Our Little Miss Update

We've been talking (semi-regularly) with a doctor at Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) re: Amelia's index finger nail abnormalities. She invited us to attend a conference of Dermatologists at Standford on Sat. 11/19. So we're taking Amelia to her first conference! The goal and plan is to get a discussion started between attending Dermatologists regarding options for treatment. A lot of dermatologists will examine her and later discuss her diagnosis and treatment options with our doctors at PAMF, who will then follow up with us.

Last week, in preparation of the conference, we went into Stanford for Xrays on Amelia's fingers. This is to help inform the dermatologists prior to meeting Amelia at the conference.

Having done some research ourselves, we thought her nails closely resembled Congenital onychodystrophy of the index fingers (COIF). From the review of the XRays, it looks as though our diagnosis was correct. Below is the direct quote from the review of Amelia's XRays.

"Identical anomaly involving the distal phalanx of the left index finger to the anomaly of the distal phalanx of the right index finger.

There is a slightly larger exostosis arising from the base of the tuft of the terminal phalanx dorsally extending into the subungual region. This exostosis measures slightly less than 2 mm
in height. It is presumably congenital and due to bifid development."

Translated and abridged - this means she has bone spurs on the last bone digit of each of her index fingers. The spurs pushed into the nail matrix/bed, which is the cause of the abnormality.

This is a very rare abnormality, only cosmetic and has no known health issues associated. There are surgical options, where a matrix transplant from the toe could be done to correct the condition. Timing is flexible and waiting until Amelia is older allows for larger structures to operate on. This makes for an easier operation with a more predictable outcome. Waiting until Amelia is in her teens would also allow for more advancements in the field of tissue engineering and in the surgical procedures themselves.

We will also start meeting with pediatric hand surgeons based off recommendations we hope to get from the conference. We'd like to learn as much as we can about various options, rates of success etc.

Included are Amelia's XRays (I annotated).

Now we know how much 'chubb' surrounds baby bones.

Mia giving the finger...twice.

Amelia is a beauty and we're looking forward to her charming the doctors at her first conference.

SO much to love about her

Amelia is a wonderful girl. There have been so many stories over so many months, few of which we have actually captured for posterity. We've always called her "determined" - I think going back as far as when she was 3 months old. But as she gets bigger, she is also tough and funny, and a little bit of a nudge like any second child should be.

Last night I was reading to Miles and Amelia before bed. They were sitting side by side on the chair while I sat on the ottoman and read upside down. Amelia started to wiggle. So Miles started to wiggle. Amelia started to touch the book, so Miles started to touch the book. So there I was with one hand on the book, one hand on Miles and one hand on Amelia.

I guess Amelia then decided she was done sitting on the chair, and launched herself off of it. I think she hit her feet before she hit her face, but if so, it was only to slow herself down a bit. Tim after hearing the thump and my pleading"AMELIA" - came to see what the fuss was about.

She picked herself up. Dusted herself off. Looked at me and said, "I did it."
Looked at Tim, "I did it, Daddy."
The looked back at me, "Owwww".

I just love that her first response is pride and the second one was pain - tough little cookie!!!

"Menah Saahd"

Amelia and Miles have not gone back to school since Halloween - they've both been home sick with the Croup - complete with awful sounding coughs and waking their parents up alternately all night long.

Of note: weeks ago, Amelia started calling herself "Menah". This has been an odd term of endearment between me and Tim since we fell in love, so I have been supporting this happy coincidence and I call her Menah right back sometimes.

Yesterday morning, after a fitful night, we kept both kids home, and I captured this video. I just think it is too dang cute.

Happy Halloween

Pumpkins carved by Mommy.

Another fun Halloween has come and gone. Miles and Amelia went as Crayola crayons, red and pink respectively. We had a Halloween costume magazine delivered to the house. About 3 weeks ago we sat down with Miles and let him look through it to pick out his costume. "Pick whatever you want." After 5mins of leafing through the pages, Miles declared he wanted to be a crayon. Welp, there were no crayon costumes in the magazine, so it was obviously a very thoughtful and intentional request. Just to be sure, several times over the following days we asked Miles what he wanted to be. Without once wavering, he kept with a crayon. Mia "What do you want to be?" "A crayon" she informed us. Done and done.

