Memorial Day Weekend

Boy did we have some fun!! It was nice to have James around a little longer than usual, for a weekend. He got home a little early on Friday and, of course, didn't have to work on Monday. We packed so much in I am badly in need of a vacation ...

We had a couple friends in town so that was the reason behind the Mommies and Mimosa madness in the last post. Everyone got back together at our friends' house later that night for round two, which involved the guys and mass quantities of booze. Luckily for us, we had the kids with us so were saved the inevitable morning after hangover since we had to get the girls home and into bed! Megan was such a trooper though. She didn't get to bed until almost 10 and she didn't have a meltdown or anything. I know we were pushing our luck but it worked out this time around. She attached herself to a bigwheel type tricycle and had so much fun with it. I think that's what she'll need for her birthday this year ... or Christmas ... grandma ... They do have a trike with a handle that would be cool ... grandma ... :)

SO, Sunday morning the girls and I packed up and went to the splash park for a little more fun with friends. I'm glad nobody called CPS on us because it was kinda chilly and the water was downright cold but we had a good time.







Unfortunately, we had to cut our visit short so Megan could have an early lunch and an early nap because we had tickets to the Roughriders game that afternoon. If you don't know, they're the AA affiliate of the Texas Rangers and their ballpark is out in our neck of the woods. We've been up here 3 years now and Sunday was our Riders game. It was a lot of fun!! We sat in the general admission grassy area in the outfield and I highly recommend those "seats" for anyone with kids. They're cheap and the kids can run around a little without ticking off too many other fans. It was hard to juggle food and drink (and two kids) on the slope but we survived. Emily and I had to take a short break in the gift shop to cool off but it was a great day!

Megan LOVED the Lemon Chill!!

Megan and Daddy watching the action.

Here's a better look at Emily's new souvenir hat!

Monday, our bonus day!! We planned to take it easy but ended up making a trip to Sam's. That's never cheap!! We stopped for lunch at Fuddrucker's on our way home. I hadn't been to a Fuddrucker's in years!! It was pretty good but Megan took one bite of her grilled cheese and handed it back to me. So, she had french fries, lemonade, and some cookie for lunch. Real nutritious, huh? Then, just across the parking lot was Toys R Us so we had to pop in there for a look-see! We had rewards certificates and gift certificates from past purchases so our trip there was "free". After the afternoon nap, we set up the sprinkler outside for a little more long weekend fun!

Apparently she wanted it moved.

The flowers needed some water.

She was starting to look red so I made her cover up. She ended up without a sunburn so I don't know why she was red. I sure hope the dirt comes out of her cover-up though!

Since Emily didn't really get to partake in all the really fun stuff I figured you needed a pic of her so you could see that she had a good time too!

Mommies and Mimosas

All the kids! I'm in it since I'm "wearing" Emily. Lucky me!

Bubble Time!

Megan's turn in the swing.

Deuce's turn on the slide!

Amber's not too sure but Abby is waiting patiently.

Megan playing with the Eggl boys.

Christy's hard at work pushing the swings.

Megan taking a break from the action.

I think this def needs to be a monthly thing!! We had so much fun today. Had the girls and kiddos over for some fun in the sun ... and some food and drinks. And what weekend morning gathering is complete without mimosas? mmmmmm! We didn't get a pic of all the mommies but we attempted one with all the kiddos and, since they're all under the age of 5, I suppose it turned out pretty well. I think Shannon brought the humidity up from Houston. Last time it was this humid was when Tina was in town from Houston. I'm thinking those Houstonians just might need to stay in Houston during the summer months. Don't get me wrong, I love you guys and I miss you guys BUT I sure don't miss the humidity!! :-)

