Gabrielle's First Hair Cut!

Gabrielle's first haircut went extremely well. I had been saying for some time now that Gabrielle really needed a trim, but I kept putting it off. A few weeks ago we were talking about her hair again and I mentioned to her "Locks of Love", and that maybe she could donate her hair at some point to someone who really needed it. The subject was sort of forgotten until the beginning of this week when she started asking when she could give her hair to someone. I was really hesitant because growing up my dad didn't like short hair and so I had never done anything dramatic to my hair, other than the occasional trim here and there. On Tuesday, Gabrielle asked a million times when she could go to Locks of Love. So, with a deep breath and lots of reservation, I started calling around to different hair salons. With Locks of Love, 10 inches is the minimum amount allowed. I found a few participating salons and decided on Great Clips. Wednesday morning we were getting ready when on a hunch I decided to call my salon, Express, and ask if they participated. It turns out they didn't, but they did participate in a local organization called Children with Hairloss, that only required 6 inches and the hair stayed here in Michigan. Gabrielle was given her options and she chose the local organization. When arriving at Express we originally decided to do 10 inches, in case she changed her mind. But once all the hair was sectioned off I realized that if she did get 10 inches cut off, her hair would be by her ears! So only 7 inches was cut off, Gabrielle got her first haircut, I didn't have an anxiety attack or cry, and Gabrielle walked away knowing she did a wonderful thing for someone else in need. All in all, a good experience!

Jack's Baptism

On July 5, 2009 Jack was finally baptized! We held our breath up to the morning of because last time we had actually planned it all out Jack ended up in the ER with breathing problems. Pastor Ron didn't even put it in the morning bulletin in case Jack ran into trouble again! But finally, after many months of official and unofficial planning, Jack is baptized! He did awesome. Everyone thought he was so good during the service and how well behaved he was. I just laugh because he was so incredibly antsy and didn't want to sit still. And if he could have made sound, he would have been! I said the only reason you all thought he was such a good baby was because he has a trache and he can't make a lot of noise! Cracks me up!

Fourth of July Parade

This past July 4 was pretty exciting. Jack got to go to his first parade and the girls got to ride their horses in their first parade. I was uncertain how Jack would do being outside that long but being outside was the least of my concerns. Jack was fine in the beginning (before the parade started) but once the firetrucks and semitrucks started honking and blowing their horns it was over for Jack. I had turned his pulseox off, but it would have been interesting to know what his heartrate was when the big trucks went by. I actually had to plug his one ear with my finger and the other ear with my mouth to try to keep out some of the noise. By the end of the parade though he seemed to react less to the big trucks which was good.

The girls did an awesome. Sam led Gabrielle on Barbie and he said Gabrielle controlled her the whole time and Sam never once had to grab the lead. Yeah Gabrielle! She was so excited leading up to the parade. Every day she would ask me a millions times how many days until the parade. She dressed Barbie in pink and Gabrielle wore her pink cowboy hat, boots, and shirt. And if looked really close, Barbie's toes were painted pink too! Not very patriotic, but very cute!

Kendyll did great too. She did her princess wave to everyone in the crowd. She ate up all the attention she was getting. Later in the day when we were in the store she stood in the basket of the cart and continued to wave to everyone like she did in the parade. It was very cute. All in all, it was a long parade, but worth it.

Kendyll's Glasses

It turns out that Kendyll needs glasses (she is far-sighted). We noticed that when she focused on something her left eye would float towards her nose. Her first eye doctor appointment was filled with anxiety and tears! She was terrified that all the equipment and the instruments were going to hurt her. There were some pretty rough spots but she made it through like a champ! Her new glasses arrived today and she was pretty excited. They are pink, wire-rimmed, with little hearts on the side, and pictures of glass-slippers on the tips. It also came with the most adorable little pink Princess purse(glasses holder). Which fits Kendyll so perfectly. She actually showed up to pick up her glasses with a pink sequined purse. She keeps trying to put things into her glass holder though. I've found chicken nuggets and nail polish so far. It will be fun to see what else she tries to put in with her glasses! She is not enjoying wearing them either. I often times find them on top of her head and she's always asking if she take her "sunglasses" off. Hopefully this is just a bump in the road and we caught it early enough that the she will only have to wear the glasses for a short period of time.