Rather than search to purchase costumes, Lina and I headed to Michael's to pick up the materials needed to make our own. 90% of the fun of the costumes (for us) is making them. We bought the matching shirts and pants, iron on sheets to print the logo, some felt and double sided sticky tape. In one evening and one bottle of wine, we made the outfits; having only the hats to finish. The following day I spent several hours cutting, shaping and glueing cardboard from the garage into hats.

Miles and Mia at the Burlingame Halloween Parade.

Mia kicking back in wagon.

We had painted their cheeks with some costume make-up, but that proved to only make a mess as Miles and Mia both found ways of inadvertently rubbing their faces on laps, chairs, each other.

Monday morning Miles had a school parade. Mommy swapped out the red cheek paint for circle cut felt and double sided stick tape. 10mins to make and 2mins for Miles to reject them.

Miles finds his Fair Maiden.

Miles had a half day at his school, so we picked him up at 12:30 and played with him the rest of the afternoon until it was time to go pick up Mia. Mia had Halloween party at Momma Sue at 4pm. As if making two crayon costumes and decorating the house wasn't enough, Lina made a few dozen monster themed cupcakes for both Miles and Amelia's parties.


The hats used elastic string from party hats to (try) keep them on their heads. Proved to be ineffective and annoying ("too tight") for the kids. So Mommy made new felt ties for the hats in time for Halloween night; these worked much better and Miles kept his hat on all night. Miles loved his costume, despite being mistaken, on one occasion, for Ketchup.

Glow sticks in hand and ready to rock the scene.

Miles visiting his first house of the night.

Sadly Mia was a bit under the weather, so after only 3 homes, Mia packed it up and went to bed. She had a little fever and a cough. Miles and Daddy would be out for another 90mins, getting our fill of spooky experiences. I was quite surprised at how brave Miles was. There were a few home really setup to scare, but Miles went straight up to each. It was a great night, despite not having Mommy and Mia out with us.

Big Boy Bike

About 2 weeks ago, we bought Miles a "Big Boy Bike". We were going to ask Santa for it, but thought it better to give him a few months before the rain/snow comes to practice.

Last year, for Christmas, Miles got a balance bike, which is a small bike without peddles. The theory is easier to start kids learning how to balance on two wheels first. Once able, the transition to a peddle bike is easier. We left the training wheels on for the first two trips out; allowing Miles to get use to peddling and braking. After getting Miles comfortable with peddling, we headed to the park for some practice without training wheels support. To our amazement on his first attempt, he was able to cover several feet on his own. Starting is the hard part, so Daddy acts as a stabilizer and accelerant until optimum speed is reached, then....lets go.

"I did it!"

It probably helped that there was a 4.5 year old boy racing around on his big boy bike there also. Safe to say Miles knew that if that boy could do it, so could he.

Next we go hunting for big mud puddles!

Family "Adventure"

** Quick note - we updated the previous post with a bit more detail from our trip east. So if you already read it, go back and take a peek. **

The weekend of Oct. 10th was Lina's birthday. She had said for her birthday she wanted to take a family trip; an "adventure". Both kids had Monday off from day care and pre-school, Lina and I also took Monday off, giving us a three day weekend to do something(s) fun.

Saturday morning we left for the Monterey region, via Gilroy Gardens. We were there when they opened and let the kids run it out for a good 3hours. We went on rides, had lunch, played in a water park section...etc.

Picking out animal shaped shrubbery.

Amelia so happy to have her own car to drive.

Get use to it Mia, Miles will be your personal chauffeur for years to come.

We were hoping the kids would take their nap in the car on the way to Watsonville. Mia got 30 mins or so, Miles got exactly 0 mins. Watsonville had, literally, the only vacancy in the area. So we book a night there with plans to bounce to a new location for Sunday night. The hotel was conveniently tucked behind a convenient store/gas station. Not the most exotic location, but would be fine for the night. They did have an indoor pool, so after arriving, we dashed down for an hour or so of swimming and splashing. During our swim session, Daddy, while tossing Miles into the air and catching him, misjudged weight, velocity and his own strength, resulting in Miles being briefly and only partly dunked. The expectation was that Miles would be upset, scared and totally not interested in playing in the pool any longer. To our surprise and relief, he was fine with it, laughing and immediately said "again". So, we went over the steps of holding his breath, wiping his eyes, etc. and for then next 5 or so tosses, he went up, down and under.

