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Monday, April 25, 2011

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend! It started out with a playdate on Friday with Mom's friend Gail, her daughter Joni, and her little one Kady. The girls loved showing Kady, who just turned one, how the big girls play! Saturday we had a great visit with Grandma Mimi, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Bryan. And then Sunday was church and lunch with Granna and Grandad. Doesn't get much better than all that!

Dyeing Easter eggs

The Bunny came!



Ready for church in our new dresses from Grandma Mimi







More egg hunting!



Relaxing with Grandad after a dip in the pool

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Let's Hunt Some Eggs!

The girls are ready for Easter and have been hunting some eggs this week! They had a hunt on Sunday after church and today was their school Easter egg hunt. I definitely got a kick out of the "style" of hunting in the girls' classes... they couldn't have been more opposite. Kate's class was like egg hunting in slow motion, with the teachers yelling "pick up the eggs", "put them in your basket", "no, we can't eat the candy." Claire's class lined up and when the teacher yelled "go", the eggs disappeared is seconds. Those kids were professionals!

A funny little Kate moment from this week to share:
Kate is NOT a morning person and is usually a bit of a grump when she first gets up. She is definitely her mother's child! Tommy was trying to entertain her (or probably distract her) while he was getting her dressed and was having her make animal sounds. "What does the cow say?... Moo", "What does the cat say?... Meow", "What does the dog say?... Ruff", and then he snuck in "What does Kate say?" Without missing a beat, she said "Thank you!" At least the good manners are beginning to stick! :)

















Saturday, April 16, 2011

Fighting Texas Aggie Class of '25 & '27

Friday was "Favorite University Gear" day at school and Claire and Kate were decked out in their Aggie finest! I had to snap their picture before we left the house so that I could share. When she got to school, Claire asked her friend Emily where her Aggie skirt was. She just couldn't believe that Emily didn't have any "Aggie clothes" to wear!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be....

Today was "dress like what you want to be when you grow up day" at school. Lately, Claire says she wants to be a "Sugary Chef" (A.K.A Pastry Chef) which made for a very easy dress-up outfit. And I have to say, she looked absolutely precious and got lots of compliments at school! Baking is definitely not my forte, so if it all works out, maybe Claire can teach me a thing or two!





And little sister looked pretty cute today herself!
Guess she wants to be like her sister when she grows up... she wore one of Claire's old outfits!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Spring is Here!

We've put away the sweaty pants (as Claire calls them) and pulled out the shorts and flip-flops! After what seemed like a very long and challenging couple of months, we're all healthy, happy, and home to stay. We've been trying to take full advantage of the beautiful weather and family time has meant hitting the farmers markets, trying out new recipes and grilling outdoors, playing in the back yard, and hitting up the patios at our favorite restaurants (if the girls get their way... sushi). Let's hope the heat holds off and we can enjoy this for a while!

Quick health update - - I finished up 7 weeks of antibiotics and was told by the cardiac surgeon last week that I do NOT need surgery at this time. After 10 days of mentally preparing myself for open heart surgery (based on the recommendation of my cardiologist), this news came as a huge relief!! We are officially in "watch and wait" mode and I go back in 4 months for follow-up and more tests to see how everything looks. I'm feeling great and am glad to be finally getting back to "normal." Disney Dream here we come (May 2011)!

Going to the rodeo to see Sugarland

Bubbles with Grandma Mimi

Big girl on the slide!

Claire's new bike!

Watering Granna's flowers

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A Very Interesting Month

To say the least, the last month has been a very interesting one. Despite my best efforts to act like I've felt "normal" and to continue doing all of the things that need to be done (work, school, weekend activities, etc.), I've been certain that I must be fighting off some type of infection. Fever, chills, muscle aches, cough, and just feeling crummy overall... for over a month. Multiple trips to the doctor/ER and various tests (bloodwork, x-ray, CT scan, spinal tap) all had resulted in a diagnosis of "unspecified virus." After another week of near constant fever, I went back to the doctor again and she decided it was time to get an infectious disease specialist involved. I was admitted to the hospital last Thursday (2/10) and learned that I had bacteria in my bloodstream and that this bacteria likes to infect the valves of the heart. Two different echocardiograms confirmed that I have an infection of my mitral valve (endocarditis) and that the infection has created a small hole in the valve. I have been on two different antibiotics which seem to be doing the trick (fever and cough are gone and energy is coming back). They are supposed to be putting in a PICC line tomorrow (2/16) which will allow me to be able to administer my own IV antibiotics for the next 3 weeks and most importantly, will mean that I can GO HOME! Now that I'm on the medication, I'm actually feeling better than I have in a month. In about 3 or 4 weeks (after I finish my antibiotics), the cardiologist will take another look at my heart and determine if the valve will need to be repaired or whether I can just be monitored (without surgery) going forward. The doctors are hopeful that the infection has responded well and that I will not need surgery.

