Fishy Carrots

"Fishy Carrots" or sometimes just "Carrots."

That's what our eldest has decided to call her new baby sister. She is very insistent about this! I was talking to John about a friend of ours who just had a baby, and called the baby by name this weekend. Zoe overheard us talking and shouted, "no, her name is Carrots!" I had to explain to her that I was not talking about the baby in my tummy, but our friends baby. Her response: "oh, okay then". I have tried to explain to her we will take her name suggestion under advisement, but that may not be what we name her. She is not very accepting of this.

A Healthy Sophia

Last week was a busy week for Sophie. She had 3 doctors appointment, turned 2, had a birthday party, and went to preschool. This post is primarily about her health progress (check her birthday post for more on her turning 2.)

I praise God for the progress Sophie has made in the last 3-6 months. We went to her pediatric GI doctor on Tuesday and got a good report from him. She is now back to the 50th percentile for her height and she weighed in at 23.5 pounds. She is still in the 5-10th percentile for weight but the doctor was happy with her weight gain, as was I. She had clearly had a growth spurt recently since she had been waking up around 10-midnight and eating a completely extra meal. Her specialist has finally deemed her a healthy and petite girl. The doctor also worked with us to decide on a plan to try to get her off both of her medications. We have to be careful in removing her medications because if she still really needs them and we don't realize it quick enough we can make her swallow problem worse and end up again with her not wanting to eat or drink. We have removed one of her medications already and are watching her for the next couple of months. We have a repeat Barium Swallow test at the hospital scheduled for late October and if she has had more improvement in her swallowing then we will try to remove her other medication. I was thankful to her the doctor say her is very confident Sophie will outgrow her reflux and swallow problem. Praise the Lord!

Next was her 2 year checkup with her pediatrician which went very well also. He said she is now right on track developmentally. He did have a concern about her feet and referred us to a foot and ankle specialist to have them looked at. When she walks both of her feet still turn in a lot of the time. This is common but typically by age 2 it has corrected and the feet no longer turn in.

We saw the foot and ankle specialist later in the week. The doctor said it isn't very severe but we do need to keep an eye on it. He gave us an exercise to do with her at home for the next couple of months and then he will check her again in early November.

All in all, a good report on her health. John and I were both relieved to finally have a good report on her from her specialist.

Baby Broom is ...

To even the count with my brother and his three boys, we will have the three girls in the family. Zoe and Sophie will have a little sister!

She looks healthy and her measurements are good. Her heartbeat was strong and she is moving all over the place. I have been feeling her move for nearly three weeks and the movements are getting a little stronger. Last night John even felt his first kick! Pretty exciting since it's earlier than movement can usually be felt externally.

We asked Zoe what she thinks we should name her new little sister and her immediate suggestions were Catsy (?!) and MacKenzie.  Luckily we have a few more months to mull that decision over.

We are very excited to have another girl and thank the Lord she is healthy!

let preschool begin

This morning both girls very happily started preschool at TotSpot preschool. The preschool is less than a mile from the house and when the weather is cooler definitely within walking distance. This is Zoe's second year in preschool  and Sophie's first. 

When preschool ended in May Zoe asked me for probably the first 3 to 4 weeks when she was going to preschool. She had such a good time last year in with her teacher Ms. Nelay and Ms. Kristen. I started talking about her starting preschool again a couple of weeks ago to get her excited for the change coming. When I told her she was getting a new teacher, Ms. Gretchen, she wasn't too sure about that. At first she said she would not like her, but then when we met her last week at "Meet the teacher" night she changed her mind. This morning she kept asking when we were leaving to go to preschool. She told me this morning that she liked Ms. Gretchen and that she was pretty. When I took her to class and she saw her teacher there was no 'bye mom" - she took off running and gave her new teacher a big hug! Even though it would be nice to feel a little missed I wouldn't change her independence and excitement.

