Lillian has been chatting up a little storm lately. Most of the time, I can figure out what she trying to say, but sometimes, it is just babble babble babble. Yesterday, we went on a 45 minute walk after dinner, and she provided the soundtrack.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m involved with Run for Shelter, a fantastic family friendly event benefitting Transitions Global. This weekend, we were at it again, generating interest in hopes of families coming out and participating in all of our great offerings like a 5K Race, Kids Fun Run, Egg Hunt, Carnival Games, Bounce House, and even a visit from the Easter Bunny!
One of our partners, Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy, offered up their space to me to host my friends and their super cute kids to come out and play and share a little bit about our event. The afternoon was full of running, jumping, bouncing, and, of course, snacking on animal crackers! I absolutely loved watching all of my friends delight in their kids joy. My favorite part of the afternoon was jumping on the trampoline with Lillian giggling and bouncing with me! We had a ton of fun, and I even got to cross something off of my bucket list – jumping into one of those huge pits filled up with foam squares! Lillian was a bit more conservative, and opted to back slide down into it – then she would shriek in excitement, climb out, and do it all over again! I’m not sure if the kids or the moms got a better work out yesterday, whew!!!
Thanks to my wonderful friends and all of your adorable children for coming out yesterday! We had an absolute blast! I hope that your kiddos slept well!!!
Last night, Lillian feasted on chicken with balsamic fig sauce and steamed zucchini! Yep, and she liked it! She is such a good little eater…usually…and I am thrilled to have found two companies to make eating easier! I enjoy cooking, but I am really bad at being creative with ingredients, and simply having the proper ingredients on hand is a challenge. But give me a recipe with all of the stuff I need and we will eat like queens! That is why I enjoy Dream Dinners so much! I have been using this company religiously for about three years now! When I first started, I would love spending a little over an hour in their cute store, assembling my meals for the coming month. Now that things are a bit busier, it is so great to just breeze in, pick up my already assembled meals, and set a few out to thaw for the week ahead. The meals are made with high quality ingredients, are very healthy, and help to save money since you’re not throwing away unused ingredients (or in my case, eating out!) And the more you go, the more you save – they have a great loyalty program.
My next favorite find is Green BEAN, delivering fresh produce to my front door! I first tried out Green BEAN through Groupon, and what a great decision it turned out to be! I receive a small produce bin every 3 weeks full of a great variety of delicious fruits and veggies! They first put together a bin of seasonal items, but you have the option to go in and edit it to meet your needs. Again, a lot of the stuff I would never think of buying at the grocery store, but it’s fun to discover that Lillian and I both like spaghetti squash! I bought some of the Ziploc steam bags and they are great for a quick little side item to match the Dream Dinners!
Do you hear that? It’s the beginning of a long overdue exhale. Today I am leaving for the beach for 5 days. I haven’t had a beach vacation since the Babymoon! Planned out so well, my birthday falls right in the middle of this trip and I can’t wait to celebrate amidst the palm trees!
I was sad to say goodbye to my sweet little girl last night, but we had extra cuddles, hugs, and kisses that will hopefully hold me over until Wednesday. I am excited for Brian and Lillian to have this time together. Maybe he’ll take her on some cute daddy/daughter dates…or cover every surface with Lisa Frank stickers. Yes, stickers are all the rage right now for 23 month olds…but I wonder if Lisa Frank is still as cool as she was when I was sporting her designs on my Trapper Keeper?
I have my new luggage stuffed to the brim, my nook charged up, and my toenails painted! Bon Voyage!
As anticipated, we arrived home around 9 a.m. with a little girl who was the cutest thing in the surgery area at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital! Lillian was sweet as can be during the pre-op time, and enjoyed showing the anesthesiologist where to put the stethoscope by pointing to her chest. She greatly enjoyed the bright green bracelets that Mom and Dad got to wear, as well as the super hip ankle bracelet that she was sporting!
The staff at Children’s was so great! They did a great job of explaining each step of the surgery and what to expect. And, obviously, they were so great with Lillian! I feel like she could have gone through the whole operation and recovery without Brian and I present and still feel so loved and cared for!
The hardest part of the operation (for me) was when they put her under. Now, being present for this was optional for the parents, but I am normally really good with things like shots, and stuff, so I wasn’t too worried about being emotional…but this time, I was really fighting back tears! Even thinking back to it gets my eyes a little watery. She did not like the mask being put on her and fought it quite a bit. As she lost consciousness, her body was so droopy and she had flailing limbs all at the same time, it was really weird. Putting her on the operating bed and leaving her was really hard.
The 10 minutes following were rough…I don’t know how parents who have children being operated on for hours at a time do it! My stomach was in total knots and I had my eyes glued on the door waiting for the doctor! After almost exactly 10 minutes, Dr. Meyers informed us that she had a lot of fluid in her ears, which they drained, and then inserted the tubes without incident.
We waited another 7ish minutes until we were escorted back to the recovery area. Our little love was all cuddled into her sweet nurse and wasn’t making any sort of fuss (we were told to expect an inconsolable child for 30 minutes to an hour!) Lillian was happy to have me rock her with Daddy right next to her as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Eventually, she drank some water, had some ibuprofen, and they sent us on our way!
Lillian slept for about 45 minutes on the way home so the traffic jam on I-75 was to our advantage. When we arrived home, she munched on some toast, demanded bacon, and started to be her silly self. Her first dose of ear drops went in really well and she didn’t mind them at all. She has been going through periods of normal activity and sleepy times, and I’m confident that by the end of the day, she will be completely back to normal!
We are definitely looking forward to an ear-infection-free lifestyle!
Today is the day of Lillian’s surgery to have tubes put in her ears! Actually, by the time you read this, we will probably be home recovering since we have to be at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. Even so, send some prayers our way for a flawless procedure, and a peaceful and comfortable recovery. Updates and details to come…
Lillian has got it down – she knows how to give back, and she does it well! Last night, we visited Potbelly for dinner because they were donating a portion of their sales to Run For Shelter. I am the Sponsorship Coordinator for this fantastic family friendly event to be held in April. There are many great opportunities to get involved – check it out!
So here, you see our girl, chowing down like there is no tomorrow on her grilled PB&J. I started off only giving her half, but then she asked for more. So I gave her some Baked Lays…and she asked for more. So I gave her the cute, tiny cookies that they put on their milk shakes…and she asked for more. So I gave her a big chocolate chip cookie…and she asked for more. So I pulled out the other half of the PB&J. After polishing that off, and her milk, THEN she was all done. I was quite impressed! Perhaps this has something to do with us reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar last night?
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