Sentences

Toddlers are so much fun, well most of the time. :-) They have their moments like we all do. Abigail's vocabulary is increasing at such a rapid rate daily. Yesterday she instructed me that she wanted the tv on. No real thing except the way she said it. Usually it is "on" and pointing and generally handing me a DVD of choice as we don't have our tv connected to cable or anything. Yesterday it was with authority "tv on". We are working on the "please" part. She says it most of the time when asking for things. Sunday night I think it was, Bill just ran his fingers through her hair after a shower and cut a knot in her hair. Well, she abruptly said "be nice". When he told me I was laughing so hard! We tell her to be nice when she is misbehaving. She obviously understands what it means!

I asked for a Kohl's advertisement by saying "magazine" on the floor and she picked it up and handed it to me. Her comprehension is impressive. There was another incident where she understood what I was saying and it struck me as impressive because it was such a big word.

Bill taught her "gorgeous" the other night. So sweet to hear her talk.

Today while Madison was napping Abigail thought it would be fun to adorn her with their kid size forks and spoons. So she climbed up on the chair in the kitchen after dragging it to utensil drawer and pulled out what she thought would be perfect. Poor Madison, it woke her up!

When Madison and Abigail were playing this morning Abigail took the stuffed lion and placed it near Madison's foot and said "dancing" and started laughing. She cracks me up! She then kept holding the lion and on its paws are paws made of a different fabric. She kept saying "sign"and touch his paws. In the Signing Time videos the instructor has markers on her hand to help identify signs for easier learning. Amazing what kids pick up!

Abigail has been ready to be potty trained since about a week before Madison's open heart surgery in Boston (June 6, 2012). We decided to hold on it because of all the changes to come. Well we haven't worked on it consistently since because it seems week to week things are changing dramatically. None the less today Abigail took her clothes off, diaper and laid down on the changing table in position to be changed with diaper in hand. She has been trying to changer her own diaper as well as liking to run around naked. We've been trying to put her on the potty but with little success thus far. We are going to keep trying we don't want to miss this window. It just had me laughing so hard to see her on the changing table. :-)

Madison sits with us at the table even though she doesn't eat. It's important for her to be one of the family. We usually give her a nuk brush so she put it in her mouth with breastmilk, rice, or fruit just to get some flavor and oral stimulation. Well she had this cute little pose with both hands up and elbows bent with little pinkies out. It is a Mommy thing, someone pointed it out that I did that and I never realized it. Guess my girls are ready for a tea party because Abigail does it too, at least as a baby she did. :-)

White Christmas Family Night

My love language is almost 100% quality time. For those of you that aren't familiar with love languages I encourage you to read Gary Chapman's book "Five Love Languages". It comes also in a form that helps you to determine your children's love language. Anyway, Bill knows this is my love language and with all going on we've both been neglecting each others language. Out of the blue Sunday night he said let's go watch your favorite movie "White Christmas". I've watched it every year at this time (usually wrapping presents by myself) since I was a kid. He knew last year I missed it being in the hospital because I didn't want to watch it without him and Abigail. Abigail loves musicals as well so it was a perfect idea. I didn't get very far into it when I was struggling to keep my eyes open and Madison was about to fall asleep on me. So I got up and just got us both ready for bed and cut the night short while Bill and Abigail watched a little more. It was a lovely thought and I appreciate that very much.

Flash Backs to last February

Wow flash backs! Just had to bring something to the NICU in Hartford! I was flooded with emotions as soon as I got off the elevator. As I saw the huge giraffe on the double doors to go into the NICU it took everything in me not to cry! The secretary remembered me and asked how Madison was. As I stood there explaining the next steps we take I took little peeks to where Madison's isolette was. Gulp....so very thankful I get to hold my babies! Don't know why we are in this journey but I am blessed.

It always amazes me the things people say. The secretary at the NICU listened briefly to my update and chimed in "well it is common that stitches break in surgery and they have to go back in". I told her that they think that one of the stitches popped on the mitral valve a couple of days after the surgery but that doesn't explain the tricuspid valve.  They weren't even positive it was the stitch. The surgeon said in surgery her anatomy of the valves wasn't what they were expecting and it made it more challenging. As far as common. I doubt this situation was common at all because both our surgeon and cardiologist in Boston consulted with teams of doctors to discuss what was the cause and what to do and even when they met to discuss it with us were uncertain and were consulting with more doctors on what to do. In that meeting Bill asked if we could pray for wisdom for them as they make a decision what to do and counsel with other experts in the field. We all held hands and prayed. Makes me tear up writing that! We don't know what God's plan is in any of this or how many lives were touched or will be touched from our story. None the less people sometimes should just remain silent and listen. The secretary proceeded to compare my daughters open heart surgery to an ulcer surgery! I think my jaw nearly dropped!

 I look forward to giving back to the families at the NICU and hopefully to the families in Boston.