Izzy Turns 4!

Dear Izzy, Today you turn 4. Boy this age has hit your momma hard. You have grown so fast, and every day you prove to me that you are no longer my baby girl, but are my little kid. The other day, it hit me how big you are getting. I signed you up for pre-K - you are no longer in "daycare" you are in pre-K which means one more year and you will be in Kindergarten - that's like big kid school!! So looking back on this last year, where have you gone? Your vocabulary has become ridiculous - you speak in sentences that are longer than what I speak, and you catch on to concepts so quickly. You hear something once, and you can repeat it back. You are learning how to spell, and are pronouncing words in syllables so you can figure out what letters they are made of. You "read" books and can describe a whole story. You can write your name, and can copy other words, such as Nana, Papa, Brooke, Mama, Dad. You know all your letters by sight, and learning what sound each one makes. You are interested in so many things. You love playing baby dolls, Barbies, dress up. You love anything with music, including singing and dancing. You LOVE dance class. You go every Thursday, and as soon as you are done, you ask when you get to go back. You love school, and enjoy playing with all your school friends. Your best friend is "Lilly B". You are learning your socialization skills. We go to a park, and within 5 minutes you make kids who are complete strangers your friends. If only I could have your forwardness and the ability to walk away with more friends than you walked into a room with. You have many strengths, and a few weaknesses. You still need me to fall asleep at night. I don't know if I will ever be ready for the day you go to bed without needing me there. You are very emotional, which has both its good and bad moments. You throw fits if you don't get your way, and many times I have a vision of what you will be like at 16...boy am I in trouble. But those emotions also are very sweet. You don't like anyone hurting, and you will do whatever you can to make others feels better. If it is a kid who is younger than you, you will make sure they are taken care of and treat them like you were their big sister. You love your little sister. You give her hugs when we pick you up from school. You love when she copies you (I am sure this is something you will come to not like so much...hopefully that is years from now). You love when she does something new, and you get as excited as I do. You pull her around the house, and love to dance and sing with her. You melt my heart every day. I love the hugs and the kisses. I love your laugh, especially when you really find something funny. I could have the worst day, and you will start laughing that way, and it gets me rolling. I love seeing the relationship between you and your daddy. Thank you for changing my life the way you have. I know this next year will bring lots of fun and joyful times. I am sure there will be some hard times, and there might be some times I get mad or upset with you. But know that I will always love you and you can never make me too mad. I am excited to see how much you will continue to grow. I love you and I always will. Love always and forever, Your Mommy

Brooklynn's Neurosurgery Appointment.

I have not blogged in a long time...way too long. So here I am making a promise that I will be better. Especially these next few months because it will be filled with multiple different things, including doctors' appointments, follow ups, tests, and (yikes) the girls' birthday! Today we went to our 1 year follow up for neurosurgery with Brooklynn. I was really excited thinking we would be completely cleared! After all Brooklynn has been doing great developmentally. Sure her head size has grown but I feel like she is growing into it. We went and she weighed 32.7 pounds, stood 2 feet 11 inches tall, and her head size is now 57 centimeters (not 100% what that is in inches off the top of my head). Which means, it continues to grow. It is still on a pretty decent curve for her but it is now officially unplottable on the growth chart. After meeting with Dr H., who I know from work as being pretty conservative - he felt we needed to do another CT scan. He feels like he is not too worried, but he wants to make sure her ventricles aren't increasing any more. He felt that after that scan we could probably follow up in 1 year. So here we go ago - she will be exposed to radiation and possible sedation (a lot less sedation than what would be required for MRI). While I am happy he felt that she was developmentally on target, I was really disappointed that we weren't released from their services. So next week we go in for this scan and see how that goes! I am just ready for everything to be over and done with and for Brooklynn to no longer have to endure any appointments.

Brooklynn's Half Birthday Letter

Brooklynn,
You just turned 1 and 1/2 years old. You are growing so fast, and time is flying by. It seems like we just brought you home from the hospital. You have the best personality, and are always happy. You have learned the word "no" and say it any time you don't want to do anything. You love to play with your older sister, and always try to do things that are too big for you - but a majority of the time, you are able to do them.

You are very loving, and are always hugging and giving kisses. You love waving hi to people in the stores, and wave bye any time we go any where and say "buh". You love animals, and any time you see a dog you yell "dah" and run towards it. You give Carmen lots of hugs and try to climb all over her. You are always busy, and don't like to sit still for any period of time. You have worn a path in our carpet due to you always walking in circles and up and down the hallways.

