her name is Pinkalicious

Her name may appear to be Brooke on her birth certificate but these days she prefers to be called Pinkalicious. On the way to Kalahari we stopped for her potty break on the turnpike. She decided she was ready for lunch when she saw the rest stop had a Burger King. We had already tried lunch before we left but as usual she gave us the "I'm just not hungry right now" response. A chicken nugget kids meal later and she has changed her name to Pinkalicious and won't take the crown off.

Burger King has these Pinkalicious kids meals right now that are actually a good kids meal toy. She recently started with the Fancy Nancy books at the library and now we may have to look for the Pinkalicious books as well.

Everyone in the hotel laughed at her and couldn't believe they were spotting her walking around with it on again. If I wouldn't have told her she would loose the crown in the pool I am pretty sure she would have swam in the thing.

Easter Egg Hunt

This afternoon was the Down syndrome Easter Egg Hunt. Their appetite is still trying to keep up with all the swimming they have been doing the last few days. I am pretty sure Brooke had at least 6-7 slices of bacon on top of the pancakes and eggs. Lindsey was loving her pancakes with syrup and whipped cream.

After everyone finished eating it was off to find the easter eggs. Brooke was such a good helper bringing back eggs for Lindsey's basket.

Stuffed animals, coloring books, bubbles, and this is what gets Brooke excited. Chocolate, oh yeah she is my kid in and out.

What would an Easter egg hunt be without the Easter Bunny?

Kalahari

Sorry guys, I made the blog private and haven't done anything since. Why? We went on a little mini trip to Kalahari. I have tons up pics to upload but here is one of each of the girls showing how much fun they had in the water.

Last chance

I am hoping to get everything together to make our blog private this weekend. If you still want to follow be sure to send me an email so I can send you an invitation to access the blog. If you already sent me an email, great I have you on the list. RNKelliT@yahoo.com

Park play before the rain

We have had a great week of sunshine and warm weather. Spring coats have been out while the hats and gloves remained in their bin. This weekend is supposed to bring rain and cooler temperatures so we decided to get to park while we still could.

Brooke has quite the personality if you couldn't tell already. Strong willed for starters. She didn't want her picture taken with Lindsey. Brooke thought if she kept her eyes closed I wouldn't take any pictures and just get her straight to the park. Once she realized I was still taking pictures she closed the canopies on both sides.

Lindsey LOVED LOVED the swings

Brooke looks like such a big girl climbing. When I spotted her heading towards this I wanted to shout not to think about and use the steps. I soon realized that she could scale the thing without a problem.The thought of the monkey bars next year makes my stomach turn. Nope, Brooke is not my baby anymore.

Spring

Ahhh spring. The days are getting longer. The windows are open. Taking walks outside. Watching Brooke peddle her heart out on her bike. Mr. Freeze is serving up the ice cream.
mmmmmmm

Oh to be 3 again

St Patty's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Today we enjoyed a nice St. Patty's Day party with some of Brooke's friends. It was in a big gym area where Brooke was able to ride her bike. The kids had such great time playing the mom's were able to chat. Brooke kept asking as we were driving if her bike was still in the back, who was going to be there, and what was Lindsey going to do.

Brooke rode her bike almost the entire time.

Only to take a hula hoop break.

And Lindsey smiled and laughed as usual once she had some food in her belly.

and then naptime hit. Right on cue she was asleep.

A princess in a boat to her castle

Brooke's imagination is wild. She and Lindsey had to get a boat so they could sail to the castle.

Their princess boat.

and their castle

Brooke really had fun when Tim climbed in. She would run from one side of the room and leap in with him. That and try to cover him with the balls.

Fish

Tim took Brooke to the pet store yesterday to pick out some new fish. There was just one lonely fish left in our fish tank. She enjoyed watching them swim around and would ask where the fish's friends all went to. Apparantly, she had a ball in the store and they walked around for nearly an hour looking at all the animals. She was so excited to come home and give the lone fish some friends.

Going Private

With all the creeps out in the world I have decided to take the blog private. It scares me to think that a complete stranger could know so much about my family or steal my pictures to use in a disrespectful manner. I enjoy sharing pictures and experiences with family and friends that I may not be able to keep up with. I also look at this as my outlet, journal, and scrapbook. It is nice going back to look at old posts and pictures. If you follow my blog just send me an email rnkellit@yahoo.com so I can send you an invitation that will allow you access to our blog. I know many of you don't leave comments and I don't want to miss anyone. I am also removing the option to have updates automatically posted to my facebook account. Sorry for any inconvenience I am just protecting my family.

