In a Wedding

I had the luxury of being asked to be in my Assistant's wedding. Boy was it a fun day. Allie was a coworker at Technology Partners up until a few months ago.  I was blessed to have her be my Assistant for a year or two and boy did we have fun. She married an amazing guy named Kenny and I am so excited for them.  Cheers to an amazing couple!

Vandalism

Ever say - that will never happen to me?  Well, it did. We went to a rehearsal dinner for a wedding that I am in and afterwards, we went to The Famous Bar. This is a place I've gone for years and have never had any sort of trouble. Unfortunately, this night, we came out to find Chris's car with the windshield busted out. Boy was he mad and for the right reason. My Associate had her car's window out and another bar go-er too.  Of course the person was smart. They targeted cars where the surveillance camera weren't in view, they used a crow bar to take the entire window out, and crawled in to find items.  This is the way to do it so the alarm does not go off.  What did they take?  Nothing!

Thanksgiving at the Merli's

This is what happens after a meal that was super filling and yummy!  Not to mention all of the yummy drinks as well. The house was packed at Aunt Jenny's and a great time by everyone!

Thanksgiving at the Norris's

We had a great time down in Ste Genevieve for Thanksgiving.  Getting to spend time with Grandma Marsha, Grandpa Mike, Great Grandma Ruie, and Great Grandpa James.  We had some great food, watched some movies and enjoyed the day.

Fast Eddies - 6 Years of Memories

Attending the Fast Eddies Bus Trip is a momentous day for us. It was 5 years ago that Chris and I got engaged. If you remember, we met on the Fast Eddies Bus Trip in 2006 (6 years ago). Then, Chris proposed to me on the Fast Eddies Bus Trip in 2007 (5 years ago), by asking me when they passed out jello shots and he called me up to the front of the bus to get mine and he gave me a purple one. Inside the jello shot was my beautiful ring! It was a great and perfect way to propose, if you know me well! One of these pictures if from the night we met in October 2006. We were awfully cozy that first night and we always laugh about how Chris was holding onto me for dear life. But we actually didn't go on our first date until 5 months later. The second picture is us in 2007, the night we got engaged. How happy we look and amazingly enough we are still just as happy today, if not more! So we attended the Fast Eddies Bus trip for probably the 10th or 11th time yesterday and of course, had another memorable time!

Teaching for JA in a Day

For the 2nd year in a row, Chris and I taught for Junior Achievement at Jefferson Elementary school. It was another rewarding experience and was very exhausting!  The kids were so great and we even had a girl in our 2nd grade class named Tia. Of course, I gave her extra special attention, which made Chris laugh!  Afterwards, we went to Crown Candy - yummy!

Mommy's Sick

It started off with a coughing fit while I was interviewing a candidate over the phone for my work. I didn't think much of it, but then it started to happen daily. Especially when I'd laugh, I just could not catch my breath. This cough is a dry cough, but it sounds like I'm an old man. Others were telling me that they've heard that people were getting this cough and it would last for months. I really hope I'm not getting sick!

Mommy Turns 35

I really can't believe that I'm 35.  Where has the time gone in my life!  I mean, I remember when I thought 35 was old. I don't feel old and I have never minded getting older either. I have a lot to be proud of and I wouldn't change a thing, but wow 35! My friends took me out and celebrated my birthday! So much fun, as always!

Fall Picture Day

Wow! I am so blessed to have such beautiful children! They are so stinker adorable and I'm so proud to be their mommy!  They had fall picture day and the girls did great.  Tia looks so grown up in this picture and Lexi looks like a little person. So cute!

Halloween 2012

Look at these little sweethearts!  Aren't they adorable in their halloween costumes.  Lexi fit into Tia's old Ladybug costume and I found this cute Superwoman costume at Goodwill.  They had a blast going around the neighborhood with Aunt Jenny!

Tia and Lexi Sharing A Room

My mom and her husband are in town for a few days so we decided to put the pack-n-play in Tia's room and see how the girls would do sharing a room. Now, we know that Lexi is hit and miss on sleeping through the night and especially with her sickness last week, she hasn't been sleeping all that well.  When she cries it sounds like she is hurt, but she is just a passionate little girl and when she wants something, she lets you know!  She hadn't slept most of the day and with no naps, it was hard telling if Lexi would go down easily. Finally after 8:00pm, she decided she had had enough and went to sleep. Tia was really great and was super quiet and watched TV quietly. She always puts up a fight when it is time to go to bed, but she did pretty good considering.  We forgot to move the baby monitor into our room and with our turbo fans and door closed, I didn't hear a thing. But I noticed this morning that Lexi had a blanket and two tissues in her crib.  Not sure if the tissues were for her nose or what, but I thought it was funny. My mom woke up right when I was leaving with the girls this morning and said Lexi was crying for a while and so she rocked her back to bed. This morning, Lexi drank an entire bottle, so I bet she was hungry. I asked Tia if Lexi cried much and she said yes. It was super cute.  I am happy they are getting a flavor of sharing a room, because in the long run, they will be. They have bunk beds, although Tia won't be able to sleep on the top bunk until she is 6 or so. But what is great is the bunk beds are stacked so we can use them independently as beds.  Lexi will be in her crib for a while though. I guess we'll see how they do the rest of the week while my mom is visiting.  Hope they both can get some sleep!

