Abby's Eye Surgery

Before surgery

after surgery

Abby had her eye surgery today. So glad it is all over. We never really told her what was actually going to happen. Never mentioned the word hospital or surgery. Just that we were going to the doctor and he was going to put some medicine on her eye. She has had this bump on her eye (chalazion) since January. After Easter it turned into a big ugly red bump under her eye so we went back to the pediatrician again and this time she said you need to go to and Ophthalmologist . We did and of course he says she need to have it removed and we do that in a hospital. Now I wasn't expecting that. My eye doctor friend told me they would do it in the office, but he is used to treating adults not children, so that got me a little rattled.

The actually doctor visit was quite fun for Abby, she liked the chair and all the gadgets. Emily did too for that matter. But when they started putting drops in Abby's eye to dilate them they layed the chair all the way back which freaked her out a bit. She jumped when they put the first drops in. Emily when hurried over to the chair and put her hand on Abby and said, "it's going to be okay Abby." That just melted my heart. They fight all the time but when it comes right down to it they want to take care of each other.

Back to Abby's surgery...( this is way I should blog everyday, because everyday stuff happens, but who has time) We were all prayed up by the time we arrived at the hospital. Abby didn't seem anxious or nervous at all. There were lots of different people coming in and out of the room asking her and me all kinds of questions. We got her all dressed in her gown and hat and socks. She looked so cute, wish I had a camera. But you really don't think about bringing a camera to the hospital unless you are having baby. Anyway, once she was all dressed they brought in her kiddie cocktail. She asked to have water with it as she always has a chaser of water with her medicine. But not this time...no food or water before surgery!

Which reminds me of something she said in the car on the way to the hospital. She knew she was suppose to have food or water and when I told her it was time to brush her teeth her daddy said but she can't have water. I said she won't drink the water she will spit it out. That registered something in her brain because on the way to the hospital she said," oh no momma I just drank my spit." Too cute.

Back to the surgery once again.....they had her all wrapped in blanket and put her in the wheelchair. It didn't seem to me that this kiddie cocktail had done anything to her but she waved and said by mom as they wheeled her to the operating room. No tears from either one of us and I knew right then Jesus was walking down the hall with her and we both had peace!

The surgery was fast 30 minutes or less, so that felt great. But when she woke up the old Abby was back. She was crying and an absolute mess for 15 minutes. She kept trying to take the patch off her eye and she wouldn't talk only cry. The doctor and the nurse kept saying this is normal all kids are like this when they are coming out of the anaesthesia. But David and I are thinking...no this child is like this all the time! She finally calmed down, drank some water and had a popsicle and life was good. After an hour they let us go home. When the nurse asked do you want your daddy to carry you out or do want to be wheeled out. She picked being wheeled out. So out she went in a wheelchair very excited oddly enough!

We had promised her we would take her to Luby's after the surgery if she felt like it. She had been asking to go to Luby's for two weeks. We had to wait a bit for Luby's to open but Luby's for lunch it was. We came home and of course the first think she wants is the patch off her eye since we told her it could come off when she got home. Now David and I knew the patch coming off was probably going to be more painful than the surgery but she wanted it off. And yes, there was lots of hollering when the patch got ripped off! She immediately wanted to look in the mirror and when she did she started crying. I guess it looked pretty scary to her. She wanted to know when it was going to go away.

She laid down to watch a movie and of course she didn't even take a nap. She was excited to go pick up Emily from school and show off her eye.

Glad it is all over with. Thank you Lord for once again giving us peace like a river and thank you Dr. Miller for making the process fast and painless. You are a great doctor!

We have a pool in our backyard!

Well, we have always wanted a pool in our backyard and that is what we have right now. The rains have not stopped in Houston , Texas. Water levels in some areas are similar to those when Allison came through town in 2001. For some crazy reason I got out in it today. Which was fine until I started home and had to take some alternate routes that weren't flooded. The girls enjoyed seeing all the high water until we pulled into our neighborhood and the street which leads to our street was under water. I finally decide we could make it through, though there were plenty of other cars waiting it out in the clubhouse parking lot. Thank goodness I drive an "ungreen ", gas guzzling, air polluting SUV!!!!!!!!

