I hope you read the title of this post like the Beatles sing it!
With the pollen count down to 1800 from 9000, the temps in the mid 70s, and the yuckies gone from our house {fingers crossed}, we decided to get out and play...and then take baths to get all the yellow stuff off of us!
The girls, mainly Caroline, have been itching to get out and run around. Our yard isn't that great for Molly, mainly due to the steep incline downward that usually sends Molly Grace tumbling toward the azaleas and ivy pit. However, Cappy has a fabulously flat yard that is perfect for the wanna-be walker, but can still only crawl, almost 1 year old in our family! It's nice to be able to put her down and let them both play {read: MG crawls after Caroline, who can't stop running, so then Molly just eats the grass}. A flat and therefore safe yard is also fun for me because I can run after them and take pictures, which I have so missed doing lately!
So here's your warning, tons of pictures follow of our adorable girls playing outside on a gorgeous spring day! I will also say that the pictures are pretty lopsided in terms of my subject due to the fact that Caroline wouldn't pause to pose...imagine that.
One of the few instances that C stopped to chat with M, and in all honesty I think it was just to take the ball.
Caroline wanted a picture of her running "super fast"!
Hmmm, what's this? Maybe I should put it in my mouth and try it.
Here's the normal scene around here, Molly chasing after Caroline, and never quite getting her.
Go, Molly Go!
This is as good as I could get.
And we're done, due to the fact that a tantrum ensued from having grass and leaves taken out of mouth!
I meant to post these pictures ages ago, but I kept forgetting. We checked out the Children's Museum not to long ago, and had a blast! If you live in Atlanta or are stopping through with your kiddos, it's a must do! There are so many sensory activities and hands-on exhibits, that Caroline had a hard time figuring out where to go first. Most of the toys were by Melissa and Doug, which you know we love!
We went on a Friday, which I will say was probably a mistake, there were tons of school-age kids there on field trips. I have nothing against field trips, I would've loved to have taken my first graders here, but when you're the mom of a preschooler who gets pushed out of the way at the fish table, and your toddler's "TWO AND UNDER ONLY" area gets bombarded with the field-trippers too, you can get quite flustered. I heard that Mondays are non-field trip days, that's when we'll be heading back! :)
Caroline built sandcastles, by "clicking" in the correct shapes. It was basically a 3-D puzzle, she loved it!
Here's the fishing area, before the big kids took over. She loved being able to wear a raincoat while fishing!
Back in October, after thought, prayers, and many conversations with Daniel, I decided to I wanted to get baptized. I signed up and was assigned the date of Sunday, March 18, 2012. In the fall it seemed like March was so far away, but now, the day has already come and gone!
I again want to thank all of my family and friends who were able to be there with me on that special day, as well as all of those who couldn't but wish they could have been.
The stomach bug hit our house hard this week! Caroline had it from Sunday to Tuesday, and then Molly got it Wednesday and is still dealing with an upset tummy. Molly also got her first fever late Wednesday night, no fun at all. We were up from 2-430am, and then Caroline got up at 730. Funny how your body can function on that little sleep when you don't have a choice.
The pollen was insane this week, so despite the gorgeous weather, we stayed in most of the time. I'm hoping the yellow stuff gets out of here ASAP, we're ready to get out and play!
Monday: I put Caroline in the bath to get her fever down and it was the least messiest way to eat her popsicle. This was our MO most of the week....bath for fevers, popsicles for nutrition.
Tuesday: This is Rock, Caroline's new friend. Despite us trying to "put Rock back with this family" {outside}, Rock naps with Caroline, eats with Caroline, and sits with Caroline on the couch. She is such a silly girl!
Wednesday: This was pre-fever, but look at her standing! Yay Molly!
Thursday: I had some time to fill the eggs for Caroline and Ella's party, so I took advantage of it! Caroline wanted to help, of course, and didn't pitch a fit when I put them up. Shocker!
Friday: T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!
Saturday: One thing I love about our neighborhood...the flowers in the spring! We have tons of azaleas in our yard, and have loved seeing them bloom.
We have a week of Easter Egg Hunts in preparation for Caroline and Ella's big party a week from Saturday! Next week is also spring break, and we start our testing at CHOA from Caroline, say a little prayer that her Hearing test comes back perfect. I'm not worried, but everyone can always use some extra prayers!
We had a great week! Maybe it was the weather, the longer days, or the flowers, but whatever it was made for happy children and a happy Mama! I love taking the girls for walks, swinging, having picnics, and just getting outside. I don't like the pollen so much, but hoping my allergy shots take care of that for me! Looking forward to another wonderful week ahead as well!
Monday: Love these cheeks, this smile, this baby! Just love her!!
Tuesday: Party planning is in full effect for Caroline and Ella's 3rd birthday party! Can you guess what the theme is? ;)
Wednesday: Look Mom, no hands! Caroline is getting closer and closer to swimming by herself! She's down to 1/3 of a back float! Yay! I plan on her swimming by herself before the pool opens, have I said that yet?!
