Happy Birthday Megan!

Well, first I should probably post these pictures about what we've been up to lately: 

 It's amazing what a box can do.  I picked up a few at the post office for shipping some things and the girls have really enjoyed them.  Anyone want a couple of kids?  They'd ship cheap!

 Abby is developing quite the shoe obsession.  She loves to put on everyone's shoes and walk around and she's getting pretty good.  Problem is, none of us can ever find our shoes any more . . .

And like her sister, she loves books!

Megan turn FOUR today!  She was very excited because I gave in and invited 3 of her favorite friends and their moms to come over for play time, lunch, and cake.  She SPECIFICALLY requested a round strawberry cake with pink icing and sprinkles.  Well, we went with a white cake with red sprinkles baked in (but she chose it at the store in my defense) and I tried a Jell-O frosting (that was decent but not a keeper I think) and she got her sprinkles!  

Abby helped with sprinkles, at least for the picture.  After that she ate them and started sticking her finger into the cake and tasting.  Don't tell anyone that . . . 

It all went great -- playing was good, picnic lunch in the living room, and then the cake.  Megan was very excited about the candles (chose those too and counted out four) but when it came time to blow them out . . . 

she didn't want to get close enough to really blow them out.  Abby did.  So in the interest of keeping Megan from screaming bloody murder because I'm forcing her to try again, and keeping Abby from grabbing flaming candles, I blew them out!

See?  Pouty face on Megan (because she couldn't do it -- in her head she can't do it and doesn't want help) and one arm on Abby to keep her away.

But they ate it.  All in all actually, Megan ate 3 pieces.  And even though she also requested chocolate ice cream, she didn't finish it.  Abby on the other hand asked for MORE ice cream and abandoned her cake.

Megan got LOTS of presents that I made her wait until Chopper got home to open.  She LOVES her magic wand that lights up and makes a nice little noise (that Chopper already hates).  She has turned us all into something multiple times by now.  We also got her a complete summer wardrobe of skirts because that is ALL she wants to wear all the time.  I would just rather not fight about clothes right now!

This was waving the wand to turn someone into a frog.

She got dinosaurs from Dinosaur Train -- a cute PBS show she has fallen in love with since I've spent the last few weeks letting them watch a ton of TV because of illness among us (I'm better, the girls are better, the TV is suffering again).

A Dancing Game that she was very excited about and we'll try to play tomorrow when Abby is in bed and can't snatch and run away (which she does with everything -- she's very calculating and excellent at getting horrific screaming fits out of her sister that way).

This was such a fun birthday because Megan got SOOOO excited about everything.  Notice the look on her face AND SHE DOESN"T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE PRESENT IS!  It was hilarious.  She's making these faces and gasping with joy and then she says "what is it?"  We laughed a lot.

Grandma went way overboard and sent Tinker Bell slippers, 

A music box (which she loves -- I know the face isn't as good but she was completely mesmerized by the dancing fairy ballerina.

And some fabulous crayons for the bathtub.  They work really well!  I may have to revise that statement after I try to clean the tub though.

Abby really enjoyed the day (and did not hide under the counter the hole time -- look, there's my shoes!).  She has talked nonstop about cake mostly and now I don't know what we'll do in the dry spell between birthdays.  Fortunately, Abby is next.

All in all it was a really good day for all of us.  Birthdays are just so much fun and I'm glad that we're able to celebrate with the girls.

We've Been Busy

Ok where do I start?  I guess I'll catch up a little bit with more random pictures.  You know, for living outside of Dallas, TX, we sure do get a lot of wild life.  I just wish they were the kind of wildlife that ate wolf spiders and tarantulas.  Fortunately I have NOT seen any of those lately.  But we do have some toads.  Chopper says they greet him every morning when he leaves for work.  Well, a few weeks back they were out when we came home late from something (I can't remember now what it was) and the girls got a good look at them.

 One of them took off under the bushes but this one was too frightened to go anywhere and ended up getting poked a little bit too.  Megan has named them Ribbit and Ribbit.

I found this picture from when Megan was so so sick.  I knew it was the flu because when she took a bath she complained about the toys touching her and then when I got her out she fell asleep on the bathroom floor.  I didn't have the heart to wake her up and move her so I left her there.  Fortunately, she's the only one who came down with it and is fine now.

