It's July Already!!!

We've been staying busy with lots of doctor's appointments and therapy sessions. Raymond's surgery is approaching quickly. Hopefully we will find out when they are going to remove his gallbladder soon. Chris and I were hoping the surgeon could do it at the same time they do the other procedures, but it doesn't look like that' possible. So hopefully a few days before or possibly a few days after.
We had Raymond to the hospital last week because we thought he gallbladder possibly ruptured. Thankfully, it didn't. We do have to keep a close eye on him though. If he has a persistent fever that Tylenol won't help, he might suffer from Choledocholithias. This is a big worry right now. In a nutshell, it's gallstones in the bile ducts. (We know Raymond has at least 8 gallstones.) This can be very painful. The stones can block the neck of the gallbladder causing distention and inflammation (cholecystitis). In the common bile duct it can cause a backing up of the bile into the liver resulting in obstructive jaundice or into the pancreas causing acute pancreaitis. One of the worrying factor's for Chris and I is that Raymond has such a high tolerance for pain. By the time he shows symptoms of pain, it's excruciating for him. Thankfully he's at home and we are able to love and snuggle him until we get this all ironed out.

Since my last post, Chris got a new recliner for Father's Day.

Sophie thinks it's for her.

***
I took Lily for her 4 month check up on Thursday. (She's 4 1/2 months old already!) She is doing fantastic! She weighs 15.2lbs now. I can't believe how much she's like Isabella. Isabella was also a big girl (even though I didn't think so at the time) and hit 20lbs. pretty quickly. Then she stayed 20lbs. for a LONG time. I think that's exactly what Lily is going to do. She is rolling all over the place, both ways, and holds her head up for long periods of time. Dr. P. said most babies don't do that until 7 months. So, again, she's on the same path as Isabella!
I LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! THIS LITTLE FACE!!!!!!!!

This face too...even though it's missing the oxygen!

(We've been having a very hard time keeping it on his face)

Raymond loves reading and flipping through books. I think Chris read him Clifford about 8 times the other night while I made dinner : )

On Saturday we went to Chris' Aunt Anna's house for a picnic/birthday party.

Aunt Anna's Pond

Opening Gifts

The kids were waiting for fireworks.
Jimmy, Isabella, Ashley and Ryan
***

Afterwards we went to the Promenade Shops. Isabella wanted to go into Sweet N' Sassy. We explained to her that we could go in but since we didn't have an appointment she wouldn't be able to get her hair cut. She was disappointed but still wanted to go in and look around. When we went in, the only people there were the three girls working. We thought maybe they were closing early because of the holiday. They explained to us that the store had been dead the entire day. Apparently the same thing happened 4th of July weekend last year. So Isabella got her hair washed and cut after all. She was thrilled!


Afterwards she walked the runway. Normally there are birthday parties going on in the back so she's never been on the stage before. She was delighted, again!

Daddy even walked the runway with her. No, just in case you were wondering, he didn't have his hair cut : )
We spent the rest of the weekend organizing our garage. Not very exciting but very needed. This is what happens to poor Raymond when he is left unattended for any period of time with Isabella.

Grammy and Aunt Anna stopped by. Grammy dropped off the Bumbo seat she bought for Lily off of her Amazon Wishlist. She loves it!

Lily really enjoys sitting up so I wasn't surprised that she liked it so much.

She also loves these musical flowers. She gets so excited and wiggly when she sees them. Too darn cute!!!

Raymond tested it out too.

We set off some fireworks out front to celebrate Independence Day. Then we went outback and made s'mores.

Isabella was still dressed up. She's so silly!

Raymond received his helmet. It's too big. The smallest size was an XS and he is still a little to small for that. At least he'll grow into it. It sure was a pain to get the insurance company to pay for it so we want to keep it as long as possible before we have to ask for another one! (Hopefully we won't need another one.) He sure does look cute in it!


My girls! They are both so sweet. We've been enjoying a lot of time together as a family. That's our favorite thing to do - be together. The 5 of us. 6, if you include Sadie : )


She's a good girl too.


Until Next Time!
Lots of Love,

Sleep Over (1 of 2 New Posts)

My cousin's little girl, Melody, came over for a sleepover this past weekend. She and Isabella play so nicely together. They had a blast. We made "fish" cupcakes for Father's Day. The girls did a great job! While the cupcakes baked we worked on the decoration.

They separated M&M's by color.

Lily watched

Then they put gummy fruit slices on toothpicks for the tails.

Mel told me this was the first time she spread icing on the top of a cupcake. She was a natural.

And presto!

"Fish" Cupcakes!

***

On Father's Day Morning, Lily and Raymond decided that sleeping on Daddy was the best gift of all. Who doesn't want snuggles on Father's Day?

