Evalynn & Elizabeth's Journal-March-April-May 2006

Welcome to Evalynn and Elizabeth's journal! We were born on August 31, 2003 at 34 weeks, 5 days gestation. Our due date was October 7th, so we were a bit over 5 weeks early. Select the links below to get quickly to the section of your choice. Thanks for visiting.

Can you believe we're into year three?! We are going have fun watching them develop into independent individuals over the coming year.

Many pictures are posted out here. Prior to posting the pictures, I shrink them down to approximately 300 pixels to save space on the web server (we're only given so much space). If you're wanting original sized pictures, please email us, letting us know which picture you'd like and we will email the original to you.

		Evalynn	Elizabeth
Birth	Weight	2 lbs, 12 oz	5 lbs
Birth	Length	16"	18"
2 Month	Weight	6 lbs, 8 oz	8 lbs, 3 oz
2 Month	Length	19"	20.75"
4 Month	Weight	8 lbs, 4 oz	9 lbs, 13 oz
4 Month	Length	21"	23"
6 Month	Weight	10 lbs, 5oz	11 lbs, 14.5 oz
6 Month	Length	23.5"	24.75"
9 Month	Weight	12 lbs, 12oz	13 lbs, 14 oz
9 Month	Length	25.5"	27"
12 Month	Weight	14 lbs, 11oz	17 lbs
12 Month	Length	26.5"	28.5"
15 Month	Weight	17 lbs, 3oz	19 lbs, 8oz
15 Month	Length	29"	30"
18 Month 3/4/05	Weight	18 lbs	21 lbs
18 Month 3/4/05	Length	30.5"	31"
24 Month 8/31/05	Weight	20.5	21.5
24 Month 8/31/05	Length	32.25"	33.25"

It may not be spring officially. Meteorologically it is :). All winter related items were packed away today.

First flu, now colds...Liz seems to be getting struck with the whammy's this year!

Nermal Kitty went to a new home last Friday. He was not getting along with the other animals and there were other smelly issues. He went to a single cat household. We were sad to have to do that, but we exhausted all other options. We're glad we didn't have to go the animal shelter route as most were not accepting cats, since they're beyond capacity.

Daddy is still waiting for his EMT license...there was an issue where the national EMS registry has been destroying all of the registration cards that are supposed to be sent to Illinois to have the Illinois license processed. It is too bad three year olds are less childish. It's also too bad that this vengeful act is at the cost of so many people that worked so hard and are eager to get help the public. He should have had his license at least three weeks ago!

Danny started driving school yesterday. He gets his permit tomorrow. His class is every Monday thru Thursday evenings until March 23rd. Then, we continue to practice until his birthday September 6th. Mommy takes him on Monday, Wednesday and Thursdays. Daddy takes him when he and Mitzi go to CAP on Tuesdays. Dan has also been reinstated in CAP. He has goals of going into the Air Force and he has chances of going in at a higher grade if he passes his Mitchell test (about 6 tests away).

Lynn crashed on the couch around 6 pm last Tuesday (they refused a nap). Liz was checking her for a fever.

So peaceful...She did not stay that way for very long...Liz didn't like that she was sleeping and woke her up.

I was taking a picture of the apron I embroidered. Lynn jumped right into the picture!

Liz modeling the apron...the design was a bit off, so I'm looking for a similar design for the other apron.

STAY OFF THE ROADS HERE! Big Brother has his driving permit!!! Mommy's grey hairs are now popping in double-time!

Sorry for no recent updates. We were all well for about a week! That's over! The girls both woke up with coughs again. This is INSANE!!!

Mommy has been busy taking Dan to his driving classes. Four more classes left after today!!! Mommy has been making more costumes for church while he's in class. That's been keeping Mommy from going shopping four nights a week!

Mitzi was inducted and promoted into Civil Air Patrol Tuesday. She was supposed to be inducted last month, but she was sick. Here's a couple pictures...Look at that! It's Daddy pinning Sissy's new rank!

