Baby Nora

Last week I flew out to Oregon (by myself, no kids!) to visit Ann Marie and her new baby Nora. It was so great to be traveling alone- I forgot how easy it can be! I was loving the quiet time to just read my book and not stress about keeping everyone quiet on the plane.

It was so great to be with Ann Marie. Our friendship is so timeless, we always pick up where we left off. Nora is the sweetest baby, and the 3rd cutest baby I have ever seen in my life (I am a little bias to my girls, of course.) I kept telling Ann Marie how good they have it- the girl sleeps until 8 or 9 (sometimes 10) in the morning! When she is not sleeping, she is smiling her cute, open mouth smiles or making sweet little noises. I think I only heard her really cry hard one time. She has the laid back personality of her parents, so it seems. It was so fun to hold a little baby and remember what they are like at 4 months old. It is amazing how it just feels like yesterday my girls were that small. We had such a great weekend- walking around Bend with Nora in the stroller. We visted a turkish bath in a brewery (yes- we took a bath at a brewery!!! Only in Oregon! :)) We talked, and talked, and talked and I just felt our friendship was now at a whole new level now that we can relate to each other as moms. Ralph was out of town for the weekend, so it was just us girls. I wish so much that they were closer, I miss them already and I really hope Nora grows up knowing me, and that our girls can be friends. We are making plans already for family trips so the girls can get to know each other.

Mike did great with the girls all weekend. I came home to a clean house, and happy babies. How lucky am I??? I love that I can leave and not feel like I have to make a million lists for Mike on what to do..... he knows the routine as well as I do. Someone at my work said, "oh, so Mike is babysitting for the weekend?" I answered, "No, he is parenting!" I am so glad he sees it this way too. We are getting ready to leave again on Tuesday with the girls to marco Isalnd, Florida. Nana and Papa rented a house down there and we are staying the week for beaching, boating, shell collecting, etc. Can't wait for some sunshine!

Growing Up

It has hit me this week how much Emma is growing up. After having her home with me all last week, I pulled out a bunch of my old teaching stuff and worked with her on starting to decode 3 and 4 letter words. She's starting to read! It was amazing how fast she caught on. She can now read short vowel words and understands word families such as: cat, mat, fat, sat, hat and rub, tub, cub and can decode other words like bed, wed, wet, cow, dog, pig, pup, etc. I am so proud of her and she loves doing it and asks to do her "word cards" all the time.
Another big milestone, for those of you that know us, know all about the bowel issues that Emma has had. She has struggeled with chronic constipation for about 2 years now and it has made going #2 a very long and painful process. It got so bad for a time that Emma was witholding her stool because it was so painful for her. It was very sad and frustrating to watch. We visited GI doctors and even took her to a behavioralist pediatrician to try and help her (which is a long, funny story) FINIALLY, and I am so hesitant to say this, but we have found the right mix of diet, fiber, and a little bit of miralax each day that has been working for about 6 months now. She has reversed her thought of going #2 to hurt, and now just goes all by herself everyday. Thank GOD! I was so worried she would suffer through this at school ,ect. not to mention how time consuming it was spending half and hour each night in the bathroom with her, coaxing her into relaxing enough to go. This is probabally something most parents of 4 year olds haven't had to worry about for years, but this is huge for us and a big weight off all of our shoulders.
I finially caved in and cut Abby's bangs. She has been pulling out all her bows, etc. and it was sticking to her face and yuck, yuck, yuck. Unfortunately, I did it when her hair was wet and cut them too short and she ended up looking like she had a baby mullet. So I had to take her in to get it fixed. Mike hates it- he likes his girls with long hair- but give me a break! I am not going to fight with another child about pony tails every day. I think she looks adoreable. I'll have to post more pics once I download them.

BRRRRRR

I am usually a winter person but this -20 (withOUT windchill) is getting a bit ridiculous! Watching the bright sun shining into our kitchen, I keep thinking, "how bad can it be?" only to get slapped in the face with wind and cold just walking out to start my car.
The girls have been swapping back colds since Christmas. Thier coughs are really yucky sounding- but of course, it doesn't slow them down any. Is it bad for me to wish it did? If we have to suffer through the colds and miss school, I would at least like the pleasure of cuddly, mellow babies. Nope, they are crazy as ever but now without the outlet of getting to run around outside or at school. It has been a long week and it is only Wednesday! Yesterday I thought I had to do something fun with Em in place of school because she was really bummed to have to stay home. We declared it "Em and Mommy House Party Day." We started at 8 am with homemade belgium waffles for breakfast and as we were eating we devised a list of fun things we each wanted to do inside that day. Candyland, Zingo, Memory, High ho Cherrio, Hide and Go Seek, Flashcards, Watch a movie, play in playroom while mommy runs on the treadmill (have to keep MY sanity too right?), water play in rubbermaid, play with new playdough, and bake cookies. I let all the stuff I could have done around the house go by the wayside and just had fun. AND IT WAS FUN! Playing hide and seek with her is a riot- I forgot how much fun that game is, although I am a little sore from contorting my body up to fit inside her toy box for 15 minutes until she found me only after a little help because I couldn't take it any longer. lesson learned. Abby was a tag a long all day, often giving away my hiding spots, but I think she had fun too. Hopefully they will be feeling better next week and we can all get back to normal, but we are making the most of these inside days.