Update

Ellie's KinderMusik class

Happy girls!

Memorial Day weekend at Patti's with Nick and Amber

campin' cousins

Ava's KinderMusik class

Memorial Day weekend with my parents

headed to VBS

such a sick little girl!

neighborhood drink line-up

Ava was sick in this picture, but paper makes everything better in her world!
(especially when I just turn her loose and let her go crazy with it!)

The girls have both been so sick this week! It started with Ava having a fever and snowballed into high fevers with both girls, both had Hand Foot and Mouth disease, Ava had an ear infection, and Ellie had pneumonia. Good grief! 3 doctor visits, some antibiotics, bottles of ibuprophen and tylenol, and lots of rest later, and they are much better. Poor Jeff has it now, though. I think I'm probably immune to it because it's pretty rare in adults, but he's out of town (which makes it even worse) and has a fever and blisters on his throat and in his mouth. Maybe he'll be better tomorrow.

Daddy

So, Daddy is out of town and boy, do we miss him! Ellie said, I really want Daddy to come home one day. (He's only been gone one day so far!!) You don't realize what you've got until it's gone...like the help I get from Daddy around the house and with the girls. This time away will be good for us because we'll all realize again how much we need and love each other.

our smiles by wire

go to http://www.smilesbywire.com and enter the following:

Customer Name: becky hughes
Access Code: LTP32202020001JCP

I wanted these sweet pictures with the girls and me...
but I waited too long to really get what I wanted. 
I was hoping to have one where Ellie and I were looking at Ava,
but she was too big to do pictures that way.
I honestly like taking my own pictures
because I'm never really happy with "studio" pictures.
I still think these turned out okay, though.

8 months old

and Ava is standing, cruising, trying to walk (holding your fingers), jumping (in her johnny jump-up), laughing, talking...she thinks she's as big as Ellie! :-)

fun in the summer sun

HOW MANY GIRLS CAN YOU FIT IN A BABY POOL?

Our neighborhood is filled with kids...and we have a pool, trampoline, swing set...the list goes on and on. Which means, the kids usually end up all playing together and at some point during the day, they are at our house. Ellie and Ava LOVE to have company and Ellie asks to have friends over every day. $1 water balloons provided some great entertainment today!

Holiday World "08

Click here to see pictures of our trip to Holiday World.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37388&l=5756d&id=504816953

standing

Ava is almost standing...she is trying SO hard!!!!!

funny stories

Ellie tells such funny stories and is just a sponge right now. She sounds exactly like me, which is so scary. I'm constantly thinking about what I'm going to say and whether it is completely appropriate or not - especially when my little mocking bird is in public and decides to tell the world something I have said, without saying I said it. One of the best examples was tonight right before she got ready for bed. She was playing in a little tub of dried rice, noodles, and beans. She loves to scoop and pour them and she was making us strawberry milk (for me) and chocolate milk (for Jeff). It was actually just a cup of rice, beans, and noodles. Anyway, she asked me if I wanted "lsdkfjsldjf". I had no idea what she was saying, so I asked her several times. I never could understand her, so she finally got frustrated and said, "It's a recipe I got from Hopey's mom's blog. You can check my blog and get it from there."

Can you tell how I spend my free time? :-)

random labor comment...

Okay, when I was in labor with Ava, I hadn't had any child birth classes, including breathing/labor techniques. We signed up for a class before Ellie was born, but it was rescheduled for after her due date, so it wouldn't have done me any good. With Ava, I was planning to get my epidural early on like I did with Ellie, so no worries...right? Well, I was not in labor for very long with her. It started at 5:30am and she was born at 6:38pm, but the earlier contractions were not "hard" and I was waiting for my water to break - but it wouldn't on it's own and my contractions just kept getting stronger and stronger - and lasting much longer (some as long as 3 minutes). However, when I got to the hospital at 3:00, they decided to break my water at about 3:30, so things progressed quickly after that, since I had been in labor for so long already. I asked for my epidural and they ordered it...but they had me lying in the bed doing nothing, just trying to breathe through my contractions. Nobody told me to get out of the bed and try to walk around, which really gets to me, even to this day. Poor Jeff was trying to remind me to breathe because when the contractions would come, I would hold my breath. I read on another blog (some of our friends from TX are due soon and they had a child birth class) that labor is not an illness and you should NOT have a love affair with the bed while in labor. I SO WISH I HAD HEARD THAT BEFORE I WAS IN LABOR WITH HER. I wouldn't have asked for medicine to help with the pain until my epidural came, which ended up making me puke in the poor doctor's face while I was pushing. I might have not even asked for the epidural. Once I sat up in preparation for the epidural, I was able to breathe through the contractions, but no one told me to get out of the stinking bed?!?!? Shouldn't that nurse have known that??? I finally got the epidural about 45 minutes before she was born. Live and learn, right? I'll know better next time!! :-)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

4 Generations!

Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all the Moms out there ~
aunts, cousins, friends, babysitters, grandmas ~ young and old!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Today was a day of good news!! First of all, CONGRATULATIONS Landy! My cousin got in to nursing school!! (You can see her picture with the girls below.) I am so excited for her! She just found out today and she called to let me know. I don't remember all the details, but I do know that it is hard to get in, so it was a huge blessing that she was able to get in and she'll start in August. We also found out that 2 of our good friends are expecting - one couple is expecting their 3rd, and this is the other couples' first!! God is good!

