Snow Days!

We have been having so much fun with the snow that came through town yesterday! It started about 3:00 Friday afternoon. It was so pretty to watch as it came down. It came quickly and starting sticking immediately. Ryan and I left the office about 5:30, and even though we took main roads home, we slid a couple of times. We had a difficult time getting up our driveway too, but we made it safe and sound. Once we got home, Liz, Ryan and I got the girls dressed appropriately, and we all headed outside. Let the fun begin!

Our family ready to start playing.

A little snowman made by Bama. Lily loved it.
Mia loved the snow! She immediately wanted down and wanted to walk everywhere. She didn't mind if she slipped and fell; she was just having fun.

Lily loved it too! We were a little surprised given how she was so hesitant in Tennessee at Christmas, but she wanted to run out into it from the start. She was so excited to show us the snow as soon as we got home, and she and Bama had been making and drawing snowflakes. It was great to see her having so much fun!

The girls having fun together.

We had a fun little snowball fight on the playground. Here's Liz getting a good one at Ryan.

On Saturday morning, we all got ready to go out first thing. Unfortunately a few minutes into playing, Mia fell down face first into the snow. Here's a picture of that result...she wasn't happy. From this point on, she wasn't very interested in playing in the snow.

Bama knew how to make Mia feel warm and better. She is so good with the girls.

Looking through the trapeze towards the house.

Looking through some of the trees. Saturday was a beautiful day!

Some of our backyard trees. The blue sky looked great against the white snow.

Our backyard when we woke up on Saturday.

The front of the house on Saturday morning.

Lily wanted her sunglasses for a few minutes; we thought it was pretty cute.

Liz and Mia watched the playground action from the window after Mia fell down.

Lily and I had our own little snowball fight on Saturday afternoon.

Lily throwing a snowball at Ryan. She was so proud of herself for making snowballs all by herself and throwing them around.

Ryan marked the date on our outdoor fireplace.

Time with Aunt Kendall

The girls had a great time visiting with Aunt Kendall last weekend. Here's a cute picture of the three of them. It was wonderful to see Kendall, and we all hope she comes back really soon!

15 Month Check-Up

Friday was Mia's 15 month check-up with Dr. White...wow! Ryan and Liz took her, and I took some time off from work to play with Lily; it's busy season, but I thought we could both use some one-on-one time. Ryan had actually just taken Mia on Tuesday to see Dr. White because of her diaper rash. It was AWFUL. I have never seen a diaper rash like this before. There were big red raised bumps that would start bleeding; Mia would scream and kick anytime you needed to change her. We felt so badly for her. On Tuesday, Dr. White gave her a prescription cream to use to try to make it better. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help much by her appointment time on Friday; also, she had started to have a really runny nose, and her diarrhea was still continuing (it's been going on a week now). I apologize if that's too much information to share, but I thought you should know the whole story.

They said Mia did well for most of her appointment. She weighed in at 22 pounds, 5 ounces (40th percentile) which is a few ounces less than on Tuesday; that's not surprising since she seems to have lost her appetite. She is 30 inches tall (also 40th percentile), and her head is 18 inches (50th percentile). She's apparently an "average" girl but only in regards to physical size! They told me that Mia gave Dr. White her patented staredown throughout the appointment. She wouldn't turn her head away from Dr. White, but would only glance away momentarily. Dr. White said her tubes are doing their job perfectly; there's no fluid which is great. Of course, we can tell that because the difference in her speech skills over this last month is incredible.

Ryan said Mia even did well while Dr. White examined the diaper rash. Dr. White decided that since the cream didn't seem to be helping and Mia had developed a terrible runny nose, a virus is actually the culprit of the diarrhea which causes the diaper rash. Of course, if it's a virus, there's not much we can do but let it run its course. She suggested we cut all sugary fruits out of Mia's diet until it clears up because those can irritate the rash. This is unfortunate because this makes up a large part of Mia's diet, but of course we're going to follow this recommendation. She also said if the diarrhea didn't stop soon, she would suggest we switch from regular milk to soy milk because this could be temporary lactose intolerance. I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that. She said to put Neosporin on the rash but not on the open wound areas and to keep the diaper rash cream on. I'm telling you, it's bad. We started all the recommendations immediately, and we saw a little bit of improvement today. Here's hoping this continues.

Other than the diaper rash, Mia is doing great. Now that the tubes are in, her speech is getting better everyday. On the list of "normal development" things that "you might see your child doing between the ages of 15 and 18 month" the first thing listed is "avidly explores everything." This perfectly describes our sweet Mia! She wants to check everything out and discover everything in her world. She loves music and books, and she is learning to play with Lily very well. She is such a precious little angel. We are madly in love with her and so thankful that she is in our lives!

Beatles Music

Last night as I was putting Lily to bed, she said she wanted new music. I took out the CD she typically listens to and told her about a different CD I had for her. It's called "Rockabye Baby: Lullaby Renditions of the Beatles." I told her that tomorrow was Grandpops birthday, he really likes the Beatles and she could tell him about it when she called him to wish him a happy birthday. She said okay and went on to sleep. This morning when she got up I asked her if she liked her music last night, and she said she did. I asked if she remembered who made the music; she thought for a minute and then said "The bug group." I thought it was pretty funny that she couldn't remember The Beatles, so she called them the bug group.

