Ten on Tuesday

1. Reece turned 18 months last week and it seems like her vocabulary and understanding of words exploded! Gone is most of the grunting she was doing and shes actually repeating and understanding everything we say. It was like a little breakthrough.

2. Because of the sudden sickness last weekend, we had to reschedule Reece's 18 month pictures. There were taken this morning. I loved the photographer, she was so sweet and I can't wait to see the pictures she got. Reece was all over the place and shy and a little whinny. Hopefully she got a few good shots and I am confident that she did.

3. Tomorrow is Reece's 18 month appointment. I don't know who I am more concerned about, her or Dr. Cohen! :)

4. October 3 is the Stater Bros. Believe Walk in Redlands. We will be participating, just like last year but without Daddy because he will be in Vegas on a boys trip.

5. Caileys big thing lately is her baby. She has been taking her doll everywhere. She wraps her in the blanket she had when she was little and takes care of her like a real baby. Its pretty darn cute.

6. Halloween is coming... We know what Reece will be and are awaiting the arrival of her costume. Now what for Cailey...? She's been a monkey, a ladybug, and Tinkerbell. She doesn't even give ideas. When we ask her what she wants to be, she lists everything that she has been. Not helpful. A bumble bee maybe? The same as her sister just a different color? Nope. We just aren't sure and better get on it!

7. We love our new dishwasher. So quiet and this one doesn't melt sippy cups and drain doors.

8. We love our Uncle Brandon and wish we could go see him in Missouri right now. We can't wait until the first week in October and he will be here for 4 days so we can see him.

9. While at the store this morning, a little boy was throwing a fit over the car cart. You know, those big awkward annoying cars that kids for some reason LOVE. It reminded me of when Cailey was very little. They were being used at the store when we were there so I just put her in a regular cart. We came down an aisle where there was a little boy in one and she started screaming "Thats mine!!" over and over. Mommy had to distract her and explain that it wasn't hers and it was the little boy who was riding in its turn. So funny.

10. Two days off in a row is headed my way! Yay, two whole days with my girls and husband before work gets crazy for Labor Day. I hope Kevin thinks of me while he is floating down the river. I bet not. :) Love ya babe.

Ice cream Saturday

Crying because we took the ice cream away when only mush was left.

Flashback Friday- Reece and Jack

2009- When they were little and stayed where you put them

2010- Now they don't stop moving!

Deanne's Pool

After the splash park, we walked back to Deanne's house and spent a little time in the pool.

Wordless Wednesday- Best Friends

The Splash Park

This is the second year we have been to this splash park. Last year, Brooklyn was just a little thing and enjoyed it from her car seat. Cailey was unsure and stayed on the perimeter and Deanne carried Reece, who was about 5 months old or so. This year was a different story. Brooklyn went in with no fear, running around everywhere. Cailey and Reece were a little more hesitant but once they got used to it, they liked it too. We love doing things with Shannon, Brooklyn and Deanne and haven't been able to as much as we would like to lately. Library class starts up again in September so we do look forward to that.

Brooklyn, right before she shook her head no, meaning no pictures
Crying because Reece offered her the keys and then didn't let her have them.
Cailey's favorite spot was sitting in the middle of "the rain" where the water puddled
Awwww besties.....

107 degrees

After being cooped up in the house with a sick Reece, Mommy decided that we should go out, for a short time on Tuesday. After lunch and a nap, we drove to the park, that is in walking distance to our house. It was HOT and that is an understatement. We have had a pretty mild summer so now that the heat is here, I am thankful that most of the summer wasn't this way. The girls were happy to be outside and we were the only ones at the park. Mommy sat in the shade and experimented with camera settings. We were only out about 15 minutes because we all started to get red faces and it was too hot to be out for long.

Running from her sister.....
Playing with leaves, in the shade at least
A sneaky look...
Enjoying being outside, feeling better
Pouting and checking to see if Mommy is watching

Watching her sister play

Playing nice... with leaves....looking for bugs
Hhhhheeeeellllllllllllllooooo

Ten on Tuesday

1. Reece is better. Fully. Dr. Cohen looked her over and said that once her fever had broken the virus had probably run its course. Thank goodness, we don't like it when our baby is sick. While at the dr, we made Reece's 18 month appointment for next Wednesday. It will be a challenge because she already screams at the dr and tries to climb over Mommy's shoulder and I am sure it will be amplified by her recent visits. Poor Dr. Cohen.

2. Mommy also had an appointment with another doctor. She went to her primary last week to check on a pain in her ear canal. He just looked in her mouth and said she had strep throat. What? Mommy didn't believe him one bit and will now be looking for a new doctor. Yesterday she got in with an internal medicine doctor because she now had a pea sized lump behind her ear and he looked in her ears, nose and throat as well as felt all around her neck and ears. He said he was surprised both her nose and throat didn't hurt on the right side as well. Mommy has an infection, not strep throat, somewhere on the right side in the canals that connect the ear/nose/throat. He said the lump is most likely a lymph node and antibiotics will take care of the whole problem. IF, after the 6 day course, there is still a lump and/or pain, mommy will go see him again in 10-14 days. He also said IF the lump is still there (he doesn't expect it to be, but you never know) he will do a biopsy to see what we are dealing with. He fully expects the antibiotics to take care of the problem.

