Anyone tired?

I think Maddie might be a little worn out from her illness and hospital visit. I asked her today if she wanted to take a nap and she just stood at the top of the stairs silent and wouldn't give me an answer. So, I just left her there and went downstairs expecting her to follow or at least speak up. But, I guess she was just exhausted and I found her like this. I didn't want to disturb her, so I let her go and she slept there for 3 hours! She still has an awful cold and somewhat of a cough, although it is much better than it was the night we took her to the hospital. Poor baby!

As far as the other cute baby, who was showing off her adorable rolls on a very warm Saturday......

She is growing fast and.....

is becoming pretty talented! She's already a multi-tasker, grabbing her feet and chewing on a ring all at the same time! She spent about half an hour happily doing this :)

This week is going to be pretty tiring for us. Besides the colds, Brandon is taking the Professional Engineering exam on Friday, which is a huge deal. It's like taking the SATs, except even bigger. And it will basically make him an official professional once he passes. He has been taking a class for the exam since September and been studying like crazy the past few weeks. So, he will be gone every night this week studying. We also have lots of house stuff going on with loans and inspections and we are trying to start some packing. I enjoy packing, but right now it just feels endless and like the house is a wreck. I spent all day today packing and feel like I have nothing to show for it! Anyways, I'm looking forward to end of this week! Pray that everyone gets healthy and Brandon does well on his test!

She's ok!

Before I tell you that we had to take Maddie to the hospital last night, I'll say first that she is fine!
She woke up around midnight last night with really bad croup. She was coughing terribly and we thought she was wheezing and worst of all, she could barely take a breath in. Once we got her to calm down, she could breath ok, but in a matter of seconds, she would start coughing and wouldn't be able to breath again. Listening to her try to suck in air was pretty scary! At the time, I didn't know it was croup and thought she was wheezing bad and having more of an asthma attack. So anyways, we didn't wait long before we decided to take her to the hospital. Brandon took her in the van, while I waited for my Mom and Dad to come over to stay with the other two, who were thankfully sleeping. Then, my Dad drove me to Children's and we all waited for them to take Maddie back. Eventually (of course it was super busy!), they took Maddie back to a room and a nurse listened to her and then a resident came and listened, then we waited some more and finally a doctor came. Maddie absolutely hated the little bandage thing they put on her toe to read her blood/oxygen level. So of course she got really upset and then couldn't breath again. Finally, the doctor confirmed that her lungs were clear and open, but the upper airways were very immflamed and closed. So, they gave her a shot of steroids to open her airways and did one vapo treatment. I had to leave the room when they did the shot, because I just couldn't bear to see that. Poor baby screamed and screamed! But, once the steroids kicked in, she sounded soooo much better and she started to relax. And they actually kind of perked her up a bit and she started talking to us and even laughed a little. And even once we got home, it took her a long time to go back to sleep. I think we got home around 3:30AM. She still is coughing this morning, but it is so much better and sounds more like how croup sounds when most kids get it. Although, she is still very upset about the boo boo from where they gave her the shot. When she was getting dressed, she saw the bandaid and started shaking and crying until I could cover it back up with her pants. Poor thing! She is right now telling Sammi all about her boo boo and the doctors.
So, croup is contagious and the baby was already coughing a little last night. But, I think if Sammi or Abby does get it, they will probably get through it fine. Maddie seems to just have very sensitive and small airways. Anyways, I'm so thankful that God took care of my baby!

Tea Party!

Today, one of our very good friend's had a tea party for her little girl, Lydia, who is just 9 months younger than Sammi and is one of Sammi's best friends. They had it at a real tea house and it was just so adorable! Sammi had such a great time. She had a scone, and little sandwiches and cookies and in this picture she is enjoying a chocolate covered cherry. She really surprised me with how much she ate, especially since everything was new to her.



They each had their own little tea cup too with pink lemonade to drink!

The kids also played dress up with some hats and beads the tea ladies had and they got to make these foam crowns.

Abigail mostly hung out in her carseat and was her usual pleasant self! She enjoyed all the attention and activity that was going on!


And although Madeline said she had a good time once we were in the van heading home, she mostly sat there looking like this the entire time. (You can see her oh so happy face in the first picture as well).

