Happy Birthday Lilybug!

Last year One year Old!

Today Lily is two! It is hard to believe that just two short years have passed since our family of three became a foursome. Lily came into the world a little early, like 4 1/2 weeks. You see, Grandma, Papa, Grace and I had spent Sunday the 21st shopping at the outlet mall, a lot of walking. Later that evening my water started to leak, but I didn't realize it until later Monday morning. Once we realized it we were off to the hospital. She was born via c-section after a very long day and night in the maternity ward. She was so tiny in comparison to her big sister. Lily was only 6 pounds and 5 ounces. Grace had been born weighing over 8 pounds.

It was so late on that Tuesday night that we were so grateful to go to bed and get some sleep. The next morning, Grace was coming to meet her sister after school. Unfortunately the pediatrician came in before Grace could get there with some disturbing news. The new baby had a heart murmur and he was calling in the specialists. After all that we had been through with Brendan and then the perinatologists with Lily's pregnancy we thought we should have been all clear. But no, arteries are too small to see in utero with ultrasound and that is where Lily's problems were. We were dumbstruck, and the big sister was on her way. Needless to say the next four months were scary and I NEVER want to relive them.

So skipping ahead after the heart surgery in February, is when life with Lily really begins. You see only then did we start to relax a little and let her grow normally. Little did we know that she would become such a wonderful little personality.

Lily is precocious. She loves to study things and do things repetitively to see the results. For instance we have spent the past several days at the beach and she loves pouring sand. She pours sand on the chairs, on her legs, in the buckets and anything else that is still enough to see what the sand will do.

Lily loves to play chase, on the beach , in the condo, in the hallways at home, in the halls of preschool, in the bookstore, basically wherever she is. Most of the time she wants to be chased and runs in the opposite direction than where you are, but sometimes she wants to be the chaser and you can hear her say "I get you".

Lily was a good eater. I say was because within the past two weeks she has gotten quite picky and not liking her usual foods. She got strep throat and hasn't been the same since. I say it is the medication, but we will see. She currently likes, cheese slices, milk(strawberry preferably, Danimals yogurt drink, BANANAS, pretty much all fruit, COOKIES, M&M's, cheerios, honey nut cheerios, cinnamon toast waffles with syrup, eggs, sun chips, fries, mashed potatoes, soft serve ice cream, and some other stuff. But no meat, a vegetarian at 2, I wonder what the pediatrician will say to that?

Lily loves to read and look at books. Her favorite is the Mickey Mouse clubhouse Look and find book. But she is not picky and will back up onto your lap for any old book.

Lily loves to count. She doesn't quite have the hang of it yet so what she says is "two, three, two, three.....etc." Occasionally she will throw a five or a nine in there to mess with me though.

When Lily is tired she loves to give good hugs. She throws her arms around your neck and pats you back. Occasionally she will lift her head and give you a big lip smacking kiss on the lips. But this is only when she is tired.

Most of all Lily loves her sister. Grace is the light of Lily's life. She cries when Grace gets on the bus for school. She knows that when she wakes up from nap that Grace will be there. She loves to go in Grace's room, play with Grace's toys and put on Grace's shoes.

Tom and I feel so Lucky to have such wonderful little girls. I can't wait to see all the things the next year has in store for you miss Lily.

Therapy

It is so wonderful to have great friends. This week I found out just how wonderful they are. I was 12 weeks pregnant when I started to spot. My best friend dropped everything to help Tom and I. She came to school for Lily, cause of course I was at work. She had cupcakes with Lily's class because Lily will turn 2 next week and brought her home to Daddy. She brought us dinner of Spaghetti and Meatballs and bread and ice cream. She hugged me as I cried, she prayed for me when I couldn't pray. She took my children from me at 6:30 and got them to school and home again while I went to the hospital.
You see we lost the baby, it seems a few weeks ago. My body just didn't want to let go. The stress of Lily having strep, Grace having some unnamed illness and the lack of a dishwasher started the process so that I would go to the doctor to get help. This morning I had the dreaded D&C. So now I can say that I have been through infertility 3 times, a missed miscarriage and a late term loss. I can also say I lived through my 4 month olds open heart surgery that she almost crashed on the table. I have had more surgeries than most 80 year olds. My faith has been tested way too much. That is why I am writing here, to get myself back.
I will be on many, many meds for the next couple of weeks. I will have to go back to the OB/GYN in 3 weeks. And I will one day have to explain to my girls everything. Right now they are told mommy is sick and can't pick them up. I think Grace knows something more, but she isn't asking me. Lily will be confused as to why I am not picking her up or going swimming. Luckily they are both very loving and will let me cuddle them up.
Tonight my other best friend is bringing another yummy dinner and I can't wait to hug her too. She offered to drop her kids in the car and come to the doctor with me yesterday. The offer was great but I think I was able to better deal with my emotions alone. Yes, I got crazy looks at the office, in the halls and even driving, but what do I care. She also prayed for me when I couldn't.
Tomorrow we pack for a healing trip. It was supposed to be a celebration trip, but we adapt. My prayer right now is for a peace in my heart. I already feel surrounded by God's love with all the wonderful people he has placed in our lives. May they be blessed and know that we love them with all of our broken battered hearts.

