What a week... okay, make that 2 weeks!

After my post on Valentine's Day, kids around our house just got sick, sick, sick. I mentioned that Ava Grace had the flu, then Adalyn started running a fever. Then she woke up one morning looking like this...

So gross. Did I mention that it only got worse from there! There was so much of that nasty stuff that it had no where to go, but to start coming out of her eyes, too. She was sporting some serious eye boogers. I don't think I captured that fabulous photo. Take my word for it, it was disgusting. We took her to the doc on Thursday morning with 101 temp only to be told that she had the flu. Oh yeah, she isn't a year old and she cannot take TamiFlu - YAY! The stuff coming out of her nose and eyes was a secondary infection and it could be treated - antibiotics and eye drops for 10 days. My poor baby.

By Friday, AG went back to school and Adalyn was starting to act like her normal self. I forgot to mention that all she wanted to do was be held or sleep and sometimes sleep while being held. I truly didn't mind. Since she became mobile, she rarely wants me to hold her. I took advantage. Needless to say, not much got done around here that week. And before I forget, I had a sinus infection. So fun!!

Neno and Annabelle had avoided the dreaded flu and gunk that was going around our house so once we got to Friday, I was going to potty train AB. I had decided I week or so before that this was going to be the weekend. I started to blow it off since it had already been a crazy week, but this was one of the few open weekends that we had to tackle it. So homebound we were (not like that was any different than the rest of the week) and we were going to do it!!! We "threw" all of her diapers in the trash and pulled out the big-girl panties! About half-way through the day I thought - WHAT WAS I THINKING???, but we started and we were going to keep at it. On day 2, it clicked. She didn't want to tee-tee in her panties. These were some of my favorite lines.

When I would say: "Tell mommy if you need to potty"

AB - "No tee-tee my Ariel"

AB- "No tee-tee yours couch"

AB- "No tee-tee my bean bag"

AB- "No tee-tee my playroom"

I am glad it clicked when it did, because even though we thought she and Neno had escaped the flu, WE WERE WRONG! After her nap on that second day, she woke up with a fever and yucky nose/cough. Yippy! Can I just say that the good Lord knew what he was doing. I could handle AG/AM being sick together, but AB needed to be sick all by herself. I remind you, she is 2. Poor baby just didn't understand why she felt bad, but boy did she!

We skipped PDO on Monday since she was still running a fever, but I was glad to have one more day to work on going potty. On Wednesday, she went to school and I am happy to report that she didn't have on single accident! Way to go Annabelle.

Now that we have finally reached the end of this week, I can say that we are on the mend. We still have some runny noses, but I have my happy kiddos back. We don't do sick around here very well. Thank the Lord that we do not have to do it very often!!

On a side note, our sweet Adalyn Mae turned 9 months old on Tuesday!! I will post her 9 month picture later today or tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It being Valentine's day, I thought I would share the love from our house to you. These are the Valentine's that I made for the girls school parties and for Addy Mae, just because.

Luckily, the girls had their parties last week because Ava Grace would be missing hers today. She is a sick little bug. She has the flu - YUCK!

Neno and I didn't have any plans for the evening so he was sweet enough to bring us lunch and love on us. Now, AG is snug in bed watching Toy Story 2. We will be doing a lot of movie watching since she can't go back to school until Friday.

Addy Mae - 8 Months Old

Saturday, January 22nd, was Adalyn Mae's 8 month birthday, but it was a crazy day/weekend so I missed it by a few days. In fact, I didn't even take her picture until today. I was trying to squeeze it in between naps and picking up sisters so please excuse the sweet potatoes on her cheek. In fact, I think I have an 8 month pic like this of Annabelle, as well.

At 8 months, you...

• Are officially a crawler - a very fast one!
• Love big girl food more than your baby food. In fact, you had Chick-fil A for your 8 month birthday dinner and LOVED it!
• You love to grunt at us when you eat. I think you are trying to tell us that we aren't going fast enough.
• You babble a lot. My favorite is "ma, ma, ma, ma". I know you are really talking to me.
• You stand up in your bed all the time and love to do it in the middle of naptime and just scream at us. Daddy is a sucker and comes straight to your rescue. I on the other hand, will come and lay you back down so that you can finish your nap (meal old mommy).
• Between December and January, you gained 2 pounds, from 14-16. We switched your formula and though you still spit up a lot, it isn't nearly as bad as it was.

Uh Oh, Annabelle

It was time to head to school to get Ava Grace, so like we do everyday, I put Addy Mae in her seat and told Annabelle it was time to go. Immediately she pushed the button for the garage door and headed out to the car. I grabbed AM and closed/locked the front door. As we were headed to the garage I heard Annabelle crying. I couldn't imagine what she had done in that little time until I walked out to find this...

