The Plague

Something has hit us hard and we had to make our first trip to the ER at 5:30 a.m. this morning. I mentioned this week that I took both of the girls in for sinus infections and now in addition to that Kate has hand foot & mouth and Maddy has a serious stomach bug. I am waiting for the stomach bug to hit the rest of the family sometime in the next 24 to 48 hours. Maybe we will be spared and I wait in hope that we will get a little more sleep tonight. Anyway, Mad was the only one in the ER. She started vomiting at about 10:30 last night and from 3-6 this morning she vomited every 15-20 minutes. At 5:30 I finally called the doctor on call to see if we could get a prescription nausea med but he sent us to the ER instead. I was sooooo nervous about her getting an iv but she did fantastic!!!! I guess she was so sick she didn't care. We went to Jackson and the nurses and doctors were wonderful! I was so relieved and so glad we went! We didn't have to wait at all when we got there but we still didn't get home until 10:30. She still has been puny and vomiting. He gave us some disolvable zofran so hopefully that will kick in and she can get a good nights rest.

Saying prayers tonight for a better day!!!

Update and a Recital

We had a very busy today. This morning I took both girls to the pediatrician because they have been battling a nasty cold for a while now. They both have sinus infections and I got an antibiotic--but it's amoxcicillan and it never works so we'll see. I should have asked for something else. I am convinced it's a plot to make you come back in and pay another co-pay!! Just kidding, but sometimes I feel that way especially after all of Katie's ear drama!!! However, I am excited that I got some eye drops because mad, kat, and myself are prone to eye goop when we are sick and I hate having to go in to get eye drops for ME! Also, he agreed that Katherine needs a reflux med so we are trying Zantac and I'm anxious to no longer smell like baby vomit. (Sorry if this is becoming a rather graphic post.) Anyway, after the doc I drove around and Kate took her morning nap in the car. I felt like I needed to use my free breakfast coupon at Chick-fil-a so I pulled through the drive-thru and enjoyed a number 2 meal to myself! We headed to Cloverdale Park for Lawson's Pirate themed birthday party. It was adorable!! It was early enough in the morning to enjoy being outside and the park was nice and shady. After we loaded up on lots of sugar we headed home and I attempted to feed the kids something decent for lunch. I tired to get Mad to nap before her recital and failed.....as usual. Thankfully Kate slept all afternoon and I managed to get ready in time for the ballet recital tonight! It was adorable, we stayed out way too late, and now I'm suffering from insomnia and blogging about ballet at 2 a.m.



MeMe put Madeleine's hair in a bun for her recital. It looked so beautiful but I don't know how I am ever going to get out all of the hair spray we had to use to keep it up like that!


The three of us before we left. We had to leave Katie at home because she's sick and goes to bed early. Plus she's wild and there's no way we could keep her tamed during a recital without having to miss out on part of it.


My beautiful Ballerina



The girls love making some noise with those tap shoes! Especially Madeleine, that girl loves a good time!!!



Back stage they had a chair with each girl's name on it and Mad was actually very obedient and patient. I was so pleased! At first I was a little concerned with how organized they could keep things with this age group but they all did great!


Most of her class.....



I forgot the program and I have no clue what songs they danced to.... probably because I didn't recognize any of them. Anyway, they did a ballet, tap, and jazz routine. It took forever but every minute of it was precious. They combined our Trinity MMO with ECDC witch made for and extremely long recital (12 songs total!). Hopefully next year they can break it up. We got there at 5:30, it started at 6:00 and we didn't leave until 8:00!!! Then we went to La Zona Rosa for dinner because that's Mad's favorite restaurant (besides Chick-fil-a of course).




Each girl did a solo and Madeleine stayed out there for hers FOREVER! It was hilarious because she had no clue what she was doing!!


Madeleine and Emory with their flowers, suckers, and medals after the recital. Mad and Em are in different groups because of their age. Emory is moving on to Kindergarten next year. Sad :( This will be their only year to dance together!

Mad with Daddy and Mommy after the recital.

Katie's 1 Year

I am a little behind on posting for Katherine's 1 year post because her appointment was a little late! Last week we went in to see Dr. Glover and she did wonderful! I was a little worried she would scream the whole time since she doesn't really like other people holding her but she didn't. She just gave him the most stern, questioning look and laid there stiff as a board. It was so funny!

