Two much

Whenever we asked Zoe how old she was today, she said "I too much" We would correct her "No, honey, you're two" but she wasn't having any of it "NO! I too much" It is true.

We had a lovely, albeit chaotic, zoo-themed party with tiger and zebra striped balloons, safari animals, a lion cake and lots of popcorn at the pool house in our apartment complex. We were expecting four friends from Zoe's class and two tag-along siblings about Athena's age for a total of eight kids. Turns out the sister of Zoe's classmate had a sleepover last night and the parents brought all the girls to our party adding four unexpected little ones (we knew the girls from school also although they are in the upper class). Luckily, I ordered a dozen of the party favors and souvenir sippy cups, so after some scrambling and rearranging the table we were totally fine and happy to have them.

I planned a list of possible organized activities, for the day. Coloring, crafts and I thought we could play Hullaballoo or Monkey, Monkey, Lion but after one attempt to shout over the noise and get the attention of 12 little ones running around, I gave up and they just had fun bouncing balloons around.

Zoe seemed to like it. But, where her sister loves to be in the limelight, Zoe is not that fond of having too much attention paid to her and she burst into tears when everyone sang "Happy Birthday." Her favorite part was opening presents, of course.

After all the friends had left and the balloons and streamers were cleaned up, the girls came home and threw a pretend birthday party for Athena's horse. They set the table and decorated our living room and made Mimi sing to the stuffed animals. So, I suppose the day made an impression afterall.

Grandaddio made the trip with Grandma Andre, Mimi was running the event and even Auntie Lisa came by and made some important Starbuck's runs. Here's photos from our day...

Zoe Birthday No. 2

We celebrated Zoe's birthday today with a wonderful group of new friends and 12 children from Zoe's school. I'll post all the photos later (blogger photo upload isn't working for me today). Until then here's the video of Zoe bursting into tears while everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her. Poor baby...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Color Me Mine

Another masterpiece in the works.

Who could it be for?

Surgery Day

Our day began at 5:30, we roused Athena from her bed and bundled her in blankets for the short car ride to the surgery center. She was really good waking up so early, waiting in the waiting room and letting the nurses take all her vitals in pre-op. Things took a turn however when the anesthesiologist introduced himself and said that the best thing to do was take her quickly and whisk her to the OR right away. She panicked and clung to Chris. He had to pry her off and she went screaming and reaching for him the whole way through the double doors. It tore my heart out and Chris had to resist an urge to punch the doctor and take her back in his arms. It was a traumatic separation for all three of us.

The surgery lasted about 45 minutes. The funny thing is that last week, Athena had an awful ear infection that actually blew out the tubes in both ears leaving perforations in her eardrums. The ENT patched each ear successfully, no problems at all.

In post-op she was completely stressed out and disoriented. I immediately crawled into her bed with her and held her while she sobbed. The little five year old in the next bed was just waking up coughing and crying after a T&A (tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy) and my heart went out to her. I was very thankful that we were not dealing with that pain on top of her ears. After about a half an hour in recovery we were able to get her to sit up, take of few sips of water and liquid Vicadin and we went home.

She was so out of it when we got her home but Zoe was happy to see her and wanted to jump on her and play. We thought it best to take Zoe away from our little apartment and give Athena some peace, so Mimi and I took her to the store to pick up Athena's prescriptions. By the time we got back, Athena was 100% her normal self. In fact, the difficulty today was trying to get her to stay calm. The doctor prescribed no activity today, but she would not sit still, constantly jumping, laughing, hanging upside and going stir crazy. I intended to keep her home this whole week, but I'm not sure I can contain her.

So, it's all over, it went exceptionally well but it was not fun.

Zoe brought her sister a balloon to make her feel better.

Via Arte

Auntie Mimi arrived today for a visit. We picked her up at the airport and almost immediately went out again to a neighborhood celebration held by the local art museum called "Via Arte." There was music, elaborate chalk drawings and, for a $10 donation, you could create your own sidewalk art. We were all over that!

The girls were very excited about
the package of pastels that we get to keep.

Mimi helped get them started.

Zoe, after scribbling in someone else's square (oops), soon lost
interest and went to go see the belly dancers with her Daddy.

Athena was totally engrossed in her art.

And the final result, a masterpiece.

And another end result...

Then we went home, and after Mimi emptied her suitcase of all the presents she brought from YiaYia and PopPop and herself, the girls played and played and played with her. See, Mimi is like a Mommy, except she will give you horsey rides and hold you upside down by your feet.
The girls wanted nothing to do with Chris or me today. Mimi had to put Zoe down for a nap, Mimi had to change her, Mimi had to give them a bath, put their jammies on, read them a story and brush their teeth. Poor Mimi. Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon and she can relax a little.

Tomorrow is surgery day for Athena. We have to be at the center at 6:15 am, surgery begins at 7:15, lasts for about an hour and depending on recovery we may be home as early as noon. She'll be hurting and tired so we bought the Sleeping Beauty DVD and some princess soup (thanks Aunt Katie).

Zoe will have her Mimi all to herself until we get home.

Going Green

We joined an organic farm membership association that I could not be more excited about! For only $19.95 per week, we get a 100% organic basket of freshly picked fruits and vegetables from local farms. Each week the contents change depending on whats in season. Everything is fresh and grown naturally. This is our first basket of goodies and we got spinach, lettuce, green beans, potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, grapes, onions, peppers and plums. Probably would have spent around $20 buying all these items at a store, maybe a little more for the organic, but I love that it's so fresh and supports the local farms. They also include recipes, meal ideas and information about the benefits of "seasonal eating."

