Nola Started Walking Yesterday!

Embry's 3 Years Old!

Another birthday has come and gone! This party was much easier to prepare for than Nola's was. I ordered subs and slushies from Eegee's as the main food source which cut down on a lot of prep time. The cake was fairly simple since I bought a cake decorating kit (including the cars, the trees, and the bridge) and then used colormist food coloring spray to color the cake instead of actually dying the frosting. I made deviled eggs and pasta salad for sides and my mom made her famous baked beans, pink stuff, and potato salad. I made a photo banner of Embry from ages 2-3 which turned out very cute and cut out some letters for the wall message and printed Dora and Diego characters I found online to hang up on the wall too. My mom spent a lot of time drawing all of the Dora and Diego characters to make 2 banners for the living room which were super cute! We rented a Dora jumping castle which is a whole story in itself.

The chance of rain was down to 15% (started at 60%) for the party and it was raining all morning leading up to the party. When the jumping castle arrived (early around 11am) Embry was so excited. She watched through the window as they set it up and before her nap I asked if she wanted to go jump for a few minutes. She ran through the house excitedly yelling about jumping in her Dora jumping castle and I followed. The second she got to the back door and I opened it, she froze and started screaming 'nooooo!' She really did not want to go in it. So I picked her up and took her in anyway where she proceeded to cry and cling to me like her life depended on it. She claimed she didn't want to get wet, but that really didn't make any sense because she LOVES water, so I'm not sure what her deal was. However once the party started and it wasn't raining anymore (and dada wiped down the inside of the castle with towels) she was more than happy to spend a LONG time jumping and screeching with delight. It did rain during the party, but all in all, it turned out pretty good. We stood under the porch to hit the pinata. None of the smaller children had any hopes of breaking it, but eventually I ripped it apart and dumped the candy out. All was well.



The day after the party, on Embry's actual birthday, Tony had taken the day off work so we went to McDonalds for breakfast and then to the desert museum. Embry loves the desert museum and she walked around holding one of our hands most of the time instead of being in the stroller. We got to see a lot of animals and Embry was very happy.
Then we dropped Nola off at my parent's house and took Embry to eat at Panda Express and then to Harkins to see 'Puss in Boots'. Embry really likes Shrek, so we figured this was up her alley. She had such a good time! She used a booster seat, never tried to get up, ate her popcorn, drank her fruit punch, and held our hands. It was PERFECT. It was a really great experience for all of us.
I watch my friends two kids on Monday nights so once we got home, I packed Embry up and headed to pick up her friends for dinner at McDonalds and about 2 hours in the playplace. Embry couldn't have been happier, it was fantastic.

We went to MOPS on Tuesday where I worked in childcare most of the meeting and both Embry and Nola picked up colds. So now they're sick and I feel bad for them, but since I just got over my sinus infection I'm really hoping they don't pass it on to me. I finished my antibiotics about 4 days ago and I still have a fever around 100 which will not go away. I called the rheumatologist and left a message to see if he wants to see me and the primary care dr was stupid and told me to take some tylenol and see if it goes away. Hello, am I an idiot? Of course I've been taking tylenol and I've had this fever for 2.5 weeks already, I'm pretty sure it's not just going away! Not to be a debbie downer, but Tony took off work for an hour this morning because I had a follow up appt with the podiatrist and the kids are sick, so Tony watched them while I went to the appt. Turns out they didn't put the appt into their computer and the dr was already running behind so they couldn't fit me in. I'd like to point out that it's not 'fitting me in' if I had an appointment and the dr's office staff didn't do their job correctly. Anyhow, vent over and I'm going to bed!

Nola's 1 year appt

Nola had her 1 year dr appointment yesterday.
All is well, nothing really to report except her stats:

Weight: 22# 4oz (75%)
Height: 31" (90%)
Head: 44.5cm (>25%)

She got 4 shots (including her flu shot) and she was none too happy about it! She had a bottle afterward, in between gulping sobs.

I finally went to the dr today after 8 days of a temp around 100 and cold like symptoms. She thinks I have a sinus infection and gave me a Z pack of antibiotics so hopefully I'll start feeling better soon. This is all too reminiscent of last year at the same time when I had low grade fever that just wouldn't go away. I'm praying that this year has a different outcome!

In other news, I am so excited about Christmas approaching! I'm so very happy to be alive and to watch my kids grow up over the past year. Normally you just take that as a given in life, to watch your kids grow up, but really it is such a gift. Even on days like today when I take both kids to the dr with me and Embry WILL NOT stop saying 'Are we gonna go to McDonalds and eat and play?!' because she chose not to eat her breakfast and was hungry at 10am, even on days like this, I'm so glad I'm here. Anyway, the point is, this season reminds me of how precious life is and encourages me to savor every single moment.

I have a problem. A problem with presents. I love to buy them. I love to wrap them. I love to give them. The problem is the bank account does not share my love for presents. I have been getting much better with kid's birthday presents. I set a limit and I don't go over it. Although I still have a issue with spending too much on family/friend gifts. I think, 'oh they've done so much for me, I could never repay them, so a gift will show them how much I appreciate them.' I know for the most part it's not so, but I suppose it's the least I can do. What does money matter anyway, it's just a worldly good, but it's also one of God's gifts to us. Am I being a good steward of His money? I'm sure I could never be good enough no matter how hard I tried.

Nola's First Trick or Treat

I went with my friend Anna and her girls and my sister and family to trick or treat around the neighborhood last night. I pushed Nola in the stroller up and down our street and then dropped her off back at our house with Tony. At one point, I was setting the stroller in front of neatly decorated house to get a picture of Nola and then I hear her whining and look over to see her slid down in between the seat and the snack tray so only her eyes were showing. Poor baby, I hadn't strapped her into the stroller because her ladybug costume was so poofy the straps wouldn't fit. Embry had a blast and got a good amount of candy too. She wore the same princess outfit that she wore for her first birthday party. It was too big then and a bit too small now, but it worked out and she was happy.
PS, Nola can now go from crawling to standing without holding onto anything! She's so proud of herself too!