some reason I just didn't like it.  I cried a lot and wrapped my arms and legs around mom.  I kicked my feet a few times, but otherwise didn't really "let go."  I think daddy is going to go with us tomorrow and hopefully I will be more comfortable if they're both there.  Mom and I have been talking about it all week, so maybe I'll be more prepared tomorrow.  My hair is also pretty shaggy, so mom decided it was time to get my second haircut.  Can you believe I haven't had a hair cut since I was 11 months old???  Mom made me an appointment at a salon that gives out lollipops and balloons :)  Fingers crossed I'm not as traumatized by this cut as I was the last time!  I also have a playdate with two of my favorite friends on Sunday!!!  I can't wait to see Zachary and Alanna :)  We all used to be in the same school, but are all now in different places.  I'm so glad we've all stayed in touch.  Then of course I get to watch the STEELERS play football on Sunday!!!  Mom got me a new Polamolu jersey and taught me how to say "Here we go Steelers," and I did a "Polamolu dance."  She tried to get the dance on video tonight, but the memory on the camera was full, so we'll have to try again this weekend.  Let's go Steelers!  Beat the Jets!!! 

Here are a few photos from the past few weeks:

I picked out my own jammies again.  Both the tops and bottoms are elephants, but they're clearly from different sets:


Happy girl after school:


Going up to bed:


In honor of South Pacific, "I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair..."


I have a new cell phone (i.e. mom's old phone):


Eating my pizza with soy cheese:


Love my ducky towel from Jenn!


I told you I need a haircut!


Mom got me a bunch of new library books, including a Richard Scarry book (one of hers and dads favorites from their childhood).  Where is Goldbug, mommy?


There he is!


Hope everyone is doing well and I'll update again soon.  Love you!

My first visit to the Kennedy Center

I had such a fun weekend! In addition to seeing Grandma, Grandpa, my aunts, uncles, cousins and Great Grandparents, I got to go to my very first concert at the Kennedy Center on Sunday night! Mom and I went shopping at Leesburg in the morning, then came home to eat lunch and take a nap before getting ready for THE CONCERT!!!

It was on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center - a free show and it was family friendly. It was a band whose CD mom and I listen to all the time - they're called "Cake For Dinner" and they are a side project of the band called Scythian. Dad discovered Scythian at Music Fest in Allentown and then bought the Cake For Dinner Album for mom and I to listen to on our commute. I *love* listening to it in the car, so mom and dad were really excited to see them come to the Kennedy Center, one of their favorite places.

I was so excited to get dressed up - mom even bought me a pink patent leather butterfly purse that I carried with me :)  I was really good most of the time - I had a few tantrumy moments, but that's to be expected from a 2 year old near bedtime, I suppose.  While the band was playing, though, I had SO much fun.  I danced, bounced and clapped the whole time.  I had such a big smile on my face.  Flash photography wasn't allowed, so none of the photos that mom tried to take turned out. 

I wore my new dress from Grandma and Grandpa Coble:


I was still very happy when we got home from the concert:


On Monday night, I hung out with dad in the dad cave and took some pictures:


Today, mom took me back to the orthopedist for what she hoped was my final check on my hips.  Dr. Tuck has been so great and today was no exception!  It took over an hour for him to come in the room to look at me, but when he came in, I was playing "Sydney, Sydney, jump up and down" with mommy.  He was impressed and glad he got to see me jumping.  Then he asked if I could walk down the hall with mom.  I did really well and walked to the end of the hall and back.  Then we got to RUN down the hall and back (I even stopped to give one of the other doctors a high five)!  He checked my range of motion in 6 different positions while I laid on mommy's lap and I have full range of motion in every way :)  Then they took the final x-ray on my hips.  I did SUCH a good job and laid on the table and didn't move a muscle.  Mom stood above my head and talked to me, but I was fine.  When they were done taking pictures, the tech said the picture was good and I said to mommy "That was a good picture!"  When I went for my one year check, the doctor told mom I didn't have to come back unless she saw a reason to.  A few weeks ago, though, mom got a card in the mail asking us to come back for a two year check.  Dr. Tuck said that the reason they asked us to come back was that there have been several documented cases of kids with hip dysplasia who looked ok at their one year check, but were not ok at the two year check and that the treatment at that point was not easy.  So it was better to check again even though I looked fine last year than to discover a problem down the road.  The doctor looked at the x-ray and said I was perfect!  He said there are NO documented cases of kids being ok at the one and two year checks and having any problems later in life, so I think we're in the clear.  Mom is so thankful that my pediatrician caught the hip dislocation so early and that we were able to treat it as aggressively as we did.  It was rough, but definitely worth it! 

