Power Outage

Dearest Miracles~

Today is (Great) Uncle David's birthday!  I called him while I was still at work, after I had finished seeing my last patient.  Sounds like he had a great day!  He turned 49 .... next year will be a big celebration!  Ha!  ;-)

Today is also Pearl Harbor Day which is when we remember and honor all those who died in the attack.  On December 7, 1941, America's naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by Japan.  The day after, World War II began with America declaring war on Japan.  

So, little man, you came whimpering into our bedroom at 3:30am this morning.  Daddy went to lay down with you and you both fell back asleep.  At 6am, Grace woke up.  I nursed her and then got ready for work.  :-P

But, before I left, I got to play with you both .... Joshua showed off his stacking cup abilities as I changed Grace.  :-)

You two had fun with Penny today.  You all went to the park, had art time, story time, and nap time.  

We had a short power outage at work this evening.  It was during the last patient of the day, but I was (thankfully) almost done.  :-)  We were able to finish the restoration.  

This evening we all played together.  You two helped me wrap two birthday gifts for my coworkers.  Tomorrow is Hilsy's birthday, and friday is Judy's birthday (and mine!).  I'm going to bring both gifts to work tomorrow.  :-)

Sleep tight little ones!

I love you both so much!  :-)

~Mommy

Crayon Eating

Dearest Joshua David and Grace Elizabeth~

Joshua, you whimpered into our room at 12:30am.  I put you back to bed and then laid down with you.  I fell asleep but then woke up at 4:30am when Grace was hungry.  Daddy changed your diaper and then I nursed you back to sleep. 

Grace, you like to say 'nay nay nay' now.  It's so cute!  I wonder what your first real word will be.  :-)

We all had some play time this morning before getting ready for Joshua's feeding team appointment at Rex Hospital.  I have some clothes in the playroom and Joshua likes to walk around with them like he's playing dress up!  Ha!  There's only scrubs and hats in there!

Joshua, your appointment was at 11am.  We saw Krista and the nurse Nannette.  You ate a lot for Krista on a spoon (finger foods on the spoon) ....  about half a hotdog, some string cheese, some pepperoni pieces, gold fish crackers, and golden grahams.  You showed some growth on the length and weight charts (not a lot for weight, but we're still going to take it). 

They want to start you on cyproheptadine.  This is a decongestant, but the side effect is weight gain, so it should help to increase your appetite.  It's a small dose to begin with and we'll give it to you once a day for the first week.  We'll likely increase it to twice a day after that.  It may make you a little sleepy.  We have another appointment next monday.

Little man, UNC will call me to schedule a 'scope' in January.  Krista still thinks you have things more GI related that perhaps these medications won't completely resolve.  We're going to try these medications this month, but will likely have a scope in January at the hospital to see if you have any inflammation in your GI system.  You'll have to be sedated, so I'm not happy about that, we need to do whatever we have to so that you're comfortable and eating right!  They still think you're having 'pain' from something since you resist the spoon so much.  Also, I've noticed that sometimes to come over and whine when I'm feeding Grace some pureed foods.  Perhaps you think I'm hurting her?  I hope we get this resolved soon though .... I wish you would eat better and gain weight more .... I have no problems gaining weight!  Ha!  ;-)

I nursed Grace in the car after the appointment.  We didn't leave Rex until 1pm.  You two fell asleep in car.  Once home, you two woke up and I was starving!  Finally got a lunch at 2pm.  Everyone was fed with a clean diaper by 2:30pm.  We went upstairs and played.  I put some Christmas music on. 

Late in the afternoon we had lots of art time .... until Joshua ate a crayon!  Ugh!  You bit the top right off!  Luckily you didn't swallow it, but that definitely put an end to art time.  Then, we read a bunch of stories .... Joshua just kept bringing book after book over to me.  We were in his room where he keeps a lot of books.

This evening, you two helped me move the kitchen table and chairs into the living room.  Since we have a rug there, I wanted to protect the remaining floors.  We're already scuffing the kitchen area a little from the chairs.  So, we ate dinner in the living room.  :-)  I tried cleaning the marks off the floor as you two were playing.  We made a quick pizza for dinner.

Once daddy got home, we went to the play room and watched the UNC basketball game! We won!  :-)

Tomorrow's another work day so Penny will be here!

Sleep tight you two!

I love you both!  :-)

~Mommy

Our Band

Dearest Blessings~

Little lady .... I changed and then nursed you at 2:20am.  I was so tired.  It was only a few days ago that I had to wake you just to nurse you.  What's going on with the 2am nursing sessions now?  :-P

We only had a little bit of time to play this morning.  Joshua has a feeding team appointment at Rex on tuesday, so we have occupational therapy and speech therapy today.  Our first appointment was at 9:30am with Mary Beth.  You did really well little man!  You went on the swing, used play doh, did puzzles, went all over the crash cushions, went through the tunnel .... you are really showing signs of improvements!  I'm so proud of you!

