Catching up!

It has been a crazy few months! It seems like our days are so packed and the calendar is filled to the brim. Tae just had her last PE class before summer break and the university I work at is having their commencement ceremony next weekend. I think after these last few things wrap up, it will start to settle down.

Aaron had a birthday recently and we had a good time celebrating with family. My folks watched the girls and Aaron and I went to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. We celebrated my birthday next...a little bit early since it actually fell on Easter this year. We had a yummy dinner with family (minus a sister who was on a cruise with her family!). We got to go visit Aaron's grandpa in the hospital along with his aunt and uncle. The girls stayed with my sister and had fun with their cousins.

Easter weekend we spent doing some shopping, celebrating my uncle's 60th birthday, and preparing our Easter eggs. Here are some pictures of the fun times.

Easter day (my 30th birthday!), the girls woke up early and dove into their baskets and had a little Easter egg hunt. My mom made a huge feast and we spent the afternoon over there enjoying family and good food.

 

 

This year, I participated in our city's Great Cloth Diaper Change. It's a world record event to try and get the most cloth diapers changed at the same time. This year it was held at the Natural Parenting Expo. I also participated in the Babywearing fashion show with my sister. We had so much fun!

After Easter, I had to hurry and get my things together for the Just Between Friends sale that was coming up. I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to get all the toys together to sell, but I did manage to get all the clothes together in time. I've been participating in our local JBF sale for about 6 years now. Besides a few things here and there, I buy all my kids clothes at this sale which is held twice a year. I try and stay around the $200-$300 mark, but that is super cheap figuring I buy mostly name brand, not to mention A LOT of clothes. Shopping is my absolute favorite part of course! I volunteered for an 8 hour shift so I could shop early at the pre-sale. I think this ensures you get the best pick of the stuff. I'm pretty picky when it comes to kids clothes. I don't like characters on clothes and for babies I can't stand the little things with teddy bears or cutesy things like that. I think it is way easier to shop for girls than it would be for boys! I ended up with a great haul that included a $5 pair of Nike's for Tae, a nice wooden toy for Hensley for $5, among other things.

I got this for $3 and it's a $40 Boutique brand with tags!

It seems like everything has been go, go, go. It also stinks when you and your husband work so much (opposite shifts at that) and you are focusing on school work, cleaning, keeping the kids entertained, cooking, and so on. We got a little behind on our school work this year, so *if* we take a summer break, it might only be for a few weeks. But (I hope), here in a few weeks, our lives will settle down a little bit. We do have some big things coming up. Mother's day, going down for a weekend with family to work on our lake property, Hensley's 1st birthday, Aaron and I's 9th wedding anniversary, among other things. I guess if our lives were dull, we would be really bored :) I'm glad I have such a great family and that we get to spend so much time enjoying life together!

Spring Pictures!

My friend Cassie over at CD Photography (Cassie Duffle) has done it again! I wanted to get a few shots of the girls for some spring pictures. We have a beautiful botanical garden here in downtown OKC that I wanted to take advantage of. I also needed a picture of Hensley for her upcoming 1st birthday invites! It was a super windy day, but warm and I think we got some great ones. Take a look for yourself!

Hensley: 10 months!

Weight: At her last Dr.'s visit, she was a little over 21lbs (89%) and 28in (49%). She is still a little short and a little chunky :)

Food: Hensley loves to eat. She has liked everything she has had so far. She still nurses about every 4 hours and a few times at night. She eats breakfast which usually consists of fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, or eggs. For lunch she will get some fruit and veggies. For dinner she just eats what we are eating. She has learned to say the word "more" even though we have tried to get her to sign it. I think it is one of her favorite words! She also now has 4 teeth. She has the two front on top and the two front on bottom. I love her toothy grin!

Clothes: 12 month clothes are getting snug. Our local Just Between Friends consignment sale is in the next couple weeks and I'm so excited to get summer clothes. I think I will be buying mainly 18 month clothes. I love this little onesie I had made by a local mommy here in OK. It says "I eat local".

 

Sleep: I think when you have kids, sleep seems to be the main source of problems. Taelyn was a colicky baby and her first 3 or 4 months we didn't get much sleep. Hensley was a great sleeper from the beginning and I think we got spoiled. She is still sleeping with us. We did side car her crib to our bed, so she is at least in her own bed for the most part. For the past few days she has been waking up multiple times through out the night and Aaron or I have had to rock her back to sleep. Last night she woke up about 4 times between 2:30 and 5am. Ugh! I guess it could be teething or maybe she was gassy. I'm just ready to get back to some good sleeping!

Movement: She has gotten to be a pretty speedy crawler! She crawls and climbs all over. She is standing on her own and can even stand from a sitting or squatting position. She has recently learned to climb our stairs and we've had to start using the baby gate because she will just go up the stairs in no time. I'm beginning to wonder is she will be walking before her first birthday. Tae was walking by 9 months, so Hensley is definitely slower. She doesn't seem like she is too interested in walking right now because she is so good at crawling.

 

Product: One of our most used items is my wrap and carriers. My sister won a full wrap conversion Tula off a raffle for me and I'm in love. The Tula is so comfortable and light weight. Hensley loves to be worn and I can get a full grocery shopping trip done with her in it. It makes things so much easier to have two hands available not to mention keeping her from putting things in her mouth or touching all the germy things.

 

Highlight: Hensley is talking up a storm. Her favorite word is "more", but she also says "mama", "dada", "kitty", "meow", "no", "sissy" and maybe a few others. She has gotten such a cute little personality. She is very much a mama's girl, but she loves her daddy and gives him snuggles and kisses. Taelyn cracks her up and they love to play together, but she definitely has a little temper and will hit or pull Tae's hair if she becomes too much!

Taelyn: Oh, sweet Taelyn. She has adjusted so well with having a sister. She has been really great at sharing and entertaining her sister. She has learned to distract Hensley with something if she is trying to play with something she doesn't want Hensley to have. She does seem to tell Hensley no a lot and even says "Hensley Elyse!" anytime she is doing something she shouldn't be doing.

Blessing: This girl is just so unique and sweet. She is a silly baby that loves to dance, sing, and cuddle. Some days are more hectic than others, but every day is a blessing.

 

Frontier Order: March

This month was a fairly big order because they had some great sales!

Ecos liquid laundry soap in Lemongrass ($9)
Ultra Green bamboo toilet paper ($9)
Hero Yummi Bears children's vitamins 200 count ($12)
Happy Puffs (greens and banana) ($2 each)
Dishmate dish soap (lavender and citrus) ($2 each)
Happy Creamies ($2.50 each)

What's in my fridge?!

I am probably one of the most nosiest people! I like to know anything and everything. I remember my mom getting a magazine growing up (I think it was Food Network) and in every issue, on the last page, there was a picture of a celebrity with the inside of their fridge. That was always my favorite part of the magazine. I don't know why. I didn't care too much about the celebrity, but I loved seeing in their fridge. I was cleaning out my fridge the other day and thought it would be fun to showcase it on my blog :)

There's even some breastmilk hiding in there!

There you have it! I thought I would throw in my pantry also. This is just one side, the other side is pretty much baking stuff, oatmeal, and mac and cheese. My freezer is pretty boring and just has organic frozen veggies and meat. Everything you see will last us about a week. Well, that was fun, so what's in your fridge!?

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.