Anna's first illness

I took Anna for her 6 month checkup last Wednesday.  She's 16 lbs 7 oz and 27 1/4 inches long -- she's already grown 8 inches since she was born!  Crazy.  She got all her shots, so I expected her to be fussy the next day.  We went to Moody Gardens Palm Beach Thursday, and Anna didn't last long so we weren't there more than a couple hours.  The fussiness continued through the weekend and by Sunday night she was not happy.  She woke up screaming, which she never does.  I called the doctor first thing Monday morning (she had a nasty green runny nose, watery eyes, fever, sneezing) and we went to the pediatrician, who said she's got a respiratory infection.  A little fluid in her left ear but it's not an ear infection, just very likely from all the runny nose and watery eyes she's got.  She is on Amoxycillin to get rid of the respiratory infection and to make sure it doesn't turn into a full fledged ear infection.  (A side note, by this age, Emily had already had 2 ear infections, so we're hoping that Anna doesn't have that same problem).  The doctor said to watch her watery eyes to make sure they don't start to crust and turn into pink eye.  She seems to be a little better today so hopefully she'll be 100 % soon.  Emily decided at the doctors office that she wanted to talk as loud as she could every time the doctor tried to tell me something, which was extremely frustrating.  The nurse finally had to come into the room and take Emily out so I could finish talking to the doctor about Anna.  Needless to say, it will be nice when we can get out of the house once she's feeling better.  Emily is going stir crazy!

Emily is doing very well with the potty training.  She has a few accidents but for the most part, she's embracing her potty.  All of our bribing doesn't hurt either.  It's nice to only have one in diapers.

Anna is sitting up (propped on her hands) and she's able to pull herself across the floor.  She'll be crawling soon.  She's now eating oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and bananas.  Next is avocado.

The girls really love each other.  Anna is getting into all of Emily's toys now, which is interesting.  Emily likes to play with her (most of the time).  Emily looks for Anna first thing in the morning and always has to make sure she knows where Anna is.  Lots of hugs and kisses.

We just finished a really nice visit with my brother and his family.  They look great and are so fun (and funny) to be around.  His kids are growing up so fast!  It seems like they just got married and that was already 14 years ago.

Next up for us is a family vacation to Florida.  This year we are going to Destin.  I've never been, but we are really looking forward to taking the girls and getting out of Texas for a week. 

promotion

Silly me, I forgot some very exciting news!  Jim's promotion is official.  He's now an Associate Professor with tenure.  So very exciting. :)  I'm very proud of him.  He truly works very hard and loves what he does.  I'm glad that the powers that be at MD Anderson agree.  Congratulations, hon!

Updates on the girls

This has been a very busy week for my 2 little ones.  First, we decided to potty train Emily last weekend.  We had no real plan, except that we had some cotton training pants.  She did not go on the potty Saturday (we started Saturday afernoon) or Sunday.  So Jim and I decided Sunday night to just wait a few months and start again around labor day.  Well, little miss Emily woke up Monday morning and decided she didn't want to wear diapers.  So, fast forward 7 days later, and she's potty trained (mostly).  She has not had a pee pee accident since Monday morning.  Poop is another story.  From what I understand, it's the hardest thing for them to get.  We're working on it.  But, Emily is not in diapers.  We put a pull up on her for naps and nighttime and that's it.  She's still in her crib, so she can't go to the potty while she's there.  We may get a big girl bed sooner that we'd plan if she starts waking up to potty.

Anna started solid foods today.  We waited (as we did with Emily) for her to be 6 months old.  I made her oatmeal this morning.  I have already made and frozen bananas and sweet potatoes, so those will be her next 2 foods.  She really liked the oatmeal!  She ate quite a bit more than I expected her to.  She's probably wondering what took us so long!

Everything is great here.  We enjoyed a visit with my brother and his family yesterday.  They are in town briefly (he's having Lasik done in MS so they came for the weekend).

