Happiness

Maggie had an Easter party at preschool yesterday and of course, I forgot the camera. Just imagine cheese doodles, cheese cubes and crackers, bunny cupcakes and Spring m&m's and a bunch of children with juice boxes. Of course, there were treat bags (and I forgot our treats and have to take them tomorrow) and Maggie was allowed one piece of candy after nap.

The weather is supposed to be delightful starting tomorrow and going through the weekend, so I took the girls to the not-so supercenter to get Ellie a swing for the swingset. We'll be spending lots of time outside this holiday weekend. I wore her in the K'Tan and put the swing up and then I couldn't resist letting her try it out for a few minutes after lunch. She wasn't so sure at first, but then she loved it. She'll enjoy it even more when Maggie is on the swing next to her.

We haven't cloth diapered since Saturday because of a nasty diaper rash. Poor Ellie is teething (SIX teeth) and has been going to the bathroom A LOT. She's still pretty happy, but she puts everything in her mouth and likes to bite on anything or anyone around.

Big Daddy and I are hoping to visit a few new places this weekend. We are feeling a little desperate to find somewhat local places to go this summer. We need a new normal and we are missing our old hometown and wondering if anywhere will ever really feel like home again. I guess after nine years, Sanford grew on us!

Tomorrow is the preschool Easter parade and Egg Hunt and we have the Library Egg Hunt on Thursday, followed by Big Daddy's day off on Friday. We are hoping to be busy having fun all weekend long! And have I mentioned how crazy in love I am with Big Daddy right now? It must be the Spring air!!

My doctor's visit last Wednesday went well. The new doctor gave me two new medicines for my asthma and referred me to a podiatrist for my toenail fungus.On Monday, I'll be leaving the girls with my mom while I go to the doctor. Hopefully, I'll come back minus my problem.

Until next time...

Another Brad update: Brad has continued to respond appropriately to questions. The doctor's made the decision to put him back into a medically induced coma last night because he was breathing against the ventilator. This will allow them to control his breaths and it will keep him from getting upset. Please keep praying for him and his family. There are lots of fundraisers in the works because the family is going to need help with the medical expenses. This is day 28 of his hospital visit.

All About Easter

It seems like we are in full Easter mode around here! Maggie has a construction paper palm leaf (from Church) and is walking through the house, waving it in the air saying, "Hosanna, Hosanna!"...while wearing her new white sandals.

We're getting ready to do these fun story Easter eggs.

We have a preschool Easter party tomorrow and a parade and egg hunt on Wednesday.

On Thursday, we'll be going to the Library Easter Egg Hunt and playing at the park afterward.

Friday, Big Daddy is off of work and will be finished with his big exam so we'll be resting and playing and probably working a little too.





A Brad update: This week brought another (third) "failed" attempt by the doctors to remove Brad's life support. He is IMPROVING and has opened his eyes and nodded his head to respond to questions from his wife. Keep praying for him and his family. I think the doctors are calling it a miracle.

God Gave Me Girls

I feel a little like Steph, gushing over having a daughter.

When I thought my heart was full of Maggie...Ellie came along and my heart grew.

And now it holds two.

Even after all this time sometimes I cannot believe that I'm a mommy of two girls.

And that Ellie has 15 (!!!!) dresses for Spring and Summer. Be still my heart, because every single one was her sister's.

The dresses are just as cute (if not cuter) the second time around.

And Ellie doesn't need a single piece of clothing for Spring and Summer.

An Anniversary of Sorts

We're celebrating a little anniversary today.

How are we celebrating??

Ellie's eating a yummy organic teething biscuit (I may have had one too!) and Maggie went to the grocery store with Nana.

What are we celebrating??

Four years ago today, I took the final necessities out of the desk in my office and became unemployed...a Stay At Home (Expectant) Mom. Little did I know how much my life would change in a matter of weeks!

I spent those last few weeks of not having a baby outside of my belly, napping, shopping and spending time with my family. I think it goes without saying that I can barely even remember that life.