She then told us that she wanted a Beatle toy for Christmas. Ryan thought for a second and then remembered he had a Paul McCartney figurine, so he grabbed that from downstairs and gave it to her. She said she had a Paul Beatle figure, and she loved it! She even took it with her to Dr. White's office today (Ryan took both girls because Mia has a diaper rash that is terrible and bleeding; she now has prescription diaper cream to make it better). Dr. White thought it was pretty cool. Lily has been having fun with it all day.

What A Great Night!

Ryan and I were treated to a great night last night (Friday night). On Wednesday afternoon, we were given tickets to hear the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.  Kendall even called to ask if she could come over for the weekend, and she would be glad to keep the girls for us; perfect!

We decided to have dinner at South City Kitchen, and as usual, it was wonderful. They have the best Maryland She-Crab Soup that I get every time I go; I can't resist it. It was delicious!  Ryan and I always love to go down to Symphony Hall to hear their concerts. Tonight, the ASO was featuring Michael Feinstein and his Sinatra Project. It was awesome! The orchestra was perfect, and Feinstein was amazing. He sounded great while singing, and I could have listened to him play the piano all night. He started out with my favorite Sinatra song, Luck Be A Lady, which was cool. We didn't recognize most of the songs he played after that because they were more obscure Sinatra songs, but they were great. Of course, at the end of the show, he played some of Sinatra's most famous songs which was cool. It was wonderful!

The Store

Lily loves to know where things come from. She will ask if things (like a book or game) came from the store or a catalog. If I say "the store" she will ask if the store is just the down the street or far away. She then asks if I mean the "grocery store" or the "Target store." Give you an idea on where we typically go? Well yesterday she started telling me about new stores while we were playing in her room. Here's what we said:

L: (pointing to her Mickey Mouse pillow) Do you know where this came from?
M: Where?
L: The Mickey Mouse store! (points to her little polka dot pillow) Do you know where this one came from?
M: Grandma Parkinson made that pillow for you.
L: No! I want to tell you the store it came from.
M: Okay, where?
L: The polka dot store! (points to the little princess pillow) Do you know where this one came from?
M: No, where?
L: The...princess store!
M: Where did the big pillow on your bed come from?
L: The polka dot store too. (It has several big dots on it).

She did this same routine again tonight. She cracks me up!

Wheels on the Bus

You have heard me mention many times how much Mia loves the Cedermont Kids DVDs. It is adorable to watch her "sing" and "act" along with the kids on the video. She loves trying to sing along which started after she got the tubes in her ears; now she knows they are actually singing songs! She starts dancing with it too. She tries to do the motions for the driver saying move on back, the babies saying whaa-whaa-whaa, the mommies saying shh-shh-shh and the horn goes beep-beep-beep. She is such a sweetheart!

Miscellaneous Pictures

I didn't take many pictures this month (hence my late January resolution that I blogged about a few days ago), but here are some of the things that were going this past month for us.


We all enjoyed spaghetti a few nights ago. Here's a picture of Mia double-fisting it as she shoveled it into her mouth.

And here is the result of the above picture. Her beautiful blue eyes offset the red of the spaghetti sauce nicely, don't they?
Lily managed to sneak the Nutella jar off the counter. It was almost gone, so she had to dig deep to get the rest of it out! FYI, if I wasn't about to throw it out, I wouldn't have let her do this, but I figured why not since it went into the trash afterwards.

I love watching my girls have fun together! We see hugs pretty often between them.

Mia found Lily's Cubs hat. We thought she looked pretty cute.

She also looks cute in Lily's Clifford ears. Who am I trying to kid...she looks adorable in just about everything!

We had a little bit of snow earlier this month. It was pretty, but not much fun to play in; it was mostly ice with just a little bit of snow over it.
Sweet girls having fun!

Happy Birthday Molly

This weekend was my niece Molly's 5th birthday. Happy birthday! On Saturday evening she had a great birthday party at Jumpits. It's a big warehouse filled with lots of big inflatable bouncies. We have a similar place near our home, but this one had more jumpies that interested Lily. Mia had a blast too which was fun to watch (and exhausting to keep up with!). Both girls had a great time running around, climbing in and out of the jumpies and bouncing all around. Of course, we all enjoyed the pizza and cake that was there too! Here are a few pictures of our evening there. Unfortunately, with everyone running around, we didn't even get one with the birthday girl, but I think Molly had a great time celebrating. Happy birthday sweet Molly!

Lily said Mia's favorite bouncy was the one with the stairs and big slide. She was right. I carried Mia up the stairs probably 3 dozen times. Sometimes we go down together and sometimes she went down by herself; it didn't matter which way - she loved it! I have to admit, I loved it too!


The girls also enjoyed the regular, square jumpy. It's similar to the one we have at home, but it's bigger. Mia did pretty well standing up and walking through here even as Lily and other kids bounced around her. She was laughing the whole time! At one point, Lily was pretty much in the middle of the bouncy and she took a big leap towards me standing by the door. She slipped when she landed, slid through the door and flipped onto the hard floor. All of the adults around gasped, and my heart stopped for a second, but she jumped up, said "I'm okay Mommy" and got right back in to keep jumping.
Mia had fun going back and forth through this tunnel. This was Lily's favorite jumpy. After the tunnel, there were inflatable columns to knock over and run through, a fence to crawl through, a wall to climb up and a steep slide to go down. There was a big frog on the top of it, so Lily kept saying "I love the frog jumpy!"

Look how much they are having!

Lily enjoyed this little slide too. There were inflatable animals to play with in here and then this slide to go down. At the top of the slide, she would jump really high and bounce down the slide.