Jim and I decided to extend our back patio.  It should be done in about 6 weeks.  I'll try to remember to post a picture once it's done.

Emily's Favorite Things

I saw this on a friend's blog, and thought it was a cute idea.

Emily's favorite things (as a two year old):

Color - Blue
Food - Beans, Mashed Potatoes
Snack - Cheerios with Raisins or Goldfish
Fruit - Blueberries and Watermelon
Veggie - Peas and Sweet Corn
Book - (this seems to change weekly) Itsy Bitsy Spider
Song - Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (kinkle, kinkle, yittle, sar)
Toy - Anything with wheels -- she loves to load up her shopping card and push it around the house
TV Show - Sesame Street
Outside Activity - Gardening with Daddy, Swinging, Running through the sprinkler
Best Friend - Justin!

I'm waaaaaaay behind!

Seriously, I had NO idea that I hadn't blogged since last summer.  I know I'm busy and all, but wow.

Let's see....where to start?

The biggest change is that we now have another little girl, Anna.  She's the sweetest, cuddliest thing ever.  She was born December 7th and Emily just adores her.  Life with two is hectic, but wonderful.

Emily talks so much that sometimes I have to remind myself that she's 2.  At her 15 month checkup, she was saying a handful of words and it rapidly increased.  By 18 months she was talking up a storm, and ever since Christmas, so can put long sentences together.  Today when I was filling up the gas tank on the minivan, she told me the car was thirsty!  She's also started with pretend play.  At night when Daddy reads to her, she likes to pretend they are having dinner on the ottoman in her room. 

We had family over for her 2 year birthday and it was really nice.  She has so many toys it's unreal. She loves to read.  She's got at least 50 books in her room and she likes to read at night for at least 30 minutes before she goes to bed. She's still a really good sleeper and goes to bed around 8 and sleeps until 6:30 or 7. 

She's such an amazing big sister. She adores Anna, and vice versa. She likes to make sure Anna has her favorite toy and likes to gently pat her head.  It took her awhile to figure out "gently".

She still loves her swim lessons. We go on Saturdays now.  She gets excited when she sees me pulling out her swimsuit.  Jim watches Anna while Emily and I swim.  She also loves to be outside.  She helps Jim with the garden and now loves her sandbox and swing in the backyard.  Now that it's getting warm out, she also loves to play in the sprinkler.  It's so much fun to watch how much she enjoys everything.  She's still a really good eater -- likes chicken and most vegetables and (of course) fruit. Still loves milk and water.  Occassionally I give her fruit snacks and she thinks they are the best thing ever. We've had a lot of birthdays this spring, so she's developed quite the taste for cupcakes!  And Easter Candy!!!  She's definitely got my sweet tooth.

Anna will be 5 months old tomorrow.  She also is a great sleeper. At 10 1/2 weeks she started sleeping all night, and I feel like a new person!  She goes to bed between 6:30 and  7 and sleeps until around 7am.  It's wonderful.  We will start her on solid food when she is 6 months old.  She rolls over all the time and loves to sleep on her belly.  She started grabbing at things last week so now I'm wearing a lot more ponytails!  Ha!  She's just such a sweet baby.  We are really blessed to have 2 amazing little girls.

I've started couponing.   Not extremely, but still.  I try to get things that I have coupons for and watch the sales.  So far it's going well. Although it is disappointing that Kroger changed their double/triple policy. So, I do most of my shopping at HEB and Target.  Love those coupons!  The more I save on groceries, the more money we have to spend on fun stuff! 

Speaking of fun stuff, we are going to take the girls to Florida this summer with some good friends of ours.We can hardly wait.  Emily loves water and the beach there has nice blue water.  Jim is already counting the days! He needs a break!!  It will be really nice to get away for a week.

I'm doing the joggermom marathon.  Nothing crazy, but I have to run a marathon over the course of the month of May.  It's doable because I'm already exercising.  There are some awesome prizes so I'm hoping to score something good!

