Cori update - 2years and 9 months

Cori
We are just having so much fun with you. Everyday you learn something new and you teach us something new.
We love to hear you talk and explain things to us; we also love to listen to you when you play with your toys (friends) especially before going to bed.
You are such a big girl now. I am afraid that your baby hood is almost over; it is sad to think that but we are enjoying every second of you.
On Saturday you will be getting your first hair cut. I finally caved in to the pressure of Tia Chola, Toto, Mayuca, etc. I love your crazy, all over the place hair but I do see the value of getting a hair cut; and quite honestly you do need one; it will be fun and Daddy, Lola, Tia Chola and Tia Emi will be there.
Today you told us you were drawing a picture of your family which included (Papi, Mami, Lola, Nana Melida and Cori). I love it!!!
Cori thanks for being so wonderful, so fun, so lovely; and for letting us live and enjoy with you this wonderful journey. We love you so much.

Lolita Update - 4 Months old

Lolita
Today was your 4 month check up.
You are doing just great. Growing steadily and staying within the 75th percentile of the growth curve. At 4 months you weight 14 pounds and measure 25 inches. You are 12 ounces heavier and a quarter of an inch shorter than your Big Sister Cori.
You are smiling, laughing, babbling, starting to roll over and just being a complete delight!
You were kind of sleeping through the night but for the past two days you have reversed that waking at 3 and 5. Don't worry I am OK with that for now. I guess I am used to it.
We decided to delay your shots until your sixth month check up. I feel comfortable with that decision and would rather for your immune system to be stronger to deal with the shots. You will only get one shot at a time and in total you will get 3 vaccines (DTAP, PC, HIB).

We are really enjoying you and can't wait to see what is ahead of us the next few months.
We love you!!!

Lola smiles in the morning

L
Lola's Waking up Ritual!!

Itsy bitsy spider

The Itsy Bitsy Spider (Bilingual version)

Sneezing song

One of her favorite songs from Miss Ashley's class!! Love the Music Together program

Cori's excitement getting the Christmas Tree ready

Cori has never been more excited than when we put up the Christmas Tree. Far more excited than opening presents Christmas Day. It was the highlight of the Holiday season

