Molly's Home

Molly was finally released from the hospital on Saturday afternoon. It only took about 5 hours from the time we were told we were going to be released until we actually got signed out and released. Molly seems to be feeling much better. It took a bit of time for her and McKenzie to become reacquainted with each other. They don't like sharing. I think they have spent too much time as only children over the last week. I'm sure that will get better soon.

Now for some other updates we had been meaning to make. Both Molly and McKenzie have had their first haircuts. McKenzie had what Lindsey called "her wispys" cut just before Christmas. Her are a few pictures of the process.

Before we begin and we're not sure we like it.

Partway through...still not sure.

After we're done with our stylist Aunt Liza

Molly has been blessed with a mullet: business up front and party in the back. For some reason, her mother didn't like this very much. So, Molly got her hair cut as well. Here are some pictures and a video!

Before we begin

This isn't so bad...

Oops...we were wrong

And a video of the event...

And that's it for now.

Molly's Fun and Games

It has been quite a week for the girls. Starting on Friday night, McKenzie started coughing and had a runny nose. By Saturday, she had a fever. We started the Motrin and tylenol and laid low for a few days. Skipped church on Sunday. By Monday, we decided it would be best to take the girls to see Dr. Jeanie.

A blood test confirmed that McKenzie had RSV. At that time, Molly had no fever and no congestion in her lungs. RSV is quite contagious so there was never really any doubt that Molly would come down with it. Boy, did she ever...

On Tuesday, both girls were coughing and running fevers. By late in the evening, Molly started breathing pretty hard. After calling our pediatrician's after hours call service, Lindsey took Molly to the PM Pediatrics office in Hixson. I don't think we'll be going back to this particular office. They can't do much of anything. If you need blood work, an x-ray, etc they'll send you out to Hamilton Place.

So, they got sent to Hamilton Place. They took an x-ray and started monitoring her oxygen levels. Apparently, Molly couldn't keep her oxygen up. Due to their crazy office policies, since her oxygen level was less than 93%, they called an ambulance to transport Molly to the hospital. That's crazy...

So, Molly got to go to the hospital in an ambulance. Lindsey rode with her. First time for both of them. Yay.

We all got to the ER pretty close to the same time, around 9:45. Unfortunately, we would spend a lot more time in the ER. The doctor made it in to see us at some point. We did a breathing treatment and had some more tylenol. Molly's temperature was spiking at 104.7. We watched Cheers and Golden Girls for a few hours. At some point, we realized that we were the only people in our half of the ER. By now, it was 1:30 or 2 in the morning.

I finally left the hospital just before 3am. I had left my mom at home with McKenzie and we really needed to get back to them. Molly was finally admitted to a room at 5:15. For some reason, 17 people were admitted overnight. We were number 14. Yay.

Molly finally received the antibiotics that the ER doctor recommended at midnight at 1:30PM; only 13 hours later. They also confirmed that Molly had RSV with double pneumonia as well.

So, they continue to give her antibiotics and tylenol. Tonight is her 2nd "official" night in the hospital; the 3rd if you count the night in the ER. She has now spent more time in the hospital than McKenzie did after BRAIN SURGERY. Seriously? Yeah.

Ok, so now I'm getting snippy because it's late. Here are 2 pictures of Molly we took tonight in order to document the whole experience.

Up and about for the first time in a few days:

Relaxing and watching a bunch of TV:

So, that's it. Hopefully we'll be coming home tomorrow. Hopefully...

Post Christmas Updates!

When we last left off, we were a few days away from Christmas. Here is what has happened since then.

We got the results of Molly's allergy test back. The blood test showed that Molly had a level 1 (out of 6) reaction to milk. Everything else came back negative. Since she had the reaction, we were referred on to an allergist. We got an appointment with the allergist the very next day. We went and had a skin test for milk. There was no reaction.

Basically, the allergist said that she doesn't have a milk allergy but a milk intolerance. Apparently though it doesn't take a great deal of milk to trigger the bad reaction. We're in a trial and error period where we are gradually reintroducing some milk stuff and seeing what happens. Yogurt is not a problem but we haven't gone and started cheese or whole milk yet. Might not happen for a while.