I guess it was too overwhelming for her. This was one of the few moments when she was actually sitting in the chair and not on my lap. And she didn't touch a thing on her plate. But, they were nice and let us take everything home and she scarfed it all down on the way home!
She has been like this a lot lately, and it's often really hard for me to tell if she is just putting on a show, or if she is truly just that shy and anxious when she is in new environments and around new people. Maybe it's a combination of both. But when she gets like this, she lays it on strong and pretty much acts like I am torturing her and she is the most pitiful child in the whole world. VERY DRAMATIC! I'm sure my Mom is having flashbacks from my childhood :)
She behaved this way the other night when we were at our friends house, and it was a place she has been to many times and knew the people very well. But then tonight we went out to dinner and she stayed at a completely new daycare and she was totally fine and had a great time. So who knows! I'm sure a lot of it has to do with her age. She had a meltdown this morning for half an hour b/c I put too much milk in her cheerios! Ahhh, the joys of the terrible twos :)
Anyways, besides managing Madeline, the tea party was such a delight and so much fun! Sammi loved it and it was like a little girls dream come true :)

4 years ago, we celebrated our very first Easter in our new house

Today, we celebrated our last Easter in this house! So sad, yet so exciting! And both years we had a 5 month old baby! Hard to believe how much has changed in just 4 years.

Baby Dillon!

I am soo soo excited that one of our very best friends, Lisa and Brian (who are also the girls Godparents) had their first baby boy!! Dillon Thomas was born on Thurs., April 9th at 8:07 AM. He also weighed 8lbs. 7oz! AND his parents anniversary is 8/7 AND of course we can't forget who sports the number 87! (Sidney Crosby for those of you who aren't hockey fans).

We went to see them in the hospital Thursday evening and he is just THE cutest little baby boy. You wouldn't believe his gorgeous black hair! It is like super model hair! Anyways, everyone is doing great and Lisa had a wonderful birth experience. They are supposed to come home today. I already miss him and can't wait to see him again! It is very strange seeing my friends have babies, even though I have 3 of my own. But it is also just soooo wonderful and exciting! We are also excited that he and Abigail will be in the same grade and both will most likely go to Shaler. So, they will be in school together and graduate together! We are also looking forward to many summers at the pool with them :) Anyways, congratulations to Lisa and Brian! We love you and baby Dillon so much!

Rockets!

Last weekend, we celebrated Easter with Brandon's family in Harrisburg. The girls did great in the car on the way there and Abby only cried for the last 5-10 min. When we got there, it was close to bed time, so we got Abby into her special moose pajamas! Brandon's parents bought these pajamas for Sammi when she was a baby on a trip they took to Vermont. So all the girls have now worn them! Poor Abby had a cold the entire trip. So, since she couldn't breath out of her nose too well, she had this droopy cheek look with her mouth open pretty much all the time :)

Pap Pap had a special project for Sammi and Maddie to do this trip. They made rockets! He bought simple rocket kits for each of them and they both made one with help from Daddy and Uncle Nate and of course Pap Pap.

Here is Sammi painting her rocket.

On Sunday after church, the weather was perfect for setting off the rockets! Sammi was excited that her rocket did the best and went the furthest and highest. Pap Pap built them a little switch board using a light switch so that the girls could hit the switch from a safe distance to set off the rocket. It was all very exciting!

Pap Pap says they will make kites next time we are out!

Nana also set up an Easter egg hunt for the girls, which was of course lots of fun. Maddie wasn't too sure at first, but once Daddy showed her what to do she enjoyed it. Sammi of course, ran around very excitedly picking up eggs and couldn't stop talking about how exciting it was that there was candy inside them!

So, it was a very fun weekend with Pap Pap and Nana as usual. The girls always have such a blast when we go and usually don't want to come home.

Preschool conference

Well, today we had our second parent/teacher conference for Sammi's preschool. I guess this one is more important to most parents b/c they talk about whether or not your child is ready for kindergarten. However, Sammi won't be 5 in time so she will be going to the pre-k class next year, 4 afternoons a week.

Her teacher showed me Sammi's self portrait first. It's a little hard to see, but in the beginning of the year they did it and then they did it again now. So you can see how much she has progressed since the fall. Her person now has a body and arms and legs and feet. AND she FINALLY spells her name SAMMI instead of SME.


Then she went through the rest of the kindergarten ready checklist and Sammi pretty much could do everything. She identified all the upper and lower case letters and all the numbers 1-20. Her teacher seemed very impressed by that! She can write her name and knows her address and birthday. She doesn't know her phone number yet, but I'm sure that will come soon. Plus, it will probably be changing when we move so there is no point in teaching her that right now. She can hop on one foot, and skip, throw/catch a ball, stand on one foot, etc. The only thing she can't quite do yet is gallop. She can also draw a circle and triangle but she didn't want to draw a rectangle, I think b/c she confuses it with a square sometimes. She also can cut pretty well and her teacher gave me a circle and square that she had cut out. She still has little trouble holding the scissors, being a lefty and all, but she still gets the job done.