You should have seen how red Lily's face was at the end of the party! She was worn out! Both girls spent the whole night laughing, running and just being happy; it was great to see. Lily talked about it most of the way home. On Saturday morning, one of the first things she said was "that party was so much fun!" She also loved the goodie bag Molly sent home with her. She went through it in the car; all of a sudden she said "Mommy, I forgot to tell Molly thank you for the goody bag!" I promised her we will tell Molly next time we talk to her. The girls were worn out by all the fun they had. We got home about 8:30, so Mia went straight to bed and Lily followed shortly thereafter. They slept until 9:30 Sunday morning; what a treat! I think we're going to need to visit the jumpy house near our house a little more often now!

Lily's Bedtime

Most nights I love putting Lily to bed, and tonight was great. We started by reading the Bible story of Joseph and his colorful robe; she likes all the colors on his "pretty coat." After the story we said our prayers. As usual, I asked Lily what she was thankful for today. For the last couple of weeks she has said things like "I'm thankful to put my windows up" or "I'm thankful that I got to play Candy Land." Tonight however she said "I'm thankful for my friend Jesus." Talk about melting my heart! I love it when says things like this. It is also so sweet to hear her sing songs that she learns in Sunday school or on her Cedermont Kids DVDs. For instance at Publix today, she just burst out with Jesus Loves the Little Children. It's precious to hear her little voice singing about God's love.

Each night after we say our prayers we tell a story about one of the cities on her ABC board. Then, to get her up and into bed, I always spin her around and drop her into bed; it makes her laugh. I will ask her "Do you want to spin fast or slow? Frontways or backways?" Without fail she giggles "Fast and backways!" Tonight though she thought and said "Backways and MODERATO!" I couldn't help but laugh as she then proceeded to tell me about watching a Little Einsteins and how they helped the little pig by going from slow to moderato to superfast. She cracks me up!

End of January Resolution

I know you're supposed to make resolutions at the beginning of the year, but that didn't happen. I very rarely try to change any habits starting January 1 because I know I am going into tax season which means making changes is extra-difficult for me. However, I can't put this resolution off any longer: I am determined to take more pictures of my girls. I only took a small handful of pictures this month, and that makes me so mad at myself. We didn't really do anything "special" this month so we didn't take many pictures. However, the girls are only this precious young age for a short while, and I want to remember it better down the road, so I am going to take more pictures of just "normal" everyday things. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean you will see more pictures on the blog, but when I do their scrapbooks, it will have more "normal" pictures in it.

Speaking of scrapbooks, most of you know how much I love to do them, but I started getting behind when Mia arrived and I expanded my accounting firm. Well, I have completed Mia's first year album and Lily's age 2-3 album; I am currently working on our 2008 family album (that's right, I said 2008). However, I have turned from the traditional scrapbooking to digital scrapbooking. I still use Creative Memories because this is a wonderful company, and they make digital scrapbooking so easy and fun. So, all this to say, I am determined to take more pictures of my beautiful and sweet girls so all of our scrapbooks can be completed with lots of wonderful pictures and memories!

Jokes with Lily

After Ryan put Mia to bed this evening and I read some books with Lily, Ryan changed Lily into her pajamas (or "jammas" as she calls them). As a special treat, the three of us climbed into our bed and watched part of American Idol. Lily likes to hear them sing. At one point, I said something, and Lily responded with "that's hilarious!" I don't remember what I said, but I don't think it was funny. Anyway, then Lily started asking us to tell her jokes, so we did and she would laugh; it was great to hear because she has the best laugh. She also tried to tell us jokes, but they made no sense. For instance, she would say "one time, the flowers walked over the tv in front of the mirror!" and then laugh hysterically. She was having fun.

Ryan left the room for a minute, and Lily asked me to tell her another joke, so this is what was said:
M: Knock-knock.
Blank stare from Lily.
M: Do you know what to say after I say 'knock-knock?'
L: No.
M: I say 'knock-knock' and then you say 'who's there?' Okay? Knock-knock.
L: It's Mommy!
Okay, so she doesn't quite get knock-knock jokes yet, but this made us both laugh!

Ears Update

I am amazed at the difference in Mia in the two weeks since she had her tubes put in. She is babbling so much more now, and she is starting to try to imitate what we say to her. Ever since she was just a few months old, one of the things that I found interesting is that she did not seem to care at all about reading books with me. Lily always loved it, and she still will easily spend 30 or more minutes sitting with me reading books; Mia wouldn't give you more than a few seconds. Now, Mia grabs books and climbs into our laps to read them with us. She has certainly become a fan of Sandra Boynton's "Moo, Baa, La, La, La" which is a very cute book. If you are looking at the book with her and ask "What does a cow say?" she'll reply "ooooo." If you ask about a sheep, you'll hear her say "aaaa." She also likes Dr. Seuss' "Mr Brown Can Moo, Can You?" I love that she now seems to love books! She is also trying to sing along now with the Cedermont Kids DVD's. She's been doing the motions for awhile, but now she babbles along with them; it's really cute to watch.

Can I also tell you though that I feel about this big (imagine me holding my thumb and index finger very close to one another) for not realizing that Mia couldn't hear well? Bad mommy guilt here.

Lily is doing really great with her tubes too. I have not heard her ask once "What you say?" or "Turn that up. I can't hear it." In fact, I have heard her say "Turn that down, it's too loud." I am so glad that we had these tubes put in.

