Mommy Daughter Time

Rachel and I spent Monday afternoon baking a cake. She did a great job helping me mix the ingredients and stirring the cake. She was very hesitant about the electric mixer, but loved the eating part.

Our own little Cinderella

I am sure many of you have heard Steven Curtis Chapmans song "Cinderella" well Rachel loves to dance to it....enjoy.

Family Fun

The Frith family came to visit us for a few days while in the Dallas area. Kids galore at the house, lots of laughter, lots of fun, lots of swimming, and lots of tears as the good bye's were said. We were able to get some family pics on the last day but as you can see the emotional toll of saying good bye was already weighing heavy on Rachel. She would not hug anyone good bye, and then broke down in huge tears and heaving after the Frith MiniVan pulled away. Then she took an incredibly LONG nap, at least 3 days worth of sleeping. We had a good fathers day, Lisa and I's dad was able to come out Sunday, we had a family lunch and visited for a while. The kids enjoyed giving Grandpa some new pictures.

How things change...

Rachel will be 4 years old in 2 months, I am sad and excited all at the same time. We have changed her room from a baby/toddler room, to a big girls room. We up'd her bed from a toddler daybed to a full size bed, updated her curtains, name sign, border and created a reading corner for her. How did she go from having a crib, rocking chair and small 3 drawer dresser to having a big bed, toy box, bookshelves, 6 drawer dresser with mirror and reading corner. She is so grown up, that she even helped me place all the circles around her name. She knew just where she wanted them and it was HER decision. Time has flown by, I was updating her baby book yesterday and I began to wonder....when did she start picking out her own clothes (and try to pick out mine),when did she start going potty by herself and not even telling me or asking for help, when did she begin to learn songs on the radio and ask for the radio instead of her children's CD's. She has even begun to pick out her own groceries at the store, what she likes and does not like. When did she learn to use the TV and DVD player, the XBOX (don't ask we don't even know that one). How does she know what Daddy's favorite song is and Mommy's favorite color? She is an observant little bug, and a quick learner. I look at her and miss the olden days so much it makes me cry, and yet I am so excited to see her grow and change.

Summer Activities

Summer is in full swing here in Rockwall. So we have taken up morning swimming. We hit the pool for at least an hour every day. We get some good exercise, a little sun (yes Andrea is tanning - a little) and some fun. Rachel gets braver and braver in the water. At first she would not let go of our necks, then she warmed up to being safely inside a flotation device for little kids, we are now in water wings which she thinks is so cool. She is kicking her legs and floating on her tummy, she just needs to learn to move her arms in sync. She also has begun the summer semester at the Little Gym, she was very excited on her 1st day and clearly remembered screaming on the high bar from last time. She tried the high bar again with a fearful face. It will take time to get used to it. We will be doing some Preschool learning with some curriculum I bought to keep her mind sharp. So we have her in physical activity and brain activity. As for spiritual activity - of course church on Sundays but she is beginning a prayer life as well. She prays at meals and I quote... "Thank you Father, Amen." Very cute. And we need to get consistent with bedtime prayer as well, but since she wants to list everyone she knows for God to bless, it takes time.

The Leg...the Porch Swing...and another Zoo....

We have returned from our week long trip to Memphis to visit the family and had a great time, a frustration of events did not hamper the good times. This will be a long post...but worth the read.

It all started on the Wednesday before we left for Memphis...Rachel had a small fever and a sore throat, we took her to the doctor immediately because if she was ill, we had to know FAST since a party was going to be on Saturday and we leave for Memphis on Sunday. Sure enough it was strep throat. Now mind you that this is exactly 2 days after our medical insurance has expired and we are paying out of pocket. The doctor advised 24 hours on the medication and she would no longer be contagious. She is feeling good by Saturday, we were torn on whether or not to let her go to her cousin Andrew's party since she was getting over being sick, but knowing how much she loves bounce houses and Andrew/Anna we went for it.

So Saturday we piled in the car and drove 90 minutes to Weatherford. Rachel was very excited to see her cousins and the bounce houses. About 20 minutes into it Rachel had a MINOR bumping incident with someone and immediately broke into tears holding her knee. We held her, gave her some ice for her knee and assumed she would be back to jumping soon. However, after 2 hours of sitting and crying....she said it still hurt. So we piled back in the car and and headed home.

