Lyssi Makes Us Laugh.....

The past few weeks since April has found out about the problems with Evan, we have been able to see the girls a little more than normal. We were able to watch Lyssi when her mom and dad went to the appointment to get the amnio and some other tests done.

We decided to watch her at my mom's house which is very close to the hospital. That way we could visit with my mom at the same time we watch Lyss. Alyssa is so funny when she goes to her "Grams" house. She heads to the outside room and gets the dolls. Then she promptly begins to rip off all of its clothes. For some reason she does not like them to be dressed.

You probably don't know this about Howie but he LOVES to play dolls too.

Actually he loves to play anything that the grandkids are doing. You can always find him down on the ground playing and making them giggle. What a great guy!

Story time with Papa.....

When April and Shawn returned from the doctors we decided to go get a "Bender" at Italian Village. For anyone reading this that have not eaten at this restaurant I highly suggest it. Steve's brother Mike introduced me to it when they were in town one time. It is just down the road from my mom's (the place I grew up at) and I had never actually eaten there. I had gone to visit and flirt with boys when I was younger but never actually sat down to eat. It is pretty good. The benders are delicious. YUUMMMY!

Lyssi has a very limited amount of food that she can eat because of her allergies. Spaghetti is some thing that she seems to really enjoy. I loved watching her "tackle" her plate of noodles.

She would spin and spin and spin her little fork and then pick it up to eat but all of the noodles would fall back down. I love the concentration she had as she tried to eat.

This stuff is harder to eat than it looks.....

Finally she gave up on the twirling of her fork and just picked up huge portions to shove in her mouth.

Now that's the way to eat SPAGHETTI!

Most of the noodles were caught by her mommy sitting close by as they were heading for her lap or the floor. Great reflexes, April! The very best part of eating spaghetti is the slurping up of a single noodle. DEEEELICIOUS!

She's got he shades on and she's ready to go.....

My sweet little granddaughter.......What a cutie!

Getting a special ride out to her car in the car seat.

Howie seems to know how to make the simplest things, a fun adventure for the kids. He really gets a workout as he spins, twirls and swings her around in this thing. FUN TIMES- and lots of giggles!

A few days later Shawn had left for Turkey and I was able to go to the doctor appointment with April. Let me tell you that it was kind of tough. I think I cried the entire time. It was really emotional for me to sit there and listen to April express her concerns to the doctors. She had pages and pages of questions to ask them. As I listened to her talk to the doctors my heart just ached because I know all of these questions were truly weighing heavily on her mind and in her heart. I have such a hard time sitting back and seeing my children in pain. IT'S TOUGH, to say the least. I loved to hear the heart beat of our Sweet Little Evan! That was probably the hardest part. Quite the "tear jerker". Knowing that he is so very sick and probably won't be with us long. I loved watching as they did the ultra sound and seeing him move around inside. April is really in good hands with the team of doctors that she will be working with. That is a blessing in all of this mess. They are there to help ease her burden and calm her mind. They sat patiently and listened to April as she talked with them. They were not rushed or uninterested like you often find with doctors. I feel that they truly cared! Thank you APE for letting me share in this experience with you. I love you a ton!

After the appointment April treated me to some Gillato (not sure of the spelling) She had mentioned it to me before and told me how delicious it was. Italian Icecream. YUUUMY!

When we went to get it I think the emotion from the doctors appointment were just right on the surface for both of us. We got out of the car to go inside and April mentioned her girls and their health, I instantly broke into tears (not sure why) and I turned away so that Ape wouldn't see me. As I got control of myself I turned back around to find April standing in the middle of the parking lot, rain pouring down, just sobbing. This has been harder for April than she lets on, and I think it was good for her to release some of those emotions. We both stood out in the middle of the parking lot just hugging, crying, and getting soaked by the rain. She is so grateful for the two girls she has been blessed with and their sweet spirits have really helped her out through all of these trials. She is one STRONG girl!

Gillato is so gooooood!

Sharing with Alyssa. She wanted a taste from everyone. Actually she just wanted to hold everyone's spoon. She didn't actually do much eating but the dishes and the spoons were really cute colors and I think that is what she actually wanted.

My mom is a certified Choco-holic! She absolutely loves it. She had been watching Lyss while we were gone and so we decided to take her some CHOCOLATE gillato. I snuck a taste and it is wonderful. Howie will LOVE IT!

My mom has this gumball machine at her house.....

She fills it with Jelly Beans for the little grandkids.....

She has a dish of pennies on the shelf next to it so the kids can just help themselves. They love it! Lyss kept asking for something and we couldn't understand what she was saying. She would then pull on our fingers to get us to stand up and walk to the machine. We figured out after some time that she was saying, "more Belly Jeans."

She would share the black ones with me! YUMMY

Time to go..... Lyss is a snuggle bug!

Alyssa giving Evan kisses.....

She is a sweetheart and I enjoy every minute spent with her!