Dentist Appointment

Jon took Hannah to her 2nd dentist appointment today. I'd taken her 6 months ago when she turned 2 years old, and she wasn't too keen on the whole thing -- she didn't want to sit in the chair, or open her mouth, or really do anything. So, Peggy, our family's hygienist, just talked to her and showed her all of the "cool things" there were to look at, gave her a goodie bag of toothbrushes and toothpaste, and we left after about 20 minutes. When Jon took her this time around, I hoped that they'd actually be able to get her mouth open, so for about a week beforehand we talked about the dentist every night when we brushed our teeth. Ultimately, I guess it helped!

Jon called me at work to report that Hannah had a FABULOUS dentist appointment. She sat in the chair, they counted her teeth (all of her baby teeth are in!), brushed (and flossed) her teeth, and then she got her own "SpongeBob" toothpaste, a Dora tooth brush, and her own floss. She absolutely loved it. Hannah spent days afterwards talking about the dentist and showing me how he counted her teeth, saying "Aaahhh...", and asking me to floss for her!!!

About a week after her appointment, the dentist's office called and asked if we could send in a picture of Hannah to use in one of their advertisements for their "cavity free club," which is a list of kids under 12 who were cavity free at their last appointment. So, as of July 21st, Hannah was in an advertisement in our local Dublin newspaper! I don't have a link or picture to post, but we sent her "big sister" picture to be used since she had such a good smile in it.

VBS

Our church's Vacation Bible School is for kids ages 4 years old through 6th grade. BUT, we discovered that if you are working at VBS, they offer a nursery and a 2-3 classroom. At the last minute, Jon really felt like maybe he should help this year and the day before it started, he found out there was a need for helpers in some of the grade levels. So, Hannah was able to attend in the 2-3 year old room. We weren't sure that she would be able to handle the classroom setting, but she did GREAT. The teacher told Jon that she sat and listened and was really good all week. Every night when I'd get home from work she'd tell me all about what she did and she loved to talk about "Bible school." In the morning she was excited to get up and get dressed and she was practically dragging us out the door!

Enjoy a few pictures!

The theme this year was "Gold Rush" - our church is a "pilot church" for the curriculum, so we are able to buy a great program at a discount.

On the biggest day, I think Jon told me there were over 200 kids in attendance. The 2-3 year old class sat in the front row during the drama and signing. Jon said that Hannah just sat and stared and wasn't too into the singing and motions, but there was a lot to take in! The drama team (which included our Youth Pastor (and Jon's friend), Steve)

Playtime Hannah with her friend Robbie, doing puzzles
Outdoor water time
Snack Time
(She looks so tired in this picture!)

Jon said that Hannah took big naps after every day of VBS. It really wore her out, but she loved it. Jon also loved being a classroom aide -- he thought it was much better than running games like he did the last time he worked. As a result, he'll probably try to work VBS next year so Hannah can go again. I'm so glad we've got such a great program, right in our "backyard."

On Friday evening our church put on a VBS carnival, which was TONS of fun. The evening started off with an OSU football player sharing his testimony and the kids sang a few songs, but then they turned everyone loose in the parking lot. The church had a free picnic dinner - hot dogs, fruit, veggies, chips, cookies, and then all sorts of carnival activities. Hannah especially liked the petting zoo and getting some cotton candy and a snow cone (sugar overload, anyone?!). But, she didn't like the dunk tank -- when she knocked down the youth group kid in the tank, she started to cry! She also refused to ride the pony, which surprised us, since she loves animals so much. Ultimately, she was a little too little for a lot of the activities, but she was still able to have a good time while we were there. It was a great way to wrap up a fun week!

