rub a dub dub

Two babies in the tub! Fran and Lucy came to stay with us last week, and it was SO fun having them here. I wish the Skippers would move back to Birmingham, Fran would come back to work with me, and we could all just pick up where we left off. But for now, we have to make do with visits.

Wednesday night Fran had plans to go eat dinner, and I thought it would be fun for Hays and me to keep Lucy so Fran could go out with some of her friends and actually EAT and not have to worry about taking care of Lucy for an hour or two. We thought it would be fun to put the girls in the bath together, and they LOVED it! Lucy loves to splash! Unfortunately, there was no way Hays could get them both to look at the camera at once. Lucy was WAY too busy!

We also made a little video of the babies. Lucy gets so excited when she sees other babies! They were having a blast playing with tissue paper. I think Lucy might have had a little paper for a snack. Hmmmm... I also had to film Margaret Anne drinking her milk. I think it is hilarious how she swigs it and then sometimes drinks it backwards. Hope you guys enjoy!

Questions...

Should I Twitter? Do any of you twitter? Do you follow people on Twitter? What do you think?? Comments please!

We've set the date!

I may not have mentioned it before on the blog, but Margaret Anne has a blocked tear duct. Your tear duct (nasolacrimal duct to be exact) drains the tears out of your eye. This is one reason why your nose runs when you cry, the excess tears flow down the duct into your nose. A blocked tear duct in a baby occurs when the tear duct is too narrow or is blocked by a membrane that shouldn't be there, and tears cannot drain from the eye down into the nose like they should. This results in the tears overflowing out of the eye onto the lower lid, and in a goopy build up (very technical term) in the corner of the eye.

Margaret Anne's blocked duct first made its presence known when she was about 2 days old, and never really showed any signs that it was going to clear up on its own. We went to a pediatric opthamologist and he suggested surgery to correct it, and told us we could wait until she was one and see if it would clear up on its own, but more than likely it wouldn't. And it didn't. So now Margaret Anne is going to have surgery to "unclog" her tear duct on September 9th. I am more than a little nervous about this, because she will be under anesthesia, but I have heard great things about the doctor and I know she will be a lot happier without us wiping goo off of her face all of the time. Please pray that everything goes well for her!This is a picture from her birthday (thanks Leigh!) where you can see how it gets gooey and red from us wiping it. I know she will be glad to have the problem cleared up, and we will too!

Note to self...

Never write in a blog post about how happy the baby is when she wakes up in the morning. She will start waking up CRANKY!

Honestly, those top two teeth are giving her fits. I wish they would just come on through!

Stokin' the Fire and a lake visit

We have had a wonderful, busy weekend! Friday night we went to "Stokin' the Fire," which is the annual barbecue festival here in Birmingham. Our friend Elaine had lots of family members competing, so we went to hang out and see the sights. There was a lot to see. Unfortunately we didn't bring our camera anywhere with us this weekend, so I had to "bum" some pics from my friends. Here we are at the festival: notice that BF #1 (Charlie) is trying his hardest to get to MA.

On Saturday I had the luxury of getting my hair done (I LOVE getting my hair done), and afterwards we loaded up and headed to the lake to hang out with friends Lindsey and Michael. I started working with Lindsey several years ago when she started choreographing for my dancers, and we have become good friends. She is a WONDERFUL choreographer and a great role model for my girls! Margaret Anne likes her a lot, and her husband Michael too. We all went to Auburn, but didn't meet until we were in Birmingham.

Lindsey, Margaret Anne, and me

Margaret Anne and Michael.

Just Chillin' on the boat.

Don't worry Mom, we were right there, the boat was stopped, and the life jacket was removed for picture purposes!!!!

The week in review - Warning, very random!

This will be a random post! The title refers to many things going on around here lately. First, Margaret Anne is getting some top teeth, the first of which is about to poke through any day now. She is NONE too thrilled about it. Mostly just cranky at random moments.

Funny story and unrelated to her teeth... last night when she was eating dinner Hays and I couldn't help laughing at her. She was eating pieces of chicken and green beans and I guess she really liked it. She decided to shove every piece of food that was on the tray into her mouth. This means that at one time, she had approximately 4 pieces of chicken and 3 green beans. The food was HANGING out of her mouth. She kept trying to push it back in with the palm of her hand. Then she would take a huge swig of milk to try to wash it all down. We had to start putting the food on her tray one piece at a time! Also, she drinks her milk like Napoleon Dynamite drinks water, so that in itself is about 30 minutes of entertainment for all.


Margaret Anne really enjoys when the channel Noggin is on the television. She loves Blue's Clues in the morning. I have to say that my favorite show on there is Wonder Pets! MA also likes it, but not quite as much as I do. :)



I think I would rather watch this show than anything else on TV right now. Funny!

