My Little Rays of Sunshine

pictures of the day

2012-01-28T15:47:00.000-05:00

They're feeling much better today.

another good visit - and sick kiddos

2012-01-26T15:57:00.001-05:00

Hanna had another follow-up with her GI specialist. Last month he upped her dosage of Prevacid to twice a day, and since then, we haven't had any problems! Yay!

He was very happy about that, and advised us to continue with that dosage for another month. We will then drop down to once a day again the month after, and see how she does with that.

If you remember, he also ordered some blood to be drawn.

Those tests all came back completely fine, and she does not have Celiac Disease. Yay x2!

Hanna's health is peachy, but the other two just can't seem to catch a break!

Hailey has croup (again), and Gracie is just feeling downright awful.

We've been fighting fevers and runny noses, with no end in sight,

Hailey has such a hard time for some reason. Her system is very sensitive to air conditions, I think.

We attended my cousin's wedding this past Saturday and Little Miss came with us to the reception. The air was very muggy and humid inside, and temps were frigid outside. I think the drastic air change is the culprit this time, because she was fine at the party, and as soon as we got home, she had the dry cough.

Poor little thing. We came home from the doctors with two inhalers, and if she's not better in a couple days I think I'll be going back in for some antibiotics. She can't seem to kick it this time. The cough has broken up, and now she's struggling with loose phlegm every time she coughs, and has been gagging a lot.

I hope she's better soon.

Gracie's been laying around a lot, happy to watch movies. Her fever comes and goes, and I swear we've been through two boxes of Kleenex since yesterday.

Darnit.

Poor littles.

I'm hoping by the weekend this house is full of active kiddos again!

8 months

2012-01-23T22:18:00.000-05:00

I said it was coming, and now it's here! My little sweetie pie is 8 months old today!

So, what's she doing these days?

She is busy, let me tell you!

She's happy to sit...

But only for a minute.

Then she wants to just get up.

She's not happy just watching anymore. She wants to be part of the action, and she's still so little...it's scary!

She's pulling up on everything, and even took five steps the other day.

Five very controlled and careful steps!

She gets up on the bottom step now, and I'm sure it wont be long until we have to get the gate up.

Yes, she is going to be a handful...but I love it!

She keeps me on my toes. She makes me keep my floor clean, because otherwise she'd be eating everything off of it!

She had her little fingers on a piece of dog food the other day. Luckily, I never go too far from the little stinker, and saved her taste buds from being traumatized.

She dances now, sometimes even when there's no music playing. She's even mastered it standing up!

She's still not napping a whole lot during the day, but sleeps good at night. Half in the crib, half with me.

She's so soft-spoken! She babbles away, but in a soft, almost-whisper voice. Don't worry though, she lets us know when she doesn't (or does) want something!

She really is the happiest baby ever, and such a treat to be able to spend every minute of every day with her! And every minute I am cherishing because, we all know it, time goes by way too fast.

Happy 8 months (already!) baby girl!!

i am happy

2012-01-19T01:12:00.000-05:00

I. Am. Happy.

Why am I happy you ask? Because I have the most awesome kids ever. The most awesome, healthy kids. Our recent SickKids follow-up really did something to me. It gave me back the, what felt like 30 years that I aged since 2009. I didn't realize how much I was worried about Hanna. About her health. I feel like we're free now. And let me tell you this, it feels good!! I'm really not sure what even to write, but I need to write something to just show how truly relieved and happy I really am!

And since I missed one very important little girl's 7-month post, I think that a post dedicated to her, will be just perfect for a night of happiness ramblings. :)

So, where do I begin?

This little girl is a blessing.

She is happy all the time.

She makes a face that we call "the stink face":

She does it often. If she wants something she can't have. If she's annoyed. If she's frustrated. If she's concentrating.

It's pretty hilarious. Again, see here:

She's starting to crawl - kind of.

She moves her arms in crawling position, only as far as they'll go, then sits back up. If she's not close enough to the object she wants, she goes again until she's there. I guess she's too lazy to use her legs. :)

Actually, she's not lazy at all. She stands up all by herself!