I'll try to become more regular about blogging.  Perhaps I should set some sort of reminder so I'm not trying to recap a whole year at a time. :)

Walking, Talking, .... screaming!

Let's see...our little munchkin is now 15 months old.  Lots of changes around here!

The biggest change, or soon to be change, is that Emily is going to be a big sister in December.  Jim and I are thrilled and so happy that the kids will be close in age.  Stay tuned to find out the gender  -- this little stubborn peanut doesn't want to show us boy/girl, so we'll have to wait until August and hopefully we'll find out then.  I treasure the relationship I have with my brother and we were very close growing up (we were 18 months apart) so it's always been my hope to have my kids close in age.

Emily is also walking all over the place.  She took her first steps last month when we were visiting Grandma & Grandpa Bankson in Midland.  She waited awhile before really taking off, but the last couple weeks she walks everywhere.  We know that running is right around the corner.  She likes to walk and carry as much as possible with her.  It's adorable.  Her favorite thing is when daddy gets home from work and they head upstairs to the game room, they race up the stairs and down the hall.  It's funny to hear them going. 

She will eat just about anything I give her.  She still loves fruit, so usually she gets that last so I can make sure she eats her meat & veggies.  She likes milk and water.  We do not give her juice.  Or sweets -- funny that the doctors office asks how much sweets they get.  They were happy when I said "none." 

She is learning new words every few days, it seems.  She says airplane (ahpay), doggie, tree, shoe, toes, ball, bottle, belly button (boobee), water (wa), thank you (ta-ooh), oh buddy, book, diaper (dido), and I'm sure there are a few I'm forgetting.  It's still amazing to me when she says a word for the first time without me prompting her. 

She's a little leery of strangers but warms up to people pretty quickly.  She loves loves loves her swim class.  We go every Tuesday.  She's getting really good at floating and holding on to the barbells.

I still go to Stroller Strides twice a week and now we go to the gym on the days we don't go to SS.  Emily likes the kids club and it gives me 30 minutes or so to run on the treadmill and stay in shape.  I was really good about walking when I was pregnant with Emily and I don't want this pregnancy to be any different.

Because I had gestational diabetes with E, the doctor wants to test me early this time.  I will go at 21 weeks and then if I pass, I will go again before 28 weeks.  Truthfully, it won't bother me if I get it again.  The diet is so healthy that it wasn't bad at all the first time around. 

Emily has show me the first of many temper tantrums.  I know I should ignore her but sometimes I want to laugh and then she laughs.  They don't last long, and thankfully they've mostly been at home.  I'm dreading the ones that happen when I'm at the grocery store or something.  She can really scream loud.

We are going to Dallas this weekend to visit the Rowlands.  We haven't seen them in over a year so we are really looking forward to this visit.  Sherry's baby shower is Sunday so we'll head home after that.  Then our next trip is Boston in August.  Jim and I are both looking forward to a relaxing vacation, so we're hoping to go somewhere in the spring after the baby is here.  Jim's leaning toward the beach, and I have to say that it sounds good to me, too.  I'm sure we'll end up going somewhere that is kid friendly and has a direct flight.

Not much else going on here these days.  Trying to stay warm in this awful heat!  We are all looking forward to the fall when it cools off.

Mommy's a slacker!

I feel awful that I haven't posted anything since Emily's birthday!  She turned one April 7th.  We had lots of family here, including Jim's parents, my parents, my brother and his family, my sister and her family and Aunt Raye.  Her party was a success, although she was overwhelmed by all the new people.  For some reason, I can't upload any pictures.  Hmmpf. 
We had her party the weekend before her birthday, and although the bakery didn't follow my directions and all for her cake, it was still good.  Emily did not care for the cake.   At all.  On her actual birthday, Jim took the day off and we went to the zoo.  It was a gorgeous morning and we had fun seeing the animals and riding the train.

