Ava's Halloween story

Ava's favorite part of her school day is writing time.  She loves to write stories at home too: 

Translation:  Halloween is very fun.  Everyone loves it.  I do too.  Everybody gets candy.  Candy is sweet and bad for you, it's bad for your body.  You can get sick if you eat too much candy, but you still get to have fun.  Everyone gets to say "trick or treat" it is very fun.  Some people don't give out candy, they give out toys instead of candy!

She makes me so proud :)

Star Student

Ava is doing remarkably well in 1st grade!  We love her teacher this year too. She seems much more attentive and Ava is learning so much.  They are having tests and quizzes weekly, and so far Ava has made 100% on all of them!  They grade them on accuracy and handwriting.  She consistently gets 100 for her answers and an E for excellent on her handwriting!  I'm so very proud of her!!!  She's currently testing on spelling and math. So far she's had 2 spelling tests and one math quiz all 100%!  Wish her luck this week on her spelling test.  She has it on Thursday.

Here is a sample of her work:

Today's dress

I'm not kidding.  EVERY.SINGLE.DAY!  She only wants "ballerina dresses" and sparkly shoes.  Ballerina dresses being a dress with any skirt that "spins".  

Ballerina dress and a bun on her head :). She's too cute!!!

We are at the pediatrician for the girls regular check ups.

                 Evening dress up

             Fridays ballerina top

Dress up when they should be in bed.  This is her new pose now when she sees a camera.

1st day of 1st grade & Preschool

OSummer flew by and I can't believe my babies are already in 1st grade and Preschool!  We love Ava's new teacher, she is super sweet and kind.  Brynn isn't that excited about being in the charismatic cows class, she misses the bubbly blue birds, but she is slowly starting to like it and luckily all of her friends moved with her.  Her teacher told me that Brynn is really smart and already knows her letters and letter sounds.  They were impressed :). She also told me that Brynn is always very good and well behaved in class.

Her morning routine is yogurt upon arrival

Her first time riding the bus to school.  She rides the bus once a week.  She loves the bus.

Brynn the girly girl

Brynn is the biggest hoot lately!  She's so funny.  She says and does the funniest things.
She's such a girly girl that she has been begging to go to Dance class, she dances in front of the mirror any chance she gets, she's in my bathroom putting my make up on, asking me to paint her nails, put make up on her and dressing up in my clothes and jewelry.  Then she'll look at herself in the mirror and say "aren't I adorable?"

          she got into my lipstick!  

Every day she makes us put on a dress with a ballerina or a princess skirt so that she can twirl the day away. At night it's a nightgown with a ballerina skirt.  Anything girly and fru fru, she wants it.

Last week we took her to her first ballet/tap class and she couldn't wait!  As soon as we dressed her in her ballet clothes she said "mommy don't I look adorable and cute?!"

At class she paid very close attention to the instruction and the teacher.  She loved it.  She has natural dance abilities so I'm so excited to see what she can do.

Fainting Spell

We had quite the scare two weeks ago and last week was pretty eventful and scary for us!  I was changing Ava's earring in my bathroom one day and she started pulling away from me so I thought maybe it hurt and went to pull her back closer to me.  When I looked at her eyes her pupils were dilated so big and I could immediately tell she wasn't there. She kept going back so I caught her as she fell to the ground and realized that she had just fainted on me!  As she lay there her hands curled up and she sort of flopped around like she was having a mini seizure.  It was so scary!!! When she came to she was very upset and said "mama that is what happens to me at school!"  She's never fainted there but she's felt dizzy at times.

The doctor did several tests on her and ran an EKG.  A couple of days later they called me and told me to go see the cardiologist because the EKG came back with possible Left Ventricular Hypertrophy.  I already had an appointment for Friday and when I got back to my desk at work I began looking up what LVH was and immediately freaked out!  It could be life threatening and require heart surgery or possible transplant depending on the cause of it.  I was on the phone all day trying to get answers but nobody would return my calls until the next day.  Steve and I were both so upset.  I couldn't sleep and every second I looked at my child I worried that she could have a possible life threatening heart disease.  I briefly was in the shoes of parents who receive terrible news about their child's health.  I can't imagine what they go through on a day to day basis and how they pull through.  Every time I looked at her I thought of the possibility of losing her.  It was the worst 3 days of my life.

On Friday we went in for her Cardiology visit and it turns out that we actually had ballet with the cardiologists daughter so we already knew her! I watched as they did the Echo and it was amazing seeing Ava's heart on the screen.  I watched as she measured the thickness and the size of the valves etc.  The doctor came in shortly after and said that her echo looked good and no LVH!  That was the best news I've ever heard and what a relief!  They decided to send her home with a halter monitor to rule out any arrhythmia's and that came back today as normal.  Again, great news!  She does still have the murmur that they thought had disappeared, but it's still innocent so no concerns there.

Based on her blood pressure tests it looked like she is easily dehydrated (her blood pressure drops and heart rate increases for quite some time when she stands up).  I was surprised by this and said she drinks fluids constantly.  The doctor said some children are just way more sensitive to fluid imbalances and because she's so tiny it's not surprising that she is one of them.  So lots and lots of water for Ava and plenty of salty snacks.  We have made her carry her water with her everywhere and drink all day.  So far we haven't had any dizzy spells and she seems to be feeling good.  We'll see how she does at school, as that's when she's told me more than once that she felt bad on the playground and had to sit down.  We will do bloodwork at her visit in a couple of weeks to check for anything there, but so far all has been great news! 

All results of the halter monitor were normal!  

Ava's 6th Birthday Interview

How old are you?  6
What is your favorite thing to do?  Run around and play in the house and help my mommy pick up groceries
What do you want to be when you grow up?  An Artist because I'm good at art and I think I should be.
How are you going to make money?  I'm going to sell my pictures and then it's going to cost $1
What is your favorite food?  Cookies
Who do you like to spend time with?  Mommy because she lets me snuggle with her and I'm her snuggle bunny.
What do you do really well?  I run really well
What makes you laugh?  When people tickle me
What is the best time of the day?  Spending time with my family
What are you afraid of?  I'm afraid of the dark because it gives me the willies
Who is your best friend?  Emma
What do you like to do with your family?  I like to go outside and play in the playhouse with my family and I like to run and play with my family.
What do you love to learn about?  I love to learn about Math
Where do you like to go?  I like to go to learning express because it's got lots of toys
What is your favorite book?  Fancy Nancy because she's fancy and I like fancy
If you had one wish what would it be?  It would be seeing a unicorn because I like unicorns