Updates

Since I completely neglected the month of November, I have some catching-up to do.

First of all, Zoe is officially crawling! I don't mean the inchworm-meets-combat-crawl belly-scooting she's been doing, but the real thing! She's not into everything and rarely leaves the room, but she is really moving around the room well and can get to whatever she wants that's on the floor, much to Abby's chagrin. We may need to step-up our efforts in getting Abby to be a cheerful sharer :)

Next up, Zoe is also trying to pull up...on everything! She spends most of her time on her knees while holding onto something, just trying to figure out how to stand. She has mastered this feat in her crib, much to Mommy's surprise one day after nap...yes, we have lowered the crib mattress. I was starting to think we'd never need to. She is turning into quite a little monkey, trying to climb up whatever is handy.

Abby's kitty ran away and she is pretty sad about it, so please don't mention Pixie in conversation with her :( As awful as it is, this is actually a blessing because, apparently, Zoe and I have terrible allergies, and we were actually in the process of trying to come up with the least-traumatic way to find her a new home. I think this may have been God's answer, and I am ever-so-thankful for how mercifully easy it's been. She has a few sad moments when she finds a cat toy, and she asks Jesus for her safe return during prayers, but she's actually doing very well with it. Please don't offer a replacement to her...please. My eyes finally feel clear :)

Abby and Zoe and their cousin Destiny were all fairies for Halloween, and we went to a Trunk-or-Treat. They had lots of fun and got a little candy.

Alaska had a terrible ear infection that quickly escalated into a busted blood vessel in his ear. It took a bit of our emergency fund to pay for his surgery, but that's what it's there for, I guess. I'm not sure his poor little ear will ever look the same again, but the lop-sidedness has become rather endearing.

My sister and her kitties and dog moved into our basement because she and one of my other sisters were not living in harmony and they needed a change. We have enjoyed having her and Sophie (the dog). Her cats are malicious beasts, and there is always a chorus of unhappy noises when I enter her room. Thankfully, they are also scared of everything and stay in that room and keep to themselves :)

Zoe FINALLY passed a hearing test (first time since Sept. of last year), and they actually used the word "normal" to describe her...another miracle, even if it was just about her hearing. Her doctor (ENT) also discovered, however, that she has a green pea-sized cyst on the back of her tongue, and according to her MRI (done when she was 3 days old), it has been there her whole life. For some reason it's existence was left out of the report from the radiologist who read the MRI and no one else who looked at it noticed it either. It is probably to blame for the awful feeding problems she's had: gagging, choking, not wanting to eat or take a bottle, trouble swallowing, coughing, etc. So, anyway, it doesn't really matter who should have found it or when, but it has to come out. We have scheduled her surgery for Dec.13th at Vanderbilt.

Grady and I have decided to do a study together on God's healing, as he has a hard time with God's not healing his dad of MS. I really look forward to doing a study with him, just the two of us. We're really hoping this helps his faith in healing. It's really crazy how far apart we are on this...This journey the last couple of years with Zoe has really strengthened my faith, but Grady's has really suffered with his watching his dad deteriorate and suffer. Multiple sclerosis is truly a hideous disease.

We decided to cancel Zoe's neurology appointment for Monday. It was really quite freeing. She still sees her neurogeneticist periodically, and he is really all the neurologist she needs. There isn't anything they can really do anyway, and our office visit copay just doubled. It's $50 per visit now, and this one is unnecessary. We know what she wants; she wants to do an MRI so she can see the extreme coolness that resides in my child's brain. That is not a good enough reason for general anesthesia, in my opinion, not for my baby.

We had a couple of beautiful snow days, and Abby insisted we get outside to play. I had to open my big mouth and promise we would if it stuck (sure it wouldn't)...and it did. So we bundled up to go play in the cold, white, wetness. We had fun though. Grady has had a nasty cough and sore throat, so we left him inside with Zoe while Abby and I made tiny snowpeople and footprints.

Abby's 4th birthday is quickly approaching, and I have been busy planning her party. We made 13 tiny tutus for the pixies and bought 12 hats and eyepatches for the pirates (surprisingly, it was cheaper to buy them than make them-just $1 per set). She chose a Peter Pan theme.

We put up our Christmas tree and nativity scene this week, and have started playing Christmas music.

I have been unsuccessfully trying to figure out my ruffler. I think I may need either a better sewing machine or one that is made exactly for my machine instead of a generic, but I'm not sure, and they are rather expensive, so suggestions are welcome! I've not had much traffic in my etsy store, and I've not sold anything, so I was thinking that if I made pants to go with the dresses, they would be less summery and more sellable for fall/winter. I can't, however, make ruffles for the cuffs, and pants without ruffles are not acceptable.

We are keeping our niece, Jillian, a couple evenings a week and some Saturdays while her mommy is working a new job. She gets off an hour or so after Jilly needs to be picked up from daycare.