Amelia's Surgery

Sweet Amelia had oral surgery today.  Her tongue was attached to the floor of her mouth improperly which caused a variety of eating and speech issues.  Normally, our pediatrician would send us to an ENT for this type of surgery, but since Eric works with many oral surgeons, he was able to choose a surgeon that he works with regularly.  Dr. D treated us like family, and it made all the difference in the world for me.  He was so sweet with Amelia, very patient and understanding with this anxious Mama, and could talk oral surgery nitty gritty with Eric.  It was the best situation for all of us.

 

We headed to the Children's Hospital at 5:30 AM with Amelia, and we had a wonderful experience every step in the process.  Obviously, it is geared for children, but it also handles the parents with a little extra TLC.  Amelia was not a fan of these little scrubs nor was she a fan of the no breakfast rule.  However, some stickers seemed to cure her ailments. 

 

 The nurse anesthetist whisked Amelia off before I could hardly blink, and in the end that was probably best.  She apparently was smiling as he walked through the halls and was waving to everyone.  It's times like this that make me so happy my girls do not have separation anxiety.  Amelia knew we would be back for her, so why not go with this strange fella.  Dr. D was able to take care of business with no problems and only one little stitch.  It was much easier than he originally thought.  Whew.  He also said he's never seen a little one like Amelia react so well to anesthesia - when she woke up, he was standing over her waving, and she just smiled back at him.  He sat with her in recovery until Daddy was escorted back to her.  She was  a little groggy, in no pain, and hungry!

Back in the room waiting to be released, Amelia was happy as a clam reading books, intermittently sucking on her paci/rubbing loveys, and playing with Minnie Mouse.  She scoffed down 2 or 3 cups of juice, a Grape Popsicle, and two cups of applesauce.  Poor girl was hungry and thirsty!

She napped well and ate well.  Soft food diet flew out the window since she was eating anything that wasn't nailed down for dinner.  We thought it was a great sign that food, chewing, and tongue movement didn't seem to phase her.

The day after:

Amelia, "at home resting with Daddy"
(aka driving him nuts while he's trying to work because this procedure was nothing but a thang to Miss Amelia)

 

Of course!  I kept all the surgery attire for our dress up trunk!  (I did wash it first!)  Look who discovered it and LOVED it! 

 

Introducing, Dr. Madeline Stewart

Cuteness!  This sweet big sister asked Grandma to stop at the flower shop on the way home from school so she could bring flowers to make Amelia feel better.  Madeline did very well with Amelia's extra attention, and she was a very sweet big sister to love on her post surgery.

Amelia has figured out something is different as she is doing lots of lip licking and putting things into her mouth.  She's experimenting with her tongue movements, and she seems quite pleased with herself when she discovers a new sound.  We couldn't be more pleased with how all of this rolled out.  We're extremely blessed to have Amelia in the hands of such good medical people.  We re-visit her speech at her three year well check and go from there.

Phone Dump (serious) & More (not as serious)

I was going through our phone pictures and came across these little gems.  I'm not sure words can explain them, but I am going to try to do so.  I'm a little nostalgic looking at my mini Grandma Folz (Madeline Grace), so the explanation is probably way too wordy, but here goes: 

 

My Mom's Mom, "Grandma Folz" to my brothers and I, had cancer many years ago (not long before I was married and had children), and she passed away many Thanksgivings ago.  I will never forget that Thanksgiving meal when my Mom got "the call" from her sister.  But, anyway.  Bless Grandma's heart - she was girly, smelled good, always had a proper manicure, never without her earrings and necklace, cooked THE.BEST.FOOD., and always had a hot meal/delicious snack waiting regardless of the time of day.  My cooking skills may have been dormant for MANY, MANY years, but when they emerged, I thank my Grandma Folz every.single.time. I can pull off a recipe or a meal thanks to my Grandma Folz's instincts!  That lady could flat out cook.  At any rate, I absolutely get my girly girlness from my sweet Grandma Folz.  That woman NEVER went without her once a week hair salon (even when she was sick) appointment, way too rosy pink "blusher"(as she called it),  her red lipstick, and her perfectly manicured nails.  Think Leave It to Beaver (June) - that was my Grandma Folz.  Of course, when she had cancer and received chemotherapy, her hair loss journey began.  She wore a wig that exactly copied her "real do". 

Now, to the point of the pictures: My mother has given my Grandma's costume jewels, furs, make-up basket, wigs (yes, a little weird to me too!), and various other items for Madeline's dress up trunk.  Madeline donned my Grandma's wig out of the blue one day.  Holy Moly.  It's a young Leona Folz (my Grandma), and even more so, a young Carol McCarthy (my Mom) which probably means

 

THIS is ME when I decide to try on a wedding dress over my frog jammas with grey hair:   

 

 

WOW!  I'm so thankful I truly knew the lady that my daughter resembles so closely in so many regards (Grandma Folz), and I'm even more thankful that the other lady Madeline takes after is here with us to be such an important part of Madeline's upbringing, my Mom, otherwise known as just plain 'ol Grandma.

