Tossin' Cookies

Well, that about sums up our house right now. Ellie woke up yesterday morning and threw up for about 6 hours straight?!? We finally got hers under control and she slept for 14 hours last night. However, Jeff was up all night tossin' his own cookies, so our house reeks right now, even though I've been going behind everybody cleaning every chance I get. My mom came to help yesterday, which was a huge blessing!!! Thankfully, Ava had some big spit ups, but nothing more...and I've just had pains in my stomach, but no actual sickness, so hopefully we'll both stay well. We were planning on leaving Ava over night with my parents for the first time tonight and taking Ellie skiing for the first time tomorrow, but I'm not sure if that's the best idea...we'll see.

Ellie had her first trip to the emergency room last Thursday night, too. Some friends were over at our house and one of the guys picked her up by the arm and pulled her elbow out of place. OOPS!

I know things could be MUCH worse, but hopefully the next week will be a better one for us.

Books

So, I have some new books that I'm attempting to read and want suggestions for more after I'm finished with these. (Although, it will take me a while. I'm a slow reader and I don't read as often as I would like to.) I just finished "Stepping Heavenward", which I loved! Here is my list of "nexts":

.Baby Wise (book 2 / 5-15 months)
.Live Life on Purpose
.Why Christian Kids Rebel
.Mommy Teach Me

Any other suggestions?

Look alikes

I have lots of pictures where Ellie and Ava look like me, but Ellie and Jeff look alike in this one. He used to like to put round things on his fingers...which is what Ellie does with olives! :-) Ricki, Jeff's mom's twin sister, just sent these to me and I couldn't help but post them!

picture update

I know, it's sideways, but it's a cute one. Aunt Jenny gave them "Baby Legs" for Christmas and we love them!
Ava's hands are her best friend right now. They are always in her mouth, or she's holding her own hand like in this picture.
Ellie's first day at "school". (It's Mother's Morning Out, but she thinks she's going to school!)
Jeff's 31st birthday - my Nannie made the Colts cake and our babysitter, Megan made the Superman one.

Jeff's birthday party with his sister (Aunt Jenny), Ellie, and Luke - they are only 9 days apart.
Couldn't resist another baby legs picture.
OOWWWMMMMM........we're teaching her baby meditation. (not really)
Our happy girls in matching jammies.

Ava Laughing

This is one of my favorite things: to see my baby laugh out loud! It was so fun when Ellie was little and she started laughing - now she's the one who usually gets Ava to laugh. Ava has been laughing out loud for several weeks now, but by the time I would leave the room to get the camera, it wasn't funny when I got back. I finally got it on video today. :-)

Typical

Okay, so I need to vent a little. This is pretty typical of how my days have gone lately. So, last week, I was cooking 3 or 4 meals for my parents because my mom had to have surgery. (By the way, she does NOT have breast cancer...huge praise!)Anyway, I asked Jeff to help me finish one of the meals. He was supposed to put shredded cheddar cheese on top of some chicken enchiladas. Well, the cheese had been in the freezer and he was having to break it apart...and he dropped a big glob and several individual pieces on the floor. He honestly looked at me and said, "Uh, how do I clean that up?" ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?

Happy New Year!

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!

Recipes...

So, Ava is having a really hard time digesting cow's milk...I've done all of the research on my own because the phone nurse was no help and I knew something was wrong. Her answer was to check and see if there was a hair wrapped around Ava's toe?!? I knew it was more than that. I don't think babies are technically lactose intolerant, but same difference. Anyway, I have had to completely change my diet and if any of you know me very well, I could live on milk, so it's been rough - especially at Thanksgiving. It's worth it, though. I am having a hard time finding support from people...although my life group from church has been amazing - a couple girls who are becoming some of my best friends are changing their diets with me?!? So here's the deal. I need recipes. Probably vegetarian (although I still eat lots of meat). I can't have milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, eggs, whey...anything dairy. If anyone has good recipes, good ideas, and/or web sites, please pass them on.

Our sweet girls...

ELLIE IS 3 AND AVA IS 6 WEEKS!

Links to pictures

Here are pictures of our BCM Halloween party and of Ellie's 3rd birthday (family party).


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18643&l=514c2&id=504816953

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18642&l=4b06d&id=504816953

Cross-Eyed Cricket

There is a place to eat here in town called the cross-eyed cricket...and that's what I called Ava when she was first born, but her eyes are better at focusing now. They still wander every now and then, though.