The Clanahan Family

Product of the Week - Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Gloss

2012-02-02T09:04:00.000-06:00

It's time for "Product of the Week" with Aly & Tiffanie. Y'all, I am loving this --- I've gotten so many great ideas from all the posts. I've never been a "link up" blog party girl, but this is just plain fun & easy! Don't forget to go take a peek and see what everyone is showing this week. Not good for my wallet, but great fun for my soul : )

I don't know why I feel the need to share a story with every "Product of the Week" post, but I typically can't write anything less than 400 words. It's not in my DNA.

Anyway, long ago (like 16-20 months ago) when I had 2 newborn babies at home and was up at weird hours of the night, I would always catch the Bare Minerals, Bare Escentuals, Mineral anything makeup infomercials. And then the next a.m. I would look in the mirrow and see that something had to be done --- I looked like, well, someone who was up all night with two babies.

One of the first times I braved the mall with the twins, I happened to pass a Bare Escentuals store. I didn't even know there was such a thing - goes to show what happens when you are on bedrest for 15 some odd weeks and then raising babies. I made a quick right turn and headed right to it, begging the woman to help me. Ha. She totally hooked me up with the mineral makeup (which I still use by the way - especially on days when I need a "quick face" and don't want to mess with typical foundation and liquid concealer).

She also introduced me to the "Buxom Lip Gloss". I have been hooked ever since. It has a slight tingle to it - be warned - but the colors are delish. And it does make your lips look a little fuller - although that wasn't really a selling point for me, I just wanted a good lip gloss that wasn't super sticky and would STAY PUT. And this is it -- especially if you put a little nude lip pencil underneath it. I was not a girl blessed with beautiful naturally rosy lips like some of y'all. Mine are pretty blah and need help.

Apparently in the past week or so, they've gone from selling the Buxom at the Bare Escentuals store to exclusively at Sephora. Go try it out - and don't be scared, some of the colors look really dark, but they all go on quite sheer. I own at least 5 different colors, but Dolly & Sugar are my daily "go to" shades. Enjoy!

Our Weekend In Pictures...sort of

2012-01-30T17:30:00.000-06:00

So I mentioned last week that I haven't done a good job of taking pictures. I would like to say that I caught some great images this weekend and would have some wonderful pictures to post. Unfortunately, my children NEVER.STOP.MOVING. so pictures are becoming almost impossible. I did happen to catch a few with my i-phone, thus the somewhat questionable quality.

Did I catch some pictures of the kids running around like crazies at the Build a Bear workshop for their friend Grayson's 2nd birthday in their precious smocked outfits (cupcake pant set for Quinn and cordoruy steam boat for Ryan)? Nope.

How about Quinn shoving down at least 10 Chick Fil A chicken nuggets at the same party, plus one full piece of cookie cake? Nope.

Or the buddah belly she acquired afterwards. No again.

Or the twins all dressed up for their 2nd trip to the church toddler/preschool room now that we have a schedule that allows it? Nope.

I did manage however to catch these precious images when Matt was leading the youth at Bible study last night. While he was talking about the word of God, I was feeding my children oreos and letting them do this:

This is how we roll in the Clanahan house - keeping it classy, Ry Guy.

I don't think this is what Ma had in mind when she bought them these precious chairs.

First oreo experience. Most expectedly, Ryan took his apart and licked the cream and then sucked on the chocolate wafer part until it was almost non-existent. Quinn just shoved all the deliciousness in her mouth at one time, like she does with most sweet things. She is definitely my girl.

This past weekend we also had some handymen out to repair our fence and gate that was damaged by Ike - oh yeah, like 3 1/2 years ago. Our ability to procrastinate is unmatched. Anyway, this provided a good 20-30 minutes of uninterrupted entertainment for the twins to watch the guys at work.

And this? This is just gross. We finally cleaned out the kids toy bins to get rid of some of the newborn things that they never use anymore. This was the before. I, of course, didn't take pictures of the after, but trust that it is so, so, so much better. Now they can actually see what they have to play with. And we made some room to finally bring in the Christmas gifts we bought them but never gave to them once we found out how much they got from our families. This year they will get our Christmas gifts (a golf set for Ryan, a Little Peoples race track thing, a stroller for Quinn, and 2 twin baby dolls) on Valentine's Day. I don't think we'll get away with that next year with Santa but this year it worked out : )

Milestones & Mayhem

2012-01-26T15:27:00.002-06:00

I don't know what my problem has been lately, but I haven't been able to put together a coherent sentence, much less a blog post. Massive case of writer's block and communication, which isn't a great thing for someone who works in communications and marketing : ) Anyway, I did want to record a few things for posterity and update y'all on what's happening around here --- potentially not the most entertaining but definitely things I want to remember for the kids.

Anyway, in no particular order - your exciting reading for the day.

Milestones:

Quinn said her first 3 word phrase this past weekend: "Look at that!". Clear as a bell and music to our ears. She was in the midst of opening up a fun gift from Ma who was in town and got really excited about some cute spring clothes. She is soooo my daughter! I was starting to get a little worried about the twin's speech because I know by now that a lot of toddlers are saying more phrases at this point. However, I am trying to get better about not comparing what's going on with other kids their age. It's ok to a point, but each child does their own thing on their own time. And I knew the capability was there --- they both babble incessantly --- but in "twin speak". It would be nice if they would let me in on the translation of that.
Ryan also put together his first phrase just yesterday: "See that!" Big, big deal for him since he is the more quiet of the two. Who knew that these little phrases could bring tears to my eyes? But I am just so proud of them and how far they have come. And now that we've had these breakthroughs, I have a feeling more and more are to come. First one who says "I love you" gets an extra deposit in the college savings account. Kidding. Sort of. : )
Quinn has officially "graduated" from ECI! We have only used their dietician sevices for the past year and a half or so to help Quinn gain weight for her surgery and then post-surgery to ensure that she regained and maintained. Well, the first month after her surgery, she not only got caught up but flew up the charts to a spot she's never been -- almost 18th percentile or so if I remember correctly. The next month, although she didn't gain weight, she grew a full inch in less than 4 weeks. Crazy! So happy for that --- and for my budget since she now fits back into her old jeans perfectly and even better than before. So we decided that this little one is going to grow just fine. She will probably always be on the small side, but hey, her momma 'aint huge, so what did we expect? 5'10 was never in her future.
Both twins have gotten much more adept at using their forks and spoons for independent eating. They do great with the forks at dinner and love, love being able to scoop their own yogurt. The cutest part: after they get a bite on their own into their mouth, they both immediately go "Mmmmmmmmm!". Does it taste better eating off a fork versus shoveling it in with their hands? Probably :)
We finally feel comfortable enough to bathe the kids at the same time if we are by ourselves. We are super, super careful and it takes some coordination, but they get such a kick out of being in the tub together. Ryan constantly splashes Quinn like any other mature little boy and Quinn uses the washcloth to try to wash him up. It's so cute. And they are both getting great at holding the toothbrush AND brushing their own teeth. I don't know how clean they get them so I always do a follow up, but mostly then do it on their own. Big kids :(

Mayhem

I received my first gash and heavy bleeding courtesy of one of my children. I've accidentally gotten hit in the nose multiple times, but never had actual blood flow. Anyway, Ry Guy got a little too excited about the new plastic plates that Ma got him. I guess he was trying to show me the plate and instead caught me across the brow with the plate. I am not ashamed to say that I almost immediately started to cry from the pain, so I kinda army crawled behind the couch so he wouldn't see my huge tears. I didn't want to break his sensitive heart since I knew he had not done it on purpose. When Matt came to check on me, the first thing he said was "Ok, we need to go to the bathroom and whatever you do, don't look in the mirror." Well, of course that set me in a panic, especially when I put my hand to my face and pulled it back to see it covered in red. Awesome. The plate caused a pretty decent gash just below my eyebrow and just because of where it was, it wouldn't stop bleeding. I think stitches were probably in order, but I had about zero desire to go sit in some ER for a few hours on a Saturday when we had family in town. So Dr. Matt ran to the store for some butterfly strips and professionally applied liquid bandaid (OMG that stuff burns like HELL) and patched me up with tape. Cute look. Like someone said on my facebook page, it's amazing that anything can be turned into a weapon in the hands of a toddler.
The blood continues --- we had to take some more family pictures recently for an area magazine (they asked me to write an article about Q's journey and wanted some accompanying pictures). And you know how much I just LOVE pictures, right? (mild sarcasm). It's no easy feat to get 2 toddlers and 2 adults coordinated somewhat without looking like THAT family. So after much stress and a trip to the mall, I nailed down the outfits, actually got my make up done (what? Vanity much?) and we headed to a local park. Not 2 shots in, both babies busted it down 3 steps. Quinn came out mostly unscathed, but Ryan took a pretty good beating. Blood all over his forehead and nose with a pretty decent welt to go along with it. She assured us she could photoshop it out. I haven't seen the photos yet but hoping that's true. No more family pictures for awhile. I need a break. And shamefully, besides with my i-phone, I've been on an anti-camera kick in the New Year. I need to get on the ball but it seems I am too busy chasing R&Q than to take actual pictures of them.
A little more mayhem - we've decided it's time to move. This house has always been our "five year home" and then we planned to move on. Well, 2 babies later, who need to be separated at some point and would really like a game room (I mean, momma would really like the game room), it's about that time. We went crazy for about a week thinking we were going to put money down on a lot almost immediately but regained our senses and are truly starting the home search process. And not to mention, the prep-house-for-sale process. The former is exciting, the latter is a huge pain and proving to be somewhat costly. Guess I shouldn't have driven through the garage wall when I was preggers. Anyway, hopefully sometime this year we should be outta here and into something new or new to us. Should be interesting. We've never actually moved with stuff. In our first move to Louisiana, Matt's company assisted with the move but we virtually owned nothing but a few pieces of used furniture, clothes, and assorted wedding gifts. Our 2nd move to the condo was just down the road and again we didn't have many things at that point. And in the 3rd move to Houston, we literally had nothing. Just enough stuff to fill a Honda CRV - and it wasn't even that full. Thanks, Hurricane Katrina. So now, 6 years of acquiring, 2 babies and all of their stuff, whoa - this should be interesting. Matt doesn't know it yet, but even if we only go 5 miles down the road, we are totally hiring movers.

So that's a little bit about what's going on here. Chasing crazy toddlers who are wearing me thin, working when I can during naps, Little Gym classes, playdates, and then all four of us completely crashing at night. Life is busy, but good busy --- but I need a nap! Hopefully next time we "speak", I'll have some more exciting updates to share and heaven forbid, some actual pictures : ) (And perhaps that the kids had their first Mother's Day Out experience? We'll see!!)

In Him,

Product of the Week: Life Planners

2012-01-26T06:34:00.000-06:00

Yay, it's "Product of the Week" time again! I had so much fun last week looking over everyone's choices for their products. I encourage you to go take a peek today and see what's being featured.

And seeing that I am experiencing writer's block like never before, this at least allows me to get a post out there for the things I am loving right now : )

This week (well, actually since I got it back in September), I am LOVING my Erin Condren Life Planner. And when I say love, I mean heads-over-heels, can't live without, take your breath away, kind of love. Ok, so maybe that's a little strong, but seriously this planner just makes me smile.

While I have the technology to be able to set appointments via phone or computer, I still prefer the old-fashioned method of writing it down and crossing it off. I love to see what my week looks like, scratch out appointments, write in new ones --- and for my a-type persona, plan in advance effectively.

Monthly pages so you can see what's happening any particular month - oh, and it comes with stickers to mark special occasions like wedding, birthdays, parties, and more!

These are the weekly pages - separated by morning, day, and evening. So much space for one day - I love it!

Plus, are these not adorable? I love the personalization and fun features. And I love that the pages are easy to flip through on a nice spiral that never gets stuck. I keep my planner right by the phone on our counter and everything, and I mean everything, goes in that bad boy. I even have Matt jotting down his plans now so it's truly a family planner. Oh, I love, love, love.

This is actually the design I got. It suits me perfectly and has my favorite color combo. But they have tons of others.

I loved it so much that we gave no less than 4 away for Christmas gifts this year. I think they liked it, but I don't think anyone was quite as nerdy as I am about mine. I did hear a rumor that my mom carries hers to and from work though --- and when I called her the other day to check on some plans for March, she said "Hold on, let me check my planner."

Oh, be still my heart. ha : )

Go check them out! Plus her site has all sorts of yummy other things --- personalized cases for i-phones (hello, Matt!), stationery, desk calendars, and more. Enjoy!

Product of the Week - Pineapples & Pickles blog link up

2012-01-19T17:52:00.000-06:00

My friend Tiffanie is hosting her first-ever blog "party" if you will, where every Thursday we will post our "Products of the Week". She's done it on her own for awhile now and she always has fun, unique stuff featured (which she's not compensated for - she just happens to love the product!). Anyway, now we can get in on the action and post what we love right now. Make sure you visit her page to grab some other fun ideas!

This week mine is Moroccan Oil. I was first introduced to this awesomeness about a year ago from my hairstylist. Actually, he gave me a freebie because he was running so behind one day and he felt badly. It was a sweet little free deal, considering this stuff 'aint cheap. But it's soooo wonderful and lasts a really long time.

I have naturally wavy/kinky/random thick hair and I have been trying to grow it out forever. But it seems it would always reach a point where I would just get irritated and cut it all off just to start again. But now I have been committed for well over a year and it's finally starting to pay off. And I can thank this little beauty for it. You would think it would make your hair totally greasy but it truly doesn't. You just simply add a small, dime-sized amount to towel dried hair and dry/style as normal. It serves to help keep it straight by closing in the cuticles and moisturizes at the same time. Now my hair doesn't get all of those frizzy fly-aways, even on the most humid days. And it smells yummy! Highly recommend. They actually have a whole line of products by my SAHM budget doesn't really allow for that splurge. If you've tried any of the other stuff, let me know what's worth it and what's not!

Austin Family Christmas 2011, Part 2

2012-01-12T06:52:00.000-06:00

Well, it seems only fair for there to be a "Part 2" to the Austin Christmas, considering Dallas had 3 parts. But in all fairness, we were in Dallas longer so there was more to record.

And in all honesty, this morning I was organizing pictures and found these from our last day in Austin. So technically, they would have worked perfectly in yesterday's post. Especially when talking about "Shadow". Here are some more fun Austin pictures and THEN we will close out 2011 - and I can hopefully purchase my 2011 blog book. And my 2010 one as well. Perhaps the one from 2009, too? I'm a little behind.

Quinn playing outside at Ma's

Ryan running from "Shadow"

Quinn loves to slide

There ya go!

Oh you know, just hanging with "Flamingo"

Quinn can actually throw the ball pretty well - when she's not stealing it from her brother and running away.

See - "Shadow"

Back in the playroom

The bond continues

Ady - and teeth!

Whatcha baking, Ry guy?

This is blurry but I love the bubble Quinn had on - courtesy of Gigi!

Waiting to open presents! Again!

Ma and Grandma Goober

Me and Ma

Uncle Zebbie and Ryan - he looks beat again!

I forgot the mention that one of the hit presents, especially with Ryan, was sunglasses! As opposed to last summer when the kids would not keep them on to save their lives (and eyesight) at the beach, they were loving their sunglasses. Ryan wore them all the way home, even as he crashed. He pretty much thinks he's hot stuff when he's wearing them.

See - I so cool : )

Austin Family Christmas 2011

2012-01-10T21:05:00.001-06:00

After we finished the Anderson family Christmas saga, we had a couple of days recovery time and then it was time to unpack and pack again - this time headed for the Hill Country, sort of : )

What we have learned through these little trips --- no matter how little time you are going, you still need the same big things for the babies. Pack 'n Plays, portable high-chairs, toys, diapers, utensils, sippys, and the list goes on and on.

And I think I even uttered these words to Matt when he asked why I packed so much for the babies each time:

"Because I don't know what they might want to wear on that particular day."

