Big Girl!

Here is a picture of sweet KK in Mady's chair. She is doing a lot better since starting the breathing treatments. We still give them to her 3 times a day and hope that this week we'll start to wean her down to just one before bed time.

Tomorrow Mady starts her swimming lessons! I know she's excited and she picked out the bathing suit she's going to wear. I hope she does really well and is swimming when we go to Crescent Beach for a week in June.

Only 5 more days of school left! After this week we have to work M-W of the following week and then, hello summer! A couple of us are getting together Friday night to see my friend's band play and celebrate the end of another successful school year!

We have so much planned this summer that I know it's going to fly by! Jacob has a week off before he starts his summer job so we're heading to Crescent Beach for a week, he then works a week and is off the last week of June. That's the week we're headed out on our cruise to the Bahamas. After that he works 3 straight weeks in July. Mady will go to gymnastics camp one of those weeks and a kid's day out program on select Tuesdays. Mondays are designated Mimi days and the girls will go to daycare. Kaitlyn will start her swimming lessons the last week in July and the first week of August. Of course, KK's big 1st birthday bash will be at the end of July. I'll be sending out Save the Date cards sometime in the next week or so. Jacob will be home the first week in August and then he works one last week. After that we're going to NSB for a week and then it'll be time to go back to school. Out of the 10 weeks we have for summer break, Jacob will only be home for 2 of them!

I can't wait to spend the summer with the girls. We have so much planned and also plan on spending lots of time at home. I will also utilize the daycare at the Y several times a week so that I can work out with my friends and catch up with them. Thursday will still be Girls Night Out. After all the togetherness with the girls during the day, I'll be ready for some adult interaction!

Stay tuned for pictures of Mady at swim lessons! I do have pictures from the wedding this weekend, but they're not that great. The girls didn't really participate and it was hot in the civic center, so we were all sweating.

Sneak Peek

Yesterday Mady had her picture taken for ballet class. The big recital is coming up June 14 and Mady's costume is adorable! For the money it costs, I was really excited at how it came out. Of course, all the little girls had the same size, but Mady's had to be tailored to fit her because she's so tiny. I learned how to do her hair (major pain involving bobbie pins, gel, hairspray, and a hair net) and her make-up. She looked so cute and I can't wait to see the professional pictures when I get them on Monday.

Tomorrow Jacob's brother is getting married. We're taking Mady to the reception and leaving KK at home with my mom. I know Mady will have a great time dancing and eating cake. Afterwards, we'll be heading home to cheer on the Magic!

Monday Mady starts swimming lessons. This will be the second summer in a row that Mady's taken lessons at Double R. She will go for two weeks, an hour each time. I have started talking to her about it and she seems excited. She really is becoming quite the little swimmer. Last summer she was jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side, so I can't wait to see where she picks up!

KK is doing well with her breathing treatments. We ditched the mask and just let her play on the floor and breathe in the medicine. She slept through the night last night and only woke a couple of times coughing, but nothing like she was before! She still sounds horrible so we'll be keeping her home tomorrow!

I can't wait to post pictures of the wedding and Mady's swimming lessons so stay tuned!

Month 10 Already

I can't believe that Kaitlyn is already 10 months old! Time is flying by and soon she'll be 1! Here's what she's up to at 10 months:

• Weighs 17 pounds, 4 ounces


• On Mother's Day she started walking behind her push toys


• Started walking holding on to the couch


• Has started eating more people food


• Can hold her own bottle when she's not being lazy


• Still takes 2 consistent naps daily


• Has her top two teeth for a total of 4 teeth


• Spent 3 nights with grandma while we went to Disney

She is getting so big and is starting to play with her toys now. She loves going into Mady's room and playing with the Barbie dolls or anything that makes noise and music. Her favorite toy at the moment is either the remote or the phone. She loves pushing buttons! She starts to cry now when we leave her at daycare or when we put her down. She loves to be held nonstop.

