Wordless Wednesday (sort of)

Updates:
Nicole.... wow, reflux stinks! I'm praying for a good night tonight - we could use one.
Megan... wow, defiance stinks! I'm praying for a good day tomorrow - we could use one!

Swings

It seems like a love of swinging runs in the family. These two sisters both are happiest when they are just swinging away. Megan can barely stand to let Nicole swing with a little push. But she's still learning that you have to be gentle with your little sister in the swing.

Can't you just hear that baby squeal.... like she's saying, "push me higher Megan!"..... at least that's what Megan thinks she saying.But of course, Megan needs a turn too!!!!!!Megan loves the "big girl swings" but she'd pick the toddler swings any day. She knows that in those swings she can go really really high. In the big swings, mommy is chicken and won't let her swing that high - for fear that she's going to forget to hang on and fly off.

And Daddy isn't only a good swing pusher... he's a great shoulder ride too!

And as for an update on little Nicole..... we did indeed end up at the Dr's office today. No idea what's going on. Her ears are clear. The best guess is that it's more reflux issues. We changed her medication tonight. BUT it's 10:50 and as I typed this she woke up and she's currently crying... again.... so I'm wondering how long it takes for this to kick in. This will be my 3rd time putting her to bed tonight. Oh dear.

Food!!!!!

Nicole has determined that it is high time for some "real" food.... Our first try with rice cereal went pretty well. She seemed to take it really well and actually got most of it down.

And of course, Megan found her job. She crowned herself as a one-man clean up crew!

This week Nicole suddenly decided that she was starving. So much so that she went from eating every 3-4 hours to wanting to eat every 2 hours. Oh yeah, and with her milk allergy - that means no formula. She won't take the hypoallergenic formula (which we were warned is evidently super gross and once their taste buds perk up most babies struggle to take unless they started on it at a very young age - under 2 months). So.... we are off to solid foods so that hopefully some of the stress will be off mom to provide milk every 2 hours (ugh). With the introduction of cereal, she's sleeping better at night again.

Unfortunately I'm not positive the extreme grumpiness is only because she's hungry.... all I know is something is wrong. So I have a feeling we'll be back at the doc's office tomorrow for an ear check. Hey - it's been a week.... :^/

Lessons From Big Sister

Get ready....
Get set..... SPLASH!

Bathing Beauties

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

I'm just wondering at what point in life do we lose this flexibility?

The Time Has Come

5 months, 1 week, and 2 days..... I think you can safely say, Nicole has maxed out our bassinet! She's stayed in our room longer than anticipated because of her reflux and multiple ear infections. And really because we just hadn't gotten another monitor yet. But the time had come so we got her room hooked up and our "bitty baby" moved to her "big girl crib" for a good nights sleep.

5 months, 1 week, and 3 days....

Of course she slept like a pro without a single squeak all night. I am thinking that perhaps FINALLY her ear infections have cleared up because she's back to sleeping about 10 hours a night. YIPEE! Tomorrow we have our ear check so we'll see for sure.

Imagination

I tell you, there is nothing as delightful as a 3 year olds imagination!

Store's open - what's your pleasure?
Ice Cream? Pretzels? Apples? Megan and Alex will serve you up whatever your heart desires. Here you go little fella... here are some dino treats for you!

WooHoo... ride em cowboy! (Megan, Shay & Alex)

Peek-a-boo..... what a game of Hide and Seek - on the playground, no less.

Monkey's in the zoo.... just a swingin'....

One day, you too will want to join in on all this fun. Till then, enjoy your nap - it helps me keep up with the girl with the BIG imagination.

The Morning After

This morning I got up to survey the damage.... Megan was more concerned about the scrapes on her hand - which of course "needed" a Dora bandaid. Her poor little face is so scraped up. Everywhere we went today was met with a, "Oh my goodness, what happened?"

Nicole was a bit concerned about her big sister... but nothing a good "jump" couldn't remedy. And it didn't deter Megan from being a ballerina today! After all, a good "twirl" does a girl good.

And Nate, thanks for this fabulous twirly skirt!

Play hard....