Some of your favorite things to do is play outside, play peek a boo and hide and seek. You love to look at books, but hate to sit down and have me read them to you. You love watching movies with your older sister. You are always exploring, and always putting things in your mouth. You are very curious. You are learning new words every day - and are constantly trying to discover new things.

What are some of the things I love about you? I love that when you see me you yell "Mah Mah Mah" and come running to me. I love when you get excited you scream. I love that when you see Curious George on the TV you point, jump up and down, and yell "Eeej, EEEJ!" I love when we ask you to dance you bob your head back and forth and pick your feet up and down. I love that when you get a little scared you hold on tight and cry "no". I love that you still need me, but are getting a little more courageous and trying to venture out on your own.

I love your smile - it is contagious and any time I am having a bad day, I know that smile will turn it around. I love that you are my "little brute" and are a rough and tumbling type of child, but you also love to play dress up with your sister.

Life is so much better with you in it. When I thought my heart couldn't grow any more after having your sister, you were born and taught me that there is SO much more love to give away to you! I am so complete with you in my life. I will always be there for you. I will always love you, even when you do something wrong - I will help you pick up the pieces and be there to teach you life lessons (even if you chose not to hear me at that point, you might remember it later on). I can't wait to see what great things you are going to do with your life! Thank you for being such a wonderful little girl!

Love you always and forever,
Mommy

Izzy's half birthday Letter

Izzy,
You are 3 and a half now, and boy how grown up you are! You have such a big personality, and you keep me laughing constantly. Your language is exploding, and you hold conversations like a big girl (like really - I feel like you hold conversations that a 7 year old would have). You are very intelligent and catch on to concepts extremely fast. You are in the "I want to do it" phase, which is really fun, but also really hard for me to adjust to. I don't feel like you should be able to do everything yourself. So you get discouraged sometimes when I try to do it for you. You are very friendly and love to meet new people. Every time you go to a new place, you walk away with at least 1 new friend. You take excellent care of your sister and cousin Mia (who your Nana Sugar watches). You are always wanting to help, and are concerned when they are crying, and have a great time playing with them.

Some of your favorite things to play with are your baby dolls and Barbies. You love princesses, Dora, and dancing. You enjoy drawing, writing, and reading. Your favorite movies are anything Disney, and anything about princesses (of course). You love to apply make up and want your nails painted all the time. You started your first all day preschool this year, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and your friend Lilly is in your class, which you are so happy for. You did a great job on your first day, with only a few tears shed around naptime. You are starting dance class (ballet and tap) tonight and are SOOO excited for that! I can't wait to see you in your dance outfit! Again, it will remind me how big you are becoming.

You are very indepedent, but you are very loving. You are going through the "I will miss you stage" and do a lot of thinking about what you really want. You have a hard time deciding who you want to spend time with. You also have learned how to throw a massive tantrum - including stomping your feet, slamming doors, crossing your arm, and screaming and crying at the top of your lungs, when you don't get your way. Most of the time, these don't last too long, and you are pretty reasonable when I sit down and give you options.

So what are some of my favorite things about you? I love when you see me you come running to me and say "Mommy I MISSED you!" I love that when you are upset, and I tell you not to smile, you almost always smile and tell me that I am funny. I love that you try to be bigger than you are, by "working out" with daddy, trying to be a mommy to your sister and baby dolls, and just try to hold conversations with older kids all the time. I love that every once in a while, I catch a glimpse of my baby girl who is vulnerable and scared, but who is willing to try almost anything even if you are a little scared. I love that you still need me, because I am sure that before I know it, you are going to need me less and less.

I want you to know I am ALWAYS there for you and I will always love you. I will encourage you and support you, and I will hold you when you are hurt or broken. I might get upset with you at times, but know that I will attempt to come back and explain to you why I yelled, or got upset. I want to be able to talk to you about anything, and you to feel like you can talk to me about anything. My life is full with you in it and I love every second of the time I get to spend with you! You brighten up every life you touch - and II hope you always know that!

Love you always and forever,
Your mommy

Brooklynn's 18 month appointment

Today I took Brooklynn for her 18 month appointment. We met a new pediatrician today! Some of you may not know but we had A LOT of drama with our last doctor's office - long story short - their old doctor left (like went to Wisconsin) told me she would follow up on Brooklynn's sleep study, and never knew if she did. Month later, we had no more information on her sleep study than when we started. So, since it took a month to get "we don't know what to tell you - call the pulmonologist office and ask your questions" and "we will refer you to a second opinion if you want but we have no other advice because we can't find her study" I was done.

