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...

Christmas Photo Wrap Up

Here we are, at long last, with photos from Christmas. You can all see what a great time we had!

Let's play "Spot The Children!"

Oh, there they are!

Here are the girls with their very first Christmas present! Now now girls, try to stay calm!

What is it? What is it? Ah, it's their very first Christmas ornament! Here's McKenzie with her Precious Moments Christmas ornament.

And here's Molly with her Snowbaby ornament. We mainly took these pictures so we'll remember next year which girl gets which ornament =)

Next, we went to my parent's house for Christmas with them. Here are the girls with Gigi and G-daddy. Note the tree in the background. That's the girl's tree. Yeah, their very own tree. Full sized and everything...

Here's Molly with her loot bag...

And the same for McKenzie. They even have their names on them...

Finally, we left my parent's house and drove to Maryville for Christmas with Lindsey's family. Here's McKenzie with Lindsey's diva aunt Cynthia and her cousin Jennica.

And here's Molly with Jennica and Lindsey's grandmother.

So, that's it for Christmas. We were wiped out by the end of the week and the girls were way off schedule. But, we had a great time and food. Sorry it took so long to get pictures online but you know how it is!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

So, here we are on Christmas Eve and things are pretty much the same that they've been for a while. It doesn't feel much like Christmas since it's raining and 60 degrees outside.

Here's what has happened over the last week or so. On Tuesday, Molly got to have a swallow study. It's pretty cool in that Molly sits in a seat next to an xray machine. Lindsey gave her a bottle with some xray dye in it. While she drank the bottle, the xray image showed up on a few tv screens and we could watch what she was swallowing and where it was going.

The reason for the test was to see if Molly was aspirating food into her lungs instead of getting it all to her tummy. Turns out that Molly doesn't have cruise control. Once she gets going, she just keeps speeding up until she chokes herself and tries to suck and breathe at the same time. End result: aspiration.

So, we now get to thicken her milk before she eats. We use this gel stuff called Simply Thick that costs like $0.30 per 4oz bottle, or about $2 per day. If she was on formula we could have used rice cereal but breast milk doesn't mix with rice cereal for some reason. Girls are weird...

On Christmas Eve, we went to the 3PM service at Burks with my family. The 3PM service is new this year (one of 3 different options) but a lot of the people I grew up knowing were there. There was a lot of oohing and ahhing over the girls. That's because they had their cute Christmas dresses on. After the service, we went home and Gi-gi and G-daddy came over to visit. Here's a picture of us for Christmas Eve:

Once the grandparents left, it was time to get the girls ready for Santa. So, we got on our pj's and read the Night Before Christmas.

They enjoyed it, I'm sure!

I think we're ready for Santa now! Special thanks to grandma for our special cup and plate for Santa's milk and cookies! The USPS got it to us right at the last minute! 

So, from us to you, Merry Christmas! Look for more pictures and updates after tomorrow!