A different kind of milestone

I just wanted to tell you about Maggie's latest milestone. The day after her party Grant was swinging Maggie on her new swing when he thought he should try spinning her around in it. She loved it so she asked him to keep spinning her. After a minute he stopped but she asked for more! This happened several times. Finally Grant saw her looking a little green and said, "okay, we're done!" and got her out of the swing. We went inside and Maggie started crying. We couldn't figure out why she was crying until she coughed her very distinct "I'm-about-to-vomit" cough. We got her a bowl just in time! So, yes, Maggie has officially hit the "Spin-around-until-you-vomit" milestone!

Today we went to a cool new playground and when we left Maggie got very upset because she wanted to stay longer. She cried for several minutes and when I tried to distract her by talking about something else she said, "No, mama. I'm so sad and I don't want to stop crying!" She basically cried the rest of the way home and snapped out of it as soon as we got out of the car.

Maggie's polka dot birthday movie!

Grant put this video together with highlights from the birthday party. Enjoy!

Here are some more photos, as well.
Here is our living room, so you can see the polka dots that we hung up throughout the house.
Ben Griggs
Benton (Poppy) and Jack (notice even Jack has on polka dots!)
Here are some of our neighbors with Maggie:
Tiffany Dupree and Molly Griggs
Nana, Kajsa Perman, Chris White and Jim Landers

Maggie LOVED the coat Mimi and Poppy got her, and the shoes Grandaddy gave her and wanted to wear them out immediately. She insisted we go to Target to show them off, but settled for walking to the mailbox.
Here's just a funny photo from the other night. She likes to wear her sunglasses and we like to brush out her hair at the end of the night. We've taught her to shake her head to loosen up her "mane" and then roar like a lion.

Do the Polka!

Well, it's official: Maggie is two! Her Polka Dot-themed party was a huge success...and I never want to see another polka dot (just kidding). We had about 8 kids at the party this year (7 more than last year!), lots of adults, and lots of fun. Really everything was polka dots - I'd say about 75% of people wore polka dots on their clothing, the cake (which I made myself!) was 3 tiers with pink and green polka dots, and all the food was polka dot-shaped. We had sandwiches cut into circles, doughnut holes (good idea, Edison Dupree), hye rollers (rolled up sandwiches), and a veggie tray with all circular-shaped veggies - cherry tomatoes and cucumbers and carrots cut into circles.

Her biggest gift was a slide/playground and swing from all of her grandparents which she loves and we have logged many hours on it already.
Here are a few photos:
The swing and the playground in the background.

Opening presents. Check out all the polka dot gift wrap.

Grant's working on a video with footage from the party and I promise to post that as soon as it's finished.

We also had her two-year appointment with her pediatrician and she's bumped up to the 50th percentile for height (33 inches!) and 40th percentile for weight (25 lbs). He said everything looks good and he was very impressed with her vocabulary and verbal abilities. However, lest you feel that I think she's perfect, let me tell you about her new favorite activities: biting and pushing. She's been sent home from the YMCA nursery twice now (it's just their policy and they say it happens all the time. Still...) I have tried everything short of spanking and nothing seems to have made a difference. Anyone have any good tips? Meanwhile, send your kids over wearing body armor:)

She's also saying lots of funny things every day. Yesterday morning we were sitting with her in the living room and she said, "Could I get some privacy, please?" We cracked up and left her alone!

Here's a cute photo from Erin's house the other day:

We Remember

Several of you have asked about the Walk to Remember, so I thought I'd write a short post about it. There were definitely a few parts that were less than great, like the Celine Dion song performed and the cheesy poems read, but I'm glad we went. I plan on volunteering next year to make it better! It felt good just to see Elle's name written down and to know that the focus of the morning for my family was to remember her.

The walk itself was short but nice, and afterwards everyone there (about 60 or 70 people) walked to a small field for the balloon release. Everyone there was given a tag for their baby on which they could write his or her name and a message, and then we tied them to the balloons. We had a pink balloon for Elle, but people had blue balloons for their boy babies, and white balloons if they didn't know the baby's gender (like if the baby was miscarried too early to determine gender). Looking around the field at all those balloons bobbing in the wind and knowing that each one represented a real person, however small, was just overwhelming. The event organizer read each baby's name, and as the name was read, that baby's family released their balloon. The balloons flew up into the sky, becoming smaller and smaller until they faded away. I don't know why but it felt important to me to watch each balloon until I could no longer see it. While we were standing there I also took my time to remember each of the babies lost by my friends and people I know who were unable to be there. Although I don't talk about Elle often (besides to Grant) I think that's one of the things that's most important to me: that she is not forgotten. I guess I was just trying to make sure the other babies weren't forgotten, either.