The Girls and Food

Though it can be very frustrating, it also makes me laugh when it comes time to feed the girls a meal. Here's how a typical meal preparation conversation with Lily goes.
L: What are we having for dinner Mommy?
M: Chicken, green beans and peaches.
L: I no like peaches or green beans. I no like chicken either.
M: Well you don't have to eat them, but they are going on your plate.
FYI, it's a lie that she doesn't chicken or peaches (she's telling the truth about the green beans though); she does, but it's her initial reaction to say she doesn't like something.
She typically eats a small dinner, and then she gets down and goes about her business. She may ask for a snack later, but we tell her (nicely) "tough luck, you didn't eat your dinner." Granted, some meals go better than others, but this is the typical first response when I tell her what we're eating.

Mia, on the other hand, will eat just about anything you put in front of her. She doesn't eat the food, she scarfs down the food, often faster than we can cut it up for her. It's really pretty amusing to watch.

Last night for dinner, I was making Carrabba's Chicken Bryan (it was awesome by the way), spinach salad and mashed potatoes. When I told Lily what we were having, I heard the "I no like..." speech. A few minutes later, Lily found the package that held the goat cheese for the chicken, and she asked what it was. I told her it was goat cheese, she thought about it and then decided she wanted some. I told her she couldn't have it right then because it wasn't time to open the package which she accepted. So, dinner's ready and we're all sitting down. Lily asks me where her goat cheese is because I had given her plain grilled chicken instead of topping it with the goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, basil and lemon butter sauce that makes it Chicken Bryan (seriously, it was awesome). I really doubted she would like it because it's not "cheese tasting" like the cheddar cheese she usually likes, but I got a little piece of it for her. Low and behold, she loved it and wanted more! How funny that the child who has become so picky and won't eat regular, delicious-tasting food, loves goat cheese?! Only my child.

After we finished dinner, we put Mia down, and she walked over to Lily's spot; she tried to stretch up and reach Lily's plate but it was just out of reach. I thought "let's see what happens" and gave her a bite of goat cheese. She happily ran off munching on it, and a few seconds later reappeared asking for more. The same thing happened, and when she came back this time I tried giving her mashed potatoes instead; she spit them back out at me and pointed to the goat cheese. So there you have it...if you ever fix a meal for the Hooks family, please make sure there is some goat cheese in it because we all love it!

Princess Mia Peek A Boo

Ryan took Lily to Chuck E Cheese this morning, so I had some time to play with Mia. This is certainly a rare treat, and I loved it. Bama came upstairs to join us for breakfast, and afterwards, we started a fun game of peek a boo with Mia. Mia was having so much fun with this. I love her laugh! By the way, she totally insisted on wearing a tiara the whole time.  Cracked me up!

Teaching Lily

This evening Lily was riding her tricycle inside, and this was our conversation:
M: You know what? When it gets warmer and becomes springtime, you will get to ride your tricycle outside in the front yard.
L: No!
M: No? Why not?
L: Because I not know how to ride my tricycle in the front yard. You have to teach me.
M: I will be glad to teach you.
L: You have lots to teach me.
M: What else do I need to teach you?
L: How to get bigger. And how to jump rope.
M: Have you ever used a jump rope? Do you know how to jump rope?
L: No, you have to teach me!
M: Will do Lily. That's a good deal.

A Good Deal

It makes me laugh when I hear myself in Lily or see myself in her mannerisms. She often hears me say that something "is a good deal." For example, she will ask me for a cup of milk and to come play a game with her; I reply by saying "that sounds like a good deal." Well, she came up Ryan yesterday and said "Daddy, can I a Fig Newton? Is that a good deal Daddy? I think so." She didn't even give a chance to respond! Better be careful what you say around her!

Eight Year Anniversary

Today marks the eight year wedding anniversary for Ryan and me. There is a part of us that feels like time has flown by, and we can't believe it has already been eight years. There is another part of us that can't believe it has only been eight years; we feel like we have known each other forever. We started dating over twelve years ago when we were freshmen at Samford. Neither of us intended to meet our perfect partner the first week of school, but we sure are glad we did. We were on our way to a pre-calculus math class. Ryan has always said the only thing he got out of that class is a wife - that's a pretty good deal if you ask me!

We have so many wonderful memories together. We have two amazing kids who make us laugh everyday. We have been so fortunate to travel to many different places together. We are now very lucky to work together at our accounting firm. We have been so blessed over these years, and we look forward to the adventure that lies before us for many more years to come.

Sweet Sisters

Ryan and I are having so much fun now that our girls are truly interacting and playing together so much! It's great to watch. Here are a few examples I caught over the last couple of days.

1. Lily and Mia were playing with a balloon and trying to bounce it like a basketball. Lily was spinning in all directions and spun herself into the wall; she banged her head pretty good. She of course started crying really hard. Before I could get to her though, Mia had raced over, arms outstretched and tried to give her a hug. She just wanted her big sister to feel better because she knows that hugs from Lily (which come pretty often) make her feel better.
2. We were finishing up dinner, and Lily had just gotten down from her seat. I was cleaning off Mia about to let her down. Lily walked over and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. As Lily walked away, Mia smiled really big and smacked her lips in Lily's direction. A little late, but I noted the thought.
3. Lily loves to play chase. Obviously, it's pretty easy for her to catch Mia, so she will run all around our house laughing and having fun while Mia runs around squealing after her. They have a lot of fun with this one!
4. Lily has gotten pretty good at sharing with Mia. She is good with sharing toys in general, but she still doesn't like it when Mia comes over to "play" with something Lily has taken the time to set up (picnics in our living room is the most common theme). Mia just wants to pick up or knock over all the pretty toys Lily has set out, but of course Lily sees this as Mia trying to destroy her hard work; really, who can blame her? Anyway, with all the other "regular toys," Lily is really great at offering them to Mia, and then they hand them back and forth which is great fun for Mia. Lily often says "thank you" each time Mia offers the toy back to her which makes Mia smile.
5. Lily loves to take toys from the playroom and play with them in her room. She used to shut the door so Mia couldn't get in, but now she will take Mia by the hand and lead her in so they can play together. It's great for us to hear them laughing and playing together.

