TGIF

The week is finally over! I did not think I was going to survive this week. Aaron had to go to California for work this week. He left Sunday after dinner and got home late late last night. So that meant 5 bedtimes by myself and 4 full days with both girls. What made things worse was that Izzie got sick. Something always happens when Aaron goes out of town. Natalie's ear infections used to always start right after he left. And if it was not her ears then it would be very bad weather or some other issue that always prevented us from getting a good night sleep and made everyone very cranky.

So this time it was Izzie's turn. She has been fighting an ear infection for the past 3 weeks and she just finished her antibiotics so earlier this week I thought she would be fine. Well Tuesday she had a fever, nothing too bad but the doctor had me bring her in since she was on antibiotics to make sure nothing else was going on. He said that it was just a cold. Wednesday her fever was very high and she was very cranky and looked really sick. I called the doctor again but they told me to bring her in on Thursday. She had a fever all afternoon and it finally went away after she went to bed. Thursday she woke up fine and never got a fever again. I took her to the doctor (again) and they said that it was a cold with a sore throat which was causing her to throw up when eating solids. But at least her fever was gone and she was doing better on Thursday. The week seemed to drag forever. Good thing that I had arranged for Natalie to go to school on Wednesday so that I could spend time with Izzie.

Aaron came home last night and the girls were very excited that he was back. Izzie of course had no idea what was going on but Natalie was very upset. She cried on Sunday when Aaron was leaving and every morning she would ask me if Aaron was home. Same thing in the afternoon. I felt so bad because she did not understand when I would tell her that he was coming home in a couple of days. She did talked to him on the phone a couple of times and even though he does not really realize it one day she was actually telling him all about her day. She was walking around with the speaker phone telling him about things she did at school and about home and Izzie being sick. She even made him read her books over the phone. I had to help him out since of course she picked books that he had not read in a while so he did not have the words memorized. But she really liked that he read her books.

Aaron had the day off and he spent the day with the girls and giving me a break from them which was nice. He is currently putting Natalie to bed and she even asked for him to read him books tonight, which I am glad because I know he missed her and I am glad that she is showing him that she missed him too.

Here is a picture I just took of the girls. We are trying to get Izzie's hair to curl. Sometimes her hair goes crazy and it curls at the ends.
Natalie is showing off her PJ's with feet. Last year she would not try them on and for some reason she loves them now. I think it's because Izzie has some like that.

Birthday Parties

On Saturday we had a combined birthday party for Izzie and for me. We invited our friends over and had a great time. The girls really enjoyed the pinata. I got a pinata like the ones I used to have when I was a kid. Instead of hitting it it has strings that you pull and the stuff comes out. Much easier for toddlers to do. Even Izzie was pulling on the strings.

We had dinner and cake and then the kids played. Natalie was very excited and kept thinking it was her party too. We had 2 cakes and Natalie kept asking for her cake. We tried to explain it was not her birthday but she did not want to hear it. She was also very excited about presents the next day when we opened them and played with all of Izzie's new toys. Izzie had lots of fun with balloons.

Here are some pictures from the party.

Izzie's checkup

Izzie had her 1 year checkup yesterday. Her weight was 19lbs 4oz and she was 28 1/4 in long. She is in the 25 percentile for both weight & height. So it looks like she will continue in Natalie's footsteps of being a little peanut. Not sure if it is that she is getting taller or the walking but she is losing the rolls in her legs. She still has the chubby checks though. It's funny but I am always surprised at their weight. To me they both look heavier than they are.

Izzie was scheduled to get 3 vaccines yesterday but she is still recovering from the ear infection and cold so the doctor did not want to give her the vaccines. So she will need to go next week.

She is becoming a big girl. She loves whole milk. We stopped formula last week and she has not missed it at all. We are starting to transition her to a sippy cup. She does very well. She actually tries to get Natalie's. The only time she has a harder time is when she is tired and just wants to go to sleep.

Natalie is doing well. She is adjusting to the time change. She has been waking up around 5 for the past couple of days and of course she is very cranky and tired early. Hopefully soon she will get back to normal (of waking up at 5:45......) Hey maybe she will go to 6:30.... I can only hope. Aaron is traveling in a couple of weeks so I hope they are both free of colds and ear infections. Maybe they will both be going through a growth spurt and will sleep 12 hrs at night w/o waking up.... again I can only hope.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We had a fun filled day yesterday. The girls were dressed both as ballerinas because that was the only way I could get Natalie to wear a costume. She liked this one for two reasons, one it was pink and the other one that Izzie was wearing it too.

In the morning I took the girls to a nearby park in Round Rock where they were having a Fall Festivals. It was great because it was for toddlers & preschoolers so it was all little kids. They had games and hay rides. It was a beautiful day so it was nice being out. Natalie was fascinated with all the kids in costumes. She was not that interested in doing the games but she had fun looking at everyone. We did go on the hayride and both girls enjoyed that.

In the afternoon Natalie's school was having a Halloween party so after nap time we headed that way. Aaron met us there from work. It was cute watching all the kids from her classroom dressed up. They had a bouncy house so Natalie was very excited.

After the party at school we came home and had a quick early dinner and then around 6pm we hit our neighborhood. I guess it was still early but since the girls go to bed so early we had to do it then. Natalie was very confused about the whole thing, going to people's houses and knocking on doors but not going in and they give you stuff. She was shy at first but then got the hang of it. Izzie was just following us around no idea what was going on, but she was looking very cute and everyone enjoyed watching them.

So after going to a couple of houses we came home and put the girls to bed. By this time people are starting to make their rounds so Natalie was very curious about kids coming to get candy. Still Aaron read her books and put her to bed. So Aaron and I went outside. We were planning on sitting out front that way we could hand out the candy before the kids rang the doorbell and not having the dogs bark and wake up the kids. After about 10 minutes of being outside, Natalie showed up. She could not sleep and found us outside and saw the people on the street and forget it, there was no way she was going to sleep now. She sat with us and handed candy out. She kept screaming when she saw people on the street because she was so excited. She would get mad if people would not come by. She did not understand that they had already been here, she just wanted people to come and keep coming. So she had a blast outside. She will definitely have a lot of fun next year. At around 8:30 things started getting quiet and she was getting tired but she would not go to bed unless we came inside too, so we called it a night and came inside. She passed out immediately.

We had a very fun day yesterday, now we are trying to figure out what to do with the huge amounts of candy we have left. Trying to hide it from Natalie & ourselves. Aaron will have to bring it to work, we need to get it out of here :-)

At the park....










The butterfly class at Emerson Academy


Natalie & Luke or Logan (can't tell which one ;-)




Natalie pushing Izzie




Natalie liked the pinata






Natalie & Izzie with Ocho the goat


At home after trick or treating in the neighborhood