Here's a picture of our Christmas tree this year.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the 5pm service at Hixson UMC. After the service was over, my parents came over and we had shrimp gumbo. Before the girls went to bed, we did the traditional Christmas Eve stuff.

Here's a picture of the family.

Here is a picture of just the girls in their Christmas dresses...

We also hung stockings by the chimney with care...

The last step was to read the Night Before Christmas. It ended up being a family affair with my parents there with us and John and Sue joining in via Skype video chat on the computer. The girls were much more active and squirmy compared to last year.

Christmas morning came.

The girls seemed to enjoy going through their different gifts. I don't think they "get it" yet but that's coming soon enough.

After we wrapped things up at home, we went over to my parents house. Here are some pictures of the girls and their grandparents.

McKenzie and her favorite toy...

The day after Christmas, we loaded up and headed to Maryville. We had a lot of family fun over the next 3 days. First, we went to Fred and Cynthia's house and had "Fajitas Navidad". On Sunday there was a family brunch at Billy and Emmy's. Late that night, McKenzie decided to cut some new teeth. We were up with her from 11pm til 2am and again at 5am. Fun times were had by all...

The girls got some more new toys to play with. First was a small couch that they can both sit on and share. Here they are doing what they typically do: climbing on the couch.

And finally, a riding toy that also doubles as a walker. Here the girls are sharing.

After Christmas, Lindsey had the rest of the week off. The girls went to stay with Gigi and G-Daddy for New Year's Eve while Lindsey and I had our Sunday School Christmas party. I'm not sure who went to bed first, the girls or the grandparents.

The girls started back at their parents day out program this past week. Molly and McKenzie moved up to the 1 year old class. We tried this once before Christmas but the girls didn't do so well. There were a lot of older kids in there and the girls didn't handle the transition well. Now, most of the older kids moved up to the next class.

Amazingly, both of the girls have transitioned pretty well. They are both able to take a nap on a mat on the floor. We might have cheated a little by sending their lovies and pacifiers but really, whatever works.

So, that's it for now. We keep rocking right along...

Post Thanksgiving Update

Another month has slipped by so I guess it's time for an update on the family.

We started our Thanksgiving holiday by traveling to Maryville to be with Lindsey's family on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday was the typical cabin luncheon with only about 65 family members this year and then a journey into Knoxville to Fred and Cynthia's house so I could FINALLY get some bread and some mashed potatoes. I don't know what is up with people who don't think bread and mashed potatoes are part of a Thanksgiving dinner. Thank God for Cynthia! She loves me!

Here are some pictures of the girls bundled up and playing in the leaves at the cabin.

On Friday, we had a birthday celebration for Molly, McKenzie, John, and Lew. The girls got to eat some delicious cupcakes. Once again, Molly tore into hers like there was no tomorrow.

McKenzie though prefers to keep her hands clean. Therefore, she just went into the thing face first...at least until all the icing was gone.

We returned home on Saturday and had another Thanksgiving lunch with my family. Then it was time to rest...

On Monday, the girls had their one year checkup with the doctor. We were supposed to get shots but neither girl was well enough for them. Isn't that odd? I thought so. McKenzie had a double ear infection and Molly had a wheeziness in her chest. McKenzie got "the pink stuff" which she likes way too much and Molly got to do breathing treatments 3 or 4 times a day for a week or two. Fun!

Molly weighed in at 21 pounds 7 oz and was 29" tall. She's 60th percentile in weight and 50th in height.

McKenzie weighed in at 19 pounds 5 ounces and was 30" tall. She's 25th percentile in weight and 60th percentile in height. This was the first time that the girls measured differently in height.

Head circumference for both was 46cm which is right at the 50th percentile.

On the following Saturday, we actually got snow! First time in a long time that we've actually had anything that stuck to the ground. We got the girls all bundled up and went out to see what was going on. McKenzie went nuts crawling all over the place. Molly stood on the sidewalk and cried. Shocking...