Emily is not walking yet.  She does stand on her own for a few seconds, so hopefully the walking will come soon.  She is 14 months old already and time is flying!!

Things she loves to do:  climb on the furniture, ride her rocking horse, reading and being read to, stacking things, playing in the tupperware, cruising the furniture, dancing and going up and down the stairs.  She also loves to be outside and will point at the door when we say "outside".  Jim takes her out as soon as he gets home from work and I think she's stay out there all time time, even with the heat and mosquitos.  After all, her swingset it out there.  She is really enjoying her swim lessons and knows how to hold her breath underwater.  She is learning to float and loves to go to the pool.

Words:  daddy, bye-bye, uh-oh, ball, and very rarely: mommy.  :) 

Foods she loves:  vegetables, bananas, grilled cheese, pb&j, beans (refried and black), baked apples, any type of berry, oranges.  She is still getting used to meat but we are working on it.  She pretty much eats whatever we are eating.  I'm not going to let myself be a mom that makes a separate meal for each of my kids!

She is very good about riding in the car and loves to go places.  I still do Stroller Strides twice a week.  We also have swim lessons on Tuesdays and usually that leaves Thursday to have playdates with our friends.  She really likes Justin and Austin, although we do not see Austin as much as we would like to.  Sadly, his daddy passed away and they are very busy taking care of things.  We really do enjoy it when we do see them. 

We have 3 trips coming up.  We are going to Midland next weekend for Jim's 20th high school reunion, but really for a visit with Grandpa & Grandma Bankson.  We will be there 4 days.  In July, we are going to Dallas for a weekend for Sherry's baby shower.  She is due September 2nd.  Lastly, Uncle Mike is getting married to Amy (yay!!) so we are going to Boston for a week in August for their weekend.  We are really looking forward to it.  Jim teaches again this fall, so after Boston I don't think we will be going anywhere until the spring.  Although, we'd like to sneak in a trip to the hill country when it cools off.  We'll see.

I'm sure I'm leaving all kinds of things out.  I'll really try to post again soon!

Our 11 month old

Even though she isn't walking yet, Emily is all over the place. She crawls so fast. It's really cute to see how fast she goes when she sees something she really wants. (Usually it's mommy when it's time to eat). She loves being read to, and I often catch her flipping through her books and smiling at the pages. She has a shape sorter that she is having so much fun with. Jim will put the pieces a little way in and she shoves them in and gets so excited. She is also a big fan of knocking things over that we've stacked. She likes to hug her stuffed animals and there is a big pink teddy bear that she's become fond of having in her crib at night. I watch her on the monitor and see her playing with the bear and she's falling asleep.

She goes to bed around 7:30 and has been sleeping until 6:30 or 7am. Before the time change last week she was going to bed around 6:45-7pm and waking up around 6am. She takes a morning nap anywhere from 1-2 hours around 9 or 10 am and an afternoon nap around 2:30 or 3pm until around 4pm. She really is a good sleeper; I just have to lay her down and she'll fall asleep on her own.

I think if I only fed her fruit she'd be totally happy. I have started giving her fruit after everything else otherwise she will only want the fruit and refuse everything else. Her favorites are bananas, blackberries, blueberries and watermelon. Here is a picture of her after having some blueberries last week.

Her other favorite foods are zucchini, cauliflower, corn, grilled cheese, oatmeal, and (sometimes) pasta. It seems like she changes what she likes daily -- I'll make something for her one day and she loves it and the next day she doesn't. I will say, that so far she's not much of meat eater.

She's pulling up on everything and lately she's started to climb on top of things. She's learned to climb the stairs. She does fine unless she realizes how high she is and then she gets scared. I don't think she'll be walking by her first birthday, but it's probably not too far into the future.

She babbles non stop. Just a couple days ago, she started using more than one vowel - so instead of bababababa, she's say ba bo or ba bee. She does this with several different consonants, so I think she'll be talking soon. Of course, we still get mama and dada all the time. She will also sign for eat, more, and she points at everything.