This could be it. This could be the time I've been worried about since February 20th, the day Emily came home from the hospital. I am sick. I don't know how to keep her from getting sick. I am washing my hands and trying my hardest not to cough on her but I just don't think it's enough. She needs one of those bubbles! I am so happy I am the one who got sick with all the 'out and about' we've been doing since RSV season came to a close but I'm scared to death that she's going to get it. I'm not sure I know what to do if anything happens. Megan was NEVER sick. In fact, her first fever was when we were both sick when I went into labor in January. She was over a year old and a very healthy little girl ... and that makes a huge difference. I have to sing the praises of Mucinex though. I took some Wednesday night and I wasn't able to sleep but James was out of town so I decided to give it another try. Those commercials, where the mucus is evicted from it's lovely home in the chest ... SO TRUE. Gross, but true. When I went to bed last night, I took Mucinex, Advil (for the fever I had), cough syrup (the prescription kind!), and my vitamins. That was 6 pills and a Tbsp of syrup. Do you know how hard it is to swallow pills when you can't breathe through your nose? I was hoping Miss Emily would sleep all the way through the night again but no such luck. She got up around 3:45 and just couldn't keep the paci in her mouth so I had to feed her. That's why I'm posting at 5 am. So sleepy but a mother's work is never done, right? :-) All that medicine is reducing the milk supply but I have to take it. I don't think I could function without it. Thank goodness I'm not actually breastfeeding. The child would be starving to death and would be wanting to eat constantly. I guess it might be time to go all formula, all the time. I just don't know if I'm ready. This might be the last time I do any of this and that makes me a little sad.

Nothing is safe in our house anymore. Megan can climb onto our bed, the coffee table, the kitchen table chairs (so it's only a matter of time before I see her on the table I'm sure), and I think she's starting to get the idea that she can climb on a chair to reach stuff on the counters if it's close enough. She's an absolute joy but a handful and she sure runs me ragged. Last night, I was cleaning the kitchen before James came home from his trip to Arizona and she had her little swiffer and was mommy's little helper. She really did a good job on the floors, though I know she didn't really mean to. She's 1. She doesn't have a clue. We had fun cleaning together though and it was nice to have her busy and in sight while I was getting something done!!

I'm headed back to bed. Don't know when Megan will get up but I think I'll be in bed until then. Unless maybe I want to go have some breakfast now and stay up. riiiiight.

I want to blog but I just don't seem to have the time anymore. I'm rarely on the computer. Luckily I can check in on FB and my emails from my cell phone because finding time to sit down at the computer is getting more difficult each day. I either have to shower or actually relax when Megan goes down for her nap, which she has started doing again. She started resisting her naps lately, and trying my patience more and more, which has made for some very long days. There just aren't enough hours in the day ... which leads me to this question ...

HOW THE HELL DO THEY HAVE TIME FOR IT? All this gossip about Jon and Kate plus 8. They have 8 kids and a TV show and she's doing some stupid book tour and apparently they're both having affairs? ummmmm ... right ... because of all those extra hours in the very busy lives of parents. They have 8 children and are on TV. They have now crossed the line and are screwing up those children for good. They're going to see this all one day and start knocking off liquor stores for attention. I think it's time they get their home back in order before sharing their so-called life with the TV viewing audience. I couldn't care if I never see another episode. They need to figure it out for the sake of those poor kids. But that's just one person's opinion. Seriously though, I just don't understand how they find the time. James and I hardly have time for each other, let alone another person!!

Spent the day at the outlet mall yesterday with the girls and grandmas. It was fun. I need clothes since my fat clothes no longer fit. I think I have gained back about 5 lbs but am holding strong at around 20 lbs lost. I really want to start exercising but I just don't seem to find the time or energy (see above rant ...). I guess this isn't one of those situations where "it's the thought that counts", is it? Of course, the girls got tons of cute new clothes and mommy came home with one pair of capris and a top. :-) Thus is life, I suppose. It's so much more fun to shop for the little ones anyways. Megan was a trooper yesterday. We didn't get home until after 3 and she usually goes down for a nap around 1:30 but she slept in the car and went to sleep for another hour when we got home. She loves loves loves to push the stroller. She is starting to resist actually being in the stroller, which isn't fun. She has a little mini-tantrum when I try to click her in but I think she's just testing her boundaries. Her screaming typically doesn't last long ... so far. Emily is having her fussy times, seemingly more and more these days. I think she's getting spoiled but I don't really care. I didn't get to hold her whenever I wanted for the first 7 weeks of her life and I like making up for that. Hopefully we're not starting bad habits and I know I need to stop doing some things before it gets ugly around here but I can't help myself. She's just so darn cute! This morning, as James was getting ready to leave, she was awake and just cooing at her bear mobile and kicking and swinging her arms all around. There were even some smiles in there. It was so fun to just watch her. Amazingly she fell back asleep all on her own without any pacifier intervention too! I fed her around 4:45 am and she only took about 3-4 ounces so I know she's going to wake up hungry ... soon ... and mad as a hornet!! Megan is still asleep too so I think I am going to take advantage of this time and grab some breakfast. Quickly.

