Wordless Wednesday

Manic Monday

This past weekend was WONDERFUL! It was just one of those weekends when everyone was happy and ready to play. There will be a post wrapping up the weekend shortly. I had to mention the weekend to help explain Monday.

MonDAY was great the evening nooooot so much. Those who live in Maryland know how badly it rained here throughout the day. The girls and I stayed in, and Chris went to work. It was just a normal day. No clue what was coming!

Chris and I were talking on the phone while he was on way to school (we do this everyday). There was terrible traffic so he got off the major hwy and went a back way. Because of the traffic he was running a little late to school but not too bad. So as we were talking out of nowhere he becomes very panicked. So of course I become panicked and start asking him what happened. I though he had gotten into an accident.

Nope not an accident his brakes went out. By out I mean he pushed the pedal to the floor and NOTHING happened. He was able to get to the shoulder of the road before he hit anything and rolled to a stop. After a few minutes he decided it was worth the chance to very slowly drive the car to the gas station just a few blocks up. He did make it there. He took off all the wheels and didn't see anything missing. A mechanic passing by asked if he could help and he looked at Chris's brake fluid and told him he was out. Thankfully the gas station where he was stopped has when he needed. He put it in and tried to get it to work and it did for about 1.2 secs then he realized that his car was now sitting in a puddle of brake fluid. WAHOO! Why not?!

Long LONG wet story short... he had the car towed home, missed class and because of the time he finally made it home he didn't get to see the girls. Pretty craptastic day!

The good news ifsthat Chris's Dad knows a few (thousand :-) things about cars and is willing to help Chris figure out exactly what is wrong and get it fixed. Until then we will have to practice what we preach to the girls and share (yuck ;-) the van.

Please Pray For Stellan

I don't normally ask such things on here, but please PLEASE pray for sweet Stellan. He is right now in surgery to hopefully to fix his heart. This surgery is risky for a baby only 5 months old. They had tried to take him off the meds to see if his heart would just flip back out of the extremely high rate (at times over 200 beats per minute). But as they took him off the meds his heart reacted poorly. His Momma and Grandpa are with him. They have been uprooted from their home and are in Boston. His Daddy had to stay behind with his older siblings.

Please pray for his family as this surgery is the only thing left that will help him.

Thank you.

Disney Update

So far this month has been more of a holding pattern. There have thankfully been no further changes!! I did secure the girls a Fairy Godmother. On wdwinfo.com there is a thread where people can ask others to send a postcard during their vacation back to their children. It is signed from our character of choice telling the child they can't wait to see them or something to that effect. I asked our Fairy Godmother for Cinderella for Lily and Mickey/Minnie for Charlotte.

It is a pay-it-forward system, so you don't send anyone money for this, you just become a Fairy Godmother to another family. I already had our family set up before I found someone for us. I think it is pretty neat that people do this for each other!

Chris is pretty busy with school but we are going to try to sit down this weekend and hash out some of the reservations (where and times) for the character meals. The main one we want is the Royal Table in the castle.

A Lily funny...

We were talking about swimming while at Disney. We told her that we are going to try to swim everyday or so- This made her very happy! Then we told her that the pool where we are going to be staying looking like it is from Guatemala. She literally gasped and put her hands over her mouth and said 'really?!' Such a funny girl!!

Baby Stellan

I have added a new button to our blog. If you click on the Praying for Stellan button it takes you to his Mommas site. Stellan is 5 months old and has a very sick heart. Today he and his Momma are flying from their home to Boston. Where he will begin treatment with a new Cardiologist and his team. Stellan has already been in the hospital for 4 weeks now, this change to a new hospital will hopefully bring him recovery, but to get there my involve very risky surgery. They have been trying in the past 4 weeks to get his condition under control with medications without much sustained luck. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Going to the Chapel...

And Lizzie (Chris' little sister) are Jeff are getting married!!! YEAH!!! October 7, 2009!!

We are so happy for you two!!

ETA: Lily and Charlotte are going to be Flower Girls!! How exciting!!

Thank you guys for including our girls!!

Happy Easter!

We had such a nice Easter weekend! We headed down to the Eastern Shore to visit my parents in Va. We left on Thursday night and got back home yesterday afternoon. The girls did so well in the car. We were worried on Thursday, Chris had gotten stuck at work a little longer then we were planning so we started off later. Which could have been a disaster because it delayed, dinner, and bed by a few hours! However to our happy ears they were just excited to go so it was smooth sailing! It gives us hope for September!

We got to their house late (well late for the girls) so it was quick hugs and kisses and then in PJ's and off to bed. Here again Chris and I were braced for problems with the quickness of bedtime. But with a few promises of intense play the next day, they were asleep in no time!

