Friday, July 27, 2007

New Pictures

1. 2.

3.
4.


1. Jack is a big boy now! He can sit in his Bumbo seat.
2. Karynne and Maggie at Stone Mountain.
3. Maggie enjoys a Dairy Queen ice cream sandwich. Maybe not such a good idea to let her eat it in the car.
4. Karynne at Stone Mountain (inside the Great Barn).

Thursday, July 26, 2007

End of summer

Maggie is finishing up swim lessons. I think she has come a long way! If only we could drag ourselves to the pool and let her practice her newly learned skills. I know, as if it's some sort of torturous task going to the neighborhood pool! That's supposed to be fun, right? :o)

I finished reading Harry Potter #7 last night. I loved it! If you have read it, let me know and we can talk about it! (That is, if there is anyone out there who is crazy enough to read that huge book in three days like I did!)

Our niece Karynne came to stay with us last weekend so we could go to the Snyder family reunion. We didn't actually get any pictures at the reunion, but got some new pics of Karynne, Maggie, and Jack the rest of the weekend. We went to Stone Mountain Park on Saturday (Karynne's first time) and had fun. We now have a Mountain Membership for the family, so if any of you Atlanta area friends want to go to Stone Mountain with us, we are surely going to be spending more time there in the next 12 months! I'll post some new pics in the next couple of days.

Anna

Back to school is coming!

Summer is winding down...next week is the last week of my vacation. It has really dawned on me in the last few days that I am really going back to work and leaving Jack in daycare. That is going to be very hard. Maggie was home with me till she was 16 months old, and here is Jack, not even four months old, going to daycare. He and I had a big talk about it the other day. I did most of the talking. ;o) I told him that he is forbidden from doing major milestones such as first steps and first words at daycare. He seemed to understand. At least, he grinned at me a lot.

On the other hand, I am really excited about the new school year and starting at a new school, Alcova Elementary. Alcova is only about 15 minutes from home, so the commute will be much easier than the last three years'. I had dinner with my new grade level the other night (still on fourth grade) and we had a great time up talking and eating till almost midnight. We also got a lot of things hashed out for the coming year so that we don't have to meet for business during preplanning, which will be more time to work during that week. I feel like I really started to get to know everyone, so I won't be going in blind the first day of preplanning.

Anna

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Medical Updates

It has been a rather long while since any medical updates were posted anywhere for us, so here is the lowdown.

  • Maggie had a sphincter pharyngoplasty last August to make the space at the back of her mouth/throat smaller. This was supposed to help with speech, because her soft palate in the back was not large enough and moving enough to close off her nose (which is necessary for most of the sounds we make). The surgery was a success in that the space was tightened up a huge amount, but she is still not getting closure back there. The soft palate just moves very little.
  • Our next step is to try an appliance. This will look like a retainer, but will have a long extension designed to cover the hole that goes up to the nose. The speech doctor and the surgeon hope that this will help her to strengthen the muscles back there, to unlearn some bad habits, and to start to hear herself using better speech immediately. The appliance is supposed to be fitted at the end of this month.
  • Maggie's tonsils are very large (so are mine--I think it runs in the family), and the speech doc is now recommending tonsilectomy (again). He believes that the large tonsils are causing muffled speech. I have calls in to the plastic surgeon and the ENT requesting that they confer and let us know if they both are on board for tonsilectomy. If so, we will go forward with it.
  • Maggie's brother Jackson Walker Colley was born April 18, 2007, with no medical problems whatsoever! Wooo-hooo! He has a beautiful palate. His chin did look small, so we wondered if maybe Maggie's micrognathia might just be a family trait. He does have reflux, though not as severe as Maggie's. It is controlled well by meds.

That's all of the medical news for now! Thank you to everyone who regularly keeps us in your prayers! :o)

More Hilton Head Pics

More pics from our HH trip. That is not me, that is my sister in law, Nikki. I'm behind the camera, not in front of it! :o)







Hilton Head Island






The last time we went to the beach was when my friend Annie got married in 2004. I have always felt a close connection to the ocean, and I was really missing it, so shortly before Jack was born, I started pestering Mike for a beach trip. He surprised me by planning a trip to Hilton Head Island (our first) June 30-July 4. We doubled our fun by inviting Karynne, Nikki, and Mike. Karynne is our six year old niece. We had an awesome time, even though the weather didn't totally cooperate.

We went on a dolphin cruise which resulted in an amusing story. We expected to be on a large, covered boat, but got there to find out that they were taking out the smaller boat that day instead. What's worse is that we ended up in the stern (rear) of the boat, in full sun (with a two month old!). Needless to say we weren't too happy about that. I was really worried about Jack. Then as we were leaving the dock we notice these huge storm clouds coming in. We went all over the place and the captain was pointing out all sorts of resorts and fancy homes, but no dolphins anywhere. It was hot and miserable, and then it became more overcast and even drizzled a bit. Finally after probably 45 minutes to an hour of nothing, we find the dolphins! It was thrilling! We saw them flirting with some boaters, begging for food and following in their wake. I was snapping pics like crazy. The boat trip was redeemed. Well as we've debarked and are on our way back to the parking lot, Maggie and I have the following conversation.

Me: Did you enjoy the boat ride, Maggie?
Maggie: Yeah.
Me: Did you enjoy seeing the dolphins?
Maggie: [noncommittally] Yeah.
Me: You did see the dolphins, right?
Maggie: No.
Me: All those times, you never saw the dolphins once??
Maggie: I don't even know what a dolphin looks like!

Oh well.

Swim Lessons

I found the princess on the bottom step!

Miss Sierra

Miss Jennifer

Maggie has begun swim lessons at the Winder YMCA and will continue daily during the week through the end of the summer. She is having a blast! I am hoping that she will develop enough skill in the water that she could swim at our neighborhood pool without my being in with her. That way I could take Jackson and her and not have to worry about leaving him on the deck while I get in with her. Here are some pictures of her with two of her swim teachers, Miss Sierra and Miss Jennifer.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Yellow River Game Ranch





We visited Yellow River Game Ranch on June 16 and got to see all sorts of cool animals. The skunks didn't smell as stinky as the last time I visited when Maggie was just a baby. She really enjoyed seeing all of the animals and feeding them! Note to self: Wear closed shoes next time. It's too gross for flip-flops.

Welcome!


Welcome to our new family blog! I am hoping that this will be an easier way to keep everyone updated on our family adventures (and all of those pictures everyone loves) now that the family has grown and time seems harder to come by. Drop me an email if you'd like to receive an email whenever the blog is updated. I've lost the old list. (Sorry, folks!) Thanks to Tracy and Jeremiah Eye for the idea to create a family blog!