I think that our favorite thing is when Jim takes her outside. She absolutely loves the outdoors. She'll point at what she wants to see in the backyard and Jim will walk her over to it and she gets so excited. It will be nice when she can walk and we can let her run around the backyard.

The garden is coming along nicely. We have tons of herbs and the spinach, romaine and broccoli are doing very well. We made omelets last weekend with fresh cilantro and they were delicious.

Emily has 7 teeth. She got two more when we were in Breckenridge. She's got another on top that is close, so we think by her first birthday (in two weeks!), she'll have 8 total.

My brother and his family are coming next week to visit and we are so excited to see them. Emily's birthday party is Saturday, April 3rd, so we'll have family here to celebrate. This year has gone by so fast. My friends are telling me that it just keeps getting faster and faster. Yikes!

Breckenridge, CO

We went to Breckenridge March 11-17 for a family vacation. We went with our friends Bob, Melanie and Ashley Stilwell, Anthony and John. We had a wonderful time. We rented a house about 3 blocks from downtown, so everything was within walking distance. It was beautiful and really nice to have a house where everything was so close. Here is a view from the front porch.

The first day we were there, Jim, Emily and I did a lot of walking around. It snowed on the drive in, but then we woke up to gorgeous weather. I think the highs were in the 20s or low 30s but it felt much warmer than that. We all got massages at a little day spa. It was very relaxing. Here is a pic of Emily playing in the snow while we waited for Jim to get back from his massage.

We went with the Stilwell's on a gondola ride up the mountain. It went to the bases of peak 7 and 8. There was a lot of people watching and we had lunch at the Grand Lodge at the base of peak 7. It was a lot of fun. Here's a pic of Emily with Mommy and Daddy as we were getting ready to leave.

Breckenridge is a great family town. There was lots to see and the scenery was beautiful. Emily had a great time but as always, it is great to be home.

3 teeth...in a week

Last week Emily got 3 more teeth, bringing the total to 5. She has 2 on top and 3 on the bottom. She is thisclose to having another one on top, too. I can tell they are bothering her because she's not wanting to eat much, but she will nurse. At least she hasn't bit me, yet.

I'm having a hard time believing she's only a month away from her first birthday. This year has flown by. We are going to Colorado next week for a family vacation. We hope to take a family vacation every year to someplace new.

Emily is eating all kinds of food, and she prefers to feed herself. She takes a couple naps a day, one around 9am for a couple hours and then a short nap in the afternoon around 3pm. I still do Stroller Strides a couple days a week, which I love because I am in better shape now than I have been in years. And, if the weather is good, Emily and I go walking or riding my bike a couple days a week. Unfortunately, we have a really cold winter, but it looks like it's going to be warming up, so outside we will go. I have a baby pool and the neighborhood pool opens in May. Emily's been taking swim lessons and is getting really good a floating so I won't be so worried when summer comes.

We've also been going to the zoo and Children's Museum, which is a lot of fun. We plan to take her back to Palm Beach at Moody Gardens this summer because she loves the water so much.

Jim built a great raised bed garden and now that it's warming up he's been planting like crazy. We're hoping that we have a lot of home grown vegetables this year. He's also planted blackberries, blueberries, a fig, avocado and lemon tree. Oh, and a nice herb garden. I'm looking forward to cooking with fresh herbs.

Not much else going on. March looks to be a busy month so I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about soon. :)

10 months and counting

I just had to post this picture because it cracks me up! I was trying to get a cute Valentine's picture and she was going AAHHHHH.

We had our first Valentine's party today and she got a bunch of cards and candy (which I will be more than happy to eat for her) from her friends in her playgroup. We are so lucky to have such a nice group of kids and great mommas for us to hang out with.

