Orange you thinking about Stellan this morning?

Sassy and I started our "Orange for Stellan" event last night by painting our fingers and toes in Essie tangerine. Sassy and I had a talk about our plans for "orange day" and that baby Stellan was sick and having surgery on his heart today. We said a prayer for him together before bed.







This morning, we made a special orange breakfast. We had apricot & sweet potato pancakes, orange slices, and orange juice.







Tyler even delayed going to work so he could join in on our special breakfast. He got into the orange spirit, too!



We went outside to take some pictures together before Sassy had to be dropped off at preschool. Here are some of my favorites. I rarely get in any picture action myself, so I cherish the few pictures I do get with my girls! I completely forgot to get some of Sassy by herself, but I will later today!











I will update throughout the day with more of our "Orange for Stellan" activities!

Oh, and please check out the photo posting on MckMama's blog! Look at all that orange! How awesome is this show of support??? Can you spot my two little sweet peas? Last I checked, they were on there twice, separated by a few photos... down quite a ways! What a great way to have a few minutes of fame...

Pray, pray, pray, hope, wish, pray for Stellan today!!

Tomorrow should be an orange kind of day!

For those of you not keeping your own personal tabs on Stellan (which is probably 0.02% of the blogosphere, from my official calculations)... well, I thought it was time for an update!

Stellan and MckMama are no longer up in the frozen tundra. Nope. They are in Boston under the care of an awesome new electrophysiologist. After many, many ups and downs, tests and meetings, weighing of pros and cons, exploration of the ins and outs, it has been decided: Stellan will have the ablation he needs to remove the accessory pathway(s) in his heart to allow it to function without the SVT, the v-tach, and several other arrhythmias he has been experiencing. TOMORROW.

As it's been stated, the ablation on a baby so young is very risky and they will not be out of the woods, so to speak, just yet. They need all the prayers, thoughts, and support that you can throw their way!

Since orange is a favorite color of MckMama, and Stellan told her that it was his favorite, too, it has been suggested that everyone wear orange tomorrow in support of Stellan, the MckFamily, and his team of Dr.'s to find the wisdom necessary to help Stellan heal! So, c'mon... let's do it! Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 21st... wear something orange. Dress your kids in orange. Make an orange breakfast! Pray over a glass of orange juice! It will be great! Won't you join me?

**photo from http://www.mycharmingkids.net/**

Oh, and if you would like to purchase an orange Stellan bracelet, click here. They are $5, and all proceeds will go to the MckFamily. I'm just waiting on mine to arrive!

Read about Stellan's trip to Boston.

Check out what an awesome welcome Stellan received in Boston here.

8 Months...

Sweet Little A turned 8 months old this past Saturday. Wow...

I know I say this every month, but it is completely unbelievable how fast the time is going during her first year, as compared to Sassy's. And I thought that year went by fast.

Even when Little A is "sick and miserable", she is the happiest, most content little girl ever. Well, in my opinion, of course!

Let's see... she is now an accomplished sitter. She loves to sit up on the rug with her big pink toy tote near. She loves to watch Sassy run circles around her and give her different toys from the tote.

Little A is a babbling fool. She is very talkative, just like her big sister was. She loves to say "mamamamama" and "dadadada", and she recently learned to make this growling noise, which she does often. It sounds like it would hurt her little throat, but she seems to like doing it!

She really loves her orange veggies. Sweet potatoes are her favorite, and she really likes the Earth's Best tomato carrot combo. She enjoys oatmeal very much, as well. She seems to have a bad reaction to bananas so far, so we are taking a break from them for now. I did try to give her cheerios and puffs last week while she sat in her highchair.



She LOVED playing with them; the jury is still out on what she thinks of them as food.





Little A is a wonderful sleeper. She likes her morning nap an hour or so after first waking, and she takes another nap with Sassy after lunch. She usually goes to bed around 8:30 pm, and many times, she sleeps straight through the night, a completely new concept for this mama to grasp. Although, I am not complaining!!

We are really looking forward for summer to come, and for Little A to have many new experiences! Some of the things we want to do are visit the zoo, Botanica, the water center, Exploration Place, take a trip to KC and see the Royals play, and go to the pool. We will also be traveling to Chicago for the 4th of July, and I am determines to actually take the kids sight-seeing this time!

Thanks for another fantastic month, Little A. Your smile just lights up my day!

Busy, Busy Day...

I am still tired from yesterday... we had quite the day!

