Babies, seizures, and bears...oh my!

Possibly I should split this post into two separate ones, but I hardly ever remember to blog these days, so I'd better do it all now.

First off, great news that we've been excited to share.  Ella is going to be a big sister!  We are all thrilled (including Ella...mostly).  I think our experience getting pregnant this time has taught us a HUGE lesson in letting go and allowing God to work his timing magic.  And He does, always.  Baby Denbar is due on Halloween, so I've officially declared to Hal that I'll dress as pregnant Snooki for the big day (total joke, but scared him for a minute).  I am, however, determined to wear a bright orange shirt with a pumpkin face around the belly and live up every minute of being 9 months pregnant and huge when the trend for many 28-year-old gals is to wear a teeny tiny nurse's outfit.  I'll try to get Hal to upload the video of Ella sitting in the infant carrier...she's having a few issues with the idea of sharing, but mostly she's excited to take care of the baby and be mommy's helper.

From good news to yuck, Ella had a febrile seizure on Wednesday.  Her temperature shot up to 103 degrees over an hour or two, and as she woke up from her nap, she started seizing. (Pause for the part where, as you can imagine, I...FREAKED...OUT).  I ran over to her and rolled her on her side while I dialed 911 and started giving the dispatcher our information.  The seizure stopped after a few minutes, and she was passed out with spit coming out of her mouth and some minor twitching every few seconds.  No sound, no eye contact, just still. It didn't even seem like she was breathing--there were these rasping sounds, like she was fighting for air.  Terrifying. The paramedics arrived within 5 minutes, and they immediately assessed that she was perfectly fine, breathing on her own, pink in color, good heart rate.  They basically explained that her little body is like a computer, and when it gets overloaded by such a sudden rise in temp, it will shut down and reboot bit by bit.  So, over the next 20 minutes, she started to wake up and make minor movements, and then eventually in the ambulance she awoke fully and could talk and knew where she was. It turns out that these are relatively common, and even better news, they are really not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things that can happen to little ones. It is really rare for there to be any damage (brain or otherwise) from a febrile seizure.  It's just the way their little bodies reset their temperature gauge if their temp rises suddenly.  Ok, still terrifying though. 

The weirdest part about it is that she's not exhibiting any other signs of major illness--no stomach upset, no major respiratory or throat issues, all things I would attribute to having such a major change in body temperature.  From what I can tell, she has a minor cold at most.

As for me, I've had a pretty hard time going to sleep the last two nights.  As soon as I close my eyes,  the images of her seizing flood my mind, and that is when I realize how traumatic of an experience it really was.  Because if you look at Ella today, she is her normal, sweet self, and life has continued like normal.

The title of this post is misleading: I have nothing to say about bears. :)  Just babies and seizures.

Things are good.  Life is good.  Seizures are not.

Life with a girl

Ella is just such a girl. I love it so much. There are at least 10 moments a day when something jumps out at me that reminds me of how feminine and "girly" she is. It warms my heart in all sorts of ways, but sometimes I forget how different it must be for Hal to interact with a little girl.

Like when we go to Toys 'R'Us and he says that none of the girl toys look like any fun, and then he goes over to the boy toys and determines that ALL of those toys look amazing and genius.

Or when Ella asks him to pretend play with her dolls, and he turns to me in complete frankness and sincerity and says, "I've never had to dialogue before. How do I "be" Buzz Lightyear?"

Or two nights ago when I bought Ella (Ipad and technology pro) a Strawberry Shortcake app, in which you have to sort all the different fruits into their corresponding blenders so that they can be blended into smoothies. Duh--obviously this is how the game goes because every girl knows that Strawberry Shortcake runs a smoothie bar/bakery. Well, then the game goes up a level and you have to sort out the sour berries and throw them away so they don't screw with the wonderful taste of the smoothies. We're all good.

Then, uh-oh, the game goes up another level and you have to catch the glimmer berries (still with me?) before they float away so that you can...wait for it...PUT EACH KIND OF FRUIT INTO WHATEVER BLENDER YOU WANT WITHOUT SORTING!....Hallelujah, bonus round! Btw, this is what Ella loves, loves, loves to do...buy an app on the Ipad and make me play it.

