Just wanted to share this video with all you blogettes. It just cracks me up. Yesterday Maggie got her new Easter dress in the mail from my mom and she just started spinning and jumping on the floor. Tori was laughing so hard that she kept throwing her head back and her arms up and chuckling from her head to her toes. It was just too cute.
You also get to see the Zo-Zo crawling all over the room - so crazy! And my favorite part of the whole thing is the end when Maggie says, "Mom will you get me some water...now?". Ahh, this is my life.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
It's been a long time...
I shouldn'tuh left you - without a dope beat to step to - (Thanks, Timbaland and Aaliyah). Sorry it's been a while since I've written. Last week we went to the beach with my parents, Jeannie, Kelly, their kids and my brother David. Where did all of those people stay, you wonder? Well, in true Sloan fashion we crammed six adults, three kids and three infants in a three bedroom two bath condo at Litchfield. And it actually wasn't that bad! Maggie had such a blast with Watts and Nate, and we had fun cooing at the babies.
Just a few bullet points from the week:
*Zoe is crawling - not just rocking back and forth and rolling around the room, but more like, "Hey, there's a plastic bag that I bet I could get and pull over my head - I'll go get it and see if they notice!". So, needless to say, my life has changed dramatically in a matter of a few days. It's so stinkin cute, though.
*Maggie is swimming - I mean jumping in by herself, going under and swimming, trying new stuff all the time. This is really good since, according to my parents and Ian's mom we have a "death trap" in our backyard at our new house. There's a pond back there and I think they are certain we are going to let the kids run wild into the water. Just kidding - we are going to get a fence soon.
*Tori - what can I say? Three weeks ago when she started her physical, occuptaional and speech therapy she wasn't doing too terribly much except looking adorable. Now she is rocking back and forth on all fours, trying to crawl like Zoe, she babbles ALL the time (she didn't to this at all, really, a week and a half ago). She is eating great, transferring things from one hand to the other, sitting up much better, and she isn't as stiff as she used to be. I just can't believe all the changes. She is really alert and interactive, which does my heart so good. It's just fun to see her growing developmentally. I know these things started happening around the time we started the therapies and I do think that has helped, but I really really think that there are so many people praying for her since we got the diagnosis that I believe that is why she is growing so rapidly. I'm just really grateful.
*Ian - going on a lot of business trips, but at least he has snazzy new luggage to take with him. He's been trying to pull off this whole house purchase and that's no small feat. He is really doing all the work this time, and I gotta say that I am so glad. I just don't think I could handle organizing another thing right now. Our house, by the way, is so super great. I don't have any pics, but it's just perfect for us and we are thrilled. He's a great hubby, and he looks really good in the new jeans I got him.
*Me - I have a babysitter coming over for the afternoon and I seriously cannot wait. Now when you read that last sentence you might think I am going to spend the afternoon with a friend, at Starbuck, at the spa or the beach. No, I'll be going to Publix and Costco and if I'm lucky, the outlets to buy a pair of pants that fit my arse. But I'll be going BY MYSELF and that's worth the highway robbery of babysitting fees today. I got up this morning and knew I just had to get out of here. The girls are sweet and great and nothing's wrong, I just thought I might go crazy if I had to do the whole day again without a break. So, I'm off to make a grocery list and buy diapers in peace.
Just a few bullet points from the week:
*Zoe is crawling - not just rocking back and forth and rolling around the room, but more like, "Hey, there's a plastic bag that I bet I could get and pull over my head - I'll go get it and see if they notice!". So, needless to say, my life has changed dramatically in a matter of a few days. It's so stinkin cute, though.
*Maggie is swimming - I mean jumping in by herself, going under and swimming, trying new stuff all the time. This is really good since, according to my parents and Ian's mom we have a "death trap" in our backyard at our new house. There's a pond back there and I think they are certain we are going to let the kids run wild into the water. Just kidding - we are going to get a fence soon.
*Tori - what can I say? Three weeks ago when she started her physical, occuptaional and speech therapy she wasn't doing too terribly much except looking adorable. Now she is rocking back and forth on all fours, trying to crawl like Zoe, she babbles ALL the time (she didn't to this at all, really, a week and a half ago). She is eating great, transferring things from one hand to the other, sitting up much better, and she isn't as stiff as she used to be. I just can't believe all the changes. She is really alert and interactive, which does my heart so good. It's just fun to see her growing developmentally. I know these things started happening around the time we started the therapies and I do think that has helped, but I really really think that there are so many people praying for her since we got the diagnosis that I believe that is why she is growing so rapidly. I'm just really grateful.
