Eloise is 2

Eloise's 2nd birthday fell on a Saturday this year.  Eloise opened her presents from us in the morning and then the family went to the Blast Factory off of West River Drive.  It was so much fun.  There was only one other family there and so we basically had the place to ourselves.  After the Blast Factory we stopped at McDonald's for a birthday lunch and then home for naps before leaving for Christmas Eve service at church.

A trailer for her cozy coup

It is so much fun to look back at the year and see how far Eloise has come.  Although she is still not caught up to her age she has really made some great progress this year.  She is talking or actually babbling  a lot now.  Much of it is not understandable but she does have a handful of words that we can recognize.  I don't think anyone else would understand anything she says except for apple, elmo, cece, sock, hat, shoes, toe and a few others.  We have an evaluation with a speech and physical therapist from the Wellerwood Early Childhood Center Ken-O-Sha preschool on January 3rd.  This was a recommendation from our social worker from Early On.  We wanted to see what they thought about where she is.  Eloise is also under the care of Dr. Karen Dahl. Dr. Dahl is a pediatric infectious disease doctor at Helen DeVos.  Since late June Eloise has had 4 significant fever episodes.  The last episode started on Dec. 17th. During this episode we were able to get the urine sample that the doctor wanted in order to run some tests and we were also able to bring Eloise in during the episode for Dr. Dahl to see her.  Dr. Dahl has not been able to pinpoint a certain disease from what she is seeing but is testing for a few specific ones right now.  The urine test was for a disease called HIDS.  If you want to learn more about it click here.  The urine test came back inconclusive so now we are on to a genetic test.  This is done through bloodwork and it is sent to a special lab.  The test will take about 10 weeks to conclude.  We will have her blood drawn this week.  In between episode she is good and healthy except for the cold she has right now.  Her hair continues to fall out during and after the episodes which we feel is due to the high fevers.  She is continuing to grow and gain weight which is great since she doesn't eat and barely drink during the 4-7 day episodes.  She was just at the doctor for her two year check up.

Her stats:
Weight 21lbs (fully clothed with shoes) .8%
Height 32in 11%

It is so hard not to love her adorable smile or the way she cuddles into you when you hold her.  She may be a stinker and get into everything but she knows how to wrap you around her tiny little finger.