So here's her stat's:

Weight: 20 lbs 14 oz (45%)
Height: 29 /34 inches (75%)
Head Circumference: 18 1/4 (80%)

A little about Katherine:

- You are wearing size 12 to 18 months clothes and a size 3 diaper. I am about ready to buy a size 4 because you are leaking out of them at night.

- You have 2 bottom teeth and just got 2 top teeth in.

- Your favorite foods are strawberries, grapes, noodles, green beans, broccoli, chicken, eggs, cheese, and cheese toast. You are a great eater but it took me a while to get you started. You still gag a lot and have even started putting your fingers down your throat and making yourself throw up!!! The doctor told me to ignore you when you do that but I can't stand it!!! I think you may be having some reflux issues because you throw up a lot whether you make yourself or not. We'll find out soon.

- You still like to drink milk from a bottle and you drink one before each nap and bed time. You can also drink from a sippy sup and a straw.

- You definitely have a sweet tooth!!! I try to keep it away from you as much as possible but you nearly attack your sister for her snacks and juice cup. You absolutely know when someone has something you want and it's hard to make you stop. You are a determined and feisty little little thing when you don't get your way!!!

- You HATE getting your diaper changed and being in your car seat. I have to distract you with a toy or a snack to get you to cooperate in the car. My latest trick when I change your diaper is to sing a ridiculous and obnoxious version of Old McDonald. It's holding your attention for now but I give that another week and I'll have to figure out something else!

- You can say Ma Ma, Da Da, Ma Ma for Madeleine (It sounds different than Ma Ma) Uh oh, Big Ball ( You say this constantly!) Dogie (Barks) You bark for most animals you see and thinks it's hilarious) Ba Ba for bottle, Bye Bye, Hey, and Baby. I think that's all but, you seem to say a lot of other things like thank you and make noises that I think are words sometimes but I am not sure yet. You like to mimic silly laughs and noises as well.

- If I talk sternly to you, you cry easily and it hurts your feelings!!! Oh, I feel bad because it's usually just a No mam!

- You will charm the socks off someone when we are in public. You like to grin, play peek-a-boo, blow kisses and wave. You are hesitant to go to anyone but will flirt all day long if I'm holding you.

- You are totally a daddy's girl when he's around and you cry when he leaves for work!!!

- You love your sister and follow her around all day long. Most of the time she doesn't care unless you take something she is playing with or eating. You think she is sooo funny and she can always make you laugh.

- You are not walking yet but you can stand without support and push things around.

- Your favorite thing to play with is baby dolls. You LOVE them and will hold, rock, and kiss them. You say awww when I ask you to love your baby. It is so sweet and one of my favorite things you do right now.

- You try to tickle me by saying ticka ticka and wiggling your fingers.

- You can point and gesture when there is something you want.

- You know where your nose is. You mimic what to do with a hair brush, telephone, remote and sunglasses. You "pretend" to read books by pointing, babbling, and making noises while turning the pages.

- You are still taking 2 naps most of the time and we are having a hard time getting them straightened out. You prefer the morning nap around 9:30 or 10:00 and will sleep about 2 hours. Then you don't want to take the afternoon nap until really late...... like 4 or 5!!! So in an effort to adjust things, I am waking you from the morning one after 30 minutes and then putting you down around 1:30 or 2:00. It's not going quite as smoothly as I hoped. You're not sleeping long enough in the afternoon. My goal is to eventually achieve one long afternoon nap around 1:30/2.

- We go to bed really early around here. Typically 6:30 and sometimes 6:00 when napping goes badly. You sleep until 6:30 a.m. usually and sometimes later. I am a big believer in getting enough sleep so hopefully you won't give me much more trouble :)

- As an infant you were so quiet and easy going. Now, you are definitely coming into your own and showing out for us a bit. I can't believe how spunky you have become!!! You are sweet, loving, sensitive, and affectionate; but also determined, loud, feisty and wild!!! I guess you are learning to hold your own around here with a sissy like Madeleine.

Mother's Day

Megan, me, Hadley, Lauren, and Kimberly

For Mother's Day our reunion group, minus Jenny and Haden :(, enjoyed what we call a "staycation" at the Renaissance Hotel and Spa in Montgomery. It's so hard for us to get away right now with so many new babies so we treated ourselves to a night out in Montgomery. We met at the hotel for appetizers and wine in our room then headed out to Lek's for dinner, my recent favorite restaurant in Montgomery!!!! After dinner we hung around the outdoor bar at the hotel and listened to a little live music. On Saturday we all got pedicure's at the spa and layed around the pool all day! Daniel picked me up from the pool and then we headed down to the beach for the week. What a great Mother's Day weekend!