*Ian - going on a lot of business trips, but at least he has snazzy new luggage to take with him. He's been trying to pull off this whole house purchase and that's no small feat. He is really doing all the work this time, and I gotta say that I am so glad. I just don't think I could handle organizing another thing right now. Our house, by the way, is so super great. I don't have any pics, but it's just perfect for us and we are thrilled. He's a great hubby, and he looks really good in the new jeans I got him.
*Me - I have a babysitter coming over for the afternoon and I seriously cannot wait. Now when you read that last sentence you might think I am going to spend the afternoon with a friend, at Starbuck, at the spa or the beach. No, I'll be going to Publix and Costco and if I'm lucky, the outlets to buy a pair of pants that fit my arse. But I'll be going BY MYSELF and that's worth the highway robbery of babysitting fees today. I got up this morning and knew I just had to get out of here. The girls are sweet and great and nothing's wrong, I just thought I might go crazy if I had to do the whole day again without a break. So, I'm off to make a grocery list and buy diapers in peace.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Sugar Shock
OK, so I was a little bitter the other day when I posted my last entry. Sorry about that. I am really not in a terrible place, I was just having an angry moment. Thank you to all of you who commented or called to encourage me!
Anyway, I thought I would update you a bit on our last couple days. Wednesday was Maggie's Valentine's Party at school, which I signed up to put together. It was really fun, but I have to say that as I was making 18 pb&j sandwiches and then cookie cutting them into heart shapes I wondered whether or not we do all this stuff for the kids or for the other grown-ups who will be there. I really loved doing it and getting the food together for the party. I just decided to live with the "less is more" philosophy so my partner in party planning (Stephanie) and I decided we would go with no treat bags. Is that so wrong? I mean, they go home with treats and valentines from everyone in their class...why do they need more crap that's just going to eventually find it's way to Goodwill, or more likely the trash can? So we just had a little lunch and some goodies, we read a book and we played Bingo. It was a fun party.
Valentine's Day around my house is the most busy day of the year for me, I decided. Not only is it the day you are trying to shower your loved ones with cards, candy and love, but it is also Miss Maggie's birthday! Suffice it to say that we have numerous boxes of chocolate, birthday cake, bags of cookies, cupcakes, and leftover strawberry rice krispy treats from her school party...all stacked up on the counter in my kitchen. They're right there just staring square at my belly, ready to be inhaled and virtually taped onto my midsection at any given moment of the day or night. Mag had a great day, though, because Ian's mom is in town and we pretty much let her do whatever she wanted all day (within reason). Then after her nap we blindfolded her, put her in the bumper-van and drove her to the park where a few friends jumped out to surprise her. The reason we did this is because for a couple weeks Maggie has been telling me that she REALLY wants me to throw her a surprise party. I tried to explain that this isn't the way it works, but that didn't seem to matter. So I called a few friends at the last minute and they met us at the park for cake. We took her to Disney a couple weeks ago in place of a party, but I'm a sucker and I wanted her day to be special, so I made it happen. I'm such a good mommy.
To top off this sugar-infested week, we took cupcakes to her class today so we could sing Happy Birthday...for the millionth time. I guess you're only five once, but seriously. It was fun, though.
So these are the pics from this week. I tried hard this morning to start the day in a South Beach kind of way (eggs, cheese, whole wheat toast)...I even went to Starbucks and got a skinny latte. Does that mean that it's going to make me skinny by just drinking it? Once again I fall prey to the Starbucks marketing machine. I did great until dinner, where I ate fries, a chicken sandwich (also fried), and white wine. Then I polished off the chocolate birthday cake with cream cheese icing. I seriously think that's the best thing in the world. If you want to make me circumstantially, momentarily, exceedingly happy, just go buy a chocolate cake mix from the store, a can of icing, and watch me go to work. Mmmmm...you gotta get some, blogettes.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Things that are on my nerves...
It's only been a week since we found out what's going on with Tori, but we've known something was up since she was in the womb. I'm not really ready to delve into the information gathering stage, though I seem to be able to digest one piece at a time. Things are really bugging me right now, though. I am so easily angered - at Maggie, Ian, my belly, bad drivers, whatever. But below are a few things that people say that are really really buggin...
