Daisy's First Day of School!!

Daisy started school! The Montessori school in our neighborhood where Rosie has been attending for the last 3 years, starts preschool at 3 years old. The classes are multi- age rooms so 3 year olds, four year olds, and kindergardeners all learn together. Daisy started school 2 weeks ago and she Rosie is going into kindergarten. Daisy is in Rosie's class and feels so special going to school with her big sister. Rosie feels very proud to take her under her wing and show her the ropes. It's nice because Daisy only goes 2 days a week, so Daisy can get used to things and Rosie still has plenty of space. Next year Rosie will move up to a 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade room and Daisy will have the class all to herself.


Daisy was so excited the morning that school started! She ran to get in line and followed Rosie with a huge grin on her face and clapping! She never would have looked back if Rich hadn't yelled goodbye to her. She turned and waved goodbye excitedly! When I picked her up at noon, she didn't even want to come home. I asked Rosie how she did at school and she said with a little smirk on her face, "She just sat at the snack table and ate snack the whole time!"

She's got some work to do learning about line theory and keeping her shoes on, but so far she loves school!

Daisy

Our poor little Daisy has had a rough few weeks. She has been pretty sick. We have all had a lot of nasty virus this winter, but the last few weeks have been really hard on Daisy. She's had a constant runny nose and cold, and digestive issues, then she got hit by a really awful stomach bug 2 weeks ago. She ended up in the ER needing IV fluids for dehydration and it just seemed that she was having a really hard time kicking it.

I have suspected that she too has Celiac Disease for some time, so I had her on a gluten free diet for 6 weeks, but put her back on wheat about 6 weeks ago because I didn't think I had seen much of a difference and we were also finally going to get into see the Pediatric Gastroenterologist at Devos Children's Hospital that we had been waiting to see for over 5 months. I knew that she would order blood tests that would require that Daisy be consuming wheat. I was surprised however when the Dr. recommended that she consume wheat for three months before having the blood test. We didn't make it that long however. Even after recovering from the stomach flu, she was still having constant diarrhea, sometimes 6 or more times a day.

She was so uncomfortable, so we went for the blood test on Wednesday. It had seemed so important to have the medical diagnosis... but it got so bad that it just felt like torture. Do I really need a Dr. to tell me my kid shouldn't eat wheat? As soon as we left the lab Daisy went completely gluten free again.

Less than 24 hours later she had her first solid poop in over 6 weeks.

So we are still waiting for the results of the blood work, but I already have my answer. It couldn't be any more obvious. It's only been two days now without wheat and I can't believe the difference. I really believed that going gluten free would solve her discomfort, but I had no idea it would happen so fast.

So no more gluten at our house, the number of people who can't it now out number the ones who can. I am very thankful though that this is a disease that can be overcome. My family can be healthy. We must simply (it's simple in theory anyway) eat a gluten free diet.

Multitasking

To see all the pics, click here!

Happy Birthday Daisy!

Today is Daisy's birthday. Her and I are just chillin' while the girls are at school and Daddy's at work. We are pretty tired after a long sleepless night. I am hoping and praying that being a whole year old now, Daisy will decide it's time to sleep thru the night! (I started this post and wanted to post it on Daisy's birthday on Tuesday, but due to some internet difficulties I couldn't upload the photos.)


We had a nice time together just our family celebrating Daisy's birthday. I can hardly believe she is actually 1 year old now! We went to Logan's for dinner and they even made Daisy stand on the table so the whole place could yell a big birthday 'Yeee-haaw!' It was funny and she seemed to like all the attention.

I have no idea what Rosie was doing, but it was very very funny!

What a bunch of crazies!

We had a great time at Daisy's birthday party on Sunday. The weather was beautiful and it was so exciting to be able to celebrate outside in the yard. We have far too many winter birthday's in our family, so this was a new thing for us! Thank you to everyone who came, it was a blessing to have so many friends and family members to celebrate with.

Here are some photos:the (gluten free) cake

Happy Birthday to you!

What a mess!

Opening gifts

A new car from Grammy and Papa, an instant favorite.

Lots of new babies, and she had to hug them all!

A special moment with Luna.

Watch out, Daisy's walking!

Fishing from the canoe

Daisy's new winter hat, soooo cute! Thanks Jessica and Pam!

Oh yeah and check out this cute video of Daisy walking!

Daisy is turning 1!

Please join us to celebrate Daisy's first Birthday:

Sunday September 21st 3pm in our backyard!

We'll have some snacks and cake and ice cream,
and some fun activities for the kids.
Please don't feel obligated to bring a gift, just yourself!

I can hardly believe how fast this year has flown by! and it has been one crazy year!

Daisy is going to be one year old on the 23rd! She sure is growing up all at once. In the last month she has gotten new teeth (her first actually!), learned to walk, and cutest of all, she has discovered baby dolls. The other day I walked in the living room and found her huggin' and rocking a baby while patting it's back just like I pat hers. Check out this adorable video:
She loves playing big kids things with the girls. Rosie is so patient with Daisy always getting right into whatever she is doing. They played together with the kitchen stuff all morning today.

Daisy is such a blessing to us. We can not imagine our family without her and can barely remember what life was like before she came along (except that we got a little more sleep back then!). Here are some of my favorite photos of Daisy through out her first year:

The Belly - September 10, 2007

Birth

One day old

Welcome Home!

Three Months Old

Five Months

Easter - 6 months

7 months

9 months

Summer Vacation - 10 months old

Isn't she beautiful!? She is a gift from God!

babies

I took photos of my nephew Cody last week. He is 4 months old. He is such a little cutie, I had to share these with you.




The most amazing thing is that just 4 months ago, he started out life like this:


He only weighed 3 pounds and spent weeks in the NICU. I took this photo after he had been home for a short time. He was so tiny!


His chubby cheeks are so special because they are a sign that he is growing and healthy. Praise God! Here's a photo of his big sister and brother, Brieanne and Kyle.


Since I had the camera out I decided to take a few photos of Daisy. She is so quick these days , it wasn't easy. My yarn kept her busy long enough for me to take these:


Daisy is 9 months old already. It is so sad and exciting all at the same time how fast she is growing up. She is crawling all over and standing up to things.


She is even starting to talk. She says Momma and Dada and Luna whenever she sees the dog. She waves and claps and says hi and something that sounds like yeahhh when she does. We are also teaching her some baby signs. So far she has figured out more. She is a very silly girl!

And thank God at least one of my children still takes a nap!