Karate

Look at this excellent push up form. I don't have a before picture - but this is a significant improvement. Elizabeth has been working hard on the forms and techniques for her purple belt this summer and at the end of camp a couple of weeks ago, it just started to click for her. She is almost ready for her test. She needs to remember to have good form on her blocks, no rainbow arms, to chamber the arm that is not doing a block, and turn her foot on the forward bow punch. Simple...

Board breaking class was yesterday - so much fun, all the kids were so excited and there was some serious energy in the room. Elizabeth was so surprised when the board actually broke in half - she was very proud of herself. She did break boards with her hands and feet - Super Girl! As usual, apologies for the terrible video.

Birthday Boy!

The Hats Make It a Party!

Miles was 3 this weekend. I just can't believe it. We reminisced about waking up in the middle of the night when my water broke and saying to Mark "I need a towel" and him bringing me a washcloth. Funny now, but at the time I think my head spun around and I shouted "I said A TOWEL!"

Miles is such a talkative boy, and he was so glad to see everyone and he get jumping up and down and saying "it's my birfday! We had "the best party ever" according to Elizabeth - she does say that after most parties - she really knows how to enjoy the moment. But what's not to love? We had Grandma here as well as Nanny and Grandad, we cooked out, whacked a pinata, opened presents, played pass the parcel and had cake. Does it get any better?

As you might of noticed from my previous posts, Miles loved the Wall-E movie so much that he wanted the Wall-E cake that we saw at Target. Since my Mom is such a genius she suggested we just try to buy the little figures and then we could make our own nut-free, egg-free cake at home. The Target people said absolutely and the result was delicious (if I do say so myself) and adored by Miles (especially since this Eve had a shooter!)

Miles loved the pinata - Elizabeth was quite proud of helping make it and paint it - she suggested we find out how to make a pinata at how to make a pinata dot com (this is not actually a real website) - but it was funny.

We have lots of exciting things for Miles coming up - a new big boy bed with Batman sheets and starting at "my big school" in August. It is great to be 3.

Eeeeevaaaaaah

Miles went all day today in his Mater underpants. We went to Target, we went to swimming lessons and he was dry all day. This is indeed a momentous day. He still wore a diaper for a nap (our swimming class is very late in the day - he would be a wreck without a nap) and to go to bed.


The really momentous part - was a teeny tiny poo poo he did in the potty right before bed. I had said on Friday, if he did a poo poo in the potty I would give him a surprise. The surprise was a little stuffed Eve from the movie Wall-E .


The rookie mistake was not getting one for Elizabeth as well. I was scolded by my husband and mother for such an erroneous decision. So, I have just been on the phone to the mall where I bought the dang thing (I sound like Mater) to see if they have any left and they are holding one for me until end of business on Wednesday.


Tomorrow is another day - we'll see what happens.

Ciliary Biopsy Results

So, it has been just over 4 months since we took Elizabeth to Washington University in St. Louis to participate in a Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia study and the results are in!

We officially had "not enough cells on the sample to look at", which isn't surprising because she wasn't an eager participant in the "nasal scrape".

She technically wasn't diagnosed with PCD before we got there nor when we left, and not even now that the final test result has come back. We left with a Probable PCD diagnosis - which is more than what we had when we went to WashU.

All in all, we are still doing the same thing - treating her as if she has PCD. Breathing treatments and meds are all the same. Even if she was technically diagnosed, we would still be doing the same thing. We feel good about where we are, with the doctors we have and the plan we are following. If she has to have another some nasal polyps removed or another bronchoscopy or something else fun like that - we will try again while she is sedated.

Going Down the Slide

If this goes by a bit quick - this is Elizabeth going down the slide at the end of her swimming lesson yesterday. Can I go again?!

Swim Lessons

The children are taking swimming lessons this week and next - Miles is not so thrilled, he doesn't even like getting his hair washed in the tub. Elizabeth is totally excited. She was however concerned that the teacher would not know any "advanced ideas" because she was also teaching Miles's (baby) class right before her (advanced beginner) class. Elizabeth is just starting to get the hang of swimming without help. Miles didn't even want to sit on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water. Hopefully today he won't be quite as clingy and he won't require quite as many skittles as bribes!