This little cutie-pie deserved some CUTE shots to be posted here. I'm still feeling a twinge of guilt from posting her post-haircut-trauma! :)
She was so smiley this day, saying "teeze" for the camera, I got a TON of cute pictures -HAD to share!Usually at some point during the week, Lance changes shift from grave to swing the next day. When he has these nights off, it's par-tay-time at home. Since we had a sniff of spring yesterday, we all went outside and had a burger cook-out.
*No cook-out is good without marshmallows.
Ella's weary pony-tail is struggling!
Here's the token Becca-self-shot. :)
Le Chef!
Mia enjoyed herself tasting the local flavor -including rocks, mud, and even a bit of pavement.
Rach and I have been planning a SUPER exciting Easter-Egg Extravaganza (notice a trend of my family’s “extravaganzas” –we love ‘em!) for the little kiddos this Saturday. I’m excited to see Mia zoom around look for eggs and candy. Ella is older than all her cousins from my side, so she’s probably going with Lance to one of his work friend’s houses for a hunt with some kids closer to her age. It’s going to be a fun day! I LOVE spending time with the family, and since Easter is such a beautiful and fun occasion, why not get the kids involved and create some fun traditions for them? 
I love Easter. It’s so beloved and important. Being a Christian is a beautiful thing to me. We have a book at our house that explains the true meaning of Easter to little children, how the eggs and bunnies, etc. are fun, but it’s truly all about God’s Son. I am beyond grateful to my parents for raising me in a home where Christ is the center. My personal relationship with the Savior is so precious; it’s the MOST important thing I can hope to instill in my own children. If I have given them the foundation to create this relationship for themselves, then I am a successful parent.
It is time we SPREAD THE WORD TO END THE WORD!Well, after a rough battle with medications and rapidly deteriorating eye-sight, Mom had an MRI. They found a walnut-sized tumor on her pituitary gland, which has been pressing on her optical nerve. Her carotid artery is mixed in somehow, making everything a bit tougher to fix (it wouldn’t be Mom’s body if it was easy). So, after seeing specialists and now the surgeon, she’s facing surgery in the near future. The longer the wait, the scarier it gets.
Recently Mom took a spill in front of her house and I watched her go down –almost in slow motion. I was at least 15 feet away from her, so it wasn’t possible to run to catch her somehow, but just watching her fall like that was VERY disturbing to me. Okay, now I’m pregnant, so everything is a BIGGER deal than it might have actually been, but it was absolutely terrifying. I had the quick vision of mom going down and not coming back up. The fall was quite bad, and Mom was really banged up –her eyes were so bad, she couldn’t tell if the huge cut on her arm was deep enough to go to the ER… It was the next day they found this tumor.
For Mom, it’s rather validating to have a REASON for all the irritability and the “need” for medicine changes, and the vision impairment. Regardless, it’s not going to be an easy road. Nothing about my Mom’s health history isn’t scary, but brain surgery makes me edgy.
I’m not going to make any “final thoughts” here on how much I admire and adore this woman. I will simply say; Mom, I love you, and I have faith that everything is going to be okay. 
| Thanks for this uplifting one, Peggy! I love it! Your Personality Is Like Heroin |
 You're capable of the highest highs and the lowest lows. Addicted to feeling good, you'll do almost anything to avoid pain. People seek you out, even though you can be quite moody. They're hooked on you! At your best: You are euphoric, stress free, and a little sleepy. What people like about being around you: They're not exactly sure, but they can't get enough about you. What people dislike about being around you: When you finally leave, they go some pretty serious withdrawal. How addicted people get to you: Very... you're quite dangerous. |
My little Mia-Mushroom desperately needed a fix-em-up in the hair department after Lance had the bangs chopped ("at least it's out of her eyes"). Uhhhhhh.
So we took a little tripsy to the most wonderful hair-genius in the WORLD, Lori! Lori has been doing my hair for a little while now (THANK YOU JAMI FOR THE REFERRAL!) and she's amazingly talented. She's got such a darling personality too, I told her she can never stop doing her job! 
Ella was SO good in the chair -a natural! Once she's my age, she'll never know her natural hair color again either! :) 
The whole experience was a bit traumatic for Mia-babes. She cried and cried and cried! When I took her off the chair, she was still miffed with me, but was working through it.
(heh)
We were in a hurry to get out of there since Mia was so edgy, so I didn't get a good shot of Ella's cut. I took it this morning. How lovely is she?! 
On Monday I ventured out in the snow to drive my Milly-Kisses to Primary Children's Hospital. Ella (being VERY smart) didn't want to go, so she stayed with her Aunt Candace and played with Chaston (Chazzy-bear) all day. *Thanks Candace & Scotty!
We arrived a little early, but considering the wet baby pants (won't say anymore on that) the timing worked out well. Dr. Foster gave her a looksie. She checked out her hands, her tummy, her eyes, her ears, etc. I spoke with her about Mia's habits and what she eats and drinks, etc.
Dr. Foster was VERY understanding about Mia, as she sees kids like this all the time. Lance and I have (of course) been concerned about her due to her size. She (the Doctor) said that she has a group of kids in the same boat. These are just big kids. She virtually ruled out any thyroid issue because she's proportionately (relatively) tall -which is why our family Doctor hasn't been overly concerned.
We are supposed to have a lot of labs run, we didn't get them run there due to the type they need, so I'll have to have it done as soon as I can here. This is mainly to eliminate other possibilities, but, that's about it.
In the meantime, we'll be working with a dietician to tweak what she eats in order to slow some of her gain. I've been at a loss between skim milk and no juice, and lots of natural foods, but I'll take what help I can get in order to ensure this baby's health.An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class. The majority of the class had insisted that socialism was a better system as no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism.
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too; so they studied little. The second Test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for anyone else.
All failed to their great surprise and the professor told them that socialism would ultimately fail because the harder to succeed the greater the reward but when a government takes all the reward away; no one will try or succeed.
*A way to live. I'm proud to be an American.
