Saturday..

The sun was shining and it wasn't that cold outside so I bundled the girls up and we took a walk to our neighborhood park. It was nice because we were the only ones there and they girls got to explore their favorite place. It's been months since we've been to the park. It was fun to see how much they've grown since the last time we were here. I didn't have to worry as much because their gross motor skills have definately matured. They played on the swings and the slide, hid underneath and ran around. Once we were done with the park (it started to feel cold), we went around the corner to visit Daddy at work. The girls held my hand on the way to see Daddy but on the way home they wanted to hold each others hands so I walked behind. I was so cute watching them walk together.




We went home and I got the girls a snack and some milk and then they went down for a nap. At 2 I picked Donald up from work and we headed the hour to the dealership. Once there, we had to pick out a car to test drive. We immediately chose the Fiesta. The Fiesta was popular in the 70's but faded away. This year, Ford revamped it and it's the "new" car. I loved it, Donald loved and the payments were perfect. We traded in our Elantra and we thought we were good to go. However, I didn't realize that I forgot the title so I had to write a check for the trade in value of the Elantra and give it to them. They have a very large check. I'm going to bring in the title on Tuesday but now I have to get out of work. I have to be at work so we'll see what that is going to bring. Anyway, we got to bring our car home and it only took 6 hours. Heres some pics I took tonight.

Katie..

Katies Child-Study Team called and they wanted to schedule a meeting with us to start her transition into the public school system. A bus will come pick her up the town I work in (where she goes to DC) and bus her to the public school in our town then bus her back.

So for 3-4 hours I won't know where she is. She's my baby and she will of just turned 3. Then came the irrational fear that once she turns 3 and her therapy stops, she won't get the help she needs and she will fall behind again. UGH

The good news is I talked to her Occupational Therapist today and she said she didn't think she'd need additional therapy. She said that even though she showed regression last week she showed a lot more progress this week. She also said that she may need the speech therapy but being that she's only had 2 sessions in over a month, she thought that maybe once they got more consistent with her sessions, she would be doing much better.

So we turned down the offer to continue therapy in the public school and will end Early Intervention therapies in July. I hope this was the right decision. I want Katie to have every advantage possible in life, not spend it fighting to keep up.

Ramblings ..

My friend called me this morning and told me she needed to try the "Retail Therapy" I'm always telling her to do. When Don came home from work, she was outside waiting for me. I didn't do too bad. I bought 2 shirts and 2 bras and some unmentionables :). She said she felt better so my job is done.

My diet isn't going so well. I try but I'm not very good about dieting in the winter. I am still working out and dancing with the kids but if you aren't eating right, it isn't going to happen. I'm going to try to be strict this week.

We were going to get our new car today but the snow put a damper on our plans but I called the sales guy and he said he will let us use todays special for next weekend. He said he had several different versions of the car we wanted, we just had to come and pick it out. I hope no one goes and gets it before us. Right now it's between a silver one or a red one. The packages are different so we'll see what we want. The car is the 4 door sedan Ford Fiesta. It is so cute haha.

~ A quick update on Katie and Early Intervention~

Katie has been getting OT for a few weeks now and has been improving but at her last appt she showed regression. During this last session, she laid on the floor face down and wouldn't move. She wouldn't follow any oral directions. I went in and tried to get her to at least get off the floor and she started crying in my arms. I told her I wanted her to play with Ms. Isabel and she ran from me across the room screaming. I left and the OT took her back to her room. She has another session this Wednesday so we are hoping she will start showing progress again.

Her speech therapist saw her once and became ill and had to go on disability so we have another therapist but after one meeting with her, she went on vacation for two weeks, so Katie has had 2 speech sessions in over a month. The therapist did say she would make up some of the missed session with her doing 2 a week. Since Katie doesn't have issues saying words, we are going to work on some sounds that she is missing but the sounds aren't really age appropriate. We are more concerned with her ability to process what she's being told. Also, the therapist notices that she sticks her bottom jaw out so she will be unable to make sounds like the "F" sound as long as she does that. She said we should talk to a dentist

Spending the afternoon in bloggerville :)

My mom and the girls Video chat through yahoo. It's very cute. Karly is more into it than Katie is. I don't force it. She will join when she's ready.

We went today and we went during the girls naptime instead of doing what I usually do and that's plan the day around naptime. She passed out quickly about 3 on the way home. I do love that they still want and need their naptime. (not to mention mommy still LOVES that they take a nice long nap on the weekends :) )

Karly didn't make it through lunch. She ate her lunch and drank her "soda" (watered down ice tea, unsweetened) but at M&M time, she kind of gave up.

Both girls have colds. I'm curious to see how sick they get now that they've had the surgeries. Fingers crossed that it stays just a runny nose and cough. No. Fevers. Please.

Aside from playing "It Girl" and "Cityvill" on FB, I've been reading blogs and doing nothing. I think I pulled my hamstring so getting up makes me cringe. It really hurts and has for the last two days so while the girls are sleeping, I'm not doing anything.

We went to my friends birthday party last night and half way through she made an announcement: She's having another baby.