Fall hard.... What a way to end the night... after a super fun evening at the park, picnicking with our neighbors - we came home and Megan asked for a few minutes to play outside at our house. Eager to let her run off a little more energy, we said - sure! And then a few minutes into it.... a huge trip over a stone and wham.... face slide across the ground. She was running to me and I saw it in slow motion as she slid, on her face, and grabbed her and ran inside to apply ice and towels. It wasn't pretty. After a very tear filled, sobbing 15-20 minutes we were able to get her to calm down to truly assess the situation. Huge scrape by her eye, down her cheek, on her nose and a big fat lip with the scrape continuing on her chin. I have to say, the picture doesn't do it justice. I'm expecting a big black and blue face tomorrow with a possible black eye and for sure a big swollen lip. Poor baby!

Serious Business!

When Megan plays in the sand.....
It's serious business! Our friend Nate has a great sandbox in his back yard and last week we got to come have some serious sandbox fun and get seriously dirty. It was great!

I have to say, it's just fun to just let the kids run and get as dirty as possible - then strip them down and give them a bath so that the inside fun can begin.

Date Night?

One of my "intentional to-do's" of 2010 was to be intentional about my marriage. Gracious -that's a hard one. Not because my marriage is hard, but because the "intentional" part takes a lot of planning and this year has been a doozy so far. Sick girls, sick grandma (my mom), visitors, birthday's, ear infections, little girl who sometimes just won't take a bottle, and sheer exhaustion.... it's like I blinked and suddenly it's April. I think we've had 1 date night this year (I have to say Nicole's feeding has played a huge role in this). So I haven't done a great job with the intentional part. Actually, I have to say I have worked on it... but something always seems to happen to put a big wrinkle in my plans. It seems like everyttime I have some great idea - some "crisis" comes up and it never seems to work out like I planned. So.... when my dear neighbor Mandy called and offered to watch the girls (Thanks Mandy!), I was so excited to plan a surprise day for Tom! So we were set on Friday for a surprise outing (Tom didn't even know about it). I had to tell him so that he could get out of work on time... and then 30 minutes later I had to break it to him that Megan had a temp and it was a no-go. :^(

Well - the sickness continues over here. In the middle of the night (4am) - you know, when I was already up with Nicole - I could hear Megan making little noises in her room. So I went in there and she was burning up. Sure enough, she had a temp of 102.5. Ugh. After some Motrin, this morning she slept in till 9:15 - and although she had a bit of a temp still, she was in a great mood. The day went on and her energy came back (but not her appetite- she's barely eaten in 2 days). Her fever broke and we even played outside a little bit. We had to go out after she told Tom, "Daddy, it's a beautiful day to be outside - but we aren't outside." Once again Mandy said - let's try it again.....

So during naptime we got all "date ready" and spiffed up.
Bottle ready for Nicole -check.
Diaper bag packed - check.
Megan's stuff ready - check.

And then.... once again nap time was over and Megan walked up to me. I picked her up and my date night plans were dashed - she was burning up. sure enough - 102. Ugh! so once again, call Mandy to cancel the plans. Bummer.

But... in steps Natalie. Natalie offered to stay home with sick Megan (who was super super super clingy). Not sick Nicole went to Mandy's house. Divide and conquer! And we still got our date night! It's amazing how much energy it takes to actually get a date night. Totally worth it, but wow.

Thank you to Natalie and Mandy who looked after our sweet pumpkins so that we could go out and invest in US.

Oh Dear

When it rains, it pours...
I am worried that little Nicole's ears are not clearing up. We are 1/2 way though our new antibiotic and unfortunately she's still waking up every night, multiple times. Ugh.
And just as that is going on... Megan woke up from her nap today with a fever. Oh dear - here we go again. I'm actually wondering if she has hand, foot mouth that her baby sister may have shared with her..... I guess we'll know tomorrow.

On the other hand - here are some photos from happier and healthier times this week (hopefully Megan didn't infect any of her friends)... We met up with some friends at the park one evening and of course parks + friends = fun (x5)
Swinging with Charlie...

And when you get tired of swinging, you can help push!

Nicole found a great shady spot to chill out and just look cute. Charlie was checking up on Nicole - making sure she stayed out of trouble.

Kelly thought a game of peek-a-boo might be more to Nicole's liking.

After playing hard, you have to take a water break...