A Brad update: After a lot of discussion with the doctor's, Brad's family has decided to remove all of his life support today. They have continued to say that he would not want to live in the way that may be necessary. Please say a prayer for his mom, brother wife, son and daughter.

The Week Ahead

Our weekend was full of lots of outside time! We really enjoyed the first day of Spring!

Big Daddy and Maggie went outside and started doing yard work while I wore Ellie in the Baby K'Tan and swept, dust mopped and mopped ALL of the hardwood floors. We joined the others outside and about the time I got really busy with my project Ellie decided she was sleepy. She went down for a little nap and I managed to finish up before Big Daddy left for the gym. I fixed lunch for the girls, they napped and I stayed busy inside. After nap, we all went shopping and to eat at Panera.


(From Sunday)
The rain clouds were moving in, but we were able to play for a while.

Big Daddy & Baby Ellie.

An action shot of The Muffin.

On Sunday, we went to Church and tried to rest up from our busy Saturday. There was a trip to "Maggie's (future) Elementary School" for some play time after lunch. There have been lots of interesting things with Brad over the weekend. I have been keeping up with his Caring Bridge site, but heard some really amazing details of hospital happenings at Church last night. Prayers are being answered and things are happening that the doctor's cannot explain. Miraculous things.

Maggie had preschool today, so Ellie and I made a grocery store run. She was so sleepy when we arrived home, so she took a nap while I cleaned like a mad woman! My mom came over and we went to buy Maggie a new dress for Easter. I tried to pick out something that I liked, but also something that was bright (and gaudy) enough for her to like it too. I also bought her very first slip. She tried on the dress after school and approved.(!!!!!)

Wednesday will be a fun day. I'm taking Maggie shoe shopping after preschool. Pray for peace. I also have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday to get my toenail fungus checked out. The fungus medicine I've been using seems to be working, but there is a problem. Let's just say that I've got an issue and let it go at that. I need to get this taken care of so that I can wear toeless shoes this Spring and Summer.

I'm going to try and mow the yard so that Big Daddy can have an easier week. I haven't mowed in about two years, so I'm sort of excited. I also need to schedule a pine straw delivery (with my Daddy) and try to get somewhere to buy some exciting supplies for landscaping.

Do I lead an exciting life or what!?

The Weekend Ahead

Big Daddy and I took the girls out to eat last night and then bought more grass seed and fertilizer for the yard. Since it was such a pretty day, I decided to get a head start on our weekend work with both Maggie and Ellie in tow. (My parents are out of town or I probably would have asked my mom to come over to play outside with us.) We had been busy inside all morning, cleaning, playing, making messes and cleaning out closets, so we needed the fresh air.

We went for a little walk and then moved into the back yard to get started. I moved the playhouse to the patio and put Ellie in the house. (Thinking she would play inside of it) She crawled out immediately and sat on the edge of the patio and played with grass. And then sticks. And then a leaf blew over. Maggie brought the "scooter" and the red car for her to play with, but she just sat on the patio and rubbed the grass. She was content and Maggie was winging, singing and blowing her bike horn. (The horn that isn't on her bike and sounds like a goose is being tortured) Maggie wanted to play in the empty turtle sandbox and of course, Ellie did too. I moved the sandbox to the patio, filed it with balls and managed to get the bare spots of ground in the back all prepped for grass seed.

The patio now looks like an abandoned daycare center.

Baby Ellie was up each and every hour during the night last night and this morning there was finally a new tooth poking out ever so slightly. She has another one that should be in anytime and two more that should appear next week. I'd planned on putting grass seed out during nap time, (while listening to the baby monitor) but Ellie has already cried out four times in the 45 minutes she's been asleep, so I'm going to clean the hardwood floors in the kitchen...or something. I'm hoping she'll be able to rest a little better tonight.

Big Daddy and I have a full day of work ahead of us tomorrow. He seems to think that he'll have time to go to the gym and that we'll be going to Panera for dinner. I don't think we'll be finished in time for either one, but we'll see. He also has a project due for school next week, so the whole weekend will revolve around work of some sort.