Here are some pictures from that morning.

On Thursday, the 10th, we decided to take the girls to see Santa for the first time. In order to get ready, we decided to get all dressed up and then play some so we would be in good moods. Here are some "getting ready for Santa" pictures:

And finally, the big moment...

Once again, McKenzie is kinda passive and Molly is about 2 seconds from losing it entirely. We're gonna need to get Molly over her fears at some point. I just don't think it's going to happen today.

Yesterday, we went back to the doctor to finally get our one year shots and some other stuff. Each girl got 4 shots including the swine flu shot. It wasn't pretty. McKenzie had a finger stick to draw blood for her iron levels. They are finally in the normal range so we're good for now. Molly had a vial of blood drawn from her arm so that the doctors can run an allergy screening.

The thought right now is that Molly has a milk allergy. Whenever she has milk, she gets a really bad, blistery diaper rash and has really loose stools. We took her off milk everything about 2 weeks ago and things have gotten A LOT better. Some of the strangest things have milk in them though. Case in point: soy yogurt. The yogurt cultures are milk based. Same for soy cheese and a lot of the rice based products.

We went to Greenlife Grocery (cool place by the way. A ton more people were there for lunch, not buying groceries...) earlier this week and found some Vegan Cheddar "Cheese". It's...odd. It's kinda crumbly and wet for some reason. Also, expensive ($5 for 8 ounces). Apparently Molly likes it though.

We're kinda hoping that this allergy is something she'll grow out of. If not, she's not going to enjoy sitting in the car while we eat Nana's Custard =)

We'll know the results of the allergy screening in about a week.

So, that's it for now. We're gearing up for Christmas traveling as best we can. Santa's going to bring us lots of fun stuff (not that we need any more toys in this house!)

2008

2009

Til later...

Has It Been a Year Already?

Wow, it has been a year since Molly and McKenzie arrived to torment and destroy our lives...

A whole year. So, for this grand occasion, I was told that I have to update the blog and let people know what has been going on in the last 6 weeks or so. This will be mainly pictures since I know that is what you guys like the best. So, here goes...

A few years ago around Christmas, there was some sort of promotion where if you spent X number of dollars, you got a free stuffed animal. One day, we pulled it out and let the girls play with it. And let me tell you, it was a hit. It's nuts...

Here's a picture of McKenzie:

And here's a picture of McKenzie doing what they do to poor old Pooh...

A few weeks later, we started getting ready for Halloween. Part of that entailed going to a Pumpkin Farm near Athens, TN. The girls got to see a bunch of different animals, pick out pumpkins, and generally just enjoy the great weather. Here are some pictures and a quick video from that day.

Checking out the baby cow. We're not too sure about this stuff yet.

Here's McKenzie checking everything out.

And here's Molly thinking about the horses...

Maybe the goats are more our thing.

Ahhh...finally something our size. The chicks and ducklings were very interesting.

Now, it was time to find our pumpkins.

That one might be a bit too big.

Here's some more our size...

A quick family shot at the end of the day.

And a video of McKenzie going nuts with the straw...

Soon, it was time for our Sunday School Pumpkin Carving Party. It's an annual affair hosted by the Hill's. The girls went as scarecrows.

We're not too sure about these hats.

McKenzie enjoyed the swing. Here she is with the Pillsbury Doughgirl watching over her to make sure nothing went horribly wrong.

Molly tried to help out a bit with the pumpkin carving...

Finally, it was actually Halloween. The girls went as scarecrows again. Gotta get some use out of the outfits when you can.

Here they are looking particularly thrilled with their outfits.

We spent most of the day with GiGi and G-Daddy since the girls were getting ready to spend an entire week with their other grandparents in Maryville while Lindsey and I were in Washington, DC.

Here they are enjoying their little rocking chairs. I think they actually figured out that the chairs can rock.

Here is a quick video of Molly and McKenzie enjoying the swings in Maryville while Lindsey and I were in DC. Apparently they are able to enjoy themselves even if we're not with them. Shocking...

