School Visit

The Thursday before Easter we made a trip to Fayetteville to see Cloey at her school. Daddy, Emma, and myself loaded up in the car for the ride and Emma did very well. She was excited to get out to have lunch at Chick-Fil-A at about the halfway point. Once we arrived we checked in to our room and let Emma crawl around. Then we headed to Cloey's school because she was having a Spring Musical. I took pictures but they didn't turn out well. It was nice to watch her performance and then visit with her for a bit after the show was over. Then Jason, Emma, and I met up with one of his Army buddies for dinner. After dinner we went to visit another Army buddy of Jason's who has a lot in common with Emma. He was injured overseas and only has a small portion of his left lung as well. He joked that in the years to come they would have a lot to talk about. He has such a positive attitude on life after all he went through and it was an inspiration to us that Emma can be whatever she puts her mind to in the future.
On Friday we woke up and headed back to Cloey's school to have lunch with her. Since it was an early release make-up day she ate lunch at 9:40am in her classroom instead of the cafeteria. It was nice to check out her classroom and see her desk and everything. After she finished her lunch, well at least what she could eat that early in the morning she checked out and we got in the car to head back to Virginia for Easter weekend. Emma didn't do as well, but again enjoyed stopping at Taco Bell for lunch about halfway through the drive.
The visit with Cloey at her school was WONDERFUL and we try and make the visit to her school at least once a year.
Cloey and Daddy in front of her classroom.

Cloey in front of her school.

Not Much to Blog About

Well things have been pretty low key around the Mazingo household for the most part over the past week or so.
*I have been busy with work during the day and SOL(our state wide testing) Academy after school program 3 days a week. So Tuesday-Thursday I am at school from 7:15am to 5 pm. As of today we only have 27 days of school left with the kiddos and one work day and I can't wait for summer vacation with my hubby and the girls. I have been reading The Help a little each night(my "ME" time) and I am really enjoying it.
*Jason has been SUPER busy with his Senior Thesis paper. If you don't remember it is a 30 page paper with lots of primary and secondary sources that are required. He has been slaving away and we are all so proud of him. It is hard to believe that May 22nd he will finish his schooling journey(at least until he returns for a Master's Degree). It has been a long road with lots of bumps along the way, but he hasn't given up.
*Cloey finished up her Spring Break and we be back to see us on Friday May 13th. With Spring Break it allowed us to have he two weekends in a row, then off two weekends, so it is a bit longer than normal. We have a Yard Sale lined up for the 14th in which she will be having a Lemonade Stand to earn Disney spending money.
*Oh Emma our super adventurous one!!!! She is climbing everything - the dishwasher, Cloey's ladder to her loft bed, the play mailbox, baskets, anything that she can get her feet up on. She will take a step here or there, but can get around quicker crawling so that is what she chooses to do. She started saying egg this week and it is pretty cute. She turned 13 months old a few days ago and it is still hard to believe.

Trouble to Come!!!

Signs of things to come? I guess she figures if she can beat a 50% chance of living she better live life to the fullest. I turned around after putting something away to find Ms. Emma here and just laughing away. I think we will have our hands full!

P.S. I know most of the time she looks like Jason, but I think my family would agree she looks a lot like me when I was little in this picture

Easter 2011 in pictures

We woke up this morning to see what the Easter Bunny had left for the girls. The big present they got was a big pool and it will make for lots of fun this summer. We then had a yummy breakfast that Grammy and Pop Pop brought down before heading to church. After church we came home and Nana and PawPaw were waiting for us. We spent time outside playing and enjoying each others company. Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Hillary joined us for our Easter cookout. We then spent more time outside and then called it an evening. Sadly this is my last day of Spring Break, back to work for me in the morning. Daddy, Cloey, and Emma will be hanging out together tomorrow until I get home from work. What a wonderful Easter we had today!
The treasures that the Easter Bunny left for the girls this morning.

