Merry Christmas!!

So here in the NE corner of OK we have some snow! Not near as bad as we would have got if we had stayed home. Michael had to stay home from work last night, but made it in today in an hour. He's planning on staying there tonight.

Santa visted the girls at Mamaw's. He ate cookies and left a note saying thank you. He also snagged his coat on the fireplace screen! We have to mail it back to Mrs. Clause so she can mend it.

We really miss Michael. We did have a great time telling everyone that we are expecting baby number 3! We've been able to announce all 3 pregnancies at Christmas!! Good times!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

So it begins

Our week away from Michael. The girls and I made it to my mom's last night. The night was a little smoother than the previous however many. I'm still pretty tired. Piper seems to be feeling a lot better. She still has her moments of flat out whiny and irritable, which is totally out of character for her, but they are getting fewer and farther in between. Now we are having to watch for antibiotic induced diarrhea.

Michael went ahead and went back home last night. He starts a week of nights Wednesday night. Well, on Christmas day he gets off from the nights and then has to go back in to work the evening shift because he is "still in the rotation".

Hopefully the girls will be ok with being away from him for a week. Last night they were both expressing their dislike of him not being here.

Now both girls are in my lap making this hard to do!

Merry Christmas!!!

The verdict is...

Pneumonia.

Michael took Piper in this afternoon and they said she had begining stages of pneumonia. So it's antibiotics for our sweet girl.

Not meant to happen

I guess Christmas pictures weren't meant to happen this year. Sick babies mean everyone stay home.

Poor Piper has been just miserable. I'm thinking we may be taking her to urgent care this afternoon if she isn't better. We start our Christmasing tomorrow and she shouldn't have to be miserable for that.

Well I pray that everyone has a wonderful week with whatever festivities you all have planned! Merry Christmas to all!!!

A first

Today was a first for us. We went to get family pictures and we didn't purchase any. We've had bad sessions before, but they've always been more fruitful than 6 photos. It started out bad when Alli said first off she didn't want to get pictures taken.

When we got there, we of course had to wait. Then Alli was in a bad mood. Once Alli got warmed up, Piper wasn't having anymore of it. So we have another appointment Friday afternoon to see if we can't get at least one good family, sister, and individual child shot.

Budgeting...

It is that time of year again when we start looking at our budget for the next year. We have NOT been doing very well this past year. At all. There has been no financial peace. I need Dave Ramsey to come give me a swift kick in the bum. I should probably set through the class again.

Our credit card is out of control. Our savings is in tears. Our bank account, is in survival mode. I take full responsibility for our financial state. Michael does not do much in our finances and probably needs to do a lot more.

There is some sunshine on our horizon, Michael will be getting some nice OT and holiday pay. Him going to nights also helps a bit. We are also giving up the gym membership that we don't use enough to keep paying for. Especially since Piper has to stay with the baby section until she is 2 and is NOT happy about it.

I'm also going to really start couponing. How many times have I said this? But I mean it! I'm trying to figure out what else we can cut out and cut back on. Like we will be starting to cook at home more.

We will have some big expenses in the upcoming year that will make our budget even tighter, but we will get through it and I pray that this time next year, it will be better!

Oh, and if anyone knows of any part time job that will let you work about 4 days a week every other week, let me know!! Haha!

A Cheerful Post

Sorry, this is long overdue. Life here is moving on. Alli and Piper keep us busy and full of love and laughter! They are both growing up way too fast for my liking. I know all kids do, but I'm really feeling it! Allisyn is so tall that some brands of clothing, I'm having to buy her girls clothes!! I'm NOT ready for this! She is a little girl! She should be able to dress like she is 3, not like a little hoochie momma!

Piper is averaging about 2-3 sucessful potty tries a day!! I'm kind of excited about this one. I'm not putting her in pull-ups or anything until after the holidays, but if she is ready, we will go with it!

We had a great Thanksgiving! We got to spend some time with everyone, which is always nice!

Michael is for sure going to nights, now it's back to being the possibility of Presby. Which is what he would really prefer.

I've almost got my Christmas shopping done! We cut back this year, so it's been easier! I just have to do for great grandparents. I'm going to work on getting those put together and ordered.

Because of Michael's schedule around Christmas the girls and I will be staying with my mom for a week! We are all pretty excited about it!! We will miss Michael terribly, but at least he will get to sleep without all the excitement going on from Christmas.

Below is a pic from Thanksgiving! The girls love their Uncle Dustin!

When it rains...

Yesterday we found out that my cousin was killed in a hunting accident. I'm terribly sad that it happened, but my biggest heart ache in this lies with his dad. My uncle James is the one that survived the head injury and has used it as a wake-up call to turn his life around and serve God again.

Right now he is going through so much. He can't get a job until his workman's comp lawsuit is settled. He just lost his brother and now he learns of his son's death. They were nor close by any means. His boys live in Montana and haven't given much of an effort to stay close. Still, this has to be a huge blow. So please lift up a prayer for my uncle James that he may be able to find some peace in all of this.

Sent from my iPhone

Saying Good-bye

Last week was a hard one. My family had to say our good-byes to a wonderful man. My Uncle Bobby came home on Oct 30, from his tour as a civilian contractor in Afghanistan. He was only home a few hours when he passed away from a heart attack. He had just turn 45. He was my grandma's baby. The baby brother of my mom, my aunt Sandy, and my uncle James. He was the totally devoted husband to my aunt Kim. I still can't even fathom how she is coping with this. He had 2 sons and 2 step-kids.

He retired from the Army after 20 years of service. We all knew how dedicated he was to the Army, but to be able to hear about it from a good friend and someone he served with was just awesome. If he would have stayed in, he could have made the highest enlisted rank possible. He chose to retire and dedicate his life to his family. He chose to do the 2 years in Afghanistan to help put back money so they could live comfortably while he set up his goat farm.