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It has been forever since I have blogged. We have been sick and blogging has been on the back burner. We missed Easter which was a big bummer. Half of us were sick so no church or Easter egg hunt at Nana's. Olivia came to me that night and said, "This is not how I planned my Easter to be!" You and both both girl...... All that time that went into picking the matching dresses and getting the shoes and sweaters etc, etc,..... and we still haven't worn our Easter dresses! We went to Louisiana the Wed. before Easter and had a great time. Though Emily threw up right before we left...not a good sign. We headed home and halfway home I started feeling sick. 20 minutes from home Abby threw up and 30 seconds later Emily did the same! Oh my....what a disgusting mess! Two days later Olivia starts the same thing. We go to the Dr. on Wed. and everyone has strep! We were going for Abby's eye, which we were then referred to an eye Dr. She has had a stye under her eye for months but now it has gotten so big and ugly. It is obvious it is not going away. Yesterday after two hours at the doctors office (thank Emily for being a good girl for those two hours, though Daddy and I both paid for after those two hours) I am told she has to have surgery to remove it! Oh yea. Right now the poor child had diarrhea and eczema to contend with. Who knows what is going on in her little body....but she is happy to stay home with mommy! We still managed to have some fun last week when they were home because of strep. Even though they were sick this time they did not feel bad or act sick. So Thursday we went to see the Hannah Montana movie. We were the only ones in the theatre for a while and then one other lady showed up. But that didn't keep the girls from dancing in the isles. It was a cute movie and everyone had fun. Emily even took a little nap! This sickness took Olivia out of school for 3 days. This week she brought home her Absence Warning Letter from the Principle. She had had strep throat three times this year! I didn't realize I really need to turn in the Doctors notes. I had know idea she would be sick some much this year. She never missed last year. I guess public school has more germs! :) Regardless of her sickness Olivia had a great report card. All A's and 2 B's. She said she was going to get straight A's. Which I knew wasn't going to happen but excited about her abundance of self esteem even though I knew it was somewhat misguided!

Oh, our neighbors are selling there house. so Olivia and I have already started praying again for more good neighbors to move in. We are exited to see who the Lord brings next door to us! We tried to get a unamed family that is related to us to move next door, but unfortunately you need more than great neighbors to make it worth the effort of packing up your entire house to move and the house next door fell a little short!

Well I guess that is all for now. Hopefully soon we will get to wear our Easter dresses and post some pictures!

I Don't Want to Go to Heaven.

Yesterday Abby and I were looking through some old pictures. She saw a picture of herself as a baby sitting on someone's lap. She asked who is that? I said that is Grandma Wiggins. Do you remember her? Yes she said, I have been looking for her, where is she? I told her she was in heaven with Jesus. Abby quickly looked up at me and said, "she died?" I told her she had. Abby then wanted to know where heaven was. She asked if everyone went to heaven. I said if you love Jesus you go to heaven. You could see the wheels in her head turning as we were talking. Finally, she very quickly stated, "I love Jesus but I don't want to go to heaven." And that was the end of the conversation. You could tell this was not a topic she cared to discuss any longer.

The Bluebonnets are here!

Thursday we made our usually annual trek to see the bluebonnets and take pictures. This time Uncle Scott came with us carrying his awesome camera and photo taking ability. Aunt Ruth and Natalie came with us as well so we had a great time hanging with family. We found a sunny spot behind Walmart in Brenham that had a field full of bluebonnets and we had fun there but the sun was awfully bright. We made our way to Independence and unfortunately The Antique Rose Emporium was closed. We LOVE that place. The girls do to because there is lots of space to run around and lots of things to investigate. So we drove on to Old Baylor College. They had swings there for the girls and a huge oak tree perfect for climbing which is exactly what the girls did. Scott took some awesome pictures of the girls at what I guess were the front steps to the old college. The sun was starting to set, so the lighting was perfect. We then spotted an incredible field of bluebonnets beside Sam Houston's old house. So of course we took more pictures. The girls did a good job of smiling pretty and striking poses. Some our naturals at it and others.......not so natural, but I won't mention names. The pictures can tell the story. The girls found an orange tree in front of Sam Houston's house, so they had a little snack after taking pictures.