The bad thing about Tuesday night and the whole family going to the CAP meetings/activities is there is NO WAY you can hold two 2.5 yr olds down for over three hours!!! So, we're giving up trying that for a while. It's way too stressful on Mommy!

There's a few pictures of Lynn and Liz to share, those will be posted when there's more time.

Lizzie developed an abscess on that bottom tooth. We went to the dentist today and she's been referred to an oral surgeon to get the tooth extracted. We have a consultation on Monday.

Lynn and Liz both have sinus infections. We went to the doctor last Saturday. They seem to be on the mend. Since Liz is already on antibiotics, she won't need another one for the tooth.

Dan's last driving class is tonight!!! It would have been yesterday if they didn't cancel Tuesday's class because of the snow.

Speaking of snow...where the heck is spring????? We received about four inches of snow Tuesday. The good thing (if there are any) about snow this time of year is that it doesn't last long. We're already down to just snow banks.

Lizzie had her tooth extracted last Friday. She did awesome. She sat on Mommy's lap. Mommy didn't know if she'd be able to stomach it, but she did well too. They gave Liz nitrous oxide. She only fussed when they numbed the area. She walked out into the recovery area by herself and sat in the chair. She sat there for about 10 minutes, climbed down and said she was done and wanted to go. We went to IHOP for breakfast afterwards. When we ask her about her tooth, she says it's all gone.

We've been spending a lot of time walking and at the local parks. It would be really nice if we have a few consecutive nice days. The girls do not do well cooped up in the house anymore.

Mommy has been busy catching up on sewing work. Mommy's trying to find creative ways to keep the girls busy, while Mommy gets some work done. There's not much that will hold their attention for more than a few minutes.

Also, we had a potty training revolt. It's like they forgot what to do. We're narrowing it down to their illnesses over the last several weeks. So, we're more or less having to start over.

Mommy's birthday went well (except being sick). Both girls kept telling Mommy 'Happy Birthday'. It was cute.

Mommy got the garden planted Saturday. The girls helped :). Here's pictures taken Saturday...

Easter went great! Mommy made our Easter dresses. We headed to Aunt Marjorie's after church. Lynn and Liz are staying over there for the week. Here's some pictures from Easter...

Aunt Marjorie just sent this picture of Lynn and Ernie yesterday after we left. It looks like Lynn was a little tired...

Hey, why didn't anyone mention that the latest post link at the top didn't work???? Sorry about that. It should work now. If it doesn't, please let us know!

We've been pretty busy the last week. We supposedly got spoiled from Aunt Marjorie and Uncle Ernie. We got home Saturday. Grandma Willis also arrived Saturday. Grandma flew back home Monday. We were also visited by Aunt Elena, Cousins Ephram and Katy as well as Great Aunt Terri and Cousin Kerry. We went to Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington on Sunday. We had a blast!

Speaking of Lynn...She has an appointment tomorrow morning with an Ophthalmologist. Her eyes turn out occasionally. After some research, we're thinking she may have Strabismus (feel free to search). We'll see if that's it. We don't think it's full blown lazy eye (Amblyopia) yet. Strabismus can turn into Amblyopia if it is not treated. If it's something simpler, Mommy will chalk this up to learning something new! We're concerned that this is not normal as her eyes are turning when she's really not focusing on something. It's looks odd as she'll have one eye on you and the other one (happening to both eyes, but not at the same time) is trailing off to the left or right. This is also a common preemie risk factor. We're pretty sure she'll most likely need glasses to start out with. Other treatment options are patches, eye drops, visual therapy and surgery. It's that last one Mommy is worried about. We'll post the results tomorrow.

