Happy Birthday Granny

My step-mom, Patti, is pretty much as good as it gets in the step-mom department.  She has always been so wonderful to my little brother and I when we were growing up.  She always made sure to let us know that she wasn't trying to replace our mother and that we could think of her as a friend.  She quickly won my heart and I'm so very happy that my daddy found her.  Needless to say, I find her very special and hold her very close to my heart.

Granny with Ridley!!

 Granny with Maddox & Lukas

Since my children were born, I have seen that she isn't only a wonderful mom, she is an excellent "Granny".  Ridley and the twins love her and she has been down in the floor playing with them since they were born.  She always said she wasn't a baby person, but that was a lie.  When the twins were born, she visited and handled them like a pro.  Cody and I were shocked when she jumped right in and held both the twins; she was completely in her element.  She has continued to prove that she is very good with children as they have grown up.  (She also helped calm the rage of a very pregnant woman on Thanksgiving day, when her hubby and father went to the Cowboy's game at the new stadium and brought us back Pak-a-Sak food...when I hadn't eaten most of the day).

Anyways, Patti just celebrated a very big birthday and Ridley and the twins were willing to help us out with a few pictures!  Here are a few of the tries :o)

Take 1 of 50 :o)

Silly Signs!!

Hand over the Candy you promised...

VOILA!!!

Happy Birthday Patti!  We love you very much!

Tubes...Again

From the beginning Maddox has been our silent ear infection child.  Anytime she has had an ear infection, she rarely shows any type of symptoms.  She has no fever, no fussiness, no pulling at the ears...we generally wind up taking her to the doctor for either "momma intuition" or for something else only to find out she has an ear infection too.

At the beginning of May, Maddox had a bad dbl ear infection so they put her on antibiotics for 10 days.  Five days after we stopped the antibiotics we were back at the doctor's office with another set of ear infections.  At that point our pediatrician was worried.  They said that it was worrisome that she was having back to back ear infects that hard and fast in the summer months.  So again, we got referred to an ENT (the same ENT we used with Lukas).

He took 1 look at her ears and said she would be a great candidate for tubes.  So we finished up antibiotics and scheduled her surgery for the next week.  We took her in on Wednesday, May 30th and she had her tubes placed.  She was such a big girl.  Before the procedure all she kept saying was "Mommy, Daddy want to eat and go home".  She was hungry and couldn't have anything after midnight the night before until after her surgery.  

After the tubes were in, we got to take care of her in recovery and though she wasn't as angry as Lukas was during his recovery, she was extremely upset and whiny.  Turns out she had a double ear infection at the time her tubes were put in so I think her ears were bothering her much more than Lukas's did.  She had drainage running out of her ears for the rest of the day, which the doctor said would happen since her ears were so infected and that it was clearing out the infection.



In recovery, whichever parent had Maddox, she wanted the other one, so we would switch, and switch, and switch.....you get the point. She had to drink something or eat a popsicle before she left and she was refusing juice so we tried a popsicle.  I can't help but chuckle because she laid in my arms in a rocking chair saying "Mommy rock" and ate her popsicle without opening her eyes...she refused to look up or open her eyes.

We have to take her back to the doctor in 2 weeks to make sure her ears have healed up and that she no longer has an infection!  We are so happy we got tubes placed, because that infection made 3 in the last month.  We are hoping she has as much luck with hers as Lukas has with his!

3 Months

Well, I'm behind :o)

Ridley is already 3 months old....time goes by in a blink of an eye.  She is such a happy baby.  She still loves to eat, sleep & snuggle.  She is such a lover.  Right now, she gets pretty feisty when you aren't giving her attention.  She loves to coo and smile at Maddox & Lukas.  Recently, she has really decided those two are pretty entertaining to watch.  She still loves her infant swing and bouncer, but she has also graduated to the Bumbo seat...I was pretty shocked at how much she enjoys it.  She still has one clogged tear duct that is giving us fits and her pediatrician said we would be referred to a Pediatric Opthamologist if it didn't clear up in the next few months.

She is super strong.  She is rolling from front to back and seriously thinking about back to front.  She is also trying to put her knees up underneath her.  Of course, she is just growing up and changing everyday!  She is already wearing 6 month clothing!?!?!  Sure does make this momma wanna hold on even tighter, because I know soon she will be crawling!

Here are some pictures of the sweet love:

I LOVE MY BUMBO!!

You may think Ridley is being sweet here, but actually she just blew out a diaper on a road trip with her momma and I was having to strip little miss nakey in the front seat and change her so that we could finish up the last 30 minutes of our drive.....

