Miracle on Mills Terrace

Those of you who know me, know that I believe life is a gift and that I try not to take any day for granted, not even the simple routine days. Well today, we experienced a Miracle on Mills Terrace...

My baby, Hannah, has just begun to wake me up for an early morning breakfast around 6:30 a.m. This morning, I noticed that she was gagging a little during her feeding, so I looked her over and since she wasn't fussing, I simply switched out the nipple on her bottle. She finished her full feeding after that and belched a LOUD burp that made us both laugh. After that she laid her head on my shoulder, and we fell asleep until Suzy woke us around 9:15 a.m.

As we were all eating our oatmeal, Hannah started gagging again, but much more noticably this time with a little shudder and a pinched face! I thought to myself that I would definitely be calling the nurse on-call if this continued at lunchtime! So, thinking Hannah might just be coming down with something, Suzy and I continued to eat. While sipping some coffee, I looked over at Hannah, who was squirming but giving us small smiles to the two of us next to her. In one of those slightly open smiles, I spotted something white with pastel colors, definitely not teeth!!! Shuddering, I quickly opened her little mouth and pulled out... A TAG!!!!???!!! Hannah had chewed off and swallowed a silkie tag from one of the teddy bears in her crib!!!

[Now, all you Moms out there... I am dedicated to removing tags and stickers, even at my own peril because of those manufacturing warnings!!! I have removed every tag and sticker from every toy the girls use, but I truly didn't think that the cute silkie tag on a Carter bear would pose any danger! Both Suzy and Hannah have loved playing with that tag!]

I choked back tears and my hands shook, as I realized how merciful and powerful God is! He once again perserved Hannah's life!!! She had been suffering for hours, and I didn't even know that she needed my help! She didn't complain or fuss. She only gagged. I sat there, realizing she could have suffocated but God protected her! He watched over her little life and reminded me again that He has our beginning, middle, and ending in His trustworthy hands. So today- that's our miracle on Mills Terrace!

March Milestone Days

Hannah was 7 months old yesterday, and Suzy is 22 months old today! Time is flying by, and I am loving every minute!!!!!!!!!! :)

...except for this minute... I've caught a cold! I'm having too much fun to be sick!!!!! As the girls sleep, I'm bundled on the couch with juice, water, and hot tea. In fact, my sweet husband got me special Vicks tissues and Advil Cold & Sinus on his lunch break! I wish that Mommies never had sick days or miss one moment of family life... AAAhhhhhh CHHoooooo!!!!!!!

22 months - Suzy chatters a mile a minute these days! She narrates what is happening around her every waking moment. I hear it all- "Puppy, fall down." "Baby. Blanket. Milk" "Cookie, all gone. Peep?" "Outside, car. Bye-bye." "Shhh! Daddy, working." "Read, book." "O-kayyy." And of course, her answer of choice, "No." Go figure! Age two is rapidly approaching!!! Here you see Suzy with "stick-its," her version of the word, "sticker." Her sweet voice is music to my ears!

7 months- Hannah grows daily, I think! At her wellness visit on Thursday, she weighed in at 15 lbs. 7.5 oz. She liberally laughs out loud and loves to squeak and jabber. She shrieks joyfully as she jumps in her jumper and swivels in her Baby Einstien entertainer. She's starting to sit up but falls over easily because she likes to bob back and forth. She is a solid baby girl who is such a blessing!

Happy Milestone Days!
Daddy and Mommy love you!

Dave's Party Fever

Wow! What an unexpectedly unique birthday!!! Dave and I planned to have a quiet birthday this year, here at home. We began the birthday festivities on Saturday night with my brother, Bret. We rented a bunch of movies and watched them late into the night. You know, I don't think Bret left to go home until 2:45 a.m! We had a really good time simply relaxing together! Even the girls slept in to give Mommy a little extra sleep after such a late night! :)

On Sunday, we did our usual routine with breakfast, baths, play, video, lunch, and naps. Then came the fun stuff!!! We planned to have a big birthday dinner and CAKE! :) Suzy had been talking about the cake all day! It was too cute... She's say, "Happy! Cake!" She doesn't quite have the word, "birthday" down yet. Anyway, I began preparing our feast... Our menu: a 1 1/2 pound sirloin steak topped with creamy-cheesy scallops, Ruth's Spinach for Company, and baked red skinned potatoes. I made the cake from scratch! -A Dodson favorite, Dump It Cake! Luckily, all of our dinner preparations happened during naptime because... Party Fever was about to Blam! us...

