Lovely little piggies

Taylor looks so stinkin' cute in her little piggies! I just can't resist these things. She's got quite the mop on the top of her head, that's desperately needing a cut. However, I can't pull myself to get it cut, I love these darn piggies too much!

True Colors Tour

Heather nabbed free tickets to the Cyndi Lauper True Colors Tour on Wednesday night and invited me along. We weren't sure what to expect other than knowing that we would be among the minority (straight) there! It was a five hour concert and we were there for about the last 3 1/2 hours of it. Andy Bell (of Erasure fame) was finishing up his set when we got there. I looove Erasure, and I kept thinking how much Conal would've loved that. Carson Kresley was the host. He's hilarious...he needs his own stand up act!
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts then took the stage. At that point we were relieved that we didn't pay a cent for those tickets. Not great, not even good! AND THEN...the B-52's. WOW! They're 60 years old and their energy is amazing. They look great and never tire! They sound as good as they did 20 years ago and I've always wanted to see them but never figured I would. So that was totally worth getting through Joan Jett! Cyndi Lauper brought up the end of the show. I forgot how many hits she had--she's was great too! We danced for probably two hours and totally enjoyed ourselves. It was a great show, a lot of fun, burned some calories and relived the 80's! Thanks Heather!

The Greatest Show on Earth

Today, we went to the circus! We decided to go early and experience the all access pre-show as well. You get to see many of the clowns and acts up close on the floor. You can even try on some of the costumes and watch Kelly Ann, the elephant paint a picture.

We happened to arrive at just the right time, on the backside of the arena...they were bathing the elephants! The girls went crazy and were so excited to see that.

The circus was quite entertaining, especially from the third row. Conal and I enjoyed it as much as the kids. Let me rephrase that, we enjoyed it as much as Hayden. We think Taylor loved it above and beyond any of us. She was NUTS over the circus!!

After the circus, we went to lunch at Friday's Front Row. That, in itself, was another treat for them. Taylor has never been to a baseball park before and they both thought it was cool to each lunch above the field. Hayden was rather annoyed that the Yankees weren't playing there today. She couldn't let it go that the Yankees were playing in New York and not where we were eating lunch. What were they thinking?

Best of Friends

I'm so glad that my girls are so close in age. They are the best of friends. Yes, they have the occasional fight (usually Hayden taking one thing out of Tay's hands and replacing it with something else that Tay wants absolutely nothing to do with!). But I have to admit, at this point, those fights have yet to get bad, or frequent. They play together well, Hayden is very motherly and protective of Tay and Tay just copies everything Hayden does. Follows her everywhere, wants to be just like her.

Well, even though Tay has a bed of her own, these two LOVE to sleep together. I think it's very cute. Other than swim lessons, we don't have much going on that I need them super-well rested for, so we've indulged them a few times recently. They do stay up a little later giggling, spooning and Hayden rubs Taylor's head or back. They also tend to wake up a little earlier then the average morning, but it's summer and they're having fun! I make sure not to do it back to back because I don't want Taylor to get dependant on it, and she hasn't, but you know me, I'm such a freak about bad habits! Especially bad bedtime habits!

I snuck into Hayden's room the other night and couldn't resist taking a picture. They just looked so cozy together!

Monsoon 2008

The girls had a great time watching our first storm of the season last night. We got hit really hard for about 5 minutes, it drizzled for about 5 more and then it passed. That's about the only thing I like about these Arizona summers! Anyhow, Hayden grabbed the camera and took a couple of pictures. She was really waiting for one with lightning, but she'll need to prove herself a bit more before I buy her a camera for that! ha ha

Sleepover

Cooper and Hayden had a sleepover last night. Cooper hasn't slept over since he was a baby, so this was a long time comin'! We had a whole bunch of fun, and he and Hayden were wonderful including Taylor in everything they did! While he was here we went swimming in Memaw's pool and she joined us! After swimming, we went to Cheeburger Cheeburger in Ocotillo for dinner. The kids capped off the day with a couple of hours of tag and wrestling in the backyard.

