Nice Day at the Park

Daniel and I have been trying to coordinate taking Morgan to the park for weeks now. Rain and the fact that Daniel usually works weekends has prevented us from making the trip. Fortunately, Daniel had Sunday off and it was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny, crisp day. Our first outing was to the batting cages where we met Cousin Chase and Aunt Dusty.

Dad did some hitting! Morgan and I enjoyed watching him.

Dad and Morgan try out the slide.

And then Morgan does it on her own. She really enjoyed it and would push herself down the slide.

Cute Cousin Chase and Morgan.

Funny faces...

A girl and her phone...

Okay, I promise at some point I will stop taking pictures of Morgan eating random stuff but again I have to reiterate my sheer joy of Morgan being on a regular diet. I used to love it when my mom would buy me animal crackers in this handy little box so when I saw it at the store I had to get it for Morgan. It was a hit!

The morning of our visit to the park started off with pancakes. Morgan's first of course.

Great News! Health Update 2010

Morgan and I received good news at her gastroentorologist appointment today! I took Morgan to her appointment only to find that her stool is no longer testing positive for blood after nearly a year of constant positive results. Daniel and I have been giving Morgan a couple of ounces of milk for the last couple of weeks according to doctor's orders. We tested her stool after she had been exposed to milk and still no sign of blood. Blood in the stool usually means a food allergy. Morgan is now able to eat a regular diet and no longer has to be on Nutramigen. Dad and I are so relieved especially considering a can of Nutramigen, which doesn't even last a week, costs $21. That's not including all the jars of pureed food Morgan was going through. Pureed food was the easiest to feed her other than fruits and vegetables because the majority of it doesn't have milk or soy. Tonight it felt so good to give Morgan little bites of the dinner Daniel and I ate. Morgan got to try pizza for her first time! She ate every bite.

I can't explain what this news means for me. It makes me feel like I have a little bit more of the normalcy most other parents have been experiencing all along. It's been such a roller coaster with Morgan with health setbacks and it just feels so good to get good news. Don't get me wrong, I realize how blessed I am, but to say that it hasn't been difficult at times would be a lie.

There are only two other health issues we're dealing with now. Morgan is still neutropenic which means her body doesn't produce as many white blood cells as it should. None of her doctors are concerned though because Morgan is proving to have asymptomatic neutropenia, which means her neutropenia doesn't negatively affect her in any way. Our Children's Hospital here says that they have numerous cases each year of children who have neutropenia but don't have any complications because of it. The doctors say that these children grow up to be healthy adults with no complications. They believe this is Morgan's case because she doesn't get sick more than any other child. We'll just have to take her in from time to time to do blood tests so that the doctors can monitor her.

The last health issue we're dealing with is the idea that Morgan may have a rare blood disease that runs in our family. A geneticist at our Children's Hospital believes Morgan and I have HHT. We're in the painstakingly slow process of testing her for this. This disease could be what caused her to lose so much blood while in utero and could be the reason she has had blood in her stool for most of her short existence on this earth. To simplify the explanation of this disease, HHT causes you to bleed internally and the biggest fear is an aneurysm type situation. People with HHT just need to have yearly exams to look for potential bleeding sites in the brain and lungs. If there is a problem then they can fix it surgically. The severity of HHT really varies from person to person. For instance, if Morgan has this disease it means I have it because I have to have it to pass it on to Morgan and I've never even had symptoms. Honestly I'm totally okay. Like I've said before, I've grown so much this year and have really grasped the idea that this is out of my control, which means I can't worry about it. I just try to make the most of every minute because worrying really won't change anything. Daniel and I are so blessed to have such an amazing little girl. Morgan of course is great because she has no clue what's going on except for going to annoying doctor's appointments all the time and Daniel has been amazing. God blessed me with someone who can just be so positive and confident in Morgan's situation from minute one. Daniel through all of it has been nothing but strong and has never worried. He will accept no other truth than she is 100% okay and will always be that way.

Please don't take this blog for more than it is because to look at Morgan you would never know she may be dealing with a couple of issues. She really is a happy, healthy, normal baby girl. It seems so serious when you put it into writing but I promise we're all great and this just happens to be our situation. Everyone has their own unique situation they deal with at some point.

Sidenote

Apparently our visit to the library was more fruitful than I thought. Last night, Daniel, Morgan and I were hanging out in our office. Morgan was playing with a book and decided to hand it to Daniel and as she did she said "book" very clearly. Wow, she really is a sponge at this age! She is blowing me away right now because each day she shows me that she understands more than I think she does. It's exciting and so much fun!

Library!

I've been looking for ways for Morgan and I to spend quality time together and the library seemed like a great place to start. We went today for the first time. I didn't really expect her to enjoy the library more than anything else but when I took her into the children's section, her eyes got big and she starting pointing at everything and saying "wow." I have yet to determine whether she really knows the meaning of that word but she sure seems to use it at appropriate times.


Morgan and her first library book...

By the end of our library visit, the children's area was filled with kids. I thought it was great for Morgan to witness kids of all ages enjoying books and I plan on us visiting the library often.

Quirky!

Every child has things that make them quirky in some way. The first one I noticed about Morgan was actually brought to my attention by my mother. One day my mom mentioned that Morgan really likes her feet. She was right, Morgan likes to play with her toes. I really noticed this during Christmas when she would take the pine needles that had fallen from the Christmas tree and put them between her toes. Hey, I was just happy that it kept her busy for extended periods of time and yes, I was watching to make sure none of the needles made it into her mouth. But the strangest thing I have yet to witness Morgan put in between her toes are her cheerios. I'm sorry to say the Cheerios were eaten even after being placed between the toes. See below....

