new

I love new things. Especially my new design! My sweet friend, Lindsay, did it again and didn't disappoint. Don't you love it! You can check out all her other designs here.

Oh and add me to your follow list. If you are a blogger and don't know what this is you need to find out! It's how I stay up-to-date on all my blogs by just following people from my Dashboard page. Anyway, so add me to your list to follow and you will know when I updated and you wont have to come back to check. You will love it just as much as I do!

Thanks again Lindsay! love ya!

videos!

Grace has been able to count to 10 for months now, but we have been working on counting to 20. So far we are to 13. Sometimes she will go from 13 straight to 20... its a work in progress. :)

(She got a little confused when I pointed to a new row and wanted to start over. )

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Emma is little miss busy lately. The other day I caught her playing with the toliet paper. This reminds me so much of when Grace found the tissues! (Wow does Emma look like Grace did!)

projects

I've been busy working on a couple projects.

First is a bow holder for all the bows we have. We love bows. And since I've had all of Grace's bows just hanging on some ribbon for a year I decided to make a little bow holder. I didn't want one of the ones with their initials since I have 2 girls and I keep their bows in a bathroom that they both share. I got the little plaque at the dollar store and then used ribbon I already had... cheap project!!

Up close

Look it matches the polka dots in the shower curtain!

I also decide that our kitchen table needed a face lift. This is a table that my aunt and uncle gave to me when I was a sophomore in college. They had it for about 20 years and I have used it for about 10. And I just really don't want to spend our extra money on a new kitchen table so I decided to paint it black. Totally different, but I really like it.

Before (I had started to sand it when I remembered I needed to take a before pic)

After (well sort of... still in my garage waiting for me to Polyurethane it and push it back together)

I actually think the after picture doesn't give it justice b/c it really is pretty... so I'll post another picture once its back in my kitchen nook.

She qualified

Grace finally had her FIE (Full and Individual Evaluation) this morning. It went well and she definitely qualified for services.

They basically just gave me a summary, and a lot of what she said was in a foreign language (not really... just in speech therapist talk.). I'll receive a formal report of her evaluation in a week or so and then we will have a big meeting to discuss goals, treatment, etc. What I did understand is the main issue is with Grace's articulation... the way she says words. Which wasn't anything new... since she has been working with ECI for the past 4 months.

They are recommending that she goes to speech therapy at a nearby Elementary School twice a week for 1 hour and 45 minutes each time. Honestly, I think it will really be good for her. She LOVES all the fun games they play and was already mimicking the teacher this morning.

Although, it was a little difficult to hear. Who wants to hear that their child failed. But the way I'm trying to look at it is that she just needs a little extra help and by Kindergarten she will hopefully graduate from the program or at the most just be pulled out for a little bit each week.
If anything this will just better prepare her for school and give us tools at home to communicate better with her.

Thanks for your support everyone! We know there could be MUCH worse things to have to worry about and are thankful that our little bump in the road is a small one.

two peas in a pod

I love it. Having two girls is so much fun.

Emma is really into ANYTHING her sister is into. So yesterday morning when I was trying to get ready I saw them both playing nicely with Grace's doll house.

Busy playing

Sharing (this was totally not planned... just looks like Grace gets the Big Sister of the Year award!)

Giving hugs. Grace said "I love my sister" when she was hugging her. Awwww....... just enough to make my heart melt!

scarf anyone?

Okay so if you have been watching The Bachelor or really if you just go to the store you might see these cute women wearing scarfs. Cute, but not for me I thought.

If you know me you know that I'm normally wearing jeans from Gap, a t-shirt from Target and my sneakers. Maybe add the sweatshirt that I wore the day before too. :) I guess typical mom gear. Well now that I'm finally back to size I like I want new clothes. But if you know me you also know that I'm cheap.

So yesterday I ventured off to Belk to buy a new Crock-Pot that was on sale. Long story short they were out of them, and since I was childless I thought I would browse through the women's department. I didn't find anything so I headed to the juniors department. I know I'm 29, but some of the items in the junior department are cute. I brought 6 or so tops to try on and only ended up buying one. One that came with a scarf. I know its like pants that come with a belt. But it was cute and on sale with my 20% off coupon for $15 bucks.

But then I came home and couldn't figure out when I was suppose to wear the scarf... I mean in what kind of weather. Since the shirt was short-sleeve and yellow I thought it was more Springish, but the scarf was clearly more wintery. So I called my friend, Hailey, and she told me I could wear it in mild weather anytime. Just throw a light jacket with it. Cool I though! I'm going to be in style... a first for me!

Anyway, I came home tried the shirt on again and couldn't figure out how to tie the darn thing. Well this morning I started to look and it was like the blogging mamas out there heard me. Here are two videos that you have to check out. HERE and HERE!