Lola- First 3 months

Mi querida Lolita
These first 3 months have been nothing but delightful. You came into this world on a delightful way and everything after that has been nothing short of pure delight.
You are so chill, nothing seems to bother you; as long as you are fed, clean and have someone talking to you, you will just hang out. You rarely cry and so far you haven't had a long crying spell, well neither did Cori but she got a lot more attention.
During your first month we had a lot of visitors, your Abuelos from Quito stayed with us that first month and Toto made sure to take excellent care of both of us and your sister. It was great having them here and that period of time after you and your sister were born and Toto stayed with us were probably the most wonderful times of my life. They were challenging because we were all getting used to a new lifestyle but they were wonderful as well.
After your first week appointment Dr. Kramer thought you were a bit jaundiced, nothing to worry since you were gaining weight, eating, peeing and pooping normally; but he suggested we give you some sun baths and just keep an eye in case it doesn't improve. So Toto and I put you in the sun a lot; unfortunately it was one of the coldest Decembers in record in Miami so we couldn't take you outside; but your bedroom gets plenty of sun in the mornings so it worked out well. By your 1st month check up you were still quite jaundiced, your skin was pretty orange and your eyes had a yellow tint; so Dr. Kramer suggested we see a GI just to make sure everything was fine. And everything was just fine, you had breast milk jaundice which is caused by a hormone in my milk and is harmless; and it can take up to six months to go away; yours was gone by the 2nd month check up.
During your first month of life you went to the park a couple times, as I said it was pretty cold throughout the month so we couldn't take you out much, but we managed to have a few outings. We also went once to Patagonia for breakfast and to Faith's class at Mercy; today was our last class since I will be going back to the office starting next week.
When you were about six weeks your Birmingham grandparents came to visit; we had a great time in spite of Grandaddy Mackey feeling a bit under the weather. We were all very stressed because we didn't want either you or your sister to get sick but we did just fine. We all have gotten sick in the last couple of weeks in this house and you are the only one who has managed to not catch any of our bugs (Good Job Lolita).
While your grandparents were visiting you fell off the bed. One night after nursing you in the middle of the night I fell asleep while burping and I guess I went limp and let you go. I heard you hitting the ground and woke right up to find you peacefully sleeping.... on the floor!!! I was a bit freaked out and felt like a horrible parent. I thought parenting skills improved with the 2nd kid and in this case I was clearly not improving. I woke you up to make sure you were OK and as soon as you opened your eyes you gave me your first smile!! I kept you up for an hour and then we both went to sleep. You were fine and nothing happened but it was very scary for me and Daddy.
During your second month we both took an Infant massage class, we learned a lot and you love to get your legs massaged every night after taking a bath. You are not too crazy about Tummy, Back, Chest, Arms, head and back massages but you love the Leg massage; and it is very fun to share that time with you. I will like to give Cori a massage too but she thinks it is something for babies and not for big girls.
You are hitting every milestone and this time around I am much more relaxed about it. I am not comparing you to your peers and I am not freaking out if you are not the first kid to roll, crawl, walk, etc.
You smile a lot especially when we talk to you after you wake up and when you are getting your massage; you are also starting to talk when you get excited, you make this very cute sounds when you are playing in your play mat or with your bee and giraffe.
You are pretty good about holding your head and are starting to push up with your arms, I feel you are a lot stronger than Cori was at this age, maybe because I let you take naps on your tummy. Soon you will be rolling but that hasn't happened yet, not even accidental rolls; but that is fine you will roll when you are ready. UPDATE !!! You rolled today, maybe accidentally but its a start!!!!
In terms of growth chart stuff by your 2nd month check up you were at 11.7lbs and 23 inches, and Dr. Kramer said you were doing just perfect.
Daddy and I have had so much fun with you and your sister this last couple of months. It has been fun to be a family of 4, yes it has taken time to adapt and become more organized in terms of time management but I think we are doing just fine.
We love you so much and we are so excited of seeing you grow!!

