Busy week.... Long update

It’s been another very busy week at our house…. Furniture has been rearranged, a TV has been installed, doctors have been seen, holes have been discovered, and it snowed!

Our family room is currently a disaster area… Nothing is where is should be right now. On Wednesday, we rearranged all of the furniture to create more of a sitting/conversation area and to make room for the new HD TV. On Thursday, the Geek Squad came and actually mounted and hooked up the new LG set…. It looks awesome! The guy from Comcast was here today getting the new cable jack installed and upgrading our service. After today, we will have their digital voice service instead of AT&T. Now that the cable is done, we will be able to get everything sorted out so that it looks like a family room again!

Both of our “kids” had check ups this week. Susie went to the vet on Saturday and Emma to the pediatrician today. We actually took Susie to a new vet, Arboretum View, and she did great! She even relaxed enough to lie down on the table. The vet said that other than some mild arthritis in her hips, Susie is in great shape for a 9 year old dog. Emma did great at her pediatrician visit too. She grew an inch (30 ½ inches tall, 90th percentile) and gained a pound (22 lb 8 oz, 75th percentile). Emma had to have two shots today, a vaccine for chicken pox and one for meningitis, and she hardly cried at all! As of now, Emma can try any food she wants except for nuts and anything she might choke on. Because of my allergies, we are going to be a little more careful introducing eggs, but she will be trying them soon too. The only thing we are going to do differently with eggs vs. other new food is make sure we are home for the day when she tries them for the first time just in case she has a reaction. I was really proud of what a big girl Emma was at the doctor today!

We finally found a new mirror we liked for our upstairs bathroom, so Dave tried removing the old mirror on Saturday. The first problem he discovered was that the old mirror had been glued on…. Then he discovered a hole in the wall. Evidently the bathroom had been updated before and a medicine cabinet removed before the current mirror was installed, but no one ever patched the hole. The old mirror currently looks like a window prepped for a hurricane (i.e. criss-crossed with duct tape) and duct tapped to the wall. Drywall has been purchased and a 4’x4’ section of the bathroom wall above the vanity is due to be replaced. Poor Dave……. This “easy” bathroom update has turned into a much more difficult project.

Our spring like weather earlier in the week gave way to cold and blustery on Saturday. That didn’t stop me from getting out and completing a 7.5 mile training walk, but later in the day it started raining and got even colder. When we got up yesterday morning everything was white. It looked really pretty, especially the trees, but it started melting by mid afternoon. It’s supposed to warm up again this week, but there are still chances of snow next weekend.  I’m so ready for spring to get here and STAY!

Bell's and Other Updates

I had a visit with Dr. Choi (the eye/plastic surgeon) and he said that he notices a difference in the left side of my face since the Botox treatments earlier in the month. He pointed out that since we made it so that I can't raise my eyebrows, and not activate the bad muscle connection with my mouth, the left check doesn't twitch as much. We talked more about trying Botox around my left eye to break the bad patterns there, but I'm just not ready to do that yet and I don't know if I ever will be. I have decided to call the physical therapist that I worked with over the summer to see if he can help me get a better understanding of the exercises I found on the Bell's website. I have been doing some of those exercises (the ones that I clearly understand) and have gotten some better control over the goofy eye movements. I'm hoping that with some expert help, I could understand the other exercises better and get more control over all the goofy things my face is doing.

Happier updates.....
We are finally going High Def! We have had new TV money set aside since the tax refund we received in 2008 and we finally found a set we like in our price range. It's an LG LCD 1080.... blah blah blah..... Dave said it's cool, so I'll take his word for it. He will be picking it up tomorrow night on his way home from work and Best Buy's Geek Squad will be here on Thursday to hang it on the wall and hook it up. Comcast is coming out on Monday to work their magic so that we will have a DVR and actually get the HD channels.

I have completed week 2 of the training for the Avon 3 day in June and am making progress. I walked 6 miles yesterday morning and actually felt really good the rest of the day and wasn't sore at all today! I haven't been able to do much road walking because of the weather, so I've been walking at the mall. Emma and I are getting to know some of the seniors who walk there too. They all love to say hi to Miss Emma! Hopefully the weather will be getting better soon so that we can walk outside more.

