Transition...

well, wish us luck that tonight goes well. We officially moved baby g out of her cradle and tonight she will sleep in the crib! Which means, Isabella has moved out of the crib and into the "big girl" bed. The last two nights, baby g has been waking up every hour and nothing seems to soothe her. It appears there is not enough room for her to move around in her cradle and that perhaps could be part of her discomfort.
AND we are putting the girls in the SAME ROOM to sleep together. Why not just jump in head first right? Forget the baby steps, were going BIG TIME. We even brought out the gate to put across the stairway since Isabella will be "mobile" now! I hope that everything goes well and Isabella doesn't roam the halls at night or torture baby g.
On another note, I took the girls back to the doctor today because Isabella has been telling me her ear hurts. She was diagnosed by the doctor 2 weeks ago and took antibiotics. Baby g has been coughing like crazy and tugging on her ears. The doc said both girls are fine but perhaps baby g has a bit of a cold.
We came home and all Isabella did was cry that her ear hurts. Errr......

The Playhouse - Part 1

I once had a conversation at work with a girl and it went like this. "Sandy, do you have one of those play sets in your backyard?" Me: No, I will NEVER get one of those. Why would I need that? I can just take my kids to the park. You see those things all the time in people's backyards and you NEVER see kids playing on them.
Now fast forward 6 months. I gave in and bought a play set for Isabella and Giselle.
Amazing how in 6 months time, you eat your words.
Grandpa Dale and Grandma Chug were nice enough to come over on Saturday and begin the construction on this thing they call a "playhouse." No easy task, as it comes in 5 separate boxes and none of the wood pieces are marked. I am almost tempted to write the manufacturer and let them know they need to make their product more efficient by marking each part. I believe it is not putting the playhouse together that takes the longest, it is figuring out which piece is which - especially when there are over 200 pieces!
6 1/2 hours later - here is where we got for the day. The girls are going to be so excited once it is finished! I have to say though, if I am in my 30's and my parents are a little bit older - if I was EXHAUSTED at the end of the day - I can only IMAGINE how they felt! Whew! What a workout! Or maybe it was the workout I had the previous day - ROCKIN the chainsaw!! YEAH!!
In any case, I think this may be a magical surprise once it is assembled. Stay tuned.

Sisters

A night home from work usually goes about like this. Walk in the door at 6 p.m. Baby G usually wants a bottle immediately and is crying. Isabella wants dinner like yesterday. I quickly heat up Isabella dinner, get her shoes and coat off and sit her down at the table. Then on to Baby G. I grab the bottle out of the fridge and get it in her mouth as fast as I can so she stops crying. I run over and let Baxie outside real quick so he doesn't eat all of Isabella's food or harass her.
20 minutes later, I escort Isabella upstairs and give her a shower, brush her teeth and give her medicine. Baby G is swinging away in the swing. Then, Bob comes home. He gives Baby G a bath and finishes feeding her for the evening. Baxie wants food and water so I fill up both.

8 p.m. it is and both kids are sleeping peacefully. Ahhhh....I take a deep breath. Then Bob looks at me and is ready to eat dinner. So I begin that. About 8:30 were eating and by 9 p.m. the kitchen is cleaned up and everything is prepared for the next day. Whew!

On good days, neither girl is crying endlessly when we walk through the door for food and I grab the camera real quick and capture a video that ABSOLUTELY makes my day. It makes me glow from the inside out and I forget all of the chinese fire drills!

As I watch Isabella and Giselle, I can only wonder about sisters and the special bond that they have or that they may create. I wonder if my sister Dawn was this excited to play with me when I was a baby. I'm thinking she was. And then there was Bob. He got to have twice the fun, as he has two younger sisters. I will never know what that feels like, however I do know that I ALWAYS wanted to be around my sister. Which being 7 years apart, I am sure I was a THORN in her side growing up. Especially when she was in high school and all I wanted to do was be with her and do what she was doing. I remember wanting to be near her, wanting to wear her perfume, and so much more. I remember when she was in high school and would go out on the weekends, I would sleep in her bed until she came home. I guess I wanted to make sure she came home safe. Or the time we were in Aruba and I woke up and she wasn't next to me in the bed, so I got up and looked out the peep hole. Then opened the door.

As I watch Isabella grow to love Baby G more and more everyday, I hope they continue to develop that special sisterly relationship because.....

a sister is your other half.
she is your guiding star.
she is in your heart and soul.
she is more than your sister, she is your best friend.
she is the one that will be there when your heart needs to mend.
she is your other half, and when you are with her, you are WHOLE. LOVE YOU PIGGY

Enjoy the video everyone and LOVE UP on your sister or brother.......

Laughing = Good for the Soul....

Lately, Isabella has been trying to make baby G laugh. Once she gets baby G to laugh, she keeps it going. I captured a small video today and forgive me if it is a bit shaky. It's hard to hold a baby and capture a perfectly still video at the same time. Here it goes. Enjoy.

When the Cat is Away, the Mice Shall Play

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I think this picture proves to be priceless. A little girl, happy to be painting. Experimenting...starting with painting her Mickey Mouse picture. Then painting her hands. Then smearing the paint all over her face. She had such a grand time!
Both Giselle and Isabella went to the doctor on Monday for their check-ups. Giselle is now four months old and weighs 12 pounds and 13.5 oz. She had four shots. Isabella is almost 3 years old and weighs 30 pounds and 12.8 oz. Turns out she has a double ear infection in which they prescribed amoxicillin to be given to her for 10 days. Her very first ear infection ever. I am surprised she went as long as she did without getting one.

She also got some nasal spray to be given daily for her ever lasting running nose and he wrote an order to get her blood tested again for her allergies.
Giselle is busy rolling over, smiling and laughing ALOT. The doctor said she is measuring longer, so I have a feeling I will have two tall girls in the works, as Isabella is taller for her age.
Isabella has started to read to her baby sister daily, continues to shower her with kisses and hugs and still remains concerned about her well being at all times. Always letting me know where she is, what she is doing or what she needs.

To Mother....I Love You

It turned out to be a beautiful mother's day. Started off with two very special cards that warmed my heart from my little ones with their hand prints and a poem:
Sometimes you get discouraged because I am so small
And always leaving my fingerprints on furniture and walls
But everyday I'm growing up and soon I'll be so tall
Then all those little hand prints will be hard to recall
So here's a final hand print that I give you today
So you will remember how my fingers looked this May 8, 2011, Mother's Day
Love Giselle and Isabella
Bob surprised me this morning with beautiful flowers and some really awesome mother's day gifts. Then he asked me what I wanted for breakfast and lunch, as he would cook for me...so I said, I want a bowl of honey nut cheerios for breakfast and a nice, char-grilled hot dog for lunch. Both were really YUMMY I must say.
Then, I took my girls to the park to fly a kite and it was really fun for about five minutes. Isabella wanted to hold the kite and I said OKAY BUT YOU HAVE TO HOLD ON TO IT REALLY TIGHT OR IT WILL GET AWAY. She lasted about two minutes and then off the penguin kite went and wrapped around the power lines. I bet you that kite is still flying high above the church with the beautiful day we are having today.
Lastly, we stained the deck for a few hours while the girls were sleeping. Now time to love up on my little munchkins and make a yummy dinner.
I hope all of you are enjoying your mother's day as well.