Quick Update... Just in case you were wondering. Which you probably were not.

I've had several people ask why I haven't updated recently (well, actually it was just one but whatever). Anyway, what can I say? The New Year has started off somewhat strange - I've felt out of sorts for whatever reason. And it didn't help that I came down with an awful case of the flu last week (yes, after just bragging about not getting sick when everyone else in the house did). Matt was able to help me for one afternoon, but for the most part I was just trying to survive the days with two increasingly active babies.

 I felt like just about the worst mom that week --- I was so exhausted and achy and not to mention I wanted to touch them as little as possible to avoid giving it to them... so I just would let them play on the floor and watch from the couch buried under blankets, robes, and hoodies to ward off the chills. Fun stuff. Thank goodness neither child got it - they had just finished their 2nd dose of the flu shot the Friday before so I guess it worked. Thank God!

So this past week was spent catching up playing with my kids and just enjoying them again. And then there was the mounds of laundry, organizing, cleaning, paying bills, and the other joys of being a SAHM (which I really do love by the way). Thus, I am behind on my blogging, chatting with friends, emails, and just about everything else. Life happens, I guess. Working hard this week to catch up!

Anyways - quickly -  this is what else we have been up to. The babies were given the go ahead a couple of weeks ago to start solids besides just rice cereal. It's been such a kick to see their faces. Some things they have really liked (Quinn LOVED peas & Ryan LOVED green beans) and other things not so much (neither kid was a big fan of squash). But even though it has proved to be pretty time consuming, especially during the morning feeds when I am on my own, it has been so much fun to watch. It also is making me very excited that one day soon I can toss all these bottles in the trash and get them on a 3 meal a day schedule with us. Oh, and I have a countdown clock until they are a year old when Matt and I will get a massive pay raise in the form of chucking the Good Start for whole milk. Just about 4 more months!!!

Another little update - we've had people asking about Q's surgery date. Bottom line is we still don't know. However, we head down to TCH tomorrow (for the first time since October, praise God!). The plan is for them to do all of her pre-op work ups like an echo, EKG, xrays, etc. We will meet with our cardiologist and discuss the results. What we are anticipating is this - that she will be put on the schedule with Dr. Fraser (crossing fingers!) for sometime in the next month or two. She should now be just about big enough for the full repair so anything beyond what she gains now is just gravy. Her stats have continued to remain stable so unless her echo shows a big surprise or something, that should be the plan. Or at least the plan I have in my head based upon my last conversation with the cardiologist.

 Yet, I feel like I am always thrown some sort of curve ball so I am trying to prepare myself mentally for tomorrow. And I'm also going to try not to cry like I always do at these appointments. I really am not too emotional about this surgery on a daily basis but the reality always hits me when we are back in the room talking about it with him. And now it's becoming even more real. But since we have known about this for almost a year, I am getting pretty eager for Q to be able to put this behind her. She's a tough cookie and she has the best doctors and care you could ask for, so I know she will be just fine. And I know that God continues to protect her and has allowed her to simply thrive these last few months.

As soon as we have a date, we will update y'all with that ---my best guess is that we probably won't know for a week or 2 more, depending upon how long it takes to secure the surgeon's schedules and allow for Q to be presented once again at their weekly meeting.

Please pray for the wisdom of the doctors on the timing for her surgery and let it be His perfect time for her. Pray that if she is not assigned to Fraser for whatever reason, that Matt & I will have full confidence and rapport with the new surgeon (I know they are all wonderful). And please pray that Q's echo and appointment goes well tomorrow with little or no surprises. They have to put her under briefly to do the echo and last time they did that, she was so disoriented and out of it the rest of the day. Pray that she recovers quickly from the sedation and is back to my babbling, fiesty girl by evening. Thank you as always to my prayer warriors for your constant prayers for our family. We are blessed beyond measure!

Here are a couple of recent pics of the kids. I have some fun new videos but Matt has to update me on how to download from our new camcorder to the computer. So for now, here's a few...

Just chillling

Ryan was not a fan of the rocking chair :)

Q chowing down

R not so sure about the peas

We sit now (well, we "tripod" but still!). Pardon the outfit. Guess who dressed her that day? It wasn't mommy....

We like sweet potatoes much better!