K Life So far...for me.

I'll save Merritt's update for tomorrow.  This one has more pictures anyway!

I volunteered to be Homeroom Mom for Mati Claire's class this year.  Whew! It is fun, but A.LOT. of work!  This week they were learning all about apples and celebrating "Johnny Appleseed's" birthday!  Here are a few things I've made (all new recipes to me) so I thought I'd share!  I  WE are still not used to getting up so early. I get very little sleep between homeroom mom duties, waking up with Merritt  all 3, and then getting up at 5:45am..  I love the weekends and we are looking forward to a holiday... any holiday... really.  MC LOVES Kindergarten!  She comes home and immediately starts "playing school".  As if she didn't get enough the rest of the day!

Johnny Applessed wore a pot for his hat...

This was suppose to be an apple bite dipped in caramel.  I learned quickly that caramel does not stick to apples well (even after dried like the recipe says).  I cut a picture of JA out and glued to a skewer.  Was suppose to resemble him planting his apple trees.  And then I only cut 13 of them... instead of 26.   #tedious

"Apple Cartwheels"  Apples cored, sliced, and stuffed with a mixture containing peanut butter, honey, and mini chocolate chips sans raisins.

"Apple Nachos"  This was delicious!  Sliced raw apples drowned in marshmallow/butter sauce, caramel, chocolate syrup, and mini chocolate chips! Yummm!

Apple cupcakes that I found from Oprah.com.  The actual cupCAKE part was divine!  Will make again!  It was made with applesauce and it tasted sort of like an apple muffin meets cake.  I couldn't decide which "leaf" I liked better.  I used Sour Patch Gummy leaves for half; and I pressed green Tootsie Rolls into a leaf mold for the other half.  And pretzel sticks for the stem.  Sooo cute!

The Sour Patch leaves

The Tootsie Roll leaves

 It is also Clinton's homecoming game this week!  So we've had spirit week and the Homecoming Parade yesterday.  I left Mattox sporting his green/white outfit to represent Vic-Ksb-Urg... Vicksburg Vicksburg!"

"Super Mati Claire" being Mrs. L's helper on Apple Day

"Rock Star Mati Claire"

Allie, Brooke, MC, and Wellsley.  These girls met at Mother's Day out when they were 2!  And they are all in different classes this year but still friends and see each other at ballet!  Sweet girls watching the parade!  Brooke cracks me up!

My little Clinton Arrow.  

He's not a Clinton Arrow YET!  This is for my fella VHS peeps who actually read this - lol!

Update #52391028

I kid.  And I imagine this certainly won't be the last update on sweet Merritt either.  Not a clear picture, but I usually take my favorite pics with my phone with horrible lighting.  But alas...I spend alot of time staring at this face right here:


Good news!  The spots on her face disappeared over night.  We still aren't sure what they were.  But hallelujah they aren't hemangiomas!  The hemangioma on her side is/will get bigger and actually has a blue "bruise" under it now.  Dr. Russell said it wasn't worth putting her through the laser treatments just yet with everything else she has going on.  It will get worse, but unless it is causing a problem, he did not recommend treating it yet.  And it should go away on its own eventually.  

She has a slight case of torticollis.  You can click on the word/link, but its sort of like a prolonged crick in the neck.  Her neck muscles have tightened to where she "prefers" to lay on one side of her head (see pic again).  Even if I roll and prop her on the other side, she will maneuver back to the right side.  So we are suppose to start neck massages and movement techniques to loosen the neck muscles.  I told you she was high maintenance, right?  Youngest person I know who gets neck massages.  Lucky girl.  ;)



She weighs 7 lbs and Dr. Russell was happy with the weight gain!  Keep it up momma.

Bad news is she got her first set of shots.  Poor baby got stuck 4 times!!!! She's been a bit cranky(er) for 2 days.  

Matt took her cardiology records to a new cardiologist FINALLY- so we are waiting to hear what he says.  We imagine he will probably agree/say same thing that the past cardiologist says, but I'm hoping he will take her as a new patient and we can just start dealing with him instead of Dr.I-Have-No-Bedside-Manner. 

