New Clothes

I am trying to do better at blogging and so two posts in two days is pretty impressive. I have decided to change my posting picture to an actual photo of me. I had bought a jumper at Target and after washing it the first time I dried it. What I didn’t realize was that the jumper was Dry-Clean only. Caroline was kind enough to take a foto of me wearing the jumper after it had shrunk. This was taken a couple of years ago but I like it. That is not the main point of the blog though.

While she was away at her conference Caroline bought presents for everyone. I got this t-shirt

I’m not sure if the quote refers to something in particular, but it is a good description of me. I like tomato sauce (ketchup) on everything. She also got presents for her parents, but I’m not sure of the specifics. What I do know is the present she bought for the girls. She got them t-shirts and jeans. One pink t-shirt with an elephant, and a blue t-shirt with a pair of birds on it. Then yesterday while I was at school studying all the girls went down to the Outlet Mall at St Augustine and did some shopping. The girls got a pair of pink Crocs and some running shoes because now they are running (see the video of them at the track). So today the girls got dressed in their new clothes and we went to the supermarket. Matilda helped me pick out sweet potatoes. I would pick up a sweet potato and ask “Do you like this one?” and if she smiled I would put it in the bag. I think she chose four and rejected two, Olivia might have picked one as well. All of this leads up to the whole reason I am writing the blog, an excuse to post another video. When we got home from the supermarket, I let Olivia walk to the house like a big girl and she did pretty well.

What happens on Saturday Mornings?

I know I am the worst blogger ever and I really should try to do better. That being said this post is mainly an excuse to put up a video I took this morning. I tried sending it via text message and email but it was too large. It is a minute and forty five seconds long and I think its the best. The sound is what makes it so fun. Enjoy

Coupons

So ever since money has been tighter with the addition of O and M, I've started clipping coupons. People laughed at me at first - but I've got the last laugh! Now, don't expect to see me on Extreme Couponing or anything...I'm certainly not building a stockpile...but getting things for cheap/free is nice - especially when it's stuff you'd buy anyway.

Example:

CVS today I bought

4 Axe Deoderants - $5.49 each (on sale at 3/$13) - I had two buy one get one free coupons and there was a promotion to get $3 Extra Care Bucks when you bought 3.

4 Suave Bodywashes - $2.77 each on sale for $2 - I had two BOGO coupons and there was an extra care bucks promotion for $4 ECB when you bought $10 of Suave stuff

2 Suave deoderant - $1.37 each on sale for $1 Also had a $.50 off coupon

So what WOULD have cost $35.78 cost $14.11, plus $7 ECB leaving a total cost of $7.11.

Now THAT is savings...

Matilda's Big Adventure

So...my first mother's day was certainly not the way I planned it. But let me preface this post by saying that I am so happy I even had children to celebrate mother's day, no matter how we celebrated.

Thursday night, May 5th, Matilda threw up after her dinner...and felt warm. So we gave her a temp check and she did have a low grade fever. Concerned, we gave her a fever reducer and put her to bed. The next day, her fever got higher, and she got fussier...and wasn't eating much.

Saturday she got a higher fever and ate worse. We had been calling the doctor every day, and finally they let us take her in. The dr. looked at her and saw no strep, no ear infection, etc and said to give her 48 hours then bring her back if her fever didn't break. Her fever was up to 105 so we were REALLY worried. We had her in the car ready to go to the ER When the doctor called back and said no, just give her a tepid bath and "upgrade" to IBUPROFIN.

Sunday, was the worst. Matilda had 105.2 fever. She was throwing up EVERYTHING, including her medecine. She was completely listless just laying on Stewart's lap and not responding to any of us. It was the scariest feeling I've had yet with children. Finally the pediatrician's office said to go to the ER. and we did.

The ER for an 8month old is pitiful. They had to take a urine sample via a catheter, put an IV in, give her shots...poor little thing kept looking at me like, "Why is everybody picking on me momma?" See how sad?

The only thing more pitiful was the hospital for an 8month old. The crib looked like a jail cell...

They gave her a little hospital gown...and put a splint on her arm so she wouldn't take the IV out. Within about an hour they told us that she had a TON of puss in her urine and high white blood cell count - so it was a UTI. She also had to get an ultrasound to see if her kidney's were infected and they were...so it was a doozy.

Long story short, we spent two nights in the hospital. There was very little sleep, lots of tears (both baby and mom), and some scary moments (including more vomiting and more high high temps). She did feel better at times...and got lots of snuggles from both mom and dad...but I'm sure she would have rather had those from the comfort of her own home.

Poor Olivia who was home without her sister didn't know WHAT to think. When I was home I spent some special one-on-one time with her to make sure she didn't get sad. We took a trip to the grocery store where I let her sit in the big girl seat. she LOVED it and had a blast looking all around and feeling everything I put in the cart.

Finally on Tuesday afternoon we were given the go-ahead to take Matilda home. Now, on Thursday a week later she has been eating great, taking her medecine, had an infection free urine culture and has been fever free for 24 hours. On the upswing!!!! It was an adventure, but one I hope she never has to go through again.

The Baptism

So this post is so long overdue, but to say we've been busy is an understatement. So I will give a brief overview of what's been going on in these parts.

Last Sunday was the girl's baptism. They were baptised at Southside United Methodist Church, which was the church that I grew up in. I was baptised and confirmed there and spent a large part of my youth there as well - so it was important to me to have it done at THAT church.

The day went off pretty much without a hitch, thanks in large part, to all of the help that we have. I had a schedule in mind for the day and was HOPING that the girls would stick to that and they pretty much did. We were supposed to be at the church at 10:45 so getting two babies up, fed, well-rested, dressed and ready to go was no small feat. I think we did a pretty good job:

The baptism itself was pretty uneventful, except that minutes before the ceremony, Olivia had a messy diaper and then proceeded to cry throughout most of the talking bit. Once the pastor took her, she was fine. Then one pastor took Olivia and the other took Matilda and they walked them down the aisle so that everyone could see how adorable they were! At that point both babies were fine! They were looking all around and loving the attention: especially Olivia! All in all it was a nice day. Then the babies were quickly escorted out of the church by dad and my brother. All the adults went to bruch after the service while the girls took naps. It was perfect.

Other than that the girls continue to grow and develop at lightening speed. They LOVE the jumparoo and love to exercise. They are also loving solids. We've found a new brand called Ella's organics that they adore. It's blends of things like squash, apples, and carrots. They also LOVE sweet potatos, apples and carrots. They'll tolerate peas and beans but those are NOT a favorite for them. They have both found their feet and love to grab at their toes. They are such amazing children! More pics and videos soon!

We are getting so big.... See? We're just growing and growing.

We've always had a lot of formula - but now we're eating big girl food. We think that has something to do with it! See?

Matilda loves it...

Olivia loves it....

And then we all get scrubbed down!!!

Coming soon? Vegetables!! Better get out the hose!

Happy New Year

We had such a great Holiday - with all of our family in the same place! It was sad to see everyone go, but we know we'll see everyone again soon. The girls had a great first Christmas!

As for me, I've set some New Year's Resolutions:

- Take photos and/or video of the girls every week.

- Work out 5 times a week (tennis, walking, gym, whatever)

That's it. I'm trying to keep it simple this year!!