 

More Phone Dump

that is not so serious :) 

 

On a lighter note, Amelia is 100% attached to this Minnie Mouse.  Amelia LOVES to wear socks on her hands now because Minnie has white gloves on her hands.  Oh my gracious.

 

Sisterly love in the midst of Amelia's black eye healing process.  Now you see why we decided upon the "Happy New Year" card.  That little shiner got worse before it got better...oh my.

Shiner and Big Sister are still cute as EVER!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 2012

I am just sad.  My SD card failed me some way, somehow.  After the leading up to Christmas pictures, I ran out of space on my normal camera card.  I switched to a "back-up" card for the remainder of the holiday season.  Recently, I went to review all my pictures for printing and posting purposes and got nothing.  NADA.  UGH.  Christmas Eve, Christmas morning, and the day after Christmas celebrating with all of my brothers and sisters-in-law - GONE or never saved in the first place.  Boo.  Major BOO HISS.  Not sure what happened.

I am sad.  BUT, I'm here.  My darling husband is here.  My children are here.  We are all healthy.  Our extended family is here and healthy.  We have a home.  My husband has a job.  We are warm in this wintry mix.  Perspective.  It's okay.  I'm distressed about missing pictures, but in the grand scheme of things, it's ohhh-kay.

But for now I'm a little sad that I lost my sweet girls' Christmas pictures...they LOVED Christmas morning this year.  I captured our Christmas morning so well.  Our girls ate breakfast as usual, as in they had to go to school leave the house at 8:30 AM usual.  They didn't barge into the living room tearing into gifts as we expected.  It's almost like they forgot Santa dropped off a few things.  They wanted to eat breakfast "like normal".  So we did.  It made Eric and I smile that on Christmas morning, our children were more excited to have breakfast with my parents and us before ripping into the loot.  We know that will change as they get older, so we cherished it this year, AND we took pictures to document the sweetness.

Gifts were nothing Earth shattering, but in our world Barbies, books, nail polish, Hungry Hungry Hippos, a doctor's kit, a salon kit, a Melissa and Doug wire shopping cart  filled with food, coloring books, and Barbie DVDs made our world more perfect.  :) 

This is sadly the only picture I have of our Christmas (Santa):  When Eric was travelling, I did some wrapping.  I then laid out the gifts in our loft and snapped a phone pic to text Eric to show him that our children had Santa awaiting - Amelia on the left, Madeline on the right, and the shared gift in the middle.

 

Merry Christmas Eve, Merry Christmas, and Many Blessings in 2013 from our family to yours.



Leading up to Christmas

We had a fun holiday season!  The girls really got into the spirit of the season, and this was the first year that they seemed to "get it".  Madeline really started to understand the reason for the season, but she also enjoyed Patti's arrival and the search for her each morning.  Amelia felt Madeline's excitement, so she fed off of Madeline.  We had a nice balance of commercialism & true meaning of Christmas this year.

 

In no particular order, here are just a few snapshots of our days leading up to Christmas Eve.

 

December 1 - Patti's arrival:  She left a note for the girls as well as filled our Advent calendar with activities and a special treat here and there.

 

 A Snowman craft for the girls

FYI - That red looking thing is the SnowGIRL's skirt



 

My girls are old school - they LOVE getting letters in the real mailbox!  My Mom sends them a Christmas card, and they enjoy opening their mail.

 

A little photo shoot for our Happy New Year card since Amelia's black eye was much better.  They really hammed it up.

 

Another photo shoot that was not as successful 

 

Patti brought us a gingerbread house to decorate.

 

Madeline wrote a letter to Santa on our special plate.  I love how it quickly becomes part of the Christmas decor in the living room.  :)

 

 

Reindeer food is always a big hit!

 

Of course, Amelia's turned disastrous, and she was distressed about the mess.

 

Little OCD thing trying to wipe it up.  Love her!

 

We bagged our reindeer food for ourselves and some neighbors.  The girls placed all the bags under the Christmas tree until it was time to deliver them.

 

It was an incredible December - lots of family traditions continued and many sweet memories were made.

Amelia's Family Birthday Party

Eric and I opted not to throw a big birthday bash for Miss Amelia's second birthday.  This holiday season has been super busy, and we decided that she wouldn't remember that we didn't have a huge party for her.  Eric's parents were coming for a post-Amelia birthday/pre-Christmas visit, so we decided that we could invite my parents over to celebrate Amelia's second birthday.  What a lucky girl to have all four of her grandparents there to celebrate her birthday!

 

We got another wear out of her birthday outfit and hat!  Again, Amelia was super excited that this day was all about her!!  We enjoyed a yummy dinner together.

My girls don't love cake, so I made brownies instead.  After Tuesday, Amelia was well aware of what to do with the candles.

Singing to the birthday girl

Sweet Sisters although the big one doesn't enjoy posed pictures right now

We waited to open all gifts at "the party".

What a special day for a super special little girl!