He was a huge Sooner fan. The last time I got to see him, was the weekend that Michael took him to his first football game at OU. He was on top of the world. We were planning a few weeks ago on getting him to another game. He had a certain shirt he wore for each game. He had a blanket he had to have in a certain place. His dog had to wear her bandanna. I remember when he was oversees and on his way back home when he found out my brother was going to OSU. I was staying with my grandma and he called in the middle of the night. I got to talk to him and he was telling me about he would be home his yesterday and my tomorrow. He asked about everyone and I told him Dustin was going to OSU. He was shocked. When he got off the phone he called my mom. She woke up to, "What do you mean he is going to OSU!?!" There were a few calls over the years with a little bit of trash talking!

He was pretty excited when I started dating Michael. Another OU fan. He was so happy for me and Michael that he came to Michael's graduation from Pharmacy school. They even played Boomer Sooner at the cemetery. He wouldn't have had it any other way.

My Uncle Bobby was a big reason that I joined the Guard. I've always respected him and was hoping that I would make him proud to serve as well. I can't say for sure, but I think he had some influence on my brother joining as well. It was pretty touching that my brother, who is now a Chaplain with Army Guard, got to participate in Bobby's service.

His joining the army came from getting into some trouble when he was younger. He stayed out in the country with us before he left. At that time I was 5 and I weighed about the same as ruck sack. So he would run up and down the road with me on his back. I loved it.

I remember when he was in Desert Storm. I remember we had a candlelight vigil thing in the park. I was so proud to wear my shirt that let everyone know that my Uncle Bobby was over there serving our country.

I remember when he met Kim and thinking that she was perfect for him. I remember their wedding. The love that they had for each other. It's never faded.

My heart breaks that my girls won't get to know what a great man he was. My heart breaks that such a wonderful woman has lost her love and her best friend. My heart breaks for his two boys who obviously looked up to him and respected him even though they might not have been as close as they would have liked to have been. It was a bit of a shock for those of us who hadn't seen Wesley in a while. He looks just like his daddy. Both boys followed their dad and are serving in the Army.

I'm glad we got to go to his service. It was beautiful. If you've ever been to a military service then, you know that it is amazing.

So for those of you who made it to the end...go make sure those you love the most know it. Life is not guaranteed and they could be gone a lot sooner than you think.

Hard time

For those of you who don't know, my uncle Bobby passed away on Friday. He had just turned 45. He retired from the army, then spent 2 years working as a civilian contractor in Afghanistan. He got home for good on Friday afternoon. He wasn't feeling good and in a matter of a few short hours he was gone. They are pretty sure it was a heart attack, but I have not heard the autopsy results. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Right now, it still seems a little surreal. This weekend has been extremely hard, but I know it's going to get even harder when we go up for the funeral on Wednesday.

Sent from my iPhone

What went wrong?

Have you ever had a close friend or family member that has done or is doing something so incredibly stupid that you just want to beat some sense into them?

I have a few of those right now. Some offenses aren't as bad as others, but some are so bad they could land themselves in jail. Please pray for these individuals eyes to be opened and for God to keep me in check the next time I'm face to face with one person in particular.

More Alli Conversations

Setting: Watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Alli is singing Someday My Prince Will Come with Snow White.

Me: Alli, do you know who my prince is?
Alli: No. Who.
Me: Your daddy is my prince.
Alli: Oh. Whose Rachel's prince?
Me: Uncle Dustin is her prince.
Alli: Who is Natashia's prince?
Me: Jeremy is her prince.
Alli: Oh. Whose my prince?
Me: (why didn't I forsee this coming?) We don't know yet.
Alli: Is my friend Cason going to be my prince. (Sorry Cason!)
Me: I honestly don't know.
Alli: hmmm. Well, I need to tell Daddy that he is your prince.

Sent from my iPhone

DSAT--Buddy Walk

My nephew Jordon has his first Buddy Walk with the Down Syndrome Association of Tulsa this Sunday! The girls and I are going up to do the walk with his team! We are pretty excited to be able to support them in this. My aunt has a page set up (linked above) to help raise money for the cause. They are not doing as well as they would like, so I'm shamelessly plugging the effort. If you have a few minutes and you want to help out a great cause, your support would be greatly appreciated!

Long days

Michael has been working some doubles lately. Last Friday, today, this coming Friday. It sucks now, but the extra $ will be nice. We've strayed away from our FPU teaching and with Christmas coming up the extra will help. A double means he works from 7a to 9p. When you have 2 little daddy's girls, it makes for a long day!

Today I'm pretty sure Piper was trying to tell me something along the lines of, "you can't make me, you're not my dad." I was sweeping the floors and running the steamer and she was trying to run in between me and the steamer handle. Not exactly safe when steam blowing out. So I got on to her and told her she had to stop. She proceeded to shake her hand at me and chatter something about her daddy while shaking her head at me. It was very hard not to laugh.

Alli starts asking about 2 if her daddy is on his way home. Usually she does ok when I tell her Michael will be working a long day. Other times she informs me, "that really stinks, mom."

Tomorrow they have MDO!!! I'm excited since the last 2 weeks they have only gone 1 day. Since this is fall break, they will only be going one day as well. Which means I must enjoy tomorrow to it's fullest!

Sent from my iPhone

Really?

Note to self: Do not get distracted before putting a diaper on Piper after a bath. She WILL poop in your floor. If you try sitting her on the little potty while you clean it up, she will probably get up and pee in your floor. Twice.

Lesson learned: No more "free" time for Piper.

Sent from my iPhone

Conversations

This was a conversation I overheard the other day between Michael and Allisyn.

Michael: Oww! Alli don't do that, that hurts.
Alli: What is it?
Michael: it's hair.
Alli: Why do you have hair on your toes?
Michael: I just do.
Alli: I don't have hair on my toes.
Michael: Well that doesn't mean you can pull the hair on my toes.
Alli: Daddy, your silly!

Testing

This is a tester post from my iPhone! Thank you, Jill for the tip! Hope it works!

