Post-surgery - so far so good!

Eden seems to have done well in surgery!  Uncle Matt came with us to the outpatient center early this morning, since Daddy had a gig.  Even though it was earlier than she usually gets up, and she didn't get anything to eat or drink in the morning, she was pretty chill during transit, and the surgery waiting room had lots of fun toys!

When we were called back into pre-op, we put Eden in a purple hospital gown... at this point she started to realize she was hungry and became pretty whiny.  But we still got a few good photos!

Last week I texted Grammy  "qin boll."  What will I text now?

Mama accompanied her while the doctors put her under anesthesia.  Waah!  Waah!  Waah!  Waah!  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Then, pretty much less than 10 minutes later, they wheeled this little bundle in...

Sleeping Eden lasted all of 20 seconds, after which she woke up and started thrashing around and screaming.  She wouldn't nurse for more than a few seconds before popping off and crying.  She was extremely cranky for the first 1/2 hour after she woke up, which we're told is normal!  She cried off and on until uncle Matt gave her a bottle in the car.

After that, she seemed totally normal!  Or even dare I say... better than normal!  She came in and had breakfast of eggs and bananas, was talking up a storm, and then went down for a nap very quickly and easily and is still resting.

And..

She's sleeping on her back!  We were told that having ear infections/fluid in the ears makes being on your back less pleasant.  And we haven't seen her stay sleeping on her back for a long time.  So, the evidence so far indicates that she WAS suffering from the fluid in her ears, and isn't anymore!

Overall, the procedure was far less traumatic than being on the phone with the doctor's office about the procedure yesterday.  Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts and well wishes.  And BIG thanks to Uncle Matt (Eden's birthday buddy) for being absolutely essential to my sanity this morning.

Squealing with delight in bathtub!

When mommy started squeaking the big rubber froggy, Eden started emulating the squeak (mostly before this video started recording) and then she became passionate about singing with the froggy!

Corn Dawgs

On Sunday Michael drove Eden and Aunt Becky to a super fun place called Corn Dawgs in Loganville, Georgia.

When we got there, the ticket lady recognized Mr. Michael, who happened to be wearing his "The Learning Groove" T-shirt. There were so many fun things to do there!

A hayride around a corn maze!!

A corn box!!! There must have been millions of corn kernels.

Eden loved examining each tiny kernel.  There was also a baby zip line Eden got to do, and tons of other super fun stuff for kids... I can't wait to go back with her when she is 4.

And she got her very own pumpkin!

Tired after a long trip....

Not!!! This was actually the BEFORE picture. She slept on the way there but was wired on the way back.

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More photos added by Michael:

ZIP LINE!

Tube time

We saw the ENT today, and Eden's going to have tubes placed in her ears next week.

It's tough to think about her having surgery, but she has had signs of ear fluid affecting her hearing, speech, and overall health and well-being for over four months now.  Everyone I speak with says this is the right call.  I'm really happy about it, though I know the day will be hard.  The ENT didn't seem to have any reservations about it given her history:

-fluid actually observed on four separate doctor's appointments
-signs of it affecting her speech (regressing on sounds, not perceiving certain sounds)
-signs of it affecting her hearing (mild abnormality on hearing tests, others observing sound localization issues)
-family history of tubes
-persistence of the fluid over 3+ months

Please keep Eden in your thoughts and prayers and wish her r'fua shlema (complete healing) after her surgery the morning of 10/31!

On the way to ENT, where I tried to give mama's phone to several children and staff members

Uh oh! and speech update

We are thinking this may be Eden's first word - she has said it a couple of times unprompted when dropping something.  She says it a lot more often than that too.  Here's my favorite video of her whispering "uh oh" when Mama asks her to.

Eden's other first word is "dada" - though she says this a lot when she's NOT referring to Michael, I have noticed a couple of times where she definitely seemed to be calling him!  In theory she has said "ma" a couple of times too but not consistently.  She's starting to make some other sounds as you can see in this video, but still mostly sticks to da.  She doesn't really make any velar sounds (k, g) at all, even though she had started to before her speech regression at 7 months.

We suspect that her ear fluid is affecting her speech development somewhat.  She has had a couple of audiology appointments due to her speech regression at around 7 months, and everything is consistent with her having chronic fluid in her ears that causes a slight impact on hearing.  She's only had one ear infection but the fluid seems to be sticking around.  Michael apparently had tubes as a child, and my brother almost did - so we wouldn't be surprised if we had to go that route.  We are making an appointment with an ENT... will keep everyone posted!

Eden turns 11 months! New Panda photos.

Panda?  I'm busy pulling up on my Zany Zoo!

I love my egg shaker!

Here, you try!

I insist!

Wow, what a big panda!

Rosh Hashanah in Birmingham 2014

We had a great time visiting Bubbe, Grandpop & Nonnie for Rosh Hashanah!  (Updated to add Mama's pictures 2/22/15)

Daddy's pictures:

I also witnessed Eden climbing stairs - for my first time at least!  Not sure if she had ever done that elsewhere.