Friday morning brought 3 extremely happy girls ready for the intense play promised the night before. Play they did! Lily and Juice played everything you can imagine! My mom, Charlotte and I made a quick run in the morning to my Mom's happy place... Her favorite fabric/quilt store. We wanted to pick out fabric so that she could make pillowcases for the girls to take to Disney. We are going to use them as their autograph 'book'. After a quick stop at Wally World we headed back home. Charlotte couldn't hang! She was asleep in about 5 mins of getting back in the van! She is just like Chris.. if she decides she is going to sleep that's it. She is gone! Once we got home I ran her back to lay her down. She slept for 3 more hours!! We had to go back in to get her up for the afternoon!


The two big girls took a rest for a short bit and then they were back at it. Lily played so hard she was sweaty! Soon it was time for dinner/bath/bed. Again our girls were out like a light within minutes of us leaving. Juice stayed up for my sister to get home from work (Friday is her late night) but she ended up falling asleep across my Mom's lap! Chris picked her up and took her to bed! She didn't move again either until Saturday morning!

Saturday we were planning on heading to the Zoo, but Mother Nature had other plans! When it rains down there even normal rain it is like a hurricane! Or at least to Chris and I!! We were woken up too a full on storm! That wind and rain were crazy! By the time everyone was ready it was decided that it would make better sense for us to hang out. The girls didn't seem to mind.

We went ahead and dyed eggs! Both girls were REALLY into this! Chris helped Lily and I was with Charlotte. Charlotte liked to use her hands more then a boring spoon! At the end she looked like the Incredible Hulk!! She also was able to find one little crack in a shell and get her little finger in it! She is very independent! ;-) Lily was much more girly about the whole thing! After we finished our eggs everyone enjoyed a little snack and then it was right back to play! Lily and Juice hung out and watched a movie for rest time and Charlotte once again took an almost 3 hour nap! Mommy also got a nice cloudy day nap in too!! When I woke up I saw that the big girls had made pictures for the Easter Bunny and Juice had made a special picture of just herself and Lily and had written Best Friends Forever across the top!! My sister and I love to watch them play together. It is nice that they do try to include Charlotte. But Charlotte does march to her own beat, so sometimes she likes to play and others not so much!

On Saturday night we were treated to a big turkey dinner! We had to leave Sunday afternoon because Chris has work and school on Monday. So we had Easter dinner a day early! Juice wanted a turkey leg and Lily only wanted sweet potatoes! Charlotte is still being quiet picky so she mushed and mashed and got a few bites here and there! Funny thing is she still no picky when it comes to dessert. I have no clue why?! ;-) In any case she and Lily LOVED dessert (as did everyone else) so much so that they were covered in it! Into the bath again!! Then just like the night before it was lights out. Lily took a few extra minutes to settle because she knew the Easter bunny was on his way!

Juice also took a little longer to get to sleep, so the bunny was held off a little before he could come and do his work! In the end Juice went to sleep and the bunny came to leave his goodies and some eggs to hunt up! The weekend before I put the eggs together with jelly beans for the big girls and toddler fruit snacks for Charlotte. When we put the eggs out we kept all of Charlotte's together and hide the rest.

The first thing they saw when they woke up were the eggs left. Juice swears she heard the bunny hopping around the house! The girls were very happy with everything left for them! Chris and I oops I mean the Easter Bunny was smart and got them things for Disney that they were going to get them anyway. Coloring books, crayons, bubbles, playdoh, books. They are both very much into bubbles! A tiny bit of candy was left as well!


We spent the morning playing with all of the new goodies, had one last dance party and then after lunch it was time to head home. Charlotte only slept for a short while. Once we got home we unpacked and just hung out. All in all it was a great weekend!

Not Easter but a new fav!

Sisters!

Hangin' out!
BFF's!Could she be any cuter?!


Jelly Bean heaven! Egg, egg
Getting ready for the hunt!


Charlotte's egg stash!
Easter Bunny has been here!
Proud of her egg!

Hmmmm water and vinegar are yummy? I guess so!



Spoons?! I don't need no stinkin' spoons!

I told you that dessert was good! Look at that tummy!

What is that? A smile! Gotcha!

1st Dentist Appointment!

This evening Lily had her very first Dentist appointment! As with most things medical she really did great! There wasn't one tear or hint of nervousness. I was already with the Dentist when they were ready for her in a different room. She went ahead just like a big girl. I could hear the tech talking with her. She was very excited for the bubble gum toothpaste!

