Still My Little Baby

Let me just start out by saying it is still the sick house around here. I mean...I don't know what is going on, but I feel like we've been either cutting teeth or sick since Christmas. Hannah was up most of the night last night with a stomach bug and Alice Anne is still pitiful! We've all just been laying on the couch with electric blankets all day! I'm so ready for pretty weather and well kids. Today was the first time I left the house since Wed. afternoon and I only got to leave today to go get the girls some medicine!

I thought this picture was so cute!! Alice Anne was hysterically crying this morning and nothing would calm her down. Since I've been home bound for so long, I've been de-cluttering and listing stuff on Craigslist. One of the things I listed was an old baby swing, so I had it out for someone to come get. Literally nothing would settle her down, so I tried putting her in the swing. I was afraid that my big baby might break it, but she didn't and it calmed her down instantly. It was the funniest thing...it was like she was 4 months old again! She just sat in the swing while I sang to her for about 15 minutes. When I took her out, she freaked out again, so back in the swing she went...maybe I should re-think selling this thing :)

Is this not the most pitiful little sick face you've ever seen?? She had this dazed look all day.

Another Day Inside...and...Sick AGAIN!

It's cold, rainy and yucky here again! We've spent the whole day inside and I think everyone was ready for a change right before nap time when both girls just lost it (after a little hair pulling incident)! Hannah and Alice Anne went for their H1N1 and Flu boosters yesterday after school and after we got home, Alice Anne went down hill really fast! She had a little cough and runny nose, but nothing major and wasn't acting like she felt bad when I picked her up from school, but that shot must have done her in because she went from nothing, to bad, to worse really fast. She didn't sleep well last night, took a good morning nap this morning, and is down again right now. Poor thing! I'm wondering if the shots did it to her???

Hannah was excited to have a little one-on-one time with mommy this morning. Since Alice Anne has pretty much cut out her morning nap, we don't get that much and I think she misses it...and I miss it, too! We made rice krispie treats, which are her absolute favorite! She saw the pastel colored marshmallows at the store the other day and wanted to get them. I asked her what color she thought our treats would be after we mixed all the colors together and she guessed purple. She was highly disappointed when they turned brown!! She wanted to know where all her "pretty colors" went :) She absolutely loves to bake and cook!!

Hannah's been working really hard on writing her name. Her fine motor skills aren't very good, so I've been trying to work with her a lot on it. I think it's partly my fault b/c I am such a neat freak, I didn't want her having crayons a lot when she was little because I didn't want her to color all over everything.

The picture she drew of a man

Doing some writing exercises

She really LOVES to learn! We played the cheerio adding and subtracting game this morning and she had the best time!

My dad has been working in Dallas this week and is staying with us. We've all enjoyed having him around and the girls have had the best time playing with Papa. I wish my mom could have come with him...maybe next time!

Teeth

I've halfway decided that Alice Anne's issues lately have been her teeth. I kept thinking that she couldn't be that uncomfortable for that long just because she was cutting some teeth, but I've talked to a couple of friends that have told me that when their little one was cutting several teeth at a time, they turned into a completely different child for 2-3 weeks and were mean, mean, mean. This describes how Alice Anne's been for 2 weeks. This week has been MUCH better than last week, but she still gets a little cranky sometimes. She still has 3 or 4 teeth that aren't all the way through yet, so we have a ways to go, but I think there's light at the end of the tunnel! Regardless of her teething issues, she is still such a sweet little girl and so loving. She gives the BEST hugs and will hug you forever!! I beg her for hugs all day long!!

One of her favorite toys...the magnadoodle

Sweet sisters! I didn't even put them up to this.

Silly Hannah!!

Dance

I haven't had much to post about this week-unless I want to post about how fussy and grumpy Alice Anne has been-and I really don't want to do that. I'll just say that every second of my time this week has been spent trying to find an excuse to why she has been screaming all day long, every day. I can't use "teething" as an excuse forever--although she is cutting a bunch of teeth, but it can't be that bad! Please, Please, Please say a prayer that her old personality will come back REAL soon, because I don't have much patience left in me!!!! Brett's been out of town this week and of course and as soon as he walked in the door yesterday, she was a perfect angel, so I doubt he believes a word I've been saying about her :)

On the other hand, Hannah has had a fabulous week! At dance on Tuesday, her teacher pulled me aside and said that she wanted Hannah to try the 3-4 yr old class instead of the 2-3 yr old class. She said she thought Hannah was ready for it and needed a challenge. That was the best thing that happened to her all week! She has literally been dancing around the house all week long and has showed me all of her new moves that she learned in her new class. The most exciting part is that she got some new tap shoes, since now she'll be doing tap and ballet. She LOVES the shoes and thinks it's pretty cool that she has to bring a dance bag to her class with her shoes in it.