Thanks for reading this and remembering her.

Just a little something

Several of you have been asking for suggestions for a birthday gift for Maggie. She loves to play house so check out this idea.

Is it just me or do those kids look a little creepy and Stepford-esque?

But let's not be silly. Why spend $9000 on a playhouse when you could have a nice, little playground? I'd say it's worth the price tag. After all, it does have a jail house, fire pole, and club house!

A Walk To Remember

No, I'm not talking about the movie. I just wanted all of you in Nashville to know about the Walk to Remember that will take place October 6 in Franklin. The Walk to Remember is for anyone who has lost a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant loss. Our daughter, Elle, would have been 3 this October 24th and I'm really looking forward to publicly remembering her and celebrating her existence.

If you know anyone who might want to participate, please direct them to the Walk to Remember website where they'll find more information.

Maggie's first bike ride

We had such a wonderful weekend. Grant made delicious pancakes for breakfast Saturday morning, we played around for a while, and then we went for our first family bicycle ride. We parked at my dad's house and then rode about a mile to a great park/playground, where we had a picnic and played for a bit, and then we rode back. Maggie loved it and Grant and I did, too. We bought this little bike trailer for her this spring and this is the first time we've used it.

We actually had so much fun that tonight (Sunday) we went back over to my dad's house and all of us (including my 10-year-old brother, Spencer) rode bikes about a mile to a restaurant for dinner. The weather was beautiful, traffic was light, and dinner was great. It was especially meaningful to me because I spent many summer nights in my childhood riding bikes with my sisters and parents to dinner and we had so much fun.

Enjoy the pics!

Here she's trying on Spencer's (too big) helmet.


(By the way, we did buy a helmet for Maggie, and don't worry - it's PINK!)

Talent

My dad sent me a link to this little video and if you have a second, you should check it out. It really moved me (I was surprised by how much it moved me!)

It didn't hurt that I love the song he chose...

More Jack

Here are a few more photos for you:
The morning Jack was born Grant went in to get Maggie from her crib when she woke up. He walked in and said, "I have a surprise for you. Do you know what it is?" She thought about it for a few seconds and then excitedly said, "MUFFINS!" However, she was equally excited when she found out the surprise was Jack's birth.

A few days ago we were driving in the car and the sun was shining in Maggie's eyes. She started crying because it was too bright and so Grant held up his arm to block the sun. She kept crying so we said, "Maggie, Daddy fixed it. It's not in your eyes any more." She said, "I know. I just need to cry a little bit more," and then proceeded to sob dramatically for a minute or two.

Does anyone have any good Halloween costume suggestions? I am struggling...

Maggie has a cousin!

Maggie's first cousin is finally here! Jackson (Jack) Douglas Landers was born at 6:08 am, September 20th. Erin's water broke at 8:45 pm on September 19th and she went into labor about an hour later, and she did the whole thing with no drugs! Go Erin! I was lucky enough to be with her throughout her labor and in the delivery room and I even got to cut the cord (Jim didn't want to and I don't blame him - it was kind of weird). He pretty much looks exactly like Jim.

He weighs 7 lbs, 11 oz and was 20" long. Here are a few photos!

My LAST (?) wedding

I don't want to say for sure, but I may have done my last wedding this past weekend. The flowers turned out great but it was one of the most stressful situations I've ever been in. I needed another person helping me (I had only one fantastic assistant, my friend Elise) and the situation was made difficult by the fact that I couldn't get on the property until 3pm the day of the event. The wedding started at 6pm and so this wasn't very much time to get everything done. It was all made better by the fact that Grant scheduled a massage for me the day after the wedding. I have the best husband.

Here are some photos. The first one is of the rose pomanders that marked the beginning of the seating. The next one is a close up.

Sorry that you will have to turn your head to see the next few. I know it's annoying but just know that it couldn't annoy you more than it annoys me! Sorry!
This one is the centerpiece for the tables. We did 25 of these!
This one was behind where the bride and groom stood for their vows. It was massive.

