Poose and Puddle

Morning Rambling...

2012-01-25T10:20:00.000-05:00

This spring will be a funtastic time in our house. All 3 of my loves will be graduates! And I, the eternal planner, have already begun ~~stressing~~ planning the festivities. But here is where my brain is stuck.... When Lily 'graduated' from pre-pre-school we invited the Grand and afterward we all went to dinner. Small and simple, more importantly she loved it. This past year when she really was a pre-school graduate we made a little more of a deal over it and invited the whole family, and had a little party here at our house afterward. Again pretty simple.

This year with all three of them having special graduations I want them all to feel as important as they are. I also do not want to overwhelm our families with non-stop parties/graduations. So far right now I was thinking of throwing one larger party for all three of them. I was thinking of doing it the weekend after Chris' graduation ( he graduates Mother's Day weekend) and then just inviting the family to each of the girls events. I found a really cute layout for an invitation for them. I know Chris does not mind sharing his spotlight at all with the girls, he actually prefers it. If we had a big party for the girls with no mention of him, he would love that- he's not big fan of people making over him. He has been put on notice that I fully heard him, and understand all of this. But, I am making a big out of this! :-)

I know it will all work out, and I also know that once I get the dates for things for me. I will relax some and then I can kick the planning into full gear.

The Catch Up Post

2012-01-23T15:36:00.000-05:00

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. Love it because it is easy to keep up with everyone, but hate it because it is too easy. A sentence here or there and that is it, no real story of what is going on. So while the girls are enjoying a new Barbie movie courtesy of her birthday money I wanted to update this blog a little. Let's start with the two most important girls in my world......

Lilliana, My word has this child blossomed in Kindergarten! We have been truly blessed with an awesome teacher, who just thinks Lily is just as awesome! She is in the top tier reading group, each day she is reading more and more. She has loved books from the start, but now it is just grown! There is one really funny story from school that I have to write out so I never forget. It was the day Lily's behavior card went to yellow, (dun dun dunnnnn...)!

Her teacher didn't say anything at the fence when I picked her up, and we had a normal ride home. We got home and the girls took off to their room to change out of their school clothes and put their book bags up. I had to use the bathroom. All of a sudden I start hearing Lily screaming 'I'm not telling you! I'm not telling you!' I opened the bathroom door and asked what in the world was going on. Charlotte appears to tell me that Lily has put herself in the closet and is crying. Insert more screaming from Lily. I finished up in the bathroom and went to find her in her room. She was in fact in the closet and had worked herself up so far I couldn't understand a thing she was saying. I tried to get her out, but after a few minutes I thought maybe a little less attention would be just what she needed. So I told her I was going into the living room and would be there when she was ready to talk.

Meantime, Charlotte (AKA chatterbox) is talking constantly, and informing Lily and I again of everything I just said (sigh) . I head out of the room and into the living room, and pretended not to be interested. After a few minutes she finally made it out of the closet and into the hallway. Still saying over and over again that she wasn't going to tell me, I was going to be mad. Finally, after what seemed like forever she made her way into the living room and s l o w l y starts tell me her story. Did I ever mention Poose has a flare for the dramatics? Apparently, she and her learning centers partner had a hard time paying attention, and after a warning to be quieter, they both went to (gasp) yellow! She was heart broken that this had happened. We had a long talk and she was told to tell her teacher in the morning that she was sorry for not being a good listener.

After I picked her up from school the next day, her teacher apologized to me for completely forgetting she ever went to yellow, because she never does. I told her teacher what happened the afternoon before and we both tried not to giggle. Ms. M did say that she is almost glad she did go to yellow, because now Lily knows what it is like. She did say that Lily came right in and told her she was sorry.

A few days after this happened I asked her what color she was, she answered ' Mommy I was one green, I am never going back to yellow! I didn't like that at all!'

There are so many more stories, I really need to do this more again!!

Charlotte:
Oh Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte. God knew we needed more laughter- never at her expense. This child is so hard to discipline. She is walking the line of baby and little girl. She is a smart cookie and knows when to pull which card on us! She is in part-time preschool, and LOVES it! How do I know she loves it... she runs into the building everyday and does not look back. Just recently she started writing her whole name. She can write just about all of her letters now.

One her favorite things right now is make-up. She loves to do makeovers. No one is immune from a Charlotte makeover, Mommy, Daddy even the dog! She is just too much. They other day Chris forgot his lunch and I told him I would run it up to him while we were out, he walked up to the van and almost fell over. When I had gotten my shower that morning, I had forgotten to pay the extra attention needed to my right eyebrow. I had the Charlotte special makeover, meaning she got to use a little of my real stuff! While I had gotten most of the makeup off the night before I forgot all about my eyebrow. I looked like a crazy person! Thankfully Chris was our first stop!

Megan and Chris: We are in a good place. Chris is in his final semester! In May he will graduate with a bachelors degree in (let me see is I can get this right.) Global Business and Public Policy. I call it his World Domination Degree. He has decided to enter into the dual Masters program. Starting in the fall. I am super proud of him, he has worked so hard to get this done. May 12th is day he will walk across stage! This May/June all 3 of my loves are going to be graduates!

As for me I have been asked by a few people if I am going to journal about what is going on with me and the choice I made for myself. It will not be in this blog. I do plan to start another, for just me. Look for that soon. I will probably put a link on this blog to that one. It won't be private. I have nothing to hide. I am done hiding, and ready to live!

Twas The Night Before Kindergarten

2011-08-24T16:25:00.006-04:00

Twas the night before Kindergarten and all through our flat
Not a creature was a flutter, not even a bat
All of the new supplies were placed neatly in her pack
It is so heavy I pray it won't break her back.

My big girl, no longer a baby, was nestled all down in her bunk bed
Goodness, I hope she doesn't wake up tomorrow with bedhead
And Daddy holding still, and I in a puddle of tears
Both sat on the sofa in quiet thinking it couldn't have been already five years.

Wasn't it just yesterday we were in Guatemala holding our new baby girl
Rocking slowly and running our fingers through her soft curls
It is like a dream how quickly the time has flown bye
To say I don't miss those early days, even the hard ones, would be a lie.

Tomorrow starts a new chapter in her life full of new stories yet to be told
I am sure some will make my eyes want to roll
She will be surrounded by new ideas, new pressures, new friends
Her Daddy and I can only hope and pray that her good heart does not bend.

But tonight I hope she sleeps well and has a beautiful Kindergarten dream
Tomorrow will come soon enough, and she will have to start walking on that beam
But her Daddy and I will cheer her on daily, catch her if she has a trip and fall
Just as we did while she was learning to walk and to crawl.

Looking at her now I can see how big she has grown
I know that she is ready, even if I am feeling quite blown
My dear Kinder girl tomorrow maybe a day that in your memories that might not last
Daddy and I will always remember it as the day that came too fast.

It'll Be A Miracle

2011-02-25T19:13:00.003-05:00

if she makes it to 5! Remember that commercial?! That is our Puddle through and through!

Well Charlotte has done it! She has now had more ER visits then she is old.

-July 4, 2008 Rolled off of our bed landed on her head-December 2008 uncontrolled vomiting, that turned bloody-June/July 2009 Respiratory distress related to croup-February 25 2011 Went to run to get a train tripped landed mouth first on our glider.

I felt a little like Tim Taylor this morning when we walked into the ER this morning.

Out of the now four trips, today's comes in a very close second to the respiratory distress. It was traumatic in every sense of the word. The initial injury wasn't so bad. Once we got her calmed down. It became the game of should we go to the ER or not. I hate that game. Finally we called her doctor she advised it better to have her looked at, if for no other reason then to make sure her tooth was ok. I could approximate the edges of the laceration on her lip, so I thought there might be a chance they should/would put in a stitch. I honestly thought they would tell us to keep it clean and make an appointment with the dentist. I couldn't have been more wrong.

She did ok with the doctor. The doctor did the same dance we did to put in one little stitch or not. Finally she decided that we should do the stitch, but there was a catch a BIG catch. The doctor told us that it would be better in the long run for Puddle if we just let the doctor put the stitch in, no numbing meds... Chris went pale. He already felt incredibly guilty because he was the one who told her to get the other train out of her room. Completely not his fault that she then tripped and fell but he still felt very bad. So to hear this, he just wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

The doctor was right. Numbing someone up for stitches is very painful and requires a big needle, plus the meds really burn. If we skipped that, yes it would hurt like hell, but it would be over quick and would only be one much smaller needle.

They also told us that they were going to have to papoose her, and that we could leave if we wanted. I couldn't ever leave them. Chris and I stayed but Chris stayed more in the back and helped the nurse hold her legs. I stayed by her face and tried to make it not so scary. The minute we laid her down she started screaming. That horrible make you heart stop scream. Thank God the doctor was good and fast and within two minutes she was back up.

She continued to scream and cry (can you blame her?!) and tell us 'those people hurt me'. She hit Chris directly in his chest screaming 'you let them hurt me!' Talk about ripping out our hearts. I kept telling her that we were so sorry and that it was all over. Chris made term arrangements to his new home... under the rock.

Before we even came home we stopped off for Motrin and headed right to the toy store. Chris took her by the hand and told her after going through all that she could have whatever she wanted! I thought he might have been kidding, oh no he meant it! LOL Thankfully, my Dino lover only picked two new dino sets. We showed her a few more things but she just wanted her little sets. In Charlotte style she had to hold them through the store.

So far tonight she had some pain when the Motrin wore off. When we gave her more Chris didn't put the bottle up high enough and about 20 mins later she walked back in the living room telling me it didn't work and we had to try again and her 'whip' still hurt.

We have to go to her doctor on Wednesday to get it taken out. I am going to keep an eye on her second top tooth, I think she might loose it before this is all over. We will have to see how that plays out.

The Dandelion Gave Her Smile Back

2011-02-21T22:09:00.002-05:00

I haven't blogged in a LONG time! There have been some great things in the past several months and some not so great things. The person I am going to focus on tonight is my Poose.

Life with Poose these past months has not been an easy one. Chris and I have been just dumb struck by it. There have been tears (hers and ours), rage, uncontrolled outbursts, terrible sleep patterns, horrible unfounded fear. We had talked to her doctor about at her well visit and she told us just to keep watching her. So we have been. Then this past Thursday her pre-school teacher took me aside and told me that she has noticed a shift in her focus at school. She said that she was 'drifting off' and her teacher was having to instruct her to do things several times before it clicked and she did them. This was the first time I thought that there really may be something wrong. Nothing fit though. It was a big ball of little things that were not adding up to anything.

Thank God this conversation happened that same day I had an appointment with her doctor because she was still sick. I again talked to her doctor. Told her everything that has been going on. Told her about the bruise that was left on her arm because she was trying to throw herself out of the van at Target. Chris was SO upset! I held nothing back. We aren't perfect either and I wanted to put it ALL out there. We needed help. Again she has told to watch her and completely ignore the tantrums (when we are home) and remove her from the store. Explain to her what our expectations are when we are out, ex. She agreed that it may be a bunch of little things that don't add up to anything, or it might be more. We just needed to give more time.

On the way from the appointment I thought about how we interact with Poose. I came up that maybe we might be babying her and needed to loosen up a little. We have given her a small list of chores. I was also thinking that she might also not being challenged in school and here at home. I asked her about really learning to read better. Right now she can with lots of help sound out a book. But girlfriend wants to read!! I told her that we were going to start working on that. She lit right up!

Isn't it funny that sometimes you just have to go to the doctor and you feel better? This has been Poose. She has been on point all weekend. She is still having sleep problems. That is just ongoing for her. I told Chris tonight that seems to have her smile back. There is this ease that is back in her face when she smiles. We are still taking everything a step at a time. But I think that whatever was haunting her is on it's way out.

I worry more about her then Puddle. I always have. The reason is a simple, I don't know what is in her past. I only have very basic information to go on, and that is saying it is even true. I look to far into everything. She has had a pain in her leg, it is off and on. I was sure there was something really wrong. She hasn't mentioned it again since her last well check.

I think there is a also a large part of me that still (4 years later) is waiting for the other shoe to drop. Chris and I have a family we didn't think we would ever have and we were given these two beautiful girls. I keep waiting for it to all be taken away. To wake up and find this was all just a dream. I am working on this. It is just hard to learn to relax.

I am just glad my big girl was given her smile back.

What's Been Happening

2010-08-06T14:25:00.002-04:00

Since I basically stopped blogging after trying to make it a goal to blog more this year I am know playing catch up. For me I've got to be in the right mood...

Let's review the family:

Chris, Megan, Lillaina, Charlotte, Gus, and Harley

Chris:

Still loving his job. Working hard on obtaining his Bachelors Degree. He is only 10 classes away now! 2012! His classes start again in just a few short weeks. It has been a much needed break for him. He is just been enjoying NOT being in school and hanging out! He took charge of the pool chemicals. It apparently is very hard to do with a smaller pool. IDK...He almost pulled a Carl Griswald and chucked it into the neighbors yard one day!

Megan:

I have been taking cake decorating classes. I think I am pretty darn good at it, if I do say so myself! Ever so slowly there is going to some great things happening in that direction! I did have one cake order but they backed out. I was bummed I will admit. But, I am focused on getting a fire lit slowly to keep it going, not be a flash in the pan. Stay tuned... I am hoping one day in the near future I will be able to ship some of my yummy things!

Lilliana:

She is just growing by leaps and bounds! My goodness! She can't wait for her school to start. She doesn't start until the end of October, so we still have a little time. Right now she is obsessed with Hula Girls, and Hawaii! She is writing her full first name. I love that she calls it her 'big girl name'. Everything for is a 'big girl' thing. A whole banana is a 'big girl banana', a hard boiled egg that she gets to pick is a 'big girl egg'. She loves her baby dolls. Princess Tiana is her favorite. She loves that her skin matches Tiana. In fact that is the major driving force for Chris and I to keep the Disney trip. That is a whole other post! Lily has been asking tons of questions about everything. She just wants to know everything about everything. How something works, why it works, why wouldn't work and on and on and on! She is very interested in Jesus, heaven, and death. She recently told me she was sad because her Daddy went to Jesus... ???!!! Was my response. Then she said something about him not dying, but that he works for Jesus. You should have seen Chris' face when I told him THAT story! She has been having a little trouble always telling the truth. We are working with her on that. Oh this is a funny...she wants to be a dragon for Halloween! She could totally pull it off! She is turning right into a little girl!

Charlotte-

Where did my baby go?! In less then 2 months she will turn 3! That is just unbelievable!Around this time every year I start thinking about her birthday. One day she wants Cinderella, then the next 'I cannot like Cinderella, I want Alice in Wonderland'. It is not a big deal at all it is more funny to see what she wants everyday! We are still working on her potty training. I refuse to stress over it. I stressed over Lily training and it backfired on me and stressed her out. I just keep telling myself she won't be in a pull-up in her wedding dress! Charlotte is sooo full of spunk. She loves to play dress up. In the course of one day she will in at least 3 different levels of dressed naked all the way up to full ball gown and 'diamonds'! We are going to talk to her doctor in October about her maybe being color blind. She is struggling with them. Chris is red and green color blind, these are the colors she has the most problems with. No harm in asking... Her favorite food is cheese. Chris and I were in a Lenox outlet and got the best giggle when we saw a cheese plate!

The girls in general are best friends. Look up the odd couple and there they are. Charlotte loves pok-a-dots, Lily strips. I plan to write about this later, but no matter how different they are, the closer it makes them. They love to go on adventures together to recue each other. Lily asked me if she could marry Charlotte. I told her she couldn't because she was her sister. She said 'ohhh ok, I just love her so much'. I melted right into a puddle!

Gus (AKA Butters)-

Our oldest fur baby! He is doing so much better. He had gotten out of the yard in June and messed up the pads on his paws. We had a round of antibiotics and pain meds. It was pretty sad. He seems to be back to normal! It has been almost a year since we lost Beanie and Gus has never looked better then he has these past few months with Harley. Making him happy was a top priority and I think we have finally gotten there.

Harley (AKA Lunch meat!)

He is our newest addition. He came to us through a friend at Chris' work. His daughter has a degenerative condition and wasn't able to keep him. When Chris first asked me about a boxer, NO WAY! Was my first response. But for whatever reason my heart softened and Harley came home. He is hands down the sweetest dog... well next to Gus! He is a good fit for us and as a buddy for Gus. He is like a big baby!

A Lost Boy Found

2010-08-05T20:00:00.002-04:00

When we started out on our journey for our family we had NO clue what an up hill battle we were about to endure. Five LONG years of trying on our own, procedures, blood work, medications all led to a monthly reminder that we still weren't pregnant. As corny as this is about to sound it all changed on a family vacation to Disney World. One night at the steps of Cinderella's castle during the fireworks we made a wish, well more like a statement of fact. The next time we would hear that music we would have our children with us. Chris and I spent a LONG time just walking and talking during that trip about what would be our next steps. We had three choices, well really two because we were not, not going to have children. We could either go through IVF (our next step medically), or we could adopt. Just because I listed adoption second for our choices doesn't mean that it was a last option, it was just another one. By the time we made it home from that trip the decision had been made. We didn't tell a soul.

We came back from that trip late November/early December 2004. We worked out tails off to pay down some of the stupid debt that we had, so that when the time was right we would be in the best possible standings. The fork in our road was one that would be costly no matter which we choose. Between the legal fees paid to an attorney to guide us through an adoption, or to the doctors who would guide us through an IVF. Bottom line, we were young (26) and were just starting out on careers. The money would have to come from somewhere, and we decided that when it was time we would try to take it out of our home. We didn't want to more forward until the money was secured in full. In April 2005 we signed the paperwork that would take us on the one of the wildest rides of our lives!

During the in between time we spent a lot of it looking at agencies. One afternoon we stumbled upon the website of the Adoption Agency we would later choose to use. At first when Chris and I talked about where we would adopt from we looked into the laws for a domestic adoption and decided that it wasn't a right fit for us. Then we thought about Russia, that country was a front runner for a while. The day we found our agency and saw those beautiful brown eyed babies, long story short we were in love!

May 5, 2005 - It is easy for me to never forget that exact day. We met with our Adoption Agency for the very first time. I don't think Chris and I (up until that point) had ever been more nervous. These people were going to tear us down to nothing and look for the one thing to deny us- or so we thought. It was VERY overwhelming and I don't remember much of it other then the large pile of papers were going to have to provide them. We got started right away!

May 18, 2005 in Guatemala City, a baby born was born.

We spent most of the summer gutting our house to make it perfect and safe for our new baby. We were inspected by the health department, fire department, we had been finger printed background checked, medically cleared, our family/neighbors and friends were asked to write letters to recommend us, we had to write out our Wills, you name it we did it. The final hurdle was the home visit. This is also when my interview happened. I remember throwing dog toys strategically around our living room so it look 'lived in'! When I was done she went across the street to our neighbors ( who have known me since I was 8 years old!) to make sure we didn't come home drunk or have too many random 'visitors'. In the end we passed with flying colors!

Sometime around the end of May the little baby boy who was born on May 18th showed up on our agencies photo listing. Side note, Chris and I never asked for a girl or a boy. We thought that since we would get a choice biologically why should we pick and choose now. We wanted a baby.

Close to the end of August we were just about cleared through the paperwork when Chris and I talked one night about this baby boy, who, after so many months was still on the photo listing. I remember asking Chris if he thought he was just waiting on us. We took a few more days to think about it and finally August 30, 2005 Chris called to ask. We were both at work, Chris called and I knew to go to the back Doctors office to talk. We had him! We were parents! I floated through the rest of the day. Later that night Chris' parents came over for a late birthday dinner for his Dad. One of his presents was showing him the picture of his soon-to-be Grandson. I wanted to tell all the Grandparents face to face so I kept my mouth shut to my Mom and lied when I told her we did call but he was already placed with another family. Just so we could make it to the weekend to ride down to tell them face to face.

In November we finished off the nursery. It was Winnie the Pooh from the ceiling to the floor. It was beautiful. Chris and I spent a lot of time in there talking, we liked being in there.

The next few months dragged by. We had an update here or there but we were moving at a snails pace. We made it through all the holidays by the skin of my teeth. Month after month passing with no real progress. Little did we know that was a HUGE BEAMING red flag.

Fast forward to January 18, 2006 - Chris' birthday. I had arranged for a singing telegram monkey to go to his work that afternoon. My boss knew I was leaving early, his boss knew what was coming. It was going to be an awesome birthday. I called in that morning to our agency to get a update. Thinking there may have been some movement and I would have happy news to tell him. I had to leave a message for our coordinator. She called back about 30 min's later. Even typing this now four and a half years later I can remember exactly what was said...

Agency: Hi Megan I am returning your call we do have news
Me: Great! What's going on?
A: Can you and Chris come into the office this afternoon? (I remember her voice was sooo quiet)
M: (knowing this is not good at all) What is going on?
A: We really need you guys to come in...
M: (my heart was beating so fast- the up in your throat thumping in you ears kind) WHY?! What is wrong? He isn't coming home is he...
A: I am so sorry....
M: (my heart literally shattered and I couldn't speak anymore I just let out squeaks)
A: Can you guys come in at 2?
M: Squeak
A: OK we will see you then
M: Squeak

I know looking at the words from the agency it seems as if they were cold about it. That is the farthest from the truth. She was quiet and respectful of the fact that my ability to breathe and speak were gone.

By the time I had hung up with the agency I had cuddled myself into a little ball in the corner of my desk, trying desperately to not bring attention to myself in front of a room full of patients. I found my way back to an empty office and started trying to get a hold of Chris, who was out at his birthday lunch at work. By now co-workers who had seen me take off gasping for air and red faced found me. My boss finally got a hold of Chris and tells him she doesn't know what is going on (I am still not forming full works other then gone and Matthew) but something was wrong with the adoption. Now, he had an idea I was planning something for his birthday but didn't have a clue as of what. So he thought for a split second 'this is a joke right?!' my boss assured him that something was indeed very wrong and he needed to come home. My boss and a co-worker drove me home.

I came in the house and just stood in the silence... this was a bad dream it was all a bad dream. After a minute I called my Mom. She couldn't make out a word I was saying, later she told me she thought I said Chris had died at first. I was able to get out what I knew which wasn't much. When Chris made it home we left albeit extremely early to go to the office.

