Elizabeth Ivy

Last night we went to Trudy's. They have excellent salsa. I watched Daddy dip his chip and I did the same, except I just licked the salsa off the chip and dipped again, and again, and again. It was pretty hot stuff; tears were dripping from my eyes, but it was awesome.

Then I devoured my dinner of chicken fajita tacos with rice, black beans, and some avocado and guacamole that Daddy and Mommy shared with me. My sister had the same thing as me.

Today, I had my first dance class! Mommy woke me early, which is unusual now that school's out for the summer. I ate a banana, drank some juice, got dressed. Daddy got up too, and so did Catherine. I thought I was going to school. We all got in the car and drove down the road to a building I hadn't been to before.

When we got inside I met a girl named Lindsay and someone let me borrow a tutu skirt. Soon I was on the dance floor with the teacher and three other kids. We heard music, we danced, we sang songs, and we clapped, and we twirled ribbons. It was so much fun. But I kept staring at the awards in the corner of the room. I want an award!

Last night I walked multiple steps (about 3) without holding onto anything for the first time.

On Christmas Eve, Mommy and Daddy took me downtown to the Austin Christmas Bazaar where I saw lots of neat things, interesting people, and heard a band called the Texas Dames. Then we drove over to Katz's Deli and we had pickles, chips, Matzo Ball Soup, Lox and Bagels, and veggies.

The next day we totally missed Christmas morning and got up past noon. Santa Claus filled my stocking with an orange and the floor with presents. I got so many cool presents we didn't even get to them all until the next day.

Today I went hiking on the Barton Creek Trail with Daddy. We walked from the Gus Fruh access to the first 360 access and then back.

On Saturday I went to the Children's Craniofacial Association Holiday Party at the hospital in Dallas. I saw lots of my friends, and sat on Santa's lap! He gave me a toy. And Daddy even let Mommy give me cake for breakfast! Well, I had grapes and strawberries too.

I also met Angel's mommy and daddy from the Philippines. Mommy helped Angel and her family come to Dallas for her Apert surgeries. Angel couldn't be at the party because she was in ICU after skull surgery, but her mommy and daddy came down to meet us and say hello to everyone.

Afterwards we had lunch at Luna De Noche with the Sanborns, Dougans, Bocks, and the Kahnerts. I had a cheese enchilada, rice, beans, and avocado.

On the way home we stopped in Salado and Daddy carried me all over town into various shops and galleries.

I had lots of fun! Merry Christmas everyone!!

The following describes the surgery I will have tomorrow morning:

http://www.thecraniofacialcenter.org/apert_treat_skull.html

I am in Dallas right now, preparing for my cranial vault remodeling surgery scheduled for Monday morning. Daddy, Mommy, and I arrived Friday afternoon, after picking up my MRI images from Austin Radiological Association.

I had the MRI done on Tuesday. I had to get up at 7:30 and couldn't eat beforehand because of the sedation they would give me. But then the MRI doctor decided against sedation because of my syndrome. I would have to go downtown to get an MRI with anesthesia. But we decided to try the MRI with no sedation or anesthesia. So I got to eat a whole bottle of formula and go back to sleep! I slept through the MRI without moving even though it was very loud. The nurse said no baby had ever done that before.

The first appointment Friday was with Dr. Fearon to go over the surgery. Then we checked in and photographer Max took pictures of me for the surgery. Then I had to get blood drawn. First they tried my arm, but didn't get enough blood. So they had to call in the expert who drew blood from my head. That hurt and I cried a lot. Then we went over and saw Dr. Morad who checked me out and cleared me for surgery.

That night we went to dinner at the Purple Cow with lots of other Apert and Pfeiffer syndrome families. We met Pam, Ron, and Susie from Atlanta; Fernando, Clarissa, and Lexi from San Antonio; Don, Melissa, and Brisa from the Dallas area; Lisa, Ashley, and Christopher from Houston; Eric, Lita, and Haylee from Ohio; Laurel, Mark, Olivia,and Amelia from Vermont; and Beth and Tristen from the Dallas area.

The next morning we went to the Craniofacial Christmas Party at Medical City. I had my picture taken with Santa Claus, a Christmas tree, and some Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. And we met the Butlers from Fort Worth, and again with most of the families we had dinner with the night before. It was fun, but I soon became tired and fell asleep in Daddy's arms.

For lunch we drove to Addison and ate at Humperdinks. Mommy and Daddy ate burgers and played NTN trivia and "LIZIVY" won both times!

Tomorrow Grandpa and Gram are arriving to visit and be here for the surgery.

I am 7 months old today!

For Halloween, I dressed up as a butterfly! I had really big wings. Daddy was a giraffe and we went trick-or-treating at Marie's house and I saw lots of dog-perros and cat-gatos.