Really??? They'd be happy in pjs. Probably happier. But since they are my living dolls at the moment, they will wear what I am in the mood for them to wear. Terrible, right?

That's what I say about my packing. Not my kids packing. We are all in deep trouble.

Anyway, we departed for Austin a few short days after getting back from Dallas. It should not have been a big deal drive but the kids were very cranky all the way there. 30 minutes of crankiness I can handle, it's the 2 1/2 stretch that starts to get under my nerves. By the end of the trip, I was literally flipping crackers over the front seat of the car to see who could catch one.Fun for me. Maybe not so fun for them. Mom of the year right here. I am sure my award was lost in the holiday mail.

We were pretty packed to the gills, but not as much to Dallas. Thank God. We could actually see out of the back window which is a lovely safety feature.

Anyway, we arrived to Matt's Mom's (Barbara) late afternoon and shortly thereafter the rest of the family arrived. We all caught up and the babies had some time to rediscover their newly cleaned out and "baby safe" playroom before we went to dinner.

Playing with the cousins and the toy kitchen

Quinn, Ady, and Riley - apparently it takes 3 to cook whatever they were making.

Ryan downing his "drink". Looks eerily familiar to how mommy does it.

Not to be outdone, there's Quinn chugging away.

Pretty Riley!

It's been a big Christmas for the babies. Multiple dinners out with mommy and daddy. And this one I knew would be smooth because of all the extra hands. Anyway, we headed down the street to this place called "Juniors". I guess it's a restaurant/bar? All I kept thinking was that line from Sweet Home Alabama...

"You have a baby. In a bar."

Yes, yes we did. Two of them in fact. They enjoyed the music.

Well, Quinn really enjoyed it, enough to go dance around with cousin and Mommy, and a couple of strangers. Ryan enjoyed the music but was so tired, he kinda went baby catatonic.

In the process, we rediscovered Quinn's love for french fries - yikes, thanks TCH! - she ate a HUGE adult portion, plus a quesdilla, some of my chicken breast, and would not touch any of the veggies. Awesome. Someone was on the holiday diet. And after all that, she went and danced it off. Evidence below:

Uncle Zeb with Ryan

Uncle Christian and Ady

Grandma Goober and me (Matt's grandmother & an extremely special, special person. She is the only great-grandparent the children have. She is such a wonderful, warm, and loving person - such a treat to have her in town when we were there!)

This is what Riley did 80% of the night - just played and played with Quinn and carried her around. Quinn didn't even mind. These two have had a special bond since the beginning. They just love each other - I pray that Quinn will always look up to her big cousin.

Tired Ryan. Shortly before catatonic state.

Everyone smiling. Except Ryan. I mentioned he was done with Juniors, right?

Sweet little Riley and me

Aunt Stacey and Ady

Riley shaking her groove thang

Quinn was the hit of the dance floor. Here she is dancing with a random woman at the bar - I mean, restaurant that happens to serve a lot of alcoholic beverages and has 2 bands on the weekend.

Quinn and Riley had to go check out the outside band. They were too fun to watch. Especially since Quinn had her squeaky shoes on and would "squeak squeak" everywhere. At least I knew I couldn't lose her.

Such a fun evening ---and lovely to be able to actually have plenty of hands to hold the children so we could enjoy our dinner and adult beverages. A rarity if it's just Matt and I with the twins out to dinner. They are just at that age.

Anyway, Stacey also shared with me a wonderful story that brought tears to my eyes. As I mentioned, Quinn and Riley have always had this special bond. I never even thought about how it would affect Riley when Q had surgery --- she's old enough to understand (7 yrs) that Quinn was going to have a big surgery on her heart. And of course, like it would be for any 7 year old, hearing "surgery" and "heart" probably really scared her. Anyway, apparently before Quinn's first surgery, Riley gathered up every single piece of green that she could find in the house - costume necklaces, bracelets, etc. She then took those green trinkets to school and passed them out to all of the kids in her class so they would all be wearing green on surgery day. Oh my. That sweet, thoughtful little one.

And then on the day of her surgery, Riley had a very tough day. Stacey had warned her teacher that Riley may be upset that day and explained what was happening in here in Houston. At some point, she got really sad so her teacher took her out in the hallway to talk about it. So Riley cried and talked about Quinnie - and the teacher cried as well, hearing her story. At that point, the teacher asked Riley if they could pray together - for little Quinn to be strong. And so they sat in the hallway and prayed together.

Just picturing that vision in my head still brings tears to my eyes. What a special teacher she must have to be so incredibly understanding --- and then to pray with Riley? In a public school? Amazing. As a sidenote, the stories I continue to hear about what people did during Q's journey and how they prayed just blows me away. I've said it over and over, but truly we are so incredibly blessed that God placed all of these people in our lives.

Ok - so moving on.... the next day the babies were so exhausted that they slept an hour later than usual. Score one point for Juniors. The weather was GORGEOUS in Austin that weekend and we wished so much we had brought the twins' stroller to roll them around in downtown RR. Instead though we let the twins play outside which they loved. Barbara has a pretty large backyard and a great little swingset so that was a total hit. At some point in the time outside, Ryan discovered his shadow.

Well, he was just amazed and perlexed by his own shadow - and especially confused when Daddy's shadow came up behind him. He kept trying to run from it which was hilarious once we figured out why the heck our son was turning multiple circles. And then he decided that he should talk to his shadow. So he would stand at the fence and tell "Shadow" what exactly was up. Pointing his finger and everything. I almost peed in my pants laughing so hard. He was so serious and intent on getting rid of "Shadow". I'll guarantee one thing - I bet Ryan is my child who will have an imaginary friend.

Later that night, everyone returned to the house to feast on brisket and ribs courtesy of Christian and open Christmas presents. If you'll recall from my Dallas posts, my family takes a sweet forever on Christmas morning. Too long for me. Well, Matt's side of the family is the exact opposite - it's a fast and furious, better keep up or you'll miss it, kind of Christmas. Presents were being tossed and passed like nothing I've seen before. As soon as I would open something, I had another gift in my hand.

The next day I went through the gifts as we were packing up and had myself another little Christmas, as I didn't recall or see half of the things that were being opened at the time.

But that's why families are special - different traditions and even different gift-opening tactics : ) Either way, it's fun. And the twins of course got some really neat stuff and I have a few gift cards burning a hole in my pocket. Super fun night - and another late one for the twins. At this point I was wondering if they would ever get back on schedule or if they would think after all their hard-partying in Dallas and Austin was the new norm.

The next day we got everything packed up again (we are such packing pros by now), watched part of the A&M game, and then hit the road. Thankfully we timed it just right so the twins AND mommy crashed all the way back to Houston. I can't tell you the last time I slept almost door to door like that but it was awesome.

So that's the Austin wrap up. So blessed that we got to see everyone over Christmas and spend some true quality time with all. And the twins have since recovered from the craziness and got themselves back on schedule. They are STILL taking 2 naps a day and we will keep it up until they finally decide to drop the morning one. But as it stands right now, they soooo need that morning nap and I think they just like their afternoon nap. I know we'd have a little more freedom to go places if I could just push them through but selfishly, I get a lot of work done during that morning nap and that's typically my shower time as well. So I'm really not in a hurry to let it go. We'll see what happens over the next couple of months.

So closing out 2011 with this post - kind of sad but ready to take on 2012 headfirst : )

In Him,

Mommy's Little Helper

2012-01-06T07:35:00.000-06:00

So, pretty often I may have referred to Quinn on here as a bit of a troublemaker. In the most loving way of course. This past week I've seen a different side to Quinn - one that wants to help Mommy with everything. It's so cute. I give her piles and piles of clothes and she'll carry them to the laundry baskets. She's like my personal little pack mule.

Anyway, she's also become particularly helpful when chasing down Ryan. When I'm trying to corral the twins, I'll yell for Ryan and Quinn yells for him right along with me. She goes "Iannnnn", "Iannnn". We can't say our "R's" yet but pretty cute anyway.

Yesterday, I caught her doing this when Ryan was climbing where he shouldn't. I literally had left the room for a minute and caught them doing this. Of course, I didn't have my camera the first time, so like any good parent, I left the room so they would do it again.

I expect my "mother of the year" trophy to arrive in the mail at any moment.

Dallas Christmas, Part 3

2011-12-29T10:07:00.000-06:00

Whew, if you have stayed with us on our Dallas Christmas, then thank you! If I put it all in one long post, I was afraid I was going to forget something. And I want to make sure some special memories are recorded for Ryan and Quinn later on.

Christmas Day morning could not have been more perfect. The kids gave us the best Christmas present ever and slept in about an hour later than usual! Whoo hoo!

After feeding them breakfast, Christina & Blaine arrived (they were staying at a hotel since the babies had virtually taken over the house --- thanks for being troopers, guys!) and we started with the gift opening.

Gift giving at the Anderson house is not a quick process. Never has been. I, of course, am the impatient one, my brother is perfectly patient, and my mom would like for it to just last all day. She actually likes to SAVE gifts to open later on. This just makes no sense to me.

At any rate, Matt and I asked for nothing for Christmas. We were utterly content to let the kids get some gifts, but our Christmas present was just simply having both of our kids happy and healthy. That's all I've wanted since we started Quinn's saga a few months back. Yet, most went against our wishes and still got us gifts (which we LOVE by the way). And of course, the babies made out like bandits. They received a leapfrog learning laptop from Mom, which Ryan immediately somehow smashed into his mouth and received a fat, bloody lip for Christmas morning. We're still trying to figure out how that happened. They also got a cash register, alphabet soft blocks, and some LSU gear for the big game. Score!

And then of course there was Rocking Elmo from Blaine and Christina. And not just Elmo, but THE.ENTIRE.SET. Including guitar, keyboard, drums, tambourine, the works. Payback for them (hopefully soon) will be a you-know-what. But the kids were obsessed. Quinn immediately fell in love with Elmo and tried to carry him everywhere. And Ryan would not let go of the guitar to save his life. I think he would sleep with it if we let him. By the end of the day, we all had the Elmo songs ringing in our ears. In fact, it hasn't stopped since.

We stopped present opening a few times for naptime, food, more naps, and more food. Christmas, quite literally, lasted all day. We finally made it to the shower late afternoon and began making the traditional Prime Rib, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. And I use the term "we" loosely. Blaine & Mom were in charge of the prime rib and mashed potatoes, and I was in charge of the green beans as usual and pouring the champagne. I do a really good job at this.

While we were eating, our neighbors came by to say hello and see the kids. They brought their dog "Bogey", who my kids were immediately obsessed with. Poor Bogey. That dog just wanted to be rescued and instead he was just chased around by two crazy, slightly sleep deprived children. Quinn kept trying to get Bogey to sit and even showed him how to do it. I almost died laughing and so glad I caught this little gem on video:

Anyway, this is why I love Christmas - no real plans, just spontaneous people stopping by. Our neighbors stayed through dinner and it was so fun to just catch up with them.

Then after several back and forth text messages throughout the week, I finally got an opportunity to go visit my dear friend Amy and her family. Actually, we totally busted up their family Christmas and showed up on their doorstep at 10pm. Sorry, Shackelfords and Curry families! Thanks for letting us stop by --- I just had to see Amy and her sweet family and felt badly that the kids were already asleep so they couldn't play with each other. Love ya!

The night ended wayyyyyy too late and the morning came fast and furious with the mad rush of packing up everything, getting the babies settled and trying to prolong their nap so they would sleep a good bit on the way home. Once again they did pretty well and I even managed to catch a little nap. Ahhhh, the good ole days. Back to Houston where we defrosted some food, threw it to the babies, and got them all snuggled in bed. And then the unpacking and the organizing. Oh, my. And we get to do it all again fairly soon. Such is the life with 2 toddlers but I wouldn't have it any other way. Everyone promises it will get easier --- when???!!! : ) And as customary, everytime we take a trip like this, with the car packed to the gills, thanks to master engineering feats by my husband, Matt immediately jumped on the computer to start researching larger vehicles. We'll see how that plays out.

Here are a few more pictures from Christmas Day. Thank you, Mom, Steve, Blaine, and Christina for making it such a special holiday for us! We so enjoyed it and love you all.

My daughter is so ladylike.

What up, Moms?

Presents!

Loving her blocks

The laptop that eventually busted Ryan's lip. Somehow.

I'll help you, kids!

For next year. Meet our Elf on the Shelf, "Beau"

Aunt Chris & Quinnie

Tired babies

Back at it after naptime! Here's Elmo.

She just kept saying "ooooohhhhh" over and over.

Kissing Elmo

Attempting to carry Elmo. Elmo really wanted to commit suicide at this point.

So did Bogey

Guitar!

Time for a break!

Oh, my little man.

And my princess.

This is pretty much what he did all day.

And Quinn's face pretty much sums up our Christmas. Happy, happy, happy!!!

Merry Christmas to you all! Hope yours was blessed.

Dallas Christmas, Part 2

2011-12-29T08:11:00.005-06:00

Onto Dallas Christmas Part Deux.

Christmas Eve was spent mostly relaxing and trying to let the babies (and us) catch up on some sleep. We broke down and let the kids open a couple of gifts to keep them occupied and out of the tree for a few hours. And of course, as tradition in Dallas, it was yucky Christmas Eve weather. A little sleet, some very cold rain, and windy. The type of weather where you just want to stay snuggled in pjs all day instead of getting all dressed up to hit Christmas Eve services. But we pulled it together, got the kids ready and headed off to Christ United Methodist near my mom's so we could attend the "family-friendly" service.

Long ago, I attended Christ United for preschool but had never been to church in their new location. It was gorgeous! And everyone was so friendly and welcoming to our kids. We had the babies decked out in their matching outfits but we still got lots of comments on "wow, how far apart are your children?!?" Really? Ummmmm, about a minute apart. Seriously, we must have been asked this question about 10 times while we were in Dallas. Admittedly, Ryan looks more boy and "toddler" if you will and Quinn has still maintained some of her baby features, round face & rosy cheeks - and she's just a petite thing. But still. I would have to be a miracle mom to have kids that close together. I guess they were thinking Irish twins? Who knows. Anyway, I digress as usual.

The kids did well at church. For about 10 minutes. And then they just wanted to run up and down the aisles. Especially Quinn. They were fine when there was music playing, but as soon as people started talking, it was over. And since there was a Christmas play, there was a lot of talking.

On our way in, they had us each pick out an ornament for the children. Quinn really liked a fun one with a bright star (the child loves all things shiny) and grasped onto it with her whole life. I was excited for her to have her very own child-safe ornament --- until I found out that part of the play was interactive --- meaning the kids were supposed to go up at various parts of the play and hang their ornaments on the trees at the front of the church. In front of everyone. I started having a minor panic attack because with the death grip that she had on that thing, I thought the chances of her letting go and generously putting the star on the tree would be slim to none. Christmas Miracle #3 - she must have been distracted by all of the people, the lights and who knows what else, because as I carried her up there, she released her hold and I was able to hang her ornament sans meltdown. And cheesy as it sounds, I got a little teary-eyed hanging that ornament with my little girl. It only makes me more excited to share Christmas with my children in the future. So special.

After church, we headed home to eat ham and fixings --- and as in Anderson tradition, we didn't actually eat until much later than thought. Too much fun was being had, plus having the babies takes about an extra hour or so, between the feeding and bathing them. And then we had a surprise visit from our friends, The Whitehills (parents of Ashley mentioned in Part 1). I was soooo happy to see them and have them see the kids. Our families used to spend every Thanksgiving together and so seeing them during the holidays was incredibly special. So glad they came by! Here are a few Christmas Eve pictures, most courtesy of my brother (and Christina) who is becoming quite the photographer:

My mom & Steve's tree - and lots of presents!

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Geaux Tigers!

My brother and me with the babies

Blaine still working on the way to hold children

One of my little miracles

Fun with Uncle Blaine

Uncle Blaine wore Ryan out!