I love my two precious girls!!!

Not Quiet as Tough This Time

Mia's ear tubes surgery was this morning. We had a fiasco with our insurance company on Friday late afternoon/early evening, but it appears all is settled. My mom came and spent the night last night, so that we could wake Mia up at 5:30 and drive to the hospital. We got there just at 6:00. There were several other families there too. While all the other children (all as young as Mia by the way) sat pretty contently with their parents, our little one wanted to walk around and shriek with joy every few minutes. She is such a happy girl!

By 7:00 we were all checked in, and the nurse called us back. They tried to weigh her, but she refused to cooperate. She wasn't mad, just squirmy, so they took an estimate. They tried a couple of times and finally got her blood pressure, and they got her oxygen level easily. Then we walked into the pre-op room where a nurse, anesthesiologist and Dr. Baktha came in to see if we had any questions. Of course, we recently did this with Lily, so we were familiar with the procedures. We weren't as nervous this time which made it (a little) easier.

After talking to all these people, we changed Mia into her little gown. I have to say, she looked adorable.

 Then the nurse came back in and gave her Motrin and Tylenol. She isn't big enough to have the medicine that "relaxed" Lily, so she received these instead. A few minutes after that, the nurse came back in to get her. We wondered how they planned on taking her out on the stretcher, but she had a big warm blanket to carry her with instead. She let us walk down to the OR door with her; we both gave her kisses and then handed her (and her Glow-Worm who she can't be without) off to the nurse. It was harder for me to physically hand her to someone else than see her wheeled out.

She came and got the stretcher a few minutes later so she could lie down while they operated. About 10 minutes later, Dr. Baktha came back to say he was finished, and she did well. He said her fluid build-up was thicker than he realized, and he had to use a bigger syringe to get it all out. He then gave us some tips on how to get the drops in her ears because we thought that might be a challenge.

We were fully prepared for Mia to come in crying and coughing like Lily did as she awoke from the procedure. As I have said before, our girls are very different from one another! When the wheeled Mia in, she was looking around and drinking some apple juice. They put the rail down and sat her up. I immediately picked her up, wrapped her back up in the blanket and handed her Glow-Worm. We sat down in the chair, and she just sucked her thumb and relaxed against me. Not a peep. They took her vitals again; she whimpered when they took her blood pressure, but that was it. We turned on her pink songs DVD, and she just sat in my arm watching it. About 10 minutes later, we were discharged to several nurses cooing over her and saying she was "the patient of the day."

When we got home, she ate a snack and then took a nice long nap. She was a little off schedule the rest of the day, but she did well and went to bed at her normal time. We had to put drops in her ears this evening before bed time which we were a little nervous about. However, Ryan was able to lay her on her side, and she was perfectly still for about a minute allowing him to get the drops in. Other than getting up way too early this morning, today went very well. Mia did great through her procedure and seems to be recovering well. Another blessing!

Lily Update & Story

As I picked Lily up from Sunday School today, the teacher told me how wonderful she played with another little girl named Haley. Lily has been in this class since August, and she usually sits to the side and plays by herself; her teacher has always told me she behaves well and is their "class observer." Given what we had recently learned about Lily's hearing, in hind-sight this makes sense - she didn't want to participate in all the noise that surrounded and overwhelmed her. Her teacher replied that actually, yes, she did participate more and seemed more interested in what was going on. I then told her she had tubes put in earlier in the week, and she quickly agreed that it seemed to make a difference. I relayed these things on to Ryan who had picked up Mia, and we agreed that it affirmed our decision to get the tubes and that her situation is improving. Also, on the car ride home, I asked Lily what they had talked about in class. She immediately started telling me about Zaccheus. She then started telling me lots of details; she has never told me details of her class before, even when it was a story she was very familiar with. Again, this tells me that she was able to actually hear and understand the teacher today. These are all very positive things for Ryan and me to see in her.

Here's just a quick little story on Lily too. Last night she was sitting on the couch playing with her toys; we had the NFL playoff game on. Here's how our conversation went:

L: Mommy, football is my favorite to watch. Do you like football?
M: Yes, I do. It's my favorite to watch too. Do you think Daddy likes football?
L: Yea! He does (she pronounces "does" as "dooz" which cracks me up). There's someone else that likes football. She's little. Do you know who it is?
M: Who?
L: Mia! She likes football too. I think she likes watching songs more though (we call the Cedermont Kids DVDs "songs).
M: I think so too. Which one of the songs do you think his her favorite to watch?
L: Umm...I think yellow (all the DVDs are a different color so we identify them by color) is her favorite because she sits the most still for that one. So yeah, I think yellow is her favorite.

That's our observant Lily, noticing which one Mia seems to sit the most still for! It is funny to see Mia get so excited though about these DVDs. She will start bouncing up and down, clapping and laughing as soon as she sees the FBI warning come up...she knows what is coming!

