more things i love

Every morning when I go into their bedroom to wake them, Lily is all groggy. She's not much of a morning person. Then when I ask who wants to get dressed first, she sais, "I'm gonna stay in my crib, it's MIA's turn" and lays back down and pulls up her blanket.

Every night while reading books, after we have our "One more book" it's time for hugs and kisses. They both love this time, it's time to lay down flat and make me pick them up and "force" hugs and kisses while they giggle the whole time.. As soon as I say "hugs and kisses" they flop down with this little evil smirk.. it's great.

Lily gets hugs first, then Mia. Every night, as i'm hugging Mia we have the same conversation:

Mia: Mommy?
Me: Yes Mia?
Mia: It's sleepy time.
Me: Yes baby, it's sleepy time.
Mia: Sleepy time.

When I sing at night, Mia has started singing with me. To hear her sing some of my favorite camp songs is heart melting. She sings with me to "Barges", "Rose" and last night she requested "Red Balloon".

Also, they say "I love you" a lot now. Not only back when you say it, but randomly and of their own accord.

Mia's EEG

Mia had her EEG last Thursday. She was such a trooper through it. I was afraid to be too hopeful, all of her past tests, i was super confidant that there was nothing wrong and we always got bad test results. This time I was nervous to be hopeful. Well, her EEG came back completely NORMAL!! YIPEEE!

Favorite things

Things happen or are said from time to time that just melt me and then i forget them, so i've decided to stick them in here when they happen, so i can remember.

One of my favorite things that the girls say these days, "Cool".

For example, Mia walked into the living room yesterday and said "Wooow, cool balloon". It is so cute, and melts my heart.

I also love that they always say "I love this". Like, "I love wonder pets" and sometimes they say that something is their favorite.

Right now also I am loving how much they sing. They LOVE to sing and spontaneously burst into song at any given moment. They're singing list currently consists of ABC's, Twinkle, Twinkle little star, Old MacDonald, B-I-N-G-O, Lollipop kids (from 'wiz -O-Boz'- better known as Wizard of Oz). When Backyardigans comes on lily dances around and sings the theme song at the top of her lungs.

Medical updates

Lily has croup. She finally woke up this morning with no fever which means we are going in the right direction (she was 103.8 on wednesday afternoon), but she still has an awful cough and no voice. She does NOT like her medicine. But I tell her she has to take it, and after a couple futile attempts to refuse, she takes it. It’s funny how we all find ourselves whispering to her, since she has no voice.

Mia has not started with croup yet, but I wish she would. We know she’s going to get it and I’d rather it be now and can be over by Sunday than start Sunday and me have to stay home from work AGAIN on Monday. (thank god it's my slow time at work)

Mia had her appointment with the neurologist yesterday. She is going to have an EEG, if that comes back irregular then she’ll have an MRI. Regardless of what the tests say, they do not treat first time seizures in children. The chances of them having a 2nd one are 40% and if she does have a 2nd one, that does not put her at any higher risks or in any more danger than the first one did. There are risks involved with the medications though, so they do not treat with meds until after the 2nd seizure. The DR said she DID have a seizure. There is no question about that. What we don’t know is did she fall, hit her head and have a seizure from that or did she have a seizure and that made her fall.

Now we just wait. And pray. I'm very hopefull that we will just get all this nasty medical stuff out of the way this year and never have a worry again..

22 Months

I cannot beleive that in 2 months my girls will be 2! The time has gone by so quickly, but has been the best of my life.

The last week was interesting to say the least. Last tuesday night Mia started barfing at about 9:30pm. Everytime I got her cleaned and her sheets changed and her back to bed, she did it again. Finally I just make a bed of blankets and pillows all topped with towels. Grapped a puke bowl and we camped out. The poor thing was barfing every couple of minutes even when there was nothing left. It was terrible. At about 2am Lily started. Good times.

I stayed home with them on Wednesday. Thursday morning as I was getting ready for work, Pete started hurling and Annie and I took the girls to the DR for their scheduled shots. They got them. Mia screamed bloody murder. Lily did not even flinch. Then we took them home and I headed to work. (Annie watches them on thursdays and Pete was quarantined to the bedroom). I left work about 4:30 because I was starting to feel a little woozy and by the time I got home i was about to die. Sure enough shortly thereafter, I started to barf. Good times. The girls were completely better by Friday morning. Pete by Saturday morning. I was still recouperating yesterday but did return to work.