Quinn's Ruby Red slippers (remember them from the hospital??? They are her favorite!)

Priceless. Waiting for Santa???

Where is he????

I both love and loathe this picture. Love it because he's darned cute. Loathe because he looks like a darned boy and not my little baby :(

Our family

My sister-in-law, Christina and the babes

Miss Janice, my mom and me

My 2nd dad, Mr. Ed. We even share the same birthday. Love him & miss him!

Next Up: Christmas Day!

Dallas Christmas, Part 1

2011-12-28T15:47:00.001-06:00

This year we spent Christmas in Dallas at my Mom's house. We try to take turns for holidays with Matt's family each year, but it has gotten tricky over the past couple of years with newborns and surgeries. I'm confused where we even stand on the schedule. But since Christmas Eve & Day fell on a weekend and Matt was given time off during the week for those days, we decided that it made more sense to take the longer amount of time since Dallas is about twice as far. (We will head to Austin soon for Christmas with his side of the family).

Anyway, we decided to take off on Thursday to give us a little extra time before the madness began and get the babies settled. Good choice. The babies actually did really well in the car, not too much crying and alternating sleeping and watching movies. I am still a little scarred from our foray to Alabama when they were just a year old (not our smartest move) so I was a tad nervous. But they did really well - and we even took them to Chili's on the way - first time we've been in a restaurant just the 4 of us in months and months. Not that they aren't good at restaurants, but it's just, ummm, stressful, at this age. They are well-behaved and do not cry or anything like that. But they are a tad high-maintenance and Matt & I typically alternate shoveling down food and pulling crayons out of babies' mouths. Not exactly a cool way to spend money. But they were angels at Chili's. Christmas miracle?

Anyway, we finally made it to Gigi's late afternoon and got them all settled and unpacked. Again, it's always a little stressful to go into a different environment and find out what all they can reach that we need to re-org or put away. There are A LOT of "Noooooo, don't touch that precious antique." "Noooooo, stay away from the ornament." Or my new favorite, "Slow your roll" (especially to Ryan). My mom's house has these step downs into the living room and there literally is zero transition - same wood floors from the step up to step down, so the babies had no real depth perception that they were about to go flying.

Ryan, all wound up from sitting in a car for hours, hit those step downs going 100 miles an hour and face planted at least 8 times. I just knew we were going to be hitting up the ER that night. Quinn, on the other hand, watched by example, face planted a single time, and then daintily took the step downs for the rest of the time. Eventually Ryan got the hang of it too - right as I was pouring my first glass of wine to ease my nerves. He spent the rest of the trip slithering down those steps from a mile away to ensure his precious head stayed intact. Stitches avoided that night.

We ate a low key dinner with Mom & Steve (Papa Murphy's - oh my, Houston needs this!), chatted for awhile and hit the sack.

Friday we had a HUGE day planned. At least for us. First up was a playdate with 2 of my oldest friends from Sting Soccer days - Mel & Ashley and our kids. Melanie has a "Quinn" (2 1/2 yrs), twin boys (15 months) and is pregnant with 1 more due in February. She is my hero! She was nice enough to host our little playdate complete with bagels, coffee, and plenty of toys for the kids to go crazy with. And Ashley brought her precious new little girl (4 months old) who I hadn't met yet and was dying to hold. Sweet, sweet baby. Almost made me want another one. Almost. Not quite. Anyway, the guys hung out while the girls chatted, the moms (my mom and Mel's mom) caught up, and the kids went nuts. Thanks for having us, Melanie, and sharing these fun pictures!

Big Girl Quinn and baby Quinn

Quinn playing with the boys. Lord, help me.

Lots of excitement for Wesley Ann

Sweet girl!

The kids did so well playing together!

Tent time

See - Ryan is out of there & Quinn is chilling with the boys. Yikes.

This was another Christmas miracle - kids and moms all looking at the camera. Only 2 takes thanks to the daddys' help!

After their very busy morning, the twins were ready for lunch and a loonggg nap. Since they typically take 2 naps a day, it's always an interesting day when they just have 1. Anyway, they slept for awhile and I was even able to catch a bit of a nap and recover from the pack/drive/unpack/setup.

Next stop was our matchmaker's Lisa & Adam's house to see their family. We hadn't seen them since our day trip to Galveston so I was so excited. Lisa and I speak all the time but nothing like catching up in person!

We let all of the kids play for a little while (she has 3 little girls, Grace, Emma & Layla) while the grown ups caught up and had a glass of wine (are you seeing a pattern?). Anyways, we also managed to take a fairly decent group shot of the kids. Ryan is such a stud with the ladies all around him : )

Layla, Emma, Ryan, Grace, and Quinn

We spent a little bit of time there, then headed back to Gigi's to feed the babies some dinner & get them bathed before having a little adult night out with Lisa & Adam. On our way in, we ran into my brother and Christina, who were in from Austin and on their way to a friend's house. So we said a quick "hi", let them kiss the babies, and we were all off and running again. We met Lisa & Adam at a delicious sushi place in Frisco (name is escaping me) - oh my, it was so good. And it was so good to have adult conversation and not have to yell over babies. After dinner, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert. Lis ran into a friend of hers who just happened to have read my blog during Quinn's surgeries and recovery. Small world! And we even managed to take a couple of pictures to document the evening out because lord knows when we may be able to do that again!

We got home late, late (for us) and immediately crashed. The day had completely caught up to us but it was so worth it to see some great friends and just enjoy the day! Big thanks to Gigi & Steve for watching the babies and to Lisa's mom for watching the 3 little girls so we could have a nice night out. That was a GREAT Christmas present.

Next up: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day.... for another post...another day : ) Oh, and Lord, more pictures!

Family Pictures 2011

2011-12-28T07:59:00.001-06:00

Once again we were blessed to have one of my best friends and great photographer capture some family pictures this winter. And once again, we managed to pick one of the windiest days to take the pictures : ) But the babies were troopers --- and Kendra (http://www.kendramartinphotography.com/) has to be one of the most patient people I know. She tolerates me (which in itself is a huge chore) and my extreme dislike of having my picture taken. It's only for the sacrifice of the family that I appear in any of them. If it was up to me it would be just Matt and the babies, ha!

And taking pictures of two VERY active toddlers is darn near impossible. Direction following is not their strong suit at the moment so I imagine most of the pictures were just blurs of them running somewhere. And of course my ideal would be to have a handful of pics of just the two of them, holding hands or something precious like that, but unless you tie them down, it's not going to happen! Thank you, Kendra, for putting up with us again and again. We love you!

Anyway, she took A TON of pictures and I tried to whittle it down but it was so hard to choose. So if you can bear with me, here are some photos from the day.

(And yes, a few of these will make an appearance in our New Year's cards - that's right, New Years. Christmas cards didn't happen this year but I'm working on getting out my cards before Valentine's Day! We'll see how it goes.)

Merry Christmas Random

2011-12-21T09:45:00.000-06:00

These weeks leading up to Christmas have just flown by. I had big ideas for big posts, but alas they didn't happen. Much like the rest of my Christmas shopping. Or wrapping presents. Or really anything else that didn't involve work, taking care of the kids, and attempting to ~~cook~~ defrost meals. Tis the season!

We did make some time for our annual Christmas exchange with a couple of my close girlfriends. We try to do it every year and it's always such a good time. Of course, in the BC (before children) days, we would do a full-on meal, at the "real" dining table and china and all of that. This year, we opted for buffet-style faijitas, paper plates, and chasing kids. But I don't think any of us would have it any other way. And champagne goes with Mexican just fine, right??? Here are a few pics:

4 out of the 5 - where's Ry guy?

Ooops, there goes Ellie!

Finally, all 5. Best we could do but they are all pretty darned cute!

We also had some good news from the kids 18 month appointments. Both are right on track with everything --- still in the lower percentiles, but chalking that up to genetics now! Yet, their fine and gross motor skills are great and all developmental milestones are coming right along. Whoo hoo!

And then my favorite news ---- Quinn made a HUGE turn on the curve. She jumped in weight from 5th percentile to 15th percentile! Praise God! I think her "healed" heart is not burning as many calories so she's chunking back up. We are back in normal size clothes for her and I have to re-retire the 6-12 month pants. After working so hard for so long to put weight on that child, it was such a blessing to hear that news. Both our dietician and doctor were just shocked how quickly things changed in a month. Go Quinn!

We have so much planned for Christmas and the New Year --- I am a little overwhelmed to say the least, but looking forward to visiting with friends and seeing both of our families over the course of the holidays. Let the madness begin!

Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for your love & prayers this past year. We are deeply grateful.

And an interesting video we caught on last night's news regarding Texas Children's and Dr. Fraser's efforts to lead the charge on this life-saving device for children waiting for a heart transplant. Anytime I see stories like this on the news, my heart just breaks wide open. It's just yet another reminder how blessed we are to be under TCH's care - a hospital that not only cares for their patients but is always looking for new and innovative ways to improve current technologies. Merry Christmas to TCH & staff and especially a man who we are indebted to this holiday season.

Video Here

In Christ,

Visit with Santa - 2011

2011-12-11T09:17:00.000-06:00

Last year admittedly we were too overwhelmed and exhausted to do actual Santa pics all the mall. I had just had my kidney surgery and it was all I could do to attempt to get up some sort of Christmas decorations. Santa pics were not on the top of our list. Mommy had some guilt over that, but then I remember now that I could barely walk, much less dress two babies and face endless lines of crying kids.

But with Quinn's big release, we decided to head out on Friday and brave the crowds. Luckily a friend of ours from church had given us the heads up on the Santa Wonderland at the Bass Pro Shop.

Yup, you read that correctly.

My kids' first Santa pics were at Bass Pro.

Nevermind that neither Matt nor I are really avid outdoors/hunting/fishing people. We were just looking for a good Santa. Oh, and short lines.

It did not disappoint. We literally walked in, greeted the elves and got our pictures made.

However - the big disappointment.... "Santa" apparently has a liability clause that prevents him from holding two babies on his lap at the same time.

Are you kidding me???

What's the fun in having twins if you can't have Santa pics of them together?

I resisted my temptation to say something to Santa that would put me on the naughty list and instead just decided to go with the flow. They did tell us that if one could stand next to him, then he could hold the other.

I just laughed. Yup, I can't even get my 18 month olds to stay still for 3 seconds, much less stand next to a strange man, with strange little people in weird looking hats staring at them.

So we went for the separate pictures. I have to say while they didn't exactly look thrilled, they didn't pitch a fit.

This is where I admit that I am potentially a bad mom:

I really kinda wanted the half-hysterical kid Santa pic. I've selfishly enjoyed seeing all the kid freak out pictures on facebook & blogs this year. They make me giggle. I.am.horrible.

When Quinn held it together, I wasn't too surprised. She's the more outgoing of the twins and pretty darn friendly. So I thought I still had a chance with Ryan. He's more cautious and has a tendency to be well, sensitive. Especially in new places. With white-bearded strangers.

Do you know that little toot almost smiled??? Ughhhh. No Santa freak pictures this year.

Just babies that look slightly bemused/slightly freaked/slightly paralyzed.

All in all, good Santa experience. It will be even more fun next year when they can take advantage of everything the Wonderland has to offer (I must admit that Bass Pro does a pretty good job. I just never thought my babies' 1st pictures would be, well, at Bass Pro. I guess my dad would be proud)

And we'll cross our fingers for some freak-out Santa pictures next year.

Ahhhh, I kid. I kid.

Sort of.

Here we go:

My Video Application for Mother of the Year

2011-12-08T14:44:00.000-06:00

While doing a little i-phone dumping, I ran across this video from Thanksgiving. I was trying to document the kid's 1st view at the Macy's parade. Clearly, Quinn has zero interest. Ryan has interest until, well, the end.

You know how people have a disclaimer on videos that say something like "No one was hurt during the filming of this short film." Yeah, not this one.

Clearly I am THE mommy of the year.

To give myself credit, I did immediately stop filming to check for blood.

All I Want for Christmas is No More "Heart" Posts!!!

2011-12-08T08:28:00.000-06:00

Looks like Santa heard what I wanted this year because I do believe (crossing my fingers, making the sign of the cross and kneeling while I type this), this could be the final heart-related post for the rest of the year.

And dare I say it --- for a couple of months??!!!

We were blessed to stay away from TCH for a full month while Quinn continued with her recovery. Oh, that was pure bliss. Yesterday, she had a post-op echo (ultrasound of her heart function), xray and visit with our cardiologist. Matt was sweet enough to take a half day off of work to take her down there. My nerves are still recovering from our previous trips down there, although of course I would have gone if needed.

Anyway, I was on pins and needles yesterday afternoon waiting on the results. I was pretty sure we were in the clear but I take nothing for granted when you are dealing with hearts. And surgery. And recovery. And inevitable complications.

So the verdict?

Everything (and I mean, EVERYTHING) looks great. Perfect even.

Great echo.

(No leakage, blood flow great, and the right ventricle pressure which was previously high and "stiff" as they call it, seems to be returning to normal)

Great xray.

(No more effusions - excuse me while I throw up in my mouth a bit typing that word. I.hate.that.word. Anyway, no more fluid in her chest or lungs and clearance to discontinue diuretic.)

Great saturations.

(99-100% oxgyen. Perfect)

Great sternum healing.

(Clearance to return to "normal" activity. Meaning we can now pick her up under her arms, she can return to Little Gym, and take full on baths)

Great healing altogether

(WE ALL CAN RETURN TO NORMAL LIFE. WE CAN BE AROUND PEOPLE! And I can finally take my daughter on the much-promised day out with mommy. Just Quinn and Mommy. Without doctors, needles, xrays, or ultrasounds. It's going on the planner today)

Oh, praise Him for this news. For He is GREAT.

We are now in the process of transferring our care to a new (but highly recommended) cardiologist whom we'll meet at the end of February. Our cardiologist is transferring to Ohio and we really wanted someone a little closer to where we live, so it worked perfectly. If all goes to plan, we'll meet with her, have a little check up, and then probably plan to see her 6 months after that. And then I think the plan is to go every 6 months for the next year. Then we'll check in every year after that unless something happens.

Every year?!!! Can you imagine? What a gift that will be.

In the way back of our minds we know that Quinn is not done. She WILL need another surgery in her lifetime. Maybe a couple. She has that darn bad pulmonary valve - which while it's "bad" - it could last her years or decades even. If Dr. Fraser had replaced it while he fixed all the other "stuff", then he would have set her on a trajectory to have surgery every 3-4 years since current technology only allows the artificial valves to function that long. So he just left it. We know it could start to go bad at any time BUT we are not focused on that right now. God will carry us all through when that time comes, hopefully many, many years from now.

And I love how God works. Just a day after we scheduled our appointment at TCH for her follow up, we received an invitation in the mail for a "Fraser's Friends" event for that same night. (Oh, and Fraser's Friends is a community group that raises money to support research and education for surgical specialities, including congenital heart defects. Actually I think it's always been for CHD's, but with Dr. Fraser being the Chief of Pediatric Surgery (all surgeries) at TCH, they have expanded the program.) 2012's focus will be neurosurgery ---- can you imagine operating on a tiny child's brain? Whoa. What these doctors do just blows me away.

So last night, after getting the great news, we headed back down towards the med center for the cocktail reception. To say we were a bit on a high would be an understatement. I am pretty sure Matt and I shared a couple of fist-bumps and exclamations of "can you believe we all made it?" : ) ha.

Anyway, we were THRILLED to be able to share the good news with Dr. Fraser last night about Quinn's appointment and recovery. I think he was pretty happy too. It was such a fun night and so interesting to speak with these doctors. You know, we all place these people on such a pedestal, but when it comes down to it, they are just normal people who just happen to have extraordinary brains and commitment to what they do. We each have our own gifts, passions, and talent. I found the majority of them incredibly down to earth and most even had a sense of humor :)

So it was a great day topped off with a pretty awesome night. I may have celebrated with a glass of champagne. Or two. I may have bugged Dr. Fraser to death by saying thank you over and over and requesting a picture with him when he was a bit under the weather. Oh, well! Sorry, Dr. Fraser! Emotional mommy on board.

