Thankful

We had so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  For starters, we were celebrating a non-diagnosis for my sister, Mandy.  She already has Crohn's disease and psoriasis, and they were thinking that she might also have Celiac disease.  However, praise God, the test came back negative!!  I am pretty sure all of the gluten-filled Thanksgiving dishes never tasted so good to her.  :)  We then started Thanksgiving morning with a family tradition - the Grateful Gobbler Walk - a walk they do in downtown Chattanooga every year to benefit the homeless coalition.  We enjoy starting a day of (most likely) overeating with a little exercise, and of course it's a great reminder of how fortunate we really are.  I hope this tradition will also instill a sense of gratefulness in our children by participating each year and talking about why we do it.  We had a wonderful time - Micah slept through most of it, and Cora Leigh enjoyed seeing the water and watching the other people and especially the canine participants!  We also got to enjoy the company of my parents, sister, and niece.

After the walk, we went home to do some cooking and (hopefully) get some rest before a yummy Thanksgiving dinner.  Something magical happened that afternoon - both kids were in their beds napping at the same time!  Jeremy and I were relaxing on the couch, watching television, and we both ended up falling asleep.  I woke up and saw that we had 15 minutes to get ready to leave for Thanksgiving dinner!  Both kids and Jeremy were still asleep.  We woke everyone, and needless to say, we were late, but it was worth it.  We then went to my grandmother's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family.  For the record, no one does Thanksgiving better than Mom's family - the turkey, the dressing (made with homemade corn bread and biscuits), the homemade noodles, the homemade yeast rolls - it is DELICIOUS!  And this year did not disappoint.  We were also blessed to be surrounded by dear family members who we love and cherish.

This Thanksgiving, we were so thankful to God for the plans He has for us that we don't always anticipate or understand.  A few weeks before Thanksgiving, we found out that we are going to have another baby!  To say we were surprised would be an understatement.  I was taking birth control AND I am still exclusively nursing Micah.  The odds of us getting pregnant with those two factors - not good at all.  However, those odds mean nothing when God has a plan for your life.  What a reminder that we are not in control of our lives, no matter how much we try to be!  While we are a little freaked out to have another baby when Micah is only 16 months old, we are so humbled that God would see us as being fit to parent another child.  We also are confident that God has a special plan for this child.  I liked what my doctor said when we went in to see him - an unexpected child does not mean an unwanted child.  Every child is a gift from God - we are truly blessed.  Due date - July 3.

Micah is 8-months and Halloween

Micah had his 8-month birthday on October 28, which was an extra special day because it was also the day we did his baby dedication at church.  It's always fun getting 2 kids ready for church on a Sunday morning, but we really did not need to be late that morning because I was working in the nursery during the Sunday school hour.  The morning ended up being extra memorable because Micah decided to try to crawl down our stairs.  I had left Micah with Jeremy in our bedroom to go brush Cora's teeth on the other side of the house.  Which we were finishing up brushing, I heard this awful sound.  I was afraid it may have been Micah falling down the stairs, so I went running.  In the meantime, I hear Jeremy saying, "Oh, no buddy, I'm so sorry" over and over again, and the screaming began.  It was terrifying.  He looked okay and calmed down fairly quickly.  He did have a knot come up on his head, but by the time we got to church, it had already gone back down.  I spent the car ride to church on the phone with the nurse from our pediatrician's office.  Our nerves were shot.  Thank goodness, Micah never showed any sign of a concussion.  He was just fine.  He was dedicated that morning alongside his baby cousin, Harrison, and big cousin, Hayden.  To make the day even better, my brother and his family also joined the church that day.  SO, bad start to the day - good ending.  :)

We also had a very enjoyable Halloween this year.  Cora Leigh decided that she wanted to be a bee, so I decided to try and make Micah a honey pot costume to go with hers.  We had a fun time celebrating Halloween with family the weekend before, and we went trick or treating with my sister and my brother's family. 

Our little bee in the apple bobbing tub

Hayden made a very cute Foofa

Bobbing for apples

Notice all the chunks missing from the apples.  I think they spent more time eating than bobbing. :)

Micah will be ready next year!

Halloween - she was ready to trick-or-treat! She got her new glasses the day before Halloween.

My little honey pot.  We ended up losing the honey...he wasn't a fan.  :)

Monster Harrison

Eager girls

Trick or treating

Harrison had as much fun as he could stand.  At least he was warm in that costume!

Cora decided she didn't want to trick-or-treat any more.  She just wanted to go home and eat her candy!