While we were in the office waiting, mom found a Thomas the Tank Engine magazine.  I didn't necessarily know Thomas, but I knew trains and enjoyed it none the less.  There was one page that had a series of letters and I read all of them to mom - I got 12 out of 12 right - she was VERY impressed. 

We're going to the allergist on Monday - school is closed anyway and I keep breaking out in hives, so hopefully they will be able to figure out what's going on.  Mom really didn't want to have me tested because keeping me dairy free has worked for well over a year, but we need to figure out what's causing all of these problems.  Fingers crossed it's nothing too major!

Hugs to all...

Happy Birthday Great Grandpa!

OK, so his birthday was actually at the end of December, but went to a fun party for him yesterday! He is 90 years old and still active as can be :) I'm so lucky to get to know and love 3 of my great grandparents!!! I think he was surprised to see me and I'm so glad we were able to go. Here are a few pictures from the day:

Grandpa and Great Grandpa:


My Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's best friend Elenor and me:


Me and the birthday boy:


Grandpa is showing me how to use a camera:


Now for the past week... I've had a good week, but continue to get hives and we can't figure out why :( My doctor has finally referred me to an allergist, so hopefully we'll be able to get in and get tested soon. I also have what is hopefully my final check with the orthopedist next week. Fingers crossed they'll clear me and I won't have to go back there again any time soon!

Here are some photos from the past week.

Daddy and I were watching the PSU game on New Year's Day. Pardon my messy hair - I had just gotten up from my nap :)


I love when I get to play with all of my toys in the basement (aka "Dad Cave"):


This is just me being cute.


Taking a spin on my sit and spin before school:


Making Quesadilla's with mom. No one else seems to like dairy free cheese, but I think it's pretty yummy!


This is me in my "snowman" pants, getting ready to help mom shovel the driveway.


Hope everyone is doing well! Take care!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a very Happy and safe New Year! I definitely had a blast :) Mommy, daddy and I went to Jay and Molly's and visited with Jay, Molly, baby Jake, Steve, Angela, baby Cora, Josh, Lee, Hans and Kona! I was a little scared of Kona when we first got there - I told mommy Kona was trying to take my blankie, but we all warmed up and had a great time. I ate a good dinner (mommy brought fruit and a roasted veggie no cheese pizza) and I played with all of baby Jake's toys and read his books :) Uncle Steve even ate a piece of my pizza before he realized it was my dinner - it was pretty funny and I certainly didn't mind, but the look on his face was priceless!

I actually fell asleep pretty well after talking to myself for a long time and woke up about 5 minutes before midnight, so mommy let me get up and watch the beginning of 2011! She warned me that it might get loud, but it really wasn't too bad. I was happy and cuddly as can be and got to rock with Angela and sit in daddy's lap for a while. Mom even let me eat two of the cookies I helped daddy make! How great is that - cookies at midnight??? Mommy got a new camera bag and took her camera, but forgot to take any pictures :( We'll have to do it again soon! I kept saying I was tired and was going to fall asleep in the car, but I talked to mommy and daddy the whole way home and ended up being awake until a little after 2am! I woke up at 7, happy as can be and never missed a beat. I had a fun day with mommy and daddy - we watched the Penn State bowl game and I got excited watching it, but am disappointed in the results :( I wore my Royster jersey again and knew to yell "GO PENN STATE!"

I also had a wonderful visit with Grammy and Grampy Clements and Aunt Laurie, Uncle Dan, and my cousins Courtney and Kaylee. They were supposed to come down on Sunday morning / afternoon, but due to the storm that was supposed to be coming through the East Coast, they decided to leave EARLY and ended up getting here by 9:15am! It worked out *really* well because I got to spend the whole day with everyone instead of just after my naptime. I warmed up to everyone really quickly and had a great time. We opened a bunch of presents and I got to play with all of my new toys with my cousins! Grammy and Grampy got me an Elmo doctor's kit and I love to listen to people's hearts and check their temperatures. I've even gotten pretty good at checking ears - I've had mine checked enough that I know exactly what I'm looking for. They also got me a book that they read to me, so I can hear their voices any time I want to - I love it!!! Aunt Laurie and Uncle Dan got me a Cozy Coupe! I love it, but had to wait for daddy to put it all together. That thing came in a million pieces and the pieces didn't fit well together - let that be a lesson to all you other parents out there - make sure you put the car together *before* you show it to your kids :) I also got the newest Auntie Claus book from my Aunt Terry! I was SO excited to open it and pointed to the little girl in the book and said "There's Sophie, mommy!" Mom was astounded that I remembered the girls name. We read the first two Auntie Claus books a few weeks ago, but it's not like we read the books all the time. I also got an awesome doll and tie dyed shirt from my Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lee Ann and my cousins Jennifer and Christine! Photos of all of these festivities as soon as the photo site is back up.