But I feel like I can finally breathe again. The weight is gone and now I can really start planning for Christmas and the New Year. Thank you, God. And thanks to all of you for your continued prayers. We love you, friends and strangers alike.

In His Healing Hands,

18 Months!

2011-12-02T10:27:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I did an actual "month" post and I figured 18 was an appopriate time to do so.

First, how did that happen??!! Yikes! It seems like just yesterday when I was dressing the babies in their "My First Christmas" onesies. And now they are in "big" Christmas clothes. Tiny sob. Or big one.
I haven't decided yet.

I will say 17 and 18 months have been probably my most favorite months (so far), but by FAR the most challenging. I'm sort of giggling to myself because apparently I blocked out the fact that for the first four or five months, sleep was a luxury that I couldn't afford and I had zero clue what I was doing with 2 babies.

Hmmmm. Except I still have no idea what I am doing. But I am sleeping through the night. That makes a big difference.

Anyway, it's a super fun age because every day they do something new or learn a new trick, new word, or something else that fascinates me.

And it's a super frustrating age because we are in that lack of communication stage. They know words and in their heads they make sense, but unfortunately we aren't exactly speaking the same language.

You see, I speak English.

They speak "toddler".

I don't understand "toddler".

They understand some of this "English" stuff but I am pretty sure if I say "Please do not throw the food to the dog, it doesn't make Mommy happy", this is what they hear apparently:

"Throw food to dog. Mommy happy."

Not exactly on the same page.

We've also seen the first stages of extreme meltdowns and tantrums - mostly brought on by the above mentioned language barrier.

This is when I would like to rewind about 10 months and actually use that Sign Language DVD that I once had in my amazon shopping cart. And then I remember that I really didn't even have time to brush my teeth then, much less start to teach them basic signs.

I suppose I could start now. Hmmmm.

But regardless of communication breakdowns and toddla-drama, we are having a blast. Everyday they make me smile or giggle at something they do - and they are such happy babies. We feel incredibly blessed.

Ryan: What You Are Up To @ 18 Months:

- We haven't had your 18 month appointment yet, so not sure how much you weigh. I'm guessing 23 or 24lbs? Not sure. You probably are still small for your age but you seem heavy to me! You are wearing 12-18M pants (your legs are still ummm, petite? short?). You can still wear some 12 month shirts but most t-shirts need to be 18M. You wear a size 5 shoe. Son, your feet are WIDE. Like really, really wide. Which for some reason tells me you have a growth spurt coming. I don't know how those 2 relate but it seems like to me that you need to grow into those feet. Anyway, shoes are a challenge but a necessity these days. I've finally found 3 pairs that seem to work pretty well.

- You still take 2 naps a day. I think that's going to come to a close soon. However, you seem to need the most sleep so I have been delaying, delaying, delaying. Right now, you nap most days from about 10am-11:45am, and then again from about 3:00-4:45pm, then somehow you are exhausted enough to go back down at 7:45pm and sleep until 7:15am.

- Most of the time you are really happy but you have your super cranky moments at around 9am and then again around 5pm. Luckily Daddy is usually home by 5 to rescue me from your multiple meltdowns in the afternoon. When you get fussy at 9, I pop on a music television station and that seems to take care of it.

- You are still obsessed with anything musical. I mean, drop, stop & roll whenever you hear it come on.

- You are becoming quite the football fan. You love to watch it and get so excited and clap excitedly and bounce up and down. You were the hit of the LSU v Arkansas game with your antics.

- You can say quite a few words (I guess for an 18 month old, I really have nothing to compare it to) but it's only on your terms and only when you feel like it. You will just bust out with it. And then sometimes I feel like you forget certain words. From what I've read I think that's quite normal. You used to say "Nap" and "Snack" all the time but now you've kind of dropped that. Your new favorite word right now is "Ighhhhht" (light). You love to flip the light switch all the time and must do it everytime we walk past one. OCD like your daddy? : )

- You say "I llllll" for "I love you" and then you blow me a kiss when I say it. Heart explode. (Is it selfish that I can't wait until you can say the full phrase??!!) : )

- You are still cuddly but again, only on your terms. Now you will struggle out of my arms when you are done. You have become such a BOY overnight. Throwing balls, kicking balls, running at full blast and scaring me to death, as you seem to come 1/4 inch closer to cracking your head open each time.

- You love the outdoors. You love to go on walks, play in the backyard and get fresh air. If we were a little more on top of picking up after the dog outside, we would play in the backyard a little more :)

- You love going to the grocery store & to the Little Gym. You say "Heyyyyyy" or "Hiiiiiii" and "Yeepppppp" to everyone you see. Such a happy boy.

- You are a minimalist when it comes to your crib. You like to sleep with your one special lovey and that is it. No blankets or other stuffed animals. Just the lovey. When I get you up in the morning, you have to take one big last sniff of the lovey and then you toss it back in. We learned about a month ago that the lovies are NOT to leave the crib. They get lost and then I have to hit up amazon and overnight shipping.

- Ryan, we are so thankful for the last eighteen months we've had with you. You are such a special little boy and we are incredibly blessed to be your parents. Thank you for being the amazing child you are. I can't wait to see how you will continue to grow and blossom!

Quinn: What You Are Up To @ 18 Months

- Quinnie, I think you are starting to gain back some of that weight you lost from your surgical adventures. Your little waist actually got so small I had to break down and buy you some 6-12 month jeans so you wouldn't be waddling around and hoisting up your 12month ones all of the time. But yesterday I put back on your normal size jeans and they stayed up all day! You wear 12-18 month tops and dresses. Some of the dresses are a little long but you are just a petite thing! You wear a size 4 shoe and have the tiniest, most perfect little feet. I love them.

- You have quite the shoe collection. You love shoes. You love accessories. You actually love bows but don't love to keep them on - you just like to pull them off and then try to put them back on yourself. My little miss independent. I gave you your first "grown-up" little purse this week and you have spent your days carrying it around like a big girl and putting random objects in it.

- You are eating GREAT these days. Breakfast, by far, is your best meal of the day. You can suck down almost 2 full pancakes, some eggs and fruit, topped off by milk. Whoa. That's like an adult breakfast. Your favorite food (along with your brother) seems to be Mommy's beef stroganoff. I don't know why you guys have suddenly decided to come on board with the beef, but you are loving it! Both of you have finally shown the first signs of pickiness and veggies are NOT a hit right now. So I'm trying to be creative on how to fit them in somehow. You are obsessed with avocado and anytime you see one in fruit basket, you have to have it. You can easily take down a whole one yourself. I'm not complaining because that is for sure good fat for you!

- You mimic almost every word we say. It's pretty incredible. I don't know that you have quite made the connections with all of them but you will try and say them everytime. It's a fun game for us :) You've reverted from calling your turtles an actual "turtle" but call them "ta ta's". We're going to have to work on that one.

- You are incredibly sweet and loving. If I ask for a hug, you will run up to me and grab my neck tight. And you will kiss on command if we say "Love you, Quinnie!".

- You and brother play together a lot more now. Most of the time you can play nicely, but sometimes, just sometimes, you become this little tiny bully. We knew you were for sure on the road to recovery when you "Lil Tyke" car jacked Ryan. He was just sitting in his car, minding his business, when all of a sudden, you threw open the door and almost literally dragged him out of the car and hopped in. Wow. I had to turn to hide my laughter and then of course, you headed for time out. Sorry, honey. No car jacking in this house.

- You are ALL about Daddy these days. On the weekends or in the evenings when he is home, you pretty much want nothing to do with me. I try not to let it hurt my feelings :)

- You still take 2 naps a day as well but only because your brother really needs them. You spend most of the first one alternating talking to yourself or crying a little bit. Your afternoon one is typically pretty good. If it was just you, we would have moved onto the one nap a day thing, but for now, we are sticking at 2. And by the way, while Ry only sleeps with one lovey, you have a veritable animal kingdom in your crib. You never throw anything out and usually are buried under a mound of loveys (at least 3), 2 dolls, 4 stuffed animals, and a little pillow. The only thing you throw out of your crib is your paci which is endlessly frustrating. Soon we will go paci free at night but I am delaying that a bit more as well.

- You are great at feeding yourself and love using forks and spoons. I think it's that little Miss Indpendent thing playing out again. You for sure have definite ideas and are not afraid to share them - and then perhaps pitch a fit when you don't get your way. Your meltdowns are epic. You flail on the floor and every once awhile look up to see if I'm watching. Which most of the time I am, but just out of the corner of my eye to make sure you aren't hurting yourself. Then a few minutes later, it's over, you hop up and start happily playing again. Huhhh???

- I won't get into much medical stuff with this update since we have a big doctors appointment next week, but I can for sure say that you are doing GREAT. Almost all of your strength has returned and your little legs are regaining the muscles you had lost during your time on your back. You aren't at a dead sprint yet but getting closer and closer. Your recovery has been nothing short of remarkable. You'll be back at full speed before we know it!

- Little one, we are so grateful for you, your infectious grin, and mischievious personality. Love you so much. And so glad you are home with us! You are a special, special, special little girl!

Whew ---- 18 months later and we are still surviving. Every day brings new challenges but I can definitely say this is the happiest times of our lives. When toys are strewn around the house, the laundry hasn't been folded or the dishwasher is running for the umpteenth time that week - we can't imagine anything else. I'm sure it will only get crazier around here (as evidenced by my ever-growing to do list and blacked out dates in my planner), but I can't wait. And for those who have asked ---- noooooooooooooooooooo, baby #3 is not even a twinkle in our eyes just yet!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Friday, everyone!!!!

(oh and yes, the kids are officially 18 months tomorrow, the 3rd, but the likelihood of me posting this weekend is slim to none. So for once I am early in my posting instead of 2 weeks late. Whoo hoo!)

SEC West Champs - and we continue to march on....

2011-11-27T09:53:00.000-06:00

Oh my. I was so nervous about LSU v Arkansas this year. I am always nervous about that game because they have a tendency to upset us --- and I was envisioning our perfect season going down the drain. I had so much nervous energy that I had to get out of the house and hit up a little Black Friday shopping pre-game timetime. Of course, Black Friday shopping now is never for me - but the babies made out like bandits. Or at least Quinn did. I am tired of buying the same old stuff for Ryan when he can just wear a polo shirt or a button down with jeans or cords and look dapper.

Anyway, gametime rolled around & Gigi broke out her LSU paraphenilia, including beads for everyone, including the babies. We even had some small gold pom poms. We were ready.

Then suddenly it was 14-0.

Arkansas.

Yikes.

Fortunately, I was conserving my energy for the 2nd half so I wasn't too upset. Gigi was getting beside herself. I tried to remind her it was early.

And so it was.

We ended up blowing them away 41-17.

Yes. Life was good.

Even more fun was to watch the babies cheer on our team. Ryan especially was into the game and kept us all laughing hysterically with his antics. The more we laughed, the harder he cheered. The resident comedian.

And of course, the obligatory pictures:

Quinn looks a little worried about the score - don't worry, baby girl - we came back!

Yeah, we had to take the beads away from Ryan after he attempted strangulation multiple times

Ma gave the kids an early Christmas present of these adorable chairs (which match perfectly with my living room decor!). Of course, they each like to sit in the other one's chair. Go figure.

Quinn playing with Uncle Zeb

Look, we scored!!!

Again, a baby with a beer??? What are we teaching our children? Oh yes, how to properly tailgate for an LSU game.

Ryan and I had almost matching outfits

The crew

So serious (and again, not in HER chair)

Fake eating. It's the new thing around here.

After the excitement of the game, it was time for bath and pjs - we broke out the Christmas ones! (Oh and I am OBSESSED with this Old Navy 2 piece pjs. They are sooooo soft)

Not sure what they were looking for - Santa already???

Family pic

Uncle Zeb and Aunt Emmy with the kids. (And Ryan made Em's night by saying "Emmmy" over and over again FINALLY! Don't think Gigi was jealous at all, ha!)

My little man. I thought we took those beads away???

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T09:06:00.000-06:00

This year we hosted Thanksgiving again at our house. We were blessed to have Matt's mom, my mom & Steve, and Matt's sister Emily & husband Zeb join us (my brother and sis-in-law had to stay in Austin for Christina's work & Matt's other brother & family visited Stacey's parents in East Texas). We are so thankful that everyone was willing to travel since we aren't quite comfortable enough yet to leave the safety of Houston and Texas Children's being nearby.

It was a wonderful holiday with delicious food and great company. It goes without saying that this year Thanksgiving had an even more powerful meaning - thankful for the health of my kids, my amazing husband, and incredibly family that has supported us and held us up throughout this entire journey. I took lots of pictures, but with all the excitement of getting food ready, Matt and I again missed out a family picture opportunity. Except for the one near the redneck turkey frying station outside. Oh well. Maybe next year.

I found these pictures from last year - wow, what a difference a year makes...

My little butterballs!

They were not even 6 months old here - yikes! Where does the time go??!!

Worn out from watching us all eat the turkey & fixings. This year, they actually got to partake (well, they napped through our meal, but they enjoyed lefties!)

Now some of this year's pictures:

The Grandmas

My little turkey man

Momma and her little boy - no more baby!

My little princess - look, her hair is growing some more!

Gigi and me

Aunt Emmy and Quinnie

Emmy & Ry Guy

Umm yeah, hard to hold 2.

A little trashy but it worked! I don't know what this was all about - except that the guys felt very manly when it was all said and done.

My best attempt at Gig 'Em. Hey, it's not my school. I'm just supporting them.

Ahhhh, that's my girl.

Ry went for a long walk with Ma around the block!

Yup, our family picture for this year - it was a gorgeous day though!

Ryan is just one of the boys.

Mom, you can't hug me around the boys!!!

Yup, that's a fried turkey in my laundry room. Again, I don't know why.

Delirious from the events of the day.

Oh, my sweet happy girl!

Thanksgiving love!

Melt my heart

Ma and Ry Guy

Keeping it classy, Clanahans

Quinn checking out Black Friday ads with Steve.

3 Generations.

Why is it always funny to see a baby with a beer???

Thanksgiving table (I did not decorate this year - could not get the energy. But my mom was nice enough to bring a pretty centerpiece for my table!)

Recovery time after the festivities!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thess 5:18)

Just For Fun...November Pictures

2011-11-21T14:47:00.000-06:00

Here are a few more pics of the kids. As you can see in most of them, they are "action" shots. These kids are wayyyy too busy to stop and actually give momma a smile. We're still working on "Cheese!!!!"

Quinn getting a little pre-game workout in

All I see is her big eyes in this picture. Love them!

Ryan was literally running away from the camera at a dead sprint

Ry, Ry - don't look sad! The Aggies actually played a full game and WON on Saturday!

Nothing says class like showing a little belly & a little fly down. Oh well. Still cute!

Pre-hair cut. He looks thrilled, huh???

This just cracks me up. This was Matt's attempt to get a picture of Ryan pre-second cut

Post hair cut. Not my favorite cut but it works. I need someone with big experience with big cowlicks

But if you wear boxes on your head, does it really matter?

Quinn hanging out. We finally caved and brought out some of her push toys since she seems much more stable on her feet these days. She's happy to have her old friends back.

Not quite how that works, Quinnie.

Loving mommy's hat. It was a big hit this morning.

Quinn chasing down the hat

Got it. Burnt orange matches the peacocks perfectly!

Is it really NOVEMBER??? Shorts and sandals.

Ryan made it up the slide.

Oh so proud of himself

Quinn hanging out in the swing for good reason. She probably would have tried the slide trick, too - and we're not quite ready for that yet!