Therapy Update

Since it's been a long time since I mentioned anything about therapy, I figured I'd give a quick update on what is going on in that area. Hannah is still getting her speech, occupational therapy and physical therapy. We have a great team of therapists who come to the house every so many weeks (it varies based on the type of therapy, but visits range from every 4 to 8 weeks). They come one at a time with Hannah's "early intervention" teacher. In the beginning, I always tried to be home from work for an afternoon appointment after school, but with Jon being home all day in the summer, I've just let him handle all of the appointments (and it's been a lot easier to do morning ones). I may not hear a "blow-by-blow" report on the visits (although he is capable of doing it when describing basketball plays!), but I've come to realize that I just can't be everywhere all of the time and at some level I have to trust that Jon also wants what is best for Hannah and he reports the most important things to me. (And, I get the worksheets/instructions the teacher and therapist leave behind.) For someone with "control issues" it's been a growth process for Mom!

Most of Hannah's PT appointments have moved to one of the pre-schools used by "Help Me Grow" because of the amount of gym equipment there. At Hannah's first appointment at the school, our teacher discovered the "non-stop moving girl" that she didn't believe we had! She was really concerned about her attention span during that appointment, but during another appointment later in the week, Hannah was able to sit still at a table and focus on a project they gave her, so hopefully it was just the new environment that had her distracted. Hannah LOVED all of the fun new stuff to play on and explore. Our biggest PT issue is that Hannah shows a noticeable favoritism for her right leg - so they are trying to get us to have her walk on low balance beams, on lines made with duct tape in the driveway (forward, backward, and sideways), and alternating feet when going up the stairs. They are just giving us things to do at home to work with her and so far when they've given us activities, they've always seen a good amount of improvement within a few months.

Our referral into the home-based program really started with Hannah's speech delay last summer. That was the first area where she scored noticeably behind where she should have been (even based on her "adjusted age" when she should have been born). However, Hannah is growing by leaps and bounds in the speech area these days. At this point, we're getting tips on the things we should be teaching her and where her language should develop. We're now working on sentences and proper "ing" or "s" endings to words. Jon and I are both amazed at how much kids learn in such a short amount of time and how many new words they pick up every day.

Hannah's OT appointments seem to me like they are most focused on some of the issues that preemies frequently have. We use an exercise ball to get her to lay with her arms and legs stretched out - preemies often really like to be in the prone position (think of an infant on its tummy), and Hannah is no different. She loves sleeping on her stomach with her arms and legs tucked, so getting her to be comfortable spreading out is a goal. When we first started she wouldn't do it at all for them, but now she'll roll on the ball and stretch all of the way out. Another activity they have us do is getting Hannah to lay on a blanket or sheet that we swing in the air - they flying sensation helps them spread out their limbs. OT also works with Hannah on some of her sensory issues with touch, moving to music, and some of the other basic developmental things she should be doing at 2 1/2 years.

I'm definitely glad we got ourselves hooked up with this program -- and it's FREE. (Well, I guess this is what a portion of our tax dollars are used for.) What Jon and I appreciate the most is that this is our first kid, and neither of us spend a ton of time around little kids (other than our own), so knowing what she should be doing and when is an area where we don't have a lot of experience. Having people trained in these areas give us things to work on and tell us what things are "normal" and what are a "problem" is really helpful. Hopefully, we'll get her caught up to her peers by the time she is 3 years old (when we're "kicked out" of the program). It's certainly been worth our time thus far to see the improvements she's made.

Happy Birthday Peyton Lane!

We have our first niece!!!! I came downstairs for breakfast at Susan's house and she told me "we have a baby." I must have been tired because I had no idea what she was talking about at first. Then, it hit me that my sister had her baby!

Karen had been at the doctor on Friday for an appointment - she was 37 weeks along - and her doctor had told her that it wouldn't be long before she delivered and to not let Brian leave town for a wedding he was planning on attending. Liam was 10 days early, so her doctor expected that this baby would come early too, but I'm not sure anyone was thinking she would be this early! Fortunately for Karen, Mom and Dad had gone to VA to help out with Liam while Brian was out of town, so they were already at the house when Karen went into labor late Friday night. After a 1 am trip to the hospital (with contractions a mere 2-3 minutes apart!), Peyton arrived a little after 6am. Karen has fast labors, that's for sure!

