Rewind 1 Year...

This time last year:

Emmalie, at 2 1/2, was an energetic bundle of spit-fire!... funny how preschool seemed calm her down (at least a LITTLE BIT!).

Bethanie, at 6-months old, had already realized that her big sister doted on her (or came over to demand some of the attention... I'm not quite sure which one!).

Actually, Emmalie has always been a very caring and sharing big sister for the most part. So... I'm now going to share with you all one of my favorite video clips... taken this time last year. Who would've thought that a 2-yr-old could even remember most of the words, let alone an entire verse of this song? To this day, the girls & I will play this song and dance around (as Emmalie continues to sing and tought the remaining verses). Every time I see Emmalie do something really wonderful for Bethanie, I think of this. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do... :)

Next up: Baseball in 50-degree weather.... YEAH! We sometimes aren't the brightest crayons in the box, huh?! Until then...

Shelia

Snowed In...!

That's right... we were "snowed in" yesterday as a freak late March WINTER storm made its way across the area. Though it was very pretty to see, it totally screwed up our weekend plans. Dalton's first baseball tournament was just one casualty of the weather around these parts.


So... what do you do to keep a toddler and a preschooler entertained when stuck indoors for more than 24-hours? Well... let's see... We colored, sang, lounged, rearranged the girls' bedroom, sorted out the girls' outgrown clothes, taught Bethanie a few new words (like SNOW!), and helped teach Dalton how to fold & put away his clothes (Hint! Hint!). And then there was...

Pedicure time... 3 sets of matching purple toes:)

Photo fun with the girls:

Emmalie lounging about

Bethanie caught snacking by her Daddy

Bethanie being silly...

She's got a "stacking" vettish right now!

And my new hobby... Bow making!

The hairbows are just a little thing my mother taught me how to do a number of years back. They are fun to make and Emmalie just loves to pick out the ribbons, lace, etc. I have everything from baseball & football headbands to collegiate hair ties to cupcake, butterfly, and girly shimmering pink barretts. The whole thought came about because of my refusal to pay the $6.00-$10.00 per set that the stores are wanting, especially when I can make them for much less. So if you need some inexpensive yet stylin' hair accessories for your daughter(s) let me know!

That's it from our boring weekend in "snowed in" land:) I won't even begin to post the "I can't believe all three Big XII teams are out of the NCAA Tourney... and Louisville, too!" saga.

I've got video to post, but I'll plan on it later! Have a great start to your week.

20 Down....

Only 10 more to go...!

What am I talking about? Those pesky, unwanted extra pounds I've been carrying around for the past... oh, 3 1/2 years... YEAH! Since Emmalie was born, actually! I'm sure people are starting to think that I'm attached to them... but I really won't cry as the final pounds are shed:)

A little history here... I was down to an awesome Size 4 when Tony & I got married. I did fairly well about staying between the 4 and 6 until I got pregnant with Emmalie. I have never been so fat in my life! Just when I started to let loose of the extra weight I found out I was pregnant with Bethanie. So... even though I didn't gain an ounce with Bethanie, I still had/have weight to lose. After Bethanie & I got home I frantically started to check with all the local Pilates studios to see if they had the "mother-baby PiYo" that I had gotten into with Dalton (which is what put me into such good shape after he was born). Would you believe that NOBODY in this area even knew what I was talking about!? I was shocked and depressed... so I did the next best thing. I called my old instructor and had her help me out.

The result was PeeWee Pilates. It's a short postpartum workout session that allows new moms to work out with their babies. In fact, Bethanie still loves to work out with me and she rolled over and crawled early as what I believe is a result of doing these exercises. The best thing, it doesn't isolate C-Section moms because there are modified exercises specific to them as well!

Check a preview out at http://www.amazon.com/Pee-Wee-Pilates-Postpartum-Mother/dp/B000OV171Q

Now for the best news of all and attesting to the benefits... I bought new work-out clothes over the weekend... and the pants are a SMALL:) I haven't been able to do that in 4 years! Now I'm going to have to go to the gym to finish toning up and stay that way... it is such a good feeling to be over half-way there though.