We got there and were never given a straight answer of what had happened other then the adoption would not proceed and he hadn't died. The days following were the saddest we have ever lived through.

Four and a half years later we have his picture on our wall with our girls. He is the baby that made us parents for those 7 short months. There isn't a time I don't wonder about him, where he is, what he is doing, and prayed that he was safe. After Charlotte was born I had terrible PPD which only made his loss more painful when I looked at my beautiful girls.

Last night I found him again. I was searching for something for Lily and I stumbled upon a website to sponsor children from around the world. These are the times in my life God (or whatever greater being there is) shows themselves to me. A thought had popped in my head about sponsoring a child a few weeks ago. I hadn't told Chris because I knew it wasn't in the budget after last month. So I just sat on it. Last night I just started looking through the site and I saw that you could type in the child's birthday and current age, as well as country. I typed in all his info and up he popped! There wasn't a doubt in my mind. I called for Chris to come look and he to knew it was him. The name listed isn't the one that we knew as his birth name, it is our last name Henry. We decided that today at nap time I would call into speak with someone about what we found and see how much more info we could find out.

I told my story to this stranger on the phone who was wonderful and she said she had never had this happen before. The problem was the way their website is set up I couldn't find him again. She assured me this wasn't a problem and that their tech support could help me. Well, after spending time with the tech guy he also couldn't find him. He told me that someone else may have already chosen to sponsor him and that is why they couldn't find him in the listing. He told to watch the site and if he were to pop back up again to call, and they would grab it for me.

I hung up feeling completely defeated. I called Chris at work and filled him in. We both started searching the site and then it just popped into my mind to check my Internet history. I never do that! I found him! They couldn't see him because he was still sitting in my cart in my history. Our little boy lost was found again.

Double Kisses

2010-08-03T20:00:00.006-04:00

Lily has been asking a TON of questions about her birth mom. She calls her Guatemala Mommy. I am completely not threaten by her questions and I let them come out naturally. Funny though they always seem to come up during lunchtime.... sometimes while we are snuggling but mostly at lunch. She understands a lot of what happened during the process to bring her home-on a 4 year old level.

Today though the way she was retelling it to me took me aback. She said 'You wanted a baby of your own and you couldn't have one. Then you found me.' Most people not in the world wouldn't understand why that one word stood out, but it did like an elephant in an ant hill. I told her that was, in fact, my child and that God knew how badly we wanted a baby and how badly her Guatemala Mommy wanted her to have a great life. That God put us together. That made her smile. She kept talking about how much she misses her Guatemala Mommy, but that she doesn't want to leave me. She has a huge issues with 'her family' being taken away. She has nightmares about us (namely me) being taken away. We use reassuring language when this comes up. There is true anxiety about this for her. But it doesn't show itself in separation. She loves to go to school, go with Chris to the store without me. She even prefers Chris to me (look up Daddy's girl and there she is!). She will spend time with her Grands.

I thought we were doing to the right thing by making adoption a non-issue. Trying to make it a part of who she is not all that she is. She has been talking about wanting to visit her Guatemala Mommy. I told her that she could go anytime she wanted, but we needed to wait until she was a little older. She said she wanted to show her how good she was getting at her letters, and writing her name. I always tell her that I know she would be over the moon proud of her just like I am. I make sure I tell her that I know she loved her sooo much and wanted the very best for her. We have the picture that was taken of the two of them at the DNA appointment hanging in our living room. Am I reading to much into this? Should we search for her? Should we not? Would this good for Lily or not? I have NO clue... Why does being a parent NOT come with a manual?!

The sweet thing she said one day as we were talking about whom was who's parent (Mom-Mom is Momma's Mommy; Grandpa is Daddy's Daddy etc) Lily said 'my Mommy is my Guatemala Mommy.' My heart stopped, then that sweet baby said 'but you are my Momma'. I admit the corners of my eyes had the burn going on.

Lily, when you are reading this in 15 years... Momma is trying so hard to do this right for you! There was a song that I found when we were waiting for you called From Gods Arms To My Arms To Yours. It is from the prospective of the birth mom. The part that stuck in my mind is where she asks for the parents to kiss him for her. Every special thing in your life, sometimes just because I make sure I take that second and give you double kisses and how I wish with all my might that your Guatemala Mommy could know what was happening at that very moment.

My First Field Trip

2010-04-22T19:18:00.003-04:00

Beings that today was Lily's zoo field trip, she of course was up at midnight in our bedroom. Apparently she had gotten up vomited. We had no clue this was taking place because we had taken the monitor out of their room to take to my Mom's for Charlotte. Of course, I forgot to actually take drop it off to my Mom and it was still sitting in the living room in the bag when Lily looked at me and punched me right in the gut and said ' Mommy I was throwing up and you didn't come.' FAIL... :-(

Chris took off running to check out her bed (Charlotte's bed) and I was checking over her. I didn't see anything on her and Chris found nothing in her bed. Turns out she made it to the potty. She had started a cough and drippy nose on Monday and that is what we think was going on. After the total fail of not having the monitor in place, Chris plugs it all back in turns it on just for Lily to sleep the rest of the night in our bed.

She slept in late, her teacher told me that she didn't have to come in until 9am so that worked out just fine. Lily looked and sounded bad when she woke up. No fever, and no more throwing up just congested. After a little while she started to look more like cute self. We made it to school just in time.

**I have to side step here. Because I have been not blogging there is a piece of this story that won't make sense unless I stop and tell this other story KWIM? Good! Lily doesn't ask questions so much about her adoption anymore, she makes statements of fact. Sometimes they are right, sometimes she just misses and sometimes she makes my heart stop. Her most frequent statement is 'I don't want to go back to Guatemala, I missed you too much and not ever gonna leave you.' Now this statement is pieces of her story we told her about how much WE missed her and how WE weren't ever going to leave her. The part about not wanting to go back to Guatemala stems from us saying she could go visit there when she was older, she thinks it means she is going to stay there forever. **

We are on the bus on our way to the zoo Lily turned my face to hers, rubbed my cheek and said 'Momma I love you, I glad you come and be my partner, I never gonna leave you.' I melted.

Once we got to the zoo the preschoolers and high school students separated into their groups. Our group was Lily, her two high school teachers and myself. She held my hand the entire time. Not because I made her, because she wanted to. We walked that entire zoo and she only said one time that her legs hurt and that was on our way out.

We stopped at the gift shop brought home a new Giraffe that she has named Soft- because that is how he feels. When we got back on the bus she thanked me coming with her! There aren't enough words to express how wonderful today was!

Lily thank you for hands down one of the best days ever!

PS If you are looking for pics, I put them on facebook. Blogger is a pain to post pics on.

Ordinary Day

2010-02-22T21:50:00.002-05:00

This is so incredibly true...

Conversations With the Girls

2010-02-20T19:44:00.004-05:00

A while ago I was writing down chats with just Lily, because Charlotte really wasn't talking yet. Well, times have changed around here for sure here is a recent discussion.

I was letting out the dogs in the afternoon, I turned around and saw Charlotte standing on the back step, I came back into the house and she was giggling walking backwards...

C: Whoa (giggle giggle) whooooaaa Son Bitch!
M: Charlotte you CANNOT say that anymore it is a naughty word!
C: (hugs me around the leg) I sorry mommy, I so sorry.
M: It is ok but you just can't say that
L: (from the living room) what is wrong?
M: Nothing, we just cannot say naughty words..
L: What did Charlotte say?
M: Don't worry about it, worry about Lily ( I have been saying that a LOT lately!)
L: Oh she say Son of a Bitch again
M: DOh! (I couldn't help it I laughed- she caught me totally off guard) LILY PLEASE DO NOT repeat her! It is VERY naughty.
L: okay Mommy

At this point I was just about back in the living room I could see Lily playing

M: (trying to change the subject) Is Cinderella sleeping
L: Nope she died

After talking with her a little about what she thought dying really was, I was trying to figure out what she thought she knew

M: Lily where do you go when you die
L: (with the sweetest face ever) to the aquarium...
M:!!!
L: (she sensed my !!!) and changed her answer to the beach.

Sigh... we have a lot to work on!

**********************************************************************************
Some fun Charlotteisms:

*When I wake her up from nap and she isn't ready she bats at me and says 'leave me alone'!
*Tonight she wiped her brow and said 'whew that was a close one!'
*She tells us she is 'mad at yous' crosses her arms and I swear she says 'humph' and turns her head!
*She sounds just like Ming Ming from Wonder Pets when she sings!
*She is VERY honest when she does not want to do something she quite frankly tell me 'no, mommy no thanks'
*Her favorite food is chicken nuggets
*She says 'no thanks' to anything green
*Sometimes when she laughs she sounds like an old man! Think Louie Armstrong
*When I change her diaper I always ask her when she is going to go potty on her tinker bell potty, she laughs and cry's out 'NEVER!'
* Two nights in a row she has waited for Lily (the informer) to go to sleep and has emptied out her wipe container
*One night Chris went into check on them, and found Charlotte with the huge lotion bottle in her bed. He asked what she was doing and again in her very frank way said 'I lotion my feet Daddy'
* One of the favorite games right now is Pirate, she squeals 'arrgh matey' and we walk the plank daily!

Everyday I wake up and wonder what Chris and I ever did without these girls in our lives! They do make life fun.... even if now and again it is a bit challenging!

An Ode to Gracie Puppy

2010-02-20T19:25:00.003-05:00

Gracie Puppy, how do we love thee? We love thee through 2 laptop power cords, 1 pair of Chris' glasses, our sheets, CPAP mask, CPAP tubing, CPAP power cord, Blackberry power cord, cell phone ear piece, Valentine's candy, dog tie out, suitcase handle, belt, chewed off barbie hands, playdoh, 2 children's books, numerous toys, cardboard boxes, Chris' wallet, my wallet, $200 vet visit, and a mint plant.. insert your own joke here!

This is just what we can remember off the top of our heads. Gracie Puppy (her nickname given to her by Charley) is truly our Marley. She was discounted and everything! We should have known!!

Well, at least she is cute!

Sailor Charlotte

2010-02-16T07:32:00.003-05:00

Before I begin I wanted to put a small disclaimer on this post. The following story Chris and I are not proud of as parents and not something we are striving for. The only reason why it is getting told on here is because it is a priceless story...and it is REALLY funny.

Chris and I are far from prefect parents and part of that is not always using the appropriate language in front of the girls. It has gotten MUCH better over the years but slips do happen especially in the form of knee jerk reactions. Lily being the moral barometer that she is caught on quick that these are "naughty words" and will call us on it. We apologize and have a quick talk about not saying those words, nothing like being scolded by your 4 year old!

Charlotte however just doesn't get it yet, and has picked up from (Chris) us a bad habit. The first time I heard her say it, I didn't believe it. But there was no way it could have been anything else. Notice I said first time... yeah we are having a hard time breaking this.

So here it is... Every time she says 'Ouch' from getting hurt she follows it 80% of the time with a 'Son Bitch'. Sometimes we get the whole sentence sometimes just those two words. Now we have been on her about it. We thought it was getting better. We were at the Vet yesterday with Gracie (whole other story) and she said 'Ouch!' when she fell. Chris and I both just held our breath. Thankfully she ended it there.

Here is the priceless part, in the afternoon yesterday we were on our way to the pet store. Charlotte was playing with her doll in the back and pretended it was hurt this is the exchange we hear in the front:

C: Ouch SOB! SOB!
M&C: Charlotte do not say those words...
C: SSSSOOOBBB
Lily: Mommy Charlotte is saying SOB...again.

M&C: <> We do NOT want to hear that anymore from either of you!
L&C: Otay!

So far so good today. It is very hard not to smile when she does say it though because it is very matter of fact. I told Chris he has turned our baby girl into Cartman from South Park... she needs a V Chip!

Lily's Fairy Tale Day!

2010-02-09T11:31:00.003-05:00

Long overdue video from Lily's special day at Disney! Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Earthquake in Haiti

2010-01-14T10:17:00.004-05:00

A fellow blogging Momma (http://www.michellesmiles.com/) posted this link on her blog PLEASE follow it and help if you can.

http://www.thatschurch.com/

This is the email/webforms for the Senator's Cardin and Milkulski

cardin.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm Phone : (202) 224-4524

mikulski.senate.gov/Contact/contact.cfm Phone : (202) 224-4654

Please call/write and help get these babies OUT of there! Remember how it felt for Chris and I to be powerless. What these parents are going through we can't even imagine. Please do this in Lily's name as way of celebrating her homecoming anniversary this Sunday.

Thank you!

Monster Trucks and Pixie Dust

2010-01-13T09:25:00.003-05:00

Last week the girls and I all had nasty colds. So nasty in fact for a couple days I wanted to use the 3 letter F word. It didn't progress that far, but it was close. Lily picked it up somewhere and shared it (she is learning soo much at preschool!) with us. Thankfully, it didn't hit everyone at once. By the time Lily was showing improvement, I started. True to form Charlotte got it the worst and is hanging on the longest.

A few nights ago, she really started coughing. We rubbed her chest with Vicks, and pulled out the humidifier with a Vicks pad in that. That did help for a while, but by the time Chris and I were going to bed she started again. We pulled a pillow off of our bed and tried propping her up with it. That seemed to do the trick.

The night before last, Chris had gone into check on them and found Charlotte with her head under her pillows. He pulled her out, she was covered in sweat but ok. We took our pillow away and everything was fine. She hadn't done that with her pillow before. Then yesterday at nap time I was going to try again with the two (it really was helping with her cough). She wanted NO parts of her pillow, she wanted mine. So I put hers on the bottom and mine on top. She snuggled her little head done on that pillow and sighed saying 'momma' and rubbed her head some more!

Then last night Chris didn't put the pillows the way I had at bedtime, but she didn't complain either. I had gone into check on them and found her again with her pillow over her head, laying on mine! I think I lost my pillow! LOL

She is just getting sooo big! I can't believe in about 6 more weeks she is going to 2 1/2! We are sitting on pause with potty training. She still likes the idea of it and will void on it sometimes, but she still likes the convenience of her diaper.I am fine with this, it is her last attachment to babyhood. She still prefers to eat with her hands. Chris and I were talking one night at dinner while we watched her eat with her hand while holding her spork. We decided right then that we are going to continue to encourage to eat with the spoon/fork, but not sweat over it. We know that at her wedding she will be eating with a fork!

This weekend Chris looked right at her and told her she was the prefect mix of Monster Trucks and Pixie Dust. This is so true! It is not uncommon to find her fully dressed in a princess ball gown playing with her tools 'fixing' something. She got a purse for Christmas to use for dress up. She loves to get it out and fill with her cars or trains and then put it on her arm.

She loves to play Wonder Pets. She will run up to Chris, and shout 'oh no, Gracie puppy in trouble!' Chris will ask her what they should do, she says 'I know, rescue!' Then he will ask her what she needs she says 'rope!' Then she runs out of the room to go start rescue. She could play this for hours!

One of her favorite things right now is Ela Fun! Who knew? I have to get this on video! Chris said she plays it like she is going for Gold in the XGames! It is Extreme Ela Fun in our house! She lets Lily have one of the nets then she must have the rest, she doesn't get it to try to catch the butterfly's, she hits at them. Oh my it is funny!

We are working on her dressing herself. This has been a slow milestone for her. Again I think she just likes the convenience of me dressing her. She does have opinions on what she likes to wear though! This morning we were running a little late to get Lily to preschool, so I sent her in her room to get out a pair of soft pants (what we call sweats/yoga pants). Well on her first attempt she came out with shorts, uhh no. I told her to try again and find pants. Second attempt she came out with pants, she was just trying to put them on legs by putting it over her head! It really helped to lighten up a stressful morning. Oh then she got them off of her head sat down and put two legs in one hole. Of course she stood up to check out her work just to fall. Lily and I were laughing so hard! Charlotte was laughing as well. Finally, she got her feet right and pulled them up! Lily and I cheered for her! Oh please don't think I was just sitting there watching her struggle, I was putting Lily's hair up.

She loves to cuddle again, she went through a Miss Independent phase. But now I guess it is cool again to snuggle! Kissing has also made a huge come back! Lily has always been a Daddy's girl, now Charlotte is starting to be one as well. Chris is in heaven! Everyday when he comes home from work it is like a rockstar has come to our house!

She and Lily are so tight, Chris and I don't have a chance! They love to play together, for the most part. Daily there are small issues, but I think it that over all they are Best Friends.

Ohh this is a funny one... she is sneaky! Charlotte loves to get out of her bed at night time. Normally Lily is still awake and rats her out! The other night though, I was on my way to the shower, and I walked past their room. I saw a small movement out of the corner of my eye. There she was up out of bed, standing by the dress-up area putting purses on her arm completely unaware I was watching her. I of course called Chris to see how cute this was! Once he saw we swung the door open talk about deer in the headlight!!

She is very demanding! We are constantly saying 'did you forget something?' Yesterday she was timed out for not putting the shoes away. I try to have the toys picked up before Chris gets home (keyword try). I wanted her to put the shoes that were scattered from playing dress up. She refused and actually told me 'never!' LOL It took two, two minute spats in time out for her to get the point!

She loves to sing! Row Row Your Boat, is her newest. Verbally in general she has exploded. There is very little I don't understand. My favorite thing she says right now is 'ummm, Momma?'

I can't wait to see what else is next for Miss. C!!

Back to the Grind

2010-01-04T19:06:00.003-05:00

** I guess it would have been great if I included the name of the movie we went to see!! Yes, it was The Princess and the Frog! **

Holiday vacation is over for Mr. Henry :-( The girls both woke up asking where Daddy was. We spent the morning trying to get back on schedule and get things put up and away. Basically trying to make sense of all the things that were laying about. Lily's nose is still running, Charlotte is also now starting a little drip. We just got Charlotte's cough gone, hopefully this will stay a minor thing. Fingers crossed!

Tomorrow the girls and I are going to venture out to the store to get a few things to make cupcakes for Lily to take into school for her birthday. Chris and I told her she could invite 2 friends from school, she picked her little boy she is going to marry (her words not mine!) and another little girl. This is going to be our first little friend party. Next year we are going to let her invite all 12 kids from her class. We are going to have to figure out somewhere ELSE to have it. LOL But it is for her 5th, so we will see...

One on One Time

2010-01-03T18:55:00.002-05:00

If you haven't already noticed what one of my resolutions this year is to try to blog as much as possible. I have a lot of undone posts I am working on getting finished as well as finishing off the videos and posts from Disney.

Another resolution Chris and I have made as a parenting team is to try to spend a lot more quality time with the girls. Not just be in the same room, but really engage them. I have read TOO many blogs this year written by parents who have lost their spouse or child. We really want these remaining cool years count. Before we know it Lily and Charlotte will be too cool to go the movies with Mommy, or on a special dinner date with Daddy. This year we are going to do much more of things like this. Today was the beginning.

I took Lily to see her very first movie in a theater! Chris and I were going to take her together but were afraid that time was running short, they just don't keep the movies in the theaters like they used to. Today was the perfect day! We told her that we were going to go as long as she wasn't running a fever (she still has that yucky runny nose, and she threw-up a ton of mucus over night) that we would go. She must have asked us to check her forehead at least 20 times this morning. She stayed cool and didn't vomit anymore. We were good to go! She was treated to a full on big girl morning. She got a shower and got to pick out her clothes it is amazing what a 4 year-old finds cool! :-) She took her Tiana baby doll on the ride over as well.

We had been talking about the movie and what to expect, hers and our main concern was when the lights go out- she is still having dark issues. On the way over she asked 3 million questions about the movie and what was going to happen. Once we got there she was in heaven! She got to have a Sprite- I think that is the first time she ever had a soda of her own!

Before I forget, I have to add this... Last year Lily shared with me a bag of popcorn as a snack in the afternoon. This was at the same time (although we didn't know it at the time) we were all brewing that horrendous stomach bug. Long story short Lily threw it all back up. She has never forgotten, and will tell anyone who asks that she doesn't like popcorn because she threw it up. All that background for this. The other day while I was getting her ready for her rest I asked if she was going to get popcorn at the movies. She told me no, she wanted broccoli!! LOL Only Lily!

Today just as I was about to pay for our drinks she asked for popcorn....sigh.... I asked for the smallest bag they had, it was still bigger then she was!! I think in total she ate 4 single popcorn! :-) She LOVED the Sprite though!

The movie itself was very sweet! Lily sat like a movie going pro. The end of the movie has a certain few scenes I didn't expect, I looked over at her to see a single big fat tear rolling down her cheek. Then when the movie was over I looked over at her again and she had her face all rolled up like she was going to really get crying. I asked her what was wrong and she told me 'I not crying Momma, it was just such a sweet movie'. I just wiped up her face and promised she could take her still mostly full cup of soda home and that seemed to help!

When we got home she told Chris all about her crying and again reassured him that she wasn't sad! He got a kick out of that! To make up for Chris not going to the movie he is planning their first dinner date!

Don't think we have forgotten Charlotte! Right now she loves having the extra one on one time with us. She and Chris stayed in and watched all the Star Trek (BIG SIGH) movie trailers together on the DVR. Chris is happy to report she is well on her way to Trekhood! She and Chris made lunch together and played with her new toys.

A very nice way to spend our last day of holiday vacation!

Not a Party Until Somebody Vomits!

2010-01-02T19:40:00.002-05:00

Today for Lily's birthday we told her that she was in charge (within reason!) and she could call the shots! We celebrate Lily's birthday (with a party) farther in the month of January for a couple reasons. 1) It is REALLY close to two major holiday's, and 2) Lily shares her birthday with her Cousin Juice and 3) if we wait just 2 more weeks she can celebrate not only her birthday but also her homecoming day! We have done this since she has come home and works very nicely.

Last year we started letting her pick where she wanted to go/do with a little help. This year, I asked one afternoon and she told me she wanted to go see the Dolphin Show at the Aquarium! So this morning after she picked her breakfast of toasted PB & J, with milk. We headed out to the Aquarium.

We were literally about 2 blocks from the garage on a one way street and a Mini-Van came barreling around the corner coming at us head on!! Chris blared the horn and the man (also with his family) looked about as shocked as we did, gave the obligatory hand of 'oops my bad!' backed out onto his road. I was upset that this had happened, but I had to giggle when I saw his wife's mouth moving a million times a minute and looked like she wanted to crawl under a rock!

