Back in the Real World

Apologies for the dry-spell our five loyal blog-readers! The Siglers were without phone, Internet and cable for 3 days. The cable wasn't that big of a deal. Bill and I watched several episodes of "Glee," which we really enjoyed. The phone and internet were pretty difficult to survive without for that long. Thank goodness for the Blackberries!

Friday was Lily's first trip to the dentist. She was such a great patient. Dr. Delaney (what a perfect pediatric dentist she is!) was very complimentary about Lily's teeth and Lily did everything that Dr. Delaney and her assistant asked her to without any hesitation. I wasn't that surprised, she loves that attention and all the new gear, and of course the stickers. But it hit me as we sat down, "what am I going to do with Imogene if Lily goes nuts about having her teeth cleaned? Why didn't I think of this before we got here?" Fortunately they were both very cooperative - Lily as the patient, Imogene as the support. And I was relieved that her teeth looked clean and healthy. She hasn't always been the best dental patient at home, and I was worried the dentist would take one look and her mouth and know immediately that Lily had eaten a fruit-strip or cereal bar every day for the last two years! (Neither one very good for your teeth!)
Imogene started to grunt and make funny 'attention-getting' noises during the cleaning part of Lily's visit. She either was worried about what they were doing to her sister, or thought they were feeding Lily, and wanted in on that! Both girls will go back in July.
Imogene totally gets the phone now. She holds cell phones, real phones, channel changers, toy phones, just about anything up to her ear and makes a sound like 'heh" - which is maybe her version of hello. It's hysterical. Also a few times I've been able to get her to give me kisses. This means that she opens her whole mouth super-wide and drools all over you while going "ohhhh-ohhh." She makes the same sound when she loves on Lily or a baby doll. Such a sweetheart she is.
This is Imogene's last week as a 'baby.' I know she's still a baby even when she's one, but it just seems like such a huge deal that our baby is turning one. I keep thinking about how much our life has changed in just 12 short months. We've also seen how big Lily's heart is as she's grown up so much this year, and become such an amazing big sister. Yes, she has her jealous, attention-seeking moments, but on the whole, she has loved Imogene with every part of her heart and soul. I also think about how much we've been tested, and hope that we've responded in the best way we could for Imogene, Lily and ourselves. And how much we've learned! About the human body - how much sleep you really need (uninterrupted night's sleep how I miss you!), how the brain works and how resilient babies and kids are. And about the human heart - how important it is to have friends and family to support you, how really strong your marriage is (stronger than you even imagined) and how much you can love, and love, and love two precious girls, and know that there is room in your heart to love them even more!