Mommy, There's A Baby In Your Tummy

OK, I must have really put on the lbs. over the holidays because my 3-year old is insisting that there's a baby in my tummy! She asks me at least once a day when my baby is coming out! A few weeks ago when daddy had been out of town for 7 days, we went to pick him up at the airport and the first thing she said to him when he got in the car was, "Daddy, Mommy has a baby in her tummy!" The look on his face was priceless and I couldn't stop laughing. It took me a long time to get him to believe me over his 3-year old daughter! Last night we were all playing and Hannah said, "Daddy, go get in the car. It's time to take mommy to the hospital. We're going to have a baby." She brought a baby over to me and put it under my shirt and then went and got her dr. kit. She was in make-believe world and said, "OK, we're at the hospital and Dr. Hannah is going to check you." She proceeded to look in my ears and as she did, she said, "I see your baby in there!" This went on for a long time...it was so funny! She delivered a perfectly healthy baby and said her name was "Pedro!!!" She has this book that we got when I was pregnant with Alice Anne that is very detailed about everything that goes into a pregnancy and a baby being born. We read it every. single. day. After our "hospital run" was over, she said, "Mommy, I really want a baby at our house!" I told her that she had a baby sister and she had lots of dolls that she can play house with. She told me that she wanted a real baby. I told her that real babies are a lot of work and if we had a tiny little baby here that mommy and daddy wouldn't be able to hold her and Alice Anne as much. Her response..."That's OK, I'll hold the baby while you hold me!" Smart little cookie. I asked her when I was going to hold Alice Anne and she said, "you can hold Alice Anne when you put her to bed." Funny little girl! I hope she understands that there aren't any babies coming to live in our house anytime soon!!

We've been living in the sick house for the past week! I took the girls to the dr. last Tuesday because they both weren't eating and were complaining of a sore throat. No strep, but as the week progressed, Hannah got a fever and then Alice Anne. They're both at school today and I'm going to try to get some things done since we literally haven't left the house in 5 days!!! Alice Anne is cutting 7 teeth and it is WEARING ME OUT!!!!

A couple other cute things that I have to write down so I'll remember them. We have a constant battle with Hannah to eat her vegetables. She flat out won't touch them. Ice Cream is her absolute favorite treat and she loves going to I Heart Yogurt. So, we told her at dinner a couple of weeks ago that whoever ate their asparagus would get to go to I Heart Yogurt and get some ice cream. It didn't phase her. Alice Anne ate her asparagus as fast as she could. Hannah didn't touch hers. We told her that we were all going to get ice cream and we really wanted her to be able to get some, too. Her response..."I'll just watch you eat yours." Are you serious?? So, we didn't argue with her. We thought that she'd be upset when we got there and she had to watch everyone else eat their ice cream and maybe she'd remember it next time and eat her vegetables. We all got ice cream and she sat there in front of us and seemed completely unfazed as she watched us eat ours. As we left, I was trying to get her a little upset that she didn't get ice cream and I said, "Maybe next time you'll eat your vegetables and you can get ice cream, too." She said, "No, mommy. I won't eat my vegetables. I'm just going to watch you eat your ice cream until I'm 4!!" Seriously??? She totally outsmarted us! She outsmarted us again on Saturday. I was looking for my watch. I set it in the exact same place every single day and it wasn't there. I literally searched for my watch for 2 hours. I looked in every trashcan, every drawer, every piece of clothing, every laundry basket, every toy box...everywhere! Brett and Hannah were gone and I was almost in tears because I didn't want to have to tell Brett that I had lost my expensive watch that he gave me. When they got home, I asked Hannah if she had seem my watch. She always knows where things are when I lose them. I told her that if she found my watch, I would give her 5 princess pez candies...I was desperate!! These are her absolute favorite candies and she will do anything for just 1. Her response to me, "Sorry mom, I don't know where your watch is. You can eat my princess pez candies!!" Ugh!!! Yes, I found my watch and you'll never guess where it was. Hannah has "given" Alice Anne one of her purses, and Alice Anne is obsessed with it. She carries it all over the house and then hides it when she's not carrying it. I had already gone through all of Hannah's purses and jewelry boxes and it wasn't in there, but I never thought of looking for it in Alice Anne's purse. I found the purse under about 50 babies in the baby pack-n-play and there were 2 things in her purse...my watch and my lipstick that I thought was completely lost, so I replaced it last week!!

Hannah has started calling us "Mom" and "Dad." I hate it...it means she's all grown up and not a baby anymore!! I tried correcting her for about a week by saying "mommy" when she would say mom, but I guess she's just grown up now! When she first started saying it, we told her that if she called us mom and dad then we were going to call her "Scott." That didn't work because she thought it was hilarious when we called her Scott.

Alice Anne loves school, but she's picked up 2 new words that I can't stand! She came home saying "NO" and "MINE." Everything is, "No, mine!!" I absolutely hate mine! Hannah did the same thing when she started school. I guess she'll grow out of it in time, just like Hannah.

