Well, last week ended great. The girls had their professional pictures taken on Friday and they were wonderful- I will have to post them later. I couldn't have been more pleased. The only ones that didn't turn out super where the ones of them together (but what do you expect...to get them both to smile at the same time?).

Then Sunday night Natalie tried rice cereal for the first time. It was quite uneventful. I will post the video of that later. She mostly just sucked on her fist.

Natalie went to the doctor on Tuesday. She got a perfect checkup. She now weighs a whopping 15lbs! Her height is in the 79th % her weight 74th% and her little head is not so little coming in the 71st% so my little munchkin is not so little. She showed off her skills rolling over (both ways) and being super alert for the doctor. She got 4 shots and an oral vaccine. Poor baby- but she braved them well. Melanie was a super big sister and won her prize (a wooden mouth stick for her doctor kit at home...yes she is weird and yes I think the nurse thought she was weird when she asked for it).

However, the drama began after the doctor's appointment. Before I left I was thinking the upstairs seemed really hot. Well, in my limited air condition knowledge part of my brain it seemed like I should turn it off (b/c I assumed it was probably frozen) let it "defrost" and then when I get home turn it back on and hopefully all would be good. WRONG! I came home and it was 79 upstairs...far too hot for me! Then when I turned it back on it jumped to 83. Well, there was no way I was going to stay and sweat. So I packed up the the girls and Clint and myself, got Shelby situated with the neighbors and headed down to my parents for the night. We dropped Melanie off with Clint's parents and kept Natalie with us. The air condition man came on Wednesday and we now know that our compressor is shot and we need a new one. WEll, thank goodness ours is under warrenty, however...it still will cost us almost $1,000 to cover labor and freeon (sp?). AHHHHHH! Not too fun for a stupid air conditioner. But the best part...the part won't get here for 3-5 days! So no air upstairs for 3-5 days. It is hard to stay away from our house so we set up "camping" in our den. Clint slept on the couch, me on the loveseat, we brought Melanie's mattress downstairs and threw it on the floor and put Natalie's pack and play downstairs. What cozy quarters for a while.

Then, last night in our cozy quarters I got a call I had been expecting for a LONG while. My grandfather finally passed away. He fought longer and harder than anyone thought possible. It was really hard on everyone (especially my dad and his brother's) right at the end b/c my grandfather was not himself...he was just a body that somehow was staying alive. So, though we are all terribly sad that he passed away we are all thankful we got to go and say our goodbyes and that he is not suffering anymore. He finally gets to go be with his wife (I guess the past 4 months are the longest they've been apart since they were in HS!) and tell her all about Natalie. It is going to be so different missing a whole side of my family especially around the holidays. It's also a little hard b/c Melanie a tiny bit knows what is going on b/c she knows that we keep going to the hospital to see Pops' daddy and that he is really sick b/c he is really old (that is the best explanation we could give her). I've tried to explain people go to the hospital for lots of different reasons (have babies, to have drs make them well, etc.) I'm not quite sure what I'm going to say for this one.

Fun in the Sun

I watched my neighbors 2 kids yesterday as a repayment for her watching my two a couple of weeks ago. Her kids are Caroline, 4 years old, and Drew 1 1/2 years old. They were super! Natalie was the hardest one only b/c she still needs so much done for her. Melanie and Caroline came up with the most elaborate play themes and it was really neat to watch. At one point they had this game of house (complete with all things a baby could need) that had so many details when, can you believe it, a tornado came through :) They had to leave their "dangerous" area quickly and remade their entire house in our dining room. I could not believe the stuff they were coming up with. When Drew and Natalie went down for a nap Clint and I set up Melanie's pool (don't tell the water restriction police) and the girls played and ate popcicles. What a fun time for them and a neat thing for me to watch.

By the way...Shelby is as looloo as ever! Clint and I put the girls to sleep and we were enjoying the end to our Saturday night...I was relaxing with a glass of wine when I hear Clint getting Shelby in trouble. She had found an ink pen in our closet floor, took it under our bed, chewed it open and managed to get ink all over our floor and her head. Clint worked for a long time with MANY chemicals to get the ink out of our carpet but Shelby is just going to have to look stupid with ink on her head.

