My little mess maker

It seems like Izzie's terrible two's are different from Natalie's. Natalie's were more tantrums and whinny meltdowns. Izzie it seems like it is anything that she can make a mess and get in trouble.

Last week after lunch while I was cleaning up the kitchen I sent the girls to play upstairs. I thought they were playing with their toys.... turns out they were in the guest bedroom pulling out all rolls of wrapping paper and making a mess with anything else they could find. I found Izzie running around on top of the wrapping paper listening to it crinkle. Now on that incident it was both of them but it seems like Izzie is the one that starts and Natalie helps her in getting her what she can't reach.

At least once day I find Izzie with the dog's food. Feeding Parker who is very excited about his morning or afternoon snack. She also likes to dump the food in the dog's water dish and then she puts her hands in it to try "wash" her hands.

Also she has figured out the usefulness of a step stool. So she gets the step stools and positions them to wherever she wants to reach. Lately it has been to the desk chair. So she puts the stool in front of the desk chair, then she climbs on the desk chair, from the desk chair she gets on top of the desk where she gets a hold of pens, pencils & markers. Usually if she is quiet it means trouble. I have found her multiple times just sitting on the desk coloring.....

Finally her favorite place, the pantry!
Last week Natalie & Izzie were banned from the pantry after a huge mess they made in there which involved spilling salt all over the floor and then spreading it all over the kitchen and living room. Oh and this was done 15 min after I had just finished cleaning and vacuuming the whole house. Needless to say they have been forbidden from entering the pantry. Until today.....
I was upstairs doing my exercise video. Izzie was playing in the playroom. I guess she decided she wanted to go downstairs. I thought she was playing with her toys downstairs. Apparently I did not shut the pantry door all the way and she made up for not being allowed in there in the past week. The best part is that when I find her she just starts laughing.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment....

Ready for the pool?

Izzie likes to play in the dog's water dish. Normally she just sticks her hands in it.
When I was getting dressed this morning I head splashing. I come out and I find this:








I guess she is ready to go the pool!

Diaper Change

I just witnessed one of the funniest things I have seen the girls do in a while. The girls were outside playing and I was picking up stuff around the house.
Natalie comes in murmuring something about wet, diaper, poop. I figured she was talking to herself so I did not put much attention. She came in went upstairs and then I see her walking back out the door with one of Izzie's diapers in her hand. Izzie is outside too playing in the sand tables.
So Natalie is now outside in the back porch and even with the door closed I hear her yell to Izzie "Izzie come you have a poop". So now I am curious as to what Natalie is doing, since she is holding a diaper in her hand.
Izzie comes over (not sure why when Natalie calls her she comes but when I call her she ignores me). So I am not sure if Natalie is going to bring Izzie to me or what so I watch what they are doing and next thing I know Izzie is on the floor with her legs up in the air and Natalie is sitting with her taking her shoes off.
Natalie pulls off her pants and takes Izzie's diaper off. At this point Izzie gets up and Natalie realizes that there is no poop in the diaper says "ahh no poop just wet". So now Izzie is running around half naked and Natalie is trying to get her to lay down to put the diaper on. Since I don't think Natalie can put a diaper on I went to help.
I was able to get some pictures but they are from the inside through the windows so they are not very clear. If I would have opened the door they would have stopped.

So as I am writing this, Natalie comes back in the house and is again talking to herself something about again. I watch her come down the stairs with another diaper. She tells me that Izzie's diaper is wet. They are playing in the dog's water dish outside. I tell Natalie don't worry that I will change her diaper and she tells me "no no I will change the diaper". If only she really could change them that would be great!

Silly Girls

I had to share this cute picture I just took of the girls. I was on the computer and the girls were with me in the office "reading" books and playing around. Izzie loves books now and wants you to read to her all the time. Her favorite thing to do is to sit on your lap while you read her books. So I was on the computer and Natalie was looking at the address book when I hear Natalie say "ohh Izzie sit on my lap". I look over and sure enough Izzie is sitting on Natalie's lap waiting for Natalie to read her the book. Good thing I had my camera right next to me!

Happy Mother's Day

The last couple of weeks have been very busy for us. Two weeks ago Aaron had to go to Las Vegas for a work conference. He left on Sunday after dinner, but before the girls went to bed. They were fine when he left but when Natalie was trying to go to sleep and she realized that Aaron was not here and could not come she started crying and calling out for him. I felt bad especially since he was not coming home until Friday afternoon so it was going to be a long time. Every day she asked if this was the day he was coming home or tomorrow. She did not really understand the whole 5, 4, 3 days from now. Luckily to make things easier for me my friend Stacy from NC had to come to Round Rock for a training at Dell. It was great timing since she was able to stay with us and keep us company. Also having someone new at the house distracted the girls from Aaron not being home.

Stacy left on Friday and a couple of hours later Aaron got home. We all survived the week and hopefully he will not have to travel for a while, at least for not as long. The girls were so excited to see him. Especially Natalie she really missed him.