So Edible!

Scrunched up booger nose and all!

The Concert of the Year!

No, no it wasn't Bon Jovi ;)

It wasn't even one of those other oldie but goodie bands.

It was Lily's first concert, THE WIGGLES!

Of course, she fell asleep in the car on the way across town and took a few moments to wake up. But oh my, she had a GREAT time. I am not sure if her favorite part was the singing, dancing, acrobatic feats, the proximity with which we were to the stage and Murray and Anthony walking by, the m&m's her supplier provided or just the $18 light stick Granma and Papa bought her. During the slower moments, Lily would put her face against the light stick and watch it spin, or put it on the floor and watch the floor light up. She almost got into a fight with the little girl sitting behind us over the light stick. The little girl was extremely jealous and pushed Lil and Lily handed her lightstick to the nearest adult as if to say, "OK, that is it! It is on now little girl!" Luckily tensions were diffused and toddlers were distracted by another great song on stage.

Lily would dance, spin, jump and do all the motions for the Wiggles songs. A few of her favorites included: Quack, Quack; Fruit Salad; Twinkle, twinkle; and Rock-a-bye your bear. She enjoyed watching Dorothy do ballet. She was in complete shock for the first few moments especially during the signature song "Toot, toot, chugga, chugga, Big Red Car!" She has never seen anything but videos and a few shows on Sprout. But once she warmed up there was no stopping her. Today she is wearing her concert t-shirt and has looked at the program and coloring sheet a bazillion times and can point to each Wiggle by name.

Grace had a great time too. She is the original wiggler in this house and had already been to 5 shows of the wiggles live, her first at almost the exact age Lily is. Grace was able to enjoy the show with her Granma, Aunt Anna, Cousin Taylor, Best Friends Josh and Caleb and Mrs. Lara and Mommy and Lily. Grace's favorite song of all time is the Shimmy Shake, performed by her crush Sam Wiggle(otherwise known as Sam Moran and always the yellow shirt wearer when we have been to concerts). She danced, she sang and had a blast too. I do see the day when the wiggles won't be her thing, but I am glad that she still has some innocence to her and can enjoy herself. (We are hoping that Justin Beiber fever does not hit her anytime soon.)

Soon I will post pictures - I did take my camera, but the battery was dead, so I am depending on Aunt Anna and Mrs. Lara to help me get some pictures for the blog and one day scrapbook. :)

What a busy first week of school...

Well of course, school started for Ms. Grace on Monday. She was so excited she was about to pop. We had to go shopping on Sat. to get new tennis shoes, a first day of school outfit and a few other needed items. She picked out a cute polo shirt type dress with several different colored stripes. She also picked out some silver and purple tennis shoes. She was very happy to get up, carry new her backpack, lunchbox and other school supplies. She loved all the attention of the first day of school. Pictures, hugs, long goodbyes at the bus stop and even mommy and Lily coming to school to get some classroom pictures.

She made it through the first day without a hitch. She loved her classroom, her teacher and first grade in general. She did have a little trouble making new friends. But by the end of the week she was able to tell me some of the girls in her class' names. On Tuesday she came home with Lily the Frog. This is a special honor awarded to the children who show excellent behavior in the class. They get to do special activities with Lily and write in her journal and take her back the next day. Luckily she is a stuffed frog, cause this is one momma who doesn't like slimy breathing things.

Grace and Lily the Frog reading at bedtime.

Grace also had her first official Sparks meeting on Wed. It is part of the AWANA group, think girl scouts with bible verses and learning about God and Jesus. She went a few times last spring with Joshua(our neighbor and BFF) and loved it. So this year we signed her up and she has already learned her first Bible verse and is itching to do more.

On Thursday, Grace started her new Ballet and Tap class with Ms. Alie. It is much longer this year. It went from about an hour to an hour and a half. She LOVED it. Her other longtime BFF, Jessica is in the class and they are the two youngest. They did great and worked their booties off trying to stick with the older more experienced girls. She will be one tired chica come thursday nights, but I think it will be great for her.

