They are back...

and Lacy and I are getting tickets!

Sushi

We went out and had sushi for dinner tonight. Lacy is already a pro with her chopsticks. We were so impressed. She is gaining new abilities and becoming less clumsy every day! Woo Hoo! We "let" her try wasabi tonight for the first time. I put a bit on her chopstick and she licked it off! Too funny! She definitely does not like wasabi, which is somewhat odd because she loves to pour pepper on the table and lick it off! Please pray for the next week with Lacy. We are supposed to head back to the hospital for a few days for what they call a "vent tune up". They literally call us and say, "come to the hospital now" and we have to pack up and go. It is frustrating. I am fearful that this experience will set Lacy back a bit. Often she asks us, "are you going to leave me here?" so I am afraid that she is going to freak out when they make us leave during the shift change hours. Poor little thing. Also, I think my work is pretty much over this whole Lacy thing with me. I don't know how understanding they are going to be when I have to call off for a few more days!

Coloring INSIDE the lines

Just when I start to wonder if we will ever be able to "catch Lacy up" on some of her things, she goes and does something brilliant like this... for the first time ever, she started coloring inside the lines. I am so proud of something so seemingly simple.

The Exorcism

We had yet another visit to the doctor today.

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This time they needed to draw blood.

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They earned every drop of her blood.

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We arrived at the lab, where I had previously informed Lacy that she would be getting a quick poke in her arm so that they could draw blood. She was well prepped for what was about to occur and also very adamant that she was not going as a willing participant in this project. (Of course I brought lots of presents for her to get once the procedure was over. ) Our name was called and we started to walk back to the little chair. Lacy realized what was about to go down and the tears began. The lab tech asked if I was okay with restraining her. At first I thought we'd just hold her, but Lacy had other plans. We were forced to take her into the back room and wrap her in some huge blanket to keep her from flailing around. After the "burrito technique" was administered, it took THREE people to hold her down so that they could successfully draw blood. Lacy was so pissed. The lab people were shocked how strong she was!

She was growling, and screaming, and thrashing, and foaming at the trach. It literally looked like we had exercised a demon from her! Everyone in the facility could hear this child suffer!

The part that cracked me up is that Lacy is such a tough kid. She has landed face first onto asphalt and she just gets back up and keeps going. Funny how the needle brought the worst out in her. I am 100% compassionate to her position. I really hate needles too, but seriously she was so over the top with this one that I had to not giggle while we were in the lab!

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Yesterday Lacy and I were getting into the car after a trip to Target. I had worked the night before and was currently on 30+ hours without any sleep. (This is actually pretty normal for me). As I plopped myself into the car, I let out a giant sigh... to which Lacy replied:

Lacy "What's wrong, mom... tell me, tell me... are you okay?"

Me "I am just really tired, Lace... and a bit frustrated"

Lacy: "Yeah.... and you are being a little dramatic too, mom!"

Face First.

I decided to take Lacy to McDonald's to play in the GINORMOUS indoor play area (I am still learning how to use the panoramic picture option on my cell phone!). While sitting below watching Lacy climb up and up, I was fretting the entire time that something terrible was about to happen and that I wouldn't be able to get to her.

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Not much later I heard her asking for help from the other kids, only to be ignored. "Take my hand and help me!" she insisted. No Samaritan would stop to help my little baby on her way to Jericho... okay, okay, they just wanted to get past her an onto the slide. I noticed that she was stuck in a very awkward position and was struggling to get herself down. In an all-out attempt to move forward, Lacy threw her little body forward thereby catapulting herself face forward and onto the edge of the little plastic compartment.

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Tears and freaking out ensued. Lacy was pretty upset too. I managed to maintain my hysteria to "internal mode", all the while attempting to soothe Lacy! She was screaming and crying begging me to come get her! I told her that she needed to come down and I would take care of her. She refused and continued to cry and point at the growing red bump on her face.

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"Lacy, come down and I will take care of you."

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"I can't I can't I can't I can't. Look at my faaaaaace!"

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"Lacy, I can't come up there, you need to come down!"

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"I can't"

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"You are going to have to come down the slide or just take care of it yourself, because I can't climb up there"

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"Hrumph!" (Tears now magically gone...) "Fine, I'll just stay here and play"

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A B C's

We have decided that it is time for Lacy to learn to read. Obviously we must start with learning the alphabet! I spoke with her preschool in regards to learning her letters and numbers, and their response was:
"She is simply not ready at her age. Learning her letters is a front brain activity and she is not ready to do that. We are now giving her the proper steps to get ready to do those things"

My response was:
"Cough**bull$h!t**Cough"

I'd say that her days there are numbered, but they don't teach numbers there! (HA! BAM! Yeah, I said it!) Now, I recognize that many of the kids there do have certain limitations and that is a perfect justification for such decision, but they shouldn't use some lame excuse about the front brain. Come on! (She is out of there when Randy graduates in May!)

We have started with the letter "A" this week. Of course my Lacy is so freaking brilliant that she already knows the whole story of Mr A. He starts the words "apple and alligator" and he has two sounds. She can now successfully draw an interpreted version of the letter A on her chalkboard! Go Lacy! I am doing my best to be patient and not bring out B till next week...