Behavior wise her teacher said Sammi is just a joy to have in class. Everyday she comes running into preschool with a big smile on her face and she wished all the kids were so happy! She brought up the fact that she is hesitant to try new things again and often needs reassurance before doing it. But, I still think that is a good thing and it's really just who she is. So, why try to change that?

So pretty much Sammi is ready for kindergarten, even though she won't be going next year. Her teacher said she will be way ahead of the game by the time she does go, and I think that is ok. I think being in school all day will be challenging enough!

I also transferred Sammi to the Ferguson center (she goes to the McKnight one now) while I was there. Since are moving, the Ferguson center will only be 5 min. from our house! It's the same preschool and most of the teachers are the same, it's just at a different church.

And we also decided to NOT send Maddie to preschool next year. For one thing, having 2 kids in preschool at the same time is just too difficult and expensive. And whereas Sammi thrives from being social and around other kids, Madeline is the opposite and loves to be home and stay with Mommy. She doesn't seem to even enjoy daycare once a week all that much, so I figured what was the point in spending money on something she won't enjoy? I'm sure she would do fine if she did go, but there just doesn't seem to be much point if she would rather stay home with me. Plus, I just LOVE having her home with me the mornings Sammi is in preschool. Those are some very special times for us and I'm not ready to give them up quite yet :)

Moving!

Listing of our new house

I'm excited to announce that on Friday we sold our house and had an offer accepted on our new house! We are so thrilled that it out all worked so quickly! I have my Mom to thank for finding our new house. We weren't really looking in Shaler, but she happened to see this house pop up when she was searching and it ended up being just the right house for us. And the girls will be going to an excellent elementary school and we can go to the Shaler pool with one of our best friends, Lisa in the summer! So we are excited about that. It is right off of Rt. 8, so it will take Brandon probably less than half an hour to get to work and will still be close for getting to church and to the city. And it is only 12 min. to my parents and most of our friends will be 10-15 min. away. The house has everything that we had on our "wish list". It has 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bath, has a flat, fenced backyard, a driveway and garage and is in a nice neighborhood with lots of kids so we can easily take walks and the kids can go ride their bikes. The best part is that it has a multi level deck that is accessible from both the family room/game room and the kitchen that goes out to the yard. So the kids can spend all the time they want outside and I won't have to worry about them.

It is a tri-level house, so when you walk in the front door, the gameroom/family room is to the left. The owner apparently has been smoking some cigars in that room, so the first thing we will do is shampoo the carpets and paint the walls to try to get rid of the smell. Then, to the right are 5 steps that go up to the living room, dining room and kitchen. And then there are 5 more steps from there to go up to the bedrooms. The living room, stairs and hallway all have carpet that needs replaced, but it seems there is nice hardwood underneath, so we'll probably just pull it up. And we'll probably put laminate in the dining room, which only has hardwood under half of it. The master bedroom will also probably need new carpet and some paint. But, the good thing is the house is twice as big as we have now. So, our plan is to pretty much put everything in the family room/game room and in the other three bedrooms until we get done what we want to in the living room, dining room and master bedroom. The kitchen is huge also and just needs a little cleaning and some hinges and hardware fixed on the cabinets. We aren't sure about the oven situation yet either b/c it seems that both ovens that are in there are more like half ovens and you probably can't even fit a cookie sheet in them. So, we aren't sure yet what we will do about that.

Oh, and then it also has a "man/work" room that you can only access from the outside. This will be perfect for Brandon to use as a work room and a place for him to escape! Especially, when the girls are teenagers and there is too much estrogen for him to handle! ha :) There is a "pittsburgh" potty and sink in that room too, which is nice so when we are working outside, we don't have to traipse inside to use the bathroom. And the backyard backs up to woods and is very peaceful and quiet.

Part of the sales agreement is that we keep the washer/dryer and refrigerator. We were worried about having to buy all those expensive appliances, so I am very happy about that. The dryer is especially nice and fancy and one of those kinds where you can hang up clothes and lay out sweaters to "steam" dry them. I'm excited to try that out!

Right now our closing date is scheduled for May 29th and we are hoping to have at least Friday and Saturday to move out of our old house and into the new one!

We feel so blessed and give much thanks to God for providing for us and allowing us this opportunity to have a beautiful home and lots of space for our children to run and play. And we pray He will use both our new house and our old to bless others as well.