This weekend we went on a train ride on the Potomac Eagle in Romney, West Virginia.
The train runs along the South Branch of the Potomac River and the scenery is absolutely beautiful!
During our train ride there were several sightings of Bald Eagles and a Bobcat. Unfortunately, we didn't see the Bobcat at all and when I did actually see one of the Bald Eagles...being the crack photographer that I am...I didn't have my camera ready!
I thought Lily would get a kick out of eating lunch in the Dining Car so that's where I booked our seats. Let's just say the last thing Lily wanted was to be cooped up in an air-conditioned car eating lunch!
Our little hobo wanted to feel the wind in her hair. Thank goodness Lily was a good sport...and...we weren't cooped up in the Dining Car for too long!
We have another train ride schedule this coming weekend. It's a lot of fun being the mother of a hobo!
Late last week Tony and I received an offer we just couldn't refuse. Katie called and asked if she and Paul could babysit Lily sometime over the weekend. Since it was Katie's last weekend at home before heading off to college, I was really surprised by the offer...but that didn't stop me from saying...YES!
As I've mentioned before Lily, Katie, and Paul have formed a little mutual admiration society. It is so incredibly sweet to see the three of them together.
So, Saturday night Tony and I made early reservations at a nice restaurant and told Lily that Katie and Paul were coming over to babysit. Lily was so excited! Well, excited is an understatement. Our girl was seriously wound up.
When Katie and Paul arrived at our house Lily was just about bouncing off the walls. Despite that fact...Tony and I wished Katie and Paul luck...and then ran out the door!
When we came home Paul, Katie, and Lily were "hiding" downstairs in the play room. Once Tony and I "found" them we started talking about one of Lily's favorite things to do with Daddy in the play room. Tony and Lily call it Rockin' Out.
One thing lead to another, the music came on, and Lily began demonstrating the fine art of rockin' out for Katie and Paul.
While Lily was showing Katie and Paul her moves I went upstairs to get the video camera. As you can see in the clip below it didn't take long for Katie to join in on the fun. I think Katie will do just fine in college. It's obvious she's a quick study!
A few words of warning. This video is about 3 minutes long...the music is loud...and my cackling is even louder. Oh, and you may not want to be drinking anything when you watch this...or it might come spraying back out.
Um...okay...who didn't see that wipeout coming???
Not to worry. As you can see in the video below Lily is just fine. In fact, it wasn't a wipeout after all. Apparently, it's Lily's new way of bowing.
Back in June Lily had a routine dental check-up...that turned out to be not so routine.
I knew something wasn't quite right when the hygienist asked me several times how old Lily was...and if I was sure?!?
Then the hygienist called in the dentist...who then called in another dentist. They shared with me that Lily had quite a few loose teeth. Huh??? Tony or I help Lily brush/floss her teeth every morning and night. How could we have missed this???
I wasn't the only one that was puzzled. The hygienist and two dentist were VERY surprised/concerned.
Lily's teeth have never had any decay and her gums are healthy. There is a natural order to losing teeth and Lily's loose teeth weren't following that order.
Lily's dentist asked me if Lily had had any trauma to her mouth. In the time we've been a family Lily has had no trauma to her mouth. There is no way of knowing if Lily had trauma to her mouth before we were united, but it turns out the dentists didn't really think Lily's loose teeth were a result of trauma because they didn't fit a "typical trauma pattern" (ie. they aren't right next to each other).
The dentist asked my permission to take x-rays of Lily's teeth. The x-rays showed that the roots of 6 of Lily's teeth are almost completely reabsorbed. Yes, I said SIX. That's over a 1/3 of all the teeth Lily has in her mouth!!
Apparently, there are some really AWFUL syndromes associated with premature loss of baby teeth. So, Lily's dentist asked me to follow up with her pediatrician as soon as possible.
I spoke with Lily's pediatrician that afternoon and she immediately sent us for blood work and a wrist x-ray to determine Lily's bone age in case Lily was, in fact, older than we thought.
For the most part, the initial tests came back looking fine. Lily's bone age was right where it should be for a 4 year old. The only thing that was way off was Lily's Vitamin D level. It was very low.
This was very surprising. Lily eats a well balanced diet, plays outside every day, and takes a children's multi-vitamin. Based on her other levels (calcium, etc.) Lily's pediatrician thought perhaps the Vitamin D reading was inaccurate. Subsequent testing proved that it was inaccurate.
Lily's pediatrician conferred with Lily's pediatric dentist, the Dental College, and Lily's urologist and sent Lily for more tests. To make a very long story short...Lily appears to be healthy as can be. A HUGE answered prayer! Thank God!!
All the doctors involved are still scratching their heads, but feel confident that what's happening with Lily's teeth is an anomaly and not a symptom of a bigger problem.