She pulls herself up to stand at the couches, or anything that is a couple inches of the floor, or mama's leg as she's walking by.

She's kind of nuts.

We actually flipped my camera to video mode today because we thought for sure she was going to walk. She stood there and pivoted with one leg 180 degrees without falling. The kid's got balance!

She points at everything.

Everything goes in her mouth.

Since she has a very very good pincer grasp, this is a bad thing.

She still sleeps about half the night on her own, and the rest with me (and the other girls).

She likes putting food on her head.

She loves having baths with her sisters, and cracks up every time I sprinkle powder on her belly afterwards.

She has 2 teeth (on the bottom).

She is at least 19.6 pounds.

I finally got her chubby little feet to fit into some sneakers today!

She eats regular meals with us now, but still nurses.

She is the sweetest baby I have ever known, and so blessed that I can call her all mine!

And that is all I'm going to say until the 23rd which will then be a real Hailey update. Yep! Her 8 month post already! I was very late with this one.

And that is a good way to end my night.

I got a perfect baby sleeping in her crib, a very special 3 year old sleeping next to me, and an all grown up biggest sister sleeping in her own room down the hall.

Yes.

I am happy.

24 hours

2012-01-17T10:49:00.000-05:00

Hanna had to wear her holter monitor for 24 hours, and she was more than ready to get it off when it was finally time. (And so were we!)

She did extemely well with it though, and surprisingly got used to having her "purse" hanging over her shoulder non-stop.

When she ate, she'd sit it on the table beside her.

On the toilet, it sat on her lap.

She was so happy to hear me say it was time to take it off though!

Can you blame her?
Look at that mess!

Eck...we were all happy to get that done.

I'm still totally impressed with how patient she was though. She did what she had to do, and didn't complain about it.

good girl, Hanna

2012-01-14T09:58:00.000-05:00

Well we got back last night, and I have a lot to write about!

First thing first - it was a great visit!

The drive up couldn't have gone better. Traffic was great, and the girls were perfect! Hailey is 100% better in the car now. She was horrible as an infant, so thankfully for the long drive she was able to entertain herself for a while. All of them behaved beautifully, so I was more than happy to spoil them at the hotel.

Checking in.

We got to our room, unpacked our bathing suits and hit the pool!

They had a blast. We went back to the room long enough to have dinner, and then went back. We had to make the most of it since we only had the one night.

Hanna kept herself busy for a while putting the crayons in the tiny box one by one, emptying it, and doing it all over.

Great fine motor/vision activity!

Then we got into our jammies, had some snacks and watched Wipeout.

Gracie loves that darn show. We can't miss it.

We were in bed pretty early.

The next day we got up a bit later than I wanted to, and were pretty rushed in the morning. We had to be at the Cardiology Registration for 8:45, and we had to checkout of the hotel and walk to the hospital. It was snowing and blowing, and miserable to walk in, but we made it on time!

We waited quite a while for Hanna to be called, and I took her in while Matt took Gracie and Hailey for a tour around the very scenic hospital.

The first thing this the tech did was weighed Hanna and "measured" her. His idea of measuring her height was standing her up against a wall and eyeballing the number. He told me she only grew 2 cms since last years visit! And she was 80 cms last year.

Whatever.

Hanna got a little nervous when we walked into the dark room, and got a bit of a lip when she had to get a gown on. She only a shed a couple quiet tears when the tech asked her to lay back down to get a few more pictures. She did great, and got a little stuffed puppy as a reward from the tech.

When her ECHO was done, she had an ECG and shortly after that it was our turn to see the doctor.

I love her cardiologist. He's so good. And not just because he gave us some pretty amazing news either.

Are you ready for the best news ever?

Some of the holes in Hanna's heart have closed up completely and the left chamber is back to it's regular size!

She still has 2 small muscular VSD's, but the one that he was concerned about no longer exists. Amazing.

He also said that he doesn't want to see her for 2 years! What? You don't know what a relief it was to hear that! He wants to be completely sure about everything, so he sent us home with the holter monitor this time. He's been saying it for two years, and finally figured she was old enough to keep it on. She's doing extremely well with it, and a picture of that is coming. Only because I want to show how uncomfortable it looks and how she's keeping it on! She's such a good girl.