It was a long day of all of us.....and I didn't mention all that we had to accomplish before we left just to be ready for our photo shoot. Really I was wiped out before we got to Brenham. We started bathing, washing hair, blow drying hair and rolling hair at 10:00 am. Then there was the ironing of the wardrobe not to mention putting it all on! Fortunately this was a day that Emily woke up in the middle of the night with fever so she sleep most of the day before we left, so that made the day a bit easier. Yes, I know I am a terrible mom for dragging my fever ridden child out to take bluebonnet pictures. But once we got into the car she didn't have fever anymore. Plus she had a great time on our little road trip!

They did get a little tired at times having so many pictures taken.....I think David even said they are going to grow up hating bluebonnets. But I disagree totally. They will have found memories of all our road trips to the bluebonnets each spring. Some of those bluebonnet treks have included stops at the BlueBell Creamery, which I think is a very good memory. I suppose only time will tell what they have to say about their memories of bluebonnets.....but for mom it will be all good!

Olivia CAN let her nails grow!

I made a bet with Olivia a couple of weeks ago that if she grew her nails out I would take her to get a manicure. Now getting a manicure is a big deal. I am one of those mothers who thinks taking 5,6,7,8,9 and 10 year olds to get there nails and toes done is ridiculous. Don't we already give our kids too much too early as it is? So, if they start expecting manicures at 6......well it can only go down hill from there. Therefore, we have always done our manicures and pedicures at home. But I decided to make an exception because I needed an extra special reward in hopes of getting Olivia to stop biting her nails! It drives me NUTS! Her little nubby nails just looked pitiful all the time. She would want to paint her nails and I would tell her...you have nothing to paint, let's do your toes! I guess she finally got tired of hearing me go on about her lack of fingernails. One day she told me she was going to stop biting her nails. Well, I jumped on that one fast and made deal with her completely believing she would never stop biting her nails. She would come home from school and tell me mom I'm not biting my nails anymore. I would look at her little nubs and think....yeah right! WELL....yesterday I looked at her hands and actually saw signs of a white nail emerging! I was so excited I wanted to throw a party. I went on and on about how good her nails looks and how proud I was that she had stopped biting her nails. I told her they needed to get a little longer before we go get a manicure, but I do believe she is well on her way! Good job Olivia, momma is really proud of you and I am sorry for not believing you could do it!

Fun at the Rodeo

Well.....we really don't go to the rodeo. We have not dare ventured there with three little ones yet. Who knows how that would go....maybe next year. But we always make it to the Livestock Show and Carnival. We started going when Olivia was three and we soon learned she hated the animals but LOVED the rides. The faster the better. We couldn't believe some of the rides she wanted to get on. She would always get off with a big smile on her face.

Now Abby loves the animals and just this year started enjoying the rides more. Though she does choose the scary, creepy rides which is Abby......she loves all things scary for some reason. Halloween is her time of the year. She loves looking at all the scary costumes and things in the store at Halloween. I find that very odd but at least she isn't scared.....I guess! But back to our trip to the Livestock Show. Abby wanted to see horses so we took the tram to the horse arena where we visited with a few horses.

Now Emily loves the animals as well. The petting arena is one of her favorite spots. Of course she wants to feed the animals and chase them around. But the rides she absolutely hates, but she forgets that each time she begs to get on a ride until about halfway through the ride and then she starts crying.

One thing they all like is the cotton candy and no trip to the rodeo is complete without a bag of cotton candy...... and beef jerky for that matter. We discovered Emily loves the stuff!

We walked around for over 6 hours and needless to say we were all pooped by the time we left but a good time was had by all!