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

Hershey Ronald McDonald House (2 of 2 New Updates)

Raymond, Isabella, Lily and I stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey last week. Raymond was having a procedure done early Wednesday morning to check the integrity of his Nissen. He did very well during the procedure. It probably didn't hurt that there were three very young, very pretty nurses making a fuss over him : )

The one bad thing about the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey is that there are no dead bolts on the doors like in the Philadelphia House. I immediately had to barricade the door so Raymond would not escape. He's fast and sneaky. Haha!

There was a really neat play area at the hospital where we were waiting.It was all hand painted and the ceiling lights were covered with stained glass. Pretty cool!After the procedure, we went back to the Ronald McDonald House to wait for Raymond's next appointment later in the day. We played in the playroom for awhile.

Lily tried desperately to stay awake and watch the fun. She quickly lost that battle. The windows in the playroom were open and we could smell the chocolate from the chocolate factory. Isabella was very happy about that!

The day after Raymond's procedure, his doctor called us with the results. Thankfully the Nissen did not come unraveled. We were really dreading the thought that it had. So they came to the conclusion that Raymond has just outgrown his dose of reflux medication. Then the doctor said but...no buts...they are never followed by good news.

While looking at the study results the doctor found gallstones. I know what you're thinking, "How does a 2 1/2 year old who doesn't eat anything by mouth get gallstones?" That's exactly what I thought too. So now it looks as though Raymond will have to have his gallbladder and appendix removed. We went for an ultrasound at the hospital today to look more closely at the area and it's surroundings. Hopefully we'll get a call tomorrow about that. Raymond was NOT a happy camper for the ultrasound. I, along with two other nurses, had to hold him down while the other nurse preformed the ultrasound. He screamed the entire time. He does not like being held against his will - but then who does? Afterwards we snuggles awhile and that helped. Nothing like a little love from Mama to comfort you!

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

Princess Inspired!

Before we left for West Virginia the other week, Isabella wanted to watch the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog. She has seen it before and likes the music. Inspired, we decided to make New Orleans style Beignets. They are Tiana's specialty in the movie.

So we rolled...

and cut...

and covered them in powdered sugar!

Yum! To celebrate the occasion, Isabella wore her Tiana nightgown. How fitting!

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

OCP

Do you use coupons? Do you get a Sunday paper with coupon inserts? Then listen up because you might be interested in this program.

OCP is a program that allows you to send your expired coupons oversees to our troops and their families. Many military families benefit from this program since military wives/husbands cannot work because they do not know the language where their spouse is stationed. On military bases, families are allowed to use coupons up to 6 month past the printed expiration date. So coupons that you would normally throw away would benefit these families by saving them a few extra dollars at checkout. Your first step is adopting a base. I adopted a Marine base in Iwakuni, Japan. If you are interested click on the OCP logo above to read more.

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

A Visit with Friends (1 of 2 New Posts)

We went to visit my friend Nikki and her family after Raymond's G.I. appointment on Friday. Raymond was happy to see Evan but I'm not sure if he felt the same way. Evan seemed to prefer to play with Isabella. He's used to being around big kids. Even so, Raymond didn't give up! He was going to play with Evan if it took all night! (and it kind of did)

Evan will be two on July 10th.

Isabella helped Nikki's mom pick strawberries from outback. So fun!

Lily was crying which made Lizzy curious. She had to stick her snoot in there to make sure everything was okay!

Evan was babbling to Lily while she was in her seat. He wanted to pick her up so bad! Luckily the seat has straps! I thought it was so sweet.


Until Next Time!
Lots of Love,

Weekend in WV (2 of 2 New Posts)

We went to West Virginia fr the weekend to visit with my brother and his family. We had lots of fun as usual! On the way there, Raymond was trying to give himself a breathing treatment in the car! He used his feet and grabbed it out of his bag.

(No, he can't actually spray it himself.)

While we were on a walk we discovered a large pile of shale and Chris quickly started to look through it for fossils. The kids helped and were so excited every time we found one. There were a lot of shell fossils in the pile.

Lily just watched and looked cute!

The main reason for our trip was to watch Alexander play baseball. He did such a GREAT job! Hopefully he will be able to get his Aunt Erica and Uncle Chris tickets to his MLB games one day : )


Raymond always enjoys playing music with Aunt Lori (a.k.a. his girlfriend - he just loves her!)

Raymond played Pablo to death - literally. When we left poor Pablo no longer worked. New batteries didn't even help. R.I.P. Pablo. You were loved while you lasted.
Grandma was there too!

Thanks for a fun weekend Deverter Family!

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,