Here are all the playmates....Nicole, Charlie, James, Kelly & Megan

5 months

Happy 5 month Birthday sweetheart! It's hard to believe it's already been 5 months with this precious blessing in our lives. I can't say that I ever had an inkling of how much fun it would be to have 2 daughters. I love how they love each other!

I love those chubby, dimply legs! I love that wild hair! I love your laughs and giggles and screams of joy! I love this precious smile!

I know that the future holds many more amazing memories, just waiting to be made. I love you pumpkin!

Spring Treats

During these fabulous "spring" days (you know, the ones that feel like summer already) - we've been spending lots of evenings outside. It's been a fun way to hang out as a family and let Megan run off some energy. Nicole loves watching everything going on at the park so it's a win win situation.

And after a fun evening at the park - is there any better way to wrap it up, other than a dipped cone at Dairy Queen?Megan actually earned this fabulous treat -and we just got to tag along and take advantage of it. And I have to say, watching her devour her ice cream treat is just as wonderful of eating one myself.

Working on New Skills (by Nicole)

Mommy, this is sooo cool... there's a baby looking at me. Here I go - I'm going to practice my sitting up - all by myself...

Uh oh - hhhhhheeeeelllllppppp.....

That wasn't funny!

Seriously mommy, stop laughing.

Note from Mommy: Well obviously we still have a little work to do before Nicole can sit unassisted. She's a few days away from being 5 months old. It's still early for her to sit alone, but I'm feeling a bit desperate for her to learn. :^) Today at the Dr's office she weighed in at 19 lbs, 14 oz (that would be 10 oz more than she weighed last week - Holy Cow!). Let me break that down for you - that means we are 1 lb and 2 oz away from hitting our car seat max weight... at the rate she's gaining weight that gives up 2 weeks. I just need her to be able to sit in a shopping cart and highchair before we say goodbye to the infant carrier.

On another note - we went to see our pediatrician today. She was going to check out Nicole's head to toe rash. They do think it was a "side effect" for the amoxicillian. And to make matters worse - it wasn't working anyway. Not only is that ear still really infected, but now so is the other side. UGH - Double ear infections! I'm seeing tubes in my future (again). Well, I was glad we were going in because we had a very rough night last night. Nicole was up a LOT - crying hysterically and with a 102 fever. Before going to the Dr's office - I knew her ear was worse, and figured she had double infections just from how she was acting. Then while I was sitting there, waiting.... I literally saw little pimply blisters popup on her feet... right before my eyes..... oh yeah - that fever last night wasn't due to her ear infections - she has hand, foot, mouth disease. Happy Easter to Nicole. The good news is that once the fever broke, she wasn't contagious. So even with her rash - she's not contagious.... however - sorry to her baby friends we've seen in the past few days - those days when she was contagious and didn't have any symptoms yet. Great.... Just a reminder, when Megan got this... I got it. Hopefully I have an immunity to it now because that was horrible. No wonder Nicole has been so fussy. blisters on your hands and feet and in your mouth, and double ear infections. Ugh - not a good start for April.

Happy Easter

He is Risen!

He is Risen, Indeed!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

It's been a wonderful day full of family and friends. This morning, Megan got to start her day off right with a little "romp" with her BFF Mary Grace.

A beauty admiring the beauties....

Now that is what I call "stopping to smell the roses!" I must add here that I had to chase her down to get all the pollen off her face. She really wanted to make sure she experienced ALL the flower had to offer.

I just love this sweet little friendship.

Then of course we had to have our traditional family gathering. Megan always loves having her cousins over.

And this gathering just isn't complete without a HUGE egg hunt - with 124 eggs (31 each). Somehow we just keep gaining more and more eggs each year. I just love this shot of Megan running to get an egg. She was so excited and had so much fun.

And I have to say, it melted my heart to hear, "momma, look I found a blue one." The sweet innocence of a 3 year old egg hunter. Some days I wish I could just bottle these moments to savor them forever!

Each egg was like winning a million dollars to her - "look Momma! Here's another one! Momma, I found one in the tree. Oh my goodness Momma, I have a lot of eggs!"

I could just eat her up!

And of course, with that many eggs to find - Granddad stepped in to give a few hints on where those tricky eggs were still hiding.

It was a wonderful day and a beautiful start to spring break. I'm sure this week will hold lots of fun outings (mommy's sanity will require it!).