Hope everyone is having a Happy Monday! Enjoy the cooler weather that is predicted to circulate this week... Next Up: A Game of NCAA Fun. Stay tuned!

Shelia

Happy SPRING...

This is our sickling... Bethanie.

She caught a stomach bug yesterday

and is soooo sad about it... SEE!

Really, Bethanie hasn't been able to keep food down for nearly 24-hrs now and we've talked to the doctor once already. This is the first true stomach bug she's ever had... and it seems worse than when the others had it because it has really aggrevated her reflux. Poor baby girl!

We are getting ready to move furniture around between Devin & Dalton's rooms today... well, at least Tony & the boys are:) I honestly don't know when they'll find time though --- between shooting hoops outside, playing the X-Box or Wii, watching "Bridge to Terabithia" & other movies with Emmalie and keeping up on both the NIT & NCAA basketball tourny games today... Wait, that's the same thing us girls are doing!

Speaking of playing hoops... the boys were out playing when I got home from work yesterday. I joined in (after all, I seem to think I was a GREAT basketball player "in the day"!). Yeah, right? I'm very rusty... but at least the boys got a good laugh out of the whole experience!

Devin shoots for the win...
(Notice our KU neighbors.. our cul-de-sac rocks!)

Dalton holding up the porch reading
a text message.

That is the latest from the ever exciting land of ladybugs & bulldogs. I'll close with a clip of the boys & Emmalie enjoying their official first Saturday morning of SPRING!

HAPPY SPRING, ya'll:)

Rewind 3 1/2 Years

As the majority of you already know, our Little Miss Emmalie had to be born early due to complications from oligohydramnios (the fancy term for low amniotic fluid). She was failing her tests and had a sustained heart rate in the 180's to 200's. Things were good right after Em was born... she nursed some and seemed to be fine; though her heart rate was staying "up there" a little. Then... her temperature dropped and her blood sugar check came back extremely low. Next thing we knew she was on her way up to the NICU area. It was such a scary and unexpected time. We spent the better part of Emmalie's first week of life with her in the NICU Special Care Unit. It was a cramped area that seemed to have a waiting list... because no bed was ever left empty. This was my first encounter into the realm of NICU and I quickly decided it was not my cup of tea.

Well, here we are 3 1/2 years later... Emmalie is a healthy, thriving preschooler. A far cry from the 4 1/2 lb baby girl we brought home from the hospital. Late last week I was given a private tour of the newly remodeled NICU Special Care Unit we called home for too many days. In her old "bed" space (or, more accurately put, in place of her bed + 2 others) was a huge private nursery room with space for visitors and, most importantly... Parents! Though it didn't look the same, the feelings in the air were still there. Such a strange feeling that you will never forget.

It is for this reason that I have taken on the duty of heading up our March of Dimes team at work. Many of us know what it's like to have a baby and then have to go home without him/her. You can help support the March of Dimes by sponsoring (see the "button" on the banner to the left).... Or, you can also click on the "button" and just join the 2-mile walk:)

God has blessed us with a girl that has grown up healthy thanks to the advancements in care and efforts of many wonderful people whom we encountered along the way. I pray for that same thing for others who have to experience a NICU.

Shelia

Let the MADNESS begin...

It's time for "March Madness"! Beings I am KU alum and we are all very avid college basketball fans... this time of year ROCKS at our house. Hope you all have started filling your brackets out!

