An Interesting Spring Break

Spring break started out great. We went over to my parent's house with all my sister's and their families for a soup dinner. My mom made homemade clam chowder and cream of mushroom soup. It was super yummy and all the cousins had fun playing together. On Monday, I met my sister Laura and my nephew Mavy at Whole Foods where we had lunch. Tae loves little Mavy and they had a blast running all around outside. That evening we went back to my parent's house and we joined them for a corned beef dinner since it was St. Patrick's day after all.

For the last 4 years we have taken a trip to Texas in the spring. Since I work in education and get off for spring break, it always works out great to take a quick trip to Texas and have some fun. This year we decided to go to Fort Worth. We had plans to go to the zoo, see the cattle drive, go to the Perot Museum and Ikea in Dallas, and also eat at a few local restaurants. We decided to leave early Wednesday morning so we could spend the day at the zoo before checking into the hotel. The trip down was quick and the girls were pleasant. Tae did complain early on that her tummy hurt (first hint), but when you have kids, you know this is a common statement. We didn't think much of it.

We get to the zoo right about lunch time, grabbed a bite to eat and then trekked on to the zoo. Fort Worth has a really great zoo. It was also their half price Wednesday, so it was a great price.

This was their gorilla exhibit. It was impressive.

We stayed at the zoo for several hours and Tae got pretty tired towards the end and said she was ready to go to the hotel. We picked up a few souvenirs from the gift shop and headed out.

We were lucky enough to find a great hotel and a great price in south Ft. Worth. It even had a salt water pool! We checked into the hotel and then decided to go grab some dinner at Brewed which is a local eatery. We got goat cheese fondue for an appetizer. I ate a BLT and Aaron had a burger. Tae went with the mac & cheese. For dessert, Aaron and I had coffee. We also had their smore's in a jar and some of their house made ice cream. Tae only had a few bites of her ice cream which we thought was a little weird, but didn't think too much about it (second hint). After a lovely meal, we headed back to the hotel so we could go swimming!

They had been working on the pool all day, so we were very excited that it was open when we got back to the hotel. We all dressed in our swimsuits and headed to the pool.

We swam for an hour or so. The girls had so much fun. The pool was a little cool for Hensley, but the Jacuzzi was awesome so we sat in there for the most part. After our swim, we went back to the room and got ready for bed.

The girls had baths and were both tucked into bed. Aaron and I headed to bed shortly after and we were all sleeping pretty good when Tae woke up coughing and choking at 12:30am. Aaron realized she was throwing up and quickly carried her to the toilet. I got up and stripped her sheets from the pull out couch. Aaron went down and got her more sheets. Tae didn't seem too upset, but she was shaky and sweaty. We finally got her laid back into bed and I gave her the ice bucket just in case. She ended up throwing up 4 more times and finally went to sleep at 2:30am. Hensley slept through this whole mess, but I think I may have only gotten an hour or two of sleep that night.

The next morning, Aaron went down to the breakfast area and brought back some toast and apple juice for us to try. Tae took one bite and it immediately came back up. We knew that it would best for us to head home. Tae was devastated. She was so upset that we wouldn't be able to finish the trip. I knew the drive back could be risky with her throwing up so I made a call to her pediatricians office and they called us in some Zofran. Aaron went to Walgreens to pick it up and man that stuff was expensive! We got three days worth and after our insurance it was still $50! We got everything packed up, gave her the medicine and hit the road. Her and Hensley slept almost the whole way home. Aaron and I were both so tired from the night before and we were ready to get home.

Here is a picture of us when we got home. We all slept a good part of the afternoon. My husband was awesome enough to unpack the car, start laundry, and put up all our stuff. That evening, both girls started running fevers. Tae's was about 100 and Hensley's climbed to 103.7. I was on the phone with the triage nurse on whether we should take her in because Tylenol wasn't budging the fever. She suggested alternating Motrin and once we did that it came down. She slept for aver 20 hours with just little fusses here and there. It was so hard to see both my babies sick. On Friday, Hensley was still running a fever with no other symptoms, but Tae seemed to be doing better. She started having diarrhea, but hadn't thrown up since Thursday AM. She also was eating some. By Saturday, all fevers were gone and my mother in law came for a visit with our niece, Franki. Tae had fun playing and Aaron and I were able to make a quick trip to the store. That evening, Aaron started running a low fever and became really tired. He took a nap and felt a little better afterwards.

