Emma is 18 Months Old!

Emma is 1.5 years old already!

Vocabulary: Emma can say "hi", "ouch", "boo boo", "more, "dog", "what's that?", "Emma", "momma", "dada", "eye", "all done", "apple", "jacket", "uh oh", & "oo-oo ah-ah" (like a monkey). She tries to say "ball", "duck", "airplane", "thank you" & "water"

Sign Language: She signs "more" (as she says it), "please", "eat", "all done"

Paci: WE ARE PACI FREE! Tonight is night #3 without a paci and we aren't turning back (we lost several in our recent road trip and I refuse to buy more)

Sleep: Emma is a great sleeper! She sleeps on her stomach with her legs and arms tucked under her and her bottom in the air ;) She sleeps from 7pm-7am in her toddler bed. She does not get out of the bed once she's awake and will sit there and play with her animals until we get her (just like Reese).

Activity: She is our climber and is fearless! She has no hesitations falling backwards in your lap knowing you will catch her. She has even tried copying Reese and attempted flips off the couch. She is always side by side with Reese playing and copying her. She usually has a skinned knee from falling outside and LOVES to wrestle with her daddy ;)

Appetite: This kid eats practically everything! I feel blessed to have a child with a good appetite and who likes all kinds of meats and vegetables (she get's that from her daddy)! There hasn't been a vegetable, meat or fruit she hasn't liked. The only thing she will choose not to eat are sugary sweets like cupcakes/icing and some cookies. Makes for a healthier kid, right?! Oh and I can't forget that she refuses to drink milk but loves cheese and yogurt.

Personality: Emma has the best personality! She is outgoing, happy, easy to entertain and loves doing anything her sister is doing. They will be such great friends growing up!!

Teeth: All of her teeth are in except her 2 year molars...and boy does she hate teething!

Hair/Eyes: She's still our blond hair, blue-eyed beauty!

Stats: She goes to the pedi on Monday for a well visit and I believe 1 shot.

In honor of Emma's LOVE for dogs her 2nd birthday party will be a puppy party...although we aren't ready for her to be 2 yet! Happy 1.5 years Emma Grace!!

Happy 3 Monthday Scarlett

Scarlett is THREE months old today!!

Time is flying by way too fast. She is growing like crazy, incredibly strong, and full of smiles! She is "cooing" at us now, bearing her weight on her legs, and scooting on the floor when laying on her back. We think she will be early with the milestones. She likes to sit in her bumbo for about 5 minutes before getting tired. She is still nursing like a champ and can wear some 6 month clothes already!  She is already settled into a bedtime routine and gets a bath at 8:30pm and is asleep by 9pm. She will sleep 6-7 hours straight the 1st stretch of the night then goes back to 2 hour increments.

 Happy 3 Months Scarlett!

Easter Bunny 2012

On Sunday Cody & I took the girls to visit the Easter Bunny and this year Reese was SOOOOOO... excited!! She kept asking where the bunny was as we were driving, saying that she was soft and that she was going to pet her and touch her nose, and even proceeded to HOP like a bunny once we got in line to visit her. Reese agreed to be the BIG sister and help hold Scarlett ;) Emma was in awe and would smile and point...UNTIL we sat her on the Easter Bunny's lap!

Reese's 1st Dental Visit

Yesterday I took Reese to her 1st visit to the dentist. We talked about it a lot and she was super excited to go! I was very impressed with the pediatric dental office and staff. Of course Reese was decked out in a zebra bow, shirt and shoes AND so was the staff! It was "zebra" day for the staff and they all had one zebra scrub tops ;)

First they took a few x-ray pictures of her front teeth and she cooperated like a champ!

A Nervous Smile After X-Rays

Teeth Cleaning by her Dental Hygenist

(She was wearing cool glasses and watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs)

 

Showing off her pearly whites!

 

Lunch at Chick Fil A for a treat!

Reese had a GREAT 1st experience with the dentist! She got a PURPLE balloon and even brought Emma home a green on ;) I am so proud of her and not one tear was shed!

