Cousins

Ellie loves her cousins. I don't have a recent picture of just the kids on Jeff's side of the family, but here is a great one of my girls with my brother's girls. Ellie is crazy about her "Diz" (Elizabeth) and "Issy" (Isabelle). These were taken at Isabelle's first Christmas program at school.

Christmas Tour of Homes

Although I may not have the official site linked, I decided to give my "viewers" a tour of my home decorated for Christmas. As you come to our front door, we hope you'll experience the JOY of the season.

Our tree, which may not be as fancy as some, but is full of ornaments with wonderful memories and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Our nativity, to remind us of the reason for the season.
Our dining room table...Believe in the magic of Christmas...in Santa and our Savior.
My favorite year-round decoration, my Dress-Me-Up Plate.
Santa's cookie plate is waiting on the kitchen counter.
Some of our favorite Christmas books are displayed in Ellie's room.
And of course, our favorite Christmas decorations and gifts, our sweet girls.
We hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

another cute Christmas picture

My aunt and my cousin gave the girls these matching dresses...they are SO cute on them! They have little scottie dogs on the front.

Christmas Pictures

My Granma and Granpa from Florida sent the girls matching Christmas dresses, so we played dress up before church today and took their pictures. These are our favorites.

good news!

Ava is FINE. She does NOT have spina bifida, she just has an extra hole in her crack! :-)

Food Allergies

So, Ava went to the allergist this morning and we got some great news. She does not have any life threatening food allergies!!! Not a single one. She is lactose intolerant, though, but I don't have to be nearly as picky with my diet. I can't sit down and have a big glass of milk or a cup of yogurt, but I can eat bread with a little butter on it and things with milk in the ingredients. She goes back in September and they'll do a few tests again - especially with milk before she is introduced to cow's milk because she could still grow out of this. She does have a slight allergy to shellfish, but it is nothing life threatening. WOOHOO! Jeff is on the phone right now trying to find out about her spina bifida test, so I'll write more about that as soon as we know something. Thanks for praying!!!

Doctor visit

So, if you don't know, I was very nervous about our doctor visit today. After talking with the nurse about Ava and not getting any support, I was ready to switch doctors. However, the visit was good. Jeff did a great job of standing up and initiating the conversation about the nurse's answers and at the end of the visit, the doctor said it shouldn't have happened that way and that if anything like that ever happens again or if I don't feel like I get my questions answered, to ask to specifically talk to her, not the nurse. That made me feel much better. She said that when the nurse told her I called the first time, the nurse wrote down "fussy baby, hoarse voice". The whole story was that Ava had been fussing for like a week and a half straight and seemed to be crying in pain and had cried so much that she had completely lost her voice. The doctor was surprised to hear that it was such a different story. Anyway, she even said the allergy thing seems legit and that she wants a full report sent to her so that she knows specifics after we see the allergist. Long story short, she was very supportive and apologetic of how the nurse handled the phone conversations.

The girls are both in about the 50th percentile for their weight and 95th percentile for their height. How we have such tall girls, I'll never know, but I'm glad! :-)

Pray for Ava and us. Along with what we think is food allergies, she has a dimple in the crack of her butt that they want to check. We knew she did at her 1 week check-up, but the doctor said she could see the end of the hole and it was nothing to worry about. However, this time she couldn't see the end of the hole in the dimple, so we have to go in sometime in the next couple of weeks for an ultrasound of it. The danger is that it can be an indicator of spina bifida, but the doctor said everything is probably fine she just wants to be safe and make sure.

more pics

getting ready for Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Ellie didn't care much about decorating the big tree, but she loved fixing her own! Her friend was here and helped some with both trees, but I found her last night in the dark beneath her tree playing with her nativity scene. She then slept with Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus! Ava loves the lights!