I forgot to take my camera with me, so here are just a couple of pics that I caught at the end of the day! We told Cooper that he was so well behaved and had such great manners that he's welcomed to stay over any time he would like. He told me "I will Auntie, I will stay over A LOT!".

Summertime...Stuff!

I know it's summertime and it seems like this blog should be poppin'! But the truth is it's summertime in Arizona and there's not much to blog about in our lives lately. When the rest of the country lets loose and crawls out from under their roofs, we go into hibernation mode, it seems!

We've definately got a sumemetime routine down. Our weeks consist of swim lessons for Hayden Monday through Thursday, and on Friday mornings we go to the movies. BOTH of the girls are loving that. And to be quite honest, so I am. I don't miss being at home every morning feeling as though I need to check email and busy myself with work stuff, but I do miss my morning cup or two of coffee (it's just too darn hot right now!).

I'm doing some summer homeschooling with Hayden. Her attention span (and patience level) is pretty short, so I break her lessons up into four 20 minute sessions. Some days we don't get in quite that much, but that's okay, that means we're off (or in) doing something fun. We're practicing numbers, letters, shapes, coloring within a designated space (following directions) and speech. And by goodness, she's slowly starting to say her L's!! We keep noticing that she's been really concentrating on her L's when she's speaking and she's even starting to correct herself when she realizes she uses a W in place. I have found some great speech development tips online and they are all really easy ideas to implement. Socially and behaviorly, that's a different story, but we're into baby steps as of late!

Taylor is blossoming right now. She's at that age where she just absorbs everything she hears, she's a little sponge. She understands clearly what we're telling or asking of her and, she'll answer back. She saying several word sentences, although, we're (and Conal probably only 2/3 of the time) the only ones who can understand her. She was having a trantrum in the car on Friday and I was even able to reason with her. I finished with a "do you understand me" and to my surprised, she answered with "Yah Mommy" and quit her trantrum. WHAT?? That seemed to come from nowhere, but she's a bright little cookie, that's for sure! She has a new PT that starts next week so we'll add that to a day, once a week. And of course, she had another mystery fever last week, but it was gone in 48 hours and she never acted as if she didn't feel well.

Both of the girls are having a blast swimming at Hamilton High and my parents neighborhood pool, playing in the sprinklers, eating popsicles and playing Hungry Hungry Hippos. They've also been having fun doing crafts, eating and whining! They're both always hungry! I usually tribute that to boredom, but ya know, I keep them so busy, I don't know how either of them could be bored. I think Taylor's just making up for lost years of lack of variety, and Hayden's metabolism runs so high her food dissolves before it dispenses!

As much as we're going kinda batty being in such close quarters to one another with limited breaks, I'm enjoying the summer with them. We love the weekends when Daddy's home from work and we can drive him nuts! It's nice to have few responsibilities over the summer break. The past six months was my first time working (albeit from home 80% of the time and SUPPOSEDLY part-time) since I've had kids. I've learned how not to take for granted the time we have to hang out together and enjoy each little bit of them doing whatever we want, whenever we want!

A Daddy, Handpicked, With Love

I knew Conal would make a remarkable husband, but even more so...an amazing Daddy, which was so important to me. And to this day, all of my instincts were right.

His sun rises and sets on Hayden and Taylor. It's so deeply inspiring to watch him interact with his girls. Often times, it's as though nothing else in the world exists. I can see how he truly values their relationships. Each one different, special, sincere.

Conal is a great protector, guardian, motivator....in the eyes of his girls he's their everything. I've been there, I know how they feel. I see it in their eyes, their hearts, feel it in my soul.

To have a Dad that is so involved is such a gift. My Dad lived for his daughters--which as a kid, you don't put much thought into. But as an adult, I am able see his sacrifice..struggles and triumphs. I was very lucky. And I feel so blessed that my girls have that same example.