And here is the cake. The green flowers are actually tiny blossoms cut from green hydrangea. It was prettier in person, I think.We went to the Greek Festival yesterday and it was so much fun. There was a petting zoo with lots of animals, a rock climbing wall, great music and food, and interesting people to watch. When we walked up to the petting zoo and pointed it out to Maggie she said, "Animals! Nice!" It was pretty funny. Grant went in with her and she fed a goat, donkey, a really fat sheep, a calf, a llama, and some chickens. There was one goat that got a little aggressive and Grant had to keep pushing him away. He was kind of freaky but Maggie isn't easily frightened.

This is funny, too. When Elise was helping me with the flowers, Maggie was around for part of the time. About every five minutes she would say, "Um, hi, Lelise!" She probably said it 30 times. She also kept asking about where Cole (Elise's son) was. She also told us the flowers were "bootiful" and "perfect!"


The bouquets were gorgeous, but I'll have to wait for the wedding photographer for those. I'll post them when I get them.

Potty training: a short-lived experiment

We are officially through with potty training for now. After several days of trying it became apparent that she wasn't quite ready and we didn't want to pressure her, so we're done for now. We'll probably try again in a few months. Darn it.

Potty training and other adventures

Well...we've made the jump to potty training! I never thought I'd be so excited about someone else going to the bathroom. In the two days we've been working on it she's gone a couple of times in the potty and had several accidents, but I'm not really trying that hard. I know she's pretty young for it but her pediatrician encouraged us to try and if it doesn't work then I'll pull back and try again in a few months. We'll see! If you have any tips, please send them my way!

Have I posted yet about Maggie saying, "How does this work?" If not, well, she's saying it. She asks it about her seatbelt, the side of the crib that drops, and a multitude of other things.

She's singing a lot. I guess I frequently sing "doo doo doo" if I don't know the words to a song (I had no idea how much I did this), and so she has started singing the same words in a tune that sounds melodic only to her ear. It's pretty adorable. It's been fun because she'll do it on a car ride and keep herself busy the entire time.

Today Grant showed her some shelves he had hung in a closet and when she saw them she said, "Nice, daddy." I thought that was pretty cute.

Here's a photo of Maggie with Uncle Blake in her room. You can sort of see the palm tree in the background that I painted on her wall. It's pretty obvious that she just woke up from a nap.

Here's Maggie with my brother, Spencer. Sadly, she has started calling him Spencer instead of TupTup, but we're still calling him TupTup in the hopes that we can prolong it. She also heard Grant call me Courtney the other day and has been trying it out.
Her eyelashes are about 3 feet long. I'm so jealous.
I think this was also after a nap. We love her crazy hair after a nap. Usually her curls are all askew and sticking out everywhere.
At my dad's house, wearing an outfit I bought while pregnant with her that finally fits! The bloomers, which you can't see, are the best part. They're orange with little white polka dots.
This Wednesday (August 29) will be six weeks from my surgery and I can finally pick up Maggie and work out! Hooray! I'm definitely ready and feeling up to it.

A love letter

I first want to say that my drain is gone! They removed it last Thursday and I guess I forgot to mention it! I'm feeling sooooo much better now and just get tired really easily.

I want to publicly acknowledge everyone who helped us in the last 4 weeks. Here goes:

Forest, Nate, Blake, Jim and Jenny - thanks for moving us to our new house!
Rusty Howard (my father-in-law) - thank you for driving out here, installing that ceiling fan, helping with Maggie and insisting that we needed more help and giving up your wife for two weeks
Carol Howard and Grandma Mathis - thank you for scrubbing our old apartment, painting the living room, getting up with Maggie at 5am, cooking, doing laundry, running errands, spoiling Maggie, running the Baptist Express to my hospital room so I could be with Maggie, and putting your own lives on hold for two weeks while you generally slaved away for us.
Mom, Benton, Erin, Jim, Dad, Chris, Spencer - thanks for your many hospital visits, for keeping Maggie so I can rest, for painting the shed (Dad), for all of the meals, for bringing movies and magazines, and a million other things too numerous to mention
Molly Griggs- for arranging a meal brigade once I came home, for calling frequently to check on me, for watching Maggie, for bringing dark chocolate to the hospital, and for making the best broccoli casserole I've ever eaten
Dupree family - for keeping Maggie often and keeping her extremely entertained, for bringing dinner, and for installing ANOTHER ceiling fan (Michael), as well as giving us a fan for Maggie's room. Oh - and thanks Tiff for helping paint Maggie's room, too!
Amy and Forest, Molly, Grandma Austin, Nana White, Erin, and Elise Tepner - for bringing delicious dinners so we didn't have to worry about cooking for a while (and Elise - for getting me hooked on sudoku)
Blake and Jenny - for watching Maggie, taking her to the Tomato Festival because you wanted to enter her in the redhead beauty contest, and for bringing flowers
And thanks to all of you reading for your prayers, cards, kind words, and a million other kindnesses! If I've forgotten someone or something I will feel terrible but there have been so many nice things that it's hard to keep up with - so thank you for that!

