Tis' the Season!

 Lily has helped her Daddy put the star on the tree since she was 3 months old!

I have been wanting to get our Christmas tree up since before Thanksgiving, but Jason wouldn't let me do it until afterwards.  We got it up and decorated last night.  Lily was a big help with the decorating!  I love this time of year and I'm so excited to celebrate it with my girls...especially Lily as she is older this year and already enjoying everything about the season.  It is going to be a task keeping her away from the ornaments this year.  When we turned the living room lights off Lily walked over to the tree and said "wow" and "oh cool!"  So cute! 

P.S.~I am asking for a bigger Christmas tree for next year!  I have been wanting one (my husband is taller than our tree), but I know this one is just fine for now. 

HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON to ALL!

Much to be Thankful For

We had plans to go back home to Newcastle this Thanksgiving to see Jason's family, but those plans had to be cancelled due to Lily getting ill.  We were supposed to leave on Wednesday afternoon, but on Tuesday morning Lily spiked a temperature of over 103.  It came on out of nowhere.  She was fine the night before and she was fine when she woke up in the morning.  She threw up twice on Wednesday and her temp kept getting higher and higher.  She would break her fever with some Ibupforen and Tylenol.  When her fever was down she was a completely different kid than when she had the fever.  She would play and perk up and drink fluids, but when the fever would return she was listless and didn't want to do anything.  She would just cry and want to lay with mom or dad.  She was miserable.  The meds would keep her fever away for about 2 hours and then it would return again.  I knew it was a virus of some sorts that would just have to run its course.  On day 3 of this when she woke up with a fever of 104.4 I decided we better have her looked at.  This happened to be on Thanksgiving Day.  We had to take her to the Pediatric Express Clinic and of course we waited for two hours before seeing the Dr.  I hesitated to bring her in knowing full well it was a virus and we were doing everything right at home already for her, but with your own child you never want to make a wrong decision and regret it later.  Her ears looked fine, but her throat was red with a pus pocket in the back of it so the Dr. ran a rapid strep test on her.  Thank goodness it was negative.  Mom was right...a nasty virus that has to run its course.  By Friday Lily was already doing much better...still with a fever but lower, and by Saturday she was back to her ornery little self!  So even though we did not make our trip back home and have an entire Thanksgiving dinner (my mom packed us up a plate of their leftovers...YUMMY) we still have so much to be thankful for.  We are thankful that Lily is feeling much better and that Avery didn't get ill too.  We are thankful for our families for understanding.  We are thankful for each other and we are thankful for our faith.  Hopefully she stays well for Christmas so we can make it back home!  Avery will be two months old by then and Grandma Romaine hasn't seen her since she was 14 HOURS old!

Body Art

Lily is big into doing "arts and crafts" these days.  She loves to paint, color and play with her chalk.  We have been practicing her letters, numbers, colors and shapes too.  She sits down in front of me almost like she is playing "school" and I hold up a letter or a number or a shape and she names it back to me.  She almost never misses one!  We were getting a little bored doing the same ole thing one day so we decided to get a little "wild!"  Lily and I were painting in the kitchen the other morning and we were going to get in the shower anyways so we painted LILY!  She was laughing and smiling and the little bit of a mess was worth seeing those smiles!  She wanted to paint her baby sister too, but I had to say no to that request!

Weekly Photo Favorites

"NO WAY!"

Lily is in this "NO WAY!" phase right now, and her mom and dad don't like it one bit.  She has told us no to just about everything for a long time now, but this NO WAY business is pretty new.  I'm not sure where she picked it up from...daycare maybe?  If she gets mad or simply doesn't want to do something she keeps repeating, "NO WAY, NO WAY, NO WAY!"  It was cute the first time I heard her say it, but now it is not so cute.  Everyone keeps telling me that the 3's are worse than the 2's.  If this is the case, Jason and I are in for it with little Miss Lily Rose!

She looks so sweet and innocent when she is fast asleep...don't let her fool you!  Her shirt says it all!

Daddy and his Daughters

A proud daddy with his little girls.

One Month Old!

Dear Avery Grace,

Today you are one month old!  I can't believe it...it really seems like we JUST brought you home from the hospital.  We love you more and more each day.  Your big sister, Lily, is so proud to have you as her little sister.  She loves you so much, and I give you much credit for being able to handle her at times!  She is a bit rough with you sometimes, but you never seem to mind.  You are our little peanut.  You aren't as big as your sister was, but you are growing each day.  I tell Lily to watch out because one day you will grow up and get her back! 

Some little facts about you:

~you have a birthmark on your back (2 actually)

~you are a laid back, easy going baby (thank goodness!)

~you nurse about 10 times a day right now

~you have slept in your crib since you were 3 weeks old

~you go to bed around 9:30-10:00pm

~you wake up 3-4 times during the night

~Mommy loves to rock you in your room

~you like your binkies...when Lily doesn't take them away from you~

~you like to watch TV with Lily in the mornings

~you weigh around 10 1/2 pounds right now...estimated from our digital scale

~you are BEAUTIFUL and we love you to the moon and back!

Love,

Mommy

Lily Time

Lily and I went to the park together yesterday for some much needed Mommy and Lily time.  The hardest part about having another child is that all of my time can no longer be focused on the older one.  I think Lily really misses her mommy and daddy at times.  If we yell at her or tell her no you can tell that she gets her feelings hurt and she will walk into another room and just sit there with a sad little look on her face.  It breaks my heart.  We didn't get to the park until around 5:00pm so it was a bit chilly and we didn't stay long.  She loves going to the park and just being able to run around.  I love to see her so happy!

I love you Silly Lily!



Random Pics

 Avery asleep in her pack and play

Avery's room

All dolled up for church

Watching Dora together

Getting big too fast already!

Lily's haircut

Lily's new haircut

 

Mommy and her littlest baby

Underpants



Little Miss Lily Rose is not potty trained.  I tried a while back and she would sometimes go on the potty and sometimes not.  She tells me when she poops and pees, but she never tells me ahead of time so we can get her on the potty.  We have tried putting her on the potty in the mornings, before bed, after naps and before naps, but this didn't work either.  The other day I finally said we are putting her in underpants and letting her go.  She got out of the shower last week and was naked and told me she had to pee so we went to the potty and she did go so I thought that maybe having on underpants would be similar.  My thinking was that she would pee in them and not like the feeling of being all wet and this would help her learn.  We have tried books and movies about potty training, but it hasn't worked.  Well...the underpants didn't work either.  I put them on her Saturday morning and I kept asking her if she had to go potty and she kept telling me no.  A while later I saw that her shirt was all wet and I felt her underpants and they too were soaked AND there was a puddle in her bean bag.  It didn't phase her one bit.  She could have cared less that she peed herself and was soaked.  I even asked her then if she went potty and she told me no!  Little stinker.  After that I put her back in her diapers.  Jason was at work and I need a partner in crime to tackle this with me next time!  A funny story...we went to Walmart and let Lily pick out her own underpants.  She pulled them out of the package and put them on her head.  A lady saw her and stopped and was laughing and told us we needed a picture of this for her wedding someday.  Lily tells everyone that underpants go on her head...gotta love her!