Brown County

Every year, my mom and I go shopping in Brown County. It's a quaint little place with lots of fun, boutique shops. I bought myself a few presents, and I also picked up a few Christmas presents. On the way there, the rain was coming down and we weren't quite sure what we were in for. But after about the 50th time of Braylee singing "Rain, rain, go away!", the rain cleared and the sun came out. Now Braylee thinks she has super powers. ;) Our first stop was the candy store. It's a special treat for the girls to fill their buckets on their own. They got a bit carried away though, and I'm wondering now what we'll do with all of the candy, especially with Halloween fast approaching. It did keep them occupied for the majority of the day though...and no need for naps with the amount of sugar they had! They were great little shoppers all day.

For those of you who watch America's Next Top Model, you'll get a kick out of this...A few nights ago, I was walking down the hall when I heard Braylee say, "I only have 2 photos in my hand. The one who doesn't get one has to go home." I seriously started laughing so hard I could barely tell Alex what was going on. Here are the pictures from their "panel." Braylee was Tyra Banks and Brynna was a lucky model who got to stay another round! ;) They are such silly girls.

We're still debating on what the girls will be for Halloween. Brynna really doesn't understand so I've already decided she'll be a ladybug to carry on with our birthday theme this year. I suggested Braylee be a bumble bee to go along with her sister. She said, "But mom, I want to be an angel, like the one who told Mary she was having a baby and name him Jesus!" Now, how can I argue with that?!! Then she told me she'll be whatever I want her to be...such a sweetie. So, I've been searching ebay...trying to decide whether she'll be an angel or a bumble bee. Really, it comes down to finding a cute costume at a good deal!

I've been hestitating to claim that Brynna is potty-trained for about a week now. She has been wearing panties at home for the last 3 weeks...and does really well, even wakes from her nap dry occasionally. But, I am always nervous to take her out in panties, especially to places like the nursery at church where someone else is taking care of her or when we went shopping ALL day on Tuesday. She still uses the potty at these places but wears a diaper so I don't really call it potty-trained (since I still have to change an occasional wet diaper). She has worn panties a few times to daycare too, but last Friday, she had 2 accidents so I sent her in a diaper today. (The girls only go to daycare on Thursdays and Fridays, the 2 days I work.) Last night, she wore panties to church and did great...and then had an accident about 15 minutes after we got home?! Ugh! But, I'm not really complaining. She's doing a great job for her age, and either way, I'm saving money on using fewer diapers for now...and hopefully it will be no diapers soon.

A little prayer request before I go. My jaw surgery is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 22. We're still waiting to hear back from our insurance company. Until we get 'prior approval', I can't have the surgery. If I can't have the surgery on the 22nd, the next available date wouldn't be until December. I really don't want to be recovering right before Christmas, so I'm asking all of you to pray for the insurance to speed up their end. Obviously, if the insurance says they won't pay for it, I still need it and we'll move forward, but it would be such a blessing to know some of it would be covered and I can have it on the 22nd. Ok, one more prayer request...My gramps is still in the hospital. He truly is doing remarkable considering how terribly sick he was prior to the surgery. He finally got his last chest tube removed on Monday, but then during the night, my Grammy said his breathing became really labored and they had to put it back in. :( So, even though he had hoped to come home this weekend, it's not going to happen. He is tired of being cooped up in his hospital room. Please be praying for him to get stronger every day and for the days to go quickly while he's there. He has been walking more and more every day!

A Day at Sue's

Great Aunt Sue and Bridgette watched the girls for us on Saturday while we went to a wedding. The girls LOVE to go to their house. On the way there, Braylee was singing, "Over the river and through the woods to Bridgette's house we go!" Sue posted about their day and added lots of pictures on her blog. Thanks Sue and Bridgette for loving our girls so much! We appreciate all of your help!

Picture Happy

I try to keep my camera handy all of the time b/c I love taking pictures of my girls, but today I was extra picture happy. :) I took pictures of them before church in their new matching outfits. Then, Alex's cousin Brad brought over some straw bales for us. The girls were playing "hayride." I talked them into changing into their bibs for me! I love the new fall pictures I got.