 

Sunday we had a family dinner at Whiskey Cake to celebrate my little sister's graduation from culinary school. Tae was still pretty weak and tired and still was having diarrhea. We had a good time at dinner, but Tae didn't feel like eating anything. She did drink a fairly large natural sugar cherry soda during the dinner. Tae looked like she was getting tired, so we headed home. As soon as we pulled in, Tae started coughing and immediately threw up all of the soda she had drank. She covered her car seat and herself. While I got her cleaned off, Aaron took the car to the car wash and cleaned out the car. She went to bed easily and didn't have any more issues.

 

On Monday, I noticed that her eye was a little red and she kept complaining that it was getting blurry. By Tuesday, it was having discharge and I thought she might have pink eye, so we took her to her pediatrician. I told the Dr. about all of her recent symptoms and she immediately came to the conclusion that she had Adenovirus. Adenovirus is a group of viruses that affect the membranes (tissue linings) of the respiratory track, eyes, intestines, and urinary tract. It can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, upper respiratory infections, pink eye, among other symptoms. I had no idea that this virus even existed. The Dr. prescribed us some eye drops that we were to do twice a day for seven days. The drops are super thick (like honey) and the first time was pure craziness. We are on day two and she is getting better at it. We have to do both eyes because it has spread to both.

 

I think we are on the tail end of this mess. I'm so glad that both my girls are feeling better. I know that this spring break will go down as one of the most memorable ones for sure!

Hensley: 9 months!

Weight: I've weighed her the other day (with clothes on) and she is about 23 pounds. She is such a big girl. She has such short arms and legs though :)

Food: She is quite the foodie. This past month she has had fish, gnocchi, spaghetti, shepherd's pie, among other things. She doesn't really have a preference, she likes everything. We usually just feed her what we are eating and she gets a little plate of her own and feeds herself. She is still nursing about every 3 hours. She very much likes her "milky" and always nurses before and after every meal. She also now has her bottom two middle teeth. So she has that cute toothy grin.

 

Clothes: 12-18 month seems to be where it's at. I'm glad it's getting warmer because long sleeves and pants are just too long, even though it fits her body. She really prefers to just be in a diaper and she absolutely hates sleeping in pajamas. I think she just gets too hot. He usually just put her in a onesie at night.

Sleep: Aaron has been putting her in her crib for naps during the day, but she is still sleeping with us at night. She has not been sleeping very well the last week or so. She's been really fussy and will just toss and turn in her sleep and cry. I'm not sure if it is teething or what, but it has led to some very tired mornings for all of us. She is still nursing at night and probably even more so since she has been having trouble sleeping. I think she nursed 3 or 4 times last night. I'm hoping it doesn't last forever!

 

Movement: I wish Hensley would just slow down! Not only is she crawling everywhere, but she is also freestanding and she even took two steps yesterday! She cruises all over the furniture and is learning to climb. She adjusts her crawl on the tile to where she is crawling on one foot and one knee and it is super funny.

Product: I think one of our favorite "new" things are some of her toys. She has really started to love playing and loves to put things into things. She has an activity table and she loves to put the balls down the chute and watch them come out the bottom. She also loves her shape sorter and will dump them all out and put them back in. She has found her sister's little babies and loves to carry them around and give them kisses. She is quite the sweet little girl.

Highlight: Her biggest highlight is her two steps the other day, but she also is getting more vocal. She says "mama" and "dada" along with "that". We think she also says "kitty" and she loves to yell and make silly noises at her sister. She still signs "milky" and we've been working on "more", "eat", and "all done".

 

Taelyn: Taelyn always wants to be around her baby sister. She loves for Hensley to be a part of her night time routine and likes having her in her room to play. She has been very good at sharing and will often give up one of her toys to let Hensley play with it. I can see them becoming good friends even though they get on each other on occasion.

Blessing: Things just seem normal and we have a great routine. Hensley is such a "go with the flow" baby and she is almost always happy. She is very serious and loves to stare and check people out, but she almost never cries. We are taking a quick little vacation in a few weeks and we are excited to have some much need fun with our precious little family.