Cori

Cori mia. As Daddy and I always say you are THE BEST.
You and Lola are the best daughters to us; you are the best Big Sister to Lola and so on the list can just keep on going. I am sure all parents feel like that about their kids but I just want to make sure I say it in case I ever forget.
You have grown so much, and every day you wow us with a new thing you have learned. You also have the best Nana ever; and Nana Melida makes sure to keep teaching you wonderful things; like how to say Hippopotamus which we love to hear it over and over.
You have done really well with Lola; I understand it might have been hard for you to share all that is yours with your new sister but you have done just great; even moving you out of your crib to the big bed so that Lola can use the crib was not a big issue; and although you now think that your old baby toys are cooler than your new toddler toys you still share them with your sister and let her lay on the play-mat to play. You are not going to school yet but hopefully you will get in next fall. Mommy didn't knew that kids have to be signed up before birth on the preschools close to our house, so we are on the waiting list of both schools; but I think you will get in no problem. You have been asking about going to school, so I think you are ready. Some days you will pack your little toy bag with your favorite toys (which happen to be little cars) and come to say bye to daddy and me and tell us you are going to Antonia's school; and you have asked several times about wanting to go. Antonia is one of your friends from the park and a neighbor.
You spend your mornings @ the park, the community center's jungle gym or the library; then you come home for lunch and nap (some days at least) and the afternoon you basically play at home. On Fridays you an I go to Music Class, which you love and are quite the dancer of the class; Ms. Ashley loves seeing you move around. After class we usually grab a bite to eat at the taco place across the street from the class and you always tell me after class that you want a TACO for lunch. It is a lot of fun and it is our weekly date; I love spending that time with you and I hope to keep the tradition as long as we live in the same town.
I tried to keep you from watching TV for as long as possible but after we had to spend time in the hospital and the TV was practically all we had for entertainment you started to ask for it. We have limited as much as we can; sometimes it is hard but you are pretty good about turning it off when we say you can't watch more. You are growing up on a world where media exposure is everywhere and it amazes me how you can use your daddy's IPOD and Abuelo Gringo's IPAD better than many adults; it seems sometimes your are wired to deal with this digital world. Your first favorite show used to be Mickey Mouse Playhouse and Dora, then you moved to Diego who I personally think is a lot cooler than Dora; now you love to watch a documentary about the ocean called The Deep Blue and a Swedish show about a Penguin called Pingu. Sometimes you still ask for Mickey and Special agent Oso but the Ocean stuff and Pingu are on your list of favorites for now. On the weekends we usually get one movie for you to watch and we eat pizza while we watch it. You love it!!!
You are obsessed with the ocean and marine life and whales and dolphins are definitely your favorite animals. We have taken you to the Miami Seaquarium a few times and you love it. You want to go every time we drive by. You love the Lolita and Flipper shows and you enjoy looking at the fish tank and seeing the manatees, sea lions and sharks. Some day maybe you will get to swim with the Dolphins. You call all your dolls and plush toys "Friends" and you like to go to bed with every single one of them and more. I don't mind that and I usually clean your bed up before going to bed to make sure you sleep comfortably. Your favorite "Friends" are Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Loui (a green parrot from a tongue twisters book Dede gave you), and lately Bulls eye and Captain Pork chop from Toy Story. You also like your toy Lolita and baby Lolita (the whales), Mickey and Minnie and of course all your cars and your Thomas train set. You have a lot of toys but you pretty much play with all of them. One of your favorite games is to play Ariel & Loui with Mommy; this game pretty much consists of me sitting on the floor with Ariel and Loui and I watch you play with the other Toys, usually with Thomas or Play Dough. If I suggest something else you will remind me that Ariel and Loui want to watch you play.
I have learned so much from playing with you. I have learned how valuable it is for me to play with you when you ask and how I have to give you all my attention during those precious moments we play together; I am sorry if sometimes I forget but I have realized that in a few years I won't be as fun of a playmate as I am now and you will rather play with your friends more. I have also learned to be creative, which I never thought I was. I have to invent games and songs in a wink of an eye to keep the fun. I love it and sometimes I laugh about myself and the silly things we invent. It is so much fun.
As I said on a previous post you slept with us for quite sometime. Well first I couldn't bear with the idea of having you on your own room so I kept you on the co sleeper until you were almost able to come out of it by yourself. Then we moved you to your crib on your own room but since you nursed for 21months you kept waking up in the middle of the night asking for some warm milk; at the beginning I will just go to your room and nurse you on the chair but ended up falling asleep and waking up the next day with my neck killing me and not very rested; so I decided to just bring you to our bed every time you woke up and let you sleep with us for the rest of the night. This worked out pretty good and both daddy and I loved snuggling with you. After you were weaned you kept coming to our bed and we loved it but when we found out a baby sister was coming we realized we needed to get you used to sleep through the night on your own room. It was a process and you were doing good with it but every time you were finally sleeping all night in your room something will happen. First I had to go out of town so that threw everything off and you ended up sleeping with Daddy; then Lola was born and you were sharing a room with your grandparents you ended up sleeping on their bed or out in the balcony with Toto who will rock you back to sleep. After all the visitors were gone I thought it was going to be impossible to get you sleep on your own but it just worked. I guess you were just ready because from day 1 you slept through the night. Then we moved you to your Big Girl Bed and thought we will have to deal with you coming out of your bed every so often but you didn't. Again you surprised us with your maturity and didn't have any problem with the idea of sleeping on a Big Bed. You do come out of the bed sometimes but it is usually because you need to go to the bathroom.
You have become quite a talker and now when we ride together to go somewhere we will talk all the way. I once said I needed to slow down because I was going too fast and the police might stop me; since that day you will always remind me to slow down if I don't want to go to jail. It is amazing how you absorb everything you hear. You also happen to remember things I will rather you forget; like when I ACCIDENTALLY locked you in the car; you will still ask me when we go out if I am going to lock you in. As I have said I promise that will never happen again; I will glue that car key to my arm if needed to prevent that from happening again.
I can say you are pretty much bilingual by now. You know to speak Spanish to Nana and Mommy and English to Daddy; you favor English a bit over Spanish but I think it is just because most of your books and the little TV you watch is in English.
You have WOW us with your ability to remember things; the other day we heard you playing and saying " Too Tall throw to the middle" while you were running sideways like quite a seasoned Football player (American football not real football); that night we watched a Bernstein Bear's episode in which the cubs played Football just like that. You love to play Football and American Football but are a bit more into American Football lately.
You are pretty good about going to bed and know exactly how to get mommy and daddy to do what you want. Usually we put you to bed between 8:30 and 9:00; you go to the bathroom, brush your teeth and Daddy reads you two books; then you get in bed and stay there (usually playing with friends) until you get tired. After I am done with Lola I usually come into your room and for the most part you are still awake; you will say Hi and ask me if I want to sleep with you for a little bit; and then you will show me that you have made space in the bed for me as well. After I hear that I will automatically get in your bed with you and your friends, we will say your nightly prayers, sing Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer (in English and Spanish), A Whole New World and Prince Ali; and for the most part you will then let me get up and go to sleep. Some nights you will snuggle me in a way I can't let go or ask me to tell Daddy to come see you and do the same to him. I don't know if you are taking advantage of us; or manipulating us, and maybe a parenting expert will tell me not to fall for your tricks; but I love so much every time you tell me you had made space in your bed for me to be able to sleep (un piquitito) with you!!