We had originally planned to start Sophie in January when she will be 2 1/2 like Zoe was when she started. Long story short we decided a month ago to check on the possibility of getting her in in January and put her on the waiting list. At that point and she was #7. I really hadn't expected her to even get in for this school year. We got a call last week that they had an opening for her so we decided to go ahead and start her now since there is no guarantee that there will be an opening in January. She was so excited this morning to carry her backpack into the school and walked into the classroom also without even a "bye mom" or a glance back. I was actually very happy she did that well since she has been  more attached to me than Zoe ever has. She did great in the class and was pretty happy to see me when I picked her up. Zoe has been very excited for Sophie because she gets to have Ms. Nelay for her teacher this year. I think it will be a great year of learning and socializing for her.


What to do with my mornings on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Oh, the list is so long but hopefully by the end of the school year it will be shorter.    

And then there were three

That's right ... Zoe and Sophia are going to have a new baby brother or sister.

Kelly is 3 months pregnant and starting to feel a little better. We are excited about the addition to our family that will arrive in January or if, following tradition of the other two, will be late arriving in February.

Sophia's Barium Swallow Study

While waiting for her test, John & Sophie racing the car across the table

This morning Sophie had her third modified barium swallow study at Cardon Children's Medical Center. The test is done in one of the radiology suite at the hospital with a radiologist, a speech-language pathologist, a radiology technician, and John and I. Typically the child is seated in a special chair that is placed next to the radiographic equipment that takes the pictures as she swallows, but today our special little girl got to sit on Daddy's lap after a very vocal protest and unwillingness to drink in the "special chair". They gave Sophie liquid that has been mixed with barium (and chocolate syrup, yum) to make it show up on the x-ray monitor.  It is really interesting to see the x-ray video of her drinking.

Enough about the test - to the results:

To recap her two previous studies-

Her first Barium Swallow test was in August 2010 and showed she was silently aspirating when she drank or ate thin, half-nectar, and even sometimes nectar consistency liquids and solids. She had some penetration of the airway, but did not aspirate with honey consistency. 

Her second Barium Swallow test was done in November 2010 and showed she had a small improvement in her swallow but still silently aspirated with thin and half-nectar consistencies. She didn't have as much penetration with the nectar consistency as the first test. 

I had hoped and really believed we would walk away from the test today knowing she no longer has a swallow defect. I was mistaken. Despite my disappointment there is good news in the results. Today she had penetration of the vocal cords (airways) with the half nectar and full nectar consistencies but no aspiration. Their recommendation now is to thicken her liquids to half-nectar instead of full nectar. 

I think I was surprised by the results today because John and I had stopped thickening her liquids about 1-2 months ago because we found she would drink more water and milk when they weren't thickened. She hasn't regressed in her eating or drinking since then which would be expected if she was still having problems. 

Well, I thank the Lord for the small improvement in the test results but really for the great improvement she has made in her eating and drinking over the last 8 months.

Crossroads Toddler Family Fun Day

On Saturday our church had a Toddler Family Fun Day at one of the childrens pastor's home. There were yummy snacks and lots of activities for the children. Zoe really liked the play house including the cell phone inside. She talked to Papa, Nana, Ryan and daddy on the "play" phone. Sophie had a blast with all the water activities, especially the play pool with water toys.  All in all a great morning of fun outside in the Arizona spring weather.

Lunch with Great Grandma Crowley

Yesterday we went with Nana and Papa in their car to Phoenix to visit with my Great Grandma Crowley. Zoe sat next to great grandma during lunch and had a great time. We don't get to visit with her very often so it was great to see Zoe so comfortable with her. It was a good visit and the girls did great.

Easter Sunday 2011

Opening Easter baskets

We started our day out with going to church in the morning. The girls wore their dresses that Mama Shar (John's stepmom) made them - hand knitted. They really did look quite cute. We spent some time talking with the girls about what they learned in Sunday school about Easter.

Sophie searching for eggs

When we got home we spent some time in the backyard opening Easter baskets and doing an Easter egg hunt with the girls. They has such a good time hunting for the eggs and were so excited to see what was inside.

