Plans for You

As promised…..here is an update on Riley and Kyleigh. We had their nine month well check today at our pediatrician’s new clinic. It just opened yesterday, and it is very nice. The twins are both just perfect. Happy, healthy and such blessings to us. Notice in the pictures that the nurses were kind enough to put us in the room that matched the babies’ eyes perfectly. Hahaha. Here are the latest stats:

Riley
24 lbs 4 oz
29 3/4 in long

Kyleigh
21 lbs 3 oz
29 1/2 in long

That’s right. Kyleigh is only 1/4 in shorter than Riley right now, but three pounds lighter. Looks like she’s going to be tall and thin. She is actually just barely heavier and longer than Ashleigh was at nine months. We have always thought that Kyleigh is smaller than Ashleigh was. Probably because compared to Riley, she seems small. They were both in the 90th percentile or higher on everything. Big babies. That’s all we know. Here are a few pictures from the visit today. Enjoy!

I’m back! At least for today anyway. I just can’t seem to find time to do the things I want to do lately. We have all been so busy on top of the day to day things of running a household with three kids under the age of two. But here is a VERY abbreviated update on the last two months in the life of the Lanes.

We have been to Texas to visit my family while Luke went on a mission trip to Mexico. We were there for two whole weeks. We have been to Georgia to see our oldest niece graduate from high school and to visit Luke’s family. That was a very quick trip…..only two days. We just finished Vacation Bible School on Friday. I helped with preschool music so the kids had to get up earlier than normal every day and go to the church with me. It was a lot of fun but very tiring.

All three kids are growing up so quickly. Ashleigh will be two years old in less than two months! That is so hard to believe. Riley and Kyleigh just turned nine months old yesterday. We are going for their check up on Tuesday so I’ll try to post their stats then.

In the meantime, here is a slide show with almost 200 pictures. Yes, 200. I think it’s 188 to be exact. Sorry there are so many. I just didn’t have time to sort through them all and post individual pictures. I will try to keep up with the blog and post pictures more often so there are not so many next time. So, hope you enjoy the pics!

Yes, I realize I haven’t blogged in quite a while. It’s been a little crazy lately. I promise to have an update and pics up real soon. I said I promise!!

Today has been a sad day at our house. We lost a loyal member of our family. We had to have our sweet dog, Bo, euthanized. We have had Bo since he was only 5 weeks old, and his 9th birthday would have been this Saturday, April 19. Everything happened so quickly that we really didn’t have time to think about it which is probably for the best.

About a year and a half ago, we had a couple of tumors removed from Bo’s leg, and the vet told us then that it was cancer and to watch him because he could develop more. About a month or so ago, Luke took Bo and Coco to have their annual checkup and shots, and Bo had a couple more tumors on his leg. The vet didn’t want to remove them because of where they were on his leg (not enough skin to close after surgery, too close to Achilles tendon). So we just watched them. They grew large very quickly, then one of them opened in the last few days. Also, Bo had been laying in his kennel more than usual lately and was not as active. We asked a retired vet friend to come over this morning to look at the tumors since we are leaving to go out of town for two weeks tomorrow morning. We didn’t want to leave Bo in someone else’s care in that condition. After thoroughly examining Bo and discussing the options and possible problems, our friend recommended euthanasia. We were concerned with Bo’s quality of life so after Luke and I talked, I called the vet to make the appointment and called a couple of people to come watch the kids so I could go, too. Through tears, we stayed by Bo’s side until his heart stopped beating.

Bo was one of the sweetest dogs I have ever known, and we will miss him a lot.

We love you, Bo!

Luke and I and the three kiddos will be leaving Mississippi on Thursday morning headed for Texas in our overloaded minivan. Please pray for safety in travel, and that the kids will do well during the trip. Also, Luke will be flying out of DFW on Saturday the 19th for a mission trip to Mexico. He will be gone 8 days…..8 long days. We have never been apart for that long, and I am not looking forward to it. But I know it is for a good reason. Please pray for the mission team from our church and association as they minister physically and spiritually in Mexico.

I’ll try to update while I’m in Fort Worth. Until then….gotta get packin’!

So, tonight at dinner Ashleigh wasn’t eating very well. Utilizing my excellent parenting skills, I proceeded to bribe my daughter. I told her that if she would eat her chicken and green beans ‘all gone,’ then she could have blueberries. At which point she began shoveling in pieces of chicken faster than she could chew resulting in chipmunk cheeks full of chicken. With a little coaxing, she also finished the green beans. Soooo…..

Look, Mommy! I ate them all!

Licking the bowl clean

This child LOVES blueberries!!

It has come to our attention that we must say ‘good girl’ quite often to Ashleigh because she has started saying it whenever she accomplishes a task. For instance….

Pick up a piece of food with a fork….Good girl!
Put a shape block in the correct shaped hole….Good girl!
Go tee tee in the potty….Good girl!

Anyway, you get the idea. We are learning to be VERY careful about what we say around her now. Like her cousin, ‘Carrot’, she will try to repeat just about anything you ask her to. We’ll try to get video of it soon. Like most things at this age, it probably won’t last long.

I would like to ask everyone to pray for a friend of mine, Heather Weed, and her family. They are in the process of adopting a beautiful little girl from China they have already named Hannah Grace. They are hoping to go in June or September to bring her home with them. Please pray for Hannah’s health, for travel mercies for Alan and Heather, and mostly, for God to be honored through it all.

Many of you know about what happened with our daughter Kyleigh when she was born. Actually it is the reason she and Riley were born on that day. During my weekly fetal stress test on that Thursday morning, Kyleigh’s heart rate was extremely high (about 230-250 bpm) so the doctor wanted to deliver them that afternoon. After delivery the doctors were unable to convert her heart to a normal rate and rhythm so she was transferred to a hospital down the street with a NICU. After several doses of medicine, they were able to keep her heart rate normal. The condition is known as supra ventricular tachycardia (SVT). The doctors at that hospital were in contact with a pediatric cardiologist at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) on several occasions faxing EKGs and other test results. She stayed in the NICU for a week before coming home on daily medication. At that point, we were referred to the doctor at UAB for follow up and made the first trip on November 6 when she was only six weeks old. After reviewing Kyleigh’s previous EKGs and the one from that day, the doctor diagnosed her with Wolf Parkinson White syndrome or WPW, for short. That is a long name which basically means that her heart has an extra electrical path that caused it to race.

Today (Tuesday), I am actually typing this in the back of our van on the way home from our second trip to UAB. Kyleigh had another EKG and the doctor described it as NORMAL! Praise the Lord! He answers prayers! The doctor said that it looks like she is probably outgrowing the WPW. Although she will remain on a very low dose of her medication until she is one year old, if the next EKG is still normal, and she has not had any episodes of SVT, then we can discontinue the medication at that point. We are so grateful to everyone for their prayers over these last six months. Please continue to pray that Kyleigh will not have any episodes of SVT, and that she will outgrow this condition. We know that God is the Great Physician, and we give him all praise, honor and glory for this miracle!

Getting weighed

Here are the rest of the most recent pictures we have taken. Several are already in other posts so I didn’t add them to the slide show. Hope you enjoy!