She went almost a whole month without having a sick doctor visit, but today Jacob had to take her in for her cough. When we left last Friday she had the beginnings of a runny nose and cough, but we didn't think much of it. However, last night she didn't sleep at all and had a hard time taking her bottle. Jacob took her in this morning and her doctor prescribed a nebulizer. So, for the next 4 days we are giving her 3 breathing treatments a day for 10 minutes. She got the first one at the doctor's office and Jacob said she screamed the whole time (which is a good thing). He gave her the afternoon treatment and the same thing happened. Tonight I'm supposed to give her the last one of the day and I dread it! Hopefully by Saturday she'll be less congested and back to normal.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of her in Mady's chair, so I'll have to do that tomorrow or Friday!

What a Weekend!

We're back from our Memorial Day weekend trip to Disney World! We had an incredible time despite the rain and miss it already! We left KK with my mom and headed over on Friday after work. We met up with our friends, The Pearsons, that evening and spent the whole weekend together.

We arrived Friday afternoon and had dinner at the resort. While we waited on our friends to arrive, we hung around the resort and Mady enjoyed playing at the Pirate Ship pool and the hot tub with Jacob. Around 8 o'clock our friends arrived and we headed to Downtown Disney. At Downtown Disney we walked around all the shops and found the girls matching princess crowns. Around 11 we headed back to the resort to rest and get ready for Animal Kingdom on Saturday!

The awesome Pirate Ship pool

Hanging out in the hot tub!

Pooh and Friends at Downtown Disney!

On Saturday we met up at the bus stop around 9:30 and headed to Animal Kingdom. We hit all the major attractions, including the Safari and The Festival of the Lion King. Around 2 o'clock the girls were exhausted and we headed back to the resort. We all took a nap so that we were well rested for our big dinner with the Disney Princesses!

Look at this silly goat standing on the bench!

Mady and Jacob looking at a giraffe on the Safari

This was the big dinner Mady had been waiting for! We headed over to Epcot to eat dinner with the princesses in Norway! This dinner featured Belle, Aurora, Snow White, Ariel, and... Cinderella! Mady dressed up as Alice and Emily dressed up as Cinderella. Thank goodness we were in Disney at the Storybook Dinner or else Mady would've looked like a little Amish girl from Dutch Wonderland! She was absolutely adorable and looked just like Alice.

All dressed up ready to meet the princesses!

Princess Aurora, AKA Sleeping Beauty

Ariel

Mommy's Favorite! Snow White

Cinderella

While we were eating dinner it began pouring down. Thank goodness dinner took a while with meeting all the princesses and dessert, because we really didn't want to leave the restaurant until it calmed down. As we headed out of the restaurant it was only drizzling and looked like it might clear up. Since the Magic Kingdom was open until midnight, we thought we might head over there and catch a few rides. However, while we were eating dinner, some thief swiped our friend's poncho that was covering their stroller and all their stuff got wet! It was a real bummer and we decided to just head back to the resort for the night.

The next day we planned on having breakfast with Mickey and his friends over at the Swan. We took our time in the morning and headed over around 10. Mickey, Pluto and Goofy visited us at the table and we got some great pictures.

Getting Goofy's autograph

Pluto, the closest thing to a dog Mady will ever have.

Family photo with the big cheese.

After breakfast we went over to the Magic Kingdom to ride the rides. We went on Aladdin's Magic Carpet (with some old people who didn't know how to work the controls), Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room (not Tiki bar, unfortunately), Country Bear Jamoboree (Blood on the carpet...), and Splash Mountain (any single riders?). It was soooo incredibly hot, so we checked out and headed back to the hotel.

We all met up at the pool and hung out for awhile. The sky turned unbelievably dark so we headed back to the room and Mady took a nap from 6-8. (Yes, pm) You're probably wondering why I would want my child to take a 2 hour nap from 6-8 pm instead of just waiting for her to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Well, that's because the Magic were playing Sunday night and we were headed to the ESPN Club at the Boardwalk to watch the game. We knew it was going to be a long night, so I wanted Mady rested so she'd be in a good mood.

Mady saw a baby bunny on the way back from the pool.

Sunday night we hung out at the ESPN Club and watched the game outside. It was so nice to be able to sit outside and not get rained on! My friend Sarah and her husband met us down at the Boardwalk to watch the game with us. Sitting outside turned out to be a good option. The girls got to run around without bothering people. We were planning on going to the Magic Kingdom tonight, but since the game was so good, we ended up watching the whole thing and left around midnight.

