Thank God for the beautiful sound of JOY

Today wasn't a typical day in the Ryan household. We had our alarms set for 5:45am because Avery was scheduled to have an MRI (more on why in a bit) at 6:45am at Women's and Children. Riggs woke at 5am just to make sure he got a little one on one time with me and Tim. No need for alarm clocks around here!

Dearie was kind enough to come and watch Riggs at 6:15am. And so we were off to the hospital to have an MRI done to evaluate the sacral dimple we discovered on Avery Sunday June 6th. We have been anxiously awaiting some kind of answers as to whether this was a serious issue or something that was a non-issue.

In order for them to do an MRI on a 17-month old they have to sedate them, which requires an IV. This ranks in the top 5 worst moments of my life as a mother. I have never seen my baby girl in so much pain. She is usually a trooper with these sorts of things but I could tell this was extremely painful. Not to mention she had to be starving because she hadn't had liquids or solids since dinner the night before. The ten minutes I held her after the IV was inserted and we were waiting for her to be taken and given the sedative felt like hours. Me just rocking my screaming baby. I wanted to cry but I had to be strong for her. It was awful.

Once they took her I did cry. My heart hurt for my baby. Then we waited for 30 minutes while they did the MRI. When I got my baby girl back she was loopy and confused. They said we had to stay for 30 more minutes to let the sedative wear off a little bit. I sent Tim home to pick Riggs up to bring him to MDO.

After Tim picked us up we went home so I could watch Avery and make sure she wasn't still too clumsy. After a while I decided she was ready to go meet brother at school. This is when the sound of JOY finally comes into play.

Avery's class was outside on the playground. As I opened the classroom door that led to the playground I spotted Riggs and wanted to make sure he didn't spot me, so I kinda shoved Avery out and she looked at me like "you want me to go out there ALONE!" Well off she went, then she and Riggs spotted each other.

Never have I felt such joy. They both squealed with excitement!!!!!! It was so damn cute. They ran to each other and just kept squealing and laughing. I wanted to so badly run to them and hug them but I know better, they would have never let me leave.

A little while later I got word that fortunately Avery's dimple is a non-issue. This was relief.

We are so blessed to have two beautiful, healthy (relatively ;), loving children. I am sure we wont always hear these kinds of squeals but I will always remember.

Weighing in at...

Today, Anne took the twins to see Dr. Bailey while Tim worked. Avery still maintains a 6-oz edge on her leaner, not-meaner brother (21 lbs 11 ozs vs. 21 lbs 5 ozs).

She's faster on her feet too, buddy, so we'll have to work on guile and deceit to even out her physical advantages. Luckily, you've got the full mane of hair and wry smile necessary to be charming.

Do babies really need teeth?

I promised my babies I would get them an expensive set of dentures if they promised not to teethe. Unfortunately they decided to start teething! They are four and a half months old and can't roll over (mainly this is my fault because I don't spend a lot of time doing tummy time!) but they are starting to get their teeth.

Last week Riggs was diagnosed with tonselitis and we have been treating him and Avery with an antibiotic (twins typically get whatever the other one has). Riggs has, for the most part, been pretty good about the whole thing. He didn't even really fuss when he had the really bad sore throat - he just didn't eat very much. He continued to sleep through the night and be his very happy self. Mothers Day weekend he had a little rash around his face, and continued to have a low grade fever. I decided it was related to our time out by the pool and his reaction to the medicine. But then towards the end of the week when my in laws arrived for the Baptism he was just not himself. Extremely fussy, not eating and not sleeping well. And again a rash. I called the doctor but we agreed to give it some time because he was still getting enough nourishment. Well yesterday was just too out of the ordinary. He would scream uncontrollably, wasn't eating, and wouldn't nap. He was miserable.

Tim and I broke out the What to Expect the First Year...symptoms of teething. Wouldn't you know he had them ALL. I had already scheduled an appointment with the doctor. I decided this morning to go in to make sure he didn't have an ear infection, or anything else. Sure enough he is perfectly healthy! So I am the first time mother that brings their kids in to find out they are teething!

I am pretty confidant that Avery is right on track with Riggs. This morning she screamed uncontrollably from 5:30 to 6:00 am.