Mommy Guessed Wrong...

I put her down for her nap today, and when I went upstairs about 45 minutes later I heard her gabbing away, laughing and kicking her crib bars. I wondered- has she even slept? I let her carry on for another 20 minutes and then plucked her out and let her play with her basket of toys until her appointment with one of her therapists. By the time the therapist came, I had forgotten all about the nap incident, but she did get fussy. I got her her favorite cereal to snack (Pops), and she munched on them happily through the appointment. About the last 10 minutes she would have bursts of sadness and I attributed it to just snacking when she wants something substantial like a sandwich. So when Aly left, I put her in her chair and while I made her sandwich she was still fussy, which I attributed to being impatient being in her chair with no food. I gave her her sandwich and left for a few minutes and didn't hear a peep out of her. When I popped my head in, I found out why:


Mommy guessed wrong.
I should have known, I know. But I really wasn't certain she hadn't slept, just guessed that it was a possibility she didn't.



I like how she still made an effort to eat some sandwich (and to gather as much of it as she could to hug while she slept.) When I picked her up, she didn't even open her eyes, but did manage to finish chewing up what was in there and swallow it.

Radiohead.....Pixies........need I say more?

My brother Matt my resident filmer, recently put together a little youtube video highlighting some footage of Radiohead showing the Pixies some love. They are pretty well known for being big Pixies fans, and here is a nice little presentation about why they feel the way they do. This video is getting a fair amount of youtube love since there isn't anything else like it around. I think it is great and wanted to give it a little highlight. Enjoy.



I may be biased, but I think he did a first rate job putting this together. Furthermore, I love the footage of Thom describing how he pictured the Pixies before he ever saw them. It's just very...........Thom.

Let Emily Buy it- Purex Crystals

So I bought this product this week seeing as I had a 2.00 coupon for it and I am a chump for fabric softeners. For the record, I only add liquid softener to my towel and blanket loads. I am nuts over good smelling sheets and towels. Clothes? Eh. A dryer sheet will do (or I am kind of digging the bounce dryer bar that stays in the drum- that is a worth while product). Anyway- I wasn't about to pass up a good deal to try out a new product I have interest in.

Holy bip this stuff is cool.

I am in LOVE with it. You add it at the beginning of your wash load and forget about it, except it is impossible to forget about it, cause it fills the whole upstairs with yummy laundry smells the whole time it is in the washer and dryer (especially the dryer though). I bought the blue one for some inexplicable reason seeing as when it comes to laundry I am usually a lavender scented kind of girl. I am digging the blue hard core, but am excited to try the purple.

It claims that it infuses with your laundry better because it spends so much time with it. Perhaps this is so, I don't know- what I do know is that it really does linger. I could still smell it on the THIRD day of my kitchen dish rag. Every time I ran it under hot water, that is the smell I smelled. I am a Nazi about kitchen rags and hardly ever keep one over a day. Using one for 3 days was almost unprecedented in my house, but it still smelled so nice I didn't bother to change it. I kind of like how it is crystals too cause Scout always likes to be my helper and put all stuff into stuff that needs done and dry crystals is a lot less messy then liquid. Plus it is not oil based like other softeners, so it is better for your clothes and towels.

So that is that. I wasn't even paid to say all those nice things, but I thought you guys ought to know that this is a product worth buying- it only runs about 4 dollars too, which is a bargain. (It will only run you 2 if you can dig the coupon out of your Sunday paper a few weeks ago.)

Haircut Follies

I made the dubious choice on Saturday night to trim Elle's hair. I was so done with her hair being in her eyes I made the rash choice to do it myself.


Disclaimer:
I have never claimed to have any idea what I am doing when it comes to cutting hair.

Infant hair is no exception.


Poor little thing has no idea what she is in for.


Still happy-
(Doesn't know enough that mommy is about to butcher her poor little hair.)





Before







After.


Yeah, I made every cliche mistake in the book (Hmmm.
Let me just even it up a little over here. Oops.)


Mommy is sorry Elles, but you're still the cutest little thing on the block.


And it isn't that bad if I brush it a certain way.



I'm actually pretty proud of the back.



But I was wondering if Scout is too old to blame on a secret game of barber shop?



Rob said that it isn't nice to blame that on Scout.