Still here

So, I thought that once I got my iPhone, I would be able to blog more often. For some reason though I can't get it to work. I can put in a title, but I can't put anything into the body of the blog, Not real sure what that's about...

Things are good! Michael and I celebrated our 5th anniversary last month! The girls stayed with my mom and sister while we got away for a couple of days to Branson. We had a great time! We probably did too much shopping, but that's ok!

The girls started MDO yesterday! They both did really well. Piper was not to big on stopping play time for nap time, but hopefully that will get better.

Michael's has been working some nights. He worked them two weeks ago and will work them this week with the exception of Friday. Bunco is at my house and I need him to take the girls away from the house!

Well, that's my short update. Just wanted to let the 3 people who read my blog (ok 2, because I just saw one of them on Saturday!) that I'm still here and we are doing well!

I have a climber

This is what happens when she gets upon the table and get down. Actually she was still smiling when I first went over there, but when I decided to turn back to get my phone, that was when she got upset.

She climbs on the table (as shown!) into the window sills (the high ones and the low ones), she can make it upon to Alli's bed without any assistance now! She can climb upon the couch in the playroom. She can almost make it into the rocking chair. Alli likes to help her out. I caught her halfway onto the kitchen counter one day. We used to leave a chair there for Alli, now we have to move it away from the counters. If she gets too quiet I get up and start looking around for her on things.

She definitely keeps me busy!!

Happy (late) Birthday to Piper!!

Yesterday was Piper's first birthday! Since we had her party last weekend, we didn't do anything too special. We were all up the night before at about 3 a.m. for what turned into family movie time. We were all kind of tired. We did get pictures made! I'm not on the PC so I can't upload the photos, but you can see them here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137761&id=825875743&l=33799dd60c

Thursday, she really started taking some steps! Thankfully I caught it on the phone for everyone to see, because she hasn't done it too much since then.

She is now completely weaned. It is really bittersweet. I miss the bonding that takes place while breastfeeding. So far she has not taken to drinking milk. I've tried all the tricks we had to use with Allisyn and so far, nothing is working. I'm not too worried about it yet, I'm sure she will get there!

She is a climber. She loves climbing the stairs. She loves climbing the steps onto Allisyn's bed. She likes climbing onto the dinning room chairs and then onto the dinning room table.

She absolutely adores her big sister! She is very much a daddy's girl too. She is very sweet and loving. She is an animal lover just like her sister! She gets very mad if someone goes out in the backyard and doesn't take her with them to see the dogs. She loves petting the cats and all put one of them let her! Puck lets her get closer than he did Alli at that age.

She loves music! Any music will catch her attention. She will bounce and clap if it she really likes it!

I can't believe she is already 1! It went by way too fast!!

Lesson learned

So, I tried to blog this from my iPhone and I couldn't get it to work.

Lesson learned today if crying it out did not work out for your first child, chances are high that it won't work for your second. If only for the first getting upset that the second is upset.

We are working on weaning. It isn't going very well. Piper was awake from 3 to 8ish this morning. Michael was up with her the whole time. I went back to sleep about 6. Michael and Piper went back to sleep a little after 8 and slept until 10. Needless to say we had a tired and cranky Piper. She fell asleep during a drive just to wake up when we got home.

I tried letting her cry it out a little, but she just screams and gets overly worked up. Add that to Alli crying because her baby sister is so upset, and I broke. She ended up falling asleep in my arms.

Maybe someday my children will fall asleep on their own....

Some more Randomness

We celebrated Piper's first birthday this past weekend. Her actual birthday is this Friday, but Michael has to work next weekend. It actually went pretty well.

Allisyn can finally say all her alphabet without mixing up letters or leaving out HIJK!!

Piper is still almost walking! I'm giving up on trying to guess when it is going to happen because she seems to like to prove me wrong.

My mother is huge dork. Not only did she get a tattoo at the age of 52, she got it impulsively and picked something out AT the tattoo parlor. If your are going to get ink done put some thought into it and come up with something unique. Don't go in because your friend is doing it and get some random butterfly tattoo when you've never shown any special interest in butterflies. Also, she has yet to tell her mother. Ummm, hello? What is she? Like 12? Backing off the subject before I go on rant about her mom that will make people think I am a horrible person.

I ordered my iPhone! I will probably be wishing I would have waited it out and gone it and got in store, but I was too excited when it let me do it a day early! Maybe I will be able to blog more since I'm on my phone way more than I am on the laptop.

I love...

being the mom of 2 girls! I love the way they love each other and the way to play together.

Sure we have our moments that aren't so bright and happy, but the majority of the time, they get along really well!

When I started this post, they were playing really well together with a clear tub. They were pushing it around like it was a train. Sitting in it together. Alli pushing Piper around, Piper walking with it.

Then I had to intervene in a tiff over a jelly bracelet. That led to a break in play. Then Alli jumped down off to the couch to go the bathroom and knocked Piper down. She got a swat for not paying attention to her sister and knocking her down. Tears were had...then Piper comes into the bathroom. Tears stop immediately and "Piper came to see me!" It's really cute how Piper can be the cause of her tears and then the reason they stop!

Well, now we are in the midst of some meltdowns!! I love being a mom!!

Pictures!!

I was planning on putting up some of our 4th weekend and Allisyn's party....but my computer won't let me edit them and I don't like posting too many pictures of my babies with red eyes. Maybe if I get it figured out I'll put them up...but here are some for now!

Happy (Late) Birthday to Allisyn!!

It has been a busy week and a half! On top of our usual routines with Allisyn's birthday and the 4th we have been really busy!!

The 2nd was Allisyn's 3rd birthday!! It is so hard for me to believe that she is 3!! That day Mam-maw and Aunt Katy came up for the weekend. Me, mom and Piper went and had lunch with her at MDO! We brought cupcakes to celebrate! She came home with us early and was surprised to see her Aunt Katy when we got home!! Then we had a joint party with her friend M who turned 3 on the 1st. It was a lot of fun! There were 16 kids who got to do the craft plus Piper and M's little brother A who were too little. Piper did a lot of playing though so she didn't miss out on too much!