Here is a picture of me (in jeans from Gap and t-shirt from Target with my new scarf. I decided the yellow shirt needs to wait until its a little warmer... or just not January.)
Not a fabulous picture since I took it of myself in my bathroom with no flash. OH and I had not showered yet and I still had my makeup on from the night before. Oh well, you get the idea :)

a glimpse

When you are a parent most of the time days just float past you, turning into weeks and months. Time is gauged upon things like x amount of months since they have been walking and x amount time till their next birthday.

Those 9 months that you are pregnant time stands still. It seems to last forever... at least for me it did ... probably because I felt terrible most of the time. But then the baby is born and time races. You blink and your baby is a walking/talking little girl.

But lately I've been getting this little glimpses of Grace (and Emma too, but mainly Grace) as an older child, a teenager (talk about attitude!), and even as an adult (a mother). Just little things that she does. The way she is to her sister (she really is a fabulous big sister!), the way she wants her finger and toenails painted like mommy, or the way she taps her finger to her head and says "think, think, think" when we play the game Memory.

Not really sure the point of the post. But its weird to think that my little baby will one day be older. Until then I'll try to slow down and just enjoy her being little. For now, I'll keep the glimpses of her in the future. And maybe one day I'll be able to share with her all the stories I'm saving up. Today she is my sweet little 35 month old girl. And in a blink she will be THREE.

work

Sometimes Adam works from home. Sometimes its once a week and sometimes it ends up being once a month. But the days he is home we love it.

But I'm afraid he doesn't get as much done... can't imagine why?!

I think he is going to work at the office tomorrow :(

a little late

Well yesterday my sweet sister-in-law told my hubbie that she was mad at me. Why I asked?

Because I had not updated my blog in 8 days! :)

Sorry Christee. I guess its just been busy.

But I have lots to talk about so here goes... 2009 so far....

The week of New Years was a busy fun one.

(Yes my daughters hand is in the puppy's mouth!)

So after a nice Christmas at home we headed to East Texas to celebrate with Adam's family. We had a blast. We just watched movies, played with my brother-in-laws puppy (a goldendoodle!), hung out, shot arrows!, ate a lot and we went to the zoo.

A great zoo.

The girls and their cousins at the zoo.

Emma (10 months), Kaitlynn (13), Grace (almost 3!), Kaleb (4), Kameron (7)The zoo was perfect toddler size and only took us about 2 hours to see everything.

Oh and they had this White Tiger that was evening posing for pictures. How cool is that! (The tiger is behind a glass wall, but its hard to tell in the picture!)

We got home New Years Eve and headed to a neighbors house for a fun night with the kids. We really love all our neighbors and totally feel like we hit the jackpot with our neighborhood... everyone is young and has young kids and are all so fun. We look forward to many years of fun here!

Riley and Emma

All the girls - Carol, Kristal, Amanda, me, Marann, & Carey

New Years day my best friend, Hailey and her family came to visit! YEAH! We went to a bounce house place with the girls, did a little shopping, and my mom even came over and watched all FOUR girls so we could go out to eat and enjoy some adult time! (We actually put the little girls down for bed before we left so she just had to play with Molly and Grace for about an hour before putting them to bed.) This is the night I also left my camera in Hailey's purse. I was carrying my itty bitty I have no children with me wrist purse (that basically just holds my cell phone and my keys), so Hailey carried my camera... well it stayed in her bag all that night and made its way to Little Rock, AR. Thankfully the mail man delivered it to my house this past weekend!

Molly & Grace

Anyway, after a couple days they had to head home. I miss them so much and wish they lived closer. So hard to see them go especially since our girls are so close in age!

Avery & Emma

So I still have more to update, but that is all I got for now :)

10 months

Well we made it to 2009. In 2 short months you turn one year!
My little Emmy.... you have become such a big girl this past month.

*You are chatting all the time. You can now say "dada" and "mama" and you also say a couple other things, but I'm not sure they are actual words yet... just sounds. We're working on it though.

*You have learned to point. I'm convinced you are just getting ready to tell everyone that you are 1!

*You also learned about eyes... by poking mommy's eyes! You think its a really funny game.

*You are still crawling like crazy. You aren't really showing signs of wanting to walk on your own, but love to push around walkers and cruise around furniture.

*You have also discovered the stairs. The gate is normally closed, but usually once a day I let you crawl up the stairs with me right behind you.

*You are a pro with the sippy cup now... just drinking juice/water in it. I might even try whole milk in it sometime next month to get ready for weaning.

*You are doing a couple signs. You have "more" and "all done" down pretty well. Grace LOVES working on signs with you... she gets really into it.

*OH and we moved you to your big girl car seat. You look so tiny in it, but you seem to love being higher up so you can see everything. Now I can't wait to turn you around so you can see mommy!

That's all until next month! We love you sweet girl!

She's mine...

Emma said "mama"! Woo Hoo!!

She is also saying "na"... but I think its her trying to say "no"! Talking back already!