Cora Leigh's 3 year check up and eye doctor

On October 10th, we went to Highland Pediatrics for Cora's 3-year check.  This was our first time meeting Cora's new doctor, Dr. Schumate, and it went great!  Cora has a tendency to be very shy with adults, particularly with men.  When we were considering changing her care to a doctor on our side of town (same practice where Micah is established), we were hoping to find a doctor that Cora Leigh would like.  Right now, Dr. Schumate has a resident working with her - a guy.  With him, Cora began to warm up by the time he finished talking to us about everything and looking her over, but it still wasn't great.  As soon as Dr. Schumate came in the room, Cora Leigh was a little chatter box!  She did everything the doctor asked her to do without hiding her face with her hands or clinging to me.  It was great! 

Cora Leigh was 32.25 inches tall and 31 pounds.  They said that she looked very healthy - no concerns there.  The only concern I expressed to the doctor is that sometime over the past year, we had noticed Cora had a little bit of a lazy eye.  They looked at her eyes and had her do some eye exercises.  They also had her do an eye test with a Kindergartener's eye chart.  Apparently, some 3 year olds cannot do it at all, but she did great!  (She is a smart little girl.)  :)  They did notice that her vision in her right eye (the lazy eye) was worse than her left eye.  So, we got a referral to a pediatric ophthalmologist.  Another surprise at her appointment was that she had an ear infection!  As far as I know, Cora Leigh has never had an ear infection.  Apparently, this one was pretty bad, but Cora did not complain at all!  She really enjoyed her 10 days of amoxicillin.  :)

The following Wednesday, October 17th, we went in for Cora Leigh's eye appointment.  I was not looking forward to this for two reasons: 1) a male ophthalmologist and 2) she had to have her eyes dilated.  I wasn't surprised at all when she didn't want to look at the doctor.  He put a sticker on his nose, and managed to get her to look at him.  Cora did not enjoy the dilation either.  She did great with the first drop, because she didn't know what to expect.  They went through a lot of drops to get one in her second eye.  :)  After the doctor looked at her eyes, he confirmed that she did have an "eye turn."  When her right eye drifts, it causes her to have double vision, so in order to see clearly, she essentially turns off her right eye.  That is why her vision is weaker in her right eye.  However, looking at her eyes, her vision should be the same in both - both equally bad.  Poor baby is very farsighted: +5.5.  How she has managed to do so well with such poor vision, I have no idea.  We may have to reteach her the alphabet and numbers when she can see them clearly!  :)  We left the ophthalmologist that day with eye patches to patch over her left eye 2 hours each day to help strengthen her right eye and with a prescription for eyeglasses.

Trying to find glasses for a 3 year old was another challenge.  Obviously, they have to be small and they have to be very durable.  We are so thankful that we have good vision coverage, but we also had to find somewhere that accepted that coverage.  After much research and several phone calls, we ended up finding a place to try.  They did have a pretty good selection of kids' glasses.  When we first arrived, Cora refused to try on anything.  Thankfully, a nice worker found some stickers for her, and after she got her Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty stickers, she was willing to try some.  Then she didn't like anything.  Pair after pair, "those are too big" and "I don't like those!"  Then there was THE PAIR.  They are Lilly Pulitzer wire rimmed glasses that have really shiny blue flowers with some purple accents on the side pieces.  She loved them; she loved that "the blue matches my eyes!"  She wore them the entire time we were going through the ordering process.  She wanted to take them home, but we explained that they were going to make some special lenses to put in them that would help her to see better.  They said we should get them in about 2 weeks.  Until then, she'll continue to see poorly, and we'll use her patches to help strengthen her eye.

She has done wonderfully with the patches.  The first time we put one on (they're like little bandaids), she did not want to wear it.  When we got it on her, she told us that she couldn't see with that eye.  We explained that the patch was going to help that eye be stronger.  Ever since then, she's done great!  She even seems to like to wear it.  Her cousin, Hayden, came over one day when she was wearing it.  When Hayden asked what that was, Cora told her that it was a patch for her eye and that it would make her eye stronger and stronger!  She was very enthusiastic and flexed her arms and shook for a little extra emphasis.  :)  She will ask us if we think her eye is stronger yet.  It's very cute.

While we hate that she is having to struggle with her vision and with the lazy eye, we are still so thankful to have such a happy, healthy child.  We go back to the eye doctor in 6 weeks for an assessment to see how the patches and glasses have helped (but no dilation, thankfully).  Hopefully things will have improved.  Otherwise, we may be looking at surgery in the future.  I cannot wait to see my precious little girl in her glasses and see her face when she can actually SEE things!  Rest assured, we'll take plenty of pictures.  :)
For now, I'll leave you with a picture of Cora in her patch, working on our pumpkin.

