Eye Update

Bill's appointment went well. He needs to ease into normal activities, but his retina looks good. He can lay down in a bed again, which I know he's excited about. He's been upright since Thursday morning. The doctor said he'll be able to tell how things are going and if he's doing too much based on the bubble that he has in his eye from the procedure - the bubble is helping the pressure in his eye. He needs to limit commotion, but can start holding the girls again, etc.
She must have read the blog last night, because Imogene figured I wasn't quite tired enough. After it took an hour to get her to go to sleep, she was up for over 4 straight hours last night. So I'm still without any energy to get a good posting here. But she had a good speech session this morning. Made a sound that was close to bubble, and said something like "pop!" Of course I have not been able to get her to say either since!

If I had the energy...

I'd write all about how Imogene is so frustrated and feisty that she's screaming at everyone and actually laying down with her head against the floor in angst, about how it took me an hour to get her to sleep tonight. About how Bill is so stir-crazy and bored of TV since he's not allowed to read, and he's so ready to  lay down and not be sitting upright all the time. About how we really hope he gets some restrictions lifted tomorrow at his appointment. About how Imogene took a few more steps today and this weekend, and stood herself up without any help twice today. About how Lily did fantastic at swimming lessons today and swam the whole length of the pool using just a kick board. About how we have such wonderful friends and family who have gone above and beyond to offer help and love and a listening ear this last year.
But I'm just too tired.

Do they Still make Calgon?

Because if they do, we could use some to take us away! It's never dull here. Let me update you first on Imogene. She had her follow-up on Thursday and Dr. Madigan said she looks great. We'll see him again the first week of September for the 6-week follow-up, when he should be able to tell if the surgery remedied the strabismus. Her eye isn't as red anymore, and it's starting to turn yellow. The eye isn't bleeding, it's bruised. So if you think about how a bruise looks as it heals, that's how to describe what's happening to Imogene's eye. Her sleep had not been so great this week, but last night was a good bit better.
And now, for our other eye issue. For those of you who haven't heard, Bill found out Thursday that his retina in his right eye was detached. He'd been seeing spots and his vision was getting a little blurry and so he went into to his retina specialist. It took him all of five minutes to diagnosis the detachment. There are a few reasons for it - a couple blows to the head in soccer, a serious injury to his eye in high school, and his nearsightedness all likely contributed. So, he had an emergency procedure on Thursday, and another on Friday. It appears the retina has reattached, but we'll know for sure on Tuesday when he goes back to the doctor. In the meantime, he has to remain upright 24 hours a day. That means sleeping sitting up too. No lifting, not even little Imogene. No exertion whatsoever. Sheesh. It's really hard on him, and he's in pain from the procedures, and his back is starting to suffer from not being able to lay down. Thank you God that Grunny and Naney were both here on Thursday so I could go get Bill and so that we had extra hands. Grunny had to head home Friday, but Naney is here until Sunday afternoon. We'll get through Monday and then hopefully Tuesday some of these restrictions will be lifted. Especially since we're supposed to be heading to New York Friday for the wedding of one of my oldest friends from Columbia.
Of course Bill can't fly for 6 weeks, and we bought our plane tickets on Tuesday to fly to Maine in August. Oh this crazy, crazy life. Everyone pray it's reattached when we go on Tuesday!

In other news, we're in the middle of Just Ducky show weekend. Yep, our timing is Awesome. Lily has been a great salesperson, and is so funny when she tries clothes on she'll crinkle up her nose and say "Mom, does this size fit me? Do you think it's the right color? I just don't know."
If you ask Imogene where something is she makes this funny little sound and turns her arm/palm up to the air as if to say "I don't know." There is some approximation for "I don't know."

Images from Tuesday

How cute is that? She really did okay with all the pre-op stuff, even when there were 6 people in the room asking questions and looking at her! She hates to sit on a scale - no idea what that's about.

You can see the "GG" on her brow above the eye, which are the initials of one of Dr. Madigan's team. At first we thought it was "GO"! This is how they mark which eye to operate!

Snuggling with Daddy post-op. You can see her little face all furrowed and concerned!

A couple hours later, Still sleeping in Daddy's arms. We got the hat off. It was taped to her head.

 Didn't seem all that comfortable.

All the wires and stuff were taped to her feet. 