SO we switched to my sister's doctor's office. And so far, I am very happy. We saw Dr. G. I told the office to give us some extra time as her history is pretty complex...and the doctor spent probably 30+ minutes going over her history, looking through her medical record, and examining her. She was 29 pounds, 33 inches long, and her head size was 21 3/4 inches (1/2 and inch more and her head size will be unplottable on the growth chart!) She could hear a murmur (which was to be expected), and said that she looks pretty good health wise.

I brought up my concerns about the sleep study and the interpretation. Pretty much, she agreed with me that she felt the apneas we discounted (her biggest concern was the obstructive sleep apneas, even though there were 2-3 that were listed, her concern was that it might be more than that on another night). She said her tonsils are very large, and she wouldn't be surprised if she had them removed at 2 years of age. She said she was not sure how to interpret the central apneas, but she was a little concerned that she dropped her saturations to the mid to upper 80's and the pulmonologist who interpreted it did not make any comment on that in his impression - just in the study itself. And she was healthy. So she agreed that when she is sick that these might be more significant, and that from one sleep study to the next there could be significant changes.

So her recommendation is to go to another hospital to have another sleep study done. She was a little concerned that the only thing that came of her sleep study based on the interpretation was periodic limb movement disorder. So we will be referred to another hospital and have another study done probably within the month.

It felt nice to have my concerns addressed (FINALLY after 3 months of waiting since the sleep study was completed), and that we are FINALLY going to be doing something about it! She said they really odn't get concerned unless sleep apneas last for 20+ seconds, which makes me feel a little better as well. Her concerns were more for her oxygen saturations and the obstructive apneas.

She said she saw the asthma action plan, and thinks it is okay for now - but is assuming that once winter comes, we will be upping her medications to more than once a day. I also said that I was nervous because both winters of B's life she has been hospitalized with RSV, and she answered that with she should have outgrown that possibility, or let's hope. So that was reassuring...at least a little.

Other than that the doctor summarized Brooklynn's medical history in a sentence "She is the sickest healthy kid I have ever seen". She also said if I have to make appointments for Brooklynn, to just go ahead and request more time - because she will need it.

On a VERY positive note - NO SHOTS!!! So this evening, we have a happy happy child :)

Corpus Christi Vacation

This month we went on a family vacation with my side of the family. We went to Corpus Christi/Padre Island Texas. It was the first time we had been on vacation with my family in 10 years (yes, that is before we got married, had kids, and towards the VERY beginning of Sam's and I's relationship). It was due.

We flew out with my oldest sister Stephanie. The whole time we were in the airport, flying, and than driving the 2 1/2 hours from San Antonio, Izzy was asking "Can we go to the beach? I want to go to the beach!" Of course by the time we got down there, it was 8pm so no beach that night. Our condo was amazing - right off the bay, with a fishing dock right behind us. Two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living area. My parents had their own condo that was a two bedroom. Jacob, my nephew stayed with them, Stephanie and Devon my other nephew stayed with us.

The first day, we ended up going to a few surf shops, and than Izzy's request, we went to THE BEACH! It was so much fun to see her and Brooklynn in the water and sand. Izzy was a little leary of the water at first, but than became a regular water rat. Brooklynn just cared about eating the sand :).

We spent almost all day there, and by the end we were all exhausted, and I was pretty burnt! So burnt that the next day, I couldn't wear anything on my shoulders. It was an excuse to wear dresses the rest of the vacation.

The second day, we went to a wildlife refuge, and went hiking and driving. We saw birds, alligators (YES ALLIGATORS YIKES), deer, jelly fish, fish, and other random wildlife. Izzy saw an armadillo (thanks to Rango, she knew what one was), but nobody else saw it.

On the way over the the refuge, Devon and I saw a dolphin when we were hopping the ferry, but that was the only time and it was quick. It was a fun, and exhausting, day. The weather was not too bad, but it was a little warm when the wind wasn't blowing. When the wind WAS blowing it was blowing hard.

The third day we went back to the beach, but to a different beach this time. We spent a lot of the day collecting seashells and sitting on the sand and a little time in the water. We also went to the pool that night, and Izzy put her face underwater for the first time! It was amazing.

The fourth day, and we went to USS Lexington, and than to Texas Aquarium. Both were fun. The USS Lexington definitely was not a kid friendly environment - lots of balconies, and steep stairs. The girls enjoyed it, just a lot of anxiety producing events for momma.