We were feeling pretty good after the Cardiology visit, so we were ready for whatever Genetics had to say.

Turns out, it was all good.

Even though we had a little incident, it all worked out. It seems like every time we see Genetics, Hanna is cranky, or having a bad day. They're always our last stop, so it's kind of expected. This time though, I was confident that they were going to see the real her! Boy was I wrong.

We walked into the office and Hanna peed her pants.

She never pees her pants!

She was embarrassed about that, and very cranky, and that's what the doctors saw.

Matt had to run back to the hotel parking garage where all the luggage was, to find Hanna something else to wear while I stayed with all the girls. It was quite a scene I'm sure. When I asked the receptionist at the desk for some paper towels for the mess, she offered me "tissues". "Will this be enough?" as she's handing me one of those little boxes of 20.

Gee, thanks.

I got everything under control and I visited with the genetic councillor for a few. Hanna was happy to answer a couple questions, but mostly stayed quiet and looked quite pitiful. By the time she was done filling her little report, Matt was back with pants for Hanna. Thank goodness.

The doctor came in shortly after, and they went over a couple things with us.

Remember last year when they mentioned the words "mitochondrial disease"? I have been worrying and stressing over those words since I heard them last January. This year, he tossed the idea in the garbage. Nope, she doesn't "fit" that diagnosis either.

Good girl, Hanna.

They sent out a test last year for a type of primordial dwarfism that hasn't been approved yet, probably because of the cost. We gave consent to take the research route instead of the clinical, and they will be a little bit quicker with that. They will take her x-rays, pictures, and findings and do a study in the UK. We'll see what they can find.

After that discussion, we took measurements.

She's up to 21.7 lbs, and 87 cms tall. Yes, go ahead. Scroll up and read what the guy in cardiology told me. How could he have been 5 cm off? Ridiculous.

She's finally on the charts for her height! Yay!! (This is why the primordial dwarfism doesn't really fit either).

Anyhow, then I asked some questions about the vomiting and reflux, and her health. He answered those questions and ended the visit by telling me that Hanna is a very, very (yes, he said it twice) healthy little girl and he's sure she doesn't have any kind of illness or disease. She simply has a growth disorder, and will just be a "smaller package". Wow. I have been waiting to hear that. They don't want to see us again until we go back for Cardiology, or if they find a diagnosis in the meantime.

What a glorious day!!!

After Genetics we went back over to the hospital to get some food. The girls didn't have a decent breakfast, and it was already past 2 at this point. Everyone ate great, and we hit the road.

Of course we had to get our first real snowfall while we were driving, which made for pretty messy conditions...but Matt got us home safely. We had an excellent visit, and I couldn't be happier to have it all done!

Thanks so much for everyone's love and prayers for my girl.

Now, we can bring on the New Year!

the blah season

2012-01-11T21:01:00.000-05:00

Yes, that is what I like to call January. For the past 2 years, January has been a time to dread for me.

I've always hated taking down the Christmas tree, and all the decorations, and the lights outside, and accepting that the Christmas Season is over.

Now, it's for a whole new reason. January means Hanna's annual SickKids visit. We are extremely lucky that Hanna is a healthy little girl who is seen only once a year at the hospital.

Every year she has a follow-up ECHO to check on her heart. You can read about last years visit right here. We also usually have a follow-up with Genetics as well. It's always very stressful and I'm just so anxious to get it done and over with.

We're hoping that it is going to be a quick, uneventful visit. The good news is that she's not going to be needing sedation at all this year for the ECHO, which means when we get to Genetics she'll be acting like herself (unless she senses the sometimes bad vibes from them). She'll be much happier going from one appointment to the next, and we wont have to be carrying around a loopy kid. Best of all though, she won't need to fast! Hurray!

We leave tomorrow after breakfast and hope to make it there nice and early so we have lots of time at the pool. Hanna's appointments are actually on Friday morning. We're trying to make the best of it, and I know the girls will have a great time swimming.

