Crazy kids running around!

We have all been sick for about a week now, once one gets sick, we all get sick. Reagan & Riley have had the croup ... Mom (who is currently hoarse) and Dad have had a cold.

Therefore, being stuck in the house, the girls have found ways to entertain themselves. It is a good thing they like to play with each other.

The girls were playing "beach".
Reagan dressed Riley in the swimsuit and pretending to play beach ball and swim. They were so funny.

The girls being silly for the camera

Our new play fort ... it has been a lot of fun for them!

Riley hanging out in the fort

I know this is sideways (sorry, the blogger automatically makes it that way), but it is the best video I have gotten of the girls together. They were laughing so hard at each other, having a great time.

You would think ...

a 4 year old should not still be doing this?

At first, I thought it was funny. I thought she just colored her face and hands and no big deal. Well, then I started to take off her clothes. I should have known something was wrong when she had on different pajamas this morning. It only got worse. Her stomach ... then even her feet. I could have died!!! And, let me tell you, washable markers ... not so washable. I scrubbed and scrubbed ... she is STILL PINK!!! Needless to say, she has lost her privileges to use markers for a LONG TIME!

Reagan's little dress up toy

Reagan had a great time playing dress up with Riley. She had Riley all dressed up in her Tinkerbell costume. Riley was such the trooper, loving all the attention she was getting.

Thank you sissy ... I had fun dressing up with you (this is Riley kissing Reagan)

Dr. Suess Night

Happy Birthday to Dr. Suess.

Reagan's school held a "Dr. Suess Night" in honor of the great author whose books we love to read. Everyone wore their pajamas and got to read great books, play fun games, and do some projects. The girls had a good time.

Making a sock puppet to read "Fox and Socks"

The most Beautiful pictures ... so far!

We had the girls pictures taken a few weeks ago, and they came out so beautiful. These are the ones that will be hung on the wall. They are just so sweet!

The turtle has left her shell ...

We have finally hit a milestone that should have been hit a long time ago. Riley finally learned how to roll over this weekend. It took her 11 months to figure it out, but she has it down pat now.

So, not only did she roll over as a first ... she also slept on her belly for the first time and was standing in her crib this morning for the first time. Oh, she is getting so big!

Now that she can roll over and stand up in her crib, she is having a hard time going to sleep. She falls asleep sitting up with her head on the slats ... here is the proof!

We bought some new Bubble Belly Blowers.

Riley thought the bubbles were really funny. She tried really hard to move her head out of the way so the bubbles would not hit her. I think she is still apprehensive to touch them though ... she is a little slow to warm up to new things!

Success!

Riley's tube placement on Friday was a success. She was taken back into surgery at 7:15am and was back in my arms at 7:27am ... I was amazed how quick it was. She came home and took a nap and was perfect after that. She has slept great all weekend long and seems to have no ear pain. We are very happy with our decision to get the tubes ... we are looking forward to a summer without any ear infections!

Our New Look

Sorry for the delay. The past two months have been very chaotic.
We were without our computer for a while but are now up and running.
We updated the layout of our blog ... hope you like it!

Posti Illnesses ...

We have had bad luck with everyone being sick in our family these past two months. Everyone has gotten hit at least twice with colds, viruses, or whatever it is that is going arond.

Reagan got a horrible virus called Stomatitis, which caused her to have open sores all over her mouth. She had a very hard time eating, drinking, and brushing her teeth. The sores lasted about a good five days, and then she seemed to be alright. The doctor warned us that with this virus comes a very high fever, but we lucked out and did not have to deal with that. She is feeling 90% back to herself now, just hanging on to a lingering cough that is just been terrible to get rid of.

Riley has had two surgeries within a month of eachother. We are hoping that next time we go to the doctor it will be for her 1 year old checkup, and nothing more. See her post regarding her second surgery for more information on that!

Mom & Dad have just been hit with colds so far ... but that is expected with the girls being sick for so long. We are praying for a much healthier March for everyone!

Riley's Surgery #2

Riley is having tubes put in her ears, early Friday morning. The proceedure is very quick, compared to her eye surgery. She will be in and out of the operating room within ten minutes. They just poke a hole in each ear drum, place a small tube in each ear, and she is on her way to being ear infection free (we hope)!
Riley continues to grow up, faster than we think. She is crawling all over the place, and is learning to pull herself up. She still cannot roll over from her back to her front, but she is close (we call her a turtle when she falls onto her back, because she just lays there with her legs in the air and screams because she can't roll over). She still only has two teeth, but seems like she is close to getting more.
My favorite thing she does so far is try to dance. For those of you who know the cartoon Dora the Explorer, that is how Riley tries to dance. She sits on the floor and throws her hands from side to side and bobs her head. It makes me think of Dora's "We Did It" dance. Watching her dance just tickles me to death. I have tried to capture it on video, but you know how kids are when the camera is present. This is my best attempt so far ... she was dancing to American Idol!

A few updates ...

Sorry for the delay in posting, things have been very busy.
Everyone is doing well ... healthy & happy for now!

Riley had her post-op appointment today, and she is healing beautifully. She is only 11 days post surgery and you can hardly see the incision anymore. She still has a few of the stitches left, but the scar is going to blend very nicely with the contour of her eyebrow. I am VERY pleased with how it has turned out.
Now we are preparing for surgery number 2 ... she is getting tubes put in her ears on Feb. 22nd. I will keep you posted on all that good stuff later on!

Reagan is busy with preschool and soccer. She seems to enjoy going to the games, but I think she just likes getting the snacks at the end. She has a hard time keeping up, but is getting much better each and every game.

