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Jacy started to feel much better by the end of the weekend. We were glad to see her getting back to her normal self again! On Monday we had an appointment with the Neurosurgeon's Nurse Practitioner. She reviewed the MRI and the CT scans and said that everything looks great! The shunt seems to be working beautifully and her ventricles have decreased by about 1/4 in size. Also, the stretch on her spinal cord has not progressed. ALL GOOD NEWS!!! They want to repeat the MRI on her spine in 6 months. I am glad that they are keeping such a close watch on it! We also learned that Jacy is the only Spina Bifida baby treated by Dr. Manwarning that has ever had a subdural shunt used for treatment of the hydrocephalus (fluid build up on the brain). Normally a VP shunt is used, which goes through the brain and into the ventricles to drain them. The subdural shunt that Jacy has is not as aggressive and doesn't have to go through the brain; it just stays on top of the brain. Since Jacy has d...

Last night we took our first trip to Urgent Care! Jacy had been running a fever all day. At 11:30pm it spiked to 103, so we felt it was time to take her in. The concern was a UTI or a shunt malfunction, but a CT scan, x-rays, and lab work ruled those out. They said that she appears to just have a viral infection and to keep her home and hydrated for 48 hours. We were glad to hear that it wasn't something worse. It was a long night for me and Jacy... Especially Jacy! She is usually so happy and smiley to everyone she meets, but NONE of the nurses from last night are her friends! =) She was a real trooper, putting up with all the stuff that had to do to her. The silver lining... Her Neurosurgeon requires the Dr.'s on call to call him directly anytime one of his patients is admitted in Urgent Care. He told the Dr. that he wants to see Jacy in is office on Monday! This is great news because it means that now we don't have to wait until Oct. 6th to get the results from Friday...

The day that Jacy was diagnosed with Spina Bifida during an ultra sound the Dr. told us that she would NEVER be able to walk unassisted... well on Thursday Setpember 14th she proved him WRONG!!! Jacy has a toddler rocking chair that she likes to sit in while she watches cartoons in the mornings. I was sitting on the floor nearby and all the sudden she stood up and WALKED to me!!! She took about 5 steps, until she reached me, and then gave me the biggest hug! It was amazing!!! I actually scared Jacy from screaming so loud! =) I hurried and grabbed the camera and she took 12 more steps!!! (I hope you all got to enjoy the video I sent). She practices a little bit each day and I am sure that she will be running around here in no time! At almost 18 months Jacy is just doing great. She has a mouthful of teeth and loves to show us how to "chew chew chew" when she eats. She is our little tank, weighing in on Friday at 26.5 lbs and 30 inches long! She is now with her babysitter 4 days...

Jay has been doing well in his training as an Apprentice Lineman. We have had some pretty severe monsoon storms these past couple of weeks, blowing power lines down all over the valley. Jay has had to put in some pretty long and hard hours. I don't know about you but I think his job looks SCARRY! (Jay is the guy on the right =)

During the last week of August we had a wonderful trip to Glacier National Park with Jay's parents! It is so beautiful there! We had such a wonderful time! We did some hiking, canoeing, shopping, and lots of eating at Eddie's cafe! Jacy even got in a little rock climbing while her Grandparents were out on the lake in the caneo. One day we took the Going-To-The-Sun road and had a lot of fun at the top, Logan Pass. Jacy got to enjoy her first snow blizzard! The one bummer was that we didn't get to see any Moose this year, but we did see several BEARS which made up for it! One morning we were sitting in our cabin chatting and looked out the window to see a black bear walking through the meadow next to the cabin. We were able to get it on video as he played in the river for a few minutes before he swam across the river and disappeared into the forest on the other side. IT WAS AWESOME! Thanks Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Sally for a fun trip!

During the last weekend of July some friends of ours (The Harvey and Serabia families) from the Spina Bifida study were going to be in San Francisco for their 1 year follow up appointments. Jacy and I decided to have a girls weekend together and we flew out to meet up with them. We had such a great time!!! It was our first time to meet Kirstyn Harvey! She was there with her parents Kristin and Steve and one of her big sisters, Kaitlynn. Jacy LOVED Kaitlynn!!! We sure wish that we lived closer to them!!! Kristin was in San Francisco with me for the whole 6 weeks I was there after Jacy was born. Her and her mother were a great support to me! We also got to see Faith Serabia again. She was there for part of her 1 year follow up appointments when we were there in May. It was great to see her and her parents, Cristy and Jerry again! Jerry was nice enough to let Jacy car pool with them in their double stroller. Faith liked to turn around to look at Jacy and when she leaned over the seat they...