Thanksgiving 2014 - El Paso

We made the long drive out to Texas for Thanksgiving this year. But we only went to El Paso instead of all the way to Eric's parents place in San Antonion. Instead they, along with Eric's sisters Kimberly and Brittany and their families met us in El Paso. Eric's dad's parents live in El Paso and they can't really travel so we wanted them to be able to meet Rua. This was also Eric's parents first time meeting Rua as well. Unfortunately we thought we didn't bring our camera charger with us (turns out we found it in our suitcase once we made it home) so we only had our lousy phone cameras, and then took a pitiful amount of pictures. Didn't even take any of Eric's parents with the girls! Sad

Anyway, we spent a few days at Eric's Uncle Don and Aunt Janet's house where we got to spend fun times with Eric's family. It was sad to each have to drive away in opposite directions Sunday morning. Too bad we can't all live closer!

In the middle of nowhere, somewhere on our way to El Paso.

Abby absolutely loved all the time she got to spend with cousins. 

Thanksgiving dinner! 

Rua with her great-grandma Anderson

Rua with uncle Neil

Sigh, only picture we got of Grandpa Anderson, and he's sleeping

A little girl sooo happy to be back home!

Rua's blessing day

Our beautiful little Rua was blessed on November 23rd. Here are some pictures from her special day.

We were able to have lots of my family come. We had a picnic at a park afterwards together.

Later in the afternoon, Eric and I took Abby and Rua to a park so we could take some more picture of Rua. We had a lot of fun, and Abby ran circles around us the entire time!

(see Abby in the background? She was having a blast running around)

The outfit:
I made Rua's blessing outfit. I found a super simple peasant dress tutorial and then found this tutorial to make the shoes. Love how they turned out!

Ectrodactyly

We haven't yet mentioned it on the blog, but Rua was born with a condition called ectrodactyly. It's a rare condition, happening in just about 1 in 90,000 babies. We don't have many specifics yet, as we are still waiting to meet with an orthopedic specialist to learn more about Rua's individual case. Here is an email Eric sent out to family on October 9, a few days after she was born (the pictures are all from those first few days too).   

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We thought it would be nice to send out an update on Rua. She is wonderfully healthy, and checked out well by both the pediatrician and the nurse home visit this week. So far she has astounded us with her ability to sleep and her calmness when awake. It is nice, and we are crossing our fingers that it doesn't change (not that we don't like the fussy babies too). 

She was tongue-tied when born, but thankfully we were able to identify it immediately, and the pediatrician clipped it on Monday (the day after she was born). Her nursing seems to be improved already, and hopefully it keeps getting better.

Rua was born with a condition called ectrodactyly (in my Sunday email I called it syndactyly, which is more common and different). Only 1 in about 90,000 babies are born with ectrodactyly, and it is most commonly hereditary but we don't know of anyone in our family that has it. In Rua, it affects both of her hands and both her feet. We've attached pictures for you to see. Rua's right hand and right foot appear to be classic ectrodactyly, where her right hand is missing two of the middle fingers, and her right foot is missing the three middle toes. Ectrodactyly is also sometimes called split hand foot malformation (SHFM). Her left hand appears to have all five fingers, but the thumb and index finger are fused all the way to the tip and the ring finger and pinky are partially fused. Her left foot also appears to maybe have all five toes but the three middle may be fused together. The malformation happens at 6-7 weeks gestation when the fingers are supposed to form but in some cases don't.

We don't have a lot of information right now, but we'll be meeting with an orthopedic specialist in the coming weeks and probably also a geneticist to learn more about it. They'll do x-rays to look at the bone structure, and also probably chromosomal tests to see if it is related to anything else. Right now, from our observation, it appears to only be her hands and feet that are different. We're not sure what this means down the road. Most of the malformation's will probably be with Rua for her entire life, but surgery may be a possibility to correct some of it or increase some functionality depending on what the specialist sees possible.  

Of course, we think she is absolutely adorable and are loving every bit of her. We are very hopeful for her and know she will do great, but we also realize it will be a challenge for both her and us at certain times. We can't wait for you all to meet her, but for now you'll have to be satisfied with pictures. We'll keep you updated as things go along.

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We are still waiting on a couple of things to meet with the specialist, but hopefully we will be able to get an appointment soon so that we can have some idea of what we have ahead of us. But for now, Rua is just a normal, adorable, occasionally fussy baby who we absolutely love.  I don't even remember most of the time that there is anything different about her.  