All Taped Up

So by "next week" apparently I meant "tomorrow" cause we got visits from the OT and the PT yesterday (should have checked my calender before writing stuff I guess). This time Elle had Betsy (her PT) really scratching her head. Apparently when babies like Elinor sit like this:

(curved lower spine and she leans back most of the time balancing with her legs spread out with the help of some very well developed abs)

This represents to Betsy that the child has tight hamstrings. Nope. Elle's are not, but the muscles in front of her hips are tight. I don't understand all of this but it really perplexed Betsy. In fact she said, "you think you've seen it all in 8 years, then you meet Elinor". So she decided to tape Elles. Apparently this tape when used over a period of time can help train their muscles to work a different way. So she taped her up and then we tried sitting her on a bench with a toy to focus on and we got this:

Look how straight her back is! The thing that really impressed Betsy and took her aback again, is that when we set Elle back onto the carpet, she remained just as straight.

I put this old toy of Scout's away long ago cause Elle couldn't appreciate it and play with it like she should (standing next to it etc.) now, sitting so high- what a fun toy!
Here is a back view of all the tape. She said she'd like it to stay on for 3-7 days. The good news is that Elle doesn't seem to even notice it. If and when she does notice it, I am positive it doesn't bother her.

As far as crawling, standing and all of that jazz, she can be in and hold all the positions but she will not get into any of them on her own. They suspect that neurologically, she just doesn't process how to get into those positions and she also likes to keep her body where it is and where she feels steady. It's funny, cause she doesn't raise a fuss about it, she simply won't do it. BUT the good thing is, her OT (Mark) said that many kids will just arch their backs and protest and cry when you guide them into positions. Elle, cooperates and does it with you (sometimes even with a smile). So that is good, cause I think that means that she is willing, just doesn't know how, and/or she will learn fast since she seems willing to learn. Mark tried to guide her in getting into a standing position and boy did he have to do all the work (I know this cause he had me try next). We will keep working on that, but boy- she does not seem ready for it yet. Crawling on the other hand, I think she will continue to make progress.
I told both of them that she has an appointment at Genetics and they both were glad, but they both still see a lot of neurological symptoms. So, on some solicited advice, I called Primary Children's and got my own appointment with neurology. This one is on June 6th, so a little before the other one. Both were quite certain that we would need to be seeing them anyway, so instead of waiting lots more months after she sees the geneticist, we have the ball rolling.

So-I guess that's the latest. Elle has seemed particularly giggly this last week, which is nice to see, since I haven't heard her belly laugh in a while. It's music to my worried soul.

These lips were too dang cute to not share.

Elle Referred

Here's your Elle update:

She was seen by her two therapists again (occupational and physical) and they were both very happy with her progress. She seems to be taking to our exercises and they are doing some good. We see them again next week. We took her to the doctor's two days ago and after asking a lot of questions and doing a few simple tests and checking her out a little and reviewing her complete history including her growth charts, he has decided that his best guess is to refer her to Primary Children's Hospital's Genetics Department. So that is the course of action we are taking. I am a bit surprised that he went with a genetic problem rather then neurological, but it isn't a total shock. I got a call from them yesterday and they can't fit us in until JUNE 28th!! I expressed a little surprise by the date and she said that they actually often have to schedule new patients 6 mos to a year out, so we kind of got lucky. We are lucky that we are close to one of the best children's hospitals in the country, people travel a long way to see these doctors, so that is pretty cool we have them so close, even though we have to wait. It is a little frustrating that we have to wait so long and it is only a guess on my doc's part that this is even the possible problem. But she will still have the KOTM people working with her and we have our reg doc, so it's not like we are totally wasting time sitting around-- we would be working with her the same way no matter what her diagnosis is, so what can you do? I'm just grateful she is my sweet little baby and is getting the things she needs to be the best Little Little she can be.

For a month or so I've been weighing how I feel about what might be wrong with her. By that I mean genetic vs. neurological. If it's genetic, there is a comfort knowing that Elinor's little genetic makeup was predisposed to be who she is and that is that. The downside and I am not an expert, but a genetic problem seems a little more scary. If it's a neurological injury, her symptoms don't seem to be extremely alarming or insurmountable. It feels like with some hard work, we can fix what ever happened to make her function at least almost normally. The downside would be the question-- what happened? She was a perfectly healthy little baby at one time, until some event hurt her and caused all these problems. I have been questioning if I did anything during my pregnancy that could have done something, or if I could have done more to prevent this, or if the doctor's could have done more. So there is a certain amount of haunting that goes along with this diagnosis.