I can't believe you are almost 3 years old and will be going to school soon. That day always seemed so far away and now it is around the corner. Sometimes I want to keep time still, I am enjoying you so much that I don't want anything to change but I know next year and the following ones will be just as fun. Maybe I won't be the top choice when it comes to playmates but I hope I remain fun for you for quite some time.
I am going back to work after maternity leave soon and I am going to miss playing with you so much. I had so much fun running around in the park and going down the slides; I also had fun sitting on the floor of your room playing "Ariel & Loui". We will still play and I promise to make time on my day for uninterrupted Cori playtime!!!
I am looking forward for what lays ahead of us but this past 2.5 years have been amazing. Daddy and I love you so much and we feel so blessed to have you in our lives.
We love you Loca Mia.

Lola

Mi querida Lolita
You arrived Thanksgiving day 2010 (Nov 25th) and gave Thanksgiving a complete new meaning; now we will always be extra Thankful during that date. It was the best Thanksgiving ever and we will remember that every year.
I am sorry I haven't been as diligent as I was with your big sister blogging about my pregnancy and how I was getting ready to receive you. Trust me we were as excited but it was hard to find time between work and taking care of Cori. I promise I will blog as much as possible so that you both can have a recollection of these first years of life.
My pregnancy was wonderful, besides the normal morning sickness during the 2nd half of the first trimester; everything was great; and even the morning sickness was a sign that the pregnancy was progressing as it should, so I tried not to complain too much about it. I started showing a lot quicker than with your sister; by 18 weeks you could tell I was pregnant; so although I got bigger quicker I did end up at about the same size as with Cori and gained more or less the same amount of weight (15 to 16 lbs). You were 0.5lbs bigger than Corina at birth and about the same lenght; and look a lot like her too.
You took a lot of trips while on mommy's tummy. Before we even knew you were coming we went to Birmingham to spend Easter with your McDanal Grandparents. We also got to spend time with Aunt Emily and her fiance Matt. At 12 weeks we went to Quito to visit the Mantilla Grandparents, we had a great time with the family and everyone was getting very excited about you; at that time we didn't know if you will be Lola or Baby Boy McDanal; but I secretly knew it was going to be another beautiful girl.
In July I had to go to New York for work so we all decided to go; Daddy and Cori spent some great quality time touring through the streets and subways of Manhattan. Your sister loved the city and the mass transportation system. In August we went back to Birmingham to visit the McDanals, by this time we have confirmed that it was Lola who will be arriving at the end of the year and we were all very very excited.
In October I had to travel for work to Austin TX; I was pretty sad I had to leave your sister for 1 week; I had never done that in over 2 years, since she was born, but we all did great. I don't know when I will have to leave you overnight but I hope it is not anytime soon. I know it will have to happen someday but I promise you I will do whatever I can to delay that date as much as possible. So in your short life you have been quite a traveler even before you made your appearance into this world.
You started moving inside my tummy, or I started feeling you move a lot sooner than I did with Cori; they say this is normal b/c we mommas know what we are supposed to feel and are more aware of it. That was the greatest feeling and I enjoyed so much every move, kick, punch, etc. you did while in my tummy. Even as I was pushing you out you still kept on moving!!