When she did start to stir, she would kick that left foot in disgust!

Finally awake (sort of) And enjoying a delicious popsicle. Beth, the nurse, said they are the best ever. Blue Bonnet maybe? She wasn't kidding. Imogene devoured it. But boy does it stain. She still has markings on her arm where it dripped. And since we can't bathe her for 12 more days (She can't get any water in her eye), we'll be testing how long it really stains :)

It's over!

It would be an understatement to say we're glad yesterday is over. If for no other reason than we were so, so tired last night. Imogene had a really rough time waking up in the afternoon. When we got home she looked at Lily, and then fell asleep. She really was either asleep or crying until about 6:40 when she ate a great dinner, and then played a little bit. It wasn't the easiest time getting her in the bed, but we finally did around 9:15 and promptly fell right to sleep ourselves. Lily of course woke up around 3:30. Bill took over with her, and I slept until Imogene woke up at 6. She laid with me for a while, and then we went downstairs. I figured she was up for the day, but when I tried to give her the eye drops, she was so upset that she fell asleep in my lap for another 45 minutes! Her eye is still red, goopy  and a little glassy, but she looks pretty good! Her spirits are definitely up, and she's having a great time playing with Grunny & Lily while I blog!
Dr. Madigan said the surgery went perfectly. We go back to check how it is healing on Thursday morning, but it will be 6 weeks before he can tell what the results really are. He said it takes that long for the muscles to take the new position, and for the brain to readjust. Ultimately this is a brain issue. The technical term is "Sixth-nerve palsy." (Which we didn't even know until last week.) The eye isn't where the issue is, it's in the brain telling the muscles how to hold the eye.
We had an awesome nurse in recovery - thank goodness since we spent the greater part of 5 hours with her! She grew up in the Columbia area, and her family technically still lives there. I say technically because her sons go to boarding school in Virginia and her husband travels with NASCAR, and she's a nurse at Children's so she can be close to her kids. It's really such a small world. Her youngest son is going to play football at VT when he graduates.
Lily made Imogene some nice pictures with dogs on them for her welcome home. I had told her that Imogene's eye would be red, so she had some red color next to some blue or brown color, and had dictated to Grunny that it was "red eye/brown eye."

Grunny told us a nice story from when Lily was with her in Doylestown. Lily was sitting in her lap late Saturday afternoon and said, "Grunny, do you know why I have to go home tomorrow? I need to give my sister a hug and a kiss before she has her surgery."

Heading home

We left the hospital at 2:37, exactly 9 hours after we arrived there. Imogene is in pretty good spirits. Her eye is definitely red and bloody, but she's okay. Probably worse looking is the purple stain from the popsicle she devoured! I will post more later. She keeps sobbing whenever I stop her from rubbing her eye!

Recovery

Surgery took about 2 hours. Everything went fine. She is asleep now. She is starting to wake up every now and then. The longer she sleeps the better she will feel coming off the anesthesia. Her eye is red and is draining a little blood. We can tell when she cries that she is hoarse from the breathing tube. But she looks so sweet asleep in her daddy's arms!

Waiting

We are waiting on her to be done. She started at 730. They said hour and a half or so. It's 925 now. Will update as soon as we can. Thanks to all of you for checking in and to our pastor Larry for visiting!

Tomorrow

We are leaving here at 5:15 am for Imogene's surgery. I will try and post something during the day from my phone. It's possible we'll be home before 2 pm if all goes really well. Thanks for all your prayers, thoughts and concerns. As I said today, my biggest worry is getting there on time!

Over the (Susquehanna) River and Onto the Pa. Turnpike...

