Thursday, July 28, 2011

And He Shall Be Known as Kunsan Nate...

Nathan left this past Monday evening and has now made it to Kunsan AB safe and sound.  So he is now officially on his "remote", "short tour"...whatever you'd like to label it - he's gone from us until the summer of 2012 :(
Don't fret just yet though good friends.  We are still waiting to see/hear if Nathan will be allowed to come home for Baby #2's birth (Nate lovingly refers to her as "The Deuce"), due to make her debut on/about 1 September 2011! :)  Yes he is there at his new base, but no, he has not met his new commander yet.  Why not you ask???  Well, they are doing some intense training there at his new base and looks like he won't get to go into the office/meet his new boss/colleagues until next week.  So we will wait and see for now...
But between now and then (or now until next summer really), for those of you that would like to get in contact with Nate while he's overseas, you've got a couple options!

There's good old snail mail:
Nathan Olsen
PSC 2 Box 1068
APO, AP 96264

There's Skype:
Username: Nathan.Olsen72

There's Email:
olsennp72@yahoo.com

And coming soon:
Cell/Landline Number (TBA)

Though tough guy Nate would never admit it, I'm sure he'd love to hear from everyone.  We all know the shock of going from a bustling household with a busy little 1 year old tearing through anything/everything, to "batch'ing" it..well, I'm sure it's probably just killing him! ;0P  Hahaha...we'll just say that I'm sure he's looking for things to keep his evenings occupied since he's no longer on crazy Baby Lauren watch ;)

And oh by the way Nate - you can update this blog too with your Korean adventures...expecting it! Just sayin; :o)

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Great News - One Year Appointment with Lauren's NICU Doctors

So Lauren had her one year follow-up with her NICU doctors (Newborn Medicine Dept) at St. Louis (STL) Children's Hospital this past Thursday, July 21st.  We've been anxiously awaiting this appointment, as we were told previously by Lauren's neurologist and NICU doctors that during this meeting they would test Lauren and be able to analyze potential deficiencies in Lauren's brain.  Since we have yet to see any ourselves, nor have any been identified by Lauren's weekly OT and PT, we were hoping for the best, but preparing for potentially concerning news...
So we went into St. Louis early in the morning (minus 30 minutes for our false start - we forgot our home medical records for Lauren, that included this whole past year's PT, OT, and pediatric visits)...and we ended up getting stuck in traffic about 1/4 mile away from the hospital.  It took us about 20 minutes to go 100 yards, so Nate finally had to pull Lauren out of her car seat 5 minutes before the appointment and walk to the hospital in order to make her testing on time.
When I finally got the car parked and into the hospital, we were called back for the usual height, weight, head circumference.  Lauren weighs in now at 24lbs 13ozs (93rd percentile), measuring 30.75" high (90th percentile)...and I'm lame, because I forgot what they said about her head circumference (no fuss was made though, so she must be measuring "normal").
Then we met with a Senior OT, Janice, who performed a 1.5hrs Baileys test on Lauren to analyze her gross motor skills, communication, and overall comprehension for her age (i.e. the test would be able to shed light on whether Lauren's brain sustained long-term damage from her hemorrhages suffered during L&D). 
Lauren completed many, many "tasks", which you and I consider normal infant play.  She was asked to: grab blocks, bang blocks together, find the hidden treat, play/push toy cars, put pegs in a peg board, pull out/put back wooden puzzle pieces, play peek-a-boo (while Janice looked for a reaction, of which Lauren obliged with a throat chuckle every time), color with crayons on paper (not so awesome at this one yet), squeezing a toy to make a sound, recognizing her own name, and recognizing words/what she's being asked and performing the act.  Lauren's really good at "kiss" to her dolls, "bye-bye" with an adorable open-fist-close-fist wave...oh and much to my chagrin, she's the best at "Where's daddy?", which she nails every time. 
After this sit-down playtime testing, we then went to the hospital's gym to see how Lauren gets around on her feet, and interacts with stairs, balls, large objects, children, and toys in general without being handed them.  Not sure if I've said this before or not, but our Lauren is ADDICTED to stair climbing!!!  She would and has done it for 30+ minutes straight.  Whether at home, in the pool, at PT, at friend's houses, she will make a parent crazy by ascending and descending what feels like hundreds of times!  And with me being almost 9 months pregnant and not so quick and agile, well, it gets old super quick!  But God Bless her and her love for the stairs during this testing!  Janice started this portion of the testing with Lauren on the stairs, and baby girl didn't want to leave!  We did try to pre-warn Janice that Lauren was addicted to stairs, but I guess it's what infants/toddlers Lauren's age generally have difficulty with, so she started her out on them....and wouldn't ya know--Lauren didn't want to leave them! :)  But eventually she ventured away from the stairs to check-out the new toys and children receiving PT/OT in the other areas of the room.  Such a friendly little girl she is, and quite mobile since she started walking almost 2 weeks ago.  She's a bit more sturdy than baby Bambi on ice now, but not by a wide margin ;0P 
At any rate, Janice got to witness Lauren at play,her mobility, and interacting with other children for 20-30 minutes before we headed back to the initial testing area.  There Janice scored Lauren's capabilities per the Bailey's Test guidelines and talked to Nate and I about the findings.  We were feeling pretty confident at this point, because Janice hadn't mentioned anything that Lauren "should be doing" anytime during the test...but still, we were a bit anxious.  So she sat us down and turned over this paper that showed Lauren's calculated age for specific areas (again, gross motor skills, ability to follow directions, communication, etc), and much to our delight, Lauren tested at or above the 12 month old level in every area.  She actually had more 14 month old levels than anything, and even a 16 month old level in an area (totally can't remember it right now).  What made me the happiest mother in the world is when Janice said, "you have a pretty intelligent one year old".  There was no caveat, no "your kid is pretty smart for a NICU baby"...Lauren was being grouped in with just any other normal kid--which is what we've been hoping for since the day she was born - normal!
After this discussion, Janice brought us back down to see Lauren's NICU doctors to discuss the game plan from here on out.  Then they said the words Nate said he's been waiting to hear since day one..."You can consider Lauren graduated from her visits with us.  We have no reason to believe we need to track/see Lauren any further.  Only thing we would say is that if you begin to have concerns a year from now, that you come back in and see us.  But other than that, after two years old with no evident signs of deficiencies, she's graduated!".  AWESOME news, absolutely LOVED hearing this!!!
So the only special visits (non-pediatrician) we have scheduled now are the 18 month and 24 month follow-ups with Lauren's neurologist, Dr. Smyser, at STL Children's.  Dr. Smyser also lead us to believe that if at the 24 month appointment Lauren was still doing as good as she is currently, that we would be considered graduated from her neurology visits as well.
So all-in-all, this appointment/testing produced great news for Lauren.  Again, Nate and I couldn't be happier with her progress and prognosis right now! :0)  Thank you again to all of you who kept Lauren in your thoughts and prayers throughout this past year...she's doing great!!!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Actual Birthday Day Festivities