Today we all slept in (Mady woke up past 9) and met up in the parking lot at 10. We packed our cars and headed to Hollywood Studios. Here we watched the Disney Playhouse Live show, met Quincy from Little Einsteins, met Mickey (again!), and saw the Beauty and the Beast Show. After lunch we all decided we were exhausted and ready to head home.

Mickey (again!)

Quincy from the Little Einsteins

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. I'm so glad we left KK with my mom. It would've been a completely different trip if we had to bring her. We enjoyed spending time with just Mady and giving her all of our attention. We also enjoyed spending time with our friends, The Pearsons, and their daughter, Emily. Mady and Emily have become great friends and it's even better that her parents have now become friends of ours!

Now, here's a trivia question... does anyone know about the 8th dwarf that Disney scratched? Also, have you heard of this orange beer that comes in a green bottle that was supposedly made in the UK? I think it's called Tang, Fanta, or Crush? Hmmm...

Shopping Spree

What a day! My friends and I headed out to the outlets around 1 and didn't get home until past 6! We hit Chicos, Liz Claiborne Outlet, Loft Outlet, and Ann Taylor Factory Outlet! We also stopped by the Mall at Millenia to eat dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and to pick up Mady's rug at PBK. I had good luck at all the stores and ended up with 4 pairs of shorts, 5 shirts, a dress for the wedding next weekend, a pair of shoes for the dress, and a pair of sunglasses! I won't tell you how much I spent (Jacob might read this, you never know), but I did real good! Also, the rug was in stock at PBK and looks so nice in Mady's room! Here's a picture of the rug in Mady's room. It's called the polka dot border rug in pink.

Off to Church

In our matchy matchy dresses. Mom loves to dress us alike!

Posing in my dress all ready to go!

I'm walking around all the time! I also like to chew on my dress since my top teeth are coming in!

Today Jacob is taking the girls to his parents' house for the day. About once a month or so he takes them over there for the day and goes to church with them. I know his mom enjoys showing the girls off to all their church friends, and I enjoy having a day to myself! He's also going to help his dad finish my picnic table that he got me for Mother's Day. I hope his dad can bring it over one day this week or next. I can't wait to start using it! It will hopefully come in handy when we have KK's party in July.

While they're away I am going to get this mess of a house in order and then I'm off to the outlets with some friends. We're going to stop at Mall at Millenia for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and hopefully I'll pick up this rug at PBK that I've been wanting for Mady's room. It's been on back order forever! So, maybe I'll post a picture of it later if it's in stock.

Mady's Alice costume arrived yesterday. I had to make a big deal out of it and tell her how beautiful it was on her! Thank goodness my mom was here and told her how pretty it was! The apron is too big, so I'll have to get it altered before we leave on Friday. This is when it would be really handy to know how to sew. (Mental Note: Teach my girls how to sew, yeah right.)

Yesterday Jacob helped some friends move and then he had to chaperone the 8th grade dance at his school. He was gone almost all day and then left around 6 to go to the dance. This meant I had to do baths which I don't normally do. Thank goodness my mom came over to help me with the girls because wouldn't you know... KK pooped in the tub! I had just finished bathing both girls when she got that look on her face. Two seconds earlier, I said, "KK, why do you have that look on your face like you're about to do something?" And up they floated! Mady didn't need any help getting out, she was completely mortified! I scooped up KK and got her out. Thank goodness my mom was there and took care of the situation in the tub. Whew! I think Mady only did that once when she was KK's age.

Anyways, no big exciting events this week. Just another week of school that gets us closer to June 5! Mady gets her costume for her ballet recital this Thursday. I also have to learn how to do her hair and make-up. By make-up they mean blush, lipstick, and mascara. Now, I can barely put mascara on without accidently blinking and making a huge mess. Any tips on how to put mascara on a 3 year old? And for the record, I am totally opposed to make-up on a 3 year old and at first was not going to do it, but the teacher gave a really good rationale. She said the stage lights will completely blur their faces and in order to "see" them you have to put the make-up on. It makes total sense and so we will oblige.

