Eva's birthday card shots....

Here is a recent pic of Eva, shot while I was taking pics for her 1st birthday invite.... she's just sooooo CUTE! I had several little dresses that I was having her wear, but somehow in the middle of everything she put the hat on w/ out a dress. I figured I'd better get shots while she was actually wearing it - and I think they turned out GREAT! I just hope she doesn't look back at her pics some day and say "Mom did you ever put me in clothing???"

A snake in my bed...

Not sure what is prompting it but this morning Grace woke up & came running into our room saying there was "a snake in her bed - she touched it!" I went to her room & looked in her bed, not exactly sure why, since I didn't expect to find a snake there, but I couldn't convince her of that... I asked Matt what he wanted me to do, & he must have been too sleepy b/c he said "was there one?" I thought, "duh, no...." but it was 4:00 a.m.

I think her imagination works over time b/c she also has two friends that she talks about ALL the time "Zeda & Kyda" - we don't know anyone by this name & as far as I know they aren't cartoon characters. Matt hates it when she talks about imaginary friends... I remember having imaginary friends, but when she starts talking about them I can tell he's wondering if we should do an exorcism!

Eva's still sick...

Eva's still sick... I just can't believe she's not better yet! Ugh! Its getting to be sooooo frustrating, I feel so bad for her. Tuesday evening I had to get my nails done & Nanni was going to watch Eva while Grace went w/ me. Well Grace said, "Hey Mommy I got a good idea... will you do me a favor?" so I was like, "What is it sweetie?" Grace said, "You'll pick me and drop me at Gram's house while you get your nails done". So even though it wasn't super convenient to drive all the way out there I couldn't say no.... Grace had a great time. But poor Eva was dying for her Mommy to get home. Just very fussy - which isn't her at all.... makes me sad.

Then Wednesday morning I asked Poppy if she could play in his room while I dried my hair (if not Eva's opening cabinets & making me worried that she's going to smash her finger) - she cried & clung to me, which is crazy she's generally dying to go see Poppy! Knowing this just wasn't her norm & she still has the cough... I called the doctors office - we went for a 4:00 p.m. apt w/ Celia. She said her ears are still bad - the chest is better, but still congested... she changed the antibiotics, gave us a script for more breathing treatments & some samples of Zyrtec for allergies. Poor Eva has had so many meds over the last few weeks that her good nature about taking them has come to an end - she now hates taking medicine, & this antibiotic is 6 mL twice a day - YUCK! But if this doesn't help her ears, the next step is a series of shots - 2 shots a day for 3 days - that will BREAK my heart! So I'm hoping & praying this helps her.... poor baby.

A modeling gig....

4/6/08: Grace is doing some hat modeling for Stana - the owner of Lovely Knits, based out of California (http://www.lovelyknits.com/eshop/) she has the cutest hats! I'd actually ordered a hat for both Grace & Eva before Christmas, the girls loved them so much I sent her a pic - which then brought about Gracie modeling for her (don't feel left out Eva, she's making hats for you too!). Grace loved doing it & she's such a HAM & so beautiful behind the camera I figured why not. Plus Grace gets some great hats out of the gig.

Eva's lingering cough...

Eva started having a bark like cough on the 18/19th of March, so on the 20th she was in at the doctors... they gave her a steriod shot w/ an antibiotic & a steriod to take at home for the cough & her ears. Mid way through she seemd to be getting better but then it was like she peaked & started regressing - so by Sunday the 30th when she was taking her last dose of the antibiotic we were wondering, "why is she not better???"

I called the doctors office & they put her on another dose of the antibiotic - which she took all week, but its Friday & still no improvement - in fact she might be a little worse. So I again called the doctors office, & took her in for an appointment today at 2:00 p.m. Dr. Paula didn't have an opening so we saw Celia - we had to wait forever, but I guess when they work you in that's what happens... which worked out okay b/c Celia was GREAT!