Halloween fun 2014

Happy Halloween! We had a lot of fun this year with Halloween, mostly because Abby was so excited for it. So I tried to do as much as I could to make it fun for her. Abby was an orange butterfly, per her request, and Rua was a caterpillar. I was hoping to get Abby to choose her own costume so in the weeks leading up to Halloween, I would periodically ask her what she wanted to be. At first I wasn't getting too feasible of answer (ex. 'purple dirt') so when she finally said 'orange butterfly' I was relieved. I made both of their costumes, which was fun. 

So, here is a run-down of everything we did this year for Halloween:

While in Phoenix with cousins Abby made Halloween cookies, went to a party with the cousins, and went to their Trunk or treat.

                           

                           

The day before Halloween, we had a few of her friends over to make Halloween crafts - spider hats, potato pumpkin stamps, and a candy corn paper craft.

                                                   

                               

                                                     

                                                     Yes Rua got one too!

                               

We went to a special Halloween story time in the library. Another excuse to wear her costume!

                               

Abby and Eric decorated our pumpkin. We decided to paint it this year, figured that would be more fun for Abby.

                               

                               

And of course, trick or treating! We went to a neighborhood nearby with some friends. 

 Abby with Remy (or should I say, Raggedy Ann?)

 Abby loved going through her candy haul.  That was almost the funnest part - watching her organize  by type and color. So cute.

Rua - One month

                                                                                                                                 5 November 2014
Dearest Rua,

One month old! The past four weeks have flown by, and each has been so happy. I love having you here with us. You are, thankfully, a pretty happy, mellow baby. I was definitely nervous at the prospect of having another colicy, always crying baby with a toddler to take care of as well.  So it has been a relief to find that you are quite the opposite, happy unless you need something. Thank you!!

You've had a fun first month. Your Dad took off for China when you were just two weeks old, leaving Mom with two kids. So we took off on a road trip to Phoenix, just us three girls. We went to stay with your cousins Nathan and Lizzie. And once again, you proved to be such a sweet baby - sleeping the whole way there and back, waking up only to nurse. It made the 7hr trip much more manageable than I feared it would be. Your cousins loved holding you, and your Aunt Ruth was so wonderful in helping to take care of you and Abby. Abby was in heaven being there. You also got to see your Grandma and Grandpa Hinckley and some more cousins while we were there since they came out for the Phoenix Temple open house. It was fun to have you meet so many of them.

Since we've been home in San Diego we have started to adjust to our new normal of being a family of four. Dad is back full-time at work and we are going day by day here at home. We have started going out more, you've had lots of 'first' outings - to the zoo, to the library for story time, to different parks, grocery shopping with mom. And you are usually so great. Today was your first time at the zoo and you were wide awake for the first hour, wide-eyed, looking around, seeming to take everything in. Abby even picked out a zebra outfit for you which was perfect for the occasion.

Some fun things about you from this past month:

• You rolled over three or four times from your tummy to back while we were in Phoenix. It must have been a fluke (obviously you are way young to be rolling), with you just being in the right position or something, but it was crazy to see it happen multiple times. Hasn't happened since though.
• Your little legs are getting stronger. In the last week or so, you are pushing down on them more when we hold you upright, already starting to try to stand on your feet. 
• You like to track our faces or toys as they move in front of your face.
• You really enjoy tummy time.  

• You are seeming to react more when we talk and play with you. You are starting to make little happy faces at us, those smiles are probably going to start really popping out soon!
• You would really love it if we let you sleep on your tummy. If only we could, night-times would be a lot easier! You do not like to be put down in your crib at night.
• You do seem to be a pretty good sleeper though, at least hopefully you will prove to be.  You only want to nurse a couple times a night. I keep waking up though because you keep making noises and I think you are waking up to nurse, but nope, you don't want it. So you are somewhat of a restless sleeper at night. Hopefully we can get these night down relatively soon. 
• You are starting to blow little bubbles with your mouth. So cute.
• You are great at breastfeeding. You were tongue-tied, just like Abby was. But we caught it right away and then got it fixed the day after you were born (thank goodness!). So after a day and a half of pure torture for your mamma, things quickly improved. And once I healed, it was smooth sailing from there! Yay! So nice to not have that worry this time. 
• Oh, and you had your very first Halloween. You were pretty adorable as a caterpillar (and Abby was a butterfly).

It is an adventure every day around here now that we have you. Some days are good days, some are not so good. But every one of them really is wonderful with you here. Thank you for the happiness you have brought us.

I love you my sweet little girl, my beautiful Rua.

Love, 

Your Mamma

And some more pictures!

Just being cute.

This is in your pack n play. Abby really wanted to lie down in there with you.