Well, Hal tried, bless his heart, and I give him so much credit. He comes from a videogame background--he gets the concept. But somewhere between sour berries and glimmer berries, his head refused to accept any more pink. He needed blue. Here's the shortest glimpse of a hilarious conversation between Hal and Ella while playing the game:

E: Daddy, you have to CATCH THOSE SOUR BERRIES! They're yuh-uh-cky!

H: (Very calmly, somewhat bored) Ok, baby, I'll get the next one.

E and H (slightly more interested) together: Aw, man! Missed another one!! Shoot!

*Game moves to next level*

H: Ok, I'm ready for the sour berries this time...wait,what the...what's this mixed berry thing??

E(exasperated): *Sigh* Dad, it's a glimmer berry.

The girl has no tolerance for the inability of the "blue gender" to understand pink. Zero tolerance.

Updates

Ella will be 2 1/2 on December 9th, so I thought it was time for a few updates before I forget them.

One is hurting my heart a little--Ella is calling me "Mom". "Mommy" is long gone these days. "Do you like this flower, Mom?" "What do you think, Mom?" Sometimes I refuse to answer until she calls me "Mommy"--is that so wrong?? Don't actually give me your answer, because I'm going to keep doing it anyway. :)

She sings AT THE TOP OF HER LUUUUUUNGS most of the day and definitely any time I can't be playing with her and she has to entertain herself. Her faves are "Hakuna Matata" and the Wonder Pets theme song, but she's working on Jingle Bells. I'll see if I can get Hal to upload her Candid Camera singing moment...

She's been cracking us up lately with the phrase "That was a good trick, guys." This is employed after something she means to do--showing off her dance moves, as well as after something she doesn't meant to do--jumping on the couch, falling off, and getting embarrassed that she made a tactical error.

We are officially in the process of redoing her room, complete with twin bed, new dresser, and lots of cute accessories. She is less than enthused about it--she's been sleeping with us for a looong time now. BUT she understands that Santa doesn't come if you don't sleep in your own bed like a big girl (somewhat cruel, but effective).

Some other things I can't think of at the moment, but those are the main points that I don't want to forget. She is silly and spunky and I'm so thankful for her. We are having the best time hanging together and learning from each other.

Potty trained

Yep, Ella is potty trained. It. Is. Amazing. We started on a Monday, and it took about three days for her to figure out that she HAD to go to the potty every time. Then another week to figure out how to realize ahead of time that she needed to go. It's been about a week now with no accidents, and yesterday she went into the bathroom, pulled her pants down, and went to the potty all by herself while Hal and I sat on the couch and watched in awe. Sidenote: The things that evoke awe as a parent are so different than before having kids.

Listen, I know that girls are easier than boys most of the time, and I am NOT trying to be braggy about this. I just want to note how awesome this transition has been, and how much Ella is proud of herself and what a big girl she feels like now.

However, I do have to note in excitement the $50/month we will now save on diapers. Score!

Bigger, bigger

Sometimes when trying to explain something to Ella, I find myself repeating the important word more times than necessary, in an attempt to have her understand my point. I forget, in these moments, that she is actually two and really does understand what I say to her.

Example: Ella wants to try a drink of my Coke.
Ella: I have some Coke, Mommy?
Me: Oh, no, honey, that's for adults--mommies and daddies. But when you're bigger, you can try it. When you're bigger (emphasis word)...

So, for the last few days, Ella has begun to list all of the things I have told her she can do when she's bigger i.e. drink Coke, jump off the diving board at the pool, play with big kids at the park who are doing stupid, dangerous things that I actually really hope she forgets she's ever seen, etc.

The way Ella explains these things to me is as follows: "Mommy, I do (this) when I bigguh, bigguh...? When I bigguh, bigguh Mommy??"

So, I've taught my very intelligent daughter to repeat herself because I thought she couldn't understand me. Oops.

