Trip To Emie and Addie's

Even with gas prices as they are, we ventured to PA this memorial day weekend. What a beautiful weekend to spend with the family. We got to meet the latest member of our family, "baby Addie". Isn't she a cutie? Bella was a bit smitten with her and is already asking for her.

Lily found a new love: dressing up, she wore that purple dress and the pink princess shoe everyday-literally. Today Lily wanted to play dress up (we don't own dress up clothes). So Lily came down wearing her black sparkle shoes and butterfly underwear (that's the best she could find). They all gave us "concerts" on Emie's mini piano. It was very cute. Lily 'played' the wonder pets theme song and Bella 'played' eieio.

We got to visit Great Grandma Ayres, aka "daddy's grandma", who has a booboo on her arm. There was a bit of a discussion about why she couldn't take that thing off her arm. Grandma was in her usual joyful spirits. Lily seemed fond of her and Bella warmed up relatively quickly. I think her pink bracelet and pretzels won the girls over quickly.

We also went to the Pittsburgh Zoo. This was a special treat even for the adults. We are used to the Beardsley Zoo, which is more local wild animals (wolves, deer, bears, farm animals...) but PA has lions, rhinoceros, giraffes, elephants, gorillas, zebra, polar bears, the list goes on. It was really neat. The timing was alittle off with naps and all so we breezed through the last half. But it was a fun outing.

It was a great weekend. The drive wasn't too bad either. We learned that Lily needs to get up and move around every 2 hours and eating 2 go-gurts before driving 8 hours, isn't a good idea:) On the way home, we heard a cute conversation between the girls about reading books and when we turned around we saw this...

A few more pictures from the weekend:

Thanks Uncle Mark and Auntie Marlo!

Bella's Goals

Me: Bella, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Bella: ME!

Lily's Goals

Me: Lily, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Lily: A butterfly
Me: Oh
Lily: or a Kitty Cat
Me: Oh
Lily: or a Princess Doctor
Me: What should I be when I grow up?
Lily: A Ladybug
Me: that's interesting
Lily: or a mommy butterfly, bella is going to be a baby butterfly and I'll be the sister butterfly.
Me: what about daddy?
Lily: He'll be the daddy butterfly.

And last night Lily told me she wanted to go to Africa next weekend. I guess Pittsburgh and Africa are similar?

Lily's Surgery

Lily woke up this morning in good spirits, which was nice. She wasn't anxious at all and was actually looking forward to the 'bubble gum mask'. She went through the surgery well. It turns out she had two hernias, a bigger one and smaller one, so the doctor cut the connective tissue between to make one big hole. Unfortunately, this will make recovery alittle more uncomfortable for her but it was the only way to repair them both.

Recovery was supposed to be one hour and around us kids were waking up and heading home but Lily wasn't responding well to the anesthetic. She slept on and off for 5 hours. Waking up several times in fits of rage. The first time was the scariest because the tube in her mouth irritated her throat and she was having trouble breathing. Actually her lips were white and she was rolling around trying to catch her breath but couldn't, it was very scary. Eventually she was better and went back to sleep. She woke up several more times in rages. I can't really explain it but they said it happens in either 1% or 10% of kids. They're delerious and in pain but can't be comforted. She calmed down when Tom would lay on the bed with her, which he gladly did many times. Eventually she got a good long rest and woke up, looked at me and said, "mom you can't talk with things on your mouth". Our old Lily was back. I think she was remembering me in the O.R. with a mask on telling her to breath and make mountains. Anyways, it was another hour after that and finally we headed home, 6 hours later than expected. Our nurse, Kim, was fantastic and gave lily a puppy dog toy for being so brave. She was very comforting and helpful to me when rage moments came on us. I was afraid all this scarred my sweet girl and turned her into a monster. But she's back to her old ways and doesn't seem to remember those raging moments except to say she was alittle upset. Praise the Lord.