Sunday I went to church while Matthew stayed home with a still wounded Rachel who advised her knee hurt and she could not walk. We felt telling her if she would walk she could go see Mr. Jason (her Sunday school teacher whom she loves) but that did not sway her. After church we headed to Memphis, a 7 hour drive. Rachel is a great traveler and never complained once. But at every pit stop....she would not walk, she would just cry and say it hurt. We never saw any swelling or bruising so we figured she most likely pulled a muscle or twisted/sprained her knee and it would feel better soon.

At Gran and Granddad's house she continued to whimper with pain and refuse to walk, we could not even get her to stand. At the doctor's office on Wednesday for her sore throat she weighed in at 35 lbs....it felt 3times that when carrying her everywhere. We wrapped her knee in an ace bandage and gave her some ligament ointment to help with the pain, but after 4 days....still no walking. She was scooting around on her bottom using her good leg and arms to get around - it was quite a site. We figure she would get tired or frustrated and would try to walk, but every time we mentioned it, she would break down in tears.

By Thursday the rain had stopped and we decided to go to the Zoo, thank goodness for strollers. She loves the Zoo and always wants to see the animals and of course ride the Carousel which is now a tradition. The weather was perfectly cool and the Zoo is great, one of the best we have seen and we have seen MANY. Really cool exhibits and the animals were awake, alert, and CLOSE. Rachel loved the Panda bears so she got a souvenir...thanks Gran! And yet....no walking.

We began to wonder if it was all in her head or if she was seriously hurt and needed to go to her doctor, but we would have to pay out of pocket and most likely for x-rays. OUCH why did this happen the week after our insurance was gone??? So we started with the bribes. "you can go to the park, eat ice-cream, go swimming, run and play if you will just walk a little" but to no avail she refused to put weight on it. But then....we caught her just a fraction of a second put a little weight on it and she did not even know it. So Granddad got her to STAND on his feet and dance around the backyard, she loved it. But when we asked her to walk...NO WAY, huge tears and now her knee did not hurt - it was her shin. We were so puzzled.

We began to wonder if she was just scared to try, scared she would fall, or scared it may hurt. I asked her outside on the porch swing - just me and her - a quiet mommy daughter moment. "Are you scared Rachel?" She said "yes" and I said... "why, of what?" And she replied "Pete" Pete is the cat character from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, it is Rachel's favorite answer to the scared questions, she just laughs. We were at a loss.

We headed home on Saturday and she refused to walk. However, she had no problem riding her tricycle up and down the driveway. We took her to church on Sunday and told Mr. Jason to not baby her, she had to walk. We were hoping that in a room where nobody knows she is hurt would cause her to walk. But no...it had been 8 days of NO WALKING. That evening we forced her to put weight on her left leg, her eyes grew huge and she let out an enormous scream of pain. Big tears and sobs. I felt bad and we decided she had to go to the doctor, it must be hurt.

So Monday we went to see Dr. Chin her pediatrician from day one. Rachel told her where it hurt and of course she would not walk. We explained the accident, and the several days of events. Dr. Chin did a very thorough examination of both legs, joints, ankle, knee etc... and said it appeared fine. Rachel walked on the tops of Dr. Chins feet and put 100% of her body weight on her hurt leg as long as she was standing on Dr. Chins feet and not her own. Dr. Chin had the other Dr. take a look and all agreed. The leg is fine and she was just scared. Nobody knows how to make her walk 9 days later. Most kids would "give it up" by now and walk so they could run and play. So Dr. Chin gave Rachel a "magic" band aid and said it would make her leg all better in 3 days. Rachel loved the magic band aid idea. We took her home and she would not walk. Rachel was carried to bed Monday night.

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning Rachel was standing at our bedroom door. We looked at her and said "did you walk in here?" She immediately went down and said it hurts....that was it...we were done playing games.

Today is Tuesday and we had to practice tough love, VERY tough love. We told her should could not come out of her room unless she walked out. Several times she crawled out and we sent her back crying. The final time she crawled out and then walked on her tip toes holding on to the couch. We praised her and said if she would walk without holding on we would go where ever she wanted. She has been walking on her own ever since. She limps a little, but we think her leg is weak from not being used for 11 days, but she is walking....so she got to go to the swim park and a chocolate ice cream cone!