So Lauren love love loves her Ken and Barbie she received from friends for her birthday.  She definitely plays rough, but it's very entertaining to watch.
Unfortunately Barbie didn't know what hit her!

Party Animal!
Then on the evening of Lauren's actual birthday (July 12th), we went to dinner witht he Noorlanders and came back to the house for some birthday pie!  It was a bit of a late night for Lauren, hence the bottle in the last picture, of which she can't even manage to hold!
Woohoo birthday pie!

Just a nibble dad...

...because I want my bottle!

Happy Anniversary Eckert Farms!

So the local farm where we go and "pick our own" produce was having their annual anniversary the week after the 4th of July.  One of the benefits of their anniversary was discounted custard cones, of which we definitely partook...
Lauren had a monopoly on our "family" custard cone
Oooooohhhhh delicious custard!
Shopping at Eckert's with a Lauren-size grocery cart
Running through the store on her super market sweep!

Walking Solo & Lauren's 1st Birthday Party!

So Lauren decided all the sudden that she was going to walk all by herself (more than the few steps and fall routine) on the 7th of July.  Just as most people said it would happen, it was like a switch was flipped and all the sudden WALKING! :)

Then on July 9th we threw a birthday party for Lauren's 1st Birthday with another little girl from our Ward who was born around the same time. She was dressed to the nines and looking mighty adorable...and that lasted until about 10 minutes after we arrived at the park. :(  Lauren wanted to walk everywhere, and unfortunately the park was muddy from the previous day's rains, so you'll see her outfit get dirtier and dirtier through these birthday pictures.  But we had a great turn out with lots of friends, and even had a pinata for the little tikes to tear into...good times had by all.

Struttin' around the park like a free bird!
Being held down (or in place) by "The Man".


Post wipeout position

Lorelai Morgan, the other little birthday girl :)
























Yes, that is the butterfly cupcake topper she's nibbling on.

The initial stages of cupcake coma...
 
Party People

Lauren taking a few swings at her ice cream cone pinata

July...Here's to Freedom and Pool Time!