Or ... maybe this is my free time to have that wild 'Jon & Kate' affair? Right.

Thank you Sears!

Little Sister is crying again!

Maybe if I just put my finger right here, she'll stop!

Actually sitting still for a moment! Thank you Megan!

If you only knew how I had to manipulate this picture pose ...

Pat the baby nice. Good baby!

She and the Mona Lisa must be sharing the same secret!

Whatcha gonna do about it?

Giant flowers for my Giant Baby!

See, I can be cute!!

Mommy and the girls!!

I decided, spur of the moment, that pictures for Mother's Day were a good idea. The girls were all cute in their matchy-matchy outfits and I was feeling particularly human on Friday so I decided to give it a try. Well, I didn't have an appointment and only had a couple hour window to make it work (due to naps and feedings, etc) and of course, I wanted the pics by Mother's Day to give to the grandmas so I was quite limited in where I could go. I ended up heading to the mall and calling places on my way there. Third place was the charm and Sears was able to fit us right in. They only charge $3 extra per sheet that you have printed that day too! Megan went all 'stranger danger' at first and was very clingy but we were able to get some OK shots in spite of that. Obviously Emily is a little small to 'pose' so it was interesting. I was chasing Megan around and just absolutely sweating and getting quite a workout but it was fun. I will do it again, and I will definitely NOT do it during crowded times. We were the only ones there which helped immensely, I'm sure.

She's on the charts!!

Emily had her four month check-up today and the news was all good!!

Weight: 11 pounds 15 ounces 25% for her actual age
Length: 21.8 inches 3% for her actual age
Head: 16 inches 50-75% for her actual age

So she's short, pudgy, and has a big head. (I can't for the life of me figure out where my girls got their big heads but they both have them!) All of her numbers were good and it is great that she's on the charts for her actual age. She'll catch up before we know it!! Upon seeing her weight, and seeing her, the good doc said he wants to bring her in for "a soft landing on the weight curve". We don't need the higher calorie formula anymore and we certainly don't need to be fortifying the breast milk with extra calories either. YAY! That preemie formula is more expensive, only comes in smaller cans, and seems to make her extremely gassy. We stopped at Target on our way home and bought some Gentlease since that's what worked so well with Megan.

Of course, what trip to Target is complete without spending $200!? HAH! I always find extras that I seem to "need" when I'm running loose in that store. Poor James has no idea what I did today and I'm not really looking forward to telling him but it was all for the girls and he's a sucker when it comes to his little girls. ;-) Somehow, he ought to be a sucker when it comes to me since I'm the one who gave him those little girls but it doesn't seem to work that way.

I think Emily is done with doctors for a while. She might not have any appointments until July but then she has 4 different appointments in the second week of the month. Megan has her 18 month visit in June and I'm anxious to see how much she's grown!! She's wearing 24 month clothes and some 2T already!! Giant Baby! I have an appointment with the diabetes dietitian, the dentist, and the endocrinologist all in June so it's not like I get any time off from waiting rooms.

Kenny Chesney is coming back to play for us too! WOOHOO! I don't feel so bad for spending so much on tickets now that I get two concerts out of them. Wow was that a nightmare last weekend? So much fun ... but such craziness. I can't wait to do it all over again, except maybe the part about all the rain ... and taking my pants off in the parking lot to drive home. Good times ...

