What else makes me happy?

This!

It's not JUST a piece of cheese

Tonight Hannah took all but 1/2 an ounce of her nighttime bottle. Then she turned to me and said "Eat, eat." I thought she said "Teeth" because she always asks to brush her teeth after her bottle. But she shook her head "no" and said "eat" again. That has never, ever, EVER happened. Ever. Usually it's a struggle to get her to finish her bottle. Her whole life has been a struggle to get her to eat anything.

So we went into the kitchen where she ate two (small) slices of cheese, finished the rest of her bottle, then asked to brush her teeth.

I am one very happy Momma.

And yes, I did take a picture of it.

Just your average day...

A little bit of mischief, a lot fun, some sharing with just a touch of fighting (because it wouldn't be your average day without some fighting!)

Guess Who's Feeling Better?

Hannah Banana Pumpkin Pie!

Playing with their favorite toy! This keeps them occupied long enough for me to cook dinner.

Pressing "play".

Dance Dance

Comparing shmatas.

I also took them to the park today by myself. This is HUGE. They were pretty good about staying close to me and to each other. It helps that they are able to go down the little slides by themselves. We had the best time and they are taking a long nap! I think this is going to be a fun summer!

Sophie

Nothing like the morning paper and some cheese:

And a little YGG before naptime:

Projects

It has been a long week. Hannah can't really do much because of her surgery. And since it's been raining off and on, we can't even go on wagon rides or do anything outside. I finally went on the Family Fun website to look for a fun (and easy!) project for the girls.

I felt very Martha Stewart as I cooked up the cornstarch paste. I added the food coloring and let Sophie and Hannah mix everything together. They enjoyed that. Finally I put all the different colors in a ziploc bag and...

"Hey Soph, what the hell are we supposed to do with these?"

"Oh, I get it. We squeeze it together to make a new color"

Sophie is not impressed.

See the look on her face? She is not into it at all.

She played with the bag for about 30 seconds before she said "All done!" and threw it on the floor.

Then she stomped off in my ballet flats.

Now this is more like it.

This was her idea of fun. Instead of cooking up a batch of paste, I could have been sitting in a chair drinking coffee and watching Sophie play with the newspapers.

She took all the newspapers out of the recycling basket and then put them back. Every once in a while a picture would catch her eye and she would stop what she was doing to sit and look at it. I am mentally filing this away as a "things to do on a rainy day" project. It kept her busy for at least a half an hour. No stirring, mixing, cooking required.

Tickle Me Sophie

Sophie has been such a riot lately. She talks all the time. I mean non stop. And most of it is in English now. She repeats everything we say, even when we say "Hmmm" or sigh. Such a chatty Cathy.

And her new thing is wanting us to tickle her. Sometimes I tickle her to distract her while I'm changing her diaper (she hates getting her diaper changed). I'll say "Oh I see your belly button! Are you ticklish there?" Then I tickle her and she laughs and laughs. But when I stop, she will start pointing to all the places she's ticklish and say "There!". She points to her underarm and says "There!". Meaning tickle me there. So I tickle her underarm. Then she points to her tummy and says "There!" So I tickle her tummy and so on. She cracks me up.

Ha!

Sophie has been a little stinker lately. She has been pulling on Hannah's hair when we're not looking. But when we catch her, Sophie starts hugging and patting Hannah gently on the head. She has been doing this a lot! It drives me crazy and she has been getting her fair share of time outs.

But Hannah is getting her revenge. Today she started crying and Craig asked her what was wrong. She said "Sophe. Book. Hit." Then she touched her cheek. Craig said "Sophie hit you?" Hannah nodded and kept saying "Sophe. Book. Hit." and rubbing her cheek. How sad is that? But how awesome that she can tell on Sophie now!

Hannah Update

Hannah has been doing great post surgery (knock on wood). She's been an absolute dream. The day after surgery she drank a lot of juice and slushies. She even had some scrambled eggs and pancakes for breakfast the day after the surgery. Today she had sausage and pancakes. She's been eating really well overall. She's also back to her silly, energetic self and it's been wonderful to see.

The only downside is that we've created a Yo Gabba Gabba monster. We let her watch it almost non-stop while she was recovering. We have 12 episodes on our DVR and a DVD and we have them all memorized. Not just the songs but entire episodes word for word. We sneak in some Elmo every once in a while when we don't think we can take it anymore. But it's Yo Gabba Gabba that she really loves. Now we are cutting back on the television and it hasn't been pretty. The little Miss Bossy Boss has been shouting "Yo! Yo!" all the time and getting very upset when we don't oblige her.

