Bella's big day!

We've had a big day around here...........

The big girls spent Saturday night with Grandma and Papa so Bella got to enjoy being the complete center of attention this weekend. Wait. Bella's always the center of attention........aaaanyway! So this morning D and I decide to practice her walking. Bella's an excellent cruiser along all the furniture....and I even caught her cruising down the wall in the hallway.....but when we've tried to get her to stand up on her own, she's been really unsteady on her feet. There's been a lot of practicing with holding her hands and walking, and today we decided to give it a try to let her walk between the two of us.

I think she did a pretty good job, no?!!!!!!!!

And she's so proud of herself! At first when she was walking, she would lean forward while we were holding her so she would fall forward into our arms. So then we stood her up and let her lean up against us......no hands......so she could stand up and get her balance on her own. It was hilarious --- we would stand her up and let her lean on us and would say "Ready.......set......." and she would say "Gooooooooo!" and lean forward and start walking! She went all 5 or 6 steps to cover the distance between us and the more she did it, the more stead she became on her feet.

She still has a little ways to go.....and she definitely still prefers crawling to walking, but this will help her really get steady on her feet. And besides.....who doesn't love a nice game of "Ready....set.......Gooooooooo!"

I'm so glad she decided today was the day to take her first steps! I've been traveling a ton the last couple of months and I can't stand the thought of missing out on that big day!

Gettin' crafty.......

Have I mentioned I may have a slight addiction to Pinterest? I can confidently use the word "slight" because at the moment, work is crazy busy and there's not much free time to be had which means there's not much time to feed any addiction. That's the only thing saving me, though! So when I do find myself with a few free moments.....you know.....before going to bed at 1am....or delaying getting out of bed at 6:30am......I do love to do some pinning.

I was trying to think of something cute for the girls' Valentine's Day party at pre-school and I came across a pin for festive chocolate covered pretzels and I thought that would be a great Sunday project for tomorrow's party!

So we gathered the troops..........it's not a fun project without grandma!
Got out the sprinkles.........

Waited for the chocolate to melt........

And did a whole lotta dipping and sprinkling!

I must say......I felt quite crafty today. No matter that I managed to ruin two batches of chocolate before I realized that adding too much food coloring was causing my problem! Geesh -- all I wanted was some red chocolate!! But we were pretty pleased with the end results......

and now we're all ready for tomorrow's party!

Happy Valentine's Day!

If walls could talk....

.....our walls would tell you some of the funniest stories about the conversations we have around here......

Olivia: "Mommy. When I throw up, I get bigger!"

Sofia: "Mommy....Bella's a baby. She likes to cry. We're big girls. We like to walk and run."

Sofia: "Daddy! I see three comets way up in the sky!"
Olivia: "No, Sofia. Those aren't comets. I believe those are airplanes."

Grandma, while helping the girls put a puzzle of the United States together: "Girls -- can you point to the state you live in?"
Girls: "Grandma -- we live on the planet Earth."

We have an app for the iPad that has pictures associated with 3-letter words and you are supposed to drag the letters to the correct box to spell the word. Olivia was playing one day and she goes "k......i........t"......"box!" (there was a picture of a first aid kit....and she was correct...it was shaped like a box - ha!)

At some point, Grandma taught the girls that when they eat all their dinner, they make a happy plate. The girls have modified that.......like when Olivia finished eating her chick fil a chicken nuggets..."Look, Mommy. I made a happy box!"

Me: "Sofia -- do you want to get your hair cut?"
Sofia: "No, Mommy. That will hurt me!"

Sofia: "Mommy, it's our turn to hide - you count to 100." and she runs away.

Then she comes back and goes "Mommy! We're going to hide behind the tree just like you!" and she runs away again - haha!

Me: "Olivia....did you know that Sofia is your twin sister? Do you know what that means?"
Olivia [shakes her head no]
Me: "It means you and Sofia were born on the same birthday."
Olivia: "But Mommy.......me and Sofia are different."