Super Weekend

Walked through the entrance and started playing with deer Feeding the bunnies One day I'll have a pic of her not in a stroller Perfect smile Always happy! She wasn't scared at all! Clint had a 4 day weekend and it is not often that we get that many days in a row together. So, Friday we had all of our 4th festivities. Then Saturday was our pool and dinner with Brian and Dawn. Sunday we had planned on getting shoes for both Clint and myself and taking Melanie to Jump Zone (a place with all of those inflatable jumping things...she reallllllly wanted to go!). So as we were getting ready to head out I looked on line for their hours. It stated on their website that children under 3 were not allowed. Hmmmmm, she had been for a party before but not just to play. So, we thought it was maybe not the best idea. We told her that she couldn't go until she was 3 and her poor little lip started to quiver and the tears started to pour. We felt SO BAD! We were ready to buy her a pony at that point. So, we promised her we would take her to some type of kid play place that day. We ended up all getting shoes (by the way I went to DSW for the first time and LOVED it...I am not a shoe person but that store may have converted me). Then I had heard about a place called Mardi Gras Party and Play at the Avenue. So, we headed up there and it was so neat. Melanie got in for 1/2 price b/c she was only 2 and of course Natalie was free (and so were adults). They have jump things, about 10 WII stations (not that we used them) a dance floor, and a play area for little kids (younger than Melanie). They also have all of this leather furniture and nice tables that you can have local restaurants cater food to you while your kids play...what a neat idea!! Next time we want to eat at one of the local restaurants we are going to pay an extra $6 let Melanie play and we can eat in peace. We worked in the yard and Melanie played with the neighbors's kids and it was just a great family day. Today Melanie had gymnastics and we were happy that Clint got to come along. After gymnastics we all went to lunch and then to the Game Ranch. It was the first time Clint has been with me when I've taken Melanie so it was a neat time all around. I wish Clint could stay home more often...we could have tons of fun (but I guess with him not working we would have no money to have fun with!)

Fun Summer Celebrations

Right now our life is completely back to normal and I love it!! We've been to the pool quite a bit lately and Melanie is so good. We also went to downtown Lawrenceville to watch fireworks on Friday. Let me just say some of Gwinnett's finest come out of the woodworks to attend the celebration! I just want a pitcher of margaritas a chair and Ruth and we would have been set for a long time. We probably wouldn't even have to say anything b/c it is so blatantly obvious what the other one would be thinking when some of these people walk by. Clint's parents met us for the celebration. Melanie rode a horse (named Diamond!), rode a train, ate, danced, and watched fireworks. Though I don't totally know what Natalie can see she seemed to really be able to see the fireworks and I think both girls really liked them. Funny story: Melanie was over at Nanna's house and said: "Nanna, your house is really clean." Clint's mom told her thank you. Melanie said, "Well who cleaned it?" Donna' said, "I did." Melanie said, "Well two ladies cleaned our house." I decided to have a maid come in and deep clean our house. Apparently Melanie really picked up on what was going on and now thinks that other people clean our house instead of us and wonders who cleans everyone else's house. (Has she not seen me clean for the last 2 1/2 years...she picks up on the one day I didn't?) But, a complete shout out for our maids....The are from "Happy Housekeepers" based out of Snellville and they were super nice, professional, great, and speak English! I wish I could have them come regularly but no $ to cover that fun plan...hopefully I can get them to come occasionally and clean all that they did though.

Fun Day!

Liking tummy time a little better She almost made it over (from back to front...she is doing it opposite I know!) Natlie is trying her best to roll over as you can see in the footage. Yes, she pooped in her clothes again so she is naked...again. Melanie loved playing with some new toys I ordered for work today. It is amazing to see how she interacts with them versus children I deal with that are her age or older. It really puts a perspective on things. At the end we went swimming with Uncle Brian and the family. Melanie was amazing and Natalie put up with it well including her first time in a bikini!