What a nice group of sleepy girls I have today!! Megan slept until about 9:30 this morning! I'm pretty sure she wasn't up all night and she didn't go to bed very late. It was a cloudy morning and I guess she just wasn't ready to get her day going until Regis and Kelly were in full swing! Surprisingly, the late wake up call didn't affect her nap-ability either. She went down, without one grunt of protest, around 1:40 and I didn't get her up until about 4:30. She just must be catching up on some sleep.

I put Emily to sleep in her crib (well, the travel crib we use in our room) instead of in her bouncy seat. I guess that was around 9:30. She didn't make a peep until sometime in the 2:00 hour but went back to sleep with some paci-intervention. Then she really started to wake up in the 4:00 hour but I was able to hold her off with pacifier-reinsertion about 3 times so we got up at 5:00. Since Megan slept so late, I was able to eat breakfast, shower, actually dry my hair, and sleep/cuddle with Emily about another hour. This afternoon, Emily and I had another cuddle-nap during the Astros game after her 2:00 bottle, thanks to Megan's good nap. Actually, Emily is in her bouncy seat for the first time since yesterday!!! I moved the pack n play into the living room, much to James' dismay, but it has been really good to have her napping in there where I can see her and can reach her if she needs anything without going through a door and trying to coax Megan to come out of the room with me. :)

We are going stir crazy with this rain. I didn't get to take my walk yesterday because of a brief downpour right as we were going to leave. We did take one after dinner with Daddy but we like having our girl time. We can't even just go out to the backyard because it's so soggy. We do have some excitement coming up though. The new addition to our backyard is being delivered and installed on Thursday morning! WOOHOO! I can't wait. Of course, I'm sure if Megan had any idea what was coming I'm sure she would be excited too. She just LOVES being outside and I think we are going to have so much fun on our new SWINGSET. It's a fort (or "treehouse" since boys have forts and girls don't - says James) and two swings and a slide! SO MUCH FUN! Also, our neighborhood pool is open and the girls just got their new swimsuits so we're ready to go check that out too. If the rain would just GO AWAY - and please take with it the mosquitoes that I know are just starting to hatch out there.

That's all we have going on now. Emily has her 4 month check up at the pedi tomorrow morning so I'll have measurements to share. I weighed her doing the old "on the scale with her then on the scale without her" method and she was 12 pounds so I'm anxious to have an official weight. Hopefully we'll be able to quit the Preemie formula and move on to something that is easier on the tummy. The poor girl is a tooting machine and that makes her a crying machine (and a stinky one at that). So fingers crossed that she's on the charts for her actual age and we can start treating her like a normal 4 month old baby.

Sheer Madness!!

Kenny Chesney Rocks! Or ... well ... maybe he would have if we hadn't gotten somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 inches of rain during the concert!! Oh ... and I can't forget the lightening and thunder and all the severe weather watches and warnings. We went early to tailgate - hey, football isn't the only reason to tailgate - and had a great time in the beginning. Then the rain came. It rained. and rained. so we took our tailgate party into Tina's car. and then it rained and rained some more. Nothing like trying to tailgate and hearing the Emergency Alert sound coming through the radio!! I think it quit raining long enough for us to actually get into the stadium. But then it started raining again. In spite of the rain I really had a great time. I think. ;-) Supposedly he's going to reschedule, and I think Sugarland needs to come back with him - dirty concert cancellers - but I haven't seen anything official posted and technically he did perform his concert. He chuckled and said it would be in our best interest to 'get the hell out' of the rain before he left the stage. It was terrible! I should also mention that my poncho wasn't quite as waterproof as I had hoped. Here are some pictures ... don't laugh at us. We had some fun!

Before the rain!

Moving the party indoors - er - in car!

See, this isn't so bad. We're still having fun!

We're starting to have a lot of fun!

OK - maybe a little too much fun!

KENNY! Before the rain ...

This is what a $9 beer looks like after 15 minutes in the rain ...

KENNY!

The rain is coming down but Kenny's still on stage and we're still having fun!