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.

two more

Two more weeks until my sweet Rachel turns five.  FIVE!  It sounds so old to me.  School aged....no longer a preschooler (well, she'll be in preschool until June, but I just...GULP...registered her for kindergarten last week).  Unbelievable. 

When I turned five I told my mom, "I'm so glad I'm five because now I can understand things!"  I remember feeling so much more grown up at age five than age four.  Don't ask me why, but that's the way I see it now, too.  She's growing up so fast.  Asking thoughtful questions (well, sometimes).  Having an actual conversation with her daddy or me.  Playing nicely with her sister, helping me by entertaining her while I make dinner or fold laundry.  Last night we went out for a bit, just the two of us, and got ice cream.  We had an interesting conversation about her friends at school.  I'm enjoying teaching her to read (she wants to learn, but only has a short attention span when it comes to sounding out, so we do just a little at a time, but she gets so excited when she does it right!  I counted it a success today when I heard her trying to sound out a word on her DVD case from the library all by herself.). 

Today she had her first ballet class in a long, long time.  Ever since we saw the Nutcracker she's been begging me to take ballet lessons.  I've had trouble finding one that starts in the middle of the year, is on a day/time we can do, and that doesn't cost a fortune (it seems like the regular dance studios charge SO much, plus their classes begin in the fall and follow a school year calendar, so joining in March isn't really an option).  And thanks to my friend, Emily, I finally found one at a nearby community center (thank you, thank you, Emily!).  The class I originally signed her up for was a combo class--tap dancing AND ballet--but the teacher called earlier this week and said they had to cancel that one because there weren't enough students, so she's in just a ballet class instead--she was disappointed (we already bought the tap shoes and she'd been dancing in the basement with them), but still looking forward to it.  She was SO excited this morning to put her leotard on and finally go (she's been wearing her leotards around the house for weeks, "practicing!")  I was pretty worried about the whole thing.  Rachel's track record lately of her behavior hasn't been stellar (I've chosen not to write about most of those things because I don't really want to look back on this blog and remember the yucky discipline side of parenting her!), but she made me proud this morning.  She was quiet, serious, followed directions, and behaved just as I would've hoped.  I would like to say that it's because she's maturing as she nears five.  But since it was just this week that she demonstrated her less than stellar behavior at the doctor's office, I don't think I can say that.  I think more likely it was because it was a new place, with a new teacher and new little girls, and she was a bit timid.  Give her some time to get comfortable, and I'm almost positive she'll be my chatty, zesty Rachel.  (Unfortunately, with that zest often comes her misbehavior--she's a girl with a WIDE range of emotions, and she normally isn't afraid to show them.)  But I'm glad we found her the class and she loved it.  Next time I'll try to take some pictures.  I spent the whole time today trying to keep Rebecca from interrupting the class with her very loud babbling and didn't get to take any--I'm hoping that next week maybe my husband can keep her home or that we can all go, but he was gone this morning.

Anyway, those are some of the things I've been thinking about lately...mourning the impending loss of my four year old, but excited about my soon-to-be kindergartner (actually, I'm terrified about her starting school, but that's a topic for another day).

an afternoon in the life...

...of Rebecca (with a bit of Rachel thrown in!)

Crawling, crawling everywhere!

Freakish flexibility

While she's crawling she often sticks her foot out for some reason.

Don't ask me what she was doing here...

Playing with Mr. Penguin

The first swinging of the spring! (Daddy just put the swings up yesterday)

Rachel loved it, too.

Rebecca gives her day a big thumbs up!

she's off!

Rebecca's crawling!  I never thought she'd do it.  With all of the issues with her motor skills and not rolling and everything, I was sure she'd skip it.  But she's crawling!

She's still not a skilled crawler--she's slow and often slips down to her tummy after a few crawls.  For a few days the only thing that was motivating her enough to try it and keep going was to get over to the entertainment center and try to push buttons, but just this morning she crawled across the room over to me!

She actually beat her big sister--Rachel was 10 months when she finally started crawling, and Rebecca is only 9.  But Rachel was walking at 11 months, and Rebecca's a long way from that, I think.  She stands up and pulls up to her knees (only once all the way to her feet), but she doesn't really take steps and is pretty wobbly.  But she'll get there.  I'm just thrilled that she's finally moving and seems so normal!

So now it's time to make sure everything is babyproofed again.

Way to go, Rebecca!!

9 months

The day we left for Florida, Rebecca turned 9 months old.  Yesterday she had her 9 month doctor's checkup.  Here are her stats:

Height: 27.5 inches (50th %ile)

Weight: 20 lbs (75th %ile)

(Just for the sake of comparison, Rachel's stats at 9 months were 27.75 inches and only 16 pounds, 7 ounces!  In fact, Rachel didn't even weigh 20 pounds when she was 18 months old, but of course, she was below the charts, tiny.)

Rebecca's learned to do a lot in the last couple of weeks (most of it while we were gone!).  She's now clapping, standing (she doesn't quite pull herself up yet, but she's really trying (and getting very frustrated that she just can't quite do it) and getting very close, but if you stand her up to something she happily stays there for awhile), and scooting on her bottom for short distances to get something she wants.  She doesn't crawl, but scooting is doing the job for her at the moment, I guess. 

She really, really wants to pull up.  And when she's on my lap she's now constantly trying to climb all over the place.

The girl is more flexible than a Cirque de Soleil performer--you should see how she gets herself up to a sitting position from her tummy (one of these days I'll try to take a picture of it).  She does the spilts with her legs and then walks her hands up until she's sitting up.  I talked to the doctor about it (her hyperflexibility), and she still thinks it looks like she may have a connective tissue disorder, based on her flexibility and high arched palate and is sending us to a geneticist next month to find out more about it.  She said it doesn't look like any of the more serious disorders, and largely she looks and acts like a normal little girl, but she may be behind in some things.  She said she has a 12 year old patient with this disorder and it took her longer to learn how to ride her bike, but otherwise she's able to do everything she wants to do.  What I've read about it says people with this disorder are very flexible, like Rebecca, can bruise easily and can have vision problems (she's also sending us for a vision test because Rebecca tilts her head a lot, which is an early indication of a vision problem, the doctor says).  The doctor told me it isn't anything big or scary, so I'm trying not to be worried or scared.  We'll see what the geneticist has to say.

Rebecca is as happy of a baby as I've ever seen.  She smiles all the time and reminds me every day that we chose the right middle name for her (Joy!).  She sleeps well at night (7 pm until between 6 and 7 am), but is a terrible napper--she's the queen of the catnap.  Now the napping is even worse because she wakes up, tries to get herself to a sitting up position, and usually gets her foot stuck in a slat of her crib, so she cries.  Yesterday she pulled herself up to her knees and couldn't figure out how to get down and was crying.  Hopefully this will only be a nap thing, and not a nighttime sleep interrupter!

Rebecca hasn't met a food she doesn't like, but she is rather partial to Cheerios.  She starts fussing when they're all gone, and just yesterday she signed "more" (after a couple of months of trying over and over to get her to do it!) when her tray was empty.  Today she did it again.  She definitely loves her Cheerios! (Of course, "more" looks a lot like her clapping, so maybe she was just clapping, but she did it over and over until I gave her some more, so maybe--hopefully--she really is getting it!)

The last couple of days I've been remembering a year ago, when I was very pregnant and very sick with bronchitis, and absolutely miserable.  I couldn't wait for it to be over, but looking back, I'd go through it all again in a heartbeat.  She is a such a sweet, sweet girl, and I'm so thankful she's ours.