Back Seat Driver

Most people who know me know I have a few talents. One of them is my sense of navigation. I'm horrible at geography, but I can give directions including short cuts and have an amazing sense of direction. I have several friends who call me for directions. Chris relies on my to tell him which turns to take and which way to go when driving. We were driving away from the hospital the other night and I was telling Chris which way to go. All of a sudden, from the back seat, we hear 'go that way Daddy', 'yep, that's the way' and pretty much repeated everything I said to Chris, but in a convincingly cute way as if it was her really telling him how to get places. Then when we pulled to a road close to home, Tia took over again and started telling Chris directions. It was super cute. Chris said 'that is definitely your daughter!' So I think Tia is definitely going to be a back seat driver! Hopefully, she inherited my sense of direction!

Emergency Room for Lexi

Lexi experienced her first and hopefully last Emergency Room visit. She woke up about 2am the night prior to yesterday with a 104 fever. She was irritable and not happy. I decided there wasn't any way she would make it at daycare because she had already proved that she wanted all the attention she could get. She didn't want to be put down and she just wanted to feel secure. Chris was out of town for work and so I kept Tia home with me too. It was raining pretty hard and I didn't want to take Lexi out in her condition. I called the pediatrician and they said it wasn't the flu but it could be a virus they've been seeing where the baby had a fever for a few days, then a rash. Throughout the day, I gave Lexi as much attention as she needed and it was great because Tia was an absolute angel with Lexi. She really helped keep Lexi in a better mood than if Tia had gone to daycare. It is like Lexi lights up with Tia is around. Even though Lexi wasn't her true self with no smiles, lethargic mannerisms, and lots of whimpering, it seemed that Tia's presence made Lexi just feel better some how. Throughout the day, I noticed her soft spot was super bulged out. When Chris came home, we decided we should call the doctor and ask about the soft spot. A lot of her symptoms were similar symptoms to meningitis and so the doctor was pretty adamant about us taking Lexi into the Emergency Room for some tests. The earlier meningitis is detected, the less fatal it can be, so we did not want to take any chances. We packed up the family and went to Mercy. Tia did great for the four hours we were there and Lexi was really out of it at that point. They gave her some motrin and did a bunch of tests. While waiting, it seemed like forever, Lexi started to come back to life and started smiling and playing. Her fever went down a couple degrees and her bulged soft spot went down slightly. The doctor said she did not have the flu, no RSV, no ear infection, and did not think she had meningitis but if her fever continues after a few days, then bring her back. We were relieved and although super tired, we were happy to have good news. We just know as parents, comes worry, and in cases where there could be anything life threatening, we will jump at whatever we need to do to remedy the situation. Luckily, we have amazingly great doctors! So Lexi is all better and is 90% better. She just has to get back into her routine and she'll be 100% again.

Baby Prison

The baby gate is up! With Lexi crawling all over, we decided to put the baby gate up for Lexi. Tia loves hanging out in there too and she is wonderful with Lexi. There is an electronic toy where Lexi can stand and play. She would stand there and push all the buttons. Her face would light up when she knew she was standing.

Mom & Dad

When we say Tia is growing up fast, there are some areas where we are not exaggerating.  She is approaching three, sleeping in a big girl bed with no rail, decides on many things like what she wants to eat, and just acts like a little lady from time to time.  One thing though that cracks me up is that she calls us Mom and Dad.  Not Mommy and Daddy any longer.  Well, only when she isn't feeling good or is in trouble.  But on a regular basis, she has been calling us Mom and Dad for several months now.  If you ask her what our names are, she knows Daddy's name is Chris. She has no idea my name is Angie yet.  It actually drives Chris crazy when Tia is trying to get his attention and she yells to him 'Dad...Dad....Dad...Daddy....' and when no answer 'Chris!'  It definitely gets him to turn and look at her in amazement.  It always cracks me up.  She has been calling me Mom for so long now that it is almost as if Mommy wasn't around for long.  It just makes me think she is growing up so fast by already calling me Mom.  This morning we walked into daycare and there was a huge poster on the front wall that had a ton of pairs of hands with the name above it. I was checking the girls into the computer system and she chanted 'Hey Mom, look'....'Hey Mom, look' until I finally looked and she showed me her pair of hands and name. I was actually quite impressed she knew where her name/hands were on this gigantic poster and then I laughed out loud when I realized she was saying 'Hey Mom' - it just cracks me up every time.  It doesn't bother me at all. I think she knows it makes her sound older. Tia is quite amazing with Lexi too.  She has not shown much animosity or jealousy with Lexi. I think she realizes she is young and a baby.  She is crankier in the morning, but most of the time Tia is very protective of Lexi.  She tells everyone not to touch her. She shares her toys with her and instead of snatching out a toy from Lexi's hands, she replaces it first with another toy. Playing soccer every Monday now, closing her door when we are home so she gets privacy, going on the potty all by herself, and calling us Mom/Dad - she is growing up!