And I have made it my mission this week to Clean.My.House.  And I mean C.L.E.A.N. it.  I am doing 1-2 rooms at a time.   While I was in the kitchen, I hear Mattox say "This book? O-tay."  I look up and he is showing Merritt a book and he proceeds to sit down in front of her and starts reading to her.  Be.Still.My.Heart.   I knew it wouldn't last long, so I grabbed my phone as fast as I could and zoomed it into the living room - so it is an AWFUL picture, but one of the sweetest moments!  Mattox is a sweetheart to her.  He is going to be a great big brother!  Don't get me wrong - he certainly lives up to the definition of "little brother" too.  He LOVES to mess with Mati Claire (and most of the time I think its funny because she deserves it).  But if she is at school, he is a sweetheart and a little angel.  Again, horrible quality of a picture, but pure sweetness:

"I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing."  Ezekiel 34:26

Can't Catch a Break

The girl can't catch a break.  My sister and I joke about who got the "worst genes" in the family.  No doubt Merritt wins it in this family.  She's had some recent developments that have nothing to do with the O or her heart.  My heart keeps breaking for her.  And I'm upset because I blame myself even though a thousand doctors will tell me not to.  

We have NOT had these diagnosed or even looked at by her pediatrician yet.  We go next Tues to see Dr. Russell.  But MY opinion is that they are hemangiomas.  AND I know ALL of your reactions.  They are the same as mine.  You say "Ugh" or "gross" or "poor baby" or just cringe when you see them on someone.  They are not pleasant to look at it.  Then again, neither is her tummy.  

The first ones appeared under her arm while she was in the NICU.  We first thought it was a bug bite... then later I thought I had accidentally scratched her with my wedding ring while picking her up.  Then they got worse and more red.  Now they are slightly raised.  I chalked it up to her birthmark and was ok with it...

Well yesterday she woke up after 7 hours of sleep (yep--you read that right: SEVEN straight hours!) and I find these:

Again, thought they were bug bites, but she sleeps with a cap on.  Weird....they haven't gone away and look exactly like the ones under her arm did in the beginning.  There are 7 tiny little red dots across her forehead that all showed up overnight.  Granted, they could be something else, but my gut instinct and the ones under her arm tell me that we will be visiting a plastic surgeon sooner than we think.  After reading about them, it says the vast majority of them completely disappear by age 5 - 10 years old.  Hoping it is what it is. that is. 

I -- of ALL people-- know what its like to have skin lesions and how it can affect you in every way.  I always wonder which kid will wake up with psoriasis...and I blame myself for passing that gene (even though there is only 10% chance of inheriting it).  I don't think its psoriasis in this case, but I know how difficult skin problems can be.   And this breaks my heart that its on her sweet face.

And here's a 2month pic of her belly:

If you see me, and I start to cry again (just when I thought the crying was over), remind me that one day we will all have perfect bodies and we are all perfect in the eyes of God.  I'm having trouble seeing what purpose this new development serves, but I am hanging on to my faith that feels like a mustard seed right now.  

8 week update

The punkin is 8 weeks old today.  That's hard to believe.  She weighs 6 lbs 13.5 oz today.  Thats even weirder.  My 8 week old still doesn't weigh what the other 2 did at birth.  I know - you can't compare apples to oranges... but its still weird.  Weight is a HUGE factor for Miss Merritt.  One of her stitches (that has STILL not dissolved) got caught in her shirt and pulled on a scab...so I found it oozing stuff the other day.  Not good.  Again, hard to believe that skin is still not completely healed. But she has stitches made of steel I think...We had to trim the little needles down because they are sharp.  And here's a belly pic for those of you interested.  The pic makes her belly look bigger than it is (the angle of camera?) and she still has a few stitches/scabs that are hard to see.  This is her first bath too.  They told us to wait til she was completely healed before getting her wet.  She's had a few sponge baths and her hair washed, but this was the first real bath.  

I spy some fat rolls.  Check out those thighs! Yep...sorry dear, you got ya momma's thighs!

And in other news, Mattox will miss his first day of Mother's Day Out tomorrow because he has a double case of conjunctivitis! aka pink eye in both eyes.  grrrr... this mommy needs a "day out" from him.  love him to pieces though.  but was seriously looking forward to meeting his class and teacher (although we know 1 of them already who taught MC).  Maybe Thursday. And Mati Claire's class is passing strep around.  We have been lucky so far.  #ihategerms 

Fun Times Ahead

How I love the kindergarten years!  Mati Claire is loving it!  She is learning so much already and we adore her teacher!  She had her first real homework assignments this week, one of which is an "All About Me" poster.  We could have filled 2 poster boards with all the pictures we wanted to put down.  Obviously I had to do the cutting and arranging, but Mati Claire picked which pictures, the gluing, and accessorizing.  It was one of our favorite assignments because we both love scrapbooking!  It was like a giant scrapbook page!  If its a sign of the year to come, we are very excited!!!