Fine China & Sterling Silver - Of course!

We rarely use all the fancy things we got for our wedding like crystal & sterling, and I certainly never thought I'd have Allie use any of the silver & porcelain that was given to her. But this morning, my baby found herself eating off a sterling silver baby fork, engraved with her initials and everything! She's been using a spoon pretty well, but the big forks we have are just too dangerous (as has been proven more than once...oops!) and I don't have any baby forks. I just keep forgetting to get them. So this morning, I had the brilliant revelation that we have a baby fork - it just happens to be pretty darn fancy for eating mini pancakes and strawberries. Oh well, it was perfect, and she loved stabbing her food the table over and over again. It was quite a sight, and I'm sure MIL would be proud.

All in all, it was a pretty fun(ny) morning at the Cartz house...

- A pointed at an empty beer bottle on the counter and said "Dada."
- My girl is a shoe horse - she LOVES shoes and gets so excited for them. Today when I was getting her dressed, she started to get fussy. As soon as I said I was going to get her some shoes, she flat out CHEERED. Arms in the air, fists held high, squealing (really screeching) "yaaaaah!!!" Thattagirl.
- This morning she grabbed: a tampon out of my purse, my razor off the tub, my earring straight out of my ear and pulled my shirt out to put her hand down it. That last one was just weird.
- I rarely wear lipstick, but today I happen to put it on. When I was putting her in the car, she found a (capped) pen, and started tracing her lips with it. SO cute!

I don't remember if I put these words on the other list:

MoMo - Elmo
Cah - Car ( Her little red Cozy Coupe & the pink Radio Flyer bike from Uncle Mike). This one is new this week.
Cooo - C and I got her to say "cool" by repeating it over and over again. It only happened a few times but it was awesome.
Woah! No explanation needed :)

A month later...

I kept telling myself to come on here and post an update, but I was thinking there'd be something more exciting later in the month to write about. Not so much! So, a month later, here I am. Thank God no one reads this but me!

Not a whole lot happened in April, I don't think. Last week, though, we had Alexandra evaluated by Birth to Three, a free CT service to determine developmental issues a child might be having. I've been worried about Allie's speech - not her receptiveness or comprehension, but her actual expression of words. She says Mama, Dada & No just fine (we even get the finger wag with no no no!), but all her other "words" are what they call word approximations. They are close, and more than just babbling or sounds, but they are not THE words, and I was a little concerned. She had the eval, and she rocked it - thankfully she does not qualify for services. But the women were fantastic, and didn't make me feel paranoid or crazy at all - they understood where I was coming from, and suggested that because of all her ear infections, she *really* has only been hearing well since September...so she's a little behind where she otherwise would be with her speech. They wanted us to keep track of what she does say, so here it is - in all her cuteness.

Dedoh - Jethro
Tchoo- Juice
Doo - Shoe/Foot/Toes
Go - this is pretty new, she actually says go
wawa - water
Puh - Up and Cup
Coh - Coat
Bah bah - Bye bye & Haaah - Hi...our girl has a southern accent
Hah -Hat
Hoh - Hot
Mo - More (and the sign)
She also - on command - barks like a dog, moos like a cow, toots like a train & quacks like a duck -- sort of.

As relieved as I am to hear that she is not officially "delayed" in her speech, I can't wait till she really says the words, and selfishly, I can't wait to hear her say "I love you". She give the best kisses and hugs, as it is, but to hear her say that? I know my heart will burst.

In other news, we have an appointment for her to see an Allergist on Friday...we'll see how that goes. Not looking forward to the scratch tests at all. Mother's Day was yesterday and it was awesome. C brought her in to wake me up, and really, what better way to wake up then to a beautiful smiling face saying Mama and giving hugs and wet kisses?? We went out to breakfast at our spot, Huxley's, I got a pedicure with Apryl, then it was off to the beach, Jethro included! It wasn't the smoothest trip but it was tons of fun and a perfect afternoon with my little family. We got home, I worked outside for a while on a couple beds that needed weeding and new flowers (Badly), and we had some cuddletime with the girl before bed. She was awfully gabby, and she has started to sing and dance too. She'll just go aaaah, aaaah, and move her arms and legs, or bob her head - seriously. I need video of it, because it's beyond cute / hysterical. It really was a perfect day!

The health saga recap...and an update.

I haven't been vocal or forthcoming about some health crap that's been going on. To be honest, there's been so many other friends & family members with health scares, med issues, illnesses, and other not-so-fun things, I haven't wanted to add to it. But now that I don't need vibes or whatever other mystical internet powers I might have once summoned, I thought I'd share & get it out in the open to the 2 people who read this blog :)


Here's the "as condensed as I can get it" version:

3 years ago (ish) I got a CT scan. I can't even remember why..... Add that to some weird blood work results, losing my hair, joint pains, and extreme fatigue, and I started seeing an oncologist/hematologist, and endocrinologist and a rheumatologist to see what was going on. Lots of mystery surrounding the zillion appointments and gallons of blood I was giving over for testing. The CT scan I had showed abnormal lymph node growth, and we decided to monitor it. I was also told I *may* have Sjogren's syndrome, but they couldn't confirm. I don't know why.. It's not a widely tested and known disease, though its gaining in understanding... It was all very weird & unsettling.

Then I got pregnant, didn't have a f/u scan obviously, and just decided to focus on having a happy & healthy pregnancy. No meds, no tests, no nothing. Well, I did have more monitoring than normal - the suspected Sjogren's caused me to be high risk, as there are antibodies present that can cross over the placenta and damage the baby's heart. That was all fine & unobtrusive testing, nothing to do with blood results or lymph nodes.

I didn't call the Oncologist again until last summer. Went back to him, blood numbers were still wonky, CT scan showed that the lymph node had doubled in size - and was in a basically impossible place to biopsy. The only way to get it is to go cut open your stomach & go through to the back. Um, pass. Awesome all around... onto more testing. All my blood tests come back borderline, slightly elevated, etc. It's ridiculous. Nothing is a "hell yes this chick has X disease" but nothing says flat out no, either. Weird.

PET scan showed high levels of activity in more than one area. (Commence freak out). Bring on the bone marrow biopsy... not as awful as I thought it would be, but about as fun as you might imagine. The good news with the BMB was that it was NOT cancer. That was my Christmas gift last year.

Had a follow-up CT scan last week & my oncologist called me last night - over the last 6 months, ZERO growth in the lymph nodes, and no additional spots of activity or weird stuff showing up on the scans!! So I don't have to go back and see him until Oct, where I'll have more blood work and possibly another scan.
Still seeing the rheum for the Sjogrens - but my symptoms are relatively mild compared to others'. Like - more annoying than debilitating, so I'm lucky enough to not have to be on meds right now. Eventually I probably will, but I took the stance with the doc if I don't "have" to be on meds, I don't want to. And he agreed. The endocrinologist said my thyroid was borderline, not enough to do anything about it. I do have nodules on it, and I have to keep monitoring them for growth & changes, but I guess lots of people have them without ever knowing or having them affect their health.
 
So that's it. I watch the lymph nodes for growth or changes or more of them showing up. I pay closer attention to my body and do some self tests to see if I can feel lymph nodes in any other areas. I monitor my Sjogren's symptoms for changes. I deal with the hair loss, the inability to lose weight, the fatigue & the joint aches and just be happy it's not cancer.

For now. Because, as is my luck, Sjogren's is not only known to cause lymph node abnormalities (lymph node adenopathy, to use the jargon), it is also directly linked to lymphoma. Of which there are over 30 kinds. Ridiculous no?
 
One of these days I'm gonna wake up with zero pain, bright eyed and bushy tailed, 40lbs lighter, a full head of hair and no anxiety about what's next. One day :)
 
This was supposed to be an uplifting post about how I got great test results. As I write it out and realize it's doom and gloom, I guess I'm still kinda annoyed at all the testing and crap I went through, all to be told it's probably the Sjogren's that is causing everything, but we have to monitor you forever just in case. Haha, way to go, Cartzy. Always the optimist! Good grief.