Frontier Order-February

I've looked back at my previous posts and realized that it would probably be helpful if I tell you how much I spend. My monthly Frontier budget is $50 (give or take a few dollars). Here is a list of what I got this month:

• Ecover dishwasher powder
• Nutrition Now Rhino kid's multivitamins
• Nutrition Now Rhino kid's calcium with vitamin D
• Nature's Gate shampoo and conditioner
• Happypuffs strawberry puffs
• Surf Sweets organic jelly beans (2 bags)
• Aura Cacia Cheering Foam bath for kids
• Aura Cacia Tea Tree oil
• Kiss My Face natural deodorant
• Happy Baby organic food pouches (6)

Carnival Magic Cruise

Sunset in Galveston, TX

 What happens when you go on vacation with 20 members of your family!?! A lot of fun happens! My oldest nephew, Brendan turned 18 this year and he is also graduating from high school (home school), so his parent's decided to invite everyone to join and celebrate with him on a 7 day cruise.

We made the drive down to Galveston, leaving early on a Saturday morning. I was a little nervous about making the drive in one day with a baby, but it was better than expected. We made several stops, one including a tour of Buc-ee's. We had never been into one and it was pretty amazing. Tae watched movies and I tried to keep Hensley entertained. We made it to our hotel about 5:30pm. We were right on the beach and the views were breathtaking. We walked over to the beach and let the girls play for a bit. Tae couldn't have been happier! We went to dinner at a local restaurant called Casey's. The calamari was yummy! We then headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.


First sighting of our ship!

We woke up the next morning, had breakfast, and headed over to the beach again for a bit before we checked out of the hotel. We then all headed to the port. After we unloaded all of our luggage and got our bags checked, the men in the group took the cars back to the hotel where they were going to be parked for the week and got a taxi back to the ship. We then checked in and waited for our boarding number to be called. Once our number was called, we made our way onto the ship. Here is were we had our first photo op of the whole group, haha!

The photographer took a bunch of pictures trying to get us all to be in frame and looking at the camera. I guess this was the best one he got.

Here is the first shots of inside the ship. It was such a pretty boat with lots of entriquette details. It was a bit crowded during those first several hours and it was also really hard to use the elevators. This came to also be true on port days! We went to our rooms and unloaded our stuff. We then walked around the ship and checked out all the things to do. We went to dinner with the family and then went to the opening show. We were all pretty tired at the end of this first day and went to sleep easily!

This is how we did baths while on our vacation! Hensley loved the shower head and Tae loved helping give her sister a bath.

 

We had another full day on the ship and enjoyed tea time and a formal dinner. There was lots to do while on the boat, so we were never bored. Tae loved to play mini golf and they also had ping pong and outdoor exercise equipment. They had a huge screen over the pool that played movies throughout the day. It was a bit chilly on some of the days, so we didn't get to use the pool or water slides. Hensley couldn't have swim anyways since they don't allow diapered babies in their pools for health reasons. Here is a picture of us all on our formal night. The dinner was really tasty and we all left stuffed. I had prime rib and lobster tail. I loved the food on the ship. They had a lot of variety and it was all very delicious. They also serve food at all times of the day. They have ice cream machines all over and 24 hour pizza. They have a late night grill even with hamburgers and hot dogs.

 

My girls on formal night. I'm in love :)

The next day we arrived bright and early in Key West, Florida. It was sunny and warm (I think it was in the mid 80's for the day). We walked through their little port area and walked quite a ways to Ernest Hemingway's house. Tae was super excited to see all the cats (I think they said there were well over 60 cats on the property). After touring the home, we walked down one of the main shopping streets to get to the port were we ate at a yummy open air restaurant. We enjoyed some conch fritters and had fresh fish sandwiches. After leaving the restaurant we walked along the pier. We got to see giant tarpin in the water and fisherman feeding pelicans fish parts. It was pretty cool! We then headed back to the boat for showers, dinner, a show, and bed!



My family in Key West

Breastfeeding for the win!

Eating in the open air restaurant!