I'm hoping that we can get a little closure on a few things that have been heavy on our minds the past couple of weeks. I'm ready to only think about the fun stuff that we can do this Spring and Summer and maybe plan a family beach trip. As always, your prayers for us would be appreciated.

Just a quick note...

We've had a crazy day! We managed to run errands and make it to Storytime and now the girls are napping before visiting Nana & Pawpaw's house.

I have a slight black eye from a little garage injury and a hurt wrist from too much yard work yesterday afternoon. Big Daddy and I have lots of work on the agenda for the weekend, so I'm hoping that I won't completely fall apart on him.

I just now had a chance to check on the CaringBridge journal for Brad. Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worse. If his oxygen level continues to drop, the doctor has suggested that he be removed from life support. Please be in prayer not only for Brad, but for his wife and his son and daughter. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to know that a decision like that may soon be placed in front of you.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I admit that I often talk about "holidays" a little too much. I think it's the former preschool teacher in me.

Maggie has known that St. Patrick's Day was coming up and had her outfit picked out for weeks. She put on her green tunic and wild printed pants this morning and then asked if I was staying at preschool with her since it was St. Patrick's Day. I told her that it wasn't a party day or anything like that and she kept saying, "but it is St. Patrick's Day". She is expecting something big to happen because I've talked about it and made sure that we all wore green today. She's going to be disappointed.

Brad (that I mentioned in yesterday's post) is improving! He is not out of the woods yet by any means, but this has to be such a positive sign for his family. There are "Prayer warrior" t-shirts being sold as a fundraiser and the Church has set up a special fund to help with medical expenses. Hopefully, he will continue to improve and be able to see his daughter graduate in a few months.

Catching Up

I've spent the morning catching up on blog reading while playing with or watching the girls play with each other. I'm going to spend most of naptime catching up on cleaning the hardwood floors. Big Daddy has an on-line class tonight, so after that we'll spend the evening catching up on everything that happened during the 38 hours (that's two naptimes, two lunches, two dinners, two bedtimes, two baths, two little girls that misseed their Big Daddy) we were apart. Maggie seems to be catching up on the 3+ years she has had to live without the awesome (expensive) flip flops that her Daddy bought her in the airport.

We had a nice afternoon on Saturday. Shopping (I only bought one pair of jeans) and eating at Panera and playing with Maggie & Ellie. They stayed up late because of the time change, so I was up late getting Big Daddy's things together for his trip. (I didn't know that I'd be just like my mom and do most of my husband's packing for him.)

Baby Ellie has started sleeping through the night. As in all night. As in 11 or 12 hours without waking up at all. I wake up feeling like I have a bit of a sleep hangover, but I'm willing to deal with that. It has been a little over four and a half years since I've slept through the night because of either being pregnant or having a child that wakes up. Thank You Jesus for sleep!

I managed to take Maggie & Ellie to Church two times by myself and I remembered how to use the computer check-in system! Church was great both times and both girls had lots of fun in their classes.

Shortly after I arrived at church, I noticed that there were lots of people wearing red and even a few "Wolfpack" shirts in the crowd. I thought that NC State (Big Daddy's alma mater) was in the ACC championship game (stop laughing Tara) for the whole service. I found out that night that a man who is a big State fan was in the hospital and that according to the doctor's it would have to be God that would heal him. People from church decided to wear red in honor of him and one of his family members took pictures of everyone in the service. He's in his early 40's and walked into the hospital with double pneumonia. Within 24 hours he was on life support and his family had received the horrible news that he would not make it unless there was a miracle. His name is Brad and I'd love for you to pray for him, his wife and his teenage son and daughter. The associate pastor said that at any given time there has been 75-100 people at the hospital just praying for him and loving on his family. All of this is just a reminder of how quickly things can change for all of us.

