All about Maddie!

Since Maddie has been feeling better, she has been crawling and pulling into the standing position.  We call her the tornado now because when she comes through she destroys everything!! She now has 7 teeth, ( a month ago she had NONE) She pulls herself into the standing position in her crib and can't get down....not so cute at 3 am!!! She follows her sister everywhere and wants to do everything she does!! She is in the 90% for height, weight, and length and love to wave at everyone and everything!

this was 2 seconds before she ripped down the curtain...

cuddlying with Mommy while I wrote blog post

the only time she is still....

on the move!

pulling up on a chair in the playroom

step 1

step 2

and shes up!!

Playground in the winter!

Another reason why I love living in the south, you can go to the playground without a coat in Janary! We headed over with our friend Caroline the other day and enjoyed some fresh outdoor air!

Liv showing off her new shoes!

Maddie in glasses :)

Liv finally got the courage to go down the "scary slide"

swings are always a favorite at the playground!

Cannot believe she is already 9 months...time flies!

Dancing Divas!

a little too young for hands on the hops, aren't they!!?!

the girls took turns laying on the ground....why go to the playground when they want to lay in a field!?!

The Circus!

This weekend we bought some tickets to bring the girls to the circus :)  Since we didn't bring the stroller, I carried Maddie in the carrier on my front, clearly I was delusional when I thought carrying around a 25 pound kid for a few hours was a good idea!! I still feel like my back is broken, and we will be retiring that carrier!! Maddie loved all the sounds and lights, and when she wasn't waving to the people sitting near us, she was screaming in delight! Olivia was glued the entire time and would not even look at the camera! I had mixed feelings going to the circus, but seeing the animals getting whipped into performing, has made me going again.  All I could think about was how they should be free, roaming the wild, instead of being forced into performing and then shoved back into a cage :(

Me and the Girls!

Maddie in the car :)

Twins!

horses

Olivia showing off her glow sticks!

Tired Baby...

......and she's out!

Of course we had to buy the $10 snow cone!!

Tea Party!

Since Maddie has been sick we have been trying to lay low and not bring the girls outside at all.  Olivia decided to have a tea party and invite only her closests friends! The guest list included Barbie and Tinkerbell dolls, Pooh bear and Mr. Penguin. The food choice was tough so we decided to put all of the food out on the table! We were able to face time ( skype on the ipad) with Liv's cousins Lyla and Lulu. It was a special treat because I let Liv use real water in her tea cups:) Overall I would say a succesful tea-party!

the table is set

Barbie and Tink were able to clear their schedules...

Mr. Penguin looked a little under the weather but still came

Pooh Bear graced used with his prescense



Liv always the prefect hostess



quick business phonecall

Liv and her cousins (on the ipad in front of Mr Penguin)

Maddie decided to join the party...but Liv wasn't too happy when she was trying to eat the fake food

mmmm water!

Let's Eat!

Olivia's First School Picture!

It Liv's first preschool picture! As you tell tell out of about 10 kids, maybe 3 are looking at the camera :) I clearly went overboard when I made Olivia practice smiling (showing her teeth) for about a week before.  The twin boys to the left of Liv are Max and Jax (pretty sure not there real names, but again I am getting this info from a 2 year old) These are the first boys that Olivia has talked non-stop about.  Her teachers tell me she orders them around, and she even went into her first time-out for hitting one of them!! She talks about them nonstop after a day at school, and asked if they could come to her birthday party..too cute!!

scary days..

So Maddie had been coughing for a few days after having strep, and she seemed to be getting worse so I brought her in to the doctor. Well it was the scariest doctor visit I have ever had! When the nurse listened to Maddies heart she looked at me, didn't say anything, and went and got the doctor...hello way to panic a mom!! Doctor Hughes came in and immediately checked her pulse ox (no clue how to spell that) which meant her oxygen level was low, she was put on a nebulizer for about 10 minutes and then they checked her oxygen levels again which were still low. At this point they said if her levels didn't go up after the next breathing treatment then she would be admitted......OK I am in FULL HYSTERIA MODE!!!! The worst was calling Steve to tell him what was going on as I had a screaming baby at the doctors, we all know how calm Steve can be in these situations....We were sent home with a nebulizer of our own. After a very long night, and more wheezing we went back to the doctor on Friday. We were told to increase her breathing treatments to every few hours ( including nighttime...eeeek!) and she was giving a dose of steroids to help her lungs.  I have no medical background or training of every kind, and anyone who knows me knows throw me a cold, stomach bug, allergies, anything but breathing issues!!!! Today is Saturday and I don't think Steve or I have put Maddie down for longer than 5 minutes.  She is finally feeling better, eating more, trying to play with Olivia, who for the first time ever seems to take an interest in her sister....Its been a few scary days but we have had a lot of people praying for us and it has worked:)

Liv trying to curl Maddies hair!

Manny trying to give kisses

Liv giving kisses

poor baby :(

Manny really has not left Maddies side in the last few days

One of those days...

I refuse to be one of those bloggers who isn't realistic. Life is hard and wonderful at the same time. sometimes I wonder if moving here was worth it...On one hand we will be able to buy a much bigger house than we ever anticipated,send our kids to the best schools if we want................. however Steve works non-stop with his new promotion............ Our girls have limited time with cousins and grandparents, yet it's more anticipated and appreciated....is there really a happy balance? So here is my rant (aka blog). Yes I will have a large glass of wine and wake up tomorrow with a full nights sleep and optimistic outlook...( power of positive thinking right! :)

So today was one of those days, the kind where you know what kind of day it's going to be so you don't want to get out of bed days...today has been building up for a while, hubby has been workin 18 hour days non-stop, both kiddos have had strep, ear infections, and coughs within the last week, and I haven't slept more than two hours In a row at night in weeks... This means lack of sleep and we all know how well I do on no sleep (insert sarcastic remark). Ths is all in addition to one of my friends and close neighbor who is moving about 25 minutes away. Normally not a big deal but when you move 1500 miles from every person you know, starting over is hard and you meet a few close friends who yout rust and dont want ANYTHING to change...Honestly I knew this move was coming, but seeing the moving boxes has really brought alot of these emotions of moving down here all over again. Both Steve and my Mom says it's normal to have these emotions, but when you've literally moved thousands of miles, while preggers and without knowing a soul, you tend to not really like any kind of change.

Today was hard. But that's life. I'm grateful for everything I do have and that is what I am going to think when I sleep tonight. So here is to positive changes:)

Movie!

This past Sunday we headed to the movies to see Beauty and the Beast with our friends Kel and Caroline. ( Pictures are from my phone so may be a bit blurry.) I wasn't sure how Liv would do, this was her second movie but she has been sick lately so we thought this was the perfect low key activity...boy were we wrong! Both girls LOVED singing and DANCING to every song in the movie! It was all little kid's in the theater so thankfully no one was annoyed but it was pretty cute as the girls are dancing and singing (always a positive that the movie was loud!) Liv loved the whole idea of a special Mommy and Livy date (Maddie was at home with strep throat with Steve)  It was so nice to be able to spend time with her and I am going to make more of an effort to do separate activities with each girl :)

Liv eating her favority candy!

Liv and Caroline dancing in the hallway

of course they have to throw pennies in the fountain

next movie the girls want to see!

handing there tickets, very exciting!

both girls showing me their movie tickets :)