...to Grunny and Charlie's we went!  Yes, this is Bill, making my blogging debut in honor of the trip Lily, Imogene, and I took this weekend. 
The drive up on Friday was great, until we had about ten minutes to go (cue the ominous music).  We're almost there, and I am feeling like World's #1 Dad because we made it through lunch, several potty breaks at lunch (not easy in a Men's room at Cracker Barrel), and Imogene's nap just fine.  Then, just as we pass a sign on the Turnpike saying "Next Exit 8 Miles," I hear Lily suddenly start crying for Mommy.  No big deal, I figure I can talk her down.  Not so fast, Dad.  Next thing I know, Lily is getting sick all over herself and the backseat!  Poor girl has to wait 10 minutes until we can get off the pike and find a safe place to clean up.  Of course, Lily was 100% fine and happy right after we cleaned up and changed clothes.  So we make it to Mom's house in one piece, with all 3 of us feeling pretty good and excited to see Mom and Charlie. 
Thirty minutes later I notice that one of the car's tires is completely flat.  This is just awesome for so many reasons, one of which is that it is Friday at 5 pm and Imogene needs to be home for surgery early Monday morning.  I got a little nervous, with visions of being stuck in Pa. the whole weekend.  Anyway, long story short, thanks to Honda Roadside and the Goodyear place in Doylestown, the tire was fixed and back on the car by Saturday morning.  It was great luck that it went flat at the end of the trip, and not on the Pa. turnpike. 
Car issues aside, we had a great time at Mom and Charlie's place.  Many of Mom's neighbors came by to meet the girls, and Lily told every one of them 3 things whether they asked or not: she got sick in the car, we got a flat tire, and Imogene just turned one and a half.  The girl likes to talk.  The girls played outside for a bit, with bubbles being the main attraction, and played inside with some new toys Mom got for them.  Yes, my mother, who informed Lauren and I that she would never spoil her grandchildren with gifts, got them both some new toys.  Shocking, I know. 
Bedtime and sleeping went great for both girls, with Imogene only waking up once during the night.  Lily only kicked me in the bed we were sharing 2-3 times.  I was expecting her to hit her usual average of a dozen kicks per night of co-sleeping. 
On Saturday, we had a great lunch with Bill and Beth Luce, who seemed quite glad to be away from their house full of 15 college kids in town for a party (their son, Max, is a Senior at Lafayette).  Imogene and I then hit the road and got back here in much less eventful fashion.  Lily got to stay an extra night and have a sleep over at Grunny's.  She was very jazzed about this, especially because it meant another night on the pullout sofa.  Don't ask me how the pullout was such a novelty, given that we have two in our house.  Lily and Grunny are on the road as I type this...
All in all, it was a great trip, and the girls and I were very glad to give Lauren a quick break from all of us.  Hopefully, the girls will not mind that she dropped part of their college funds at Tyson's on Friday (as detailed in her latest post). 

Mommy Time

Last night was the first night of the girls' lives that I have been home in my house alone. It's only the second night I've ever been away from Imogene, and the longest I've been away from Lily in 2 and a half years. And let me tell you, I had no idea how much I needed it!
Yesterday morning Bill took Lily and Imogene to Pennsylvania to see Grunny & Charlie. Bill and Imogene are on their way back right now. Lily and Grunny will come back either tomorrow or Monday, depending on how Lily is handling being away. She's asked to stay until Monday, so we'll see! I have had a total and complete me-fest. I ran errands, spent hours at the mall, ate dinner and breakfast in front of the TV, went to lunch and a museum with friends. It's been heavenly. I'm in no way saying I'd go back to a child-free life. Not in a minute, not for anything. But this time has shown me that everyone needs to recharge their batteries once in a while. Bill and I need to take more time to be just us, and we need to each individually get more time to ourselves. I am the only person I have dressed in the last 30 hours, I'm the only person I've fed, or bathed, or helped go potty! I haven't changed a diaper in over 30 hours! WOO HOO Lucky me. I've done a few chores around the house, but mostly I've just enjoyed a little bit of stolen time. I am so grateful to Bill and Bunny & Charlie for it! Especially since Bill had to deal with a flat tire and Lily throwing up in the car!
Lily is having a great time. She has called me a few times and said the funniest, cutest things. When I told her we had to be at the hospital at 5:45 am (YEP!) for Imogene's surgery, she said, "Well Mom that just knocks me over."  "Are you in your pajamas still? Have you eaten breakfast? What are you doing?" She has told me every time we've talked about the 'donut' on the car, and the man who will fix it for Daddy. And that she "Got pretty sick in the car, but I feel fine now." She's just too amazed to even stand it that "the couch turns into a full BED!" - not sure why this is so amazing since we have not one, but two pull-out couches at our house! Very, very excited that there was a seat and a door in the shower at Grunny's house.

The other day I told her that I thought something sounded like it would be pretty awesome. Her response, completely dead-panned, "That does not sound pretty awesome to me."

