Weekend

Matt took the girls to New Orleans this weekend, so that I could get some stuff done around the house that I can't seem to get done when they are around. He and his mom took the girls and Matt's sister's kids to the Aquarium. By all accounts they had a good time. When they got home today I asked Regan if she missed me and she told me no. This is after telling me before they left that Addison was going to cry about me not being at Granny's. When I said that I didn't think she would she said in a very melodramatic voice... but she LIKES you. I thought it was because she was sad that I wasn't going, but apparently I was wrong. Apparently she told Matt while they were there that she wanted us to move next door to Granny. I now know where I rate. : )

Working the System

Some of my best childhood memories were time spent with my cousin's. We spent a lot of time together in the summer, and it was great for me (being an only child) because it meant constant playmates. A symbol of that happiness is flav or ice popcycles. My Aunt Bonnie kept her freezer stocked with them and we would eat 10 a day. I hadn't seen them since then (except occasionally in the store) until two summers ago when one of my neighbors started giving them out to the kids one day when we were all playing. You can get a box of 250 at Sam's. Since then we all have them in our deep freezer's in the garage. I gave one to my cousin Betsy when she came for Addison's baptism, for old times sake.

Yesterday we went outside and it was miserably hot. I asked Regan if she wanted to draw with chalk and she said that she wanted to ride her bicycle. I said I thought it was to hot, but she said we could try. I thought it was a little odd, because usually I have to practically force her to ride her bike. It wasn't until we got to the end of the street and she wanted to turn around that I figured out what she was up to, and I was right. The past few times she has ridden her bike we have come home and had popcycles. Sure enough as soon as we were in the garage she asked for a popcycle. She could have had one without riding her bike, but I guess she figured she had to earn it. It is very funny to me how kids think they are smarter than their parents. I didn't say anything, and I got them their popcycles.

Stomach Virus

All of us (except Matt) came down with a stomach bug this week. It hit Regan and I the hardest. While Matt and I were out on our date night she threw up and had a low grade fever. The next day I started to feel bad and threw up a lot Thursday night. Matt's mom was nice enough to come help me on Friday. Regan threw up Friday morning and we both layed in bed most of the day.

The minute Regan is feeling a little sad or a little bad here comes Nurse Addison to the rescue. Addison is very affectionate and Regan wants affection on her own terms. When Matt is laying down with her for her "1 minute" at night if he tries to snuggle with her she will tell him "No more doll games" and "I am not your doll." It is almost comical when Addison tries to comfort Regan. She starts by patting (or hitting, however you want to look at it) her. Then when I tell her soft soft she will hug her and kiss her and lay on top of her. The whole time Regan is trying to push her off and saying "Addison, go give some love to mommy." Sometimes Addison will come love on me, but usually she only has love for Regan. When Regan is feeling well and Addison wants a hug (which is all of the time) Regan will either hug her at arms length or squeeze the life out of her. I think to try and deter her from ever wanting one again, but it doesn't work.

Physical Therapy and Speech Update

I took Addison to a PT appointment for evaluation. They just want to keep an eye on her to make sure that she continues in the right direction. They were very happy with her walking. She also said it looks like her arches are going up on there own. She is still rolling her feet in a little, but they think it will correct itself. They told me to make a conscious effort to work on going up and down stairs with her. They are going to see her again in August.

I also mentioned my speech concerns to her, because she owns the center and they have speech therapists on staff. She has the evaluation sheet used by early steps and evaluated her on speech, too. She said that she is not going to qualify for early steps speech therapy, because you have to be below average. Addison scored above average on cognitive and average on speech. A baby is supposed to have six words by the age of one and Addison has five. She said that we could put her in speech through insurance. She also said that I have a valid concern since she was a cleft pallet baby. She said that we could put her in speech through our insurance and they could evaluate her once a month or so to make sure that she is staying on track and to give us pointers to help her move along. And also to have someone to have to call if something comes up that I am concerned about.

Addison's Doctor Visit

Well, Addison does have a slight ear infection. Her left ear is red, but no fluid. He said that he is not convinced that it was caused by going under water, because she would have to have been under for a prolonged period of time. So, I guess I should stop secretly cursing that kid. She is on ear drops for a week. It should be fun trying to get her to lay still while we put them in.

