week 21 and 22

wow, elise is now 5 months old.  i'm starting to have some fun interactions with her.  just today, we played a game where i would pretend to eat her hand if she put it by my mouth, leaving us both in giggles.  it is such an exciting feeling to be able to share laughter together for the first time with your child, like it's a little inside joke.

the biggest happening in the last few weeks is a big medical scare that TOTALLY freaked us out.  starting around 4 months, elise started to exhibit some strange jerky movements.  i called the hospital immediately and after a quick phone diagnosis, the nurse said that it was ok, although i don't think she fully understood me because she referred me to an informational recording on asthma.  elise continued to have these movements a few times a week, and so several weeks later, i called the nurse hotline again, and was informed to see someone within 24 hours.  bry and i went to urgent care and the doctor there referred us to see a neurologist, based on our description of what elise did.  that's when we really started to freak out.  there is an absolutely horrific seizure disorder called infantile spasms, a condition that leads quickly leads to total physical and mental retardation.  each seizure leads to brain damage and so we called every kaiser in southern california to get a sooner neurology appointment than the one that was scheduled for us 2 weeks later (seriously, how could anyone wait that long?).  based on various symptoms, such as the age of onset, timing of movement, and because it looked similar to some videos we found on youtube, we were very concerned that elise had the disorder.  it wouldn't be an overstatement to say that our life became total hell for a short period.

thankfully, we were able to get all of her appointments and testing done within a short period of time at riverside kaiser.  yes, we drove there 3 times!  we got her results last week and HALLELUJAH, they came back normal!  words cannot describe the happiness we have knowing that our daughter is healthy.  the neurologist said to continue to keep an eye on her in case the movements continue, but we haven't seen them in several weeks.  my heart breaks for families who must undergo this nightmare of a disorder; it really is one of the worst ones out there.

its experiences like this that make you realize what people mean when they say parenting is one of the hardest things in the world.  when you are confronted with the possibility of your own child's devastating illness, the entire world just shuts down and nothing else matters.  even when elise had a small cold and coughed throughout the night broke our hearts.  the love you have for your child just overwhelms you.

elise is such a happy baby.  she loves charming people with her wide, gummy smiles. it's funny how you will hear the same things over and over again when people see your baby. i hear the following phrases constantly about elise:
"wow, her eyelashes are so long!  they go to her eyebrows!"
"her eyes are so beautiful!  they're so striking!"
"she's such a smiley baby!"
"wow, she's one of the cutest babies i've ever seen!"
the last one is kind of funny because, of course, bryant and i secretly think this to ourselves but we also know we're extremely biased.  but when we hear this from other people, it fills us with parental pride.  :)  we really did not think we would or could produce such a cute baby.

elise is learning how to sit and can sit "tripod-style" for a good 5-10 minutes unassisted.  i'm really looking forward to the sitting milestone.  people say this phase is the best because they're the most independent without you having to chase after them.  i can't even imagine her crawling, let alone walk.  yikes!

sorry, my computer has been wonky and so i'm having trouble uploading photos...  i'll figure it out soon and do a photo and video bomb.  :)