Big Events, No Camera

Today, I left the house in a hurry. I was in such a hurry that I walked ran out the door without my camera. I hate that. I like to have it in my bag because you never know when something epic is going to happen. Today was one of those days:( It was a very important day because Aidan was going to go on his very 1st FIELD TRIP!!! To Aidan, the destination wasn’t as exciting as the mode of transportation. His year long dream of riding on a school bus finally came true! That was the 1st thing he told me when I picked him up from school. They went to Young At Art and I got a pretty good report back from his teacher. Fhew!

(So focused doing his homework which he LOVES to do!)

I’m sad that I didn’t get a picture of him in his fieldtrip shirt or on the school bus. I had to drop him off and then rush to our next destination which was Dr. Singer’s office. Big event #2: Arabella’s last ENT visit!!! It was totally bitter sweet but a heck of a lot more sweet than bitter! Just a smidge bitter because it was the last time I would get to say thank you to the amazing doctor that did Aidan’s final surgeries and all of Arabella’s. I feel so blessed to have had one of THE BEST doctors in South Florida for my kids.

Anyway, those were 2 pretty big events that I’m bummed I didn’t have a camera for. Oh well.

I do have this cool picture to share:

We went to Chick-Fil-A last night and there was an amazingly talented lady drawing caricatures! We only had time to get Maya done but we will definitely be back in a couple of weeks to get the other two:D

A Proud Moment

Friday night it was our turn to babysit. We trade off babysitting with 2 other families so that we get two dates with free babysitting and then we babysit once. I love our little arrangement since all of our kids are good friends. Anyway, this past friday night I had a very proud moment. Aidan & Hayden were playing at the train table. Aidan had 1 train and Hayden had the rest (like 6 trains). Kirk came up and said he wanted a train. Aidan said, “Ok, let’s go find you one!” and he proceeded to dig through one of the toy bins where we usually keep the cars & trains. He couldn’t find one so he said, “Let’s go ask Hayden if he’ll share with you. Hayden, can you give Kirk a train?” Hayden got a little upset so I stepped in before it turned into a big fight.

I had been on the other side of the house watching and listening to how Aidan was handling the situation and it made me SO PROUD! He really does try to be a good boy. He has such a good heart and is so thoughtful. I am one proud momma!

3 Year Old Maya

Maya is now 3. How does that make me feel? A little sad, a lot nervous. So far I think that age 3 is the hardest. I shouldn’t complain though because Maya has been such an angel since she was a baby. Definitely my easiest, most laid back kid. I can already see that turning 3 has changed her. I’m up for the challenge so bring it on Maya!!! ;)

As a 3 year old Maya is:

* Becoming extremely assertive. No more getting pushed around by anybody.

*She still LOVES to read books.

*She is really good at puzzles on the Ipad.

*Loves to jump from anything and everything. The higher the better!

*Extremely sensitive to other peoples feelings. If she thinks I’m hurt or sad she immediately asks me if I’m ok. She cries if I cry and is quick to say she is sorry if she thinks she hurt me.

*Loves being a big sister. Lately she’s been wanting to hold Arabella who is almost as big as she is.

*Super active! She loves to run, play & especially climb & jump.

*Makes friends easily.

*Independent. She wants to do everything herself.

* Still very good at entertaining herself which is nice.

*Has not taken a nap in 2 weeks.

*Asks every day to watch Baby Einstein.

*Loves dropping off and picking up Aidan from school.

*Favorite foods: Oatmeal, veggies, yogurt.

*Best Friends: Kirk, Hayden & Hadley, Ella, Lili, Arabella & Aidan

*Favorite toys: Rocks, Cleo (purple dog from “Clifford”), Ipad, Goofy doll from Nana Jackie & Jessie doll from daddy, lip gloss from aunt Julie, Microphone from grandma Baker. She has lots of favorites as of today:D

Maya is so athletic, fearless, strong-willed, thoughtful, giving & LOVING. She has so many wonderful qualities that I adore. She’s so full of sweetness that I can’t help but love my little girl!

Happy 3rd Birthday Maya!!!

Maya’s birthday was on the 22nd but we decided we would keep that a secret from her and celebrate it on Saturday the 24th! She doesn’t know the difference, right? :) We did basically the same thing we did for Aidan’s birthday party, we invited her close friends for some lunch, cupcakes (per Maya’s request), and a great time! For lunch we order pizza.

Even though all of her friends were sitting at the kids tables, Maya did not want to let the cupcakes out of her sight! She was so excited to have a cupcake. She kept asking me if we could sing “happy birthday” to her so that she could have one already.

Can you tell me what’s wrong with these pictures?

I was going crazy, taking tons of pictures before we lit the candle when my friend, Holly, says to me, “Why is there a 2 on her cupcake?” Ummmmm…because mommy is losing her mind!!! Don’t know why I put a 2 on there instead of a 3. I’ll blame it on the lack of sleep.

Problem solved:D

Dreams really do come true…

Let me explain the next part of the party. I’ve always though the idea of a “Candy Bar” at a kids birthday party would be so cool. I imagined in my mind how exciting it would be for all of the little kids to be able to choose from a wide variety, any candy they wanted. I finally decided that it was time to make it happen. I found some little tins at Target and asked my friend, Lucy to print out the kids names on vinyl for me and voila!

And the “Candy Bar”

 

The kids got to go find the tin with their name on it and fill it up!