Donations Accepted

We are doing the "walk" for Juvenile diabetes and are accepting donations...let me know if you are interested. :-)

Landy aka "Effie"

My cousin came to stay with us last night. We have had the best time. We ate, went for a walk, watched old videos, talked, laughed, and just enjoyed being together and playing with the girls!

boots with the furrr...

This is what happens when Landy comes to town! :-)

bogged down

I sometimes feel like such a loser. My "to do" lists keep growing, not getting smaller. I need some organizational tips, so feel free to leave some comments and help me out! I am so bogged down with work that I feel like my life revolves around it right now. I still work "part time", but I'm having a hard time doing my paperwork from home while trying to be a stay-at-home mom. I just work on Mondays and Tuesdays (and make-up appointments one other day), but my paperwork at home keeps piling up. I'm thinking about hiring a babysitter for a couple more hours a week and specifically doing paperwork during that time. That way, I have a set time with no distractions and can get something done instead of starting something and changing a diaper, then starting again and getting somebody a drink, then starting again and drying some tears, then starting again...and never finishing ANYTHING. I don't even finish changing a diaper before my mind is racing again, thinking of what I'm doing next. I'm ready to just slow down and enjoy life more!!!!! Again, if any of you have any suggestions or tips, I'm all ears (or eyes, I guess since I'll be reading them).

On a much happier note, Ellie and Ava are doing really well! Ellie loves her KinderMusik class and her dance class and she's now in a tumbling class until the end of May that has been a big hit! She scored at 51 months in her fine motor skills of writing, holding a pencil correctly... and at 63 months in the fine motor skills area of cutting on a line, cutting out a circle, using buttons... It was fun to hear the results of the evaluation, although we don't have the written results yet. She did qualify to receive some occupational therapy though, for a delay in the area of sensory integration.

Ava says hi now, walks with help, and is on a much more normal napping schedule (short morning nap, long afternoon nap, and sometimes a really short cat nap in the evenings). She's working so hard on cutting teeth, but the silly things just won't come through. She loves it when Ellie hides - she will reach and stretch as far as her little neck with let her to try to find Ellie...then Ellie jumps out and scares her and she laughs a big belly laugh...then it all starts over again. She's our little jokester and she knows it! She loves to be funny!

My Nannie will turn 75 years young tomorrow (my mom's mom)! She never gets on a computer so she'll never see this, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANNIE!!! We went to Texas Roadhouse the other night and they made her get on the saddle!! I have the video and will post it one of these days. We also went to see the Gaither's Homecoming concert and we're all going to eat lunch with her tomorrow. Then, my cousin Landy is coming to spend the night and we're all so excited!!! Ellie can't wait.

I love pictures!

Ellie is so affectionate with Ava! (and Ava eats it up!)

PRECIOUS!

Ellie on our way out the door to Ava's check up.

this is one of my new favorite pictures of the girls together -
I may have to make it black and white and print some of this one!

I love hooded towel pictures!

we visited some friends in Nashville over the weekend

EARTHQUAKE

I can honestly say that I was the most scared of my life at 4:30 this morning when I realized we were having an earthquake. I woke Jeff up (he sleeps through everything) and took off to get the girls...my fear was not being able to get to them. I had to think fast because I wanted to get one and have Jeff get the other, so my reasoning was that if I needed to for whatever reason, I could maneuver better holding Ava and Jeff could handle Ellie better, so I yelled for him to get Ellie and we stood in their doorways. The weirdest part for me what that I could tell that it started on the end of our house that our bedrooms are on and moved to where the office is. Thankfully, we are all fine and we had no damage, it just wiggled a safety gate loose outside going to our swimming pool.

Ava had her 6 month check up today. She weighs 18lbs. 5 oz. and is 27 3/4 inches long - those measurements, along with her head are in about the 95th percentile. (We think they measured her length wrong at her 4 month check up because they said it was 27 1/2 and there is no way she has only grown 1/4 of an inch in 2 months.) Anyway, all is well and she's growing and meeting milestones wonderfully.

Ellie had an evaluation on Wednesday because we're dealing with some sensory issues. Nothing big, just little things that if targeted, will help her in school. She chews on things a lot, has trouble with balance/vestibular, and really doesn't like her hands to be dirty. Although some of the things sound quirky and silly, I didn't want to just let it go, so she will receive Occupational Therapy for a short time to try to help her in some of these areas. (Being a developmental therapist makes me so much more aware of some of these things.) She also tested her fine motor skills, and Ellie scored in the 98th percentile, so she's well above average there!

