Jovie Ming's BIRTHDAY

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Jovie Ming:

 She is independent as all get out. She shines from the inside out. Strong and brave, and the very definition of joy. Her laugh is the very best. She is the nurturer, always looking for ways to comfort or help her family (or a stranger if she sees there's a need).  She is brilliantly smart and is constantly amazing us with her tenacity. She is tigerbaby.

Happy Birthday Jovie Ming!! My child, my joy. I could not have dreamed of a greater happiness than getting to be your momma.

We went to IHOP, like we always do. She did enjoy her pancake but we know she just isn't feeling herself.



So we planned to have a low-key day at home and let her pick a movie to go home and watch. And that evening we went to a hibachi grill. The kids have never gone before so it was a fun night. Ian did not like the fire the guy made at all...but once food started appearing on his plate he was happy. There was someone there twisting balloons and came and made the kids some fun prizes to take home. We had a very nice night and Mae has already said that this is where she wants to go for her birthday (that's some time away my dear, it's in August).



Tomorrow morning we will be going to Eggeston for Jovie's surgery. PLEASE keep us in your prayers. I know we say that a lot on this blog but I have the best and most wonderful prayer warrior friends AND I DO NOT KNOW WHAT WE WOULD DO WITHOUT YOU! Yes, that was me yelling at YOU! YOU ROCK!!
thank you! thank you for loving these children and our family.

in the ER

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I called the oral surgeon and she said we had to go the ER. Jovie is just in too much pain and to see her you would cry too. Her cheek is all swollen, she has woken up all through the night for a week and it is only getting worse.

An abscess tooth is bad enough, but tomorrow is a whale of a big day, it is Jovie's third birthday. It is her very first one that she will celebrate with wrapped presents, sprinkles and cupcakes, and with her family. It is a very big deal. We have missed the others, and tonight I struggled with the fact that we may be in the hospital for this one. Most important I want my girl to feel better. They have put her on hydrocodone, (that is what we left the hospital with after her heart surgery). It is strong and it should help us get to Monday. AND be at home celebrating this amazing child. 

Meet Banjo

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So, I got the best surprise EVER and ya'll I hate surprises! I really, really did not think Cody could surprise me either!! He didn't give me even the slightest hint.

So can I tell you the story?

Backing up a bit, Jovie Ming cried so hard Christmas Eve and we discovered the cause of her pain was her teeth. The worst time ever to get a toothache too. She has been absolutely pitiful and with a tooth infection she has a higher risk of getting an infection on her heart. We were in the urgent care for 4 hours getting her an antibiotic. Definitely not the surprise I am talking about, and if I could take this pain from her I would. It kills me to see her like this.

 
We had to wait until the dentist office opened and saw the doctor Monday morning. They could plainly see her tooth has a giant crater of a hole and said that she has at least two others with cavities.  We've always known her teeth are in trouble... her body did not get enough oxygen and her teeth certainly suffered. 

She needs surgery under anesthetic to have the tooth extracted, and with her heart history she will have to have that done at Children's Hospital at Eggelston so a cardiologist is present. We had to make an appointment to see the CHOA oral surgeon the following day. So, now it's Tuesday, and we are at Scottish Rite talking to the oral surgeon and she tells me Jovie needs to be admitted to the hospital right now, today. My mom had Ian and Mae, (with no car seats -- I have those) and I don't have a plan, bags packed or a clue, but okay. So I call Cody and tell him, "they are about to admit us, now". And he is all cool and says okay, all along he had this big SECRET with him waiting to surprise me. 

The scheduler calls Eggelston to make a plan for us and realized that with the next day being New Year's EVE we better not go because we would be sitting in the hospital for a long time.  So we have to wait several more days still... until Monday (Jan 5) for surgery. Good news is Jovie gets to spend her birthday at home (Jan 3), but bad she is still hurting.

So, I call Cody to tell him we are leaving the hospital and he asks, "so, what are you going to do now?". "I guess I better get Jovie and me some lunch." He said, "I am out running around and have an errand in Dunwoody, so I can meet you". So we head to closest Chick-fil-A, and as we are walking in he calls and says he's hit bad traffic and to go ahead and order him something. We sit down to eat and he calls again and says he's here now but has to jump on a work call. BUMMER -- I thought we would get to be with him and now I'm just his lunch delivery girl. We finish eating and walk out to his truck and he gets off the call and meets me half way and takes our pitiful and wilted Jovie Ming from me. He said, "I'll put her in the car, and you can get your bag out of my car."

I OPENED THE DOOR TO FIND THIS LITTLE PILE OF WRINKLES IN HIS FRONT SEAT.