Abby loves to get in the storage hole of this table and I've posted pictures before of her sitting in it but the other day she's screaming and when I walk in she's gotten her rear-end in and none of the rest of her so she's stuck pretty good.  She's glaring at me because I made her wait until I found my camera and took her picture before I would get her out.  I'm a mean mommy.    Hey, I sometimes need a good laugh to survive these two!!

Right now I'm immersed in getting our Blurb book replaced (it came to us with pages coming out and for the $$$$$ that I pay this is unacceptable!) and working out insurance for therapy for Megan.  We've had her evaluated by an occupational therapist who has found her lacking in several areas of her motor skills.  Not a surprise really -- after all, that's partly why we had the evaluation done -- but a little shocking when they tell you how many times a week they want to see her and how the $$$ works out because of that.  I'm also looking into behavioral therapy and trying to decide what needs to be addressed first.  Although first we need to have her evaluated in that area too.  She just needs help.  Heck, I need help!!!!

I however am feeling much better.  The headaches are almost gone and the nauseousness is too although I still don't love food.  All I really want is meat and Mexican food.  Weird huh?  So I've been making tacos and burritos all the time and we've had cheese steak sandwiches (so good) and I've been stopping at Arby's a little too often for MarketFresh roast beef sandwiches and I need to stop talking about all of this because it's just making me hungry.  It's just funny to me.  Megan I craved odd, strongly-flavored foods like Greek salad and Abby I had to have smoothies ALL THE TIME!!  This one is meat all the way.  Definitely a boy.

We continue to struggle with names.  Well, I struggle with names and Chopper has the one that he likes and hasn't thought about it since.  I can think of dozens of girl names that I just love but boy names?  I completely draw a blank.  So we may go with Chopper's suggestion which is actually fine with me, I just want to really love it, you know?  We've had some very interesting suggestions from his mom though who always gives us names from family history (and I'm thinking -- but we're using Lloyd and THAT's from family history) so we now have the possibility of Dewey, Ivey, Zadic, and Hobart.  And then she says "of course there's John and other things like that" which just makes me laugh.  But then Chopper and I have also been laughing over Lloyd Voldemort and Lloyd Vader (cause it sounds so much like LORD Voldemort, get it?) so it's actually been a lot of fun to try to name this baby.  More fun than it was with the girls in a way.

Oh and that was a little flutter kick.  Someone wants meat!!!!

It's a Sick Sick Year

We have had illness in this house literally since Christmas.  Literally.  Abby just barely got over what I think was the longest cold in recorded history and one that Megan had a shorter version of.  Chopper was sick briefly and then I've started into it this weekend.  Fortunately for me it hasn't been too bad.  Then yesterday we're sitting in church and Chopper nudges me that Megan is really hot.  She's flushed, she's cuddling (always a sign that she doesn't feel well) and we have 15 minutes of church left.  So rather than pack everything up and leave right then (we sit near the front and I hate how visible that would be -- is that wrong?) we go home right after sacrament meeting and lo and behold Megan is 103.8.  And our thermometer tends to run low.  She's complaining of cold, shaky, lethargic, and says I'm hurting her when I change her clothes.  Classic flu.  And I realize now that I think I've never had a child with the flu!  I hope January takes all this illness with it and we can get back to normal lives.

But on the good side of life, the baby is kicking.  It's pretty sporadic and still mostly just twinges of "was that the baby"?  But last night Chopper and I watched the Green Lantern (kind've a weird movie by the way) and I'm curled on the couch and this little guy just goes to town kicking me over and over.  And it was hard enough that Chopper came over and felt him!!!  This is one of my favorite things about pregnancy and makes a lot of the other icky stuff worth it.

Weekly Update

That seems to be all I'm capable of at the moment.  It's a been a week busy with Relief Society "stuff", kid "stuff" , and lack of energy "stuff".  We haven't even left the house all that much either . . . 

