Alaina's 2nd Birthday Cake!

Seeing as now is close to both Alaina and Bonnie's birthday (Alaina's in a week and a half and Bonnie's a couple of weeks ago) and Bonnie is going to be coming here tonight, I made them a birthday cake. Ok, I know I am stretching it a little bit to have a joint birthday party but I really wanted to make (and eat!) cake. So, I made a barbie cake. It was so much fun! It turned out pretty well so I wanted to post a picture.



Hope you have a great weekend! I will be posting pictures of Alaina, Leo & Grammy soon!

Hit Counter

Hey everyone,

First off, here is the picture I took of Alaina after she ate her cereal yesterday morning. Yes, she did get a bath right after I finished posting and tonight I need to take the glass off of the kitchen table to clean it well underneath. WooHoo!! It is amazing how dirty the underside of your table gets. I would have never thought to clean the underside of my table if it weren't a glass top table.

Also, I was playing around and I found a few really cool things that you can do with a blog. On the bottom of the page, I put in a hit counter that counts the number of times people come to the site. I was just curious how many people actually visit.

The second is a new site that allows you to make your own books. Right now I am making a book from all of the posts and pictures on the blog. The site that does this is www.blurb.com. It is really a lot of fun and easy to do. I am on page 70 right now. I'll tell you more about it when I'm finished and have a copy of the book.

Rock-a-bye-baby

Hello! It's Wednesday! Half-way to the weekend! This weekend Bonnie is coming to visit for 4 days. Laura will also be coming for a few hours on Saturday. I'm excited to see them both! I know Alaina is going to have a blast! Last night Dave, me, and the kids went to the mall. Dave was getting a book that just came out and we got to go on a mini shopping sree at Gap Kids to use gift cards they got for Christmas. They both got really cute outfits. Unfortunately, they are summer clothes and our temperature dropped last night. We were in the 20's overnight!!! Fortunately, it will be in the 60's today, but still, it was cold this morning!! Right now Leo is hangin' in the swing and Alaina is eating breakfast, so I figured it would be a good time to post.

A couple of nights ago, Alaina was singing Rock-a-bye Baby to her baby and brought one of her babies to Dave to rock with her. Me being the good Mom I am, stopped nursing to get a camera to get a picture.


Here are a couple of pictures of Alaina with Leo. I know Alaina looks filthy, but I promise it is just crayon and she was making her shirt into a mural. She wants to hold him often, but it is getting harder and harder. They are almost the same size!! They can already share some clothes. Yesterday Alaina wore the same shorts that Leo had wore the day before. Also, a few days ago she put on one of his t-shirts and I was surprised to find that it actually fit her like a mini t-shirt should. I'm not sure how long she is going to be able to hold him for!



Check out that smile! I don't know if she could smile wider if she tried!

Anyway, hope everyone's week is going well. It is time for me to go and clean up the cereal and milk paste that Alaina has covered her chest, face and hair in. I was hoping to save the bath for tonight. I don't know if I can anymore.

Info on Evelynn and more pictures.

First off, here is the latest information about Evelynn:


We don't have much new news for Evelynn, but here's the latest. The lab did confirm she is Not allergic to dairy or soy because there was no blood in her stool, which is a good thing. It does still leave more questions, but those will have to be answered by her endocrinologist. So I guess they're leaning towards a thyroid issue.



On the home front, everyone here is doing well. Here is Alaina playing with Dave's old cell phone. She doesn't realize that it doesn 't actually work now, and that is fine with me.

Here is our lazy dog. I am posting more pictures of Bandit because I know my Dad would want to see them. :)

He is the baby's protector. Whenever possible he lays as close as possible to Leo. He is really really good with both of the kids.

Here is Leo taking his first bottle ever. He is actually doing ok with the bottles. Tonight he wouldn't take one from Dave, but took one from me pretty well. Hopefully he will be really good at taking a bottle by Laura's wedding because I'm a bridesmade and it will be difficult for me to nurse him.

