May 24th, 2017- The Last Day Update

Thought it was time for another update on our Ally girl- especially since new families from the Dandy-Walker parent facebook page keep popping up and I keep directing them here for hope and encouragement!

Fortunately, there is not a lot of medical 'stuff' to update.  Ally went for her 3 year check-up in March, and everything there looked great!  She is not having any shunt issues or development issues.  She is still wearing her orthotic inserts regularly and has adjusted to them and can wear them all day now.  (She keeps putting her shoes on the wrong feet, which is making me crazy because of her inserts- I don't want her to mess up her feet by wearing them on the wrong feet!)  We are still waiting to find out if she is going to have an MRI this summer, just for baseline data as she grows (and her ventricles grow too), but other than that we expect no other appointments or procedures!  She is a healthy, growing girl.

We've had some good things happen these last few months.  Ally got her first haircut in February (just a trim, the ends were getting scraggly).  She did really well and was so excited to be getting a haircut like the boys!  She got another one a few weeks ago and we cut off several inches so now it is at her shoulders.  I wanted it to be a little shorter for the summer.  Getting her to sit still for a longer time was challenging, but she did it!  We also dyed eggs, like we usually do at Easter.  However, this year I got the kind of dye that you use paint rollers to paint with, instead of dipping them in the dye cups.  The boys just painted each of their eggs all one color, but my Ally painted hers every color.  They turned out to be my favorites!  In May Ally completed AWANA Puggles!  She had a great year in Puggles but is SUPER excited to move up to Cubbies next year (like her big brother!)  They had an awards ceremony where she received her certificate of completion and a Puggle zipper pull.  They also sang some songs for us (always cute!).

 First haircut ever!

 I asked her to smile, but she doesn't really do that anymore when I ask for pictures...

 Puggles awards: singing songs and smiling with awards

Of course, the big news is our big girl turned THREE March 2nd.  Ally had a great day at school and brought M&M cookies (at her request) to share with her friends.  Then that evening we went to Chick-fil-a for dinner and she got her first gifts from Papa & Grandma: several books, including a Ladybug Girl book that she requests often at bedtime.

We had her birthday party the next weekend.  One really cool coincidence that facebook reminded me of was that the day of her party was the same day we brought Ally home from the hospital!  It was neat to think that we were celebrating her homecoming too.  I had decided to do an art themed party where all of the guests could do different kinds of art.  We had a painting station, coloring, playdoh, bubble art, and beading necklaces.  I also hired a youth from our church to do face painting.  We had ice cream and plain cupcakes, that the guests could decorate with various toppings (sprinkles, gummy bears, crushed oreos, marshmallows, chocolate chips, etc.).  We had a LOT of people there and had a great time!  Our Ally girl is so very loved by our family and friends, and it showed!  We are so thankful to everyone for coming and celebrating with us, and especially for all of her (many, many) gifts!

 She chose a bumblebee for her face painting

 Ally (and most of the other kids) enjoyed painting the most

One of my favorite pictures of her ever.  Happy 3rd birthday baby girl!

Ally is also working very hard on potty training.  She is doing really well, and wearing underwear everyday.  She still has accidents sometimes, which is making me crazy- she'll have several really good days and then have an accident or two a for a few days.  Whoever said boys were harder to potty train has never met my Ally girl!  She has been going in the potty off and on since Halloween and I still wouldn't say she is fully trained yet.  However, when that day comes (and I think we're getting close!) we will be taking a family trip to Chuck-E-Cheese, as is tradition in our household once diapers are officially gone.

This week is my last week of school, (today is my last student day) which means its also Ben and Ally's last week too.  This is Ally's last week in the Red Room- when we return to school in the fall she will move up to the 3s class, the Green Room (as long as she is fully potty trained- she really wants to go to the Green Room so that is helping to motivate her too!).  We are looking forward to a full and fun summer.  We have 2 VBS weeks to attend as well as the usual swim lessons and trip to my parents to visit with Granny visiting from Florida.  We are also doing a mini-vacation to do some things in DC as a family, and Ally will be doing a dance camp one week!  We are hoping to put her in dance starting in the fall so we are going to see how she likes it with this day camp experience.  We'll update again at the end of the summer with pictures and stories of our summer adventures.  Until then, thank you for your continued interest in our girl!

Do you recognize the doll?  It's made from the cute sleeper we brought her home from the hospital in!  Look how big she is now!