Remembering...

Today was a hard day, but the weeks leading up to it were much worse. We planted a tree to remember our baby today since today was the day that we should have been holding him or her.
We love you forever, baby, and we won't forget you.

Update on Buddy

After 3 days in the water, Buddy outgrew his home. We moved him to a new, bigger container, and he's still growing. He's at least 4 times his original size!

Meet Buddy the Turtle

Meet Buddy, the newest addition to our family! Buddy was a spur of the moment addition to O's Easter basket (2 dollars from Dollar General). You put him in water, and he grows and grows and grows. I was skeptical at first, but he has doubled his size since we put him in water yesterday. O is thrilled, and she loves to frequently check on Buddy. After we remove him from the water, he'll shrink back down to his original size, and then we can put him back in the water to grow again :) Next time we'll measure him before we put him in the water and chart his growth! (I wish I thought of that this time!)

We're Home!

After 2 weeks at Guh-guh and Grandpa's house, O and I are finally home. We had a GREAT time, but it's good to be home. O was excited that it was warm enough to play on the beach! I think we'll be spending most of our mornings on the beach instead of having "school" :)

After Easter Deals

Those of you who've read this blog for a while know that I love a good deal, so after holiday shopping is always fun for me :) I was excited by my after Easter deals, especially the silicone cupcake liners since we can use those now. We'll save the bunny cottage for next Easter, and we may use the chocolate candy molds to make gifts for a couple of special grandmas soon :)

Her Obsession Continues...

O LOVES Obama! Her infatuation with him is hilarious :) It started when we watched the inaugeration. She knew it was a big deal since we NEVER turn the tv on during the day. Ever since then, she gets SO excited when she sees Obama on the news. She says "there's Obama. there's Obama!" Sometimes she waves at him and then sadly asks "why Obama not wave at me?" She obviously hasn't had too much experience with tv :) When we hear Elliott come home from work, she sometimes says "it might be Obama!" A few days ago, she continued to pretend he was Obama after he came in and called him "Obama" all night. It was hilarious! She insisted that Guh-guh help her spell Obama's name using the plush letters on Friday (while Ell and I were packing for our trip).

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

Recently O has started purposely wearing her shoes on the wrong feet. She's says "it feels funny!" Ell was a little hesitant to let her walk around the hotel with her shoes on the wrong feet because he was afraid we'd look like neglectful parents :)

She also loves to wear "mismatched shoes." She thinks this is hilarious!

A Mini Vacation

We decided to take a mini vacation (using credit card points for 3 free hotel nights!) for my birthday weekend. The highlight of the trip was the indoor pool at the hotel! Every morning, O woke up saying "I'm ready to go to the pool!" It rained all day on Sunday, and we were glad since it gave us a good excuse to hang out at the hotel all day to swim and sleep. We took a 3 hour family nap, which was wonderful :) Elliott and I were glad for O to get more experience swimming since the lake will soon be warm enough for swimming.




On Monday we went to an art museum which had a children's section. I was glad to finally take O to an art museum, and we all really enjoyed ourselves. O and Ell are playing with the Kapla blocks. O enjoyed herself, but Ell REALLY enjoyed himself. I think he may get a set of Kapla blocks for his birthday!



Ell's masterpiece (with a little help from O and me).



My favorite part of the museum was this magnetic sculpture wall. O was very engaged in this activity. I'd love to somehow replicate this at our house :)

More on Teaching Spanish...

Thanks to everyone for your responses to my teaching Spanish post! Boca Beth sent us free materials to try and then review on the blog (we'll start with these materials on Tuesday). I am really excited about this since O and I have both enjoyed a Boca Beth song on youtube. I am also intrigued by the Little Pim series, and O and I have watched the videos on youtube. I am interested in Flip Flop Spanish and Teach Them Spanish. If anyone has used either of these books, I would love to hear what you think!

99 Cents Shipping at Let's Explore!

Just in case you don't know already, Let's Explore has 99 cents shipping until Monday. I am a sucker for shipping deals (and free shipping, of course), and I thought some of you might be, too :) I REALLY don't need to buy anything, but I may get a few art supplies for O for her birthday since I have trouble resisting a good shipping deal. I think these window crayons would be great for her since the majority of our house is made up of large glass doors. Also, O is getting an art tote for her birthday (that I bought from Let's Explore last summer along with the crayon rocks and bird rubbing plates. I tend to buy waayyyyyyyyyyy ahead of time!), so the crayons will go nicely with the tote. I'm also thinking of getting these crayons and this sticker scene. So...now I'm going to spend a little while trying to talk myself out of buying anything, but then I'll probably place my order tomorrow :) I'll justify it since it's my birthday, and it makes me happy to buy fun things for my little sweetie.

Playgroup Fun

O went to her 1st playgroup ever today (Tuesday), and she LOVED it! O and I are visiting Guh-guh and Grandpa (we try to come here every 2 weeks or so), and my sister and niece really wanted us to go to playgroup with them, so Guh-guh, O, and I met them at M's school and headed over to the church where the playgroup is held. O was a little nervous when I 1st told her about it, and she asked "will you stay with me in the classroom?" After I explained that I wouldn't leave, she was excited.

We all ate lunch and then the kids played and played. O seemed a little taken aback by all of the kids at first. (She's never been around that many children at one time). Then she jumped right in and had a great time playing (I was relieved that it seems that she hasn't inherited my shyness :), and she's been talking about playgroup ever since. She's ready to go back!

I feel guilty that we live in such an isolated area and that she doesn't get to interact with other kids very often. We used to go to storytime at the library weekly, but our children's librarian moved, and they didn't replace her. Now we don't have any scheduled outings :( However, I think we may be coming to Guh-guh and Grandpa's more often (maybe even every week!), so that we can go to playgroup with Mem and M! Thanks, Mem and M for inviting us!!!

