BUSY February!

In February we have had many things occur:
1- We had snow- LOTS of snow. It was pretty amazing. It all started one Friday afternoon driving home. The girls were pretty shocked by the time we got home and went to run out in it. Natalie said, "no like no" (Don't like snow). Melanie just froze. The next morning we bundled them up for a real play day in the snow. Natalie however was still not convinced. It was very cold on her hands and for a while cried and I had to hold her but she eventually came around and went for a winter walk. Melanie thought it was very cold however she put up with it and seemed to enjoy it as well.
2- Then we all got pretty sick. Natalie caught it first and was pretty ornery. But I was hoping it would just run it's course. Then unfortunately I ended up with it and was miserable- I even wondered if I had the flu. But thank goodness it was pretty short lived (about a week). Melanie also caught and it was pretty pitiful. She ran a pretty high fever for 2-3 days, the doctor said they both had a virus and it had to run it's course. On the flip side, After the sickness ran it's course Natalie ended up in a SUPER mood!
3- Melanie had her 4 year old doctor appointment. She is getting taller and skinnier. She is 40 3/4 inches tall (67th %) and 35.8 lbs (51st %). Her weight % is going down down down. Her Buddha body is disappearing! Her hearing and vision was great. The hearing test didn't go well at first but then we realized that the things on her ears were not positioned well and that was part of the problem. She had to have her finger pricked and get 4 shots- ouch! The doctor said her night wakings were problem just sleep walking and not to worry and just coax her back to the bed. He also said don't worry about her occasional "upset stomach" that it may just be nerves, food sensitivity, etc. Finally she had to pee in a cup which was quite funny. She didn't understand why/how. With lots of help by me she said, "that doesn't look like pee, it looks like apple juice." Too funny!
4- Natalie moved had the front wall of her crib taken off at 22/23 months. She is doing great with it and not coming out of her bed or anything. It was a very seamless transition thankfully. A couple nights ago Clint and I heard her whining over the monitor but not crying and we were not sure what it was so we didn't worry about it. When I went to get her the next morning I found her in the corner of her room sleeping on the carpet. She had a rash on her forehead, cheeks, nose and chin. Poor thing. She must have fallen out and not realized how to get back in in the middle of the night. Ooops!
5- Donna and I took the girls to Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland. It was really cute. Things have changed since I went last with Clint. The girls really seemed to like and Melanie enjoyed seeing the baby born. She really wanted to buy that baby and so did I but it cost $210- whoever heard of such nonsense? Instead they both picked out babies from the gift shop. Melanie has baby Devin and Natalie has baby Donna. This is the first baby that Natalie has really connected to. It's cute- she goes around talking about Baby Donna's paci, Donna's car seat, etc. She is talking more and more each day. She can kind of rote count to 10 and knows a couple of colors. She knows animal names and likes Cheetah's randomly. I can't believe her birthday is coming up so quickly and then I officially will be out of baby life and have a toddler and a preschooler!

Overall things are going amazingly well. Natalie and Melanie still fight like cats and dogs constantly and our house stays in a constant state of destruction but it's fun. Natalie recently has been in a super mood and it is really fun for us to have 2 children in a great mood! Work is going great for me and the best it can for Clint in this economy. We definitely can't complain.

Blah- literally!

So, after having a piece together kind of dinner at home with the neighbors Natalie gagged on a piece of cheese. Next thing we know she is throwing up literally on Nate's head and arms- gross! Nate was okay with it all and Melanie surprisingly didn't throw up herself...we're making headway in her gag reflex! After dividing and conquering (Chris= Mel, Aileen= Nate, Clint= mess and I= Natalie) we thought we had the disaster under control. Until Natalie started projectile vomiting all of her day's worth of food. It was massive and the biggest throw up either girl has ever done. Natalie was upset I had puke everywhere and Clint was trying to quickly help clean it all up. I took Natalie straight to the bath and after about 10 minutes of cuddling she was up and off and ready to play again. I have no idea what happened but I stripped her bed of all "non essentials" tonight just in case. What an eventful end to a very uneventful day!

4 Loose Teeth!

Melanie had her 3rd dentist appointment this past week. She did great and has perfect teeth. I also found out she has 4 loose teeth! Dr. Pafford said it will be a few months before any fall out but holy cow! She just turned 4. Her teeth came in super fast so her teeth maturity must be on the fast track. She still had too much of a gag reflex for x-rays but they said they'll try again next time. Where is the time going?

Happy Birthday Princess

Yes, Melanie is now 4. She had a wonderful celebration of her life. On Wednesday, her birthday she had a school celebration in which we brought in a cookie cake and Clint and I got to spend a few minutes in her class. Later that afternoon she got to open presents at home and go to Mexican with our friends. She was NOT fond of having whip cream put on her nose or having Happy Birthday sung to her. She told me she didn't do that when she was 3 so she didn't know about it but she would be kinder to the workers when she was 5 :) We culminated her birthday with a princess party. Her good friend from gymnastics, Kylie came. As did her BFF Caroline and Drew, Sarah, and Nate. Instead of cake Melanie decided on decorate your own cupcakes, top your own icecream sundaes and Mamaw had Cathy's beauty salon when she painted all of the girl's fingernails. Memaw (Clint's grandmother) is sick and in the hospital so Donna and Rodney had to go to Mississippi to take care of her. Melanie was mature and seemed to understand in her own way why there were not there and I think is actually excited that she will get to celebrate her birthday one more time when they come back to town. Clint and I have a hard time realizing that we have actually have a kid (or 2) and that one of them is FOUR! How can that be? I still can picture Clint and I in HS flirting with one another and who would have ever thought that 15 years down the road we would have this amazing family to show for it. Although it seems unreal that in about 7 weeks I'll be writing about my baby turning 2, Mel turning 4 is still crazy!