Dr. Clark

It's been nearly a year since I posted... just haven't taken the time. But this one's important :-)

Recovering

Surgery tomorrow

We're down in Salt Lake City for the rest of the week...at least. We had an appointment with Rowan's ENT and her surgery is scheduled for 2:00 tomorrow. She can't have any solid foods past midnight, so that will be miserable for all of is :)

Rowan has one more appointment with cardiology in the morning and then we're good to go for surgery. I'm a worried mess. Thank goodness for Brady!  I'll update the blog with her progress.

Surgery Schedule

Rowan is scheduled to have surgery on her neck this summer—June 12, to be exact. We'll be down at Primary Children's for a few days before/after. We're not expecting it to be complicated, but she may look like Frankenstein's monster for a few weeks while her neck heals. The surgery is for her branchial cleft cysts in her neck—one is open, the other is just a little speck. We've been told that the surgery is less complicated than a tonsillectomy. We'll see...

Absence

I looks like I took a three month hiatus from the blog. Life is proving to be infinitely more complicated with two children...but it's oh so much fun :)

Rowan is nearly 16 months old. She is so  different than Ella was at this age. Rowan seems to have no desire to walk. She pulls herself up to stand on nearly everything and has even been know on to cruise around the coffee table a bit. But walking doesn't interest her at all. She still scoot-crawls everywhere and is very quick.

Rowan seems to be putting all of her effort into her fine motor skills. She loves to feed herself with a spoon and fork and drinks from a cup. Rowan's favorite foods, in no particular order: kale, peas, green beans, blueberries, pickled asparagus, applesauce, and garlic hummus. I have been trying to wean Rowan for a few months, but if she has it her way, she would nurse several times a day. I'm just ready to be done. But it is nice having a few quiet moments with Rowan here and there. I'm sure I'll miss that when she's no longer breastfeeding.

Rowan is very talkative. We still don't understand most of what she says, but occasionally we are surprised to hear a few real words if the context is right :) Mostly, she just says Mama, Dada, Ella, this, these (for nursing) and boo (also for nursing.) She also signs for "more" and "all done." But she's starting to get frustrated that we don't understand more of what she's trying to say. The screeching sound she makes to get our attention is bloodcurdling.

Oh, I could go on... Moving on to Ella. Ella is still doing well in second grade. She's working on multiplication and division, but loves making art projects the best. We just finished reading The BFG by Roald Dahl and are almost done with James and the Giant Peach. It's fun hearing her read to Rowan, too :)

Brady and I are headed to DC in a few weeks for work. I'm looking forward to some time away from Idaho Falls. It still doesn't feel quite like home to me, so it's wonderful to get an opportunity to experience the things I miss the most--good food, culture, diversity... I'm sure I'll have more to report when we return.

One

Rowan is now one. Each year goes by faster and faster, but 2013 was in a league of it's own.

Rowan is now crawling, albeit in a strange half-bear crawl/half-regular crawl way. But she moves quickly and is quite sneaky. She also says a few words, like Mama (sounds like mymamaaaa) and Daddy (dada) and "this." Rowan points, waves, shakes her head "no" and giggles incessantly. She's the sweetest human I've yet to encounter. She still prefers Ella and Brady, but I'm sure I'll win her over one of these days.

I am still nursing quite a bit—with no end in sight. Rowan has yet to sleep through the night. She has a very consistent schedule, and we've tried the cry-it-out thing a bit, but she still wakes 1-2 times/night. The older she gets, the more I suspect that it's a side effect of her medication. She seems to get enough sleep. It's just me who is suffering.

At Rowan's 12-month appointment, she weighed in at 21 pounds and was 30 inches tall. She's still larger than Ella was at this age and is wearing 18-24 month clothes now. Rowan is a fantastic eater—she loves soup, hummus, sweet potatoes, curry, avocado, crackers, and coconut milk yogurt. I've decided not to give her any dairy, so there will be two vegans in the house now :-)

Overheard

Ella: Have you noticed that Rowan's head is really big compared to her body?

The Rules

Uncle Andy

Welcome to the family, Abbie!