A couple of months ago, my dad asked if I had any epic plans for costumes for the girls. I admitted than I did not. He suggested that Elaina would make a good little turtle, since she was almost crawling at that point. I loved the idea, and decided that Chloë and her high energy levels would make a perfect hare. And so the idea of Tortoise and Hare was born. My mom found a stuffed rabbit at Goodwill, so I washed it, cut it into pieces and made Chloë's costume. My dad worked some magic by shaping a tortoise shell out of good ol' paper-mache, we sewed on one of my old belts, and my mom and I went to work painting it.
A few days before halloween, our church had their big annual Fall Carnival, so we dressed the girls in their costumes, and I got out the face paint.
At the Fall Carnival with my very own tortoise and hare. (Thanks Bryan, for taking all the pictures!)
On her mark...
The Vegetable Toss game. Chloë did pretty well from about a foot away.
We stood in line a long time for the archery game. I tried to help Chloë do it, but she'd never used a bow and arrow before, and wasn't quite sure how to make it all work. At least she got some candy in the end.
I got up on the stage with both the girls for the first category of the costume contest. They both fell into the newborn to 2-year-old category. The infant viking on the right took 1st place, I believe.
The 15-and-up costume category.
We had to get back up on stage for the Group Costume category.
There were some pretty creative group costumes!
We got lots of candy, and had as much fun. Chloë especially loved it all, and keeps asking for me to do her face paint.
This beautiful girl is always doing things with her tongue. Sticking it out, curling it around, or flipping it over (upside down) like her Aunt Katie can do. Sometimes I think she looks kinda goofy with her tongue hanging out of her mouth all the time, but I know that means she's happy.
Elaina's most recent accomplishment is cutting her two bottom teeth. And let me tell you, those are some well-earned little baby teeth. There was much, well, gnashing of teeth. Crying and whining and whimpering and fussing and chewing and gnawing and biting and moaning. One of her favorite things to chew on is an apple from the tree in our backyard. There has been some ear pulling (but no ear infections. Babies sometimes tug at their
ears when there is pain in their mouth), and some low-grade temps.
Lots of teething tablets and a few doses of ibuprofen and tylenol. And
since we were desperate, we figured we'd see if she responded well to an
amber teething necklace.The
first night she wore it, we all slept better than we had in weeks. So
she's been wearing it around the clock, and seems to be doing much better.
Elaina's personality becomes more apparent every day. She is determined, stubborn, tough, and affectionate. With all of her mobility comes lots of topples and tumbles, and sometimes she is a tripping hazard for her big sister. She flails and flaps her arms when she gets excited, and likes to babble and make noise when she's happy. She has a sort of squawk-chrip-call that she does when she wants to beckon me.
And she really just likes to babble and chatter.
She is certainly learning how to communicate. We aren't quite ready
to claim that she's said her first word, but she will definitely mimic
destinct sounds.
We've been trying to take advantage of this nice Fall weather we've been
having, and spend as much time outside as possible. Elaina loves all
of the beautiful colors and crisp air, and gets very excited when we go
to the park that is just up the street. She loves the baby swing, and
gasps when the cool breeze hits her face.
She loves to observe the world around her.
The first fire we've had since she was a newborn. She seemed to like it.
Elaina also loves playing peek-a-boo games, being tickled, rubbing foreheads together, and being with her sister. Naptime works best if the girls sleep at the same time, because if they don't, they just miss each other. They play together so well, and really entertain and occupy each other for a good portion of the morning. Elaina also loves it when her daddy gets home from work, and bounces up and down with a silly grin on her face, and sometimes claps her hands. She claps for all sorts of things; particularly if she hears me say "good job."
Elaina has mastered the art of crawling. We have recently reevaluated the location of everything within a couple feet of the floor, and have to be quick to get something off the floor if we don't want her to snatch it.
Sometimes she plays so hard she just passes out right where she is. Even if she happens to be in the Johnny Jump Up.
And then sometimes she just needs a good nap with Daddy.
Last week, Elaina measured in at 28 inches (67th percentile) and weighed in right
at 18 pounds (36th percentile). So there must be some really chubby babies
out there, if Elaina's chubbiness is out-chubbed by two-thirds of her
peers. She still nurses throughout the day (and night), and eats a decent amount of solid food as well. She likes to munch on solid food, especially with the rest of us at dinner time. She eats a lot of mashed rice and veggies, Cheerios and Rice Chex, and I found these wonderful "potato straws" (puffed, and no weird ingredients that I can't pronounce!) that she thinks are delightful. She is obviously healthy and strong, and for that we give thanks.
She had her first "real" bath last week. Chloë needed a bath, so we decided to throw Elaina into the big bathtub.
She went absolutely nuts, flailing her arms with wild joy, scooting backwards with the movement like a little crawdad. We had to put a towel in the tub to give her buns some friction. This was after she had calmed down quite a bit.
It was a cool, crisp Autumn day a couple of weeks ago after church, and we decided it was high time we checked out one of our local apple orchards. Laura and Austin organized a picnic lunch, and drove out to the cute little town of Garfield, Washington. We stopped at the little public park, and had our meal.
Chloë thoroughly enjoyed the merry-go-round.