Just thought I'd share that fun little tidbit with you all.

Anyways, last night we decided to treat us all and get McDonalds for dinner. We never do that, and we think it's from being sick that Pete and I were both craving it and he brought it up and I jumped on it! Mia ate 3 whole chicken nuggets and an entire small fry. We were amazed. Lily ate 1/4 of a cheeseburger, a couple fries, then asked for an orange. Evil little child.

They continue to amaze us with their speech, understanding and recognition. They speak in full sentences all the time. The other day, pete put on his Jets hat. Lily walked up to him and pointed to it and said "Jets Hat Daddy". We never told her the green hat with a J on it was a jets had. 2 of Lily's favorite things to say are "No Mia NO" and "There it is!!" Mia's are "NO" and "Help me Mommy, help me".

It is so fun to watch as they get older and are more interactive with each other. I'm happy to say that they get along great for the most part. There are always a couple fights a day which consist of one trying to grab something from the other. Both getting a death grip and screaming "MINE MINE MINE MINE" over and over until we intervene. They really do love each other. They share so well and are always concerned that the other is getting theirs too. Whether it's juice, vitamin, treat, whatever. If one gets it, whoever is first is asking where the others is.

We are gearing up for Halloween now. I'm making a final decision on costumes today; just a hint... ROAR!. The girls love skeletons and ghosts and love to read their halloween books. "EEK A BOO" is their absolute favorite (mine too).

Here are some pictures from the day we cut bangs for the first time..

Lily

Mia

Almost 21 months

The girls are changing so much every day now. They are often not babies anymore, but really toddlers. We are really gearing up towards 2! They are talking ALL the time, singing and dancing like little stars. They both love to sing twinkle twinkle little star and the abc's and know them word for word.

We spent 5 days last week in Long Beach Island, NJ and had a wonderful time! We could not have asked for better weather, and the hotel was perfect for us. Our room was on the main level and only steps from the pool (and a gate). Thank goodness for the pool, since the girls HATED the beach! On Monday we packed up all the gear, got everyone ready and headed to the beach. They cried as soon as we hit the stand, while we got everything set up, and for the next 45 minutes. Finally we gave up, re-packed everything and headed back to the room. After a much needed nap we went to the pool which is where we spent the remainder of our days. The pool had a whole section that was 1 foot deep and Lily loved it. She and I were in there ALL the time. Mia likes to be wet and splashed etc. but not to be IN the water, so she sat on the edge quite a bit and dumped water on herself. Of course I really don't have many pictures from vacation because we are generally chasing after the girls, but here are a couple pics from then and from the last couple of weeks..

First morning Lily having breakfast

Mia having breakfast

Trying to escape

Snuggling with daddy

Lily

Mia

Wait - A picture with me IN IT???

The buggy carousel at the Bronx Zoo..

20 Months

A real update! The girls had their 20 month well baby visit on Monday and we can report the following:



Mia - 30.5 inches long and 20 lbs 2 oz

Lily - 31 inches long and 21 lbs 6 oz



Dr. Vitale was very impressed by the girls talking. and talking. and talking. They of course are doing great, are healthy and growing.



Lily had a finger prick blood test and is no longer anemic (YAY). We have now been given the go ahead to give them nuts or anything else we want. I'm going to do a tiny bit of PB saturday morning for a test run, hopefully they'll like it!



They both almost always pee on the potty before baths, but other than that i get a resounding NO when i ask them if they want to go on the potty. For now, i'm not going to push them at all. They both LOVE to brush their teeth. Or at least they love to eat toothepaste.



Speaking of eating... Mia has been eating a lot better the past week or so. I think we've turned a corner. Now if I can just get her to eat veggies..



Here are some pictures from the past month..

Lily tickling Mia

Lily

Mia

Another HUGE accomplishment!

Lily has now pee'd on the potty 2 mornings in a row! Both yesterday and today she woke up with a dry diaper, and agreed when I asked if she wanted to go on the potty. She did, and once I ran the water she pee'd! We of course sang and danced around and praised her highly! Yayyy Lily!!

Great News!