Uncle Shane and Zoe being goofy 

After naps we headed over to Shane and Alisha's house for a mid-day Easter dinner with Nana, Papa, Great Grandma Brusch, uncle Mike, Great Aunt Kay, and the Crowley family. We had a great meal together. The girls played outside with the boys on the trampoline for a while. Then the boys hid some more eggs for the girls and helped them hunt for the them. It was pretty fun to watch my brothers boys (ages 14, 12, and 10) take Sophie around and help her find eggs. Zoe had a blast jumping on the trampoline with her basket full of eggs. Sophie's favorite was finding the eggs with the chocolate candy.

All in all it was a great day celebrating with family!

To see all our Easter pictures visit our Flickr website here.

Easter to a child

Tonight when we were putting the girls to bed we read a chapter from their Bible, read a few prayers from their prayer book (Sophie's all time favorite book), and then John told the girls the story of Easter. Sophie really wasn't all that interested but Zoe did a good job listening and asking questions. As I listened to John tell the very basic version to Zoe I kept thinking to myself - this must seem like such a strange story at least to a 3 year old. It is simple yet complex all at the same time. It is only by faith that it makes any sense and a 3 year old has that childlike faith that we are supposed to have and just responded "Jesus was resurrected".

I love how God can use our own children to teach us.

Zoe's 3rd Birthday

This was the first year she really understood what her birthday meant and helped figure out who to invite to her party and what kind of cake she wanted. Her birthday was actually on Monday but her birthday party was on Saturday.

On Monday she wanted pizza and wings for dinner so we went to Barro's pizza. She really does like chicken wings (BBQ flavor) on the bone. After dinner we spent some time at the neighborhood park and then back to the house for some birthday cake and ice cream. She also opened a few presents and talked to Mimi, Papa Broom and Nana and Papa Crowley. It was a good day!

On Thursday her preschool class celebrated Zoe's and another girl's birthday.  She took some cookies to share with all her friends. When I picked her up she had a birthday crown and a birthday girl sticker on her shirt. She was so proud.

All week she kept talking about her party and I had to keep telling her not for a few more days. Saturday came and she was so excited all day. Especially when the bounce house arrived at 11am and the party didn't start til 4pm. We had some good family bouncing before lunch.

She had tons of family and friends show up for her party. Thankfully we have a fairly big backyard so it didn't seem crowded. The kids loved the bubbles we gave them all and of course jumping in the bounce house. We ate sub sandwiches and had chocolate birthday cake. Then she opened her presents and ended the party with a pinata. A cupcake shaped pinata. The kids had a great time hitting it and trying to break it open.

All in all I would call it a success! Zoe was exhausted by the time she went to bed and said, "I want to have my party again tomorrow!"

To view all the birthday pictures check out our Flickr website.

What a Week!

I can really relate to the expression TGIF this week. It has been a pretty busy week for our family.

We started out on Sunday learning that both our girls had head lice. What it takes to get rid of the lice is not necessarily difficult, just very time consuming. Washing all the sheets in the house, all the girls' blankets, their bears and bunny and placing all other stuffed toys in a garbage bag to be put away for a few weeks. Changing the sheets the first few days every time they slept in their beds and then again laundry. Thorough cleanings of their hair, plus olive oil treatment with a seriously fine tooth comb and then strand by strand inspections. On Monday we discovered John and I had it also - thankfully not bad cases.

The inspections and combing continued all week while Sophie started running a high fever on Monday. To the doctor on Wednesday to find out she has strep. To add to all the fun Sophie pulled her elbow out while we where trying to leave for the doctors office Wednesday morning. The doctor tried twice to put it back in place and she still would not use it and complained a lot so we spent the rest of the morning getting x-rays. Praise the Lord they showed nothing was wrong! She was still not using the arm on Thursday and Zoe was starting to run a fever, so back to the doctor. The doctor tried the procedure again to put her elbow back and said if she didn't start using it by Monday to see a pediatric orthopedic. Zoe also has strep.

I have to say God sure gives us the strength needed to get through weeks like this. Praise God that Sophie started using her arm again today and she seems to be feeling much better. Zoe is still on her road to recovery but I know all will be well soon.

In spite of all the challenges this week I know and feel God's strength.