After the pool, we all washed up and head out for dinner in Watsonville. Lina had her tooth set on Sushi, so we hit the top rated place in the area. The kids were incredibly well behaved. They ate Miso soup mixed with rice and tofu and some vegetable tempura.

Sunday Morning we checked out and went to Santa Cruz for the day and to spend the night. On the way, we stopped in Capitola for coffees and some looking around while we waited the restaurant in Santa Cruz to open...yes, we were "up and at 'em" that early.

With coffees in hand, we watched Miles play on the beach; Mia was on Daddy's "shouldies", not interested in the sand or surf. Miles would run out with the receding waves, then run back (barely) ahead of the water as it rushed back in. A few times we thought he'd get caught.

The end result was a sandy, salty wet Miles by 9am.

Mia taking to higher ground.

Braving the waves. They have nothing on his little legs.

"I love the feel of salt water on my toes in the morning."

Birds? Heck yeah I want to chase them!

After the beach, it was time for some Boardwalk fun in Santa Cruz, but first, breakfast. Breakfast was in a hole in the wall called "The Hole in the Wall". Never a more accurate name for a place. To Daddy's delight there was a car show at the boardwalk. The model years were mostly 60's and 70's muscle cars - right in Daddy's wheelhouse of interest. But the day was fo the kids and Mommy, so after a partial peruse, we were inside on the rides.

Miles instructing Mia on what to expect.

"Whiplash" I don't think he mentioned.

Waiting for the ride to begin.

After a full and wonderful day in Santa Cruz, we headed to Monterey for dinner and to sleep. The following morning, Monday, we got up and headed to the Monterey Aquarium. We spent 98% of the time playing in various discovery sections of the aquarium. Fish had nothing on slides, tunnels and various items to lift, drop, twist, carry, drop again.

We headed back home after lunch in Monterey and the kids napped as we drove. Once home, we just played in the yard until the sun was as low as our energy.

Happy Birthday Mommy, thank you for the wonderful adventure!
~Miles and Amelia.

60+ Days Recap

THIS WILL BE A LONG ONE!

Soda Springs - Visit 2. Second week long vacation.
There was roughly two weeks between our first (last post) week vacation in Soda Springs and our second vacation there. Not much to report in those two weeks between. The only thing worth noting and only because you'll see it in the photos, is the day before we left for SS, Amelia face planted at Momma Sue's. Apparently the full force of the fall was on the tip of her nose.

Thhwapp! There it is.

This trip we spent the week with Daddo and Bebbles. Camp was pretty full, most everyone was in for the annual "Family Weekend". Miles and Amelia had a great time (as usual) running around, playing in the river, pool, Kayaks, running around, throwing rocks and dirt, etc. We (especially Miles and Amelia) were delighted to have Bill Chickering and his two kids - Sasha and Alma there this year. Miles and Amelia took to Sasha and Alma like bears to honey, dew to grass or fish to chips. Sasha and Alma, though older, were so great to our kids and would come over frequently to play or just sit and chat with us.

We start our second SS trip down the road, Miles driving.

From the gate to the cabins, the deal is Miles' drives and Amelia passengers.

Playing (for hours) at "Miles' Beach"

One of the big kids.

Daddy's girls. Two beauties.

aaaah. Affection.

Somewhere, along the way, Amelia's nose healed.

One to a Canoe. "I teasin" - Miles new phrase of choice.

Miles geared up to go on the floating trampoline out in deep water.

Boys, dirt, trucks. Its in their DNA.

Mia going "comme les Français".

The last weekend up there was "Family Weekend", where two events take place. The big dinner on Saturday night, which is comprised of everyone bringing food and drinks to the log cabin porch and the Sunday morning breakfast, where basically everyone brings food and drinks (coffee, orange juice) to the Big House meadow.

For "Family Dinner" we dress to impress (the squirrels and humming birds) , eat, drink and visit. Kids run amok and parents let them.

"Ok...sit still and smile please. Mia, Mia...Miles...Mia, sit still please. Miles, Mia, look at Mommy. Smile. Mia, Mia...Miles, hey Miles. Smile. Miles, Mia, Mia, Mia...smile. Look!, look!, look...a bird! Look at Mommy, Mia, Mia, Mia, Mia, stop. Smile. Ok, that's close enough."

This is the best shot we could get.
Not bad given we only had 4hrs of daylight.

Ladies and Gentleman.

Somewhere in the weekend we celebrated three August 12th birthdays. Bebbie's, Anne-Marie's (Bebbie's galpal) and mine.