Don't get me wrong. I'm really happy for her. I know what a miracle each and every baby is and I appreciate that. However, I would love to mother another. Really, really would. I want another baby and I can't. It doesn't help that my cycle is crazy this month and I'm two weeks late. Donald asked me to take a pregnancy test and I did but seeing the stark white window where the line should of been was a little heartbreaking because I know there is no way I'll ever just get pregnant and say "guess what? I'm pregnant!" For me to have another baby it would cost $$$$$ we don't have and lots of needles and meds and drs appts and u/s's and early mornings driving for more tests ...

I know how blessed I am that I have my girls and I shouldn't be this way but I can't help the big green monster that tries to come out when I hear that someone is having a baby. I have two baby showers coming up and now hers. Three people that I see on a daily basis are having babies and it's hard. Okay vent over haha.

V Day and stuff :)

Karly has a new habit, to stand directly in front of the tv. This is her spot. You have to constantly remind her to sit down. She's becoming addicted to Toy Story (here she's watching Nemo) but she will ask to watch tv all day and will stand here all day if we let her. She is definately her daddys daughter. She has been doing very well since her surgery. She has a runny nose right now but she is still feeling good, has a good appetite and over all seems well.

Katie has been doing well also. She has a cough and a runny nose but no fever and seems to be feeling okay. She has been a bit sassy and her attitude definately shows haha. She tells us she is a ballerina and a princess. I can't argue with that because she is my little princess. Next year I hope to enroll her into dance classes.
My lil' Valentines. I love them so much. It is so great to have them feeling well and back to life.

This is Katie on the playground at school. She loves running around so I never get a pic of her face but she has a great time.

About two minutes after this photo, Karly fell out of the bumblebee hitting her face on the black top. I grabbed her, comforted her then gave her to her teacher so she could take her to the nurse. The nurse called me in my room to tell me she had an abrasion on the side of her face along with a bump and a cut. All day today she kept telling me how she fell out of the bumblebee and hurt her face.

We scheduled our vacation. It's 3 months and one week away. I'm so excited to be going home. We were going to make other plans for a side trip but the people we were going to see have written us off so we don't know now and don't seem to want to engage in any conversation so that's a major bummer because I was really looking forward to it.

My mom wants us to stay with her a few days. I know she is setting up for us and that's great but I LOVE staying with my grandma. I love her home and I feel so good when I'm there because that is truly my home. I will stay with my mom if she has the room at least for a few days.

I'm just so excited. And we've been looking for a new car. We want to lease. I've looked at several cars so we will see. Monday we are going to look at the Ford Fiesta. Is affordable, very affordable. We'll see.

Surgery Day

Today was the big day.

We heard over the weekend that there was going to be a nice little winter storm headed our way and could possibly affect our drive Wednesday morning. After much thought and repeat weather checks, we decided to book a hotel and stay close to the Hospital so we were sure to make it safely . Our hotel was 1.5 miles from the hospital. Perfect location. We checked in at 9pm, girls were bathed and dressed for bed while we were at home so they were already prepared for bed. It took about an hour to get them to settle down and go to sleep but when we did, this is what we go :)

We got up at 4:30 am. I fell asleep sometime after midnight, yes I was anxious. Donald got up around 3 to check on the weather. Ice everywhere. We departed at 5:15 and had to be at the hospital at 6:15. We arrived a little after 6. Did I mention we were 1.5 miles away from the hospital? I'm so glad we decided to stay at the hotel. The girls checked in and registered. Katies surgery was at 7:15 and Karlys was at 8. Our times were delayed by an hour so we had to hang out in the play room. The girls had a blast. They were the only little ones. The other children were older and stayed in their rooms. I guess they didn't know the room contained a Wii and daddy and the girls had a great time.

Two hour is a long time to wait and we got bored while running around in the playroom (tough gig) so we headed back to our room and watched some Dora and Umizoomi. They were getting hungry and cranky and they only wanted mommy. So we sat cuddled together until they called us back. Daddy was able to snap a picture of the three of us watching cartoons.

Finally a little after 8, Katie was called back. I stayed with Karly and Donald took Katie to her room. He said she slowly went to sleep. While he was telling me, he choked up and started tearing up. That truly is the hardest part for us. Here s a pic of daddy all ready to go.

Katies surgery was quick. They came in and told me that she was fine and all went well. Donald went to recovery to be with her while I stayed with Karly. Karly went back abouut 20 to 9. She fought and screamed while they gassed her. When she went to sleep I had to leave. They put her on a breathing tube and an IV. When she came out of surgery, they wouldn't let us see her because she needed a bit of oxygen. Once she was stable, I got to hold her where she slept for an hour. Once she woke up, she freaked out. Started pulling all her wires and screaming. There was no calming her down. The nurse ended up giving her morphine so she could take her IV out. Once everyone was calm, Karly drank two full cups of apple juice and some applesauce. They were very happy with that.
Once everyone was done, we sat in the room and got dressed, watched the cartoons then went back to the playroom where we ran around like nothing happened.

We left the hospital at 12:30.

Thanks to the Lord for a great day.