Dalton & I prepared for the "big dance" by heading down to OKC to catch the semi-final games of the Big 12 Championship... which was very odd since KU had already been eliminated. Devin refused to join us because of the KU loss. Both the Texas-Baylor & the Missouri-OK State games were good. However, the OK State fans were worse than the Texas ones (which I never thought I'd say!). I've never heard such obscenity from so many people. I was sooooo glad that the girls weren't there to hear it. I was proud to see the great showing of my fellow KU fans.... who stuck around to see the rest of the games, despite the loss of their team in an earlier round. The crimson & blue was shining brightly amongst the sea of orange on Friday night! I'm also very happy that KU doesn't play Butler, Bradley or some other "B" team for the first game of the NCAA Tourny:) That would be brutal!

Dalton, Uncle Leroy & Uncle Bob swapped

Dad & I for our upper level seats the 2nd game...

Seeing the action close up was great, but

BOY WERE THE LOWER SEATS UNCOMFORTABLE!

Count it... 3 injured men on the floor.
Bet you didn't see this in the girls' games:)

Ephesians 6:14 reads... "Stand firm then..." Let's hope the KU big men keep this in mind under the basket to help them draw charges, not fouls! It would suck to have the defending national champs lose before they can make a run on the Sweet 16.

Enough basketball for now. May everyone have a wonderful start to their week... Spring Break is upon us. Enjoy it!

Oh, and ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!

One Upset Little Lady

Okay, I normally wouldn't do two back-to-back posts like this... but this evening has been so funny that I had to!

Emmalie has a new shirt (see photo below) that reads: "DRAMA is my middle name". She sure is living up to that by bringing her drama to the home front (refer to the video below). It made me laugh after a long day at work... Hope you all get a good little laugh out of it yourselves:)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Just FYI... Emmalie does this about once a week. She is such a true "Daddy's Girl". It makes my life tough sometimes dealing with her when she gets this way.

Happy Monday all...
Shelia

Baseball, Licenses, Promotions & Pictures

Where do I begin?

• Dalton started the multiple weekly practices for baseball this week... no more Sunday's only any more! Tournaments start in a couple of weeks too.
  
  
• Drivers BEWARE! Devin has his official driver's license... I couldn't use the "learner's permit only" cop-out any longer! But he's still only 16 and needs a little more time behind the wheel by himself, so no driving Dalton to practices just yet. We'll have to change the teen-parent driver's agreement to reflect that when the time comes, too. (Yes... these MEAN parents are doing that to the poor boy!).
  
  
• Bethanie has two new teeth as of this week... her top 1 yr molars. Were they ever a ***** for her to break in:) I didn't know whether to give her the Motrin for her teething pain, or take the Motrin myself for my headache from her screaming! Funny thing is... Bethanie now has eight teeth... but her two front teeth are the only ones she has on the bottom. I have never seen teeth come in like that before. But, then again, she is still sticking to her guns about not following THE crowd!
  
  
• Emmalie is gearing up to go to preschool full time! Yes, you heard right... she will be going five days a week here directly. (You'll have to read below as to why!). Em is actually very excited about spending every weekday with her best friends: Katie & Emory. Since starting the part-time preschool thing 8 weeks ago, Emmalie has learned to write many of her letters (caps only for now), learned her colors in English & Spanish, and picked up about 10 new songs to sing over, and over, and over again!
  
  
  

Okay, the biggest news from this rather busy & exciting week... Tony got a promotion. It actually came as a HUGE shock to us. Late last week he was approached about if he would be interested. Then, first thing Monday morning he was pulled aside, interviewed and it was done. So I now get the joy (or misery... I'm not sure which one yet:) of having my husband home every weekend and early every night. Tony works a Monday thru Friday schedule. He should even beat me home most days... so I'll never have to cook again! OH JOY! The only bad thing is that the girls are going to have to move to full time daycare as well. Maybe I'll have to cut back my hours sometime... at least when the girls start school.

It has actually been fun having Tony around more this weekend. Today was a great day out, so it gave us the opportunity to play around outside... and Tony again got to play with his new DSLR camera. That thing takes the absolute best pictures. (Well, unless it's pointed at me and captures the extra 20-lbs I need to lose REALLY BAD!). Really... it gets every strand of hair blowing around, every freckle, nose hairs... you name it! Here are some assorted pictures from the weekend fun...