Thursday: This sweet child only sucks her thumb and holds her zebra named Simba (thanks to Caroline) when she's exhausted. Melts my heart.
Friday: Molly stole Caroline's granola bar on our walk Friday afternoon, I guess she figured if Caroline wasn't going to eat it, she should...don't be wasteful, right? Apparently she hid one last bite because I turned around and saw chocolate smeared all over her face! She loved it!!
Saturday: Caroline went to Claire's princess party, as Cinderella of course! She was so excited that Belle made an appearance, and when she left she kept asking, "Mommy, Belle went back to the castle? To see the Beast?" ha! So cute! Later the girls had fun looking out the window at Daddy doing some yard work.
Sunday: Today was my baptism! While I had wanted to get a picture of some sort to share, there was really no way, and I also forgot my phone at home. It was a day I'll never forget; perfect in every way! So glad of my decision to get baptized and humbled by all of those who came to support me. I will upload my video as soon as I have it, for now though, I'll leave you with a video of a silly baby giggling!
I mentioned in my last post that we've had some concerns with Caroline's speech...
I had Caroline's spring conference two weeks ago, and going in, had a few questions for her teacher regarding the clarity (articulation) of her speech. Before I could express my concerns though, her teacher brought it up to me. We are in no way concerned about developmental delays, language, processing, or even vocabulary...it is simply that you can't understand a lot her speech due to sound substitutions (m = b or d, b= d, p = t, etc). Once you can "crack the code" of her sounds, you'll find she has a great vocabulary and even some funny expressions!
The sound substitution doesn't happen with all letters/sounds, but it does occur with the three sounds (m,b,d) that children "should" master first. It is our thought, as well as Dr. Pip's, that these sounds became quite muffled during her early months when she suffered from chronic ear infections; before the tubes were put in.
I don't like to compare Caroline and Molly, because they are so different, but due to the fact that their birthdays are 4 days apart, when it comes to developmental milestones, it's unavoidable. Molly (knock on wood), has yet to have an ear infection, or even a fever for that matter, and is constantly saying "mama, baba, dada" and I swear she said "caca" the other day. Maybe her version of Caroline?? Anyway, y'all know Caroline said nothing but "D" for daddy, so we can see a huge difference in muffled hearing due to ear infections and clear ears.
So where are we at now?
Well after 742 calls to our insurance company, and finding no one in network that is even remotely close to us, we "think" we may have a solution. Thanks to my sweet friend jackie, who suggested we try Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, we discovered that speech therapy at Scottish Rite/Children's is in our network and therefore covered...if she qualifies. We have a hearing test and speech eval scheduled for April, and after that we will know more.
If the therapists as CHOA feel that she is just a slow talker, we will have to seek a private therapist for speech, however, if they find that her ear infections did infact effect her hearing, and now speech, it will be considered "restorative speech therapy due to chronic ear infections." Dr. Pip has actually coded the doctor's order as that and backed this up with her ENT paperwork and time stamp of all the appointments we came in for with the infections.
At this point, we've done all we can do with regards to insurance. We have heard that CHOA is the best, so even if we can't receive actual therapy from them, we know her evaluations will be administered by the best doctors! As Caroline's parents, we want to be able to give her the best we can, and are hopeful that will happen in this situation too. :)
*Weighing 25ish pounds - she's officially a "big baby", as in off the charts. Sweet Chunky Baby!
*Around 28 inches in length {75th Percentile}
*Wearing size 4 diapers during the day and size 5 huggies overnights for bedtime. Both girls can wear 4s and 5s at night so this will save some $. C only wears them at nap time.
*Molly is wearing 6-12m dresses only, 12 months, and 12-18 months, though these are long. She wears some leggings that are 18m because I've found that they run a little small. I am so ready for warmer weather to stick around, I have the cutest clothes of Caroline's that I want Molly to wear too! I'm hoping that since she's moving more now, she'll slow down in weight.
*She has 12 teeth!! 4 upper, 4 lower, and all 4 molars!
*Sleeping on her belly for 12 hours at night with 2 naps during the day (a shorter am and longer pm), although her morning nap is slowly going away. She still naps, but it can vary from 45 mins to 90 mins, I think by summer it will be gone. I've gotten the girls on the same afternoon nap schedule {Hallelujah!}, so they both go down between 130 and 2, and I get some "down" time.
*Taking around 24-28oz of formula.
*She's over baby food, she will rarely eat it anymore. She instead, prefers to feed herself.
*We've given her deli meats, cheese, blueberries, peaches, black beans, rice, peas, green beans, black eyed peas, broccoli and cheese, mac and cheese, pizza, CFA french fries and nuggets. She also really loves Happy Baby Food veggie bites.
*I've also started giving her water out of a sippy cup. We get a lot on our shirt, love to dribble it out of our mouth, but do get some in too!
*She still loves cheerios, teddy grahams, Yogurt Melts and Puffs, also from Happy Baby Food.