Another shot

Ryan thrilled at Little Gym. LSU day. We always go on Saturdays, thus the ever-changing collegiate gear every week. Each week they wonder who we are cheering for, A&M, LSU, or the occasional UT depending upon who they are playing. Too bad the kids don't have any clothes. Poor things.

Tis the Season for Lists

2011-11-21T13:26:00.000-06:00

It must be the time of year. I am completely unable to think of anything in paragraphs - only lists. So far, I've made lists for the turkey day grocery store run, Christmas present lists, greeting card lists, and not to mention, the very belated "thank you note" list for all of the people who were so kind during Q's surgeries. Yikes on the last one. I promise I am working on it - and it's killing my Southern style that I have not yet completed them.

So, here's yet another blog in a form of a "list". Forgive me.

1. I think I mentioned that we had a pretty rough end to the week last blog post. Oh my. I think this whole "containment" thing is starting to get to all of us. I've never been so happy to see the weekend come. And I've never been so happy to see Matt come home with a new tv. And then I realized that I am 100% spoiled that I couldn't possibly survive 2 days without one. Yuck. (And it's not like we don't have 2 other tvs - they just happen to be in rooms that are not quite baby-proofed & I didn't want the drama of saying "No, no, no, put that down, don't pull on that, leave my hairbrushes alone, aghhhhh my straightener, don't touch!"

2. Matt and I went on our first date in at least 6 weeks on Saturday night. We typically try to at least have some alone time at least a couple of times a month and given the circumstances of the past couple of months, it was soooo needed. We went to Maggiano's near the Galleria for the first time in years. They have a new deal (well, new to us, I don't actually know if it's "new" per se) but if you order a classic pasta, then you get to pick another classic pasta to take home complimentary! For a family on a twin budget (not to mention a medical bill & new tv budget), this was music to our ears. So dinner last night was complimentary thanks to our date night - and we still have lefties. It's the little things that make me happy. Like not cooking dinner.

3. We had our first "bad" report card on how the twins did while we were gone. Honestly, I think it's just their age, but still... they usually do so well. Anyway, it's not like they acted out, but apparently Quinn didn't want to eat any dinner, pitched it all to the dog, cried all the way through her bath, and in fact, pretty much cried if our babysitter wasn't holding her. And then she had a tough time going down as well. Normally, this wouldn't bother me so much, but hearing that she was continually crying off and on scared me to death. Mainly because I don't think I have recovered from her constant moaning when she was so sick. So I just prayed and prayed that it had to do with separation anxiety and that she would be fine when she woke up Sunday. And she was. Thank God. I've finally stopped shaking.

4. I took Ryan to get his 2nd haircut yesterday. His hair is super baby fine, plus he has major cowlicks. And he's a toddler who constantly moves his head during the actual cutting. So needless to say, this isn't my favorite haircut but I suppose it's better than the shaggy "do" that was hanging in his eyes. After his haircut, I took him to the grocery store, where he spent the entire time waving at people going "Hiiiiiiii" and "Yeppppppp" (his new favorite word). It was nice to get him out in the real world for a bit, a luxury he doesn't have during the week. Even if it was just errands.

5. I can't wait until Quinn is well enough to just go out with mommy and do errands. First thing on my list will be to take her shoe shopping, instead of having a "date" with me to the doctor's office. I just want to have a few hours of just us and have some "girly" time that doesn't involved her being poked and prodded. Quinnie, it's marked on my calendar, ok baby?

6. I have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about what we are going to wear for our family pictures this year. We were actually supposed to do them a few weeks ago, but rescheduled not knowing how Quinn would be feeling. Because we postponed, we will actually have New Year's cards this year instead of Christmas ones, but considering my aforementioned comment on my inability to get out my thank you notes, I think it will work out. And actually, I already have the twins' outfits picked out - it's just mine that's giving me fits. I always wear some sort of sweater/jeans/boot combo, so I am considering going out on a limb with a skirt - and given that I haven't worn a skirt in months, it's a daunting choice. We'll see. I envy Matt. I just have to throw him a button down or sweater that coordinates and he's good. Guys just don't realize how lucky they are.

7. I am really tired of the phrase from our local weatherman of "unseasonably warm temperatures and extreme humidity" when it's LATE NOVEMBER. Yesterday I walked outside and could have sworn I was transported back to August. It was so incredibly nasty that for the first time in years, I wore my hair curly. In public. To church. I am not a curly hair girl. I usually do everything I can to fight the curly hair. Mainly because it's not so much curly as it is wavy and kinky with random nice places of curls. Very flattering look. Since the babies were born, I've done that Brazilian keratin thing and it's been a lifesaver. But I don't have the time, money, or the patience to do it until after the New Year, so curly it is. I think it actually started out ok, but by the end of the day, the frizz took over and it was HUGE, y'all. Like Texas pageant hair, circa late 1980's HUGE. I only needed permed bangs, blue eye shadow, and a uni-belt to complete the look.

8. I don't know if you've heard, but LSU remains atop the BCS polls. And we have a very, very, very big game on Friday afternoon. I am already nervous. We will have family in town but I am considering locking myself in the bedroom to watch the game so I don't completely embarrass myself or utter too many choice words in front of my little ones' virgin ears. Not to mention embarrass my mother for raising such a "lady".

9. After months of holding off on introducing eggs to the babies because of my egg allergy (which only seems to grow worse with age), we finally got the go-ahead to give it a try. We had waited because no one wanted any extra excitement before Quinn's surgery and her recovery. So last Friday on Matt's day off (in case we needed to make an emergency trip to the hospital), we made them scrambled eggs. Well, "we" is a loosely defined term. Matt made them and I watched. And tried to learn. That's right. I don't know how to scramble an egg. Or boil one, or make an omelet, or really anything egg-cooking related except for cracking it. The great news is that there were no reactions. And the better news is that Quinn really liked them. I am so grateful to have another high-cal option to throw into the breakfast mix. Ryan wasn't so sure as it takes him about 4 tries of anything new to decide if he likes it or not. But once the weekend was over, he was decidedly an egg fan. (Either that or he pitched it secretely to Max, which is highly probable)

10. I think my "babies" are starting the terrible 2's a little early. I think part of the frustration is that, while they are talking up a storm, most words are unintelligible. I have no idea what they want most of the time and they pitch a fit out of frustration. Plus, they are just becoming more and more independent and when mommy says "No", it's a big deal to them. They do not like to be told "no" for anything. I guess I don't blame them. But I alternate between complete frustration and total bemusement when I see them throw themselves on the floor and collapse into tears. Actually, Quinn is the drama queen in pitching herself backwards (no matter what type of material may lay behind her) and starts kicking and crying and rolling around. Ryan is a little more subtle, but just as loud. He chooses to dissolve into tears and go face down into the floor with heaving sobs. I've done some reading, and I am definitely not an expert on toddler tantrums. Most the time, I choose to say something like "I'm sorry you're upset" and then I ignore them and walk away. Sounds heartless but I have horrible fears of them starting these tantrums in public - and I want to try to do anything I can to avoid that. After a few minutes, they realize a) I'm not paying attention and b) They still aren't going to get what they want. I will say the tantrums are getting a bit exhausting but I know it's all a part of it --- if anyone has advice, feel free to share!

11. As I was writing my "list" post, my friend Lisa posted her own list of things about Q's boyfriend. Great minds. Anyway, she posted some better pictures than what I had from her visit with us (my camera was on a black & white setting and I had no idea how to turn it off). Take a peek here and check out the cutest little man - and also a picture that made me laugh out loud (Ryan in tears - is that wrong of me that it made me smile??) Our friendship has been totally orchestrated by The Man, and this past week another really cool God thing happened through our blogs - blogging is a small, small world. More on that later but much love to Hayes and Harper!

12. I've mentioned once or five times on my blog and facebook how excited I am for Thanksgiving this year. I feel blessed that our families are traveling to be with us (although not everyone can make it & we will miss y'all so much!). I usually get a little uptight about hosting, but this year I am going to do my best to relax and just enjoy. We also have big plans to do some rearranging of furniture - we had moved a lot out of the way in our living room to give the babies more space, but now that they pretty much have the run of the place, I would like my living room back, please. We'll see how long it lasts but I am sure my guests would appreciate other places to sit besides the floor.

13. Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Safe travels for those of you hitting the road or the skies ---and many blessings upon you and yours!

Well, Today has been a DAY. More on that later.

2011-11-18T22:00:00.000-06:00

For now, a few recent pics of the kids. Not from the high-quality camera I still have yet to master and/or download (upload?) to the computer. Just from the run of the mill, point and shoot. So I apologize for quality.

But as you can see, everyone is doing well (at least in these pictures, I didn't capture the meltdowns of the week for fear that I would be tempted to show them at their future rehearsal dinners). Sarcasm aside, all is well - Quinn is doing great, eating well and recovering on point. Both kids are hitting their "2"s a tad bit early for mommy's taste but still immensely grateful to be home with both of my babies under one roof.

We went a little stir crazy today - our tv blew up yesterday (I know, the absolute TRAGEDIES we face, right??) But seriously, my kids love music and half of the time we have dance parties to CMT, Mickey Mouse Club, some Pirate show, etc --- so that was out the window. I read a thousand stories, said "what does a duck say? Quack Quack" at least a hundred times, gave lots of kisses, let them play all over the couch, didn't get a lick of work done - and by the end of the day, I think we were all bored with each other. This whole "stay away from people bizness" gets old quick. We did do a drive through run at Sonic and we got gas at Kroger for excitement. :) Whoo Hoo!

So at last resort, I brought in their special cars -- we usually reserve them for outside use only, but today was a "special" day. And probably only day. There are TWO CARS. There are TWO BABIES. That math makes sense, right? Oh but now, what the other one has, the other one wants. So came lessons in sharing, a few time-outs, and several times I wanted to rip my hair out so I could yell too for some unknown reason.

But alas, we got some fun pictures. And for those of you wondering --- yes, bad days happen at the Clanahan's --- but even the bad days don't hold a candle to the worst days when Quinnie wasn't home with us. Happy Weekend to you all!

The Scar...God's Handprints

2011-11-16T08:43:00.000-06:00

I decided I really want to track the evolution of Quinn's scar (or as we like to refer to it as "God's Handprints"). I NEVER want her to be ashamed of this mark on her - but to use it as a testimony for how her life was saved and a reminder of all of the people who prayed for her healing. Her badge of courage, if you will.

I'll admit that sometimes it's still a little shocking to me - half of the time I go to change her and I forget that it's there - and then I am brought back to the memories of that day. But it's a part of her, and I love every inch of it and what it represents.

So every couple of months, I'll post a new picture of it so we can see how it changes. I was absolutely blown away and brought to tears when I saw the PERFECT healing of Quinn's boyfriend Field's scar. It's just this tiny, perfect, white line. When I saw it, I was just overcome with joy knowing that just 10 months ago, he had a similar looking scar as Quinn's. The other amazing thing is that the doctors don't even recommend any special lotions, vitamin E or anything like that to help it heal. Their skin is has so much elasticity and is so youthful that it will just heal up perfectly on it's own.

So here's what it looked like just a couple of days ago. I am sure she will just LOVE me in about 15 years for posting a diaper pic.

Far away look. Quinn was posing on the floor. Nice.

Close up. The 3 larger circle marks are from the chest tubes. There is also a small one on her side from where they had to go in secondarily to drain the pocket of effusion. Apparently, even these large marks will turn into almost dimples on her tummy and the thickness of the red scar will fade to a thin, white-ish line.

And because it's only fair - here's Ryan's diaper pic. Notice his belly button. It's a lovely herniated one. That will be our next surgery - springtime. We need to recover from this excitement first.

I haven't taken many pictures lately. So bad of me! But I did bust Ryan playing with Q's jewelery box this morning. Gotcha, Big Guy!

But Quinn got it back :)

Speaking of Field - here is the best picture I got of the two of them. Let's just say it was a challenging photo shoot. Not the most lady-like picture of Quinn showing her bloomies.

Trying to corral the babies and get at least one. No luck.

And we tried again - still no luck! But Lisa looks beautiful. LOVED meeting this sweet girl and her precious miracle.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

Meagan

Barry Blaine Anderson (March 6, 1944 - November 5, 2006)

2011-11-13T21:57:00.000-06:00

This post has been somewhat delayed for several reasons but mostly because I couldn't seem to put into words what I wanted to say. I attempted several times, but each time would delete to come back at a later time.

My dad has been gone five years.

Five years since I've held his hand.

Five years since I touched his face.

Five years since I whispered in his ear about some minor college trangressions I had in attempt to bring back a glimpse of life in face (it worked!)

Five years since I whispered in his ear that it was okay to let go. That we would be ok.

Five years since I had the privilege to share his last moments on Earth with us and help transition him to an eternal life we can neither fathom nor dream of.

Five long years.

But at the same time, they have flown by.

I miss my daddy every day - and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of him. I am comforted knowing that will probably remain true for the rest of my life.

I never want to forget.

The pain over 5 years has ebbed. It's not nearly as stabbing and gut-wrenching. It's manageable.

There are still sad days or sad moments, but mostly we remember with laughter and happy tears.

But they've been hard fought.

The first year I didn't think we would ever get to this place. This place of moving on, living life, missing him like crazy, but grateful that he is in a better place.

But we are there.

Over Quinn's journey of the past 6 weeks, I often thought of my dad and what he would be doing had he been here. I have a feeling he would have been doing everything he could to hold down the fort, go the grocery store (in the years after he retired, he went to "visit" Tom Thumb almost every day - half of it was with purpose for dinner and half was to visit his friends : ) )

He would have waited for me every day that I came home from the hospital with a big hug for his baby girl.

He would have given Matt the advice he could.

He would have supported my Mom and lifted her up.

He would have layed out on the couch and watched Law & Order re-runs to keep Max company and have Ryan run circles around him.

My only question that still remains is how he would have been with Quinn. My bottom, deep-in-the-gut feeling is that he would have been heart-broken to see his littlest baby girl like that and in so much pain. It probably would have torn him from the inside out and there probably wouldn't have been many words.

So maybe it's better that he was her angel from up above.

And I do believe that.

A few weeks ago, a dear friend of my parents sent me an email (Miss T, I am going to paraphrase so forgive me) ---- but she had this dream. We grew up with this family and Mr. J & my dad were as thick as thieves. As life got busier later on and kids grew up, as they so often do : ), our time with this special family was less and less --- but we still always had that special bond.

Anyway, Mr. J unfortunately passed away about a month before my dad. I remember it clearly, and I also remember thinking that my dad would be next. I just knew it.

To the dream, and to paraprase, basically she dreamed that we were all over at their old house, my mom, Miss T, myself, Dad, and Mr. J - and we were eating tortilla chips & salsa (which makes total sense b/c we always had a tremendous fondness for the local Mexican restaurant, Papayas, may it rest in peace).

The ladies were getting ready for a big party and as we were getting ready to leave, we asked why the boys weren't coming with us. They were happily saying that they were going to miss the party because they had to go rock a sick baby girl in the hospital. We tried over and over to get them to come but they were absolutely adamant to stay behind and take care of this little girl.

Now when Miss T shared this dream, she did underline it with the fact that none of us knows what happens in Heaven - what the contact is here on Earth and it's not something we can even begin to conjecture. But through that dream, maybe, just maybe, it was God's way of providing comfort that our little girl was being protected by her grandaddy and looked over and maybe, just maybe, he's totally aware of the situation.

And her sharing that with me just brought so much peace.

This much I do know - if my daddy was here, he would be over the moon for these kids.

And I pray he would be proud of Matt and I.

And also overwhelmingly proud of his amazing son, Blaine, who married a wonderful person, Christina, and shares his fondness for over-sized dogs.

And amazingly proud of his loving wife who has been the strongest woman I've had the privilege to know and call her "Mom".