Little Mermaid teaches the tough stuff to Lily

Lily watched some of "The Little Mermaid" for the second time today. She tells me everything that's happening, and then asks me about 25 questions about it.
 "Where is Little Mermaid's mom?"
"Gee, I don't know Lily." (For that matter, where is the mother of ANY of the Disney characters? What do they have against mothers in Mickey land?)
"Well, maybe her mom wasn't being very nice, so she decided that she didn't want her to be her mom anymore."
Seriously, I almost threw up. Lily and I have been butting heads a lot and this to me was her saying, this is what I wish would happen to you. But then, it got worse. Happily sitting eating McDonald's today, Lily says in a very excited, very proud of herself voice,
"I know, Mom. I know what happened to Little Mermaid's mom. I bet she got DEAD!"

Lily! Really, are you trying to give me a heart attack? She said it like it was the best solution she'd ever come up with to any mystery of her young life. I'm not really sure she understands what "dead" exactly means, but I avoid all conversations with her about it. I don't even want to talk about flowers dying. I know that's probably not great parenting. But there are just so many other hurdles in my life right now, that explaining life and death to Lily is just not something I can even bear. So apparently, I'm leaving that up to Walt Disney and pals. But he's frozen somewhere, so he's no help in the death & dying talks at all! Humph.

In other news, we had PT today. With all her cart-pushing and standing alone, I was really excited about going today. Susan was happy for her, but we worked on strengthening her abdominal muscles the whole time. Which involved putting her in positions she did not want to be in. While Lily was in my face the whole time and completely unable to entertain herself. It was not the best 50 minutes of my life.

More fun from Imogene

Twice today Imogene correctly pointed to her ears, nose and mouth.

When I asked her about her eyes, the first time she kept pointing to her ears back and forth, and the second time she just looked at me. I think after next week she'll know where her eyes are! 

Amy & Susan were so excited to see the video of her pushing the grocery cart today. Amy thinks walking is just around the corner! We'll have to see what Susan says tomorrow!

Lily went to OT with us today and was very helpful. She must have told Amy about 20 stories that started with "This one time..." and about 1/2 of them were things completely untrue or very made up, or things I had completely forgotten about, but little miss memory never forgets!

Best-Laid Plans

So before I tell you how my plans got changed (it's obvious from the title right?) I wanted to share a few things about Imogene. She has started taking steps ... she'll let go of your hand, steady herself and then shuffle her feet once or twice. Amazing. She will also stand on her own for at least 15-20 seconds. She's such a hard worker. Have I shared that she loves to say "oh-oh" for uh-oh? And that she loves to dance? She even learned to move her arms up in the air like Lily does in her dance from cheer camp. When she's not super frustrated or angry or really clingy, she's the happiest, cutest thing ever.
The other big piece of information (in our world at least) is what we heard from the hospital today about her surgery. They called to confirm that we're on the schedule for Monday. We won't know until Friday afternoon for what time the surgery is scheduled, but she said to expect to arrive 2-3 hours prior to the procedure, allow 1-2 hours for the actual surgery, and 1-4 hours for recovery. Yikes. If you go on the long end of their spectrum, that's 9 hours. Hopefully the surgery itself won't take that long. Not sure how I feel about her being under that long, but I'm just not going to think about that right now!