Friday was really hot so we just went out to eat for lunch. Then we headed to our friends from church celebration. It was a good time! Food, fun, Christian fellowship, and an up close display of fireworks! Allisyn even got to help her daddy set a few off! I'll post pics soon!

The 4th, Allisyn, me, my mom, and Katy went to lunch at POPS! It was crazy busy and a bit overwhelming, but we enjoyed it! Then we went to Libertyfest. It wasn't all to great, so we went to dinner. It stormed while we were eating. Then we went and walked around Target and on our way out decided we would follow the few others who were camping out in the parking lot to watch the display. It was a pretty good spot! It was a little crazy getting out, but not too terribly bad. The girls did pretty well with the show. Allisyn said it was a little too loud, but she didn't get too upset. Piper just clapped and got excited!

Sunday was a beautiful day with glorious weather so we headed to the zoo. On the train ride the conductor said it was unusually slow for a Sunday afternoon in the summer. We didn't mind! The bad part of the weekend is that we didn't make it to church because both girls were in desperate need of sleep. Allisyn probably would have slept through in the evening, but Piper is like her momma in that she wakes up whenever you get anywhere and is just crabby.

Yesterday we took it easy and just stayed around home. We took a nice walk in the evening to continue to enjoy the weather.

Today it was back to MDO for Alli. Then on to her well-child checkup. She is 41lb and 40 inches. They didn't tell us where that puts her on the chart. It was a new nurse. Alli had to get one shot, and she was not happy. The whole office heard about how she doesn't like shots on our way out. Luckily and ice cream cone provided a much needed distraction for her.

Monday night also began our first night and getting her to sleep in her own bed. It was an on and off battle that ended up with her in our bed because she leaked out of her night time pull up. Tonight she went on to bed on her own! For 5 minutes! Then she wanted us. She came in with us until she fell asleep and was moved into her bed and she is still there at 1 am!!

Well that is a little update. I will try to get pictures up soon. I would do it now, but I don't have my glasses on and I need them to see which pictures are what!!

Conversation

Alli: Momma, I can't find my green glasses.

Me: I don't know where they are. I don't keep up with all your stuff.

Alli: Why?

Me: It's not my job.

Alli: Will you help me find them?

Me: Nope. I didn't loose them.

Alli: I really, really, really need you to help me find them.

Me: I'm not helping you find them because I have no idea where to start.

Alli (with my sunglasses): Can I use these because I need them to be silly!

Me: You need my glasses to be silly?

Alli: I really think so. I really need them to be silly!

Me: Yes, because I can't be the reason that you have to stop being silly.

Our conversations are full of "really, really, reallys" and "I really think so's" lately.

Conversations

Alli: Momma, I can't find my green glasses.

Me: I don't know where they are. I don't keep up with all your stuff.

Alli: Why?

Me: It's not my job.

Alli: Will you help me find them?

Me: Nope. I didn't loose them.

Alli: I really, really, really need you to help me find them.

Me: I'm not helping you find them because I have no idea where to start.

Alli (with my sunglasses): Can I use these because I need them to be silly!

Me: Yes, because I can't be the reason that you have to stop being silly.



Our conversations are full of "really, really, reallys" and "I really think so's" lately.

A run down...

Had my 10-year reunion. It was fun! I'm glad I went. It was good to reconnect with some old friends. The girls got some Mam-maw and Aunt Katy bonding time.


We had Allisyn's family birthday party. It was thrown together in less than a week. It went pretty well. She loved getting to see everyone.


I've been doing pretty good with keeping up with Pilates class. Though I will say that if today's class had been my first class, I probably would not go back! We had a substitute teacher and she really kicked our bums!


Allisyn is loving MDO! I think she will really miss it when they take a break in August! She takes a nap for them too!


Piper is just about to start walking! She can stand up on her own totally unassisted longer and longer every day!


Allisyn turns 3 on Thursday. THREE!! Who said that could happen!?! We are having a joint birthday party with a friend from my Mom's group. Miss M turns 3 tomorrow! It should be a good party!


We are watching Oscar for my brother and SIL while they are on a trip to see her grandma and then to DC! Alli keeps asking if we can keep Oscar...we are working on explaining that 2 dogs are more than enough right now and that Oscar would miss Dustin and Rachel and Felix too much.


A few quotes and convos from Allisyn to leave you with:


Throughout the day we get, "I love you so much mom (dad)."


Me to Piper: I'm gonna throw you away if you don't quit being so clingy.
(No, I would never throw my daughter away.)

Allisyn: Momma, you can't put her in the trash can, she not yucky!

There are many others, but they always escape me when I'm trying to remember them.

Quick Catch Up

My trip with the girls was wonderful!! A lot of shopping, a lot of chatting, and a nice break from the daily routine! I might have spent a little too much money, but that's ok! I of course did what I usually do....spent more on the girls than on me. I bought myself 4 pieces of clothing. One being a $3 Old Navy T-shirt. The girls got lots of clothes, some toys, some bags...that I am still waiting to be delivered....Michael got a couple of shirts. In other words....I still need clothes!! Heehee!



Michael and the girls had a great trip to his parents! They had some rough nights, but we kind of thought they might. They were very happy to see momma when they got home! Momma was also VERY happy to see them!!



Allisyn is now a pro at MDO. She lets them get her out of the car at drop off without any problems. She eats her lunch really well AND she naps for them!! She really enjoys it, like we knew she would!! Piper gets upset when Allisyn leaves the car, but gets excited when we go pick her up! It will be nice when Piper can go too!



Yesterday was my BIRTHDAY!!! Michael had a 3 day weekend so we had a great family fun filled time. Saturday we went to Frontier City!! It was great fun. We got to see the Bob the Builder Show. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't that! Allisyn likes it so that is what is important!