Lily and I hung out all week, working around the house, working some in my classroom and trying to get organized for the coming year.(not there yet) But come Friday it was little Misses turn. We put on her leotard(actually a hand-me-down from Grace) and headed to Mommy and me ballet class. Her teacher is 8 months pregnant and wasn't feeling well Friday, so this mommy had to wear two hats, teacher and mommy. Lily did great! She is the oldest in the class, but she listened fairly well. Touched her toes and tried to do a little of everything. She even learned how to jump(somewhat, it is hard for her to actually get off the ground). I hope to get some video of her dancing soon, it is a real hoot.

Lily dressed as the little mermaid for fairytale ballet.

Well that is the first week of school in a nutshell, hopefully we will find time to breathe, relax and unwind during week 2. Who knows?

Happy Birthday to Me!

What an exciting birthday week! We started it off with a celebration with friends, Sat. night at The Hughes house. We had fun separating into groups, kids in one room, ladies in the kitchen and men manning the grill and then watching baseball in the family room. We had my favorite cake - Chocolate with chocolate fudge icing and chocolate ice cream too. The kids started to deteriorate, fighting, crying and general misunderstandings breaking up all the fun. Next time the kids need to eat outside so as not to mess up the house(food spillage and abandoned plates are a big problem sometimes.)



We had a nice relaxing Sunday of cleaning the house(not fun) and some grocery shopping too.



Monday the girls and I met Daddy at the Marietta Diner for lunch which was super yummy. Then we went to Daddy's office for a quick tour of his new office and visit with his friends. Then we headed across the street to Miss Mamie's cupcake shop. We bought half a dozen and so far my favorite was the Smores cupcake. Chocolate cupcake with marshmallow in the middle, chocolate icing in a circle and a small graham cracker and hershey bar on top. Heavenly is what I would call it.



That evening Grandma and Papa stopped by on their way back home from Abingdon(my birthplace). They took us out to dinner to Steak and Shake for burgers, grilled cheese and mac and cheese and of course SHAKES! Of course it was in the middle of a horrible thunder storm and downpours. But well worth the peril to get a patty melt and chocolate shake to celebrate turning (gulp)36! We also had the added thrill of searching for the smallest screw ever to put Grandma's glasses back together. Unfortunately it went unfound. Fortunately Target's eye care center was still open after dinner and was able to fix Grandma's glasses quickly.

The rest of the week has been a blur of activity getting ready for Grace going to First Grade! But that is a story for another post.

Countdown!

We have started several countdowns around these parts.

First we counted down to the release of Ramona and Beezus! Which starts TODAY. Grace and I are going on a girls night out, just the two of us to see it.

Grace officially has a week left of summer. Next Friday she will go to meet the teacher and take the three gazillion bags of school supplies with us to help stock the classroom for the year. She has been so excited since learning her teacher is from England and actually danced for the Queen twice in her youth. She is also excited that her teacher's favorite subject is reading, I guess she feels they have a lot in common. Nevermind the fact that she is a great teacher and has lots of learning experiences planned for Grace's class.

My countdown includes, work starting at both the preschool and dance studio. The fact that Grace and Lily will both be going to school, and taking dance lessons. I will be the lead teacher this year in my classroom(I am a little nervous). But most importantly the long four year journey to correct my mouth is almost over. Yesterday I finally had the two implant crowns placed. Next week the braces come off and then, I will have a normal looking adult mouth. Eventually I hope to get the teeth cleaned, professionally whitened and smile proudly for all the photos. But for now I am just happy that this process of braces, MULTIPLE surgeries and working with three seperate dental people is coming to an end. It has been way too many appointments twenty to thirty minutes away from my house. And way more money than I ever wanted to spend. I hope if Grace and/or Lily is hereditarily missing the same two adult size teeth that we are able to find an orthodontist who is able to work with us so they do not have to go through the same stuff I have.

Lily doesn't know it but we are counting down the days til her next cardiologist appointment also. It was supposed to be August 9th, but has been rescheduled due to doctor inavailability. She will have to undergo an ultrasound to check the various surgical sites as well as the routine, EKG, and pressure tests. They schedule it as a three hour appointment. Should be a ton of fun. Luckily with the reschedule Daddy can go with us. Unfortunately the appointment is during nap time and my Best friend will have to get Gracie off the bus and to Awana class(luckily she is the teacher of the class and also a neighbor).

So for now we are counting down to multiple exciting endeavors. Have a great rest of your summer and have some cake for my birthday on Monday!