Sad News

Dear Family and Friends,
We went for our first ultrasound today and were devastated to learn that our baby had stopped developing at 8w5d and did not have a heartbeat. On Monday I will go to South Seminole Hospital to have a d&c done. We are heartbroken and grieving the loss of our child, but we thought it was important to tell you what happened.
Please keep us in your prayers.
Love, Will and Jennifer

"I didn't like the shocks."

Emily had her 4-year-old checkup today. She is usually great at the doctor's office. She's such an easygoing kid and she doesn't mind getting her ears checked or temperature taken or anything like that. She hopped right onto the scale ("Mom! I weigh "firty-eight" pounds!) and suffered through getting her blood pressure taken twice because the nurse pushed the wrong button on the machine. But then the nurse did the finger prick to get a blood sample to test her hemoglobin. Well, she was NOT happy about that. She cried, "Mommy, the poke hurt very badly!" I finally got her calm and she had a nice visit with the doctor, who said that Emily is growing well and she looks really healthy. Then she told me that Emmy was due for four immunizations. If I'd had any idea that it was going to be nearly 20 minutes before the nurse came back, I wouldn't have said anything to Emily. But when the doctor left the room I told Emmy that she was going to get another poke. I didn't want to use the word "shot" because she was already upset and I didn't want to make it worse. And that was probably good thinking, because the word "poke" was VERY upsetting to her. She immediately started crying, "I didn't like the poke! I don't want any more pokes!" I'd calm her down and then she'd start crying again. This from the child who, at her 3-year checkup, barely blinked for the shots! She just looked down at her arm, looked at the nurse, and said, "Thank you." But this year, trauma!! The poor kid was hysterical after getting the four shots. I couldn't get her calm so I offered for her to call Daddy. She said that would help so we gave him a call. As soon as I handed her the phone, she started crying again: "Daddy, I had to get four shocks. I didn't like the shocks!" The good news is that she won't have to get any more "shocks" until she's 11 years old!

Name that Baby!

Emily and I had the funniest conversation on our way home from Publix today. She asked, "Mom, when the new baby comes out of your belly, will he have a name?"

"Yes, we'll give the baby a name."

"Is it gonna be Bailey?"

"No, we already have a Bailey. I think we'll choose a different name this time."

"Well how about [mumbles something incoherent] or Julian?"

"Julian? I don't know."

"How about Bolt?"

(Trying unsuccessfully not to laugh) "Bolt is a very good name for a dog but I don't think it's a good name for a kid."

"How about Mittens?"

"Mittens? No."

"I know! Penny!"

"Mommy doesn't really like the name Penny."

"Well I like the name Penny. How about Dora or Boots?"

"I think we're going to choose a name we all like. And it isn't going to be Dora or Boots. If the baby is a boy, we already have a name. He'll be named William, same as Daddy. But we'll call him Liam. Can you say 'Liam'?"

"No."

"You won't even TRY?"

"No."

"Well you can say William, right? Liam is just the end of William."

"Oh. Liam."

I think she's still pulling for "Bolt."

The Naughty List

I just overheard the funniest thing. Emily was writing in her notebook (okay, scribbling) when Bailey came over to check it out. Emily looks up, holds her arm out in front of Bailey, and says, "No, Bailey. You're on the NAUGHTY list." Hah!! I have no idea where this kid gets it!

Cookie Decorating

Today we invited our friends Isabella and Lydia over to decorate sugar cookies with us. The girls all had so much fun! I don't think I've ever heard them be so quiet! It was really interesting to watch them decorate; I thought each girl's decorating style was indicative of her personality. For instance, Emily, who is sort of fearless when it comes to just about anything, who will try anything and isn't timid, decorated a ton of cookies because her philosophy was to just smear a bunch of frosting on there, dump on some sprinkles, and viola! Done! So her cookies were messy and creative--she had blue, green, and white striped Christmas trees, green stars, you name it. She just did whatever she felt like doing!

Bella, on the other hand, is a much more careful, deliberate child than Emily is. So she didn't decorate nearly as many cookies. She carefully spread icing in an "appropriate" color on each cookie, then added sprinkles like a surgeon--delicately and one at a time! Her cookies were beautiful and absolutely nothing like Emily's!

Lydia was having a grand old time decorating until her cookie broke. She was very upset about it and she was crying until I whispered, "It's okay; just eat it!" She said, "Okay!" and that made everything better!

Bailey napped through 90% of the cookie decorating but she was very excited to do a cookie when she woke up. She was eating the cookie and the frosting while she was decorating it. Emmy helped her with her frosting.

We also listened to Christmas music and drank hot cocoa, thanks to Susan's hot chocolate machine! It was delicious and it really felt like Christmas. What a great day!

A FANTASTIC Birthday Party at My Gym!

Emily's 4th birthday party was a huge success. I was so pleased with the many fun activites that the My Gym staff had planned for her and her friends. The kids had lots of free time to play and explore the gym, and they also got to participate in singing and dancing, a "snowball" fight, color tag, ride a spinning swing, and take a "space flight" on the zipline! Emily was dressed up and paraded around (which she LOVED), and when we had birthday cake everyone got a candle to blow out and make a wish for Emily. It was so much fun. I was exhausted after it was over but I know Emily had a super special day!