The Ear Saga Continues

Mia went to the pediatrician on Tuesday morning to have her ears checked. At her 1 year check-up in November, Dr. White discovered she had an ear infection and the fluid level was still high (as it has been for many months now). So, 6 weeks after taking the antibiotics I took her back to Dr. White to see if they helped. While they did make the infection go away, Dr. White said to call the ENT. So this morning, Ryan, Mia and I went to see Dr. Baktha. His audiologist performed a couple of hearing tests on Mia, and then Dr. Baktha went over our options. They have determined she has a mild hearing loss and fluid behind the ear drum. Tubes are scheduled for Monday morning. As I told Ryan on the car ride home, it makes me sad that my sweet baby isn't perfect. There was some confusion yesterday that we cleared up today with Dr. Baktha. When we left, it was my understanding that Mia had sustained a permanent mild hearing loss; Ryan thought the loss was temporary. One of the nurses at Dr. Baktha's office was very kind and did some research for us and talked to Dr. Baktha between his surgical procedures. Thankfully, they determined the she has a conductive hearing loss which is due to the fluid in her ears. They fully expect the tubes to correct this problem, and she should recover fully. I have never been so happy to say I was wrong and Ryan was right. Praise God!

Lily is doing alright from her procedure. We have seen a little bit of dried blood which they said could be expected. However this morning, Liz was putting her drops in her ears and noticed the left one was not going into her ear; it was just sitting there. Not good. Dr. Baktha recommended making a peroxide/saline mix to put in to see if it would dissolve anything that has crusted on or in the tube. If that doesn't work, we'll be back in his office where they can hopefully fix it. If it can't be fixed in the office, it's back to surgery for her. I really hope the peroxide mix works.

So, that's what is going on with our girls' ears right now. We'll be sure to keep you updated.

A Hard Day To Be A Parent

Today was a tough day for Ryan and me as parents. A few weeks ago, we took Lily to an audiologist to have her hearing tested. We noticed she often said "I not hear you," she would ask to turn up the tv and she had a difficult time hearing us in loud, crowded rooms. We realized this probably contributed to why she is so reserved. When she walks into a room with a lot of people (especially kids), she is overwhelmed by noise, but she can't understand anything being said.

The hearing test confirmed our suspicion that she has hearing problems. They showed us the grid they use to report results. The top little bit is grayed out and represents a normal hearing level. Lily was about halfway down the grid indicating a significant loss of hearing. However, they were also able to test the nerve in her ear and determine there was no damage to it which meant the hearing problem could be attributed to the large build-up of fluid in her ears. We didn't really suspect fluid because she has only had one ear infection in her life (almost two years ago), but this was great news. After consulting with the ENT doctor, we decided tubes in her ears would be our best route to go, and it was scheduled for this morning.

The children's hospital called last Thursday to tell us she had been scheduled for 10:40 AM, and we needed to arrive at 8:30. We were hoping it would be earlier because she wouldn't be able to eat for four hours before the surgery. However, they schedule the youngest kids first ("Three is old age in the pediatric world" according to one of the nurses), so they had to wait to see what other children would be coming in before they could schedule the time. We waited until this morning to tell Lily what we were going to do because we didn't want her to worry about it beforehand. So, we were up getting ready when she came into our room this morning and immediately asked for her breakfast. I told we weren't going to eat breakfast this morning because we were going to see the special doctor again who would make her ears feel better. She asked if she could have a breakfast cookie (I love the Quaker Oats breakfast cookies) and milk in the car, and I told her she could after the visit; she seemed okay with that. We got ready and watched Curious George while we waited a few minutes for Granna to arrive because she was going to watch Mia for us. Lily ran into the room to tell Granna she was going to see the special doctor, and Granna gave her a cool new book about Finding Nemo that made Lily excited. We made it to the hospital without any problems. Lily started to seem a little nervous (she asked me to carry her), but she was alright.

Ryan checked us in while Lily and I played in the waiting room. They asked him to bring her back so she could get her bracelet, and when she came out, she was carrying an adorable little stuffed animal. It is the mouse from the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and she loved it. Even though she brought one of her dolls with her, she was immediately attached to the mouse. Right after they came out from registration, the nurse showed us to a triage room where they took her weight, heart rate, oxygen level and blood pressure, then she showed us to a private room. While we waited on the next nurse to come in, Lily decided her mouse looked like a teacher and wanted to name her "Miss Delta" which is the name of her teacher last year at Mommy Morning Out. I thought that was really sweet. A nurse, anesthetists and the doctor came in to go over again what was going to happen...medicine beforehand, gas mask to put her to sleep, tubes in ears, short recovery room visit, back to us, drink fluid and keep it down, discharge. Everyone was so nice and friendly, and Lily seemed okay with everything. She was so excited about putting on the hospital gown. It was purple with panda bears driving rockets around outer space, but she thought it was cool looking; she also liked the non-slip socks they gave her. She couldn't wait to put it on, so we got her dressed.

About 10 minutes before the surgery (they were running about 30 minutes ahead of schedule by the way which we were impressed with), they gave her some Tylenol and also something to relax her. They told me not to let go of her after that because she would probably become woozy and could fall. For about 5 or 6 minutes, she seemed perfectly fine, and I wondered if it was working. Then all of a sudden, I could feel her body getting heavy and she started to slump over a little onto the bed. She was literally in mid-sentence, and she just stopped talking and said "Umm, I don't know anymore;" her eyes started to look so tired too. I helped her get comfortable on the bed with Miss Delta and her baby next to her. The nurse came in, got the bedrail put up, let us each give her a kiss and then wheeled her out; Lily didn't put any kind of a fight.

