Pre-Mother's Day

So we've had a fun day, I guess we've made it Mother's Day weekend... I'm certainly not going to complain. Last night, we had Yaya babysit and we went to see Made of Honor. Cute movie, a few things/words could have been left out, but cute chick flick. Matthew usually leaves a few minutes before 6 am to play tennis on Saturday mornings. He said that this morning he was also going to run into the office afterwards for a bit. BUT, little liar... he came back with a nice little surprise for me! It's from Edible Arrangements, I just love them. You can see in the front where we've eaten some already, I figured I needed to get a picture fast before it was all gone! The funny thing was, I wasn't expecting anything else. I already bought myself a few things from Pfaltzgraff and was quite happy. But he done good... ordered it early and everything :) Am I training him well or what!?!!

So then, one of my sweet friends Anna had a little photo shoot doing pics of Momma's and their kiddies. I'm so anxious to see her pictures of us! More of that later...

Then off for a Mother's Day celebration with my parents at Chili's. We ate so much, and we have a fridge full of leftovers! Life is good, and apparently the group is tired... I went around the house seeing what everyone is doing this afternoon.

Sound asleep, notice remote in hand.

*******Fyi: Still no home for Hunter, but I'm working on it. Keep him in mind if you hear of anyone interested in a great dog. I did, however, find another dog a family so I feel somewhat sucessful.

A Home for Hunter

Okay, desperate times call for desperate measures.

This is Hunter, not that it's his real name but it's what we call him. My parents found him Monday, he's at the shelter waiting the mandatory 72 hours for his owners to claim him... it's not looking good. If anyone is interested, call me. He's absolutely gorgeous, and if you know what traits purebred labs tend to have, (not that there's a way to technically prove it with him without papers) but he has those physical traits. He's big, and he listens very very well. So I'm on a mission to find a home for Hunter...

All About Kylie...

How cute is she??!!! And look at those blue eyes popping out... she got that from Daddy!

So this post is, as you can guess, all about Kylie. I have got to hand it to her, she's been so great lately. Do I dare say that she's out of the "terrible two's/worse three's" stage, and we're in four's happyland of listening and helping??? Well, I just won't say it too loud because she still is quite opinionated but I don't think that's due to her age, I think it's just her personality (NO CLUE who she got that from!).

And she's kinda been pushed aside lately. With Kacey falling off the slide and gauging her head open, then fracturing her wrist and getting a cast, and now with a teething/allergy/runny nose/fever in the 104's all Friday and weekend (as you can see below, Kacey just looks a little off)... Kylie's not been on the forefront of attention, and she's been really good about it. She's been running errands around the house for me, getting Kacey's medicine out, wiping Kacey's nose, taking off and putting on Kacey's shoes, etc... just listening really well. She's even been letting me curl her hair under in the mornings and she's not fighting me about washing her hands throughout the day. (my kid probably has cleaner hands than a doctor, although they're a little red from being so dry)

So today, I got her a little surprise for being such a good girl and happy little helper. A small silver necklace with heart charm and a purple K on it. She loves it, she was so happy. But she knows we only wear it to church and special occasions.... she thought it was the coolest thing to get a present for no reason, and as I was explaining to her why she was getting it and what a good girl she was, I could tell she wasn't paying one bit of attention to me and was just fixated on what I was hiding in my hands for her. :) Then Kacey pointed to her neck and said, "necklace" like where's mine... (yes, my 20-month old even points to things and says diamonds... Matthew wonders what I teach them during the day).

"See Me"

"See Me" is the name of the book Kylie's reading in Preschool. It's shocking and I'm in awe, probably because she's the first child and I've never experienced this before but I just keep thinking to myself, my child's reading, my child's reading!!! (Which I think is awesome, because she doesn't even go to kindergarten this September, she goes next year!!!!!!!!) These little books are like 12 pages long and each book introduces new words/simple sentences and builds on the words learned from previous books. She gets confused with am and me, but today she really impressed me with no mistakes. I just can't believe it!!! She knows if she reads it to Daddy tonight, with no mistakes, she gets a Starburst... he can't come home soon enough! :)

(Mrs. Tate is the best Preschool teacher ever!!!)

