Goodbye December & 2012

The Christmas holiday was nice for us, but I won't be sorry to see December go. This has been the month of illness for us and we're still recovering. Ben had a cold and then an ear infection in one ear and then it switched to the other ear.  Dave had a cold and the stomach flu at the same time.  I caught a cold mid December and had the stomach flu as well. I was finally was forced to see the doctor when I spiked a fever this week; the cause was impacted sinuses. I was exhausted each day and was slowly starting to feel better, but now I"m starting to feel worse again. And I'm still on my antibiotics so I'm not sure what is going on.  My facial bones feel like they are going to explode through my skin or I was on the losing end of a boxing match.


This may really be the Angel of Death during the plague of the firstborn, but I think it's the Angel of Illness marking our door...

Cori seemed like she was escaping everything until she came down with a cold on Christmas Eve. A few days later, she wasn't any better and was really lethargic, not at all herself. That night she got a fever of 103, so I took her to Med Express the next morning. Turns out she had pneumonia! She is getting better with her medicine thank goodness but I'm ready to Lysol bomb our house.

Christmas Morning

With Umma

Adoring Amelia

Ben opening gifts

Cousins

We enjoyed spending time with our extended family during our time off, though we did have to say goodbye to one of my best friends - Angie officially moved to Washington DC with her family. I'm going to miss her so much!

I'd also like to wish my brother a happy 37th birthday since I couldn't do it in person today. Darn illnesses! Love you DJ!

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy and joyful 2013!

Phipps 2012

 It's almost Christmas! We're just about ready - the tree is up and decorated, all the gifts are purchased, the cards are out, we're in the holiday spirit, and lots of baking has commenced (I'm almost through a 25lb bag of flour from Costco - wow!). Because just about everything was taken care of, karma had to swing through town and bestow her gift to our house... illness!

Dave got a disgusting stomach flu, Ben has the return of an ear infection (other ear's turn) and a nasty cold, and because I'm a lucky girl, I both the horrible stomach flu AND the awful phlegm-y cold.  I'm currently laying in bed trying not to cough too hard lest it hurt my sore stomach even more.  Somehow, knock on wood, Cori escaped the evil clutches of illness for now.   On to happier things....

Last weekend we did our annual trip to Phipps for their winter flower show. I was somewhat dreading it because of the crowds, but everyone else must be running behind this year cause the place wasn't very full at all! The flowers didn't disappoint as usual, and the kids were even on their best behavior.

 



The last sentence explains why I can't grow orchids.
Growing orchids is a practice in patience.




This orchid smelled amazing!!! I had to capture the name of it in case I could ever find it in a nursery.

I love orchids - can't grow em or keep them alive, but I sure can appreciate them!

We came to the train set up and Ben was in heaven. I'm sure there were angels singing somewhere in his little mind. He was all smiles!

waving bye-bye to the trains

We always go to Phipps when it is the Saturday with the Sugar Plum Fairy day - the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre puts on an hour long free event for the kids. They read the Nutcracker story and the kids get to dance with some ballerinas. Cori was starting to get very tired by this point, but she still had a great time.


Cori & The Sugar Plum Fairy

neat jump shot of the ballerinas

November slipped away

November slipped away somehow. Whoops! Not really of course, but on this blog. Busy busy around here.  Ben started walking which seemed like it was never going to happen. I'm sure that soon enough he'll be running. He is (and actually already was) climbing on things and being quite the daredevil. So funny how boys are so different than girls!

We flew down to Atlanta for Thanksgiving to see family and my Godchild Katie who is 2 months old. Her mom and dad don't want any pictures of her posted online, so I can't share her sweet adorableness, but she is a real sweetheart! Ben did very well on his first plane ride, and Cori was thrilled to be back on a plane in general. Dave and I had quite a workout schlepping all the car seats and luggage through the airport; it made for a very long day. Add in an awful stomach flu (for me) for 2 days and things were looking not so good. But we had lots of cheer from visiting and telling stories and decorating the Christmas tree.

Cori adds the angel to the tree top

Ben too was enthralled with the tree, even in a more "natural" state

The weather was wonderful. Lots of sunshine and we didn't need a jacket at all! It was in the 60s and 70s while we were there, which allowed the kids to burn some energy off outside while we cooked Thanksgiving dinner.

And even though Katie isn't using her nursery yet, the kids made good use of it by "racing" her rocking animals in there!

Right now Ben is fighting an ear infection, a bad cold and an awful cough around his voice box that makes him sound awful. We're still trying to get him to talk more and use words instead of pointing and grunting. He still has very limited words and though he comprehends everything, his expressive language is lagging. We keep reading to him and talking to him and trying to get him to use words, and we'll see where he ends up.

Cori has been experiencing a lot of school-related anxiety.  Her teachers have noticed it, and we think it's the source of her not doing so well with the multi-step directions. Upon talking to her teachers more, it's like she is so afraid of messing up that she freezes and just sits there.  There is also an aspect that she is scared when it lunch time because her teachers make her (and all the kids) try a bite of everything. And Cori is a very picky eater.  She has said each day that she doesn't want to each lunch as soon as she finds out that it is a school day.  I've asked her how she feels and she said it makes her feel scared and sad. We're trying to reassure her but she just needs to get through it.  We're going to work on confidence building as well, but this is all new territory to us too. 

 In the meantime, we're counting down the days until Christmas. The house is decorated except for the tree which we are getting this weekend.  Hopefully we'll be able to finish the Christmas cards this week and I can wrap up the gift shopping this weekend.  We're enjoying December as a family and looking forward to Christmas!