That was at 10:05. At 10:20 the doctor came in to say she did great, there was a very large fluid build-up, the tubes should help, she was in recovery and would be back to us in a few minutes. About two minutes later, they wheeled her bed back in. The nurse said she had just opened her eyes and had started to cry. They had warned us that kids usually wake up very irritable from this because of the short use of anesthesia; she likened it to being in a really deep sleep and the phone rings waking you up. However, when Lily looked over at us, it was the saddest face I have ever seen, and I hope to somehow erase it from my mind someday. Then she started coughing and struggling to sit up, so the nurse put the bed rail down and I picked her up. She buried her head into my shoulder. She was crying and coughing; the nurse said the coughing was a normal reaction from having a breathing tube down her throat. They brought her some apple juice, but she wasn't interested yet. She also said her ears hurt which wasn't much of a surprise; the doctor had told us they often say this because they feel such a sense of relief from the fluid, but don't know how to express that. She didn't seem to be in pain, but she was very confused at what had happened. We just sat in the rocking chair together while she calmed down. After a few minutes she gulped down the juice and had no problems keeping it down. We watched some Little Einsteins on tv and relaxed. After about 15 or 20 minutes of this, we were ready to go.

As we got in the car, Lily said she was hungry, so we asked if she wanted to go to Chick-fil-a. She readily agreed, so that's where we headed. By the time we arrived, she seemed pretty much back to normal, talking and laughing. She ate a chicken strip, all of her fries, several of my fries and drank her milk; we also got a small milkshake that she finished off at home. This is a huge lunch for her, so we knew she was starving!

The rest of the afternoon and evening seemed very normal. In fact, if you see my previous post, you can read a little about the fun the girls had. She seems great, so here's hoping the tubes will actually help improve her hearing. We'll call tomorrow to schedule a follow-up visit for 4-6 weeks from now and maybe we'll see some improvement. You can see a picture Ryan took later in the day of Lily hugging Miss Delta and showing off her blue hospital bracelet.

I am so thankful to have this day behind us! I know that this is such a common procedure, one Ryan had done five times as a child. However, when it's your own child having surgery, it's not the same as hearing all the other success stories (especially when you sign that consent form that explains the risks that come with any surgery). We are so glad God was watching over sweet Lily and the medical team that worked on her; what an answer to prayer!

The Girls

Here is a picture of the girls this evening. They both LOVE the Cedermont Kids DVD's, and this is a picture of them sitting next to each other watching one of the DVD's.

This was a fun evening for Ryan and me. For the first time, the girls actually played together for over an hour. They were in Lily's room making a party (Lily's way of putting all their stuffed animals and miscellaneous toys together) and making fingerpaint cards (with Color Wonder paints of course); we could hear them both laughing which was a great sound. They typically play together for a few minutes, but then Mia gets pushed over and cries or fed up with being bossed around and leaves. It was awesome to watch for a couple of reasons. First and most important, it was so cool to see them having fun together and seeing that they love each other and can cooperate, share and play nicely together. I always hope that they will grow up to be best of friends, and this encouraged me. Second, it was nice for Ryan and me to have something of a break. I am engrossed in a book right now (Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol) so I was able to read while Ryan played on the internet. Of course, we could hear everything they were doing and they were running between the two rooms, so we saw them every couple of minutes, but it was more relaxing than most nights. It gave me a glimpse of a calmer future!
Total change of subject, but Lily talks often about getting bigger. It's probably because I tell her Mia can only do something when she gets bigger (drink juice, swim, etc). Lily likes to tell me all the things she will do when she gets bigger. Here's a sample..."Mommy when I get bigger, I will..."
"buy things for my own house."
"drive a car."
"have a 4 year old party."
"go to school all day."
and my personal favorite that I can't wait for "go poppy in the potty and have a party." Here's hoping this one comes much sooner than the other ones!

Happy New Year!

2010 is here, can you believe it?! 2009 was a wonderful and exciting year for us, but I always love the fresh start a new year brings.

We kept our celebrations pretty low key. On New Year's Eve, we spent the morning and early afternoon playing and taking it easy at the house (and doing tons of laundry). The girls are still having so much fun with all their new Christmas toys, so we had a great time. After nap time, we went to Chuck E Cheese to meet the Michie family (Chris, Hannah and Peyton). This is the first time Mia has shown any interest in actually participating in the rides. She usually just loves walking around while taking all the people and activities in. She still did a good bit of that, but she also wanted to try a few rides. Here's a picture of her on the little carousel.

Lily loves the carousel! We rode this three times before she was ready to go and do some of the games. The first game she went to is this ball drop, and you get tickets depending on the number your ball drops into. On Lily's first go-round, she landed on the jackpot and got 100 tickets! That's a great start!

Here's Mia on the Barney ride. It just rocks back and forth a little while playing music and sounds. Mia loved it though. She rode it three or four times and grinned the whole time.

We had been at Chuck E Cheese for about an hour when the big mouse himself came out to greet everyone. Lily, of course, is not really a fan of seeing him so she stayed close to us and away from him. Peyton, though, was caught off guard by him, and it freaked her out. We all decided we go ahead and leave for dinner (after turning in our tickets for prizes of course). We went across the street to Carrabba's which is a pretty good Italian restaurant. Thankfully, it wasn't overly crowded yet, so we had good service which is very important with three hungry little ones at the table! It was a great evening and fun times spent with friends.

