Quick Update

Our baby niece, Ayla, was able to come home from the hospital yesterday.  She is still on oxygen, but doing much better and we are so relieved.
On a not so happy note John's grandma, RaNae, passed away on Friday.  She was not well and in a lot of pain so it is the best thing for her, but still sad.  We will be going to Burley tomorrow for the funeral on Saturday.  John has Spring Break this week so it worked out that we can go for a few days.
Mary, of course, is beyond excited to be going to Burley.  This morning she was wondering how she would make it one more day before we can leave to go.  Both girls had their birthday check-ups yesterday at the doctor.  I made the appointment for both of them thinking John would be able to go with us.  He ended up going to court all day with a lawyer he is volunteering for so we were on our own.  I was pretty nervous about it thinking both girls would be laden with shots and screaming.  Mary was very good and very helpful.  The doctor said she is very healthy and in the 75th percentile for her height (quite surprising :).  She lucked out and didn't have to get any shots.  She will have to get a truck-load next year though before she starts kindergarten.  Anna, on the other hand, wasn't quite as cooperative and had to get 3 shots. She takes after me a little more and is in the 25th percentile for height and weight.  Her ears were not quite well yet so we are still watching those as she finishes a round of antibiotics.  We are also going to try her off of her acid reflux medication which she has been taking since she was 1 day old.  So here's hoping she doesn't need it anymore!  Mary had problems with acid reflux until she was 2 so we are hoping Anna isn't as bad.
The pictures below are some more from Anna's party and one of Anna just walking around sweeping.  She walks when she wants to, but crawling is still her main mode of transportation.  She is getting quite demanding.  We taught her to say "more" in sign language and she says it for anything and everything she wants and/or needs and if she doesn't get it right away she'll either do the sign harder or clap her hands hard.
One funny story about Mary.  The other night we had asparagus for dinner and she did not want to even try it.  She said, "It smells terrible!" But John had made cinnamon rolls for dessert and she had to eat some asparagus if she wanted one so she eventually tried it and exclaimed, "I did it and it wasn't THAT bad!"  So we were at the grocery store today and I was getting more asparagus and she asked if she had to try it again.  I told her she should try it again and she said, "Does Jesus want me to try asparagus?" A little surprised, I just told her that Jesus wants her to be healthy and eat healthy foods and asparagus is a healthy food.  It made me happy that she is thinking about what Jesus wants her to do.