Always wanting to pose...

Their goofy pose...love it!

Friday, the girls and I ran to the mall so I could use my gymbucks. How pathetic is this...I just LOVE the smell of Gymboree, and I've been sniffing one of Braylee's new sweaters every time I open her closet! ;) I'm weird, I know. Of course, we never go to the mall without stopping by the cookie place...
Brynna has become such a daddy's girl lately. They looked so sweet snuggling together on the couch the other night. If Dad's around, she wants him to dress her, comb her hair, put her in the carseat, etc...until she gets hurt. Then she comes running to her momma! I know I say it all the time, but she is just the sweetest little thing!

How cute is this?!

Update and Tag

The excitement of cleaning carried on throughout the week last week for the girls! Wednesday, Braylee asked me when I was going to wash the walls. I gladly handed the girls each a rag and let them go!

Thursday, Braylee wore her new rain boots to daycare. And since we go straight to dance class, this made for quite a cute little ballerina. :)
Now that Braylee & Sydney attend the same daycare, they are planning playdates and sleepovers any chance they get. Friday happened to be an open evening for us, so Sydney came for a sleepover. The girls played outside, popped popcorn, took a bath, played house, jumped on the trampoline, painted toenails, played school, read books, and started to watch a movie. They always get along so well and have tons of fun together. They were also excited about their new matching sleepover pillowcases and Groovy Girl dolls they received for their birthdays. Brynna tried to participate as often as they would let her, but she was locked out of the bedroom several times. ;)

Playing by herself when the big girls kicked her out! ;)

Saturday, we celebrated cousin Trista's 5th birthday with her and lots of friends. The weather was just perfect for chili, roasting marshmallows, and a hayride! The kids loved it.

Braylee, Ava, Jacob, and Brynna

Rose & Katie

Monday, my mom and Aunt Trista went with us to visit Gramps. While my mom and I learned how to work Gramps' pump, Trista took the girls outside to play. Gramps is doing fantastic!! I can't believe how good he looks! I checked again...no pulse. It's so weird. I also had the opportunity to listen to his chest...it just hums (or purrs as my Gramps says) but no heartbeat.

Playing in the fountain at Methodist

Gramps, Braylee, and Trista

Mamaw and my girls

Yesterday, we had story time at the library in the morning, more dental work for me, and then a relaxing evening at home...finally! I've noticed a repeated trend in my blog as well as all of my friends' blogs. We're always talking about being so busy...and granted, we want to be busy to an extent, but I'm trying to make a conscious effort to slow down and not add so much to my plate over the next few months. I've already overbooked myself for October and I'm feeling the strain. My ongoing problem with insomnia has flared up a lot over the last month. Doing laundry or watching ANTM at 3am is not what I would prefer to be doing.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned I gave two of my Precious Moments dolls to Braylee and asked her to take good care of them. Well...below is what she brought to me the other night. Apparently, the doll's fate was a result of a game of Tug of War between Braylee and her closet door. Thankfully, stitching up body parts in part of my job, so I quickly stitched the doll back to good health. I will admit though, I've never had to stitch a head back on before. ;)
I was tagged to share 6 random facts about me, so here goes.

1. I think there was an alien in my house when I was little. You'll just have to ask me about it.

2. I seriously contemplated going to medical school when I was in college, but I knew in my heart my real goal in life was to be a good mommy. I'm so glad I only work 2 days/week!!

3. I grew up on a farm and used to think I'd marry a farmer some day. Guess I was a little off with my suit & tie wearing husband, huh?! ;)

4. Camp Illiana was one of my favorite places growing up...so many many friends and memories made there. One summer, I spent 4 weeks there! Plus, it allowed my faith to grow!

5. I wrecked a car when I was 15, and somehow never got in trouble for it?! Again, you'll just have to ask me about it.

6. Alex and I have struggled with infertility, and I admit there were so many nights of questioning God and crying myself to sleep. But I wouldn't change anything now. God taught me so much about patience and waiting on His perfect timing and also about compassion for my patients who are going through similar situations. I can truly look at a woman who has been trying unsuccessfully or who has had a miscarriage and say I understand.