I've been so excited to see Morgan learn to do something new every day but this past week Morgan learned she could do something that really annoys Mom and Dad. She likes to take off her pants! We keep the house pretty cool so it annoys me when I find her like this.

On second thought....

Daniel and I have discussed the fact that at some point we'd like to try for a second child but it occurred to me this weekend that I should really reconsider. On Saturday, Morgan took a 3 hour nap and I spent the first hour vegging on the couch and then spent the next 2 curled up in my down comforter in bed. As I lay there I thought about how if we have another then I would have to give up the luxury of napping when Morgan naps. Then to top it off, Daniel and I were invited to 2 different dinner parties at 2 restaurants Saturday evening. Normally we would simply decline but these were people we hadn't seen in awhile so we decided to bring Morgan along. Morgan was great all evening and even allowed us to stay out until 11 pm! She was still happy when Daniel and I looked at the time and decided we better rush her home to bed. We had a blast! It was so much fun not only being out together but it was fun having Morgan with us too! Of course we're not going to make a habit of having her up so late but we sure felt fortunate to have such an easy going child who allowed us to have a great evening with friends. Here's Morgan watching Mom and Dad eat Sushi at the first restaurant.

She ended the evening with us and her Aunt Dusty at TGIF.

Of course the positive aspects of having a second child will outweigh any negative for us but I have to say that I did have second thoughts this weekend. I'll just enjoy my time with one until things change.

Precious Time!

I was a little annoyed that I had to take a vacation day in order to stay home with Morgan on Monday because we didn't have anyone to watch her but the day turned out great! Morgan was an absolute delight! Even though we missed Daniel while he was away this weekend, I felt that Morgan and I really bonded. I think I heard her laugh more times yesterday than I have all month. I was able to unpack, get the house in order but most importantly Morgan and I spent the majority of the day playing together. We even made dad a cake to welcome him home.

Spoil me!

It's late Sunday night and I'm sitting here writing this blog at home after just finishing a 3 hour trip from Sacramento. Daniel visited his friend in Texas this weekend and while he was away, Morgan and I visited my mom and dad in Sacramento. It was a much needed get-a-way! Saturday, the family relaxed, did some shopping and went out to dinner! Papa even watched Morgan and her cousin Chase while my mom, sister and I went and got pedicures together!
While we were getting pampered, Maggie made a new friend.

Morgan and Papa!

On Sunday, all of us wanted to go to the park or the zoo but it was a rainy weekend so we settled for bowling instead. The bowling alley we went to was great! It had the nicest bowling lanes I've ever seen, equipped with huge TVs, a huge sports bar and grille, and an entire arcade section.

Morgan kept pointing at the bowling balls and getting really excited so Papa let her inspect them.

Everyone had a blast!

Cousin Chase is great with Morgan!

Morgan even gave bowling a try for herself. She definitely got the idea and would try to push the ball down the lane.

Nana loves her Ski Ball!

The whole family pitched in on playing games to earn Chase as many tickets as we could. Nana's purse became the holder of the tickets.

While driving home I couldn't help but feel spoiled. Even at nearly 30 years of age visiting home makes me feel so loved and special. Mom and Dad cook for me, help with Morgan and basically spoil me. Someday I hope when Morgan is 30 years old she'll bring her little one to my house and I can make her feel as good and happy as my parents make me.

First Steps in Dog Heaven

Taking Maggie to the dog park is something our family enjoys doing. It's something for the family to do together that's positive, fun and free! Tonight was extra special though because Morgan took her first steps! We'll try to get video of it in the next few weeks. Here are some pictures of Morgan's milestone reaching evening.

Below are some pictures of Maggie's heaven taken over the last couple of months.

Every day brings something new.

Lately I have felt that every single day Morgan shows Daniel and I something new she has learned to do. It started a couple months back with Morgan brushing her own hair. She actually grabbed her brush and started brushing her own hair. The bristles clutched her hair as she would start at the top of her head and then lead the brush down to the ends of her hair before she would repeat the process. It was at that moment that it dawned on me that there will be a day where Morgan no longer needs me to do her hair. That realization made me very sad.

A few weeks back Morgan was sitting in her high chair eating while I was cutting up some fruit and she got my attention by yelling "hi" at me. When I looked up she was sitting there waiving and saying hi as if she had been doing it all along. Since then "hi" is one of her favorite things to say. That along with "uh oh", "daddy", and "mommy" which she has been mastering for awhile now.

Just a few days ago, Daniel asked Morgan to give her doll a kiss. She floored us when she actually puckered up and gave her doll a huge smack on the lips. We had never really shown her how to kiss and we've never asked her to give us one. My sister was the person who gave Morgan this doll for Christmas and she has really surprised us with what a great little mommy she is to it. She'll brush her hair, hug her, and feed her some of her bottle and sippy cup among other things. I had no idea she understands all of these processes enough to imitate them with her own little doll.

Morgan will give you a high five when asked and she continues to love to dance. She's just recently added some impressive dance moves. I know Daniel enjoys watching Morgan enjoy music as much as he does.

I'm learing to not underestimate Morgan's abilities. Occasionally I'll ask Morgan to do something new to see if she understands me and more times than not she'll surprise me by doing whatever it is I ask of her. This is a fun time of discovery for not only Morgan but for her dad and I who are very new at this parenting thing. I'm sure Morgan will teach us many more things as the years pass.

Christmas at Nana and Papa's House

While at Nana and Papa's house we found a basket that used to be mine when I was exactly Morgan's age. Nana let us take it home so we could fill it with Morgan's toys just like when I was her age.

Daddy helped Morgan discover her stocking first thing Christmas morning.

Cousin Chase, Maggie and Morgan spent some quality time together.

Nana and Papa enjoyed watching the family open presents.

Daniel felt it necessary to stack his presents...

Morgan did really well with opening her first few presents.

Looking forward to next year!