Your arrival (Couldn't be more perfect)
Since before you came into this world you have been the most considerate little baby. It seems you knew since before day 1 how to behave to make the process of adapting to a family of 4 easier.
You arrived the morning after your grandparents (Toto and Gringo) had arrived from Ecuador. This worked great because it would have been a challenge for us if you would have come any earlier; but you knew how to do it and when you let us know you were coming everything was set up. Toto and Gringo were home to take care of Cori and Daddy was able to come with me to the hospital to see you arrive. Only Tia Chola was left out with no Thanksgiving dinner but I think she was more excited about meeting you than about any dinner anyway.
The delivery was as when your sister was born; just perfect. I woke up with contractions at around 6:30am but tried to convince myself I was NOT having contractions; my mind was set on the plan we had for Thanksgiving day of cooking lunch and having Tia Chola, Carlos and Emi over. I didn't say anything about the contractions and move on as usual for the next 2 hours when I realized I was in fact having contractions; and that considering I can deliver pretty quick it might be a good idea to let Daddy know. I woke up Daddy and we timed the contractions, they were consistently 5 to 6 minutes apart. I remembered with Cori my contractions were like that when I was just 2 cm dilated so I didn't worry much. I laid down for a while and then decided to get into the shower. While I was in the shower (which felt amazing) I could tell the contractions were coming closer together so we called the Dr. who recommended going to the hospital. I finished packing the bag, Daddy had breakfast, hung out a bit with Cori and left to the hospital at around 9:25am. We got there, I got changed, checked (I was @10cm and ready to push) and 10m or so later you were born. It was peaceful, relaxing and amazing. I am so so blessed God had given me this body that loves to have babies and that allows me to have the best experiences ever when my babies are born. I am sorry if I am being cocky but I love delivering babies!!!
You came out perfect, beautiful and screaming. The Dr. that delivered you, Dr. Gregory Guell was amazing and very supportive of all of mommy's demands; I can't thank him enough for being so great. I requested that he doesn't clamp the cord for a few minutes after delivery and he gently put you on my tummy until it was time to clamp it; this gave us some very good quality bonding time and gave you some top quality blood to start your life outside of the womb. After that they quickly took your weight and lenght (6lbs 15.6 oz and 19 inches) wrapped you up and handed you back to me. You latched on and nursed right away for about 1 hour when they had to take you to the nursery, but we got a good amount of bonding time, and about an hour later you were back in my arms. Those first moments of holding you were probably the happiest moments of my life, both when your sister and you were born I have been the happiest ever. (Sorry Daddy, marrying you also made me very very happy but nothing tops holding your newborn child, I do have to thank you for allowing for this to happen)