I don’t know why but when I get an idea in my head of something that would be cool to do, I HAVE to do it! Even if it means a lot of work for me. So, I saw a tutorial of how to make cute little crochet bows and I thought, “That would be a super cute party favor!” So, I got to work.

 

I made them in tons of different colors and every little girl went home with 3.

It was fun, special and memorable. Happy Birthday to my 3 year old big girl, Maya!!!!

Deep Thoughts, By Rich Baker

Today, as we were driving to Bed Bath & Beyond to buy a drink dispenser for Maya’s party tomorrow, Rich said something deep. Funny thing is he totally didn’t mean it in a deep way but I guess I’m just one of those deep thinkers that reads into everything. It was a gorgeous day and all of a sudden, like Florida weather tends to do, it looked like a storm was coming in. I said, “Wow, all of a sudden in got gloomy and cloudy!" And Rich, in all of his wisdom said, “Yeah, but look beyond it. It’s beautiful.”

I don’t know why this struck me the way it did. It just got me thinking-not that I’m going through anything right now. I started thinking about how true that is. When we are in the midst of “clouds & gloominess” it’s so hard to see that beyond it, it is bright and beautiful. It’s even more beautiful that it was before because we see the world through with a heart filled with gratitude. At least I know that this has been so true for me. The “gloom” makes me SO grateful for the “sunshine”. The difficult part is seeing it while in the midst of a trial. I hope that I can have more faith and look beyond my struggles to the bright sunshine that awaits.

A Walk

Today, the kids and I were left to fend for ourselves while Rich finished his scuba certification. I don’t particularly like spending Saturday’s without him but we tried to make the best of it. Some friends invited us to join them for a fun day at the beach but I knew better than to torture myself by going to the beach with all 3 kids and no Rich. I had to pass on that:( Instead they took long baths and went for a walk.

 

(Maya giving baby sister a kiss. Of course I had to tell her to do it;)

 

They grow up so fast. I cant believe that Aidan is 4, Maya will be 3 next week and then Arabella will no longer be1!!!! Time sure does fly.

Poor Baby Girl:(

I feel so bad for Arabella. She really has had a rough couple of days. I can tell that she is in a lot of pain because she has been so cranky and fussy. I finally decided to take the tape off of her incision yesterday after her nap and it made me so sad:( The incision is about 2 inches long.

(You can kind of see the bruising that has faded in the picture above)

Today is the best she has been. I know she must be feeling better but she still has her moments. Can’t blame her. I think I would be pretty grouchy if my neck looked like this.

It looks like it is going to heal pretty well. Not quite as perfectly smooth as I had hoped but it’s a lot better than it was.

Random but cute pic of my girls sharing a cup of water.

Not So Good After All:(

I thought that Arabella was doing abnormally well for having just had surgery, but that was all too good to be true:( Day 1 was ok but it was day 2, after all of the meds that they gave her in the hospital wore off, that she started to really fuss. We are now on day 3 and she doesn’t seem to be getting much better. She gets really cranky when the tylenol wears off and I can tell that she is in pain. To top it off, it seems like she caught something. Her voice is really hoarse and she has a runny nose. So, now not only does she have to deal with the pain of the surgery but she is also dealing with the discomfort of being sick. I will say that given her circumstances she is handling it all like a real champ. My heart just aches when I hear her whimpering because of the pain she is feeling. Hopefully she will get better within the next couple of days.

Arabella’s Stoma Surgery

What a day! I am exhausted and grateful. Arabella had her final trach related surgery ever, today. What a relief to close that chapter in her life. Although I will say that caring for a trach baby was so much less stressful the 2nd time than the 1st time. I was able to relax a bit more because I had all of the experience from Aidan and I knew what to expect. I also noticed that the night before the surgery I was a ball of nerves but when it came time to send her back for the surgery I was completely at ease. That was a 1st for me. It only took a good 15-20 surgeries for me to get to that point!

This was the quickest, smoothest procedure ever. It was so quick that I barely had a chance to take pics or video. Here are a few from our morning.

5:45 am~ Arrived at Joe Dimaggio Children’s Hospital

6:45 am~ Killin’ time playing with some toys.

Pretty much every single nurse and doctor asked what happened to her cheek. It’s a mosquito bite.

7:30 am~ Starting to feel the affects of the medication. She was so cute. When she started getting really loopy she giggled and giggled. Then, she became super affectionate, kissing me on the cheek over and over. Then, she got grouchy and irritable and was insisting that I put her down even though her body was almost totally limp from the medicine. All this happened in like 5 minutes.

(I look as tired as I felt:)

Here’s a short video of her starting to get grouchy. It was super short because she kept trying to get the camera.

7:40 am~ Off to the operating room. Got to give her a kiss before she rolled away.

8:35 am~ Out of surgery. When I went back to the recovery room a nurse was holding her and Arabella was screaming and kicking. A very common reaction to coming out of the anesthesia. The second the nurse handed her to me I snuggled her and she was out within seconds.

Sweet baby girl was such a trooper. She chugged her apple juice at 9:30 and at 9:40 she was discharged. I was blown away at how fast everything was. We were home by 10:00!! That has never happened before. The doctor did give me the option of staying over night and I quickly declined that offer:)

Arabella is doing so great. She bounced back ridiculously fast. She threw up a couple of times and then was ready to eat, run and play!

Happy just poppin’ her cheerios!

We are so happy with how well everything went today. We are hoping that her neck will heal quickly, without any infections. Soon you will not even be able to tell that she ever had a trach. Can’t wait to see how good it looks!