Happy Saturday

Slides

 Bounce Houses

 Wagon Rides

 and fries

Sounds like a perfect Saturday to me :)

Heritage Festival

Its is an annual tradition for the kids to attend the Avon Heritage Festival with Nana at the library.

They always have a blast and are full of exciting adventures.

First stop, big trikes :)

 Racing.... with Cooper in the lead

 Next stop, animal tattoos.
Can you guess what animals they selected :)

Cooper loved showing off his ROAR the rest of the day

 Hopscotching together

 Then stopping to milk the artificial cow

 They had to stop to pet the pony before heading to the next station

 CORN

 Silly faces

 Then inside for a craft- they love to paint

 All of that fun sure made them hungry- hotdogs, chips and water for all :)

Thanks Nana for another great year at the festival.

Looking for a Snack

When you don't have the words to ask for what you want...

You ask to be picked up to find it for himself.

Good News Bad News

An update on Lillian.

The background:

For many months (and what has felt like forever) Lillian has been dealing with lots of tummy issues.
After working for some time with her regular pediatrician and treating obvious causes- acid reflux and dietary restrictions (a non irritating diet) to no avail we were recommended to a specialist at the local children's hospital in July.

Lillian was diagnosed with acid reflux and irritable bowel syndrome and began taken Prevacid twice a day and another medicine to treat the IBS (the second medicine was to help with stomach spasms). Unfortunately we were not seeing any relief in her symptoms, as well as, seeing increased side affects from the second medicine (we knew it was not the Prevacid as we had been on it for some time with no issue).

It was finally decided that an upper GI scope would be necessary and to schedule it for the near future.


Fast forward to today:

Today was the day of Lillian's scope.
We chose to limit the amount of information Lillian knew about this out patient procedure (she knew she would see her specialist, at the hospital and that they would be taking pictures of her stomach). Her biggest concern was the fact that she could not eat or drink anything on the day of the procedure.

Madison left for school. Cooper was dropped off with Papa (who would later take him to preschool) and away we left to take Lillian to her appointment.

Here are a few pictures to highlight her adventures:

Showing Mo how to breathe in her mask
Isn't she adorable in her scrubs :)

 Showing us how to breathe in her mask- she got to pick what flavor she wanted the mask to smell like. She chose bubble gum and strawberry.

 She was able to decorate her mask with some stickers- Doc McStuffins and Sophia the first would keep her safe.

 Snuggling with Mama in the chair while we waited- we were enjoying reading a highlights magazine.

The procedure took 45 plus time in recovery (she only took about 15 minutes in there before she was back to us). While she was in recovery, her specialist came to speak with us.

Good news: EVERYTHING looked healthy. We saw pictures of her esophagus, stomach and small intestines. All looked as expected.

Bad news (which really is not all that bad): We did not receive any definitive answers as to what is causing Lillian's stomach pain.

Here she is just out of recovery- happy as a clam and glad to be back with Mama
(She HATED the IV in her arm and was very glad to have it removed).

Next steps:
We will return for a follow up appointment with her specialist in 6 weeks.
We received a new medicine for her irritable bowel syndrome that she will take at the time her stomach hurts.
At this time, her diagnosis is Irritable Bowel Syndrome to be treated with the continued diet restrictions and her medicine.

Initially I was upset, I had placed high hopes that the scope would definitively reveal what is causing my baby so much pain (and it still can as all areas were biopsied and we will have the results in about a week). But through some much needed quiet time (and the relief that the procedure is behind us and Lillian is ok) I realized that we do have answers and everything is a step forward.

We are blessed to have doctors and specialists watching over Lillian's care. We are blessed to know what it is not and the relief that it is not something worse or bigger then expected. And we are blessed that today was a good day- full of smiles and new experiences, carried and comforted by the Great Physician.

Thank you dear friends and family for praying with us on this journey- just another blessing of our day.

Play Space

Here is Cooper's new favorite place to play (and hide toys).

I love his creativity- playing between the curtain and the glass door, very original.

Legos

Cooper has discovered Legos and the hours of enjoyment that come with.

So Cooper builds and Mama sews... WIN WIN :)

Life's Necessities

A boy, a lolli, and his blanket.

It does not get better then this.

Labor Day Fun

Uncle Caleb and Aunt Susanne flew up to spend Labor Day weekend with us.

We had lots of yummy food, pool time and a few adventures, including a trip to the park.

First stop, the swings :)

 Then a little bit a football before the the rain started

 Watch out NFL- this might be your next rookie :)

They made it home just in time to beat the rain.

Go Karts

Labor Day Fun....

Getting ready for Go Karting.
Cooper LOVED the helmet

 It was quite humorous to watch him stumble around with his helmet it. It was really heavy.

 Daddy (#8) and Uncle Caleb (#4) racing at the Go kart track

 Well done, Daddy- he was the winner of the first heat.

 Race Car Driver Lillian striking a pose

 And another pose :)

 Cheering on their Daddy and Uncle (Daddy's in the lead)

 Taking a break- 8 minutes is a long time to wait for the race to be done.

 And the winner is... Uncle Caleb

Until the next race