A VSD update

For those of you who didn't know, Scarlett was born with a ventricular septal defect, or VSD for short. If you've been following this blog for some time, you may remember this post which I wrote almost exactly one year ago. Well...Scarlett just had her annual cardiologist visit. This appointment was a big one. Typically, cardiologists like these holes in the heart to close up by the age of two.
Scarlett was definitely old enough to know that something was up this time around. She wanted to hold hands with me as we walked down the long halls of the hospital. At one point, she looked up at me and said, unprovoked, "I not scared mama - I fine." (And my heart melted a bit.) We saw Dr. Friedman again and he was surprised to report that Scarlett's VSD hasn't changed. It's still there. It hasn't closed or gotten any smaller like they thought it would have by the age of 2. And while that may seem like bad news, they have officially ruled out open heart surgery which is terrific news! We'll continue to have the VSD re-evaluated annually, but Dr. Friedman told us that we can forget the VSD is even there until 5 minutes before next year's appointment. It's not affecting her now in any way, and it won't affect her ever in any way.
Whew.

Bubsy and the Beast

Meet Bubsy, a beautiful princess girl who likes books and is generally too smart for her own good, which sometimes gets her into trouble. Meet Beast, a massive...well...beast whose size is intimidating and, at times, down right scary - but he's really sweet at heart...when he's not pissed. See, we're not just watching princess girl movies 'round here -
we're living them.
And FYI - these photos were not doctored in any way.
Your eyes are not deceiving you.
Yes.
Holden is really that big.

Holden's baptism

Holden was baptized this morning. He was such a good boy; a doll even. Aunt Nachie and Uncle Keg, who are Holden's Godparents, joined us up front. And we had about 20 more of Holden's fans (our close friends and family) there too.

Holden fell asleep immediately after being baptized and slept through the remainder of the service. We had everyone over to our house after church but, of course, were too busy running around to take any pictures.
Thanks to all who helped us celebrate! We love you all!

Star Search here we come!

Sunday in the Park With Carson

This past Sunday we went to a fair called Sunday in the Park, at Edgerton Park. It was a beautiful day and we got to see Carson so it pretty much couldn't have been any better. There was tons to do there...like giant slides that Joe nicely brought both the kids on simultaneously. (Because Val is pregnant and shouldn't be climbing up giant inflatable stuff and I'm just too uncoordinated to climb up giant inflatable...I mean, I was watching Holden. Yeah.)I do have a great picture of Joe going down the slide too - but I have to be nice and not post it. But it's pretty darn funny. I'm sure you can imagine.Holden thinks "oh man. I am so doing that when I get bigger."There was a fire truck there which Scarlett probably only cared about because Carson cared about it. And there were trees. Which Scarlett and Carson immediately started running around the second we tried to give them some lunch. They did this.And this. And a little of this.

And then they took off into the woods as I unsuccessfully shouted "Scarlett, come eat some lunch please!!"
Holden thinks "oh man. I am so doing that when I get bigger." She's laughing cause not eating lunch is funny. But you know what's even funnier? Two two year olds with lollipops. Have you ever seen them stand so still? Cause I haven't. Ever.

Yay Sunday in the park with Carson!

Big decisions

Last night Joe was getting Scarlett ready for bed. He picked out one of about a dozen pairs of princess girl pajamas. He let Scarlett hold the shirt while he was getting ready to put on her pants. She looks at the shirt and announces that she wants to wear her Ariel nightgown instead. She then balls the unwanted pajama top up, hands it to Joe, and says, "here dad. Here. This is garbage."

Four months old...

Do you know what that means? Solids!! Admittedly, I caved and let Holden try very watery cereal a few weeks ago in the hope that he would take to it and ease up on formula a bit, but tonight, Holden tried BANANAS (with a little bit of cereal). With Scarlett, we went all vegatables in the beginning thinking that if she tried fruit she'd never ever eat vegatables. Ever. I can honestly say that I don't know what difference that made. So tonight, bananas were on the menu for Holden's first "baby food" meal to celebrate his 4 month birthday. Boy. Do we know how to party. "Wait. This doesn't look like cereal. This looks GOOD.""Oh man. This even tastes good.""Really good.""Really REALLY good."
Then...not so much. Near the end of his second helping, Holden got pissed. Like really pissed. Like "make me a bottle now and get this stuff out of my face" pissed. He sulked for about an hour afterwards. But it's okay. He ate almost 2 helpings before losing his cool. And honestly, he can do no wrong right now. He's been sleeping through the night for a week now. It's heavenly.