So, everyone... have a great week! Hopefully this week will go by fast and not drag. Also, please pray for good weather this upcoming weekend. We have literally had zero rain in the past month and now it looks like it's coming! Hopefully it won't ruin any of our plans!

Feed Me Seymour!

Kaitlyn has started eating more and more solid foods recently. It's been fun giving her people food, and so far she's enjoying every bite! For Mother's Day Jacob bought chocolate donuts and gave KK one while I was still sleeping. He said she loved them (and why wouldn't she). So, tonight on his way home from work he stopped by Publix and bought some chocolate donuts. Here she is chowing down on one after dinner tonight. Of course, I was right there in case something happened. Choking is like one of my biggest fears and now that we're starting solids I keep my eye on her even more closely.

Big bite into the donut

Chowing down with my two teeth and gums

This picture is so funny with her eyes closed!

All done. Now daddy gets to clean me up!

Oh, and if anyone's wondering... my mom is going to watch KK while we go to Disney for Memorial Day weekend. We are so excited and see lots of pool time and fun headed our way. I did figure out which princess Mady's going to be for the Storybook Princess Dinner. It's not really a princess, but it'll do. I found Mady an Alice in Wonderland costume and it's so cute. It should be here next week. She's excited to wear the black ribbon in her hair and the white tights with black shoes. Hopefully she'll cooperate and I'll get some cute photos! Only one more week!

Epcot Flower and Garden Festival

For Mother's Day I wanted to go to the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival. I've heard the flowers and characters were amazing, and they did not disappoint! Right when you walked into Epcot you were greeted by the princesses and even the seven dwarfs. Throughout the park we saw the characters from Beauty and the Beast, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Pixie Hollow which featured Tinkerbell and her fairy friends. There were several playgrounds set up around Epcot, but it was so incredibly hot, hardly any kids were playing on them. Mady did go to the water play area and got wet. I think she did this because she wanted to put on her new princess jammies that I had just bought her. Of course, she got soaked and I didn't have a change of clothes for her, so she walked around in her new princess jammies. So much for the matching outfits I had them wear! While we were in the World Showcase I showed Mady the restaurant in Norway that we're going to eat at with her friend when we come back for Memorial Day weekend. It's called the Princess Storybook Dining and features up to 5 princesses at dinner. Now I just have to start planning which princess costume Mady should wear! She's really picky and if the costume doesn't fit perfectly or something feels funny, she won't wear it.

After walking around for a few hours, we decided we had had enough and headed home. We're coming back in two weeks for Memorial Day weekend, but I think we'll go to the parks early and head back to the resort around lunch time. That's when it seemed to be getting really hot out! Tomorrow we are going to church and then out to lunch with my mom to celebrate Mother's Day with her. For Father's Day I was going to get Jacob a picnic table for outside. His dad builds them and I was going to have him build one for Jacob. Since Jacob knows that I really want one for outside, he surprised me with one for Mother's Day. He's going to his dad's next weekend to help him finish it and bring it home! I'm so excited because I know Jacob wasn't too thrilled when I told him that was his Father's Day present. Now I have to think of what to get him?

So, we'll be back to Disney in two weeks with our friends The Pearsons and their little girl, Emily. We can't wait to go and stay out there and have fun at the resort. We're debating if we want to bring Kaitlyn with us. She's really good for day trips, but it's totally exhausting. We're hoping the grandmas will want to split the weekend and each take her for two days! Of course, if she does come with us, we'll have a great time!

Mommy, Mady, and Snow White

Goofy playing tennis!

Mommy and KK in front of the ball!

Sorcerer Mickey!

Minnie Mouse!

The Sweetest Thing

We finally got around to having the girls' pictures taken on Saturday. Mady needed her 3 year pictures, and Kaitlyn needed her 9 months pictures. It's hard to believe that the next time we have pictures taken it will be for Kaitlyn's 1st birthday! Here are a couple of shots that we loved. We're giving the grandmas a frame that holds three pictures: one of Mady, one of the Kaitlyn, and one of them together. It's adorable!