Hanna's at an age now where we can reason with her a little, and make sure she knows that she's not going to be poked or prodded this time, so it should be a little more enjoyable. One of our visits, when she was much younger, we got to the hotel and she wouldn't even put her feet down on the floor because she remembered the hospital visit. It. Was. Not. Fun.

Anyhow, if everyone could think about Hanna tomorrow and Friday, and maybe send up a few prayers that everything goes well, we would appreciate it so much. There's still so much unknown with our girl, and it's scary. Every single visit. You don't really get used to these visits.

I'll fill everyone in on everything when we get back on Friday.

reindeer cookies

2012-01-05T23:50:00.000-05:00

So, I know I've mentioned once or twice how awesome my extended family is...but I'm saying it again.

I HAVE AN AWESOME EXTENDED FAMILY!

My cousin Kristi popped over today and asked is she could have the girls over to help her make another batch of Reindeer Cookies!

She made these adorable cookies for our Christmas cookie exchange. Gracie had a meltdown when the last couple cookies were tossed in the garbage because a wine glass was broken near them. She didn't get to eat one, so she was so upset. My aunt told her that she would have to go to her house and help Kristi make more so she could have some.

And, of course, they made that happen!

Kristi had everything pre-measured to make it easy, and they made they're very own batch of the cutest cookies, ever.

Thanks again, Kristi! The girls had a blast!

holding a marker

2012-01-04T22:56:00.001-05:00

Some things came so easily for Gracie, that I totally took for granted. Like using a fork and spoon. She did this at 15 months old perfectly. I recently watched a video and couldn't believe it! She didn't even spill any of the macaroni out of the bowl.

Hanna still struggles with it. Her fine motor skills have come a long way, and today I can say that she is finally using the "tripod grip" when colouring. She still doesn't use it (all the time) to eat, which would make it a lot easier for her, but it will come.

The last few times while colouring, I have watched her work really hard with both hands getting the marker in just the right spot so she has a good grip on it. Check out this beautiful hold!

Yes, I realize the picture she is colouring is upside-down. She wanted to colour the cloud, so...

I'm so proud of her! I know I've been working at this with her, and so has my mom. My mom takes her for respite every Friday while Gracie does dance. She works on different things that she knows she struggles with, and this is proof that whatever's she's doing is working!

It helps that I have got me one determined little girl, too.

Way to go, Hanna girl!

pictures of homemade gifts

2012-01-03T22:46:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I still have to get a good picture of the girls' dressup station, and my mom and dad's puppet theatre, but these next couple pictures I needed to put up tonight.

Here is the pallet shelf that Kristyn and Brian made everyone!

I really shoulda put something in it...but isn't it awesome? So rustic and creative!

My other sister, Michelle embroidered a family portrait of everyone. Here is ours:

I LOVE it! Did you notice where Hailey is?

Go ahead, look again!

Yes! I'm wearing her! How adorable!

I love how Hanna's such a little pipsqueak too! :)

I hope we do the homemade gift thing again next year.

I better start looking for ideas now to be ready!

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-01T14:02:00.001-05:00

Last night we said goodbye to another year, and welcome to a new one. We had a great year.

Of course there will be some days that aren't as sunny as others, but overall, it was a great year.We said goodbye to our Gramma, but also welcomed a brand new member into our family. Hailey is such a joy, and such a blessing.

The girls are healthy, and we were even able to bring them to Disney World this year. It has been an amazing one.

We partied at my parent's house until morning with RockBand and karaoke. It was a blast!

When we got there I stuck Hailey on the floor, and Luna was nearby. Look at the following pictures. The puppy wasn't even close to her! You would think she was getting licked or something by the look on her face!

Okay, so I guess the last picture Luna was pretty close. I love the expression though!

Happy New Year to everyone!!!

wrapping up christmas

2011-12-30T12:35:00.000-05:00

We had our last Christmas celebration tonight at my late Gramma's farm. It was a great night of sharing memories, amazing food, and dessert, and gifts were exchanged. It was a great way to wrap up Christmas this year.

I asked Matt to snap a couple pictures of the night and this is what I got.

Haha. Very funny, Hunny.