Take your daughter to work day...

Today's the national "Take your daughter (kid) to work day," which I think was started by a really smart Mom to get a few hours of silence :)

I had to get the back image too so you can see Daddy holding her Princess Bookbag.

Kylie went with Matthew to work, and she got a really cool ADT ID badge to wear and she met McGruff. - pictures of that to come.

Daddy must work hard, because this is what Kylie looked like when she got home.

(Can't wait until next year, maybe Kacey will be old enough to go too!!!)

IT'S STILL A GIRL!!!

I can't get the scanner to work, otherwise I'd post a profile picture from the ultrasound. BUT today was the big ultrasound and happy days, it's still a girl. We didn't tell the ultrasound lady that we'd taken the early gender test, mainly because I wanted her to be thorough and not biased in anyway. And since the gender test was elective, the results only came to me... it wasn't in my file.

Matthew and I are definitely pros when it comes to being able to tell what a girl looks like on the ultrasound screen. At the start of the ultrasound (I was in there for an hour) the lady said she was leaning toward girl, then she was like, "yeah, definitely leaning girl." And a few moments later, we saw all we needed to see... and she wrote those magical words on the screen, "it's a girl!" So that was really fun! :)

She's just like Kacey and Kylie. With all my girls, their legs are crossed (making gender views more difficult) and hands are up and all around the face. Let's just hope this one sleeps like Kylie did, I can't handle another sleeper like Kacey.

I did find out that the placenta is closer than it should be to my cervix, which could pose a big problem at delivery. I might need a c-section, but they're going to do a couple more ultrasounds between now and then to see if it changes at all. I'm not too concerned, c-section or not, baby is a girl and she's healthy!!!

Pretty in Pink

Today was the big day, our pink cast... which we have to wear for FOUR weeks! She was such a trooper though. It hurt and she cried when they took the temporary splint off, because her wrist wasn't restricted and she could move it around so it hurt. The inside of her wrist is black and blue, as well as the inner portion of her thumb (which they think is more due to how her thumb was positioned in the splint not from the fracture). So we sang Twinkle, Twinkle and I gave her a little pain medicine and she calmed down.We were hoping the cast wouldn't have to go past her elbow, since it is her wrist that's the problem. But the doc said that since her arms are skinny she'd figure out how to slide the cast right off if it wasn't up her elbow. So it's up her elbow. Good news, her fingers are out so she can still use them in support to her left hand.

She's in great spirits though (as you can see). The doctor didn't impress me at all, but I did like his assistant who let Kacey play with his Blackberry while he wrapped the cast up. She also has to stay in that sling for a few days to "set" the cast in the right position. Afterwards she got to go out with me and Daddy for a special lunch (Kylie partied with Yaya and Papa and didn't miss us one bit).

Had to have one of Kylie in there too, she loves her little sister :) There really are other parts of our house, this just seems to be our "camera spot."

**Tomorrow's my big ultrasound, not too much anticipation since we know it's a girl, but it will be nice to have a second validation :)

Let's go to Urgent Care...

I spent all evening and night worrying if Kacey was favoring that hand, was she not putting as much weight on it, does she normally do that with her left hand, all these questions. We were constantly trying to get her to do stuff to see how she'd do it. It was weird because she was using it to hold things and open drawers, but you could tell she was in pain if she had to put weight on it. And this morning I just got to the point that I couldn't handle it, so we went into the Urgent Care for an X-ray.


And she has a buckle fracture, aka torus fracture or incomplete fracture. Which is an "extremely common injury seen in children. Because children have softer bones, one side of the bone may buckle upon itself without disrupting the other side. Children commonly sustain this injury by falling on an outstretched hand." -which is what I assume happened, I didn't see her fall. They put a splint on it, and I put a sock over it so she doesn't play with the clasps.

We were referred to a Pediatric Orthopedic, who can't see us today (figures) so we go in first thing Monday morning for a cast. She should have it on for about three weeks. If you asked me a few days ago who I'd thought we'd be bringing to an orthopedic first, I'd say for sure Kylie. :)

The funny thing was, I've been thinking how lucky I am that Kacey and Kylie really aren't anything alike. At this age, Kylie was always jumping out of her crib and it always freaked me out. I really thought Kacey was too fearful to think of it, much less attempt it. I was wrong!

