Updates

Miss Melanie's 18-month appointment was relatively uneventful, in a good way. Shots - her last ones before kindergarten! - and a general well-visit check-up. She is now 20 pounds and 30 7/8 inches. Still low on the charts, but we're not concerned.

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One test that Dr. Megremis wanted to repeat was her sweat chloride test, which she took when she was just a couple of weeks old. This is the test to follow up from her 48-hour tests which showed she is a Cystic Fibrosis gene carrier. Back when we originally had it done, they said that any score over 30 would be out of "normal" range, and she had a 16. This time, they said any score over 40 would be out of "normal," and she had a 9! So I think we put that debate to rest once and for all! I believe that the only reason he wanted a repeat is to rule it completely out, since she's older now and he felt we could get a better reading. We did this test on September 24 down at Riley.

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In other milestones, Melanie climbed out of her crib on Thursday night. She is still going through her (what is hopefully a stage) thing where she gets up several times a night, and just as soon as we pick her up, she's back to sleep. She just wants to know we're there. Well, Thursday night, apparently I was not responding quickly enough for her liking, so she exited the bed on her own. I heard the "THUD" and more crying, but when I arrived in the room, she was on her feet, so she didn't hurt anything, thank goodness. So we tried her mattress on the floor last night, but I'm not sure about that one, either - when she sleeps, she's ALL over the place, so since I was in her room for about three hours sleeping with her on the mattress, she rolled off several times (she had pillow barriers, but still, it freaked her out).

Mother Daughter Trip

Melanie and I spent the weekend after Labor Day in Annapolis, Maryland for our good friend Nick Corea's wedding. My parents, Julie & Molly were all there too - but we flew solo without Daddy. Melanie did fantastic on both flights; literally no crying during either flight! What a trooper! She waved "bye-bye" to each city we left (luckily the flights were direct), and waved "hello" as we landed. During the descent to Indy, I told her that if she looked out the window, she might see Daddy. She scrambled over to find him; whoops, I guess I need to start watching what I say! While we were there, she didn't nap, but we still had a great time.

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We got in on Friday, and lucky us, we were on the same flight as some other wedding-goers. Therefore, they were able to help us with our monster suitcase, getting our carseat installed, etc. We headed to the hotel, and then straight to the rehearsal dinner. Saturday, Mel got to go swimming, we went out to lunch with Gigi & Poppy (picture of the girls above), and then we had 2 babysitters to take care of the girls while we all headed to the wedding.

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Sunday, Mel & I drove around for a couple of hours while she got her first nap of the weekend in. Then we headed downtown Annapolis to check out the Naval Academy, have some ice cream, and just do some sightseeing. Then we headed to Bel Air, where the rest of the Coreas live. We had dinner at Rich & Linda's, where Melanie & Molly got to play with three of the four Corea grandchildren, and then we stayed the night with Kate's family (where she got plenty of playing time in with the fourth). We all had a great time, and yet were SO glad to be back in our own beds on Monday night and have Daddy on overnight duty.

Happy 60th Grandma Worzala!

We spent Labor Day weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Worzala in Lake Orion, celebrating Gma's 60th birthday! It was a fun weekend with all of the family, and Melanie did great during the road trip; her first time facing forward in the car (she FINALLY hit 20 pounds!) We had a "surprise" party for her on Saturday night with Uncle Rick, Aunt Sandy, and Becky making a surprise trip up - and the neighbors from both sides joining the party. Randy, Cory, Charlie & Sammie were also with us all weekend. We are very blessed to be able to celebrate Grandma's 60th with her, and look forward to her 80th! She truly is, as her award above says, a "trophy wife, trophy mom, trophy mother-in-law, trophy sister-in-law, and trophy grandma!"

Labor Day Antics

Eighteen Months Old!

Miss Melanie has been gracing our lives for eighteen months - can you believe it? She is doing great, and learning new things every day. Puppies and shoes continue to be her main fascination. In this photo she's living the high life, having Daddy feed her ice cream while in her jammies. She still drinks milk out of a bottle, and still eats like a bird - but is doing great in all other areas! She moved up to the 18-month classroom last week (maybe I already mentioned that), so she plays with the two-year-olds most days at the end of the day. She is saying about a dozen words; maybe we're the only ones who recognize them, though :) She babbles nonstop (wonder who she gets that from?!) She is just now topping 20 pounds - I just took her in on the 2nd for a potential sinus infection - she's back on an antibiotic to help clear that up. She loves to play on her "wee" - her new playset in the backyard. She goes out there about a dozen times a night. She is truly a joy, and we have never laughed so much.

A toast to Mr & Mrs Davis

Emily ~ May this weekend be everything you ever dreamed of! I'm sorry I can't help you celebrate, but you know I will be with you in spirit! Take time to cherish every minute!

Hanging with the Haeberles

We had our good friends Laura & Ben Haeberle, and their kids Ethan (6) and Lily (4), over for dinner on Saturday night. Melanie loves saying Lily's name (it sounds something like lilililililili). Surprise of surprises, Lucas bit Lily. However, somehow Lily got the brunt of the blame. Luckily we don't have litigious friends :)

It was a gorgeous weekend, and it was nice because we hadn't had any "big plans." We got some errands done, I went to my parents' for their big kitchen unveiling party, and we enjoyed some downtime before traveling for the next two weekends.