Sofia [pointing] "Daddy, what's that?"
Daddy: "Um. Uh. Um. You don't need to know about that right now."
(I should tell you that daddy was in the middle of getting dressed when Sofia had a potty emergency so he didn't make it to his pants before running with her down the hallway. Notice I said pants......not underwear.....pants!)

D:"Have you seen the (whatever brand of cold medicine he was looking for)? I thought we had some here."
Me: "We don't have any more of that, but there's another kind in the cabinet."
D:"Yeah. I'm going to take that one when I go nie-night."
Me: "Um. What?"

And! If our walls could talk, they would also tell you about all kinds of hugging going on around here.........

(I love the way Bella is looking at Sofia here!)

Although sometimes.......hugs aren't quite welcome!

Family fieldtrip

Now before you go and get all excited about where we've been during my (unintentional) blog hiatus..........let me tell you that our fieldtrip was today........to the pediatrician's office. And when we weren't at the pediatrician's office, we were here............
Turns out there's a virus that brings cold symptoms....you know......fever, runny nose....an occasional vomit here and there. Oh. And I saved the best for last. Pink eye. Did you get that? Pink eye? Who knew. It all started last Sunday --- Olivia woke up with gunk in her eye. I found what is probably the only detriment to having such long eye lashes.......eye gunk. It wasn't until Sunday evening when Mom and I were giving the girls a bath that it hit me. D walked in and goes "Oh wow. Olivia's eye looks pink." [BAM]. Like a ton of bricks.

So I head out of town for the week and D calls the pediatrician on Monday to get some drops. By Wednesday we think we're in the clear.....pink eye has been contained to one kid. Success! Um. Not so much.

By Thursday, Livie's eye was no longer pink....but she was running a fever and vomiting every now and then. Sofia woke up with pink eye. And Bella was running a more-than-low-grade fever. Which is how today's fieldtrip came to be. It was funny.....we started out by making an appointment for Livie.....last night she was talking about how her tongue hurt and we finally figured out she was talking about her throat. (Note to Mommy......practice that body part.....) I looked in her mouth and she had white spots on her tonsils. Strep? So I called for an appointment and about 20 mins before we were leaving I realized just how warm Bella was. So we called and added her on to our appointment. Then -- I was getting ready to put Livie and Bella in the car and I looked at Sofia with her one eye all swollen and both eyes streaming tears. So we all get in the car and head to the pediatrician's office. Family fieldrip!

So yes......that's where we got the fantabulous news about this virus that has taken over my sweet baby girls. Oh. I forgot to mention. I think I have it too. Minus the pink eye, so far.......

Happy birthday, Daddy!

There's not much better than hearing sweet little voices singing happy birthday to Daddy! We celebrated Daddy's birthday with a dinner date (for Mommy and Daddy)...and then home for presents and cake. When we got home, the girls were waiting for Daddy with Grandma and Papa to say "Surprise!" and to sing happy birthday. Oh. And to blow out candles.....over and over! Trick candles make every party just a little more fun!

Happy birthday, baby!

Parenting award

Cute, right? Here's how this picture went down.......

Olivia: "Look Mommy! I'm making bubbles in my milk!"
Mommy: "Olivia.....it's not nice to play with your drink. Let's not do that anymore, please."
Olivia: "Okay Mommy."
Mommy: "Oh. Wait. Do it one more time so I can take a picture..."
[click, click]
Mommy: "Okay. Now we don't do that anymore, right?"

Parent of the year....right here!! Haha.

It just hit me this morning how independent Olivia and Sofia are truly becoming. I certainly don't wish the time away....but I must admit.....I kinda like it. They both were awake this morning before I left for work and they let me know they were hungry and wanted waffles. I was going to break my own rule (see Parent of the year section above) and let them eat breakfast upstairs since D had not gotten out of bed yet and I still needed to get ready for work -- but when I asked Olivia if she wanted to eat upstairs, she goes "No, Mommy. I have to sit at the table." Right you are, my dear. So we head downstairs and I make "waffles in triangles with stuff on it". That's toddler speak for waffles cut into bite-sized pieces with syrup. I set the girls up at their table and I head back upstairs.