Here we go again...

Kacey has learned how to jump out of her crib. I was in my bedroom and I hear Kacey crying and her voice was getting closer and closer to me. Lo and behold, she walks into the room. It was a very traumatic experience for her (she's not as daring as her sister, Kylie could climb in and out with no problems). Kacey didn't hurt herself -that I can tell- no bruises or bumps, although I think her right arm might be sore. I guess she landed on it or used it to brace herself while falling, but she's still able to crawl around on the floor to play chase with her sister and throws balls with it.. so I'm thinking she'll be fine. I bet she doesn't attempt it again.

Moments

So a little more positive than my last post.....

I really loved Elder Ballard's talk, during the Sunday afternoon session. I just really felt motivated and happy after listening to it. So one of his great pieces of advice to all mothers was to cherish the moments and not dwell or be bogged down with the day-to-day, endless tasks that come with motherhood. SO, I'm learning to cherish the moments and find the positive. Here are some of my examples so far this week.

1. Instead of dwelling on the fact that my munchkins were trailing pretzel crumbs all over my freshly cleaned floors, I relished in the moment that Kylie went into the pantry and got 4 long pretzels, graciously sharing 2 with her sister without being asked.

2. Instead of rolling my eyes as I see shoes, socks, and hairbows strewn all over my entry way and up my stairs, I'm enjoying the moment that Kylie has Kacey sit on the step and Kylie will take off Kacey's shoes for her when we come home from our errands.

Okay, these are just cute moments of the past few days.

1. I said to Kacey that she was pretty and she responded, "I know." :)

2. Kylie was laying with me in bed and she pointed on my face to my "beauty marks" and goes, "Mommy, you have polka dots!"

3. Kacey's learned to say, "What's Up!" It's so cute.

4. Here is a video clip from today after dinner. Kylie's working on her preschool homework, and Kacey is having some dried bananas for dessert. (Kacey says, "ME!" but it's hard to hear because she turns her head)

I just wanna sleep...

We've had a rough few days. Thursday night, Kacey fell off the slide and landed on her head. NOT the big slide that was just put together, the small Little Tykes one. She was sitting at the top ready to go down and just fell backwards!!! I was right there, but not close or fast enough. Landed on her head, right by our flower bed, on a brick. HMM, of course this was just about an hour before bedtime so I didn't want her to fall asleep if she had a concussion (I'm a paranoid mother). She had 3 bumps, big ones, and she was bleeding. I felt terrible, so I didn't sleep well because I kept bringing her in our bed so I could hold her and feel her breathing. Then Matthew put her back in her bed, but I kept going in her bedroom to kinda wake her up and make sure she was okay all through the night. She's fine now, but she's got a gash on the back of her head that will probably be there for a few months. It's covered by her curls, so it's not too obvious.

So, we get over that. Kacey can still say all her words, and she's not walking funny or anything so I figure she's okay. Then Kylie gets super sick. She was complaining that her tummy hurt at bedtime, which if you have a youngster... you know better than to fall for that. So we just said yeah yeah, rub your tummy, all better. She ended up throwing up for 3 hours that night. Not fun. It was everywhere, all over me, her room, the bathroom. Enough about that. We were able to conclude that it was from the nacho cheese at the Target Snack Bar. Anyway, when she finally laid back down to sleep, I slept on her floor next to her just in case she'd wake up again. (My husband's freaking out right now.... yes, he offered at least 10 times to sleep there instead of me, but I wasn't going to sleep well if I was in bed in my room or on the floor in her room because I'd be worried about her, so I just stayed there). She's much better now, she's a little sleepy because I'm keeping her on a bland diet, but she really wanted to go to Church and she was just fine so now.... I just want to sleep!!! :)

Quick Trip Back to Disney

We took a little trip to Disneyland during Grandma and Grandpa's visit, we had a really fun time! The weather was really nice, and the girls slept so good each night from all the fun during the day!

Both girls got their faces painted, Kacey screamed the entire time. We have it on video, sitting on Matthew's lap with her head being held in pure torture... poor baby.