We made a quick trip to Target between the appointments.  I had to get some birthday gifts for some coworkers.  One assistant has a birthday on the 8th and another has one on the 9th (like me!).  :-)

Our next appointment was at 11:30am for Kim and speech therapy.  We were back at the office by 11am and I nursed Grace in the car before going back inside.  Joshua, you didn't do as well with the PECS pictures as you have in the past.  But, you did make noises and sign for Kim.  You're moving your lips like you want to say thing .... if only we could turn on your vocal chords!  ;-)

We were home by 12:30pm.  You two ate a small lunch.  I'm starting Grace on a water sippy cup so she can practice.  You're a big girl now so you don't need to be on the bottle anymore.  We can start to transition you to a sippy cup.  :-)

This afternoon we did a lot of laundry and listened to Christmas music.  You all played together.  Grace, you took a little nap this afternoon after nursing.  I read to Joshua since he did not want to take a nap.  :-P  Once everyone was awake, you two helped me fold laundry and we had more Christmas music on.  Woo hoo! 

Once the laundry was done, I decided to switch out my mandolins.  I've had the acoustic out for a while and wanted to play with a different one.  I put the acoustic away and took out my 5 string electric mandolin.  This was my birthday gift from last year!  I put Joshua on the ukelele and Grace on the toy keyboard.  We made quite a band!!  Joshua kept wanting to play with all the instruments though .... he must want to be a solo artist.  :-P  We'll keep practicing! 

Joshua, you had a really good dinner this evening.  You ate pieces, of cheese, cheerios, lots of crunchies crackers, lots of golden graham cereal, some tater tots, and part of a cookie!  Way to go little man!  I hope your feeding appointment goes well tomorrow!  

Sleep tight little ones!

I love you both!  :-)

~Mommy

Chocolate Pie And Casserole

Dearest Angels~

Joshua, you woke up early and whimpered into our room.  Daddy laid down with him and fell back asleep in his bed.  Grace, you slept in your crib!  But, you woke at 3:20am.  I nursed you back to sleep and then we stayed in my bed together.  :-)

We did lots of chores this morning!  We vacuumed the baseboards to get all the dust from the installation of the new floors downstairs.  I also vacuumed some cobwebs that were on the ceiling and scattered about.  Daddy cleaned the master bathroom.  We did laundry and swept the downstairs.  You two helped organize the play room.  

I gave Grace a bath by lunch time and placed more aquaphor on her skin.  Little lady, your skin is looking a lot better!  Woo hoo!  :-)

You two helped make a potato puff casserole during lunch.  We're going to have it for dinner, so all we needed to do was heat it up this afternoon.  :-)

We all met Grandpa Jim at the rug place a little after 1pm.  We decided to get the rug we saw yesterday that was a great price for the size.  It's not the 'best' quality, but it'll be fine for us since we're anticipating spills and traffic on it.  ;-)  We also got a padding to place under the rug to help protect the hardwoods.  This rug will go in the living room.  We'll take our time with the rest of the rooms. 

Joshua, you had some art time with daddy when we got home.  We put the new rug out.  We were intending to keep it rolled up to let the floors cure longer, but Grace was playing with the ties.  So, we decided to unroll it since the ties weren't child friendly.  :-P  It looks nice though!  :-)

Our potato puff casserole was a hit for dinner!  Joshua even ate a little bit!  And, we had a homemade chocolate pie for dessert!  We got the recipe from Great Grandma .... it was so good! 

We all relaxed this evening and caught up on some television, since we didn't have it on earlier in the day.  Tomorrow will be busy in the morning.  Joshua, you have occupational therapy at 9:30am and then speech therapy at 11:30am.  

Sleep tight little ones!

I love you both!

~Mommy

Rugs

Dearest Angels~

Little man, you whimpered at 5:30am this morning.  I put you back in bed and then fell asleep next to you.  Then, little lady, I woke back up at 6:45am in some pain.  You slept the whole night and I was leaking!  I went back into my bedroom and started to nurse you.  You were still sleeping .... so I nudged you awake to relieve the pain!  Oh, you were in our bed all night.  :-P

We all got ready this morning to meet Mimi at a carpet place for the new downstairs.  We need to place something down there to protect the new floors.  But, we don't want to place something too soon since the floors still need to cure a little longer.  Before we had to leave though, we had some time to play.  We were in the bonus room and daddy played some banjo for us!  :-) 

We met Mimi when the rug place opened at 10am.  We saw some rugs that daddy and I both liked, so now it just comes down to our budget.  We know things will eventually be spilled on them, so we don't need anything too fancy.  :-P  We were able to find a rug for the living room that was 11' by 8' .... which would fit .... and it was a great price!  Daddy and I are going to 'sleep on it' and then decide what to do.  I called Grandpa Jim this evening, and he's available tomorrow if we need his help with the truck.