3. Reece has added a whole new slew of words to her vocabulary lately. All the colors, more animals and she has really started putting groups of words together. Its amazing to see her talk and really understand what she is saying.

4. Tomorrow we are going with Shannon, Brooklyn and Deanne to the splash park. Hopefully Cailey won't be as scared as she was last year. I think Reece will have a blast.

5. Today has been a day of fit throwing. Reece defiantly got spoiled while being sick and thinks I am going to hold her all day. Not anymore, I have so much to catch up on now that she is better. She hasn't liked that very well. When Reece throws a fit she collapses like a frog and bangs her head on the floor. Its like one fluid motion, not a repeated head banging, just a collapse with a forehead to the floor. She did this at the pediatric clinic over the weekend, right off the scale and smacked her head pretty good. The funny thing is, it doesn't seem to faze her. We will be talking to Dr. Cohen about this on Wednesday.

6. Our dishwasher took a dump on Saturday. We have already replaced the part that went out once. To do it repeatedly would be the cost of a new one anyways so... the new one comes tomorrow.

7. 2 more payments and the check engine light came on.... luckily, my husband is a mechanic and knew exactly what to check and it was an easy fix.

8. Mommy had already been toying with the idea of celebrating the girls birthdays together and when she saw her cousin was doing the same thing with her boys, she knew she would do it too. Probably in early April. That way it saves everyone time, Mommy doesn't have to ask for so much time off work in a short period of time and it should be cost effective. When they are older and go to school we can go back to having parties, with their friends, individually. Now she just has to decide on a theme.... there have been some cute ideas out there lately.

9. Today is full of laundry and dishes (ol' school style!).

10. Has the pickiest eater. Cailey only likes certain things and will not try anything new. If she has never had it before she just looks at it and says she doesn't like it. She used to eat everything and this is so frustrating to only be able to give her some things. She will not eat rather than try something new.

Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

Because a lot of attention has been focused on Reece, with her being sick, after dinner tonight Mommy asked Cailey to bake cookies with her. She was so excited and wanted to do everything. She dumped in the ingredients, stirred, poured in the chocolate chips ( and snuck herself and daddy some) and put some dough on the cookie sheet to bake. She had fun and had to try out her creations when they came out of the oven.

excuse the wet-i just got out of the bath and didn't comb it- hair

Reece has something

and we aren't quite sure what that something is. After having a fever for a couple of days, the doctor wanted her seen so we had to make a trip to the pediatric weekend clinic. Mommy dropped Cailey off with Granny so Daddy could do some stuff around the house. At the clinic they thought she either had something wrong with her ears or her throat. After looking at her (she screamed the entire time, shes very anxious at the doctors) they thought she had strep throat. Mommy immediately felt bad because her doctor told her she had strep throat and she didn't believe him because she has NONE of the symptoms and is convinced its something with her ear and he didn't do any test at all. Anyways, they swabbed Reeces throat, while she screamed and gagged, and tested for strep and sent a culture away with results expected in 3 days. Good news, its NOT strep. The swab was negative for it and the doctor said she thinks its a viral throat infection. The bad news with that is that we can only control the fever with tylenol and wait for the virus to run its course because antibiotics don't work on a virus. She also said if we have problems controling it, to start the antibiotic prescription because it may be a bacteria and the culture will show that, just in 3 days. Luckily, after a llllloooonnng nap by Mommy and Reece, she is feeling 100% better and has just a very slight fever. We will continue the tylenol and follow up with her regular doctor on Monday.

Flashback Friday- Summers Past, Cailey

Summer 2007Summer 2008
Summer 2009
Summer 2010

Cheese!

I was playing with my camera today, taking pictures of the girls and trying to get Reece to say cheese and ACTUALLY look at me when I take her picture. Most of the time she just ignores anything I say (hello teenage years!). They were having a "book and juice party." They dumped every toy out of their buckets, overturned them, andwere sitting at the coffee table with the ABC books spread out. Once Reece heard her sister saying "Cheese" and laughing, she was not about to be outdone. The result is pretty darn cute.

An ouchie

Reece was at my mom's and they were getting out of the bath tub. Reece was carrying her towel, a favorite thing to do, and while I don't know exactly what happened, I know she fell. When she fell, she hit the door jam with the side of her face. Not exactly pretty, but she was ok. It will look pretty when she gets her 18 month pictures taken this weekend.... oh well, thats life and it is starting to go away in all the ugly shades of purple, yellow and green that bruises do.

Forest Falls

Mommy finally had a Saturday off where we had no previous plans to do anything. No parties, no prior commitments, nothing. We decided to take the girls up to forest falls to do the easy hike to the waterfall and let them play in the water. We went in the morning, before it got too hot. After a quick breakfast near home, we drove up to the parking area. The weather was perfect. About 68 degrees and we were one of the few people up there. The last time Daddy took the girls it was packed! This time it was nice to be able to go at our own pace and really explore with our girls. Cailey is a natural hiker and loves to climb and be all over. Reece did ok but tried to keep up with her sister and kept tripping over rocks. Mommy was playing with settings on her camera so excuse the extremes with the pictures. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning.