Time to Baby Proof!!!

Leah has had a skill explosion in the past 2 weeks!

*She mastered four point crawling (still army crawls about 20% of the time)

*She has started babbling a ton, Dada, Baba, Gaga, Hi...yet no Mama!!

*She has started pointing at things.

*She says "Hi" when she waves. She loves to wave to everyone in the store! The older ladies in the store love when she waves to them and they think it is an invitation to come and talk to her, this makes grocery shopping impossible! Although, I do love all the great compliments I get! ;)

*She is totally pulling up everywhere now.

*As of today, she has mastered the stairs! We have been working on the stairs in PT for a couple weeks now. Leah's PT kept saying that she doesn't expect Leah to be able to climb the stairs yet. Well, I'm pretty sure Leah heard that and was out to prove her wrong, because she mastered 8 stairs on her own today! The baby gate is now UP and there to stay!!


Sorry about the video being all over the place! I was super afraid of her falling!! Oh and just turn your head to the side while watching half of it! :) I have no idea why I turned the camera!! Again, Sorry!!

MMR Vax

Well, Leah is 11 months old today!

One more month until a year!

This has gotten me thinking a lot about her 12 month vaccinations. I have always gotten all of vaccines for Leah and I'm not anti-vaccine, but I am really worrying about the MMR vaccine. I have done a bit of research on it and some of the things make me a little nervous. One thing is the obvious one, Autism. I know that people waiver on whether this vax really does cause Autism. There is a bit of information that it is linked and that's enough for me to be concerned. Leah already has one thing going on--do I really want to put her at risk for another? I wouldn't be as worried about this, but I did just hear a story about someone who my family knows personally. His son was very typical and on track developmentally, he got the 12 month vaccines and completely stopped babbling and would sit and stare into space. They eventually diagnosed him with Autism.

The second thing that freaks me out is that one of the side effects could be brain swelling. This is a VERY small percent, but it has happened. I worry mainly about this one, because we already know that Leah does not have a fully functioning brain. There is a part of it that was damaged by the stroke. So, what does this side effect mean for her? Would she be more at risk because of her stroke? What are the possibilities that she could have another stroke because of this?

The third thing that makes me nervous is the risk of seizures. There is a percentage of children who have a reaction the the MMR that have seizures--yes they are febrile seizures--which are often not harmful to the average child, but where does that put Leah? She is already at a higher risk for seizures, so if she reacted with febrile seizures would they be harmful to her? Could it lead to regular seizures?

I guess at the end of the day my question is...Is Leah at more of a risk then a typical 12 month old? If it is the same risks then I think it would be a risk we are willing to take. If her risk for any of these side effects is higher then I just don't know if we can knowingly do that. Then if we decide not to do the MMR, how will the schools be when she needs to go to school!

I'd love to hear what some others have done in the this situation. Did you choose to go through with the vax and why? Did you choose not to vax? Did any of you address your doctors with any concerns regarding this or any other vaccinations? Please share your thoughts with me.
Thanks!!

A week of firsts...in video!

First Ice Cream! She LOVED it!!

Crawling on all fours!!!

First spaghetti at a resturant! Again, she LOVED it!

Go Leah!!

Yesterday was OT day...

When Lisa got here we were talking about how Leah's week was and if there was anything new. While we were talking I put Leah on the floor to play. I told Lisa about Sunday when Leah went a few small moves forward on all fours. She was very excited! All the sudden we look at Leah and there she goes on all fours!!!! It was like she heard what we were talking about and wanted to prove it too Lisa!!! Lisa was amazed! She said she didn't expect Leah do be 4-point crawling this soon!! AWESOME!!! GO LEAH!!

Then this morning, I was checking my email and Leah was playing on the floor with her toys. I look over to check on her and I see her standing up on her laugh and learn toy table!!! I definitely put her down sitting!! She pulled herself to standing!!!

What a week!! Yay for Leah!!!

Today we had a speech evaluation. The speech therapist would like to see Leah weekly! I was somewhat relieved and somewhat sad. I so badly wanted her to say that she didn't need ST! But, I'm glad that we are doing it sooner rather then later. I'm certain that once Leah gets a little help she will be talking my ear off! I can't wait!

Childhood Stroke In The News Again!

