Damned if you do...

So the actions of your toddler sometimes are beyone words. Here's a hilarious story. For months now, and I mean MONTHS, we've tried to get Laney to clap her hands. She doesn't like to, but if she does, she usually brushes her hands together - not a clap. She kind of has the attitude that she will do what she wants to, and isn't about to be conned into doing the little actions YOU want her to do. It's quite funny. Well lately, we've been teaching her a few signs, one being "all done" when she is done eating. The sign for that is, you guessed it, brushing your hands together, as if you're brushing the crumbs out of your hands. Basically, this is what she's always done for clapping. The funny part is that, now when we try to get her to brush her hands together when she is done eating, while we say "all done", she won't do it. Instead - you guess it - she claps her hands. Very weird little girl. But we sure love her.

Gone but hopefully not forgotten...

If anyone is still checking this I am sorry for the huge blank lately. Between school, vacations, family, friends, and work, I have let this slide. I am determined to get it back on track. I will back date some of our updates to fill in the gaps for the sake of this being like a scrapbook. I miss writing down our daily trials and tribulations but be assured they will return. Starting with Halloween! Be ready because the Meyer's are back!

Learning our limits

Today she was crawling around the house, no big deal. Then I heard her scream. At first I couldn't find her because she ususall doesn't leave the hallway. Here is where I found her. STUCK! So what did I do? I went and got the camera. Eventually, I did help her out but not till I got some photos.

BATHTUB TIME!

I don't have much to say, these speak for themselves...

Yes, we do eat other things

We also had some peas and apples today! I promise I am not trying to create a junkfood kid but these were the cuter pictures. We are all about total calories for the day. I can't understand how she keeps getting taller and puts on no weight? I guess I will know when her pants start falling off. Tomorrow I will expand her nutrition content, Promise!

Me love chocolate chip cookie

The chocolate chips were screaming from the cupboard, "turn me into something delicious!" Who could ignore that, beside we need to try to get more food down this kid so I will try anything. I think this picture speaks for itself. "We like chocolate chip cookies!" it says. Of course we went through 4 outfits today and had to mop the floor twice but with a smile like that, I really can't complain.

The toy for today is?...

It seems as though every day Laney wakes up (early!) and picks a toy for the day. She may play with other toys that day but she always comes back to one toy in particular. Today apparently we are going for music and sound so here is our choice this morning.

PJ's all day...

Sometimes there are just those days when you don't need to go anywhere and your morning gets away from you and BAM! it is 2:00 in the afternoon and she is still in her PJ's. Do you really go through the effort of getting them dressed when 1. They hate it. 2. You dirty more clothes. and 3. We don't have to go anywhere anyway. Oh well, I am sure this has happened to other mothers. I doubt I am the first.

Rain?

It doesn't rain much in Boise. Mostly in the Spring and then a few rare times through the year. Well I found this cute raincoat the other day and I couldn't resist. Most of her clothes are hand-me-downs from her cousin so it is rare I get to buy her much anyway. Well as luck would have it I bought this Sunday and today it is raining! We are all dressed up and ready to face the elements! I just love her little face.

Stinking shots

As I mentioned in our last post Laney went to her 1 year appointment. She also received her 1 year shots. I think her immune system is a little overtaxed. She has had a little fever on and off for 2 days and her cold is moving into her lungs. Of course I am following right along with her and it is moving to my lungs too. I have pretty much lost my voice and had to call in sick to work. Oh well. I have to say she is handling it much better than I am. She is still crawling and going 90 miles an hour. All I want to do is sit on the couch!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We were fortunate enough to spend St. Patricks day with friends. We went to the Wilkison's for corned beef and cabbage. It was delicious! We started the night with a cheers over a tall dark glass of Guiness. I know I look like the worst mom ever but all she got was some foam, but she LOVED it! We all ate and laughed, the kids all played. It was a great night.
This morning was Laney's 1 year check up with her pediatrician. She got a clean bill of health except for the cold, which he said is not RSV (thank goodness). Laney weighs 16 lbs. 3 oz and is 28 inches long, her head measures at 16 5/8. Because she is a year now they no longer correct her height and weight so we no longer have that advantage. What that translates into is that she is 19th% for height and below the 3rd % for head and weight. No big suprise and her doctor is not concerned so we will just keep trucking along trying to get this kid to eat.

A house half done...

So right now our house is in the middle of about 5 half done projects. Kevin, bless his heart, is working on them every chance he gets, which isn't much. We put the hardwood floor in but we have no baseboards or trim. I decided to redo the bathroom and there is that one ellusive piece of wood that needs to be painted and put up. We have a new kitchen floor that has been at the store we bought it from since December. You get the idea. Well today the troops decided to tackle one of the projects. Not sure if any progress was made but they look like they are working hard.