So, it's been a lot to think about and a lot that has been rattling around in my head the last month or so. I'm trying to just plow ahead and work with her and proceed normally. And we do and we are for the most part. I struggled with the long term ramifications with all of this yesterday quite a bit. I think the best thing for me to do is just take this one day at a time, cause when I look to the future with all it's cloudy and unanswered questions, I can get more imaginative then Scout.

Right now, Elle is an absolute pure delight and almost always has a beautiful smile for me and a little chuckle and a kiss. Most mother's would kill for a baby like her, she is so awesome and happy and cute and lets face it-- how many mom's of (almost) 18 month olds have it so easy? We love you Elle, oh how we love you. We are SO SO SO grateful that we were chosen to be your parents. You have brought a joy to our household we cherish every day (not to be too cheesy, but we really do). It's so fun to see the complete joy on your face when a favorite Elmo skit comes on the tv, or your little giggles when Lola tickles your face with her nuzzles. You hardly ever complain. You are constantly adjusting to your surroundings and take everything with a grain of salt. Your sister is like that too. Although, since finding her voice, she can certainly find reasons to complain sometimes, she still bares disappointment stoically and maturely. She is and is going to be an awesome big sister to you Elles, you're a lucky girl.

Quite drooly at the moment-- getting the top canines :)

Hilarious

If you know anything about Radiohead fans-this will totally crack you up.

I'm Happy.

I got a happy spoon today.

What Emily's Been Watching, February Edition

I am pretty proud of myself for getting this done so fast.
I think I actually watched The Social Network in January. Eh.


The Social Network (2010) [PG-13] Drama. This was another at home date night. What can I say- it's a good movie. I'm really starting to like this Jesse Eisenburg fella. I really liked the manner in which he portrayed Mark Z. Very convincing, even if he doesn't act exactly like Mark does -I have no idea either way-. My love for Jess Eisenburg is helped along with the fact that he was in Zombieland (GREAT GREAT movie) go watch that right now if you've never seen it. Anyway, I enjoyed The Social Network very much. Heck- I even thought Justin Timberlake was excellent in his role (he plays Sean Somethingruther the dude that founded Napster. I remember seeing him present an award during the whole Napster downfall and he came on stage wearing a Metallica t-shirt and I remember thinking, "that dude is cocky and a bit of a bad A". Wow this a a rambling and very uninformed review. Eh, I would guess you've all seen this movie anyway. Rob thought perhaps it was talked up a bit too much and I reckon it would have been more exciting if I had not read the book last year, since it followed it so closely. Can't say I didn't really enjoy it though. Rob liked it too. Emily recommends this movie very highly, but don't read the book first. You can read the book after, but I don't see a real compelling reason to do that. (It's called The Accidental Billionaires, in case you wanted to know that).

Seriously good trailer.
Cyrus (2010) [R] Drama/Comedy/Romance (and they all work). This is the story of a washed up divorced dude who happens to meet a dream come true (yet secretive) woman at a party. They start a relationship and he soon discovers the reason for her secrecy- her adult son, Cyrus. I think he's 22 and still lives at home, and he and his mom are very, very close. Funny dynamics and confrontations abound. This movie is well acted and well written and has a small budget feel to it (I mean that in a good way). One thing I will say about this is that it just was a movie that I had little to relate to it. There is just nothing in my life now or ever I could relate the situations to. This is definitely not the movie's problem, so I am not holding anything against it. I just mean that I simply couldn't relate to it and I find that in most movies, being able to relate to the situation or characters enhances your experience. But John C. Rielly, Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill -yeah, you bet. Check it out. Jonah Hill particularly impressed with his ability to really BE that kind of person. I mean, he seriously owned that character. Emily recommends this movie to anyone, but she really recommends it to anyone that has been divorced (then single a long time), has an adult son living with them that they breast fed until about oh......7 I'd say, single moms, and conniving minded sons who will go a long ways to keep your mama to yourself. You might also like this movie if you enjoy electronic keyboard sounds as music.