Sunday was church which is always a great day! The girls love Bible Class! Piper has started crying when we drop her off, but she cheers up really quickly!! Sunday afternoon Allisyn and I got to spend some time together just the 2 of us. We don't get to do that very often. We both really enjoyed it! We went to B&N and got some books and then we went to Unpluggits and painted some pictures and made a necklace, and played on the toys and made some glitter pictures! It was a great time!



Yesterday I got birthday cake in bed for breakfast! It was baked, iced and sprinkled by Michael and Alli! The first thing Alli said to me when she woke up was, "I want some of your birthday cake!" Then we went to White Water Bay. It was a great time! Even though someone stole my flip flops, we had a blast! Alli really enjoyed the little whale slide. She went down over and over again. Then we had a fun family dinner! It was indeed a great birthday!!

Some Pictures

I'm ready...

for next Friday!! A weekend away with 12 other awesome women with lots of shopping should provide a much needed break away from life!

My uncle James may get to go home next week! He is starting to do more and more!

Another blow life handled is my cousin Jacob, who is serving in the Air Force in Alaska, had his wife of 7 months leave him. No warning. He came home one night and she and her kids (from a previous marriage) were gone. Last update I had he still hadn't heard anything from her and she still had his truck. It was one of those things some of us thought would not work out, but you are really bummed when it turns out you are right. Jacob is one of those people that just gives and gives and gives and she just took and took and took.

Our first week of Mother's Day Out has come and gone. Alli had some rough starts to her days, but I think it is good for her. She is actually napping for them! I wish she would nap for me!

Piper is becoming a little person! She is a tough little booger and very persistent! We went to Chick-Fil-A the other day with some friends and I spend a large amount of time trying to prevent her from climbing up the slides. She always wants to be down and a part of what is going on. I'm ready for her to walk because she tries to get down so much it's hard to hold her sometimes!

Well that's our update for now. I'll try to get pictures up soon!

Life

has been delivering so blows lately. Tuesday, my uncle James was about to head out on trip (he's a truck driver) and stopped close to home to grab some breakfast. He was checking his load and got knocked in the head with a boom. (It's something they use to tighten down their load.) He called his wife and she came and picked him up an took him to the ER. By the time they got there he was bleeding out of his ears, eyes, and nose. Diagnosis was a subdural hematoma. He was life-lighted (sp?) to Tulsa and they did surgery. After a few scares he avoided having to go in again for surgery on his brain. This morning, they went in and repaired his shattered collar bone. Last I heard he was doing well and they were hoping to let him wake-up soon.

Michael's grandma Bea also passed away yesterday morning. She was 98-years-young and was ready to go home.

Little curve balls that life has dished out, Michael taking out the garage door with....the van door. It is hard to explain, but it didn't do as much damage as it looked like it did. Our fence along the back of our yard got blown over. Our neighbors didn't even notice until Michael went and talked to them about it! Alli broke a tiny bottle of red nail polish on the kitchen tile. I'm still working on getting it out of the grout. We have yet to fix the radio in the van, but Michael is calling around to try to get it fixed before we take our trip this weekend. --Just found out, a minimum of $90 just to have it looked at. Ouch!

On the brighter side of things!! We made it to 9 months without walking and no teeth. Her first tooth did break through on Wednesday! She really doesn't like to show it off, but when she gets to laughing she can't hide it! Allisyn starts her Mother's Day Out on Tuesday! Michael now has the day off so we can all participate in her first day! I'm trying to prepare myself so I don't cry, but I'm sure there will be tears shed on my part!

We also got the sandbox "open" and both girls absolutely love it! I can tell we will be spending lots of time there this summer!!

Well that's our update! Hopefully, life will get back on track soon.

Sickness

We have had some yuckies at out house.

Sunday morning about 230 Piper woke me up when I felt she had a fever. Gave her Tylenol....no church for mom and Piper. I tried to go Sunday night, but Piper wasn't having it. Monday, she still had a fever so we made a trip to the ped. We were told it is just a cold.

Monday night I started getting sick, at first we thought it might have been the flu, but looking at everything, especially the shortness of it all, we are pretty sure it was just mastitis.

Piper's highest temp was this morning at 103.3. Today she is acting a lot happier. To play it safe, I called the ped to see what temp we should take her in. They said 105. I'm thinking at 103.8-104...I'm taking her in. Thankfully, we haven't gotten there.

Sooo, hopefully miss Piper will feeling better soon and we can get back to our regularly scheduled lives. Hopefully, all you will avoid the yuckies!

Lets talk about your closet.

Ok, well you don't have to really talk about yours, but I am going to talk about ours. It is a nice size closet. Michael and I have the same amount of space for our clothes.

When I did this rough tally yesterday, there were still two loads of laundry out adding about 7 hangers to Michael's side and 4 to mine.

One side had 127 occupied hangers: rough breakdown
42 T-shirts
10 sweaters
8 sweatshirts
20 pants (jeans and dress)
10-polo type shirts
30 button-up shirts

This does NOT count the 8-12 pairs of shorts, 6+ athletic pants,and pj pants.

The other side had 63 occupied hangers.
13% are bottoms that cannot be worn until more weight is lost.
19% are undershirts that are not worn alone in public.
10% are kept purely for sentimental purposes (think soccer jerseys from mission trip to Brazil, and Eeyore sweatshirts from high school)
So that is approximately 58% left for actual wear, and that selection isn't the best.

So whose is whose? Michael has way more clothes than I do. In his defense, he doesn't get rid of much. Though when he learned I was going to blog about this he did do a small amount of purging. I have had to get rid of many clothes due to the gaining and loosing weight from pregnancies and the NOT loosing the weight from Piper. My MAIN reason in doing this is so I have hard core numbers to put Michael in his place when he tries to join in me in my whining about not having enough clothes. It's not my fault if you wear the same things over and over...you have options. The other reason is to say that I am REALLY excited about our upcoming shopping trip to Canton!!!

Randomness

I'm still here, I just use my phone a lot. I need to get the new keyboard on my laptop, it would make me want to use it more. I also have a few keys on backwards. It doesn't bother me at all, but Michael doesn't like it. You wouldn't think having the M and N switched wouldn't bother someone whose name starts with M, but it does. I don't look to type....apparently he does. What is really funny, he could switch them pretty easy!

I finally have Allisyn enrolled in a MDO!! She start this summer and Piper will join her in the fall! I'm really excited for Allisyn! She wasn't to excited about not getting to stay we enrolled. I have mixed emotions about Piper starting....

Anyone know where to take your vehicle when you have a BOOM! while driving and then your speakers stop working? It was kind of scary at the time....now it's really annoying.

Piper is saying mom! She says "da" too, but we aren't convinced she is meaning dad. We know she means mom, because it's always when she wants me!

I've been really bad about getting to the gym, but I'm really trying to remedy that. I went swimsuit shopping today. Well, this is like the third or fourth time, but I found one today! It covers my bum!! I'm extremely self-conscious so I was pretty happy! Now I have to work up the mind to actually where it in public.

We have been working on Alli sleeping in her own bed. She usually gets put in her bed asleep, and then wakes up about 2 hours later. Our question for everyone out there, HOW do you get them to stay asleep? She very rarely takes a nap and she plays hard so you would think she would crash out and stay asleep, but no.

Piper is growing up way to fast. I really feel like I got jilted out of her babyhood. So far she is keeping it at minimal cruising. She likes the speed of crawling. She is always on the go. A small part of me wishes she would hurry up and learn to walk so I wouldn't have to worry about her falling and hitting her head as much. She loves her big sister and loves when Allisyn plays with her. Allisyn also dotes on Piper and loves to tell everyone she is her baby sister.

Overall, things are pretty good here!

Hello!

Sooo again, I have gotten behind. Shock, shock. In my defense though, my modem kicked the bucket last week and I had to have it replaced. So I just got caught up on a lot the blogs I read. So what's going on the the land of us?

Piper is seriously growing up way too fast. I cannot leave a room without the fear that she is going to climb up on something and fall. Today...we had four falls, luckily no shiners or bumps have appeared. Just a very upset baby and worn out momma. I almost wish she would just hurry up and start walking so I don't have to worry so much. It is a lot of work trying to laundry with her right there because there is a litter box in the laundry room, and what do you think calls her attention? I already have one child who has trouble resisting the box of poo, I don't need two!

Allisyn's favorite thing to do right now is to disagree with us. Sometimes it leads to arguments. Not fun. She doesn't like being told no, and thinks she has the right to tell us not to tell her no! HaHaHa, when do they learn we really know what we are talking about and that we tell them no for good reasons? Ooooh, right....never.

Not sure if I have posted this here or not, but Allisyn is officially in big girl panties all the time during the day!! Now if her daddy could just hold his ground and not give into late milk requests we could work on giving up the night time pull-ups.

The sleeping in her bed thing has not been going very well either. She has ONE more sticker until she gets her prize, but come bed time...she doesn't want it anymore. Convenient.

We went home for Easter last weekend. We got to see a lot of my family and swung by Michael's grandma's birthday party. The girl's got a load of junk..ummm, I mean stuff. Like they really need more stuff, but they had fun which is what really matters.

And now, I must get off my duff and put to good use this time I have alone! Michael has the girls at the mall, and I need to do some cleaning. Though I do have a Starbucks gift card burning a whole in my pocket.....

Pictures!!

Happy Girls!

Piper liked the bows!

A lot!!
I want to hold her!!

NOOOOO!!!!

Thankfully, this doesn't happen too often. They are heavy!

Allisyn wanted to read my book...and loose my place.

We could not convince her it was upside down. Made for a funnier picture anyway.

I know I often complain about our fur babies...especially when they insist on hacking up in the girls' rooms, but we really do very tolerant animals.

Lily seems to be convinced that she and Piper are best buddies most days!

Evidence that dual napping does occasionally happen. Yes, Piper does have a handful of Allisyn's hair.

We have the crib at the lowest setting, and her head still comes up over the side!

It is not common practice that Allisyn be in Piper's crib, but we thought for picture's sake it would be fun.

This how I often spend my mornings. Except usually Piper is nursing. We couldn't really share that though.

Our family really likes Incredible Pizza. Not because of the food, but it does fun times of play. The seat belt is broken on this ride so Miss Piper is standing up. Good thing Daddy can be right there

Sickness has left us!

YAY!! To answer a question from Megan, Alli has had gastroenteritis twice now. There have been a few times we were afraid she was getting it, but thankfully, she has only had it twice. One thing we were afraid of, was how this would affect potty training. It has had no affect at all! Allisyn even wore big girl panties to church tonight!

A tip for those who ever encounter the type of diaper rash that leaves your baby's bum raw, try Maalox. Do NOT try to go cheap and get a generic brand because it is watered down. The real stuff is thicker and covers better. Top it off with some aquaphor, generic is fine, and it does wonders. Even if it does take two adults practically sitting on the child to get it applied, but we don't know about that part first hand. I wish.

We were actually able to get out for a much needed play date on Friday and a birthday party on Saturday. I even made to church with both girls by myself this morning! Somedays, I wonder why I bother. Especially when Allisyn has to go potty 3 times during worship. I got lucky that both girls were asleep when we got home that I actually had some time to myself! Not too much, but it was nice.

Miss Piper is continuing to grow up way too fast. She has let go a few times after pulling up. Thankfully, it always been on soft-landing areas. She thinks she can eat whatever anyone else is eating and lets you know she is mad if you don't share! She has such a precious laugh and it is great to see her and Alli laugh at some inside joke! Right now I'm letting her shred a napkin because it is keeping her off my laptop. As I was typing that last sentence she started trying to eat said napkin. Since I took it away, she is now trying to get the laptop...which means this blog is done!!

Sickness

has taken over. Well, we are praying that today is not another fluke and it is on its way out. Allisyn got a stomach bug that turned into gastroenteritis. This included extreme stomach cramping followed by poop explosions. No really, explosions. Do you have any idea what it does to the spirit of a little girl who just conquered potty training to have a blowout? It's horrible. Add that to a horribly raw bum and we have had a horrible time.


So what does mom do when ordered out of the house by dad? She goes shopping for things to make a little girl feel better. We have done a lot of painting and gluing and building of blocks last night and today to try to take away from the the horribleness of it all. So now we are hoping it is really gone and that Piper isn't getting it. Her last few diapers have not given us hope.

Well this was going to be longer but mommyhood call via the whining of a miss Piper.

Hey Chandra.....

Yes, I'm still here. It's just hard for me to get on to blog because both laptops are down. Mine still has the jacked up keyboard, thanks to Alli and the Michael's power cord fritzed out us. It was actually smoking and burned me before we stopped using it. We tried to get a universal power cord, but it didn't work so we took it back. Then Michael got the bright idea to try to solder it back together....it didn't work either. So now, I have to come all the way upstairs and use the desktop if I want to blog....terrible I know.

Sooo, what's been going on here? Potty training is going GREAT!! We had a really bad day last Thursday...actually everything about that day was terrible, and since then we've had only had a few accidents. Most of those on the day and the day after Alli got sick. I'm very proud of her.

That horrible Thursday was also the day that I knocked over almost an entire can of paint on our hardwood floors. Thankfully, most of it came up. The exception being the stuff in the cracks. It was bad, I was covered in paint, the 2 girl cats got their tails in it and got in on the couch....that hasn't came out.

Piper is still growing leaps and bounds. She is in the beginning stages of pulling herself up. I think she might start walking earlier than Allisyn did, I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Allisyn is a WONDERFUL big sister and helps Piper get things and watches her for me when I need to get stuff done. Piper is under the impression that she can eat anything so you have to be very careful while eating around her or she will do such things like steal french fries off your plate.

Today the first of 9 days off for Michael! He is taking some vacation time. Today and tomorrow his dad and brother Steve are here helping start the assembly of the girls' new play set. The SKY FORT is it's name. The ran into a big snafu right off when they were missing one of the biggest base boards. They are improvising with a piece from Home Depot until we can get it replaced.

Yesterday we got a wonderful visit from Katy. She was here from Spring Sing at OC and spent a good part of the day with us! The girls absolutely adore her and were happy to get to spend some time with her.

Other random tidbits.... I joined a Bunco group! We had our first official Bunco night last night, it was sooo much fun!! I will definitely be looking forward to it every month!

***BREAKING NEWS**** Piper just pulled her self all the way up on my computer chair!! Now she is in my lap to grab Puck who is sitting on the desk.

I'm sure there is other stuff but it is really hard to type with a squirmy baby in my lap.....

Again...

The blog has gotten away from me.

The weekend of Valentines, Michael and I got away for the weekend away! We got to go the annual marriage retreat that our church puts on! The girls got to stay with Mam-maw and Katy. It was a much needed break for Michael and I. We needed to take some time to get to know each other again. It was nice. The theme was Fireproof, off of the movie. If you haven't seen it, you should. Yes...the acting isn't the best, but if you keep in mind they had a $500,000 budget and most of the cast was volunteer...it was really good!

The girls did pretty well with Mam-maw and Katy. The nights were rough, but we thought they would be. Alli is a cuddler and was out of her element. She has actually had issues the past couple of times we have travelled anywhere. She likes to be at home at night. But all was well in the end. I think it did everyone well!

We've been doing pretty decent with going to the gym. Well, I should be there now for a class, but I took a few days off and my stamina dropped so I'm taking it easy to ease back into it. This is really random, but it's an update!

6-Month Check Up

Piper had her 6-month appointment today. It was kind of weird because I called to make the appointment today and got in today! If I had been calling because one of them were sick, do you think I would have gotten in so quickly?? Anyway, we did get in and it went well. Michael arrived just in time for shots, but I still got to hold her during poke time. It wasn't too bad. She only fussed for a few seconds afterwards, then she wanted dad.

She is weighing in at 17 pounds and 6 ounces. This actually drops her into the 50th percentile for weight. Not a cause for concern or anything.

Height....she is above the 97th percentile at 28 inches!!

Her head circumference is 44cm (17.32 inches)- I'm not sure what the percentile is, our Dr just said she still has a big head!

She has been rightfully cranky since waking up after getting home, but hey she got poked 3 times!

Here are a few more pictures that my BIL, Steve, took a few weekends ago!

Some funny Alli stories...

She loves to make things for us, pictures, "breakfast" and "dinner", buckets of dirt. The conversation usually goes...

Alli: "I made for you!"

Me or Michael: "Thank you!"

Alli: "Do you lub it?"

Us: "Yes, I love it! It is beautiful!"

Alli: "Thank you! Want some more?"

She loves to help in the kitchen, any time we show signs of doing anything, she pulls up her chair. "I want to help you! I want to help you!"

She continues to be a wonderful big sister! This morning I was picking up the house and Alli had a mirror up to Piper's face saying, "Who's so pretty? Piper's so pretty!"

She always has to give Piper kisses good night and good morning. Good nights are whenever she goes to sleep and good mornings are whenever she wakes up!

Well Piper is wanting to play pass the baby, and it is my turn!

Pictures by Steve

IMG_6638
Originally uploaded by stevehurl88

I couldn't figure out how to send more than one picture to a blog, so until I get that figured out.... here is one to hold you over!

Have I mentioned

that Piper is mobile? I'm pretty sure that I have, but JEEZ! This baby can move! She is all over the place! We are trying to come up with ways to keep her pinned in, but still give her room to move. We haven't been very successful. We just keep popping are head in the living room when we are making dinner or cleaning in another room to make sure we don't have to put her back on her mats. She is also starting to sit up a little on her own. It's cute watching her try!

