M.I.A.

Sorry that I have been M.I.A. from the blog recently. A combination of not being able to upload videos from my ipad, not much excitement around here, and being busy preparing for our big trip next week have made me less than motivated!

I originally signed the girls up for both winter sessions of dance at the Y fully intending to have them participate in the recital. However, the recital was on the same night as an important kindergarten meeting and the dance rehearsal was the same night as our 10 year anniversary. I made a very selfish decision that adding a recital in the middle of this already stressful pre-trip week would not be a good idea for us. The girls took the news just fine. So, last week I let them wear their special petti-skirts to the last night of dance class and took video of them doing their recital numbers. They looked so cute and Honey came to watch! Unfortunately, I have no idea why I am not able to get the videos to upload (user error I'm sure).

Allan and I are very seriously considering getting a new computer (a Mac!) to replace our 10 year old (yikes!) Dell in the next few weeks, so hopefully all of that video stuff will be resolved.

The only other big thing that has happened to us recently is that Allan and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniverary. Yay us! My Mom and Ed kept the girls overnight and we had a date night. Allan even made the reservations himself! We did Trattoria Marcella for dinner and Cyrano's for dessert. The Cyrano's Crack Pie was delish and as addictive as it's name sounds! I totally forgot to take pictures, but imagine a young, hot (ha!) couple with big smiles because they are kid-free for the night :)

We have really been taking advantage of the great weather by playing outside almost every evening, going for family walks, and eating some meals on the patio. Aunt Julie and Corinne came down for a few days this week and joined us and Mama and Papa for some Dewey's Pizza (loved it!) on the patio Tuesday.

The biggest news of all is that we leave for England tomorrow!! Please pray for a safe trip for our family and calm, happy girls on the plane. I'll update you all when we get back!

****Editor's Note***** I just reread all of this before I published it and have to say that my English students would totally mark me down for overuse of "Oh Please" words. "Oh Please" words are blah, boring words such as very, really, great, good, things, and stuff. I also went a little crazy with the parentheses and exclamation points today. Please forgive me; I'll try to be a more creative writer next time :)

It's Green Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

We started out the morning with, what else? - green pancakes!
Delaney chose Lucky Charms instead.

Then we headed to downtown STL for our family's first ever St. Patrick's Day parade. We found a spot at 20th and Market even though the parade officially began at 18th and Market. Our seats were right across from Union Station and were just fine (except for being right next to some trees that had been freshly mulched!) because the whole parade passed by us as it was traveling to the starting line. The floats were very generous with their candy and beads! My favorite part was seeing some of the TV personalities from my Newschannel 5.


I packed a lunch for us since the parade started at 11:30.

The girls were really well-behaved and enjoyed people-watching just like their Momma :)

Finally the parade began and Delaney had the best seat in the house.

Harper had to take a minute to update her Facebook status.

We decided to leave the parade at about 12:30 to go have dessert at The Fountain on Locust. Couldn't resist a couple of bounce houses along the way!

All-in-all it was a great family day! We made it home by about 2:00 and the whole family crashed for a good long nap before church in the evening.

Again? Seriously?

Augghh! Allan and Delaney both caught Harper's stomach bug. Allan's was very minor and he just felt nauseous and had a terrible headache for about 12 hours starting Monday evening. Delaney had the full-blown bug and threw up about 8 times in two hours starting at almost the exact same Harper's did 4 days earlier. It was like deja vu only this time I just had to do two loads of pukey laundry :) I stayed up past 2 am watching Delaney as she slept for any signs that she was going to be sick again. Thankfully, she never did, but Allan told me to call off work because I couldn't go in on just 3 hours sleep and we weren't going to be able to send Delaney to school anyway.

Our whole family woke up sometime after 8 am and Delaney was doing great! No nausea and plenty of energy. It happened to be a record-breaking day weather-wise (84 degrees on March 14!), so my Mom, Harper, Delaney and I went to Glen Carbon park and library for a bit to enjoy the weather. Harper went home with Honey for the afternoon and Delaney came back to our house and took a good, long nap. She woke up healthy and hasn't had a symptom since. Thanks, God, for a short one! Sayonara stomach bug!

Crazy Hair Day!

Today was Crazy Hair Day at school! Both girls were still asleep when I left for work, so I wasn't sure what Allan would be able to pull off. However, he ended up getting sick and I came home on my plan time to get the girls ready and drop them off at school. It ended up working out perfectly except that Harper was non-compliant and had a major tantrum! She ended up taking out every one of her hair clips and throwing them on the floor of the van. No crazy hair for her.

Crying about not being able to get her shoes on by herself.

Still crying as Allan put her into the car.

We pulled in at the same time as the Rudds, so Delaney got a quick pic with Lucas and Tyler.

