Half way to 1

6 months really? How did that happen? Elin is thriving and loving life. She laughs easily and loves being tickled, sung too, and generally entertained by anyone. Her sister is by far her favorite person and Anya gets Elin laughing by just making eye contact with her. It is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between these two sisters.

We have a couple of exciting trips planned and they are coming up quickly. In the beginning of February we are headed to Sun Valley to stay with Ahma and Bobpop in their condo for 5 days. Auntie Natalie is flying over with Anya, Elin and I and the boys (Scott and Myles) are flying over two days later. Should be quite the adventure flying with two kids and no dad- but thankfully Natalie is super helpful and hopefully she will still love her nieces by the end of the trip! Be good girls! In Sun Valley we plan to snow shoe, down hill and cross country ski, sled and generally have a ball outside. We also are hoping to get Anya up on skis for the first time on dollar mountain. Wish us luck! Rough life- first time skiing in Sun Valley.
In the end of March we all fly over to Hawaii to stay with our friends the Piskels on the North Shore of Oahu in their amazing beach home. Anya and Lucy are good friends so the trip should be a relaxing family vacation. Can't wait for some beach time.

Alright- update on Elin. She had her 6 month appointment last week and weighs 14 lbs, 4 oz putting her in the 45%. She is 25 inches long- 25% and her head is in the 55%.  She is sitting up in her Bumbo chair and gaining better control of her large noggin.  Her core muscles are coming along as well so she is getting stronger and sitting better in general. We have introduced some rice cereal which she promptly gummed, mushed and drooled out of her mouth. We will keep at it so she begins to learn how to eat some solid food. She is nursing like a champ still and also takes a bottle from anyone. Elin is an easy baby. Despite her "complications" her temperament and general attitude is chill and relaxed.
As far as hearing is concerned she is doing well.
Her speech sounds are progressing and she says ahh, ooo, eee, oh, woo, baa (rarely). Mainly she screams and hollers entertaining herself as she wiggles and kicks on the floor. She rolls from her back to her side and almost to her tummy. She is NOT a fan of tummy time mainly because it is too hard for her to lift her head off the ground for any extended period of time (think face smashed into the carpet). She loves naked time which we have come to call "nudey rudey" time at our house. Anya also partakes and we have nightly nudey rudey time with both girls. It is hilarious and I can't wait to someday embarrass them both in front of friends when I tell the story about them spending every night naked on the floor together. Elin spits up often still but it is getting better. I'm hoping with the addition of solid foods we can get more of that milk to stick in her tummy and not end up on me or her burp cloth.
We are seeing a pediatric optometrist because her eyes are not tracking all that well. We hope that it is simply a lazy eye issue which is very fixable and not a vision problem. Stay tuned for more on that.
Generally life is crazy busy and I don't know where the months are flying off too. I'm trying my best to live in the moment and soak up the baby days of Elin since I know they are fleeting.

2013 here we come

2012 was a year full of surprises that's for sure. From not knowing whether we were having a boy or a girl to finding out about Elin's hearing loss we ran the gammit of emotions. We are ushering 2013 in with hope we  will gain some balance and normalcy in our lives once again.

The holidays were crazy and wonderful. Anya was fully "invested" in Christmas this year from wanting to be good for Santa to singing all sorts of Christmas carols. We had  four nights of celebration. First Myles's family Christmas at Kyra's house, next a Santa party (complete with a real live Santa) at my parents, our annual Christmas Eve cocktail party, and Christmas dinner at Scott and Natalie's. Phew- it was a whirlwind of food, drinks and presents and both girls were a bit exhausted by the end of it. Elin handled the noise of the parties well for a while but she would get aggravated after a few hours and need a quiet break from all the din.

She is wearing her hearing aids full time now and seems to be flourishing. She started blowing raspberries about a month ago which is apparently an important skill for speech development according to our Listen and Talk counselor Rebecca. As discussed before, we have an early intervention program counselor come to our house on a weekly basis and meet with us. We go over new sounds Elin is making, new developmental milestones, she tests and checks her hearing aids and she interacts with Elin. She has given us a few good books to read to Anya about hearing loss and hearing aids and she loves to read them.

Anya has gotten to go to Elin's audiologist two times now and is a good sport during the appointments. Anya has been asking to have her hearing checked since reading the books and going to the appointments so at the most recent one we tested her hearing. Both Myles and I were pretty confident that Anya has no hearing issues but it was still a little nerve racking none the less to watch her get tested and wait for the results. She is normal and has absolutely no hearing loss or hearing issue at all. Thank God! She loved playing the games and interacting with the audiologist.

Elin is working very hard at rolling over. If she's naked she can get from her back to her side no problem. Once she gets to her tummy she isn't a fan so she really isn't all that motivated to turn all the way over. Clothes seem to be a bit of hindrance on her ability so she just rocks side to side on her back when dressed. She has found her right hand and sucks on it constantly. Anya is a thumb sucker and Elin is quickly becoming one as well. Self soothing is just fine by me. We have been blindly locating spit out binkies in the dark for several months so an attached thumb will be a welcome tool. Elin is sleeping pretty well. We are getting her down between 8-9 pm and she usually wakes once around 4 or 5 am. Then she will sleep until 8-9 am.

Elin lights up when she hears or sees Anya. I can tell already that these two are going to have a very special bond and it warms my heart to see Anya pay so much attention to her sister. She loves her and enjoys playing with her by showing her toys and making music for her. We have Elin's 6 month appointment the end of January. I can't believe she is almost 6 months old. Second kids grow up so fast.