We met with Dr. Nash, the super dooper wizard of oz pediatric nephrologist on Tuesday for Mia's 2nd opinion. After reviewing all of Mia's test results, he felt strongly that she is FINE! We are cancelling monday's test!! HE suggested waiting 6 months then repeating the ultra sound. At that point, as long as her right kidney (which is too small) has grown (not necessarily caught up, but is showing growth) and her left kidney (which is swollen now) is either the same, or less swollen then she is fine and that is just how her body is!! We are sooo happy. What a huge relief!!! Thanks for everyones thoughts and prayers, they worked!!!

another Mia update

We had an appointment with the specialist last friday. The VCUG came back negative, so it's back to the drawing board. I informed the DR that my cousin had renal tubular acidosis and a child, so she is doing some additional tests for that, however she doubts she has it, and even if she does, that doesn't explain the discordance in her kidney sizes. We have scheduled another test on June 30th. This one will again require catheterization as well as an IV. After doing it once, i am dreading it even more because I know how bad it was last time, and this one will be longer.

We do however have an appointment for a second opinion on tuesday the 24th. We are seeing one of the top 10 pediatric nephrologists in the country. He is the head of ped nephrology at NY childrens hospital at Columbia presbyterian. We got SOO lucky getting this appointment. When I called for the 2nd time, after not getting a call back, the secretary said they had JUST had a new patient cancel, and she was supposed to call the waiting list but did we want the apointment! I of course jumped on it. So we will see what Dr. Nash has to say and go from there. I made sure to schedule the test for AFTER the apointment with him. In high hopes that i'll be able to cancel it! Mia did gain almost 2 lbs when we went last friday which is AWESOME! She's still way off the charts, but we are making progress.

In other news, Lily is an animal and a bully and she loves every second of it. when you tell her she's crazy she twirls her hand around her ear and sais "cucoo cucoo cucoo".. She's definitely my child. She even loves mushy broccoli. But I did almost have to disown her when she took a crap in the tub the other day and BLATENTLY said to me "No mummy, No poopy". 2 seconds later it came floating around her and we had to abandon ship. She'll be lucky if i ever give her a bath again.

some videos and pics

From tonight because they are great and i couldn't resist...

Lily
Mia

wow, i let that thing go forever, won't upload a video. i'll try again tonight..

Update

First and update on Mia..

We had Mia's appointment with the nephrologist (kidney specialist) yesterday. At this point, there is no chance that there is nothing wrong. We just don't know what is wrong. Her U/S showed that her right kidney is too small and her left kidney is enlarged. Her blood is too acidic and she has too much potassium in her urine. This is why she's so small. The dr actually said she was more concerned by the height than the weight which means that whatever is wrong with her, may very well be wrong with Lily too. She said she wants to start simple and basic and work our way up. The first test will be a VCUG. They will catheterize her, put contrast into her bladder and see what happens. This is checking for reflux in the valve that connects the kidneys to the bladder. If this IS what is wrong, we will have to see how severe it is. If it's not bad a simple proceedure can fix it, if it's severe she'd need surgery. This is also very prevalant in siblings, so if she has it, we have to get lily tested. If this isn't what she has, we'll go to the next test. The thing with this is that generally a child with this disorder would have frequent UTI's and Mia has never had one. The dr said though that that doesn't mean she doesn't have this.So her test is sceduled for June 5th and we have our next appt with the nephrologist on June 13th.

I am doing my best to stay very positive. Freaking out will not help anything so i'm not going to do that... So on with that..

Both girls are doing amazingly. They are both walking running and trying to hop. They are very advanced in their speech. They are even saying a number of sentences. The funniest thing is that they have taken to calling Pete Pete. I'm still Mummy though. I wouldn't answer to Julie if they said it so it's a good thing.

They have finally gotten rid of the diarhia. It lasted 3 weeks. SO not fun

Anyways here are some recent pictures..

Mia

Lily

a HUGE Accomplishment

Just needed to announce that Mia pee'd on the potty for the first time last night!!! GOOO MIA!!!

and more

Mia's ultrasound results came in. Her left kidney is "full", seems to have extra fluid in it. The Dr. said this is probably not completely uncommon, it's just that they don't do U/S on kids that often. It's not something I should be alarmed about, but we will be sure to bring the U/S results with us to the specialist on the 23rd. Ugg.

Lily and Mia have both been sick all week. We had to keep them home from daycare Monday tuesday and wednesday. Fevers and Diarhia. Fun. so much for that 1/2 lb we managed to get Mia to gain. They do seem in much better spirits today and if it weren't for the pooping, i'd think they were better. Hopefully this will be the last day of it.