I ended up getting a call from school saying that I needed to come pick Harper up because she had diarrhea. I guess her stomach bug wasn't all the way over which may have possibly contributed to her crankiness.

Luke and Logan's Birthday

We went to The Sports Academy to celebrate Luke and Logan's third birthday. Our girls had never been there before and had such a good time climbing around. It's sort of like a McD's playland on steroids. Delaney played so hard she got sweaty and Harper complained that Delaney was going to fast for her. Otherwise, it was great! Harper is determined to get to the top.

Delaney strikes a pose.

Sami, Delaney, and Harper take a break for a picture.

Big sister Alayna

Getting pretty far up there!

We sang to Lucas first.

Then to Logan.

Happy 3rd Birthday, boys!!

Rough Night

Friday night was a rough night for us. Allan and I were downstairs watching TV and the girls were fast asleep, so we didn't take the monitor down. At just before 10, we heard a big thump and then a scream. I pushed Allan off the couch and yelled, "Harper fell off the bed, GO!". After a couple of seconds I could still hear her crying so I ran up to take stock of the situation. I certainly was not prepared for what I saw: Allan holding a vomit-covered Harper at the top of the stairs. Apparently she had thrown up all over (and I mean ALL over- herself, her bed, her headboard, her pink chair, her dust ruffle) and then tried to make it to her door to find us and threw up again on her carpet! Poor baby! Throwing up is scary enough without it waking you up from a deep sleep in the dark without your Mommy or Daddy :(

It took me a moment to snap out of my shock, then we got to cleaning up. Allan took Harper to our bathtub while I stripped her bed and cleaned her carpet. Those of you who know my absolute fear of throwing up know that this was no easy task for me! Meanwhile, Harper continued to get sick again in our bathroom. She had obviously emptied the contents of her stomach, so I assumed the worst was over. We made a pallet on the floor of our room and I laid next to her hoping that we could all get to sleep quickly. But it wasn't over.

An hour and a half later, Harper had thrown up at least 12 times - once every 5-7 minutes! She couldn't even hold down a sip of water. So pitiful. The intensity of it concerned me enough to call the doctor's exchange. I wasn't sure when I should get worried about dehydration. After some instructions and reassurances from the nurse, we settled back in for some sleep. Harper was so tired and weak. Things slowed down from there and she only got sick every 20 minutes for an hour, then she made it 40 minutes, then she made it two hours. Allan was up on our bed, but there was no way I could sleep. I was vigilantly watching and waiting for her to stir in her sleep, which meant another episode was coming. She became quite the pro, though, and would just sit up, lean over the trash can, heave out some water and bile, let me wipe her mouth, take a sip of water, and pass back out. Brave girl.

In the meantime, our washing machine was running constantly with her bedding and the towels we had used. I was switching laundry all through the night. Eventually, Allan took a turn with Harper on the pallet, so I could get some real sleep in our bed. Thankfully, that was during the two hours that she didn't get sick at all and we both slept well. I'm not sure what time we all fell asleep for good, but we didn't wake up until Delaney came into our room at 8 am. I was so relieved that it seemed to be over. Harper said she needed to go pee-pee, so I took her in and sat her on our potty. She proceeded to throw up all over both of our feet and legs as she sat there! Thankfully it was just the clear, watery stuff. I took a quick shower while Allan bathed her again, then he went to Walgreens to get some Pedialyte. That was the last time she got sick all day and by 9 am she was telling me, "Mom, I don't feel sick anymore." All-in-all she had thrown up at least 15 times in less than 11 hours. Thank goodness it was a quickie! We took it easy the rest of the day and she had a 3 hour nap.

Today (Sunday) was great. We played outside and took a family walk. Then we went to a birthday party where the girls climbed all over the place. Harper partied with the rest of them. I thought we were in the clear. However, no sooner had we walked in the door from the party and she declared, "I'm going to spit up!" and ran to the downstairs bathroom and threw up all of her cake, red juice box, and dinosaur gummies. Auggggh!!! I honestly think it was just the combination of climbing and cake because, as I write this, she is dancing around the living room in between bites of spaghetti and meatballs. About every 15 minutes she says, "I'm going to spit up!" so we all run to the bathroom where she proceeds to sing songs while hanging her head over the toilet and holding her own hair back. There is no puke. It's all a game to her.

We just told her that we're not playing her game anymore and if she needs to throw up she can use the little trash can. She is watching Barbie Fashion Fairytale holding her mouth open above the trashcan. Gross.

Best quote of the night: I think I'm going to spit up, but I'm going to finish chewing my meatball first.

Doesn't she know that I don't joke about puke?!?!!?!

I pray, pray, PRAY, that I am not writing the same post about Delaney tomorrow!!