Suzy took an abnormally long nap and awoke crying which is very unlike her. Typically, she jabbers happily until someone comes to rescue her from her crib. As I changed her wet pants, I noticed her cozy warmth did not dissapate as it usually does and found she had a high fever! So with Dave's dinner on my mind and no other symptoms... I simply propped her up with pillows on the couch and started an episode of Sesame Street. Back to the kitchen I went busily doing the dinner dance. Meanwhile, Daddy had gone on a fun errand to Lowe's and returned home just in time to cuddle his feverish little princess during Elmo's World. This got her loose from her covers, and she needed to come see me making the cake in the kitchen!

Now, party fever begins...

BLAM! Suzy ran into the kitchen and began vomitting!!!! Poor little girl! I rushed after her, catching as I went... Dave also helped me feed Hannah while I was overseeing the final touches to our meal, then about that same time- Hannah finished her feeding and BLAM! covered Daddy with half of her meal as well! Dave and I just had to laugh and soon began laughing hysterically!!!! Dave rushed to get our Resolve Carpet Cleaner on the dirty spots while I threw Suzy into the tub. We all changed clothes, except for Hannah who had landed all of her mess on Daddy and miraculously none on herself!

After that scurry of activity, I was sure my beautiful, delicious meal was ruined... but it wasn't because of Dave. He came behind me as I was plating our dinners, tears stinging my eyes. I was thinking- "This is it! This was our birthday plan...this meal! And I've ruined it at the last minute!" Dave was still chuckling as he said, "This is exactly what I wanted today. We've had the most relaxing time together! You and the girls have made this the most wonderful day. You three are who I want most for my birthday." He gave me his usual big bear hug and kiss. He hugged all of my silly tears away! Nothing was lost or ruined. Well, the food may have been a little cool- but delicious none the less. The festivities were back in full swing... Happy! and Yum!

Alas, poor Suzy drank Pedialyte for dinner and had no cake!

Thank you, Dave, for being a superstar husband and father today!!! You made the messes funny and tolerable, and the interuption to our celebration a welcome one. Thank you for your flexiblity and for seeing perfection in imperfection! Thank you for treasuring what is most important, instead of what is secondary. I love you soooo much and am actually looking forward to our next Party Fever!

Life is just so daily...DELIGHTFULLY daily!

I laugh as I sit here reflecting on what I've wanted to write for the past couple of days because two days ago, my plan was to show and tell my schedule for each day... That was Wednesday- I got so busy, I was completely exhausted by the time I had a chance to blog and fell asleep on the couch!!! As a matter of fact that's where Dave found me with the computer in my lap and all! :) Too funny!!!!!

Mary Englebreit is one of my favorite folk artists. This title came from one of her sketches... I had to add "delightfully" daily because although we go through the same motions each day, no day is dull or less gratifying. It shocks me sometimes! You'd think, following a schedule would become mundane or less fulfilling, but it isn't! It never gets daily in the Dodson house! Suzy and Hannah seem to be doing something new and different all the time, and Dave and I enjoy the quiet time we have each evening, if we're not falling asleep on the couch! :)

For example, Hannah, who has been eating cereal for breakfast since she was four months old, has recently started to enjoy eating it! She now opens her mouth wide to eat each bite then follows her spoon with her open mouth all around. Her milestone is this...while Suzy made a face at every bite of cereal when she first started eating, Hannah smiles and laughs at each bite but spits out a majority. Over the last couple of weeks, she now eats every bite of every serving! WoooHoooo! This week, she began eating cereal for breakfast and dinner, so next week she will start eating green beans for lunch! Can't wait to post the pictures of that!?! I wonder if she'll be smiling then?

Suzy & Hannah are napping now... but I can hear Suzy attempting the ABC song as she drifts off. It goes like this, "A-B-C-D (pause) E-I-E-I-O (pause, pause) M-U-Z"

Oh the joys of a daily day!!!! :)

2 on Tuesday

1. Hello all! Today marks the first day of our family journey by blog! Thank you sisters and friends for your wonderful words and inspiration!!! I look forward to keeping everyone up to date as well as entertained by our little Dodson world...





2. So far today, Suzy has had a grip on her independence! As shown, she acquired my fork as we ate together. With my fork and her spoon in hand, you can see that drinking her milk did not slow her determination to eat by herself! :) Go Suzy! Mommy is soooo proud of you!