Last Days

By Thursday we had had quite enough of the sun and the beach so we headed to Destin Commons to do something different with the kids. The Commons has a great little playground, splash pad, and train. Madeleine loved it and Kate actually took a nap in the stroller while Jeanne and I did a little bit of shopping. I found some great deals and stocked up on a few matching outfits for the girls for next summer. We ate lunch at Zoe's. (I never realized they had a kids menu so we'll be going there a lot more!) Then we got ice cream and finished up at Books-a-Million.
We headed back for naps then did a little late afternoon trip to the pool and beach walk or adventure, as Madeleine would say. I think it was our best evening yet!!! Then we ordered Borago for dinner.
On Friday the girls headed back home with Jeanne and Daniel and I actually got to have a day at the beach for ourselves. It was soooo luxurious it actually felt weird at moments. We went on a long bike ride through Watercolor and the ate lunch at Bud and Alley's. We then spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach and enjoyed a late dinner at a restaurant called Fire. We have never eaten there before but we decided to try it out since we couldn't get a reservation at my usual fav's. It was excellent and I will definitely be going back again!
We are so grateful that we had such a beautiful week at the beach and are sorry that the oil spill is ruining so many!!!! We pray that it will get resolved very soon!

Madeleine on the playground at Destin Commons



Madeleine wanted to get water on her bottom so she could slide faster down the slide on the playground. I guess you can tell we have been making "water slides" at home in the back yard.

Kate is testing out the splash pad.


Madeleine loves going on the train. Any time we see one she has to get on!!! Mall, Zoo, where ever! This time the "conductor" let her drive and pull the horn.

MeMe got here around lunch on Tuesday and we met her for lunch at crab trap and then did a little shopping at the outlets. The kids were tired so we went back for naps and then hit the beach late in the evening. We ordered PF Changs for dinner and ate out on the balcony.
On Wednesday we spent most of the day between the pool and the beach. Then we went to seaside again for another picnic. Madeleine loves running down the hill in the grassy area. She wanted to go there to find some other children. It's hard for her when she's not in school because she loves having playmates!!!

Crab Trap is the perfect place to take kids to eat down here because they bring the food in a sand bucket and they have the most wonderful fried shrimp. Madeleine's favorite!!!


Out on the beach at crab trap.




We got the girls some cookies so they would be occupied while we did a little shopping at the outlets. :) It looks like I am going to have to start buying the girls the exact same thing everywhere we go. One always wants what the other one has! Does this really start this early????



Mad in her new bathing suit and hat from Gymboree. She was twirling the skirt on it. I can never get her to stop for a minute and pose for a picture!



Kate loved the water!!!! She would run (on her knee's) toward it!

Mommy and Kate sharing ice cream. As soon as I let her taste it, it was all over!!!

Day 2

This morning we ate breakfast and went on a morning bike ride. Kate fell asleep on the bike so we came home and put her down for a little nap. Mad loved the bike ride today and is getting over being scared. After nap we got ready to go down to the pool and beach for little while. Dan and I wore the kids out down there and then we came up for a late lunch. I discovered a few cozy things at the store that I'm excited about 1.)Nitrate-free hot dogs 2.) Jalapeno kettle cooked chips 3.) Pomegranate-Raspberry Michelob Ultra. Both kids took looong naps and Daniel and I got to have some time down on the beach without the kids. I actually read a book, that is not a parenting book, that I have been trying to finish for 2 years now. Late this afternoon the kids came back down on beach. I am shocked at how much Katherine loves it!! She tried to eat the sand, crawled like a wild woman in the sand, rolled and dug in the sand, and would have dove head first in the ocean if we let her. At times Mad was more particular about the beach, mainly the wind and the sand were irritating her. It was extremely windy out there today!! Overall she had a great time and has made a friend with another little boy.
Tonight we went to Seaside and had a picnic. We were a little late getting there but the kids had good naps so we did ok. My kids have been ravenously hungry with all of the water and the sun. Daniel and I got sushi again, except at Crush this time. This is the third time I have had it in 4 days and I think I'm ready to move on. I had been craving it like crazy!!!
We had a great day and looking forward to Meme getting here tomorrow!