Eva had to go for a chest x-ray - which she did not like, surprise surprise, right? We left the appointment w/ two antibiotics - 1) for her ears and 2) for her chest... Celia said she heard a crackle, the x-ray didn't show anything but often walking pneumonia doesn't so she is to take both antibiotics plus do the breathing treatments as needed. By Monday we should see an improvement - we hope! I'm hoping that tonight she sleeps better b/c bless her heart the last week - or even longer b/c she's been fighting this cough stuff for about 2 weeks she just hasn't slept well (and neither have I!) - so needless to say I hope this helps. AND we're crossing our fingers that she's not going to follow in Rob's footsteps w/ asthma - yuck! Even w/ the cough, she's just so darn cute...

OH and she HATED doing the breathing treatments, screamed nearly the entire time, but like Jess said, screaming just means she's really breathing it in deeply. But boy does it break my heart. Well off for now;-)

A day at Ella's...

Today Grace & Eva went to Jess's & spent the day playing w/ Ella, while Mommy was at work & Brenda was on vacation. I was soooooo worried that Eva would give Jess a hard time - not taking a bottle, etc... but then I hear that my girls weren't the problem (hint - there was a problem!), it was little bitty angelic Ella! Go figure!

Cracked me up hearing Jess recount the day - apparently anything Grace had Ella wanted, even when Grace would figure out oh Ella wants what I have & willingly give it to her - Ella then didn't want it. For me the comical high point, was when Grace had one chair & Ella had the other. Apparently (even though the chairs are identical) Ella wanted the chair Grace had & got so mad she threw her chair across the living room! Grace (not knowing Ella wanted her chair, or understanding why she was so mad) looked at Ella & said w/ a serious face, "what, you didn't like that chair?" CRACKS ME UP!!! I have a hard time typing it w/out feeling sarcasm, but there apparently wasn't a hint of sarcasm there, which makes it even funnier:-) Apparently, Jess told Ella she'd better be nice to Grace or Grace wouldn't want to come back - which might have worked, except Grace interrupted her & said, "I'll come back :-)" - way to play hard ball, huh?

When I asked Grace how her day was she said, "Ella was grumpy" but it must not have affected her day b/c when it was time to go home she cried not wanting to leave. So maybe we'll have another play date in the near future - we'll just have to ensure the chairs are light weight!

A day at the zoo

Whew! I thought I would have more time to blog - but every free moment seems to almost evaporate! But I really want to work hard at trying to document some of those extra special moments w/ the girls:-) Yesterday (3/31/08) we went to the zoo w/ Jess & Ella - the girls had a blast! The weather wasn't great, warm for March - almost 60 degrees and we managed to go between rain showers, luckily we never got wet! Grace & Ella had fun running freely all over the place & I didn't feel like I had to worry b/c there weren't many people there.

Eva spent the whole time riding in the sling w/ me - this was the first time she'd been where she really took an interest in the animals, she loved the dolphin show, and loved following the fish in the big aquariums. When we left we went through the gift shop, Grace handed Eva a stuffed elephant... I thought she might just look at it, etc... but apparently she quickly became attached! I went to put him back & Eva squealed at me, there was no way she was letting me put it back... not to mention his entire trunk was all wet:-) So Eva got her first toy from the zoo. Grace was cute - she said, "but what about Gracie? what is she getting?" I explained that Grace got a stuffed animal on her first trip to the zoo when she was Eva's age PLUS she just had a birthday! She seemed to accept this w/ out being upset - I was proud of her.

When Daddy got home from work, he asked how the zoo was & Grace told him all about it. I told Grace, "tell Daddy how the pigs go" and she would say "oink oink", how the horse goes, "nay, nay", we continued until I said, "how does the penguin go?" She looked at me briefly and then stiffened her arms and legs & waddle walked! It was so FUNNY! Matt thought she was so cute, he'd start asking her how animals that I don't even know what noise they make go... like "how does the giraffe go?", Grace would quietly STRETCH her neck! Makes me laugh right now typing it!

Its just crazy how fast they grow-up, I'm trying to make a real effort to document these special moments. When the girls are grown up, I want them to be able to look back & laugh at how silly they were! To always know how much I LOVE them, and hopefully when they have children of their own, read my stories & tell their little ones, "you were just like me!"