If you ever have the time ...

It is amazing how just by word of mouth (or in this case, computer) things travel. On my friends blog, they have a link to The Lawrensons blog. This blog is written by a husband to a wife with cystic fibrosis who just had a premature baby girl. Their story is UNBELIEVABLE. If you have time, you should check out their blog ... it is truly touching. People from all over the world watch this blog religiously. I put their link under my friends and family.

Surgery Day Success

Our surgery day went very well. Riley was such the trooper, getting up at 5:30am and not eating a thing. She was so happy, smiling, laughing, and talking all morning long. Even when the nurse came to take her to the operating room, she smiled and continued being her happy little self.

The surgery took just over an hour and Dr. Underdahl successfully removed the entire cyst. The cyst itself was wrapped around a nerve, but the nerve was saved and she is going to heal just fine. She was in the recovery room for about an hour and then we went home. Once we got home, she took a bottle right away (and kept it down!) and played with her toys. She was happy to get down and crawl around.

She has quite the little incision on her eye ... POOR THING!
She likes to rub her eyes, so it has posed a challenge to keep her little hands away from her eye, but we are managing so far. She has been so wonderful today ... lets just hope that she is this great for the rest of her recovery.

She has nine stitches in her eye, which will dissolve on their own in about a week. We are expecting some major swelling over the next few days, but nothing to be too alarmed about. We go for a post-op appointment on Feb. 5th.

I tried to get some pictures of her incision, but she was not staying still very long to get some decent shots. But, here she is day of surgery. I will keep you posted throughout her recovery.

Surgery Update ...

Riley's surgery got pushed up to this Thursday, January 24th. We have one day to prepare and then it's time! We are a little nervous about the surgery, but we are confident it will go just fine.

More to come soon!

Reagan's Birthday Party!!!!!

Happy Birthday Reagan!

What a birthday party! Not only did Reagan have a "Spotted Dog" party (as she calls it) but they also got to go to BounceU, an indoor playarea full of inflatables. Everyone had a great time. Mom was so proud of her work she did to make this a successful "Spotted Dog" party. Mom handmade the gift bags and cupcake decorations.
Good Job Mom on being CRAFTY!
Reagan was well coordinated with the party theme, wearing her spotted clothes.

Reagan's Spotted Outfit

BounceU!

Dad at the top of the spiderwebs!

Reagan, the Jumping Bean

Mom and our friend, Rylee Crum, on the big slide

Grandma & Riley

Reagan, Brielle, & Aubrey on the spiderweb

Mom & Reagan on top of another slide (the only slide Reagan went down the entire time)

Brielle doing the tug of war

Cupcakes, YUMMY!

Our Spotted Dog Cupcake Toppers!! Good job Mom!

Reagan giving out the gift bags to her friends

Thanks for all the great presents! We had a great party!

Riley's progress ...

Riley is learning to stand now. She has mastered crawling (it is about time, she is 9 1/2 months) and now she is trying to pull up on everything. She gets so proud of herself. We thought she would never become mobile, but now she is, and into everything. It sure has been challenging keeping everything clean enough for her to crawl around!

So happy to have a different view of life!

Styling Soccer Girl

Saturday was Reagan's first soccer game, ever. She looked so cute in her soccer uniform and her hair bows that we made.

She was a styling soccer girl!

Poor little Reagan is so much shorter than the other kids, she had a hard time keeping up with everyone. She was a trooper, even though she was exhausted from running back and forth. She complained her legs were tired, but she never cried!

She has soccer practice every Tuesday and a soccer game every Saturday, for the next eight weeks. She is very excited to now be a soccer player. Lets see how much she improves over the next few weeks.

How cute is she!!!

Reagan & her friend, Brielle

Warming up by kicking the ball into the goal ...
she does a good job kicking it while no one is trying to take it from her!

Our short little girl (the one in the middle, #5).
She is the shortest on the team.

Welcome 2008

Happy New Year to you.

We started off our new year with a bang. All four of us were sick with a very bad cold. Mom, Dad, & Reagan had the horrible cold, and Riley had the cold plus a double ear infection. The cold virus also hit Riley with a terrible rash, almost head to toe. She is feeling much better now ... Thank You for ANTIBIOTICS!

We also found out that Riley is going to have to have surgery on her left eye. She has a "dermoid cyst" on her eyebrow, next to her nose. The eye doctor said that it is important to remove this type of cyst because the more mobile Riley becomes, she risks falling and rupturing the cyst, which can cause infection and other problems we don't want to have to deal with. We felt that the surgery will be handled much better by Riley if we get it over with while she is still so young and not so mobile. So, she is having surgery on January 31. It is a 45 minute to and hour long procedure where they will carefully cut open her eyebrow and remove the cyst. She will be under anesthesia and it is an outpatient procedure. We are positive that this is going to go smoothly and she will heal just fine. We will keep you posted on her outcome!

A close up of Riley's face, you cannot see the cyst. It is only about the size of a pea right now. But it is right above her left eye, on the side close to her nose.
Doesn't she look just so sad.

Here is the much HAPPIER Riley, that we all know so well!

You can't forget about Reagan, who is so excited to be celebrating her 4th birthday next week!

And Irbe. We don't say too much about him these days, but he does keep us laughing and playing. Here he is playing with Reagan's new roller skating puppy. Everytime the puppy would start skating, Irbe would run up to it and pick it up by it's tail. We were all having a great time watching him, even Reagan who thought Irbe was attacking her new puppy!