OK- so now I tag Jay P., Jenelle J., Penny D., Tomi D., and Lynsey G.

(Sorry about all the pictures. Picasa wasn't cooperating with me, so I couldn't put them in a slideshow.)

What an Injustice!

Who would have thought hiring a cleaning lady a few years ago would have made such an impact on my girls?! Now that I'm only working 2 days/week, it seemed a bit silly for me to have a cleaning lady. So, the day before the girls' party was their last day...the little fairies that leave my house so clean and fresh are not scheduled to come back. :( Yesterday, I figured I should get an early start on cleaning. It wasn't long until I had a little audience. Braylee and Brynna planted themselves outside my bathroom and asked question after question. "What's that blue stuff? Do you clean the outside of the toilet too? Hey, I saw that on TV. Does the cleaning lady do it like this? Why do you have those yellow gloves on?" It didn't take long until I realized my little girls are completely clueless about cleaning because they've never seen me do it...well, except vacuuming and the occasional wipe down of the kitchen counters. I snapped a picture of them watching the freshly mopped floor dry. :) I had to call Alex right away and tell him what an injustice I've done to my girls...being a bad mother and not teaching my girls how to clean our home. I'm sure it's just a matter of time until they realize it's not much fun and will be coming up with all kinds of excuses to get out of helping me in the future. Sunday evening, I was busy working on bows when the girls came into the kitchen dressed in Braylee's dance outfits. Braylee was the teacher and Brynna was her new student. It was sooo sweet! (Brittany- You would be so proud of Braylee. I heard "shuffle" several times in her "teaching.") They practiced tap and ballet. ;)




With their birthdays only 2 days apart, it seems hand-me-downs would be key to Brynna's wardrobe. And while we've definitely gotten good use of many of Braylee's old clothes, their difference in builds has made it a bit harder to reuse them. I noticed it today especially. I bought this outfit for Braylee when she was 14 mo. old. (I distinctly remember b/c I had actually bought it as a Christmas present, but the day I purchased it, Braylee threw up red slushy (Thanks, Mamaw!) all over her outfit. So, it became a Thank-goodness-I-just-bought-this-outfit outfit instead of a Christmas gift.) Anyway, so Braylee was wearing it at 14 mo. Here Brynna is at 24 months and it fits quite nicely. Either way, we've gotten double use out of it which I appreciate. I loved the fall weather today! I've loved getting to hear more and more of Brynna's little voice. I'm amazed at how much she is saying and talking about now. Today, the new Pottery Barn Kids catalog came in the mail. Perhaps it was better when she couldn't tell us everything she wants! ;) As she was flipping through the catalog, I heard, "Roar!" (pointing at the shark costume), "spider," "I want that house." (It really is a cute plush doll house!), "I want new chair." (The green one to be exact.), "I want that doll." and lots of "I want that. I want that." She oohed and awed over their amazing kitchen sets too. So, I started asking the girls what they want to put on their Christmas lists. I was pretty impressed with some of Braylee's ideas! I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Santa brings.

Ready for a long one?