 

Micah is 7-months!

Micah turned 7-months old on September 28th!  For his 7-month birthday, his first front, top tooth decided to poke through.  The second one came right after, so he has 4 teeth now!  Micah also started crawling a couple of weeks ago.  Once he figured it out, he was EVERYWHERE!  Somehow he instinctively knows where Mommy doesn't want him to go - the fireplace, the dog/cat bed, under chairs, to the cat/dog toys - and that is where he goes.  We invested in one of those baby play yards, and I will say that was money well spent!  It's nice to be able to leave him in there and know that only age-appropriate toys are within reach.  Cora Leigh likes to play in there with him too!  ...until Micah starts pulling her hair anyway. 

Other things Micah has been up to - he's been eating new baby foods, mostly fruits since we started with veggies at 6-months.  So far, he loves all of the fruits.  The only foods we can't get him to eat are cereal (even the kind with fruit), green beans, and peas.  I was able to find a stage 2 garden vegetable medley that has spinach in it that he likes, so at least he will eat one green!

Micah also pulled up for the first time on October 17th.  He was in his play yard, and he just grabbed on to the side and pulled himself up to standing.  Thankfully, he was able to sit back down without falling over.  It makes me so nervous!  He then pulled up again just a minute later.  This time, he was hanging on to the side of the play yard with just one hand.  We like to think we must have the strongest baby in the world.  :)

Cora Leigh is 3!

On September 16, 2012, Cora Leigh turned 3 years old!  She was SO excited about her birthday, but ended up being sick for her birthday.  She came down with a fever the day before - stayed around 100.  She did not have any other symptoms at the time, but you could definitely tell that she wasn't feeling good.  On the morning of her birthday, she woke up and started crying, saying that her neck hurt.  That was the beginning of the snot and the cough.  I was so disappointed that she was not feeling good and would not be able to go to church on her birthday (which fell on a Sunday).  Thankfully, she did perk up a bit, so we decided to go ahead and have her birthday party and just warn everyone that there were some germs in our house.  Cora ended up having a really good day despite being a little under the weather.  Here are a few pics of her day with family.

Cora Leigh wanted a Winnie the Pooh party - We went with a bee hive and mini bee cupcakes

Me and the birthday girl!

Great Aunt Jo and Aunt Mandy with the boys

Harrison and Micah

Becky and Jeff took a break from moving to join us for the festivities!

Cora and her Great Aunt Reba

The guys

Gift time

Cora Leigh's gift from us - Daddy worked very hard getting this one ready!

She loves to look through the "telescope"

Daddy helping Cora across the monkey bars

Hayden and Cora swinging

Cake time!

One of Cora Leigh's favorite gifts - a remote control car!

Daddy and the birthday girl - love this pic!!

Cora blowing bubbles in her new leggings from Aunt Mandy that she insisted on wearing with her dress.  :)

Unfortunately, the sickness continued to spread.  Micah ended up getting sick a couple of days later.  It was just awful, and then Jeremy was sick.  It was a lot of fun around our house!  I managed not to get what they had, but did end up with a sinus infection about a week after everyone else was finally well.  Tis the season!

Thankfully, we weren't finished celebrating Cora Leigh's birthday.  We had a party for Cora and her friends at the Creative Discovery Museum.  I highly recommend it to other parents!  They take care of everything.  You just have to show up.  You have an hour for the actual party in the reserved room, and then everyone gets admission to the museum for the day.  Cora had an absolute blast!

Cora's special chair!

Cora Leigh and Hayden making birthday crowns

Our princess

Cora Leigh getting her face painted.  We were shocked she let him do it!  She, of course, wanted a cat.

The kids working on their crowns

Blake was a tiger cowboy

Addie chose to be a puppy dog

McKenzie was also a kitty

Cake and ice cream!

Every time Cora would go to the bathroom and see her reflection in the mirror when washing her hands, she would start meowing.  :)

The birthday girl hard at work uncovering fossils

Cora and Hayden looking at the baby dinosaur

Cora in the music area with Aunt Mandy

Learning about pulleys

Cora Leigh trying two hula hoops at once

Cora Leigh LOVED the new exhibit - Play, Build, Climb - upstairs in the Creative Discovery Museum

Daddy helped Cora climb all the way up.  She kept going back for more!

Cora Leigh in the beehive

 There were several kids that ended up not being able to come to the party, but despite that, Cora had a wonderful time!  We are so thankful for those who were able to come and celebrate with us.