1. "We just have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst" - this little ditty has been floating around ever since they told me at the High Risk doc that Tori was measuring small and might not make it through to birth. One doctor actually talked to us about aborting "Baby B" if it looked like she wasn't going to do well, and if she were endangering the health of "Baby A". What kind of decision is that? Choose one child over the other? How "out of body" to have the word "abortion" even brought up in my pregnancy appointments. So, the hope for the best prepare for the worst saying just doesn't get me anywhere. How can you prepare for the worst? That's like saying, "Just go ahead and try to imagine and feel what it would feel like to have to choose one baby over the other." And now it's like, "Think about what life could possibly be like if Tori is severely mentally handicapped and can't do anything for herself. Go ahead, prepare yourself and feel all those feelings. Now that you've done that, just hope that it doesn't turn out that way." In the meantime, I am a nervous anxious ball on the floor for the next 20 years? I don't think so. NOT helpful.
2. "Oh she's so TINY!" No shiz. I know she's tiny and I know she's adorable and I know she looks like a doll. She really does and she's precious. Normally I bask in the compliments of strangers about my kiddos, but this is just on my nerves right now.
3. "Man, you REALLY had them close together!". Closer than you think, lady. Can't get much closer together than one minute.
I can see myself saying ALL these things to someone else in my situation, so I really shouldn't be dogging them, but I am.
I am trying to cling to Truth -
"They who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint, and their waiting will not be in vain." Isaiah 40:31
"Never will I leave you, nor will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5
"I lift up my eyes unto the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you. He is your shade at your right hand. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm-He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." Psalm 121
Instead of preparing for the worst and hoping for the best, I am trying to choose to prepare for God to show up...hoping for the Lord to be true to His word. He has proven Himself trustworthy.
OK, I feel a little better now.
1. "We just have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst" - this little ditty has been floating around ever since they told me at the High Risk doc that Tori was measuring small and might not make it through to birth. One doctor actually talked to us about aborting "Baby B" if it looked like she wasn't going to do well, and if she were endangering the health of "Baby A". What kind of decision is that? Choose one child over the other? How "out of body" to have the word "abortion" even brought up in my pregnancy appointments. So, the hope for the best prepare for the worst saying just doesn't get me anywhere. How can you prepare for the worst? That's like saying, "Just go ahead and try to imagine and feel what it would feel like to have to choose one baby over the other." And now it's like, "Think about what life could possibly be like if Tori is severely mentally handicapped and can't do anything for herself. Go ahead, prepare yourself and feel all those feelings. Now that you've done that, just hope that it doesn't turn out that way." In the meantime, I am a nervous anxious ball on the floor for the next 20 years? I don't think so. NOT helpful.
2. "Oh she's so TINY!" No shiz. I know she's tiny and I know she's adorable and I know she looks like a doll. She really does and she's precious. Normally I bask in the compliments of strangers about my kiddos, but this is just on my nerves right now.
3. "Man, you REALLY had them close together!". Closer than you think, lady. Can't get much closer together than one minute.
I can see myself saying ALL these things to someone else in my situation, so I really shouldn't be dogging them, but I am.
I am trying to cling to Truth -
"They who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint, and their waiting will not be in vain." Isaiah 40:31
"Never will I leave you, nor will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5
"I lift up my eyes unto the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you. He is your shade at your right hand. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm-He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." Psalm 121
Instead of preparing for the worst and hoping for the best, I am trying to choose to prepare for God to show up...hoping for the Lord to be true to His word. He has proven Himself trustworthy.
OK, I feel a little better now.
Monday, February 11, 2008
What do you want first...
...the good news or the bad news? There seem to be a lot of both these days. I guess the good news because I'm not sure I'm ready to blog about the bad quite yet.
The good news starts a couple weekends ago. My mom, bless her, was in town and she watched the twins for the day so we could take Maggie to Disney for her 5th birthday. Now, I could have stopped that last sentence with"she watched the twins for the day" and that would have been all the good news I needed. I realized as we drove the "bumper-van" down to Orlando that I haven't been away from the girls for one whole day since I had them. For those of you at home, that's roughly 8 and a half months of day in and day out babies! Crazy. I seriously wouldn't trade it for the whole world, but I have to say that it felt mighty fine to get away and visit Mickey. The pics are from the High School Musical "pepper-rally" (as Mag calls it), and as you can see we both got up to learn the dance. Hey, we ARE all in this together, after all. It was a blast.
