"Walking With Brice"

Last week, Justin took Brice to see "Walking With Dinosaurs". Brice was so excited! He could hardly contain himself when he woke up on Wednesday morning and knew he was going. And then I tried to get him to rest a little when he got home from school since I knew it would be a late night. Well, he was way too psyched to see these monsters walk around the stage on their own! Justin said it was so very, very real. At one point Tyrannosaurus Rex came out and "said hello" to the crowd. Well, it scared JUSTIN so badly, he dropped his phone! Justin did have camera issues as the batteries died and he was only able to get these few pictures with the camera. Anyway, Justin said Brice was holding on so tightly to his arm the entire show that Justin was getting stiff! We were both afraid that the nightmares would follow, but they haven't. Instead, we've created our own little dinosaur who now roams around the house, roaring and growling and pretending that Anna is a baby dinosaur and he is going to eat her! Check it all out for yourself at www.dinosaurlive.com.


If I remember correctly from Jurassic Park, this is a raptor, which was Brice's favorite. Once he sees Jurassic Park, he'll probably pick a new favorite!

So, that's it

Another trip to the cardiologist today. Nothing new, nothing great, nothing bad. We were expecting the dr. to do an ECHO today (ultrasound so to speak) of her heart instead of just the EKG but after listening to her and looking at her EKG, he said it wouldn't really change things or any decisions to made right now. Anna's VSD is small, which is good but she also has inlet extension which is kind of throwing a wrench in deciding things. Right now, she does not need surgery and continues to grow, which is the most important factor. At her six month appointment he used the phrase "highly unlikely" when talking about surgery. Today, he hemmed and hawed about it which of course threw Justin and I a little bit. He said he "didn't want to commit". Easy way out, if you ask me. He then started talking about the risks when doing surgery because of her inlet extension. He said most babies that have the inlet extension have a large VSD which Anna does not so we are dealing with a somewhat specific case. So, I don't feel like we went backwards but not really forwards either. When he listened to her, he did still hear the murmur and when looking at her EKG, he said it was normal. She is moving up on the charts on weight. All these things make me feel good about it. There is nothing really we can do except pray. Pray that one of two things happen, 1) the VSD closes on it's own (preferably by 18 months of age when we return to see Dr.S) or 2) if it doesn't close, it doesn't give her any trouble which would require surgery. So that's it, it's in His hands, not mine. Which it always has been, of course.

Blah-ging

So, sorry I haven't been blogging recently. I haven't had anything too exciting to put on here and I've been BLAH! It has been raining here, no wait, pouring and cloudy and depressing. It rained for about ten days straight which if you watch the news (I don't) you will have noticed that Georgia has had some major awful flooding. Forcing people to abandon their homes and cars. Schools are ruined. It's terrible. We've all been okay, thankfully. Our blah-ness comes from the fact that we aren't going outside and running around and getting our daily dose of Vitamin D. The one day we did have sunshine, we went outside and were greeted by tons of bugs and a soggy backyard. Hopefully soon we will enjoy some beautiful fall weather with sunshine and a cool breeze. I am definitely one of those people who could probably be diagnosed with Seasonal Affect Disorder! Where are you Mr. Sunshine??? Your abscence is affecting my blah-ging.

So Big!!!

So, you can probably guess what this video is about. I taught Anna how to do "so big" on Thursday and she has been doing it every since. Most of the time when she first gets up from her nap, she will just raise her arms up, prompting us! Also, today, she was doing it while sitting on the floor and threw her arms up so high that she lost her balance and fell backwards. Poor little thing is so proud of herself that I think she bruised her ego a little bit. With as much doting that Brice and Justin do on her, I think she'll recover!

Energy Expenditure

So, I pick Brice up from school and think he is going to want some "down time". Ha, ha! What I am thinking? Did I forget who I was dealing with here? Brice has been enjoying the past two weeks so much that he comes home completely energized and ready for more fun. On this particular day, it was all I could do to keep him quiet for Anna's nap and come up with ways for him to expend the energy!!! The rainy days around here are not helping matters.

First, we jumped onto the cushions from the chair.

We then used the cushions as a punching bag for about five minutes. It makes me tired just watching him.

Yelling into the pillow-can you say testosterone? His body is telling him, destroy, destruct, dismantle!

Now, the body slam!

What? Is this a tired face I see?

Oh, nope, just a little breather in order to tackle the pillow.

And, to make it more of a challenge, let's put a bucket on our head and see if that makes it more fun!!!
Next week, I'm going to try tying a rope to the back of the car and running him around the block!

Sweetest Thing

Anna is now 17 lbs and 9 oz (27%) and 28.5 inches (79%)! Time to go shopping for fall clothes! She also has a big noggin but we won't focus on that (90%)!! Anyway, the dr. was very pleased with her progress and said, "Stay healthy". Don't you know, that is our MAIN goal this winter. She got a flu shot and a Hepatitis B shot and had much to say about that. Poor little girl. She did get over it though with the help of Carly and paci. The doctor did still hear her murmur which I knew was still there since I listened to her myself last week. We go back to cardiology the end of the month. All in all, we are having so much fun with her and think she is the sweetest thing around.

Nine Months

Today I am nine months old.

I am cute.

I sit on the counter and eat Mommy's leftover turkey sandwiches.

I like to help empty the dishwasher.

My favorite activity though is climbing the stairs. I especially like to do this when no one is looking to see how far up I can climb before they discover I'm out of sight. I also love waving at people. See?

I love books just like Brice does. I often climb into my book basket to find a book.
I am Anna and today I'm nine months old. Can you believe it? Mommy can't but she sure is proud of me and so is Daddy. I go to the doctor this Tuesday for my check-up so I'll let you know how big and long I am after that. Wish me luck because I'm pretty sure that there are multiple shots involved. I have four teeth right now and love to crawl around, pull up and be anywhere that Brice is. Mommy always has the camera in front of my face so I'm sure that you'll be seeing more pictures of me very soon. Sorry if this is annoying but it's her blog and she can do what she wants on it! Have a great Sunday!

P.S. How 'bout them DAWGS!!!???

Thunderstorm

"Mom, who puts lightening in the sky?"
"God"
"Well then I guess He puts thunder in the sky too and rain in the clouds."
"Yes, He does."
With a big grin on his face he says, "Wouldn't be cool if God used big water guns to squirt the rain into the clouds?"
However He does do it, I love a good thunderstorm.

Pre-K!!!

Pictures from Brice's first day of Pre-K. A year from now, he will be in kindergarten. This is just so crazy to me. Brice was definitely ready, telling me to hurry up and get in the car or we're going to be late! Don't worry, kid, I'll get you there on time, I'm going to suck every minute out of preschool that I can. And look at Anna in these pictures, she is gleeful to have mommy to herself for a few hours a day.

Final Beach Post.

Beach-Part II

A few more of my favorites.












"Enough pictures!!!!"...Actually, I have one more post coming with beach pictures and then will return to the boring everyday stuff!

Beach-Part I

Our beach trip was so much fun complete with finding seashells, riding the waves, building sand castles, playing in the pool and so much more. I will post a couple of more "parts" before it is all said and done.On the way down, Anna was ready to get out of the car seat!

In the zone-watching movies.






She did a lot of this!










One of the highlights was swimming through all of the waterfalls at the pool.





Stay tuned for more pictures!