Then on Sunday my parents came to visit. They had spent some time in NYC and Connecticut visiting my brother and my sister so they planned a layover in Texas. We had a great time with them. Last time we saw them (well I saw them in Feb in PR at my grandmother's funeral) was in August when we went to visit them. Izzie had just started walking. How things change in a few months. Izzie is now running around like a crazy girl, Natalie is not as shy and talking nonstop. Last time my parents were here was in May of last year, we had just moved in and did not know Austin that well. Now we are more settled and the house more in order. Natalie and Izzie had fun showing them their rooms and all their toys. My parents left on Friday and Natalie misses them. She likes having company in the house, also she loves getting spoiled!

Since the last couple of weeks have been crazy and I have not been getting that much of a break from the kids Aaron took them out yesterday morning. He took them walking around Town Lake in downtown Austin, I got a couple of hours of peace and quiet in the house. Today for Mother's Day Natalie was very excited to celebrate with me.
In the morning we took the girls to Mansfield Dam in Lake Travis. The original plan was to try to hike/walk around the water's edge. But in the end we just looked at the beautiful view and the girls had a blast picking shells (can't really call them sea shells since we were on a lake) and throwing sand in the water. Natalie was not afraid of the water this time, I am glad that she is getting over her fear. Izzie on the other hand was insane. She walked right in. At one point we had to stop her because the water was to her belly. The best part is that I did not plan on this so of course they are in shorts and I did not have an extra set of clothes for them. Izzie had to ride home in her diaper. The girls had such a good time. Natalie kept saying she wanted to go in the water further. For being a lake the water was not that bad, it was a little chilly but not as bad as I was expecting. I miss the beaches in Puerto Rico & North Carolina but at least we have something here that the girls can enjoy.

We stayed home in the afternoon, Natalie wanted a cake (and I did too) so we got a chocolate cake and after dinner Natalie wanted to sign to me and have me blow a candle. So they sang Happy Mother's Day to me in the tune of Happy Birthday. It was so cute since Natalie was leading the way, all Izzie could say was Happy. They enjoyed the cake and are now exhausted from their long day.

Here are some pictures

Here is Natalie with my Mom


Natalie on a rock overlooking Lake Travis








Throwing sand


Izzie giving us her silly smile






Izzie wanted to go in further

Recent Pictures

It has been a while since I last put an entry in the blog. We have been busy hanging around and playing. The weather has been awesome lately so we have been spending some time outside. Summer has begun, Izzie has a nice tan to show it.
The girls are getting so big, especially Izzie. She does everything Natalie does. They are playing much better together and it is very cute watching them play. They can entertain themselves for longer periods of time so they have been giving me some nice breaks while they play. They still love playing with their kitchen and feeding the blankets and all their stuffed animals.
Izzie's latest trick is that she does not want to climb up the stairs or come down sitting down. She wants to walk up and down the stairs. It is a little scary watching her do it, especially because we try to have her hold our hands and she shakes her head no. She does hold on to the rail but it still scares me. Natalie is very excited and cheers her on.
Here are some recent pictures I took at the end of last week and the weekend. They are showing off their new nightgowns. I got them nightgowns since they are a bit cooler, getting ready for the Texas summer!







Natalie wanted to show off her cupcake PJs too. She now loves to have her picture taken.


Izzie coming down the stairs

Natalie's Surgery

We just got home from Natalie's surgery. We had to be there this morning at 6:45am and the surgery was scheduled for 7:45. Last night she saw me getting some stuff ready and asked what they were for. I told her we had to go to the doctor this morning but she really did not understand. We did not really go into any details since this was right before bedtime and we did not want to upset her.

This morning she woke up at 6, right before we went up to get her. We had to take her earrings off and at that point she figured that this was not good. She never cried but she kept saying she did not want to go and that she wanted to eat breakfast.

At the hospital she did very well. This time it was at a pediatric surgery center so it was all made for kids, so they had tons of toys and more kid friendly. This definitely helped. It also helped keeping Izzie entertained.

When it was time for them to take her she went with the nurse, she took her blanket and Pi with her. She was wearing a gown and her pj pants and some sock slippers that they had given her. She was very brave and never cried. Surgery took 20 minutes and the doctor came back and said that everything went very well. She had some fluid behind her eardrum but it was not infected. Also the adenoids were covering about 50% of the space behind her nose so he said that it should definitely help with her breathing (although she does not snore) and also help with the fluid not accumulating. We had to wait another 20 minutes before they brought her outside.
When they brought her out she looked very sad and all confused. They had warned us that sometimes kids are crying and inconsolable. She was just dazed. She still had the IV on and wanted it off but we got her calmed down so she would mess with it.

At this point Izzie had enough so Aaron had to take her outside so she could play and be loud and not bother the other patients. I stayed with Natalie and read her some books while she drank some juice. She fell asleep on my lap (the pain medicine had kicked in). After about 20 minutes they told us we could go home.

She is feeling much better now. She is watching Mickey and eating some goldfish. We are glad that it is over and hopefully no more surgeries.