MOMMA THINKS I'M LOOKING LIKE MY DADDY!!!

2 Months Old

Ridley is two months old! I know, I know it's hard to believe but true, nonetheless. I took her in for 2 month check up and she is weighing in at 12lbs 9 oz and is 22 3/4" long. She is healthy and happy. She wasn't appreciative of the two month shots, but since we do a slower vaccination schedule she only had to have 2 needle sticks (which of course was enough for her and mommy). She will get her next set of shots at a 3 month "injection only" visit.

 Ridley's favorite activities include...eating, sleeping, rocking, cooing and giving you that big wide mouth toothless grin. She is working on making noises and when she finally squeaks one out, she is pretty proud of herself and a little shocked :o)

For the most part, Ridley is a pretty happy girl.  She has recently started sleeping from around 10 to 4:30/5:00 eating then sleeping until I get her up around 7 to get the kids ready for the day.

Lukas has even come around and started giving his sister kisses and loves.  He grins so coyly when he is about to be sweet that it melts my heart!  Maddox still loves to "hold her" and help us with any of her needs!

MY GIRLS

We are so grateful to have this blessing and look forwards to all the firsts we have coming up!  Here are a few recent pictures of Miss Ridley.

Camera Bandit

While going through the pictures on my camera, I found this...

I really wondered who the camera bandit was until I came across this...

LUKAS GLEN!!!

 

Easter 2012

Easter this year was pretty laid back for us. The twins are at a pretty fun age this year for Easter egg hunting, the Easter bunny and a little bit of egg dying. When I told Maddox that the Easter bunny had visited..she immediately said "prize", because she knew he was going to leave a prize for her (since we told her that the night before).

We used an idea (found on Pinterest no less) for coloring eggs using Kool-Aid packets instead of Vinegar and I was pretty pleased with the smell and the way the eggs turned out. They were pretty vibrant, but next time I will follow the instructions on the website here for better color combinations.

While hunting eggs, Lukas would walk up crack it open...if it didn't have candy he was on to the next egg. I think they had more candy than they have ever had, but I was also smart enough to fill some of the eggs with non-edible things like mini-chapsticks etc.

Here is a collection of pictures from "The Hunt":

What's New with the Twins?

Lukas & Maddox are growing up too quickly! They are at a really fun (also trying) but mostly fun age! In the last few months a lot has been going on with them.

Maddox has started talking in full sentences. She has surprised us with her ability to communicate. Sometimes we have to remind her to "use her words" and when we do she sure knows how to get her point across. There are a couple of words that she says that are hilarious...I'm trying to get it on recording, but she is a bit camera shy. She is really into chocolate right now...which is pronounced "chop - let"...we have "choplet" cake, "choplet candy" and her favorite, "Chop-la-ma-ho" aka Chocolate Milk. She has really become interested in Potty training so we are taking on that as well. She has done amazingly. We are now in Pampers Easy-Ups and we are well on our way with potty training. After she goes potty, she says "Pwise" which means she gets a Prize for going potty.

Here are some recent pictures of Maddox:

Shopping in Style

We love to go on "rides" at Daddy's expense, of course

Helping Momma plant flowers

We found her this way when she woke up from nap...Love the hat :o)

Lukas has started talking more as well. He hasn't quite reached the full sentences, but he is definitely using & saying lot's of different words. "Let go" and "I did it" are words we hear often. Just recently he has started taking an interest in the potty...probably because he sees all the prizes his sister has been getting. He hasn't gone yet, but he has sat on the potty and tried which is good enough for me at a little older than 2. He has gotten so tall that he can reach just about anything on the counter tops, which drives me CRAZY! He loves to rough house with his sister, surprisingly she is usually the instigator but he is generally the "finisher".

Here is some pictures of Lukas:

Again at Daddy's expense :o)

NUTELLA SANDWHICH?!?!

CRAFT TIME :o)

Both of them are growing like weeds! We can't believe how big they are getting. They are so smart. We eat dinner together every night and they put their plates in the sink when they are finished and throw away any of their trash. Their favorite past time is playing outside in their sandbox or just being outside in general. We are super excited because Cody's parents helped us buy them a big swing set for the backyard. We haven't put it together yet, but they are going to be soo excited when it is put together.

Glow Stick Bathtime

WE are enjoying these days with the kids and can't wait to see what new things the future brings for our family. Right now, we are just loving the life we live everyday!