Emmalie racing for the big ball


Emmalie... I love how her hair flaps in the wind!

Emmalie tries to be serious... sort of!

Bethanie: "Mom, I bet I can touch

my nose with my tongue. Watch!"

Bethanie playing at her learning kitchen

The girls playing ball with Daddy

Bethanie & her Daddy

The result of our "arts & crafts" fun today

The only other remotely exciting news on this end is that I did get to see my cousin's new baby boy today... Jesse has so much hair. Well, that is all the latest & greatest from the land where ladybugs are always "flying" around and bulldogs never sleep! Hope everyone has had a great weekend.

"I NEED Milk!"

Bethanie enjoying some fun in the sun.

(Whoo-hoo 80-degree day!)

One thing that I have learned as a parent of four... expect the unexpected. A couple of weekends ago, I heard a meek little voice saying "I need milk!". It was coming from the girls' room and I just assumed it was Emma. (She makes that statement at least two or three times a day... she is a milk-a-holic:). Emma swore that Bethie had said it. Yeah, right!

Then last weekend, I laid Bethie down for her afternoon nap and she looked up at me and said "I need milk!". My jaw hurt it fell open so far... but I was sure is was a one time deal. Well, this morning she said it again... I heard Bethie stirring and started to walk across the hall to her room and she stood in the middle of the crib with her arms up and said "I need milk!".

So.... I guess we can officially say that Bethanie has said her first word grouping... courtesy of her big sister's repeated requests for milk:)

"Daddy, the bubbles are chasing me!"

"Who's afraid of a little bubble?!"

It's been great weather the past couple of days (as you can see from the pictures). There has been a lot going on this week... I'll fill you all in later. I had a business trip way too early this morning and I'm exhausted already. Until then... best wishes for a great weekend from the land of ladybugs & bulldogs.

It's Potty Time! (Not to be confused with PARTY!)

It's been a rather eventful week around these parts... Where do I start?!

Bethanie has been showing us "signs" of possibly being ready to take the plunge towards the Mommy-dreaded potty training. She'll grab my pant legs and then lay down on the floor to try to tell me she needs changed... Soooo funny to watch:) So I went and got a new potty chair for her today and she took to it nicely. This is new for us because none of the other three even wanted to come close to potty training until 20-24 months. And.... they don't make Pull-Ups her size either! Guess Tony will be washing a lot of baby underwear pretty soon:)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Disclamer:0... It just dawned on me what an idiot I am! Please don't get the idea that we keep a potty chair in the living room and let our baby girl run around in diapers all the time! (Kamie, no comment here:) Bethanie was playing with her new potty chair, aka "toy", in the living room when all this transpired. It was too funny to stop & move her to the bathroom.

Emmalie hasn't cut her hair or colored on her bedroom wall lately... so she's having a stellar week:) The Middle School surprised us with another music concert since they had the time & opportunity... Whoo-Hoo! So he's been preparing for that... as I quietly prepare to embarrass him one final time (he'll be doing a Jazz dance number!).

That leads me to Devin. We've received phone calls/messages from four colleges this week. He wants to get a Bachelors Degree in Cinematography/Film and Productions (Arts). So... they are in LA, Chicago, New York, and Vancouver. Dev swears these are the best schools for his desired career path, but they are SO FAR AWAY. Maybe he'll get enough local scholarships that he can't make the move. After all, there are good colleges here too. He has a date with his ACT next month!

And I cannot forget Tony... he's been working soooo hard & putting in hour after hour of overtime lately. So I let him splurge on himself a little. He got the professional SLR digital camera he's been wanting (it's interchangeable with his 35mm). No more going to the studio for pictures of the kids! It takes great pictures...

Little Miss Emmalie

The ducks on the pond

That's the latest news from our wonderful world. May everyone have a good start to your week.

Shelia