Valentine's Week: Day 1

My plan is to give the girls a little treat each morning until Valentine's Day.  I saw the idea here and thought it was fun.  Except fourteen days of valentines seemed a little extreme (even for me!), so we are just doing five days.  The original post has free printables you can print for each gift, but I decided to just use some of her ideas and make my own tags for each gift.

So this morning, when the girls came downstairs, they saw this box of Lucky Charms sitting on the table.

 I never buy Lucky Charms (even though I do enjoy eating them) because both girls only eat the marshmallows and nothing else!  So it was a special treat for them, getting to eat marshmallows for breakfast.

I am a firm believer that it is better to give than to receive, and I would like to see my girls believe that too.  So, each day this week, we are also going to take a gift/treat/card to someone else. 

Today, I made these cheesecake stuffed strawberries to take to our neighbors.   They were easy to make and pretty yummy too.

I packaged them up in some plastic Ziploc containers from the dollar store, then topped  them with a free printable valentine from here.  They looked cute!

The whole point of this activity was to 1. be kind to our neighbors and 2. teach the girls that it is fun to give gifts and receive nothing in return.  Well, lesson #2 totally failed.  At both houses, they loaded up the girls with candy!  This is Isla's half of what they got today.  I think Audrey got even a little more than this.  Seriously...we just went to two houses and they weren't expecting us!

 It was like Halloween.  All the girls learned was that when you take treats to the neighbors, then you get candy!

On a side note, I put Isla's hair in pigtails today for the first time.  She just barely has enough hair.  She looked really cute.  And she hated it.  She screamed the whole time I was putting them in, then she continued to scream after I put them in.  I'm not sure if they were hurting her or if she just didn't like her hair feeling different.  So, I took them out and won't be trying pigtails again any time soon.  But of course, I took a few pictures before I took them out!

Also, Audrey had six ponytails in her hair today!  When I told her that i was putting six ponytails in her hair, she said, "Mom, no!  Then I will look like a monster!"

Coming Up: Valentine's Week

I love to celebrate holidays.  I love giving gifts and making creative treats and crafts and foods.  Valentine's Day seems like the perfect holiday for doing those things, but we have never really celebrated Valentine's Day around here.  The past two years we have been preparing for a big trip to Florida around Valentine's Day, so we didn't have much time to be festive.

This year we are (sadly) not going to Florida, which means we have plenty of time for Valentine's fun!  I have lots of ideas, so I think we are just going to make it Valentine's Week rather than just Valentine's Day.  After being sick for the past week, I need something fun to look forward to around here!

So stay tuned for some valentine fun on the blog this week...starting tomorrow!!

February 8

I went to the doctor this afternoon.  She prescribed me an antibiotic and a nose spray.  I plan to be feeling better SOON!  

February 7: Valentine Pictures

Sorry it's been quiet around here this week.  I'm pretty sure I have a sinus infection, based on the fact that my nose is full of green snot and my face is full of pain and pressure, and I'm pretty sure that my head could explode at any moment.  I've been trying all the home remedy treatments that I know of, but I'm thinking it might be time for a trip to the doctor.

I did get my camera out today to take some pictures of the girls for their valentines.  It wasn't ideal, because it was dark and cloudy outside so the lighting was not good.  And it was right before Isla's naptime, so she wasn't in the mood to cooperate.  But we still got a couple of cute shots.

February 4

Good grief, it feels like my head is going to explode.

And I can't taste anything.  I'm trying to eat because I'm hungry, but it is just miserable to eat and know what it is supposed to taste like and not be able to taste it.  I guess I should be eating lots of healthy vegetables that I don't normally like since I can't taste them.  But I just can't bring myself to do it.

Sorry for the complaining, but it's all I've got for you tonight.  I did write a post for my book blog today.  So go here to read my review on the zombie romance novel I just finished.

February 1: Update from the Doctor

Isla was quite the charmer at the doctor's office this morning.  She was showing off her shirt and her shoes and her smile and her toys.  She marched around the halls like she owned the place; it was pretty cute.  From the receptionists to the nurses to the doctors, she had everyone talking about her!