We are home and she is having alot of discomfort at the site. She is eating and drinking, but complains that it hurts too much when she sits. We were also told that she has enlarged tonsiles and should have them looked at. That seemed to be the cause of all the problems because kids with that condition don't sleep restfully and so she was waking up before her body was ready to. And the tube in her throat irritated them, causing them to enlarge more and thus hard to breath. They so nicely informed us (between rages) that she'd probably have to have them removed. I said maybe when she's 30.

Some of you have asked about Poke-A-Dot Puppy, who was scheduled for a hernia repair too. Well, there was a miraculous healing, mainly because the doctors were less willing to play our reindeer games this time around. He went in with lily and got to try the 'bubble gum' mask because Lily was alittle scared. But other than that they didn't have time to pretend, Lily wanted to know why he didn't get a check up and I said God healed him.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. We felt God's comforting presence during all this and give Him much praise for helping her recover and giving us peace through the whole process.
Our love to all,
Tiffany & Tom

Pre-O.R. room Lily dancing away the gitters

Mommy reading away the gitters Daddy drawing way the gitters

Time to go in

The Run Down May 14 2008

Lily

Age: 3

Wt: 31lbs

Ht: na

Sizes: 3T/8shoes

Likes: Dolphins, digging for worms, playing chase, sliding, picking flowers, the beach, school, dinosaurs, Timmy and princess shoes

Dislikes: Monsters, Bees and giving kisses

Fav Color: PINK

Fav Food: Peanut Butter and Jelly-No Crust and Chocolate Milk

Fav Movie: Toy Story and Surfs Up

Fav Toy: Poke-A-Dot Puppy

Latest Changes: suddenly likes wearing dresses and being a princess, taking short naps and typing her name on the computer.

Current Style Trend: Stripped Dress, Blue Tank Top w/ hearts and Black Sparkle Shoes (see photo)

Lily has a sweet spirit and caring heart. Although she's been known to hit without warning and put mommy in timeouts. She is growing into her big sister role and enjoys letting Bella know who's the boss (and it's not Angela or Tony). Her exploring nature has gone to the dirt, literally. She loves digging for worms and finding them new inappropriate homes (like trees). She is excited to plant some flowers in the back ("with Bella and Mommy") after we seal the deck and railing-some day.

Bella

Age: 18 months

Wt: na

Ht: na

Size: 18 months/4shoes

Likes: Fitting shapes into holes (especially circles with Nana), playing in the sand, helping put the dishes away, playing with Lily and Timmy, birds, airplanes (aka "copter") and real babies (especially Ian's twins from Lily's school)

Dislikes: Being told No

Fav Books: Bear Snores On (aka "Aaachoooo") and 10 Apples Up On Top (aka "On Top")

Fav Food: Pizza and Fruit

Fav Toy: Baby dolls

Latest Changes: Talks even more than ever, likes blackberries, timeouts are now a reality,

Newest Word: Yesterday after Tom sneezed she said clear as day 'Bless You' and today she shocked me by pointing out a letter "B" (I'm not sure who taught her either of those)

Bella amazes us everyday. She talks so much and seems to pick things up very easily. She is fascinated by the world and loves being out in it. Her innocence is refreshing (yesterday she picked up a dying (?) bee not realising the disaster that could have followed). These days so many kids experience things that most adults couldn't handle. I'm grateful to God that my girls can just be kids, exploring and wondering without a care.

Mother's Day

Tom and I were on nursery duty this week. We spent the morning entertaining 10 toddlers under 2. We had one escape artist and one sippy cup bandit, but no major meltdowns. VICTORY! Its nice that acting like a goof is considered high entertainment for toddlers because we both do that well. Despite the job well done, I do not have any desire for another. I was a happy camper when 11:15 came. Bella was quite the socialite that day, which was a nice change from the clinger. Lily decided that she'd rather be in her 'big girl class' than play with baby toys with mommy and daddy. They got to plant flowers for their moms and somehow Miss Sonia kept all the kids clean. I shouldn't be surprised with four boys, she has lots of experience.

Lunch was the usual Subway Sunday-no kangaroo sightings today.