Weekend Gardening

Weekend Goal: Spend as much time outside with the girls as possible.

The weather is so nice here this time of year John and I try to spend as much of it outdoors as we can before the heat really starts. Of course, the girls also love to be outside. So we started our weekend with a trip to a couple of nurseries to buy some shrubs, which then turned into buying some herbs and vegetables. I have wanted to have a garden for a couple of years but we never seemed to find the time.

Last year for our anniversary John bought me a miter saw (which I love). Our first and only project so far was to build an herb box. We started it in March of last year and never got back to it. So when I decided to buy some plants this weekend, we decided we better get it finished. To my and I think John's amazement we finished it. We finished assembling most of it on Saturday and then John stained it on Sunday. Sunday afternoon Zoe helped me put the dirt in it and figure out where to put the plants. She has done some small planting projects in preschool so she knew what to do and was extremely careful putting the dirt around the plants. We had so much fun.

The cucumber plant seems to be her favorite. She checked on it several times yesterday to see if it was ready and then would come tell me "it isn't." She has already asked twice this morning to go check on it.

It is great to see her enthusiasm for planting and watching things grow. Sophie also had a good time. She really liked putting her hands in the dirt and playing with the containers the plants came in.

Another chip

This afternoon Zoe and Sophie were sitting at the kitchen table waiting for me to get their afternap snack when all of a sudden Zoe started crying. Zoe (I have no idea) somehow managed to hit her front tooth on the edge of the kitchen chair and take another small chip out of it. Same tooth as when she was 18 months old so the chip is now larger. I have really come to love the chipped tooth but really didn't need her to enlarge the missing area. Oh well. Thankfully the was only a small amount of blood and both front teeth seem fine.

Extended Family Fun and Pictures

My Aunt Trish and her husband Scott who live in Wisconsin were in town visiting my grandma and rest of the family this February. My Aunt Barb from Denver also came to visit during part of that time.

Brusch/Graves/Broom/Crowley/Canavan/Robar Family

 While they were all here we had a get together with them and rest of my family that lives here. My cousins cooked an amazing Mexican fare lunch for all of us at my grandma's. We spent some time catching up with each other while all the kids ran around the yard and played catch. We also managed to get some photos of the family.

What a great day and visit with family!

The first generation cousins (only those in AZ)
Lupe, Shane, Chris, Kelly, Jennifer

The second generation cousins (only those in AZ)
Too many to list

The siblings...
Barb Robar
Mike Brusch
Trish Gaves
Carolyn Crowley

Grandma with her children

Grandpa Crowley with the Crowley boys

Sleepy baby

It doesn't seem all that long ago that I was writing about how Zoe was no longer my baby and started to sleep in her toddler bed. That was only about 6 months ago.

Well, this morning I was putting Sophie down for an early nap and she crawled up into Zoe's bed. Without really thinking things through, I decided to let her try to sleep in Zoe's bed instead of putting her in her crib. To my amazement she never tried to get out of the bed and within 5 minutes she was a sleeping baby. I guess this may mean she isn't my baby anymore either. Its funny how some things my children do all of a sudden help me realize how big they are getting.

I don't think we are ready to make this a habit yet, at least not until we come back from our trip to Tennessee. We will also have to move Zoe into a bigger bed so Sophie can have the toddler bed. My girls are growing so much. Love them!

Sharing a room

In preparation for our trip in February to visit John's mom and grandfather, we moved Sophie and her crib into Zoe's room so they could get used to sleeping in the same room. Since John's mom's house doesn't have much space, it will be easier if they are able to sleep together in the same room. Little did I know moving them into the same room would have been one of the best things we could have done. They love being together. Their naps are a little shorter now but they sleep great at night. In the mornings we can hear them laughing and playing together when they wake up.

Sophie loves climbing in Zoe's bed and lying down with her. In the morning when we get her out of her crib she almost always goes over to Zoe's bed and climbs in. Sometimes I give Zoe a choice now of sleeping in her room with Sophie or in my bed for her nap. Most times she picks to sleep in her room with Sophie.