Planting Flowers

For FHE we planted some flowers for our porch. Lily even got her own pot to take care of!

Baby Kara

So we have finally, tentatively picked a name for the new one: Kara. I hope it sticks because Lily is already calling her that! She still is a much calmer child than Lily was. She hardly ever moves unless she's trying to find a new position to rest. Her favorite place to rest is at the bottom of my uterus so I am already walking like the baby has dropped.

The last 2 months have been kind of scary because the doctor's measurements haven't added up to what she should be. In April she was 1 cm behind what she should be but the doc said not to worry. We only start worrying if she gets 2 cm behind. Well I panicked thinking that it was something I was doing so I upped my food and water intake.

My next measurement check up, the beginning of May, showed that Kara was 2 cm behind in growth. So he ordered an ultrasound. The ultrasound was on the same day as Lily's surgery. While it was a busy day I was so glad to be able to work on both of my girls' issues and get them taken care of! Well, the ultrasound shows that she is a healthy child! She is right on track with weight and length. The problem is that she is so hunkered down in my uterus that the doctor can't get an accurate measurement!

They tried to get pictures of her profile as they hadn't been able to get one on the last ultrasound--she's already camera shy--and they did get a few. As soon as I can get my scanner to work I'll post them. My favorite picture of her is of her little head and her elbow flung over her face so we still can't see completely what she looks like! Little stinker!

Thursday will mark 30 weeks and I am very excited about it. We're getting closer! I am so tired of the 3rd trimester aches and pains and the sleepless nights. But 10 weeks is definitely bearable!

Tonsilectomy/Adenoidectomy

Lily has had a lot of problems with allergies and sinuses for as long as she's been around. When she turned 2 I was so excited to find out exactly what her allergies are so that she could stay healthy. Well the general practicioner that we took her to told us there was nothing he could do for her. So we took her to a pediatrician. He referred us to an ent/allergist. Two days later we got her in there. He said her tonsils were enflamed and her adenoids were most likely bad. So 2 days later she had surgery to remove them both.

Some people were surprised that we got her in for surgery so quickly but she has been so miserable for so long that we couldn't wait to get it done so that she wouldn't be miserable all the time.

The surgery went really, really well. The adenoids were completely infected so we were so glad to get them out! The tonsils were very enflamed and the doctor said that they would've come out in the next year so it would have been negligent not to get them out in the same surgery.

Here are some pictures of her before the surgery:

We got Lily some new jammies for the surgery. She was so excited! I have never seen her jump and dance so much over an outfit. And then she insisted that I take her picture.

Lily loved her hospital gown because it had the "Easter Bunny" on it. She doesn't know anything about Bugs Bunny yet!

We had to wait about 40 minutes in a little room until the doctor/anesthesiologist came to get Lily. She wasn't scared at all as we had talked for the last 2 days about what was going to happen. The actual surgery only took a total of 30 minutes!!

Lily has done really well with the post-op part of it. She has had a lot of good days. As long as she is on her pain killers she is happy and runs just as much as she always has. Nights are harder as her body has more time to think about how badly it hurts!! But we are already seeing improvements with her sinuses and we are so happy to have at least found part of the reason she is always sick!! The full recovery can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks. The only problem we are having is that she doesn't like to drink. Does anyone have any tricks for getting little kids excited to drink?

What Lily's Been Up To

Lily has become quite the chatterbox. 90% of the time we can understand her!! For any Finlayson reading this: she reminds my parents a lot of Laura when she was little: nonstop happy chattering! She also loves to sing. She has found a flashlight that looks like a microphone that she carries around and sings into. Right now she is singing operatic... she sings with her mouth wide open as she shakes her head back and forth.

Lily has been sick quite a bit with sinus issues and throat issues. We finally talked a doctor into allowing us to see an ENT. Wouldn't you know it her tonsils and adenoids are completely infected! She is going in for surgery on Wednesday. Hopefully she'll come out a new lady!

Aunt Shonnee came home from college and was unpacking. Lily fell in love with a belt she found in one of the boxes. So Shonnee decided to dress her up to the max! The item on top of her head is NOT underwear but Shonnee's clean swimsuit bottom. Hmmm. That almost makes it okay! Just kidding. She looks to be quite the hipster!

Lily has a huge love for cleaning. She loves to help with laundry, dishes, cleaning windows and mirrors, scrubbing toilets....anything that we will let her do. She loves to make her bed and clean up her room. We are lucky to have her around!

One day we were at my parent's house. Their neighbor came by and Lily decided she wanted to ride on his 4-wheeler. He took her to see the chickens and horses that are on the farm next door. This picture was taken at their return. She loved it!

Happy 90th Grandma!

My grandma celebrated her 90th birthday on Saturday! It's hard to believe she's that old. She still drives everywhere, often taking her friends who can't drive anymore. She goes to the Senior Citizen Center every week for lunch. Recently she fell and broke some ribs and I was so proud and surprised at how fast she rebounded! Much faster than I would have. Anyways, here are some pictures from the event:

Grandma, Lily and Emily in front of the birthday cake.

Lily, Andrew and Aunt Shonnee during the 2 hour long talent show. Our family sang a rendition of "The Super Supper March" by Dr. Seuss. Grandma is known for always having food so we put our favorite foods into the song that she has had over the years. It was a hit!

A picture of everyone enjoying the talent show. I believe there were close to 200 people there and that was just family!! No friends were invited!! Grandma has a great posterity: 31 grandkids, 89 great-grandkids, and 7 great greats with more on the way...I think these are the numbers. If not then I'm close.

This is a picture of my cousins performing. They are amazing! They are all sisters and harmonize perfectly.

Grandma thanking everyone for coming.

Those who decorated were trying to think what to put on the tables as centerpieces. They went to Grandma's and started looking around. It didn't take long to realize that roosters would be perfect! I think she started collecting them a long time ago. Then she got tired of them but people kept giving them to her! She has sooo many roosters and they looked so cute on the tables. As we were cleaning up we put all the roosters on one table for this great picture.

A picture of my dad and all his siblings and their spouses. My uncle Larry and his wife are missing as they passed away many years ago. We also missed Grandpa at this fun event but I'm sure he was close by.

Lily in her cleaning glory as she pushes the tables under the stage.

Shonnee and Travis playing "shuffle board" with Lily and Emily.