Emily's 3rd Birthday Party

At last Emily has her first real birthday party with friends. I do believe she had an exceptionally good day, as can be seen by one of the pictures were she is completely disheveled. She has seen her sisters have birthday parties and was old enough now to know she wanted the same thing. Somehow I managed to talk her out of a Chuck E Cheese party.....that was all she talked about after Abby's and even until 2 weeks before her birthday party. For some reason I thought it would be cheaper and less complicated to have it at home......I think I was wrong....but I don't care, home birthday parties are the best. Emily said she wanted a Cinderella cake up until a week before her birthday and then she changed to Tinker Bell. Good thing she has a mom that doesn't plan things way in advance and waits until the last minute. At least that way you can change things at the whim of a almost three year old.

We had our first outdoor birthday party. I always wanted a child to be born when you could actually have a birthday outside. But with September and August birthday with Olivia and Abby that doesn't happen in our neck of the woods. So a March birthday is perfect. The weather was great, a little windy but that is better than rain. We couldn't keep the candles lit but that didn't seem to bother Emily....she blew anyway.

I unfortunately spent most of the time in the kitchen, but I guess that is what happens when you plan things last minute. Fortunately I always have a very helpful sister in law that makes things much easier! And a dad who take lots of pictures and a husband taping the fun on camera. So the next day we watched the party on video!

Well I have 5 months before it is time to plan two more parties....maybe I will get it together by then!

Happy Birthday Emily

Emily turned three yesterday....her party will be Saturday so I will have pictures to post and more stories to tell.....but for right now I am going to let my mind wander through our past year with our little hellion! I know I shouldn't call her that but that is exactly what she is.....though I have to say yesterday she was such a good girl and we were out in public and everything and she really was quite obedient. I briefly thought.....could her terrible two's really be over the minute she turns 3! WhooHoo.......but I will have to get back with you on that one. She has been at MDO today so I am not sure what her day has been like....but I know her sweet teacher Ms. Mindy will be honest with me......she has her hands full with Emily and is never without a story for me when I come to pick her up. The other day Mrs. Sharon and Mrs. Mindy said they wished they had a video camera in the room. They could have won funniest home videos they said since they were both chasing Emily around the room hopping over kids napping trying to catch her....but enough of their memories....let me tell some of my own.Even though Emily can be a wild child she is a sweet child. She tells me she loves me all the time without being prompted. She loves to give kisses and she is quick to say thank you. She still loves that crazy paci and I don't know what we are going to do to get rid of it but it is time. She stays in her bed all night now ( her 4 year old sister doesn't even do that) and every morning she wakes up and tells me, "I stayed in my bed all night but Abby didn't! " She wakes up every morning with a smile on her face and a paci in her mouth....she says,"Hi Mommy!" Then her next statement is, "Where's Daddy" She loves to be thrown on the bed. That is something David started with the girls and they love it! I love her two front teeth that are so big and stick out. I call her beaver buck teeth and she always laughs when I say that. She loves to swing and have Abby take her for rides in the Jeep. Her and Abby love to play mommy and baby or puppy and mommy. Emily has no problem eating off the floor like a dog.The other day Emily threw a fit in a store so we promptly left. She threw a fit the entire way home. 20 minutes. I thought for sure this girl is going to get tired of crying and stop. Finally as we are pulling into the neighborhood she says, Mommy, I can't stop crying." Suddenly I started to feel sorry for her. I thought she really doesn't have any control over herself. I told her to take a deep breath and blow it out. She started to calm down. Later in the day, I believe, she hear me telling my mom this story.....because now quite often she tells me, Mommy I can't stop crying".....I no longer feel sorry for her. She is going to have to come up with a new story and I am sure she probably will.

As the years always go by quickly, this year was no exception....the changes are sometimes so subtle they go by unnoticed. One day your not rocking her to sleep anymore, she's going to the bathroom all by herself. Gone is the baby bed, the diapers, the bottles , the little bitty spoons and all the other things that say a baby lives in this house. Oddly enough that makes me sad....the truth be told I was putting off potty training Emily because I didn't want to stop buying diapers. That would have been a sure sign I didn't have a baby in the house anymore. But my husband and my mother wouldn't let it rest. That wanted that girl potty trained and she is!