Just thought I would share the link. It's a decent article, not the best--but it's getting the word out there, so that is good!!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0812-health-strokeaug12,0,4530329.story

Awesome!

I know this blog is supposed to be all about Leah, but I just had to give a nod to one of the best moments I've ever seen on TV!!!!

The US team won the 400 meter freestyle relay, after the French talked smack earlier in the day! Ha! That is right! I've never been that into the Olympics, but my goodness this year I'm addicted and it's because moments like the one last night!!

When the last swimmer, Jason Lezak dove into the pool for the last lap he was trailing behind Frances Alain Bernard, the world record holder. With 20 meters to go, he pulled out from behind to win by 0.08 seconds. The reaction of the rest of the US team, including Michael Phelps was amazing!! We were all screaming in my house, I'm surprised Leah slept through it!! It was a great moment!! If you weren't able to catch it I would definitly try to find it on Youtube! It's worth it!!

On the other hand...US womens gymnastics leaves a bit to be desired. They are the best we have in the US? Ugh.

All fours

Today, Leah was so much better! I think the sickness had left our house, finally!!

We didn't do too much today. It was a fast day for us, so we didn't eat or drink anything for 24 hours. Not so fun, but that was the point of the holiday. Anyway, we hung around and played with Leah in the house.

She has been getting up into 4-point (crawling) position for awhile now, she will just get up and rock. When she wants too move she will go to her one armed army crawl, which she has gotten down pat. She moves so fast when she army crawls. Today though, she got up into 4-point and was there for awhile. My heart litterally stopped and I was like oh my gosh, she is going to do it!! I really thought she was going to just take off in 4-point!! Well, she didn't exactly take off, but she did move a few little 'steps' forward!! I was so excited! I'm not sure if it was a fluke or if she is really ready to continue. I guess we will see as the week goes on. Either way, it was a very exciting moment!

Hope you all like the new look! :) I thought it was time for something a little more fun!

Oh and the picture above is when Leah got stuck underneath her toy table! Too funny!!

A Losing Battle?

Leah is still sick, although I do think she is on the tail end now! Of course, I caught what she has, but oh well--life goes on! I'm feeling ok, just congested! Anyway, I posted a few weeks ago about Leah loving bathtime. Oh boy, she loves it! She splashes, kicks and chases her ducky around. I love giving her a bath, she is so funny! EXCEPT, now she has started making bathtime very difficult for us! The only bathtub in our house has glass sliding doors, definitly not our first choice and if we buy this house they will be the first to go. The doors make is hard to give her a bath, but worst of all there is a little ridge on the side of the tub. This ridge is so annoying, 1) because it hurts to lean on, therefore making it almost impossible to wash Leah without being in pain and 2) because Leah has discovered that is makes the perfect handle to pull up on! Now the entire bathtime Leah tries to pull to up and I am constantly saying no and putting her back down. I feel like this is a losing battle and that it's only going to get worse! Once she is able to pull into standing, I have no idea how I'm going to beable to stop her! She's only 10 months and well she just doesn't care that "no" has a meaning. Leah is a smart cookie--she understands so much of what we say...except for no. Or, she understands and is just ignoring it!! The pulling up in the bath makes me so nervous! She will pull to her knees and then start to tip over. UGH! I even thought about putting her back into her baby bathtub, but that wouldn't be fun for either of us! I guess we will just have to keep telling her no and hope that she understands!!

This video is from last week, for some reason I couldn't upload it then. Anyway, I just think her "silly face" is too funny!! Please excuse the messy face, she had just ate blueberry applesauce!

Sick Baby... :(

Sorry for the lack of updates! I was very off schedule last week, especially since we had no therapy!! I completely lost track of the days! Also, as of yesterday, Leah is sick! She is so miserable, it makes me so sad! Last night, I kicked Avi into the guest room and brought Leah into bed with me. I think I got about 45 minutes of sleep and she got about 3 hours. At around 3:45am I put her in the car, woke Avi to come with me and drove around for 15 minutes. She couldn't even fall asleep then. It's not good. She is so congested that she can't get comfortable. I have been doing all I can to help her, but unfortunately it's not too much! She hates when I clean her nose with the saline and the bulb, but I have too! Hopefully tonight she will sleep a little better and then I can too.