A family picture after church

One of Emma's I am too tired meltdowns, but aren't the dresses my Grandma Swersky made them for Easter adorable? We are lucky to have someone with so much talent!

Walking, walking, and more walking(with help).

Planting flowers that hopefully I can keep alive.

An 8 year old who mastered riding her bike with no training wheels.

Fun time outside with each other.

One tuckered out baby with her blankey blanks. She refused naps all day, but finally gave in after a long battle.

1 year stats

Emma had her one year well baby check-up this past Thursday. Her stats are in and it is offical she will be our little peanut forever. She now weighs 15 pounds and 9 ounces and 27 and 1/2 inches long. She was making a curve on the growth chart even though she wasn't really on the chart, but her own curve has suddenly flatlined. We are trying some Pediasure with her, but she isn't very fond of it. We will be talking with her speech therapist and the people at her neonatal follow-up to see about attending a feeding clinic or possibly meeting with a nutritionist. She ended up getting 3 shots and we did a little switching around of which ones she got this time and which ones she will get at 15 months because she had been sick and we didn't think it would be smart for her to get the live ones this time. She handled the shots well. The most exciting part of the visit was how impressed Dr. Bob was over the progress she has made in the last year. It was funny to sit in her 1 year check-up a year to the date of her surgery. Wow what a difference a year has made in our house.
After her visit we headed to lunch with Grammy and then ran some errands before heading home and relaxing for the rest of the evening.

An Exciting Surprise!

I had been pretty upset that my brother Adam and his girlfriend Angela weren't going to be able to make it to Emma's event or her 1st birthday party. Much to my surprise on Friday night when Mom, Dad, and Grandma came to for pizza on Friday evening Adam and Angela walked through the door with them. They had flown in on Friday to DC and Dad picked them up on his way back from New Jersey and then they flew back on Sunday after Mom and Grandma Swersky dropped them off in DC on their way to spend a few days sightseeing. It was such a nice surprise to have them here for our special event. It is hard having my brother live so far away and I am thankful that my Mom and Dad aranged for both him and Angela to come down for the weekend even if it was a short visit. Our family is very important and we are thankful that Grandma made her way over from TN with our special shirts and that Adam and Angela came from MI to support Emma on her big day.

Birthday Party!

Well Emma's 1st birthday party was a nice time with family and some close friends. The party made for the end to a busy and crazy day. Emma's CDH Awareness Day was from 11-1, which we got there around 9:30 to set up. We then brought everything in to the house and turned around and had her party at 3. It made the most sense to have it right after her event because we had family from out of state in for the event and Cloey was with us as well. We made it a short and sweet birthday party, presents, cake and ice-cream, and some time chatting. Emma got lots of great presents this year and it almost looked like Christmas again in our house. After most of the party goers left for the evening we enjoyed a Chinese feast with Grammy, Pop Pop, Grandma Swersky, Peppy, Angela, Brit, Cloey, Daddy, Emma, and I. It was nice to kick back our feet and enjoy some yummy food. It was the first time we had slowed down for the day. After dinner the rest of the family had to leave so Peppy and Angela could head to DC with Mom and Grandma to catch their flight the next morning. The Mazingo household called it bed time early after the long and busy day. Emma decided to continue with fevers throughout the entire day, so we had put a call in to the Nurse's Hotline and found out at about 10:30pm that I needed to take her in to the office on Sunday. Took her in Sunday afternoon and found out that she had the start of a common cold. Thankfully she has gotten over it for the most part and the fevers only lasted 5 days this time. All in all it was a great birthday party.
Presents!

Emma had a Safari themed 1st birthday party

The main cake

Emma's Cake in the middle of the cupcakes.

Yummy Cake!!

Messy Face!!!

Cloey was busy during the party playing with Hunter and Brittany. Brit and Cloey stopped to do some crafts, but it was hard to nail Cloey down for any pictures.