New Deck
Many know that our deck at our house was rapidly decaying. Miles and Amelia would walk out on it find a loose and popping up board and start 'bouncing' on it. It went from being an eye sore and something we'd like to fix to a hazzard and something we HAD to fix. Without going into the details, it was a chore. We hired a guy who was good at construction, but lacked care in finishing/presentation. So I spent much of a week overseeing from over his shoulder. Once finished we had a BBQ to break it in. Invited was all of Miles' and Amelia's friends from Momma Sue's. Miles was going to be leaving Momma Sue's in September, so we wanted to get as much friend time in as we could.

There aren't really any photos from the BBQ, thought a lot was going on. Which is why we didn't snap many pics.

It was a great day. Kids played in the bouncy house - inflating it, deflating it, inflating it...(infinite loop).

Cupcakes break.

We got a pooooool!
An inflatable pool from Target. No set of lungs on earth will blow this up. Needed to create our own solution, affixing a hairdryer to a funnel.

We fill it up to shin height and watch this kids manually empty it using their beach buckets.

This is good for about 10mins.

We're Leaving On a Jet Plane
We planned an East Coast trip for the first two weeks in September. Originally we were scheduled to fly in on Sunday, but elected to move it up two days to Friday for two reasons. First, Hurricane Irene was expected to hit NYC (we were flying into JFK) on that Sunday morning. This would likely have caused out non-stop flight from SF to be cancelled. Adding to the decision, Howard (Lina's father) was going in for back surgery in NY on Friday. So we were hoping to get there in time to lend a hand, show some loving support and guarantee Irene wouldn't rain on our parade, literally.

As the East Coast in August/early September can be humid and hot, we (I did) asked Miles if he'd like to have a hair cut "like Daddy's?" He said yes, Lina asked again and he said no. I asked "Would you like a haircut like Niko?" and with that he was sold. Short hair for EVERYONE. With clippers in hand, I shaved his head down to stubble. Just like Daddy Niko.

Like father like son.

To be totally honest, I WAS NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO THE FLIGHT. Never a fan of other people's kids crying, I am sensitive about subjecting others to the same. I really dreaded the idea of Amelia loosing it mid-flight. We figured Miles would be ok as he can sit alone, watching TV and is old enough to either power through a day with no naps OR he can settle down and allow himself to fall asleep. Amelia not so much. With much relief, the flight was a breeze. Both kids we easy to manage and we were touching down before we knew it.

We landed and quickly learned that Howards surgey was a success, but that he would be in the hospital for a few days. Likely during the Hurricane.

Straight off the plane we went over to Pito and Melissa's for a visit and a home cooked meal. Miles and Amelia played with Owen and Mary and the adults circled around smoked marlin dip, pickled jalapeno peppers and crackers.

News reports had said Connecticut was going to get hit hard and to plan to be stuck wherever you are in CT for several days, possibly without power or access to roads. The next morning I packed up the kids and headed north to Brant Lake (where my parents have a summer home), thinking that we'd be far enough away that we'd have power etc. We didn't want the kids to have to go through days without power, fresh Milk and water. Lina stayed behind to keep her mother company and help with anything she might need now that Howard was laid up in NYC.

The Hurricane came, dropping a bunch of water in CT. But Brant Lake was hit worse and it turned out that the we'd be the ones without power for 4 days.

The parking lot of the club near Lina's parents.

Still passable, but only by luxury SUVs.

Up in Brant Lake, my father and I went out during a lull in the storm to look around. We had lost power several hours earlier. We wanted to survey the damage and if there was any down trees blocking the road. Turns out both ways out of camp were blocked by down trees. Our house was book-ended by trees.

We called into the city alerting them of our situation. The following morning they came in with some big machinery and removed the trees. So we were only stuck for about 18 hrs. Power would be out for 3 more days. Though with road access, we could leave for the day, eat out, buy fresh whatevers. Flushing toilets was the only concern as the house is on a well with an electric pump. Rain water it is, good thing there was plenty of it.

While we had access to the highways, Lina wouldn't be able to come up until we had power. She needed to work and for that needed internet. She'd join us Weds afternoon. So we played ant waited. Momma and Pappa were great. They took Miles and Amelia to a "Magical Forest" for a few hours, kept the house full of donuts, Pinot Grigio and laughter.

Games and puzzles on the porch was all the rage.