So my best-laid plains. We were supposed to be on vacation in Maine this week. Things got messed up on the rental end, and so we're going in August. Not really that big of a deal in the end, but it's a little disappointing. We could really use some time away together the four of us. But anyway, with a whole day of no therapy scheduled, I planned a trip down to Richmond to see two friends and their girls who used to live up here. Plan to get up early, out the door before 830, enjoy a whole day there, go to the pool or the Children's Museum, totally enjoy catching up with the moms and the kids, eat supper and head home in our pajamas. I contemplated staying overnight and then I remembered whose kid I have! So that was my plan...Except that Imogene was up ALL night last night. This was most likely due to the fact that her legs are covered in 21 different bug bites. Poor Poor baby. I mean this kid just never catches a break. So she's up all night, and up screaming by 630. And so here comes Lily at 640 am. This is REALLY early for both of them to be up. Of course neither Bill or I have the energy to get up and going, so we held them off in the bed until 715 or so. And then of course it took me until after 9 am to get out the door. The drive was fine, except for the big part that was NOT fine AT ALL. I always stop at the first Chick-Fil-A on 95 south. I get gas, and go through the drivethru for my sweet tea.  Except this time we were all the way back on 95 when I realized the tea was not sweet. I cannot, cannot for the life of me drink unsweet tea. It's just such a waste. I even stopped at the next CFA exit down 95 to see if they'd switch it for me. I bet they would have, except that the CFA was 1.2 miles off the highway and I never found it. (As an aside, when I run for President one day, my first platform issue will be "Truth in Highway Advertising." You should not be off the highway when you find out the CFA is 2 miles off the exit. That's just wrong.) So anyway, we finally got to Richmond, and Lily glued herself to my body for the first 30 minutes. Imogene did too, but that's nothing new. There were about 20 princess items to chose from and she would not budge. She got a little better when they played outside. But when our dear friend served a lovely lunch outside, Lily chose to eat at the grown-up table and refused to sit with her friends. She was such a mess by the time we all finished lunch that we came home. Imogene probably wouldn't have napped there, and in the girls defense at making me come home, I totally balked at putting her down for her nap there. I struggle with her at home, I was not excited about trying it elsewhere!  Poor Imogene was so tired though, she slept 2 hours in the car.  But it was great seeing Tess & Meredith and their girls, and I hope we'll get down there again soon - for a longer visit!

And we'll end on a nice note about sweet Lily. After changing out of her princess dress-up outfit tonight she said, "Here I am, back to normal me again."

Weekends are Fun

Weekends are just fun, aren't they? Especially since you get to tag-team your children and not be out-numbered! Friday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A. So you know where we had supper.

Lily dressed up as a cow. This was not considered "full-cow" and so she only got her nuggets for free and not her entire meal. I find this questionable (She had a tail for crying out loud!) and plan to complain. :)

Who doesn't love posing with a "Fire-Cow" as Lily referred to him?

Again, this was not considered full-cow, even with a tail. The nerve.

Saturday we headed up to Frederick for Bill's uncle's 70th birthday. I have no pictures of this lovely event, because my children were either crying that I wasn't holding them (the short one) or attached to my leg or lap or arms like glue (the taller one). Imogene I figured would be like that, but I was really surprised Lily was so clingy. On the way home we decided to go do something interesting with the gorgeous afternoon (and Imogene fell asleep so we were trying to stretch out her nap), so we ended up down on the National Mall, found a spot right next to the American Indian museum, and so that's where we went! Our visit didn't last too long - the material is a little over Lily's head - and so we went over to the Air and Space Museum. We found a few exhibits there that interested both girls (Imogene like playing with a touch screen computer program, of course!) but it was so crowded. We remembered why we don't go downtown in the summer. Too Many Tourists. 

Lily really wanted her picture taken with this statue. 

She waited patiently for 5 or 6 people to take theirs before she got up there. 

For some reason she's really into posing in crazy positions and having her picture taken. 

Bill thinks she picked up the "posing" from cheer camp. Hmm....

Having a little snack before we head back home.

I love how they are doing the exact same thing, and I didn't tell them to do it!

There she is with the poses again. And that is a cheerleading move I think.

Sunday was the World Cup final. One of our favorite restaurants was having a block party barbeque so we had lunch there. It was really very fun even if we didn't stay to watch the game there.

Who doesn't love a soccer party hat and some lemonade? Not to mention the 25 times she went over and got soaking wet in the 'misting water' fan. That thing kept her entertained the ENTIRE time.

We had a brief, but lovely visit from Grunny & Charlie Sunday evening and Monday morning into the afternoon. They brought the girls lots of fun things from the Crayola factory. We're definitely going to need to make a trip there with them soon! Imogene loves, loves, loves to color. She is showing Charlie these neat "blocks" that fit all together. Great toy for Imogene to use both hands!

Imogene on the Move

This is a big day. First, I finally got a video to upload on the blog! But more importantly, Imogene pushed a little grocery cart around the playroom. What a big day for her! We've had a fun weekend, and I'll post more about it with some pictures later tonight! PS - It looks like there is nothing there, but just click the arrow in the bottom left corner.

One of these Days...

we're going to get Imogene a dog. She absolutely loves dogs. She's started kissing dogs in her books. She about hyper-ventilated when I asked her if she wanted to go see the dog next door, whom she adores. Don't know what it is, but she absolutely loves dogs! She's started also saying something that sounds like "up!"
Lily has strung together three pretty nice days, although I'm sure I just jeinxed myself.
Today is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A and you get free food if you dress like a cow. You know where we are eating tonight!