It was funny after she left the room I told the dentist that I was putting on a brave face for Lily. Then I informed him that I am sure he is a very nice man but I didn't like his type. By that I mean Dentist. He laughed and said he hears that all the time! But honestly I turn bright red and hot!

As for Lily thankfully everything checked out just fine. We had a couple of concerns but I was told that it is nothing to worry over and that she is great! She is due back in 6 months!

Chris and I were talking the other night about Lily. She has grown so much in the past 2 months. She is in a big girl bed, wearing panties 24/7 (at night we wearing a pull-up under her panties), she has finished her swimming class, been to the dentist, and in just a couple weeks she will be starting her very first dance class!! We gave her a choice of more swimming on a ballet class and she picked dance. It is all through our parks and recs so it is a short 6 week class again. We think it is a good way for her to try new things and be around kids her own age. This class is just for 3 years olds! Can we say super cute!

Happy 18 Months!

18 minutes old
(give or take)

18 months old today!

18 months by the numbers!

18 The age we are dreading
17 Words
16 Colors found in Charlotte's poo after Playdoh day!
15 Classes of objects Charlotte has tried to ingest
14 Games of Peek a boo!
13 Times a day Mommy hears "uh oh"
12 Baby teeth every time she smiles
11 Giggles with her sister
10 Times Daddy saying 'no no Charlotte stop smacking your Suzie! It makes me uncomfortable!!' 9 Times Mommy laughs about # 10!
8 Finger swipes... remember 17? She doesn't always hand it over!
7 Bedtime! :-)
6 Hugs and kisses at a time
5 stinky toes (our game)
4 Favorite songs
3 calls to poison control
2 trips to the ER
Our #1 Greatest Surprise

Today our baby is 18 months old! Where did that time go?! I asked myself that most of today. It seems like just yesterday she was just a little lump needing us for everything. Today we were chasing her down in the store, house, yard. Even in the 6 months since her birthday she has changed almost everyday. I love to watch her master new things. Her new favorite things are shoes! She L O V E S shoes! We went into Payless the other day and it was as if she found her home! She must have said shoe 8000 times before we left! If she can find a pair it doesn't matter whose they are she will wear them all day long!

As for her baby book stuff:
* She can ID all of her facial body parts and her toes
* She can say, Momma, Dada, EE (Lily), Dog, toes, eye, shoe, teeth, drink, eat, please, thank you, cookie, RaRa (rocket on Einsteins), Einsteins (sounds more like Inine), ball, whee
* Signs please, drink and eat
* can understand simple instruction (where is your cup, let's change your diaper)
* loves to dance
* Has become a picky eater- not really feeling meat, fruit and veggies right now. We have gotten VERY sneaky!
* likes to look at books
* a ball is her very favorite toy
* she only one size behind Lily!
* she is trying to make animal sounds
* she gets very excited when Lily cheers her onto do something new

The sweetest thing that Charlotte does is how she shows her love. She is tough and sweet all wrapped up in one. When she hugs you there is no mistaking it, it is full force both arms wrapped tight and a squeeze. When she wants a kiss she will kiss over and over until her kiss tank is full. It is one of my highlights of my day! We can't wait to see where she is in another 6 months!

Grandparents Doing Good!

Recently my Mom attended a volunteer appreciation day for the Holly Center in Pocomoke MD. This is a center for individuals with Developmental Disabilities. This is the write up from their spring newsletter!


L ocated in the town of Pocomoke is a shop
known as Robin Anne’s Quilters Service.
Once inside, you’ll find warm smiles and lots of
laughter from some special ladies who belong
to the “Thursday Group”.
T hey meet Thursday of each week to share
quilting news, exchange ideas, sew, quilt,
chat and have a great time! The group was
called upon last September for their consideration
in making
wheelchair
bags to
benefit Holly
Center
individuals.
Robin Anne
Condon,
business
owner, graciously
invited
Marlina
Belote, along
with the
president of
the Holly
Helpers, Patti
Potterton, to
meet with the
group to discuss
the particulars.
The
rest is history!
The
wheelchair
bags were made out of denim material for both
genders and will be utilized to carry items for
the individuals, similar to a student’s back pack.
To date, they have made over 100 wheelchair
bags and continue to make more! We appreciate
the support they have given to Holly Center.
As a group, they work very well together within
each person’s own level of expertise. It bonds
them together and offers support along with
joyful inspiration. Mary Maloney (that's my mom!), president of
the group, offered their services for future requests
to benefit Holly Center. Thank you,
Thursday Group!

Chris and I are so proud that our girls have such accomplished Grandparents and good positive role models in their lives! We love you!