1/2 Birthday Celebrations

Viruses and colds sweep in and out. Ear infections and allergies are close behind. But what about when they can't figure it out just yet? A friend of a friend's daughter has been very sick since last Wednesday. She has been in the hospital for few days and now being transferred to Children's in Dallas to try and get answers so their beautiful girl can get well. I met this adorable family while being a Bridesmaids with Courtney in Brooke's wedding  and her daughter was the flower girl. She is the most precious little girl so please keep her in your prayers. No one likes children to be sick but not knowing exactly what is wrong is pretty scary.

HG celebrated her 1/2 Birthday at school today. I must tell you that I LOVE this idea. I understand that once real school begins, we will all have to grow up but for now, it is fun. Since HG and a few others have summer birthdays, they celebrate their 1/2 birthdays at school with their friends. It is a win-win situation in my book. We made homemade cupcakes yesterday that were out of this world. It is amazing what adding milk and pudding can do to a cupcake friends. Sweet HG, she was SO incredibly nervous. See, she is over the top when it comes to doing things for others at school but when the focus is on her, she is a mess. We kept thinking she was going to get sick this morning but we managed to talk through it. Harper and I were lucky enough to join in the fun and covered ourself in Lysol when leaving the school. As with any school, even their tiny private school is crawling with germs.

It was such a nice warm afternoon that I spent time outside with two cranky girls.

Harper was once again not much into napping.

She crashed early today and napped, I even carried her asleep upstairs without her waking.

An hour later, she was be-bopping around.

Chris treated us to Taco Tuesday.

Shhh, don't tell HG.

Both girls were bathed, in pajamas and working on drying HG's hair all by 4 this afternoon.

I made old school sloppy joe's tonight on a whim.

HG loved it.

She loved it so much as a toddler but went through such a picky stage.

She is still in that picky stage.

After two sandwiches, some celery and ranch doritos (I told you I went old school), I think she was full.

Also, our new dessert is fudge pops.

40 calories and 2 grams of sugar.

That is less than fruit sugar wise.

I am having a glass of sleepy time tea to help relax and see if I can sleep.

I'm having terrible night sweats lately.

They are zero fun.

I slept three hours last night between that and the husband snoring.

Monday

Our Monday mornings are now full of swim. Hailey Grace has classes at noon and Harper begins next week at 9:30. While this is nothing new for HG, next week will be Harper's first lesson ever. She spends hours in the bath each week already swimming like a fish so we know she will love it. I think it is very important to learn to swim at a young age. Typically we would start at 2 but with her birthday after summer, we decided to start now.

This Monday, the husband had a conference call after swim and with loud girls I knew that wouldn't happen. He can't think much less talk on the phone. We headed to the McDonalds on the corner by us. Um yeah, no parking and no tables. What on earth? Luckily, we have another close by and it was great. It wasn't my first choice but being 46 outside and Chick Fil A a madhouse, we resorted to McDonalds. Luckily, they keep that area squeaky clean and I could smell all the Lysol. It was a win win situation. Harper has a slight fever, but just from her last eye tooth breaking through. Those suckers and molars take forever to break the gums. Nose is clear, ears are clear, throat is good and poop is finally normal. As in solid poop since starting the new milk.

Monday evening, I tried a new recipe from Pinterest that I thought HG would eat. I kind of sort of told her the sauce was butter so she would eat it. Girl would eat grass dipped in butter or ranch (gross, SO did not inherit that from me). The dinner was a hit with her though. I threw chicken breasts, 8 oz cream cheese, a packet of Italian dressing and two cans of cream of chicken in a crockpot.  I tossed with whole wheat pasta.  The next time I will add an extra packet of Italian or maybe rotel? It was good, a little bland but perfect if kids will be eating it. Once HG finished her meal and her grazing she seems to do after dinner, I told her what all was in it. We have this saying, try it cause you might like it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I packed celery and carrots for school tomorrow. Someone made fun of her for eating carrots and she was so embarrassed begging me not to pack them again. Big tears forming in her eyes. Hopefully they will go over smoothly but I will be close by if they don't. I'm determined she will be proud of her healthy choices one day. I would have chosen an apple or banana over a brownie or candy bar any day at her age and older. I didn't know what those things were.......until I became pregnant with HG. Lord help us all after that.

Did you watch the Inauguration? I watched quite a bit of it off and on as did the husband. Whether or not we voted for him or any other President, this is part of history so try to watch it.

The husband and I have been switching off trying to get Harper down for the night for three hours. A late nap that began at 3:15 is resulting in a late night for her. I am not a fan of late naps. Last night, she slept 6:45-6, took 8 ounces and slept until 8. That was pretty awesome! When she goes down late, her sleep is messed up all night. When she doesn't nap, her sleep is messed up. Harper has no intentions of sleep right now. Many CIO episodes resulted to dirty diapers and more screams. Three diapers from screaming in two hours but HG was same exact way. She wasn't allowed late naps because girl would be up until midnight and CIO only resulted in 2-3 hours of screaming and a handful of diapers. Good thing both girls are so dang cute.

Harper is SO big now.

She is so funny and loves shoes, shiny shoes.

HG swimming in her lesson for the first time since summer.

Amazing how those little fish pick it right back up.

We have a low key week planned.

Or as low key as we get.

For three weeks, we have been running on fumes so being low key isn't a bad thing. 

This coming weekend, we haven't planned a single thing.

Talk of going East to spend my Birthday with family out there but I would imagine we stick around town.

I guess I am officially done with nursing.

 I stopped nursing on December 11 and mother nature recently came back to visit, that is always a sure sign it closed up shop.

The two years she as gone, I can't say I missed her.

Sundance Square

Last night the husband and I surrounded ourselves with old friends and made new friends. We celebrated Jessica's birthday at Cantina Laredo and stopped in a few local hang outs after. I believe a good time was had by all, we really enjoy seeing everyone.

Chris and I had Collins drop us off in downtown Fort Worth and we took at taxi home. That was a wise decision and we didn't have to pay $200+ for a hotel room. Lots of bad wrecks last night, I was a wreck even heading down there at 6.

The weather was amazing today, I hope everyone spent the day outside.

Long weekend

Things has been sailing smoothly this week. We've had people come and go. Mia, Collins and Cristi at the beginning of the week followed by Poppy and his Girlfriend, Danielle, who are actually still in town. We are already half way over with January, that is just wild.

The husband is back home but not without flying hiccups. It is really wild how many times he has flight issues but at the same time I guess flying weekly you get accustomed to it. We haven't flown with the girls yet, I just haven't had any desire to. I'm okay with screaming and the long drives. We are however, planning a trip up north to look at schools for next fall. With both girls. I hope we can wait until it is a bit warmer and not so much sickness
But schools start interviewing in Feb.


Poppy (my dad) and Danielle took HG to the Dallas Aquarium today as a special treat. They had been wanting to go and nicely included HG. She was super excited when I dropped her off this morning. I don't think they realized just how busy it was on a Saturday but had a great time followed by lunch at Snuffer's. I'm expecting them to bring her home shortly with Auntie Collins and Hannah following close behind.

The weather has been so nice that we have enjoyed playing outside. The sun does wonders for all of us.

The husband and I have a birthday dinner to head to tonight without the babies. I'm excited but also exhausted. Harper was up with gas issues and a belly ache all night. She downed a big bowl of oatmeal and had 1 1/2 banana along with popcorn and a couple of graham crackers all AFTER dinner. She just kept eating! Tonight, she will stick to green beans and another simple dish.