Kacey was so excited to see Pluto, we let her down and she ran right to him, "Puuutttoooo!"

On our 2nd day there, they were dedicated a horse from the carousel to Julie Andrews... so we got to see her for a bit. My mother in law was so excited, I thought she was going to break out into song... "The Hills Are Alive...."

This one cracks me up, it was first thing in the morning... I guess Kacey's a bit tired.

For lunch we had corn dogs, I had no idea how huge they'd be!

****The Highlight (or Lowlight- depending on how you look at it) of the Trip****

We're driving home, the 4 hour trip took 6 hours because there was terrible traffic leaving LA. FINALLY, we were just a few miles from home, getting off 15 at Craig, it's dark outside... and Matthew runs a yellow light (which must have been on the red side) because we see sirens and a cop pulled us over. I quickly encouraged him to say his wife's pregnant and we're just a few miles from home and I have to go to the bathroom. Which totally happened like 4 times on this trip, so he said it... and the cop said that he had 3 kids also, and he let us go!!! :) Grandpa said to Matthew, "Didn't your heart drop when you saw those lights?" My quick witted husband said, "No my heart dropped when my wife told me to lie." :) Hehe, but it worked and it honestly wasn't even a lie, I can tinkle at any given time. Matthew still stands firm that the light was yellow while he was in the intersection, so the ticket (if he had gotten one) would not have been fairly justified. But he didn't get it, so all is well. The funny thing is I really got the idea from my mom. When I was Kylie's age, her and I were driving down to my grandmother's house and she got pulled over. She said that I had to go to the bathroom so she was rushing to the next rest stop... it worked then too. I must have the perfect face for a scapegoat.

It's finished!

So, this is not the one I put on here a few weeks ago. The company told me it would ship b/w the Mar 24-27. By Apr 2nd, I had been calling every day and they were giving me the run around. And I'm hotheaded by nature, being Italian I guess, so I was super annoyed. They finally told me that it was on back order and would take another 10 days to get to the warehouse, THEN it would be shipped. See I was all excited about the "free shipping," you get what you paid for. SO I cancelled the whole thing. Then, they had the nerve to call me back 20 minutes after I cancelled to say they had one left and could ship it the next day.... hmm, you should have done that a long time ago, sorry. That evening Matthew went to Home Depot and bought this, which I actually like better and it was cheaper! :) As Kacey would say, HOT DOG! We were very thankful Grandma and Grandpa were here to help. Grandma to help entertain the girls as they desparately wanted to be a part of the building process, and Grandpa who was a very important part of the building process. It was going to be a daunting task, didn't really have the full day to devote to it, with conference and stopping to go out to our favorite Pizza Parlor (sorry Uncle Bryan, we thought of you!)

I thought we needed a baby swing for Kacey, but she's been doing really good!

The best part was before they started, Matthew goes: "It'll be tough, but 3 hours and we should be done"... His dad, "Yeah right, Matt!" This picture is where they were after the 3 hour mark. Add another 6 hours to that 3 hours, and then it was done. They were working well into the dark last night. Grandpa wouldn't let Matthew stop until it was all finished! (thank goodness)

The Bearer of Good News

Did you guys know a Cafe Rio is opening by the Costco on Decatur?!?!!! It's right behind the Wells Fargo, I saw the sign today and was speechless!!! :) :) :)

My Baby!??!

I've come to expect the newfound independence from my 4 year old, and I love seeing her grow up... BUT FROM MY 19 MONTH OLD?!? For some reason, this actually hurts more than seeing Kylie grow into her new phases. (I guess it's a good thing Baby Girl #3 is on her way)

Kacey's been realizing that she can do more lately, and probably thinking that I hold her back... going upstairs all by herself, wanting to walk not be held, wanting to play in the playlands not just sit with Momma and eat and watch Kylie. Case and point yesterday- she's ready to run down the inclined driveway and I can just see her feet moving faster than her body and her busting her head open.... so I held her back. After fighting with me trying to pull away, she turns around and gives me this mean look (like how dare you!) smacks my hand and looks me straight in the face and says, "NO Mommy!"