Another first, Piper went to Bible class for the first time on Sunday! They have pagers that they give the parents if your baby needs you! Piper did fine for the most part. She got a little fussy towards the end, and got to go for a walk with one of the teachers.

Allisyn seems to be regressing in her potty training. She hasn't really been trying at all the past couple of days. I'm not real sure what to do about it. I'm hoping we can just work through it and it will only be a small set back.

On the bright side, Allisyn is FINALLY getting over her separation anxiety she had going on! She will go to class, the child care at the gym and Wednesday morning Bible study child care without fussing. She will say. "I can tell mom and dad good-bye?" That is a huge relief!

Well, I get to cut this short because the duties of being a mom are being required!

As requested...

What has been going on here....other than getting iced in for 3 days. Lets back up.

Monday night, I was cleaning out the DVR in the bedroom and I managed to delete EVERYTHING on it. Yes, EVERYTHING. All 36 episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, most of which Allisyn could request by name. All 15 Caillous that we let rotate around. The 5 Handy Mannys, Tigger and Poohs, and JoJo's Circus. Not to mention the couple of weeks on my shows that I was behind on. Trying to explain to a 2 1/2 year old that you accidentally wiped out everything on the DVR... not fun. ESPECIALLY, when you get snowed in the next couple of days and you need the aide of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to get you through it. We did survive.

The potty training is still hit and miss. Most misses occur when I am busy with Piper and really can't do anything about right then. She still has times where she says she wants to be a baby and wants to wear a baby diaper. My new plan of action is when she says she wants to be a baby, she will loose all her big girl privileges. We'll see how that goes.

Piper is doing great! She is scooting about and is really good at getting to where she wants to be. Especially when she is after something of Allisyn's! This morning while I was taking my shower, Piper was in her bouncy chair like always. Right where I can see her, and the little monkey almost crawled out of her seat! She was strapped in! I had to jump out of the shower and put her back in! I will definitely be rethinking my shower routine.

I'll try to update more often! (Lea!)

Hit and miss

That is how we are doing with the potty training. It is hit and miss. There are times when Allisyn will throw a fit and ask for a "baby diaper" and then there are time she will where her big girl panties with no problem. Today she wore a pull-up to church and made it all through church with a dry pull-up! Then we met some friends for lunch and we had to wait on a stall so she didn't make it all the way.

I stocked up on big girl panties, I think I have over 30 now. I KNOW it is excessive, but I like to be very prepared and I like being able to let her pick which ones she wants to wear. Though occasionally, that comes back to bite me when she won't make up her mind.

Piper is doing much better. She is back to her happy-go-lucky self. I'm afraid it won't be long until she is mobile. We did some rearranging of our living room and put some of our play mats down on the hardwood so she could play on the floor. She is all over the place. She will roll, scoot, push off of, and pull herself to get where she wants to be. She hasn't gotten up on all 4s yet, but I think she gonna start by being a low-crawler. It would be my luck that she would be mobile before she could sit up! How will I get anything done!?!

The best kind of day

Start out with a sick baby who kept mom up most of the night. I decide to go ahead and head to the gym. Michael is working evenings this week so I knew I wouldn't have to worry about the girls in child care. Plus Piper couldn't go anyway being sick. I make it to step class in time, but it wasn't pretty.

Note to self, eat before going to work out.
Next note to self, Step class with Kate is NOT what you should start out with!

I left the class at break and realized I forgot my flipflops at home so a shower at the gym was out of the question.

Get home, Allisyn is still asleep. I took my shower and got ready for my day. Michael got ready and left for work. Piper tries so hard to be her cheerful self, and does well for spurts of time, then crashes and needs mommy. During the times of Piper needing mommy the most, are the times that Allisyn starts getting in to trouble. What else is new, right?

Well, today there was the screaming for me like she was in pain. I go running in the room with a very startled Piper who was almost asleep. She just wanted her milk. She got in trouble for yelling like that for no reason.

Then there was going potty in the potty. YAY! No so yay when she doesn't put a pull up back on and comes in with something on her hand....she was playing with her bottom. I didn't know that she had sat back on the potty after I cleaned her up. Again I disrupt an almost asleep Piper to get her cleaned up again.

THEN she comes in AGAIN, with mysterious stinking brown stuff on her hand. Apparently, she dropped a shoe string for beading in the litter box and went and got in on her own. Again, interrupt an almost asleep Piper to go wash her hands and clean her up.

Is the day over yet??

Potty Training Day??

Well, we have lost count because we have had a few days that really can't be called "training" days. But today has been a decent day. Well, the afternoon has. Alli calls her number 1 business "water." Could explain the incident on day one of trying to put it in Lily's water bowl. Now she knows that her "water" goes into the potty and gets flushed. She is actually wearing some big girl panties at the moment!

Last night was a "fun" night. Michael had to work the night shift 8p to 7a. I'm sure I mentioned it before, but both my girls are cuddlers. Therefore 2 babies trying to cuddle with one mommy makes for a rough night for mom. Not to mention the little fur ball flying up with the covers and scratching me. Lily is so light I hardly even notice when she is sleeping on me. To top off flying solo last night, I also had to keep the girls quiet so Michael could sleep. We couldn't really go anywhere because Allisyn and Piper may or may not be sick. Both have coughs, Alli's is accompanied by a runny nose. Good times!

We have finally joined the gym! I have been once in the week we have had it because I had some sort of crud. What is one thing that you want when you go to the gym if you are going to do cardio? Music, right? Well, I have music on my phone, BUT my phone does not accept a standard stereo plug for headphones. What is up with that??? So I'm trying to locate the adapter or whatever it needs. I'm sure I'll probably have to go Radio Shack or an AT&T store and pay an absurd amount for them. Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do.