You are the best friends and family a girl could ask for and I love you all!

An Apple Jacket

I just read about this thing called an apple jacket. It's basically what it sounds like. At first I thought it was silly, but the more I looked at it and thought about it, the more I liked it. It's actually pretty cute. If I worked and took apples to work then I might like it. I wanted to share it with you!

You can see or buy it here, and please make sure to read the note about the New York Times on the web page. I think it's funny.

Have any plans for October yet?

I know may seem kind of silly but I'm starting to think about Maggie's birthday party and I just wanted to put it out there for you to reserve Saturday, October 13 for that very special event! It'll be during the day but I'm not sure exactly what time yet - just not evening. I know it's only August, but...I can't help myself. It's so much fun to plan parties!

Here are a few photos for you. This is Maggie being serious:

We just love her profile. Hope you do too!
Benton sent me this photo and he titled it "Poppy, please don't take my water!" I think that sums it up well (maybe a little too nicely according to Maggie's expression).

Here we are at McDougal's Chicken Coop (a restaurant) before my surgery.

Maggie asked, "Grandpa, how do you grow your mustache so well?!"
Here's me in the hospital with Grandma Mathis and Maggie (stealing one of my popsicles). Don't I look hot? Those hospital gowns are so flattering...

Here's Maggie on the front porch of our new house! I love this dress - it's so '60s looking and we always get comments on it.

Grandma Mathis and Carol took Maggie to the zoo one day. Here she is on the swing, all pooped out. Grant thinks she looks like my baby photos in this one.
I've saved my health update for the last b/c I know you're probably all bored with it. I still have a drain in me that I'm waiting to have removed until it completely stops draining. There's not much left but enough for them to leave it in. It's extremely irritating to my body and is actually causing me a lot of pain. My incision is healing well and hardly bothers me at all. I'm pretty much on bed rest at this point but I think when the drain is removed I'll instantly improve 75% or more. So let's all think positively for the drain to be removed! Hope none of this was too graphic.

Thanks for reading and I hope I have some good news to update you with soon!

Courtney update and new Maggie photos

Here's a quick update on my health (because I'm sick of blogging about myself):
I'm home from the hospital after 9 days. I'm easily fatigued, slightly uncomfortable sometimes, and in pain sometimes, but so glad to be home. I have a follow-up appointment next Thurs. and expect to be in a bikini within the month. Well...maybe not that last part.

Grandma Mathis and Carol (Grant's mom) are staying about an extra week to help me recover and mostly care for Maggie. As my mom said, we're nominating them for sainthood.

And now...the promised photos of Maggie! Here she is with Grandmama, being snuggly.
Here she is just being cute. She now knows how to pull out the kitchen chairs in order to climb up them and onto the table.
Here we are at Pancake Pantry the day after I was discharged from the hospital. I think everyone looks cute but I think I look a little weird.
Here is Maggie at gymnastics. Grandma and Grandmama took her twice and I went the last time but just sat and watched. Grandma taught her to put her arms up and say "ta-da!" after her "dismount".


I'll leave you with a few funny Maggie stories. Carol brought Maggie a little toy that is an elephant that blows butterflies out of his trunk. There are nets with it that kids are supposed to use to catch the butterflies. Edison and Emme Dupree came over and were playing with it with Maggie, but rather than try to play the game, Maggie just ran around them in circles, giggling and saying, "It's so much fun! It's so much fun!"

Also, Erin and Jim brought over a spare chair they had that we'll use in Maggie's room and once it was set in place she climbed on it, plopped down and said, "It's so comfy!" She is really talking like crazy (how many times have I written that?!).


Sometimes when Grant and I are trying to get each other's attention without shouting we whistle a little whistle that sounds like two notes, one high and then one low. Now Maggie tries to imitate us and when we whistle she "whistles" back but it sounds more like this "Fee-foe" (the "fee" is high and the "foe" is low). It's pretty cute.