Key West sunset

The next day we were in Freeport, Bahamas. We have breakfast and get off the boat where it is raining and a little chilly. There are lots of people milling about and we try to find a taxi to take the whole family to the beach. Freeport is very industrial and the beaches are no where near the port. Getting a taxi was a bit stressful. The drivers are trying to make the most money in the least amount of time. We were all quickly shoved into two taxis (which is not easy with all the kiddos) in the hopes that we would be taken to the same beach. It was about a 15 minute drive to the beach. When we got there it was pouring at this point, but quickly stopped and the sun came out. It ended up being a beautiful day. This was the best beach day and the kids had a great time building sand castles and playing in the crystal clear water. Hensley had a great nap in the carrier and then had fun eating sand and splashing in the water. We stayed for a few hours, but had to catch a taxi back to the ship earlier in the afternoon. Once back on the boat, we got lunch, walked around a bit, and had some nap time in our room.

A lot of the kiddos (and Aaron) enjoying the water!



 The next day we arrived in Nassau, Bahamas. It was a bit chillier, but super windy. The water was pretty choppy also. When you get off the ship, you walk through a straw market and then are in the middle of town. We walked around a bit trying to find our way to the beach. It was a pretty good walk! Once we got there, Tae played in the water a little bit, but ended up getting way too cold and laid on a beach towel for the rest of the time. I didn't think it would be as cool as it was, so we didn't bring extra clothes to cover up with. We ate some yummy local jerk chicken and then headed back to the ship after stopping in the straw market to shop.

Jerk chicken!

Atlantis hotel we could see from port!

Hensley did a lot of napping in the carrier!

 

The next two days were "fun days at sea". We went to a towel folding class, saw ice sculpting, watched some family do the ropes course, and enjoyed time together. We had lots of yummy food and enjoyed a few shows. We went to a magic show where Tae volunteered to be the star. She was super cute and did such a great job assisting the magician. She received a "Carnival Magic" medal for her efforts. After the show, we went to the arcade where one of the workers gave Tae a stuffed animal from the machine. She had a great day!

Tae and I snuck off to tea time while daddy and Hensley took a nap. It was fun having tea with my little girl and I think she enjoyed it also.

 





The best way for a baby to nap while on vacation!

 On the last day, we were delayed getting to port due to fog. This put us behind a couple hours. I didn't feel very good this day and was ready to be at home (come to find out, I ended up getting really sick the next day and had a high fever for 5 days!). We got on the road after 1pm and stopped for a quick lunch at Chipotle right outside Houston. We drove for a while longer and made a much needed stop at a Starbucks. This is where things got bad. Hensley pulled my coffee over on top of her and myself. She screamed so bad and I felt horrible! We went out to the car to change and the nice barista's made me a new coffee. I checked Hensley over and didn't notice any bad burns, just some redness. I nursed her and we headed back on the road. It seemed like it took forever to get home and I don't think Hensley enjoyed riding in the car at night. She cried a lot and finally fell asleep about an hour out. We got home at about 11pm and all passed out within the hour.

We had an awesome vacation and I know Tae will have wonderful memories of it for a lifetime. I can't wait until we go on another vacation when Hensley is a little older so she can share some of these fun memories. 

 

 

Hensley: 8 months!

Weight: I'm not sure her exact weight, but I'm guessing she is somewhere between 21-22 lbs. She is a healthy girl, but she still is pretty short.

Food: Hensley is still nursing about every 3-4 hours, but boy does she love table food. I pretty much will give her whatever we are eating. She's had fried rice and lasagna (lactose-free) even! She loves to feed herself and is really good at smashing her food with her gums. There really isn't anything that she hasn't liked. I've given her a few of those organic pouches with the puree's and she isn't a big fan of those. It's probably because she is used to chunkier food that is also fresh.

Clothes: She is fitting well into 12 month clothes now. She can still fit in a few 9 months, but 6 month clothes are out. I'm really looking forward to the Just Between Friend sale coming up in April, so I can get her some cute summer clothes!

Sleep: This girl just loves to sleep with mommy and daddy. We haven't tried to put her in her crib since before our cruise, but hoping to try soon. I was even thinking about taking the rail off the crib and scooting it right up against our bed. I'm just ready to have our bed back! She sleeps really good and takes a two hour nap at between 11-12pm and then another nap at about 4-5pm that usually lasts an hour or two. She then is ready for bed about 10pm and sleeps (with about 1 or 2 feedings) until 8am.