I haven't taken any cute pictures because we've just been home in our jammies forever. But here are a couple of pics of the girls playing with Hannah's new playdoh sets that Carter gave her for her birthday. We have spent hours making playdoh ice cream and waffles, eggs and bacon! A lifesaver during the 20 degree weather!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! We had a low key, but fabulous start to the New Year! Brett had the whole week off of work last week and we had so much fun together as a family. It seems like every time Brett has time off of work we're on vacation or out of town, so it was fun to just have our daddy at home for a week and just get to play. The girls absolutely LOVED every second with their daddy and daddy loved his time with them, too. Daddy's not big on "schedules," so we were on no schedule at all and it seemed like naps were optional most days he was home. The girls didn't mind at all, but mommy's paying for it this week!! The cold weather didn't keep them away from the park, either! We had a couple of fun field trips. We went to Cabela's in Ft. Worth one day, which if you have kids that like animals, they will love Cabela's! They have a ton of life-size bears, elephants, zebra's, tigers, monkeys, etc. that the kids loved!!! We also took the girls to eat at The Magic Time Machine, and Hannah was in heaven! The food was not spectacular, to say the least, but it was well worth it when our waitress, Aerial waited on us. Snow White was waiting tables right next to us and Hannah could hardly concentrate on her food, she was so excited!!!

This was taken before Christmas, but I think it's so cute! Brett took the girls on a golf cart ride every night after he got home, to look at Christmas lights. It was FREEZING outside, but they bundled up and loved their light tours. Brett said, "Who needs horse carriages when you have your daddy driving a golf cart" :)

I love this picture of Alice Anne. Black beans are her favorite!

She is obsessed with her shoes! She will entertain herself forever going through all of her shoes in her shoe drawer!

And they can both entertain themselves with this jewelry box that has a million necklaces and bracelets in it!

Alice Anne LOVES her babies! She rotates babies in the swing all day long!

It is freezing outside today, so we enjoyed some hot cocoa by the fire this morning. Hannah was so excited about the marshmallows!

Alice Anne dancing around at the Dallas Museum of Arts on New Years Eve. We went to the "Noon Years Eve Ball" for the kids to ring in the New Year!!

My Baby Is Off to School

Today was a big day for Alice Anne...her 1st day of "school"! She did great and her teachers said she loved it and they also commented that she was such a sweet little girl!! When I dropped her off this morning, she marched right in and started playing. I stood there and watched her through the window for a few minutes and after about 3 or 4 minutes she looked up and realized that I was gone and started crying! Poor little thing...it made me want to cry, too, but I knew she'd get over it fast, which she did, and she had fun playing and meeting new friends the rest of the day.

Now, what in the world am I going to do with 10 hours to myself every week!! I got more done today then I think I got done all year last year! I'm sure I'll figure something out to occupy my time ;)

My little school girl! She looks SO old in this picture!

Hannah loved showing Alice Anne how to use her nap mat and she was a good teacher because Alice Anne's teachers said that she put herself right to sleep on it...

Hannah was the proud big sister and was so excited to tell everyone in her class that her "baby sister was right down the hall."

Christmas 2009

We had the best Christmas and I'm so sad that it's all over! I felt like we had a really short Christmas season this year, since we were gone the 1st week in December and then we had Hannah's birthday, but we enjoyed all of the Christmas fun that we were able to squeeze in. Hannah was totally into it this year and it made it so much fun! It's so fun to see the excitement of Christmas through the kids! Lots of pictures, but I had to include everything that made our Christmas so perfect...

Christmas Eve. day, it started snowing and the girls stood at the window and watched the snow fall forever!

We went to the Family Christmas Eve. Service at church and both girls really enjoyed it. Hannah was so excited to see Baby Jesus! We came home and ate tamales, decorated cookies for Santa and then Hannah wanted to dance to Christmas music.

Trying to get Wally to join in on the dance party!
Alice Anne was not into decorating the cookies. She wanted to see how fast she could shove them in her mouth and Hannah decided to eat all the sprinkles before Alice Anne got to them.
Hannah wrote her letter to Santa and put out her cookies and milk for him and an apple for the reindeer. She was so worried that Santa would be too loud and wake her up and she made me promise her that Santa wouldn't wake her up.
Santa must have been impressed with the girls this year because they raked it in! Hannah's big request was a dollhouse and Alice Anne got her own tricycle. Hannah was so funny...when we were leaving church on Christmas Eve, some people had their umbrellas and Hannah suddenly remembered that she forgot to tell Santa that she wanted an umbrella, so we made an emergency phone call to the elves and Santa worked some miracles and brought an umbrella for each girl. Hannah thought it was so cool that he pulled that off last minute!
How pretty is this...our backyard on Christmas morning. It's so white, you can barely even see Wally!

Waiting on the stairs to come down and see what Santa left

She was so proud of her very own tricycle!
Time for Alice Anne to take a nap, mommy to load the car, and Hannah and Daddy got to play in the snow
Not sure who had more fun...daddy or Hannah
Hannah eating her snowball
Then we headed to Waco
Sweet Cousins...
and sweet sisters!
Hannah's favorite thing to do at Jammy and Papa's is to look through photo albums, so Jammy made Hannah her very own photo album and loves looking through it!

Reading with Grandpop

Kisses for Granny
Kisses for mommy before bed after a long Christmas day!

Playing on the trampoline from Jammy and Papa

Hannah ADORES Carter!!