welcome to spiceland.

We haven’t done a real update in a while, so I thought I’d just post a few things. Firstly, Heidi took her first steps yesterday! She was in the church nursery, and Mike was there with her. She’s taken a few more since then, 1-2 steps at a time. She’s getting huge! She’s over 23 pounds. She’s in the 90th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. She’s wearing 18 months clothes already, which is perfect. Tru was 18 months old during the summer, so all the clothes are the correct season.

Tru is going to VBS at our church this week. She’s too young still to go by herself (church policy), so I’m volunteering in the nursery and Heidi comes with me. Saturday is the open house at Tru’s new school, so we’ll register her then. I can’t believe she’ll be in Pre-K in the fall!

This picture of Tru was taken at dinner tonight. Look how old she looks. I can’t believe she’s growing up so fast!

We went to Atlanta to Ally’s house, and Kerri, Melissa, and Daddy met us there. Here are the pictures from our visit.

Heidi and Tru “swam” for the first time today. I bought a blow-up swimming pool at Target, but I didn’t realize how small it was! We may have been better off swimming in a flower pot! I let the water warm up in the sun, and then they had fun in it. Tru did a wonderful job of helping Heidi in and out of the pool. There are pictures available on page 2 and page 3.

There is also video of the birthday party and the swimming that Mike will put online as soon as enough people bug him about it!

Here’s the video!

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Mom and Dad said that as soon as I was able to ride my tricycle well enough I’d get a big girl bike. See, they got this tricycle when I was 2 years old and couldn’t reach the pedals. My tricycle may have been pretty and red, but it was hard to ride. Even after I figured it out, it wasn’t very fast.

My tricycle days are over! I’m cruising in style now on my pink princess big girl bike. It was just different enough to pedaling the tricycle that it took me a little while to figure it out, but after a day and a half, I’ve mastered it. My dad tied his remote controlled car to the front of it to help me go up hills. I don’t even need that anymore!

What’s next? I still need to figure out how to stop. I hear that if I pedal backwards it will put on the brakes and stop, but hey, one thing at a time. For now, I just turn off the sidewalk into the grass, and that does the job. Also, Dad has just been running after me (sometimes with Heidi in a stroller). Pretty soon, we can all go on a bike ride together!

We had a great Easter. We’ve been avoiding church this winter and watching sermons at home from Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church to avoid putting Heidi in the nursery during flu season. We did go to church this Sunday, though. We took Heidi to the service with us, which she previously had not tolerated well at all. She was great! She behaved while awake and slept through the sermon. She thoroughly enjoyed the choir’s rendition of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus at the end of the service, proof she is a Pinder after all! Pictures here.

We also dyed and hid eggs and made Easter baskets for the kids. We read the resurrection story out of John and explained to Tru that Easter eggs represent life. Baby chickens come out of their eggs alive just like Jesus came out of his grave alive. We also gave Tru a LeapFrog Leapster game system for Easter. We weren’t planning on getting her such a big gift, but we got it on sale at Target. She loves it.

My birthday is today. I’m 27 years old. We celebrated with some friends last Saturday at Surin of Thailand in Huntsville. It was a wonderful evening full of food and friendship! Mike got me a brand new laptop battery for my laptop, which seriously needed replacing! My laptop is actually portable now. Previously, my battery life was only about 30 minutes. I should get at least an hour and a half off of this new one. Tru got me some very pretty jewelry. We had a crockpot roast for dinner and a delectable chocolate Snickers birthday cake. YUM.

There are also more pictures here of Tru at her friend Fisher’s house on Easter.

We got the results from the EKG and the EEG today, and both were normal! This means that Tru’s episode wasn’t due to a heart arrhythmia or defect or a seizure disorder like epilepsy. Great news! We were told the EEG results wouldn’t be back until next week, but it’s a big relief to have gotten them back earlier.

We had Tru’s EEG to measure brain activity this morning. An EEG (Electroencephalography) records the electrical activity of neurons firing in the brain. EEGs are especially effective at diagnosing epilepsy and other seizure disorders. In preparation for the test, we had to keep Tru awake until 1 AM last night. Wonderful, sweet Mike let me sleep from 8 PM to 11 PM. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so the four of us (after Heidi woke up from a very late nap) watched Star Trek: The Next Generation until 1 AM. Tru conked out quite easily. This morning, I had to wake her at 5 AM and keep her awake until her 9 AM appointment, so we were quite tired by the end of the test.

Tru films Heidi before the test.

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Tru preparing for the test. The nurse took her to the test room and explained the procedure while I was in the bathroom. The chair Tru is sitting in is for the mother to hold the child if the child is too distraught to lay in bed. We did not have to use it.

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During the test.

The nurse scrubbed Tru’s scalp with a q-tip and put leads all over it with a gunky, conductive substance. Tru did not like being dirty one bit. The nurse then wrapped her head so that the leads would stay put, and Tru didn’t like this either. I thought she would have fun laughing at how silly the test was, but she was just too tired and cranky to enjoy it.

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First, the nurse measured her brain activity with Tru lying quietly on the bed. Then she asked Tru to close her eyes for a minute. Next, Tru had to blow a pinwheel for 4 minutes. I demonstrated to get her started and intermittently to keep her going, and I was totally out of breathe. I don’t know how Tru managed to do it for so long! The nurse said that 4 minutes is usually a pipe dream in a child as young as Tru, but she did blow most of that time. Next, she measured Tru’s brain activity while flashing her open and closed eyes with a strobe light with the light strobing at different intervals. Finally, Tru rested with the lights off for about 30 minutes. The hope was that she would fall asleep, but she never did go completely to sleep.

When we were finished, Tru’s hair was very dirty and gunky! She was not a happy camper, but Chicken McNuggets and Sprite cures anything. We immediately went to McDonald’s for lunch and home for a nap. Now that we’re awake, all of us are feeling much better! We should get the results of the EEG in about a week and a half. Cross your fingers!

Happy belated St. Patrick’s Day! We spent yesterday sick, and not one of us wore green! However, Tru received this card from Missa and Papa and wanted to respond.

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