The rest of our 2 block journey was quite uneventful! We parked and headed in. We only had about 45 minutes to wait for the Dolphin Show so we didn't want to get too involved with the anything. We let the girls play on the bubble tubes for a few minutes and then headed over to watch the Dolphins in their tank before the show. Lily was in heaven!!

The show was great! Charlotte was MUCH more into it this time. When we had gone over the summer she was not too impressed at all. This time though she was clapping, and waving at the dolphins for the whole show. I don't think we even pulled many snacks out. Lily loves the show and just sat there fascinated by it. Every time one would jump out of the water she would gasp and her mouth would fall open!

When the show was over we made our way back down to the underwater tank to say our last good-byes to the dolphins. Lily then wanted to see the Jellies, and the Sharks. The line for the Jellies was quite long, so we headed over to find the sharks. If you haven't been to the Baltimore Aquarium, the area they keep the shark tanks in is very dark and ominous. Lily has, in the past, had problems dealing with the darkness of it. She has never flat out refused to go through it, she didn't love it. I was surprised when she said she really wanted to go see them. We made it all the way to the top of the escalators. We told her that we were at that the sharks and she told us 'ok, I am a little scared, but I have you guys so I won't be too scared.' :-) She did really great! Even walked by herself at some points!!

After that we headed back to Jellies! The lines were all gone. Charlotte really likes this! She just stood in her spot and stared! Lily walked right up to the one tank and literally talked to the Jelly. She told the Jelly it was her birthday, apparently it was the Jelly's birthday as well and the Jelly smiled at her. It was soo cute, her exchange even made a hardcore-tween aged boy smile a little.

After we were done with the Jellies it was well past time for lunch. The only other request Lily made for her birthday was to eat out somewhere for dinner. We promised her Pizza Hut. However there was no way we were taking them anywhere for dinner after having walked them most of the day with no nap. We thought quick on our feet, we needed to sell to her that lunch at the Aquarium was just as nice as Pizza Hut. In the end we think she just wanted to eat out. She was very excited that we were going to have lunch there and was just fine having a 'big girl pizza' brought to our house!

I will admit the girls really kept it together for the day. We knew we were on borrowed time when Charley ate her lunch with her head on the table. After lunch was all done we wiped everybody up and headed for the gift shop. We left Lily pick out a new doll she picked a Jelly Fish she is calling Flounder, and Charlotte won Chris over when she picked up a baby seal and said, 'Look Daddy a Sea Puppy!' We paid and headed for the van.

Charlotte didn't make it out of the city before she literally collapsed in her car seat. Lily though was up and wired! We were about 5-10 minutes from home and she started singing a song over and over and over again. After about the 7Th time, we asked her to please pick a new song. She started giggling, and kept singing, and laughing. What really can you do about that?! We teased back with her and she would just keep singing, and laughing. At one point she got herself laughing really hard and then she got quiet. She has had a runny nose (again) for about 2 days...yeah singing + laughing + snot = you guess it vomit! sigh....

The great news is that it really was just that, she was completely normal the rest of the afternoon/evening. We did get our pizza ordered in and she was sung a beautiful albeit, off key version of Happy Birthday by her loving family! She had a bath (as she requested) and had two books at bedtime.

All in all I think that Miss Lily enjoyed herself just a tiny bit more then we did today!

Happy 4th Birthday Lilliana!!

2010-01-02T00:00:00.002-05:00

Dear Lilliana,

This year just has zoomed right past us! You hit the ground running at 3. This was your year for sure! You took swim and dance class, upgraded to a big girl bed, went to Disney World, started pre-school, became fully potty trained, got glasses, got your ears pierced, saw the ocean and was a flower girl. It has been a fun-filled year for sure! Your Daddy and I really understand why parents warn each other about the 3rd year! You could have been the poster child for a 3 year old! Such a mix of sassy and sweet! Although we had our share of hard days, I wouldn't trade one. To do so would be losing a day with you. Daddy and I love you through the good days right along with the extra whiny ones.

We are so proud of the little lady you are growing into. You are such a great big sister. You are so patient and kind with Charlotte. There is this gentle grace you have about you. I was listening to you laugh while you played tonight with Daddy and Charlotte. I just let it wash over me. It is the sound of pure happiness.

Lilliana, you are one of the two best gifts Daddy and I have ever been given. We can't wait to watch you grow. You aren't our fragile little Lily anymore. You are smart, strong, and the most beautiful chocolate eyed little (big) girl we have ever known!

We love you as high as the sky and as deep as the ocean, it will never end. Happy Birthday Sweet Lily!!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Not to be Forgotten

2010-01-01T19:51:00.004-05:00

Something happened at dinner that I don't ever want to forget. It was one of those moments that your child says something that just stops everything. Tonight it was Lily's turn. Lily is in the know-it-all stage. She knows everything about everything. If you try to correct her she has been been known to say 'actually, it is Momma'. Yeah, the teen years are gonna be great! LOL Well tonight she was an expert on America.

We have NO CLUE where this came from. She started off telling us that we (Chris and I) could go to America because we were grown-ups. She and Charlotte couldn't yet. Then she went onto say that America was 'very far away, it is right next to Disney World'. Chris and I asked her where were now since we were not in America. She told us we were at home. Obviously!

Then she says... 'we can't whine or cry or we can't go to America.'

I asked her where she heard this from. She told us from A.

(Lily's Birth mother shares the same name as a female character in a cartoon that she likes... this will help explain why we questioned her)

So I asked her if she meant A from (insert name of show), or she is talking about her Birth Mommy. She told me she meant her birth mom.

THEN SHE SAYS...

'A told me not to cry when I go to America it is ok.'

I looked at Chris he looked back at me with the same WTH mixed with tears expression.

Where does this come from? It isn't the first time she has said something profound like this about her birth mom. It normally happens just like this completely out of left field!

Last Post of the Year!

2009-12-31T19:53:00.003-05:00

2009 I think will be year we look back to and remember as a year of growth. Growth for the girls in so many ways it is easy to loose count. We were eating dinner tonight and Chris and I were talking about Charlotte and her big girl bed, he had totally forgot that Lily too upgraded this year. Growth for Chris and I not only as a couple but also as individuals. He and I hit a large bump in our road this year. While I am not happy that we had to go through that period, in the end I think we came out stronger for it. I know that we are only going to keep growing as a family as we enter into this next year.

2010 has a lot of wonderful things already waiting for us. First of all Chris and I will be celebrating our 10Th wedding anniversary, and a total of 15 years together as a couple. In September we will be heading back to Walt Disney World to celebrate our anniversary along with my parents who will celebrating their 35Th wedding anniversary!

This time next year Charlotte will be potty trained! Wahoo! Hopefully so will Gracie Puppy! Double WaHOO! :-) Chris will be rounding home with his Bachelor's program.

I am working on a video for the whole year. I normally try to do one for each of them on their birthday but time just got away from me, so I am going to wrap them both into one!

I hope that you and yours have a wonderful happy healthy New Year!!

Bye-Bye Baby

2009-12-31T07:23:00.004-05:00

About 6 weeks ago, Charlotte decided that during her nap time she would no longer be sleeping in her toddler bed. The first time she did this about scared me to death because when I went in to check on her I didn't see her right away. Lily doesn't nap in her bed, she likes ours to nap/rest in so she really thought it was funny that 'silly Charlotte' was using her bed. Ever since that very first day she has flat out refused to nap in her little bed. Charlotte would sleep in her bed at bedtime. Lily made it quite clear to her on those first few attempts that Charlotte made that she didn't find it that funny.

Chris and I knew that she wouldn't last very long in her little bed, and were very glad we didn't invest too much money into it. But we were very concerned as to how two twin beds would fit into their bedroom. At first we looked at bunk beds, but we were very uncomfortable with it. We kept thinking it over trying to figure out the spacing. In the meantime she just kept napping away in Lilu's bed!

Then Christmas week came. Chris and I had been talking about what we would do over his break from work and school. We had nothing at all planned. This is not a good thing for us, as we seem to get into projects. This week has been one huge project.

We realized that the only way to get their two beds in the room was to not have the last two remaining pieces of the nursery furniture in the room. Not really what we wanted to do for a couple of reasons; 1) it cost a lot for it, and 2) I am not ready for it to be gone. What to do? What to do?

Then it hit us in the back of the head... re purpose! Both pieces were saved, just moved out of the room. In their place is now two (much smaller) dressers, TWO big girls beds and two very happy little girls!!

Bye-Bye Baby Charlotte :-( Hello to our newest Big Girl!! :-)

Here is the video from our adventure!

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Best.Christmas.Ever!

2009-12-25T19:24:00.015-05:00

The title of this post says it all! Today was simply blissful. Chris and I were hard at work until about 1:30 this morning. I think the few glasses of wine didn't help our progress! Before we went to bed we had the great idea to run Lily into the bathroom to pee, to maybe help her sleep just a bit longer. It did help a little. She got up at her normal time. But not early! We will take that!

We heard her rolling around on the monitor, we wanted to hear her reaction to Santa bringing the girls their very own little tree for their room. We were laying in our bed giggling listening to her reaction. It was a huge gasp, followed by thumping of little feet. She had announced pretty late in the Christmas present gathering that Little Mermaid was now a favorite (?) and she really wanted a Little Mermaid doll. Thankfully Santa got our message and right beside her already stuffed stocking was her Ariel doll! When she found it she whispered 'Charlotte wake up, Charlotte WAKE up! I got Ariel!' Then we started to hear Charlotte stir more thumping of more little feet, and squealing that she has found her 'tinter bell!'

We opened up the stockings in their room. We sent them into our room to watch a show. Chris and I really think that they thought that was it! I will let the pics do the rest of the of story.

This is what happens when you tell a 3 year old to throw the reindeer food into the yard! :-)

Leaving our food for the reindeer!
Putting out the key just for Santa!

Ohh they are sooo darn cute!! :-)
Christmas Morning!!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I love her faces! Everything is just such a surprise for her!

Charlotte was not into it right away... ohhh but she got into it soon!

Too cute!

Charlotte and her train! She LOVES this! Santa got it just right for her!

Lily proclaimed that this 'was just what I always wanted!!'

The girls LOVE to play salon.. I have the bruised scalp to prove it!! So they HAD to have a vanity!

Getting ready to play salon!

Charlotte in her new pink satin Princess night gown, high heel dress up shoes, playing train!!

Lily with her Leapster game!

There is NO way this day could have been better! The girls played ALL day! They didn't even take a nap (oh we tried!)! I will say this evening if we had our camera out we could have won 10,000 from America's Home Videos. Charlotte and Chris were playing with the train on the floor, Chris put another little car on the tracks. He tells Charlotte to stop the train with her train controller. What does she do? What any other two year old would.... she hit the train with all her might with the controller, then yelled out 'Yeahhh!! I did it!!' OMG it had us rolling on the floor!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Tomorrow we got to visit with Chris' family in the afternoon! We are excited to see everyone!

3 It's Our Magic Number...

2009-11-29T22:00:00.005-05:00

A friend of mine once wrote on her blog that when she couldn't get the thought of another child off of her mind, she asked God "to change her mind, or change her heart". I must have read that line years ago and it has stuck with me all this time. I have asked for the same thing, so far the only thing that has happened is that the little seed in my heart has grown.

This past month made it quite clear what we wanted. We thought that by some medical miracle we had become pregnant. I stayed VERY quiet about it (sorry mom). I didn't want to think too much into it knowing full well it more then likely I wasn't- it just isn't possible. But thought we did, excited we got. Just to be told what we already knew. It really happened for a reason, Chris and I talked a lot about what having another child would be like and in the end it made it crystal clear to us that we indeed have room in our hearts (though maybe not our house) for another child.

While growing this little seed in my heart, it has seemed to become rooted on a specific spot. Really no different then when we choose Guatemala for Lily. My heart was sold on those beautiful faces. My heart has fallen in love with Special Need population. Chris wasn't too blown out of the water when I told him this. I worked for 12 years as a Nurse with adults with Special Needs. I grew up with a best friends whose brother and sister were living with Downs Syndrome. The only thing I couldn't really express why. That was until tonight and I was left to entertain myself (dangerous!;-) while he worked on homework. I stumbled onto the story of the Starfish.

Once upon a time there was a wise man that used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer.He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn’t dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.As he got closer he called out, “Good morning, what are you doing?” The young man paused, looked up and replied, “Throwing starfish in the ocean.” “I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?” “The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don’t throw them in they’ll die.”“But, young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly make a difference!” The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”There is something very special in each and every one of us. We all have a gift – the ability to make a difference. And as we become aware of this gift, we strengthen our vision and power to shape the future. We must each find our starfish. And if we throw our starfish wisely and well, the world will be blessed.

So far this is just in the talking phase and not a step past that. We really can't do anything anyway until Chris is done with school. In a way the wait is just what we need to really think it all the way through. I do admit there is a large part of me that wants Guatemala to get itself together and for adoptions to reopen. That is our very first choice. 3 will be our magic number though. Chris has always just wanted 2 and I wanted 4. So 3 is just perfect for us!! :-)

Craft Time This Morning!

2009-11-10T13:25:00.002-05:00

This morning while working on a our Thanksgiving Turkey Hand Crafts, Charlotte surprised Lily and I! She started naming colors. Before today she had only been saying red. This is why I love I get to stay home with them!

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Lily's Big Day!!

2009-10-28T14:33:00.004-04:00

****I have a lot more pics, but for some reason I can't flip them. When Chris gets home I will have him look and add them then. ****

Today Lily started preschool! She did great and we held our breathe.

Here is a little insight on Miss Lily. When she gets anxious she talks a lot about Guatemala. A LOT. The more she talks about it the more anxious I know she is becoming. Yesterday, we talked about Guatemala ALL DAY. It started in the morning when I was in the bathroom, she came in (as normal) scooted her little self on the side of the tub and promptly informed me that she wanted to 'talk about Guatemala'. She followed that statement by letting me know that she 'didn't want to go there' and she was 'sad when we leave her there'. I reminded her that we only left because we HAD to but came back as soon as we could, and that she is home forever. I also reminded her that when she is older it is ok if she wants to go back to visit, but that her home was here. She just nodded and repeated that she didn't want to go.

I let it go, we always let her be the Captain of the Guatemala boat. But I knew there was something up. Through the day she was very snuggly. That isn't so normal as much anymore since she decided that she was 40 and would sit in Chris' seat when he isn't home. Remember she is a big girl! We even rested together and watched movie on my bed. I just went with it. Before bed last night there was more Guatemala chats and more reassurance was given that she was home forever. She did concede at one point and tell me that she would go but 'just one time for a little bit'. No problem.

At 530 this morning she wakes up screaming 'Don't leave me!!' over and over again. Chris went to get her and brought her into our bed. While he went to the bathroom I asked her if she was ok, she told me that she was sad because we left her in a store. :*( All 3 of us snuggled up until it was time to get up and ready for school.

She got up very excited, there wasn't anymore talk of Guatemala or being left anywhere. We went over who is allowed to to what to her. The whole, who touches your glasses, earring, Suzie talk. She was right on the ball and very excitedly told me that she will wipe her own butt in school- wouldn't that make any Momma proud!! LOL

We got Charlotte up and off we went! Taking a TON of pictures on the way! We got there a little early- when it only takes literally 2 minutes to get there that tends to happen! We let her get out and we all walked up to the door. It was still closed so we hung out and waited a while. I told her then when it was time to go in the big kids would come out and that Mommy, Daddy and Charlotte would all say good-bye and she would go in without us. Well wouldn't you know the next words out of her mouth were 'I don't want to go to there without you' I asked what she was talking about and if she meant school. She told me 'no Guatemala' sigh.... Rewind the tape. stop.start.

'Lily, baby, you can go to Guatemala whenever you want... when you are older. You aren't going today, and Guatemala isn't behind that door. Your school room is. Mommy and Charlotte will be here at lunchtime to come get you... I promise. ok?'

That seemed to be enough. The older kids came out about a minute later. We did as we told her and said a quick good-bye handed off her bag of supplies. We walked away. And like two big babies CHARLOTTE and I burst into tears! Charlotte kept saying 'WherD Lilu go? WherD Lilu?' Chris told her she was ok and then asked if she wanted to go get a donut... amazingly her crying just stopped. Then she asked Chris 'Momma K?'. We all got home and Chris left for work.

Charlotte and I headed over to the store. I think both she and I are going to need to figure out our new routine too.

Before we knew it was time to go get Lily! We headed back over and she came out smiling ear to ear! Her teacher said she did great and there was no problems at all! She hasn't said one more word about Guatemala or being left behind. Tomorrow she is having a Halloween Party. We are in charge of Napkins! But the looks of the list she is going to have a great party! They are supposed to wear their costumes. They will be trick or treating around the school (just the teachers!).

When we got in the car to come home she announced that she LOVED school and she couldn't wait to go back tomorrow! I asked if she knew the names of anyone or if she played with any of the other little girls, she told not the girls, the little boys (I think somewhere Chris just grabbed his chest! LOL). They class sang itsy bitsy spider, she got to paint, and played doctor. She had a great day!!

Going to the Chapel...

2009-10-13T14:03:00.028-04:00

On October 7 Chris' little sister Lizzie got married to a wonderful guy named Jeff. It was a beautiful ceremony on Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. Here are pictures from the day! Enjoy... I do apologize the pics are all out of order thanks to blogger.

Lily and her new 'for real' (her words) Uncle Jeff!

Lizzie, Lily and Jeff

So happy!!

Lily and Grandpa

Charlotte and Grandpa

Lizzie, Charlotte, Jeff, and Lily

Charlotte and Grandpa

Lily and Grandpa

Sweet Charlotte- putting sand in her flower basket!

Sassy Charlotte!

Charlotte and Jeff

Lily building a sand castle

Grandma and Grandpa

Junior bridesmaids and the flower girls- soooo cute!!

our baby

Our two beautiful girls

The new Mr. and Mrs!

Sealed with a kiss!

The Sand Ceremony

Grandma and Grandpa

Charlotte fell asleep right after she completed her flower girl duties! Thank God for that answered prayer- all I asked for was for her to be still, I'll take a quick nap anytime!!

WIDE awake at the reception!

So beautiful!

Our baby (shh don't tell her that she would have a fit!- she is a big girl you know!!)

I think this is a repeat but I am gonna leave it, because it is my blog and I love this picture of them!!

It's a GIRL!!!

2009-10-10T11:03:00.003-04:00

Introducing..........

Gracie Lou Freebush AKA Gracie!

She is a 9 week old Beagle! She came home on Friday. We went to visit with her the Sunday before last in the afternoon and met her Momma and Daddy. We asked if the owners would be willing to let us pay a deposit and pick her up after the wedding. They were agreeable to that. It turned out to be a good that we had that week in between. We had time to talk more to the girls about her coming home. Something we weren't expecting was the tears from Lily off and on this week about Beanie. She has talked about him more this week then ever before. We are all adjusting well. You do really forget that having a puppy is very close to having a new baby. With Chris being on a work trip this week it's been fun!! ;-)

She and Gus have been getting along ok. Gus is a shy guy and not at all Alpha-Dog material. We knew when we started thinking about a new friend that we needed to have one that wouldn't come in and rule the roost. So far it looks like we hit it right on the head!

Welcome to our family Sweet Gracie!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Charlotte!!

2009-10-05T21:01:00.002-04:00

Dear Charlotte,

Wow, is all I can say! I cannot believe you are two years old already!! This year you have just blossomed into a beautiful little girl. Not much baby Charlotte left. While this makes your Daddy and I sad, we are also feel so happy and blessed that we are able to watch you grow each day. I love to watch you learn something new. My favorite memory of you this year would have to be the day that you discovered the fly in the window. You and I must have sat there for an hour 'talking' all about that little fly. You were just amazed by it. I found that beauty can take form in a little house fly that only little ones take the time to really notice. As I sit here and think back to the days leading up to and your birth I realize that we may not have understood the timing with everything but someone knew that we would be missing a little burst of sunshine. That is why we were given the gift of you. You bring so much joy and happiness into our little house. I don't Lily thinks it is so joyous when you playfully take her favorite toy and take off running squealing with laughter. But, you two love each other so much that alone makes your Daddy and I the happiest. In years to come I hope that you never loose the way that you love. You give it your all, just like you do all things. Whether it is wrestling toys away from Lily, or giving big hugs and kisses to your 'babies' in your bed, or making sure you catch your kiss and put it on your face each night. Charlotte we love you so very much, you truly are an angel sent from heaven and we feel lucky to be your parents.

We love you as high as the sky and as deep as the ocean, and it will never end.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!!!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-01T14:26:00.001-04:00

“Happy Birthday to you…You work at a zoo…Charlotte laughs like a monkey…and Lily forgets to say “I pooed” Not the traditional version we have all grown to love, but we are not a traditional family. :)

Today marks the day that my beautiful wife was born. This blog has been to many of you a window into our lives, but sometimes the person who is responsible for this wonderful site goes unnoticed behind the curtains. Today Megan is your day. I wanted to let you and the whole world know how much we all love you. You bring so much happiness into our lives and we are truly blessed to call you “Mommy” and “Wife”. So for this one day Megan stand in front our window and let the whole world see just how special and magnificent you are.

Happy Birthday, Megan

Love,

Chris, Lily, and Charlotte

Disney Day 4 Video!

2009-09-29T21:29:00.002-04:00

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Family Memo #1

2009-09-28T21:43:00.006-04:00

Dear Patients 0,1&2,

Don't act confused you know who you are and I love you all dearly. I really do, so please do not take offense to this letter. Mommy is just tired, tired of almost 3 full weeks of snot, chicken pox, bronchitis, sinusitis, snot, ear infections (did you see the plural on that? Yes I am talking to you Charley!), snot, vomit, oh yes and my favorite of all of this, the goo-like snot cheesy substance that two of you have decided needs to now come out of your eyes!!! Did I mention the snot?! Mommy does not want to go to the doctor (again) this week, don't mean to keep singling you out Charley I know that you were a little late to the snot party. Thank GOD your doctor took pity on me today and just called your antibiotic in. I just wanted you all to also know that I have no clue why I haven't caught more then this weird half-illness thing from you sick people, but I think that you are ALL in on it!! I don't like it, I am tired of it!! Yes Chris, I have told my body to get sick or get off the pot! So far it is still only half listening!! ARGH!

