It started out small. Isn't that always how it goes? Then someone gets daring, someone else gets sentimental, and before you know it, rash decisions are made. That's pretty much what happened at our house today. I was getting ready to give Annabel a little trim when she asked me to cut 10" off her hair. So, I did. Well, it probably turned out to be more like 12 inches by the time I was done massacring it. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad about it. And even she is feeling some remorse. Good thing it's just hair and it will grow back! I asked her if she wanted to donate her hair to sick kids that don't have hair. "No way! I want to keep it!" At least she's honest, right? Andrew's response to her new look: "Annabel you look so pretty, I'm going to puke on you."

Okay, innocent fun on a hot day, right? WRONG! When the CDH is at the park doing a survey and the first question is "How often do you remind your children NOT to drink the water?" it should raise a red flag! Of course I know about the many cases of crypto from last summer. But water is inevitably going to splash into my child's eye or mouth. Can't you people just super-shock the water or something?!

Well, for those of you that think Annabel and Avalee look alike. Okay, so maybe they do! A tiny bit. It's always a little creepy when hand-me-downs spark a moment of reminiscing. Boring blog post, I know. On to more important things: our new pool!

Happy Birthday Annabel! Thursday was all about Annie. We started the morning with a healthful donut with sprinkles then made our way to the zoo for some carousel rides and a visit to the tigers, penguins and the baby monkey. Then it was on to the park for some lunch, swings and climbing fun. After that it was off to dinner at Texas Roadhouse a.k.a. "the peanut place" with a surprise stop for a horse riding lesson. After dinner we crammed in some time for cake, ice cream and presents just before bedtime. Needless to say, the highlight of Annie's day was meeting Surprise, her new BFF.

Sooooo excited to open presents!

Happy Birthday, Baby Avalee!

Wow, it's been an entire year already? You light up our lives and are always good for a smile! Baby, I'm so glad you're with us!

Looking petty hot out there, Honey!

It was just a few months ago that I noticed a strange spot on Andrew's little pink tongue. At the time I remember thinking that he must have bit himself or ate something too hot, resulting in a little blister. But as the weeks went on and the spot grew instead of shrinking, I began to get a little concerned. A novice dentist said "calcification" (of the tongue?!). With that answer, I of course sought a 2nd opinion from an oral surgeon we'd had luck with in the past. He was great and tried to assure me that it was probably nothing, but I should go to an ENT for a biopsy. So, I made my appointment and waited.

By the time we got in it had been 6 months since I first noticed the spot on his tongue. The ENT took one look and recommended we remove the entire area (which is the size of the tip of a pencil eraser). Our appointment was set for the following Monday morning.

The day of the surgery we woke Andrew at 6:30 and took him straight to the car. By the time we got to the hospital, his little nervous stomach was all worked up and he was telling us that he needed to throw up. Poor guy ended up with my nerves! Of course, he didn't throw up since he hadn't eaten anything for 12 hours. When we were finally called back, Andrew gave any and everyone the evil eye, especially if they tried to talk to him. The nurses told us that we would not be allowed to go back with him as they put him to sleep, which I knew would not go over well with our little man. When it was time to take him back to the OR, it was an abrupt and mildly traumatic experience. I had just finished taking him to the bathroom and was carrying him back to our little room. The anesthesiologist litterally grabbed him from my arms, grabbing my arm in the process and started tugging. Andrew freaked out and grabbed my neck. I was literally being drug down the hall by both parties before finally managing to break free. I managed to frantically stuff Andrew's BFF Guido (pronounced wee-doh) between the two of them and hope it founds its way into Andy's terrified clutches. This incident wasn't without many screams of fear from Andrew. Apparently he didn't calm down until he was knocked unconscious!

After waiting an eternity for his surgery to finish -- okay, 45 minutes -- we were allowed back to see him. They warned us that most kids wake up in panic mode. But not our Andrew. He just stared blankly at us. Almost in contempt. He was calm and collected and his first words were to ask for food - a blue popsicle to be exact. After 1 hour in recovery we were allowed to take him home. They warned us that he'd be groggy and grumpy and want to sleep the entire day. They prescribed tylenol with codeine for the pain they said would be inevitable and intense. We headed home.

On the way, Andrew requested blue jello, which is not something I regularly keep on hand! We stopped at the grocery store to run in for a few things. Andrew was in such a good mood, we managed to fill our cart with many things! Once home, he didn't sit still for more than a couple minutes at a time. He never complained about his tongue (or his throat, since they intubated him) hurting. And, groggy never entered the picture. I was halfway looking forward to having a lazy little boy for a day! They told me he would surely pull out his own stitches. His stitches lasted 3 days before they finally fell out on their own. We never did fill the prescription for his loaded tylenol and only gave him two doses of OTC Tylenol as a preventative measure. All in all, I'd say they drastically underestimated our Andrew's disposition!

Our lovely neighbors brought us dinner that night, and I was halfway embarassed that I had a healthy little kid running through the house as if nothing had ever happened. I swear he had surgery!!!

The pathology report finally came in Thursday. The spot on his tongue was a benign papilloma. I'm still not 100% sure what THAT is, but needless to say -- Praise God it was not something more serious!

We are very relieved to have this chapter of our life behind us. Through this experience we've learned a lot about the strength and calm that IS within our boy, although quite elusive. And his tongue, they assured us, will look as though nothing had ever happened in a few short weeks. Let's hope they aren't wrong about that as well!