I have seriously been campaigning for us to get another dog... and not just any dog, I wanted a french bulldog something terrible. I stalked owners of them on instagram and every time I saw one, Cody would receive a texted picture to his phone. I thought for sure there would be a puppy under our tree this year with my name on it... or I had hoped anyway.

Well, Christmas came and went and I did get a very awesome camera bag. As much as I had hoped it would be,  I really did not see this coming.  Plus, Cody insisted I would not be getting a puppy for a very long time. And are you nuts?? Like we don't have enough going on, right?

But here is this too-good-to-be-true, soft and wrinkly little baby.


We are all totally in love with him. All my dreams of owning a french bulldog puppy have come true... and he's even better than I expected.  He is the best puppy ever so far, potty training has been going great, he is so chill and laid back and spends 90% of his time snuggling right up to me. We are calling him Banjo, all but Jovie Ming... she calls him "Dogbunny". 
He fits right into this little family.


Christmas 2014

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Santa came!!!!  Santa filled their stocking and left a few other unwrapped  presents... my favorite being a puppet theater. Mae knew right away what to do and started sifting through her treasures. We had to point out the goodies in Ian and Jovie's stockings and even after that, they were just grabbing the items on the top. They finally got it and I know next year will be pros.





Then we dove into the wrapped presents. When Mae was little she would always get overwhelmed and open a couple and be content to just play with those. I remember having several gifts we kept for her to open a month or two later. (we also bought waaaay too much her first year)-- last year I saw the gift guide, something you wear. need. want. read. We have used this as a guide for the past two years... although want and need are both really just big and small wants, a book specific to what they like right now and Christmas eve pj's. With these gifts from us, Santa gifts, and family gifts to them, it is still extravagant really. But they are so fun to buy for and are tickled pink with anything and everything. It was so great watching them tear into their presents. And let me tell you, there was no one holding back... Ian saw Mae open her first gift and bolted to the first one available and started ripping the paper... "WAIT, hold on there, we have to see who it's to."  Needless to say we had a very memorable and exciting Christmas.


 Jovie loves babies right now so she got a little baby and a doggie to care for; she is the little nurturer.

All Mae kept saying was that she wanted a real unicorn... so we went with the closest thing we could find.


Ian got a big dump truck and my favorite of all is the scooters!  We will have lots of indoor fun with them this winter.

Christmas Eve

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On Christmas Eve we make cookies for Santa. This year I looked for a kid-friendly recipe and loved this one by tatortots and jello because it used the rolling pin and a hammer. You just can't find many recipes out there just this fun. It was Peppermint Sugar Cookie Bark and it was just as fun to eat as it was to make.



I thought I'd include the recipe here for you, plus I'm planning on making it again, so it will be easy for me to find again too! 

Peppermint Sugar Cookie Bark (based on Betty Crocker’s recipe)

Ingredients
  • 1 pouch Betty Crocker™ sugar cookie mix
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1 bag (12 oz) white vanilla baking chips (2 cups) (note these are white vanilla, not white chocolate — but we tried some with milk chocolate chips melted on top, too!)
  • 1/3 cup coarsely crushed peppermint candy (the original recipe calls for crushing 14 miniature candy canes – you can use any peppermint candy, but the mini candy canes seem to have more red in them, so they’re prettier on the cookies.)

Directions
  • Heat oven to 375°F. Line large cookie sheet with foil. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, butter and egg until soft dough forms. Press dough into 12-inch square on cookie sheet.
  • Assign kids to crush candy canes. We used a marble rolling pin, and the kids crushed way more than we needed. Keep a close watch on the crushing process; you want them to be actual chunks of peppermint candy, not peppermint candy powder. This may take a lighter touch.
  • Bake 10 to 14 minutes or until light golden brown; let cool.
  • In microwavable bowl, microwave white vanilla baking chips uncovered on high 30 to 60 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until chips can be stirred smooth.
  • Pour and spread over cooled cookie base.
  • Immediately sprinkle with candy. (You want to move quickly so the peppermint candy embeds in the melted baking chips. We gently pressed the candy chunks into the melted baking chips to make sure they “stuck.”)
  • Let stand until set, about 30 minutes.
  • Gently break up cookie bark. (We used a butter knife in a few strategic places to assist our breaking up to avoid crumbling.)
  • Store tightly covered.
  •  Enjoy!

Read more at http://tatertotsandjello.com/2014/12/kid-friendly-recipe-peppermint-sugar-cookie-bark.html#mMEVdWgSsBb2Fdyz.99



We open one present on Christmas Eve... our "something you wear" Christmas pajamas. Then we put a special key outside for Santa, sprinkle our reindeer food, and put out our cookies and milk for the jolly man.