Here is Leo hanging in his swing. This swing is a lifesaver. It puts him to sleep for bed and for almost every nap. I don't know what I would do without it.

Well, it is 9pm & Leo is sleeping, thus making it time for me to head to bed. Yay! Tomorrow is Friday and then it is the weekend!!

Oh, by the way, happy birthday this week to Jean (Dave's Aunt whose birthday is on Tuesday), Great-Grandma Anita (whose birthday is today!), Grandma Bonnie (whose birthday is Tomorrow), Aunt Mary (my Aunt whose birthday is also tomorrow), William (Alaina & Leo's cousin whose birthday is Saturday), and Dave's cousin Nick, whose birthday is also on Saturday. What a week for birthdays!! Hope you all have/have had a good birthday!

Love you all!
Wendy

Princess Alaina

What can I say, she's a princess in her new princess pj's.

Leo's first haircut!

Leo got his first haircut this afternoon. He was getting a bald spot on the back of his head, so we figured it was time for a haircut. I can't believe how red his hair looks now after his haircut! Here it is:






Alaina and Dave played with stickers!

Hope you all had a good weekend. We are enjoying our extended weekend thanks to Presidents Day. WooHoo for federal holidays! :)

Alaina got Valentines!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I am enjoying the first day of rain we have had in months. It is funny how when you have sunshine all day every day, you look forward to the rain. Laura may be coming up tonight for a couple of days. Hopefully she gets off from the class she is taking and is able to come. Alaina is really getting attached to seeing her often. She is going to miss it in a couple of months when "Lala" moves to Hawaii.



Alaina got Valentines this year. Here is a picture of her enjoying chocolate from her Grandma Jane.

She is loving playing patty cake and now knows the order in which the hand motions go.

Daddy and Alaina helped me this morning make beef stew. Daddy browned the meat and Alaina put the carrots in the slow cooker (one by one). They got to wear their matching aprons.

Leo Rolling Over!

Well, Dave got it--or at least the last half of it. Dave started recording when Leo had already pushed himself from his stomach to his back. Then he rolled over for the 3rd time tonight. So, hopefully this works and you will all be able to see video of Leo rolling over.

Hope you enjoy! Goognight everyone!

Happy Valentines Day!

Tonight Dave took me out to the only place where we could have a nice romantic dinner without getting a babysitter....we went to McDonalds where Leo slept and Alaina played while Dave and I got to have a dinner by ourselves....kind of. Ok, so it isn't the Valentines Day I would have expected a couple of years ago, but it is the ideal situation when you have a 7 week old baby and an almost 2 year old. I hope you all are having a great Valentines Day (or as Betsy calls it, "Singles Awareness Day"). I'm sure most of you are still out. For us getting home at 7pm is late...Anyway, here are a few new pictures :)

Oh, Leo has also rolled from his tummy to his back twice tonight. Dave is now trying to get it on video. Assuming that he is able to do that and also assuming that if he does, Dave is able to get it on the computer, I will get that video posted of him rolling over. Goodnight!

The cutest kids ever!

I hate to brag, but I must say that I have the cutest kids in the world. I know that all parents think that their kids are the cutest, but mine really are. Alaina is becoming such a great older sister. Yesterday she dumped out her toys and brought over the container to sit on to watch Leo. For at least a half an hour she sat there and talked and played with Leo while he was in his swing. Bandit kept on coming over to watch too. And today I put Leo in his bouncy chair with a blanket and a stuffed Giraffe. Leo got ahold of the Giraffe and fell asleep cuddling with it. He slept like that for the entire time that I was making dinner. He just now woke up while I was posting and is looking around while still holding his Giraffe.

Update on Evelynn

I just recieved this e-mail from Carolynn about Evelynn this morning:


Good Morning Everyone,

I wanted to send out an update on Evelynn. It is Not Cystic Fibrosis. Hooray!