And finally, here is a quick video of the girls at their birthday party this past Sunday. They were a bit hesitant at first when we gave them their cakes. Molly had no trouble tunneling right through the middle of hers once she got started though...

Wow, that's quite a year...

Unprecedented! Updates two days in a row!

Well, it must really be something special if you're getting updates less than 24 hours apart. And, I guess it is for something special.

It appears that our eldest child has decided to step out on her own and see what she can do. So, here's a cellphone video of her latest trick...

Yeah, those are steps. We got a walker!

God help us...

Video Update!

In my last blog update, I promised that some videos would be posted by the end of the week. Well, since then, both girls have been sick, mom has been sick, and I've been tasked with taking care of everything else around here. So, video updates kinda got pushed to the bottom of the pile.

Well, no more! Our audience demands video and so video you shall have! At least a few...

Our first video is McKenzie attempting to pull to stand on her own for the first time. It just so happened that she tried it in her crib and I also just so happened to have just gotten a new Blackberry with a video camera built in. This is from the end of July. Enjoy!

Yeah, ouch...

Next up is a short video of Molly and McKenzie practicing for an upcoming talent show. I'm not sure they've practiced the duet enough to perform in front of actual people. Tell me what you think...

Bach it's not...

Next up is a terrifying video on many levels. Apparently, the only thing keeping us safe from the invading hordes are doorknobs. Here's Molly overcoming another obstacle.

Scary...

Here's another video mainly of Molly showing off her latest fun thing to do...

Yeah, she just stands then drops, stands then drops...hope she's awful pretty when she grows up!

Last video for now is from our recent Labor Day visit to Maryville. Here's aunt Jamie entertaining both the girls with her crazy antics.

And that's it for now. Goodnight!

Finally Time for an Update

So, it's been a few months since the last real update. I guess it's time to give everyone a run down of what has been going on since the first of July. So, here we go...

In the middle of July, we went on vacation to Boone, NC with Lindsey's parents and some of their friends from California. The weather could not have been much better for the trip. We left the 96 degree weather in Chattanooga and hit the mid-70's weather in the NC mountains. It was awesome. We had a great cabin where we stayed with lots of room for us all. Somehow we never made it to the downstairs area where the air hockey and ping pong were. We just had too much else to do.

The view from the Moses Cone Memorial Park

Molly and McKenzie enjoying the sun at a winery. Don't worry, they were the DD's...

Molly and McKenzie taking flight in Blowing Rock on a perfect fall-like day.

Our last day on vacation...

The girls enjoyed hanging out with everyone and seeing the sights with the rest of us. We drove home on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Beautiful drive but make sure you have ALL DAY to do it. It took us 7 hours to go almost 200 miles. It was a poor decision but we made it home around midnight and the girls weren't terribly upset.

After we returned from North Carolina, the girls were exhausted. Here's McKenzie trying to recover while playing.

One new addition to our home also made an appearance after we got back from North Carolina. That would be a gate. The girls are getting much more mobile and are moving around the house a lot easier these days. So, we decided to try and keep them out of the kitchen and just keep most of the other doors in the house closed. Here's a picture of the unhappy prisoners.

Now, the astute viewers out there will notice something new in this picture...other than the gate...

Who can tell me what it is? Anybody?

Yeah, that's a picture of Molly standing. She started pulling to stand right towards the end of July. Now that Molly is standing a bit, she was free to learn some new skills. Here's just one example...

We have to be careful where we leave stuff now. Molly also has an affinity for chewing on the computer power cord. That's already cost us a new adapter for the computer. And no, before anyone asks, she did not chew through the cable nor was there ever any risk of her getting a shock. I'm not sure how she actually killed it but it wouldn't work after she had it in her mouth for about 20 seconds.

As part of their new-found mobility, Molly and McKenzie have been able to get into more trouble than before. Here's one recent example of the havoc they unleashed on their nursery in about 3 minutes.

Molly was pretty happy with herself...