Lynn's appointment was more or less to make another one. I guess for young kids, they find it less traumatic if the dilation drops are done at home. Yeah, it's probably less traumatic for them! She goes back on Monday, May 8th. We have to do the drops before bed on the 7th and again the morning of the appointment. They did shine the light on her for a bit and found the left eye to track out some. They said until she's dilated, they won't be able to determine the cause yet. He said it could be as minor as having poor vision in that eye and glasses would fix that. So, until then, we sit and wait.

I'm going to keep this one going for another month. I'll combine June and July then August and September.

Mommy scored big at garage sales over the weekend. The family has a bumper pool table (we're thinking of making the garage into a game room). The girls have a new vanity, a doll house, a workshop and duplo table. Of course, we found lots of clothes. Aunt Elena scored big with lots of clothes.

Here's a picture of them playing with the doll house. Lynn will literally spend an hour or more playing. It was so cute when I brought it into the house. Lynn gasped and yelled a big "WOW!".

Lizzie's new phrase is cracking us up. If anyone tells her to hurry, she'll say "Alright! Calm down!".

Little Nicholas came over this afternoon with his Mommy and Daddy. He's going to be coming over here in the afternoons starting the end of the month. He's coming over Tuesday afternoon for a trial run (his mommy has a doctor's appointment). He had a blast and was right at home here. His Mommy and Daddy had problems taking him away to go home. He and Lynn took right off and were talking back and forth to each other.

Lynn's eye doctor appointment went well this morning. Her eyes are healthy and said it's not strabismus or lazy eye. He said it's something that happens when the eyes are tired. They want to recheck her in 6-12 months or if we notice it worsening.

Mommy took this rare picture of the two sharing both the sit -n- spin and goldfish! Lynn wouldn't move the spoon.

Nicholas actually started coming over Tuesday. Liz runs around saying he's her boy. He is so quiet...you don't even know he's around.

Mommy got a bit creative and put a collage of the recent pictures at the top of the page.

There's not too much new going on. It's gray, gloomy, cold and rainy. Going outside is impossible. Lynn, Liz and Nicholas are all getting along well. Liz looks out the window when he leaves and say's that her friend went home with either his grandma or grandpa. Nick's Grandma brought us a bag full of asparagus today...yummy!

Liz can hold quite a conversation now. Something new is said everyday. She is also loud! We're trying to teach inside voices. They'll both talk on the phone now.

Sorry Mommy has not been making updates. Mother's day was cold and full of sickies. The day before, we had attempted to go shopping and Liz suddenly got sick at Target. She never even let on that she was sick and was upset when we left to head back home. So, she had a rough night and we decided to lay low on Mother's day.

The day after Mother's Day, Mommy thought she was coming down with whatever Liz had. It started with the chills and abdominal pain. By the time Daddy got home from work, Mommy was hurting. Mommy and Daddy headed to the emergency room. Mommy found out she has kidney stones (she'd rather have the flu). The following day, Mommy went to the urologist and found out she would have to go for day surgery as some stones were too large. The procedure (lithotripsy) was done last Monday. The doctor thought they were going to have to put a stint in, but decided at the last minute not to do it (YIPPEE). The procedure went well. There's about a 15-20% chance it may need to be repeated. When asked how many stones there were, the doctor said "A lot!" The pain from the passing stones are painful at times and will be for the next several weeks.

Two weeks ago, we were freezing and now, we're roasting! We hit the mid 90's today! We set up the little pool for the girls tonight. They had a blast, but wouldn't sit down. We had to drag them back into the house.

One surprise to us was they would get out of the pool and tell us if they had to go potty. To make it easier for now, we took a potty chair out to the garage. Last night we went out to dinner and shopping. They stayed dry the whole time and would tell us if they had to go potty. We're getting closer! We're going to attempt having them go outside with panties soon and then up to outings. They may be trained by their birthday.

Daddy started his EMT-Intermediate class on the 17th. Class is on Monday's and Wednesday's until the middle of December. When asked, Liz will say that Daddy went to ambulance school.

We got gutsy and took the gate down between the dining room and kitchen today. That gate has been there for three years.

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