Now for great news #2: while we were in line to meet and greet the Monsters, Inc. creatures, our realtor called and told us that we were in business for the house we wanted! Yippee! After much finageling (is that a word?) we were able to have the folks accept our offer and we are closing on March 17th. So so so great. We are going to be in a wonderful neighborhood with tons of families and kids and a yard and, well, hard wood floors. Can't ask for more! We are both thrilled.
To top off that wonderful day, we got a call from my oh so sweet friend, Jenn Holbrook, who got us some tickets to see the Heels play ball against FSU the next day. Seriously, I don't know if the weekend could have been any better. I wasn't going to go because I really didn't ask Mom to come down so that I could take off and act like a crazy care-free woman all weekend, but I did go and it was great. Maggie went with us and we drove three hours down, watched the game, met the Heels afterward, and drove straight back. It was so fun to be able to see our beloved Heels play in Fla. And I think they felt the karma from Maggie because she was there and cheering her head off. She made a sign that said, "Go Tarheels, Love, Maggie" and held it up during the whole first half. Our point guard, Ty Lawson, got hurt early in the game and is going to be out for a while. Afterward we got to go back and meet the team and Maggie gave "Mr. Lawson" her sign. So cute, so fun...I don't think I've ever seen Ian so proud.
It was great to have all that going on that weekend - mainly because we both knew that on Wednesday we would be going to the geneticist to find out the results of all of Tori's testing. We did go and see the doctor and thankfully they had all her bloodwork back. They told us, though, that little T has a chromosomal disorder. I don't really know what to say about it yet, except that it's so very rare and there's a LOT we don't know. She is in good health, though, and it looks like she will probably always be pretty small, and her intellect will be affected - we just don't know to what degree. It was a lot to swallow - still swallowing, actually. And I'm not really ready to wax poetic about it, but I did want to let all of you in blogland know the story. At the end of the day, as our pediatrician reminded us, she is still our sweet Tori and we love her to pieces - as we do all our unique little princesses. This is a picture of the three of them engrossed in Baby Einstein, by the way. ....And while we're on the subject, I just realized as I typed Einstein that he totally and completely blows the "i before e except after c" scenario.
So blogettes, there's the latest. It's a lot but there it is. Signing off now to check on my hubby, who has quite a man-cold at the present time.
The good news starts a couple weekends ago. My mom, bless her, was in town and she watched the twins for the day so we could take Maggie to Disney for her 5th birthday. Now, I could have stopped that last sentence with"she watched the twins for the day" and that would have been all the good news I needed. I realized as we drove the "bumper-van" down to Orlando that I haven't been away from the girls for one whole day since I had them. For those of you at home, that's roughly 8 and a half months of day in and day out babies! Crazy. I seriously wouldn't trade it for the whole world, but I have to say that it felt mighty fine to get away and visit Mickey. The pics are from the High School Musical "pepper-rally" (as Mag calls it), and as you can see we both got up to learn the dance. Hey, we ARE all in this together, after all. It was a blast.
Now for great news #2: while we were in line to meet and greet the Monsters, Inc. creatures, our realtor called and told us that we were in business for the house we wanted! Yippee! After much finageling (is that a word?) we were able to have the folks accept our offer and we are closing on March 17th. So so so great. We are going to be in a wonderful neighborhood with tons of families and kids and a yard and, well, hard wood floors. Can't ask for more! We are both thrilled.
To top off that wonderful day, we got a call from my oh so sweet friend, Jenn Holbrook, who got us some tickets to see the Heels play ball against FSU the next day. Seriously, I don't know if the weekend could have been any better. I wasn't going to go because I really didn't ask Mom to come down so that I could take off and act like a crazy care-free woman all weekend, but I did go and it was great. Maggie went with us and we drove three hours down, watched the game, met the Heels afterward, and drove straight back. It was so fun to be able to see our beloved Heels play in Fla. And I think they felt the karma from Maggie because she was there and cheering her head off. She made a sign that said, "Go Tarheels, Love, Maggie" and held it up during the whole first half. Our point guard, Ty Lawson, got hurt early in the game and is going to be out for a while. Afterward we got to go back and meet the team and Maggie gave "Mr. Lawson" her sign. So cute, so fun...I don't think I've ever seen Ian so proud.
