January 18th, 2018- The Un-exciting Update

Snow days are always a sign that I need to update the blog!  

One fine fall day...

In October we took our yearly family trip to the pumpkin patch.  The kids enjoyed seeing the animals, playing in the corn crib, eating apple cider donuts, and taking the hayride to the corn maze.  They also all shot either the corn or pumpkin cannons!  Once we got out of the maze they got to slide, swing, and ride the barrel train.  Then we picked our pumpkins (they had some white ones this year, which was neat) and headed back.  They also grew beautiful fields of sunflowers, so we took some pictures there too!  We always have a good time there each year.

Corn cannon!  She would only shoot it once, even though she got 2 shots, so Daddy took the other one.

We had a great holiday season!  It all started with Halloween.  We went to the consignment store and found costumes for all the kids again.  Ally was a Care Bear- Cheer Bear to be exact!  This was absolutely the cutest costume, and she loved it!  Care Bears are not her favorite thing anymore- she hasn't watched the show in quite some time- but she loved how fuzzy it was and she was sooooo cute in it!

It even has the heart on the butt like the stuffed animals do!

She had her Halloween party at school, where she went trunk-or-treating with her class and then we ate goodies and got to go on a hayride.  Then we came home, ate, and went over to Papa & Grandma's house to go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood.  When they are done we head back to their house and they are allowed to eat as much as they want out of their treat bags.  They had a great time together!

This year we were a Care Bear, a ninja turtle, and a werewolf!

Daddy found this at Wal-Mart and got it to surprise her on Halloween.  Ally loved having a matching costume with him!

At Christmas time, Ally's class and school worked hard on their program for their party.  They all made and wore Christmas-y headdresses and sung Christmas songs, then we ate goodies.  She had so much fun and did a great job!  She also got to sing Away in a Manger with her classmates from the 2s and 3s Sunday School class in front of the church during service.  She loves being in front of people!

Christmas itself was a lot of fun.  Ally was obviously a very good girl, because she got gobs of gifts.  Of course, there was the usual clothes and candy and trinkets, but she also got 2 baby dolls, a pink power ranger costume, an Ariel costume, a Belle doll, a Unicorn Surprise, a Calico Critters doll house and restaurant with accessories, a tricycle (that can be pushed by a parent- it 'grows' with the child), and probably other stuff I'm forgetting. 

Christmas Eve- going to church and PJs afterwards.

Her Ariel shoes.  She didn't put on the dress in the excitement of opening gifts.

More gifts- baby doll and doll house

Medically there has not been much going on (thankfully).  She has not had any doctors appointments except for a routine dental cleaning about a week ago (which she did great and there were no problems).  She now only has to go to neurosurgery once a year (so that will be this summer) and her checkups are near her birthday in March.  We did go back to the orthotics place to check on her inserts and whether she had outgrown them.  Since it had been about a year since she got them they thought it might be time for new ones but these are actually still going strong.  I think its in part because I refused to cut them and we just got a bigger shoe for her to wear with them.  We will be back in April to see if she needs bigger ones then.

Ally did give us a scare in the fall (can't remember exactly when it was).  Her school actually called me and left me a message, (which I didn't get until after I picked her up- when I'm at school my phone stays on airplane mode) and when I went to get her she was in the director's office because they were so concerned.  They said she was on the playground playing and all of a sudden just burst into tears.  They couldn't figure out why- there were not any kids right there with her that moment to have hit her and she didn't fall or anything like that.  She just cried and was grabbing her head saying her head hurt.  Well of course they know all about her shunt so they took her temperature and called me and brought her inside.  She was playing happily when I picked her up.  It made me feel good to know that they were taking these things seriously and letting us know if something unusual was going on.  We kept an eye on her for a while after that, but nothing really happened except that occasionally she would say that her head was hurting- sometimes she would mention the shunt, but I still don't think she really knows what's going on with it.  Since she had no other symptoms and it was very occasional we did not take her anywhere.  I have a theory about what might have happened that day (and maybe some of the other times too).  My in-laws met a man at their church who has a shunt, and he told them that sometimes he can feel it working- meaning he can feel the pressure easing when the valve releases excess fluid.  I think that's what Ally felt- it may have been an uncomfortable and unpleasant sensation and made her cry.  She's had this shunt for 3 and a half years now, so I'd imagine she's felt this before many times, but that's the only explanation I've been able to come up with.

So for now, that's pretty much it!  Not too exciting, but that's okay- we don't want exciting on THIS blog!  We do have a lot of exciting things coming up soon, including a certain little girl's FOURTH birthday (how is that possible???).  We've already booked her party plans and she's super excited about it, and disappointed she can't invite ALL her friends.  So if all goes well, next time we update we'll have birthday news and predictions for summer plans.  Thanks for keeping up with our girl!