The Neal Family

See this? This is a picture of a little girl who will not be needing heart surgery. A little girl with a clean bill of health and a "no return appointment" note in her chart at the Children's Heart Center, who no longer has an atrial septal defect, just a lingering benign murmur. A little girl who can now get on with the business of becoming a toddler and finding playground equipment to hurl herself off of instead.
Not Pictured: A mommy who can finally fully sleep at night, with a huge burden lifted from her world. I didn't know it was stressing me out until I knew I could let it go.

Since my kids have been totally bored all week while I've been dealing with my eye issues, I decided we needed a little party in our lives and we decided to celebrate Patrick's 1/2 birthday today! I managed to turn out this little "half cake" with my basic Mallory training (and some of her leftover supplies from this cake) and was pretty happy with the results. It's good work...for me!

• is fully, independently, day and night potty trained. Don't ask about his aim though.
• can dress and bathe himself fairly reliably.
• is finally starting to consume real food again, with lots of bribery involved.
• knows all the colors, shapes, letters, and numbers inside and out.
• can read somewhere in the area of 100 sight words.
• still loves learning sign language and teaching signs to Kennedy.
• does not nap (most days) but sleeps well for a full 12 hours nightly
• still loves PBS kids, and knows those characters like intimate friends.
• loves Primary, his teachers, his friends, and singing time.
• uses his imagination all day long to come up with new ways to play.
• attempts to talk his way out of any and all consequences. "But I'm good now!"
• loves his Dad--they wrestle and play board games every night.
• is a great big brother. He shares and watches out for his "sissy" all day long.
• has far more energy than anyone else in the family. We have to plan to wear him out.
• loves to learn and discover things. He can't wait for real school!
• regularly offers up sweet expressions of love along with hugs and kisses. He's a tender little guy deep down under all that rough and tumble.
• makes his Mom laugh out loud at least once a day!We love you, Pookie-Schnookie-Cheeky Monkey-Buddy-Little Man! Happy three and a half! Hang in there--your real birthday will come soon enough!

It's been an interesting week around these parts. I've had pinkeye/serious eye related allergies and been not feeling well. I can't wear my contacts for very long on account of the extreme eye pain, but my glasses are kind of MIA (got left in CA at Christmas, should be in the mail to me, but haven't arrived yet) so it's been a rough week. I went to the eye doctor this morning and hopefully things will be on the improve soon.
So, after all that we went to Kennedy's check up. I had to force my contacts in, take Sean to work (he stayed home so I could see the eye doc), take Patrick with me (my babysitter plans fell through), and get us all there. The kids did well for a looonnnggg wait in the exam room, but then Patrick was a beast while the actual check up was happening. Needless to say, he lost his sticker, he lost his treat, and he earned himself a nap. Tough times for him. There's a reason I try to NEVER take him to a doctor visit that's not for him!
Kennedy's doing well. She's grown, right along her normal growth pattern. She weighs 20 lb 1 oz (30th percentile) and is 28.5 inches (25-30th percentile). I was glad to hear she had hit 20 lbs so was can turn her car seat around. She and Patrick kind of drive each other crazy squeezed right in next to each other and with them both forward facing, they can sit on the two sides and have a little space.
She showed off her walking (assisted, mostly), social skills, and many of her words and signs during the course of the appointment, and our pediatrician says she's well ahead of schedule so no worries there. She was happy to hear that she's sleeping all night, off her bottles and onto whole milk, and eating solids well. She does still hear her heart murmur audibly, and we have her big cardiologist appointment on Wednesday. Hopefully we'll know more about that then. So, good news on most fronts....we'll know more about her little heart soon.