What Molly's loving these days!:
*Pulling up and cruising. This started over night, and seriously hasn't stopped. She crawls to the fireplace, couch, windowsills, and up she goes. She also pulls up onto one end of the kitchen cabinets and will walk the whole length of the cabinets and back.
*Crawling, Molly is quick! She LOVES to follow you into another room, especially Caroline!
*Eating in her highchair or bumbo!
*Playing Patty-Cake and clapping when you say, "Good Job, Molly!
*Molly bounces or claps when she hears music or when Caroline is dancing.
*Pushing her Baby Stroller around, and walking behind it. (I have a video!)
*Molly stood up with Daddy for a second all by herself, then plopped down on her bottom.
What I'm loving about Molly these days {besides everything!}:
*Her belly laughs when you tickle her!
*She will crawl over to you, get up on her knees and reach up for you. Love this!
*She is so smiley! When I go in to get her from her nap or in the morning, she gives me the biggest grin, love it!
*That she LOVES her big sister, and her big sister LOVES her!
*Her independence. She wants to try everything for herself...including the taking the spoon from me, not that she can feed herself, she just doesn't like me doing it.
*She is seriously the happiest baby ever, seriously.
Breakfast: 8-830am -- Eggo Mini Waffles or mini blueberry muffins (our new favorites)
Nap: 9am-10/1030am -- my girl is growing out of her am nap, its happening! Some days I have to wake her, but more often then not she's up before 1030.
Bottle (6oz): 1130am
Lunch: 1230ish (I fix Caroline's lunch at 1230 and then feed Molly) Deli Meat, peas, diced peaches, blueberries, cheese, then cheerios and water from her sippy cup
Naptime and bottle (4oz): 130-145p; she gets a small bottle here.
Supper Bottle (4oz): If she wakes up early from her nap, she gets a small one, if she wakes around 5pm, I just give dinner a little early. She's trying to drop it.
This week started off not so great, but thanks to some answered prayers, by the end of the week, things were looking up! I do have Molly's 11 month post already scheduled for tomorrow. I had intended to get it up last week, but life happens sometimes! :)
Monday: We've got a climber on our hands. If she sees a moment to get away and head towards the stairs, this one takes it! Good thing, I'm just a bit smarter!
Tuesday: Caroline likes to put on make-up and "wook pretty with Mama" in the mornings!
Wednesday: Swim lessons started this week! Caroline LOVES the water! She will be in lessons until she can swim, or else our days at the pool this summer will be numbered!
Thursday: After naps, we played outside for a while until dinnertime. I love when the days are longer and we can get our energy out by running around in the yard!
Friday: Happy Hour = Tea Party Time at our house! Cheers!
Saturday: Caroline and Daniel had their weekly breakfast date, and brought me a yummy treat! And is it me, or have the Chicken Biscuits gotten smaller over the years?
Sunday: Not going to lie, with the loss of an hour and Daniel's finals, today got away from me! I looked up and it was 7pm, and time to put the littlest to bed! Happy Daylight Savings Time Day!
Happy Monday! Hope y'all have a great week! We have an appointment on Tuesday with Dr. Pip re: Caroline's speech, so please say a prayer that we get some clarity on the situation in how to proceed. I also am being baptized on Sunday! I haven't yet seen my video, but know that it will tell my story and will be absolutely perfect.
How is it already March?? We have exactly one month (I'm writing this on Sunday), until Molly turns 1! Being pregnant with her seems like it was so long ago, but it seems like I blinked and she's 11 months. And if I have a one year old, that means I also have a 3 year old! My goodness, how crazy!
We had a great week, besides some sniffles and sneezes and a few toddler meltdowns.
Monday: Cappy curled Caroline's air for school on Tuesday, I snapped a picture of her in the foam curlers on my camera but not my phone, I'll be sure to share!
Tuesday: Um...yum! Caroline and had this Chocolate Moose cupcake for dinner/dessert!
Wednesday: Seriously the happiest baby ever! She rarely hates riding in her carset, so thankful I got a bigger one for her, she's much more comfortable in this one!
Thursday: Have y'all heard about this murder trial? Its taking place here in Atlanta, but the murder happened right up the street from us. In fact, the girls' music class is in the same shopping center as the preschool. Needless to say, I'm enthralled by the whole case, because there seems to be so much drama attached to it. I saw this man on tv the other day. He's Dennis Murphy, a dateline anchor. I LOVE me so Dateline! You know I'll be watching when this story airs!
Friday: We went to the Children's Museum, it was fantastic! They had areas for kids of all ages, including toddlers! Molly was in seventh heaven playing with this toy, and walking all by herself!
Saturday: We took a trip over to Aunt Sarah and Dr. Webb's new place and had tons of fun! Caroline had a blast with her cousins, Hayes and Mary Charles. Molly took a liking to Hayes too... Head butting him, which is her way of snuggling and giving kisses. I hope we can all get together again soon!
Have a great week, I have MG's 11 month post coming up!