He also got just a couple real ones. :)

I hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas Season as much as we did!

Hanna stuff

2011-12-29T12:15:00.000-05:00

We had another follow-up with the GI specialist today and he decided to up her Prevacid dose to twice a day. The vomitting has improved a bit since being on it, but not enough. She was still vomitting once every couple weeks. So we'll see if this works.

I asked him again about the barium swallow she had done and he assured me that the dilation on her intestine was because of her slow digestive motility, and not because of an ileus or anything like that. So if it's just reflux, I guess it's a good thing. As long as it doesn't get any worse!

While we were there I also mentioned that she's still really gassy, and he thought it was a good idea to have her tested for Celiac Disease. (Gluten allergy)

We haven't had the test done because her old pediatrician didn't think it was worth it, and it was a test that the genetic department at SickKids didn't even bother doing. We didn't think it was a priority. We had it done anyhow, and it broke Hanna's heart. Poor thing. All I had to say was "we're gonna get just one little test done" and she looked at me and said "NNnnoooOoo!!!" and started whining before we even got inside. She did really well considering they didn't even have baby needles. Her arms are so tiny. Ouch.

They also did a complete blood count, ferritin, and thyroid which are all great tests to have done. It's been a long time since she had any sort of blood drawn, so it's good to have done. I just hate doing it to her.

I guess we'll just wait and see how that comes back now. It will be at least a week to get results because her samples had to be sent away. I'll be sure to update when they come in!

Christmas at my parent's

2011-12-25T23:11:00.000-05:00

This year was going to be a bit different at my mom and dad's house. Usually (every year in the past) we buy for everyone. Either family gifts, or individual. We all buy for all the kids as well. (Of course!)

But this year, we picked names! (Not the kids.) It was a blast actually. Nobody knew who had who, until we started giving out our gifts. Yuli started it out by making us all guess who she had. All she had to do was sing one line of a song, and do a dance and we all knew she had Mike (my brother-in-law). Hilarious! Mike has kind of signature "moves" when he's um...drinking. :)

Anyhow, the secret Santa thing was a hit, and 'm sure it'll be a tradition from now on.

The other part of the deal this year was that every couple had to make a homemade gift for all the other couples. This was so much fun too! We ended up getting homemade Baileys, brownie mix in a jar, an embroidered family picture, which I have to post a picture of, and a pallet shelf , which I also have to post a picture of. Everyone was so creative, it was awesome!!

My mom and dad's big gift for Matt and I was a chest freezer! Yay!!!! Do we ever need one of those! My mom also knitted a huge blanket and put all of our names on it. That's one of my favourite gifts.

For the kids, they made the cutest little puppet theatre I have ever seen. Again, picture coming soon!!

It was such a great time, and definitely a Christmas that will be remembered!

Christmas at gramma and 'grandad's

2011-12-25T21:30:00.001-05:00

We got to Matt's mom's house around 2pm, and she immediately started handing out presents! Like, literally, before my shoes were even off! Matt and I got money toward a new mattress! YAY! So needed! Our poor mattress has been scrubbed and flipped more times than I can count. I am so excited!

The girls. Holy cow.

They got so much stuff! Hanna's highlight gift was her baby that crawls. It's so cute. Whenever we leave the house she yells "Baby crawl!!" to remind me to bring it along.

Gracie's highlight was her Cinderella doll complete with horse and carriage.

Hailey got an elephant ball popper which all three of the girls find equally entertaining. They all got so much stuff.

I picked Aj's name, and he picked mine, so we exchanged gifts as well. So much fun!

After gifts we had an amazing dinner. It always is.

We waited a while and had pie, then had to take off to make it to my mom and dad's to celebrate with them!

Holy cow, were we busy!

christmas morning

2011-12-25T17:05:00.001-05:00

Santa Claus waited until after we got home from Nanny's house to come, and it was a good thing, because we forgot to leave him milk and cookies!

Gracie was hilarious, she put out the sweets, and literally squealed with excitement as she ran up the stairs to tuck herself in and get to sleep so the jolly old man could come! I wish I had it on video, honestly.