Toddler Get Well Basket

Reese's best friend (and 1st boyfriend) is having minor outpatient surgery next week and we wanted to give him something to help up his spirits! It can't be easy for a 3 year old to go through surgery of any kind. So on Thursday when Reese played "hookie" from school we went shopping together and picked out gifts to make a get well basket!

Basket includes: 

Sesame Street The Doctor's Office Book (Target $ Bin)

Blu-ray DVD- The Muppets

Cars Band-Aids

A Boo-Boo Buddy Cold Pack

Gummy Bears

Balloons (always make kids smile)

Cars Soup

A Monkey Plush Animal ($2.50 Target $ Bin)

Blue Bucket to hold it all ($2.50 Target $ Bin)

We also picked out a get well card :)

We are praying for a fast and easy recovery for our dear little friend!!

Scarlett's Kidney Workup

Yesterday was Scarlett's scheduled kidney workup at Methodist Hospital. Cody and I were SO nervous for her knowing what we were about to put her through.  I feel like God planned the timing of my last clinical rotation at Urology San Antonio so that I knew exactly what was happening with Scarlett. I mean what are the odds that I just observed these same procedures last quarter and then had to observe my own daughter go through it?!

We checked into the pediatric radiology unit and were thankful to not have to wait very long. First she had to do the VCUG where they insert a catheter and then inject contrast into her bladder to watch the flow of urine with a series of x-rays. The radiologist and RN were wonderful and said they would tell us immediately if something was wrong and then call our pediatrician so we could discuss it. 

They made her wear a hospital gown

She explained to us that they would do the procedure twice because sometimes kids don't reflux on the 1st attempt but will on the 2nd. And that is exactly what happened to Scarlett. She did not reflux on the 1st attempt but did on the 2nd. 

Vesicoureteral Reflux

You can see the bladder full of contrast (the big dark circle) and then the urine "refluxing" back up to the kidney. Scarlett did this on both sides. The right side had very minimal reflux and the left side was much more dramatic. The radiologist stated it was grade 2 and that less than 5% of children with grade 2 or less require surgery. However, when I spoke with our pediatrician she said that based on the written report (she hasn't seen the images yet) that is sounded like at least a grade 3. We will see what she says once she sees the images.

Then Scarlett had her renal ultrasound to make sure she had 2 kidneys that were the right size. This part was less invasive but she still cried because she didn't want to be touched at that point. I ended up nursing her while they did the ultrasound to calm her down. The results from the ultrasound were perfect.

The radiologist called my pediatrician with us standing right there and gave her the results. Our pediatrician asked to speak to me and discussed the next steps. Scarlett has to begin prophylactic antibiotic (Bactrim) daily to prevent UTIs. She will have to have this test repeated in 6 months. The hope is that she "outgrows" it as her body gets longer and stretches out the ureters. If there is ever a sign that it is getting worse, we will have to discuss surgery. 

We were also informed by the radiologist that siblings under the age of 5 should be tested as well. This really bothers Cody and I because we can't imagine putting two more girls through this procedure and how do you even explain it to a 3 year old who comprehends?! Our pediatrician agrees and is ok with our decision to wait until one of them gets a UTI before testing them. She said we could begin with the ultrasound to be less invasive and would be able to see any kind of kidney damage at their age. Cody and I think the girls are fine as they have not had any past UTIs.

Praying she outgrows this and that our other girls don't have the reflux as well!

Emma's Family Collage

It was time to make Emma's family collage for school (I had to make one for Reese last year). Her teachers laminate the collage and hang in the classroom. Then they have discussions with the kids about their family. I think it turned out cute but I am realizing I don't have a lot of current pictures of family members with Emma so I need to make sure I take some when we have visitors.

Bathroom Make Over

We recently repainted our master bathroom but this toilet area did not feel complete.

We went to Target and bought 3 espresso colored shelves that were 35" long (the exact width of this bathroom wall). It didn't take my husband too long to get them hung but did require some touch up painting from having to squeeze them into a tight space.

And now to accessorize...

Floor Vase: Kirklands

Glass Jars: Home Goods

Basket: Target

Towels: JC Penny

I already owned the candle stick and picture frames

(I plan to change out the pic on the middle shelf to something more recent).

