Basal Cell Carcinoma

On Tuesday I had a minor surgery to remove a basal cell carcinoma. I noticed a spot on my chest during pregnancy that I knew wasn't quite right and sure enough it came back positive for skin cancer but not the bad kind, thank goodness. My dermatologist said that basal cell is the most common and least dangerous of skin cancers so if you are going to get it that's the one to get. She referred me to a plastic surgeon to remove the surrounding skin and test it to ensure they removed all the cancer cells so it doesn't grow back. The spot was pretty tiny, smaller than a pencil eraser so I was slightly alarmed at the size of the incision. He explained that you can't sew up a circle so Tuesday was the initial surgery and then yesterday I had to go back for another one where they cut out angle shapes of skin on either side of the wound which then allowed him to sew up a straight line. So, it came out a lot bigger than the initial spot. It looks a little funny since it's raised but he assured me they sew it up like that on purpose because it will flatten as it heals and the scarring should be minimal, we shall see.


I go back next Tuesday to get the stitches out and until them I'm supposed to take it easy and not lift anything over 10 pounds, hard to do with 2 kids! Mimi is helping out today and tomorrow and then Chase gets weekend duty. Today we're just hanging out in our PJ's.

4 Months

Today Emma is 4 months old! We went to the doctor for her check up and she received a glowing report from Dr. Hieber. Here are her stats:

Length: 23 1/2 inches, 25th percentile
Weight: 12 lbs 7 oz, 25th percentile

She was all smiles until those shots. The first shot was actually fine but the second one sent her into hysterics and the thumb prick didn't help.


I looked up Madison's stats at this age and believe it or not Madison was actually a little over a pound heavier and an inch longer at 4 months. I know it's because she was getting bottles and Emma is strictly nursing. For now we are going to stick with breast feeding and hold off on cereal until 6 months.
Emma continues to be a great baby and is all smiles and coos (as long as she's being held or someone is giving her their complete attention.) She's still not a fan of being left in the bouncy seat or swing. She's wearing size 2 diapers and mainly in her 3 month clothes but there are a few 3-6 month outfits she's starting to fit into.
At night she's doing great and has been pretty consistent about eating sometime between 9:30 and 10:30 and then going until about 6:30 in the morning until she eats again. She wakes up to eat and then goes right back to sleep for another 3 hours before she's up for the day. She eats about every 3 hours and as far as napping she's still at the point where she will nap anywhere but she sleeps best and the longest when we are at home and I swaddle her up and lay her down. Lately she hasn't been napping as much during the day which probably helps keep her asleep at night.
Emma is starting to reach for things and and wants sooo badly to roll over but that arm keeps getting in the way. She loves her daddy but at night Emma is definitely a momma's girl. When I take Madison up to bed and hand Emma over to Chase she wants no part of it and cries until I come get her.
Look at that face! =(

Little miss has found her thumb so that helps keep her happy and asleep. She sucks her left thumb, just like Madison!

Smiles for daddy

Grins for Grandad

Playing with one of her toys

And eating her toy, Emma brings EVERYTHING straight to her mouth



Happy girl splashin in the tub



Emma is still in the rock n play sleeper in our room and we still wrap her in the foot blanket from the hospital. It seems to be the best swaddling blanket, we used it forever with Madison too.

Pretty girl!

I got it!

roll on over sister

Hanging out watching TV

Here's Emma and Chase looking in the mirror making faces. She loves to see her reflection and her tongue is constantly out these days.

Emma has quite the grip and lately she's been grabbing my hair so the pony tail days are quickly approaching.

Madison, what are you watching?

Madison is still a great big sister and loves her baby Emma.

Looking in the mirror with mommy

Happy 4 months baby girl!

Put Your Big Girl Panties On!

