Update on Madison's Walking Appointment & Other Incidentals

We took Madison to see our family doctor today to discuss her gait (how she walks). We know she walks very intoed (pigeon toed) and that is a very normal variant that most children tend to outgrown as they get older. However, what was concerning to mommy was that she has a tendency to drag her right foot forward and at times flips it over or on its side as she is walking; thus making her fall. Our family doctor felt that everything looked great structurally but couldn't rule out a potential neurological issue. As a result, we have been referred to a Pediatric Neurologist and will be seeing him on Friday, September 7th for an evaluation. Likely everything will be found to be normal and we can just move on and hope that one day the necessity of a permanent crash helmet will be avoided for our little one. We will keep you updated after that appointment (which seems like an entirety away at this point).

Other than that, Madison's forehead wound from the playground fall is healing nicely. We will have leftover Dermabond (the glue) on her forehead, but that should continue to wear off with time and a few dozen more baths.

Both girls are starting to develop some long await words ... Alyssa's speciality is No, no, no, no, no, noooo, no repeated over and over about 100 time a day even when she means yes. And, believe it or not, mommy is finally hearing the words "mom or mama" and loves it!! They mastered daddy long ago and love shouting for him in Lowe's or Home Depot while driving the race car shopping carts.

I have also noticed over this past week, but Miss Madison has mastered the art of walking up and down single or double starts without holding onto anything. She has even decided that she is a big enough girl to walk down the very long and very steep staircase from the upstairs to the main floor in our house (this not so sturdy or graceful ... I think mommy will have a heart attack before this one is mastered). Miss Madison is also climbing, I have found her spread eagle on the GLASS coffee table, seated in her high chair and sitting at the desk in mommy's office ready to use the computer ... good grief ... I am sure Miss Alyssa will be right behind as it tends to be"Monkey See Monkey Do" around here.

Alyssa continues to enjoy her music very much, we hear her singing and see her dancing all the time.

The daily changes in both are amazing to me ... just wait until daddy gets home and finds out all the difference in just five days.

((Love & Hugs))

Amy

A Visit With Granny B (Great-Grandma B)

Well, Peter and I took the girls on a visit over the weekend to La Crosse, Wisconsin to visit Granny B. We had a wonderful visit with Granny and the girls did amazingly well with their temporary sleeping accommodations (two pack-n-plays in the master bedroom). They slept like angels basically both nights and we super surprised in the mornings to wake up and find mommy and daddy in the bed right next to them ... we were greeted each morning with squeals of joy, jumping and pointing the likes of which is normally only used when greeting their favorite animals at the zoo!

They took to Granny B nicely and were giving hugs and kisses within hours of our arrival.

We got to help celebrate Granny's 82nd birthday while we were there. We took Granny out to breakfast one morning, then for coffee at Starbucks and of course a little shopping. We were going to take the girls to a park that same afternoon, but decided to buy a small park for them at the store and just play at Granny's ... they loved it and for $15.00 it was a steal!!

They girls had lots of fun playing in the yard and even playing with Granny and her shoes:

We even took some time out and visit Papa's resting place. It was a beautiful day outside and I know that Papa was looking down and saw our little miracles:

At any rate ...

Happy Birthday Granny!!! We love you more than you will ever know!!!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Bumps, Bruises and Round #2 of Hand, Foot & Mouth

Well, it is not the best picture in the world, but we have officially moved on from our Fischer Price "Baby Papasans" ... kind of sad, but hey, I did get almost two years of use out of the darn things. We now enjoy watching TV in our Little Einsteins Sand Chairs and we sometimes even wear our "silly hats"!

Madison's laceration/bruise injury from last Friday continues to heal well. I am going to attempt to wash her hair tonight and at the same time keep the "glue" dry ... yeah right??!! Since the fall off the jungle gym at the park, we have managed to skin our knee and create yet another bruise in the center of our forehead from the stair railing post ... nobody ever said Miss Madison was graceful that is for sure. We have noticed a rather marked pigeon-toeing of her walking stance and also a dragging of her right foot (sometimes turning it over and dragging on the top of the foot). I am making an extra appointment before their 2 year well baby checks to have it looked at.

Alyssa is doing well, other than apparently it is her turn to have Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease ... so far we are fortunate in that it is only on her feet. I am perplexed where this is coming from, so I will become one of "those moms" who rubs shopping carts with a sterilizer rag before inserting her kids ... that should draw us some attention at the stores!!

Other than that, daddy got home last night and we actually have him for 10 whole days. We are heading to Wisconsin on Friday to visit Granny B for the weekend ... must remember to have daddy install the DVD system in the car ... mommy's sanity depends on it.