Mom tells me that she has to go back to work tomorrow, which means that I have to go back to school. I love it there, but have had so much fun at home this past week! Mom and I went to Whole Foods this morning to go shopping for the week. I even made it the whole way there and back, didn't need a potty and was dry when we got home! I think I'm going to play with my new toys this afternoon and help mom make dinner and my lunch for tomorrow before settling in for the night.

Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I had such a great day today :) Mom and dad have been telling me about Santa coming to visit me and sure enough, when I woke up this morning, I discovered that he *did* come to see me! He ate the cookies that I left him and drank the milk - he must have been hungry by the time he got to our house. And he left me a whole table full of presents complete with the blue ornament that I asked him for :)

This was me when I first walked downstairs and discovered that Santa had been there.



The first gift I opened was a Sit and Spin. Can you tell how much I loved it???





My next gift was a CAMERA! I opened it and said "Santa got me a pretty camera!"







What to open next???



Santa also brought me some new snow boots (how timely given that it's supposed to snow tomorrow???), a new clock for my room, a tote bag to carry my library books in, and a Leap Frog Scribble and Write.

Ooh!!! A laptop from my Great Aunt Jenny! I'm going to check my email, mommy :)



I'm doing work now...



I *love* my blocks from Grandma and Grandpa Coble and was enjoying my Penn State jersey from mom and dad!





My Great Grandma Speicher got me an ornament for my THIRD Christmas! She's recovering well in Indiana from Open Heart surgery and I was thinking about her a lot today.



I had a really nice visit yesterday with my Grandma and Grandpa Coble and my Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Coble! I'm so lucky to be able to spend time with so much family who loves me so much :) I got so many really nice gifts and I was so well behaved all day. I'll have to wait for Grandpa to send mommy some photos before I can post them, because mommy didn't take too many. I really enjoyed my blocks, books, dolls, clothes, letter abacus, Barbie, CD, stethoscope and my basket! Grandma and Grandpa even got me a book that they recorded reading to me, so I can open it anytime and can hear them read a book to me - how awesome is that??? We all had a nice dinner and I ate well. When they had to leave to go home, I hugged my Great Grandpa and then went to mommy and said "I like him!" Mommy said she likes him too and we all got a good laugh.

More tomorrow...it's been a long day :) Hopefully Grammy, Grampy, Aunt Laurie, Uncle Dan, and cousins Courtney and Kaylee will be able to get here! They're getting up early and driving down here, so fingers crossed the weather isn't too bad and they're able to make it without trouble. Good night all and I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

It's Almost Christmas Time!

Wow - hard to believe it's been a few months since I've updated. What can I say, we've been a family on the go!

I'll start with now and work my way backwards as I have time to fill in the details. Last weekend, Mom and Marie took Arabelle and I to visit Santa Claus. I was less than impressed and wouldn't sit in his lap. Mom was hoping that if Arabelle sat on his lap that I would too. No such luck, so mom had to sit next to Santa with me in her lap. Mom was NOT prepared to have her picture taken and wasn't thrilled about this :)




















I have been a good girl for the most part. I have my tantrums every now and then about pretty random things, but I think they can be attributed to my latest ear infection (second of the winter thus far). This is round 2 of antibiotics and we're going to keep a close eye on my ears through the rest of the winter. I came so close to getting tubes in the spring, but then had a 6 month break from the infections which kind of resets the clock. Fingers crossed my ears either get better soon or we make the leap to tubes.

Mom and dad got me The Elf on the Shelf and I've really been enjoying finding him every morning. He is magic and watches me every day and leaves at night to tell Santa if I've been good or bad and comes back in a new place every morning. I named him "Criddle," which was one of the suggested names in the book. I think I'll understand him better next year, but it's been fun this year. Christmas is going to be fun and I really enjoy our tree. Though the first night daddy put it up, I was a little freaked out that there was a TREE in the living room! Now I love it and can even turn the lights on all by myself. I have a few of my very own ornaments and am obsessed with straightening them out every day. I helped mommy wrap some presents this morning - my job was to hold the tape and pull out a piece when mommy needed it. Then I picked out the gift tag and carried the presents to the tree :) I was such a big helper!

I've been doing pretty well with potty training, but it's made it difficult to spend too much time out of the house for sure! At home, I can use the potty and wash my hands all by myself with my potty seat and stool! Sometimes mom still needs to remind me to go and we spend much of the day in the bathroom, but we're getting there. Mom put all of my diapers away and I'm wearing big girl underwear at home for the most part.

