supercal...ummm...supercalifragil...

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!! (I had to look up how to spell it....)

Last night Rachel, Grandma, and I went to see Mary Poppins, the touring Broadway show, which came to town.  (Thank you, Dad!  He bought us all tickets for our birthdays.)

Rachel was so excited to go back to the fancy theater where we saw the Nutcracker.  And she loves the movie, Mary Poppins, so she couldn't wait to see it on the stage. 

The best part was watching her get so much enjoyment out of it.

11 months

I can't believe it.  In 29 days she'll be one.  Where has this year gone?  Where has my baby gone??? She's just growing up way, way, way too fast.

In the last three days she's gotten two new teeth, for a total of four teeth--two on the bottom and two on top. 

She finished physical therapy on Wednesday and is becoming a pro at cruising around the furniture.  She can walk with her push walker and our little grocery cart, so I don't think it'll be too long before we have a bona fide walker on our hands.  In the meantime, she's zooming across the floor on her hands and knees, getting into EVERYTHING.  I can't even tell you how many times a day I say, "Rebecca, no, no!"  She now turns and looks at me BEFORE she touches the lamp cord....so she knows.  And once in awhile she'll even reach out, I'll tell her no, and she'll take her hand away before she's even touched it.  (But most of the time she goes ahead and touches it anyway.  Stinker!)

She's as sweet and smiley as ever, most of the time.  If only we all could find as much joy in every moment as Rebecca does! 

Happy Easter!

Waiting for yesterday's Egg Hunt to begin (for the last several years we've gone to the neighborhood one up in my brother's neighborhood)

Rebecca picked up two eggs. 

Rachel was picky and only would pick up the things she liked.  Other kids picked up as much as they could, but she just looked at it all and picked up a few things.

Easter baskets this morning....Rebecca's first ever Easter basket!

She loved shaking this bag!

The Easter Bunny knew she couldn't eat candy, so he put a couple of easter marshmallows in her basket.  She didn't know quite what to make of them.

Rachel was excited about her Reese's eggs--one of her favorites.

Ready for church....Rachel is wearing a dress that used to be mine when I was her age.  My grandma made it for me, including the hand smocking.  My mom fixed the sleeves, which needed new trim and cuffs.  My grandma would've been so pleased to see her great grandddaughter wearing this dress for Easter! 

Siblings.....

I took this because I wanted to see Rebecca's chubby baby legs in a few years when they're gone.  Love those rolls! 

Happy Easter!!!

eating

Rachel's never been a good eater.  This is what she does at the table instead of eating....

(she said she was the easter bunny....)

Rebecca, on the other hand, has always been a great eater. Tonight she ate pasta...by herself. Here was the result.

She ate much more pasta than Rachel did (Rachel's not had much of an appetite since she's been sick).  It's hard not to compare the two, but it's such a huge difference!

spoke too soon....

...about things looking up.... 

Rachel's been coughing like crazy for two days.  Slight fever tonight.  Rebecca's nose won't stop running.  She's wheezing (it just sounds like phlegm that she needs to clear from her throat).  I've had a headache for days and finally went to the chiropractor tonight and will hopefully get some relief now.  The rainy weather is coming back tonight.  Last night I ran into a pole at the pharmacy drive thru and scratched up the side of my van pretty badly.  Ugh.  But this, too, shall pass.....things could be a lot worse.

On the bright side, Rebecca said Mama!  She's only said it a couple of times, but she said it!!!!  It made me so happy.  And she's slept all night for two nights in a row, after a couple difficult nights of crying it out.  She's still waking up at 5 AM (actually it was 4:50 this morning), but I'll take it if it means she's sleeping through the night again.

looking up

Yes, things are looking up.  Rachel went to school today for the first time in a week.  No fever for two days now!

Last night I went to bed at 10:30 and my eyes didn't open until 5:30 this morning when Rebecca woke up (sadly, this has become her normal wake up time).  That is the longest stretch of sleep I've had in a very, VERY long time.  Neither girl woke up.  I didn't wake up.  Just sleep, precious sleep.  Oh, so nice!

Rebecca didn't have a fever today either! 

Health!  Sleep!  Sunshine! 

Yay!

exhaustion

For the first four years of motherhood I took Rachel to the doctor for her well visits and a handful of times for illnesses, but that's really it.  But in the last 10 months since Rebecca's joined our family, I feel like I LIVE at the pediatrician's office.  Not just because of Rebecca, though she's certainly had her fair share of doctor's visits, but a lot more this year for Rachel.  She was there either two or three times in March, plus Rebecca's well visit in March, and now Rachel's been twice in April already!  We went on Friday because of her fever, which has been going on for over a week now, and again today, because her fever shot up even higher over the weekend. Argh!

On Friday the doctor checked for strep (you'd think she was being tortured by the way she acted), but it was negative and he told us it's a virus, so there was nothing to do for it, except continue ibuprofen for the fever until the virus ran its course.  Today they checked again for strep (it was even worse this time--taking Rachel to the doctor is now complete torture for me, since the last three visits have involved me physically restraining her as she kicks and screams in response to being poked and prodded--not like her at all, but for some reason she completely freaks out now) but it was negative again.  This time the doctor said it's either a viral infection in her throat (her tonsils are very swollen, he said) or mono.  If she's not better by Thursday I have to take her to get blood drawn to test for mono--something I'm dreading, so I'm REEEEEEEEEALLY hoping she's better by Thursday!!  Thankfully she seemed a lot better most of the day today, and her fever was normal at bedtime, so we'll see.  (Anyone who reads this who has a tip about how to deal with a child who doesn't handle the doctor well, I'd love to hear your thoughts!)