I handpicked Conal for my children. My Dad was such an important part of my life, that I wanted someone who would love them just as hard as I was loved. Conal has that natural instinct that has just flowed from the minute Hayden was born. We are three very lucky girls.

Little Fish

I am amazed. After just 4 days of swim lessons so far this summer, by Monday night Hayden had turned into a fish. She decided to start diving on her own and swimming to great lengths. She just needed to build her confidence level a bit. Goodness, it's hard to get this girl out of the water. I'm so excited at the prospect of having a little swimmer! Now, if she could just coordinate the breathing!

Coop

I couldn't resist posting this picture of Cooper. He started a Hockey camp yesterday. Pam posted this picture on her blog and I decided I needed a copy for myself! I just love this boy!

Hayden's new hobby

This post might seem a bit obnoxious, but I couldn't resist. On Monday night when we were at the park, Hayden asked Conal if she could take some pictures with our camera. He gave her a quick 5 second tutorial, and off she went! She took pictures of everything in her path. Tuesday at the pool, she continued to take more pictures. We were pleasantly shocked at how good and clear and focused her pictures are! We know what we're getting her for her birthday!

So, here are a TON of pictures that Hayden took over the last two days. Some of the people in the pictures we do not know, so don't ask who they are ;)

Taylor's Fever

Taylor's fever finally broke yesterday (Tues.). Yeah! Maybe now she will start sleeping again?! We visited the ENT today and he will see her again in three months to follow up on some scar tissue that has seperated from her uvula. Shouldn't cause pain, happens to about 1 in 200 patients, so of course it would happen to her! He said if she was feeling better, he would've cut it off today, but since she's not been feeling well, he'll spare her and check back on her in September. He said sometimes it falls off on it's own, so maybe that will happen.

Regardless, it's nice to have her on the mend!

Let's go swimmin'

On Tuesday afternoon we went swimming at Hamilton High School. They've got quite the set up there, and for just $4 for a family of four, you can't find cheaper entertainment than that! We took a picnic dinner and spent several hours playing poolside!

They've got two waterslides, a lazy river, a whirlpool and an incredible kiddie pool area with a beach entrance, and of course the standard lap pool and diving boards. Hayden and I went there last week with some friends and we just knew we needed to take Daddy and Tay back with us, as there was much fun to be had! We all had a lot of fun. Taylor was loving the water so much, that I went to grab a life vest for her. She didn't want to be held and wanted to float the lazy river on her own!

Playin' at the park

We'd been couped up in the house for a few days while Taylor's been sick and both of the girls were whiney and housebound. I bribed them to stop whining and finish their dinner in silence on Monday night, with the park. The "good" park. To my surprise, Conal jumped right on board...I thought I'd be taking them by myself! They silenced, finished their meals, I cut up some watermelon and we were off!

It was a beautiful evening. The temp dropped a couple degrees and it was really breezy. The park wasn't crowded, which made for a great couple of hours leading up to bedtime!

Swim Lessons

Cooper and Hayden have resumed their semi-private swim lessons with Ms. Jaimee again this summer. We started today and Hayden's got some work to do! Ms. Jaimee can see those skills under there, but she's going to work on helping Hayden to rebuild her confidence. For the first day, it was as to be expected, but I'm sure as the days go on (and the pool warms up) Hayden will be a little fish again this summer!

Telling to Hayden to keep her head down

Practicing her streamline, trying to keep head down

Reminding Hayden how to streamline

Taylor's Fever

Today is Monday and she still has a fever. However, it is drastically lower. It hovers around 102 overnight but averages around 100 during the day. That's hardly considered a fever at all! She also now has roseola, which is a great sign that the virus that they're assuming she has, is on it's way out. We saw the pediatrician this morning and she was quite relieved to see the rash.