This is probably going to be a long post, so get comfy. Saturday (9/20) was the girls' big ladybug party. The day started out wonderfully. We sang Happy Birthday to Brynna and the girls played while I started getting things ready for the party. Some of my family weren't able to attend the party, so they had decided to visit earlier in the day. Aunt Trista arrived early. Braylee opened her gift...a Barbie fishing pole! Braylee had told Aunt Trista several months ago that she wanted to go fishing with her. During the girls' naptime, Trista and I helped Alex set up our gift for the girls...a trampoline! Of course, Trista and I couldn't resist and we tried it out. :) Then, my brother Travis and his family stopped in. The girls opened their gifts from them too...a princess scrapbook kit for Braylee and a Mrs. PotatoHead and accessories for Brynna. Side note: Braylee usually doesn't (even though she can if she thinks about it) put the "s" on the front of a word that starts with an S followed by another consonant. For example, she says things like "tinky" instead of stinky. Anyway, it's quite funny when Braylee says, "Where's my 'crapbook?" Or "Can I work in my 'crapbook?" :) While Travis and Heather were here, we also let the girls see the trampoline! They love it! So, the day was going wonderfully, except by this point, I was beginning to panic because their cake hadn't arrived. The cake is a huge deal for me...like a bride not having a gown on her wedding day. How can you not have a birthday cake at a birthday party?! So...when I realize it's 3:45 and I have NO cake, I start to really panic. And sadly, the more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became... which I let get to me and ruin some of the evening for me. Pathetic, yes, I know. But let me just tell you how cute their cake would have been...it was to be red with black polka dots on the bottom layer and white with little ladybugs crawling on the sides of the top layer...Ribbon borders and a big ladybug on top as the finishing touches. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?! But alas, I resorted to a basic Wal-Mart cake. The truth is...the girls could have cared less and it saved me lots of money, but I was still very disappointed. :( Other than that, the party seemed to go great. The food was yummy, and the girls received loads of gifts. The weather was perfect too. When Brynna decided she was finally ready to open her gifts, we would tell her who the gift was from, she would open it and then take the gift to that person...like she thought it was FOR them instead of FROM them. It was really cute.


Sunday, we helped Sydney celebrate at her Strawberry Shortcake party.


Monday was Braylee's birthday. In the morning, we sang Happy Birthday again and she made another wish. ;) My mom and Trista arrived to join us on our little shopping trip. But first, the girls opened their gifts from Abbie & Max. I'd say Braylee definitely had a fun-filled birthday. At Los Bravos, she chowed down on tacos and chips & salsa, and she received a special bowl of ice cream for her birthday. Then we had their pictures taken. As usual, Braylee modeled and Brynna cried. I am not sure why Brynna refuses to cooperate at portrait studios?! We still caught some cute shots though. Next, on to the carousel! The girls enjoyed free rides and free punching balloons since it was their birthday. Then, the most special part of the day...Braylee made a cat named Lissa at Build-A-Bear. We let her pick everything completely by herself. And goodness, can this girl accessorize! ;) On our way out of the mall, we picked up some sparkly cookies. Yum!


Tuesday, I took the girls for their well checks with the pediatrician. Good news...Miss Brynna had a huge growth spurt!! From Sept 07- March 08, she only gained 1 pound 7 ounces, but in the last 6 months, she has gained 4 pounds 3 ounces! She went from 7% to 29%, so still below average on weight but looking better. And, she's almost in the 50% for height now!! Yeah! So, she was 24 pounds 14 ounces and 33.5 in. In comparison to her sister at age 2, Braylee was 28 pounds and 35.25 in. As for Brynna's exam, everything checked out great except her right ear has fluid again. We decided to hold off on treating it for now. Her language skills have started to flourish! She's become a little jabberbox recently and is right on target for her age. She says 3 and 4 word sentences...complete sentences at that! ;) Her favorite 4 word sentence...I want cookie too! :) Now for Braylee...She continues along the same growth curves she 's been on since birth, 50% for wt and 90% for ht. She weighed 37 pounds and is 41.5 inches. He was very pleased with her development, doing things on a 5-year old level. Braylee seems to fit the "oldest" child persona perfectly.

Wednesday through Friday, I spent at Methodist with my family. Wednesday evening, we just visited with my Gramps, and then we were back over at the hospital at 5am on Thursday to see him before surgery. He had a LVAD (left ventricular assist device) placed...for faithful McDreamy followers, you may have heard of this on Grey's Anatomy. The whole concept is truly amazing. A metal pipe is put into the left ventricle and pulls the blood into a pump (running at 9000 rpms) that goes in a tube that's inserted into the aorta...pumping way more blood to his body than his heart was capable of doing. This device is only FDA approved for temporary use as a bridge to a heart transplant. Unfortunately, Gramps was removed from the transplant list 9 years ago when he no longer met the qualifying criteria. So, this is his last chance. They hope the pump is good for 8 years, but since it's new, they don't really know for sure. Without the pump, he probably wouldn't have made it to Christmas. We are beyond thrilled for him to receive this special gift!! As for the surgery, he came through the surgery fine, but was having lots of bleeding from his chest tubes. It was extremely scary for awhile...when the surgeon stands at the bedside for over an hour, you know it's not good. He had to be taken back to surgery. Around 2am, we were able to see him again and his vitals signs were much more stable. This pump is not pulsatile (earlier pumps were), so he doesn't have a palpable pulse now...really weird! And it makes his pulse pressure really narrow...when his vitals were bad, his blood pressure was running in the low 50s...like 55/50 and 53/48. We were so happy to see them more like 70/66 after the 2nd surgery...but for nurses, doesn't that just look strange?! At one point, I saw a 100/78, but that was the most normal BP I saw. When things were bad, they told us he would need to start dialysis Friday morning and he would be intubated through the weekend. Well, Praise the Lord!! He has yet to need dialysis and he was taken off the ventilator today!! Thank you so much to all of you who called or emailed me while I was there. It's wonderful to know you were all praying for him.