Halloween Parade

Cori and Ben's daycare had a Halloween party and parade today. It was too cute! Cori went as Ariel and Ben was a penguin. I will attempt to get better pictures on Saturday when they go trick or treating, but for now... Happy Halloween!

Cori in her pre-K class

Ariel

Cori and one of her teachers (who is pregnant - isn't that the most awesome Halloween tee!?)

Penguin Ben!

Penguin Ben during the parade (Thanks Grammie!)

Cori's enterance

Ariel!

bye Ariel!

A special thanks to Grammie for helping out at the party today - there is no way that I could have done it without you!!

Video

Please ignore my messy house, but Ben's laughter is hysterical. You can tell he adores his big sister!

Hi

Time has slipped away again and October is almost over. Wow. I think we are all finally feeling better after the cold / flu hit our house for 2 weeks.  Subsequently it's also been 2 weeks since I've been to the gym (ugh). We've been keeping very busy in spite of nothing overly exciting to report.

We had parent teacher conferences at daycare. Cori is doing well and we are to work on multi-step directions for her kindergarten readiness.  We're still working on letters and numbers too and she is progressing there. I was able to chaperon a field trip to Soergel's Orchard which was fun. This is Cori's preschool class; she is on the bottom row all the way to the right in the lime green coat.  It was fun to watch her interact with her "friends" and it was also interesting (and gross) to see how apple cider is made.

Ben is doing well... still not walking. He will take 5 to 7 steps between Dave and I, back and forth, but just nothing constant. He was assessed at school and while he scored lower on his gross motor skills, it was due to not walking yet at 15 months. I know he'll get there when he is ready. I just hope it is before he is 2. =)  School is more concerned with his lack of / limited expressive language. He definitely gets what you are saying; he will follow commands and point to objects, etc. He just doesn't say much.  "Kitty" was his main word and now we're up to "ball" and "car" (his new favorite word). They are going to assess him again for his expressive language and may refer him to some speech therapy so he spends some one on one time practicing talking.

I **think** I'm over the mommy guilt for this - we are reading to him a lot more now than we were before, and we're making a conscious effort to say words to him for things "cup"' and "dog" and "spoon" and such.  I think because he is soooo laid back, and his sister does so much of the talking for him,as well as just plain old forgetting what a toddler needs to hear and do for speech development just all combined into a big lack of doing on our part.  Remind me of the times he didn't talk when I someday have two kids who yap non stop!

Dave and I had date night where we went to Siba restaurant and celebrated our 7th anniversary. We then saw Argo which is a fantastic film. I'm flying to Atlanta this weekend to meet my Godchild Katie and see her baptism. I can't wait!

And thank you for the prayers for my cousin Anna. Her surgery went well and they were able to remove the tumor. She has more surgeries in her near future, but she is on her way home back to SD this week. She will be moving to Iowa soon to be near a hospital that specializes in her condition. 

Otherwise we are enjoying fall - playing in the leaves and having bonfires and roasting marshmallows and counting down the days until Halloween.

I have a really cute video of Cori helping Ben walk. It's 46 seconds and it has taken me over 46 minutes to try to upload it to no avail. Maybe next time....

Prayers Please

Things are fine with us, especially when you see the pain that others go through.  The past few days we found out that our cousin's 15 yr old daughter Anna passed out and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Anna's mom wasn't able to revive her. Tests showed that Anna had 2 large tumors in her brain. Surgery needed to be immediate.

This is Anna. She's trying on a dress for her first prom a few months ago. Isn't she beautiful?

Because they live in a remote part of Montana, Anna had to be flown to Seattle for the care she needs.  Additional tests found a third tumor in the center of her brain, in a very difficult spot.  Today additional tests found a fourth tumor on her spine.  Anna has already lost her eye sight in one eye and hearing on the same side because of the tumors. That won't come back even when the tumors are gone.

Testing found that Anna has a condition called Neurofibromatosis Type II (NF2).  This basically means that even if  the surgery to remove the tumors is 100% successful, more tumors will grow back in Anna's body. "While the tumors associated with NF2 are benign, it’s their location—on or near the brain, the spinal cord, or the nerves, that makes them surgically challenging. A neurosurgeon may conclude that removing a tumor poses more risks to the patient than benefits."  The condition of her future quality of life is unclear, and to say that Anna and her family are scared would be a big understatement. 

Anna's first surgery is scheduled for this Wednesday. I would ask that you please send her healing prayers / light / good wishes if you have a moment.  And if I can ask also that you say a prayer for peace to her family and that the angels be extra close to the doctors and nurses and staff who will care for Anna in the next 10+ weeks.

Corinne's activity

Equal post time for Cori....  she's had lots going on.  She has started preschool at her daycare and seems to be doing well there.  We're starting to think about Kindergarten since spring registration will be here before we know it. 

Cori started dance class Tuesday nights.  Last week was the first class, and I swear there isn't much cuter than 13 or so little girls running around in pink ballet shoes and tutus! She had been looking forward to class for weeks, and when the class was done, she had had a blast!  Dance will be the only activity this year since we don't want to be running back and forth all the time.

Cori went to her first Pirate game since she was a baby. She had a good time and was very well behaved despite the heat and a lot of tears that she couldn't go onto the field and "hit a home run".

  We went to a wedding this past weekend and it was the first time she's been to a grown up reception.

A lot of her cousins were there so she had extra fun. These are all the girls except for the bride.

Speaking of the bride, Lauren looked amazing! She and Kyle got married at Heinz Chapel and had their reception at the Pgh Athletic Assoc just like our wedding. It was extra fun to kind of relive our own special day 7 years ago.

Cori danced the night away well past her bedtime. She lasted a long time; we only left 30 minutes before the reception ended.