But enough about me...

The girls are doing great. Thanks to Granna, Grandad, and Aunt Lindsey, Claire has been able to keep up her busy social schedule! Lindsey was able to pinch hit for me this weekend and took Claire to see "Madagascar Live" at the Hobby Center (I had bought tickets to take her for Valentine's Day). Mom took her to a birthday party on Sunday and then make sure that the girls were prepared for their Valentine's parties at school yesterday, so they haven't missed a beat through all of this! I thought I'd share some of the pictures that they took for me over the last few days.

Claire at "Madagascar Live"

Aunt Lindsey & Claire

Ready for the birthday party

Kate at her first school Valentine's Day party

Claire loves cupcakes!

Monday, January 31, 2011

Claire's First Sleepover

Claire had her first sleepover at a friend's house this weekend... Emily's house, of course! The girls have been asking for a while now to spend the night at each other's houses. We decided that it would probably be best for Claire, being the more adventurous one, to be the first to stay away from home. As we expected, she didn't miss us a bit and wasn't even ready to come home the next morning. Sounds like they had a great time... pizza, paperdolls, manicures, movies & popcorn, and then donuts for breakfast to top it off!

My other "big girl" moved from the Toddler class to Early Preschool class at school today. In similar fashion to her big sister, the transition was pretty much a non-event for Kate. Although she's definitely the littlest one in the class, she walks right in like she owns the place!

Claire & Emily - Best Friends!

Playing with paperdolls

Ms. Christine painted their nails

Popcorn & Movies before bedtime

Monday, April 25, 2011

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend! It started out with a playdate on Friday with Mom's friend Gail, her daughter Joni, and her little one Kady. The girls loved showing Kady, who just turned one, how the big girls play! Saturday we had a great visit with Grandma Mimi, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Bryan. And then Sunday was church and lunch with Granna and Grandad. Doesn't get much better than all that!

Dyeing Easter eggs

The Bunny came!



Ready for church in our new dresses from Grandma Mimi







More egg hunting!



Relaxing with Grandad after a dip in the pool

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Let's Hunt Some Eggs!

The girls are ready for Easter and have been hunting some eggs this week! They had a hunt on Sunday after church and today was their school Easter egg hunt. I definitely got a kick out of the "style" of hunting in the girls' classes... they couldn't have been more opposite. Kate's class was like egg hunting in slow motion, with the teachers yelling "pick up the eggs", "put them in your basket", "no, we can't eat the candy." Claire's class lined up and when the teacher yelled "go", the eggs disappeared is seconds. Those kids were professionals!

A funny little Kate moment from this week to share:
Kate is NOT a morning person and is usually a bit of a grump when she first gets up. She is definitely her mother's child! Tommy was trying to entertain her (or probably distract her) while he was getting her dressed and was having her make animal sounds. "What does the cow say?... Moo", "What does the cat say?... Meow", "What does the dog say?... Ruff", and then he snuck in "What does Kate say?" Without missing a beat, she said "Thank you!" At least the good manners are beginning to stick! :)

















Saturday, April 16, 2011

Fighting Texas Aggie Class of '25 & '27

Friday was "Favorite University Gear" day at school and Claire and Kate were decked out in their Aggie finest! I had to snap their picture before we left the house so that I could share. When she got to school, Claire asked her friend Emily where her Aggie skirt was. She just couldn't believe that Emily didn't have any "Aggie clothes" to wear!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be....

Today was "dress like what you want to be when you grow up day" at school. Lately, Claire says she wants to be a "Sugary Chef" (A.K.A Pastry Chef) which made for a very easy dress-up outfit. And I have to say, she looked absolutely precious and got lots of compliments at school! Baking is definitely not my forte, so if it all works out, maybe Claire can teach me a thing or two!





