Happy 1st Birthday, Payton & Reagan!!!

Can you believe it??  The girls have turned one!  We decided to throw them a bash that they could be proud of.  I knew that we would have our hands full with chasing around the three kids (along with the 76 adults and 23 children who RSVP'd), so we invested in Rose Alene Photography to help capture all the memories we made.  I must say, it was a smart move.  No one had time to take pictures!! :)

I've uploaded all the pictures to Kodak so that I didn't have to post 118 pictures to the blog.  (I think that would get pretty boring for everyone!  First Birthday Pictures <--- Click here!

We were super lucky that my cousin Jennifer and her daughter Reese and my other cousin Liz and her kids, Erin & Evan were in town and able to join the festivities!!

Reagan's New Chapter

We had an appointment with Dr. Gaebler for Reagan on Monday at RIC in Chicago. The appointment was at 9 AM, so I was a bit worried about traffic, but we made it there with 15 minutes to spare. Reagan slept the whole way there so she was in good spirits, and was making friends in the waiting room. She was smiling at anyone who would look at her, and stare at the others until they would look. That's my girl. ;)

The diagnosis wasn't what we were hoping for, but it could have been much worse. Dr. Gaebler has diagnosed her with CP (Cerebral Palsy). It's a mild case, so that's a plus, and said that she will be running and playing hopscotch by the time she gets to kindergarten, as long as we stay on top of therapy, and get her ankle braces to help her go from sit to stand. She said as it goes right now, she won't be able to stand without the aid of braces.

She explained it to us like this: The brain tells muscles when to move, and when to relax. Right now, Reagan's brain isn't telling her feet, hands, and tongue to relax, ever. So, with the help of therapy and such, we should be able to re-train the brain to do this. I've always noticed she has her tongue out of her mouth, making cute (in my opinion) faces, so that explains a lot. She said there are medications that we can put Reagan on to help her relax if the therapy doesn't help, but right now, she doesn't want to take that route.

So, now we are scheduling an MRI, and doing some blood work to figure out the cause of the CP. We also have to get Reagan into a Neurologist to help with the diagnosis and cause. She gave me a few names, and warned me it would be a 3-6 month waiting period to get into them, also. In the mean time, she gave me a few links to read up on CP. United Cerebral Palsy and Pathways are a few links she directed me to. I was thankful, because I was noticing that there were a lot of legal sites popping up on google when searching for CP.

I spent the majority of my morning on hold with Rush Medical Center attempting to get an appointment. When I told her I was attempting to get into a specific neurologist whom Dr. Gaebler recommended, she told me he wasn't available until Feb 2012. I said I'd have to deal, and I'd make the appointment now and get on a waiting list, calling around for another neurologist in the mean time. Stephanie, the appointment scheduler, said that we'd have to head to the city for the first appointment, to which I responded "I'd drive to Timbuktu if I needed to, just to get the best care for Reagan". She laughed, and said she completely understood, and then miraculously found an appointment for me at the end of November. I know it's still three months away, but that's MUCH better than February of next year!

Obviously, I'm still going to call around to see if I am able to get into anywhere else sooner, but it helps knowing she has an appointment booked.

This is going to be a long road for Reagan, but I'm sure she's going to teach us what hard work and effort can do. As I've said so often, she's so happy and lovable, that we are truly blessed.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Paige!!

Last Sunday, Paige turned three! We had a nice, quiet day at home with Nana, Papa and Auntie Krissy.

Paige was very excited when she woke up and every time the phone rang, she answered it with "Hello ! Today is my birthday!!" :)

Paige and her new octopus ball, as she called it. We saw it at a toy store a few months ago, so we told her she could have it for her birthday.

Paige's new playhouse. (This was actually a gift for all three girls, since their birthdays are six days later) Saying she LOVES it is an understatement!

Shootin' hoops. I must say, she's got better formation than me when shooting!

Checking out the inside!

While I fed the girls lunch, Paige and Daddy did some bonding over painting. Mark clearly took his painting very serious. :)

After breakfast, Nana came over, and we went to see my Aunt Kris, Uncle Norm and their kids at Cantigny Park. Paige had such a great time hanging out with her second and third cousins, and it was really nice to get a chance to see everyone! When we got home, Paige had a present waiting for her from Godfather John, Auntie Marilyn and Rebecca! She LOVED her Edible Arrangement!!

After a nice long nap for all three gals, we woke up and got ready for her birthday party. Here's an attempt at a group photo...Still haven't been too successful, especially since now they all laugh and play together!

Attempt #2...actually, it's more like attempt #45, but whatever. ;)

The best I could get...

Payton - pretty in pink!

Payton was having fun ripping Reagan's bow out. Reagan wasn't a big fan.