Yesterday was preschool day for Maggie and grocery day for Ellie and her mommy. I was pleasantly surprised to find Maggie on the swings yesterday when I picked her up. Every single time I have picked her up in the past she has been sitting on a climbing structure talking or playing with the other girls around. Her teacher also informed me that......she talked to her! This is really an answered prayer! I hope that she is finally starting to open up a little at school. I just hope that she doesn't open up too much and show them her temper!

And if you're wondering if Ellie received a little airport present, she will tonight (a Webkinz that Maggie will probably take). Big Daddy said that he was my present.

Pure Bliss

Big Daddy and I took the girls for a walk early this morning and it felt like Spring!! I'm getting ready to grab a book and sit on the back porch (listening to the neighbors put up the fence!!) without shoes and enjoy a little quiet time before Ellie wakes up from her nap and The Muffin returns from her workout at the gym with her Daddy.

We're going shopping (for me!) and to dinner at Panera tonight. I know. Panera. Again. As always. We just can't not go.

Big Daddy leaves tomorrow and I'm sure he's taking the laptop, so I may or may not have time to read blogs on Monday. Why does the desktop seem so far away when it's just upstairs!?!

I wanted to share a couple of links from the fabulous Steph at Adventures in Babywearing. There are some safety concerns regarding the safety of babies being carried in bag-type "slings". I don't think these bags should even be listed in the same category as a pouch or ring sling. Steph has a nice post on Real Moms Guide about the knew safety alerts. She also has a "perfect baby carrier" post that's nice for beginners or someone who thinks that they might be interested in babywearing. I LOVE Babywearing and think it would be a shame for it to get a bad reputation because of some people not using their own common sense.

Ready for Easter

I am getting ready to get ready for Easter.

I need to iron Ellie's Easter dress that was Maggie's first Easter dress. Yes, I'm going to iron it. I hardly ever iron.

Maggie needs new Church sandals and an Easter dress. Ellie will probably wait to get Church sandals after she starts walking unless I find a pair that I can't resist.

I plan on making Resurrection Biscuits and hiding eggs. I'm anxious to see what the Church that we attend does for an Easter celebration for the kids. We really love this Church, but I still could just sit down and cry because my heart so misses our old Church.

I'm going to try and do a better job of planning activities for Maggie and I'm starting with Easter. I'm going to start using this site to get some faith-based ideas. She has preschool two days and then Library (with an art activity)one day, so she really enjoys her free time to create. She also loves anything arts-y, so I should do better at planning.

My allergy issues are better today, but I had a horrible migraine yesterday evening. Big Daddy gave me a massage and I took lots of pills, so I'm feeling better today. I'm hoping for a great weekend!

It must be almost Spring

I have decided that my Spring allergies have made an early appearance. My eyes are red, swollen and watering and my nose is red and watering. I have had the feeling that I was getting a cold and then I read Big Mama's latest post and she said something about Springtime colds relating to allergies and I decided I just have allergies. Combine that with my asthma and I feel like I have a really bad cold. Either way, it's not good. And I have a headache.

I explained to The Muffin that I still felt bad today and that we'd take a little break from Storytime because there's not a mom or grandmother that wants me in Storytime with runny nose and eyes and sneezing and wheezing. She explained that she "really wanted to do Storytime art and get new books and movies" and that if I'd "take a deep breath I would feel better". I tried it and it just made me cough.

Last night, I made the mistake of suggesting that we try on a few Spring/Summer clothes from last year and I think we might have found the outfit of the season. The skort is gift for last year's birthday from Ms. A and the shirt was $1 this year at the not-so supercenter. The shirt is "my favorite" and the skort "doesn't hurt my private area at all", The Muffin said. She also said that "making pictures with glue would make Jesus happy and smiley".How long do you think it will be before she wears this outfit out in public??

I also would like to add a little PRAISE! Big Daddy and I measured for a privacy fence on Sunday while we were outside playing and had decided to price all of the supplies and talk to someone about putting it up for us. Needless to say, we knew it was going to cost more than we wanted to spend and we had other things that we'd rather spend the money on. On Tuesday, I was outside with the girls when our neighbor came over to ask if we minded if he put up a privacy fence this weekend. I thought about hugging him, but I didn't. They didn't want their dog to bother the people on either side of them and we really didn't want our daughter's bothering the house that borders us. I love to save money!

