Jude is now a TURTLE!

Jude started his year as a Turtle today. He was a bit apprehensive at first claiming he still wanted to be a Ladybug. We told him that big boys were Turtles so he decided he would go. He stopped by to say hey to the Ladybugs then happily went into his Turtle class. I am also happy to report there were NO tears - by me or by him!

Ella's first day of school party - and craft!

After the terrible car line we went to the park with Carmen, Lofton and Landon park to play for a bit then we went to their house for dinner. Phillip made some great chicken salad sandwiches, mac n cheese and homemade honey mustard dressing! Jude and I had bought Ella an ice cream cake to celebrate the big event. When we got home she showed me her Little Miss Muffet crafts - she was actually wearing the hat when I picked her up...for an hour with her friends!

Jude's appointment

Great news on the Vitiligo home front! The dermatologist said the most common questions are: Why? and How Bad? Oddly enough, the only two questions that can't be answered. He did say that pigment loss is usually symmetrical and the fact that it was only on one side of his body says that a.) he can most likely stop it, b.) he can most likely re pigment it (easily) and c.) it is very likely there will NOT be any other issues to deal with. He gave us a cream to use on him twice a day and we go back in 3 months to have it re-evaluated. He did say that he would be more prone to having areas that lost pigment if he scraped his knees, or any other body part. They recommended that he wear knee and elbow pads if her ever played street hockey. The intern said she doubted that is mom would ever let him do that (probably because I burst into tears when the nurse came in...I told you, it was ALL day) He also said that Jude was a "very cool kid", which we think so too.

Ella's first day

Posing with backpack and lunchbox
Posing with brother
and Dad
and Mom
and in front of school!

Here she is at her desk...ready for me to leave!

So, the question is - Did I completely make an idiot of myself crying today? And the answer is a resounding YES! I seriously don't think sending her to Kindergarten is that terribly sad but the tears would NOT stop flowing. I can't even begin to count how many times I spontaneously burst into tears. It was bad enough that Ella said I was embarrassing her and also asked to ride the bus! She made it and I made it though. She LOVED her teacher and had a great day. On the downside, I had to wait in the "car rider line" for an hour and fifteen minutes. When I finally got to her (and was crying) her teacher said she had a great day and was very smart. Hopefully they can get some kinks worked out so it won't take so long!

Megan's Baptism

We got up early this morning to go down to see Megan be baptised. Ella, our morning girl, did great. Grumpy Jude on the other hand did not like getting up and was not on his best behavior (but okay) in church. Megan looked so cute in her beautiful dress. Ella was a little thrown by her wearing such a long dress. We had brunch with the Kane/Horne crew at Mark and Jessica's house following. They are so much fun! Grandpa Don took lots of pictures so I will have to post some of his when I get them. Thanks for inviting us - we enjoyed it!

Olympics

I was attempting to explain the Olympics to Ella - actually a hard concept with all the sports, different countries, every two years (winter and summer), medals and location...anyway, it started like this:

Me: Ella, do you know what an athlete is?

Ella: Yeah, you mean like a cheerleader.

Okay, not exactly what I meant but gymnastics is one of the sports!

10 years

As well as marking the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics (or Flimpics - as Ella calls them), Jonathan and I are celebrating - celebrated our 10 year anniversary. I could get all sappy about it but those that know Jonathan and I would find that to be weird. I will say that 10 years has flown by and that I am sure the next 60 will too.

Appointment

I called Vanderbilt this afternoon around 4:15 or so to see about setting up Jude's appointment for who knows when. As it turns out, they had a cancellation on Monday morning at 9:30. So, pray for me as Monday should be an interesting day with dropping Ella off at school then heading down to Vanderbilt for Jude's appointment.

Jude's 3 year check up

Jude was a great patient! He did his hearing test, eye test, weight and height. Luckily for the nurse we put some powder in his stinky old shoes so she would not throw up when he had to take them off! He is right at the 50% mark in height and weight. They are estimating his height to be around 5'10" as an adult. Whatever that is - I don't know that I believe you can really estimate that. Anyhow, the only issue is the skin pigmentation issue that we have known about but did not seem to be a problem. Dr. Keith believes it to be Virtiligo. Oddly enough, the same thing that Michael Jackson has (makes me so proud). There are some other issues that go along with it that I really don't want to think too much about. He gave me a referral for a pediatric dermatologist at Vanderbilt that he thinks will take a long time to get into. For now, I am doing the dreaded reading on the Internet and praying... Dr. Keith is checking into any correlation between that and his seizures. I guess I will give more info when I know!

They are baaaaack!

Ella and Jude have returned from their last adventure of the summer. They left last Saturday to spend a few days with Pops and Mimi. They took a trip to Silver Dollar City, went fishing (where Ella caught a HUGE fish - Jude caught a big one too), had a tea party, did some cooking and had a great time! On Wednesday they went to KY to stay with Nana and Pepaw until we could meet them on Thursday night to pick them up. They did some swimming in KY where they both were big fans of the diving board. They are home now and just waking up from a 2 hour nap! We have a few things planned for the weekend and then off to Kindergarten on Monday - more to come on that!