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.

A Typical Week

Sorry this is a long one...enjoy the picture first:)

We told them it was naptime is this is where they decided to sleep!

On Monday, my mom watched the girls so I could grocery shop. I forgot how wonderfully fantastic it is to shop without kids. No little hands sticking out of the cart knocking jars off the shelves. No whining about wanting a special treat. No struggling to find room to put food in the cart (around the kids). No toddler-style arguments. No one ripping my list. No discussions about what that vegetable is and why it isn't "disgusting." It was great. Then the girls and I went to get plants and sandbox sand from home depot, that was an adventure. "I want to ride in the car one"(Bella pointed too "Carrrrr!") "Why do we need sand?" (Bella echoing "Sand Sand Sand") "I don't like those flowers." (Flower Flower Flower) "Look a turtle."(Turtle turtle turtle) "What's that guy doing?" "Bella's pushing me." "ahhhh" "I want those ones" and then finally "we are going home" (said by me, Bella said "no", I said, "YES").

On Tuesday, Santa Fuel came to give us an estimate on central A/C installation. I was surprised the people who deliver our 3.99/gal oil, also install A/C, clean chimneys and a host of other things. Apparently the oil industry isn't lucrative enough?! Bella and Lily were not happy about this man coming to our house. And after the estimate, neither were Tom and I. No central A/C this year. We went to the library after. I have mixed emotions about the library. Lily loves it and gets the idea of sitting and listening and being quite. Bella, who normally loves sitting and reading books, turns into a crazy banchy when we get there. She was running all over the place, knocking books over, as we were getting ready to leave the librarian said to her (jokingly, but maybe not) 'no screeching please.' We'll continue to go, but my nerves are usually fried after. I went and plucked weeds when the girls napped, good stress reliever.

On Wednesday, Lily had her first day back to school after vacation. I'm pretty sure she didn't realize that she hadn't gone to school in over a week. She is always excited to see her friends in the morning talking about them on the way to school and pointing to anyone she sees as we are driving up. But once we are at her classroom door, waiting to go in, she gets shy and hides between my legs. I still haven't figured out what the issue is. She tells me she just "gets alittle shy." She perks up a few minutes later and is dancing around making faces with Nora or Henry or whoever else will join in her antics. But that first initial meeting is too much for her. Actually she did that today when we saw Uncle Ryan. She didn't want to talk to him at first but then warmed up. Maybe I haven't taught her a social skill? Anyways, while Lily was at school I had to get blood work done. So Bella and I went to do that. She was very friendly in the waiting room, as usual. Smiling at people, waving hello, saying bye bye. Then the nurse called my name and Bella frowned. Actually the nurse came out and saw I had a baby and looked at her chart, I think she was afraid she had to draw blood from her (not a fun task-we've done that a few times already). I told Bella, "this if for mommy, not you" which seemed to help, and the nurse looked relieved too. But when I sat down in the chair Bella's sad look returned like, "mommy what are they doing to you?" I don't care to get my blood drawn and so I'm sure my facial expressions weren't helping, we were both glad when it was over.

On Thursday, we had a play date with Miriam and Silvia from church. They all had a good time on the playground. Well, Silvia isn't even 6 months old, so she had a good time sleeping in her mom's arms. This particular park had three different playgrounds and Lily's courage really shined that day. We used to have to walk around with her and help her. But she was climbing all over the place and exploring different areas by herself and then would come down the slide all by herself, VICTORY! Bella thinks she is three and tries to do what they do so she needed constant supervision. She did finally figured out how to go down the slide without falling backward, VICTORY! We had a picnic then headed home for naps, we all took a nap that day. That night Amber, who lives next door, and her cousins came over to play with Lily, Bella and Timmy. They taught them freeze tag and now we have to play it all the time. There are special Lily rules about going under a tree and who chases who and unfortunately she doesn't get tired too quickly. Bella likes to play too, but doesn't follow the rules.

On Friday, Lily had school again and Bella and I went home to start cleaning off the deck. I had a brilliant idea of pressure washing the deck for Tom. Bella was really cute. I took her broom outside and she helped me sweep and pick up the leaves and dirt. She helped me carry the bucket to the dump site and we threw the leaves onto the pile. She said, "mess" and I said, "well, that area is supposed to be a mess," and she responded, "MESS!" I guess we have to keep our clippings pile neater. While the girls napped I started the process of power washing. I actually had fun doing it. Lily came out and danced around on the clean part and swept alittle but eventually her patience wore thin and she wanted me to be done. I had been doing it for a few hours, checking once in awhile for Bella, but never heard her. When we went in I heard her singing "up, up, up." It was really funny. I'm still curious how long she was up there singing. After dinner, the girls and I went to get ice cream so Tom could finish and it looks like a new deck. I was hoping to seal it this weekend, all the weather reports I saw said Sunny and Warm all weekend. But last night it all changed to rain and cooler. So I think the sealing will have to wait until next weekend. Oh and Bella loves ice cream, talk about mess!

Today Lily and I painted our nails hot pink with sparkles. Lily's favorite color is pink. It was blue but suddenly changed to pink and she'll let you know if you forget. Bella wanted her nails done too but she didn't get the concept of "no touch" so she cried a lot while Lily and I did ours. It has been a fun week. And Tom and I are rewarding ourselves by having date night tonight. T-minus 30 minutes.

Lily's Stories

Lily loves reflecting on her life. Going to sleep or riding in the car seem to be her most inspirational times. She'll talk about trips we took, games we played, scary things that happened, and such. Of course, everything happens "last weekend" even if it hasn't happened yet or was just that morning.

Recently, I've heard these:

"Last weekend you are going to get some beds. You are going to move the big bed into my room and we are all going to snuggle to sleep, won't that be fun? I can't wait."
explanation: Tom keeps promising Lily that she can have our bed when we get a new one. Apparently, she didn't understand that we are getting a new one of our own to sleep in.

"Remember when that girl came and we were walking and then we hopped and then we had lunch and then we got some prizes and then we had to go home because I was cranky? That was fun."
explanation: My cousin, Victoria (4 years old), visited us this week. We went to the zoo.

"After I take a nap we are going to do chalk and bubbles and then daddy is going to come home and kill the bugs. I like to get cozy in my bed and then I put my arms out like this (takes arms out and puts them on top of the covers), but I get cold and but them under like this. That's the end of my story. You come in four minutes. Okay."

"Remember when Bella was in time out for hitting and she kept getting out and I said, 'you stay in time out' (shaking her finger). Remember that?"

"When daddy comes home we are going to eat dinner, then take a bath, then watch Max & Ruby, then have a snack, then read stories, then go to sleep and you come in four minutes...right?"
note: this one happens almost everyday.

There are so many more cute ones, but these are all I can think of (most of them happened today).