What day is it??

This has been one. more. week. And it's only Wednesday!

Monday, Maggie had a "field trip" to a bouncing place. She had a blast! My mom kept Baby Ellie so that I could stay with Maggs the whole time. Our little Doodle doesn't always like to bounce, so I wanted to make sure that she wanted to be there. She didn't want to leave! She had a great time!!The Muffin likes her pants pulled up really far and they kept sliding down while she was bouncing!!

I was having some issues with a pinched nerve (Big Daddy diagnosed me a while back- not because he's a dror anything) and was either in pain or very uncomfortable for most of the day. We were so busy after our field trip. Maggie and I went to the grocery store and picked up Ellie, had lunch, skipped nap and then came home in time to do a few chores, have dinner and go to another grocery store in preparation for my dad's birthday celebration.

Yesterday, we went to the not-so supercenter, played outside and prepped for the party. After everyone left around 8:00, I put Ellie to bed, washed dishes, put Maggie to bed, made pancakes so that they'd be ready this morning, folded those three loads of laundry that I'd been ignoring, took a shower and went to bed. I was asleep fr maybe thirty minutes when Ellie started waking up. Her mouth was the obvious resaon, but Ora.jel didn't do the trick. She was up several times during the night.No matter what, Maggie always sneaks in a silly face!

Ellie loves the car that used to be Maggie's and that was Audrey's before that!

I woke up today with a full blown cold and a headache from the restless night. Maggie had another "field trip" to paint pottery. My mom kept Ellie again and I watched Maggie paint an egg and then we were out of there. I'll just leave the rest of that story out because I don't want to relive it.

Someone pays lots of attention to details!

Anyway...I feel like I need a vacation, but there's not one in sight!!

Big Daddy has an employment-related trip this weekend, so I'll have some single parent time. Just what I need!! Maggie doesn't want her daddy to go away and I keep hearing "leaving on a jet plane" in my head. She has completely forgotten what it was like when his job was 25% travel and he was out of town at least one night a week. We contemplated making it a family trip, but the thought of being on an airplane with our two girls quickly put a stop to that and then we thought of driving, but that would have extended the trip because of the drive time. Big Daddy suggested that we leave the kids with my mom, but I just am not at the point where I can ask anyone to do that. We've never left Ellie and Maggie has forgotten the joy of having sleepovers at Nana & Pawpaw's. She immediately goes into the story of how she cried and missed me and her daddy and Ellie when we were at the hospital. I'm completely confident in my abilities as a mommy and I can handle being without Big Daddy...I just don't want to. There's something about knowing that he's on his way home from work while I'm trying to clean the kitchen after dinner or sitting on the couch or doing homework in the bonus room while I'm giving the girls a bath or putting them to bed is comforting.

I'm hoping for the rest of the week to be nice, quiet and pain and drama-free. I'll keep you updated!

And on Tuesday They Played and Played and Played

The weather is great today, so we went to the not-so supercenter and then had a picnic (our first of the year) and played outside for about an hour and a half. I had so many other things to do so that we'll be ready for my dad's birthday celebration, but we played. I decided that my dad will probably show up in his pajamas (because they are comfy and he only lives 2 miles away) and we'll all just make a mess anyway.

Ellie crawled up and down the driveway and rode on her sister's old "scooter". Maggie rode her bike, painted a castle on the driveway and went really high on the swing.
We came in and the girls went down for their naps and I still managed to get all of my housework finished...except for the three loads of laundry on my bed that I need to fold.

Monday, Monday

We had a seriously bad morning, a seriously fun field trip and a seriously busy afternoon and evening.

I haven't even read a blog today. I know everything will still be around in the morning, but /i so enjoy reading my favorite blogs everyday.