This morning our newfound independence was, "I donwanna seat." She didn't want to go in her high chair seat, she wanted to eat like Kylie does at the table. Ugh, getting to the stages where I can no longer strap her in and contain her. Can't wait until I make speghetti for dinner, that should be pretty! So here's Little Miss eating her toast at the kitchen table. She actually ate really well and didn't get up until she was all done. Although I had Little Einstiens on in the background and they "pat pat pat their hands" so her little buttery hands got all over her legs as she was pat, pat, patting.

OH, I love that little one and her cheesing smiles.

Is it bedtime yet?

The worst time in our house is after dinner to before bed. For some reason, rules just don't matter anymore, nobody listens... toys are brought out into the halls for baseball/soccer chaos and Matthew and I are looking at eachother like, "they take after you."

Yesteday night was particularly bad. We had recorded a show from the night before and were trying to watch it. We set the girls up really nice in the toy room: Shrek, water bottles, and pretzels for a snack. But they kept leaving the toy room and running like little lions (with the accompanying growls) around our table in the family room. So we (Matthew got the bright idea) gated them up in the toy room. As you can see from all the tears, it wasn't effective or successful in any way and the gate stayed up to pretty much take pictures and capture the moment, because it was hilarious in person!!!

Sunday Morning

This little girlie went to church...

AND, This little girlie stayed home...

I'm not sure if it's teething, at least that's what I thought it was at first. She's always putting something in the back of her mouth to chomp on. But she's also very stuffed up at night (we're running a cool water humidifier all night), nose running all day long, and it's all accompanied by a lovely cough. She's also a tad bit emotional, she's a cryer anyways, but lately it's been bad- she can dish it out, but she can't take it.... you look at her funny, and she'll cry for 15 minutes. So everyday we've had the water works, and I don't mean that with a lack of sensitivity. She's got tears streaming down her face, her nose is running down her mouth, and drool all down her chin- aka water works like you wouldn't believe!!! Needless to say, her and I stayed home from church, she just looks sick and I can't imagine her attempting Nursery today. And I'd prefer not standing in the hall for 3 hours trying to comfort her :)

I'm bound to get it if it is a cold. She's been sleeping in our bed in spurts throughout the past few nights, mainly because I'm a paranoid mother... her breathing is so labored at night that I'm worried and can't sleep. So her hot little breath in my face as we're propped up on the pillow for a few hours each night and her slimy leftover tissues makes for sweet little germies all over me... Oh, she also kicks Matthew in the head a few times at night while she sleeps with us (I crack up) I'm sure just to let him know that she knows he's there and she loves him. Fingers crossed I don't get this, I refuse to take meds (other than prenatals) while pregnant. Mainly so I can hold it over their heads and guilt them about it in 15 years or so. :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! This was the best Easter I think we have ever had. I'm not sure if it's the girls' ages, or if last year was just too hectic because the house was for sale and we were too focused on packing... but yesterday was so much fun!

The girls don't get that Christ died and was resurrected 3 days later and that's why we celebrate Easter, in fact Kylie doesn't know what death is... and I'm not ready for that conversation, so our Easter was pretty much about eating and Easter Egg Hunts. I'm so proud of these dresses (and yes, I have a 3rd), with the affixed ribbon and flowers... took a lot longer than it looks... much less trying to get the dresses on the girls w/o too much of a production!

These are from our 1st of 3 Egg Hunts. The girls and I thought we heard the Easter Bunny, so we'd go out front to call for him and see if we could find him. But he was really outback hiding eggs. He was also very clever about where he hid them (Kacey- in the wheel of the bike).

This was on Saturday, coloring Easter eggs. (Kylie looks a bit tired, her and I spent about 2 hours at the pool.)

HAWAII

Uncle Bryan and Aunt Rosie went to Hawaii for a week and brought the girls back matching t-shirts. You can't see it too well, but they are adorable shirts- with palm trees, turtles, the sun, and beach balls.

Matthew and I are incredibly envious of their vacation, I mean so happy for them that they had such a fun time and have such great memories before getting tied down with kids... and they rubbed it in with a pretty postcard showing off the beaches and the fabulous weather. :)

Thanks for thinking of us, we love you guys! Hope to see you soon!!!