Traumatized

Trauma. That is what the doctor is giving for the cause of Lindsey's black eye related to the surgery. We had our post op appointment just 24 hours after the surgery and you could tell she just felt horrible about the black eye. She mentioned that she could count on one hand how many times kids have ended up with a black eye.

Lindsey could care less about the black eye. What is traumatizing for her? They eye and ear drops. When I say she hates them I really mean she hates them. Lindsey doesn't fuss about much of anything so it is equally traumatizing for me to see her cry the moment she spots one of use with the dreaded bottles in our hands. The ear drops are 5 drops 2 times a day for 5 days and the eye drops are 4x a day for 10 days. Geez, I have been counting down the days since the first time we put them in.

Hmmm, maybe I can hide over here and they won't be able to find me.

No she is not on her belly, she is sitting just look at her foot. The girl is flexible and seriously trying to hide.

I am going to have to figure something out to get her and I through this next week of drops. Poor baby shouldn't have to scream and hide.

Surgery was a success

Lindsey's surgery is over, she is home, and everything went well.

We were up early since we had to be there at 6am. You would never know how early we pulled her out of bed with all the smiles she was giving each and every person that talked to her. Here is a picture of her prior to surgery. Her forehead is marked to show that they needed to probe both eyes.

She didn't wince as the nurse took her back. The anesthesiologist did end up doing a full intubation before the surgery. The ENT was first out to see us. It seemed like much longer than anticipated so I figured he must have had quite a bit of cleaning to do once he was in there. The magic word of the day spoken was narrow. Everything was tiny and narrow. He had to switch out the tubes for mini tubes and once he was in there he was cleaning out stuff as thick as glue and jello. Guess she will be hearing much better after that was all removed.
The eyes we were told may take awhile so we knew this. She called us back a little over an hour after the ENT was done. She had 3 problems once she was in. Structure, once again the magic narrow word. Apparently she is as narrow as they get. I could have been massaging until she was 12 and the tear ducts never would have opened. She did the balloon along with the probe because of this. She also found that there was a membrane covering the opening that she removed and the valves were quite stenotic. She found 2 fistulas, one on each side that the ENT will continue to monitor. All in all she thinks everything was a success and Lindsey was a champ. They called us back to recovery right away to see our little snuggle bug. She was happy as can be to curl up and sleep.

A champ for sure, she looks like she put up a fight.

Amazing that we had her home just after 11 and she was down on the floor rolling around and playing like she wasn't just in surgery less than 2 hours ago. She was back eating and napping as usual. They said to expect some drainage from her ear, ear, and nose for the next 48 hours along with some facial swelling from the probe.

Way to go girly! You sure are resilient!

A Princess and her Friend

Skylar's brother had to spend the weekend at the hospital. Poor thing. Anyway, since we are seconds from the hospital I told them to feel free to drop her off for a couple hours. Brooke was more than happy to spend the day playing with her. They always have a good time together. They played with the dollhouse, games, playdoe, dress up, and who knows what else they thought up. I think they both had to so much fun they were spent. Here they are after dinner in their princess dress up costumes asking for a movie.

I'm done napping

Lindsey let me know she woke up from her nap with the usual jibber jabber on the monitor. I went up to her room, opened the door, and this is what I found.

She sat up all by herself!!!

I clapped my hands and laughed so loud I can't believe I didn't wake Brooke up. It was great, I nearly started crying before I realized I needed to run and grab the camera. We have been working hard on this with Lindsey. I was certain she has been able to do it on her own for quite some time but just wouldn't do it. I barely had to place a hand on her hip and up she would go. Stubborn, hmmm wonder where that comes from.

Last Friday Tim took her to PT and she also agreed that Lindsey could easily do it on her own. That same day she sat herself up twice for her Grandma, but nothing since then.

Milestones have become so meaningful with Lindsey. I look at everything, work with everything and I am excited about everything she accomplishes big or small. I am not even sure I know at what age Brooke was when she greeted me sitting up in her crib. I have been saying for a long time, I can't wait till I open her door and find her sitting up in bed or next standing up to say good morning to me. Super job Lindsey, that was the best greeting ever.

Happy Birthday Leah

Last night was Leah's 1st Birthday Party!

She was such a happy little 1 year old at her party

I mean look at all these presents

and cake, who wouldn't be happy?