When we got home, we played for just a little bit, but then it was bed time, and the girls went down without a problem (as usual). As soon as they went to sleep, Ryan and I set about cleaning up the Christmas decorations which took about an hour or so. Then we decided to rearrange our living room furniture and get some good cleaning in. New year, new look. It still feels a little weird when we first walk in, but it's quickly growing on us. We like the new set-up. By this point, it was nearing midnight, so we settled in to watch Dick Clark's special on tv. It's always fun at this point to think about all the great blessings we received during the year and look forward to the new year ahead. Midnight arrived, we saw the New York ball and the Georgia peach drop and heard the fireworks explode. Lots of fun, and then we remembered we're getting old, so we to bed.

We started out New Year's Day with some freshly-made blueberry muffins which are always a special treat. We decided after Mia's morning nap we would head over to the zoo because we wanted to get out for a bit. It was in the low-40's and a beautifully clear day, so it was a great time to go. There were very few people there which was nice too. Lily was so excited to take her new camera with her. She had a blast taking pictures of all the animals.

Here's a picture Ryan took of her snapping the flamingos.

The resulting picture of the flamingos. Not bad, huh? Ryan is so proud to have a child who loves to take pictures as much as he does!
I gave Lily a few pointers on how to take pictures.

Our two sweet little meercats. They both enjoyed this exhibit this visit because the meercats were so active; they were running everywhere which the girls loved.

Enjoying a quick snack while we strolled along. Mia is a huge fan of graham crackers (aka "Meme crackers" at our house) while Lily wanted the goldfish. Both girls are happy as they can be when working with full tummies.

So glad the pandas are still here (at least temporarily)! I hope the zoo can raise the funds needed to keep them here instead of sending them back to China. Here is the baby panda eating some bamboo for lunch. Both of the adult pandas were inside sleeping.

Lily kept asking to go to the "zoo petting" which was a first. She has come a long way with these animals! The first few visits she would only look at them, but the last few visits, she has enjoyed gently petting them. This time she couldn't wait to get there. We decided to let Mia go in this time too. Here they are both petting the sheep. When this one walked away, Mia walked straight up to another sheep who was sitting on the ground, squealed with excitement and slammed both hands onto her back. While I don't think it hurt the sheep at all, I think it startled him, so he immediately jumped up and ran away. Mia laughed and looked for more animals! Lily does a great job of gently petting the animals and being mindful of them. Mia however had fun running around the fenced-in area and squealing at the animals.

Here's Mia "petting" the sheep; he's in the process of jumping up right now, and I'm in the process of trying to pull her away from him!

Here's a little pig that we tried to pet.

Just trying to keep up with Mia as she ran around and found animals!

This was a very fun visit; I am so glad we bought the annual passes!

We got home and all took little naps to rest from our morning adventures. I also flipped through a magazine, and I saw an end table that we thought would look good in our newly arranged living room. Then I saw it was only $7 at Ikea, so we decided to head down there after nap time which thrilled Lily; she loves Ikea. When we got there, we decided to go ahead and let the girls eat dinner so they wouldn't be hungry while we shopped. Ikea runs a special where you can get any three kid items for $2.50, so I got a variety of things for them to share and paid. Actually, it was kids eat free day, so the total came to $1.37 for the yogurt; 6 items for $1.37 is not a bad deal! Mia loved the steamed carrots and butternut squash while Lily munched happily on the yogurt and PBJ sandwich and drank her milk. Neither girl particularly cared for the applesauce or penne with marinara, but for $1.37, I wasn't too upset. We found the table we were looking for (actually we bought two of them), and then found a few other things in the kid section that will be helpful. This place is a mad house, but they have some cool items and lots of great deals, so we were pleased.

We got home and put the girls to bed, and then Ryan and I made a delicious dinner to celebrate the new year. I made baked potatoes while Ryan made his incredibly delicious filets stuffed with garlic herb cheese and wrapped in pancetta. I told Ryan that I might die 10 years younger, but I think I could happily eat that every evening. It is so good! This was definitely a wonderful way to end the first day of 2o1o!

We are looking forward to a great year, and we wish all of you reading this a wonderful year too! May we be blessed with good health and lots of time making great memories with family and friends!

Lily and Peyton

Over the last couple of months, Lily has really grown close to her friend, Peyton, who is about 6 weeks younger than her. Peyton's dad, Chris, and Ryan used to work together at Opteum, but both left for other jobs. Chris has recently enlisted in the Army and for a couple of months before he left for training, he stayed home with Peyton more. So, on most Tuesdays when Ryan is typically home with our girls, Chris and Peyton would come over to play. His wife, Hannah, and I enjoy spending time together too, but we don't get the chance to get together as much as Ryan and Chris.

On Christmas morning, when Lily opened her "glass slippers and tee-taras" set, one of the first things she said was "I can't wait to share these with Peyton!" She and Peyton share a love for all things princess related. When Chris and Peyton came over on the 26th, they immediately each put on a princess dress and a pair of glass slippers as you can see from the picture below. They had a ball playing games, grocery shopping and building a house together; they were running around, talking, laughing and having so much fun together. It's lots of fun for Ryan and me to watch them!

We were going to meet Chris and Peyton at the playground yesterday (see the previous post), and when we told Lily, she got so excited. She said multiple times, "Peyton is a friend, and I am a friend! We're both friends!"

Chris is leaving on Saturday and will be gone for 6 months in Army training, so we won't see him for awhile. While we wish him all the best while he's at training, I hope we will be able to see Peyton and Hannah a lot while he is gone, so we can keep Lily and Peyton's friendship going. They are such sweet friends!