Happy Birthday Savannah!!

As I sit here today, I can hardly even believe that my little girl is officially two years old! Although this weekend has been amazing and we have truly enjoyed spending time with all of our family and friends, there's a part of me that is a little sad. It seems like just yesterday that we were coming home from the hospital with our new baby. So much of these past two years I've spent wishing away and now our baby is two! Although it's been a wild journey and Dave and I have both learned a lot, I am thankful for the experience. God has held us, comforted us, and walked us through these past two years and I'm so thankful for the lessons we've learned. That noted, if and when there is a baby in the future, please God, we've learned the lessons so we beg for an easy baby!!!

Seriously though, we love Savannah to death. We love the way she carries "B" around and rubs him on our face when we're feeling bad, the way she gives bear hugs and says "love you", the way she laughs, and the way she keeps us on our toes. There is never a dull moment around here for sure. We love the fact that she loves going to church, enjoys talking on the phone, and likes to read books. The list could go on and on and in the end the good times far outweigh the hard ones.

I do have to say that I couldn't have made it without Dave as well. So, today as we celebrate Savannah, I also celebrate Father's Day. I'm thankful for a husband who is committed to raising a godly child and for helping me daily with the endless chores around the house. Your post is coming honey!

Birthday Presents

Savannah has been very blessed already with several birthday gifts and a card that she reads several times a day. It has really been fun to watch her start to understand that these presents are for her birthday, unlike the other presents in the office that are for daddy (those she just stares at wishing she could rip into them). "Sanana's presents" she says over and over when she receives a gift.


Anyway, today she received a gift wrapped in very cute Ariel wrapping paper. As we left church she insisted on carrying "the pincess" all of the way out and noted several times that it was a princess package. We had a couple of errands to run and finally made it home a couple of hours later. I think she stared at that package in the car the entire morning and kept plotting how she could open it before her birthday. Well she finally got her chance . . . as we got home the phone was ringing and it was Mrs. Marlene, our sweet neighbor. I stepped out for literally two minutes and this is what I found when I came back




That stinker had not only pulled the gift (along with all of our mail) off the counter, but she had completely unwrapped the box, taken the cute new pajamas out, and was trying to put them on! I guess we're in for a real treat this year as she opens gifts. No more help from mommy is needed!

Allergist and A Museum

We started the morning bright and early, dragging Savannah out of bed, and being ready to leave the house by 7:30. Dave was able to go into work a little later this morning and was a big help in getting Savannah ready . . . on his way downstairs he realized that he may have things a little backwards with her dress that I had set out for him. Check out this half asleep baby with her dress on all backwards!

We made it out of the house in plenty of time and only missed a couple of turns as we braved uptown traffic. The appointment went really well and the allergist was great. We learned a lot and ended up finding out that she's not allergic to anything! Because we really have her "allergies" under control with Benadryl, the doctor recommended that we stick to that plan instead of going to test B, which involved needles and lots of pain. So, instead here is a picture of the test that she had. It was only contact skin testing, which is still more effective than the blood test, according to our doctor. However, with opting out of the second skin test where they inject allergens under your skin with needles, there is still a 20% chance that we missed something she's allergic to. For now, I'm satisfied. We survived 15 minutes of keeping her from scratching her back and that was plenty for one day.

Then we headed the Mint Museum of Craft and Design where they were having a special kids program today. What a fun way to spend our morning, especially since we were already uptown. Savannah made a neat craft and then we toured the museum. We left after getting yelled at for using flash photography and for letting her sit on one of the displays, but it was a fun outing!

Inside Fun

Today we finally bought a new blow up pool for the backyard. I just didn't see any other way to play outside and stay cool so we used a couple of coupons for Babies R Us and only ended up paying about $15 for this beauty. We decided to give it a try inside today as Dave needs to mow the yard before we set it up outside. Savannah was mostly into trying to help me blow the thing up, but hopefully she'll enjoy the water tomorrow! :) We also made smoothies for the first time today. I wasn't sure if she would like the taste, but as you can see from the picture, she loved her "smovie"!

In Preparation

As most of you know, we are taking Savannah to an allergist next week. This is great news in that maybe we can finally get an answer to what will heal her never ending cough. However, the bad part is that she has to go without any antihistamine or even Benadryl for five days before the visit! So, as Savannah has continued to improve this week I thought I'd give it a trial run last night and put her to bed without any medicine. Although it took her much longer to go to sleep, she made it through the night without getting us up. She did have one little crying/coughing spell, but it was short so I didn't have to go into her room. Whew. Today we will start the day without the Benadryl and see how she does all day long. I guess the hot weather is a blessing as I won't feel quite as bad about keeping her inside away from the heat and seasonal ick. We are trying to be creative in finding new things to do as I still don't want her in front of the TV all day. Please pray that we make it until Tuesday without any medicine.

Fearless on the Playground

Today Savannah and I met my friend Robin and her cute son, Josh (who is only 3 months younger than Savannah), for a play date at the park. Robin and I go way back, even before Dave was in the picture, to my first days at Carmel Baptist. I remember having Bible study at her house once a week . . . and oh how interesting our conversations were. Anyway, it was great to catch up with her today and let our kiddos get all hot and sweaty at the park. I took tons of pictures and later realized that the memory stick to my camera was here at home sitting on the computer waiting for me to have time to list items on eBay. Oh well.

I have to say that Savannah has made huge progress when it comes to the playground. The last time we went to this park, only a month or so ago, she would barely do anything and maybe slid down one slide. Her main focus was the swings, a safe way to play. Today she was almost fearless as she tried out EVERY slide there! At first I was quite nervous and tried to go down with her or catch her at the end, but by the end of the morning, I was confident that she could do them herself. The only downside is that there are parts of the playgrounds for bigger kids that drop off and I have to follow her around to make sure she doesn't attempt to go down one of the poles, nets, or other climbing thingies. Otherwise we're almost to the point where I could sit and watch as she played by herself. We had to take lots of water breaks and left with some rosy cheeks, but all in all it was a super fun day at the park!

Healthy Again . . . Almost!

Yesterday was so much fun in our house! We didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but oh how nice it is to have a child who feels healthy again. I'm not sure if her allergies are just getting better or if it was a cold that lasted 5 weeks and is now better, whether it is the Benadryl around the clock or the local honey that helped heal her little body, but either way she's definitely getting back to normal now! Praise the Lord! Please continue to pray for her cough as she still coughs herself to sleep every time we put her down and every time she starts to wake up. Hopefully our allergist appointment in 8 days will provide some insight into this persistent cough!

Dave and I just laughed and laughed most of the afternoon as she really entertained us with a little singing and dancing in the living room. Her sleeping has returned to her normal schedule with a good 2 hour nap in the afternoon and she's also back to eating her regular foods (still only chicken nuggets, PB&J, cheese, and Gerber foods). We are still trying to get Dave back to 100% as he is suffering from some pretty serious head congestion and sinus pressure, but hopefully once month end is over he can destress and overcome his illness too.