Unwinding

Each night when we come home we all have a different way we unwind from the day. If not sure if Grace needs to unwind, because she just proceeds to crawl around and play with her musical toys. But Abby does need to unwind. Every night she spends 15-20 minutes sitting at her little desk coloring a picture or drawing something. Every night. She doesn't talk too much and loves to share her picture when she's done. Then she wants to watch Wheel of Fortune and snuggle with me before heading to bed. It's hard work being in school all day long.

This, that and a little sickness thrown in

Whew! It's been a week in our home.

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately, but sickness has wrecked havoc on our family. Last weekend I was in urgent care for a sinus infection, an ear infection and strep throat. I got a prescription for a 5 day cycle of meds. I felt better by Tuesday. But...then came Wednesday night. I was up all night with a fever, chills and the sweats. After another trip back to the doctor on Thursday morning, it was discovered that I still have strep throat and now I had a kidney infection on top of it. Ugh.

Needless to say, I had to get a substitute for Thursday and Friday. My parents were so amazingly helpful!!!! Seriously, you may all think that you have the best parents but I'm sorry to tell you that they just don't (and never will) compare to mine. They brought Abby to school each morning and kept Grace for me so that I could sleep and rest. They even brought over warm food to make sure I was eating. Sleep is really all I wanted to do. And I did a lot of it. In fact, even though I've been on my new meds for 4 days, I'm still so tired and I've been taking naps every afternoon (this is in addition to the 10-12 hours I'm sleeping each night.) Yep, this round of sickness wiped me out.

But the girls seem to be healthy and it's been a daily prayer that the germs will stay away from them. We did have a bout with Abby this weekend. Her tummy was upset on Friday and Saturday, but things have calmed down so it must have been a 24 hour bug.

My girlfriends at work sent me a huge bouquet of flowers to help me feel better. They're so beautiful. There's something about flowers that just make you smile.

Abby had a fun weekend with her Papa and Nana. They took her to the Hope College football game on Saturday afternoon. They had a great time together. Abby met a nice girl there and quickly became friends. She also got a ring pop and a giant pixie stick, which also helped her fun mood. She decided to save the pixie stick until this afternoon. It was so funny watching her eat it. She couldn't finish it. When she was eating it she said, "My brain has a lot of funny-ness in it". Too cute!

We had a great day together as a family. I just love Sundays. It always starts off with church, then family lunch and then just plain family togetherness all afternoon. We painted our nails and toe nails, played Barbies, and drew pictures. My girls are so fun!

Morning Routines

This morning I looked at my two beautiful girls sitting in the green chair and a half and I smiled. I am blessed!! We have finally settled into somewhat of a routine in the morning. We pick out the clothes the night before and I get the girls up at 6:10am. Grace is usually the first one up and all she wants is Abby! So I usually bring her right to Abby in bed and the two of them snuggle for a few minutes. Then it's onto diaper changes and clothes. It is so nice that Abby can dress herself now. It makes it everything go faster. Then all three of us traipse into the bathroom to tackle the hair.

Abby's hair is pretty straight forward. Occasionally I have to use a straightener to get a wayward hair, but it lays so nicely! Grace is also starting to become routine. Every morning we have to wet down her whole head and then we lather it with Mixed Chicks leave in conditioner. This stuff works great! Top it off with a headband or barrette and we're done.

Now, it's into the kitchen. Abby doesn't like to eat breakfast right away and this poses somewhat of a problem because we're on a schedule to get out the door. So, we cut breakfast into 2 parts. She gets a go-gurt (which she loves!) and orange juice when she comes into the kitchen and she takes some dry cereal to eat in the car and at school. So far this has been working well so I might have to invest in go-gurt because I see a lot of it in our future. Grace gets her sippy cup of milk and we all snuggle for about five minutes before it's out the door at 6:37am to greet the day.

Catch up news

I'm so sorry that it's been a while since I've updated the blog. We've been busy here with the start of school and it's taken some time to get into a routine.
Abby LOVES school. I don't think I've ever seen her as happy as she has been the last few days. She's not always smiling when I wake her up so early in the morning, but she is all smiles when she comes to me after school. She loves her teacher and she loves her friends. But according to her, the best thing about school is chocolate milk and 2 recess times.
The one thing we're not liking about school is the germ sharing. We've had strep throat going through the school and I've been praying that it wouldn't hit us. Well, it hit us. Yesterday I actually had to leave school after lunch and headed over to urgent care. I felt like I had been hit with a semi truck. As it turns out I had a 101.7 fever, a sinus infection, fluid in the ears, and strep throat. I was miserable.
My parents are amazing!! They picked up Abby from school and kept both girls overnight. I was contagious for 24 hours and we really didn't want anyone else to get it. The girls came home this afternoon and it felt good to have them back. I missed them!! Abby was adorable and oh so helpful with everything. Now my prayer is that no one else in the family gets sick. Please join me in this prayer.
By the way, I was cutting out some lamination and the girls were having fun with the extra pieces. Don't you love the look on Grace? Later Abby made me a headband.

Abby loves to dance and tonight she was excited to wear a dress that twirls "just right". Too cute!

Grace's new toy

Grace has been so funny lately with her walking. I was thrilled that I got to see her first few steps before school started, but it's like she just decided to stop working on it. I haven't seen a step since. What a stinker! I'm thinking that maybe this new toy will spur her memory. We got it this past Saturday and she loves it. It's hilarious to watch her push it through the house and run into everything.

Say "ahh- bee!"

We've been trying and trying to teach Grace how to say "Abby". She's pretty good with "momma", "papa", and "nana", but "abby has eluded her. Tonight at dinner I think she conquered it! This video is adorable. Needless to say, Abby is thrilled!

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school for Abby and me. I wasn't so nervous for me. I've done the "first day" thing for quite a while. I knew that I could wing it if needed. I was totally apprehensive/nervous for Abby. It's such a big thing for her to go to kindergarten. I don't know if it was bigger for her or for me. Yesterday she didn't want to even talk about it, but today she was ready.
We were up bright and early. I took a ton of pictures, but I only put a few on the blog. Abby did get sick of smiling. :) She'll come into school with me in the morning and then play in the room for about an hour before school starts. Then I'll walk her to her room. After school she'll also stay with me in the room for about another hour. It'll definitely be a loooong day for her.
This morning I walked her to her spot in line outside by the other kindergartners. I felt awful that I couldn't wait with her, but I had to line up my own second graders. She looked a little lost and her eyes were big with fear. I did everything I could not to cry. I did almost lose it. I never thought I would be "that mom", but I'm learning new things about myself every day. Then I smiled and blew her a kiss and trusted.
I love having her at school with me. I get to peek in on her often and we run into each other in the hallway too. I feel like I get to see her more. When she ran over at the end of the day she was beaming! Absolutely beaming. She relived every moment and loved it. And I relaxed. It will be a good year.
My baby has become a kindergartner.

I love this picture! Both of us ready for our first day of school!

We had to sneak into her room early in order to take a few pictures. Her teacher is awesome and let us come in. She knew right where her desk was and sat down right away.

We LOVE her teacher!! I can't wait for a great year!!