Five years seems like such a long time - how will I feel at 10 years, 20 years? My only prayer is that these children continue to hear stories about my dad, the amazing man he was, and the fantastic grandfather he would have been. We decided that we will call him "BB" to the kids. BB being his first and middle initials.

Daddy, we love you and miss you every day. I can't imagine what glory you must be experiencing every day but I look forward to the day we are all reunited in that place.

This song has been out for awhile, but I happened to hear it on the way to the hospital one morning and it just reminded me so much of my dad, especially the second chorus. Hope you have a quick listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO4S86f8BvU&feature=fvsr

In His Grip,

Ummm, So I knew I had a little bit of pent up emotion...

2011-11-11T09:11:00.000-06:00

So for the past week or so, I knew I had been "funky". People were asking me how I was doing recovering from Q's ordeal - and honestly, I thought I was doing ok. We made it through, Quinn was doing well, and I was starting to catch up on sleep. But I also knew I was a bit on edge shall we say. I just didn't expect my emotions to boil over like they did last night.

It all started innocently enough. Matt had worked some long hours the entire week but on Thursday, he arrived home early. He encouraged me to go get my nails done and since I had 45 minutes to kill before the babies' dinner and bathtime, I figured I would go. About a month ago, during one of Q's breaks home from the hospital, I had treated myself to my first manicure in over a year. I really had stopped doing them because there seemed no point to sit there for my nails to dry forever, only to have them chip one day later thanks to all things toddler.

Yet, my mom had introduced me to this whole "gel mani" thing (yes, my mom did - have I been living under a rock???). So I loved it the first time, but the nails had grown out to the point where it was time to get it redone. I thought it would take no more than 30 minutes and I would even have time to rush into the grocery store for a few items and make it home to help Matt.

So I headed to my so-called favorite nail place across the street (part of the reason it was my favorite is it's nearness to the house and doesn't require a 10 mile trek down to Katy). I've never had a bad experience and they also offer a complimentary glass of cheap wine, so SCORE in my book. Instead of going with my usual french mani look, I decided to go a little bit crazy and actually go with color. In retrospect, that was a poor choice, but I was living on the edge.

(Let me also put a disclaimer out there while some people find it relaxing to get a mani/pedi, I actually can't stand the process. All the sitting still and drying and trying to have conversations with people who typically understand half of what I say. I love the end result, but the faster, the better. I always go for the speed mani/pedi - no fancy stone massages, paraffin waxes, etc - I want in.out.with nice nails.)

So we started the process, got the old gel removed and she went to work on the color. I put my hand in the little heat drying thing and when I went to take it out for the next coat, she goes, "YOU MOVE. YOU MOVE. LOOK." And sure enough, there was some big fat ripples across my thumbnail. Now, I knew I hadn't moved and if I had, it would have caused an obvious mark, not ripples. But I went with it, said I was sorry. So she kinda rolled her eyes and starting taking off the polish and redoing that thumbnail. Then it was time to pull out my other hand, and there were huge rippling across at least 3 of the nails.

I immediately said, "I didn't move, I swear." (Here I am, scared of the technician). Anyway, at that point, she realized that it was the polish she was using and not the customer's fault. But of course, I had picked a big ole bright reddish color. That was mostly dry because it was on the 2nd coat and had already been frozen on or whatever they do to make it melt to your nails. So after 45 minutes of already sitting there, I had to endure the process of soaking it back off and starting completely over.

At this point, my patience was running thin, I was out of my cheap glass of wine and she wanted to use the same color (which she now had soaking in warm water BECAUSE THAT WAS GOING TO HELP IT NOT CLUMP). I calmly said "no thank you, let's just do french if we are going to start over." So she broke out the french stuff and went to work.

Well, apparently this started a firestorm in the nail salon. The owner came over (who I of course could barely understand) and told me that I was going to have to pay extra for the french. By this time, it was well over 1 hour and 15 minutes into my supposed "quick trip". And I was at my wit's end.

And I told her extremely calmly, that I was not paying for the french mani, and in fact, would not pay full price, since I had been sitting there for I don't know, ALL MY LIFE. She kept saying "YOU PAY. YOU PAY. I LOSE MONEY. YOU PAY."

And I just kept saying, "I refuse to pay full price. REFUSE. The polish you are carrying and offering to your customer's does NOT work and I am NOT paying when I, AS THE FREAKING CUSTOMER, have been sitting here enduring this madness for way longer than a normal person." Ok, I didn't say freaking. But I felt like it.

I didn't curse at all.

But I felt like it.

The rest of the time gets a little fuzzy from that point on.

She brought over a cohort (who I suppose was a translator or something) and then I had two of them yelling in my face that I would pay.

I turned red. And held my ground.

Until she told the technician to stop (halfway through finishing the french on one hand).

And only out of complete desperation and knowing that there were no other places open past 7pm and the likelihood of me making it anywhere the next day to get them fixed was slim to none, I finally caved. And said, "I PAY. I PAY. JUST FINISH". (At that point, I picked up their "accent").

So the two yelling ladies finally left me alone - and I was just sitting there with half of the salon staring at me and the other tecnicians whispering in a language I don't understand and sneaking glances at me.

And that's when it happened.

That pent-up emotion and all of the tears I've been wanting to shed since Quinn's ordeal started finally came.

Only of course they couldn't wait until I got home, or even in the safety of my own car.

They decided to come, fast and furious, smack in the middle of the nail salon.

And they weren't just tears.

They were heavy, wracking sobs.

The ones you try to control and you just can't.

You try to speak through them and you just hiccup something unintelligible.

You are somehow transported back to being 5 years old and being told you can't have a cookie and have a full blown break down.

Everytime I would think they were under control, they would just break out again - and heavier and heavier each time.

I had a full-scale nervous breakdown IN A NAIL SALON BECAUSE THEY YELLED AT ME.

Now, I had every right to be upset, but under normal circumstances, that would not have brought me to these hot, body-shaking sobs.

But things have obviously not been normal. And apparently I've held in, oh, quite a lot of emotion.

If you thought people were staring before, they were gawking after that little display.

And you know? No one even brought me a napkin, tissue or cotton ball to wipe my face.

They were either too shocked at the crazy girl or they just didn't care.

Either way, it was utterly humiliating.

After about 10 minutes, I finally got myself under control, she finished my nails (probably in shock) and I headed to the counter to pay the evil owner.

She again tried to charge me the full amount.

By this time, I had regained most of my bodily functions and my ability to speak somewhat coherently, and said absolutely not.

Exasperated, she asked me what I would pay. And I said I would pay no more than $20 for this hot mess of an experience.

She fought me on that for awhile, but I held firm. And finally, she said "I'm tired of you talk. Pay money and out". (I think she meant "get out" but I got the message).

So I threw her my debit card, which she threw back to me and I walked (sprinted) out of the door. Where I immediately called Matt in tears again. Probably scared him to death thinking I had just been in an accident because WHO IS SOBBING AFTER A MANICURE???

THIS GIRL APPARENTLY.

I somehow collected myself, got myself home where I broke into tears again until I saw my freshly-washed babies running around in their footie pjs and all in the world was right again.

Until I was chopping onions and accidentally cut a tip off my thumbnail, thus ruining my hard-fought mani. Oh well.

And I believe 11.10.11 will go down as the date that I finally had my much needed cry/sob/complete meltdown session. And while the locale was inappropriate and ill-timed, I am just guessing it was much needed. With swollen eyes and an exhausted heart, I collapsed into bed at 10:30pm and promptly had the best night sleep since Quinn got home.

And this morning, I really wish I could be a fly on the wall (with a translator of course) at the nail salon and hear them retell the story of the crazy girl who wouldn't pay for her nails.

Just to break things up a bit.

2011-11-08T09:13:00.001-06:00

I decided today to take a break from my usual posting of long paragraphs and probably multiple run-on sentences. I have a feeling that no one except my mother reads every word anyway (no hard feelings - I just have a gross inability most of the time to write "brief updates"). Yet I have a lot of random thoughts today, so I thought we do a numbered post just for "fun". I am certain you are overjoyed :)

1. Starting with the more serious/important: Yesterday we had Quinn's check up at TCH with our cardiologist and for a repeat xray. After a "quick" visit of around 2 1/2 hours (trust me, that is super sonic speed for them), we were given the great news that all is well! The xray looks pretty clear - still not 100% , but it may not be for awhile - and it's that way for most kids who have Quinn's history so they aren't worried about that at all. She will stay on her diuretic once a day for another 30 days. We will return in ONE MONTH to have a repeat echo to check out her heart function. One month without a drive down to TCH. I hardly know what to do with myself. (On a side note: just from where they hear the murmur now - higher up in her cavity - there is a chance that the branch PA's are still pretty narrow. Worst case, we may have to go back in later on and perhaps put a stent in them via cath to widen and allow for more oxygen. But we aren't focusing on that for now. Her saturations are great - 99, 100 and the child is happily recovering. Also, when they repeat the echo, they will specifically look at the right ventricle pressures - they were pretty high before, meaning the right ventricle was pretty stiff and had been overworked for so long. It may just be the passage of time that will allow that muscle to relax and thin out or she may need some medicine later on to help it a long and regulate those pressures. Typically, it's just a function of time, but we want to make sure it stays nice and healthy. Again, we are NOT worrying about that right now - clinically she is doing so well). Our cardiologist was very happy to see her bouncing around and stuffing crackers in her mouth. And I was overjoyed since the last time I saw him, she was laid out in the CVICU. What a difference a couple of weeks makes.

2. That was a long number one. That won't happen again.

3. I think I am becoming a little hypersensitive to people's comments in regards to Quinn. My favorite one yesterday from the nurse who had Q's chart RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER: "So, what brings you in today?" Really? Really? At this point, Q was just sitting in her diaper and had an obviously fresh scar on her chest. Oh, I don't know, we just came for fun because we missed y'all so much.

I think I really should start praying for more grace and understanding before I head down there next time. I know that these people really do care and have multiple patients they are caring for - but I suppose that I hope that they look at these children like children, not numbers on their wipeboard. And prayerfully, I think most of them do. HUGE DISCLAIMER: There are many, many wonderful caregivers down there that we are blessed to have met - including the woman at the front desk who continually called back to the clinic area to check on Q's spot because she didn't want "that precious baby sitting in the waiting room any longer than absolutely necessary". She was a blessing to us yesterday for sure.

4. Ugghhh, 3 was long too. Maybe I am not good at numbered posts.

5. Breakfast around here is my favorite time of day. These kids wake up deliriously happy and ready to EAT. It's by far their best meal of the day and they shove down pancakes, waffles, french toast sticks, fruit, bagels, anything they can get their hands on like it's their last meal. I love watching their happy grins and super concentration on whatever is in front of them. They make the funniest faces and sounds - and now they are starting to respond to me when I ask "Is your breakfast yummy?" And most days, they will go "Yummmmmmmm". Ryan actually usually shakes his head vigorously up and down "yes" when I ask him that question.

Here is a little video from this a.m. My favorite is when Quinn finds a hidden treasure in her bib and stuffs it down:

6. My 2nd favorite time of the day is when Matt gets home and starts playing with the kids. He is so good with them and usually illicits the biggest giggles and belly laughs from both of them. They love their "dada".

7. We are not above making them perform "tricks" every night for our own entertainment.

8. A few weeks ago I ordered some new shoes for Quinn in bright red for the holidays. I didn't realize how large they ran, so they somewhat resemble clown shoes on her right now. They also "squeak" when she walks. (I really should have read the description more closely when they were called Moo-Shoo Squeaker Training Shoes). Because they were so large, I just HAD to order another pair, this time in pink, in a smaller size. They squeak as well. So last night, we put the red ones on Ryan and pink on Quinn and made them chase each other just so we could hear them squeak, squeak, squeak through the house. They were perplexed by the noise and we just laughed. We have no shame.

9. Without fail, I check the mail 5 out of the 6 days per week. I love checking the mail. Yet, it never fails that on the one time where I don't check it, I usually have some sort of delivery from smocked auctions or other site. Matt is never super impressed by that. Ooops.

10. Hospital bills have starting rolling in. Thank goodness for insurance. Our first EOB was 14 pages front and back. And that was just from a part of the FIRST visit - and not from the subsequent visits or 2nd surgery. Yikes. We also have noticed that the anesthesiologists are the fastest billers. I don't know why that is, but our first 3 have come from those folks. Cha-ching. But since they did keep Quinn nice and safe, I am happily paying the bills. Gulp.

11. The weather in Houston has been less than fall-like. It has been downright swampy the past few days. We are due for a cold front tonight and I have already lined up my boots to wear tomorrow. We should have a high in the low 60's. Oooh, chilly.

12. My entire family is in Vegas right now. So happy they are getting some time to relax after the events of the past 6 weeks. They actually had originally scheduled their trip for the beginning of October but rearranged it after Q's surgery date was changed. I'd be lying though if I said part of me wasn't a little jealous. Yet, I am also enjoying just being at home without my suitcase perpetually packed for the hospital.

13. Although I typically love decorating for fall, I am way behind the eight ball. So this year, I think I will skip fall decorating and move onto Christmas instead. Some things have to give.

14. I am super excited for Thanksgiving this year. We had orginally planned to travel this year, but since we want to keep Quinn close to home & the hospital, Thanksgiving will once again be at Casa de Clanahan. We are thrilled that my mom and her man Steve will join us, along with Ma, Aunt Emmy & Uncle Zeb. We wish the other members of our immediate family could join us, but we are looking forward to have just a low-key holiday. We have much to be thankful for this year. That goes without saying. And I am already starting to drool thinking about Em's mashed potatoes, my mom's oyster dressing, and my green bean casserole.

15. Today, I will finally get to meet my sweet friend, Lisa and her son Field! I know that sounds strange that we are just meeting, but I already feel like I know her so well. I have followed sweet Field's heart journey for over a year now (Lisa was pledge sisters with my good friend Katie, who let me know about their story). We have sent pages and pages of emails and facebook messages back and forth over the past year. I can't wait to give this incredible momma a huge hug. We are also equally excited for Quinn and Field to meet each other -- they were born only a couple of weeks apart - so we totally have their courtship and arranged marriage planned. Hopefully we will actually be able to get some good pics of the kids together and I'll be able to post them soon. If we can get a decent shot of the two of them, I plan to send it to Dr. Fraser and his team (both kids were operated on by him) because I know they will get a kick out of it.

16. I just overheard on the Today Show that the Duggar's are expecting their 20th child. I don't have much of a comment for this except that I just visibly shuddered. Bless them and their family choices, but two is sort of wearing me out at the moment. Can't imagine 18 more.

17. As I mentioned a couple of times during Q's hospital stays, we were fortunate enough to stay with our sweet friends Katie & Ryan. During that time, I got so used to seeing my Katie - her positivity through our entire journey just kept me buoyed and sane (I don't know that she knows how much it meant to me for her to just stop by & visit with us, not to mention the nights when I stayed at their home and we would just stay up chatting about all sorts of things.) I'm typically not much of a phone person, but last night we stayed up and talked on the phone for an hour and a half. I just needed that.

18. I desperately need a girl's night out, and sushi needs to be involved.

19. I also desperately would like a date night with my husband and we are hopeful that this weekend we will feel comfortable enough to leave Quinn with a sitter.

20. If you are looking for a unique way to give back this holiday season, I highly recommend http://www.projectlinus.org/. They are a national non-profit that provides homemade blankets to hospitalized babies and children. Quinn was the recipient of several of these and they are just incredibly special. If you go to their website, you can donate directly to them in honor or in memory of someone special in your life. I know there are so many organizations out there, but just thought I would mention this one that has been so special to our family. It's amazing what the gift of a sweet blanket will do for a family - knowing that it was painstakingly created by someone who will never meet the child who actually receives it just makes my heart happy and gives me so much faith in the humanity and selflessness of people.