Do I have to remind y'all that this weekend is Charlotte's birthday party?! Oh yeah, and NEXT week is Lizzie's WEDDING! Snot is not cute on a flower girl... OR THEIR DADDY! Ya'll need to get it together ASAP!

I love love love you!! I just want my healthy family back! Did I mention I am tired of all the snot?! I have been having nightmares about snot! It is like you ALL (yes you too Chris) have turned into Blob people.

Love,

Mommy :-)

PS BLOW YOUR NOSE!!! DID YOU WASH YOUR HANDS?!?!?!

Disney Day 3 Part 1

2009-09-20T09:34:00.002-04:00

I don't want to get too far behind, I am afraid I will start to forget things. To keep moving forward Disney Day 3 will be in two parts. Video now, blog this evening!

Enjoy!!

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Delay in The Replay

2009-09-19T16:04:00.002-04:00

I will give you a hint as to why...in a song

Old Team Henry had a Farm
EIEIO
And on that farm they had a CHICKEN
EIEIO
With a POX POX here (and on her back)
and a POX POX there (and on her tummy)
EVERYWHERE a POX POX

Holy crap!

Oh and we think Chris may have the flu! Isn't that special! fabulous. truly. He has about 10 more minutes to take himself to the walk-in clinic before I send in reinforcements!

So far Lily only has a runny nose, and I am ok.

Charley my poor baby, she has just had it all this year. I noticed a few bumps the other day on her chest, but honestly thought that it was a few bug bites. Then yesterday there were more, I freaked and thought she had started renting out space in her crib to little critters and cleaned their room, disinfected, and washed all of her bed linen, and bed babies in hot water. I felt much better when we went to bed. She had horrible bouts of gas last night so she and I were up most of the night together. I did notice this morning that she had caught a cold and was just miserable. I didn't take off her night gown before Lily and I headed out to do some needed food shopping. When we got back she was napping, once she woke up she just looked very rough. Something told me to pull up her shirt. I did and saw that her back was covered in lovely red spots. We called the doctor, and I did what every good Momma does while waiting for the doctor to call. I called my Momma!

Once the doctor called back and I told her what was going on she thought that more then likely that is what it was. If she is still breaking out new spots by Monday we have to call back. Oh and if THAT wasn't enough... really why would it be?! She woke up from nap with that damn croup cough. Her doctor said we are going to try to ride it out a little to see what everything does. She doesn't want to give her Prednisone unless we have to while she has Chicken Pox. At least so far she doesn't seem too bothered by them.

Everyone all together.... ARGH!!!!

So there will be a slight delay in the Disney Replay...

Oh one very good piece of good happy news....

Last night was the first night in almost 3 years there wasn't a full crib set up in the girls bedroom! We took the side off of Charlotte's crib last night, she did great. It was that gas that kept her up last night. She napped in there like that this afternoon and when Chris went to check on her she had gotten into Lily's bed and fell asleep! He moved her back to her bed and she slept there until we woke her up! She needs to stop growing up right now!! LOL

Day 2 Continued... Charlotte's Hair Cut

2009-09-17T20:37:00.001-04:00

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More Tomorrow!!

Day 2 Magic Kingdom With Video!!!

2009-09-16T13:10:00.005-04:00

This was the night that we were too excited to sleep! One of the girls woke up around 3:30 in the morning because of a bad dream, Chris and I both thought it was time to go!! We did have to get going pretty early that day because I had scheduled us an early reservation for the Crystal Palace.

Once we got the girls up and dressed we found the invitations that Tinker Bell had dropped off over night. One was for Crystal Palace for breakfast, and the other was for Charlotte's very first hair cut! We got ourselves loaded down like two mules and headed out for our day.

We got all the way to the bus stop and while waiting, I thought that I had forgotten sunscreen. While I searched the bag Chris ran back to the room. Just as I found it, I saw him walking back with it. It was getting pretty late and I was getting worried that we weren't going to make it on time. When you don't rent a car you are at the mercy of the Disney Bus system. That could go one of two ways. That day it wasn't in our favor. Finally the bus arrived and we realized that we were the first bus stop! Sweet. The good with this is that we always had a place to sit, the bad is that we still needed to five other stops in the resort before we got on our way. Just as we were nearing the final stop Chris looked at me and went pale. He told me that we forgot Lily's Key to the world card. That is her ticket! ! !

We all got off the bus, we really weren't feeling the magic at all. We did luck out that there was a bus there that could take us back to our stop. Long, non-magical,story later we were BACK on the bus hitting all four other stops again. Finally we made it. We called in to the dining reservation line to let them know that we were running late, but that we were on our way. They told us they could hold the table for 20 mins, we were not that far off so all was still good.

We made it through security, and though the main gate. We as we started to round the circle we let the girls out of the stroller. We knew we were late already, so what was 5 extra minutes really going to mean?! Lily was so excited, when we got really close to the top of main street I ran a little ahead to get the picture of them seeing the castle for the first time. As you will see in the video it was a once in a lifetime moment! We decided to let them walk themselves down main street, there weren't many people at all. Lily is not used to us just letting her go ahead of us like that at all so she was a little slow to understand that it really was ok. Charlotte on the other hand, she pulled Lily down Main Street for the first 10 feet or so yelling 'come on Lilu come on!' LOL It sounds more like Nom when she says come, so it was really cute! We even had a few Cast Members stop and giggle at the two of them!!

Soon we made the turn to get to the Crystal Palace. We went up to the front and checked in. We apologized all over our selves for being late. They told us not to worry, and we would be seated soon. We found a little bench and I was just about to start putting sunscreen on when they called The Christopher's Family. Well we really thought they just said Christopher, so we went in! Oops! Not us, but we got a great family picture and they gave the girls some paper confetti to play with. Just as we were about to see what was going on a nice woman came and asked if we were the Henry Family. Bingo!

Side- Note....
What I really loved about the Dining plan (other then it being FREE) was that when we checked in they asked what we would need highchair booster etc. When we got to our table every time we were all set up and ready to go! That really helped with the girls!

Once we got seated we were told how the Character Meals worked, ordered our drinks, and we set off to make the girls' plates. Not too long after that we saw the familiar face of Piglets! Lily about lept off of her chair! Charlotte did the same however for her it was more out of fright! The Characters here were great, a little fast at the table. We did have to wait a while for Eeyore and Pooh to come around. We just about left, but just as were about to give it up when they came around the corner. Once they signed we wrapped it up and headed over to Fantasy Land!

We didn't plan on riding the Tea Cups first, but the line was so short that we got on the very next time. That was the trend of the day. They only one we waited for was Dumbo... Charlotte calls him Dum-Dum LOL We only waited for him about 15 minutes! After him we went on to Pooh, Peter Pan, and It's a Small World. After that is was already about 12 pm and we hadn't gotten Charlotte's hair cut yet. We decided to make our way back to Main Street and find the Barber Shop.

I swear the Barber Shop is so small and tucked away, that if we didn't know exactly where to look we would have never seen it. It is very small, and we saw a lot of little bodies in the shop so Chris ran a little ahead to check out the wait. It turns out that it was just really that small and there was only one family ahead of us! We went in and enjoyed the very cool, much needed AC for a while. Did I mention that Florida is H O T?! I also take a medication that makes me sweat more then normal anyway so combine that with the heat that I am not used to... yeah fun times! So we cooled off and waited for our turn.

While waiting we started to hear music getting louder/closer to us! We had front row seats to the Mid-Day Parade!! The girls glued themselves to the windows watching and waving. Lily really lost it when the dancers would see them and wave back. Then we saw THEM... MICKEY and MINNIE!! We were waving and they waved back!! Charlotte was literally screeching 'Mittkey, Mittkey!!' and waving/clapping at them. It was great! She was still able to see them as she got her hair cut too!

I really can't believe how little the charge for this service. You really do every penny of the $14 dollars you spend. Chris and I both said that we would have paid double that in a heart beat! They were so gentle and kind to her. The first thing they did was cover her in Mickey stickers! To keep her hands busy! After a few minutes (hours in Charlotte's world) she became board with the stickers and so she was handed a Buzz Lightyear light up toy- she loved that thing!! Again though after a few minutes she was board so we moved onto bubbles! She really was very good though it. I was very worried about it for nothing. She hadn't liked anything being done to her hair/head until recently. She sat so very nice. They collected her hair for us and put it in tissue paper mixed with Mickey confetti! She was also given a large certificate, and mickey Ears that has 'First Hair Cut' embroidered on the back! Chris took a great video of her that I am going to post hopefully along with this post and video.

After we were all done in the Barber Shop we packed it up and headed back to our Villa. LOL I love to say that Villa, we are SOO not Villa people!! LOL

The plan was to go back and take a nap, so that we could make it to watch the firework show that night. Thankfully that all went according to plan! While the girls napped I walked over to the main building to send out my Fairy Godmother postcard for the another little girl, and I also sent one to Juice too! The girls did nap, but it was WAY too short. We figured we would head back over anyway and just take a one step at a time approach. Again the crowds were very light.

We made our way around to Mickey's Toon Town! This place is like Toddler heaven! The first thing we did was let Lily ride on the Barnstormer for the first time. By the time we left she will have rode it 5 times!! SHE LOVED IT!! After Chris and Lily finished on there we headed over to try to visit with the Princess' and Fairies! We were able to do the Princess' pretty quickly. Charlotte looks miserable in these pictures. She was... sorta. She had rubbed sunscreen in her eyes UGH! I know that hurts for sure. Even with that she stole the show while we were visiting with them. She was a ham!! When we were down Lily said the best thing. I told her that we were all done and she announced loudly 'Come on I want to meet somebody else!' LOL The whole room cracked up! We were going to get in line for the Fairies next but the wait was every bit of 45 minutes, we skipped that and tried for Mickey. That also had a very long line. Charlotte had caught a glimpse of the train pulling in the station, she loves trains! We hopped on, who knew how difficult it would be to get our huge stroller on? We did and rode all the way to Adventure Land.

We got off and walked around and found Pirates! We didn't give Lily much of a choice. We got on and told her if she didn't like it then she didn't have to do it again, but she was going to try it! LOL She loved it all, except in the very beginning when there is fog scene right before the little water fall. She didn't like that guy, and told us every 15 minutes for the rest of the night!! LOL

When we finished there we were all getting a little hungry. I had heard lots of great things about Casey's Hotdogs. YUMM-O they were right! After that it was getting close to firework time! We found a great place to sit to get a great view of Tinker Bell flying. While we waited a convinced Chris that the girls needed to have something that lit up! LOL The girls played with their new over-priced light up toy until it was time. Then we all sat together on the curb snuggled up sweating together and watched as a circle was completed in our life.

I didn't take one picture, Chris and I memorized every second. From Lily singing 'her song' (wishes theme) to Charlotte trying to catch the fireworks as they fell from the sky. It was wonderful, emotional, and something I will never forget.

Before the show started Chris and I agreed that we were going to hang back a little. We remembered the crush of people trying to get out. That did help, but wow that was a lot of people! Charlotte fell asleep before we got back to the room. It was a great day!!

Tomorrow all of our plans CHANGE!!! LOL

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9/7/09-Day 1 Arrival With Video

2009-09-15T07:34:00.011-04:00

The afternoon before Chris and I had finished packing. Once the girls went to bed there were only a few odds and ends to take care of. I will always make sure we pack this way, it went so much more smoother then I ever thought it would. We waited until it was just dark enough to load the van. We try not to draw too much attention that we are leaving. We showered and believe it or not we actually slept!!

When 4 am rolled around we had gotten about 6 hours of sleep! We knew we were going to need it! We finished taking the final items to the van. Then it was time to wake up the girls!! I had been telling Lily that she would know that we are really going to Disney the day we came in and it was still dark outside. When we went into get them, Charlotte stood right up and started saying hi, Lily took a minute to realize what was going on! It was a slow start for her!! They were very surprised by the shirts that Mickey left for them. Lily was VERY impressed that he knew her nickname!! Before we all knew it we were on the way to the airport!!

Even though it is more costly we like to park in the garage, here is the first of our little miss steps. We had parked in there when we visited and picked Lily up, so we thought we knew what we were doing. Some how we ended up going the wrong way on a service road. Thankfully we turned around and found the right entrance, found spot and parked. The original plan was for Chris to drop the girls, luggage, and I off at the terminal and then go park. But when we left that morning we were just so excited we decided to get rid of that plan and go all together on the shuttle. It actually worked out better then we thought it would. We did the curbside check in and made it through security in a matter of just a few minutes.

Thankfully on the other side of security we found well really Charlotte saw a little (very expensive) shop that had bananas and coffee perfect! We found our gate and waited. We tried to make sure that Lily had ample potty breaks before the plane took off, and had her in a pull-up just in case.

Before we knew it, it was time to board. We headed straight to the back. We figured that we would disturb less people in the back, and we were close to the bathroom. Lily had gotten a little nervous right before we boarded and told us that she now wanted to sit with me. She had been saying for a while that she wanted to sit with Chris. We told her that it was fine, but that once we got on she could not get up and change. She was fine with that. Charlotte stayed with Chris. We lost one of Charlotte's shoes getting to our seat. A flight attendant did help us find it. Take off was fine, we had both girls drink from their sippy cups to help with the pressure. Lily was still very nervous. I am glad that she stayed with me. I am always nervous during take off, so it was a nice distraction of getting her through it.

The flight was BUMPY to say the least. The girls really loved the airplane bags we made. That really helped pass the time. Charlotte actually fell asleep while we were landing. We were about 3/4 of the way there when Lily announces to me that she has to pee. I told her that we would when we landed, she said ok. About 2 secs later she tells me she has to go in a hurry. Funtimes. Did I mention the flight was bumpy? She and I made it through ok and with dry pants- thankfully. Once we got on the ground we gathered up ourselves and stroller and headed towards the nearest bathroom again just to make sure everything remained dry. After our bathroom stop, Lily was a little put of that Mickey and the castle were not right there. It took a lot of explaining, I still don't think that she really understood at that point... she got it crystal clear the nesx day!

It was only a matter of minutes for us to make our way to the Magical Express. We had everything we needed so we just breezed right through to the waiting area for our bus- thankfully it was indoors. FYI Florida is H O T! LOL It was less the 10 minutes and we were being greeted by our bus driver Hugo. The bus was empty, except for us and one other couple. Remember that bumpy plane ride?? Well the combo of that, heat, and now this wide ride to our resort had my motion sickness kicked up way high. It surprised both Chris and I because it had been so long since I had a problem with it. There is one picture from the Magical Express that I look pale as can be!! I had to keep my eyes closed during the last half of the ride, Lily kept asking Chris if I was sleepy! Too sweet!

Finally after months of planning we made the turn into Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa!! This place is mammoth. They dropped us off at the main entrance and since we had done the online check in it was very smooth. We didn't get our request of rooms, but I am so glad we didn't fight it. They told us that we could have bell services drive us to our room or we could walk. I had quite enough of motorized transportation so we walked it. Again I am so glad that we didn't get what we asked for. We were located within sight of a bus stop and literally 50 feet one of the quiet pools. Over the week Lily called this pool the red pool!

We made it around to our what Lily called our 'Yellow Disney Home'. It was beautiful, big and jut wonderful. More then enough room for us to spread out. Once we had another potty break we decided to head over to Downtown Disney to get some lunch. We took the boat over. I think the girls rode every possible mode of transportation that day!! Chris and I forgot what day it was. Being Labor Day it was packed to say the least. The girls started to become cranky so waiting too long wasn't an option so ended up having lunch at McDonald's. Not as magical as I had hoped, but they were happy. We shopped a little on our way back to the boat. We rode back on the boat and got the girls down for a needed nap.

They slept so hard that they didn't even notice that our Garden Grocer order was delivered! When they did wake up we had a snack and then headed to the pool. This was a favorite! They had horse heads that sprayed water and a pool. We stayed for a while until everyone was starting to get hungry again. We headed back to the room to get dried off.

*** This is where the first of our mishaps begins. While we were in the bathroom drying off Chris left and in her excitement Charlotte tripped over her towel and fell head first into the tile floor. O M G!!! She is wailing. Chris and I are trying to check her over to see how bad it was. I hate rope you walk as a parent to freak out or not freak out. We choose the latter, although we were a nervous wreak watching over her.

We made it over the Artist Palette for dinner, all the while checking Charlotte for signs of a head injury. She continued to be ok. After dinner we headed back and gave the girls a bath. While they were bathing *Mickey visited our room and left brand new PJ's and stuffed Mickey's for both girls. After *Mickey was done I went into tell the girls that someone had been in our room and left what seemed to be a present for them. Lily yelled out 'Was it Santa??' LOL. I told her I didn't know for sure and that she had to get out of the tub to see. That helped wrap the tubby up quick!! Out they shot, and found the surprise. Lily was floored, and Charlotte kept yelling 'Mittkey' What was really great is that she noticed the night gown was from the Disney Store. The same one we told her didn't come in her size, we told her that Mickey knew she really liked it and had it made in her size. After a few minutes she told me 'Mickey made this for me, see it says Poose on the back!' It was really great!

After the new PJ's were put on it was into bed, the next day we see the Castle!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We are home :-( Preview Of Things to Come

2009-09-14T19:53:00.003-04:00

We made it back safe, sound and sad. Lily kept saying on the plane, 'but I love disney so much I no want to leave' and giving me the saddest sad face ever! Charlotte slept again on the way, which is good she really needed it. Lily did too but she was just to geared up. When we landed we thought that the pilot took us to La Auroa airport (Guatemala)... my adoptive Mommies understand what I mean... ;-) it was rough!

I didn't get to blog really at all for several reasons. First of all by the time we got the girls to sleep each night, we literally fell into our bed and slept. The few times I did try, the connection was just too slow. We really didn't want to keep spending $10/day to be aggervated. It is all coming very soon. I am going to do a day by day entry.

I will say though that we really didn't think that Charlotte would get much from this trip. We had talked about it and excepted it. We had no clue how wrong we were going to be! Charlotte just loved it. Truth be told she didn't love all of the non-face charactars or any of them that looked 'mean'. But she just had a blast! Pool is her new favorite word!

We had our 3 bad things happen, well four. I have a long Thank You Memos, to write to a Mr. Michael Francis we really hope that you enjoyed your trip!! Southwest Baggage Handlers and the USPS> insert HEAVY sarcasm. In that chaos, I have a big thanks to Charlotte and her big Daddy head. We are able to make jokes about all of the above now.

We made a lifetime worth of memories in just 7 days, Chris and I will never be able to look at each other w/out giggling about an Uncle Jim dying, Lily turns pink faced each time we mention her Prince Charming, and why Charlotte came home with 4 new 'babies' .

Stay tuned... Unless I can convince Chris he really needs tomorrow off, I will have to wait until nap, oh yes there will be nap tomorrow!! LOL

The First of Many Disney Pictures!!!!

2009-09-10T07:16:00.006-04:00

Live From Walt Disney World!

2009-09-07T21:28:00.002-04:00

We made it safe and sound! Lots of stories and pics to share, I am very VERY tired, and we have a VERY early reservation tomorrow morning. So I will just share this, the girls are in HEAVEN! They have been so great! OK I am going to stop there b/c I have to get a shower and bed, and if I keep going that isn't going to happen!! We have a long break built into tomorrow afternoon, so I will catch up then!!

1. Day. TILL. DISNEY!!!!

2009-09-06T08:53:00.002-04:00

This is the feeling in our house right now!!

Disney Show and Tell 2

2009-09-05T19:32:00.012-04:00

Charley enjoying her Mickey pancake! See how much better her eye is! Thank God!! :-)

Lily waiting for her special pancakes, just being her cute self!!

There he is!! We are a wee-bit Mickey crazy around here!!

This is the shirt we made for the Not So Scary Halloween Party. They do have a costume that we are taking, but this is to change into if they get too hot.

I LOVE these!! We don't like to put their real names on them, so we used their nicknames! This is for Lily. We call her Poose so often she says it is her other name!!

This is for Charley. We have called her Puddle Duck for SO long now! We do because of they way she dances. She looks like a duck splashing in a puddle! We have shortened it now to Puddle! They have no clue about these. When they get up on Monday they will be out from Mickey!

These are the insides to the invites!

This is for 1900 Park Fare Dinner with Cindy and family!

Hollywood and Vine Lunch

1900 Park Fare Breakfast

Akershus- Lunch

Tusker House Breakfast

Crystal Palace Breakfast Our First Day!!

For Charlotte's first hair cut

For Lily's Princess makeover at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique!

Halloween Party!

It is funny, I am sitting here at 8pm blogging. We really are that far ahead. We finished packing today, the only things left to gather can't be until tomorrow. To say we are excited is an understatement!! We have been watching youtube with the girls to help them understand the rides that we talk about etc. In that time we have watched them Lily has fallen in love with the firework show. She can't wait to see them. She can sing a lot of the song now. In fact Charlotte, in a very 23 month old way can also 'sing' to it. I never realized how that would make my heart feel to hear our babies sing the song that we wished for them on. It is really truly amazing.

Someone I know I haven't wrote about, but have thought about often though planning this trip, is a woman in Guatemala. I wish she could see how happy/excited Lily is, what her face will look like when we walk towards that Castle Tuesday morning. I can't get the emotion out of me right now, I just really wish she could know. She gave our Lily life and we gave her the world.

Lily and Charlotte are our wish come true, that is why this trip/Disney is so important to us. When we made the reservation in February, there was a part of me that thought that it wasn't going to happen. But we budgeted, and DIY'd a lot of the trip. There was still a part of me that thought that it just wasn't going to happen. But here we sit roughly 36 hours until we take-off, bags packed, house cleaned. Now I sit here and can't believe that we really made this happen. I am simply overjoyed.

Disney Show and Tell 1

2009-09-03T07:29:00.010-04:00

Autograph Books are done!!

I am going to toot our own horn about these. :-) Both front covers are custom made by Chris. I wanted individual/unique books. Between the two of us that is exactly what our girls got!! Charlotte's took a little bit of figuring out because she can't tell us like who her favorite character is. I had been noticing that she could say Mickey (sounds more like Min-tea) and Pooh. She is already having a Pooh themed birthday party, so we went with Mickey for her! I am glad that we were able to really girly it up!