In other news, Lacy had a terrible reaction to her meds and we were back at the doctor again today. I tried really hard not to freak out, but in the end I think she will be okay. Unfortunately she has been taken off her meds again and we are left to simply pray that her lung infection doesn't come back even worse.

I better get to prayin'!

Happy Easter!

I managed to get home from work in record time. Lacy was still asleep and I quickly scattered the candy and cotton balls from her bedroom door, down the hallway and into the living room.

She quickly found the chocolate outside of her bedroom room mixed between scattered cotton balls.

Hurry... let's see what this leads to...

Another mouth full of chocolate!

and her trademarked bunny-hop dance!

another couple of jumps...

and then we check out the goods!

In the midst of this adorable little scene, I realized that my three-year-old is totally convinced that Easter is all about a giant mythical bunny that delivers presents, much in the same ways Santa Clause does. There is no death or resurrection in her holiday. No basic understanding of an undeniable grace only found in Christ. I think I have some work to do.

Easter Eggs

I haven't done the Easter-egg-thing in years. With a three-year-old, we figured it was time to return to our childhood and bust out the vinegar and dye! Since I was planning on doing eggs with Lacy and my mom tomorrow, Randy wanted to do some eggs with Lacy tonight. He set up his little egg processing plant with the heart of a true scientist. (I didn't take the pics till after we were done, so some of his perfection was ruined by this point.)

My husband is truly a dichotomy of sorts. He loves all things mathematical and scientific. He loves dealing in absolutes and exactness. However, he is very creative. Personally, I don't see how the two can mix sometimes... but I tend to be more of the free spirited type! In all of Randy's excitement and idealism, he failed to realize that there really isn't room for much variety in the color world when it comes to egg dying. He presented us with such colors as: Jungle Green, Kelly Green, Maize, Plumb, Raspberry, Orange Sunset, Lime, Watermelon, and Teal! (Notice he even put his color recipe below each color!)Not surprisingly we ended up with the standard Easter egg colors: purplish-brown, orangish-pink, and greenish-blue. I think Randy was a little disappointed.

In the middle of working on my pinkish-orangish egg, I suddenly missed my sister. She always dyed the best eggs. She was always slow and thoughtful about how she would approach the color scheme of each egg, while I simply wanted to get the eggs in the color as fast as I could! It has been at least 15 years since we last colored eggs together, but I missed the smell of vinegar, the mismatched coffee cups we would use, and all of the fun we had coloring eggs. I hope one day Lacy has the same memories.

Sick again

It has been determined that the nasty bacteria that was in Lacy's lungs has not gone away. The bug has colonized into her lungs and it's going to be a fight to get rid of it. My assumption is that she was never tested while she was at the facility she grew up in and she has had it all this time. Grrrr. No bueno.

Our new drug regimen arrived Saturday. We have been forcing Lacy to take the meds, and she only throws them up a few moments later... not quite sure what to do next. I am considering getting the pills and covering them in butter!

On the lighter side, we spent another day at Disneyland on Friday...

Attention CokeHeads...

When you are about to deliver a baby, please try to avoid that one last snort of cocaine before you come to the hospital.

Please don't tell us that you "didn't know you were pregnant".

The fact that the baby comes out blue and has no desire to breathe is all your fault.

ADHD: Your fault.

We were all secretly hoping the doctor would give you an episiotomy with a plastic butter knife.

My night sucked. I'm going to bed.

Chalkboard and a Leaf

Went to IKEA yesterday. Love me some IKEA!!! We bought Lacy a chalkboard for under $20

I love how she colors on everything EXCEPT the chalkboard. Notice the swirls in the chalk holder, and the lovely pink border! That's my little princess! (I can hear Randy in the kitchen right now telling Lacy, "Why don't you try to color on the actual chalkboard. See how that works out for you". Too funny! Randy is not really an out-of-the-box person. That kind of stuff really bugs him!)...and we also found a very cool giant leaf to go over her bed for $9.99! She wasn't all that impressed with the leaf, but I am! Maybe I'll put it over MY bed. (Randy would FREAK OUT)

Oh, and the shoes I bought ONLINE yesterday?!? They arrived this MORNING!!!! YES!!! This morning! Too cool!

Love those pink Vans!

I just couldn't resist!

I wonder if Lacy realizes that she has more shoes than most adults!

Probably not.

Old pics, new pics

A while back we went to Disneyland with a dear friend I have had for 21 years now! (So strange since we are only in our early 20's! ha!) Sarah brought her two daughters and we all enjoyed a day with Disney. I couldn't find the camera, so that's why it's been so darn long!

Here is Lacy today. Watching Beauty and the Beast while we wait for a visit from one of the millions of people who come through our home to check on Lacy!

Always good to wear a princess dress and hold Beast while watching the movie! This was a very dramatic part of the movie... Beast was fighting with Gaston!

Life is good!

Six years and counting...

The search continues

And so do the questions...

Do we rent?

Do we buy?

Taxes are crazy for both buyers and renters...

This is the latest little beauty.