21. This past Sunday we had our 2nd annual blood drive at our church, The River. As it was last year, this year it was in Quinn's honor given the life-saving blood donations she received twice in the last month. We were so excited to have at least 30 people who attempted to donate and collected 22 pints of blood - saving at least 66 lives. So grateful to be a part of an amazing church family who gave of their time and red blood cells to replenish the blood supply in Houston, especially during a time when the hospitals run critically low.

22. Ryan's new favorite phrase: "Oppp Axxx" (STOP MAX! - when the dog is going beserk). Quinn's new favorite word: "Ackker" (Cracker).

23. My daughter has a STRONG sweet tooth. She was introduced to all sorts of sweetness she had never experienced in hospital (go figure). She's now obsessed with Teddy Grahams, the more chocolate the better. She was also introduced to homemade cinnamon rolls and shoved down almost an entire one yesterday. Her nap that morning did not go well. It's back to our healthy fat diet now and I don't think she appreciates it very much. But nothing's wrong with an occasional treat, right?

24. I am back to work again full time this week (or at least my version of full time, which is about 12-15 hours). The normalcy of returning to work & having the time and energy to do so, is actually refreshing.

25. Doing a numbered list did not seem to help with the brevity of my posts. My apologies. I will return to my usual format of multiple paragraphs next time.

Back to work! Happy Tuesday, y'all!

Extra Lunch Money! And other happy news.

2011-11-06T08:50:00.000-06:00

This has been the week of extra lunch money. After weeks of racking up tolltag expenditures and multiple swipes of the debit card through the parking garages at TCH, our bank account is finally regulating. Of course, we would have continued it for as long as needed, but it's been so nice not to have to jump on the highways to make the trek down there. I could drive it my sleep by now - and scarily enough, probably almost did at some points. : )

Of course the main bonus is having our little girl home. And not only is she home but she continues to improve daily. THIS is what recovery looks like. Everyday she's a little bit stronger and more like herself. It's been so heart-warming to watch and experience. Maybe that's why I haven't really blogged in the past few days --- it's been almost impossible to put into words my gratefulness and joy.

I was so nervous to have them by myself this week (Matt needed to return to work on Tuesday), given our last experience. But everything could not have gone more smoothly. Quinn was understandably more clingy on Tuesday and part of Wednesday but by Thursday she had found her groove and was back playing with Ryan almost at full tilt. I've never been so happy to see toys scattered all around the living room and to hear their squeals of laughter as they double-teamed to pat Max or destroy a magazine. Before Quinn was walking much on Tuesday and would just sit by me on the floor, Ryan played his own game of patting his sister gently on the head and then would run away laughing. Then he would return, pat again and run away again. He must have done it at least 20 times. I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my face. I think he was hoping it would encourage her to get up and chase him like he was used to - and by Thursday, she was pretty much up for it.

Her strength continues to improve and every day her walking becomes stronger and less of an awkward limp. She tires a bit more easily still, but she never cries from pain. She is now just on one dose of regular Tylenol per day and we will probably drop that today. That is just crazy to me! She says a new word every day and is just precious in the way she mimicks us. Her eating is almost back to normal and she is drinking almost as much milk as her brother.

On Thursday, I took her to the pediatrician just to have him look at her and make sure he thought everything was going well. To be honest, I almost cancelled the appointment because it seemed pointless, but I also wanted him to see her just being happy and back to Quinn. Last time he saw her in his office, she was a hot mess and in so much pain, moaning and crying the entire time. Then he saw her a couple of days post surgery when she was pretty out of it - so it was nice for him to see her up and going. She did not disappoint - she flashed all sorts of toothy grins and babbles and even gave him a hug. From a medical standpoint, she looks fantastic too. Her pulse ox levels are 99s and 100s again (whoo hoo!), her breath sounds were perfect (meaning he couldn't hear any effusions in her lungs), and her coloring great. The only concern now is putting back on the weight she lost during her 5 week stint in and out of the hospital. It will take some time but we'll get there. For now, most of her jeans and pants just fall off of her - wish her clothes from last winter were readily accessable because she would probably fit perfectly in her 6-12 month jeans. But soon enough, I'm sure she'll be rocking her 12-18 months again (oh and btw, Old Navy has the greatest skinny jeans for little girls --- seriously, I never thought skinny jeans would be cute on a toddler but they are beyond precious!)

On Monday we will head back down to the med center for a check up with the cardiologist. For once, I can't wait because I just know everything is going to be fine. I am not worried in the least like I was last time. It's such a good feeling and I feel like a 100lb weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. Maybe now my hair can start growing back (it started falling off in clumps during this process) and have clearer skin again - small price to pay but I'd like to get rid of my bald spot that descended directly on my part :)

So basically, you can probably hear it in my voice that we are just beyond relieved and overjoyed on how this recovery is going. You know how when you have the flu and you can't breathe, you feel crummy, and everything hurts. And then just one day, you wake up and you can breathe again and your head doesn't pound with every movement? You almost feel high because you just feel GOOD again. In some sort of way that's how I feel now - just high and happy after such a long venture. We are still recovering emotionally and spending a lot of time trying to catch up on sleep, but all in all, we are on our way to "normal". Whatever "normal" with twin toddlers is anyway :)

Ryan has adjusted so well to Quinn being back home. I was worried he would feel neglected and act out, but he's been a super champ this entire week. He laughs almost all of the time and just cracks us up with his antics. We try to carve out special Ryan time for him, especially since we are kind of stuck at home for the next 4 weeks or so while Quinn recovers more (we can't be in the general pop for at least 4-6 weeks post surgery so she doesn't get an infection. It's a scary time of year too, with flu already going around and colds abound). So we try and make sure we take him to his Little Gym class every Saturday - it's our special time with him and he gets such a kick out of it. He, too, has grown stronger over the weeks, and is "all boy" there. It makes my heart proud to see him running around, following directions (most of the time), and just laughing and dancing. I was thrilled this past Saturday to take him and find that my favorite instructor was subbing for the Saturday class. I hadn't seen her since prior to Q's surgery but she has followed our journey and has been such an encouragement with her words to us. To be able to hug her and thank her for all of her support made me want to cry. Like most things these days, I guess. Except they are happy tears.

So this is a long update but I wanted to bring y'all up to speed. We remain incredibly grateful to you all for your continued prayers.

The following is just something I needed to write down because I don't want to forget the dates of the surgeries, hospitilizations, time at home, etc. So this is for my own records. Feel free to skip through :)

Sept. 19th - Catheter procedure & "coiling off" of Quinn's collateral vessel. 6 hour procedure, 6 hours in recovery, 16 hour day. Whew.

Sept. 21st - Original surgery date. Rescheduled for Sept. 27th

Sept. 26th - Check in at 8am for pre-op work ups. Did not get a room on the 15 floor until 5pm. Quinn missed both naps, didn't want to eat and was on her way to being a hot mess.

Night of Sept. 26th - Quinn up all night with Mommy & Daddy. We all slept maybe a combined 2 hours.

Sept. 27th - Surgery at 7am. Out of surgery by 3:30pm. Saw Quinn around 5pm. All reports were good.

Sept. 29th - Still in CVICU - chest tube stuck on the top wire of Quinn's sternum. Dr. Heinle had to reopen Q's chest under general anesthesia and remove the tube.

Sept. 30th - Move to 15th recovery floor.

Oct. 2nd - First proposed "going home date". I said no.

Oct. 3rd - Finally decided we were ok with going home. We didn't know what recovery was supposed to look like, so we assumed she would recover better at home.

Oct. 3rd - Oct. 9th - Quinn home but not improving.

Oct. 9th - Check in at TCH's ER - admitted back to 15th floor.

Oct. 9th - 12th - Only 15th floor "recovering" from pleural effusion and gastritis. Released on October 12th.

Oct. 12th - 17th - back home. Not improving. Mutliple calls to doctors.

Oct. 18th - Appt with pediatrician. Took an xray, sees massive pleural effusion. Immediately calls our cardiolgoist and sends us back to the ER.

Oct. 18th - 21st - Back on 15th floor while the doctors try to determine what's wrong. Finally an echo shows the patch is leaking, and not only does she have the effusion in her lungs, but she has a good amount of fluid around her heart, plus her liver is down about 2 inches lower than it should be and enlarged. We are told on the 21st the only way to fix it is another open heart surgery. Devestation.

Oct. 22nd - "Emergency" surgery on a Saturday. Pretty unusual for them. Back in surgery at 8am, out by 3ish. Saw Quinn again at 4:30 or 5:00pm. Still looked like our beautiful girl. Surgery was a success!

Oct. 22nd - 27th - In CVICU. On the 26th, they had to put in a chest tube to drain the rest of the effusion that the other tube wasn't reaching. Got out almost a liter of fluid. Whew. All went well. Moved to 15 the next day.

Oct. 27th - Oct. 31st - On 15 AGAIN. This time recovery is PERFECT. Smiling, happy, laughing, attempting walking, eating but not drinking. The drinking thing concerned the doctors but she was eating about 6 yogurts per day and her electrolytes were completely in balance. Released us happily on the 31st. Quinn came HOME and immediately drank a ton of milk. Take that ;)

Oct. 31st - present. Quinn home and doing just great. And looking at the above, this child's strength is a wonder for everything she has been through. And no wonder we are tired.

Love you all!!!!!!!!

Halloween 2011 - The Year of the "Free" Costumes

2011-11-01T08:58:00.000-05:00

All I can say is that my procrastination and/or lack of time to actually think, much less purchase, Halloween costumes completely paid off this year. I had big plans a few months ago for the twins to have some sort of coordinating costumes but obviously the setbacks of the past month changed those thoughts. Then I thought about just re-using the costumes from last year as they were pretty big back then and I figured they would work (a flower for Quinn & bumblebee for Ryan), but then remembered they were up in the attic amongst what must be 20 boxes of clothes for the twins. I didn't have the heart to ask my exhausted hubby to make the trek up there to search for said costumes and I certainly wasn't going to risk my life trying to climb the stairs and navigate the plywood and insulation.

So I had pretty much resigned myself to no Halloween costumes this year - and was ok with it. I mean, it's not like they were actually going to remember it so it was more for our entertainment than theirs. But Saturday after returning for the umpteenth time from the hospital, I had a moment to run over to a local shopping center so I could pick up my rush-order contacts since my eyes were getting dangerously close to coming down with some nasty bacteria after wearing the same pair for what has to be the last 2 months. Of course, they were closed so I had a few moments to kill and saw Children's Place in the same shopping center.

With the impending cold weather (whoa, hello 60s and 70s! ha.), I figured the kids needed some winter (loosely defined in Houston) basics, so I headed over there. They had literally 5 Halloween costumes on the shelves, and one was the perfect size for Quinn - a little puffy Watermelon. Not exactly what I had in mind but it was pretty darned cute. Then they had this monster/dragon/TBD thing for a little boy but it was 6-12 months. BUT IT WAS $2.99. Plus I had a 25% off coupon. I'm not good at math, but in my mind that adds up to FREE.

For a virtually FREE costume, I figured we would just take the chance that the monster/dragon/not sure what it was costume could be a little short on Ryno. Sure enough, the hood was a little small for my boy with the 95th percentile head and the legs were just a tad short - but overall it worked. The first night we put him in it, he was so tickled with himself. See video below:

So last night after the kids woke up from their nap and had a snack, we decided it was costume time. Quinn immediately looked a little ticked about hers (it was PUFFY, y'all!) but then got into the spirit and managed a few grins. Once we put her shoes on, she was all about it. Ryan ran around like a nut with his tail swinging all about and screaming stuff we couldn't understand. In my mind, they were happy exclamations, not screams of "what the heck are you making me wear???"

Matt and I just about died of laughter --- it was so fun to see them all dressed up and made the $5 I spent worth every cent and more. And I was just so darned grateful to have both kids at home to dress up. Typically we would have headed out to our church's annual Trunk 'n Treat event, but given Quinn's isolation for the next 5 weeks at least, that wasn't so much an option. I previously had thought about bringing just Ryan up there but once I saw how tickled they were to be back together, that just didn't make sense. So we loaded both of them up in our wagon and headed out in the gorgeous weather just to walk the streets. Once outside, we met up with our neighbors and plopped their daughter into the middle of the wagon so she could enjoy the fun. The three of them rode so well together almost the entire time and even in that brief 30 minutes, my night was made and our hearts were full.

Here are just a few little pics from my phone (have I mentioned how much I love having an i-phone now? I was so anti i-phone because I did not need one more piece of technology to be addicted to, but now I LOVE it. It's been great to be able to share pictures back and forth while Matt & I were separated at the hospital and also have facetime with our families. Too fun). Anyway, I have better pictures on our "real" camera, but I'm too lazy to go look for the cord. So, this is what we get for now:

I am thinking about just letting her run around in the watermelon while she recovers. It's "poofiness" serves as a great chest protector,

Yup, a little short. Perhaps a little trashy but it's all good.

Next year, you guys will actually be allowed to get some candy :)

Happy "Free" Halloween - hope you all had a wonderful one! For a day that can be filled with darkness and evil, there was a lot of light over at the Clanahan's :)

The Final Homecoming (Prayerfully!)

2011-10-31T14:03:00.000-05:00

We are home again. One family. Under one roof. The way it should be. By the end of this evening, Matt and I will have seen more of each other than we have for the last 13 days. And that doesn't even count the other 2 previous hospital stays. I've missed my husband for sure, but nothing has put an ache in my heart like my kids being separated for so long. And of course, my daughter being as sick as she was.

But now we have Quinnie back. She is a different child. The homecoming this time was 180 degrees different than the other two. As I type this, she is walking back and forth across the room, playing with Daddy and Ryan. She's a little unsteady but has a big ole grin on her face - she's not moaning in pain, she's not grimacing, she's just Quinn. Oh, praise God.

I wish I could have grabbed the camera quick enough when we got home, but as we were unloading things, Quinn crawled over to where Ryan was sitting, laid her head down on his lap and then he patted her head. Oh, my goodness. Then later he walked over to her and gave her a big kiss. And they held hands while eating lunch. My heart may have just exploded into a million pieces of happiness.

We still have some work ahead of us - Quinn will probably need some PT for a little while to get a little more steady on her feet. Her legs are very weak after almost 5 weeks of being down and out. We are also beginning the large task of putting weight back on her. During her stay, she lost (gulp) over 2 1/2 lbs. Now that doesn't sound like much for an adult - but for a baby that weighed just over 20ish or so pounds, it's quite a bit. And we had fought so hard over these past 6 months to fatten her up. So break out the olive oil, butter, casseroles, avocados and the rest of those good fats. Project Fatten Quinn begins.

We will watch Quinn very, very closely obviously over the next few weeks. We will see her cardiologist next Monday for a check up, and I am taking her to the pediatrician this Thursday just to make sure he thinks she's doing ok. The more eyes on this kid, the better. I'll drive everyday to the doctor if I have to, especially if it means we don't end up back in the ER or on the 15th floor : ) (And all due respect to TCH and the 15th floor, but I have NO desire to see that area of the hospital again. Oh, the sleeplessness, restlessness, claustrophobia, awful food and everything that goes with it. I am thankful for the staff who helped get Quinn back on her feet but not a tear was shed when we checked on out of there!)

When we left, Quinn was given a clean bill of health - her xray was perfect this morning, her labs were excellent (even though they thought she may be dehydrated from not drinking enough), and her echo showed her heart was working perfectly. We are back in saturations of 99 and 100! That's pretty much as good as it gets. And beyond the science, the child is just so normal! Happy, smiling, giggling, babbling, and still smart as a whip (I don't usually like to say that - but we were worried about her cognitive abilities being affected by a 2nd surgery. I am happy to report that they seem perfectly in place- she even said her 2nd "big" word (besides the normal baby words) while in the hospital. She said "PURPLE". If that's not a girl after her mother's heart, then I don't know what is! GEAUX!!!!)