A Perk of School at Home

O wore her bathing suit all morning, and then instantly transformed into a cat when she got a little chilly :)

I've added a search widget!

Just in case you haven't noticed (or, like me, don't usually click over to blogs from google reader), I've added a search engine for my blog! Readers are often asking me where specific posts are on the blog, and this will make it easy to find whatever you need :)

Spanish Language Programs???

I'm looking for recommendations for programs to teach Spanish to O (2 and a half years old). Elliott and I took several semesters of Spanish in college, but we remember very little of what we learned. O can count very well in Spanish, and she knows a few words. We read bilingual books, books in Spanish, and listen to bilingual music and Spanish music. I think that I need a curriculum or a dvd series to help us because I don't know how to progress from here. I've looked into ordering Muzzy, but it's very expensive, so I am hesitating to place the order (maybe I should put it on her birthday wish list for her grandparents and see what happens :). If anyone has any experience with Muzzy or other Spanish language programs, I'd LOVE to hear about it :) Thanks!

Family Movie Night

For family movie night this week, I borrowed a dvd from the library that teaches dancing. O loves Baby Ballet and Tot Tap, and she danced on her yoga mat while watching. We've watched the dvd several times, and O is always enthralled. I can't wait to sign her up for dancing lessons in the fall.
She had to make an outfit change halfway through the dvd.


 

Leapfrog TAG Reading System

I'm planning on my dad buying the TAG system for O for her birthday (he always lets me choose her gifts!), and since it's on sale at Amazon, I thought I'd go ahead and buy it now. However, I need help deciding which books to buy with it. What are your favorite TAG books and why???? Thanks!!!

Getting Ready for Summer

 
O practiced skiing in the grass yesterday while Elliott pulled her all around the yard. She said "As soon as the water is warm, O is going to ski! You'll be AMAZED!" Yes, I will be amazed (and terrified) if my 2 year old starts to water ski this summer! I'm not sure if I'm ready for this yet. I thought I had a couple more years. I guess we'll see what happens...

My 1st Clue...

that O was up to no good at her art shelf was when I asked what she was doing, and she said "I don't know." Hmmmm. I was suspicious, but felt too sick to go see. I asked a couple more times, and she kept saying "I don't know." She brought me a picture and said something about "just like Olivia the Pig painted on the wall!" I was worried that she'd colored on the wall, so I got up to see. Nope. The walls were clean. Then she went to the art shelf, pointed to the underside of the shelf above the art shelf, and said "I don't want you to see, Mama." I asked what she was talking about and she repeated (while still pointing to the underside of the shelf), "I don't want you to see, Mama." I walked over and looked at the underside of the shelf and saw that she had scribbled on it with her markers. I gave her a cloth and she cleaned it up. She apologized, and said she was "naughty on purpose", but she didn't want me to see. I put her in time out, and she was upset because she wanted a snack. She really needs to work on her deceptive skills (but don't tell her that!) :) I would have never seen the scribbling if she hadn't pointed to it! Silly girl :)

I Love Her Imagination!

 

In this picture O is "fixing the water." She said she was putting in batteries and cleaning out spiderwebs. She was busy "fixing the water" for probably 20 minutes. I'm really enjoying her imagination lately. I love that she'll ask me for something, and I'll pretend to pick it up and hand it to her and she's perfectly fine with that :) This has saved me a lot of trips up and down the stairs!

You Guessed It!

Good job, ladies! Yes, O is going to be a big sister. I have been extremely sick, much sicker than I was with O (didn't think that was possible!) or with my last pregnancy. I've barely gotten out of the bed for the last 2 weeks, and I've been losing weight. I didn't know I could feel so miserable and survive :) As much as I've hated to do it, I've started taking medication. I've tried several things...unisom, benadryl, pepcid, and we finally decided on Zofran. It's a class b drug, which is somewhat comforting. It's super expensive, but luckily we have good health insurance. I took the first one today, and I was able to go outside for a little while and upstairs to the den and kitchen. Both of those things are HUGE accomplishments. Usually I throw up if I move just a little bit, and I haven't been upstairs in 4 days. I am so very lucky that my mom has basically stopped everything to help us. We wouldn't have made it through the last 3 weeks without her. O and I stayed at her house for 2 weeks, and she has been here at our house since Tuesday morning. I've felt pretty guilty about not being able to do things for and with O like I usually do, but she doesn't seem to mind since she has her Guh-guh during the week and her daddy on the weekends and after work. She's been hanging out with me in the bed some, and we are enjoying watching Signing Time videos on youtube. We're both learning lots of signs!

O has been taking good care of her mama! Whenever she hears me throwing up, she comes running to me and pats my back. She usually says in an exasperated tone "Ohhhh, she's throwing up again!" (It's hilarious!). She brings me toys, pillows, blankets, pretend water, etc. to make me "feel better" while I hang out by the toilet :) She also likes to put bandaids on my stomach :) She constantly puts babies up her shirt and says she's growing a baby. A few days ago, she put a kitty (stuffed) up her shirt and said she was "growing a pet." She definitely keeps me entertained!

We are cautiously optimistic that this pregnancy will be a viable one, but it is hard to be excited when I know how bad things can get with absolutely no warning. I'm constantly waiting for the worst news, and our visits with our midwife have been quite stressful. We are so lucky to have the most wonderful midwife ever. She's extrememly supportive and caring. We've seen the heartbeat twice on ultrasounds...one official ultrasound and one in which my midwife just took a peak to ease my mind. Yesterday we heard a strong heartbeat using the doppler, which was very comforting. Our last baby never made it this far, so I do have hope... So, for those of you who pray, we ask for prayers that we will have a healthy baby in August.