I'm talking really well now and have a rather large vocabulary. Mom and dad are constantly amazed at the sentences and phrases that I've been able to string together. I'm very good about saying please and thank you and am getting better about using my words instead of crying when I'm upset about something. Sometimes when I'm having a tantrum, I tell mommy "I have tears. I need to calm down."

I've been having a blast with the leaves outside. Mom and dad got me a rake to use to "help" them. You can see that I'm not such a huge help, but at least I had fun :)





I've become an expert in putting my own coat on! I lay it out on the floor with the collar towards me and flip it over my head. Mom gave me my very own basket to put my hats and mittens in, so I can put those on myself too. My new thing is to pretend that I'm going to work. I get "dressed" all by myself and announce that I'm going to work. This is my latest attire.



This was another one. I asked mom to help me put on *two* pairs of sunglasses, then said "I can't see, mommy." We all laughed about that one!



Mom and I had a date at the zoo on Veteran's Day because my school was closed. We had a fun day and I enjoyed the gorilla's the most :) Mom bought me a baby tiger that I love to cuddle with at bedtime.



Mom let me make my very own pizza with dairy free cheese! I have a lot of fun helping mom and dad cook and this is one thing I can almost do by myself!



I am *obsessed* with sushi avocado rolls! Mom loves sushi and we discovered that I really enjoy these too. I pick them up and dip them in soy sauce and then try to bite off little pieces. It's a little hard to bite through the seaweed wrappers, so I usually end up shoving the whole piece in my mouth! I can eat almost as many pieces as mommy :)



My teachers helped me make a marshmallow and pretzel menorah! Mom's let me eat a few pieces each night since we brought it home. I really enjoy it!



More later...hugs to all!

First visit to the zoo!

I had such a great weekend! I got to go to Alanna's birthday party yesterday and saw all of my friends. It was so much fun, the weather was perfect, and I got to sing Happy Birthday again. I got to go to a new park and hopefully will go back again soon. They had swings that were just my size and Zachary and I rode on a see saw together. I even got to see Miss Gulnara - I haven't seen her in a few months and that was a pleasant surprise.

I took a late nap, so we didn't do much in the afternoon other than play with my new Dora blocks and Mr. Potato Head and read some books. When I went to bed last night, I cuddled with mom for a while and asked her to sing me Rock a Bye Baby. She sang it a few times, then I went right in to bed. I then sang the ENTIRE song to my stuffed tiger - every single word. Mom sat downstairs listening to me on the monitor and smiled a lot.

My forehead is looking better - a few of the stitches look like they may be coming out, but the bottom of the cut still looks pretty bad. I've been letting mom and dad keep the bandaid off at night, so it can air out a little. I think we may leave it off during the day tomorrow and see how it goes. My skin is starting to get irritated from where the bandaid has been. Mom will probably send a box of bandaids to school with me just in case.

Today was fabulous! Mom made me eggs for breakfast and we went to the zoo! We weren't expecting too many people to be there since it was cooler, but the parking lots were packed and it took a while to find a spot. When we finally got there, I had a blast. We saw a tiger first - he was sleeping, so I yelled "Wake up tiger!" He did lift his head and I laughed like crazy. Next we saw three lions! There were 2 females and 1 male - the 2 females had just had cubs, but they weren't out for us to see yet. We got to see one of the lions walk through the water and get a drink. We saw the gorillas next and I saw them climb up some trees. The mommy gorilla ran across the habitat with a tiny baby on her back! I was so excited about that - I ride on mommy's back in the carrier sometimes too. We also saw three zebras, which I was really excited about. There was a cheetah right next to the zebras which was daddy's favorite. Mom really liked the elephants, but they were always on the other side of the habitat from where we were standing. The sloth bear was pretty cool too - he had really big fuzzy floppy ears. I told mommy that he was "inside" because he was behind the glass. On the way out, we waited for a while and finally got to see the Giant Panda! It was just like the stuffed pandas that I have at home. I was pretty tired by that time, though, so we walked back towards the car and grabbed some lunch for the road. I ate a Boca burger and apple slices and mom and I talked the whole way home (she said she was trying to keep me awake until we got home). It worked and we talked all about my favorite animals. The zebra's were my favorite with the tiger in a close second. We'll definitely have to go back soon.

I took a really good nap when we came home and then got to hang out with dad this afternoon while he was watching football. Dad taught me all about football and I do a touchdown cheer when someone scores. Mom went for a run, but came back early because there were too many bugs. While she was gone, daddy taught me how to throw and catch a ball! I did such a good job and actually caught the ball a lot :) Thank you to Jeff and Kathryn for the awesome starfish ball that you gave me - it's perfect for throwing and catching! Daddy was so afraid that I'd be one of those kids who runs at a ball without actually opening my arms to catch it, but I proved to him that I can play the game.

Hope everyone had a great weekend - Happy October!