Reagan and her balloons.

My birthday girl!

We opened presents, and Paige was having a blast!

Paige starts her dance class in September, so Auntie Krissy picked her up all the necessities!

They worked on their spins.

The birthday girl and her ice cream cake. Per usual, she wouldn't touch it with a 10 ft pole. :) I can't believe she starts pre-school next week!!!

Yorktown with Nana

Saturday, Nana, Paige and I decided to hit Yorktown Mall in attempts to find Paige a party dress for the girls' party. We lucked out, and Nana was also able to find a few birthday presents for Paige (Von Maur is always a savior!!)

Paige decided she wanted to take a ride on the train...

...which last until the door shut, and the train started moving. She was terrified and they needed to let her off. She then proceeded to tell us that she needed to bring a friend next time, and that friend needed to be her friend, DJ. "DJ will ride the train with me, and I won't be alone. I don't want to be alone. I need DJ to calm me down." :) Looks like I'll be chatting with Megan soon to see if I can steal DJ away from her to take him to ride the train!

My favorite brown eyed three year old!!

Zoo Trip

Last Monday, Papa and I took the girls to the zoo. Paige wasn't able to see the monkeys when we went with Vanessa a few weeks prior, so I promised her we'd go back to see them.

Tropic World was the first stop! I sat outside with the girls while Papa and Paige checked out the monkeys.

Payton, happy to be out of the house and back at the zoo!

Reagan was just as happy. :)

Mr. Bear.

Paige was on cloud nine! She was so excited to be back at the zoo, her favorite place to be!

Papa sharing some puffs with the gals before lunch.

When did my little girls grow up!?!?!?!

We spent the majority of our time with the dolphins. They were so active, and Paige loved counting them as they swam by. We're looking forward to another trip to the zoo on Friday!!

Holy Busy, Batman!!

I've been totally slacking on the blog these days. I have 300+ pictures I needed to go through, and actually find the time to then update it. So much has changed in the past two weeks! Paige has mastered her big girl bed, Payton is pulling herself up on everything, Reagan is ALMOST sitting up on her own, and crawling may be around the corner! Along with that, Paige turned 3, and I've been planning the girls' first birthday party...which I can't WAIT until it's finally here. :)

Paige rocking her AWESOME bed head!!

She's so excited to be in her big girl bed! We decided about two weeks ago it was time, and after only one battle, she was hooked. :) She stays in it until we tell her she can come out, which is fine with me!

The girls were excited to see how happy she was!

Payton is doing amazing! She started sitting up on her own about two weeks ago, and now she's pulling herself up on her knees, and totally actually stood up in her crib! She can army crawl with the best of them, and chooses that over real crawling because she's faster. :)

Reagan is putting up with tummy time much better than she used to. She can get on all four, and sit there, but can't quite get into the sitting position on her own. Once she figures it out, she'll be golden. :)

It's All Me.

So, I did it with Paige and I found myself doing it again with the girls. The thought of "people food" terrified me, especially since there are two of them. I was afraid that I'd be looking at one, and the other would choke, or vice versa. I know, ridiculous. I had no problems giving them the little Gerber puffs that they absolutely loved, and I would give them fruit here or there, but for the most part, baby food was the food of choice.

I decided to suck it up and realize that it's time I made my life a lot easier (and cheaper - 42 jars of baby food a week tends to get a bit pricey!!!) Therefore, for breakfast yesterday, I gave the girls some pancake and apples, and they were IN HEAVEN! They knew exactly what they were doing, and chewed just fine. :)

For dinner, we stepped it up a notch, and had green beans, cheese and chicken. All stars!

Reagan going to town on her green beans. I couldn't even get her to look up to take a picture!

Payton was ridiculously happy to be eating food. She's been pretty difficult with baby food lately, probably because she was ready to be done with it.

Paige decided to clean me out of green beans for her afternoon snack. :)

Reagan finishing up her meal with a fresh drink of water. :)

Unfortunately, Mark was out of town in Kansas City, so I had to take a few minutes of video for him. Don't mind the terrible picture, it's a terrible video camera, but it was cheap...so it'll make due until I get a new cell phone with a better video (Sad when a cell phone has a better video camera than an actual video camera!)

A Relaxing Sunday

When I'm not working, Sundays are pretty lay low around here, other than a few walks. Mark tends to get his yard work done, and we usually take a few walks, or take the girls to the store.

Last Sunday, I was lucky enough to enjoy a bit of one-on-one time with Reagan, since she woke up early from her nap. :)

Short nap? Not a problem. Still all smiles!

Reagan's "serious" face. :)

In the first five minutes of both girls being awake, my house was destroyed. Don't you wish Mr. Belevdere was a real person????