The Decent (2005) [R] Horror. Matt and I watched this late one night when we were in the mood for a really sucky horror movie and I happen to have an abundance of them available free on Comcast Xfinity. We carefully looked at all the candidates and ended up with this, thanks to the description, which I just tried to look up and write down here, but the movie isn't available anymore. Bummer. It was something about "Six hot girls explore a cave and meet the most frightening creatures known to man". Something pathetically lame like that. Now come on, who wouldn't have pick that one? Bottom line is that is was lame, girls were not hot, but frankly- it actually creeped us out a little and gave us at least one good scare. Don't get me wrong- it was bad, but not nearly as bad as we were pulling for it to be. I also cruised IMDB just now and it sounds like it's a lot deeper then Matt and I noticed or gave it credit for. I'm not buying that much, it still was pretty dang lame no matter what the director was trying to do. I am not going to waste my time filling this part out.


Bringing Up Baby (1938) [NR] Comedy. A classic favorite of mine. Who doesn't need a good screwball comedy containing Cary Grant and/or Katherine Hepburn once in a while? Love this movie. I've seen it perhaps a million times or so in my day. Some classic scenes and lines ("cause I just went gay all of a sudden!" and "he likes George, he loves George, he thinks George is a wonderful dog"). Also the ripping coat and dress scene at that restaurant and he keeps putting his top hat on her bum. GOOD STUFF! Makes me want to have a Cary Grant marathon. Any favorite Cary Grant movies out there? Emily recommends this movie to anyone that hasn't seen it and understands the charm of a good black and white screwball comedy.


Toy Story 3 (2010) [G] Adventure/Comedy. Great ending to a great trilogy. I don't see a lot of cartoon movies (very, very few actually), but I always make it a point to see the Toy Story ones. They really are entertaining and well made. Pixar is so good and professional, I am always impressed. I watched this with Scout on a Sunday night and it got a little intense for her at the end there, and we had a good cry together a few times at the end.
The baby doll really disturbed her. For those of you that have seen it, towards the end, when they are standing on the dumpster, the purple bear pokes the baby doll rudely and it falls down with a cry- Scout burst into tears and threw herself off the couch. I will admit that it's baby factor made it extra sad when it was sad, but I was surprised that it being poked upset her so incredibly much. Kind of felt bad I put her through that. Eh. She hasn't mentioned it much since, so no harm done. Emily thinks that it would be really lame not to see this movie, especially if you saw the other two. If you haven't, well- I don't know what to say.


Hitch (2005) [PG-13] Romantic Comedy. Through a series of fortunate events, Rob and I ended up watching this Sunday afternoon. First, it was featured like last week on my family's favorite movie game "What the Bip?" and I mentioned I hadn't seen it (therefore I surely did not win that week). Like a day later, it came on the tv, so I promptly DVR'ed it. Rob and I stayed home from church with a very fussy Little Little (my bets are on teething canine teeth) and a coughing Beantown Monkey. We lamented about how lame Sunday afternoon tv was until I remembered that I had that movie recorded and we had ample time to watch it before the Oscar's started. It proved to be a formidable way to spend a cooped up, boring day. My only complaint would be the Eva Mendez character- she was a little too much of what she was. Kevin James was super great and Will Smith- well, he was Will Smith. Emily can recommend this romantic comedy as being fairly watchable. (Romantic comedies are a genre that I would lump way more on the crappy list then good list and I have no problem listing this on the less crowded good side.)


Mother (2009) [R] Crime Thriller. This was my very first Koren Thriller. You can hardly listen to a movie review show this year without this movie coming up again and again. When that happens, I feel it my duty to check it out. It definitely leaves it's impression. It was a beautifully shot film- very atmospheric, so they say. It was interesting, disturbing, the mystery whodunit element was REALLY good, and it left you with some puzzling puzzles to try to work out. There was a disturbing and ambiguous question they left you with that I would love to discuss with anyone that may or wants to see it. Let me know--. Oh, yeah- you probably don't know what it's about. It is about the mother of a 20 something mentally challenged kid that gets accused of a murder and put in jail. Mom is very protective of her son and takes solving the case into her own hands and this mild little woman will go to any length to make things right. Emily recommends this movie to the thriller crowd that likes a thriller that is a bit outside of the box. Some language (in Koren) and some sexuality- wasn't too bad.

Fun fact: Murder and Mother use the same characters when written in Korean.


I also watched harry potter and about a boy whilst doing laundry and the like, but don't feel like that's something I really need to get into.

Picked some pretty good ones this month for the most part. Want to see more Oscar movies this year, now that the awards are out. Ahem....The King's Speech.