Our first cold

It is almost impossible to believe but Laney has not been sick since we brought her home. Not even a cold. But last night she ended up with a fever of 100-101, runny nose, and a little cranky. With the intensity of RSV this year we worry about her lungs. I have watched her close all day and she did great through the day. She had physical and speech therapy this morning and I gave her a little Tylenol but for the most part a normal day. Tonight is a different story the poor kid is just cranky, frustrated, and warm. She is still eating well and cuddling with Daddy seems to be putting her to sleep so guess I better follow suit while it lasts.

Daddy's little girl

There is nothing I can say to make this picture more precious. I love them both so much.

The Tazmanian Devil

As you can see our house has turned into a whirlwind of toys. She loves them all. She has a few favorites but for the most part they all get their fair share of attention. I get lots of comments on how much she smiles! She does smile alot except for this afternoon. Kevin and I took her for her follow up hearing screen. This time she was to be awake and "ready to play". Those instructions didn't sound too difficult. I scheduled out apointment 1 hour after she ususally gets up from her nap. Except she didn't really nap this morning. Of all mornings. I have never had any problems putting her down for her morning nap till this morning. To add insult to injury, somehow we made it to her appointment without a pacifier. This child has 12 pacifiers! Not one in her diaper bag! So she melted down and we came home. Oh well, roll with the punches. We rescheduled for a couple weeks.

It is official, Laney is crawling!

We are so proud of her. She has only been out of her body cast for 8 weeks. She is crawling forward. (our stipulation of stating that she could crawl was that she was crawling forward not backward). We have been working with her every day and she is so eager to get around that she has finally accomplished crawling. She actully can stand too but she does require some help. She can stand up, most of the time, on her own but she needs help getting down. We thought it would be summer before we saw this kind of progress. (In May she will be a full gestational year) But here we are, scrambling to get a rail up on our staircase so that we can get a baby gate up in front of the stairs. Thats what we get for thinking we had more time. She has been able to get herself into some precarious spots as you can see.

Time to come home

It was a great trip to Grandma's house. We got to see lots of friends and family we haven't seen in a while. We wanted to take her to our last night of Kevin's conference but she decided not to sleep that afternoon so she was out at about 6:00. It was a nice and much needed night out for Mom and Dad. Plus we won a fabulous prize basket with lots of goodies inside. Back to the grind!

The worst mom ever...

So Kevin has a conference this week in Pocatello. So Laney and I decided to trail along and take full advantage of a couple days at Grandma's house. We drove to Pocatello and on our 3rd day decided to go see Grandpa Heaney. Well Grandpa Heaney is building/remodeling a house. We love the floor. She is able to scoot all over the place. She was scooting around in circles to get where she wanted to go. (She is not quite crawling yet, still mostly backwards and in circles.) In the kitchen she happened upon this cool blue cord. "Well that isn't so bad" "looks like a fairly harmless toy".

Except that it is hooked to a nail gun at the other end. What do you do when kids want to play with everything they are not supposed to?

Chomp, Chomp...

Grandma's are on the ball. Laney has received some early birthday presents in the mail over the last few days and of course they go straight out of the box and straight into the mouth. I don't think that Stan did as much damage chewing on things when he was a puppy. I have teeth marks on my window sill. Thanks Grandma's for giving us something good to chew on.
Our date last night led to a slow morning this morning so lots to do before Laney's birthday tomorrow!

What kids really want?...

This child just received about 20 new toys for her birthday. I will just let the picture speak for itself. Every parent in the world has probably had the same experience. Gotta love a child entertained by the simple things in life.

Happy First Birthday!!!

What a crazy day! We got the food ready. Danielle helped me decorate the cake and got the house put back together from our remodeling. Whew! What a great night. We had about 45 people here and lots of kids. Kids = Chaos! Everyone showed up around 6pm and we ate delicious food. (Thanks for the help Heath and Jen) Then it was on to cake and ice cream. I was doubtful that she would eat it but...Well ,I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Pre party fun! Happy Birthday Laney!

Pre party fun! Laney got to play with Aunt Danielle and Grandma. She even went to the park with Grandma and Halle so mom could get the house and food together for the party tonight. Thanks to you both for helping out!

Movin' and Shakin'

This kid is all over the place. We often find her trying to tangle herself in the bumper in her crib. For some reason she thinks the blank outside is more entertaining than the inside with pictures. The other picture is of her standing. She can mostly stand on her own but we give her a little bracing and provide some pressure on her feet. She is not used to putting pressure on her feet and if you don't push down on her legs a bit she rolls her feet and stand on the side. Every day we are making a little progress.