I simply filled the jars with soaps and cotton balls from the Dollar Tree.

I might look for a small picture to hang on the wall right above the toilet. What do you think? We love this new make over!

Toddler St. Patty's Day Gift

What toddler doesn't like cereal...especially with marshmallows in it?! 

The girls' will be giving their friends these St. Patty's Day treats tomorrow since we are leaving town at the end of the week.

I got the bag topper here but I altered it. I didn't want to print the image, cut cardstock, then glue the image. So... I added my girls' names to the bottom right corner using Word and then I printed out 2 toppers per page on card stock and then cut them 6.75" x 4.75". I simply folded them in half and stapled them to the snack bags. One (16 oz) box of Lucky Charms filled 25 snack bags approx. 1/2 full.

Scarlett's 10 Week Growth Stats

Scarlett finally got her 2 month well check and immunizations at 10 weeks old. We had to wait till she had finished her antibiotics from her kidney infection and be fever free before she could get shots. Poor baby had to get a repeat catheter for urine culture, 2 shots (one in each leg), and an oral vaccine. She threw up the oral vaccine and screamed from all the pokes :'(

Weight: 12 lbs 10 oz (80%)

Length: 23.5 inches (78%)

Head Circumference: 40.6 cm (82%)

We are thankful that she is our best "grower" considering we were worried she would be our smallest. She has a renal (kidney) ultrasound and VCUG scheduled for March 20th. This will help determine if her bladder is refluxing up to her kidneys. If so, she will need prophylactic antibiotics on a daily basis and follow up testing until she "outgrows" it. Praying it was just a fluke event!

It's Magically Delicious!

I've never really done anything as far as decorating or baking for St. Patrick's Day in the past but when I saw this rainbow cake tutorial I just had to try it! Here is my take on following the tutorial:

What You Need:

Box White Cake Mix

Rainbow Food Gel Colors

Angel Food/Coffee Cake Pan

Food Scale (not absolutely necessary)

Favorite Icing Recipe (here's mine)

I prepared a box of white cake mix according to the box. I then got out 6 bowls for the rainbow colors. I used my food scale to split up the batter:

Red- 6oz of cake batter

Orange- 5oz of cake batter

Yellow- 4oz of cake batter

Green- 3oz of cake batter

Blue- 2oz of cake batter

Purple- 1oz of cake batter 

(*Note: my purple didn't show up so I'd do a bit more next time)

I added a few drops of food gel until desired color reached

Pour remaining white batter into a greased coffee cake pan (Wilton's Cake Release is my favorite)

Pour each colored batter into Ziploc bags and cut the corner just before using. The bag gives you more control than spooning from the bowl. *Note: I had trouble controlling the small amount of purple batter in the sandwich size bag. A snack bag would have been a better size for that small amount.

 Snip the corner of the red batter and make a wide ring keeping it inside the white batter (be careful to not let it touch the sides *I made this mistake). Continue adding each color keeping it within the ring of the color before it.

Here are all my colors (see how my purple was kinda wild?! Also notice how my red starts touching the outer sides of the pan...this affects the rainbow...you will see below)

Bake it at 325 degrees to prevent too much doming of the cake.

Remove from pan and allow to cool

 Isn't it pretty?!?! 

**Too bad this is upside down and I didn't notice until 1/2 through crumb coating it! 

I found it unnecessary to level off the domed portion since mine barely even domed.

So with the purple side down and the white side up, begin to crumb coat the cake with your favorite icing (with green food coloring added). 

A crumb coat is simply a coat of icing that you allow to harden before icing it for real. I iced it then set in the freezer for a few minutes.

I have an icing bag and one tip which looks like a big star. I started at the bottom and make little icing dots all the way around.

 Then covered the top

It looks like a field of clovers!

 I couldn't wait very long before cutting into it to see how the rainbow turned out!! 

Not bad for a 1st attempt! See how the rainbow curves back up on the right side (that's because the red batter touched the side).

 Perfectly unperfect & magically delicious!!