As I said before you are a very chill and relaxed baby. You rarely cry, usually you complain and grunt when you need to be picked up, changed or fed but you rarely throw crying spells. On top of that it seems that you know that mommy and daddy have to share their attention between you and Cori and you don't seem to mind that at all. Cori was also very relaxed but she did get to have our undivided attention. Maybe it is a 2nd child thing but I feel you even understand that at this point sometimes we need to give your big sister Cori a bit more of attention. She loves you very much, every day more I will say, but she is getting used to share mommy, daddy and nana's time, and that is harder when you have had their complete attention for 2 years. But she is doing great and comes to give you kisses when she wakes up from her nap and early in the morning. She will be your best friend and will teach you many many things. I am so excited for you two and the sisterly love you guys will share.
Mi Lolita thanks for coming into our life, for being so perfect, for being so easy, for making us so happy. We love you so much and we can't wait to see what will lie in front of us as a family of 4. I will keep posting updates on your development as much as I can.

First Time away!!

During the summer I was informed by my boss that I had been picked for the company's Top Gun Leadership Training program. This was extremely exciting; Top Gun is a leadership training program the company puts together for a small group of people each year; so I felt extremely honored to be part of that group.
Going to Top Gun however, also meant that I will have to leave Cori for 5 nights and 6 days and that seemed awfully long; especially since I had never in almost 2.5 years left her for an overnight stay.
I started to stress out a month before Top Gun; just thinking about the day I will have to go will make me cry. I started to tell Cori about it so that she gets used to the idea of Mommy being away and that Daddy will be putting her down to bed (up until then I was the only one putting her to sleep, maybe a side effect of 21 months of nursing her down to sleep) for a few days, and every time she will respond "Mommy don't go on an airplane..", of course that made things more difficult.
Anyway everything turned out better than expected. Cori came to drop me off at the airport and was not even upset, she just mentioned that she will like to ride on a plane too. I was a bit upset but it was easier that what I had imagined. While I was away things worked out great. Cori did great, talked on the phone with me every morning and night and had a great time with Daddy, Nana and Granny J who came to visit. I did better than expected too. I was very busy on the training program and had little time to think about being away; but it was good to have some time just for myself. It felt nice to come back to the hotel room and have absolutely nothing to do. I missed my little one a lot and won't be able to handle more than 5 days away but it was good to realize that I could do it; that I could be away and everything and everyone would be just fine.
It was very exciting to get back and see her slightly nervous/I don't know how to act face when I got in the car. I was happy to be back and I has happy I had gone since I met some amazing people and learned a lot. It made me realize also how much more scared we are of things that turned out to be not scary at all.

Its been a long long time.......

It has been way too long; I have been quite a slacker about keeping up with what started as a recollection of Corina's life so that I can show it to her when she grows up. But now, I just realized that over 1 year of her 2.5 years has not been recorded. I will try to make a short synopsis of what life has shown us during the past year and a half.

End of 2009 .- Disney World, Ambulance, Hospital, WPW, Galapagos Islands.....

At the end of October we got invited to go visit the Mouse!!! Cori's first trip to Disney World. She didn't care much about the characters, it actually scared her to realize they were alive and not just sitting still. She didn't care about the rides much either; although I was trying to have her on a strict schedule of doing all the rides I thought she would like. Her favorite attraction was playing at the Pooh Playground in The Magic Kingdom. She might have been a bit too young for Disney but we had a great time anyway.
A few weeks ago (over a year after the trip) she listened in the Radio to Its a Small World and she suddenly said "Mommy this is Mickey Mouse song".... now I am starting to believe in Disney's subliminal power to captivate kids.