And little sister looked pretty cute today herself!
Guess she wants to be like her sister when she grows up... she wore one of Claire's old outfits!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Spring is Here!

We've put away the sweaty pants (as Claire calls them) and pulled out the shorts and flip-flops! After what seemed like a very long and challenging couple of months, we're all healthy, happy, and home to stay. We've been trying to take full advantage of the beautiful weather and family time has meant hitting the farmers markets, trying out new recipes and grilling outdoors, playing in the back yard, and hitting up the patios at our favorite restaurants (if the girls get their way... sushi). Let's hope the heat holds off and we can enjoy this for a while!

Quick health update - - I finished up 7 weeks of antibiotics and was told by the cardiac surgeon last week that I do NOT need surgery at this time. After 10 days of mentally preparing myself for open heart surgery (based on the recommendation of my cardiologist), this news came as a huge relief!! We are officially in "watch and wait" mode and I go back in 4 months for follow-up and more tests to see how everything looks. I'm feeling great and am glad to be finally getting back to "normal." Disney Dream here we come (May 2011)!

Going to the rodeo to see Sugarland

Bubbles with Grandma Mimi

Big girl on the slide!

Claire's new bike!

Watering Granna's flowers

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A Very Interesting Month

To say the least, the last month has been a very interesting one. Despite my best efforts to act like I've felt "normal" and to continue doing all of the things that need to be done (work, school, weekend activities, etc.), I've been certain that I must be fighting off some type of infection. Fever, chills, muscle aches, cough, and just feeling crummy overall... for over a month. Multiple trips to the doctor/ER and various tests (bloodwork, x-ray, CT scan, spinal tap) all had resulted in a diagnosis of "unspecified virus." After another week of near constant fever, I went back to the doctor again and she decided it was time to get an infectious disease specialist involved. I was admitted to the hospital last Thursday (2/10) and learned that I had bacteria in my bloodstream and that this bacteria likes to infect the valves of the heart. Two different echocardiograms confirmed that I have an infection of my mitral valve (endocarditis) and that the infection has created a small hole in the valve. I have been on two different antibiotics which seem to be doing the trick (fever and cough are gone and energy is coming back). They are supposed to be putting in a PICC line tomorrow (2/16) which will allow me to be able to administer my own IV antibiotics for the next 3 weeks and most importantly, will mean that I can GO HOME! Now that I'm on the medication, I'm actually feeling better than I have in a month. In about 3 or 4 weeks (after I finish my antibiotics), the cardiologist will take another look at my heart and determine if the valve will need to be repaired or whether I can just be monitored (without surgery) going forward. The doctors are hopeful that the infection has responded well and that I will not need surgery.

But enough about me...

The girls are doing great. Thanks to Granna, Grandad, and Aunt Lindsey, Claire has been able to keep up her busy social schedule! Lindsey was able to pinch hit for me this weekend and took Claire to see "Madagascar Live" at the Hobby Center (I had bought tickets to take her for Valentine's Day). Mom took her to a birthday party on Sunday and then make sure that the girls were prepared for their Valentine's parties at school yesterday, so they haven't missed a beat through all of this! I thought I'd share some of the pictures that they took for me over the last few days.

Claire at "Madagascar Live"

Aunt Lindsey & Claire

Ready for the birthday party

Kate at her first school Valentine's Day party

Claire loves cupcakes!

Monday, January 31, 2011

Claire's First Sleepover

Claire had her first sleepover at a friend's house this weekend... Emily's house, of course! The girls have been asking for a while now to spend the night at each other's houses. We decided that it would probably be best for Claire, being the more adventurous one, to be the first to stay away from home. As we expected, she didn't miss us a bit and wasn't even ready to come home the next morning. Sounds like they had a great time... pizza, paperdolls, manicures, movies & popcorn, and then donuts for breakfast to top it off!

My other "big girl" moved from the Toddler class to Early Preschool class at school today. In similar fashion to her big sister, the transition was pretty much a non-event for Kate. Although she's definitely the littlest one in the class, she walks right in like she owns the place!

Claire & Emily - Best Friends!

Playing with paperdolls

Ms. Christine painted their nails

Popcorn & Movies before bedtime