Tonight Grandma is coming into town and Mom and Dad are going on a DATE! Not sure if we remember how but I am sure it will come back to us at dinner with friends and some live music!

Try to get back on track...

I am terrible and keeping up with this but my resolve is renewed. I am going to just have to write off the last month of updates and start new.

This month has been a crazy one. Laney has continued to receive physical therapy and is progressing by leaps and bounds. I will post video of her moving around as soon as I figure out how... She is crawling! Well, let me clarify she is scooting, most the time in reverse, but moving around all over the place none the less. Her balance is great and her flexibility is great, almost completely back to normal!

We recently put in the hardood floor in our living room. Tough on Laney till her balance kicked in but she is doing much better. She has smacked her head a few times but what kid hasn't. Her newest skill is standing. We are so proud of her. Just about 6 weeks ago she had zero muscle tone in her legs and could not handle any pressures to her feet, now she is standing with just a little help. Her therapist, Katie, is excited and impressed with her progress. We took her back to her orthopoedic surgeon for a couple of follow up appointments and her X rays look great. The bones in her hip are starting to take shape and you can see the progress in the density of her bones. Very exciting. We don't have to go back for 6 months.

We have been a little concerned because she isn't talking quite as much as we expected but everyone has told us the same thing, "kids do one thing at a time". With her preoccupation in dealing with her hip she is more worried about moving than talking and I think they are right. Just in the last week her vocalizations have increased a bit. In a twist of irony she has a follow up hearing test next week. Remember she had to go through the wringer with her hearing when we brought her home. She seems to hear just fine but it will be nice to see if that fluid in her ear has cleared up.

As you can see from the date of this post her first birthday is this week. It is a time of reflection for us. Alot of bittersweet memories and a great time to appreciate all we have been through and how grateful we are things worked out so well for us.

Physical Therapy

This photo has nothing to do with physical therapy but I LOVE IT! She has had all of these wonderful clothes that my sister handed down to me from my niece but of course she hasn't been able to wear any of it. So now we are. The problem is that she is 12-18 months in pants to get the length right and her shirts are 6-12 months. We don't always have a full outfit but we make due. We roll alot of sleeves!

She started physical therapy this week and she is doing great. She has been able to roll over again. Only to the right so far. Can't seem to get that left leg in far enough to roll left yet. She is sitting better and better every day. She has regained alot of her flexibility. So more of the same. Balance and range of motion.

I can SIT!

It has only been a few days and she is sitting up without much problem. Eventually she falls forward but we are shocked at how quick she has picked up learning to balace herself. She does pretty well if she is leaning forward but backward is a different story. She has had a rough week having to deal with the pain of moving her legs that have been in that cast for 3 1/2 months. Ibuprofen helps but you can tell it still hurts. She is not able to bring her legs together enough to ride in her car seat yet so we still use the one she had for her cast but every day we see improvements. Look at that smile. She looks happy to me.

Bathtime?

Why don't they have a warning on the box that says, " Giving your child one of these teething biscuits will not only require a bath for the child but a change of clothes for you!"

Comin' around the mountain

With the new year brings a new perspective. I have decided to change the way I keep the blog. I have been using it to keep family and friends, namely all of you, updated on what is going on in our lives. I think I am going to try something different this year. I am going to keep this blog for Laney. I want her to look back on it as a journal of her childhood. So the blog will still update you on what is going on in our life but the main focus will be to document Laney's life for her. (Actually it is so when Kevin and I are old and can't remember stuff we can cheat and look back!)

The major development for this week was the removal of Laney's cast. We went in on Monday morning and the Physicians Assistant (not the nurse this time!) Took off Laney's cast. She screamed and cried the whole time. Then to add insult to injury they wanted an X-ray of her pelvis. You have all seen the position that her legs have been in for 14 weeks. Well that is how they stayed when the cast came off. Well they wanted her legs down and straight. It was the most excruciating thing I have ever seen. I can only compare it to someone forcing you down into the splits right now! She screamed and I cried. I have just about had it with people inflicting pain on this kid. Necessary or not! The fact that I just worked three nights in a row and had not slept yet didn't help. Finally, that was over. I wrapped her in a blanket and we walked and looked out the window till I didn't feel like slugging someone.

Then to add insult to injury her doctor came in and told us we had to put her in another cast. "WHAT!?" I don't think I swore but it is highly possible. He misread the file and didn't realize we had already done the second cast. "take her home and let her stretch herself out" he says. So we will let her rest for a few days and start physical therapy! Another milestone achieved. The X-ray of her hip said everything was fine.