The weather cleared, Lina arrived so it was time to get out of the house and onto the boat.

Miles keeping a look-out using his Telescope.

Boating babes.

Windy.

As luck would have it, Miles' favorite train personality "Thomas" was in town; so we headed over for "A Day Out With Thomas".

They had toy trains...

and paper to color...

and Thomas.

Miles and Amelia got to meet their McAneny cousins for the first time. We went down for a Sunday brunch and were delighted to have so many family members show-up. There was an impromptu Wiffle Ball game (just like the old days), plenty of cousins running around and Aunts and Uncles circled on the patio catching up and sharing stories. Miles took special liking to Uncle Michael; calling him his "friend". Below you will see a video of Uncle Michael's influence on Miles.
Video Note: we believe some of Miles' statements to be inaccurate. See if you can spot which.

After about 10 days with Momma and Poppa it was time to scoot down to CT to see Daddo and Beebles, Pito, Melissa, Owen and Mary.

Miles wrapped by Lina to keep him from falling forward in his sleep.

Getting much needed sleep.

Back in Greenwhich we were met with three days of rain. So we it was "what can we do inside to keep the kids sane" time.

Melissa offered us her family membership to the children's museum in town. It was pretty impressive and great fun for the kids. They had a variety of interactive exhibits. One was a water exhibit where they had smocks for the kids to keep them dry. Water, plastic balls, brushes, cups, kids, fun.

Miles dry, smock wet.

Bathroom break, but no break in action.

Most days we were able to get into the pool, either at Lina's parents or at the club. On the sunny days it felt a bit more like vacation. Funny how a little sun can change a mood so dramatically.

On one of the sunny days, Uncle Pito brought rockets to Daddo and Bebbles house to shoot off before dinner. The kids loved watching the rockets shoot up, release the parachute then softly float back down to the yard. Uncle Pito was great letting Miles and Owen take turns pushing the "blast off" button.

Miles getting ready for the count down.

Spotting a fast moving spot in the sky.

There was a good amoung of sunf, fun and foolery. At one point we took Miles and Amelia outside to swim and play in the sun. When swimming lost its appeal with the kids, we pulled out some (water soluble) markers for coloring. Somewhere between "here" and "color on this", Miles' discovered his white chest and belly; favoring that surface over the paper we provided. When asked "what are you doing?" he replied "Uncle Michael showed me that too."

Miles self expression.

Before we knew it, it was time to head home.

We flew out around 4pm EST. This would let us get home late enough that the kids could transition to bed and get a reasonable nights sleep. We hoped the kids would nap on the ride to the airport. That didn't happen. We then hoped the kids would nap on the plane. That didn't happen. The flight I was fearful of on the way east was developing on the return flight. This was going to be a long day and apparently we wore it on our faces. On two separate occasions, two separate flight attendants offered us something to drink. And by "something" it was Bloody Mary mix and vodka. We accepted, knowing it was a long flight and a taxi would be taking us from the airport to home. All good.....ah crap! The open can of Bloody Mary mix just toppled over into my lap. Now sitting in 3/4 of a can of spicy tomato juice I loose any optimism I had about the rest of the flight. Luckily we carried on everything, so a quick and indecent inflight, in seat change I was back in dry clothes. "Mia please sleep. Mommy and Daddy need this."

We survived, Amelia fell asleep 2hrs. before landing, across our laps. Miles quietly watched his DVD player. Other than Dad's spill, there were no significant mishaps.

First Day of PreSchool
The day after returning from the east coast, Miles started his first day of school at Highland Montessori.

So excited!

Sadly, his excitement lasted about 10mins. Miles didn't like being dropped off. There were tears and plees to not leave. Heart breaking for Lina, who was the short straw to drop him off.

Lina called me mid-morning telling me Miles was upset and needed to be picked up. Apparently Miles was suffering from some constipation and could "go" there. This was confirmed shortly after reaching home. Without getting into the details, Miles had a VERY rough rest of the day as we worked through the constipation. In the end (pun totally intended) we got through it . He was a real "Pooper Tropper".

His second day was about the same from a drop-off POV. This time it was Daddy who got to bear witness to the tearful goodbye. But by day 4 he was fine.

Miles loves "school". He loves his new friends and is learning a lot. On this 3rd day he was counting to 10 in Spanish. He has brought home drawings of solar systems, triangles and some "abstracts".