Now for Lily... she is a Cindy girl through and through! She has been 'wearing' glass slippers around the house now for a week! We had made her book already, but when we made Charlotte's we realized how dark and adult it was. It was fancy for a 30 year old not a 3 year old. I talked with Chris and explained that I did love what we had made for her, but I wanted to make it more Fancy Nancy Fancy! This is what we came up with! It has her two favorite things, Cinderella and flowers.

Each book is made of acrylic covered in scrapbook paper/vellum. For the inside we used clip art to make a card for each character we would see. Then watermarked them and printed them on blank 4x6 index cards. I was worried that if a character pushed too hard with the sharpie
would bleed through, so I used 6x6 scrapbook paper, cut the bottom with scissors that make the fancy design. Then we used velcro to attach a pen to each book. One afternoon the girls and I sat and drew pictures on about 11 index cards that we also put in the book as autograph pages. When we were done I asked Lily what each picture was and wrote what she said on the back. For Charlotte, there was one she pointed to and said Rocket, but for the rest I put her age on.

Next...Invites!

This is Chris' baby! He is a master at making things like this. Look at the front of the Autograph books that was ALL him. I didn't upload the insides, because it kept crashing blogger! I will try again on the next show and tell.

This one is for 1900 Park Fare. We will be having Dinner with Cinderella, Prince, and Step Family at the Grand Floridian.

We will be lunching in Hollywood Studios at Hollywood and Vine with Little Einsteins, and JoJo!

This one is for breakfast at the Grand Floridian. This one has Alice, Mad Hatter, and Mary Poppins!

We will be lunching in Norway with the Princess's... this will be following Lily's makeover!

Charlotte's first haircut, she REALLY needs it! LOL

We had gone back and forth SO many times on whether we would visit Animal Kingdom or not. Charlotte sealed the deal when she freaked out over the animals on youtube one night. I was about to snag us a breakfast at Tusker House with Mickey, Donald and gang!

Our very first morning, and the only reservation I didn't move around is for Crystal Palace. The reason this one is so important is because we can get into Magic Kingdom BEFORE it opens! Only people with early ressie's will be there. Can we say PHOTO OP!! LOL

This is another one we went back and forth with. When we got the call about her Pre-school, we thought it would be a great Big Girl thing for her- Charlotte can't do it this time. It is only for kids 3 and over. She HAS NO CLUE we are going to be doing this. On that day when we are done we will be going to Epcot for Lunch with the princess's.

This one is still in the maybe column, although we are leaning more towards yes. Magic Kingdom has a Halloween party/parade/fireworks. We can also trick-or-treat. We are holding off just a little longer till we see what TS Erika is going to do, and we see how the girls are holding up. This is at night, and we have planned for that day to be a pool/rest day. We will see for this one.

Our plan is that each morning, the girls will wake up to a surprise from Mickey/Tinkerbell. We have bought items from our Disney store to take along with us. The first night while we are out of the room 'Mickey' will visit and leave us our welcome to Disney letter (we still have to get this one done) and two sets each of new PJ's. The next morning they will wake up to find that Tinkerbell has come and left the invite for that day, and two Mickey stuffed animals! I even got 'pixie-dust' to leave on the counter! Each day after that they will wake up to find new invites for what we will be doing that day!

Still to come, we will be working on their shirts tonight! After that we just need to finish packing. I think I have us about 95% done already so that wont be too much more to do.

4 MORE DAYS TO GOOOOOO!!!!!! Hot Dog!! :-)

I wanted also to say a special thank you to Chris. You are an awesome Husband and Daddy, there aren't many men out there that will do what you have done for our girls. I don't think there are many out there that have pictures of Cinderella/Mickey littered all over their desktop, trying to find the best one, and not settling for less. I have really loved the late nights and the PB&J brain food! I love you. :-)

We're going on a trip!

2009-09-02T13:25:00.002-04:00

The video sums up the excitement in our house right now!! All 4 of us are singing it!! Well Charlotte dances and squeals, but you get the point.

Much more coming soon!!

PS Charlotte is going SO much better this morning. Her eye is now a tiny bit swollen and red, nothing at all like yesterday. Wahoo for that! :0)

She is A One Eyed, One Horned

2009-09-01T09:45:00.000-04:00

Spider bitten little Charlotte baby!!

I hate nature! LOL She woke up yesterday with 3 bites on her left arm and one/two on her eyelid. She swells SO bad with any insect bite. I gave her Benadryl and crossed my fingers. After her nap it was larger, I called into the doctor to see if there was anything else I could do for her. They told me to up the Benadryl dose and to put a tiny bit of cortisone on it. This morning she woke up looking like this. Sigh.. We are going to the doctor this afternoon, they told me to bring her in if it got worse. One of the three on her arm is also really nasty looking. More later!

ONE MORE WEEK!!!

2009-08-31T22:30:00.002-04:00

This is video of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Chris and I have gone back and forth on doing this or not. As of right now we still have not bought the tickets for it. We are pretty sure it won't be a problem to get them down there. It is a rain or shine event that you need an additional ticket for. The party date during our vacation is 9/11, so it is later in the week. We will have a better feel for how the girls are doing by then. Here's hoping we get to do some trick or treating with Mickey!!

T-8 Days!!

2009-08-30T21:28:00.002-04:00

I was working on the update, when Blogger decided to be a booger and not want upload pics correctly. After the night we had with Lily :-( I am not in the mood to fight to make it upload them. I will work more on it tomorrow. There are a ton of pics I am loading to it, so that might be why. ;-)

After I put up the video last night I went looking for more, and really came up a little empty. Tonight, I am going to use a video of an experience instead. Well two really. Lily and Charlotte are each getting a special treat.

This will be for Charlotte...

Charlotte will be given Minnie/Mickey Ears that say 'My First Haircut'. They will collect some of her hair and put it with Mickey confetti, and she will also receive a certificate!

This is for Lily....

She has NO clue this is going to happen! Heehee!! We CANNOT wait to see her face!!

Let the countdown BEGIN!!!

2009-08-29T22:47:00.002-04:00

OK so this isn't the mega Disney update promised. We hit a little snag with Miss. Charlotte's Autograph book. Nothing big or really bad. I just need something that I can't get until tomorrow. So while trying to entertain myself while Chris is printing out the invitations that 'Tinkerbell' is going to leave each night. I thought of how I can also count us down. So for the next 8 nights I am going to be putting up our very favorite Disney commercials.

The one I put up tonight could be Chris and I. That is why we love it. He can do Donald's voice spot on. The girls love it.... and so do I!! LOL

Hopefully I will have fixed my little issue with Charlotte's autograph book tomorrow and can update fully then! I will say though that our little house is just one big bolt of excitement right now! I honestly couldn't say who is more excited!!

SINGLE DIGITS!!!

2009-08-29T11:08:00.002-04:00

--------------------------------------->

Can you believe it?!?!?! We can't!! A huge/monster sized Disney update with pictures is coming very soon!! So much to share.... Hang tight!!

Forever Home

2009-08-28T14:44:00.000-04:00

The animal hospital called this afternoon to tell us we could pick-up Beanie ashes. His box is so beautiful, it has his name engraved on the front just as we asked for. We didn't know what to expect with his box we didn't get to pick it out or anything. So I was teary when I noticed that on the top there are carved Daisies. My absolute favorite flower.

We picked out a really nice spot in our living room for him. We haven't nor are we going to tell the girls about it until they are much older. They won't understand so why confuse them.

As far as where everyone here is with it. I still have a hard time believing he is gone. Chris has his moments as well. He said that he had to do a password verification and his question was what is the name of your favorite pet. He said it made his eyes tear to read that. Lily is doing better with understanding that Beanie isn't coming home. We have been firm with that every time she tries to challenge it. She has been saying more and more that Beanie is in her heart. As for Guss is ok at best. He is still looking for Bean in the yard. Each time he goes out he has this happy anticipation that Bean will be there waiting for him. Then he goes out wags his tail and sniffs, you can see the happiness fall away. He just does his business and comes back in. We took the girls out this week to get him some toys. Lily picked him out tennis balls to run for. He likes that. We have even gotten him to oink a few times- that is his happy sound. Guss has always been closer to Chris, but this past week he has done things that only Beanie ever did. He will come up and out his head in my lap, he is now yet another guest in the bathroom with me, came to my side of the bed the other night as if to say good-night- he had never done that before, ever and he follows me from room to room. I told Chris the other day that Gus and I are going to get each other through this. He needs us as much as we need him.

Finally some good news!!

2009-08-26T13:03:00.003-04:00

LILY IS GOING TO PRE-SCHOOL!!! :-) :-):-)

I am soo excited for her!! Here is the story, this past April/May I was looking for some kind of program for Lily to attend. Not for any other reason but to give her more social time with other kids and a school-like environment. Of course most were way out of our price range, even for part-time. I kept looking and stumbled onto our public school system's website and found a program. It is through the High School system and is like a work-study program on campus for High School Students who want to become early childhood educators. I called in to get more information.

The teacher in charge gave me all the info and told me to come to get an application and doctor record filled out. She also said that it was first come first served and there were a limited number of spaces available. I got right on it and dropped everything off for the doctor. Once I got it all back we went over again and turned it all in and began to wait.

We got this call this afternoon! We are going to be getting a letter in September and will have to attend a parent orientation. Lily gets to go too and will have her own orientation with the other kids. She will then start on Oct 29! It is Wed/Thurs/Fri from 730 to 12 noon. They will have 3 field trips throughout the year... I think that is so cute!! AND... because she will 3 when she starts she is automatically enrolled for the 4 year old program! So she gets to go for two years there and then begin normal Kindergarten!

Ok, now there are MANY great things about this, but it does all come down to the mighty dollar. For the whole year it is going to cost us $60! Needless to say we jumped right on that.

Lily is very excited and just smiled ear to ear when I was telling her what it all meant. Then we called Chris at work so she could tell him. It was really sweet to here her tell him 'Daddy I got into school, I am going to pre-school!' He didn't know that I had gotten the phone call so he was very excited for her to tell him!

Forever and Always

2009-08-25T15:18:00.002-04:00

This afternoon I received a call from our animal hospital. They were asking what name we wanted on Beanie's box. A little back story...When we were there on Saturday, Chris told them that we wanted Willie-Bean. We were ok enough with this, but I didn't totally love it. In keeping with the tradition of us we gave him a nickname of Beanie because he looked A LOT like the Bush's Baked Beans dog Duke. Chris and I would always joke that Beanie would sooo roll on us just like Duke did!! :-) Over time 'Willie' headed out and Beanie became his name. Lily has always called him Beanie, even Charlotte had picked it up.

Anyway, it was fate that they called today. I didn't feel comfortable making the decision without asking Chris. I called him at work and he agreed and felt the same way as I did. I called back and we will have Beanie engraved on his box. I am hopeful that his ashes will be back on Friday and we can bring him back home for good.

As for Gus, he is slowly adjusting, very slowly. He ate on Sunday night a full bowl of food but has been picking ever since. I watch him in the yard and he just looks so confused. He did go a little further in the yard and made it just past our little hill yesterday. He even barked a little. If you know Gus you know it is NOT normal for him to not bark at the wind, or grass or anything that moves in the yard for that matter. :-) He will be headed to my parents on Friday to stay while we are away. He has friends down there to romp with so it will be nice for him.

Lily still says she misses Bean. If she talks about it then we talk about it, but if not we aren't in front of her. She is still too young to really get it. In her mind I know she thinks that we took Bean to a field to meet Jesus. When we were preparing her for this I must have a billion articles on how to deal with this. We avoided words like doctor,sick, or going to sleep etc. But we were firm that he wasn't going to be here when she came home on Sunday.

On Friday morning she was asking her normal 3 million questions about Bean and Jesus. Chris says this is the reason he worked so I that I got to field all of this stuff on the fly. You never know what she is going to ask or say. I asked her what she thought Beanie's heaven was going to look like. She told me that it was going to look like our house. I told her that I thought Beanie would really like that. I asked if she thought Bean would have friends and she said 'yes a horsey' and then she stopped and said 'maybe a doggie too.' I told her again that I thought he would like that. Lily has been really into flowers lately, when they were so sick this month Chris brought them roses home- her self proclaimed favorite. Knowing this I asked her if she thought there was going to be flowers for Bean. At first she said no, then changed and said 'yes Mommy they be flowers.' I asked her what kind and she told me 'one red rose, just one. He like that.'

Last week once we made our minds that this was best for Bean I had a hard time keeping it together. I still do if I allow myself to think to much about it. This is going to sound strange but, when I try to stifle the beginnings of crying I let out this weird hiccup type sound. This freaks Lily out, she doesn't like it one bit when I am upset. So anytime I felt it coming on I had to really stifle it- thankfully it turned into a more of a true hiccup sound. Every single time this happened Lily would look at me with a very critical eye and say 'ohhh Momma you have those stinky old hiccups again!' It would buy me just enough time to suck it all back it up and smile back at her little face. I don't know how many times she really bought it, but she never questioned it once I agreed with her.

One day I do plan on writing out exactly what happened during Beanie's last 24 hours with us. I am just not there yet. I know it may sound strange I guess, but I don't want to forget it. It was truly a great last night we had with him.

Chris and I wanted to thank everyone who has left kind words here, facebook, phone message, phone or anywhere for us. It really means a lot to us. Thank you.

New Day

2009-08-24T13:17:00.002-04:00

Wow, I just read back over my post from last night. It was my very first temper tantrum on blogger! I will admit though how great it felt get that out of me. Today is a new day. I am right now going to keep trying to move forward. I do need to go back and add updates in places that I missed. I will get to that soon I hope.

Today I am choosing to focus on a little Mouse and a Princess that brought great happiness into our house before lunch. I signed up for a pay-it-forward service on one of my Disney boards. Basically, you ask someone to be a fairy god-mother to your child/children. What that means is that while they are on vacation in Disney they will send a postcard from a character you ask for to your child. Well... the girls got theirs today! There was great excitement! Lily received hers from Cinderella and Charlotte's was from Mickey! I think that they were both very impressed! The messages were to sweet! Charlotte didn't put her down until it was time for lunch! Lily was just lit up from the inside out! I can't wait until we return the favor in a few weeks!

Also in the mail today was our baggage tags for the Magical Express, which will pick us up at the airport and take us to our resort. We have gotten all of our Mickey Mail now. We are in the final stretch now. I started packing us up this morning. Well, I had already started, but now I know better what is still needed for each of us.

We are still working on the autograph books for the girls. Chris and I are going to try to get them done between tonight and tomorrow so we can get them to Kinkos to have them bound. I will post pictures once we get them done. I love that they are so personalized for them! I have so much more to share but I am going to stop here for now.

VERY Glad August is almost over...

2009-08-23T19:29:00.004-04:00

There is no nice way to say this other then this month really REALLY sucked. I am glad to see it go. I am counting down the days to September, 1) it gets us closer to Disney World, and 2) August will be OVER! :-(

No need to rehash the last 48 hours as it is pretty evident that they weren't full of sunshine and rainbows. Honestly Saturday tied the number #1 spot of the worst day of our lives. This past week has been one huge emotional roller coaster. Twice at least we talked ourselves out of it, just to remember why and who this was for. ARGH! I am just sooo pissed that he is gone. I am pissed that Gussy is so sad, and hasn't been past the top of our yard since Saturday morning. I am pissed that Beanie did nothing but be a good boy, and he had to be in this much pain and leave us so soon. I am pissed that Lily is so sad and reminds me often that she misses Bean. Tonight it seemed to all click and she told us that he is gone to Jesus, but he is still in our hearts. :*( I am pissed that I have to try to get past this ASAP to put myself in a Disney mood that honestly I am no longer feeling. I am just really REALLY pissed off.

Before this weekend happened. The girls had been very sick back to back. Lily's temp reached 104.9 at one point. Charlotte's wasn't that far behind her at 104. We ended up back at the doctor's again for Lily this week becuase it just seemed like she still wasn't herself. Thankfully it looks like her doc was right and she just needed a little longer to get back to normal. It looks like this is behind us now.

I have just been so wrapped up in the goings on that I haven't taken the time to write on here. I have missed several important milestones to write about. I haven't even written about my Grandma's Breast Cancer surgery. ARGH!

We lost a dear old friend today

2009-08-22T10:01:00.003-04:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Today we lost a dear friend of the family. Well, really, he was more than a friend. He was our son. Willie "Bean" came into our lives 6 weeks after we got married and has been with us through the good times and the bad. There is no other person who knows us as well as he did. He has seen as at our best times and at our worst times, never once judging but always loving. It was his head who laid in our laps an d just loved us the day we lost Matthew. It was his kiss that we first felt the day Lily got out of PGN. He knew about Charlotte before Chris did.

Beanie was only 9 years old. He had severe hip dysplasia since he was born. He has been in constant pain for most of his life, though he never once complained. We managed it the best we could but last week his hips gave out once and he fell on the floor. Since then he was in a steady decline. When we first brought Beanie home we made a promise that we would not be selfish and that the day his pain became to much to bear we would let him go. Today was that day. He is pain-free for the first time in his life. Though our hearts are broken while he laid his head in our laps one last time, he still showed us nothing but love and understanding. We told him to run, to run as fast as he could cause he would no longer hurt.

We will always love you Beanie. You were the best dog, and friend, anyone could ask for.

PLEASE PINCH ME!!! Disney Update....

2009-07-23T18:37:00.004-04:00

This afternoon I was checking my email during nap time. I was going through deleting all the spam mails, and I got to one that I did a double take on. It was on of those emails that you ask yourself 'do I chance this being a virus filled email and open it or not.?' I didn't, but I didn't delete it either. I left it and once I was done clearing all the adds for 'extending this and tucking that'. I went back and looked at it again. Hmmm?

I am sure by the title it is obvious that I opened it...

It was from Disney! It was informing me that we had been upgraded.... AND we could pick from either Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa OR Old Key West. Both of these are deluxe villa's. The offer was for a studio villa. All I could think was ok yeah right suuuurrreee. I thought for sure this was just another email from a travel agency. But then I looked at the phone number, it was the same first six of the normal Disney numbers. Chris and I talked and we decided to call in about it.

Now let me back up a little. Chris and I had a nice long talk about Disney and WHO this trip was really for (nooo, not us!!)... the girls. They won't care where we stay. At the end of that very nice talk (it really was!) I called and moved us back to Pop for good. We both were at peace with this and had NO intention of making anymore changes.

Where did I leave off... ok we were calling in. In the meantime, just in case this was for real we started researching both resorts. We had never ever given them a second glance as they are way WAY out of our price range. After about 10 minutes on hold Chris got through. He told the CM what the email said and gave him the PIN number we were given. He looked us up and IT WAS FOR REAL!!!! We were allowed to choose between the two. Just on the general lay out we picked Saratoga Springs.

Ready for the best part?!?!?! We got an upgrade on the upgrade, he put us in a one bedroom villa! ! ! We asked if we had to give up anything for this and we were assured that we kept everything the same including the FREE DINING!!! In fact at the end of the phone call Disney ended up owing us money! Apparently the Disney property sits between two counties, one has higher taxes then the other! We got $3.00 BACK!!

Here is how the numbers for this work out: This is unbelievable!!

8day/7night stay at Saratoga Springs
free dining
7 Day Hopper tickets

Drumrolll please......

$1793.00 -I rounded up because I forgot the exact change!

The same package full price is well over $5000!!!

Holy Crap right?!?! Chris and I have been in a state of shock since 1pm. Lily was so excited by how excited we were she thought we were going there right after nap!! I think it is going to take a few days for this to sink in fully.

Ohhh after we hung up and sat looking at each other, I asked Chris if he asked for them to send an email he couldn't remember. So we called back, on the number that we have used for other questions in the past. I guess we thought this would be the way to make sure it was really for real! Chris talked to another CM who did confirm the changes and sent the email for us.

Later I checked the Disney board I stalk, oops I mean follow! It turns out we were one of many who also got these PINS! The CM we talked to said it was due to overbooking at the values. I just checked to see if our week was sold out and it wasn't. I don't know nor care! I know for sure we are good to go for an unbelievable vacation!!!

For Grandpa

2009-07-17T17:42:00.013-04:00

15 new photos... 5 minutes to upload, 2 new videos in one.... 10 minutes, Making a good Granpa smile... priceless!

So today while Chris was talking to his Dad on the phone he gently reminded us that we have not had a good picture update in a while. Ok, Ok I have been a little lax I admit.... so Grandpa these are for you!! :-) We love you and will see you really soon!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Back to Normal Soon!

2009-07-15T20:16:00.003-04:00

We are ok and doing well. Things were a little crazy last week. Chris had a trip for work and the girls and I went to my parents for the week. Then Lily stayed behind this week to enjoy a 'big girl' vacation with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop! This Friday we are meeting up again with my parents. Charlotte will join the party in Va until Monday when I go to collect all of our babies! WHEW!!

I have tons to share, and lots of pictures to update.

A little teaser...

Miss. Charlotte is saying her name now, and she is singing the EIEIO of Old McDonald! It is more like IIIIIoooooooOOOOO! I am going to try and get both on video! It is sooo SUPER sweet!!

Saturday in the Park

2009-07-01T08:44:00.008-04:00

Well it was really a Zoo! But I had that song in my head...

It didn't matter where we were because we were surrounded by friends that we have 'known' for many years, Chris and I had never met any of the families. We are all joined by a strong common bond and have shared in some of the brightest and darkest days. It was like meeting old friends! I was talking to Chris about our day and how important it is for Lily to have ties to other children who have also been adopted. It was also nice for us because our family doesn't 'fit' the typical mold. We are the minority in many social settings, but on Saturday we were just one of the group. It was wonderful and I can't wait to do it again!

OK on to what you all really want... the pictures!! We took a TON!!

Lily and Rudy

Dog Pile!!!

Out....!

Look at that smile!

Rudy, Jaidyn and Lily

Bubble Time!!

Kathy and Lily

Lily G and Jaidyn

Charlotte was eveyone's little sister!

Long day!

Charlotte didn't make it out of parking lot.

