Birthday Party!

Mira and Amelia had a lovely birthday party today! It was wonderful to see so many of our family members for a long visit. Thanks so much to everyone who could come (and to those of you who sent gifts, even if you couldn't come. But we missed you!)

We had a delicious lunch (honey bun sandwiches (yum!), pasta salad, fresh fruit, and chips), a delicious if not slightly-too-sweet cake, and Mira and Amelia opened lots of great presents!

The girls enjoyed playing with their cousins for the day. Amelia and Chris are resting now, and Mira is watching a video to relax. Here are a few photos from today.

Me and my girls:

Mira, Cara, and Abby:

Amelia and Nicholas:



Waiting to blow out their candles:


Enjoying that cupcake!

Happy Mother's Day!

I want to wish my mom a very happy Mother's Day! I wish we could have been with you. For sure next year. I love you so!

And I big thank you to my husband and Mira and Amelia for the beautiful flowers and cards. They are so special to me. I love you all!

Mira and Amelia are the two reasons I can celebrate Mother's Day. I love you both so much. You are wonderful, bright, beautiful, sweet little girls. My life wasn't complete until I met you both. Thanks for filling my life with such joy every day.

Mira goes to kindergarten orientation!

Out of the mouths of babes. I always tell Amelia she is a little Hoover because she eats up her fruit so fast. Tonight, Mira took it one step further and applied the term to her:

"Mom! I'm Hoovering these craisins!"

On a wonderful note: Mira had her kindergarten orientation tonight. I can't believe she's old enough to start kindergarten in the fall. With a late May birthday, she'll be one of the younger ones, but she is so ready to start school. She loves to learn and can do simple math and letter recognition. Her memory is better than mine!

At orientation, Mira got to see a classroom. meet the teachers, and ride a school bus. She says her favorite part tonight was the snack time. She's really excited to go to school, and two of her daycare friends will be going to the same kindergarten with Mira in the fall. All three of them will be getting on the bus together. Safety in numbers, I say!

In front of her new school:

In the classroom:



Here are Mira and Amelia in their pirate ship (or, as I like to call it, the cover to the sandbox!):

Happy birthday, Amelia!

Happy 2nd birthday to our sweet, sweet Amelia Kaye! We love you so much, Sweet Pea!

Amelia had a party at daycare today. Here are a couple of photos of the party:



Then came home to balloons, presents, and a cupcake.


We are so proud of our youngest. Amelia is a really funny little girl. She really keeps us laughing. She loves Elmo, books, apple juice, string cheese, pancakes, and fruit of any kind. My favorite moments are when I am putting her to bed. She'll pick a book, and after we read it, I'll say, "Ready for bed?" and Amelia will say, "No. Rockabye." She wants to rock and sing a song first. Usually we sing variations of "Elmo's World," using each member of the family. A sampling:

La la la la, la la la la, Amelia's world.
La la la la, la la la la, Amelia's world.
She loves her pappy, her blankie too.
That's Amelia's world!

I wouldn't trade this little girl for anything. We love her so! Happy birthday!

A lot o' celebratin'

Uff-da! May is a busy month! Between my and Chris's anniversary today, Amelia's 2nd birthday tomorrow, Mother's Day, Mira's 5th birthday, and Memorial Day . . . we have a busy month! One holiday down, 4 more to go!

Mira got an early birthday present from her cousins, aunt, and uncle in Australia. It's a beautiful dress-up outfit. She loves it!

Mira and I decorated Amelia's high chair with her favorite balloon character and streamers.

I can't believe my baby will be 2 years old tomorrow. She is really mature, but still a little girl. She's so funny.You should hear her singing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" from The Lion King soundtrack and "Take a Chance on Me" from Mamma Mia. It's so cute to see her singing at the top of her lungs in the back seat of the car.

Chris and I had the same idea when it came to our anniversary. We bought each other flowers and got Sawatdee takeout (thanks, Mom and Dad!).

My flowers to Chris. I love you, Honey!


Chris's flowers to me:


My sweet girls:

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

I want to wish a happy anniversary to my sweet husband. Wow, 8 years! I love you so much and am very glad you are on the mend. Here's to a wonderful year!

What happens when . . .

What happens when you leave a very nearly 2 year old alone in a room for 4 minutes?

Look at her, at the top of the photo, all tuckered out from making her mess. She wouldn't even help me clean up!

And on a cautionary note, Mira decided to put her hand on the stove tonight, despite knowing to look for the red light, indicating a hot stovetop. I had just shut off the burner so she received a small burn on her palm. I'm glad it wasn't much worse. She got lucky. I don't think she'll do that again.


My adorable Amelia:


All Amelia needs in life: Her "pappy", her blankie, and her Polka Cow.


On another happy note: It looks like Chris will be coming home from the hospital on Thursday. He'll need an IV of nutrients overnight for a week or two, but at least he'll be home!

Amelia gets her ride on!

Amelia's birthday is a week from Wednesday. I can't believe my baby is almost 2 years old already! Chris and I bought her a much needed tricycle for her birthday. Like Mira, Amelia received her present early. Can you believe I put it together all by myself? (I seriously hope I don't have a post later showing you the bike in pieces because I didn't tighten the bolts enough or something.)



So tonight we took the new trike out for a spin. Amelia seemed to really like riding on it. I say "riding" because I did all the pushing and she just sat there. Didn't even help me out by pedaling. I'll have to explain that concept to her.