Well it's that time, potty training time! Santa left some big girl panties in Madison's stocking so the past couple weeks we've been working really hard on potty training and she's done incredibly well. The first few days we had some accidents here and there as expected and then her accidents were mainly the first tee tee in the morning after she woke up and then again after nap time so I think she just forgot about not having a diaper on. Really, Madison has been familiar with the potty and what to do in it for a year now but we haven't been serious about it until now. She would go if I put her on the toilet and she needed to go but she would never tell me if she needed to go, only afterwards would she tell me she needed a diaper. I knew she wouldn't like the feeling of being wet so we probably could have tried to potty train months ago but with a new baby I knew I wouldn't have the time or patience but the time has come! Originally we were setting the timer for every 20 minutes to remind us to go potty and that worked really well. It was a good way to get the ball rolling and she would get so excited when she "had some." I wasn't brave enough to let her leave the house in big girl panties but this weekend we did, on accident. Friday night we went to dinner and when we were half way down the road I said, "Oh no she still has on her big girl panties" but Madison did just fine, no accidents. I took her to the potty when we got there and then twice during dinner, all false alarms but still good to try. On Saturday we decided to test fate again and went to Target in the morning and then drove to Frisco for a birthday party in the afternoon and she did awesome. I put a pull up on over her panties when we drove to Frisco just in case because that's a long time to hold it but she did great and told me at the party when she needed to potty. Today we went to Buy Buy Baby, ate lunch, and then went to Sam's all in big girl panties and no accidents. We're still in pull ups at nap and night but during the day she's doing fantastic.

I was a little worried about Madison pooping in the potty because she's a very private pooper. She removes herself from the room and if anyone walks by she tells them to go away. But last night she said she needed to go potty so we ran to the bathroom and when I put her on the potty she got a worried look on her face and told me to go away so I knew what she was doing. I walked around the corner to give her a little privacy and when she yelled, "Mom there was a splash!" I knew her job was done. I am SO SO SO PROUD of you Madison! It was definitely a picture moment, she was proud of herself too.


Santa left a Christmas present in the garage on accident, I guess he couldn't come down the chimney this year because Madison's doll house was so big, so he told us it was ok to use it for a special occasion and I'd say this was a special occasion! Madison loves to sweep so her "poop present" was a musical bear broom.


Another incentive that I've used over the weekend, besides her sticker chart, is blocks. Madison loves to build and my aunt gave her an awesome wooden block set for Christmas that we hadn't opened yet so I told her she would earn 2 blocks for every tee tee and 5 blocks for a poopie. Well she earned ALL her 40 blocks this weekend.

Great job Madison, keep up the good work!

"Hi"

Today I was nursing Emma and Madison was playing upstairs with her doll house and the phone rang, as it usually does when I can't answer it. I heard little feet go running across the floor above me, a click of the phone, and "Hi." I then heard a complete conversation and I could tell it was Chase, thank goodness, and not some sales person. I was downstairs so I yelled up at her to tell daddy that I would call him back. Chase was quite impressed that she figured out how to work the phone, he thought I had answered it and then handed it to her. Madison has never answered the phone before so this was a first for her and now I'm sure she will make a bee line for it whenever it rings. Beware, if you call the house you might get an ear full from a cute little girl!

Yesterday we tried out a gymnastics facility close by that offers "open gym" for anyone to come play on the equipment. Madison was a big fan of swinging on the rings.


Today we went to Bounce U to check it out since Pump It Up Jr. by our house closed, sniff sniff. I have to say it was an awesome facility and way nicer than Pump It Up. It was a lot bigger and some of the inflatables were a lot bigger too so Madison needed a little help at first but then she was all over the place. We are looking for potential birthday party venues and this is definitely a front runner. It was also very clean and bright which is a big plus so we will definitely be back.
Madison and Carter in their boxing helmets

This slide is a little bit bigger and higher than what we are used to...

...but it sure is fun!

I can't believe my baby is going to be 3, how did that happen?

Reading her princess stories

Putting on not 1 but 7 different lip glosses before we go out the door.

Now I'm beautiful Mommy!

She got the kids version of Just Dance on the Wii for Christmas so here's a couple action shots of our dancing queen.

Happy Birthday

A couple weekends ago we celebrated Hayden's 2nd birthday. He had a Mickey Mouse party complete with a club house to color.

Emma snoozed a good portion of the party

It was a beautiful and somewhat warm day in January, go figure, so the kids had fun running around the backyard.

Happy Birthday Hayden!

 

Last weekend we had a triple family party for Gram, Chris, and Hayden so we got to have cake again.