When Sofia came back up, she's talking about her hands being sticky. D tells her to ask me to help her wash her hands and she goes "No, Daddy - I already washed them." I said "You already washed them?" and she goes "Yes, Mommy. I wash my hands with soap and then I use a towel to make them dry." Sure enough - her little hands were cold, smelling like soap and not a trace of syrup to be found. That's when it hit me that they're really doing things to help themselves. Again.....don't get me wrong -- a part of me wishes they would stay this age forever (well....minus the temper tantrums!) but the mommy-of-three-who-never-seems-to-have-enough-time-in-a-day part of me totally welcomes this kind of self-help.

Imagine my glee when I went downstairs and Olivia was coming out of the bathroom....having just washed and dried her own hands.....AND she was turning off the light and shutting the door (since our little Bella-monster loves to play with the tp........and in the toilet). Maybe I'm doing something right, huh?!

Look what I can do!

It's so funny -- with the girls we were hanging on to each and every milestone.......and not that it's not important with Bella.....but I definitely understand the "youngest kid syndrome".....you know - the one where the older kid (or kids, in our case!) have the baby book filled with all the big events.....a gazillion pictures....and then the youngest one comes along and maybe there's a baby book....maybe not......and, at least in Bella's case, there's only half a gazillion pictures instead of the full gazillion - ha!

But! In an effort to get better about that -- how about this first........

We had no doubt that Bella would know what to do......... come on -- it's food! But it was cute and we were quite proud nonetheless! And she's so independent -- now that she's had one go with the fork, she doesn't want any help.

It's so interesting to see how much she picks up from O&S. She's much more verbal than the girls were at her age and she'll try just about everything they do. It was hilarious - the other day I got home from work and after saying hi to everyone I went upstairs to change my clothes. The girls were at the bottom of the stairs calling to me and I heard this other little voice...."Moooooommmmmmmmy!" Well. It wasn't little -- it was louder than all the others - ha! But it was so cute.....O&S would say "Mommy!" "Mommy!" and then just after them would come this loud "Moooooommmmmmy!"

In other, more pitiful news.....Bella has been sick the past few days and it's the sickest she's ever been. She gets croup every time she gets a cold and this time is no different. Yesterday she was so pitiful and just wanted to be held -- and even that wasn't good enough sometimes. She coughed and then cried -- we could only imagine all the coughing made her chest hurt. Her poor little eyes were all droopy and watery....oh. And she had a black eye, too. We're not quite sure how she did that one, but she did have quite the shiner.

And not to forget O&S -- they have both also been sick. We're going to be renting a pressure washer and will be spraying down our house.....the inside......with a Lysol / Clorox concoction. True story.

It's a bird..........it's a plane..........

....it's SUPER PRINCESS!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from us!It's been a great holiday. I've been on vacation for the last 2 weeks and it's been awesome! We've had fun.....we've relaxed.....it's been great. I can't believe it's over....sniff, sniff!

We didn't go all out on the decorations, but we've really enjoyed what we did put out.....

We took everything down today - usually by New Year's day I'm ready for everything to come down and put the furniture back where it belongs, etc. And it totally just hit me.......we had wreaths on our outside windows and I just now realized that I completely forgot to take a picture of the house from the outside. And then, for only a split second, I totally wondered how long it would take me to put the wreaths back up so I could get a picture. Don't worry.....I'm not going to do it, but it did cross my mind - ha! We even had spotlights on the house this year to show the wreaths at night. I've always wanted to have them and finally decided to go for it this year. Ugh. I can't believe I forgot to take pictures!!

But! Back to Christmas! The girls were so much fun this year for Christmas. When we would ask the girls what Santa was bringing them, they would always say "presents!" and I would ask what kind of presents....and they would say "pink presents!" - haha. Santa doesn't usually wrap, but he just happened to come across a roll of pink paper so there were, indeed, pink presents.