The afternoon was spend at our house, moving our furniture back into place. Not a small task but we cranked it out. We were invited to a mother's day brunch with some friends from church and I'm sure it was wonderful, but I'm glad to be sleeping in my own bed.

The girls had lots of fun playing with Timmy and helping Auntie garden. Bella's present for Nana was a duck for her garden and there was a big to do about where he should go. A flat rock in the shade was decided to be the ideal location.

Along with some dumbbells and flowers, I got a beautiful, pink sapphire ring for a gift. It was a combo mother's day and yeah Bella was born gift. When Bella has her first child she will get this ring; I expect to enjoy it for 30 more years. Considering I usually ask for dumbbells or potholders, a beautiful ring was beyond expectation and now I'm a 'beautiful princess' according to Lily.

cute things I heard last week

"I need a volunteer from the audience"-Lily(she wanted someone to read to her)

"Apple Muscles, Apples Muscles"-Bella (when she woke up she sang this over and over)

"Yeah, Lucy" (clap clap clap)-Bella (when ever Bella sees our dog, Lucy, do something like jump off a bed, walk down the stairs, eat a bone, come inside...)

"Bye Lie Lie Friend"-Bella (when we were leaving Lily's school)

"That's not a monster, that's your shadow"-Lily to Bella (I had the brillant idea of putting the two in the same room one night...they chatted for 2 hours(lots of cute stuff was said). Sister bonding...but at 10:30pm...not so cute anymore)

"Lakie, Lakie" (Bella) "I'm not Yucky!" (Lily) (A regular conversation between bella and lily as we drive to my mom's house. My mom lives on a lake so everytime we pass the lake Bella gets excited and exclaims "lakie"(lake) but obviously Lily always thinks she is saying "yucky")

"Otter is so excited that Timmy is coming over....if Timmy takes Otter I'll be cranky." -Lily

"Lucy is petting herself...that's so nice of you Lucy"-Lily (Lucy was scratching her ear)

My mom was singing "rain rain go away" and lily said "But it won't stop!" in this tone like, why are you bothering to sing to the rain, it's not gonna listen.

I love my kids!

This Week in Review

It doesn't seem possible that it's only been a week since we went to Yale/New Haven, but it has. We found out on Monday Lily does have to have surgery on her hernia. She doesn't know what's going on and maybe she really won't ever understand until it happens. I'm still nervous, but I know it's a common, easy surgery and am trying to trust God through all of this. The doctor was very nice and checked out Poke-a-Dot Puppy, yes that's his name. Apparently he has a hernia too and needs surgery too. So he and Lily will be able to recover together. Unfortunately, Poke-a-Dot Puppy has gone missing so Pink Cat was a substitute but now Pink Cat is missing, I'm waiting to see who is called up to the front line next.

We've had several 'messes' this week. One day, almost all of our spices were dumped on the couch, for a beauty treatment, of course. Lily was rather cleaver in that she came into the bed and snuggled with me and told me cute stories, aka stalling. When it was time to 'get the day started' we got to the end of the hall and she said, "don't look" and tried to cover my eyes.

Two days later, we had the rest of the spices, mixed in with butter and pancakes. This time it was just a mess, no beauty treatment excuses. That day I was also greeted by an overflowing sink, apparently Lily was trying to wash off the buttery mess herself. Of course the door was closed so I just assumed the rain was really pouring down outside. That seems to be the best solution to a 3 year old, if I don't see it, it's not happening. Because the tiles and vanity were never sealed together the water poured (yes, literally) into the basement. Lily exclaimed "our house cracked open" and basically it did.
We got another ridiculous A/C quote this week, but it was accompanied by 1 hour and 30 minutes of blah blah blah. Actually the meeting was very informative, but when it comes down to it, all we care about initially is cost. So fans it is.

This weekend was supposed to be full of concerts, Tom and I were going to see Switchfoot and Lily and Timmy were going to see Max and Ruby, but I blanked on buying tickets, so we moved furniture instead. Our floors are being refinished this week. Lily said she's angry about it because she doesn't want her house messed up. Completely understandable.