Lily is Paci-free!

So on Tuesday the 23rd a lady from Babies Can't Wait came to the house to observe Lily. I had called the program because I have been a little concerned about Lily's speech development and wanted to get her evaluated early. They had sent me a couple of surveys to fill out before she got here to go along with her actual observation. She was here for about an hour and basically watched Lily and her interaction with us and her toys, etc. We tried to get her to talk with us during this time so that the lady would be able to see my concerns. Well, she said that she thinks Lily would benefit from a full evaluation which would be done by 2 people that would come to the house for a longer period. This evaluation will happen sometime toward the end of July when we get back from our vacation. In the meantime I was instructed to get Lily's hearing evaluated just to make sure that the speech problem wasn't due to ear problems. On Friday (yesterday) we went to Lily's pediatrician to get her hearing checked. She passed the hearing screen. I asked the Dr. if she could check to see if there was fluid behind the eardrum causing a problem. She did that test and it did come back positive but the Dr. didn't feel that it was significant enough to be causing a speech delay.

On to the paci part of this story.......the lady that did Lily's evaluation had asked us if she uses a paci. Well, Lily does get a paci at night, naps and in the car. I told the evaluator that and she said that we really needed to get rid of the paci if we want Lily to be successful with her speech from here on out. I mentioned that Lily only got the paci only at night, naps and the car and she said that it still causes Lily to put her tongue in the wrong place in her mouth hindering her from learning the proper way to form words. Well, I guess that was all I needed to hear to convince us to get rid of the paci altogether that day. Josh and I had been talking about when would be the best time to get rid of it.....well this evaluation made that decision for us I guess. That was the last time she saw her pacifiers.

Day 1- Lily did awesome without the paci for nap and night. She only cried for about 15 minutes at nap time and didn't make a peep at bedtime.

Day 2- A harder no paci day than day 1. Lily didn't want to take a nap in the pack n play at her Grammy's house and with no paci I thought she might just not nap but she did nap once I put her in the "big girl" bed that Grammy had in the room. That night was not so good either....Lily basically screamed for 30 minutes straight before she finally went to sleep.

Day 3- Nap time was awesome! Bedtime was awesome!

We'll see what today has in store. She still asks for it when I am putting her down for her nap and bed. She will look up at me and smile and say "Pass" (which is her way of saying paci). It's so sad and cute all at the same time, but no giving in here!!

One transition down.....a thousand more to go!!

A Smile that melts my heart!

This past week Davis smiled for the first of time. It honestly came as a surprise to me because Lily didn't smile for months it seems like so I wasn't expecting it to come so early. Most of the baby books say that social smiles can show up as early as 6 weeks but are more typical after 8 weeks or so. Well Davis was on the early end of smiling I guess, he was 7 weeks when he smiled at me and getting him to smile is not nearly as difficult as it was with Lily. With Lily you really had to work for the smile. With Davis all you have to do is say "smile" in a really sweet voice and he does it! I knew trying to capture the smile might be hard though but I feel like we got pretty close, here are some of the pictures...

5 YEARS

Last Friday, June 5th was Josh and I's 5 year anniversary. It is fun to think back on the 5 years we have been married and the 8 years we have been together. Here is some of what we have accomplished in that time: 2 Bachelor's degrees, 1 chopped off ring finger (2 weeks before the wedding), Honeymoon to Niagara Falls, camping trips, rafting trip, mission trip to Ecuador, 2 dog adoptions, young couples small group at church, 1 home purchase, 2 Master's degrees, 1 Specialist degree (Josh finishes in a month), 7 years worth of teaching combined, 3 years coaching wrestling with 1 state championship, 2nd in state and 3rd in state finishes, 2 pregnancies, 2 babies, Lots of tears and Lots more laughter!

We didn't do anything fancy to celebrate the anniversary this past week but we are taking 2 vacations this year that definitely count. We are going to the beach with some friends next month and we are planning a ski trip over Christmas break to Big Sky, Montana. We did take Lily and Davis with us to downtown Gainesville where Josh proposed to me almost 6 years ago. We went and ate at my FAVORITE deli which is also where we ate before Josh popped the question and then we went to the Square downtown and sat on the parkbench where he proposed. As an extra treat we also went to the jewelry store and got our rings cleaned (boy they needed it).

Here are a few pictures of Lily in the square of Gainesville. There is also a video of her dancing to a couple local musicians who were playing in the square.

Sorry the video is sideways....you get the idea though. She really liked the harmonica!

Lily's Swimming Lessons

Lily started some swimming lessons on Monday, June 1st. She is taking the lessons at Swim Atlanta in Dacula. They are 30 minutes a day M-Th for 2 weeks.

Here are some pictures and video from some lessons.

Davis participating in swimming lessons.....Lily's cheering section.

A Big Thank You

Josh and I want to thank all our friends who took the time to bring us dinner during the weeks following Davis' arrival. It was such a blessing to not have to think about preparing dinner during that time especially with a toddler and a newborn. Thank you so much for serving us so willingly and generously. We feel blessed with your friendship and generosity and of course we hope we can return the favor in the future!

Love,

Josh, Carrie Anne, Lily and Davis

Lily's Stitches

Well, I finally am getting around to posting Lily's stitches from the Yellow River Game Ranch incident.