I also have a prayer request for you. Sandi had to start chemo again on Tuesday, so she is feeling pretty yucky and will be having it once a week for the next three weeks, then a week off and repeat another three weeks. So please keep her in your prayers! Also, the 2009 Champions of Hope race is October 10th. We are going, so please sign up and race with us! You can go HERE for more information.

I know posts without pics of Margaret Anne are boring, I hope to post more with pictures throughout the weekend!

Birthday Sundaes on a Sunday!

Margaret Anne had her first birthday party on Sunday. We had such a good time and I wanted to share a few pictures with everyone. Margaret Anne's dress had ice cream sundaes on it, so we went with a "Sundae" theme and served sundaes, cake, lemonade, and a few other things. It was a blast and I think Margaret Anne had a great time! Thank you everyone, for everything!

A love letter on your First Birthday

Today you are ONE. I cannot believe how time has flown. I remember the day you were born just like it was yesterday, even though I was on so many drugs! You were so tiny, and you were SO sweet and perfect. I remember rubbing your tiny little ears and shoulders and kissing your soft sweet head full of hair. You were SO helpless and beautiful. It seems funny now to think about how much we used to feed you and get up with you and how tired we were! Now you go to bed at 7pm and sleep until 6am.
It is amazing how much you can do these days. You can make so many sounds! You like to bark (like Daisy), you say “Mama,” “Dada,” “Nonna,” something that sounds a lot like “yes” and lots of other fun sounds. You scoot around like a little mad woman and pull up on everything that is steady. You love to walk around, but only when you are sure someone is holding you and you DO NOT like to land on your behind. You will eat everything put in front of you, and you love to drink out of your sippy these days! Even though you eat so well, you do not like to get food on your hands! I am so glad that you are feeding yourself now, because I thought for a few months that you may never do it!
You have outgrown your morning nap. That was not fun, but we are over it and we all made it through. You still wake up so happy from your nap!
You are becoming a gorgeous little girl, not a baby anymore. You are so sweet and good when we go places. Now you have teeth (2 on bottom and I think 2 top ones on the way) and a head full of hair that is getting thicker, longer, and more curly by the day! You let me put it in pigtails and put bows in it, and I hope that lasts because it is so fun and you look so precious!
My favorite part of the day with you is in the morning. I love seeing your beautiful smile when I get you out of your crib. I don’t remember the last time you woke up crying, you always wake up so happy. You are SO happy in the mornings!!! It has always been my favorite part of the day. We sit and you babble to me and play with the cross around my neck.
When I sit down in the floor with you, you scoot to me so fast! Then you are climbing on me like a little baby monkey. Sometimes you even pinch my skin to pull up and stand. You LOVE to give me big, sloppy kisses on my cheeks and chin. I would take all of the slobber, bumps, and bruises in the world to have you want to be near me, because I know that a time will come later on when you don’t always want to be close to me!
Although you are my precious daughter, I know that you don’t truly belong to me or daddy, but to our Heavenly Father. I am so thankful and grateful to God that He is loaning you to us for a little while. You are a precious gift, and you are the joy of my life. I know that your daddy feels the same way. Thank you for being YOU, because you are perfect the way that you are. I look forward to all the years that the Lord allows me to spend with you!

Love,
Mama

It's only just begun...

The school year, that is. Margaret Anne is back to daycare full time starting today, as I have MUCH work to do in my room before school officially begins on Thursday. We decided to have our last "school's out" playdate with Jamie, Charlie, Elaine, and Andrew at the McWane Science Center. So after a full day of working in my room (AND getting new tires and brakes, eek!), we met everyone at McWane. I kind of wondered how it would go, but I think the babies and mommies liked it equally. PLUS teachers tour free at McWane, so all I had to pay for was parking, and you can't beat that! We began our visit at the entrance to the adventure halls:

Then, we made our way to the "Tot Spot," which was part of the "Itty Bitty Magic City" for little kids. Here Andrew was allowed to get some energy out, and let me tell you that sweet boy has a lot of energy. He provided lots of entertainment for mommies and babies alike!

Margaret Anne thought he was SO entertaining...

And so did Charlie! At one point Andrew came at Margaret Anne like he was going to kiss her, but knocked her over when she didn't to surrender to his advances. He then barreled over to her stroller and knocked it over and yelled "If I can't have her, no one can!" Well, maybe that last part didn't happen, but he did try to kiss her and knock over her stroller. She doesn't stay angry for long though.

These two are BFF's!

Playing in the blocks...

We then made our way to the "Grocery Store." Margaret Anne wanted to check out...

Next stop: "Ocean Adventure" Class. Andrew and Charlie touched a sea urchin. MA wasn't quite ready for that, she shook her head "no."

Our last stop was the Shark and Ray Touch Tank. We just looked though, no touching yet!

Thanks for a great playdate, friends!!! Let's do it again soon, unfortunately it will have to be on a Saturday!