After the excitement from the bippy fairy wore down, Sassy and I rushed around the house, readying ourselves for the March of Dimes walk! The weather was actually pretty perfect. It was overcast and a little cool. We began at the baseball stadium and followed a 2-mile path around the River and back across. Lynzee and the girls walked, also. I brought my small camera, and the battery lasted for exactly one picture as soon as we got out of the car, so unfortunately, I only have one. Boo... You can see Lu Lu and LMB's feet in the background if you look closely!



After nap, Sassy had a gymnastics birthday party for two of her friends who are sisters with April birthdays. The kids had a blast! I am definitely going to keep that in mind for future birthday parties. Sassy loved the cake most, followed by the trampoline and playing with the giant parachute.









Directly after the party, we went Sassy's MDO musical program. It was almost painful to watch. When the teachers were walking the kids up to the stage, Sassy glanced back at me and practically pleaded with me to take her. Once up on the stage, she looked like she would rather be anywhere else on earth for most of the program. And, of course, she was front and center. She did not sing a word. She did not do the hand motions. She just stood. Poor thing. I did catch a little smile when she spotted me up front taking pictures!







I asked her about it later, and she said, "I did not like that, mama." I guess her stage days are numbered. See, for as sassy as Sassy is, she is really quite shy around strangers. I remember for the first two months she attended preschool, her teacher used to say to me when I picked her up what a quiet little girl she was. I always thought, "Whose kid is she talking about?" Certainly not the Sassy I know and love!

Where was Little A during all of this excitement? Sick! She has had a little cold since Minnesota, and Friday afternoon, she woke up from her nap wheezing pretty badly. I took her straight into the doctor, and she has bronchiolitis. The PA was using the terms bronchiolitis and RSV interchangeably, but from what I understand, RSV is one (albeit the most common one) of several causes of bronchiolitis. Since they chose not to swab her, I don't know the we can definitively say she has RSV again, although they referred to her sickness as such.

Luckily, since she is a bit older this time, they are allowing us to monitor and treat her at home for the time being. We are doing lots of suctioning, suctioning, suctioning. She sounds pretty awful this morning, and I am hopeful that we won't have to go back in. Although her O2 sat. was hanging around 90-93 in the office, she wasn't very wheezy at that point. It makes me nervous to think what her O2 sat. is when she is wheezy, like right now. I hate having a sick baby!

Oh, and Little A did celebrate her 8-month birthday yesterday, as well. A milestone post is to come, I promise!

Dentists and Bippy Fairies...

I've decided to spare you the horrendous details of our return trip from Minnesota. So, this edition of Easter Weekend: Minnesota is officially done.

On to more recent news...

Yesterday, Sassy had her q. 6-month dentist appointment. As many of you know, and some of you don't, Sassy is still very attached to her binky, which she affectionately calls her "bippy". I know, I know. The shame. Months ago, we finally drew the line in the sand and said she could absolutely ONLY have it while sleeping... both during naps and through the night.

I have spoken many times with our dentist about this issue. He reassured me that he would not take any steps to break her of it until she turned three, but strongly encouraged me to really work on it after our last appointment at 2 1/2. After a feeble attempt with poor results, I threw that idea out the window.

So, now, the dreaded 3-year visit was soon approaching, and I spent lots of time gearing Sassy up for what she was about to hear. The past several days, I have explained to her that when little girls and boys turn three years old, bippies become bad for their teeth. I explained to her that the dentist was going to tell her that... Sassy was a little apprehensive:



Anyway, this was out first trip to the pediatric dentist's new office, and it was really neat. The had a huge plasma screen TV with little gamer chairs for the kids to sit in, as well as a wall of video games.





After Sassy enjoyed those for a few minutes, we were called back into the office. Sassy did a great job letting the hygienist clean her teeth. She was a real trooper!





Once the dentist came in, Sassy became a little more nervous, but she was fine once I held her hand. The dentist counted her teeth and checked for cavities. He told us her teeth were beautiful, that she was doing a great job brushing, and that the spacing between her teeth looked perfect!

Sassy has a thickened superior labial frenum (the skin flap above your top front teeth that connects to your lip). We have known this since she was very young. Actually, this explains why, in most photos of Sassy smiling, you cannot see her top teeth.

During this visit, the dentist did notice that her frenum were slightly inflamed, and we spoke about how it has been bothering her during meals and brushing. We discussed the pros and cons of having the frenectomy performed. Basically, unless it becomes extremely bothersome, we will wait until it corrects itself or she becomes older. It sounds awful, but the majority of children with this have a traumatic enough injury to their face to split this on their own (i.e. face planting, which Sassy is good at). Otherwise, it will eventually need to be corrected, but it would be very traumatic for her at this age, and if it is performed too soon, it sometimes has to be repeated. Yuck!