It was nice to be home today and get caught up on things. I missed my girls while I was at the hospital! It was so fun that Brynna was actually able to talk to me on the phone while I was away. :)

Surprise for Sydney

I still haven't edited all of our birthday pictures, but hopefully, I can post about their party by the end of the week. Braylee had a great day at the mall on Monday too...lots of pictures to share. But, the last few days, I've been working on a little surprise for Sydney.

Alex and Tim (Sydney's dad) are cousins and grew up together...same class, same ball teams, etc. To our surprise, we found out we were expecting at the same time! As our pregnancy progressed, we often joked about "what are the chances they'd arrive on the same day." Ta da!! 9.22.04 was the magic day! The girls arrived just 5 hours apart...and have been inseparable ever since. :) They really are a little like "twins"...they bicker like sisters, but they definitely love each other like sisters too. We have so much fun watching them learn and grow together. So, Sydney Rose, this is for you... Happy Birthday!

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Happy Birthday, Princess Braylee!

Today is Miss Braylee's 4th Birthday! We've had a busy birthday weekend, but I still promised her she could choose what we do on her birthday. Just like a true girl, she said, "I want to go shopping... at the mall!" This really translates to "I want to ride the carousel and get a fancy cookie!" She did tell me I can do a little shopping while we're there if I want though. ;)

I still haven't had a chance to upload birthday party pictures yet, but I wanted to share a little about Braylee's birth story and her photo montage. BTW, it's much harder to fit 4 years into one song vs. only 2 years like Brynna's!

I was overdue with Braylee too. We went in for an induction because my blood pressure was up. It was a good thing we went in when we did, because I still ended up with pre-eclampsia. My labor was horrible. I was on mag sulfate, puking, and my head still felt like it would explode from the high BP even on the medicine. The high BP also made my vision blurry, so literally, Braylee's labor and delivery is somewhat of a blur to me. But, it was alllll worth it when Braylee Annelise arrived at 8:45pm on 9.22.04. I didn't even notice her poor leg when they handed her to me...I just kept looking at her beautiful face. But, I guess Alex noticed it right away and Mom says his face was WHITE! Her right knee had gotten hyperextended in utero, so instead of her right leg bending backwards, it was flipped forward...her little foot was up at her belly. This became the least of our worries when we were awoke during the night and told she had stopped breathing numerous times. They moved her to NICU, where she stayed for the next 8 days. They did lots of testing... she had a small hole in her heart, a cephalhematoma on the right side of her head, mild jaundice, and she continued to have apnea spells. The cause of the apnea was sepsis. Praise the Lord, all of these things resolved quickly and we were able to take our little sweetie home. She went home on an apnea monitor and a leg splint for about 2 months. She was feisty in NICU and continues to be feisty today! While she didn't have the most glamorous start to life, she is still our princess. :) Her spunkiness and enthusiasm gets her in trouble at times, but she is such a bright spot in our days. She is soo funny...and thinks she's funny. ;) She's always been a little bit of an over-achiever but gets easily frustrated when things do not go her way (hmm, who does that sound like?!). She is already understanding the truth of God's love and mercy, and I love to hear her pray or recite Bible verses. What really can I say...we love her dearly!

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