The more I read about non-organic foods the more I resolve to buy organic for my family. Children eat more dairy, fruits and vegetables than adults and their brains and bodies are still developing. The pesticides and chemicals used to make non-organic veggies perfectly round and colorful have been found in the urine of school age children. And don't get me started on the growth hormones, antibiotics and estrogen found in dairy and meat products! I hate to think of all that stuff coursing through my girls' little growing bodies.

There are more chemicals in our food now than ever in history - much more than the food I ate growing up. And people wonder why there is a greater incidence of autism, childhood cancers and obesity? This organic basket represents the way my parents ate as children, local produce from local farmers. And it makes me really happy!

(getting off my soap box now)

Two more weeks!

Just back from the ultrasound and they could not tell me anything. Not the sex of the baby nor if the lip was in tact. Urgh. I thought I would at least get ONE question answered but no, neither. The baby's legs were firmly together and the face was not in a position to see a full frontal view. The doctor did say that judging from the profile from the side and from the top view, he thought everything looked in tact. However, he was not able to say for sure...so he scheduled me to come in again...in two weeks.

Pre-Op

So this is how the conversation went:

"Doctor, I'm having concerns about Athena's adenoid surgery."

"Well, we don't have to do it."

"You mean there is no reason to do it?"

"No. It's completely elective."

"Well, aren't her adenoids swollen and problematic."

"Hmmm. I really can't tell. We'll just keep an eye on them and if they turn out to be a problem then we can decide what to do at a later date."

"Okay."

Well, I wasn't going to insist we do it, now was I? And he did not give me one compelling reason to do it. So forget it! A tympanoplasty in both ears is enough of a surgery to worry about let alone the pain of adenoidectomy recovery, risk of infection and bleeding, etc.

Plus, now she does not have to have blood work done prior to the surgery. I was so dreading that. Last week when I had my blood drawn, I asked the technician how they take blood from a frightened and uncooperative three year old. "We hold them down" was her answer.

So, the adenoids are staying.

Family Day

We had a lovely Sunday and family day today. Our family days have become so precious with Chris working and traveling so much. But not today, no work, no travelling just the four of us together. So we all got up early and went to try out a new church that is in our soon-to-be new neighborhood. We had such high hopes walking in there. Great children's room, friendly people, lovely space. But, unfortunately, the congregation was a bit too...uh..."spirited" for us and the pastor was kind of scary. We'll keep looking and we might give it one more chance because it did have potential. Afterwards we were starving, so a pancake lunch was in order and then a trip to see "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." Chris and the girls have been singing the song "Doo dewt-dewt-dee-dewt...Chihuahua" for a month now so we were all excited to go. This is only the second movie Zoe has ever been to and the first one we had to leave before it finished. Movies seem to hold her attention for about 20 minutes then she wants to run around the theater. Chris and I took turns taking her out to the lobby for short breaks which made the film a bit patchy for us however the storyline was pretty easy to follow. Athena loved it. She wants a chihuahua, by the way, for her birthday (that's your fault, Nana!)

Then we came home and I snapped this picture. Poor Chris must watch the playoffs while having tea and picnics on the floor. Ah, the life of a Daddy with girls.

October!

We've got a few scary slash exciting dates coming up this month.

First of all, Athena is scheduled for surgery on October 13th. She needs to have her ear tubes taken out. When she was just one year old she had ear tube surgery to stop her constant ear infections. They worked like a charm, however did not (like 90% of ear tubes) fall out on their own.

Now that we have a fantastic ped here, I'm realising how inattentive our ped in NY was. She looked in Athena's ears many, many times and said nothing. Our ped here, looked once, sent her to an ENT to clean the impacted wax that was probably affecting her hearing and discovered that one still-in-place ear tube was now embedded in her ear drum. Her ear drum, on one side, has grown around the tube. Fun.

So now she'll need surgery to take out both tubes and do a skin graft on the side where the tube in embedded. It's outpatient, she'll have the surgery in the morning and be home by the afternoon, but it's scary nonetheless.

Also, the ENT wants to take out her adenoids. A "since we're in there and she's under we might as well" kind of approach. Her adenoids are a little bit swollen, hence her snoring, and may obstruct the flow of fluid in her ears causing future ear infections (and more tubes) or they'll just get smaller on their own. I'm still on the fence about this one. On one hand, I don't want her to have another ear tube surgery at a later date and on the other hand, I hate to put her through the pain of recovery for what may be an unnecessary surgery. So, we're still not sure what we're going to do about that. Any friends and family (cousin Laura I'm looking at you) feel free to weigh in.

On a lighter note, we have THE ultrasound scheduled for next Thursday (October 9th). So check back that day, we will hopefully have significant news about whether the baby has a cleft and if we're having a boy or girl. That's going to be a BIG day. I get a little teary just thinking about, but then again, I'm really hormonal. The appointment is not until 4:00 (PST) so you East Coast folks are going to have to wait until evening for news. If you can't wait, call me!

Then, Zoe's 2nd birthday is coming up on October 20th! We're planning a fun event, maybe even a pool party (it's still hot here). Mimi is visiting for the week to help take care of Zoe while Chris and I are with Athena in surgery and she'll also help plan the party. Mimi is the official family event planner. I can't believe my baby is almost two.

And finally, if all goes well, we will close on our house October 31st and move in November 1. We are counting the days as we're done with our little apartment and can't wait to really settle in. Athena speaks longingly of toys and things she had at "my other home" and looks forward to being reunited with her stuff.

That's the latest.

(BTW - the lead photo is apropos of nothing...it's just Athena being a "Super Princess")