Miracles Still Happen

So the miracle started a week or so ago.  A little white Maltese dog was being given away for free.  She was adorable.  I talked with Terryl about it, and he really didn't want to get a dog right now.  Our original deal was when Caleb turned 3 we could get one.  Caleb just turned 2, so we have a little while.  But after a day thinking about it, he said that he would be ok with it.  When I called the owner, the dog was already gone.  I was disappointed, but not too sad.  But I did realize that Terryl had said yes to a dog, so...if I found another dog, we would be able to get that one.  So I started looking.  I have always looked, but now I knew that I could get one if I could find one I wanted.  I have really wanted a King Charles Cavalier.  They are really good with kids, don't really shed, and are just a great family dog.  So soon I found a little girl Cavalier that was for sale.  Typically female Cavaliers sale for around $1200.  But she was significantly less, and I was able to get her even lower.  I was so excited, and really couldn't wait to get this little one.  The kids were really excited to have a puppy.  Caleb loves Ruby, and for the first couple of days Ruby hung out under the table trying to escape the Caleb monster.  Each day she is more active and feeling more at home.  So we have been having fun with Ruby.  The really surprising part is that Terryl has really taken to her.  It doesn't hurt that Ruby Loves him!  She will just hang out with him all day if she could.  I tried to explain to Ruby that she wouldn't even be here if it weren't for me...but that doesn't seem to effect the relationship that they have.  We love our little Ruby!

Our Star

So the last few months we have had Maddie in a singing and dancing group called Sunshine Generation.  She has more than loved it!  Since we started so late, in the year we only had a few months to do it and then they are on a summer break until the fall.  But with the end of the year comes performances.  So the last few weeks we have had a few performances to do.  Maddie has never performed in front of people, but really we weren't concerned since it is Maddie we were dealing with.  The first time she got up to perform, she was just so excited she jumped up and down and giggled the whole first song.  Needless to say we were dying laughing and so proud!  We love our Maddie, and her outgoing personality!  She was in her element in front of a crowd of people looking at her.  I down loaded this last and final performance to you tube.  If you watch some of them, you can see that she was getting a little burned out of the songs, especially with the group songs like "Every Time the Music Starts" as she spent most of the song on her back...

She got these "Star" glasses from her teacher

The Performances

Disclaimer:  Video isn't super clear, and it may be shaky due to me laughing...Sorry

Rubber Ducky

In Rubber Ducky, she is getting distracted by the floating fuzzy things in the air from the trees near by

Keep the Sunny Side Up

Teddy Bear Picnic

Animal Crackers

Side by Side

Every Time the Music Starts

(Sorry this video is all over the place, I was so distracted by her going all over)

Christmas 2012

This Christmas, I think I was more excited then I have been in years!  I was really excited about the kids Christmas.  It's fun to know you have got them something that they will love.  This year we had my mom with us for Christmas Eve and Christmas, and it was great.  We loved having her with us, and the kids especially loved having Grandma Barlow there.  We didn't do anything wild and crazy on Christmas Eve.  We watched a few movies and had some fantastic snacks. ( O :  The nice thing about the kids right now is that they are still young enough that they don't know that it was Christmas Eve.  So they went to bed great and slept great.  We were able to sleep until 7am.  I am trying to appreciate it now because I know it wont be like that in years to come. 

My Missy All Grown Up

Here are a few pictures, in tribute to Maddie's birthday.  It has been so much fun seeing her grow and learn.

Growing Up

Well, it finally happened, my baby turned three!  That really doesn't seem possible.  This year for her birthday we had taken her to see Sesame Street live in October.   That was our gift, so we didn't have plans to do much on her birthday really.  We thought of going to her favorite place to eat, McDonald's ( I know we go way out for birthdays)  But that didn't seem enough I guess, so we ended up going to Discovery Gateway.  I have wanted to take her there for a while but never felt like I wanted to pay the high price to get in.  The month of Dec. they discounted the admission price so we went for it.  That day as well they had reindeer there that you could pet.  I think I was more excited to pet the reindeer then Maddie was. ( O :  It was pretty cool to be so close to them.  She loved the helicopter and we had a hard time getting her to leave it.  We went around to everything, but what ended up catching her attention for almost two hours was the little tree house, with little furniture just her size.  She played in there and around it for the Longest time.  Finally when we were all Discovered out, we had to bribe her to leave with french fries.  So what started out as nothing planned that day, ended up with a full days worth of activity.  She wore herself right out as you can see in the last picture.  She had a great birthday and we just love our little monkey more than we could ever express.  She really is such a joy to be around and makes anyone she is around smile.  She is pretty special and we are so glad she is part of our family!

In Stitches!

So Friday I left for a doctors appt. and left the kids with Terryl since he has the day off.  I had my day pretty much planned out, which included a date night with Terryl.  So while waiting for someone to take my blood Terryl calls.  He told me that they had a little incident with Maddie.  At some point Terryl was in the bathroom getting ready, he heard Maddie cry, which isn't an oddity in our house, so he didn't rush to the scream.  But soon Maddie found him, with a mouth full of blood.  Blood isn't Terryl's favorite thing to see, so he was a little freaked out by the sight.  After getting her cleaned up he could tell it was her gum that was bleeding.  But she was not crying anymore and seemed fine.  I was sure that Caleb had grabbed her face some how and scratched her gums.  Any small scratch in the mouth can bleed like no other. 
So when I got home it had been a few hours since the "incident" and Maddie was her usual self, and seemed fine.  I had her smile for me so I could see her gums.  Her left side, above her front tooth was pretty swollen and looked pretty beat up.  I decided that Caleb probably couldn't have done that much damage.  But not looking to terrible and since she was acting fine, I didn't think much of it after seeing it.  So a few hours later, I was going to go to a store and pick up a baby shower gift for the next day.  I decide to look at her mouth one more time.  So this time I had her lay down and I started to touch the gum.  I didn't want to push to hard and cause her pain, so I gently started to push on the gum, and it started to slide up, and up and up.  Her gum was moving a little to much for my taste.  So I took her to insta care which I thought they could look at her.  A MA came and looked at her and said she should probably go to the ER, because if they need to stitch it up they would have to give her something to sedate her.  So...away we went to Primary Children's Hospital.  While waiting, Maddie was running around the room with Elmo and happy as could be. She was happy to see anyone come through the door and gave any nurse or doctor a big hug and checked their ID. ( O :  She was being so pleasant.  So fast forward  several hours and they decide they better put a stitch in to hold it still.  So they gave her this stuff through the nose to make her  loopy and help her to not remember.  She was pretty funny on that stuff I have to say.  So once she was "out of it" and was still the doctor and I were able to really take a look at the gum.  Well at that point I was SUPER glad I had taken her in.  The whole section above her left front tooth was detached except for the very top under the lip.  It was gross and pretty amazing to see that it was detached like that.  It would have never healed on its own.  So Miss Maddie got three stitches in her gums and she was a trooper!  She never once cried and really had no idea what was going on.

Once they gave us the O.K. to leave and she was a little more alert we left.  I carried her since she was still loopy and I knew that she couldn't really walk.  But Maddie didn't get that.  So after hours of doctors looking at her mouth and stitches and not one tear, she proceeded to scream for 45 min. on the way home because I didn't let her walk to the car!  That's my girl. ( O :  She did calm down at we got closer to home and she realized that she was going to get her new favorite treat, french fries from McDonald's. 

So Maddie is still doing great, she really has no idea she was every really hurt except for the moment it all happened.  We still don't know what she hit, but  whatever it was it did a lot of damage, and postponed our date night. ( o :  Such is life if you have kids.