Happy Father's Day Chris!

2009-06-22T13:51:00.002-04:00

Remember you're her daddy
when she's crying late at night,
when she needs a little loving
to know that it's alright.

Remember you're her daddy
when dolly's lost an arm,
when you take the time to fix it
because you can't resist her charm.

Remember you're her daddy
when she's had a real rough day,
when school's been pretty tough on her
and nothings went her way.

Remember you're her daddy
when she goes on her first date,
when you tell her to be in by ten
and she's not home 'till late.

Remember you're her daddy
when she makes you very proud,
when in a very awkward way
she stands out in a crowd.

Remember you're her daddy
the first man she's ever kissed,
and when you go away
you'll be very, very, missed.

Remember you're her daddy
remember I'm your wife,
we know that you'll love us
for the rest of your life

This is the poem I used with Chris' present this year. I took the girls hand prints scanned them in to the computer. I did this because getting 3 sets (for Chris, Grandpa and Pop-Pop) just wasn't working. So I took the best of the best. Grandpa/Pop-Pop had poems about Grandpas hands with a watermark of two big trees at sunset. Chris had this poem with their hand prints on a watermarked picture of the Wilderness Lodge boat dock at sunrise. I had picked a different picture at first, so I printed them both out. I asked Lily which one she liked better and without any prompting she picked the Wilderness Lodge. When I asked her why she liked it she said 'it means something to us'. She is just too intuitive!

This is the picture:

Father's Day morning we got up and hung out till after nap time then we headed over to Aunt Lizzie's house for a Father's Day cookout. We had such a nice time. The girls just ran crazy all over the yard and though the sprinkler. We didn't leave there until it was close to bedtime. Overall I think it was a really fun day!

Chris Thank you for being such a great Daddy! Your girls love you bunches!!

Crayons, Markers and Paint OH MY!

2009-06-17T13:37:00.003-04:00

This week the girls and I have been hard at work making all week making our Daddy's Day goodies! I had found a really good idea about using fabric paint to make a custom tie. Well I couldn't find a white tie, so I picked up handkerchiefs. Yeah.... that didn't go well at all. They were covered in paint, I am talking literally covered! Charlotte had paint on her back! I have no clue how that got there. It was so messy I ended having to give them a bath! I shelved that idea and went back to the drawling board. Luckily I figured out an even better (I think) gift idea! I cannot spill the beans on that because I know Grandpa and Pop-Pop frequent the blog.
:-)

Today we went to work on the newest idea. O M G! It went so much better... They were into it and had a really good time making it! I am really excited to get it all together now! Then we worked on the cards I signed Charlotte's name BUT Lily wrote her own!!! Yes! She is writing her own 'short' name I love that she calls it this! She can almost get her 'long' name too! She just having a little trouble with the N... apparently it is 'trwicky'! She just about has it. I am going to take a picture when Chris opens his card on Father's Day. Then once they both sign I have them write something special on the card. It was really sweet!

Chris I know that you read this too so this is ALL the info I am giving up! We just have a couple of loose ends to tie up and we are all done!

Chats With Lily

2009-06-10T13:27:00.003-04:00

Today she and I had the best adoption conversation ever. I love to see how much she is understanding, and even better how a 3 year old expresses that.

This happened today around lunchtime. I was getting it ready for them and they we watching a cartoon/playing in the living room. Lily came running to the gate and announces...

L: Mommy! Did you know that Diego's friend is the same name as my birthmador? It is A just like her.
M: Yup they are the same...(then I think about this for a sec) Lily remember that they are two different people.
L: Blank stare
M: They have the same name but Diego's friend isn't your birth mother.
L: Oh like the red shirts
M: blank stare
L: (shows two fingers) the two red shirts they are both same red but they are different.
M: (thinking that she is brilliant) Yes that is a very smart way to think about it.

We have been keeping her birth mother's photo is easy reach, just for times like these. She ran back into the living room and I went to go get the picture.

M: Lily this is your birth mother picture remember (it had been a while since we looked at it)
L: Ohhh she is A, my birthmador... she has long hair like me.
M: Yes she is very beautiful like you too. You grew in her tummy, like Charlotte grew in my tummy.
L: I grow in your heart
M: Yup
L: She holding me. she love me.
M: yes she does. Lily do you want to hang up this picture so you can look at it whenever you want to?
L: Yes (she got up and pointed to a very low place on the wall.. to close for Charlotte)
M: How about we find a place in your room, way up high. Maybe by your bed. That way Charlotte can't get it.
L: Yeah she is a baby, this is for big girls (I LOVE when she says that!)

She picked a great place, but I didn't want to put tooo much tape on it and it kept falling down. So I asked if we could wait and I would ask Chris to put it in a frame for her. She liked that idea. She held on to the picture for a while looking at it. Then she looked back up and said

L: When I was a baby you rock me and gave me a bottle in Guatemallra?
M: Daddy and I came for a visit but we couldn't stay. We had to leave and come back here to wait for you. It made us very sad to leave you.
L: (she started to cry!) I cried when you left, I didn't want you to go.
M: (trying to stop the crying) I know, but we were able to come back, and we brought you home and now we are together forever.
L: that made you happy
M: Very, I tell A thank you all the time because she gave me you.
L: I love her.
M: You should she was very brave woman.
L: She not a woman she a girl in Guatemala. (Pauses) we are friends.
M: Who are your friends?
L: Daddy, Chardette, me and you we friends we are together because of A
M: (trying not to tear up) yup you are right.
L: yes Mommy we are a family.

I heard the phone ringing but I couldn't move I just gave her the biggest hug and asked if she wanted to help finish lunch. I always imagined that she would talk about her adoption. I thought it would be more formal, but it never has been that way. We have had the best talks about everything when something pops up out of the blue. It is casual and easy.

Disney Update

2009-06-09T20:05:00.002-04:00

This morning brought strong thunderstorms inside and out of the house! I called in right at 7 am, I am talking literally the clock turned to 7:00 and I pressed send! I got right through, told the CM what I needed, then she informed that their system was undergoing 'enhancements' and to call back at 8:30!!! I hung up and wanted to cry.... ( I have done a lot of that lately). I just sucked it up called Chris for moral support.. yeah he giggled at me for being upset about this.

Did I wait till 8:30 to call back.... nope! I tried again. This time I got a great CM who made NO mention of the computers being down. I start working on getting everything booked, we made it half through and the system froze!!!! O M G! I know this may seem like I am making a mountain out of a mole hill. I am sure in some respects I am... but when you have done as much research for this as I have and know it is hard to get ressies for some of these places it just really crappy when this happens.

The CM was wonderful and apologized all over herself, but there was nothing more she could do it wasn't letting her even see what we had already booked. Without confirmation numbers it is like nothing was even put in for us. It wasn't her fault the system did this and I told her this. She told me to wait it out and try back in about an hour. I called Chris again... more giggles... this time I wasn't as ummm forgiving about this!

Did I wait out that hour... not even a chance someone else was going to get my Lily's Bibbity Bobbity Boutique Princess makeover appointment.. I was a women on a mission!! I sucked it up and started calling back every 5 mins! Thankfully we have free long distance!

I had just hung up and the phone rang, it was a weird number but being that it was only 8:00 in the morning I went ahead and picked it up. I am sooo glad that I did! It was my CM I was working with! She said that my ressies just popped back on her screen and it let her confirm at least those! It was the first 4 days! She gave me those confirm numbers and then we were able to very slowly get through the final 3 we wanted!! By the time we hung up I must have told her I loved her at least 12 times! It took 2 hours but it is DONE!

Here is what I booked:

9/7 Whispering Canyon (wilderness lodge) Dinner at 5:10

9/8 Crystal Palace (magic kingdom)- Breakfast- this is a Character meal Pooh and Friends! 8:10... we get into Magic Kingdom BEFORE it opens.. can we say photo ops!!!!

9/9Akershus (Epcot)- Lunch This is a character meal with the PRINCESSES!! @ 12:00pm

9/10 Bibbity Bobbity Boutique (princess makeover for Lily!) Magic Kingdom @ 4:00pm... then we go over to the Grand Floridian for Dinner with CINDERELLA! @ 5:30pm. That is the night we are staying late in the park for fireworks and the Spectromagic Parade!

9/11 Cape May Cafe (Beach Club resort) Dinner 5:30pm

9/12 Chef Mickey's! (Contemporary Resort) Character Meal with MICKEY and Friends! Dinner 6pm

9/13 Tony's Town square Magic Kingdom Lunch 11:30am

With the exception of Lily's Princess makeover this was FREE! WAHOO! Now I get to move on the fun part of this... packing! Did I mention I have spreadsheet for this... I know, I know I am looking into a program!!

Doctor Follow Up

2009-06-09T19:50:00.002-04:00

The girls and I got it together this morning and headed to the doctors office for Miss. Charlotte's follow-up appointment. THANK GOD our Ped was back! I told her that she is NEVER allowed to be sick again! LOL

She agreed that Lily also had Croup, just much milder. It was just too similar in the symptoms and onset. It just effected Lily (again thanking God) less then Charlotte. She told me that Lily's age played a large part in that.

I am glad to report that Charley has been given a clean bill health. No more meds WAHOO! We are to keep a close eye on her for the next few days but other then that she is free to run wild! Our Ped did tell me that because it was so severe that she is now predisposed to getting it again. With Charlotte nose diving as fast as she did, if we even think we are headed in that direction we are to call and she will call us in steroids, and then see us in office ASAP. So at least we have a good game plan.

Charlotte is back to herself, in to everything. She did the sweetest thing tonight... we were supposed to have a bath tonight, but we had strong storms rolling over so we had dance time instead! Charlotte threw up her little chubby arms in the air and was dancing around like a Ballerina! It was a good time and so nice to see her back to normal... even if that means we are back to chasing her through the house!!

I just wanted to say Thank You to all my blogging Momma's who left such sweet messages. Also a big Thank You to all of our family who helped us coordinate over these past few days. :-)

Eye of the Tiger (Disney Update)

2009-06-09T06:42:00.002-04:00

Today marks 90 DAYS until we arrive at Disney!! This is a big deal as it is the day that I get to fight it out with others trying to get their dining ressies. Between 2 weeks if sick kiddies this part of the planning has rightfully taken a back seat. Last night Chris and I were finally able to figure it out and now I have a plan written out that has been reworked more times then I even want to think about. That is the only draw back is that you must plan your days around where you are going to eat lunch/dinner. I guess it won't be such a big deal when the girls are a little older. But for this first trip we don't want to drag them from park to park just to eat lunch.

I have 9 minutes left until I can call! It is just funny to me that it is FINALLY time. Time has drug since we started planning this trip in Feb. I better run and get ready to speed dial (I have already programmed it into my phone!) to beat out others who want to eat with a Princess!! Full Disney update coming soon! Wish me luck!!

Let's Play a Game...

2009-06-07T21:08:00.004-04:00

What is different about these two pictures????

My Lily needs glasses! She went for her eye appointment on Friday she is farsighted and has **astigmatisms** in both eyes!

**Note for other Guate Mommas the Opthamologist told Chris that he is seeing this more and more in Latin American decent children.**

We thought Charlotte could use a little air so we went out this morning and let Lily pick them out. She has to wear them right? She was FIRM that she wanted these hot pink/magenta ones. Are you reading this Miss Lily? When you are older and you want to know why.. it was ALL you baby! Naa we like them and she does look super cute... Chris and I just liked the shape of another pair. The sales person said it best... that she is only 3 so no matter what she picks it is going to be cute! They had to cut off about an inch to make them fit her little face!

She has been doing well with them, we told her that the doctor said that she will have to wear them all the time so far that is working. She got to pick out her spot for them to 'sleep' while she is sleeping! Chris has been showing her the ropes of how to push them up on her face and not to touch the lenses. It has been very sweet to watch!

As far as her tear duct, the doctor told Chris that they could go in there and unblock it, but it may be tearing more because she is squinting to see making it tear more then it really needed to. We NEVER noticed her squinting, either way she will need the glasses for the astigmatism for life. We are going to go back in September to see if there is any improvement with the tearing and go from there.

So now she and Chris have more in common!

She just looks like a little professor!! :-)

Where Do I Even Begin?

2009-06-07T19:01:00.002-04:00

When we last left off, Charlotte had an appointment with her Ped on Friday afternoon and Lily was to go to her eye appointment in the morning. As soon as I posted we went into check on Charlotte, she was burning up. Temp was 104.7 (just like Lily's had been) and her breathing sounded very bad. We got her up and put her butt promptly in the tub and we dosed her with more Motrin. When she was in the tub she just sat there, didn't cry, didn't try to get out, just sat. She stayed there for about 40 minutes and we got her out. Her temp had come down to about 103. She still didn't sound good, but we thought that it was just some congestion. We set our alarm clock to check on her even hour.

By 2:30 we decided to put her in bed with us. She slept but not well. I laid next to her just watching her breathe. We made it through the night and she finally fell into a good deep sleep. Chris had gotten up and taken Lily to the eye doctor. I was torn about this. I KNOW Chris is MORE then capable of taking Lily to the eye doctor, and staying with Charlotte. I just felt like they both needed me and I had to choose. In the end I know that Chris and I made a good choice, it became a bonding experience for he and Lily. I will write more about that later.

Once they got home, we called into the Ped office to move up her appointment they weren't able to. We just had to wait it out. Charlotte looked really bad. Her activity level was reduced to sitting on my lap and blinking. Even that was starting to be too much. She had no voice, she could cry but no sound was coming out. Again we thought she was just that congested and kept her drinking. She did eat a piece of toast, but that was it. Finally it was time for her appointment.

We got her there and THANK GOD that she was the very first appointment. Our Ped is still out dealing with her own infection. The doctor that was covering was not the same as on Wednesday. He came to the door and asked me to pull up her shirt and just to continue the 'Mommy Sway'. He just wanted to watch her breathe without having her get upset. His face told me everything... it was bad. He told me that he wanted to give her a Nebulizer treatment. I was on board with this for about a minute longer then Charlotte was. She wanted no part of it at all. We ended up having to restrain her. Remember she had NO voice, she was sitting on my lap screaming with no sound. It was terrifying to me. When it was done I just scooped her up and told that I was so sorry. For the very first time ever in a doctors office I cried. I was just terrified that no one seemed to know what was wrong and she was just getting worse. I just held on to her and we rocked and cried together.

When the Neb didn't work the doctor's face really became intense, and he told me it was time for us to go to the ER. Beyond that he didn't feel it was safe to have me drive over there and he was calling 911. The doctor had to call Chris as my cell phone was MIA. Chris got to work trying to find someone to stay with Lily, I had to van and both car seats. He forgot that it was Friday and not everyone has that day off. In the meantime the ambulance showed up and took us over. The doctor we had seen in the office called ahead so that the Ped on call knew that we were coming.

By this point Charley didn't care what they were doing to her as long as she could cling to my chest. They did her vitals and told me that the doc would be in soon. She and I hung out on the bed I just rocked her and hummed her song. About 15 mins later Chris and LILY came around the corner. All Chris said was don't ask... You know me... Of course I grilled him! He had put her in Juice's booster that we keep here for visits. OK not as Britney Spearish as I thought at first! :-)

A few minutes the Doc came in. He talked with us about what was going on. Then he stopped mid sentence and said that he didn't like how she was breathing- she had started to re-track in her ribs. He went out and ordered a STAT breathing treatment. He was really awesome. He was worried, I could tell that, but he handled it a hell of a lot better. I felt like he was worried but in control of what was going on. In less then a half a minute there was a respiratory tech in our room. Lily LOVED him... he had stickers. Charlotte was not very impressed. He gave her an Epinephrine Neb. This one went much better. I think it helped that I told him we were not going to restrain her. He was gentle and she was done in no time. The doctor also ordered a heavy steroid to be given by mouth. He told us that we were going to have to stay at least a while to see if this was going to help her. Then he broke the news that he was very confident that she had Viral Croup.

I guess I never really understood what Croup was. I always thought it was a term to describe the sound of a cough. The doctor told us that it was a virus that infected her vocal cords, esophagus, and surrounding tissue. He said that the 'wheezing' sound that we heard was NOT wheezing, it was the sound actually of how tight her trachea was. We learned later that it wouldn't have taken much more for her airway to have collapsed.

The doctor kept checking in on her, the meds weren't working as quick as he had hoped. After about 3 hours post meds we were told that it was going to be in our best interest to have her stay at least overnight. Then he asked me where I wanted her transferred if the need arose. I told him University of Maryland, he nodded and walked out. Chris and Lily were out breaking the law again to get our van and the real car seats from the Ped office when he came in and told me this. When the doctor left I looked down at Charlotte in my arms sleeping (thankfully) and then looked up and prayed to God to make my baby well, then I cried again....

Chris was able to get a hold of his sister who was able to keep Lily for us for the weekend. Lily took a vacation during all of this! He was able to get back to the hospital before they moved us to the Ped floor.

Charlotte was the only patient on the floor and the Ped nurses went out of their way to make her and us as comfortable as possible. Chris could not stay the night, but could stay very late and come back very early. They brought Charlotte some dinner. They asked what she liked then started rattling off items. In the end Charlotte had her favorite dinner. Chicken Nuggets, mac&cheese, and applesauce. Let me tell you Girlfriend ATE! LOL

A while later Chris got ready to leave for the night Charlotte was just about asleep. He helped me unfold the chair bed. I looked at it, then him and said something about not it having it matter as I really didn't plant to sleep. He told me to think of it like camping out.. or like we were at our resort at Disney. Yeah... he thinks he is a comic! :-)I wasn't as impressed!

Charlotte slept but it was very broken. Oh I almost forgot. When Chris came back to the hospital he brought Peggy! This is her penguin lovey. She grabbed up on Peggy and didn't let go. In the middle of the night though Peggy couldn't even really help. She was in pain every time she coughed. They gave her Tylenol and that helped, finally around 530 she fell into a deeeeep sleep. She slept until the doctor came in to check on her. We knew she was feeling at least a little better when she looked at the doctor pointed and said 'no, no, no!' Her voice was still very muted, but at least she wanted to say something. We were told that we could go home and to just keep an eye on her. She was sent home on two more days of steroids.

We got her home and put her right into the tub! Washed off the icky hospital germs. She did lay down for a nap.. and so did we! She only slept for an hour and a half. She got to have ice cream for dinner and went down at 5:30. She was falling asleep on me so we went ahead and put her down. I got into bed at 7 but was still too keyed up. I think it was closer to 10 when I finally fell asleep. Charlotte got up once around 2 and was up for about an hour. She did let Chris hold her, he got her settled about an hour later. She then slept until 830 this morning!

Today she is back more to her normal self. Her voice is still muted, she sounds like she has a cold now. She has also started to have more of the trademark barking cough today. She had sounded like a squeaky toy when she coughed! But as of tonight she was back to running Lily all over the house and even had a good couple squeals!

I will never curse those squeals again!

Grateful

2009-06-06T17:18:00.002-04:00

Charlotte is home. We are safe, tired, and VERY grateful. more tomorrow.

Live from Room 333B

2009-06-05T20:32:00.000-04:00

This is where our little Charlotte is currently residing at our local hospital. The virus infection that we stared with on Wednesday is now full blown Crupe with strider. Megan is staying with her tonight. Our hope is that she will continue to improve and be back home tomorrow. Please keep her in your thoughts. Thank you. Chris

One Up, One Down

2009-06-04T22:14:00.003-04:00

I am sorry I haven't updated in a while. As soon as we got Lily to some what normal, Charlotte got sick. She woke up on Wednesday with a 103 fever, and just looked like crud! Knowing that Lily's temp got way to high so quickly I made Charlotte an appointment for that afternoon.

A little back story..... their ped had surgery over Memorial Day weekend and ended up with an infection and herself in the hospital. Ummm doesn't she understand that is the exact moment our kids are going to be sick? When we went Wednesday I thought she was back, she was still out, but I got to meet her sister! She thought Charlotte had a nasty virus and gave me the same old song and dance about fluid and rest. I felt ok with this as she did just have a fever other then that she was normal.

Charlotte had a very restless night last night=Mommy and Daddy didn't sleep. Thank God for the person who invented coffee. It had to be a Momma!!! Can't you tell that I am sleepy/slap happy now?! LOL

Anyway today she woke up again with her fever. This time 102, well a little better then yesterday. However today she really didn't look good and she attached herself to me from the moment she woke up. Normally she is a love and run kid. She is just fine with a quick hug then off to play... not today.

About mid morning she got worse, out of nowhere she started sounding like a sea lion when she coughed, and it seemed like she was having a hard time getting a good breathe. I laid her down for nap and she was just restless all over again, crying off and on etc. I went in and got her and she and I rocked for a while. She did fall asleep for about a good hour on me. She hasn't done that for a VERY long time. I didn't realize how much I missed it. When she woke up she was even worse. I called into the Ped office and they told me she needed to be seen but the doctor wasn't going to be in until tomorrow.... crap. I took the appointment for 1pm on Friday, and they told me if she really started to go downhill to take her into the nighttime ped place.

I didn't have to wait much longer for that to happen. We took her temp right after dinner, I knew she was way too hot. It was 104. So we called in the Calvary (Tracy and Brianna) and Chris and I took her in. One of us could have gone and one stayed but she looked so bad we were afraid that they would send us to the ER.

They are saying that she has bronchitis. They gave us an antibiotic and told us to follow-up with the Ped tomorrow. I am going to keep her appointment, as they heard wheezing, so did I when I checked her before we went in tonight so better have her ped check her.

Long week with sickness. Our house looks like a tornado torn through it. Tomorrow Lily goes to the eye doctor about her tear duct, then Charlotte goes back in the afternoon.

I am sure that I am going to end up with this. It is my own fault but there was no way I was turn down sweet sick baby kisses. Last night when I was rocking Charlotte she kept looking up and she would say Momma, then lean in and give the sweetest kisses. It was like she was saying thank you. It was one of those moments tired or not I didn't want to be anywhere else.

Oh we found out tonight that Lily is only 1 POUND in front of Charlotte! Lily is 30 lbs, Charlotte is 29. I am sure that is water weight from all the fluid I have been pushing LOL!!

At least she is sleeping well right now and that is where I am headed too!! Nite-nite!

The Fever That Would Not End...

