Madi's first tooth!

Last night her dad felt her gums again and there is a point on the bottom! Yay, maybe she'll be more happy now! Since last post our lives have been turned upside down. Water damage from the icemaker hose has us staying in an apt. for over a month now. they plan to have us back in the house by next weekend, finally. Olivia's bday party is this weekend, however, so we're having it at a nearby park! The apt we're in is the exact same one that Angie, Brian and I lived in back in 2001 when Brian first moved to VA :) It's nice that we have it, thanks to manager Angie, but it's been a challenge with sleeping, walking Dexie, no cable, etc. Dex even had us scared to death one night when he choked on a bone (won't do that again!!!)
Madi has had thrush, 2 colds, fevers, throwing up, all in the last month and finally cut her first tooth last night--milestones happening and i don't have access to their baby books b/c all our belongings are packed away in storage until the floors are down :( Trying to keep up with it all, pray it won't be long till we're back home!!!

appointments

Since the new year, Olivia and Maddie have both been their share of sick. Olivia had a few bad days with vomiting/fever/no appetite, due to sinus drainage and a viral infection. Maddie had more of the head congestion, now is coughing some, too. Other than that, Olivia had an appt. with Dr Apfel today after 4 months previous and gaps in her head are same size as before. She thinks the bone that's there is not defective, but just doesn't have something to attach to to grow and so we'll have to fill in the gaps again whether we do the same surgery as last time or we use a synthetic piece that would be patient specific, made just for Olivia. We're talking within a year or two, so no hurry. She is going to get more info from the supplier of the synthetic piece about options with children. So, we'll see her again in June, then October and be thinking about our options until then. We met with City of Salem schools last week and they want to do a full evaluation on Olivia to see what she may qualify for as far as therapies, etc. through the school system. She's doing well in her new Two Steps Up class, but we feel she's a little behind in speech and attention span. Daycare is going to try her again in the Connect Three's class March 1st. She went to the Curious George Live show last week and we've taken her to see Seasame Street Live and gone to an indoor carnival at the mall this winter. She's doing good in therapy, progressing--just slowly. Mrs. Robin has been having Olivia wear the sewed shirt during activity time daily for constraint therapy and Ms Jenny (OT) does the same for about 10 minutes a session. Olivia is more willing to use her right hand now, however it's still difficult for her to use it for many things. Assists well. Please pray for us and for olivia's head, God's will be done! His grace carries us through turmoil. We are blessed!

Thanksgiving/Christmas 09

Fall/Halloween 09

Halloween was great, Olivia was a princess and Maddie was a flower. We went to Lakeside's Fall Festival where Olivia played lots of games and got candy and prizes galor. Maddie's banana costume was too hot to wear that night!

Oct 14, Maddie had her 4 mo checkup/shots and flipped from stomache to back on the table for Dr Amoroso! yay! She's flipped both ways since then and started sitting up on her own right around Christmas Day this year, almost 6mo old! Eating baby food now once to twice a day and still taking about 6oz every 3-4 hrs except at night.

has it been that long??

I apologize for not keeping this site up to date! Maddie is now 14 weeks old and doing great. She had another stomache bug for 2 weeks but I took her to the pediatrician last week and no ear infection or anything like that. She's taking soy formula still so we're mixing it with the Enfamil we already had her on. Last week I was on vacation with my girls, after the weekend of the famous Angie/Tom Bell wedding! :) We went to Ohio to visit with Brian's family last weekend, too, which was nice.

Olivia is now potty trained, I can say pretty confidently :) An accident here and there, but she's doing great!!! We are so proud! She moved up to the Two Steps Up class at daycare and seems to have adjusted well, although she misses her bff, Abby! :(