Thanks...

to Miss Patty (Maggie's mom) for reminding me about the pre-op fax!

PT went pretty well, considering that Imogene cried or screamed every time the stim-machine gave her the 'juice.' She hates that thing on her arm and her leg. At some point I guess we might get our own for home use, and maybe if she had it on a regular basis she'd get used to it, but I don't know! She walked in her Theratogs, and we talked a lot about keeping her from walking on her knees (her second favorite form of movement after hand-held walking) and about getting her to bear as much weight on her right leg as we can. Next week she's going to try out the Lite Gait system to see if that helps her... oh the gadgets and gear this child has been put through!

Some MORE Pictures!

Trying out the camera on the new iPhone 4! 

You really only get great shots in full, outside lighting. But she's still cute.

I bought this hat for Imogene, but it was way too big. It looks great on Lily!

Our friend Megan took this of our little bartender...she was actually pretty happy here for a while!

Imogene and her first "suitor" in matching bibs and Fourth of July finest!

This is at the zoo Saturday, where we took a trip quick before dinner with the Jurgensens. Look at Imogene in the background - love that face!

Now she's the center of attention!

This is in front of the Elephant yard. Imogene stood at the fence and just yelled and babbled at the elephant and kept saying "Hido" - as in "hi dog." 

Dr. Baldrate & Friends

Phew, what a week we're having! Tuesday morning Imogene had speech therapy. Wednesday morning she had occupational therapy, and Lily stayed home with a new babysitter, named Michelle. This morning the whole Sigler family visited Dr. Baldrate. Then the girls and I picked up Maggie and came home. Imogene and I will leave for physical therapy in a little bit. In the middle of all this, Imogene has been waking up many, many times at night, and refusing to go to sleep at bedtime. And Lily has shown some serious temper this week.
Speech therapy went well. Imogene was engaged by DeeDee and even imitated "ho ho" (there is a santa claus toy she has) and "whee" for when the toys go down the little slide. DeeDee does think she is eating almost entirely on the left side of her mouth, so we are supposed to try and get her to chew things like a pretzel stick or a Popsicle on the left. This would be easy to do, if Imogene weren't really, really feisty and temperamental these days. If she does not want help with something, she will pitch a fit and flail all around. She has such a temper that little girl!
Imogene did not enjoy the electronic stimulation on her arm in OT yesterday. She tolerated the constraint therapy pretty well, but every time the stim machine turned on, she just cried and buried her head in lap. With all the walking while holding your hands she is doing, Imogene is not getting much weight-bearing done on her right arm.  But hopefully once she gets to walking and getting up and down on her own she'll start doing it again out of necessity. In the meantime we'll keep watch to make sure her arm and fist don't get too tight.
It was a pretty good visit with Dr. Baldrate for Imogene's 18 month check-up and pre-op appointment. Imogene weighs 21 lbs 2 oz, which brings her up to 10% percentile. What an improvement! She is 30 1/4 inches tall, which is still 25% and her head stayed in the 50%. For those of you who remember Lily at this age, she was 24 lbs 6 oz and 32 1/2 inches, and her head was 97%! Such a difference! But Dr. Baldrate was really pleased with the weight gain, so we don't have to go back for 3 months, instead of our usual 6 weeks. Of course, 'normally' you don't go back for 6 months, but then what's normal about us these days?
She got her two shots, and cried a little bit. She hated the band-aids so much that she pulled the one on her right arm off on the way home, and fussed until I got the one off her left! Dr. Baldrate filled out the forms for the eye surgery (July 19) and now I just have to remember to send them with Bill tomorrow to fax them to the hospital. Let's hope I remember! Maybe if you read this you should send me an email reminder! :)
In response to the full-body rash from June, Lily had blood drawn (in the arm with the butterfly needle and tourniquet) today to run a wide range of allergy testing. She had a small outbreak of hives on her back while we were in SC, and is just always itching, so we decided to just see if anything comes back. She really was brave, and she cried, but didn't pitch a fit or anything. When the nurse was getting her ready she asked her how old she was and in this sad little voice Lily said, "ffff-our." She said on the way home she wasn't brave because she cried. But boy did she milk that for what it was worth and held her arm all protected for hours afterwards.
Did I mention that it was 102 and 103 here the last two days? We went to the mall Tuesday because I just couldn't bear the idea of taking both of them anywhere, even the pool, that involved being outdoors. Yesterday in the afternoon we took a trip for ice cream and the library and it was still just sweltering to do those tiny activities! It's a little better today, but not a lot!