On November 17th, 2009 one of my biggest fears as a parent came a bit too close for comfort; Cori had to be rushed to the ER and I received that dreaded call at work. First I was told she had choked, then we thought it was seizure due to fever (she had a fever of 102.8) and lastly we were told she had suffered a cardiac syncope because she has WPW. While the Drs. keep telling us WPW is a common and benign heart condition that causes arrhythmia and very very rarely a syncope; just the idea of my little one having it was extremely scary. They kept us in the hospital for 3 days to see if she had any arrhythmia which she never did and sent us home with a prescription of Beta Blockers to keep her heart from speeding up too fast. I was relieved to know it is something that can be controlled with medication but devastated by the idea of having her on Beta Blockers for the rest of her life; especially considering she had never had even an antibiotic at that time.
As the days went by I became more comfortable with the idea of the medication and life went back to normal. I realized how weak I was and how much I admire parents of kids with serious diseases, including my own parents, since it was not easy for me to deal with a non serious, common type of diagnosis.
Life returned to normal after a few weeks and things I thought I would never be able to do again became normal. Cori returned to her routine of spending mornings at the park; we took trips to both Birmingham and Quito as we have planned and we even went to the Galapagos Islands for New Years. What one cardiologist has told me that it was never going to happen again started to sink in and become a reality.
Cori was getting cuter by the day. Her vocabulary kept expanding and she started to be quite a socialite. She was quite the entertainer both at the Christmas Eve party at my Grandfather's house and at the Galapagos cruise ship; dancing and singing all around. She was becoming so much fun to be around

2010
The new year started great. We greeted 2010 at one of the most amazing places on Earth, The Galapagos Islands. On New Year's day we spent part of the day on a beautiful white sand beach and we even got to see a sea turtle nesting its eggs. It was awesome!! I will never be able to thank my parents enough for that trip and for putting up with staying on board the ship for most of the trip taking care of Cori. Cori was way to young and not allowed to be off the ship.
Life was back to normal and we had gotten used to give Cori her heart medicine three times a day. We went to visit the Alabama Grandparents for Easter and to celebrate Aunt Emily's engagement; it was a great time and Cori enjoyed herself a lot with Granny J and Granddaddy Mackey; and had a blast looking for Easter Eggs.
A week after we had come back however she had another fainting episode at the park. I got a call from Melida (her wonderful nanny) as I was walking out of the bathroom with a positive pregnancy test. I just remember telling Dave that Cori had fainted and running as fast as I could to the park. Thanks to God and to the wonderful Staff at the KBCC that were there to help her out until the rescue came; she was fine by the time we got there and again we rushed her to the hospital thinking that the thing Drs. had said will never happen again did happened again. However, when we got there the cardiologist let us know that it was not her heart, her EKG came out normal and since she was running a fever it seemed that when her heart does speed up it happens to behave more normal than when she has a normal heart beat. This was good news, really good news since it meant 1.) weaning her off the medicine; 2) Although she does have WPW it was not showing any signs of concern so even an ablation (surgery) at the age of 5 was not necessary at the moment. While at the ER however she had another episode of losing consciousness and shaking; it was the first time I was around for that and it was extremely scary; it felt like it lasted for ever and that the ER staff was not doing anything (they actually were doing a lot); Cori had just had a seizure. Since we arrived with a cardiac diagnosis to the ER no one realized she was running a high fever and apparently what had happened @ the park earlier, and also what had happened back in November were not cardiac syncope but Febrile Fits/Seizure. These are extremely scary but harmless episodes; you just need to 1. Monitor every fever closely and keep the child comfortable and away from choking during a seizure; it is easier said than done. The first time I experienced one with Cori I did everything wrong in spite of having read over and over what I was supposed to do. Although I really hope she won't have more seizures and I have become quite neurotic about giving her fever reducing medicine whenever her temperature slightly goes above 98; I think that if it does happens I will be more calm and better prepared. Both Dave and I had them growing up so the gene pool is not on our favor when it comes to febrile fits.

As I briefly mentioned before I got pregnant with Peanut #2. It was a rough start for my little Peanut since the first week after I found out she was completely ignored; but starting on week #6 she started reminding me she was there with Morning Sickness. After 6 weeks of dry nausea and just not enjoying food I started to enjoy my 2nd pregnancy.
During the summer we took a trip to Ecuador, New York for my work and Birmingham for a weekend. Cori loved the mass transportation system in NY, she really enjoyed riding the subway and Dave became quite a pro in dealing with Subway, Stroller and Toddler throughout the city.
We also found out we were having another baby girl and we decided to name her Lola.