Matt and I were up until just after 4am, getting everything perfect for the morning. Matt made an adorable "dress up closet" (organizer) for their room. (Pictures coming soon!) So we put the finishing touches on that before we went to bed.

The girls slept in until about 9:30, and I ran down ahead of them to get the video camera ready. The video is too big to post, but I got a few good pictures.

Gracie saw her "closet" and said "Whoa. I was expectin' doors! This is even better!" (There are curtains on the front of it.)

Hanna loved her light up construction set!

This was her face when she realized that Santa did bring Hailey a new Razberry teether!

She had to call my mom and dad.

Hailey just sat, and played with (and ate) everything that the girls would put on her lap.

We spent the morning playing with our new toys and getting ready to go to Gramma's for dinner to celebrate again with them!

Christmas at Nanny's

2011-12-24T14:27:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve has always been at my Nanny and Pappy's house for as long as I remember. This includes all my aunts and uncles on my mom's side, all my cousins, and now all of my generation's kids. I don't even know how many people total there is now! We sing carols at the piano, enjoy snacks and drinks galore and then we have the giant gift exchange. The gifts are always so thoughtful, and mean so much. It's not about the dollar amount, but the fact that everyone gives a little something. I can't stress how nice it is. It's a simple Christmas, and the most memorable.

I wanted a family picture before we left, but of course we were waiting on Matt (I swear he's worse than a girl). So, I caught one of the girls instead.

Yeah...that was unsuccessful.

Oh well.

Onto the party pictures!

Uncle Dave and Aunt Theresa weren't able to make it until after carols, and Uncle Dave is our piano player. Thankfully Uncle Rob and Uncle Chris are also extremely talented and took over for him. Not the same without him there though. :)

Gracie made a request for the Chipmunk song and sang it for us.

There were a few of my cousins away this year, but with the technology now, we were even able to sing with some of them through skype! I was told that my cousins actually talked through the phone and skype with eachother from different locations! Crazy.

It was a great time. Every year always is!

lights at the park

2011-12-23T23:09:00.000-05:00

We finally got to go for our walk at the park to see the lights display! I wanted to make sure we made it before Christmas, and time got away from us. We finally made it though, and it was worth it! The girls loved it. Even Hailey was entertained enough to sit back, and relax in the stroller the entire time while just watching all the lights as we passed by.

There was one display that the girls just loved. It was a big tree in the centre, surrounded by little trees and other decorations. They lit up in sync with the music playing, like they were dancing. We watched that one for a long time. They were so intrigued.

On our way back I got a call from Yuli saying she got her gift from Timmy. I knew what it was, but didn't dare tell the girls until I knew it was safe to do so. I told them in the car, and we had to stop over and see her!

Meet Luna!

Sweet, isn't she?

christmas card photo shoot

2011-12-23T21:26:00.000-05:00

I usually do my own Christmas photos every year, but since Steph recently opened her own photography business she offered to do them for me! She did an awesome job, and I was so excited to get them onto the good old blog!

So here we go:

They turned out cute, huh?

To check out Steph's photography blog just click here.

Thanks again, Steph for taking the beautiful pictures!

santa visit

2011-12-21T22:54:00.001-05:00

Wow, December is going so fast. It's Christmas already in a couple days, and I still have so much to do!

We hadn't even seen Santa yet until today. I got the girls ready and my mom even came along to help.

They all were very willing to sit with him and Gracie and Hanna both told him what they wanted.

Gracie wants "dress up clothes and a closet" and Hanna wants "baba botts" (building blocks). We came across a pretty awesome construction set that lights up, so maybe Santa will bring one of those.

They even got to sing with him.

I think it was a pretty successful visit this year!

christmas open house at dance

2011-12-16T10:42:00.001-05:00

I was so excited about the Christmas open house that was going to be happening at the girls' dance centre, and tonight was the night! We finally got to watch them dance and see what they've learned so far!

Even though we had the view of all their backs, it was still fun to watch them. Boy, we had a couple good laughs.