2009-05-28T13:44:00.004-04:00

All throughout the day yesterday Lily still seemed a little off. She felt warm, but not burning up at all. I thought that maybe the fever had really just taken a lot out of her. I just let her call the shots on what she did. The biggest thing I noticed is that her appetite was basically gone. She would drink, but would only take a few bites and then say she was done.

Last night I made spaghetti a Lily favorite and she just picked at it. When she was getting down I was holding her under her arms helping her down and she felt really hot. ...crap...

I took her temp 103.5 at this point it was about 10 till 6 and we tired to call into her Ped's office. We got her Nurse and told her what was going on. We found out that our Ped had surgery over the weekend and had gotten an infection and was now admitted in the hospital herself. She advised us to take Lily over to the Patients First Clinic and have her seen asap.

Lily and got ourselves together and off we went. They checked everything, Strep Throat, Pneumonia, UTI, and did a finger stick. They only thing that they could come up with is it is a middle ear infection. The doctor there gave her a pretty strong antibiotic and told me give her a loading dose when we got home along with a large dose of Motrin.

Here is the funny thing... apparently when Lily's fever gets really high, so does she. She was like a little drunk person, and VERY talkative. She asked every question under the sun. She asked all about the doctor, then when he left she broke into song. At one point I found myself begging her (in my head) to NOT remember something we have been learning. You will understand when you read this chat...

L: (singing) ducky, bear, bear, I love duckies, bear, bear.
She stopped suddenly and looked at me
L: Mommy who is that?
M: I think he is the doctor.
L: No, he is a blue shirt
M: OK but I think that he is the doctor too
L: No he is a man, not a a doctor (then she started singing again) a man, a man, man manman

We have been learning what makes a girl a girl and a boy a boy. Just using simple terms. I sat planted in my seat her on my lap, and turned blood red. Silently I begged her to not in that one moment remember what he has that she doesn't. Thankfully she didn't and when she was done singing she rested on me again.

The good news is that we checked on her several times after we put her to bed and each time she was more and more sweaty. The last time we checked I took her temp again and it was 98.0. So far today she is still a little slow especially this morning. Right now she is napping. I told her the doctor said she had too, and we have to do what the doctor says :-) I think that we on the right track though.

The one thing I couldn't help but think about is how parents with VERY sick children do it. I was so scared that I was going to hear something horrible last night once the tests came back. This fever was just so out of left field and she has never once complained of ear pain, before or after going into be seen. I am very grateful that our kids and as healthy as they are.

She Gives Me Fever

2009-05-26T20:52:00.004-04:00

We had a very nice weekend until Sunday night. I will post about the great part very soon. Tonight though I am still in very sick kid mode.

Sunday was a normal day. We said good-bye to my parents and Juice in the morning, then headed over to see Chris' sister and her very beautiful wedding dress. The girls were great. We came home from there just in time for lunch and nap. When the girls got up (yes Lily slept first red flag) and we headed out for dinner. Chris was given a gift card for Outback we went early enough that there wasn't a wait at all. It was nice and the girl's did very well. We don't do that really enough. From there we headed over to Target and then home. It was a normal night.

At 11:45 that night we heard Lily on the monitor. It sounded like she was having a nightmare. Chris went in to see what was going on. Lily was about to jump out of her bed. She was half asleep, half awake, yelling that her feet hurt. I stood her up thinking that maybe she was having a Charlie Horse. She couldn't stand. I sat her back down and started pushing down her legs and all over her feet. No pain and she started to calm down. I asked if she wanted to go to the bathroom. She did, but still wouldn't walk. She kept just saying that it hurt and that she hurt them when she stepped on a toy. I am thinking that maybe she was dreaming. That was until I picked her up out of the bed and held her close to me. She was burning up.

Lily has been home with us for 2.5 years. She has NEVER had a fever. Charlotte has never had a fever. This was out of left field. While she was on the potty Chris got the thermometer and when she was done we took into our room and I took her temp. The few times I thought they had fevers I take them rectally. It was 102.5. We got out the Motrin and a water cup. After she took that we sat on the bed with her for a little while. Then in a blink of an eye she turned a lovely shade of green and vomited all over herself, me and our bed. That earned a trip to the tub. She was not happy about that, but started to look and sound better. Once we got her out we hung out back in our room. I checked her temp again and she was down to 101.7. She was sleepy so we went ahead and put her back in her bed. She slept right through until the morning.

When we all got up she still felt a little warm but she was normal Lily. We went ahead and gave her another dose of Motrin. She played through the morning and around lunchtime she was asking me if I remembered her getting soap in her eyes. I really didn't. She plays a lot of pretend games so I wasn't sure if she was playing or not. Looking back now she was saying that because her eyes were burning from the fever. She had lunch then in for nap, she fell asleep again. 45 mins later she is thrashing in our bed. We hear her and tear off in to the room. I swear to God she felt like she was on fire. Chris went right into start another bath while I took her temp. it was 104.7 HOLY CRAP! I run to get her in the tub. She is screaming because she is soooo cold and upset. Chris is on the phone with our Ped. She tells us what to do. We were to give her a dose and a half of Motrin, keep her in the tub as long as she would let us, recheck her temp in 3 hours, if it wasn't down to give her Tylenol, wait an hour if she still wasn't down to take her the ER.

The worst part of this tub was that she had to pee. I did not want to move her in and out of the luke warm water. So I told her to just go (gross I know- I really was worried I would throw her into shock) she started SCREAMING that she could not do that. So I went against my better judgement and took her out and sat her on the potty. She was like a limp noodle. I could feel her heart beating on my hand when I reached to get her off. I was sooo scared. I put her back in the water and kept squeezing water over her and telling her that I was sorry. It was really sad.

Finally I decided that I could not torture her anymore. Chris got her out a tank and a pull up. I wrapped her in the towel and took her back into our bedroom. Got the little bit of clothes on her and made her lay down with us. We put in Nemo to watch. She asked for something to drink. We gave her a cold water cup. She took 3 sucks and promptly threw up again. Loosing all the Motrin we had just given her. I cleaned her up while Chris paged the Ped again. She changes her over to Tylenol suppositories. FANTASTIC! Chris ran out to get them while I stayed back.

I gave these things all the time when I was a Nurse. Doing it to your baby is a whole new level. Like we always do we told her that we didn't know if it was going to hurt but I was going to be as quick as I could and that Daddy would hold her hands. She didn't like it but it was in and done. We watched the rest of Nemo. I must have checked her forehead 3 million times. After the movie she came down to 103.6.

We let her play quiet things in the afternoon and evening. The sad part is trying to have her understand why she couldn't have certain things like milk and her blanket on her bed. We made a very big deal over putting her blanket back on her bed tonight.

We kept up with the Tylenol every 4 hours throughout the day. This morning I tried the Motrin again and prayed. Finally at 3pm today after 36 hours her temp was back to normal. She has been a little teary tonight, and clingy. Her appetite still isn't quite right. But that is about it. Thankfully Charlotte hasn't show any signs of this. C Bear was very sweet to her sister over the past few days. Giving extra hugs and loves to Lily.

The Big Day!!!

2009-05-21T07:41:00.002-04:00

Tonight is Chris' Graduation! Lily is very excited for Chris to wear his 'very handsome blue nightgown' AKA his graduation robe. We also made Chris a shirt that say This Dad is a Grad! they are going to wear them after the ceremony. I am charging the camera as I am typing this so I will have tons more to share tomorrow!

Poopcasso

2009-05-20T08:22:00.002-04:00

This is Charlotte's new nickname. She has gotten into her diaper three times now! Even through a onesis barrier! She is such a hot baby, so we have not been putting her in the heavy fleece sleepers. Thankfully we found a few light weight ones at Target. She was madder then mad the first night we put it on. She pulled at the tab/zipper. Even tried to chew through it! But she didn't get into her diaper!

I know this sounds really gross but I think that it is a texture thing for her. It has stopped for now, even on the nights that we don't use the full sleeper. We are hopeful that this was a short phase! Chris and I laugh all the time and say that Charlotte was sent to us to make sure we got the full parenting experience! I guess if nothing else she has made us immune to pretty much anything! Thank goodness she is soooo stinking cute!

Priceless

2009-05-20T08:11:00.002-04:00

4 boxes of chocolate cake mix -$ 3.00

1 roll of paper towels to clean up the mess- $0.50

1 afternoon of sweet giggles from a 3 year old- priceless!

Chris asked me to make cupcakes to take into work as a thank you for being supportive through this past semester of school. Yesterday we got to work! I made the first half during nap/rest time. Then when Lily came out we got to work on the second half. It was a huge mess but a lot of fun! She has really been wanting to help more and more in the kitchen lately and has been very interested in what I do when I say I am 'cooking'. It was one of those moments I just wanted to freeze in time. She is getting to darn big! :-)

Ultimate Expression of Love

2009-05-20T07:59:00.002-04:00

First off I want to thank you all for leaving such sweet comments for Matthew and us. We did have a nice day of talking about him and thinking back to those days before we lost him. Leslie asked if we know if he was ever adopted and we honestly don't know. We have thought about searching, maybe one day we will. I am afraid to do that after things about our now closed agency have come to light. It is hard to know what to believe...

Moving on to a happier topic.....

Yesterday Charlotte brought the whole big box of dog biscuits in from the kitchen and started handing them out to our dogs. They LOVE when she does this! Well of course Lily had to join in as well. I was watching them handing them out and Charlotte brought me one. I told her to go ahead and give it to the dogs and she laughed and trotted off to give it. Lily then walked up to me with a biscuit and said 'Mommy if you were a doggie I would give you a biscuit too.' I have never been told I love you quite like that! It really was the ultimate expression of love!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy

2009-05-18T12:00:00.006-04:00

Today, somewhere in the world our Matthew turns 4 years old.

The feelings that surround Matthew's loss is hard for people to understand unless you lived through a failed adoption. We were in process (paper pregnant) for a little over 5 months. When we lost him it was as if he died. He was pulled away from us so fast it made our world spin. Until the exact time of that call we thought everything was going perfectly.

We loved Matthew, we love Matthew. We would have given him a home full of laughter and love. His loss is no less just because we didn't carry him. We never held him in our arms but that doesn't mean we aren't as broken by his absence. Some would think that with time his memory would just fade off, especially since we have our girls. Not even close to true. If anything it makes it that much harder. Not that we would trade a second with them or wish he were here instead. In a perfect world we would have them all in our arms everyday. He would be running with Chris through the boy sections of Disney this fall and love all things Star Trek. But that wasn't meant to be. Instead we are here mourning for our baby who we only ever touched through a computer screen, but love with every bit of our hearts.

This year Chris and I choose to do things a little different. We sponsored a little boy on the Salvation Army Angel Tree that was Matthew's age at Christmas. It brought us great happiness to give to another little boy. Even more Chris and I were able to shop without the girls it was nice to really be able to think about what Matthew would like at his age. It was comforting in way.

I am in a much better place with his loss then in years past. Will I ever be over it? No chance. His loss was the single saddest of our lives and marriage. I think of him everyday, even more so on May 18th(his birthday), and January 18th(the day he was taken). I will be thinking of him at Lily and Charlotte's Graduations, at their weddings. I am sure I will be blogging 16 years from now when he turns 20 and have the same tear stained face. For those 5 very short months he was our baby, our Son, and he will never be forgotten.

We love you so very much Matthew! Happy 4th Birthday sweet boy...

From Where You Are

Lifehouse

So far away from where you are

These miles have torn us worlds apart

and I miss you

I miss you

So far away from where you are

I'm out standing underneath the stars

and I wish you

were here

I miss the years that were erased

I miss the way the sunshine would light up your face

I miss all the little things

I never thought that they'd mean everything to me

I miss you

and I wish you

were here

I feel the beating of you heart

I see the shadows of your face

Just know that wherever you are

I miss you

and I wish you

were here

So far away from where you are

These miles have torn us worlds apart

I miss you, I miss you

and I wish you

were here....

Disney Websites

2009-05-16T20:30:00.003-04:00

A few Mommy's asked where I get all of my super cool info about the 'Happiest Place On Earth" I LOVE to share sooooo here it goes...

www.disney.com
The main man Mickey's site!

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/
More centered for the vacation planning

www.allears.net
This site gives you insights on what is new and happening, also lets you preview menus in the parks before you make your ressie.

www.wdwinfo.com
By far my favorite site. It is my new Adoption.com! I go there for everything!

www.mousesavers.com
This site gives tips on how to not take out a small loan to go to Disney!

www.disneyphotopass.com
This is a program in Disney that takes your pictures and then will add in characters from the park. You can also add boarders and titles to the pictures.

www.laughingplacestore.com
A store I stumbled on looking for autograph books. I haven't bought from this site.

http://coronado_springs.tripod.com/
This is where we are staying!

http://s3.excoboard.com/exco/index.php?boardid=9723
This is a nice way to give back. These ladies are in contact with people traveling through the Make A Wish program. They help make the trip just a little more magical for the families.

http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disneysphotopass/
More info on the Photo pass program

https://www.gardengrocer.com
Since we are flying I found out that we don't have to carry so many needed items with us on the plane. This website allows you to pre-purchase groceries and then for a small fee ($12.00) they will deliver them to you. I checked them out last night and found that the items we were looking for were well within normal range price wise. I am putting our order in Friday.

http://www.magicalkingdoms.com/timers/
Where I have made tickers for a Disney board. If you want the name plate just click on it and it will take you right to the site! For Blog Spot you need the smaller one.

http://clipart.disneysites.com/
Free Disney Clip Art!

http://www.passporter.com/wdw/
The website partner for the Passporters Guide to Walt Disney World. This is the only planning book I have bought.

http://www.mousemisers.com/
Good info!

http://www.i95exitguide.com/index.php
A guide to 95

www.southwest.com
where we booked the flights!

This is how I have spent my nap times and evenings for the past 3 months! I hope you find it all as useful as I have!

Disney Update

2009-05-13T08:17:00.002-04:00

Are we crazy?? Well maybe a little... but we also know what our parenting limits are. For that reason Chris heard words that strike fear in him... "I have been thinking..." I have no clue why he turns a different shade every time I say that. :-)

Well last night we talked, and talked, and talked about our mode of transportation to get to Disney. There were valid pros and cons for both flying and driving. We had found really cheap flights on Southwest. By really cheap I mean $49 flights cheap. In the end we chose to sleep on it and look at it again this morning. By this morning of course the flight costs had gone up. But we were determined to NOT ride 14 hours over two days in the van. We found that when we flexed our dates that just by moving it by a few days made a world of difference and made the $49 flights reappear! Plus Southwest doesn't charge for your first two bags per person. That is a bonus in itself.

I had to wait to call into Disney until this morning to see if the new dates were available. Thankfully they were! While I was on hold with Disney waiting for the confirmation I went ahead and booked the flights! OMG!

The dates have been changed to 9/7-9/14. Only a change of four days.

I don't like to fly, I dread it, but I dread hours of unhappy children even more. I will take two hours of upset over 14 anytime. Chris really didn't care one way or another, but understands where I am coming from. We don't have to rent a car, Disney picks you up from the airport and takes you to your resort. Heck, you don't even have to pick up your luggage they deliver that to you!

Needless to say Lily was VERY excited this morning to find out we were going to ride in an airplane. It was great to hear her very accurately articulate what happens "We go up up up in the air, then down down to see Mictey!"

The funny thing is that even though I don't like to fly, I feel at peace with this. Just like when we switched resorts, it was the right decision to make both times.

LISTED!

2009-05-12T07:29:00.002-04:00

On the DEAN'S LIST that is!! My husband is a genius! He had his Math final last night. His professor didn't grade them at the end of class. Chris give him our email address and this morning I was woken up by a BEAMING hubby!

He scored over 100% and his final grade was an A!!!!!

Final score two A's on the finals and nearly perfect scores for both classes!

While Chris was taking his final I worked off some nervous energy with the girls by putting together a little surprise party for him. We blew up balloons, put up streamers, and made posters. The girls had such a good time. Lily 'wrote' all over the poster in her own language telling Chris that she loved him and congratulations. It was really sweet! We also picked up a small cake and put that out. Lily insisted on a candle! Chris was very surprised when he got home.

His graduation is next Thursday. He has off a week and a half before he starts the summer session at UMUC.

As always his girls are VERY proud of him! Go, Daddy, Go Daddy!!! :-)

Funny!

2009-05-11T15:14:00.004-04:00

I found this on another Mommy's blog and thought it was VERY funny.

May 10, 2006

2009-05-10T21:54:00.003-04:00

Today four years ago we met our Lily!

A Mother's Day Full of Firsts...

2009-05-10T19:01:00.002-04:00

First of all let me recap my morning. It was amazing!! I awoke to a cool breeze blowing gently over me, and in a big warm bed. I turned my head to look out the window to see local wildlife frolicking. I listen to hear the cooing laughter of my children coming closer... I was completely content.

Then I woke up!!

The cool breeze was our old oscillating fan. The big warm bed contained Chris, Lily and I. The local "wild life"was our dogs, one of which was doing his business. The cooing was Charlotte letting it be quite known that she was awake and ready for the day! And ya know what?

I was completely content! :-)

I hope that every Mommy had a great day today!! My day was fantastic! Chris ran Lily over to get breakfast. She was thrilled to have choco-milk - I really don't think they have ever had it. I know for sure it was Charlotte's first. After we finished up breakfast we started to get ready for the adventure that is Downtown Baltimore City! Ya never know what you will see there!

My gift this year was a membership to the National Aquarium at the Inner Harbor. It will pay for itself in just two visits! Score! This is where we were headed. We ALWAYS, and every time get lost in the city. This was the first time we found our destination on the first try! We found a great place to park- very close- very public makes Megan VERY happy! Remember where we are....

Once we got it all together we made our way and for the first time we get to use the Member entrance. We felt very high class- of course we laughed about that! The next first wasn't planned for. We didn't know that we couldn't use the stroller while touring the Aquarium. So for the first time Charlotte got to ride in a backpack carrier. They offer them for free. Charlotte didn't care if it cost a billion dollars she was not happy! We tried for a while to make her happy, but in the end we took her out and she walked 90% of it. She was so proud of herself!

After we ditched (returned) the backpack the fun really started. Lily was in awe of everything she saw. There was a large pool of sting rays. She told me that they looked like butterflies and they were flying like Peter Peter (Peter Pan) just in the water. She was in heaven! We wandered for a while then we came to the spiral. It is pretty dark in there and it is a winding walk down. Lily is NOT a big fan of ANYTHING she deems spooky. Her and I just held hands and kept walking and looking at the 'fishes'. At the very bottom of the spiral is the shark tanks. These suckers were huge up close. Lily deemed them 'bigger then Daddy' FYI anything large is big like her Daddy. He is her point of reference. Charlotte was in awe as well at this point. She just kept pointing and saying 'see, see'.

When we hit bottom we walked right into a feeding session with the sting rays. That was a first for all of us! There was a little ledge that the girls could stand on to watch. Charlotte was clapping her hands and laughing. We were very careful NOT to let her bang on the tanks. We didn't want a Darla moment from Finding Nemo! Although she did squeal while in the shark tank area! Chris said he thought she might ignite a frenzy from the sound! As for Lily she swears the sting rays were smiling at her! We stood there for a long while waving and saying Hi to each one that swam by watching them eat the little 'fishes'. Thankfully Lily didn't really catch on to that!

After a while the diver ran out of fish waved a good-bye and we moved on. Next was the Dolphin show! Lily had talked about this for days! She was soooo excited. To get to that part of the building required another first for the girls... escalators! Up and down back and forth! Something I know most people do not know is my fear of these things. I can go up fine it is the down. Regular steps get to me too. I never carry the girls down steps. Chris does. When we are in the playroom upstairs I carry Charlotte and walk backwards facing Lily. I don't know why, it just freaks me out! So the thought of doing it with my child in tow was a first time I had to deal with that panic. Chris took Charlotte, and I had Lily. I must have let 5 families go first. All of whom looked at me like I was crazy! By the time we made it down I was a red face mess! Lily loved it. She really thought she a big girl today. She had no clue!

Back to the Dolphin Show....When we got right outside of the show we thought it best to have Lily and Daddy go to the bathroom. What we didn't notice was there was a restroom right in front of us DOH! It took them a few minutes to make it back, but they did and we headed in. Chris and I decided it best not to sit in the 'splash zone' we sat way up high! Which ended up being a good idea the girls got to see the dolphins jump better there.

Being this was their very first show like this we didn't know how they would react. I would have never guessed this! Charlotte LOVED it! She giggled, squealed,kicked, clapped. She really seemed to feed off our reactions to everything going on around us. She was really into it and was very verbal about it. Lily also LOVED it but she was overwhelmed by it. She had a smile planted on her face the entire time, but I don't think she said one word! She just took it all in. It was a really neat show. Chris and I loved to see their reactions to it.

After it was over we decided it was time to head out. We of course perused the gift shop! Lily picked out a dolphin who Chris helped her name Mac, for the Mackerel Fish they eat. Charlotte picked out a hot pink penguin, who I have named Peggy. I have never seen her react that way to something. She loved on that thing all the way home, all evening, and she is now sleeping in her crib! I think we might have found her nite nite bear! Chris and Charlotte headed out to redeem our stroller, while Lily and I paid for their goodies! When we were done I didn't realize that to get to where they had gone required yet another trip down an escalator. Lily missed the first step, I had her hand and grabbed her up...we found the elevator.

Chris just smiled and shook his head when he saw us coming from the elevator. We grabbed some lunch went to the restroom one more time then headed out. We pondered around the Inner Harbor for a little while and then made our way back to the van.

Charlotte fell asleep on the way home- nothing new about that! Lily though had her first roadside emergency. We were maybe 2 minutes from home when she announces that she has to pee. We tell her we are almost home just hold on tight. She at that point crossed everything and held on as tight as she could, but it wasn't to be and then her announcement changed to "oh no it is coming out guys!" Chris hit the gas and we pulled into a Burger King like a Nascar car, her and I race in there. I felt as I pulled her out of the car seat that she had wet through already. I got into the bathroom and she hopped on the potty and finished. Thankfully Chris had remember this morning to grab an extra pair of shorts just in case. I switched out of the wet into dry, and drove the 30 secs to the house.