On a sidenote that actually somewhat correlates with this story, I had one of those mom, emotional moments yesterday when something makes you suddenly get a true moment of nostalgia or realization of how fast time is going. We were at the pool and Ella wanted to sit with a group of older kids and teens who were eating pizza, and as they took off to go swim, she went to follow them. We were leaving the pool at that point, so I took her by the hand and just casually said something like, "You can do that someday, too, when you're a big girl. Soon enough, baby." And as the words left my mouth, I got a weird twinge of emotion. In the span of a lifetime, it will all come and go so soon. I really have to savor each moment as much and as best as I can.

Summer Sleep Schedule

This post is really just to chronicle Ella's new sleep schedule, so no fun pictures or anything.

However...
I would like to remember that Ella went through a pattern of sleep that is actually working really well for our family (insert triumphant music). For the last two weeks, she's been going to bed between 9:30-10:00 PM and waking up just after 7:00 AM. Now, the late bedtime on its own wouldn't be ideal, but here is why it works so well: she isn't waking up and crying out at night (huge plus) AND she is taking anywhere from a 2 to 3 hour nap every day! Yeeeeess! This basically means that from 7 AM to 1 PM we play, play, play, and then she falls asleep until around 4:00, gets up, eats a snack, and then Hal gets home. Talk about an easy two weeks for me!

I tried to figure out if this is something she would have done all along, and maybe I just had dropped the ball, but the fact of the matter is that she has grown into this pattern in the last few months. I thought by two that all sleep patterns would be figured out, but I see now that as Ella grows, she will continue to adjust her sleep to fit her needs--so I'm living it up until it changes again!

Fourth of July weekend

This weekend was nothing short of amazing.

On Saturday, Hal had to work a half day so in the morning Ella and I hit up the Cedar Park Farmers' Market and Home Depot. On the first Saturday of the month Home Depot sponsors a free "do-it-yourself" type project for kiddos, and this month was coaster-making. Ella enjoyed attempting to hammer nails into the plywood, although she would have much preferred to stack all the pieces on top of each other and have her own abstract piece of art. After lunch at Chipotle with my mom, we headed home for a nap. By the time Hal got home, we were up and ready to head to the Hill Country Galleria for their 4th of July extravaganza. Rosie and the Ramblers were playing--never heard of them, but they were awesome!--so we searched out some shade and ate pizza and danced. Ella fell in LOVE with the bouncy castle.

Sunday brought a wonderful sermon at church. We had a guest pastor, and to be honest most of the time I am not enthused about another pastor speaking (creature of habit right here). However, this sermon really spoke to me, and I left feeling energized and very peaceful at the same time. Then we went home with a crazy, full-of-energy Ella (now that she's finally well, she's a completely different kid--so crazy all the time and never seeming to slow down. So fun!) Of course, after a very full Saturday and an early Sunday morning, she proceeded to crash and take a 3 hour nap-woo hoo!! So, of course, we were so pleased to already have made plans to visit Hal's parents in Liberty Hill for dinner and let Ella run around like a wild banshee out on their property.

Then came the fourth of July today. I love this holiday. My parents, Ella and I participated in our neighborhood's bike/stroller/wagon parade. We decorated the BOB with red, white and blue ribbons and bows sort of last minute, but it turned out pretty cute. We all decided it was our new tradition--with one catch: each year, we have to step up our participation a notch or two. We're thinking kazoo band next year. :) Ella waved her mini American flag proudly and wore a red sparkly party hat because that's what HEB had left at 8:30 this morning. When we got home, Hal had set up her new slip-n-slide, and they played in it until lunchtime. After her nap, we three headed to our neighborhood pool for its annual pool party, and Ella wore herself out trying to keep up with the big kids. Hal spent all morning making his famous pulled pork, so we had my parents over for an uh-mazing dinner of pulled pork sandwiches and brownie sundaes. So delicious that I couldn't even allow myself to feel guilty.

Man, I realize nobody probably wants to read this entire novela I just wrote, but I'm so glad to chronicle this great weekend. Ella is healthy and happy, and literally every person that has been around her in the last two weeks has commented on what a different child she is now that she feels good. She's a crazy toddler, and I now understand how tiring it has been for all of my friends with toddlers! :)