All right, thanks for reading all of my ramblings!

I am STILL at the darn hospital

As you read from the title, I'm still here! I've had a few minor setbacks but things are looking up. The day that they put me on "Liquids", rather than "Clear Liquids" I ate about 1 cup of creamy soup and a little jello and was really uncomfortable all night long. I barely slept because my stomach hurt so badly. I told my dr the next day and he said, "Okay, we're pulling you back to sips of clear liquid (a demotion even from clear liquids)." He also said that there's one more little setback which I won't get into here b/c I'm not sure how much you want to know! He said I could be here one more day or 2 more weeks, at which point I started crying because I'm SOOOOO ready to go home and am missing Maggie and Grant so badly. That was yesterday and today I've been on Clear Liquids again and have been walking tons, trying to get my digestive system to wake up! Things are improving and so I hope tomorrow morning he'll be able to give me a better idea of when I can expect to go home.

So to recount: since Tuesday, July 17 at 3:30pm all I've had to eat is jello, chicken broth, juice, ice chips and one delicious cup of creamy soup. I've lost several pounds and am really looking forward to milkshakes and my number one craving since I've been here: PANCAKES! (Did I mention this already? I'm seriously hungry now.)

I was thinking, in case you're wondering what the spleen does, or the pancreas, or what information is available online about my solid pseudopapillary tumor, here are some links!

Here are a few photos of my recent trip to New Orleans with my mom to visit my sister Lindsay and her husband Jim (and their daughter/dog, Yippie). Here we are eating Cajun food and the BEST cornbread I have ever eaten.

Here we are outside of La Madeleine, a yummy French restaurant we like. We basically ate our way through New Orleans.

Here is my loony sister, Lindsay, with Jim. She's a good self-photographer, huh? :)

Update on my health

Just wanted to let you know the latest news on my health. I was told yesterday that although I'm recovering very well and speedily, they still expect me to stay until Monday or Tuesday. I'm really rooting for Monday. I've been walking around a lot more and I know that will help. As of today I'm allowed to eat clear liquids which means that for brunch I had chicken broth, grape juice, lemon jello, and a lemon ice dessert. They also brought coffee, which I was excited about, but I couldn't have cream, so what's the point? Does anyone else think that coffee, grape juice and lemon jello are not so much clear liquids?

Anyway, otherwise I'm just recovering more and feeling better every day. I've read about five books and am really enjoying my reading vacation (well...enjoying the reading part and not much else)!

Have you seen my spleen lately?

Well, it's official...I no longer have a spleen OR a tumor (and about a third of my pancreas is gone, too). Apparently the tumor was about the size of a golf ball, which is bigger than I expected. I wanted to see it but it was already sent to be biopsied. I know that's gross and, honestly, out of character for me, but it's not every day you can see something that was growing inside of you.

Anyway, the surgery went well, apparently I didn't bleed much and it took about 2 hours instead of the scheduled 3.5 hours. I got some good drugs and don't remember anything past being wheeled into the OR. Also, I got my first epidural! He said that they recommend it for abdominal surgeries b/c they can be especially painful with all that muscle. I wasn't sure about having it since I skipped it for my own labors, but in the end I decided to go for it. It's still in and will probably remain until I get ready to leave. It's a very weird sensation to have absolutely no feeling in my leg. It kind of feels like it's fallen asleep. I'm not too crazy about it. But it does keep my pain to a minimum. My pain is pretty manageable right now although yesterday was sort-of a worst-nightmare scenario. Upon waking up from surgery in the recovery room my voice was totally gone, I couldn't move any part of my body, and I was in excruciating pain. The staff was working on another patient and didn't notice I had awakened, so there I was, in the worst pain of my life, rasping, "Uhhhhh", trying to get someone to notice me. It felt like an hour but was probably only 5 or 10 minutes. Other than that, though, I've felt pretty good.

The nurses are telling me my recovery is going well and they expect me to stay the minimum (maybe 3 days). Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts!

As for the house...we are mostly moved in but it's still a little crazy. Thankfully Grant's sweet grandma and sweet mother are helping so much and have even volunteered to clean the old apartment. They're pretty much saints :) This is all on top of watching Maggie while I'm in the hospital. They're going to need a vacation from their vacation!

I'll post another update soon and hopefully I'll be out of here quickly!

I'll post some Maggie photos and stories soon, I promise!