Loungin' on Nana.

Payton's toothy grin!

After the girls went to bed, we pulled out the finger paints. You can see by the way Paige is painting, she doesn't like to get her hands dirty. I don't know why we bother stripping her clothes off, she's not going to get anything on them. :)

Papa practicing for the art fair....in the retirement home. :)

When Mark got involved, Paige didn't mind making a few hand prints. But it was quickly bath time afterwards!

Do, Do, Do

Today, after nap time, Payton found Paige HILARIOUS!! I'm not sure what about the "do, do do" that Paige was doing was keeping her giggling, but it definitely made us laugh! Please ignore Paige's hair, she'd just woken up from a nap and came downstairs.... :)

I Can Do It!!!

This has been a very successful week for my confidence. I think I just got to the point of being TIRED of sitting at home, so we decided to venture out as much as possible. It did help that the girls' therapist had to reschedule to 8 am times instead of 11:30, so we were able to venture out after nap time.

Tuesday, Sarah and I took the girls to Yorktown to look for birthday dresses. I found a couple that I liked, but when I brought them home and tried them on, they were just OK. Tuesday night. Mark's mom came to visit! She was in town all week for a school workshop, so she stopped by to say hi! to the girls. We're excited that she and Pete will be back the weekend of the 12th!!

Wednesday, my plan was to take Sarah and the girls shopping to a few boutiques in Glen Ellyn to look for more birthday dresses. Unfortunately, Sarah was feeling so hot, so she had to leave as soon as she came over. I was feeling gutsy, and decided to pack the girls up and head to the stores by myself. I did it! We had so much fun, just the ladies and I, and were able to find (what I think) the dresses that the girls will wear at their party!

I've come to realize I was just terrified of doing it, but I have three kids that are so happy to be out and about, they are very well behaved (the benefit of never leaving the house - they've learned to enjoy it while they can!!)

*********And now, for random pictures********

The girls' playing Heart & Soul...Payton decided she didn't like to play the low part, so she bowed out pretty quickly!

Paige decided to take her place...that didn't last very long, either.

Reagan, my Baby Mozart. :)

**Just a quick update on Reagan, because I know I haven't mentioned much about her lately. She's doing well, still not crawling, still hates her belly (except in the crib), but has recently started spinning to the left when she's on her stomach. Her arms are still very tight, as is her left leg, but there seems to be a bit more movement. She's so unbelievably happy, ESPECIALLY when you sit her at the piano! We head to RIC on the 29th of this month to meet with a physiologist to help figure out what's going on with her, and causing the delays. I try not to talk much about it, because then I start obsessing over it, and it's not healthy for anyone...especially since it's all speculation at this point. I just keep reminding myself how blessed we are to have two, happy, wonderful babies!

Brookfield Zoo

I've had such a busy, successful week (I'll go more into it in the next post), that I thought we would brave it and meet my girlfriend Vanessa and her two daughters at the Brookfield Zoo. I was beyond excited when I saw the weather today was going to be 85 with on and off clouds!

I must say, I received my first sunburn of the season...I don't know if that's awesome, or pathetic! :)

We were planning on meeting there around 10:00 when it opened, so I decided to keep the girls up and put them down for their morning naps in the car. They had a good solid 45 minute nap. All three were AWESOME! They were in the best mood, and never once cried.

All five gals. Four out of five looking at the camera isn't too bad!

First stop (after the bathroom for Paige of course) was the giraffes. You can see Reagan's grin!

Trinity was so cute. She's a solid year older than Paige, and she was such a mother figure. It was so sweet, and she was so helpful.

Trinity attempting to help Paige climb down. :)

Dale.

We had packed our lunches, so we headed to the cafeteria to enjoy lunch. Everyone was having a great time, and luckily, there was enough food for everyone. Someone always wanted what someone else had!

Reagan enjoying her puffs! She was little miss social today, smiling at anyone who would look at her!

Trinity. I love Faith in the background, pointing at Paige's food, wanting a piece of cheese!

Payton did not want to be bothered with pictures, she just wanted her puffs!

After lunch, we went to the Children's zoo, so the girls could check out the goats (Paige's favorite part). Payton, Reagan & Faith sat outside with Vanessa, while Paige and Trinity checked out a few goats.

A nice cleaning.

Discussing their brushing techniques.

1:00 rolled around, and we decided to part ways and head home. The minute the three girls got in the car, they pretty much all passed out. They slept the entire way home, woke up for a bottle (sans Paige, obviously), and all three went back down for naps until 4:30.

It was such a fun day, and so successful, that I'm looking forward to more trips ASAP -- Andria, that means you!!! My confidence level getting out of the house with all three girls is so high right now, I'm ready to take on the world!! :)