Go Gracie, Go! - First Place!

Grace's second swim meet was away at Eagle Watch. She did great. She swam in the 11th event, the third heat(non-scoring) and the middle lane. She either came in first out of three in the heat. She is still refusing to swim her backstroke, but we will get there. As long as she is having fun we will keep her swimming. She loves all the kids on her team and especially the coaches. We laugh because she refuses to jump in, especially off the blocks and could cut several seconds off her time if she would just jump. Hopefully by the end of summer she will be jumping off the blocks and doing her backstroke. For now we are happy that she goes to practice and meets with a smile on her face and sleeps well at night. Soon her incompetent parents will remember to bring and how to operate the video camera. Enjoy the pics and know that we are very busy on Thursday nights at the meets. Lily loves it too, she gets lots of attention and can't wait for her turn in the pool. BTW - The waves lost to Eagle Watch, but it was a close competitive meet, we'll get them next year.

Prior to the race

Winning mid race

8 Months

Eight months old and loving it! Miss Lily is sitting on her own pretty well as long as there is nothing nearby that she wants to get, then she is over on her side trying to reach it. Lily loves to eat. She prefers the sweeter taste of fruits, but hasn't turned anything down yet. Her favorite color seems to be red. She reaches for the red plastic cups, red Coke cans(I need that picture Lara!) and loves wearing this red dress. She loves the bathtub and gets very excited when she sees her sister swimming in the pool. She likes to play in the exersaucer, but she loves the johnny jump up. She can't wait to go after her big sister and I don't think walking can come too soon for her. She still loves to snuggle and giggles at just about everything Grace does. She loves music and will quiet down in the car for veggie tales still. She is working on getting some teeth. Not fun, long nights of periodic waking and screaming and occassionally fits in the daytime. She hates the taste of anbesol and spits it out at you when you put it on her gums. She loves her vibrating teether and anything else she can get into her mouth. She is still on her beta blocker for the irregular heart rhythms she experienced in the hospital post surgery. The doctors are letting her outgrow the dosage, so she should be completely off of it in July. She is still a big spitter, not so much throw up(knock on wood), but we still carry lots of burp clothes around. Anyway it looks to be a fun summer with our growing girls.
On another note, I cannot post Grace's dance recital or her end of preschool program due to the fact that the video file is too large for blogger. As for her first swim meet on Thursday May 21st we had a camera malfunction and don't have any film or pictures. Maybe the Hughes will post it for us or give us a copy(hint, hint Ms. Lara).

Baptism

Lily's baptism was on Sunday at First Presbyterian of Marietta. Dr. John Wells did the ceremony. It was fabulous. Lily has been on the prayer list at our church since last November some time. The ministers and many members of the congregation were thrilled to see Lily doing so well, three months out from surgery. She took in every detail of the church, congregation and the ministers. She didn't cry or fuss at all. She was able to wear the dress that Grace, Aunt Anna and I were all baptized in. It was a very special day. Even the minister got choked up talking about what a blessing Lily is. She is so special, not only because of her heart, she is Grace's baby sister, our second daughter and a joy to be around. She has a definite temper, but an infectious laugh. She can't wait to be mobile on her own and jump in the pool like Grace. It should be an interesting summer.

The cake


Lily wanting a piece.



Talking at the table.

Why can't I have any cake?

too close.

Recital

Recital was Saturday. I have a whole new appreciation for all my dance teachers growing up. It was definitely a long day, but well worth it. This is my "second" job. I had three classes performing and I was very nervous as well as excited. I absolutlely love teaching dance and am so glad for all my friends at the studio. They have made this year much better and relaxed, with surgery and everything. I can't wait til next year to teach more children the love of dance.

I was very teary eyed watching Ms. Grace up there on the stage. She looked so grown up with her hair in a bun and dancing on the stage. This is her third year dancing and 6th recital. She loves dancing and her teachers. She has learned so much and enjoys showing off in the house, down the street and anywhere else music is playing. Next year she moves to the big girls classes where they don't do as much of the story play acting and will learn way much more. This summer she wants to do dance camps and cheer. It should be interesting to watch her grow into a ballerina. I will post the video soon.

Mommy working, 4 down 1 more to go.

Grace was awesome!

All the grandparents

Watching the show!

Big Girl Bath

We gave Lily her first official big girl bath last night. She got to sit in the tub seat like a big girl. She absolutely loved it. The water, the splashing, eating the washcloth, dumping water on her and even the camera flashing in her face. It is hard to believe that she is seven months old. The last several months have flown by. Lily is continuing to grow. She has been fighting off a small cold or allergies. She knows her name, when people call to her. She is very inquisitive to everything that is around her. Between Lily and Grace our house is never quiet. We are looking forward to a busy summer of swimming and anything else that is cheap or free.

Always need a shot of the original big girl.
Best Buds!

Grace and the Dentist

Wow, how do I start. Well last August, being very pregnant, I took Grace to a pediatric dentist. To make a long story short... They ruined the whole dentist experience for her and we will never go back there. If you live locally I will tell you do NOT go there. So today, we braved a new dentist office. She is so scarred that after an hour, we came home without getting our teeth cleaned. This pediatric dentist was much calmer with her today but she still freaked out. It seems that she is scared of the rotating brush they use to polish your teeth. Grace who held a caterpillar yesterday, jumps in the pool and swims halfway across it, who is my diva on stage is scared of the dentist. So it seems that we will continue to have appointments with the dentist until she can get used to the idea of someone going in her mouth. Tom has an appointment in about a week and I am going to send her to see the dentist clean Daddy's teeth. She seems to have a lot of the same anxieties that he does - dentists, weather, germs. I will see if I can get an appointment too. Until May 22 - the next time she goes to the dentist, she has to work on not sucking her thumb(again - thank you heart surgery) and getting used to mommy using the rotating toothbrush.... If y'all have any hints PLEASE let me know.

Lily at 7 months

Here are her stats to go along with her pictures below. She is weighing in last week at 16 pounds 11 ounces - probably closer to 17 pounds now. She eats very heartily, we can't seem to keep that belly full. She is sleeping much better at night, now that I don't have to wake her for her meds. She usually falls asleep around 10 and sleeps until almost 8. When we went to the Cardiologist on the 15th he thought that I was crazy for being so regimented on the medicine... Um hello the hospital told us every 8 hours as the doctor there prescribed. He said to relax, that it was possible that she didn't even need it anymore. Good thing since I forgot to give her a dose yesterday afternoon. She should be completely off of it by July. As for the Prevacid... I don't know, we still have good low spit days and some vomit days - the last was when we introduced peaches. She only has two more first foods to try - carrots and prunes (yuck to both). We are hoping to move to the less expensive powder formula... we'll see how that goes. She loves, loves, loves her exersaucer and bouncing herself on your legs. We are looking for a johnny jump up this weekend. She still loves her sister best of all. The first picture from yesterday is the only one she is truly smiling and that is at Grace. We are still working on the nap thing .... maybe we will get a routine one day. She is definitely a social butterfly and has enjoyed her many outings in the last month. We are looking forward to the beach this summer, Grandma Terry's house this summer and Disney for her birthday in September. Her heart stats were all so good including the holter monitor she wore a month ago that she doesn't have to go back to the cardiologist until AUGUST! For those of you who know stats - heart rate averages 130 beats a minute, oxygen level 100%, BP 92 and she is steadily growing they didn't even do a echo. I still have to count heart rate, but I feel better knowing that when she was wearing the monitor the highest reading was 151 beats a minute and I know she was screaming at that point. So all is good here - back to eating and growing with some sleeping interspersed in there.