Peyton Lane Cassidy

born at 6:07am on June 19, 2010

7lbs, 13 oz and 20.25 inches

Karen and Peyton get acquainted
Proud Papa!

I'm so excited to have a niece. After only having boy cousins, it will be nice for Hannah to have a girl cousin. Of course, the only bad thing about this new baby is that she lives TOO FAR AWAY. I hate that Karen and her family are over 7 hours away. I'm not sure when I'll get to meet little Peyton - hopefully in August, but if Karen (and clan) don't make it to the annual get-together at my parents' house, it could be spring break next year before we get together, since we're not anticipating going to WV for Thanksgiving this year (since our baby is due the week before).

In the meantime, I'll have to get by with pictures (and Skype)!

Jaidyn's 1st Birthday

Jaidyn's first birthday is already here! It's hard to believe that she is already ONE! She's been walking for a few months now and spent her birthday toddling around....in a cute little princess outfit. We made the quick trip to Pennsylvania for her birthday party because Hannah loves playing with with Jaidyn (and so I could help Susan get ready for the party). While Susan and I decorated, the girls had a ton of fun playing together in the morning before the party.

Birthday Girl!

Susan had to show Jaidyn what she was supposed to do with the cake.
Jaidyn's first taste

Jaidyn isn't too sure about this "birthday" thing

Once she got the hang of it, Jaidyn was LOVING her cake!

Unfortunately for Hannah, she slept through almost all of the festivities! Hannah woke up just as we were finishing with cake, but was around while Jaidyn opened a few of her presents. We left to come home before Jaidyn opened everything, but Hannah offered "assistance" with the first two gifts! I'm definitely glad we were able to go to the party. Since Gary is from a really large family, our family of 3 doubled the size of the "Frayte" side that was in attendance!

Potty Training

I wish I had a cute little picture of Hannah by the potty, or Hannah in her big-girl undies, but I don't. So, this post is just going to be a big "THANK YOU" to my fantastic husband, who is potty-training Hannah.

On Jon's last day of school, our babysitter told him that Hannah was definitely ready to start potty-training. She'd been pulling out all of her diapering stuff, laying the changing pad out on the couch, laying herself down and waving her diaper in the air for Lisa to change her. We decided that we'd start potty-training by just removing her diaper and letting her wear a long tee-shirt during the day (but still doing diapers for naps and bedtime).

Originally Jon and I had talked about starting to potty-train on a Friday so I'd be home for 3 days while we worked with her, but since Lisa told us that she thought Hannah was ready, Jon just went ahead and started his first day home from break (a Tuesday). When I got home from work Jon told me that most of his day was trips back and forth to the potty....meltdowns over "I need my diaper"....and handing out dum-dum suckers for going on the potty, but no accidents. WOW.

The following day, I think Jon was ready to give up. We ended up having some family over at the house, which likely had Hannah a little distracted because there was more than usual going on. Jon's breaking point was when Hannah squatted (with no diaper on) over her "Where the Wild Things Are" book and peed on it. Prevented an accident on the floor, but the book was a total loss.... Shortly after the book incident is when I got the call at work that things weren't going well and he was done.

Fortunately, Jon didn't really give up and Hannah was doing a really good job by the time I finished my work week. Hannah struggled with giving up her diaper a little and was having little mini-meltdowns about wanting a diaper, and she wanted us to sit on the bathroom floor (for extended periods of time) and read to her. But, overall it wasn't really that bad. She was good about telling us that she had to go (but didn't give us lots of time to make it to the potty) and loved getting her reward suckers!

On Friday evening my mom asked me if Hannah had any underwear to wear and I had to tell her "no." I never thought that far ahead in this process - we were just doing the long-tee shirt or dress with no diaper. I guess I thought we'd be "training" a lot longer??? So, off we went to the mall and Mom let Hannah pick out some new underwear. Hannah picked "Minnie's" - little Minnie Mouse underwear. Now, the meltdowns that Hannah is having are that she wants to wear her "Minnie's" and not a diaper. Funny how that works! Hannah was so proud to show off her Minnie's. Wow is she growing up fast.