I liked the endocrinologist, and she talked to me for a long time.  It was helpful to hear more details about what could be going on with Isla.  A few things she mentioned:  short stature (meaning that she is just going to be short because that's the way she is!), constitutional growth delay (which means her growth is slow now, but it should pick up and then she might have delayed puberty but that's about it), growth hormone deficiency, hypothyroidism, and celiac disease.  She mentioned a few other things, but based on her physical examination, she didn't think those things were a possibility.

The best part of our morning was getting an accurate measurement of Isla's height.  Last week Isla was measured at 30.1 inches and 31.2 inches at the same appointment.  At the office today, they had a special measuring table with a board against her head and a springboard at the bottom that moved up against her feet.  Once they put the board against her feet, she really couldn't move and she was lying perfectly straight...therefore it appears to be an accurate measurement.  They measured her twice (by different people) and both felt that 30.7 inches was the correct measurement for her.  30.7 inches puts her in the 6% for height.  That makes her curve on the growth chart go up just the slightest bit. 

The doctor gave me the choice of whether I wanted to have them run tests today or whether we wanted to wait a few months and see what happens with her growth curve.  A part of me just wants them to go ahead with the blood work, so we can have a definite answer on this and move on!  But from the way everyone talks about it, it sounds like the blood work is fairly extensive.  And I hate to do all that unless we feel it is completely necessary.  I'm not feeling that it is necessary at this point.  So, we are going to give her some more time to grow.  More waiting...my favorite!!

We will go back to the endocrinologist in May, right before her second birthday to put one more measurement on her growth chart and see what happens with the curve.  We are hoping that the slight increase in growth that she just recorded will continue over the next few months!  If not, then they will probably run all the tests on her.

Also, later this afternoon, we met with someone from Early Intervention to get set up for a speech evaluation.  After giving Isla's medical history to the endocrinologist this morning and then again to the EI worker this afternoon, I feel like I have been talking about her health all day long!

January 31: 20 months!

Isla is 20 months old today.  She will be two in just four months!  That is crazy!  She is a lot of fun right now, and even though she doesn't say much, she is hilarious!  She is super creative in how she tries to communicate without words, and it cracks me up.  Her facial expressions and body language are amazing.

She and Audrey are starting to play more together.  They don't always get along, but when they do, it is a lot of fun to watch.  Here is a video of them playing together.  They were supposed to be playing Ring Around the Rosy, but Isla kept falling down before they got to the "all fall down" part.  And it was cracking both girls up!

 Our doctor called this morning to follow up on the endocrinologist referral.  We talked a little more about the different measurements at Isla's last appointment.  She too was annoyed that there was such a big discrepancy in the two measurements.  She said she felt confident that her measurement of 31 inches was correct.  (Now, she questions whether some of Isla's earlier measurements were correct though.  Is she really growing or has she just been being measured inaccurately?  I'm thinking she needs to do some training with her nurses on how to measure toddlers, even though I'm sure it is nearly an impossible task to measure squirmy little kids.)

Anyway, the endocrinologist was encouraged by this 31 inch measurement, which pushes her growth curve back up again at 10%.  (I am really encouraged by this too!)  However, she also said she would be happy to see us and take a closer look at Isla.  Our doctor left it up to me as to whether we wanted to see the endocrinologist, but I got a very strong sense from her that she really wanted us to go ahead with the referral.  I feel like our doctor is not 100% certain about what is going on with Isla, and she wants the reassurance from a specialist so that she can be certain.  I feel the same way;  I am tired of all this uncertainty about whether or not something is wrong.

So we agreed with our doctor that we should go ahead and see the endocrinologist.  It might be a waste of time and money, as Isla did just show some improvement in her growth, but hopefully we can walk away with a definitive answer of some sort.   And our appointment is at 8:00 tomorrow morning, so maybe we won't have to wait too long!