Mia Mia

Test results are in and are still off. They are off very minimally though and the specialist thinks that there is probably nothing wrong with her. We are still having the ultrasound tomorrow and going to the specialist on May 23rd. The specialist and pediatrician both feel as though there is probably nothing wrong. WHEW!

Another update..

So the blood tests came back. Lily is anemic "a little bit" so we've put her on a daily vitamin and iron supplement.

Mia's tests came back "off" as relates to her kidney function. The doctor stressed that it could just be that the lab made a mistake, but we are being pro-active regardless. She had a urine test yesterday as well as re-doing the blood test. We should have both of those results tomorrow. We have an ultrasound of the kidney and bladder for friday. Once we get the urine and blood results tomorrow, we will either breath a sigh of relief that there was just an error, and I guess decide whether or not to have the U/S, or schedule an a appointment with a nephrologist (kidney specialist) for ASAP next week and go from there.

Mia was a trooper yesterday and it was nice to spend some alone time with her. After all of the tests, we picked Lily up from daycare (she did really well all by herself) and went to the park. They had a great time on the slides and swings, and you could totally tell that Mia was pissed that she wasn't able to run around and play with all of the "big kids".

Will keep this updated as we get more info.

an update - without pictures

The girls had their 15 month Well child doctors visit on Tuesday. The doctor was very impressed with their vocabulary and the amount of talking they do, even if just babbling they've got a lot to say. She was also very impressed with their knowledge, ie body parts etc.

They are both 30 inches long, which is the 50th percentile (yeahhhh!)
Lily weighs 19lbs, 5 ounces which is only the 10th percentile for weight, but she gained 2 lbs since december and has maintained a pretty steady growth curve.
Mia on the other hand is only 17lbs 15oz, which is off the charts for weight. She only gained half a pound since december. We are now officially into "operation fatten Mia up". I'm giving her instant breakfast in her milk every morning and a pediasure 3-4 times a week to add some calories.

They are both having blood tests (routine) on saturday and they are going to do a couple additional tests on Mia's blood, thyroid. metabolism, etc. to rule out anything that may cause her lack of weight gain. It is most likely just that she's little.

Mia is also going to have an appointment with a physical therapist. She is not walking nearly as good as Lily and to me, her gait seemed jerky and ackward. The pediatrician agreed with me. She said her hips seem fine, but a consultation with the therapist can only help. Again, likely there is nothing wrong, she's just getting it a bit slower, but better safe than sorry.

Lily has officially started "testing her boundaries". Really this means she has become a naughty monster. She does everything she knows she is not supposed to do. She waits until I am looking at her, smiles, then does it. We are going to start time outs with her. Mia is still mostly an angel, but she too will get time outs as necessary. Lily has also started crying more and getting upset/mad when she doesn't get her way. I'm sure tantrums are coming soon. Can't wait!

Easter 2008

Just a quick post for easter pictures..


the loot..

Lily loving her bunny
Mia loving her bunny (to death)
Lily
Mia
We didn't get to the bunny for pics and this was as close as I could get to a picture in their ears..

Lily

Mia

15 months - it's been a while

We are VERY busy here in the BX. I am now back to work full time. It is really hard and I miss the girls a lot. But they are in very loving care and get to be in different environments and with different people which is good for them. Work for me is pretty good. I can see the opportunity to advance rather quickly now that i'm back full time which is totally my goal. If i'm going to be away from them, i'm going to make it worth my while.

Lily and Mia are growing up right before our eyes. They have started walking. They are cautious but getting better each day. They are talking more and more as well and continuing on with their signs. Day care has informed us that while there, Mia bullies Lily around which was surprising since at home Lily is totally the bully. It is fun seeing the things they learn from others. Yesterday morning while watching the Wiggles, I started signing along and Mia turned to me very seriously, put her finger up to her mouth, AND SHUSHED ME! I almost fell on the floor. They continue to amaze me each day with how smart they are and how happy they make even the most mundane things. There has never been a single instance that they couldn't immediately put a smile on my face.

Anyways, here are some recent pictures of my big girls.. You'll notice Lily loves to have her picture taken, Mia... Not so much.

Lily

With double Pink Eye... the saddest little girl in the world..

Mia