In Primary today, Patrick was sitting next to our Primary President (and friend!)'s niece, whose name is Sierra. She was here visiting and he had taken it upon himself to fellowship her. And by fellowship her, I mean talk her ear off and show off a bit for her. (Pretty sure he gets his moves from his dad...) Anyway, they trot off to class we we carry on with Sr. Primary. (I'm the Primary Chorister, FYI.) Church ends and Patrick comes bursting back into the primary room, holding cute little Sierra's hand and asking me over and over again, "If it's okay with this girl Sierra's mom, that she could come play at our house today?" Since Mandy was right there, I said to him, "Well, buddy, this is Sierra's aunt, let's see how long her family is in town and maybe we could have a playdate sometime this week." Sadly, Mandy had to tell him that Sierra's family was leaving town right after church. He burst into tears and was just heartbroken! It took much consoling and talking to get him out of the building and into the car to go home. On the ride home we was uncharacteristically quiet, but as we were unloading he shouted out, "Hey! I got a great idea! I will go home and paint a beautiful picture for Sierra and then you guys can take me to the post office and we can mail it to my new friend Sierra! That is a great plan, Patrick!"
And that's what he did. He painted a beautiful painting, even remembering to use more colors than just blue, because "girls like to see all of the beautiful colors," and it is currently drying on the fridge awaiting mailing (Mandy, I may need Sierra's address. Oh, and possibly her last name!). Isn't that cute? His first love, first heartbreak, and first long distance relationship all in one day!

P.S. Thanks Grandpa Brandon and Grandma Jerri! This is what Mom picked out with the birthday money you sent me!

Dear Kennedy,
Today's the big day! You are officially one year old! It's still hard to believe that this much time has passed. As I watched the "earth day" footage on the news this morning, it gave me major flashbacks to sitting nervously in a hospital bed, waiting for them to get me ready to get you out. I'll probably always remember that moment in conjunction with Meredith Viera and Matt Lauer on the Today show, telling me how to save the planet. Strange but true. I was so nervous about surgery but SO anxious to meet you that it didn't even matter! You definitely lived up to my expectations. In fact, when they brought you over to me to check you out, the feeling I remember most is of knowing that I already knew you. It felt like being reacquainted, not meeting someone for the first time.

Due to schedules, we had a little early birthday celebration for Miss Kennedy on Saturday afternoon. We decided on a fairly relaxed BBQ at the park with just a few family friends that she knows well--my experience tells me that 1 year old's are rarely up for much more! It turned out nicely--the weather was gorgeous, the company was good, the cake was AMAZING, and the princess was fairly happy throughout. A good party all around!
The birthday girl, playing like the big kids. She thinks she's so grown up.
We brought along bubbles and sidewalk chalk--Kennedy ate some of both.

We signed Patrick up for this little kid soccer clinic through our Parks and Rec department--six weeks for 25 bucks. I thought that was a pretty good deal for some low key exposure to a new sport and he LOVES it! And really, there's nothing more precious than watching some college- aged guy try to herd a slew of 3 year olds through some soccer drills!

• baking giant sugar cookies for the Primary activity.
• planning Kennedy's birthday BBQ for Saturday.
• scheduling pediatrician, cardiologist, and picture appointments for a certain almost-one-year old--yes, the last one is the most fun!
• practicing for soccer clinic with Patrick--it's all he does now, since the first session last Saturday.
• finally trying to "spring clean" the house
• giving all of our money to Costco--we always run out of everything at the same time.
• watching avidly for new pictures of our newest neice.
• learning that we're going to be getting our first nephew this September.
• living with weather that ranges from swimsuits to snowsuits in two days.
• generally living life, and mostly having fun, aside from the teething the the temper tantrums!

I had this grand vision of hauling the kids across town to the temple grounds to take pictures in their Easter clothes, only to learn that A) our temple grounds are locked up tight on Sunday's, and 2) they don't even plant tulips at this temple. These things lead me to believe that a letter is possibly in order, but I digress. Plan B was quick photos outside the church instead. We got a few cute shots and at least documented that the kids were cute. For Easter. At church. And that, my friends, is something.

We had our 2nd Annual Toddler Easter Egg Hunt at Janie's house this year. Once again, she bemoaned the lack of grass in her backyard, but I really think it makes hiding eggs easier to have a "less finished" yard. It was really fun for kids and grown ups alike, and once again, I couldn't cull the pictures down to less than ten. Sorry, it's just who I am. Fun times!