We're hoping she's on the mend and should be feeling better any day now! She's so cranky and extremely fussy. She wants to be held but doesn't, wants Daddy but won't let him hold her, mad at Hayden and wants nothing to do with her, but wants her undivided attention.

Here's hoping to a loooooong nap today and sleeping past 4am tomorrow!

Mystery Fever .... Again

I know we need to grateful and happy for our health, and know that things could be a lot worse, but goodness, can't Taylor catch a break?

This little girl is always sick. She was born sick....one issue after another. She's always got a cold, or a cough, or a runny nose, a reaction to one thing or another, a fever, an ear infection, strep throat, a fever, a fever, a fever. You name it, she catches it, and we've got the point!

So, her latest mystery illness is a fever for six days of over 103, topping out at 104.9. Motrin would bring it down to the 101's, but then about 4 hours post Motrin, it would kick back up. I called her ENT surgeon on Weds. to see if he needed to see her, thinking it may be a post-op something. He said to keep an eye on her and if it didn't go down to call her pediatrician, but doubted it was due to her surgery.

So, I kept an eye on it, thinking it will go away and I waited and waited and it never left. So, on Friday I took her to the pediatrician. She was stumped, as always, and ran a series of blood tests and catheterized her to get a urine specimen. She also gave her a shot of Rociphrin and an hour and a half later we were headed home awaiting test results and scheduled to be back at the office the next morning (Saturday) at 8:40.

Taylor had a terrible afternoon and night on Friday and we went to our appt. Saturday morning. When the pediatrician laid eyes on her, she couldn't believe how much worse she looked from the day prior. This tiny little girl who tips the scales at barely over 20 lbs. was losing weight, listless and pale, had dark circles around her eyes and her eyes were traced in redness. She told me that she was going to have her admitted in the hospital. We couldn't take a chance of sending her home and something devastating happening (sounds dramatic, but at this point, it was all a mystery). I agreed and she called the hospital and spoke to the on duty Hospitalist. Unfortunately, they had no beds and two children on a waiting list for a bed in the peds. unit waiting in the ER. So, she had to send us to the ER to take that route and wait our turn.

In the meantime, she wrote a note for us so that I didn't have to explain to each person in our path about the tests run. I had, in hand, the results that had come in from Friday, and that she wanted her admitted. One person read those, and the Dr. at the ER and I had some words exchanged. But needless to say, we had to start from scratch all over again. Blood work x 2, catheterization x 2...and they added a CT scan of her sinuses, adnoids, neck and tonsils. That was to make sure there were no absesses from her surgery just 16 days prior. They also did head, neck, chest and stomach x-rays to check for anything abnormal. Everything seemed to check out within reasonable perameters. We were able to rule out anything post-op related. Her white blood cell count is low, but not dangerous and some levels were showing that it may be a virus. There is also a number in her blood that shows some infection, although we don't know where. So, they put her on an IV of Rocephrin (instead of shooting it into the muscle again) and flushed the drip out to make sure she got every last drop.

The Dr. at the hospital (whom, did I mention is NOT my favorite person!) actually let me decide if I wanted to take her home or stay over. I decided to bring her home. He consulted with the Hospitalist and they both agreed that would be fine. All of the tests that her pediatrician ordered had been performed and we had the results. And I knew she would rest better and be more comfortable at home. So, I brought her home and we are to see her ped. on Monday.

We left the hospital with a diagnosis of 'Fever' and 'Leukopenia' (fancy word for low white blood cell count). We will see her pediatrician Monday and her ENT surgeon Wednesday. Today, she is getting a rash. I looked it up online and it's not fitting the symptoms of Fifth Disease, sounds like Roseola. Just a rash following a high fever virus with no other symptoms.

So, all of this is fine and dandy if there's really nothing wrong....but this child had mystery fevers, regulary. High mystery fevers. Not so high they're dangerous but still between 103 and 104, and they usually only last around 24 hours, but I'm so curious as to why she's got such frequent mystery fevers. No other symptoms...just a fever.