No, I didn't run back in and get my camera, but I did ask her to do it again when we got home so that I could capture the moment. Does that make me a crazy mom? (You don't have to answer that)

She gladly accepted but I don't think she was too happy about it once she was up there. What do you think?

My Annabelle!

I definitely don't want to forget this story and she will probably be so embarrassed (at some point in her life) that her daddy and I think it is so funny, but share I must.

As I was looking through family pics from Christmas, I came across Ava Grace's Christmas dance pictures. All of the parents and siblings were invited to her last dance class before Christmas for a small recital and reception.

We were watching all of the precious girls dance and Annabelle was becoming a bit of a distraction. Neno decided they should go to the lobby. She could run around, have a cookie, play with other kids, etc.

Anyway, there are a few toys in the lobby for kids to play with before class and for siblings during the class. As Neno tells it, there was little boy that kept nudging Annabelle back when she tried to join in. After a few times of that, she just politely stepped around him and went about her business. As the little recital was winding down, Annabelle ventured over to the door so that she could get a better look at her sister. This sweet young man felt the need to provoke my child yet again. Again, Annabelle tried to ignore him and go about her business, but Neno said that he could sense she had enough. The next time that he poked or elbowed or whatever he did to her, my child proceeded to take him down. Yes, my Annabelle shoved this boy through the door of the studio where the girls were dancing.

I was in Ava Grace mode, focused soley on her, while all of this was happening until I heard a child crying. I looked over to see a mother consoling her son. As I looked her direction, she was smiling at me. I thought is was just because she was embarrassed that her child was interrupting the class. As I found out later, she was probably looking at me thinking - your child did this.

In our defense, the little boys dad watched him provoke my child or was supposed to be watching him and truly wasn't. Neno knew something was about to happen and he just chose to watch it unfold.

My sweet Annabelle did try to be a lady and just let it slide, but when a girl has enough, a girl has enough. One day, she will know that sweet boy was just trying to get her attention. He just went about doing it the wrong way.

Christmas As Promised

I promised Christmas and Christmas I shall deliver. It was a great year! Ava Grace totally got it and because she does, Annabelle acts like she does and Adalyn, well she is just cute.

But this year, we were with my family on the Lake. Neno and I took the girls on Thursday night after dinner. We were PACKED (not an inch remained) in the car with all the presents and kids. But they were sleepy and didn't care. Plus, we were just excited to be on our way!!

We slept late and just hung out Friday with Mom and Dad. It was nice to not have to rush or drive with any traffic.

The rest of my family was going to be at their own homes until after Christmas morning (they only live an hour from Mom/Dad - much easier for them to do that). We, on the other hand, asked Santa to come to Nana & PawPaw's house to leave our presents.

The girls made sugar cookies and since Nana was out of chocolate syrup, we use hot cocoa mix to jazz up Santa's milk. Ava Grace was convinced he would love it!!

She even put food in the yard for the reindeer! Have you ever seen a more excited 5 year old. Her smile says it all!

He must have loved that we took care of him and his reindeer, because we all made out like bandits. Santa was good to us!!

After all of the excitement of the morning, things just got better when the cousins arrived. The kids were all soooooo excited to see each other - who cares about gifts. They didn't need them. They ran and played and hid and wore themselves out. I loved watching every minute of it!!!

I knew the weekend would fly by so I decided to stay the week with the girls and Neno flew back for work. We were invited into Austin to stay and play with Molly, Emma Beth and Marlee. We also made a date to ice-skate with Mel, Keelie and Westin. Ava Grace had been asking to do this and her cousins were so sweet to let her pick the activity. We were all a little skeptical about how the kids would do, but they did great, I think Molly and I were more concerned about whether or not we would spend the day on our rears. We did not. We had so much fun!! (Molly and Mel took pictures on their phones, but I have yet to get a copy)

Ava Grace and the girls could not get enough of each other. Brandon and Molly were so sweet to let us stay so that they could soak up as much of each other as possible.

All I Want For Christmas...

Is my two front teeth!

So I missed my post of Adalyn's 7 month b-day so I will role a few things into one. Here is her 7 months page and yes, over the last week, she has gotten her two bottom teeth. She has also learned to crawl. That makes this mommy so sad. She is way ahead of Ava Grace and Annabelle in both of those departments, they got teeth and crawled around 9 months. I just want Addy Mae to be a baby forever.

7 Months:

Up in the crawl position

Say "ba, ba, ba"

You can click your tongue on the roof of your mouth

Love to eat!

Take two great naps and sleep great at night

Have the greatest smile (I am going to miss the toothless grin)

More to come on Christmas and all of the great memories we made with family to come...