So now we have a three year old living in the house....looking forward to all the fun and excitment that will bring........

I don't feel like going to school today Mom.....

I have been saving up all my stories and now I have time to blog them so here is another one.

Olivia woke up one morning this week and said, "Mom I don't feel like going to school today." I am hot, my throat is dry, my stomach feels weird, I don't want to be reminded that four of my friends left my class and went to Mrs. Fox's class and when you woke me up my best dream left and I can't get it back."

Well those are all very good reasons to not go to school but get your clothes on girl...your going to school.

The picture is of Olivia stating her case of why she doesn't feel like going to school.

Junk Hair Abby

This week we were getting ready to go somewhere and Abby had messed her hair up getting dressed. She came to me and said, "Mommy my hair is all messed up. I have "junk" hair!" Junk hair, I said...ummmmm. Abby replied, " yes you can call me Junk hair Abby."

So here we have a very pretty picture of Junk Hair Abby.

And one day Junk Hair Abby will appreciate the beautiful head of hair God gave her.

Happy Valentine's Day

Tonight we had our family Valentine dinner.....red table cloth, flowers, candles, lights down low, soft music and our best china ...the works. The table was beautiful. Now bring on the 2 year old the 4 year old and the 7 year old along with bacon, potato and cheese and heart shaped pancakes! Yes, that was the request from our silly girls. Abby wanted pancakes and Olivia wanted bacon potato and cheese. At least it is easy and it looks very nice on china. Of course we got the video camera out to record the moment. The girls loved helping their daddy set the table. Olivia loves drinking out of glasses with stems on them. Can't think of a better way to create some special Valentine memories.

Times Remembered.......

Well, last week was the anniversary of Emily's accident. Of course it came and went without fanfare but in the back of my mind I noted it and remembered back to those crazy couple of weeks and how God was so very faithful. I wasn't blogging back then so I did not have the opportunity to write it all down. And even though I said I was going to write the story in her baby book I have yet to do it. So I will take the time now and you would think since this happened a year ago, I wouldn't be able to remember everything.....funny thing is I can remember it all just as if it were yesterday.......It was Saturday morning and David and the girls were in the gameroom and I was in a bedroom. I knew David was using the paper shredder and when he hollered for me I knew it wasn't good. I ran to the gameroom picked Emily up and ran downstairs with her. I took one look at her hand and said we need to go the emergency room. I got a towel and wrapped her hand up and started praying out loud.....just talking to Jesus....and I had complete peace. We got everyone in the car and off we went. I sang songs and prayed the whole way, while Emily cried the whole way. David drove like a bat out of hell and the girls sat in the back very calm. I was calm the entire 2 hours we were in the ER. 1 1/2 of those hours the dr. was trying to sew up her fingers. She cried the entire time. But the peace of God was all over me. Normally I would have been a sobbing mess. There is no doubt God's presence is powerful in whatever form. Thank you Jesus for your peace that day. And for giving peace when we needed it and taking it away when we needed to look elsewhere for medical care. We were lead to the best possible Dr. out there and with the Lord's help he put Emily's precious little fingers back together again. Once again during Emily's surgery I had complete peace and what a blessing that is. The Bible talks about a peace that transcends all understanding. And that is what I had. I love those verses....
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:6-8

Another one was Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As traumatic as this event was (apparently to David and I only) the girls remember that day with giggles. Just a couple of months ago Abby was reminding me of the time her and Olivia went to the hospital in their PJ's, when Emily hurt her hand and Daddy was crying. They thought it was funny they got to wear pajamas in public. Once again God's provision and protection of Olivia and Abby. They were not negatively effected by the events of the day. Even seeing their Daddy upset, which normally would send Olivia over the edge! Thank you Jesus ...your mercies are indeed, new every morning.

Emily's fingers are not perfect...but she has them and they work just fine. They are a reminder to me of God's peace....His faithfulness and His provision.