Happy 1st Birthday Lily!!

Yesterday was Lily's 1st birthday. It is amazing to see how far she has come in one year. Prior to Lily's birth we met with cardiologists and neonatalogists who all said many of the same things: your baby will probably have feeding problems, your baby will thrive to grow, sickness will be very tough on her. She has overcome each of those. Lily is 20.2 lbs, she eats more than her sister most days and she overall has been a very healthy baby. She is our little miracle.

For Lily's birthday we went out for pizza at Pusateri's and as usual her bright red hair made her the center of attention and she was just eating it up! After pizza we went up to Beecher's for ice cream. I was kind of disappointed they didn't have my favorite-Old South Fudge Pie. Now if that does scream "unhealthy" I don't know what does? Finally we took the girls over to Asbury Park and let them play, although it wasn't for long since it was getting dark. Both Russ and I thought it would be Ellie we would be pulling away from the park kicking and screaming, but it was our little birthday princess who was the one that was upset. By the time we got home it was time to clean up and go to bed.

On April 16th our family attended the Loras College Dance Marathon.  The Dance Marathon raises money for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital.  The Dance Marathon provides things for the families staying at the U of I such as the healthy food vending machines in the family waiting rooms.  We were so exicted to be able to share Lily's story to give the students a reason to continue to dance through the night.  The Dance Marathon went from 8 pm-8 am.  It was amazing to see so many college students giving up their Friday night to benefit our families  Ellie really got into the dancing, even went up on stage with dad a few times.  Lily was asleep for most of the time we were there so unfortunately I have no pictures of her.

The girls have had to start at a new daycare since Amy (our daycare provider) is due to have a baby any day now.  I know the girls miss going to Amy's but they are having a blast out at Stacy's.  Ellie is there with her friend Addelyn who also happens to be in the same gymnastics class as her.  It was funny, Addelyn's mom and I were sitting in the waiting room yesterday waiting for the girls to be done and the only names we could hear were Ellie and Addelyn.  Seems they get a little goofy when they are around each other.  And to make things worse, Ellie's gymnastics instructor is one of my current students, but she swears she wasn't misbehaving in class, just being a goofy 2-year old!

I almost forgot to mention:  The Heart Walk is on May 1, 2010 on the RiverWalk behind Klauer Manufacturing.  We would love to have everyone join us that morning.  We have Team Lily t-shirts available for purchase.  They are $10 with the proceeds going to the American Heart Association Legacy of Life.  So far we have sold 83 t-shirts!!!  How awesome is that?  Please let me know if you are interested in walking with us or if you would like to support Team Lily by purchasing a t-shirt.

I will leave you with a few random pics from the last couple weeks!  Have a great weekend.

With Love,  The Duves