On to the bippy issue. Unbeknownst to me, the dentist had several tactics up his sleeve. First, he explained to Sassy that he just had a baby and asked if she would leave all of her binkies at the office so he could give them to his baby. Sassy looked at him as if to say, "Do you sniff glue on a regular basis?" He pulls his trusty wallet out of his back pocket and shows her the picture of his baby, urging her once again to give his baby her binkies. Her response... "No."

It was time for Plan B. He unfurled a great plan of adventure, in which she would collect all of her binkies and put them in a special place. Then, while she slept, the binky fairy would come and take all her binkies to give to other babies, and in turn would leave her presents. Lots of presents. Sassy was thrilled. So was mom.

Sassy was totally on board. She hopped up, collected her prizes, and rushed to call Nana and tell her all about the bippy fairy as we waited for our ride.







Once we returned home, Sassy began to search high and low for all of her stashed bippies. She had some great hiding places. We talked about what she thought the bippy fairy would be bringing her. I mean, I was pretty clueless as to what was typical for the bippy fairy... apparently, a new guy (stuffed animal), a new blanket, and some snacks exemplifies the going rate.

Sassy was super excited, and honestly went to bed, no problems at all. I did mention the fact that not only does she sleep with a bippy, she also holds one in each hand and strokes them all night, right? Oh, I didn't? Sorry.

Mom took an impromptu trip the the store for some odds and ends, and we drifted off to sleep...

This morning, Sassy popped out of bed and started questioning whether the bippy fairy had come or not. I told her we'd have to see, but maybe we should wake up Daddy first. When he woke up, Ty asked Sassy if the bippy fairy had come. She said, "We'll haf to see, Daddy." Duh.

This is what Sassy left for the bippy fairy:



This is what was waiting for her:



Sassy loves her new guy and her new blanket. All is well in the Sweet Pea household.





Sassy is napping, as we speak, sans bippy.

Thank God for the bippy fairy!

SweetPeas Extremely Excited for Excellent Easter Endeavors & Eggs; Entranced with Herbivore Entrances & Equally Eager for Exceptionally Exquisite Eats

Sorry, I had to merge Sweet Peas together... I almost ran out of space. Sheesh.

Easter arrived on a bright Sunday morning... what do you know? To my utter astonishment, Sassy didn't even ask if the Easter Bunny had visited. That's all she could talk about Saturday. It was probably for the best, since there was no way we were going to get ready in time for church and do Easter Baskets...

I made sure to take a few pictures of the girls before they looked like complete ragamuffins who were raised by the wolves church:







Church was a semi-disaster. Little A pooped four times!! Not on her clothes, luckily, but between all the trips to and from the bathroom, we didn't hear much of the service. We ran out of diapers, for goodness sakes!

Sassy sat with Grandma and Great Grandma, and she was very well behaved. I do give credit to the church for providing a cross punch-out and religious stickers to all of the children, as well as calling them up for a special Easter song and handing out Easter Egg shakers. However... they may not have thought that completely through, considering all you heard for the remainder of the service was shake, shake, shake, rattle, rattle, shake...

While we were at church, Uncle Adam the Easter Bunny prepared a special indoor/outdoor egg hunt extraordinaire! Sassy had so much fun searching high and low for the eggs she had colored the previous day. She was so proud of herself with each find!







Meanwhile, Little A was showing us just how stinking cute she is. And, guess what? After 7 long, painstaking weeks, I have finally captured a picture of her teeth! See, they really do exist!!





After the egg hunt, Sassy finally began to question the whereabouts of her Easter Basket, after she learned that he had hidden all those fantastic eggs. So, it was officially basket time. There are so many more wonderful pictures I would love to share with you, but here are a few highlights. Sassy was most impressed with her mini nail polishes... what a girl! Little A seems to thoroughly enjoy perusing her first ever Easter basket. She was pretty into the Benjamin Rabbit book!









The girls spent the majority of the day enjoying their goodies and spending time with the (painfully camera shy) extended family. We had a nice dinner together, and spent some more time playing outside after yet another change of clothes! Sassy had a ball expending some of her pent up energy. She even completed her first attempt at climbing a tree!







Tyler, Adam, and I went to play frisbee golf during the girls nap. I had never been. It was a fun experience... I didn't really play, but I took a few stabs at throwing the disc. Fun times...

Sunday night, Sassy watched a few movies with Grandpa and Uncle Adam while the ladies read and knitted I read and the other ladies knitted. We all watched the Cubs game and turned in for a much needed restful night!