Aquarium of the Americas

The day after the Christening, we decided to walk the Riverwalk and take the girls to the Aquarium. We had not been since Katrina hit in 2005. It has definitely changed since then. The girls favorite section was the Mississippi Delta exhibit. It was everything that they are familiar with (alligators, turtles, jellyfish, etc...). I was so proud of Lauren who conquered her fears and was interested in touching all the animals on display. It turned into such an educational experience for us all; as Lauren always has more questions than we have answers for. We found ourselves reading the placards to get the answers to so many of her questions.

Annalise and Lauren

The Results are in...

Today was the big day - Allergy results are in!

Annalise's results were excellent news. Her allergies are getting better. Her counts have reduced on almost everything including apples. Apples had been a +5 (worse) and resulted in anaphylactic symptoms and countless trips to see the doctors. This count is now a mid 2.

The not as good news is that she is now testing at a medium level for egg whites. This is the first we have heard of this allergy; but very manageable. (I think!) Lucky for us, I work with a girl named Cara whose son has allergies but their reactions are different. I know she will be my guide into the new phase of avoidance of egg whites.

Dr. gave us a new prescription for a nasal spray to help alleviate some of the symptoms from her chronic rhinitis.

Annalise will have to continue to carry an EpiPen, daily medication and a nasal spray especially with the SpringTime coming. Spring is our most active allergy period.

Annalise's Allergies

Annalise went again today for more testing on her allergies. For those of you who don't know, she has had severe allergies since she was 7 months old. She is deathly allergic to apples. We carry an EpiPen just in case. Well due to some issues, we are switching allergist. The new allergist is doing the whole gammit of test. Annalise usually gets test every 6 months anyway. But this doctor wants to start over and make her own judgements. Wish I appreciate greatly the second opinion.

Lauren and I took Annalise to 3 different centers for testing. Annalise usually is held down by 3-5 people for the bloodwork. Today, she was a trooper and screamed, kicked, and hollared; but was controllable with a third person in the room on standby. She gets over it real quick with stickers, juice, and a coloring book or Dora movie. I on the otherhand, don't adjust quite so easily.

It is amusing because as parents we tell our children that we are here to protect them; BUT I am going to allow these strange ladies to stick you with needles repeatedly. Yes, I know it hurts, but it will make you feel better. her response, Mommy but I feel okay - nothing hurts now. What she has not realized is that I feel so bad for her that I just might consider buying her that horse that she always ask for if she would only ask at the right moment in time. Okay - maybe not:)

Results should be back in 10 to 12 days.

My sweet girls...

I witnessed the sweetest and most compassionate love last night. Lauren and Annalise had been laying in Lauren's bed watching their new movie "Barbie Fairytopia - Mermaidia" . Chris and I never heard one peep or saw a movement out of them - eyes were glued to the television. We just knew that it was one of those great movies. Well as the time began to pass I began to hear Lauren softly sob. As I walked into the room, Annalise was giving Lauren her bear and trying to comfort Lauren by patting her and telling her that "it is fake". Unsure of what was going on, I questioned Lauren about her tears. She began to explain that she knows it is make believe, but it was the saddest thing ever. One of the mermaids undoubtably had a spell of some sort on her where she would become trapped under water if something did not happen and she would never get to see Bibble (her sidekick/pet) again. It was just horrible according to Lauren!! Soon after all was calm and the mermaid made it out of the water okay. Annalise insisted on watching Clifford who makes everyone laugh.

As they laid back in bed, Annalise and Lauren comforted each other with kind words and hugs and fell asleep. AHHH, to sweet.

Lauren is so sensitive and Annalise can be so compassionate!!!

Mom has MRI

Thanks to Aunt Linda and Uncle Paul who took Mom to get her MRI done yesterday. I also spoke with the doctor; he will call as soon as they get the results in - usually takes 24-48 hours. We should know something late today, tomorrow, or on Monday. Mom also enjoyed her outtings. She was a trooper, even though she was sore and tired. Please keep praying for Mom and the doctors.

Last night, we went to my in-laws for an end of the summer supper and swim with the cousins as well as haircuts for the girls and Mom. The kids enjoyed their time swimming with the dads (Tiny, Chris and Uncle Bill). While the ladies enjoyed catching up on "what's been going on". All in all, I would rate last night pretty high on the fun list.

I almost forgot, Annalise went down the slide several times. Go Anna!!

Annalise meets Ms. Sara

Last night, the girls had gymnastics. Ms. Sara, Annalise's teacher, was excited to have Lauren's little sister in her class. She had lots of patience with Annalise while also tending to the other girls. She realized quickly that while Annalise has the flexibility that Lauren has, she does not have the control and attention span of Lauren or the rest of Anna's class. Most of the other girls are turning 5 in the next couple of months and will be moving up to Lauren's class (Preschool Development - Pre-Comp Class). She is by far the youngest child in the class and most active.

Lauren did great last night. Her class focused on the floor and beam. Lauren did a correct handstand and backwards roll. Their new task was jumping on the beam. Lauren was a little hesitant at first, but soon caught on with small jumps.

Annalise falling asleep

Annalise was a little exhausted tonight while eating dinner and could hardly keep her eyes open.

Gymnastics - Annalise's First Time

Lauren had her third development gymnastics lesson last night. Last Thursday night while at gymnastics, we decided that we would sign Annalise up for class also during the same timeframe. This would give Annalise something creative to do for an hour and an hour to play with me.

Well last night was her first class. She was completely adorable in her blue leotard. Due to her teacher being on vacation, she joined Lauren's advanced class for the first 30 minutes. This allowed her the chance to show off her balance beam skills. She walked back and forth on the big beam and the little beam; as well as swinging from the big bars. And I do mean swinging and hanging from the bars. Her second teacher tried to convince her to flip over and she was having no part of that. After all of her hardwork, she was able to play in the "cheese" (aka - the pit). This was the ultimate goal she was hoping for. She is now counting down the days until the next class.

Lauren is doing excellent and rapidly advancing. She is doing her forward and backward rolls, bridges, splits, and balance beam kicks. She had two new lessons last night; they were a forward roll on the big balance beam and a hand stand. She was so excited that she was able to accomplish them both with a little assistance.

Chaos gets married

On Saturday night, our friend Chris Smith (aka Chaos) finally got married. He married a girl from the Lafayette area Candy Vidrine. They had a beautiful reception at VermilionVille in Lafayette. It was a museum. The girls enjoyed looking in the windows of the various shops (restaurant, cooking school, museum, etc...); also sitting on a pier under a pavilion looking at the water flowing underneath us.

Attached are a couple of photos of the girls.