I'm so thankful for Jon being so patient with her this week. Not many dads are willing to take over the potty-training process! Jon spent countless hours sitting on the floor of our 1/2 bath reading books and made countless "false alarm" trips to the bathroom as well. He is doing such a good job with Hannah. I really appreciate all he is doing at home, even if he feels like his entire day is spent sitting in the bathroom ; ) Fortunately, Hannah seems to have taken to this potty-training thing really quickly!

Room Switch-A-Roo

My parents came for the weekend to help get things ready for the new baby. We undertook a massive cleaning/re-arranging project. When we moved Hannah into her new room when she turned two, we moved our guest bed into the nursery. Now, we're moving the nursery into the office, but since I wasn't quite ready to give up the office upstairs, we're moving the office into the guest room.

To accomplish all of this room-switching, we had to move A LOT of furniture. We had to move my giant desk out of the office (which involved taking the bottom off to fit it through the door), 3 bookcases FULL of books, and my scrapbooking supplies that are stored with a sewing table in the closet. Then, we had to move the crib (taking it apart to get it through the door) and changing table into the "new" nursery. Finally, we had to move the spare twin bed to the basement to complete the conversion into the guest room/office combo. (We'd actually tried to leave the twin bed in the guest room/office combo, but there was just too much furniture in one room.)

In addition to all of the moving, we also were painting! We painted the nursery a very, very pale blue and part of the guest room -- no more primary paint "clip art" and motivational sayings that were done by the old owners....we painted over the back wall and motivational sayings with a nice lilac color. Both rooms look really good and it is nice to have a change. While we were in the midst of all of our moving, Mom & I decided that while the nursery was empty after we'd finished painting that we should rent a carpet cleaner and clean the carpets.....so we also cleaned the carpet! We're crazy, and yes, I am a pregnant person doing all of this work. Like I said, crazy.

We had two REALLY FULL days of work to get everything done, but it does look great. I'm so thankful my parents are able to come and are willing help with big projects like this. We were working pretty-much non-stop, starting around 7am and working until dinnertime. We even managed to do all of our painting and moving furniture with Hannah underfoot most of the time. She was a big help unloading the bookcases...even after they were already loaded post-move : )

Here are some pictures of the new guest room/office combo, and I'll post pictures of the nursery once we move the rocking chair out of Hannah's room and add some artwork to the walls!

Say Cheese!

I absolutely adore this smiling girl!

She loves to cheese it up for the camera.
Hannah is so long and lean!

16 Weeks

Here's a quick photo of me at 16 weeks. At this point, similar to my pregnancy with Hannah, what I wear really changes whether or not I look like I'm pregnant - and this side view makes me look a lot more pregnant than "normal." I haven't gained much weight yet - it's just shifting around, but my doctor is fine with everything so far. For the most part, I'm still wearing my regular clothes, but have started to use a Bella Band to make my pants more comfortable. I think I'll be breaking out the bin of maternity clothes soon.

Speaking of maternity clothes....I have a 20-gallon bin of maternity clothes that likely won't work this time around. When I was expecting Hannah, I bought sweaters, turtlenecks, and jackets to wear at work with dress pants and corduroy pants since I would primarily be pregnant in the winter.....unfortunately, my detour to the hospital meant that most of what I'd purchased (fortunately, secondhand) was never worn (at least by me). In fact, one suitcoat that I received for Christmas when I was pregnant with Hannah (after I was already in the hospital and banned from work) still has the tags on, despite my clothes being loaned out to a friend who used them for two pregnancies in between mine.