Lily's official diagnosis: Atypical Apical Root Absorption. Try saying that 10 times fast!
Basically it means, for reasons we don't understand, the roots of Lily's baby teeth are absorbing before they should...and in a different order than they should.
Could this be hereditary? Maybe. Maybe not. We probably will never know.
Could it be as a result of Lily's Melamine exposure. Maybe. Maybe not. We may never know.
What we do know is that Lily does have permanent teeth, but they are nowhere near ready to come in (we're talking years and years). As a result, when Lily's loses these 6 teeth (and possibly more) she will need to be fitted with prosthetic teeth/spacers or something along those lines while we wait for her permanent teeth to come in.
Our girl has been a trooper through all of this and is eagerly awaiting a visit from the tooth fairy. With 6 loose teeth I think I may need to find a part-time job!
Oh, an if you'd like some photographic proof that our girl is doing great...here are a few before and after photos of Lily's new sassy 'do. In fact, Lily told me that she thinks they should change the name of her style of haircut from "a Bob" to "a Lily".
A while back we received a wonderful invitation from two of Tony's clients to spend a day aboard their boat. Not only did they extend the invitation to Tony, Lily, and me...they said we could bring along some friends.
This Sunday we were able to take them up on their kind offer. Mary Beth, Ed, Ryan, Clare, Katie, and Paul were able to join us. Unfortunately, James had to work.
If that sounds like a lot of people aboard one boat I think I should clarify. Referring to this vessel as a "boat" does it a HUGE dissevice. Unless when you read the word boat you picture a 58 foot motoring yacht with a flybridge that seats 8, 3 staterooms, 3 bathrooms (heads), a galley, a swim platform...and more!
We spent time cruising, swimming, tooling around on the tender, and eating yummy grilled pizzas!
So what if the sun wasn't shining?? The warm hospitality of our hosts more than made up for that!
Oh, and I think Lily may have been a bit spoiled by her first boating experience. She has asked several times if we can get a boat...but not just any boat...a boat with a kitchen!
The bad news is that there were no Aunt T, Beanie, and Lily days this week.
The good news is that Beanie attended Art Camp all week.
Today was the Art Exhibition for Christina's camp. What FUN!!!
Bean is quite artistic and it was incredible to see her gifts displayed. Christina made a bowl and lid, a sculpture, a hand-bound book, and a block print stamp.
Even more beautiful than the items Christina made was the smile that graced Christina's face during the entire exhibition.
We spent all of Sunday afternoon at a local county fair and had such a great time.
Lily got to milk a "cow"...
...bottle feed a calf...
...pet a chick, a donkey, a miniature horse, and a thousand other little animals I didn't get a picture of...
...ride a merry-go-round, a train, and a few other rides...
...and the absolute highlight...we're talking by far the best part of her day....
In case you can't tell from the picture above, Lily is grinding corn. Yes, I said grinding corn.
I can't begin to tell you how much Lily LOVED doing this. Seriously! We practically had to drag her out of there!!
Lily has talked about it for hours since we left the fair. In fact, tonight before she went to bed she said to me, "Mommy, when we grow up I want us both to be corn grinders. Won't that be fun?!"
And here I was worrying about what I would do with myself when she goes to school full time!
I know every parent thinks their child is the sweetest thing on earth...and every parent is right...and...I am no exception.
I just have to share with you two incredibly sweet things our little angel has done in the last week.
Last Sunday we had a fun family day planned. Our plan was to visit a lighthouse...that would require a boat ride to visit. So, we drove 2 hours from our house and arrived at the dock to learn that the boat had just stopped running because of forecasted storms.
Lily was pretty disappointed. In fact, so were Tony and I. Lily and I were discussing how disappointed we were about not being able to see the lighthouse when Lily said, "You know what will make us both feel better? When we get home let's have a tea party. It'll be great...and Daddy can come!"
How sweet is she??? We had just driven two hours to visit a lighthouse that we weren't going to be able to see...which meant we were going to have to drive two hours home...and she was trying to comfort me...and include Daddy. Have I mentioned lately how very much I love this child????
Okay, one more. The other day Lily had to have blood work. This is the second time Lily's had blood work in as many weeks. (I'll post more about why later) Lily is REMARKABLY good when she has her blood drawn. Seriously. It's amazing.
Anyway, we were at the lab and there was a little boy in the waiting room who was having a very, Very, VERY hard time...and he hadn't had his blood drawn yet.
After Lily had her blood drawn the lab tech gave her 3 stickers for being such a good patient. As we were leaving Lily stopped and gave the boy and his little sister 2 of the 3 stickers she had been given and told the little boy it wouldn't be "that bad".
I'm not ashamed to tell you that I had tears in my eyes when Lily did this.
I have no idea why God blessed us with the incredible privilege of raising this amazing little girl. I'm just so glad He did!