The Texas Aquarium was fun, and the girls LOVED seeing all the wildlife. Izzy loved the dolphins, and Brooklynn loved them too. It was so much fun to see the girls just enjoy themselves. Brooklynn learned that she LOVES her nephews! She would not want to get too far from them.

Our final full day, we spent again at the beach. It was so much fun to just relax! We spent some time fishing throughout the week, and caught quite a few fish. We ate at lots of great restaurants, and went to some really cute shops.

The following day, we left early and drove to San Antonio and did some walking on the Riverwalk and driving around. The whole flight home, Izzy kept saying "I want to go home, I miss Carmen and Busa!!" It was a great trip, but I think her comment fit where we all were at. While it is nice to get away, it is nice to be home. Now if there was some way to make home Corpus Christi....Just kidding, but it was beautiful down there!

7/24 Coupon Shopping Trip

Went on a shopping spree with my sister today at CVS and Walgreens - I was pretty successful. Spent a little more than I wanted to spend, but got a lot of great things! I bought $215.68 worth of product, for $69.99. That is a savings of $145.69! Here is the list of my savings:

CVS

Crest ProHealth Toothpaste $3.99 on sale 2.99
- 2.00 Extrabucks + $0.75 coupon = $0.24

Oral B Satin Floss $4.19 on sale $2.99
- $2.00 Extrabucks + $0.75 coupon = $0.24

Optifree Twin Pack Contact Solution $17.49 on sale $14.99
- $5.00 Extrabucks + $3.00 Coupon = $6.99

Kotex Liners $4.99 on sale $3.49
- $2.00 Extrabucks + $1.00 Coupon = $0.49

Kellogg's Cereal - Fruit Loops (4.39), Apple Jacks (4.69), Corn Pops (4.69)
- On sale 3/$6, and coupon for $1/3 = paid $1.67 each

Post Cereal Honey bran raisin (3.99) and Almond (4.39)
- On sale 2/$4, coupon for $1/2 = Paid $1.50 each

Palmolive Dish Soap $1.77 on sale $0.99
- $0.25 coupon = $0.74

Banana Boat Sunscreen $11.99 on sale $6.99

Kleenex $1.29 on sale for $0.88
- Coupon for $0.50 off 3 = $0.71 each

Crest Scope $3.89 on sale $2.99 - Learning experience - there was a limit of 2 for the extrabucks which counted Oral B, so did not get this for the price I was thinking
- $0.75 coupon = paid $2.74 (might try returning this)

Finish Powertab Dishwasher Detergent $5.99 on sale $2.99
- Coupon $0.65 = $2.34

Duracell AA 4 pack $4.99 on sale $2.99
- Coupon $1.00 = $1.99

Walgreens
Reynolds Wrap $1.79 on sale $0.89

Mars candy bars each $1.09 on sale for $0.49
- Coupon for $0.50 on 2 = paid $0.24 each

Zyrtec pack of 5 $7.99
- Coupon $5.00 = paid $2.99

Benadryl Anti-Itch Spray $6.49 on sale $4.49
- Coupon $2.00 = paid $2.49

Hand Sanitizier $2.99 on sale $1.99

Edge Shave Gel $2.79 on sale $1.99
- $0.55 coupon = Paid $1.24

Vaseline Lotion on Sale for $1.05

Wisk Laundry Detergent - $6.99
- $2.00 off coupon = $4.99
- Received Free Snuggle Dryer Sheets ($4.59 value)

Huggies Wipes $3.99 on Sale $2.49
- $1.00 walgreens coupon + $0.50 manufacturer Coupon = $0.99 (bought 2)

Skintimate Moisturizing Shave Gel $4.49 on Sale $1.99
- Had one $1.50 and $1.00 coupon - bought 2 - one for $0.49 and one for $0.99

Duracell AAA 8 Pack on Sale $5.99
- $4.00 Walgreens coupon = $1.99 - I totally forgot to add Duracell Coupon manufacturer so I could have Saved $1.00 more!

Covergirl Mascara on sale for $2.12
- Had buy one get 50% off sale = $3.18 for 2
- Had $2.50 on 2 coupon = $0.34 each

Scunci Hair Ties $3.49 on sale for $2.99
- Buy 1 get 1 free = $1.50 each

Huggies Jumbo Bag Diaper $12.99 on sale $8.99
- $3.00 coupon = $5.99 (bought 2)