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Bunnies Part 2, The Park & The Emergency Room

Like I said before, if something happens to one of these bunnies, mommy is in BIG, BIG trouble. Our girls absolutely love them ... hence they went on a car ride with us to the Mall of America today. Daddy did a little shopping at The Sharper Image and mommy picked up a few items for the girls' b-day party in September. After the Mall of America, we took the girls out to dinner at Bonfire and sat our on their patio to enjoy the beautiful weather. We had a nice dinner and decided to stop by Lagoon Park to play for a half an hour before heading home to wind down for bed. The girls were enjoying the park (see below):


That is until Miss Madison took a fall off the suspension bridge on the equipment (fell about three feet) and landed on her forehead in the rock below it. She got two lacerations which were not very long, but one of them was a gaping type wound and we ended up in the emergency room to get stitches; however, we were given the option of stitches or Dermabond (a glue for the skin). We opted for the glue so as to not traumatize her any further with stitches. She did very well at the doctor's office and even got an extra sticker for her sister! She has a pretty good size swollen lump and I am sure by tomorrow will have one heck of a bruise, but for now here are the battle wounds she is left with:

Miss Madison is starting to rack up the ER visits, lets hope Miss Alyssa doesn't try to catch up with her!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Potty Training Remix

Okay ... so we are officially moving into full potty training mode ... kind of ...

I just placed an order for 20 training pants (the kind with the vinyl outside and cloth inside). After much thought, I have decided if we are going to do this, I am not going to use the "pull-up" style diapers, but rather cloth training pants during the day and a diaper at night. I think they need to know what it is like to be wet to move along with this process.

I also purchased the mother load of stickers and colored tag board for a reward system as well as some M & M's. As soon as the big girl training pants arrive, we will begin ... lord help me ...

Pee Pee on the Potty - Round #3

Round #3 - Mommy 1, Girls 2

Well, since we had success last night before bedtime, we tried again. Both girls disrobed and assumed the positions on the potties, and promptly got up and left. Madison returned, sat down and peed ... much to her surprise and mommy's! Although in all the excitement, she stood up and squeezed her legs and took the potty pot insert with her and dumped the pee on the floor ... darn it ... but still, she went on the potty! In the meantime, pan over to the refrigerator and find Alyssa making a match with the Leap Frog Barn while saying "Uh-Oh" and peeing on the floor ...

So, this round goes to the girls, even though we had success x 1, we ended up with puddles x 2.

I am still not sure that we are ready for this ... we will just see what tomorrow brings ... at least my kitchen/dining room floor is getting cleaned regularly now ...

Love & Hugs -
Amy

And Now ... Pee Pee On The Floor ...

Round 2 - Babies 1, Mommy & The Potty 0 ...

We woke up bright and early this morning, eager to sit on our potties. Alyssa produced nothing and Madison produced a puddle on the dining room floor after sitting on the potty several times. Like I said ... this will be fun ...

Pee Pee on the Potty!!!

Okay, we had dinner with Tammy, Chris & Christian tonight at Ruby Tuesdays. It was fun seeing everyone even if it was a shortened version of what we had planned. We opted to skip the park today as there were lovely 40 mph winds gusting everywhere.

Anyway, when we returned home, it was time for the girls to get ready for bed. Madison wanted to sit on her potty chair, so I took her diaper off and let her sit there. Well, Miss Alyssa, of course wanted to sit on hers too, so I removed her diaper and she sat down ... and ... PEED!!! I am not sure if it was just a coincidence, or if she really gets the concept. Miss Madison just played around. I have asked Alyssa in the past week or so if she was ready to go pee pee on the potty and she always says YES ... I guess maybe it might be time to start training with her ... this is scary!!

We will keep you posted on what we decide to do, but for now ...

WAY TO GO ALYSSA!!!!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

The Wonder Pets Save The Day

Crabby, unruly children ... just add "The Wonder Pets" and all will be relieved ... Thank you Nick Jr & Noggin ...

Afternoon at the Park

Well, since the temperature today was only in the low to mid 80's, I decided to attempt taking the girls to the park to play. We only lasted about an hour in the heat and headed back home to catch an episode of "The Wonder Pets" one of our very favorite shows!!

I do not know if the heat of the day got to the girls or what the deal was, but once we returned home, watched our show and had a snack ... my cute little girls grew little devil horns and proceeded to touch and do anything and everything that they know they are not supposed to ... mommy was ready to make a break for it, but unfortunately daddy was working and I had to settle for just thoughts of making a break for it. So, I washed off the pizza sauce finger painting from the dinning room table, picked swollen cat food puffs out of the cats water fountain, returned all the newspapers daddy left on the living room floor to his pile, returned all the recycling water bottles and soda cans to the recycling bag and shooed them up the stairs to a bath ...

Thank goodness it was bath night, that always wastes the last hour of the day before bedtime ...

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Happy 4th of July!!

Well, daddy had to work today and Aunt Carrie & Uncle Kory didn't have their annual get together due to too many calendar conflicts with friends and family. So, this year we celebrated our 4th of July in a much quieter low-key style ... simply ate some chili dogs at Grandma & Grandpa B's. The girls had fun playing with Grandma & Grandpa and enjoy playing in cousin Alexia's swimming pool with her. It was a nice day to sit outside on the deck and enjoy the high humidity break we received today with the weather.

I am, however, very happy to report that Miss Alyssa (our very picky eater) actually ate 1/4 of a hot dog, on a bun with dill pickle relish and ketchup ... I am oh so proud of our "Big Girl" today!! Way to go Alyssa!!!

Wishing Everyone a Very Safe & Happy 4th of July!

Love & Hugs -

Amy