Afterward, we went to Bell's Carpet and got a carpet remnant for under our kitchen table.  They need to cut it down to size, so hopefully we'll have that by next weekend.  We keep scratching the new floors with the table and chairs, so we definitely need something soon!

We were back at the house by noon to watch the UNC basketball game.  Ugh!  We lost by one point!  So heart breaking!  Plus, we were leading for the majority of the game, so daddy and I were mad.  :-P

Grace, you're starting to really stand by yourself for a few seconds .... until you realize what's going on!  I got a picture of you standing next to daddy.  :-)

We made another trip this afternoon once people were settled.  We checked out some more rugs at Lowes, just to see what else is out there and how much they are.  Then, we went to Target for some groceries.  Joshua, you ate 2.5 cookies!  ;-)

This evening, we all relaxed in the play room.  We caught up on some movies and had art time.

Sleep tight little ones!

I love you both!

~Mommy

Av

Dearest Precious Gifts~

Little man, you whimpered a little before 6am into our room.  I laid down with you and we both fell asleep.  By 6:45am daddy was changing Grace and then I nursed her.  Wow!  You really slept .... but you were in our bed again.  That's such a 'catch-22' .... you're not learning to put yourself to sleep, but at least you're sleeping!  :-P

You two helped me do chores this morning.  We did lots of laundry.  Then, I called and refilled Joshua's prescription for the prevacid.  I still haven't heard about the second prescription yet.  The nurse at UNC never called me back even though I have left several messages.  This is so frustrating.  Joshua, you have another appointment next week, so I guess we'll see what they say then.

You all helped me unload and then reload the dishwasher.  Oh, I cur Grace's nails .... you gave yourself a big cut on the nose over the night.  We saw it this morning.  Little lady, you look like you've been in a fight!  :-P

By mid morning, we were having play and music time in the bonus room.  I put some Christmas music on for us to listen to.  :-)   Joshua and I had art time together.  First, we drew with markers.  Then, we colored with crayons.  I'm not as good as daddy .... he's the real artist .... but you didn't seem to mind!  :-)

After lunch we played in Joshua's room.  I took pictures of you all playing with the books and crawling around on Joshua's bed.  I'm trying to focus for now on just using the 'Av' (aperture-priority) mode on the camera.  If I take some time on just using one mode for a while, I'll better understand all the uses and functions of the camera.  So, for now, we're going 'Av'!  We'll stay on Av for a while and only take pictures in that mode.  Then, when we're comfortable, we'll change to a different mode.  :-)

I rested when you two napped.  I nursed Grace to sleep when Joshua started to sleep.  We had leftovers for dinner and Joshua ate a lot!  ;-)

After daddy got home, we all played in the bonus room.  Joshua, you did more art time with daddy and I.  You love to draw with markers and crayons!

Sleep tight little ones!

I love you both!

~Mommy

Let The Celebrations Begin

Dearest Miracles~

Woo hoo!  It's december!  Do you know what that means?  It's my birthday month .... let the celebrations begin!  Yippie!  ;-)

Joshua, you woke up at 5:30am this morning.  I went into your room and laid down next to you until my work alarm went off at 6am.  Little lady, I actually had to wake you just so I could nurse you before going to work!  You haven't slept that long in so long that I was leaking through my shirt! 

You two had fun with Penny today!  And, you two ate well for her too!  Penny made a special note about you two ....

"This morning we did music and dance time.  Grace worked on turning around in a circle.  Joshua is beginning to correct himself on how he holds a marker .... good for him!  With block play, I saw more and more good interaction between brother and sister.  She is cruising very well and will stand for a few seconds.  Story time was 'Goodnight Moon', 'The Dog Book', 'The Kisses Book', and 'Hush Little Baby' book."

Wow!  I'm so proud of you two getting along so well!  Oh, Grace, your back and shoulders looks like their starting to clear up a little.  You still have eczema patches, but I think the aquafor lotion is helping.  

I felt Grace's tooth this evening with my finger as we were playing around .... you bit me little lady!  I don't get bit at work all day, and then come home and get bit!  Ha!  ;-)

We had a hard staff meeting today at work, little children.  This economy is hitting the Community Health Centers and their funding.  Our organization, Wake Health Services, is forced to make some cut backs .... we're going to lose two employees in Dental at the end of the year.  :-(  It was hard news for us all.  It got me to thinking that I'm so thankful I have a job!  There are so many people out there now who don't, or are under-employed.  Thankfully, daddy and I have jobs so we can keep providing for you two!  I said a little prayer this evening for the two people we'll be losing .... I hope they're able to find something.

Sleep tight little ones!

I love you both so much!

~Mommy