When I was in the hospital, I had a nurse who told me how hard it was for her to never get to wear her maternity clothes (she delivered at 24 weeks), and I didn't really think about it much at the time, but as I packed up my maternity clothes at home the week after Hannah was born, I really felt a sense of "loss" at not getting to wear them. It's funny how by the end of a pregnancy most people are so sick of maternity clothes they never want to see them again....but if you never get there, you mourn (yes, I think the word choice is appropriate) the loss of not getting to wear this new wardrobe. I realize that most people who have term babies won't understand these feelings, as they do seem weird, but they're real. I also really struggled with seeing pregnant people for months after Hannah was born because I never really looked pregnant. I absolutely hated to go to Babies R Us because there were always pregnant people there. Fortunately, between counseling and other preemie moms, I've had my feelings from that time period validated as being normal and have been able to work through those feelings.

I made a quick shopping trip to the secondhand store where I get a lot of my maternity clothes and bought some "summery" tops to wear this time around. If I'm still wearing size small and x-small maternity stuff this fall before this baby arrives, maybe I will get to wear some of my "Hannah collection." We'll see - a lot of my friends went up a size in that last trimester, so we'll see what happens with me. It certainly would be nice to get a little more use out of those clothes!

On a health-front update, my doctor hasn't seen any signs of problems, but we're going to start doing ultrasounds every 3 weeks to get me through the time period for when we started to have problems the last time. We're not that worried about placenta problems since you get a new placenta with each pregnancy. My doctor thinks my pre-term labor was tied to the placenta problems, so "we" aren't going to worry about that this time around (however, they are going to monitor me for it, since once you have it you have increased risk to have it again). Apparently, one of the symptoms of a placental abruption is a fast and relatively painless labor, which has my doctor thinking I delivered just before completely abrupting (which would have been bad). Thank goodness there were a lot of people praying for us and Hannah came just on time (even though we thought she was 10 weeks early!).

Gavin's Cousins

As I mentioned in my previous post, Gavin's cousins from Chicago, Olivia and Evelyn, were in town when we were over to play with Gavin. We had never gotten a picture of all of the cousins together before (the only other time they were all together was very briefly at Gavin's birthday party in December because Olivia left to go to an OSU basketball game with her Dad and Grandpa), so we got a few shots of Gavin and "the girls" while the "other Ely's" were in town this time.

L to R: Olivia, Evelyn, Hannah & Gavin

(this is about as close as we got to everyone looking at the camera and smiling)

This picture is included because Gavin is actually smiling (even though no one is looking at me -- Gavin DID NOT want his picture taken and he let us know it).

Fun head-shot of the cousins (although I'll admit, not the best picture since everyone was moving around!)

I Love Friday's Off!

I love my Friday's off from work. Although I may still end up checking my BlackBerry (because I'm required to be "available/accessible"), I don't often have much that I'm required to do....and usually anything I need to do can happen during naptime. As a result, I have all kinds of time on Friday mornings to do fun stuff with Hannah. During the school year, I do a women's Bible study at church, but during the summer I "skip" to do more with Hannah - we go to the zoo, go swimming at the Rec Center, play outside, or (as we did this Friday) hang out with friends.

Gavin got a new pool, so we went over to check it out. Hannah was loving splashing in the water, but didn't like the sprinkler that was attached to the side. Check out the pictures! Gavin's pool is a lot fancier than the plastic $5 pool from Hills that my parents had for us!!!

Gavin and Hannah
Splashing away

This was a smile, but she made a face at the last second!
Bad picture of Hannah, but good picture of her cute little ponytail -- she almost never lets me do stuff to her hair, so I had to get a picture with "proof."

It seems like I never get good pictures of Gavin....
Ah, finally one where he is smiling!

Hannah also enjoyed some time in Gavin's sandbox
Gavin's other cousins from Chicago, Olivia and Evelyn, stopped over to play too. Hannah and Olivia played together in the sandbox quite a bit.

The pay cut that I took to work an 80% schedule (with Friday off) is more than worth the extra time I get with Hannah and the time to do fun last minute activities like this. I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to keep working at a job that I really enjoy and that challenges me, but yet I still get to have quality AND QUANTITY time at home. Not every working mom is as lucky as I am.