Last night Rebecca started a fever.  Ugh.  Low grade....so I'm hoping it was because it was in the 80s yesterday and warm in her room, so she just got overheated.  She had it a bit this morning, too, but it was fine the rest of the day, so we'll see what tomorrow holds.

In addition to wanting them to be healthy and really not wanting to head back to the doctor anytime soon, I really just want to SLEEP all night!  They have both been up a million times a night lately, and I'm completely spent.  I almost feel like I have a newborn again, with as much as I've been up with them. 

Having children is so wonderful and rewarding, but man, it is exhausting.  I suppose some day I'll sleep all night and miss these days when they are so young, but right now those days of sleep sound just heavenly!

FIVE!

My darling birthday girl,

You've been waiting for this day for a very, very long time.  And here it is, and it's looking nothing like we thought it would because you're sick.  :(    Your very high fever last night scared me a bit (103.9--it's never been that high in the five years I've been your Mommy!), but even with a high fever, you're a happy girl.  I'm thankful for that.  I'm sad that you won't get to have your big jungle party that you were hoping for today, but I still had fun making your jungle cake, and I know you'll be just as enthusiastic about eating it with just us as you would've been at your party. 

I usually write a long letter to you about what you're up to, how much you mean to me, and so forth, but this year my heart is so full of emotions that I can't even put it all into words, and when I try, I start crying.  You're five, and I feel like we're entering a new chapter, which I'm excited about, but also kind of dreading.  I'm terrified for you to go to public school in the fall...for you to enter the world.  I question myself all the time.....did I prepare you enough?  Are you grounded enough?  Are you confident enough that you're not going to spend your life trying to get the approval of others instead of being the wonderful you that you're becoming?  So many questions.  I don't want this world to change you, and I'm afraid that it will. 

One thing that's already changed you a bit is the birth of your little sister this year.  It's been a year of adjustment for all of us, adding Rebecca to our family, but especially for you, as you've had to learn to cope with not having Mommy's undivided attention.  It's been difficult at times, and unfortunately I think you've struggled with seeking even negative attention sometimes, in order to get my eyes on you, but overall I think you've adjusted well to becoming a big sister.  You're a big help to Mommy, Rebecca adores you, and just one word from you can cheer her up in an instant!  Even though you're 4 years older than she is, I hope that you'll always be close sisters and good friends.

You're the apple of my eye, Rachel, and I just love watching you live each day full of zest!  You're so excited about everything, which is such a joy to see.  I hope that the little things will always thrill you, that you'll always feel free to talk to anyone and everyone, and that you'll always be so passionate about all of your interests as you are right now.

Five years ago today you changed my life forever, and I'll always remember that day as one of the two most wonderful days of my life (the other one was last May when your sister was born!).  I love you, sweet girl, and I'm so, so thankful that I get to be your Mommy.

Happy Fifth Birthday!
Love,
Mommy

good news!

Rebecca had her appointment with the geneticist this week.  After taking a very detailed family history and doing an exam, the doctor determined that she's fine!  No connective tissue disorder, from what he can tell (they didn't do any testing, so I guess we don't know for sure, but from what he can see, she doesn't have it).  He said that because she's caught up so well, he's not concerned.  He does want to see her in about 4 months, just to make sure that she's still on track, but most likely, we don't have anything to worry about.  Hooray!!

Unfortunately, she's no longer sleeping through the night.  :(   I've really been lacking in the sleep department lately, can't figure out why she's waking up, and really can't remember the last time I slept all night.  The last two nights BOTH girls have been up.  Rachel's having bad dreams.  I don't know what Rebecca's issue is.  All I know is that I really want to SLEEP!

catching up

Here are some catch up photos from the last month.

I went shopping for the afternoon a couple of weeks ago, so Daddy took the girls to the zoo while I was out!  The beauty of having a season pass is that you can go for an hour or so and not feel bad if you only see a little bit.  This was the case this trip, and the girls had a great time.

Rebecca fed herself some mac and cheese (which she loved).  You can't quite appreciate just how messy she was in these pictures, but you kind of get the idea.  She went straight into the bathtub after she was done.

Since then, she has fed it to herself another time, but managed to be a little neater about it.  However, feeding herself pasta with red sauce the other night (which she also loved) was even messier than these pictures!  I wish I had taken some pictures of that dinner!

Rachel watched an episode of Curious George the other day in which George made a "fun hat."  Rachel decided she wanted to make a fun hat, too, so this is what she came up with--all by herself.

10 months old

She's crawling up a storm, pulling up to everything, and cruising around the furniture more and more each day.

We got her her first pair of shoes yesterday.  You can kind of see them here.

She's finally waving! (you can see her new shoes a little better here)

Here's what they look like up close

We've been doing a LOT of this lately.  She loves looking out the window.

She's a sweetie pie, that's for sure.