I also mentioned to him about how Addison is not making any sounds or saying any words where her tongue has to hit her pallet. And I asked about speech therapy. He said that normally he would wait until 2, but since she has the cleft pallet history he is willing to start her sooner. He is going to start her in early steps, which is a louisiana program for early intervention. I'm not that excited about it, because I haven't heard good things about it. But I figure we are starting early and if it doesn't work out then we will go through insurance.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a very nice weekend and I didn't take pictures of any of it. I took the girls to the zoo on Friday with our friend's from playgroup. Matt had a half day, so he met us for lunch. I then took the girls to a birthday party on Saturday by myself. We were having people over for a barbeque on Monday and Matt wanted to clean the patio. I immediately regretted agreeing to take them by myself. They had ponies, and they had them on the side of the house in the sun. Well, I didn't want Addison to be in the sun the whole time. And I forgot sunscreen. So, I ended up standing in the driveway trying to watch both of them. It was not fun. On Sunday we went to church and then took the girls to the pool in the afternoon. Some brat kid shot us with his water gun and Matt and I were so shocked that we weren't paying attention as Addison walked off the little bench and was submerged under water. As a result, I think Addison has an ear infection now. She has been cranky all day and woke up from her nap with a fever. I guess I will be making a trip to the pediatrician tomorrow. Thanks kid. Today we had a couple of friends over and we grilled while the kids played. Well, Addison slept for most of it. But by the looks of the playroom and Regan's room, the other kids had fun.

More Pictures from the Party

Graduation Party

My cousin graduated with his MBA this weekend, and his graduation party was on Sunday. We had a really nice time. We got to see family that we don't see very often, and the kids got to swim which always makes them happy. At one point we thought Addison was going to go swimming with her clothes on. I forgot to put the memory card in my camera, so these are the only pictures that I got.

School Pictures

Regan's teacher sent home a cd of pictures that they had taken of the kids throughout the year. I pulled the ones that Regan was in and put them in a Kodak Album.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?UV=217741974685_495842427306&mode=fromsite&collid=47228333206.976843427306.1210816057536&conn_speed=1

Regan Painting at May Day

My friend just e-mailed me this picture. Is it just me, or does Regan look big in this picture? My baby is getting so big! They grow up way to fast!

Washing Car's

Regan helped Matt wash our car's this weekend. Of course, she wanted to make sure she was dressed appropriately.

Mother's Day

I had a very nice Mother's Day. I think Addison has a sinus infection and slept until 1pm on Sunday. We thought she was never getting up. She was up a little later than normal the night before as our friends had us over for a crawfish boil, but it wasn't that much later. Matt cooked a very yummy breakfast, Matt and Regan washed the car's, and we took the girls to the pool. Pretty low key.

The above pictured items are some things that Regan did for me at school. I find the written one funny, because it is all lies. I do not cook steak, Matt does. She does not eat steak. She tells us she will eat it when she is 13 years old. I'm not sure what the significance of the age 13 is, but okay. And I am assuming she is talking about her allergy medicine, and again Matt gives it to her. I cannot be trusted to remember medicine. I am 31, though.

Regan's Last Pre-k 3 Parent - Teacher Conference

Her last parent -teacher conference for this year went well. Nothing has really changed since the last one. Her teacher said that she is ready for pre-k4 both academically and socially. I am especially happy about the social part, because I worry since most of the kids turned 4 a while ago and Regan won't turn 4 until August. She said that some kids need certain teacher's for pre-k4, but she thinks that Regan will be fine with whomever she is placed with. I think Regan thinks she is going to have the same teacher's forever, so it might be a little hard for her to understand when she is going to a new class. But we have talked about it a little and I think the teacher's right. She seems to be a pretty adaptable kid and I think she will be fine with whomever she has.

Addison Walking

My Aunt Bonnie recently sent Addison a beautiful scrapbook chronicling her first year. What I learned from that scrapbook is that I need to put clothes on Addison more often. : ) Here is a video of her walking and she is in, you guessed it, her diaper. What can I say, that is how she spends most of her time when we are just hanging around the house.

