Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We enjoyed our day with Kevin's family. Football, food, and lots of fun together. There was a nerf war going on outside much of the time. Games and playing ball in the backyard. We are sure thankful for fun times with family. Blessings to you all.

Check Up

Today was Melody's 2 month check up with her pediatrician. She weighed in at 9 pounds, 4 ounces! That means she has gained 3 pounds. As that is over 1 ounce each day, that is very good. She was in the 10th percentile in weight and in the 25% in height. I think she is 22 1/2 inches. She received her first immunizations today as well.

The only area of concern is her left hip. I pointed it out to the doctor as Melody can lay that leg flat out to the side. The doctor agreed that it does not have the tone of the one on the right. Dr. Zaft wants to have an ultrasound of that hip just to check it out. Dec 16th is Melody's next spina bifida clinic. She already has a kidney ultrasound that morning. I will try and schedule her hip ultrasound that same morning. That way we'll have both tests when we see her doctors at spina bifida clinic that afternoon. Then we get to pick up Grandma & Grandpa Coats at the airport!

Once again I am grateful for how well Melody is doing. There will always be areas of concern, but I count my blessings that so far they seem to be fairly minor.

David was in for his annual checkup and immunizations as well, so I was able to get two kids taken care of in one morning. David is now only 4 inches shorter than me! He'll be taller than me before I know it.

Singing to My Melody

There is a song by Sidewalk Prophets I find myself singing often to Melody. It is "These are the Words I Would Say." The chorus so beautifully sums up my thoughts and prayers for Melody.

"Be strong in the Lord and,
Never give up hope,
You're going to do great things,
I already know,
God's got His hand on you so,
Don't live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don't forget why you're here,
Take your time and pray,
These are the words I would say,"

Be strong in the Lord, my sweet Melody. Never give up. I know you're going to do great things. It has been evident to your Daddy and me that God has His hand on you from before your birth. Don't forget why you're here. God has a plan for you my precious daughter. Never forget that.

CA Science Center and FLL Competition

Last Saturday we had a fun day at the CA Science Center in Santa Ana. The class that David has been taking this year at the Riverside Student Center is also a team for the First LEGO League competition. They have been preparing for this all fall and had their qualifier on Saturday. It was a fun, exhausting and rewarding day.


Riverside Student Center Lego Squad

The LEGO League competition has two parts. First, they had to research a transportation problem in our city. They had to come up with a solution and present it in a skit form. They also had to answer questions about their research and solution as well as talk to the judges about what they would be doing in part two.

Part two involved making LEGO robots. These robots are then programmed to complete a series of tasks. Each team is given a few minutes to successfully complete as many tasks as they can in the given amount of time. The tasks are carried out on a board with a LEGO obstacle course on it.

At the end of the day our team had qualified to compete at LEGOLAND on December 5th. We are very excited, but they have a lot more work to do between now and then, too. We were disappointed we had left early and missed the announcement. The younger kids were getting pretty tired and my Aunt and Uncle had already been waiting at our house for about an hour for us to arrive.

The entire family enjoyed the Science Center and Grandma Allen joined us there. We enjoy the fun times with Grandma, and we love having the extra pair of hands.

Elizabeth takes Melody on her first slide.

Joel & Elizabeth in a submarine

Grandma & Joel and the giant chair

Elizabeth in a Dinosaur

Dino Scavenger Hunt

The thing we enjoyed the most was a scavenger hunt. The wand you see Elizabeth holding makes things light up and talk to you when you are on the scavenger hunt. There were 6 different quests in the dinosaur area and we only completed 3, much to David and Hannah's dismay. They were into it the most. You would search for your items, wave the wand at them and collect them. Then go to your computer and wave the wand again to see if you had completed your mission or get more instructions. It was very fun and creative.

Joel on the Dino Slide

David and a "Duck"

We returned home and enjoyed a visit from Aunt Liz and Uncle Bob Long. They were able to stay overnight and go to church with us the next day, so that was very special.

We were busy Sunday as well, so I have been pretty tired this week. I'm really looking forward to a week off from school next week. The family is already looking forward to a full day at LEGOLAND, and I'd better start storing up energy now.

Counting Our Blessings

Recently I was filling out an update on nutritional supplements. Since Melody's diagnosis I have been taking nutritional supplements which hopefully will help Melody's health overall. Though I know God is the great physician and healer, using what He has given to help our bodies is wise.

As I was reflecting on Melody's overall health so far, I realized how much we have to be grateful for.

* Melody has not had to return to the hospital at all since her birth.

* She has not had a single urinary tract infection despite four catheterizations each day. We have been told to use "clean" procedures, not "sterile" procedures, so the chance of infection is always there.

* She has had very few and relatively minor diaper rashes, which is pretty amazing considering she is almost always wet or messy due to her lack of muscle control and urogenic bladder.

* Melody has had no issues with her shunt.

* She sleeps well at night. I feed her at 6 0r 7 pm. She goes down at 8pm with very little fussing. I wake her to feed her between 10 - 11 and she goes right back to sleep until 6 or 7 am.

*Melody moves her hips and knees.

*Other than her spina bifida related issues, Melody has no other medical concerns.

I have to admit there are times when I feel overwhelmed. The catheterizations and my overly cautious diapering routines can alone be overwhelming. I admit sometimes just watching the lack of movement in Melody's feet make my heart ache and bring tears to my eyes. However, those are the times I try to remember all the blessings. That though there are challenges, there are so many easons to give praise.

Praise be to God from Whom all blessings flow!

The Jica Boomba Nacho and Other Allen Excitement

This is Joel performing the Jica Boomba Nacho. One of the many fun and entertaining things I get to watch while feeding Melody.

The kids have discovered the video feature on my camera, so I now have a lot of videos to sort through before I can post them. It has been a few days without pictures and I know Grandma & Grandpa are waiting for some. Maybe a few others are as well? It is always an adventure taking pictures of the kids together. But, here are a few.

Friday's excitement involved David and a scooter accident on our driveway. The scooter slipped out from under him when he turned too tightly. His helmet hit the driveway pretty hard, so I am very thankful he was wearing it. He also hit his front tooth on the driveway, but managed to not do much damage to his lip. The corner of his tooth broke off. So, Kevin came home and took him to an emergency dentist appointment where they glued the broken piece back on. We will take him for a follow up appointment this week and hope that the gluing is the only treatment needed. I am thankful it was not much worse. In all the excitement, I failed to get a picture of the half tooth. Wouldn't that have been fun?

Not My Mommy!

My Mommy did not forget to change my my diaper until I leaked on her as a reminder, not MY Mommy.

My Mommy did not run out of pj's for me as my laundry did not get done, not MY Mommy.

My Mommy did not yell at my brother and then tell everyone to "stop yelling," not MY Mommy.

My Mommy did not exercise this morning, only to offset it with lots of chocolate chip cookies, not MY Mommy.

My Mommy did not skip science and reading Robinson Crusoe to my siblings as she was too tired, not MY Mommy.

My Mommy did not let my brothers and sisters watch television instead, not MY Mommy.

My Mommy did not consider turning the clocks ahead so everyone would go to bed earlier, not MY Mommy.

Someone else must have been at our house today, cause it was not MY Mommy.

SMILES

One of our favorite forms of entertainment is to make Melody smile. Today all 3 older kids were gathered around Melody trying to make her smile. Joel was yelling, "guys, someone needs to come play with ME!" Enjoy!