Turns out it is also Not Celiac's; which is what we'd been hoping for.

Her allergist ordered stool sampling, so the lab is working on that right now. They are checking for blood to see if (even though she's hooked up correctly on the inside) there might be damage from consuming an allergen (Cow's Milk & possibly Soy too). If she's allergic to both, I don't know where to go yet.

I've been planning to quit nursing her by Feb 22nd, when she'll turn 18 months old. Please pray; this is hard for both of us, especially with all of this going on. Also, please stay in prayer for the Answer, and for a turn around. Good health and high spirits. We're thankful for each and everyone of you.

Love,
Carolynn Johnston



We are glad that all of these big tests are showing up negative! I will post again as soon as I hear more!

Bubbles

Dave and Alaina are having such a good time now that they are together again! Right now, I have the house to myself (well, Leo is here but he is sleeping) because Dave has taken Alaina shopping. She gets upset if he walks out the door without her. He blew bubbles with her today, so I got pictures (of course). Also, Alaina saw that I had put fingernail polish on my toes, so she asked for it on hers too. So now my baby has pink fingers and toes.







If you think you recognise the outfit, Haley, you do. That is the 18 month dress you sent Alaina last spring that now fits as a shirt with leggings.

Daddy's Home!!!

Dave got home this afternoon! We are all so happy to have him home. Alaina was so happy to see him! Here are a few new pictures.

This is Alaina with curly hair from having braids. I thought it was pretty cute :-)



Alaina opening presents.

Alaina in her new outfit. (Thank you Haley!)

Leo in his new Columbia University outfit. (Thank you again Haley!) I can't believe he can wear 6-9 month clothes and he is only 6 weeks! This kid is big! He had already gained 4 lbs as of last week.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Smiles

I lied. Here is the last photo from tonight. Grandma put the camera up and asked him to smile and he did.

Goodnight!

Grandma's last night

Grandma has to be to the airport at 5am tomorrow morning so it will be an early morning. We will be back at the airport at 12:15 to pick dave up. I'm trying to keep Leo up a little longer right now so that he will sleep until we have to leave in the morning. Here is the last batch of pictures from her visit. The next one's will have Dave in them.



Grandma say's this reminds her of little "Janie".

After their bath, they cuddled on the couch together. I love cuddles at night after a bath!

A relaxing day

Today has been a fairly relaxing day so far. We have just hung out around the house. Our big outing was walking out to the mail box to mail out the Valentines Day cards Alaina made. Even though it was relaxing, there were of course a couple of picture opportunities. Here are the results:


Ride 'em cowboy!

Gotta love the 'toons.

Helping Grandma with Sudoku and looking rather perplexed.

And putting her doll to sleep.

Busy couple of days.

Oh my. I am so tired today!! Yesterday and last night were very long! The day started tout with getting the kids in their Easter outfits and getting an Easter picture taken. That was successful. Then, Grandma and I babysat for a friend of mine, Juli's, kids. She has a 2 1/2 year old, a 1 1/2 year old, and a 3 month old baby. Add that to Alaina and Leo and it was a busy morning. Thank goodness that all of the kids were good. After that we went to Wal-Mart where neither kid really wanted to be. McDonalds didn't even settle them down. The evening went well, but neither kid wanted to sleep last night. I finally gave in and brought Leo into bed with me. After that things went smoothly, but that was 5am. 3 hours later, here I am with the kids up and comatose in front of the TV while I blog. Oh well, Dave gets back tomorow and then things can get back to normal.

Here are a couple pictures of Grandma with the kids and one of Alaina while we were babysitting. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Oh my. I am so tired today!! Yesterday and last night were very long! Yesterday morning Grandma and I babysat for a friend of mine, Juli's, kids. She has a 2 1/2 year old, a 1 1/2 year old, and a 3 month old baby. Add that to Alaina and Leo and it was a busy morning.