July kicked off with a great 4th of July celebration and many, many adorable patriotic dresses to wear!  On the 4th we spent time as a family, going to the pool and running errands--which wasn't really as boring as it sounds.  It was ridiculously humid that day, so minimum spurts of time were spent outdoors, to keep us all sane.  Then we went to the Shumways for dinner, but unfortunately didn't make it to the Mascoutah fireworks display.  Lauren was done with the day around 8pm, and the fireworks didn't kick off until 9:30pm...  Our time in the pool must've really worn her out; God Bless the pool! :0)

"I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!"
...& now I'm exhausted and near passed out.
 
Daintily prancing around our neighborhood pool.
Sturdy like Bambi on Ice!
 
And the full steam ahead into the pool...
Sorry, didn't get a picture of the aftermath/crash from this mad-dash!

June Days...

So June was a low-key month compared to May's festivities.  Throughout the month we had some friends visit (Luke and Jessica Stumme) from their AFB in New Jersey, and I went out to see my older sister, Lizi, "graduate" from her Family Medicine residency in the San Francisco area.  Nate likes to tease Lizi about being a "real" doctor now, though she's been practicing as a real physician for 3+years now...that Nate sure knows how to get us Sprotte girls spun-up!
Jessica Stumme took this Glamour Shot of Lauren on our way into St. Louis for the day...

 
I took this picture, not nearly as good as Jessica's B&W;
but look at Little Blue Eyes herself--wowwee!


Our turkey, cheese, and cracker lover always wants to hold the camera.

This is a product of letting Nate comb Lauren's hair after bathtime...
love the mohawk, though you can barely see it because her
hair is SO blonde.  Well that and my so-so photo skills :(

What applesauce?!

The Month of May in Southern Illinois...

We started off the month of May with a lively Cinco De Mayo party at the Olsen household.  We even received a special visit from Senorita Loco Lauren...or more like Senor Lip Fuzz, per her picture above!  Wish we could claim responsibility for Lauren's festiveness; however, we have to give credit to our friends, the Noorlanders (plus Bec's sister Amanda).  They surprised us by each coming dressed with a sombrero and a sweet mustache to the party.  Definitely the most festive family at the party...nay, on the block...actually, they probably topped any other family in the entire city of Belleville, IL.

Next came strawberry season 'round these parts.  Lucky for us, we have two family farms not 5 minutes from our front door step that allow patrons to come and "pick their own".  So we took Baby Lauren strawberry picking in her best farmer overalls!  The ground was a bit muddy from the seasonal rains, so she was half carried/half crawled around the patch to get the delicious strawberries.  At this farm they let you eat whatever you'd like while you pick strawberries, so Lauren and Nate were in hog-heaven filling their bellies to capacity.  Lauren was definitely a hot-mess by the end of the pickin', but it sure was fun to witness and the strawberries were absolutely delicious!









Then came baseball season for the local farm team, the Gateway Grizzlies.  We got to go to a game with a couple families from church and it was a riot!  Not a bad seat in the house and Lauren got to people watch to her little hearts content (her second favorite activity behind "reading" books!)  The Grizzlies mascot did make his rounds and we were in the front two rows next to the home teams dugout, so we saw him more than once.  Meaning Lauren had the chance to freak-out more than once!  There was something about this mascot that terrified her, so she would practically run up Nate's shoulder or abdomen trying to get farther away from him.  As Lauren's mom, I'm sad to admit that it was a pretty hilarious spectacle to witness!

Standing Solo for the First Time - 9.5 months

While we were at the Butterfly Museum in Colorado, Lauren decided she was going to try and stand by herself. She was pushing around her umbrella stroller, then decided to let go and hover before the inevitable bum fall. But she was super proud of herself, so much so, it was hard to get her away from the stroller for the rest of the trip!
 


So back where we left off in April...



In April, we traveled back to Nate's hometown of Broomfield, Colorado, for Easter. We got to see Grandma Olsen and Lauren got to meet Uncle Steven for the first time! We also got to see Nate's older sister, Shana, and her family! Lauren had a great time playing follow the leader with both her cousins, Alex and Kayla, but it didn't appear that either of them enjoyed it for too long! ;0P For instance, here's Lauren messing up Alex and Auntie Shana's Hungry Hippo game!

...and Lauren literally crawling over cousin Alex. He sure was a good sport, but at one point (right after this photo was snapped) he said, "Aunt Katy, this is awful!"

Here we went to the Denver Zoo, which is probably the best zoo we've ever been to - it's amazing! And Lauren got to ride on her first carousel of which she absolutely loved! If I would've been smart enough, I would've put the camera on the video recording option so you all could see her bouncing and kicking her feet like crazy every time she came around to see us. It was adorable!