Family Game Night

Lillian has been going to speech therapy since March and the main part of the time she is there, we just play games with her therapist to practice her sharing and also verbal skills and eye contact when talking. She LOVES it. So since Andrew has gotten a little older, I thought it was time to try playing a game altogether. We played Lillian's Go Fish game tonight and they both really enjoyed it and it was also time away from the t.v. together which is great. Now I need to go buy us more games to play so we can switch them out! It is so fun now that they are getting older to do these types of activities....before I know it they will be kicking my butt at Monopoly!

Stuck Inside

It was a nasty day outdoors anyway, so it worked out well to be stuck inside. Poor Andrew had a stomach bug today. He definitely wasn't himself. He was either laying on me or Brandon all day in our recliner. I don't think he ate a thing all day, but everything he drank came right back up at us. I don't know how many shirts I wore today or how many loads of laundry I did. To top it off, he finally was keeping things down, but the sickness decided to turn south. Andrew had pulled off his diaper to go up to the bathtub and of course had diarrhea up the stairs and also on our landing at the top of the stairs. What a stink! Yuck! Brandon got the carpet shampooer out to get that taken care of immediately. I hope he feels better tomorrow. I think Lillian felt a little jealous of us holding Andrew all day, but was fine. She had fun putting on her new cheerleader costume she got from Dianne this weekend and playing and watching tv in the other room. I guess we'll find out soon enough if any of us catch Andrew's bug.

3 Year checkup + a 20 mo. old = Trouble

Lillian had her 3 year old check-up this morning at the doctor's office. I scheduled it at 8 am....why, I don't know! They have been sleeping lately until 7:30 or 7:45, so that meant waking them up this morning.

So after Brandon's alarm clock went off for the 100th time from his snooze, I decided to get up with him this morning at 6:45. I got dressed and came down and had my cereal. Coffee would have been nice, but I didn't have time for that. I went up and got Andrew who had decided to wake up early today...maybe he knew. I got him dressed in his crib before I even picked him up. Then we went to wake up Lillian.

Lillian pulled the covers over her head when I turned the light on. She wasn't ready to get up. Too bad, I got her up and got her shirt on as she screamed down the stairs not wanting to go potty so I could get her pants on. Finally after pretending Andrew and I were leaving her, she ran and went to the potty and I quickly threw on her pants and jacket and put a rubber band in her hair.

The kids were fine in the car eating their pop tarts and drinking their milk. And in the waiting room, they were also content. Andrew kept circling around the rooms from the well child to the sick patient area.

Then they called us back and the fun began! ha ha....Lillian threw a fit when I had to take her clothes off to put on the hospital gown. In fact, she never had it on the whole time. She just ran around in her underwear. She threw a fit and I had to hold her down just for Dr. Harvey to listen to her heart and look in her ears and mouth. Andrew was fine. He even wanted Dr. Harvey to listen to his heart. When the exam was over, it was time for shots. Lillian had one due and then I was getting each of them a flu shot. So they told me I needed to go back to the front desk to check Andrew into the system so he could get his shot.

As I was putting Lillian's pants back on to go up to the front desk, I see Andrew take off running and slip on a book and fall forward. He comes up with a bloody nose! I run out into the hallway and don't see anyone. Finally the doctor comes around the corner and she and two nurses run in and help clean him up and make sure he is okay. He screams mostly because I'm holding him down to clean him off!

Then we go and check Andrew in to get his shot. Lillian is crying because she is dressed, but doesn't have her shoes on and wants to leave. I told her we have to go back to the room and get her shoes. So we go back and they are still cleaning the blood off the floor. Then we wait 5 more minutes until they come back for the shots.

I held Andrew down first and he did fine. He just flinched. Lillian is another story. I had to hold her down as she screamed and continued to all the way out of the building. I did feel bad for her, but it was terrible leaving with her throwing her fit in the middle of the waiting room floor holding her leg saying it hurts! I'm sure any other kids coming in got scared to death about what would behold them!

We survived and hopefully will stay healthy for a long while because I definitely don't want to go back there anytime soon!

***Lillian by the way is still in the 75th percentile for height and weight...37 and 3/4th inches tall and 32.6 lbs.

The Kid's Weekend

I posted about my reunion this past weekend, but had a few pictures I wanted to share of the kids. We went over to the Fair on the Square in Huntsville on Saturday morning. The kids enjoyed seeing all the stuff and people and the food. And we also went and visited the horses next door to my mom's house. It was also a rainy weekend, so I got a good picture of soaked Andrew. He followed me out to my car when I was putting things in for the reunion. Enjoy:

Getting Pictures Taken

I guess it is just part of life as a mom. We want those cute pictures of our kids to show off and keep in our albums for years to come. Those first pictures of your children are so easy! They are just babies that sleep or smile just because they see your face.

Then all of a sudden overnight, they become toddlers and then as a mom, you can say, "Goodbye easy picture days!" They cry, throw fits, and refuse to sit anywhere near a camera. We discovered this last fall when we tried to take our first family picture with both kids. We got all dressed nice and Brandon and I sat with Andrew ready to take the picture when Lillian takes off running out of the portrait studio into JC Penney somewhere. Brandon had to chase her down, but there were no pictures to be taken that day.

This fall, I decided I would take some pictures of Andrew since he hasn't had any made in a year and Lillian would be taking pictures at school in a month or so. I also thought, maybe Brandon could bring Lillian and I could try and get some pictures of Lillian and Andrew together at least. Well, Brandon decided last minute that he wanted to attempt family pictures again, so we all dressed for that and went in yesterday morning.

To my surprise we actually got a few family pictures that were decent. Lillian kept trying to get away, but after bribery, we got her to stand with Brandon and smile even a few times. Andrew got fussy, but made it. Of course in the 2 pictures that were best, one or the other child is not smiling! Must be a curse or something since I have heard this tale from other mothers.

Then we tried having their pictures taken together. Lillian would sit, but Andrew screamed every time I put him down. So much for sibling photos. Then I could totally forget about Andrew having his picture taken alone. So I'm taking him back on Monday. Hopefully for a better experience!

So, our picture taking days are done for this year. We'll see what next year holds....older toddlers...Yikes!

Dancing Kids

The kids love this song! Wanted to share them dancing to it.