Santa also brought a kitchen and a doll house.....or....a dog house, as the girls call it - ha! I think Olivia even said "Look, Sofia.......it's a house for Little!"

Sofia was hilarious -- I asked her what happened if Santa didn't have a kitchen to bring for them and she goes "Don't worry, Mommy. He can take his Christmas car and go buy us a kitchen at the shopping." Ohhhh. Just like that, huh?!?!!

We spent Christmas Eve day at Aunt Rah-Rah's house with Carter and Reese and Grandma and Papa which was a lot of fun. Then....we couldn't believe it, but we had time to run home for a quick nap before heading to spent the evening with D's family. We had lots of fun both places and when we got home, Olivia and Sofia weren't so tired.......so Santa was worried they were going to have a late night - ha. Luckily, Santa's workshop had been running for a few days before so by the time Christmas Eve arrived, everything was unpackaged, assembled, etc. so Santa had very little work to do.

On Christmas morning, the girls weren't sure what to think........But it didn't take long to figure everything out!
Olivia was funny both on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.....she wanted to unwrap all the presents.....she didn't care if they were for her or what was in them.....she just enjoyed the act of unwrapping - ha.

Even funnier......O&S tend to play with Bella's toys while Bella tends to play with theirs.

Speaking of Miss Bella......Santa brought her this cute little stroller so she can practice her walking......

And she's doing quite well! She's cruising along the furniture like a champ and it's so funny because we'll be sitting in the family room and she'll come walking through pushing her stroller!

New Year's Eve was low-key at home as Olivia has a pretty strong cold and lots of coughing, but low-key is not a bad thing! My mom always told me that what you're doing at the new year is indicative of how the new year is going to go......so she always tried to get all the laundry done - haha. I started trying to get all the laundry done......but then I thought "Who am I kidding.....we're a family of 5 with 3 kids three and under.......of course the year is going to be filled with laundry!" - haha.

So here I sit.........Christmas has passed....the new year is here.....and I have one more day off before vacation is over. I'm trying to hold off the "going back to work blues" - haha! But! It's been an awesome couple of weeks and we're looking forward to big things in 2012!

Look what we can do!

O&S have known their letters for a long time - singing the alphabet, flash cards, puzzles....and most recently tracing letters on this handy dandy iPad app. We've tried writing a few times with big rolls of paper and crayons, but they've had less interest in that. And I know their teacher works with all the kids at pre-school.

Not to mention the fact that Sofia hasn't decided which hand she wants to write with........she still colors and draws with both!

So this morning I thought we'd give writing another try while Sofia was drawing on her magnetic board......."Can you write an S?" "How about an O?"..and so on.......until:


She was so proud of herself.....and I was even prouder!!

Of course.......you remember how Olivia can't be outdone, don't you? And this morning was no exception. We were making a big deal over Sofia and Olivia goes "Mommy......let me try, too. I want to draw THREE letters!" So we gave it a go..........and she did it! SIX letters, to be exact!!

And today was already a great day because it's Grandma's birthday! We like to learn new things on Grandma's birthday! Happy birthday Mom / Grandma! We love you!

The air up here.......

Here's my view as I'm typing.............


We can be connected from anywhere........even the air! It's been a busy couple of months for us......and this picture is why. Lots of travel going on. We're all looking forward to the Christmas holiday for the fun times but also for some time to slow down. I hope! Do you ever slow down when you have a three-year old.......or two???!!!

I hopped down to South FL for a quick overnight trip.....and I have to tell you......Christmas trees and 80 degrees......I'm not feeling it! Separately....definitely, but they just don't mix!!

The girls are doing great although I believe we're getting ready to circulate a cold around the house - ugh! Yesterday one of the girls told D "I think I'm sick......I can't stop coughing!" But! I'm hoping it will make its way through the house and be gone before Christmas.....we shall see!

And on that note......I must return my tray table and seat back to their full upright position!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas......

