High School Musical on Ice

My friend, Jennifer, had a couple of extra tickets to HSM on Ice and invited us to come. Vivien really enjoyed it! We had fantastic seats!

Enjoying a PB&J. I don't know how much longer until she is the age where she demands a $10 hot dog over lunch from home. I'm glad she is still happy with what I bring! I'm also glad that it doesn't occur to her that she wants a $30 pair of HSM blinking sunglasses either. I sure wasn't going to suggest it!

Troy and Gabriella (not nearly as cute as the ones from the movie).

Frankie and Vivien

Trip to the Zoo with Mommy Jan

Mommy Jan joined us on a trip to the zoo on Monday. We saw penguins, sting rays, lots of birds, and we rode the monorail. We didn't have time to make it to the children's zoo, so we'll have to do that next time.

Easter 2008

We started by decorating eggs last night. This was Vivien's first time to decorate eggs. She really enjoyed it.

Vivien's Easter loot.

Not too sure about this guy. She eventually warmed up to him and let him play with her dollhouse.

This afternoon, we went to Turtle Creek to see the Pooch Parade.

We got sandwiches at Eatzi's, and this is a dramatization of Jim's reaction when he took his first bite. There was an entire cow on this sandwich.

Jim hasn't met a dog that wasn't his friend.

Some guys were giving out Horton Hears a Who promotional ears.

These guys' hats were great.

Vivien kept kissing my belly and talking to it. She whispered, "When you come out, I'm going to hold you."

These bulldogs were dressed as airplanes. They looked awesome!

This is my friend, Anuschka's dog Clover. She is a boxer puppy and she was all tuckered out from all of the excitement.

I thought this was precious.

Vivien decided that she needed to get into the groove.

Happy Birthday Bella Grace

Today would have been Isabella's first Birthday. We didn't explain to Vivien when she passed in October because she had never met her in person and we knew that she was just too young to understand. I asked her today to come with me to buy some balloons to send to Bella in Heaven. She had a few questions, but was still largely confused about what Heaven is and why we can't see her right now. She made this picture to send to Bella and was concerned about whether Bella would get some cake for her Birthday. I told her that God had the best cake ever for her. I was also having a hard time answering questions while choking back tears, which was also a little confusing for Vivien. We miss Bella so much and pray that today was a day of peaceful remembrance for her parents. We are so grateful that God brought her into this world because she touched so many lives and taught us so much.

Egg Hunt

My moms' group had an egg hunt today. We each brought 12 eggs (or more if we wanted our kids to search for more), and then they were dispersed. Loads of kids lined up and the leaders shouted, "On your marks, get set, go!" And everyone ran off in a mad dash! Except for Vivien. She stated to me that she was NOT going to run. The child simply does not like to be in public without a tight grip on my finger. So she sauntered along trying to find eggs. The other children were racing about, but Vivien had no sense of urgency. All of the eggs cleared out and we only had 9 in Vivien's basket (I brought 12). I was a little concerned, but then I saw someone throw some back so we got our last three. Well, it turns out that one of the organizers was looking at the pictures she took and noticed an unidentified man and his children. They had no Easter baskets and no one knew them, but apparently they crashed our egg hunt!!!! Several of our children ended up with fewer eggs than their parents brought. The nerve of some people!!! Here are some pics of Vivien's hunt....







After the egg hunt, we had a potluck lunch and then some time on the playground. When it was time to go, Vivien got mad and started to throw a fit. I walked away from her, so she ran across to me and hit me. In front of everyone. So I grabbed her and squatted down to tell her that she was out of line. But I lost my balance and fell onto the mulch. She then started leaning on me so that I couldn't stand back up. I finally got back up, but my fleece pants were holding on to the mulch for dear life. My friend tried to help me remove some of the mulch from my backside, but it didn't work so well. On the way back to the car, Vivien yelled, "I'M NOT SLEEPY! I'M NOT SLEEPY!" It was a long walk back. She then fell asleep in the car....

20 Week Belly Shot

Tummy Bug and Good News

Jim and Vivien got hit with the icky tummy bug. I'm still hoping that I dodge the bullet on this one. It will be hard, though, since I was up for 38 hours with a fever-riddled pukey girl. But she is all better now (hopefully).

The good news is that I got my blood work results for the Cystic Fibrosis testing back today and I tested negative for being a carrier. So we can scratch that off of the list of possible reasons he had an echogenic bowel in the sonogram. We are still praying that it is not Downs Syndrome, but we really won't know until he is born. The good news is that most of the other physical indicators of Downs Syndrome have checked out okay (he doesn't have extra skin at the back of his head, he has 3 bones in his pinkies, and no masses in his brain). We continue to hope that it was really nothing and that he will be fine. We see the cardiologist in 3 weeks and back to the perinatalogist in 5.

Snow Day and the New Hair Cut

It snowed here yesterday. The snowflakes were the largest I've seen in my 9 years living in Dallas. Here are Vivien and friends making the most of it.






























































































I took Vivien with me to my hair stylist today. Here is her new 'do.

How she took it

We decided to go to dinner and celebrate, and use that time to tell Vivien that her intuition wasn't exactly working. Jim told her and she just kind of stared at us with her mouth open. I thought maybe she didn't understand, but after a minute she said sternly, "I wanted a sister." I told her that we don't always get what we want and that God wanted her to have a brother. We talked about it a little more and I told her she wouldn't have to share her Barbies with him. I told her that she could still love her brother and hold him. She seemed pretty on board with it.

Until this afternoon when she told me the next one can be a sister. I guess we're going to have to schedule another talk about how there will be no "next one."

DGBB is a.......

BOY!!!!!! Sadly, his father is calling him Cecil the Diesel. I assure you, this is not his name.

There were some bright spots (calcifications) in his bowel, so I will be testing tomorrow to see if I'm a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis. Please keep us in your prayers that this is nothing. The perinatalogist is not worried about it, but still thinks I should be tested.

Now we have to break the news to Vivien that she is not having a sister....

North Texas Irish Festival (3/3/08)

We went to the North Texas Irish Festival on Sunday. It was an overcast day, pretty windy, with some drizzle. We had a great time. Vivien was grumpy for the first hour or so since it's normally her nap time. But she finally adjusted and enjoyed herself.