6 months old!

Locks of Love

Jeff and a fellow BCM'er, Cole, finally cut their hair for locks of love tonight! Here are the before and after shots.

Old videos

I love watching old home videos. It brings back great memories and always makes me laugh. I found this video of Ellie when she was about 17 months old.

Easter

We had a great Easter with our families. Thankfully, we were able to spend time with each side and our kids had a blast playing with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents...

Need a Laugh?

When you say, "Quick question about my hair..."

Ellie says, "Uh, I'm on the phone!"

Spring

Spring is in the air - and I love it! The rain is not my favorite, but I know that it takes rain to create other enjoyable things. I love this picture. It's just weeds growing next to our house, but it's a great reminder that spring is here.

Already??

Ava decided to start sitting on her own this weekend. She's not a pro yet, but she can sit for a good 30+ seconds on her own and sometimes longer. I have to get her sitting just right, but she'll sit and play with a toy. She also quit taking her pacifier. Ellie stopped taking hers at 7 1/2 months and we wanted to do about the same with Ava. She'll be 6 months old Friday, so I guess she thinks she's big stuff. She's also babbling like crazy and saying mama and bye bye, and blowing raspberries if that counts as talking.

Ellie has moved past her 3 year old "funk" that she seemed to be in. She was really in a phase that was not our favorite, but the past month or so has been wonderful! She was sassy, defiant, lying, pushing the limits, whining...and it was driving us crazy. She didn't really have the terrible 2's, but when she hit 3, we thought we were going to lose our minds. She's back, though. Our sweet, obedient, loving little girl - who is not so little anymore!!

My cousin, Landy, was playing with the kids at Nannie's house on Easter and she convinced them she was magic by "taking off her thumb" and putting it back on. So, I was giving the girls a bath tonight and was trying to juggle 2 kids in the tub when one can't sit up. I finished, got Ava out, dried her off, put a diaper on her, and wrapped her in her towel. I went to get Ellie out of the tub so she could put her own pajamas on while I was putting Ava's on and I guess I wasn't fast enough. She was telling me to hurry because she was cold. I said, "I'm going as fast as I can. I'm not magic - I can't do everything all at once." To which she replied, "Well, Landy is magic!"

Easter Preview

Here are a few pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses. Hopefully we can get outside Sunday to take some, but I'm not sure what the weather is going to do.

front view

So, here is a front view of my hair, and a side one so you can see the angle. I like it. It's fun and so easy to fix. The other pictures are of Ellie looking silly, Ava drinking water from a straw (she loves doing that), USI basketball game, and chillin' with Daddy. The first one is Ellie's Mommy and Me dance class - and the next is with her teacher.

catching up

I haven't been on here much this week, so I'll try to get caught up on posting new info about the girls. Ava can roll both ways now, she's reaching and grabbing at things like crazy, and she can even hold her own bottle when we give her one. She's going to be a jokester!! She's so funny and she already knows it! Ava is 5 months old now and loves to eat. At her 4 month check up, she was 16 lb. 4 oz (97th%) and 27 3/4 in (WAY off the top of the chart). I feel like Ava's mouth is always open - she's either smiling, talking, or eating! :-)

Ellie loves going to "school" (mother's morning out)...but hasn't wanted to go the last 3 times, so I'm working on figuring out why. Her dance recital is in June and we're trying to let her hair grow out because they are supposed to wear dog ears and all the other little girls have long straight hair...and Ellie's is all different lengths and so curly. It can go in dog ears and that's how she wears it most days because it stays out of her face better, but it's not a nice, neat ponytail, so I'm trying to let it grow as much as possible. Ellie has turned in to a terrific eater - she used to be picky, but we would still make her at least try things. It was always such a struggle at the dinner table, but she has picked up some great eating habits lately and it's been such a blessing! Much less stressful at the table! She's also drinking from a regular cup all the time now (except in the van). I went to a training and they said that sippy cups don't always allow the muscles in your mouth to develop correctly, which could cause speech issues. She could drink from a regular cup, but we would use sippy just so we didn't have to clean up spills. She has done great, though! Instead of saying, "it's a good thing we put our coats on", Ellie says, "good idea we put our coats on"! She loves to quote the commercial where the lady is getting her hair done and says, "quick question about my hair". Ellie walks around saying, "Uh...I'm on the phone!" and she has attitude when she says it. It's so funny!

I got my hair cut - it's a mom cut, but a fun one. It's just an angle, but I can do the back normal or spike it, like it is in the picture. I've tried several times lately to get this cut and finally got a good one Thursday night.

We went to a USI basketball game and of course, had to wear cheerleading outfits. :-) Ellie also got to go to Chuck E. Cheese with a friend from dance class.