I guess the really big deal is that I took Megan to see a therapist on Monday for an evaluation.  This is a therapist that works in occupational and sensory integration therapy.  She was recommended to me by a friend whose son has issues that sound very similar to Megan's.  Megan, somewhat unfortunately, had a GREAT day on Monday. Don't get me wrong, I treasure great days, but when you're seeing a therapist for the first time, you kind've want them to show the side that has brought you there in the first place!  Regardless, when we spoke briefly after the session, she said that she is definitely seeing some motor planing issues with Megan.  She has difficulty going from point A to point E because she can't figure out the process.  That leads to frustration which leads to tantrums which leads to angry, screaming Megan and frustrated, crying mommy.  Chopper and I will go back for a full parent conference in about a week and a half and discuss what she's seeing as well as what we see and her recommendations for therapy.  Since the rest of this week has been pretty horrendous, I have to say I am very excited to perhaps get some tools under my belt and some professional help.  For Megan and I both.

So it's been a rough week.  But these past two days have been in the mid-70s for weather and so even though we haven't been able to get out of the house much due to tantrums, we have been able to get out and play at the park.  Thank goodness being outside almost always makes my girl happy.  And being in the bathtub.  Anyway.  Today we went and played with friends and had a great time at a wonderfully enclosed park where the girls can run and I can chat.  It's nice for me to get a break too!  Yesterday we went to our little play area down the street and then explored in the trees.  I took along the camera because I know that ya'll are suffering from too many words and not enough pictures and the girls were very compliant.  Megan was so compliant that she started posing and there's some great shots of her vogue-ing out (is that a word?).  Abby will say cheese but she doesn't smile and she doesn't look at the camera when she does it.  But she's still cute as a button.

 Oh I forgot this one -- Megan was making a quilt on the floor.  She still just loves to organize fabric, use pins, play with buttons -- all those things that make her my quilting and sewing girl!

 And this was too funny to not take a picture of -- Abby after breakfast (hence the food on her face) the morning after she's had a bath and gone to bed with wet hair.  She is quite the little fuzzball and in desperate need of yet another haircut!

Action shots of course . . . 

 And then here are all the posing ones -- if you need copies, you know my phone number!!

 Posing with sticks was one of Megan's favorite things to do.

 I LOVE this one how Abby mimics her sister.  Because it happens ALL THE TIME!

 Nice little foot pop.

 And another stick picture.

Happy spring?  I don't think it's here for good but I'll take what I can get.

Pictures I found

I'm working on a quilt for Project Linus and took some pictures of the process so I can get a better perspective. When I downloaded them, I found a few that I had forgotten about!!

This was Megan's first day of dance.  It didn't go so well.  It turned out that she was assigned to a more advanced class for her age and she just did not get it.  She also resisted the teacher's instruction (no surprise there) and told me on the way home, "mommy, I'm not good at dance class."  I was a little worried.  The next week, we switched her to a more beginner's class and it went fantastically!  She has a hard time with the tap dance -- I think mainly because it's faster paced and requires movement of legs and arms at the same time (that would be the inheritance of my horrible hand-eye coordination -- sorry!!) but the ballet moves are good!  She followed along and tried and did was the teacher asked her to do.  When she came out she was so excited about how well she had done and the things she had done and very proudly told me "I had no grumpy faces, only happy ones!"  So I think we'll stick with it a little while longer and see how she does.

Ahh, Abby.  She likes to be in the bathtub.  Notice she's wearing her diaper here.  You see, I had already given her a bath and let Megan stay in longer while Abby ran around as a naked baby (with diaper of course).  When I went to check on Megan, she went with me and decided to get back in -- head first she leans in and just kind've belly flops into the tub -- without getting her head wet.  She was so glad to be in the tub again but Megan was not too happy about having her imaginary world interrupted so unceremoniously!  So out she came, with a very full diaper.

These actually I did just take today.  I "commissioned" my sister-in-law Denise Gasser who is a fabulous artist, to draw some birds for the girl's room.  I am so pleased with the results!!

Close-up

I love them -- they're bold and graphic and don't have any green in them!  I love the green on the girls' walls but it is a little bright!  Now I just need to do Abby's quilt, and get birds and a tree on her wall opposite Megan's and we will be ready to move her in.  And then I can start working on a boy's room!!!  Yay!  I'm very excited about all of the decorating and creating in my future!