It was great to have all that going on that weekend - mainly because we both knew that on Wednesday we would be going to the geneticist to find out the results of all of Tori's testing. We did go and see the doctor and thankfully they had all her bloodwork back. They told us, though, that little T has a chromosomal disorder. I don't really know what to say about it yet, except that it's so very rare and there's a LOT we don't know. She is in good health, though, and it looks like she will probably always be pretty small, and her intellect will be affected - we just don't know to what degree. It was a lot to swallow - still swallowing, actually. And I'm not really ready to wax poetic about it, but I did want to let all of you in blogland know the story. At the end of the day, as our pediatrician reminded us, she is still our sweet Tori and we love her to pieces - as we do all our unique little princesses. This is a picture of the three of them engrossed in Baby Einstein, by the way. ....And while we're on the subject, I just realized as I typed Einstein that he totally and completely blows the "i before e except after c" scenario.
So blogettes, there's the latest. It's a lot but there it is. Signing off now to check on my hubby, who has quite a man-cold at the present time.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Excessive
OK, we've had a WHOLE lot going on around here and I don't feel like blogging about any of it. Too much. Too heavy. I'll get to that another time.
Tonight, though, Maggie and I were watching, you guessed it, Paula Deen on the On Demand channel and all the dishes she made were with cheese. Please tell me you've seen this. It was like the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. I mean I really think she sits around and thinks about how she can fatten up any already fattening recipe. So she makes artichoke dip, cheese straws and cheesecake. Those are all good recipes...fattening, but Southern staples. Then she decides to do the unthinkable - she refrigerated her macaroni and cheese, then cut it in squares, wrapped the squares in BACON, dipped the squares in flour, then eggs, then rolled them in breadcrumbs and...you guessed it...FRIED the mac and cheese. It was even too much for me. I really could barely watch it (as I stuffed chicken enchilada casserole and three chocolate chip cookies in my mouth). And the best part is that she even knows it's excessive as she laughs and chuckles her way toward giving us a heart attack. I love her. I love her show and her food. It's excess at it's best.
Tonight, though, Maggie and I were watching, you guessed it, Paula Deen on the On Demand channel and all the dishes she made were with cheese. Please tell me you've seen this. It was like the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. I mean I really think she sits around and thinks about how she can fatten up any already fattening recipe. So she makes artichoke dip, cheese straws and cheesecake. Those are all good recipes...fattening, but Southern staples. Then she decides to do the unthinkable - she refrigerated her macaroni and cheese, then cut it in squares, wrapped the squares in BACON, dipped the squares in flour, then eggs, then rolled them in breadcrumbs and...you guessed it...FRIED the mac and cheese. It was even too much for me. I really could barely watch it (as I stuffed chicken enchilada casserole and three chocolate chip cookies in my mouth). And the best part is that she even knows it's excessive as she laughs and chuckles her way toward giving us a heart attack. I love her. I love her show and her food. It's excess at it's best.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
And the winner is...
After MUCH consideration and laughter, Mom and Sandy have chosen Lindsey Hancock's "poop on the driveway" story as the Living the Dream winner! Woo-hoo! Way to go Linds!
I must say that I wimped out on choosing because I just couldn't decide! I love you all so much and your stories, both the funny and the sweet, were great to read.
So, Linds, you need to send me your t-shirt size and I'll get it to the fine ladies at "Living the Dream". If y'all haven't been to the site, then go ahead and check it out. It's cute and fun.
I have so much to update on but just can't get 15 minutes to sit down and type. Even now Maggie is telling me that she wants to get on the computer and can she go to Webkins world...not that she's ever been to webkins world, but I think she heard a commercial on radio disney. "Mom, it's www.webkinsworld.com !". Sorry kiddo, we're not starting webkins quite yet!
I must say that I wimped out on choosing because I just couldn't decide! I love you all so much and your stories, both the funny and the sweet, were great to read.
So, Linds, you need to send me your t-shirt size and I'll get it to the fine ladies at "Living the Dream". If y'all haven't been to the site, then go ahead and check it out. It's cute and fun.
I have so much to update on but just can't get 15 minutes to sit down and type. Even now Maggie is telling me that she wants to get on the computer and can she go to Webkins world...not that she's ever been to webkins world, but I think she heard a commercial on radio disney. "Mom, it's www.webkinsworld.com !". Sorry kiddo, we're not starting webkins quite yet!
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