I think it's a good thing that the teacher wasn't in very many pictures because then we don't remember how often they were just doing their own moves. :)
Here's a couple pictures of...their backs.

hanna banana

2011-12-14T00:24:00.002-05:00

It's been a little while since I updated on her. I want to first say how awesome she is doing with her fine motor!! The other day she ate (almost) her entire waffle with her fork by herself.

This is huge.

She got a grip on the fork, and stabbed away. Sometimes she even used her other hand to steady it before stabbing. She was really looking at the pieces instead of looking away like she usually does, so this is a huge step for her! She was proud of herself, too. As she should be!

She's also been holding with one hand a yogurt or pudding cup, while actually scraping the last little bit out of the bottom with the other hand.

Huge!

Last night she was up with me playing and she grabbed my water bottle. She started with the lid off, put it on, twisted it enough so it couldn't be removed, then twisted it back off. She did this countless times until it was perfected. GO HANNA! Again, a huge step.

Manipulating and positioning the lid correctly to go on is hard enough. Forget the twisting part!

These seem like simple things, but for Hanna, they're not. Those fingers just don't do what she wants sometimes, and those eyes...well they're the problem, now aren't they?

Those beautiful blue eyes.

And those perfect little thumbs.

The culprits.

Aside from being a rock star in the fine motor department, she is doing so well in the language area too!

It's been a long time coming, and she's still so, and I can't stress it enough, so hard to understand sometimes.

It's frustrating.

But she has come so far.

She says things like "fireplace on" and "boots off" quite well. It's when she says things like "put slinky down stairs Gracie" that she gets tricky to understand. :)

It sounds more like "da deenty downdees Deedee".

When she's on a roll, she starts every word with the same sound. Man, it's hard. But I am getting so good at translating! Go me.

But more so, GO HER!

She's doing awesome. It wasn't too long ago that she wouldn't even attempt to talk. She has come a long way.

She's looking forward to Santa coming, and is asking for light up blocks.

My mom saw the best toys of 2011, or something of that sort, and caught something about light up construction toys. Like K'NEX she thought. I hit up google and found these.

Awesome.

So, I may have mentioned them to her...and now she has to have them. :)

So, that's it! She's still having stomach upsets, but we're trying to cut out certain things that may be causing them. Juices and too much time between meals may be a couple. She sees the specialist again after Christmas, so we'll see what he has to say.

And, just for fun, here's a group shot.

Crissy

2011-12-13T23:45:00.000-05:00

I have been meaning to post about this doll for almost a month now! Aunt Tina, you have no idea how much the girls love this doll.

My Aunt Tina brought over a Crissy doll from 1968 for the girls! It was hers and she really didn't want it just hanging around anymore.

This doll can grow hair in seconds, and then you can wind it right back into her head for a shorter style. :)

So cute!

My favourite part is how retro she is.

Check out these clothes!

She came in the original box, with the papers and four pieces of clothing, not including her hair bow and shoes!

I'm really not sure why Gracie looks...ahem...evil here, but seriously, this doll stayed with her the first week we had her.

She wanted to bring her into the tub. With hair like that though, there was no way.

She's even become a fine motor skills practice activity for Hanna, who loves winding up her hair! As long as she doesn't go too far, right mom? :)

Anyhow, it was a pretty special gift for my house full of girls. They love their new (but old) Crissy doll!
Thanks Aunt Tina, for thinking of them!

a stinker - a story in pictures

2011-12-12T14:56:00.000-05:00

The mission.

"I think I can reach that thing."

"Steady hands....steady!"

"Almost have it..."

"Hello! Why aren't you helping me?!"

"Ha! I dont need you anyway!"

"This will make the perfect snack."

"Eck. Had better."

"What else are you good for?"

"Ah ha!" WHACK WHACK!

The hazard

"Alright penguin, you're mine."

mom and dad's tree

2011-12-11T14:44:00.001-05:00

It's always been a big deal to put up my parent's Christmas tree. It's become a tradition that I look forward to every year. My mom always gets the best finger foods and snacks and it always gets me even more into the spirit of Christmas.

This year the kids got a little nuts by the end of the night. Maybe because of all the snacks? Or maybe because everyone's just getting so excited for the big night! :)

Again, I only got a few pictures.