Movement: This girl is full on crawling. She can get to wherever she needs to go with no problem. She pulls up on whatever she can and has even started letting go and free standing. She can lower herself from a standing position and also get onto her knees. She does not like to sit still for nothing and even crawls away mid diaper change :)

Product: Since she has started eating, we have really enjoyed feeding her these puffs. She loves to feed them to herself and gets so excited when she sees the container. She also really enjoys these teething biscuits too. She also loves water and will drink it non-stop if we let her. We have two stainless steel sippy cups that she loves!

Highlight: Her biggest highlight is the crawling and standing. She has also really started to talk. She says "dada" and I am almost certain she is referring to Aaron. She has said "mama" a few times, but not as much as she says "dada"!

Taelyn: These girls just mean so much to me. Tae is super sweet, but sometimes a little to overwhelming for Hensley. Hensley has learned to push Tae away if she is being too smothering. It is kind of funny. One of Hensley's favorite thing to do is play in Tae's room. She will just sit in there for ever and crawl around and play with all the toys. So fun!

Blessing: We had so much fun on our cruise with our family. I'm working on a blog post about it and hope to post it soon. My sister, Jennifer made these cute fox shirts for all the cousins with their first initial on them. My mom took pictures of all of them together at a recent family dinner we had. So blessed to be able to spend time with all our family!

All the cousins!
Mavy (18 months), Bella (7), Tae (5), Hensley (8 months), Cait (3), Lily (almost 2), Cameron (7), & Jack (4)

Hensley: 7 months!

Hensley with the onesie she wore home from the hospital

Weight: At her last check-up, she weighed 20.8lbs and was 26 inches long. She is in the 92% for her weight and 40% for her height. I can't believe how much she has grown!

Food: Hensley has had her first "bites" of food. So far she has tasted banana, avocado, carrots, and egg yolk. She seems to be really interested in eating and now gets really excited if she sees us eating and even starts jumping up and down if she sees a banana. She is still nursing really good and of course still gets ALL of her nutrients from breast milk.

Clothes: She is mainly in 9 month clothes. There are a few 6 month pieces that fit her though. Her cloth diapers make a big difference and she fits really well into 12 month pants. We are taking a vacation soon and she will be in disposables. It's going to be weird seeing her without all that extra padding!

Sleep: We are still mainly co-sleeping. Once or twice a week I can get her to sleep in her crib up until her first feeding, but other than that, she wakes up if I try to lay her in her crib. I don't really mind her sleeping with us, I just don't want it to be a forever thing! She is down to two feedings during the night and even sometimes just one. She usually takes two naps during the day, sometimes 3 if one is short.

We'll be crawling in no time!

Movement: Oh boy! This month we have become very mobile! Hensley can now sit up totally unassisted. She can roll from belly to back and vice versa. She can go from sitting to the crawling position or from sitting to laying down. She loves to pull up. Her favorite is to pull up onto her knees to pull things off the coffee table. She has started rocking back and forth on her hands and knees and has even taken 2-3 crawls forward at a time. She can definitely get to where she wants to go!

She sits up all by herself in the bathtub now!

Product: We got so many great things for Christmas. She got a sit to stand walker, activity table, and a whole bunch of other things that she has been enjoying playing with. Tae also loves to play with Hensley's toys and is usually pretty good at keeping Hensley entertained for awhile!

Highlight: I think the biggest highlight for this month is her mobility. She is also learning new sounds and loves to blow raspberries. She is growing and changing so much, it seems like there is something new every day!

Friends forever!

Taelyn: Tae seems to have a lot of patience with her sister. She really loves to play with her and will try to distract her if she gets upset even without me saying anything. When we are in the car, Tae will sing to her if she starts getting fussy. Hensley just adores her big sister and I'm so excited to see how their relationship blossoms as they get older.

Blessing: We are so excited to be taking our first "real" family vacation. Tae has only ever been to Texas. We can't wait to spend time as a family together and create great memories. Look forward to a blog post on our return!

Checking out sisters tricycle