Once we got home, we got Charlotte down for her nap and Lily in our bed for a rest. Charlotte cut her nap WAY too short but woke up happy. We didn't rush right in there because we hoped that she would just fall back to sleep. She did get quiet for a little but then started again, this time a little louder. Chris went in there, he yells out oh S$&^T!!! I holler back asking what she had done now. We found her again a few days ago partly naked at bedtime. So I thought she just did that again. He yelled back "no really S^&T GET IN HERE!!"

Miss Charlotte must have been inspired by some of the prehistoric fish we saw this morning and drew cave drawings all over herself, crib, and sheets. With-you guessed it- poop! Well now that is a FIRST for us! I guess she is just doing her part to make us well rounded parents!

Today was filled with a ton of firsts. It really was a great day!

Chris thank you for making this weekend wonderful, and for being a great hubby!

Lily and Charlotte thank you for being such good girls today and handing the day really great!

Charlotte thank you for all my kisses and hugs today!

Lily thank you for all my hugs and kisses and all the Happy Modder's Day wishes!

A special thank you to a woman who I will never meet, in your selflessness you gave me my Lily and made me a Mommy!

A Memo From the Girls

2009-05-07T09:06:00.005-04:00

Mr Sun,

Sun, Mr Golden Sun, PLEASE shone down on me. Oh MR. Sun, Sun Mr. Golden Sun, hiding behind those trees. These little children are asking you, to please come out so they can play with you. Oh Mr. Sun, Sun Mr. Golden Sun PLEASE shine down, Please shine down on, P L E A S E shine down on me!!!

Thank you,

Lilliana and Charlotte

Happy Nurses Day!

2009-05-06T22:04:00.002-04:00

You know you are nurse when...

You know a nurse who died and went straight to hell? It took her two weeks to realize she wasn't at work!

You know you're a nurse if... you would like to meet the inventor of the call light some night in a dark alley.

You know the smell of different diarrhea to identify it.

You've been telling stories in a restaurant and made someone at another table "sick".

You've told a confused patient that your name was that of your coworker and to holler if they need help.

Your bladder can expand to the size of a Winnebago's water tank.

You find yourself checking out other customer's veins in grocery waiting lines.

You avoid unhealthy looking shoppers in the mall for fear that they will drop near you and you'll have to do CPR on your day off.

Your finger has gone places you never thought possible.

You have seen more penises than any prostitute.

If you are not a nurse this is just to help you understand our mind set and questionable mental status/sanity. Most of the time we function in spite of this sick sense of humor, fairly normally and very responsibly.

Scary, huh?????

My Momma (also a nurse) sent this to me! Happy Nurse's Day!!!

Disney Update!

2009-05-06T17:33:00.005-04:00

I think the last post I was writing that we could begin planning this month. Well I was wrong. Disney releases operating times 90 days ahead of time. We have to wait until 6/1 ARGH!! I will only have 5 days to get everything mapped out so that I can make our reservations for the character meals. I am sure it will be fine but I would have liked a little more time to plan it out. I have a working plan, but I need the hours for the night parades to finalize it all.

We have been working on collecting things in our Disney bucket. We now have sunglasses and hats for the girls. During our last trip to the Disney store I stumbled in to a BONUS! Bibbity Bobbity Boutique princess crown clips! I kid you not I was sooo excited. I have already figured out how they do the princess bun but I thought I was going to have to wait until we got there to get one of the clips. Now we have one that we can play with before hand!

I put her hair up last night before bed, then she played bride! The next time I am going to get pics. This time it was more to show Chris why I was sooo excited! He saw how beautiful she looked and understood! Miss. Charley is still working on growing her hair, but does have enough for some cutie pie piggy tails!

I have a countdown chain to make, but it doesn't start for another ten days. I will gladly forward it if anyone wants one! I know that I plug http://www.wdwinfo.com/ in just about every Disney post, but this forum is truly awesome. There is a whole area where if you ask very talented people will make any iron on transfer that you want! Then you just print if off iron and you got a personalized shirt! I do not like to put the girls names on their shirts but I did have ones made that are mickey heads that say Big Sis and Lil Sis! One set is purple polka dots, and the other is pirates! I will play show and tell....

How cute are they!! Oh and it was free! :-) I can't wait to make the shirts!

May, May, May....Sigh...

2009-05-05T21:34:00.005-04:00

May is FULL of emotion for Chris and I.

5/5/05 was the first meeting with our adoption agency

5/10/06 The first time we held Lily!

5/11/06- We received Pre- approval

5/13/06- We had to say good-bye to Lily for 8 LONG months....

5/19/06- We entered PGN

5/18/05 Our Matthew's Birthday...

I remember that when we were making our plans to visit Lily I refused to go over Matthew's birthday. I just couldn't do it. Looking back I should have gone. When we got back from visiting Lily I was so sad. I just couldn't comprehend that I had left my child behind. Then right behind that we faced Matthew's first birthday. I worked myself up so bad that I ended up in the Emergency Room the day after Matthew's birthday. They said it was dehydration from a stomach bug but I know it was a broken heart. I was a mess. The four months from the time we lost Matthew and met Lily I was able to push out how distraught I was to lose him. I had to love Lily, she needed to feel it, and I sent it in buckets. It took us leaving her for my dam to burst. I dread May, I can remember that pain like nothing else. It is the month I made myself face Matthew's loss. 4 years later I am in a better place, but May still bites big time!

Language Czar

2009-05-05T19:35:00.003-04:00

Before the girls came Chris and I both had pretty bad potty mouths. Honestly there are times when I am retelling a story on the blog that I have to go back through and make sure that I didn't get too into it. Now that we have been parents we have developed a very thick filters. While I may still think it, it doesn't make it out! Normally, mostly, hey I am only human!

Now I am writing that to say that we (believe it or not ;-) are pretty strict on what language we consider 'nice'. I know, I know pot meet kettle. But they still too little yet to figure out how flawed we are!! Thankfully! I am SURE in the years to come they will! But for right now we are trying to instill better language. Isn't that what good parents try to do? Have their kids do better then they do? I hope so! Right now it is focused on Lily because she is the only one really speaking. Charlotte can express needs and emotions right now but that is about it. Lily likes to try out new things she picks up. Sigh...

We police her pretty well and if there is something that is new we try to figure out where she heard it. Believe it or not it is normally one of us! Go figure!! Well we must be doing something right though, because Lily has turned into a Language Czar! She is the first one to tell me that I have said a 'naughty' word.. sigh... Then I have to praise her because she is right.

For us naughty words for her to say are stupid, hate, crap, mean. I understand that she could be hearing or saying a lot worse. Mommy's filter is VERY thick! Nevertheless, we don't like to hear her say these things. We are strict about it. Now when she hears us.. man oh man! We hear ALLL about it. It sounds a lot like this...

Me: (talking to another adult) I hate when that happens!
Lily: Mommy you said a naughty word
Me: Crap....!
Lily: Mommmmy!
Me: (internally) %&$(*#^$%#&$&#$%#*$%@&!!!! --- Yes Lily you are right Mommy won't use those word anymore...

If she had a penny for every time she caught saying one of her naughty words she would be at least a Thousanaire! We are trying to be better everyday. She is just too darn quick! Just think Charlotte is right behind her! I am going to have to trade my filter in for a steel door!

Full Moon Sighting!

2009-05-05T19:20:00.002-04:00

Last night when we went into check on the girls we noticed something didn't look quite right with Charlotte. Upon closer inspection we found that the little stinker had pulled off her PJ pants AND diaper!! She was laying there nn her tummy full moon aglow!

OF COURSE we were cracking up trying to get her little half naked self out of the crib to fix her self inflicted wardrobe malfunction!! When Chris reached in to get her she rolled right over and said very clearly 'Hi you!' and giggled while still mostly asleep!

We got her all put back together again and back to bed. When we made it into our room we totally lost it laughing! She is such a funny girl!

She really does love to just be in a diaper, so last week she was in heaven as the temps soared here, but this week it has been damp and chilly. Clothes are needed! This isn't the first time she has decided that she would rather not sleep in what we have picked for her. Normally she gets stuck somewhere in the process and in frustration crys for us. We have found her more then once stuck with a shirt over her head and her arms straight up in the air. This was the first time we were greeted with a full moon! Thankfully she didn't have an accident while disrobed!!

Chats With Lily

2009-05-02T18:19:00.002-04:00

Lily: Yelling... I want my light on!!! I want my light on!!

Chris: Lily what word are you missing?

Lily: Pauses for a sec... DADDY!!! Put the light ON!

LOL Gotta love 3 year olds!!! Right?... Just kidding :-) She is even cute when she is in a mood!

One Down, One to Go!

2009-05-01T08:06:00.003-04:00

Chris just received via email his first of his two final grades. This class was online and required him to write 17 3-4 page essay papers, each with a max of 20 points. This is his critique from his professor on his final paper.

Factual Content
12 points maximum
Very good
12 pts

Organization of paper
4 points maximum
Good
4 pts
Use of the readings in the

Paper
4 points maximum
Good
4 pts

Total pts: 20/20

Final grade: A

HE GOT AN A!!! I told him last night that I had a dream that he did get the A. He told me he had a dream that we pretended he was pregnant to rob a bank! OK then!!!

He has one more full week of in class, class then he will take that final for Math. Right now he has 100% in that class! He is just amazing, and in my eyes a total genius!

We are VERY proud of you!!

One More For The Road

2009-04-29T22:18:00.002-04:00

Before I sign off for the night I wanted to update everyone on Baby Stellan. Today he celebrated his 6 month birthday AT HOME! They flew home from Boston yesterday. Stellan is on a heart monitor at home and so far the medication is doing it's job!

Needles,Snacks and Friends

2009-04-29T21:17:00.003-04:00

When I took Charlotte to the doctor on Monday we talked about the fact that Charlotte is still trying to eat everything she can get her hands on. Expo eraser, markers, crayons, pennies, Styrofoam, you name it I think we have pulled it out of her mouth. While talking with her doctor she mentioned that Lead exposure can cause this. But, she quickly brushed that thought aside and said that her 1 year lead work-up was fine.

When we got home I got to thinking about what she said and all I remembered her doing at that appointment was a finger stick for her iron level. So this morning I called back to the office and spoke with her nurse who told me I was right that we hadn't HAD the lead blood work done. I told her I would stop by in the morning to get the lab slip and we would get it done. Well in the 5 secs it took me to hang up the phone I realized that I wanted to make sure that everything was fine and that she just likes to taste her world! Off we went to the doctor.

After reassuring Lily 10 million and 1 times that SHE wasn't getting the needle and that Charlotte as fine she just needed an extra test we made it to the doctors office. It was around 1100 am at this point. We got the slip and were on our way to the Lab. OH MY..... It was packed, hot, and the girls were not about to wait out an hour to get blood work done. I packed it up and got them back to the van. Then a light bulb went off! I called my old office, in my BC (before children) years I was a nurse, and I worked some really great people who I trust. Well I called over and was told that it was a great time to stop by.

We made it there in about 20 mins, they were right the clinic was empty! While Charlotte was getting her blood work done Lily was spoiled rotten! She even sat on one of my docs laps! Too much! I stayed back with Charlotte. It took 3 of us to hold her down. I assured them that I was not a Mom who couldn't watch (nothing wrong if you can't) I just go into clinical mode and focus on her. I stayed at her head and kept kissing her eyes. Annie the great got it in one stick. Charlotte was pissed when we were done! She let me hold her for a while but when she got down she was making Charzilla sounds and just generally mad! At few snacks helped out! We visited for a while and then headed home.

These women we so supportive of Chris and I during the process for Lily it is great to go back and visit, even if there are needles involved!

Lily does her eye appointment scheduled for June, one more thing off our list! I also spoke with the pre-school director today and I am going over to get her application very soon! I can't believe that she can (hopefully) start school soon! We thought that the girls were going to be a year a part in school, however because of Charlotte's birthday they will be 2 years! The cut off is September 1, she was born October 5. I will get one year home with just her though so that is going to be nice!

Avon Calling...

2009-04-27T16:50:00.004-04:00

So there has been heated debate about this between Chris and I over this issue. To blog or not to blog. That was the debate. I won't say which side wanted what. But here is the compromise...

This is the one and only post that I am going to write about my new adventure. I am a brand new Avon Representative! I have a website that anyone, anywhere can order from and it will be delivered to you at home. Or you can go right through me and every two weeks or so and you can see my smiling face!

I am not going to be posting the web address, if you are interested please email me and I will gladly send it to you.

Don't get me wrong or misinterpret my tone. I am VERY, VERY excited about this new adventure and can't wait to see where it is going to lead.

A New Day

2009-04-27T14:42:00.003-04:00

Just last year the thought of taking both girls to the doctor had me on the edge. I knew someone (usually me) would be in tears before we made it home. I dreaded well visits. Today however was a lot different. Only Charlotte needed a well check so that in it's self made it a little more manageable. One in their diaper/panties wanting to to make a run for it is MORE then enough!

Let me back up a little. I think it is pretty common knowledge that our Ped has a problem with staying on time. After 2 years of visits I still love her despite this. I go in feeling a little like Gilligan and hoping for much less then a 3 hour tour. Normally it isn't that bad, but it has pushed it. I remain in love. She is a one woman show, we see her for all appointments, we talk to her (unless she is on vacation) in the middle of the night when there is need. She knows us and our kids. Even better she is good at what she does.

Back to the appointment....

What was sooo different about this appointment was that they girl entertained themselves! Don't get me wrong I don't mind one bit if they want to play with me or anything like that. Today though they just played together with the toys (I know how gross they are. I played with them growing up and survived!). I even got to look at a magazine! It was GREAT! They were happy and at peace and so was Mommy!

Finally it was our turn. Charlotte is up to 26.5 lbs and is 33 inches. She is in the 75% for Ht and Wt. Her head is a little bigger (she got Chris' head shape!) at 90% but still just fine! We are moving her off of whole milk- I was surprised by this, but she told me move them both over. We have kept Lily on it past 2 because she is still barley on the charts. She is completely healthy and can start a little potty training. Chris and I do not subscribe to the trained by two thing. We try, and try and try again until they get it. For Lily it took trying until just over 3 until she totally got it. Today we were out for 3 hours and never needed to go. She will train when she is ready. The good news is that she already signs if there is something going on!

Oh before the doctor came in.. that is ALWAYS a fun time trying to keep them entertained! Charlotte thought she needed a Well Woman check and not a Well Baby. She kept pulling out the stirrups on the exam table. I moved her away she went right back, and back and back... Then she moved onto the trash can again I moved her away and she went back, and back and back. Fun times. Thankfully we were trapped too long before the doctor came in!

We just keep on keeping on until Oct for her 2 year appointment- where did that time go!

As for Lily even though she didn't have an appointment I always get her weighed just to keep an eye on her. She topped the charts at 30.5! We broke through the 20's!! I also talked to the doctor about Lily's blocked tear duct she has had it since she came home. It seemed like it was getting better but then out of nowhere it has been running non-stop. Our next stop is the eye doctor to take a look at it.

In the end only Charlotte shed a few tears when she got her shots and that was quickly stopped. We even made a stop at Wally World! 2 Trips in one day! It is A New Day indeed!

Popsicles and Sprinklers

2009-04-25T19:27:00.010-04:00

Today it reached a wonderfully warm 85 degrees! This morning Chris' Dad came by and thankfully we are now back up and running with two vehicles! While the boys were outside doing boy things the girls' clamored at the window like a little fan club! I didn't take them out because I was afraid of them getting into something. We stayed in and played this morning. The brakes are all fixed now and for much less money we thought it was all going to cost. It pays to have a Dad that knows a few (thousand) things about cars! Thank you Dad for coming to the rescue this morning!

After nap time it was a balmy 83 degrees in our brick oven so outside we headed. This year BOTH girls are old enough to have Popsicles! I headed off a meltdown and got right down to business! Popsicles for everybody! In the meantime Chris tried to get our hose attachment off the hose so that we could use our new (to us) sprinkler. Well that didn't go very well, hence the Popsicle rescue. The attachment on our hose just WOULD NOT come off. He tried everything, down to threatening to chew the dang thing off! But it wasn't to be and we ended up breaking the attachment, and it is STILL attached to the hose. ...Sigh this was supposed to fun and happy.

The girls are very lucky to have Chris for their Daddy (much more then for this reason) after trying for a long while to get it off, he had a light bulb that worked! He just unscrewed the whole hose and tried to use the sprinkler that way. In the end it wasn't where we wanted it but the girls didn't care it was sprinkler time and Daddy saved the day!

Charlotte is truly a duck! She LOVES water in any form. She was splashing and squealing and didn't mind getting the water on her face. She also loved stomping in the puddles that had formed. Her new favorite thing to say/shout is go,go GO! Her whole little body shakes on the last one. It is so funny to watch her as she was shouting this at the sprinkler. We have noticed that she voice is going to be on the husky side. It is so sweet! Oh another thing she did today unrelated to our outside play. This morning she was NOT in a good mood at all. The funny thing is that she always so happy that she doesn't know how to act. She doesn't whine per say, she roars! I kid you not! It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. I didn't mean to laugh because she was mad, but it was just so unexpected! Lily has the whine down to a science so to hear this was a little refreshing. LOL Oh one more thing I don't want to forget, she now calls me Momma all the time! She knowingly says it when she needs me/something! She has been calling Chris Da or Dee for a long while but Momma just wasn't there. Now it is and I DO love hearing that!!

Ok back to our programming...

Lily was more interested in watering her 'flowers' (AKA weeds) so she was trying to fill up her watering can with the sprinkler water. At least her 'flowers' didn't get too much to drink!

We played outside for a long while. When we came in we just undressed the girls in the tub and they immediately got their bath. Then dinner and quiet play until bed. There were some small protests but they were pretty tired from all the activity of the day.

Tomorrow we are going to have our long overdue Easter Egg hunt with Grandpa, Grandma, and Lizzie! It is supposed to be in the low 90's! WARM AT LAST!!!

And OF COURSE I took pictures 90 to be exact!! Here are just a few!

Picnic Time

2009-04-25T19:11:00.002-04:00

With only a small snag (Chris was held over in a meeting) our picnic went off just has planned. It actually went better then I thought it would. Lily was very helpful putting out the blanket on the floor. I think that we ended up with three in total. :-) Charlotte was good about not picking up the blankets and running off with them. She loves to do this. Well, I don't know if it is that or that fact that it makes Lily crazy!

Chris stopped off for us at the store and picked up the last few things that we needed and then he was home! Lily could not wait to show him what we had done! Everyone sat together very nicely. This is what we were worried about the most. Charlotte just isn't used to something like this. So we just went with the follow and she did great! She didn't like the chicken salad much, but for some reason LOVED the chocolate chip cookies Chris picked up for dessert. Hmmm go figure ;-)

Lily was just in the moment. Chris had picked up pumpernickel bread as a little treat. Lily was SURE it was chocolate bread! She wasn't too disappointed when she took a bite. She really picks up our ques on things. She will ask like a big girl if everyone is having a good time, or if everyone likes the 'new brown bread'.

It was just a great way to end a pretty crazy week and has really set us up to have another fun weekend. Thankfully we are on a roll with these! I really hope that they keep coming!

Disney update!

2009-04-24T21:43:00.002-04:00

This is a very exciting news update! Guess who is going to have her first official hair cut at the Disney Barber Shop on Main Street!!

Charlotte Mae!!

See all of hours of researching (some might call it obsessing!) are paying off! She will probably not have much hair still but a little trim never hurt anyone! Once it is all done they collect her hair and seal it with Mickey confetti. Then she is given a certificate of first hair cut and Mickey Ears with 'First Haircut' embroidered on the back! All that for $15.00! Come on!!!

As for other news we have chosen to have dinner our first night at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. This is a character meal with Cinderella, Prince Charming, The Step Sisters and the Step Mother. This is going to be a surprise for them. We are going to let them wear their Princess Dresses, and we are going to make our own official Royal Invitation to give them! I think it is going to be a great kick start for the rest of the week.

We have a little over a month left until we can call and make our ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations) so I am working on getting an A list and a B list as they seem to fill up fast! You can only call 90 days ahead of your arrival so that is 6/6 for us.

Chris told me the other night that I should become a Disney Travel Agent after planning this trip! But in honesty, it is all on the web. Most things I have just stumbled on. Like the First Hair Cut for Miss Charlotte.

If you want to see videos of the First Hair Cut or 1900 Park Fare check out youtube. I have found that I like to see things for myself even after I read about them this has been great for that. Also it helps that I can show Lily what I am talking about. After watching she can't wait to ride on Goofy's Rolder Coaster (lilyism):-).

TGIT!

2009-04-23T08:35:00.002-04:00

Thankfully this is a short week for Chris. Today is his last day at work for 3 full (warm) days! He will be home tonight and FINALLY be able to really be with the girls. This week has just been one of those weeks. He has been home while the girls were awake for a whopping 2 whole hours the whole week! Crazy, and I know he doesn't like it at all. Normally on school nights (Mon/Wed) he is home for at least a few minutes before the girls go to bed. Last night he had a test and was late getting home. I heard him coming in the door as I was putting them down. As for Monday he was on the side of the road kicking his car in the rain waiting for a tow!

The great news in all of this is that Chris Aced (96%) another test! He is 3 short weeks away from ending his Community College career and is on track for a 4.0 semester!! He will have brake of about 2 weeks before the summer semester and UMUC starts. I think that he has decided to walk across stage for his Diploma in May. I think he should and take in what he really accomplished this semester. I think it is amazing that he went to school, did as well as he has done, worked full-time at a fast paced job, was the sole financial support for our family, and still found time to be a great Hubby and Daddy! The girls and I are very proud of him! Can you tell? :-)

Tonight we are having family night. We are going to have a picnic dinner on our living room floor. Lily thought that was a grand idea! She likes to play picnic with her play food and baby dolls. Charlotte is still being picky about what food she will eat on what day. Right now she will only eat food shaped like a hot dog or a chicken nugget. Unless I hid the veggies in something else you can forget-about-it! As for the picnic, Lily thinks it is a surprise for Chris, I did clue Chris in on it last night so he doesn't think I have totally lost it! I think it will be fun and it is a bath night so messy is OK tonight!!