The scariest thing was looking at her discharge paperwork -- it literally lists all of her diagnoses since she was born and transferred to TCH.

Among them (and this is not a comprehensive list): Double Outlet Right Ventricle, Pulmonary Stenosis, Ventricular Septal defect, Apnea of Prematurity, GERD, Fluid overload, Pleural effusion, surgery for Complex Congenital Heart Disease, Congestive Heart failure (diagnosed this past check in - how it kills me to even see those words), Right Ventricular Hypertension (the high lung/right ventricle pressures that pushed her liver down almost 2 inches and forced it to become enlarged) and Acute Respiratory Failure.

Oh my poor baby. But my precious, precious miracle. Because at this moment, she has overcome ALL of those diagnoses. Thank you, God. Without the power of His Healing Hands and YOUR prayers, I know none of that would have been possible. Trust in the Lord at all times. There were so many dark times when I just didn't think I could take one more step or have any more faith. I felt in some ways abandoned by the One whom I love with all my heart. But He is always faithful and always making our path --- it's not always easy but one day, we will see the reason behind all of this. And now we are in the light.

We will post some pictures later and more stories but for now, I'm going to go revel in the craziness that has descended upon my house --- and rejoice for every bit of loudness, mess, toys everywhere, and laundry unfolded.

Oh and here's the video of "purple":

We love you,

On Her Way Back

2011-10-27T18:13:00.001-05:00

It's official - I think I can finally say we are getting our Quinnie back! The last 24 hours have been a major turn around period for her. Our hearts are full of joy at seeing how well she is doing. It's actually sort of remarkable. Now I know that the last surgery went bad almost from the beginning. They just couldn't tell via echo that the patch was leaking - but my guess is that the pressures were already changing in her heart and affecting her recovery. The last time we were post-surgery and even on day of discharge, the child had not smiled once. We just blamed it on the pain meds, her being a little slower at recovery, the fact that she was ready to be at home, or a bazillion other things. Now we know the child was already starting the downhill trend that would continue for the next three and a half weeks.

Yesterday (Wednesday), she gave us her first smile, genuine smile, and began being more playful. On Tuesday, she just looked sad, sad, sad - but I can definitely blame that from coming off the sedation meds. But by Wednesday she was already starting to look bright-eyed and beautiful. This was from first thing in the morning when Matt walked into the room:

Oh, how I loved seeing those bright eyes. Compare with Tuesday:

Pretty girl but definitely a little sad and confused.

Anyway, Wednesday was a big day - she was all about her food and drinking her milk. And did it all from the comfort of her bed :) I started crying (what a shocker) when she grabbed the fork from my hands to begin stabbing the chicken herself. That's my independent, fiesty girl! She also ate about 18 Yo Baby yogurts - hey, whatever works. Thank goodness we keep a large stock at home!

Big girl eating with her fork - and she didn't even mind that it was hospital-issued plastic. Or that the chicken was cold. And nasty. She liked it anyway. Bless her heart because I couldn't even eat it.

We call the IV on her hand her "paddle" - they have to tape it all up and put this splint thing behind it so she doesn't pull it out. Trust me that it didn't slow her down at lunch even though she prefers to use her right hand for everything. This makes Daddy a little sad because he was hoping to have another fellow lefty in the family. Sorry, babe. She's gonna be a "righty".

Wednesday was a big day in a couple of ways -- her xrays from that morning showed little improvement of getting the large pleural effusion on her right side to drain. The left side looked just fine, but for some reason the chest tube was just not capturing the right effusion. (by the way, the word "effusion" is going down as one of the words I absolute HATE to say, write, or hear. It joins the words "moist", "tee-tee", toddler, kiddo, and panties)

I digress. So, when I walked in for my "shift" yesterday, they had her laying almost upside down in the bed, trying different positions to see if they could get some drainage. This was after they almost did little flips and back bends with her in the chair and having her lay on her tummy. No drainage. So by 1pm they had to make the call to go ahead and drain it with a test tube. It was just in a difficult position and sort of stuck so it was our only option. We could have tried to wait a bit longer, but the diuretics weren't really making a dent in it, and it was likely that time wasn't going to change that. And Quinn would not be able to move onto the next stages of her recovery if we didn't get rid of it. So yesterday afternoon I signed yet another consent form for them to thread a needle (followed by a thin tube) through her ribs and into the space between her chest and her lungs to capture the fluid. I will say that it was finally nice to sign a consent where one of the risks was not death. Only bleeding and infection. Funny that didn't bother me - but in relation to the number of forms I have literally signed away her life, I was happy to sign it.

So they gave her some "happy meds" similar to what she had before her surgeries - only these made her super goofy. She immediately looked at me with these googly eyes and started babbling away. Loudly. And constant. She became dead weight and we lifted her into the bed and she looked straight at me with these huge eyes and exclaimed "Dada!" That got a good laugh out of everyone. As they kicked me out of the room to go wait out the 20 minute procedure, I heard her laughing away down the hall. Good for my heart to hear that, even if it was drug-induced.

The procedure went perfectly and they drained 70cc immediately. In the hours that followed, they ended up getting out almost a liter total. That's A LOT of fluid, y'all, especially in a tiny little girl. She recovered nicely from the procedure and ate a bit of dinner and 2 yogurts and seemed to be down for the count by the time I left.

Post-procedure. I'm feeling better, Mommy! She looks a little irritated with my constant picture taking but whatever.

I returned super early this morning to make sure I caught the surgeon's rounds (they typically come around between 6am - 7am). As soon as I walked in, she opened those big ole eyes and gave me a big smile. Sweet girl. She has been sitting up perfectly as well the past couple of days --- another thing that she really had no desire or energy to do the last go around.

I know she's not smiling exactly in this picture but trust me that she was. She just wouldn't let me get a picture of it.

She spent the rest of the morning playing with me, reading books, sticking out her tongue, babbling, playing peek-a-boo with my hat, reaching her hands out to everyone who came in the room, and smiling. I had to turn away a couple of times so she wouldn't see my happy tears.

We also received the good news that the tube worked just as it should and her xray remained clear. So they made the call to go ahead and remove both of the tubes at 12:30 today and send her on down to 15th floor to finish her recovery. Praise God! I was a little nervous about having the tube removed, but after 2 reassurances from both Dr. Fraser and the attending on 18, they assured me they had gotten it all and it would actually be more dangerous for her to leave it in.

So tubes came out at 12:30 and Quinn finally got a room on 15 around 5pm today. I have to say, I am really pretty sad to leave 18 - the staff up there is AMAZING. I cannot say enough about how much I love them, for their compassionate care, wonderful ability to explain things in terms I understand, how evident it is that they love their jobs, and their teamwork. Everyone is on the same page up there and on the same team. It's sort of incredible, given that it could be a very sad place, but it truly is a happy place to be. However, 15 is the only way out of the hospital so here we go :) I was totally dreading it but I have to say I think this time around will be much easier. This time I have a child on the mend, one that wants to play and one that is seemingly not in much pain at all. Last time(s) we were there, she was so sick and miserable that it was a very difficult place to be. You are pretty much on your own and when you have a child in pain and no one can tell you why, it's incredibly frustrating. This time will be different. I just know it. I'm not saying the next few days will be easy but prayerfully we are on the right trajectory now.

We will definitely be there through the weekend - the doctors are not going to take any chances especially with her history of the effusions (I just vomited a little in my mouth writing that darn word again). So if she continues to eat well, start drinking more, and showing all positive signs, then we will probably head home early next week. We are willing to be there for however long it takes. I am not eager to see the inside of the TCH ER anytime soon. Twice is about two times too many for anyone.

(Oh, and to answer a question that some of y'all might have --- I was really worried why she kept forming these effusions. My biggest fear is that this surgery will go bad as well. However, it was explained to me this morning. Basically, since most likely the patch started leaking from almost day 1 (although undetectable on the echos), it started irritating the heart and helping the effusions to continue to come around. Then we would balance it was the diuretics, get most of it to go away, but again the patch problems & pressure issues remained. So it would just return. This time, it's just a matter of the normal effusions that 90% of heart surgeries produce and a function of going on bypass and cutting into the heart. And because Quinn's body likes to do things the hard way, she happened to form an effusion in just a very difficult place for the chest tubes to drain. It was almost sitting in a perfect pocket that was unreachable by the tubes placed during surgery. So they assured us, while she will likely go home on diuretics as a precaution (and 85% of their kids do), as long as the repair holds up, we should not have a fear of the effusions returning to the extent that she was experiencing them. It may take awhile for her lungs to completely clear, but that's going to be more of a function of time and her moving around, being more active, coughing, etc. I don't know if any of that made sense at all, but I did my best in my non-medical, non-technical, "I hate science" background).

So anyway, Matt is up with Quinn now on 15. I pray they both have a smooth night and a nice transition. For now I am hanging with my little man and watching him do this:

Peaches and crackers, yummy!

He has gotten tons of attention the past few days thanks to Gigi being here. So yesterday after she left, he was little stir crazy so Matt summoned up the energy to take him to Little Gym to burn off a little steam. I swear he has grown into a little boy during these last few weeks. He's become so much stronger, much steadier on his feet, talking all the time, and so "boy", if that makes any sense. No more baby. All boy.

Anyway, we will flip flop again tomorrow and "Ma" (Matt's mother) is coming in town tomorrow morning to stay with Ryan. We are so blessed to have incredibly strong and caring grandmothers during this difficult time. They have both been incredibly generous with their time and have taken such good care of our little boy. Maybe too good of care. He doesn't seem to like Mommy's rules anymore :) ha.

And I leave you with a picture of Quinn on 15. Wearing clothes instead of a gown for the first time in 5 days. You can tell that Matt got her dressed because she is lacking a bow. In all fairness though, I don't think I packed a bow to match that top :)

I promise she's happy - she just hasn't really gotten a good nap today so she's pretty zonked!

Love to you all & thank you for your continued prayers. We have so much to be thankful for tonight.

Recovery Continued...

2011-10-25T22:05:00.000-05:00

I wasn't planning on updating tonight because I was trying to keep my eyes pried open with toothpicks but I had a sudden burst of energy. Anyway, first of all, thank you as always for your continued prayers. The stories I continue to hear about people praying across the country just astound and humble us to the core.

Quinn had a big day yesterday (Monday). They removed the ventilator and she did great breathing on her own. She did have a few irregular heart rhythms but nothing crazy and pretty much expected after your heart has been cut into. Typically they would have removed it Sunday sometime but they were keeping her super sedated for those first 24 hours post op this time, so it took a little while for her to wake up and be ready for it. I was in the room when they did it and although I turned my head at some points, it was actually really kind of neat to watch her take her first breath. And she fought like heck when they were messing with her so I knew my little girl was coming back :)

Anyway, that pretty much exhausted her yesterday so she spent the remainder of the day sleeping. I left around 8:30 or 9:00ish to head to Katie's for the night. It is such a relief knowing we have a wonderful place to stay with wonderful people who I never feel like we are intruding on. Everyone should have a friend like those two. This morning, I woke up super early and headed back the hospital in hopes of catching rounds - of course, I just missed the surgical rounds but caught the general cardio rounds. I cannot speak highly enough of everyone on the 18th floor, from the attendings to residents to nurses to the cleaning staff --- they are all so amazing and I feel blessed to have Quinn in their care.

She had a fairly uneventful night. They were able to remove the ART line from her wrist, so now both of her hands are free from IV's (yay!), pulled the foley catheter and the rectal themometer (blech), and placed her in a regular crib again (the standard prison issue cribs from TCH :) ) So the wires/tubes she still has: central line in her neck (which will probably come out tonight), the two chest tubes, and an iv in her foot. The chest tubes are looking more and more likely to stay for a little bit longer. They are still pulling quite a bit of fluid away, especially from the left side. She's on a constant cycle of diuretics but may add a hit of Lasix tonight to see if they can pull some more fluid out. They want her to be "negative" and right now her output is "positive". I act like I know what I'm talking about but rest assured, I have no clue.

I just know they need to get out more than what they are getting --- so kind of off-handedly, the attending (who btw, did Quinn's anesthesia for the first sugery and has a nine year old daughter named Quinn as well!) - that given her history with these effusions, they may go ahead and drain them either tomorrow or the next day. That would include going under a local and then sedation, putting in another tube and seeing if they can't pull some extra fluid out of there. Obviously our first choice would be for the drugs to work, but if they don't, then let's get it out of there. It may buy us another couple of days on 18 which actually doesn't make me that sad. 15 is fine and we've had good care down there but it's a different world going from the one on one attention to a post-op baby being watched by one nurse covering 4 or 5 patients. And we are obviously more restricted on 15 as parents - leaving and all of that sort of thing. Not that we leave often, but it is nice to know you can run down and grab a coke without anyone giving you a dirty look. :)

So recovery time is still kind of unknown. We are taking it just one slow step at a time. Sometimes one hour at a time. I know both Matt and I feel beaten down, so I can't imagine how little Quinnie feels. I just ache for the day when we are beyond this and prayerfully we will get there soon. I miss my husband (I saw him for literally 10 minutes today for the first time since Sunday morning I think). And I miss seeing my little boy every morning --- my heart feels pulled in 2 different directions but I know right now that Quinn needs us more. Not that Ryan doesn't need us - but it's just her turn right now. Maybe one day that will reverse for a moment (but hopefully not with open-heart surgery, two is quite enough, thank you very much!)

So tomorrow we should know more about their plan about the extra drainage chest tube. I pray I just walk in and find a completely clear xray and we don't even have to worry about it. We have Quinnie's clothes packed and ready to go for 15 just in case.

And just a fun P.S. - when your daughter's surgeon is a HUGE Longhorn fan, not a smart idea to wear an A&M hat at the bedside. I assumed I would have missed seeing Dr. Fraser this morning or that he was at a conference, and of course, he walks in. Then he stopped and did a double-take on my hat and was like "what are you wearing???". I was still not quite awake yet so I'm looking down at my clothes and wondering what's wrong with my standard issue yoga pants - and then duh --- he usually sees me in my nice burnt orange cap in my dad's honor (and Dr. Fraser's) and for some reason I just threw on this other one today --- oops! But it was good to see him and he continues to be pleased that Quinn is on the right track, albeit a slow one.

Did I tell you that Q is a case-study for next month when the entire team meets? Yes ma'am, she is. Not exactly the goal we had in mind when we started all of this but she will be presented to learn more about perhaps why the sutures came undone or popped open, plus all of the other little blips she's had. I wish I could be a fly on the wall for that --- it's so interesting to be in rounds and hear what all they are spouting off about her condition. Makes me wish I was just a little smarter though :)

So we'll do our best to keep you posted, especially if we move to 15 soon. I am on for the next 24 so posting will be brief.

Thank you again for your prayers and I leave you with a few pictures :)

Look who's awake!

We must have accessories! Blame the blue paci on Daddy :)

First comfy breaths off the ventilator, yay!!!!

Love,

Meagan

Smiles for the Day - Ryan Living It Up with Uncle Blaine & Aunt Christina!

2011-10-24T08:27:00.000-05:00

Ryan definitely had some fun times with Uncle Blaine & Aunt Christina. They were sweet enough to take a couple of videos and text them to us at the hospital. It was so good to hear some belly laughs and know that our little boy was well taken care of (and perhaps a little spoiled, too - which he totally deserves). These brought smiles to our face and hopefully will to yours, too :)

The first one is Ryan playing with "catch" with their dog, Putty. Ryan LOVED playing with their dogs - and I believe he flat wore them out. Putty is the smaller sized shelty they have, who is the perfect playmate size for Ryan. They also have Denver, a 120 lb Golden Retriever. Amazingly enough, Ryan was not afraid of Denver in the least, but apparently Denver was scared out of his mind about little Ryno :) ha.

The second one was Ryan's first time to go feed the ducks at our neighborhood park. All those ducks and my son had no fear. He had a blast. Thanks, Blaine & Chris, for taking such good care of our little man!