Emma's Big Week

Our little princess had a big week! Emma continues to practice her walking and is up to 10 or 15 steps at a time. She has also mastered climbing...over barriers and up the stairs, she's definitely a girl on the go!
Emma turned 1 on Thursday. Dave took a vacation day and we had a great family day. We went to brunch and took Emma to Toys R Us for her birthday club surprise, which was a crown and balloon. Other than that, it was a quiet day enjoyed by all.
On Saturday, we had Emma's birthday party. Our guests were Dave's extended family and Emma had a grand time playing with all of her cousins. She was also a real trooper during the party and only fussed a little bit towards the end of lunch. Opening presents perked her up - and she got lots and lots of goodies. The highlights of the day were Elmo and the Radio Flyer wagon from Aunt Julie. All of the kids loved the Radio Flyer! After a trip outside to try out the wagon (thumbs up were given by all!) it was back inside for cake. Emma knew JUST what to do when the pretty pink smash cake was put in from of her! After a few dainty little bites of icing, she dug right in and had cake everywhere! After a bottle, some ice cream from Celine, and more playing, the birthday girl was down for the count.
Emma also got a Barbie ATV for her birthday and Dave put it together tonight. As soon as it was done, Emma made a beeline for it and climbed on... she was ready to go for a ride!
Her other big gift was a Kangaroo Climber and Slide, but it will be a few weeks before she will get to try that out. We need to get the back yard cleaned up and ready for spring before we set up the Climber.

Progress

We've been making progress on our various projects this weekend.
*I completed a 6 mile walk this morning as part of my training for the Avon 3 day for Breast Cancer in June.
*Dave has spent sometime today on our master bathroom update. He has been working at getting our new toilet installed. Yeah!!! This project require the removal of old wallpaper from behind the old toilet, but the steamer helped with that! It will be so nice once the bathroom is done... it's our last really bid project around the house.
*Emma continues to practice her standing, walking, climbing, and overall mischievousness. She still needs something to help her stand up, but once she's there, she can take about 10 steps by herself. We have also discovered that you have to be VERY aware of what Emma is playing with because she will try to push things together and climb places that she really doesn't need to be. She also like to reach up and press the buttons on the stereo........ I have a feeling that the fun is JUST starting.

Walking

Walking has been a theme at our house lately! Yesterday was Day 1 of my training program for the Avon 3 day in June. Emma and I went to Yorktown Mall and joined the local seniors in walking laps. According to my pedometer, we walked 3.5 miles in 1 hour and 20 minutes. I should have done 5 miles, but Emma was getting bored with cruising the mall.

Emma has also been working on her standing and walking. She is getting braver and braver about standing up and letting go of whatever she used to stand up and balancing. She has also been taking a few steps here and there walking to her Daddy and I. Before I know it, I'm going to be chasing her around the house!

Emma likes Cheese

Emma tried cheese today and discovered that she likes it. She tried the mozzarella string cheese sticks cut up into smaller pieces and she ate about 1/3 of a stick before she started sharing with Susie (which usually means she's full and/or tired of whatever she is eating).

We also had our first really warm day of the year today, it got up into the mid 60's and it felt wonderful after all of the cold weather! The past couple of days have been sunshiny and warmer and we have really enjoyed it. It's been so nice to be able to open up the windows and air the house a little. The downside is that winter is ready to give up yet, so we have a flash flood warning for the whole weekend.

Bell's Update

I had my appointment with Dr. Choi (the Ophthalmology and Oculofacial Plastic Surgeon) tonight. Dave and Emma ended up going with me. He did his exam and the results are in:

1) My eyes are healthy - and he dilated them to prove it!

2) The muscles around my left (the Bell's side) eye are just as strong as the muscles around my right eye.

3) He agreed with the ENT that I have sykenisis (cross wiring of the facial nerve/muscles) and he proposed a treatment plan.

Part 1 of the plan addresses the fact that the left side of my face tightens and my mouth lifts when I raise my eyebrows. For this he suggested using a small dose of Botox in my forehead to help me learn to not use and/or minimize the use of raising my eyebrows. There were minimal negative side effects (mainly bruising at the injection site), so I decided to go ahead and give this a try.

Part 2 of the plan addresses the left eye closing when I pucker or make certain shapes with my mouth during speech. The doctor suggested using a small dose of Botox around my eye to slightly weaken the muscles and prevent them from reacting when my mouth moves. There are more potential negatives to this treatment, primarily the risk that my eye could look/behave the way it did right after the Bell's started. I decided NOT to try this treatment right now. I am going to continue to do the exercises I have to see if I can continue to gain additional control over the eye.

Part 3 of the plan addresses things I didn't even really know where going on - Dr. Choi mentioned that he noticed small involuntary twitches and muscle spasms in the left side of my face and one of the muscles in my neck. He would like to treat that with Botox as well. At this point, I don't think I will follow up on Part 3 of the plan. This are things that I wasn't aware of, so they must not be too bad.

I go back to Dr. Choi in three weeks to follow up on the Botox injections that were done to my forehead tonight. If there is any news, I will let you know.....

4 steps

Emma took her first 4 steps today! She had been standing/leaning against the couch watching the end of The Price is Right. I sat in the floor in front of her and held my hands out to her, she grabbed my finger and WALKED to me taking 4 steps!!! It's the first time she's taken more than one step on her own....