Recent News

Lily and Ryan had a Daddy/Daughter Date Night last night. They both really enjoyed themselves. Ryan took Lily to Veni, Vidi, Vici for dinner which is an excellent Italian place. He said the hostess seemed surprised to see a 3-year-old there, and even told him they didn't have a children's menu or a booster seat. Luckily, Lily is a pretty well behaved little girl, so she did great. She LOVED the breadsticks they brought out. They were long and skinny, and she told Ryan they were "kinda spicy." Ryan tried one and said they were covered in black pepper; she ate several of them though. Lily ate some penne alfredo while Ryan enjoyed his lamb risotto. They split some cheesecake for dessert. After dinner, they went to Chuck E Cheese to play for a bit. Overall a very successful date! Here's a picture of Lily outside the restaurant. Doesn't she look cute in the little dress we brought her back from Alaska? It has a moose on the front. Mia has a similar one that is blue and brown with a bear on the front; they both look adorable in them.
While they went out on the town, Mia and I picked up Meme and took her to Ted's for dinner. Mia won over the hearts off all the staff while we were there. She smiled at everyone, waved across the restaurant to them and enjoyed her salmon, green beans and gravy. She wasn't a fan of the mashed potatoes, but she loved dipping her green beans into the gravy! After dinner, we went back to Meme's apartment with her for a little bit. I always enjoy getting to catch up with Meme so this was a very nice evening.

I forgot to mention in my previous post that Ryan and Lily also made a visit to Samford while in Birmingham last week. Lily loves school, so she was excited to see where Mommy and Daddy went to school. If you have ever been to Samford, you know it's a beautiful campus; we always love going back to visit. They walked around the quad, visited the library to look out the windows (and you know Lily loves books), and went to the Bookstore where Lily was thrilled to purchase some Gummy Bears. Here's a picture of Lily with Mr. Beeson's picture in front of the library.

We took the girls to the ENT today for their follow-up visits to check on their tubes. They did a visual exam and then used a tympanometer to see if the tubes were clear and working. Lily came through with flying colors. Mia's results weren't as good. They look for a reading of at least 1.0 to determine that the tubes are clear and working. Lily's scores were 2.7 and 3.2. Mia's scores were 1.4 (right ear) and 0.8 (left ear). With that score, they wanted a closer look in her left ear. We laid Mia on an exam table, I held her arms down and a nurse held her head still while the NP used a big microscope to look in her left ear. I was amazed, but Mia didn't cry. She just listened to the nurse and me talk to her; she even laughed a few times. This precious little girl never ceases to amaze me! After the exam, the NP said it appears the tube is just clogged up with wax, so she prescribed some drops to put in. She said as long as Mia doesn't develop a cold in the next few days, the drops will most likely clear everything up and help the tubes. We go back in two weeks to have her retested; Lily gets to wait 6 months for her next exam.

They weigh the girls before the exams which I love; I always like to know how big they are. Granted they were wearing the clothes and shoes, but that shouldn't add too much. Lily weighed about 37 pounds while Mia weighed 25 pounds. Always good to know.

On the way back, Lily absolutely cracked us up. We were listening to some Cedermont Kids' songs on Ryan's iPod, and Lily asked me the name of a song. I wasn't really sure the name, but Ryan said it was "God is strong." He then told me that is actually what Lily told him the other day. Lily said "No, it's called...God is strong and God made everything and then God said oh look at that." We just busted out laughing...I guess that's one translation! We then realized right when she said that we drove past a water wheel in front of an apartment complex that she had never seen before. We still thought it was really funny though as we imagined God in all His wisdom saying "Oh look at that" after creation.

Lily also had us laughing after her shower tonight. Ryan was helping her dry off, and she out of nowhere said "I had a rough day today." Really, watching Monsters Inc in the doctor's waiting room, getting a sticker from the nurse, coloring at Mommy's desk, napping for a couple of hours, reading books, playing with Mia, running in circles, eating dinner and getting ice cream for dessert made for a hard day? Interesting. Not a bad life if that's a rough day!