I have lots of cleaning and party-planning to do tomorrow. We're (me, Maggie & Ellie because Big Daddy will be late) hosting a birthday dinner for my dad tomorrow evening. Thank goodness I don't have to bake a cake!

Good news, The Muffin sang like an angel at church on Sunday night and Big Daddy and I were so proud!

Happy Monday!

Baby Ellie You Are 9 Months Old

Baby Ellie you are 9 months old!!
You weigh 19 pounds and 2 ounces and you are 28 inches tall!You crawl, stand alone for short periods, pull up on everything and are an absolute mess!! YOu pulled the kitchen trash can over three times yesterday!!
You love to go out to eat, especially at P.anera!

You love taking baths with your sister and playing in her room.
You also like to tickle her and play with her hair.

I love the way you smile when you're purposely being cute and the way you do sign language. I like to hear you say "ma-ma" and to see how excited you get when Daddy comes home and how you squeal and yell "da-da". We love to watch you clap when we say "YAY!!".
You stand up in your bed at nap time and you can't go to sleep until your legs get tired. I hope that you're not as strong-willed as your sister.

Baby Ellie, we adore you and are so happy to have you as the final piece of our family. You complete us...definitely, for sure.

Is it Friday yet??

I'm not one to wish for Friday, but yesterday I was SO thankful that the weekend was almost here!!

After Baby Ellie was diagnosed with double ear infection on Wednesday, I was amazed that she was so happy. "Bubba" (my nephew, Braxton) came by on Wednesday while we were having dinner and Ellie flirted shamelessly with him. She smiled her BIG smile and looked at him the entire time. I was able to get a short video of her smiling and doing a fake laugh while loking at him with love in her eyes. We thought that my dad was her favorite person, (other than her Mommy) but now I'm not so sure!

The smiles lasted until bedtime. Ellie was asleep by 8:15 and started waking up at 11:00...every single hour until 6am when Little Miss Sunshine Maggie came into my room all full of happiness. One of the many times that I was up during the night with Ellie, I realized that Maggie had made door hangers for all of the bedrooms. "Jesus" was written on them at church and she added the "I Love You" part. I asked why she put them on all the doors and she said, "Because I love Jesus".

I spent the first couple of hours after our early breakfast cleaning up puke. It seems that Ellie's antibiotic makes her throw up...and crawl through it. It was just as pleasant as it sounds, I assure you. She crawls right to her sister's room or to the stairs ALL THE TIME. Even if it's dark in that part of the house. She's fearless. We're going to put up a fixed gate this weekend so that she'll be confined to the main part of the house.

After I thought the puke-fest was over, I got Ellie all dressed for Storytime at the Library. I was fixing Maggie's hair in a "different braid", a.k.a. a braided headband (THE hairstyle of the moment in our house), when Ellie pulled a table over on herself. I had just completed a perfect braided headband and was about to secure it, when that happened. Maggie and I fixed her hair again and then she wanted to pose for a few pictures.I finally put my clothes on and was putting on Ellie's shoes when she threw up all over both of us. I may or may not have cried a little at this point. Anyway, we left the garage with just enough time to get to Storytime before it started. The new house two houses away from us is about to close, so they were delivering appliances and the L.owe's truck had the entire street blocked. I realize that there were only two houses that could have possibly been impacted by the street being blocked, but of course, I was one of those houses. I was trying not to cry or shoot at the truck when the delivery guy slowly walked to the truck and moved it out of my way. We arrived at Storytime just as it was about o begin.

Storytime was uneventful and very enjoyable. We were back home at 11:30, so I started fixing lunch as soon as we were settled. I was cutting Maggie's chicken (in a mushroom sauce) when the ENTIRE plate fell into the floor. There was chicken, mushroom sauce, asparagus and brown rice EVERYWHERE. I cried, Maggie consoled me and we had a nice lunch.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful or as uneventful as it could be with Maggie, Ellie and their crazy antics. Ellie cried a lot because of her teeth and ear issues and Maggie coughed and coughed. I had a horrible headache and might have continued to wear a pair of black yoga pants (after my jeans were covered in food from the spill) even after Ellie had rubbed spit up and snot on them. Needless to say, Big Daddy never noticed!

