Happy Birthday to Us...

29 and 28...wow we are getting old. I know, everyone that is older than us will scoff at that statement, but Phil and I met at 21 and 22 and it was hard to imagine 28 and 29 then.

Unfortunately, Phil spent this birthday in dusty, hot Afghanistan. Thought it sounds like he got a lot of love through the mail. Thank you to everyone who sent him boxes and cards and happy birthday wishes! He (and I) appreciate the support so very much!

I celebrated both his birthday and my own this weekend! Nora and I went to the Sand in the City festival in Olympia. It was put on by our favorite Children's Museum in the area. We took our friends Cindy and Orion with us to play in the giant sandbox and watch the fantastic performers. It was a fun morning outing. That afternoon-well after Nora's long nap-we went down to Costco for some staples and a super healthy dinner of pizza and ice cream-Happy Birthday to Phil!

For my birthday, Nora and I spent the morning in our jammies watching my favorite musical, Singing in the Rain-Nora loved it and danced and sang along! After nap, I took some babysitter time to go see a movie with Becky! We had a wonderful time gabbing and watching. The only thing that would have made the day better would have been having Phil home.

The past 5 months have been a challenge, but was we approach the halfway point I feel less worried and more hopeful. Recently, Nora has been having an extra hard time with Phil being gone, and getting very upset. Last week, I made it into the FAME clinic and saw a psycologist about her. He didn't have any new suggestions, only to tell me I was doing everything they recommend. He did refer me to another psycologist that works with very small kiddos, like Nora, and Nora and I will be seeing her tomorrow! Hopefully, she will be able to give me (and Nora) some more ways of reducing the stress of this separation. Right now the hardest part of having Phil gone, is watching Nora struggle with it.

PCOS and failure to thrive

Nora's new Fort, courtesy of Mommy the cardboard contractor



Nora decorating her Fort



Snack time with Grandma!


Race you on the slide!

Go Away Mommy! I play with Grandma!

Well, the Ambrose girls seem to be falling apart these days! Not really in the grand scheme of things, but sometimes it feels that way.

Yesterday Nora had her 30 month (though she is 31months) check up and while she weighed in at a whopping 22lbs, the doc was still pretty concerned about her weight. We walked away with three referrals (ENT, Speech Pathology, and Nutrition) and a "Failure to Thrive" classification. Of course the doc assured me she is healthy and I shouldn't worry, but we need to make sure there isn't anything impeding her ability to gain weight. Right now the concern is her tongue tie-or tight frenulum-that we have been watching and slightly concerned about since birth. If that turns out to be the culprit, the resolution is a simple outpatient procedure about as complicated as getting your ears pierced. If not, then we have eliminated one source of worry and will move on to other possibilities.

Other than her weight, and on going issues with constipation, Nora walked away with a clean bill of health!

I was back into the doc this morning to go over the tests and new medication that have been done and added in the last couple months. Thankfully, my medical picture is looking a little less cloudy and bleak than it was a month ago. The doc is sticking with the PCOS diagnosis, but my labs look really good. Hopefully, with continued management of diet and exercise I will be able to delay the more "severe" symptoms often associated with PCOS. While I am super bummed about the diagnosis, I am relieved that things aren't worse.

We did manage to have a bright spot in our week-Grandma Reale came to visit! She was here Monday-Thursday this week and came to all our activities! Nora was in HEAVEN. When we dropped her off at the airport this morning Nora wanted to get on the plane with Grandma.

pretty pretty princess