Sisterly love

Zoe at 4 years, Sophia at nearly 3 years and Katie at 6 months

I have found it very difficult, especially since we had Katie, to keep up with pictures and blogging, so this weekend we tried to get some pictures of the girls. I have been amazed and so very blessed by the love all three girls have for each other. From the moment Katie was born, Zoe and Sophie have loved her and want to be with her. They are so helpful in playing with her and getting Mom things to help take care of her. When she cries (which is rare), Sophie says " Mom Katie needs you, she's hungry". Zoe and Sophie most of the time play very well together.

Our girls are growing up so fast!

To see all the pictures click here.

Preschool Starts

Today marked the start of preschool (3yr class) for Sophie and Pre-K for Zoe. They were both so excited to go back to preschool today. Last week we went to meet their teachers and they got comfortable in their new classrooms. Last night we spent some time getting their backpacks ready and talking about today.

Zoe showed up in our room this morning about 6:30am already dressed and ready for school. Sophie wasn't so eager and woke up a little later than normal. This year they don't start at the same time : Zoe starts at 8:30am and Sophie at 9am. John will take Zoe on his way to work most days and I get to take Sophie. Zoe was really excited daddy is going to take her to school. 

Their first day went really well. Both went into class with no problem and didn't even say bye to mom. That is success in my book. It is hard to believe this is Zoe's last year before kindergarten. 

Camping with Dad: Take One

John took Zoe and Sophia camping for the first time by himself this past weekend. This was Sophia's first time camping and Zoe hadn't been since she was 5 months old. This turned out to be a father and daughter/son camping trip.

The lineup was:
Brent with Caleb and Marissa
John with Sophia, Zoe and Lily (our dog)
Shane with Kyle, Trenton, and Ryan
Linda

Due to the recent bear attacks in northern Arizona the guys opted for a spot in southern Arizona. The drive ended up being about 4 hours but John said the kids did great. They left on Friday afternoon. Ended up getting to the campsite after dark so setting up the tents was exciting. The girls were tired but did well. They had the most fun playing in the hammocks all weekend, finding sticks, and hiking.

To view all the pictures click here.

Sophia's Tubes and Adenoidectomy

This morning we took Sophie to the Banner Desert Surgery Center to have her non-functioning ear tubes removed, a new set put in and to have her adenoids removed.

Long story short her tubes were no longer functioning and she has had 6 ear infections since November with 2 being in the warmer months. So perfect candidate for not only a new set of tubes but also to have her adenoids removed. The doctor told us that research has shown if they remove the enlarged adenoids that her chances of having a 3rd set of tubes is significantly less.

The adenoids usually is enlarged in children with recurrent ear infections like her. When it is enlarged, it blocks the eustachian tubes from being able to drain properly resulting in bacteria remaining in the middle ear and it becoming infected.

Sophie sleeping in recovery

When Dr. McKenna performed the surgery, he said she did have fluid in both ears and the adenoids were enlarged as he suspected. Surgery last about 45 minutes and went well. We were in recovery with her for about 2 1/2 hours. She was not settling very well so they gave her some additional Demerol twice which eventually made her go back to sleep. Her face and tongue were pretty swollen which made it had for her to communicate at all. She eventually woke up enough and took a couple of sips of apple juice so they would let us go home with her.

She has been a real trooper all day long. I was amazed with her not being able to eat or drink for 8 hours prior to the surgery how well she did. Praise the Lord for a successful surgery and her recovery.

She actually ate pizza tonight. I was amazed. I really thought about noon today that she wouldn't end up eating at all today but she had some pudding, yogurt ice cream and even pizza. Way to go!

She was pretty tired all of today so we will see how she is after a good night sleep.

Sophie sleeping on the couch

Sophie in the car on the way home

Katie gets her ear tubes

On Saturday Katie had surgery to insert tubes into both of her ears. She is pretty young to have the surgery. Her doctor said he has done children as young as 2 months but it isn't often a 4-month-old needs tubes. She had her 3rd ear infection on our Texas trip so we all felt it was time to have tubes. It really helped Sophie with her ear infections when she got them a couple of years ago.

Katie wasn't allowed to eat for 8 hours prior to the surgery. John and I were a little nervous about that since she is still solely breastfed and still eats once in the middle of the night. She did great. Surgery was scheduled for 7am so I fed her at 10:30pm Friday night. She woke up a little fussy shortly before we were ready to leave the surgery center about 5:30am. She did amazing not being able to eat and being awake. She actually fell back asleep in my arms while the doctor was briefing us on what was going to happen.

From the time they took her back for surgery to the time Dr. McKenna came out was only 10 minutes. He had mentioned he would work as quickly as he could because he wanted her out as briefly as possible. She had general anesthesia and he said children her age go to sleep very quickly but can also decline really quickly if they don't handle it well so he wanted it as brief as possible. By the time we were done talking with the doctor she was in recovery waking up and crying. It isn't fun when a child comes out of anesthesia because they are really disoriented. Dr. McKenna said he removed a lot of thick mucus from her ear so she will be able to hear better. They let us leave within 15 minutes in recovery and she finally calmed down once we were in the car. She slept a lot the rest of the day. What a trooper!

Dental visits

Sophie getting her teeth cleaned

Today I took Zoe and Sophia to the dentist. This was Zoe's 3rd or 4th visit. She had a couple early visits due to her chipped front tooth. She got her teeth cleaned and did really well. Clean teeth and no cavities.

Sophie went with us to the dentist about 6 months ago for the first time and barely allowed the doctor to look at her teeth. This time she was such a big girl and let them clean her teeth and then take a good look at all of them.

I was so proud of both of them. Katie also did great waiting for her sisters to be done.

Easter Activities

Zoe and Sophie started talking about Easter coming about two weeks before it arrived this year. Our neighbor Matthew putting out his blow up Easter Bunny helped the excitement, as well as reading and talking about it at home and at preschool. Every time we left the house Sophie would be extremely disappointed that the Easter Bunny was not up. On the rare occasion that we were leaving the house after dark and he was up she would get so excited.

It was fun watching them get excited about bunnies and eggs this year, but it is very important to us that they understand the real reason for Easter. Zoe surprised me one morning when we were talking about Easter and she (without prompt) told me ...
"Jesus was on the cross, then his friends put him in a cave, and then he came back to life and we celebrate him."

Zoe and Sophia were out from preschool on Good Friday. We spent part of the morning at the doctor with Sophie because she had an ear infection, and then spent the rest of the morning with our friends Tasha, Jaimin, and Serena decorating eggs. This was the first time all three of us had decorated eggs. Linda (John's mom) kept Katie at home so I could have some time with the two older girls. Zoe and Sophie had a good time and did a great job with their eggs. After their exhausting efforts to decorate eggs they children relaxed on the couch watching Hop.


On Easter after church John's mom and sister's family came over to celebrate with us. We had a fabulous dinner followed by a chocolate brownie Easter Bunny and eggs in a nest. We played some cards while the kids played and then had an Easter egg hunt in the back yard. We hid some of the eggs so well we couldn't remember where they all were. Marissa eventually found all of them. It was a great day with family relaxing and remembering the sacrifice Jesus made so that we can live.

To view all our Easter pictures click here.