But her is Amelia showing us not how to use her new tricycle:


This afternoon, my friend Hope came over with her daughter Hailey to watch the girls while I visited Chris in the hospital. (Hope has a nearly 2-year old as well, so she understands the perils of bringing one to a hospital.) Mom, Jeff, and Justin met me there. It was so nice to see you all! Here is a photo Hope took of Mira and Hailey playing dress-up:


Thanks a million for sitting for me, Hope! We owe you and Chad a date night out. I really appreciate it.

As for Chris, he is feeling better, even walking around a little bit. He has a tentative discharge date of Wednesday, so pray all goes well between now and then and he can finally come home to rest without so many disturbances. I promise not to wake you three times a night to take your temperature and blood pressure, Honey! We love you and miss you so much. Can't wait to have you home.

And I leave you with a photo of Amelia's best friend. Mira took it with our camera:

Quick update

Hello! Just a quick update on Chris since so many people have been asking:

He's doing pretty good! He is able to get out of bed already to stand or sit in a chair next to his bed, and he seems pretty comfortable (he has an epidural for the pain). I think he'll probably try to walk a little bit today or tomorrow. We expect him to be released between Monday and Wednesday of next week. Thanks for asking! It's great to hear from all of you.

Prayers for Chris

******UPDATED********

Chris just got out of surgery and I talked to the doctor. The doctor said he was surprised at how diseased Chris's colon was and how he tolerated it for so long. He removed about 1/2 of Chris's large intestine. He said Chris's small intestine is pretty diseased, but they hope to control this with medicine.

Thanks for all thoughts and prayers. We love you all!


***********************

It's 6:00 pm on Wednesday night and Chris is in surgery right now. He's expected to be in surgery from 2-4 hours, then about an hour in recovery. Say a prayer that they can fix what is wrong and that he has a speedy recovery. We can't wait to have him home! I'll update more when the surgery is over and I'm home.

Michelle

Chris

Hello! Just a note to let you know that Chris's surgery is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. I'm not sure if it's for early afternoon or late afternoon. I'll post more when I have more info, either before the surgery or after to let you all know how it went.

Say a prayer that all goes well!

Update on Chris

UPDATED: It looks like Chris's surgery will most likely be on Wednesday this week. He's still getting the nutrition he needs and his protein levels are slowly going up. I'll keep you updated as I learn more about when the surgery will be.

***********************

Hi! Just wanted to post an update on Chris. There isn't a ton of new information. He's been getting protein via IV to up his levels. They are far too low right now, but the two bags he's gotten don't seem to have elevated his levels at all. Not sure why. He'll be given protein and saline through the weekend. Not sure when the surgery will happen. Maybe Monday, maybe Wednesday. Because of his low antibodies in his blood, he'll be receiving a blood transfusion prior to his surgery. Say a prayer that the transfusion and the surgery goes well.

So, he's a bit bored and already tired of the hospital. Who wouldn't be? The girls and I are visiting most days, and he's had couple extra visitors every day, so it helps to pass the time. He does have his computer with, so he has access to emails and the blogs. I'll post more when there is new info.

Thinking of Chris

Please think of Chris (and a prayer or two is nice!) for him this week. He's been hospitalized with Crohn's-related complications and will be having surgery later this week or early next week to resection his colon. Parts of his colon have gotten very narrow lately, so hopefully this surgery will be the help he needs.

Chris is in North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale and will likely be there for 10-14 days, depending on his recovery. I'll update as needed on what's going on.

In the meanwhile, he's currently in room 414, phone #: 763-257-8265.

North Memorial's address:
3300 Oakdale Avenue North, Robbinsdale, MN, 55422
(763) 520-5200 (main number)

I'm sure he'd love a card!

Feel free to call or email me if you need to: 763.416.0616, michellelncook@gmail.com.

Love to you all!
Michelle

Fun at Grandma and Poppa's

We went a little early to Mom and Dad's house to spend Easter weekend with them. We took them out to dinner on Saturday night to celebrate their anniversary, then Mom and I took the kids for a walk along the trail to see the waterfall. (If I can figure out how to get the photos off my phone, I'll post them.)

Mira and Amelia enjoyed some outside time on the tricyles too.


And here is Mira helping me to measure and stir ingredients for buttermilk oatmeal pancakes. She'll be a little chef yet!


Here's Amelia with her first foray into our sandbox. I think that will be a big hit this summer!

Happy Easter, Everyone!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend at Mom and Dad's house. Thanks so much for having us over! A bunch of family came over and we had a delicious lunch and the kids took part in an Easter egg hunt. They had a great time!

Here's Mira and Amelia after they found their Easter baskets:

The newest addition, Annabelle, 8 weeks old:

Me and Cousin Dawn:

The five grandkids together:

Enjoying the Easter egg hunt:


First cousins, Mira and Abby:

Party, church, party, bath

We've had a busy weekend here with 2 birthday parties to attend and Mira sang in church today. Yesterday Mira was invited to a birthday party by her friend Emma. Emma's mom, Brooke, and I were best friends in high school. It's sweet that our daughters are friends! They had the party at Just Jump. Mira had a great time!

Then Mira and her church school class sang in church today. They sang three songs, and they were just adorable. They had palm fronds to use while they sang.



And today was a birthday party for Chris's grandpa Lee. He turns 80 tomorrow. Happy birthday, Lee! Amelia found a HUGE balloon there and clung onto it all afternoon. It was seriously bigger than she is!
Finally, some fun bath time pics. The girls love bath time, or "baff time" as Amelia likes to say!