And the pictures

Checking in at the hospital. Mom Mom gave her a little puppy that looked just like Jake. She brought him with her into the OR.

Showing Daddy her new "bracelet".

Putting on her socks like a big girl.

Giving Pop Pop a hug and a kiss before surgery. That little hospital gown breaks my heart.

Getting a hug from Daddy.

Giving Mommy a kiss to make her feel better.

Snuggling with Mommy after the surgery.

More Yo Gabba Gabba please!

Pooped.

Who's the movie star? Sophie visits Hannah.

Getting a hug from Mom Mom. Notice she can't take her eyes off the TV (Yo Gabba Gabba).

Feeling much better the next day.

But ready to break out of the joint.

Going home! Hooray!

Hannah Gets Her Tonsils Out

Hannah's surgery went as well as can be expected. We were able to go back with her to the OR and hold her hand while she went under. And even though I am glad we were able to be there for her, it was awful to watch.

The surgery didn't take long. Just enough time for us to get some coffee and something to eat. After the operation the doctor came over to talk to us. He said that Hannah's tonsils were huge (which we knew) and that her adenoids were 100% meaning there was 100% blockage of the airway. She wasn't getting any air through her nose. I was fine all day but when he told us that, I cried. I can't imagine what it has been like for her. Poor, poor thing.

We finally got to go back to recovery and Hannah was crying with this sad little hoarse voice and looked very scared. We held her and sang to her until she was able to calm down. She took some juice and we brought her back to her room. After that she basically sat in our laps all day, eating slushies and challah, drinking juice and watching Yo Gabba Gabba. So much Yo Gabba Gabba. We bought a DVD for her to watch and had I known we were going to watch it all day, I would have bought more than one! Oy.

She did better than I expected but there were times when she was obviously in a lot of pain. The highlight of the day was a visit from Sally the volunteer dog. Sally gave Hannah her first smile! Hannah got to pet her and talk to her. It was really sweet. Mommy is very allergic to dogs and got very itchy but it was SO worth it.

The nurses also let Sophie come visit. Hannah was really tired at that point so it was just a quick visit. Sophie was so gentle with her. The highlight of Sophie's day was riding in the hospital's little red wagon!

We finally convinced Hannah to get in her crib around 7:00 that evening. But she apparently got a second wind because she started jumping around in her crib, blowing me kisses and jumping around her crib some more. The little stinker finally went to bed around 8:30pm. It was a long night. Hannah slept okay but the life flight helipad was right above our room. The first time they landed I didn't realize what it happening. I thought a plane was going to crash into the building! And the nurses were coming into the room to check on Hannah.

But we are finally home and ready for our little peanut to feel better.

Gotcha!

Could she look anymore guilty?!

Paging Dr. Hannah

Poor little Hannah is getting her tonsils and adenoids removed on Thursday. We are hoping that this surgery will be the key to resolving Hannah's weight issues. In any case, she does not like going to the doctor and usually cries (screams) throughout the entire exam. To help her feel more comfortable around doctors and ultimately the hospital, we bought her a toy doctor set...

Doctor Hannah taking care of her baby (doll).

We got one for Sophie too.*

For some reason Hannah kept wanting to put the "syringe" in her ear.

Pop Pop getting a shot.

And it's back in her ear.
Chasing Sophie around with the Stethoscope.
Letting Pop Pop use a real one on her.

* On a side note: I remember a long time ago I got a little toy from one of my work assignments. I offered it to a co-worker who has kids. Twin girls. I thought she could give it to one of them. She (ever so patiently) said "Oh no! Thank you but if I give one of them a toy then I have to give the other one the exact same thing." I said "Okay" but kind of rolled my eyes as I walked away. I thought she was being a bit dramatic.

So Tamara Berry if you're reading this, please accept my apology. I get it now.

canPakes

Sophie says "canPakes" instead of "Pancakes". I think it's really cute. She also just figured out how to say "Hannah". She used to say "Ha" or "Ha Ha" but now she says "Ha Nah!" She's so proud of herself that she's saying it all.the.time. "Ha Nah! Ha Nah! Ha NAH!" Oy.

Picture of the Week

Don't feel too bad for her. She was upset because I wouldn't let her put on her pajamas (or ba-lays as she likes to call them). I get the pleasure of seeing this face, oh I don't know, maybe 20 times a day. Could this be the start of the terrible twos?

What's more fun?

The new play kitchen or the box it came in: