Meredith's Graduation

We went to Meredith's High School Graduation yesterday. They grow up so fast (sniff, sniff). I think I am still in denial that she is graduating from high school and heading off to college. It's still a little surreal. Anyway, we had a great time visiting with family and old friend's. Meredith has had the same group of friend's since she was four year's old, with a few additions. One of her oldest friend's mom hosted a pre-graduation party and Uncle Bill hosted a post-graduation party. It was a busy day. But I have to say one of the best graduation's I have ever been to. I was expecting a long, boring ceremony. But was pleasently surprised. Dr. Timothy Ryan, who was the dean of the business school when Matt and I were at UNO and is now the Chancellor of the University, gave the commencement address and it was one of the best that I have ever heard.

Aunt Linda's Visit

Aunt Linda and her friend Madonna came to Lafayette to see the girl's. They come to New Orleans once a year for the food and wine experience, and we usually meet up for a meal. However, they were kind enough to drive to Lafayette to see us this year. It was a nice visit, and we look forward to seeing them again next year and hopefully inbetween....if Aunt Linda can convince Uncle Randy to come south. Regan was in a two year old mood and refused to be in the picture with Aunt Linda. Luckily Addison is not old enough to protest, yet.

Swim Party

We have had at least one (sometimes two) birthday party every weekend throughout April and May. I thought this was the last one until July, but we just got an invitation for one on June 5th. Regan is quite the social butterfly. Today's was a kiddie pool swim party. Water and Kid's makes me very nervous, but Regan had a blast! One of our neighborhood friend's had on the same bathing suit as my girl's, so we had to take a picture. Regan looks sad in the picture, but I think it is more tiredness from fun in the sun. She came home and went straight to sleep.

Sitting In Their Chair's

My friend let me borrow a bumbo chair and we brought it home today. Regan wanted to make sure I brought it in. I put Addison in it and she pulled her chair right up next to it and said "look, we are sitting in our chair's." It was such a cute moment, I had to take a picture.

Addison is cutting her first tooth. You can see it popping through the gum. It will be fully out soon. I am so sad that she is already cutting a tooth. My baby is growing up to fast!

Addison On Her Tummy

She is still not rolling over really. More of a half roll over. I think it is because she always has her hands in her mouth, though. But she is starting to play with the toys on her gym, and hold her head up really well on her tummy.

Doctor's Appointment's

We went back to the Plastic Surgeon today, and he scheduled Addison's surgery for June 18th. We are very excited!!

Regan also had to go to the doctor this morning. Her allergies started acting up last week and we noticed her starting to wheeze on Saturday. We gave her breathing treatments Sunday when we got home and yesterday, but she was still wheezing this morning. Matt took her to the pediatrician this morning and they gave her a shot of steroid and a breathing treatment. He said everything else looks good and said that it was a mild asthma attack, but still doesn't want to call it asthma. We are to give her breathing treatments every four hours for the next two days and then as needed. I am tired already.

Addison at Five Month's

This Weekend

We traveled to New Orleans for the first time this weekend since Addison was born. We went for Reid's first birthday. Before the party we stopped at a friend of our's who lives in the same neighborhood as Phil and Georgina do. We knew one of our friend's was also going to be there with her new baby. However, we were surprised to see another one of our friend's with a baby. She has wanted a baby for a really long time and recently went through foster care classes to get a foster baby to adopt. She was getting a 6 year old in a few weeks that we knew about, but had just been called on Friday to pick up a 6 month old baby. We are so, so excited for her!! And he is adorable!! In the picture with the babies in the carrier's, he is the one to the far right.

Reid's party was fun. He is so adorable! Since Addison has been born we haven't been able to see them enough. He is getting to be a big boy! He is trying to walk, and was pushing Quinn around on his ride on/push toy. Quinn took Regan for a ride in/on her two battery powered toys. Reid waited patiently for someone to take him for a ride, but the girl's kicked him out. I think Reid and Addison will be as close as Regan and Quinn. Reid was trying to get to Addison just like Quinn used to try to get to Regan. I thought that he just wanted his chair, because he kept trying to lay on her. But when we took Addison out of the chair, and Georgina was holding Addison he tried to climb on top of her in Georgina's lap.

I don't know how much we will be traveling before Addison can take a sippy cup. It is not as easy traveling with two as it was with one. But we enjoyed our little trip.

New School

Regan has been wanting to see her new school that she is going to go to next year. She always talks about how when she turns three she is going to go to her new red school. So, today I drove her by it and as she was looking out the window she said "Wow, that's a lot of school I have there."

Addison's Baptism

Addison's Baptismal weekend was busy! We are so happy that so many members of our family were able to come share it with us to help make it special. If anyone has pictures, please e-mail them to me as my camera decided to malfunction that day and I only have what my mom and grandfather took.

Rolling Over

Addison is rolling over, but I don't think it is intentional. She is rolling over a lot from her back to her tummy. I think it is more that she is rolling up onto her side and falling over. She ended up on her tummy in her bed this morning and tonight and both times woke up and was mad that she couldn't get back to her back. She rolled twice on Saturday from her tummy to her back during tummy time. Of course, when we tried to get it on tape she did not want to cooperate.

Festival International

The Imagination Mover's were performing at the Festival International here in Lafayette this weekend, so we took the girls. The Festival International is like a mini-jazzfest and the Imagination Mover's are Louisiana's version of The Wiggles. Regan liked it, but I think it was a bit hot for her. Luckily the stage was near the courthouse building, so Addison and I hung out under the overhang of the courthouse and out of the sun. We were eventually joined by Matt and Regan.

Neighborhood Friend's

Regan's neighborhood friend's that she plays with almost every afternoon came in our backyard today to play on Regan's new swingset, but ended up playing with playdoh. Ella (the other little girl in the picture) told us that she was making and Ostrich's nest. She just turned four. I am quite sure I did not know what an Ostrich was when I was four. Kid's today!

Daddy's Little Girl

I went out to dinner with friend's last night, so of course Addison woke up at 4:45 to eat instead of 7:30am like she had the night before. She went back to sleep and Matt went to the gym. Well, before Matt got home from the gym she woke up again with a dirty diaper, tee-teed while I was changing her diaper and as luck would have it all of her suits were in Regan's room. And she did not want to go back to sleep. So, when Matt got home I put her on a pillow with him and she snuggled up to him and went right to sleep. So cute! Of course, as soon as Addison went back to sleep Regan got up and wanted to see her Daddy. Luckily Addison was asleep enough to where I could move her to her bed without disturbing her and then Regan got in bed with us and snuggled a little bit.

Playdate

We had a playdate at our house, and the kids were really good. Our poor friend Chapin is surrounded by girls, but I think he follows the policy of if you can't beat them....join them. He is really into playing baseball right now, but when he was over here he dressed up with the rest of the girls.

A Day of Doctors

We went to the ENT and the Pediatrician today. They were able to test her left ear at the ENT, and she can hear! So nice to have it confirmed. They couldn't test it at first because, like her sister, Addison is a talker. And she was talking away. So, I gave her a bottle and she was quiet enough to pass. Her left ear is still infected, of course, but the doctor said to just let it drain and don't do the eardrops anymore. She is confident that after Addison's surgery she won't have anymore ear problems. And she fears that if we keep giving her the drops that she could become immune to them and while we are killing the bad stuff we are also killing the good stuff. I completely agree with her. So, that is the new plan of action.

The pediatrician said that her lungs sound really good, so now we just need to do the breathing treatments as needed.

Tomorrow is the orientation for the school that Regan will go to next year. It has been a busy week!

Swing Set

The swing set was delivered today. I think I was more excited than Regan. She had a lot of fun playing on it, and went to bed pretty easily so I think it wore her out. Mission accomplished. When the guys were putting it together she asked what they were doing back there. I told her that they were putting her and Addison's swing set together. I made sure to include Addison, because I am trying to get her used to the idea that everything isn't just her's anymore. So she says to me....She's a little little for that.

A+

I took Regan to the dentist today and she said Regan get's an A+ for her teeth. She said her enamel growth is good and no cavities. Regan, of course, did not want to open her mouth for the dentist. But she eventually gave in.

Addison's Turn

Well, now Addison is on breathing treatments. I noticed that she was wheezing this past weekend. I've never had an allergy in my life, and I have two kids that seem to have allergies. We have all the stuff for breathing treatments (we own a nebulizer now), so I called the on call doctor and asked if I could go ahead and give them to her and bring her in on Monday. He said that was fine, so that is what we did. I took her in yesterday and they tested her for RSV. It came out negative (thank goodness), so they prescribed an oral steroid to open up her lungs, an oral antibiotic because her left ear has a lot of fluid and just because it is her (as the doctor said), and breathing treatments every four hours for 48 hours and then as needed. I called them today, at their request, to let them know that she is still wheezing. They said keep doing what we are doing and bring her in again on Thursday.

Addison at Four Months

I tried again today with Addison, and it went much better. I think she is starting to feel better from her shots. Poor Baby.

First Attempt at Addison's Four Month Picture

I tried to take Addison's picture on her actual four month birthday, but she was not feeling well from her shots and not cooperating. The only person she would smile for is Regan when Regan sang to her. So, I had to bribe Regan to sing to her by telling her I would take a picture of her after I took a picture of Addison if she would sing to Addison.

Addison's Four Month Well Visit

It was a busy day today in the Manning household, and it began this morning with Addison's four month well visit. It went really well. Dr. Baumboree was really pleased with her weight gain. He said that because her weight gain is progressing so well that the plastic surgeon might consider doing the surgery at 6 mos. if her tissue growth is good. This was music to my ears, especially because one of the ENT's said that she thought that they did the surgery when the baby was 20 lbs. This really concerned me since Regan, who was a big baby, was only 18 lbs. at a year and for a while after that. Anyway, Dr. Baumboree doesn't want us to start rice cereal yet. I think he wants to wait to start solids after her surgery. That was a little disappointing, but overall it was a really good appointment.

Here are Addison's Stats:

Height: 24 1/2 inches (55%)
Weight: 13 lbs. 3 oz. (50%)
Head Circ.: 17 inches (92%) I have two big headed kids. : )

Regan's New Hat

Meredith brought Regan a beret back from France. Isn't it adorable?

Regan loves hat's and she really loves this one because it is a hat and she can pull it down over her eyes and play peek a boo. A hat and a toy all in one. What more can you ask for?

Regan and Meredith

Regan got a "new" house today. One of my friends had it and wanted to get rid of it. Regan loves it and played in it a lot today. Meredith is visiting for a few days, and was lucky enough to come on the day that we got it. She and Regan played ice cream parlor. She told Regan that she liked Chocolate and Regan told her that she liked the "white one." She asked Regan for some cookies, but told her that she didn't have any. I guess she was fresh out. Regan is loving having her own personal playmate, and I think she will be sad when Meredith has to go home.

Regan Reading to Love a Lot

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7029053469893662833&hl=en

Breathing Treatments

Regan has allergies that just won't quit. We are doing breathing treatments again. We have come a long way from the first time we had to do them when Matt held her down and I held the mask on her. Now she sits and watches t.v. and holds the mask herself.

Easter Morning

As usual the Easter Bunny brought more for Regan than he did for Addison. Next year Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny are going to have to start evening things out or Addison might start to notice. : )

We also got the girls a swing set and we are just waiting for it to be delivered.

Now that Regan is potty training I had to get her out of the all in one pajamas. I bought her the nightgown and the short set. I thought she would like the nightgown better, but she likes the short set better. I am not sure if it is because she likes the short set or if she likes it because it only has one character on it.

She was very excited to get the Cinderella DVD, but did not watch the whole thing. It is a little long for her attention span. I also think that she likes the idea of the princesses more than anything else.

Right Ear

I took Addison to the ENT for her follow up visit for her tubes. They were able test her hearing in the right ear, and she passed!!!! So exciting! We knew that she could hear, but it is nice to have confirmation. We have not been able to re-test since she failed right after she was born. They couldn't test the left ear, because it is infected. They sucked out the Yuckiness, and gave me a prescription for more ear drops. They said we will be able to test her left ear in 14 days, and then they will give us a continuous prescription, because they agree with me that it is going to stay infected until she is able to have her cleft repair. The good news is with the tubes there won't be any permanent damage.

Regan is sick, too. This morning I was taking her temperature with a digital thermometer that has an alarm to let you know that it is done. Regan says to me when it rains we are finished. It didn't make sense, so I repeated it back to her and she said it again. It still didn't make sense so I repeated it back to her again. So, she says rings....like a bell.