As for today, Ellie has cried a lot and is now taking a nap. Maggie has been great and is watching a B.arbie movie from the Library. I'm getting ready to get my black yoga pants out of the dryer and plan on being dressed by the time my mom comes over around 10:30 to help me with a couple of projects.

Hopefully, the kids will be less snotty and cough-y and we'll be able to go to P.anera for dinner tomorrow. The Muffin is singing at church on Sunday night, so we're excited about that.

Big Daddy has a couple of BIG decisions to make, so Maggie and I are praying for him and hoping that he makes the best decision. No matter what we have lots to think about and consider and these decisions would impact our family a whole lot. I'd appreciate it if you'd say a little prayer for me and Big Daddy today.

Surprise, Surprise

We received around three inches of snow yesterday and overnight. This is how it all started around lunch on Tuesday.

Maggie wanted to touch the snow, so she went out on the patio and then she made this face.I insisted that we take another picture without the cross-eyed face and got this.
Then, she decided to get her coat and catch a few snowflakes on her tongue.

She wanted to take full advantage of being "snowed in" and decided to stay in her pajamas all day. She also pulled out a pair of flip flops to keep her feet "toasty".

I decided to check on-line around 5:30 this morning to see if Muff's preschool would be open for today. Of course, it was not. Both girls were awake around 6:30 and we were eating breakfast by 7:00. We weren't able to take advantage of our snow day because Ellie had an appointment for her nine month check-up. And we also had an "appointment" with H.obby Lobby!

You may remember that I accidentally took Ellie for an eight month check up that was supposed to be a nine month checkup, but had her ears checked anyway because of her fussiness. They were clear and after talking with the doctor we were pretty sure that her fussiness was because of her to four teeth that are trying to come in.

Shortly after that appointment I decided to really try sleep training and night-weaning and I had great success! I think we had at least seven wonderful nights where I had many consecutive hours of sleep. A couple of weeks ago, the frequent waking and almost constant fussiness was back along with a runny nose I attributed it to teething and having a little cold since Ellie wasn't running a fever. I try not to always think that something is wrong because I know that babies fuss. Sometimes I should trust my instincts.

Baby Ellie has a double ear infection.

The doctor thinks that it's probably teething and a runny nose that's causing her ears not to drain properly. This is the same problem that The Muffin had at around 10 months old and her ear infections never healed until she had tubes pit in at 15 months old. We are really hoping that the antibiotic takes care of the infection and that everything will go normal with her little ears from here on out. Ellie enjoyed taking her antibiotic and antihistamine after lunch.

Of course, Muff decided to cough like crazy while we were at the office. The doctor checked her throat and it was very red. They did a strep test (which was negative!) and gave her a sample of cough syrup. Muff took the cough syrup and made the declaration that she was "never ever taking that medicine again". She was a little surprised that the doctor checked her out and kept saying, "I didn't even know I was going for a check-up!".

We visited at H.obby Lobby to see if they had any of the things that I need while our prescriptions were being filled. I'm still looking for just the right things to hang in both Maggie and Ellie's rooms and I have a little Easter project that I needed to buy for. (More on that later.) Our trip was a partial success. I found the materials that I needed for my Easter project, a rug for the foyer (66% off!) and Maggie found some glitter-y Easter eggs for her and Ellie.

Oh...I almost forgot the biggest surprise...The Bachelor. I was glued to the tv and so happy to have the living room all to myself!

Before & After

I'm feeling a little moody today (again) so I decided to post a couple of pictures in lieu of a post about all of the things that make me feel so moody.

Before bath- wearing a Bumgenius 3.0 diaper (in Blossom) and Babylegs.

After bath- wearing Maggie's old Winnie the Pooh towel and a sweet smile for Mommy.

(It just so happens that this is my favorite shirt, in case you notice that I'm always wearing it.)

Wasn't that better than a post full of complaints??