Our Baby is TWO

At precisely this moment, two years ago, Morgan Elisabeth was born. What a treasure the past two years have been. Our baby is now two....and when I read her growth update today it started off "Your Preschooler...". She's not a baby anymore. She is such a spunky, funny, independent little girl. Two years have flown by just like two blinks of an eye. It's been a fun journey so far and I anticipate many good trips on the road ahead. Thank you God for answering our prayer two years ago...our angel arrived safely from heaven and we are doing the best we can to raise her as you wish. We are thankful for every rising sun and midnight moon that we are blessed with her. I pray for many, many more.

*Pictures were added later in the day*

Annual Susalla Summer Spectacular

Every year my mom's side of the family tries to get together for a summer outing. Since my uncle and cousin both work security at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh, we have been going there in the recent years. We had a really great time as always! It was Morgan's first trip to Kennywood, and she really enjoyed it! I was afraid that she would not ride any of the rides but after the first one, she was a riding fool! It is always great to get to spend time with the family. We missed my one uncle, aunt, and cousin (they were at my cousin's all-star baseball tournament) but made the best of a rainy day and had lots of fun. Below are some pictures from the day.

Birthday Party Fun

Today we celebrated Morgan's second birthday. She doesn't actually turn two until Monday June 30th. I think the kids (and the adults) had a good time!

A six foot tall birthday cake?!?!

Making Princess/King crowns

The Princesses Cake

The Birthday Girl

The sand and water table was a hit!

Lydia and Mama help Morgan open presents

Four Generations

Jennifer, Morgan, and Patrick

Toddler Trance

What, might you ask, would cause a crazy, always on the go, never still toddler to do this???

The answer is simple....Fraggle Rock.

That's right, the same puppet show you watched and sang along with as a child has totally mesmerized my toddler! Never in her life has she sat still through a 30 minute TV show (which is not a bad thing, I might add).

Lately she's been really into the Playhouse Disney show Johnny and the Sprites. She is always asking for Johnny! The show is cute, with lots of singing and bright colors, but as I am sure all the mothers with younger children are nodding, watching the SAME DVD over and over can be a little...well grating on the nerves.

Thankfully my very wise mother suggested if she liked Johnny so much that she might like Fraggle Rock. I happen to have the first season of the Fraggles (Gobo, Mookie, Wembly, Boober, and Red) on DVD, so I tried it out. The result was astounding. Morgan sat, totally transfixed, and watched over 30 minutes of the show without moving! Amazing.

**Let me add the disclaimer here that I am certainly NOT a proponent of excessive TV watching or TV day care, but once in a while I feel it's OK**

Why sick people should just stay in bed

Last week I started coughing a little, nothing major. Morgan had a runny nose and I chalked it up to a cold caught from her. Who gets a cold in the summer you ask? Well, me aparently. That little cough turned into what I liken to a smoker's cough. You know the coughing and wheezing that older smokers do? That is what I sounded like. Three days ago I started to lose my voice due to the cough and accompanying mucus that had taken up root in my chest (ever seen the commercials for Mucinex??) with no thought of leaving any time soon. The cough progressively got worse until last night my left ear starting hurting so bad I wanted to stick an ice pick in it! Why is it that most medical "emergencies" come after hours??

In any event, a trip to urgent care found that once again I had let things go too far before consulting a doctor. I now have bronchitis and a left ear infection so bad that the pressure is threatening to burst my ear drum!!!! No wonder my ear hurt. I left with three new prescriptions and after a very nauseating car ride home took the pills and went to bed.

All of that is background for why sick people should just stay in bed. This morning I got up and have almost no voice at all. I was cleaning up the kitchen from last night's dinner, loaded the dishwasher and started it, wiped down everything, and proceeded to pour a small glass of milk to take my morning pills.

One pack of pills had completely disappeared. I knew (well thought) that I had taken them to the kitchen with the intent of taking them with some milk since the instructions clearly said take one before breakfast with food or milk. But they were GONE. Patrick, my in-laws, and I scoured the house looking for them. There weren't many places they could be. I even dug through the trash can because in the course of cleaning up I had been throwing out wrappers, etc. No luck.

I decided to just forget about the pills for a while and move on to another thing. An hour and a half later I found the pills. Can you guess where they were?

That's right folks....IN THE DISHWASHER....that had completed it's wash and dry cycle! I opened the dishwasher to let it vent a little before emptying them and there they were, right on top of the glasses. And were these pills in a bottle? No of course not! They are in a blister pack. I know for certain that one has dissolved completely. I am not sure of the state of the rest of them. I was so mad at myself when I found them that I just left them on the counter and went to another room.

I guess I had better wander back in there and see if any of the other pills are salvageable. If not I guess I'll be going back to urgent care and watch the nurse hold back her giggles as I explain that I put them in the dishwasher!

Sigh....I think I had better just get back in bed for today.

Mama's Llama

Morgan got a new book the other day, courtesy of the Children's Book of the Month Club. This has become the most requested book in the house! She loves listening about Llama Llama and Mama Llama. As the story goes, Mama Llama has to do her weekly shopping and takes little Llama Llama out with her. Little Llama gets increasingly upset and finally throws a fit. Mama Llama handles it well and in the end Llama Llama proclaims his love for Mama Llama.

Mama's Llama

I have started calling Morgan Llama Llama because it seems that she is always Mad at Mama! I am sure it's the stage of life that she is in, and my mother tells me it's a preview of life with a teenager (OH NO!). In any event, if you have kids, I highly recommend Anna Dewdney's cute books about Llama Llama.

A good Father's Day

Patrick had a very good Father's Day today. Morgan and Mama let him sleep until 10:00 this morning, then we just goofed off at home until lunch. We took Patrick to Wong's Wok in the mall (his FAVORITE place to eat) for his Father's Day lunch. Afterwards we went to visit Uncle Rodney, Aunt Becky, Anna and Shannon for a few hours. Morgan had a great time playing with the girls and wrestling with Uncle Rodney! We stopped at TCBY for ice cream and headed home so Patrick could watch the final round of the US Open.

Morgan gave her Daddy a Super Mario Bros. T-shirt, a new hat, and a signed draft card for Owen Schmidt (ex-WVU Fullback). I gave him the Wii, which he has had for a couple months already.

Morgan also presented her Daddy with a special gift, Mama's new shoes!!! I think overall he had a good day and enjoyed his gifts.

Lovebirds

It's rare that Patrick and I get to go anywhere without Morgan. Even more rare are pictures of the two of us, since I am the unofficial family photographer. A good friend of ours snapped this picture at another good friend's wedding on May 24th. I thought I didn't look too hideous in this photo and it was worth sharing. It's hard to believe Patrick and I have been together over 10 years, and our 5th wedding anniversary is fast approaching!