Lilly's 1st day of School at LRSH

Lilly started Little Red School House today! I hope she's ready...I am not sure I was! She was so excited to go to school....until she got there :) The whole way she kept saying "big girl" and I reminded her about where to go potty and to share, not to BITE and no hitting. I hope she is successful at one of those things. She did not want me to leave and there is never a good time to go - so I just left her with Ms. Isabelle (who I know is amazing) and walked out. Tears in my eyes and a quiver in my voice. I know that she is ready for this....it is just hard. Change is always hard. She needs the structure and the discipline. She needs the interaction with other kids and to learn to share and to follow directions. She needs this and she is ready for this. It doesn't make it easier for the parents. The other thing that is going to be a hard lesson for her...no pink! Yep - no pink blanket and that is going to be a hard thing for her to understand. She will get over it -- she always does and maybe we have allowed this to go on for too long, it is just her comfort zone. She loves that blanket! Oh how I wish I could do it all, be mom, work, teach my kid all she needs to know, be fun, etc...but I can't and that's why it is important to have people help that you trust.

Fieldtrip and Movie Time

These are just a couple cute pictures from today. Gabby took Tinkerbell to school today...I think we may need to get her a new movie - for her teachers sake! Lilly and Maddy had a fieldtrip to CALM this morning. As you can see Lilly has discovered tutus! She also loves her pink boots and wears them everywhere. I am hoping I can squeeze her foot in them in April for Sandy's wedding!! I think everyone enjoyed the change of scenery today!

Babies on the Farm

I took the girls up to the farm this last weekend for some fresh sun and a change of scenery for all of us! We went for our usual horse ride and along the way, stopped in the barn to see all of the new baby goats and lambs.  The goats were a couple days old but the lambs were born just that night. It was so fun to watch the girls see the newborn babies...They are cute at this age!

Swingers & Sisterly Love

Here are our happy girls. They love to swing and since we have had great weather the last couple of days....they have been doing a lot of swinging!  We had to get the other baby swing up and ready for Maddy as she has decided hanging in the swing is pretty fun - and relaxing. She is getting better about wearing her glasses so that is good. It is funny that Lilly wants the white glasses. She also wants to ride the white horse...maybe some day!  The girls have been sick for the last 3 weeks. As anyone with kids knows - when they are sick, life is miserable. We have stayed put for the last couple of weekends trying to get the girls healthy and by 10:00am on Saturday - we are about ready to pull our hair out because the girls just need to "go"! I caught this sweet picture of the girls together watching a cartoon this weekend. Gabby and Lilly torment each other constantly and we are playing referee frequently but there are also these moments. These moments remind you that they really love each other and life would be so boring if they didn't have each other to torment or play with.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! This has been a secret goal of mine for 2 weeks!! I am impressed that I actually got it to happen on the actual day... Amazing! The girls are all in their special shirts from Grandmother Ann so I worked hard to get a picture that showed the love the girls have for each other. I must admit...today was a hard day for a photo shoot. Lilly is sick and was up all night (and so was Gordon) so she was NOT cooperative. Maddy was hungry and just wanted to eat. Gabby was such a good older sister and tried so hard to get the girls to sit still and smile. I got a few cute ones which in the 30 seconds I had to take them - is not bad. We got the results of Maddy's ultrasound and she has an internal hemangioma. Technically it is a tumor however we are not overly concerned as we think the growth has stopped/slowed and most of these go away by the time the kid is 5-10 years old. We are going to have it checked out at Children's Hospital in San Diego just to know the risks and concerns but we are happy to hear that it is benign! So much to be thankful for and lots of love!

Maddy's Ultrasound

Maddy had an ultrasound yesterday to check out the bump on her chest. She was such a good baby! She layed still, didn't cry once and cooperated like a pro! The tech would not let me take a picture when the test was being performed so this is all I have...but she did awesome. Now we are just waiting for the results....

A Weekend of R&R and Fun

This was our weekend in a nutshell. Maddy is finally feeling better and her high fever has subsided. She is so full of snot that she keeps gagging and throwing up - poor thing! Gabby has been hacking up her lungs with the slightlest bout of physical activity. Lilly has been charging through all of this, with a slight runny nose and a strange rash followed by hives. This weekend was a little R&R and some fun playing at the park and in the back yard. Yesterday Grandma Debi came and watched the girls so Gordon and I could escape on a bike ride...she timed her visit perfectly and all the girls were asleep! She did get to experience Lilly with a "hard wake-up" from a nap! The afternoon was incredible weather and the girls were outside playing until 5. We had to break out the other baby swing because Lilly didn't think sharing her red swing was OK. I didn't cave because of yesterday but I did cave because we have all summer of swinging to look forward to and Lilly is still small and will want to swing in the little swing for a while longer. Lilly is doing very good with going pee on the potty. Poop is another story. She went poop on the potty for the first time on Friday so we are getting closer...and she told me as soon as she did it this weekend but I missed having that happen on the potty both days :( I can't tell you how bummed that made me - is that weird? Gabby likes to sleep with the bathroom light on. We keep turning it off and somehow during the night, it keeps coming back on. It makes us wonder how much sleep is she really getting?? Anyhow, that sums up our weekend. Lots of fun family time and I am hopeful that everyone is on the mend and will have a better week.

Look Who's 9 Mos!

Maddy is 9 mos old today! Hard to believe...Where did the time go? She had her check-up today and it went well all things considered. She weighed in at 16lb 8.5 ozs (13%) and her height and head are in the 65%. Doctor said there are 4-5 teeth coming in and they should be here soon. We also learned she has a double ear infection...poor thing! The scrape on her face is from Lilly this morning...Lilly loves to run into Maddy's room when she wakes up. She also tends to poke her in the face through the crib as she is pointing out her eyes and nose. Well, today she got her on the cheek. Maddy now cries when Lilly comes near her because she knows it's just a matter of time before Lilly pummles her. Maddy's iron was a little low as well so we will try our best to get her more iron rich foods although we do a pretty good job. We have also decided to get the mass on her chest "officially" checked out. She has an ultrasound scheduled for Monday to see what it actually is....I dread these things but on the other hand, we wll know for sure what it is and then can move forward. All in all, it was a good appointment. The doctor is thrilled that she is on a milk formula and that she is able to eat dairy and tolerate it. Since we made the switch, Maddy has put on some much needed weight and looks much better!