McKenzie tried to play all sweet and innocent...

Yeah, not that innocent...

The girls had their 9-month pediatrician visit towards the end of August. Both Molly and McKenzie are almost exactly the same in height and head circumference. The place where they're different is in weight. Molly weighed in at 20 pounds 4 ounces while McKenzie managed 17 pounds 4 ounces. Only a three pound difference between the two. Everything else checked out well for both of them. Now we just have flu shots coming up shortly. Yay!

We attempted a photo shoot a few weeks back with the girls outside. Only problem was that they were more interested in eating the leaves and grass than posing pretty. We got a few good shots.

They got better when we went inside...

The next weekend was Camp Horizon. The girls decided to get all festive and dress for the occasion.

Labor Day weekend we all went to Maryville to be with Lindsey's family. Aunt Jamie came down from Chicago for the occasion. Got to go to the UT game on Saturday as well. Lots of fun, especially since they won.

Here are a couple of more pictures and then we're done...

Alright, so massive update and now we're done. I hope everyone enjoys everything. I'll post some more pictures and maybe even some videos in the next few days. This should tide you over until then...

Delayed Updates are Good for You!

Yeah, yeah...I know how long it has been since I updated the blog. I blame Comcast, but that's a big, long story that I really don't want to get into again tonight. Instead, let's tell you what all has been going on over the last few weeks with us and the girls.

The weekend after the last update, we travelled up to Maryville to visit with the grandparents and help them pack up the house so they could move at the end of the month. Here's a short video of the girls helping out as much as they could.

So, McKenzie had her follow-up appointment in Birmingham with Dr. Oakes on June 23. We just went down for the day. Long drive back and forth but we ended up getting good news. They did a CT scan which showed that the cyst is still there but it is much smaller and does not appear to be growing at all. So, we've been told that we don't have to come back until next year. Yay! Unfortunately, we were not able to get a copy of the CT scan this time around so we don't have any pictures to post. That reminds me that I called about this a few weeks ago but haven't heard back. Hmmm...

A few days after we got back from Birmingham, our friend Laura was in town from Albuquerque, NM for a week. She invited us to come over with the girls and go swimming. We had been waiting for a few weeks to go swimming at my parent's house but they kept having issues with their pool to where we couldn't ever go swimming. So, to Laura's we went.

The girls seemed to enjoy their time in the pool, for a while. Here's a quick video of Lindsey and Laura taking the girls around the pool. Ignore the goofy hats...

We also did some stuff that could potentially be considered child abuse. Somewhere we heard that you blow in a baby's face so that they hold their breath and then you could dunk them. So, we decided to try it out...our kids are going to hate us someday...

My family has a lot of birthdays in the month of June. A lot...like 10. It's nuts. Unfortunately, the calendar got a little bit more crowded towards the end of the month. My cousin Ryan and his wife Esther had a baby on June 30. His name is Thijs Austin Sharpe. I didn't misspell it or anything. It's Dutch! Thijs is pronounced like "Twice" without the "W"...Tice. With him being born on the 30th, he got his own day all to himself. We already had my brother Michael on the 29th, Lindsey on July 1, and Ryan on July 2. Yay for babies! He's 8 pounds 8 ounces and still looks tiny. I don't remember the girls being that small even though he's a good 3 pounds bigger than McKenzie was at birth.

Back to the doctors, the last check-up showed that both Molly and McKenzie were anemic. Molly was just barely but McKenzie was pretty low. So, we got to give them an iron supplement in their first bottle of the day to hopefully raise the levels. McKenzie had her re-test on July 2. The initial results in the doctor's office showed that her iron levels were actually worse now than they were before. Therefore, McKenzie got to go to the hospital for a more complete lab panel. After a few days, the doctor called us and let us know that their in-office testing is just simply horrible and McKenzie was actually just fine. Gotta love unnecessary testing and treatments...

Next was the 4th of July weekend. The pool at my parent's house was finally ready for swimming so we spent both Friday and Saturday up there swimming a bit. Molly and McKenzie seemed to be a bit more comfortable being in the water. Here's a video of McKenzie splashing and Molly chilling...