.......a pink Christmas at that!
Because if I haven't told you yet....pink is Sofia's favorite color. So when she looked at me with those big brown eyes and said "Mommy. I think we need a pink Christmas tree in our room.".....of course I had to find one. Yeah. You totally would have too! Have you seen those big brown eyes?

So we started the Christmas decorating today with the pink tree going up in their bedroom. The pink Christmas tree with the "bells". The girls absolutely loved it - we've been talking about the Christmas tree all day and they've been so excited.

And here they are quite proud of their work.

Now Santa Claus just needs to find "a biiiiiiiiiiig pink present." Um. Sofia, honey, Santa's going to need to know what goes inside the big pink present!

(Oh. And how can you have a pink Christmas tree in your bedroom without an S and an O Christmas ornament?!!!?!!?!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our family to yours.......
It's been a great day! Lots of great food and family. Bella....what do you think?

I think she agrees.....although I don't know if she was more excited about the turkey.....or the turkey dress...

We have so much for which we are thankful. Happy Thanksgiving!

Rub a dub dub

three kids in a tub............
This was Bella's first time in the bathtub with the big girls from a couple of weeks ago. It'll be her last time for a while.......she's still too small to be in the tub with O&S....she got so carried away with playing that she forgot she shouldn't put her face in the water. Scary for Mommy....funny for the girls. All of them.

But! It makes for a cute picture, no?!!!

Only me......

I know, I know.......bad, bad blogger. It's a crazy time around our house these days and the winds of change are a blowing..................add in the fact I can no longer upload pictures from my home computer and *poof*.....more than a week passes.

And today.....sitting in my hotel room without the pictures I want to post from Bella's birthday party. Poor, poor Bella. It's the youngest child syndrome.......

So. This time I have a funny story about me.

I'm working out of town on a new client so I'm learning my way around.....and the other day, I turned on the small side street that would take me to the parking garage. Only to find that, blocking my way to the parking garage, is a fire truck, an ambulance and a police car or three. My first thought was "I hope everyone is okay." My second thought was "How on earth could someone be driving so fast on this little street to cause an accident that required that much help." I never saw the ambulance being used so I assume everyone was okay.

That still didn't help me get to the parking garage. So I turn around.....and I have no clue where to go to get around. Traffic is crazy and there's no way I'm making the turn to go out the way I came in. So I turn the other direction...following a couple of cars in front of me. "Oh good," I think to myself "This isn't nearly as busy as the other way."

Oh it was busy, alright. It was busy because all of a sudden I realized I was at a school. In the car line. Where people wait to drop their kids off. I'm not even kidding. I'm sitting in traffic snaking through a parking lot --- I can't get out because there are cars parked on either side --- and I'm heading straight towards the front door where kids are being dropped off. I got closer to the front and I'm looking all over the place to find another way to go. I finally see a place I can turn to the right. So I did. And ended up in the bus lane.

A nice lady with a walkie-talkie finally helped me by moving some cones and showing me the way out. Of course the way out was back in the car line for the exit, but at least it was the part of the car line after people let their kids off. So I didn't stand out so much. Seriously.....I was dying.

Only me.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from my three.....butterflies.....fairies.....princesses.....butterfly-princesses.....depends on who you asked and when!
We had a big day for Halloween which ultimately translates into "we have more candy than one should ever eat in a lifetime" but it sure was fun!

The girls started off the day with a pumpkin party at pre-school. They got to wear their costumes and I couldn't believe it when D told me they didn't want to take their butterfly wings with them. You have to understand......Sofia has been talking about her biiiiiiiiiiig pink butterfly wings for weeks. But it ended up being okay because D and I were trying to figure out how they would wear their wings and their backpacks. I helped get them dressed (i.e. D insisted that I not leave for work until they had their costumes on) -- Sofia was first and as I was putting on her shirt she goes "Mommy.....don't forget my socks-pants!" I mean it makes perfect sense, right? They cover your legs like pants and your feet like socks. Socks-pants. Then it was Livie's turn.....and she wasn't having any of it. She didn't want the tights. She didn't like the pink shirt. The dress was too big. None of it. So I dressed her in a pair of jeans and a shirt -- pick your battles, right? As I was walking downstairs to head to work I hear "Moooooommy....I'm ready to put on my costume now!" Mmmmhmmm.