Classic Scarlett. Classic.

"Yes. Hello? Hi. Yes. I gave baby a bath. I have to go. Okay bye. You will never see me again...talk to you later. Bye!"

All work and no play...

makes Holden...very...sleeeeeeeepppy...Another reason why Holden is exactly like his father - he can fall asleep standing up.

A potty update...

We're potty training Bubs...remember? Our original plan of keeping Bubs in underwear while she's at home went out the window. Turns out, we're rarely at home. And she has to remain in a diaper at daycare until she's fully trained. With consistency being key, we've decided to keep her diapered at home too so she A) doesn't get confused, and B) doesn't develop the capability of distinguishing the difference between a diaper and underwear.
I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't give you all an update until 3 potty successes occurred. This has happened, so here's your update;

1) Last week while giving Scarlett a bath, she tells us she has to go. We put her on the potty and she peed. Joe and I danced around like crazy making complete and total fools of ourselves for her benefit and she got to eat 3 M&M's as a reward despite the fact that she was already back in the tub.

2) A few nights ago, Scarlett told us she had to go poopies. We were expecting to take off her diaper and see that she had already gone (which is quite often the case). But she hadn't already gone. We sat her on the potty and she went. It wasn't a full out poop, but when she got up there was poop in there and that counts in our book. Dancing and M&M's followed. She was incredibly proud of herself.

3) Yesterday, Scarlett peed in the potty at school - which is huge. (And she was the first kid in her class to do so.) It conveniently happened right as Joe had gotten to daycare to pick her up. Her class came out of the bathroom and Scarlett was smiling from ear to ear. Joe said she screamed down the hall "Daddy, I went pee pee in the POTTY!" She then proceeded to tell every teacher/director/parent she met on the way to the car that she did pee pee in the potty. And, quite appropriately, they all gave her high fives. (I love this daycare!) Joe bought her an entire donut as a reward.

So there they are. We're hoping that this last success at school will help quite a bit. There are about 20 teachers there ready to congratulate her every time it happens, which Scarlett thrives on. She is definitely getting a kick out of her little support system. I know we still have a long ways to go, but it seems like something may have clicked with her recently.

Being 2 ain't easy

Being 2 years old is no laughing matter. It's a job that should be taken very, very seriously. If you're considering applying for the position of a 2 year old, please know that certain prerequisites must be met; the first of these prerequisites is knowledge in the art of over-accessorizing. The next is a keen taste for baked goods...but not so much the baked part of baked goods. We're talking icing people. In order to be considered for the position of a 2 year old, you must be able to lick all the icing off of a cupcake while somehow managing to not actually bite the cupcake - not bite it at all. Then, conveniently, give it back to your mother who will have no idea what she's supposed to do with it. (But Lord help her if she throws it out.)A clean driving record is a must. As is collecting things that are really not of much use to you but that you know are of very much use to others. Then you should refuse to give those things back to the people that would find them quite, quite useful. And if you can do this while wearing as much pink as possible you may actually be over qualified for the position. But, most importantly, you have to be absolutely adorable. (And willing to battle fire-breathing tiki torches armed with only a wiffle ball bat.)

Who is feeding who?

Last night, Scarlett walks into the living room with a cup of juice. I was sitting on the couch feeding Holden a bottle. Scarlett looks at Holden's bottle. She looks at her cup of juice. She says, "Mama. You feeding Holden...and I'm feeding me."

Killam's Point

Last Sunday we went to a church picnic at Killam's Point in Branford. The beach was beautiful and, if you click the link, you'll see it has a ton of history. Our church hosts a picnic there once a year. We went swimming.We played a rendition of basketball. We ate a delicious BBQ dinner.Scarlett brought her bubble wand to show off how she makes "big big BIG" bubbles. And Holden was...Holden. And just when we thought we'd run out of stuff to do, somone brought out a rubber duck tied to a stick. (Why do I even spend money on toys?)