Fourth of July Celebration

Despite the look on her face, she's very happy to be celebrating the 4th of July. We had some friends over Sunday for a barbeque, where it was so hot you didn't even know the grill was on! We are in a major heatwave. Imogene is making this face because I am taking her pictures and not holding her. She is SO attached to me right now. She either wants me to be holding her or holding her hands so she can walk around. If Lily sits in my lap she gets crazy mad and grunts and screams and shoves at her. Whoa feisty girl we have here! 

Her sparkly tattoo. 

Look at that adorable bib! Megan (she of the adorable pink shirt) made this for her - Connor had a matching one! So so cute. 

Lily had a cute top to wear with her shorts that I bought to match, but it had a small ruffle on the sleeves and she wouldn't wear it, hence the tank-top. We are battling like crazy on clothes. She will not wear anything with ruffles one day, and then wants a dress the next. I cannot figure her out. We give her options and choices, so we're not dictating to her what she wears, but there are only so many things out there without a small ruffle for girls. She is really whiny and fussy and grumpy and mean these days. Other times, when the balance of the world is just right, she's super pleasant and very fun.  You just never know what you're going to get! But she was lots of fun that afternoon (not that morning) and so she got to do this...

Yes, that is our four year old holding a lit sparkler. She loved every minute of it (Ryan she's your niece!) and followed all the rules (I made so many rules I'm amazed she had fun.) 

Tracie took this shot ... such a great way to show how much fun she was having!

Yep, they are running around with lit fire. Only in America! 

What a week!

We've had a really busy 7 days! Last weekend our dear friends Mike & Leslie came into town with their triplets. Leslie & I have been friends for about 10 years(!!!) - and the four of us spent a lot of time together before they moved to NYC a few weeks before Lily was born. They recently moved to Connecticut and we hadn't gotten to meet their three babies! What a great time we had with them. Lily was particularly taken by the three of them, and was a very sweet "big friend." As she just said, "Those silly triplets are so silly."

Imogene thought Mike was hysterical.

Jack was very interested in Imogene - finally,  a girl that isn't his sister!

They went up the stairs 100 times!

Success!

Sunday morning the girls and I drove to Columbia for the week to spend time with Naney. We didn't have the best trip down there - heavy traffic, horrendous thunderstorms, screaming Imogene - but we made it by late afternoon. Monday through Thursday Lily participated in the cheerleading camp at my high school, Spring Valley. She had an absolute blast, which made me so happy! Many, many years ago, I was a camper at the same camp, and then worked the camp all four years I cheered at the high school. The daughters of a few of my dear friends from growing up also were in the camp. It was so neat (and a little bizarre) to see Lily in green and gold cheering for the Vikings.  One day we went to lunch with Granddad after camp and she was doing her cheers all loud and jumping around in the restaurant! She was so cute and excited at the "Camp Show" - I'll be sure to put the video up soon. 

At the "Camp Show" - We put her with the five year olds since that is where her friends were, which was a good idea! 

This is Courtney, who must be magical, because Lily talked about her all week. They did face painting each day, which Lily of course loved!

If you look really hard you can see Lily in the dead middle of the pack.

With Mallory. Her mom, Amy, and I have been friends since we were younger than them!

We spent time with Uncle Ryan and Whitney, but didn't get to see Aunt Susan and Matt (so sad!). Wednesday afternoon we visited with my cousins and their kids, which is always fun! 

Play-doh in the middle of the living room with Catie Jane (in pink) and Sean. My Aunt Cathy is a saint!

Imogene, Beth and Sean.

Catie Jane, Sean, and Imogene.

Yesterday we drove back after a fun lunch with Columbia friends. Arrived in record time of 7 hours and only stopped once. That will surely never happen again! We can't wait to go back in October - we're hitting the fair, a Brown family reunion, and the best part - Lily gets to cheer at half-time of the Spring Valley football game!