Eyes Wide Shut

Just wanted to give my loyal readers a quick little update on the “Go-ings of Aly” haha. She is making some progress with her gross motor skills and has mastered the ability to go from laying to sitting. She has also figured out how to stand up in her crib and has freaked out her dad with that trick a couple times lately. She still doesn’t do things like bang toys together or clap, but she likes when you model it for her or make her do it. I’m hoping she’s just on the verge of figuring it out.  (Edit: Daddy just sent me a video of her banging together like a pro!) She also has started babbling like crazy, not just nonsense but more consonants sounds, especially “Da.” I think “Dada” is her first word. Everything is “Dadada” so I don’t feel left out! Although, she seemed like she said, ”Hi” a couple times starting at like 3 months old.

Aly did give us a little bit of scare last Saturday morning. She woke me up crying at 6:30 am. It was not her normal, “I’m up Mama, come get me,” cry, it was more a, “I’m not happy, I need my Mama now!” cry. She was acting really grumpy and not wanting to open her eyes. This is concerning because she is usually in a good mood in the morning. I changed her, fed her, and put her on the floor to play. She kept rubbing her eyes and then crying, but then would act completely normal, so I wasn’t sure what was wrong. I thought maybe she was having an allergic reaction, or possibly a hair or dirt was in her eyes. She just wasn’t acting like her normal sweet self. After texting back and forth with Ben, we decided to call her Doctor. Yes, we are those parents, we are going to end up on a first name basis with the Pediatrician’s office at some point. She has been to the regular Pediatrician 2x since she got out of the hospital, once for not pooping for 6(!) days and then now for this. Turns out she had a pretty good sized scratch on her eye. Dr. Marriott (I know!) put some florescent drops in her eye and held a black light over and we could see it pretty clearly. He said it would heal on its own, but gave us some drops to help keep it clean. Getting the drops in her eyes is a bit tricky, but she seems to be feeling better and is not rubbing her eyes as much. We have cut this girl’s nails but they are still sharp little things! Hopefully she learns not to do that.

So that was fun, a little bit scary for me. I had flashbacks to when she was in the hospital. She looked like a zombie, with her eyes half open, and then she stopped opening her eyes altogether. We never were told exactly what was going on, they thought it might be the pressure in her head holding her eyes closed. Plus, everyone keeps commenting on her eyes and how she always looks cross-eyed and might have a lazy eye. She has had her eyes checked twice already and both times they have been fine. She does have another Ophthalmologist visit at the end of October, so we’ll find out more then.

Right now, a major source of frustration is communication with her Neurologist. We are stuck playing a game of tag with her, we’ll call her, leave a message, then get a message from her, then talk to a receptionist who says a third thing. We were hoping to have a new EEG done to evaluate whether she can wean off her seizure meds, and they keep prolonging the process. I was hoping we could be done with it by the end of the year. Now, we’ll have to wait until January.

I can’t believe my little girl is going to be 1 year old. This has been the hardest year of my life, no doubt. Being a mom is the hardest and yet the easiest thing I have ever done. Having Aly has changed and challenged everything I thought I knew. I am so excited to have her 1^st birthday party and celebrate the first year of her life. She deserves it.

GO ALY!