Public Service Message

It's frightening that for most parents, their luggage is more identifiable than their children.

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Check it out: Amber Stick

Alanna Moments

It occurs to me that I haven't posted many Alanna moments as of late, but there definitely have been some. So here are a couple:

Alanna has been infatuated with the idea of the Easter Bunny this year. As it's not even April yet, I didn't really feel like digging out the Easter decor and instead took the Capitalist way out. I picked up a pink egg decorated ice cream bucket and some plastic eggs during my weekly grocery shopping to the tune of about $1.50 total I believe (in my mind far more economical than spending an hour digging through decor in the garage to find the right bin, bring it in, dig through for the eggs and a basket, and then put the rest back until April). She's been busily hiding eggs in the living room and then searching for them. It seems that each time she hides them she manages to not find all of them, but then the ones she didn't find the last time turn up the next time with two new eggs missing. Here's an example to make that a little less confusing for you, she'll hide 12 eggs (2 of each color) then find only 10--say a pink and green one are missing. The next time she'll find 10, but this time it will be a blue and purple one missing.

I made Alanna a fort this past weekend using sheets, card table chairs, and duct tape--duct tape is the bond that holds us all together after all. She promptly moved her doll houses in and declared that no cats and no brothers were allowed in her fort. I'm really not sure where she got the idea that she has brothers since she's an only child, but she seemed rather adament that they were NOT allowed in her fort.

More Watchful Waiting

So the plan for now is more watchful waiting. The dr agreed that Alanna's facial cyst (technically a vascular malformation) had definitely changed. He stated that sometimes they do that unexpectedly and that his recommended course of action for now was to watch and see what happens. The likelihood (crossing fingers) is that the swelling will reduce and color return to normal. Apparently, these can change due to an accidental bumping of the area or viral infection. He did agree that surgery was the ultimate resolution, but would still prefer to wait until she's a little bigger to further reduce the risk of any damage to the facial nerve. He requested that we call if it begins to look worse rather than better and he'd get us right in and to come back in a month.