She is walking all over the place now. Even when she loses her balance she will stand back up and start walking again. The only problem is, now she thinks she can go wherever she wants. I had a time with her at chapel on Wednesday, because she was determined to sit on my friend's lap. Which would normally be fine, except that it was her son's birthday chapel and she was trying to film him getting his book dedications. Then we took the girls to the pool yesterday, and I swear if there hadn't been two of us Addison would have jumped in the pool without thinking twice. As it was she was trying to push me away in the pool. Apparently, she thinks she can swim too. As soon as the tubes fall out of her ears I will be signing her up for swim lessons. Regan is doing so well with swimming that I thought I could maybe take them both to the pool by myself. After yesterday, I realized that I am delusional.

Regan Performing

We put a speaker set that our ipod's plug into in the kitchen so that we can listen to music. It helps me to clean if I am listening to music and sometimes it's just nice to sit in the living room and listen to music. Today I turned it on while I was cleaning and Regan started dancing in the kitchen. She often dances when I turn on music, but I have never caught it on video. Today I tried to catch her without her knowing, but she saw me. The dancing one in her night gown is a little long, but there was no way to edit it. Then she changed into a costume and started singing. The first song she doesn't know that I am videoing. The second one I restarted and asked her to sing, because I was impressed that she knew the part of "and I'm going to miss you like a child misses her blanket." Of course, she didn't sing that part when I was videoing... but I think you get the gist. I'm thinking that I have a little performer on my hands.

Dance Review

Regan had her dance review today, and except when she started looking for something under her skirt in her tap number, she did pretty well. It is very funny to watch the three year olds. They all look at each other and don't stay in a line. Regan not only has a love of the mirror (which you can see above), but she has also found a love for the stage. She really loved being on stage, and was very excited about performing. Which is funny, because I don't really remember ever liking it that much. We were required to put the silver on their eyes. And she picked the poses for her pictures. In her tap costume she is shuffling the whole time, which you can't really tell in the picture.

Off the Bottle

If you would have asked me when Addison was a baby, I would have sworn to you that Addison would be off the bottle at a year. I nursed Regan for a year and started to wean her at 11months. A week after she turned a year she was taking the sippy cup exclusively. I apparently have yet to learn the lesson that children love to prove you wrong, because Addison was not drinking from a sippy cup at a year. She thought that it was something to chew on not drink from. Then she was drinking from the sippy cup, but I didn't want to give up the snuggle time. She was only taking one right before bed, and I was also afraid that she wouldn't sleep as well if she didn't have it to "top her off." Matt gave her her bottle on Tuesday night and she did not want to sit in his lap. She wanted to walk around with it and didn't take very much of it. So, we decided that that was the end of her bottle. We didn't give her a bottle last night and she was fine. I think, as long as she doesn't see it, she probably won't mind that she isn't getting it anymore.

May Day

Today was May Day at Regan's school. She doesn't normally have school on Thursday's, but they let the MWF kids enjoy in the fun today. I volunteered at the lemonade stand while Matt stayed home with Addison. We all met up afterwards for the family picnic. Next year I think we will all go for the whole day.

p.s. Regan thinks it is funny to pose with food hanging out of her mouth.

Online Shopping

I have thought in the past that maybe I shop online a little to much. Mainly when I realized that I knew my credit card number by heart. In my defense I have had the same credit card for years. However, Regan today made it clear to me that I do in fact shop online to much. I was fixing her hair for school and she told me that if we have another baby (which we are not) that she would have to go back in the crib. So, I said no Addison would have to get out of the crib if we had another baby. Just for conversation sake I asked her if she would want a boy or a girl. She said that she wanted another girl and that I could go online and look for one. She said that I could buy it online and they would put it in my belly. She also said that she could then paint my belly. The Meche kid's must have told her that they painted my belly when I was pregnant with her, because she brings up painting my belly any time she talks about me getting pregnant again. She then asked me what color hair the baby would have, and I said I don't know what color hair would you want her to have. She said that she would want the baby to have dark red, like Ariel's. I hope she doesn't mean like her doll Ariel, because I don't think that color is found in nature.