And Elaina thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the grass and playing with the leaves.
Then we went to Bishops' Orchard. And picked (and ate) lots of apples.
We ran into my dear friend Lynnessa and her family. She had just arrived the previous day from her home in Maryland, so I was delighted at the chance to see her and meet her adorable baby Audrey. Elaina, 8 1/2 months old, and Audrey, 2 1/2 months old, were just about the same size.
Then it was time to turn some apples into fresh cider!
I think we made about 12 gallons of cider.
We all had a grand time, but I think Chloë had the most fun. I think we just might have to make this an annual tradition.
Chloë went to see her dermatologist, Dr. Dominey, over a week ago. My parents were in town, so my mom came along for the ride, and she was very helpful with the girls (and took us out for a yummy Mexican lunch after the appointment!).
It had been a year since we last saw Dr. Dominey. Chloë has grown up considerably since last October, but her hemangioma is mostly unchanged. I had hoped that we would see some fading or shrinking over this last year, but we really haven't. I'm just grateful that it hasn't grown.
2010: 4 months old. We had just started treating with Timolol. 2011: 16 months old. No treatments since we ended the Timolol in February of 2011. 2012: 2 1/2 years old. Still no treatment since February 2011.
Since the hemangioma is in a
"good" location behind her ear, we really don't have to be aggressive in
treatment right now. We can just leave it alone and not do anything
until later, if we choose. Dr. Dominey
talked about the presence of a hemangioma having some
psycho-social affects
on Chloë , especially a few years down the road. I know that as she gets a little older and becomes more aware of the occasional
stare, and more self-conscious of strangers' questions, I might not be content to
sit back and do nothing. I don't want her to be embarrassed to wear her
hair up or in a ponytail.
So we talked about the possibility
of a small surgery in a few years. A surgeon would cut out as much of
the hemangioma as he could, and since her right ear has been pushed
forward a bit, he could remove a little extra flesh (and maybe cartilage) and "pin" her ear
just a little to match the left side. Since hemangiomas are highly vascular,
sometimes skin grafts are required for things to heal properly. But because of the extra skin and
tissue surrounding Chloë's hemangioma, Dr. Dominey thought that the edges of
the skin would be able to be sutured together, and we wouldn't have to worry
about any skin grafts.
Then
I asked Dr. Dominey about propranolol. She laughed a little, and said
"I knew you were going to ask me about that." She said there hasn't been a lot of
new research over the last year, but there are more stories of success of shrinking hemangiomas in infants or children
taking oral propranolol. I asked Dr. Dominey if she had seen anything in
her literature to suggest that there might be a difference in
effectiveness depending on the age of the child. She said she didn't
think so, but that there were certainly more cases of infants using
propranolol than toddlers or older children.
Propranolol is a medication approved to treat hypertension,
and I used to give it to patients to lower their blood pressure and
heart rate. So we weren't very keen on giving it to Chloë when she was
an infant. It just seemed too scary. But now that she is a little
older, I thought I might be okay with the idea of it, as long as we could closely
monitor her heart rate and blood pressure. So we talked about
setting up an appointment with her primary local doctor, and having an
initial baseline check of her heart rate, blood pressure, as well as her
blood sugar. Then we would start her on 5mg on Propranolol three times
a day, and re-check those vital signs shortly after her initial dose.
Then every so often (a week maybe?), we would increase her dose by 5mg,
and re-check her vitals. So what were considering was: close monitoring of her vital signs initially and every time
we increased her dose, and increasing the dose from 5mg three times a day, to
10mg three times a day, then to 15mg three times a day, to a total of 20mg three times a day.
Then we realized something. Even
if the hemangioma responds to the propranolol and shrinks, the cartilage and skin of her
ear aren't going to shrink. So we'd probably consider a small
surgery to "pin" her ear so it matches her left ear. And if we're likely planning on going to the trouble of a cosmetic surgery, why not
just remove the hemangioma at the same time, and not worry about all of the monitoring and potential side effects of a strong medication.
So that's what we decided: to
do nothing. Even though the hemangioma hasn't really started to shrink,
there's still some hope that it might, at some point in the next few years. So we'll keep
praying and watching it, and see what the next few years
bring.
For the few of you that found this blog post by searching for hemangiomas,
timolol, beta blockers, and before and after photos, you can see my older blog posts (with more information and statistics) on this subject tagged under the hemangioma label.
My brother Samuel called me a few weeks ago from Denver. "Hey, can
you pick me up at the airport on Wednesday?" he asked. He had injured
his collar bone and rib in a rugby game, and had to take a few weeks off
to let things heal. So the girls and I drove up to the Spokane airport. Samuel's arm was in a sling, and his hair slightly resembled the Euro Rugby Mullet, but we were glad to see him.
Chloë was especially thrilled to have her Uncle Samuel around off and on for a few weeks. He spent a lot of mornings and afternoons with the girls, napping, playing, tickling, and reading.
Last Tuesday, the night before Samuel's early flight back to Denver. Chloë gave him lots of extra hugs and cuddles.
We miss you, Samuel. Hope you don't get any (more) injuries this season. Although we wouldn't complain if you came to visit again.