Potty Training & Bribery

So Tia has been potty training for awhile now and was doing really good for some time, then all of a sudden she started saying no, when we'd ask her.  She has a report at daycare so we can see her progress there and from the beginning, she has done okay.  Probably about half the time, she'll go on the potty.  What is amazing is that when she was around 24 months, she went on the potty for the first time and went 'poopie'.  So we thought she was going to just automatically get potty training.  We do have to admit, we haven't pressured her much into it. Since we really only get to see her for a couple to a few hours at night and a very short time in the morning, we decided to let daycare do the core hours and we'd follow suit.  The other challenge is that many people say to start potty training when her diaper is dry through the night. Unfortunately, Tia has always had wet diapers through the night. I think, there was 1 time and I was pretty amazed. We realized that if Tia gets potty trained, then she has the potential to move up to the next class which means cheaper daycare fees for her.  So we've been on a mission for a few weeks now and we are using bribery to do it. Talk about magic!  Before, she would just say 'no thanks' when we'd ask her to go.  Now that she knows there is candy involved, she goes every chance she gets. At home, she goes 5 or 6 times in one day on the weekend, which is such an amazing improvement. During the week, she goes in the morning and before bed time. She just loves her candy. We are desperate and we know how we feel about food, so why not.  We are so proud of our little girl!  She's getting so big.

Lexi is Sleeping Through the Night

Lexi is almost 9 months old and I thought I'd never see the say when she was sleeping all through the night without requiring a feeding or diaper change or just a binkie insertion.  Last Friday, Lexi slept straight through for the first time, with no peep that I heard.  The night before that she woke up for her feeding at 3, but when I went in there, she found a binkie was and quickly back to sleep.  I knew it was getting close.  I didn't mind doing feedings in the middle of the night only because I know in time they figure it out and don't require it anymore.  Lexi had been sleeping from 7:30ish until 3:00am almost every night for months now.  I knew it wouldn't be long until that 3:00am moved ever so slightly until 5:30am or 6:00am when I get myself and the girls up for our day.  I've also been training myself to not listen to every peep from the monitor and not to respond to every need.  I know each cry and what it means, so I respond differently each time.  Lexi use to have the hurt cry when she was hungry and I always respond to the hurt cry. But what I've come to find out is that she has a little fiery temper and she is not afraid to use it when she wants it.  The other factor is that up until she was 6 months, the girl did not know how to roll from her front to her back, so she would sleep face into the mattress and for peace of mind purposes, we would have her sleep in her carseat.  It wasn't until the doctor let us know that she'd be find sleeping face down now that she was 6 months+ that we started integrating her sleeping all by herself in her crib.  Over the past couple months, she's slowly learned how to fall asleep in her crib which has been really nice.  I put a ton of binkies in the crib with her so she can find one when she needs.  I guess I love teaching independence at an early age with my kids. I try not to enable them if I can help it.  All in all, Lexi is now sleeping through the night - I just love it.  If she cries a bit, I can hear her figure it out and fall back asleep.  So mommy is getting more sleep these days too! Yay!

Lexi is Officially Crawling

Lexi has been crawling for a few weeks but she was only able to manage going backwards. She finally figured out how to get herself going forward over the weekend. She gets excited and gets her hands going and moves forward and backward, but until this weekend she just could not figure or how to go forward. Now we are thinking about putting up the baby gate. She is mobile and within minutes she is in the next room. She is just getting so big!!!

Baby Dedication

We were so excited to dedicate Tia and Lexi at church a couple weeks ago. We want them to grow up knowing God and hoping they except him as their Lord and Savior when they are old enough to make that decision on their own. God is good!

Tia's First Day of Soccer

Finally! The day has come when Tia got to learn some soccer skills from a professional organization. We signed her up this summer, but not enough kids signed up. There was plenty of interest this fall and I'm so excited for Tia.

Chris went up to see how her first soccer lesson at daycare. SoccerShots is the organization giving the lessons for the next 8 weeks.

She did great. She proved to be super fast and able to follow the commands. They did drills that had them listening like "dribble, then put your elbow on the ball" "put your head on the ball" "put your belly on the ball".

They said she even scored a goal. I'm excited for Tia and later Lexi to be involved in soccer! Tia came home talking all night about soccer.