Celebrating moments and milestones

This week has been a week of celebration. Mary Ella began preschool today. She was so excited about "school". We began preparing last week and she treated it much like her birthday... a count down with meticulous planning. I would expect no less from her. She wanted to practice writing her name daily, she carefully decided which item she would take for show and tell (baby doll won...of course), and the last detail was deciding what she would wear. Thank goodness she did not think of dressing in her Dorothy costume or we would have had a very difficult time convincing her to do otherwise.

Addy Scott is sitting up. She will be 6 months September 2. I just can't believe she is already at this point. She is also getting up on all fours and rocking then splatting. She LOVES this accomplishment. I think she really believes she is going somewhere. My hope is that she will take a while to figure this "crawling skill" out. I'd like her to stay in one place for a little while longer. Her little GI tract is slowly getting better; however, I have also had to give up soy in addition to the milk products. Soy is in EVERYTHING. I am learning some good, old- fashioned home cooking and have had to say bye-bye to casseroles and most things that come out of a box, can or bag. She has a very good chance of growing out of this by the age of three, so we remain optimistic that she will have her hands and face in ice cream and cake before too long.

Hugs to all!

Three little girls that I once knew....

On Monday, August 14 th I had the opportunity to spend some time with my childhood buddies. It was amazing. There we were, Shannon, Cathy and me. The three of us had grown from three little girls with stringy hair (ok, maybe that was just me) and bruised legs into women, the mothers of all girls. I asked myself, isn't this ironic? We are no longer elbow deep in mud making mudpies or setting up our "grocery store" in Cathy's garage. We are now preparing "real meals" and navigating "real" grocery stores with wiggly children in tow. It is amazing how the sweet gift of a child's imagination turns into reality. This is the life we only imagined while playing in the mud and pretending to be mommies together as children. Sometimes we just need a picture to remind us how blessed we are. Thanks Cathy and Shannon for the great memories.

Who needs milk anyway....

Well, we took Addy Scott to the a Gastroenterologist at Texas Children's Hospital this week and he confirmed what we already suspected. Our sweet daughter has a dairy allergy. After months of poop inspections and guessing games, the conclusion is not a sip of cow's milk or food containing its protein until she is 18 months old. Of course this means me as well since I am currently her main food source. It is amazing how many of our daily foods contain dairy. I have already done TONS of research and have found some pretty sinful foods to replace my daily chocolate chip cookie and milk habit. Hopefully, Pillsbury Oatmeal cookies will be able to satisfy my nightly cravings. Eating these with a glass of water instead of milk does make it different, but no complaints here. Her sweet smile and laughter make it much easier.

The Burlison Family

Here is our family. Scott and I have two precious daughters, Mary Ella and Addy Scott. We are living in a small town on the Texas Gulf Coast near Galveston, Texas and will be here for another two years while Scott completes his residency in anesthesia at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Right now our lives revolve around our faith, family and Scott's crazy work schedule. I stay at home with the girls and love every minute of it. Although challenging at times, I find the frustration is short-lived and the great moments are stored away forever.

These are the two faces we get up to every morning. Mary Ella just turned three years old and is very much the performer. She loves nothing more than to dress up in her princess or Dorothy garb. We have gone two days having to call her Dorothy, but she is not the only one in character. I am Auntie Em or Tin Man, Addy is Scarecrow and Scott is the Lion. By no means are we allowed to use our "real names" during her re-enactment.

Addy is 5 months old and is already showing so much admiration for her older sister (when not receiving the occasional extra hard hug and kiss). She is such an even, happy child with an amazing affinity for studying patterns. If one catches her eye, she will key in on it for a long time and eventually try to eat it.

This is our first posting, and hopefully will not be our last. I have seen friends do this and they do such a great job. They have inspired me to give it a try. We'll see how it goes....