So the pumpkin party was followed by trick-or-treating at my office. D brought the girls and they were thrilled to walk around looking for candy. We practiced our manners...."Thank you!". We practiced our holiday spirit...."Happy Halloween!". And we practiced counting...."You may pick out one piece."

Aaaaand then it was home for the final event of the evening! We had friends and family over for a quick meal and then we hit the neighborhood for some trick-or-treating. We took the girls last year......Bella was a week old so I made it to a few of our neighbors' houses, and Olivia was done pretty quickly, but this year D and I set out with the rest of the gang and the girls made it up our street (which includes a giant hill as the girls call it) and all the way to the front of the neighborhood. There may have been a little carrying involved as we made our way back home, but they walked their little hineys off. Do butterflies even have hineys? Hmmm. And they were so cute! And all that practicing paid off......they would get up the stairs and say "Trick-or-treat!"......and once the candy was in the pumpkin it would be "Thank you! Happy Halloween!" Oh....and it was usually in unison. Haha!

Where was Bella, you ask? Well - she stayed behind with Grandma and Nana (my grandmother) and helped give out candy. 'Cause she and Grandma are cool like that............
So! An exhausting day to stay the least, but so much fun!

Oh. And here's Grandma with all five of her grandbabies.............

And let's not forget the two cutest things with wings ever!

Crazy they're only five months apart, right?!?!!!

Happy 1st birthday, my sweet Bella!

Dear Bella........
I can't believe it's here already. A whole year since the very first time we saw your sweet face. I keep looking at the clock and thinking "This time last year.....we were heading to the hospital" or "This time last year, we were watching a Grey's Anatomy rerun waiting to find out if it was your birthday or if we were heading home". And even a little reminiscing about the day we realized you were growing in Mommy's tummy. Boy that was quite a day!!

What a great year we've had with you and so many changes you've already had! I think you picked up some tall genes from Mommy's side of the family since you're only about 6 inches shorter than your sisters. 6" shorter and only a few pounds lighter -- your sisters better watch out! Since you've been mobile, we joke about how you're like a little bull in a china shop. You do everything with purpose and you just take what you want. You're going to give your sisters a run for their money once you're up and walking. You love being around them, though. Some days you follow them from room to room -- and other days, you're perfectly content to play by yourself. Content is one of the best words to describe you. For the most part, you just sit back and go with the flow and we are truly thankful for that. But you're funny, too! You are usually all smiles and laughs and squeals.

I think we've pretty much given up calling you Isabella....I'm sure you'll go through life being Bella. But hey....that's way better than going by Chunky Monkey......or Turkey......Bellie.....Bells. We'll keep all those nicknames in the house, okay?!!!

You stopped taking bottles several weeks ago....and I must say. I really miss that nighttime bottle where we rocked in your room before you went to bed. We still rock, though. Even if only for a few minutes. I love how, as I start to sit down in the rocker, your thumb goes straight to your mouth and your head straight to my shoulder. I think you would still go to bed if I just put you straight in your crib......but if you don't mind, I'm going to hang on to that as long as you'll let me, okay? You're quite the Mommy's girl....and I don't mind that either! It makes me smile when, if I'm holding you and someone tries to take you from me, you turn your head and put it on my shoulder. Or you grip my arm or my shirt because you don't want me to let go of you. I'll take that one a little longer, too.

Did I already tell you what a happy baby you are? You start the day off with a smile....it's one of my favorite ways to start the day -- walking into your room and how you get a huge grin on your face when you see me. And now that you're able to stand up, I see your grin peeking over the crib railing.

Like I said......it's been a great year. And although my heart aches just the tiniest bit at the fact that my baby is growing up, I can't wait to see what's in store this next year! Happy first birthday, my sweet baby girl.

Love, Mommy