Random Hemoglobin and You

We got the results of Ella's hemoglobin study - background: her newborn screening flagged a variant in her hemoglobin. It was supposed to be followed up at her nine month appointment, but due to switching peds at the same practice, it was forgotten. Only when Lily's screen came back with a flag did I look back at this blog (look at how helpful my rambling is) and realized Ella also had a flag that we hadn't checked out. So, when Lily was in for her four month check, Ella got held down, tourniqueted, and had to give a vial of blood - which she was then paid for in stickers and playing cards.

So anyway, Ella has this really rare variant called Hemoglobin Park Ridge. Great name huh? It's so rare, our doctor had a hard time finding info on it. It's one of four, each awesomely named variants that were discovered at the same time. It's probably the same thing that Lily has too. It will never give either girl any problems. For them, it's a recessive gene. The only problem it poses is if they procreate with someone who has the same trait. Which, is again, rare. And further more, in Ella's case, 75% of her hemoglobin is completely normal and 25% has the trait. Once again, slim. So, either Loran or I have it too. And we're totally normal...

So, that's just another medical problem I can forget about. Now that I've blogged about it, I can have it in the archives so 20 year down the road I can tell the girls not to marry another Park Ridger. Ella and her benign medical issues...enough already!

Last week, Loran was in Seattle most of the week. Then had his return flight delayed and returned home around 4am on Friday morning. The girls and I had fun, but boy do they completely take up all of my time. I'm on the move from the time I get up until I finally collapse into bed around 11:30pm - but, I found a way to use up Ella's energy, keep Lily entertained and find some time to sit in the grass and relax. This amazing respite is thanks to a big, plastic swimming pool. Our near 90 degree weather called for some swimming action. Ella loved being in her pool for the first time this summer. So much, I caught her in it a day later without her swimsuit on. She doesn't even care that it's cold hose water with a few buckets of hot water added to take the edge off. It's all good....

I try to stick to the same general schedule when Loran travels. But throw in something extra special or fun. This week, we attempted another movie night. We quickly ran to Target to pick up our movie supplies: Toy Story and macaroni and cheese. Then we came back and enjoyed dinner in front of the television while watching Woody and Buzz do battle as Andy's favorite toy. Ella was only partially interested and Lily was completely fussy so we eventually stopped the movie and loaded up the stroller and went for a walk. We only made it to the end of the street and decided to scrounge through the park on a search for the medallion that was hidden for Manitou Days, our city festival. There was a $500 bounty. Ella loved tromping through the weeds and muck along the lake. Lily fell asleep and we had a good time. We even went to another park the following day to hunt, and the medallion was eventually found near where we were looking. While we weren't any richer, it did serve the very important purpose of tiring out a toddler. And really, when Loran was away, that was the bounty I really needed.