Michael and Liza took a bunch of good pictures that I'll post in a few days. I figured that the videos will hold you over for now.

Lindsey and I got to have a date night on Friday. The girls spent the night with the grandparents while we went out to dinner and then went to a 10pm movie. Lindsey just about slept through the previews but perked up for the movie. We saw My Sister's Keeper...it's sad. Lindsey was crying like 20 minutes into it. Yikes.

It was nice to sleep in the next morning but we eventually got up and went back to the grandparent's to see the girls. Another day in the pool, some dinner and finally some fireworks. The girls didn't make it to see the fireworks. Maybe next year. The problem was that they went to sleep for an hour or so, we put them in their car seats and drove home. By the time we got home, the girls decided that they'd had a nice little 2 hour nap and now it was time to get up! At midnight!

I don't think so ladies...

Molly went back down pretty easy but McKenzie kept crying and waking her up. McKenzie settled back down after a bit and I think we were all in bed by 1. Whew...

So, that's pretty much it for now. Next week we are all going to Boone, NC with Lindsey's parents for a much needed vacation. We've got a pretty sweet cabin where we're going to hang out for 4 days or so. We've been looking forward to this for a while. Maybe we'll get some good pictures to share in a few weeks. Til then!

Updates! Get your Updates here!

Ok, so yeah, it's been a while since I've posted an update. I'm sure nothing at all has happened in the last 3 weeks...

So, that's it. Thanks for checking in with us and we hope to see you again soon!





Ok, so I was told that wasn't a real update and that I had better post a real one or else whatever that means...

So, here's what has been going on. First things first, Molly and McKenzie are now attending a Parent's Morning Out program on Monday's and Wednesday's. It runs from 9:30 to 2PM and gives me an opportunity to use that time to actual focus on real estate stuff. The first time they went I actually got a lot of stuff accomplished. Let's hope that continues.

Speaking of real estate, it seems that a bunch of people are buying and selling houses right now. My in-laws John and Sue have their house under contract, my brother and his wife are looking to buy, and some dear friends of ours just closed on their new home last Friday. So, if you know of anyone who's looking at buying or selling, let me know!

Ok, ad over...

On to more about the girls...McKenzie has a new favorite toy...a Cheez-It box!

Really, it's just a toy when mommy's not home...

Speaking of McKenzie, she had a very scary experience about a week ago. The girls were playing on the floor in the living room. I went up to my office to send a few emails. While I was gone, somebody broke into our house and moved McKenzie from the living room to the kitchen! About 15 feet! Holy moley!

True story cause surely she didn't crawl/roll all that way on her own...

The girls are much more mobile these days. They're also sitting independently fairly well. Here's a picture of the two of them sharing their blocks.

And what sharing usually leads to...

On Thursday, Molly had her follow-up appointment with Dr. Moses concerning her hips. After getting an x-ray and reviewing everything, Dr. Moses thinks that Molly is perfectly normal and doesn't want to see us anymore! Yay! That's one specialist down and only the heart guy to go (and hopefully we'll be done with him by the end of September).

Speaking of doctors, the girls got to finally get their 6-month shots on Thursday as well. A great time was had by all. Bandaids for everyone! Seriously, those shots look huge compared to the girls' tiny legs (ok, compared to McKenzie's legs...sorry Molly...)

McKenzie goes back to Birmingham on June 23 for a follow-up CT scan. Hopefully everything will still look great and we won't have to worry about "next steps" to fix the problem. We were reassured this past week that we made the right choice in going to Birmingham.

Earlier this evening, we went to a Children's Picnic put on by our church at Rivermont Park. The girls seemed to enjoy their time at the park. I'll leave you with a few pictures and a short video...

McKenzie digs Mixed Vegetables with Pasta

Molly eats bibs...no lie...

We kinda dig this swing thing...

Sweet!

Alright, that's it! Hope you have a great week and we'll see you again soon!