Grandma Allen is coming to visit tonight and Emily is very excited. She is also looking forward to meeting her Uncle Matt, Aunt Chastity and cousins Katlynn, Joe & Josh at the end of March. They are coming in to visit and will be here for Emily's 1st birthday, which I cannot believe is right around the corner!

We've decided to bite the bullet and take Emily for a family vacation in March. We're going to go to Breckenridge. Daddy is really looking forward to spending time with his family and we are excited to see some more snow.

Emily eats like a champ these days. She prefers food that she can feed herself. I'm amazed at how much she eats! She crawls very fast all over the place and just loves to cruise the furniture. She's also very affectionate and loves to give me hugs. I'm working on teaching her kisses. :)

9 months and counting

Emily is now almost 10 months old. It's been a busy month! She had her 9 month checkup and came in at 29 1/4 inches, 19.7 lbs. Her height is holding in the 90th percentile. Weight has dropped to 30th, but the pedi assured us that it's perfectly normal and to be expected with breastfed babies.

Emily is crawling all over the place. Her favorite thing to do is to crawl in the master bath so she can bang on the tile floors. She is also cruising the furniture.

She still has only the 2 bottom teeth, but we swear that the tops ones will be in any day. She chews on everything she can get her hands (or mouth) on. Her current favorite chew toy are couch cushions.

She loves being read to. Her favorite books are We're Going on A Bear Hunt and Pat the Bunny. We read a couple stories every night before she goes to bed. Of course, she also LOVES her bath.

Foods that she loves: bananas, peas, squash, oatmeal. She loves vegetables and fruit. Not so much on the grains, but I can get her to eat oatmeal. Oh, and she loves yogurt.

Every day is a new adventure! She is so much fun.

Crawling!

Emily decided that 2010 was the perfect time to crawl. She started the morning of 1/1/10. Within 2 days, she was all over the place. Needless to say, the gates are up! The living room is her safe haven. It's amazing to see how fast she can go these days.

Christmas - a little late!

Okay, I know it's February 3rd. But, I realized this morning that I hadn't blogged in almost 2 months. I really should get into the habit of posting news. I will try harder.

We had a wonderful Christmas. We spent the weekend before Christmas with my parents and my sister's family. It was so much fun to watch Emily play with the ribbons on her gifts. She really didn't care about what was inside the boxes. My dad made fabulous ham, turkey, and stuffing. He is such an amazing cook and I love eating at their place!

Christmas was spent with Jim's parents and his brother and his brother's girlfriend. They made the trek to Pearland, which was wonderful, as we really wanted Emily to spend her first Christmas at home. She, of course, got a TON of gifts and is loving playing with everything she received. Santa brought her a red wagon and when the weather is good, we take rides around the neighborhood, which she loves.

At Christmastime, she was rocking all the time. We felt for sure that crawling was right around the corner. I'll update that in the next post. :)

Snow....in Pearland!

We had 2.5 inches of snow on December 4th. It was beautiful! Emily really enjoyed it. She couldn't figure out what was hitting her in the face when the snow was falling, but she really loved how the snow looked on the ground. Here are a few pictures.

Merry Christmas!

Still no crawling, but now she loves to stand. She will reach for my thumbs and pull herself up and stand. She has to be holding onto me or the couch.

Also, she will laugh back. Meaning, if I'm laughing at something, she'll laugh, too. It's so cute!

Where does time go? I've decided to post what Emily is up to each month so I can remember her milestones. She will be 8 months old next week. She is rocking away, but not crawling yet. She can roll from one side of the room to the other in a matter of seconds. She loves bananas, sweet potatoes, and oatmeal. She doesn't like carrots or green beans. We make all of her baby food. The cloth diapering is still great. She adores her daddy and I am her security blanket. She is such a sweet pea. :)

6 months!

My sweet angel is 6 months old. It's amazing how much life has changed. We love her more than anything and she is such a blessing.

Sullivan Family

Please pray for this family.

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