v:

So about 2 weeks ago, on a Sunday, I'm getting Lily ready for bed when I notice she has a small rash on her butt. Thinking it was jut that she needed a bath, I didn't think much of it. The next day, however, the rash was all over her legs. It was a warm day and she had been wearing velvet leggings, so I thought it may have been a heat rash. On Tuesday, not only was the rash all over her bottom half, but it had migrated to her arms and face. By Wednesday it just seemed to be getting worse. So on Thursday afternoon, while my husband was off of work, I took Lily to the doctor to find that she had an ear infection in her left ear and the source of her rash was the viral infection. I felt terrible. Lily had never had an ear infection, and the on time we were incredibly close, we nipped it in the bud. This time she had no symptoms. All we had was one fever and this ridiculous rash. She didn't hurt, she felt just fine, and was horribly confused that she was sick.

The rash was so bad I felt horrible every time I saw her. She resembled a burn victim. It was EVERYWHERE; the soles of her feet and even the palms of her hands were covered in bumps. It looked like a mix between heat rash and chicken pox.

(3.21.09)

Thankfully, we were given antibiotics and she's no longer sick. She is back to her normal, goofy self already.

(3.30.09)

(3.31.09)

During this time, Iris and I contracted a cold, so we were all sick for a while. We are all better now and are all just suffering from allergies. Thanks to this being allergy season, ALL of us have been with runny noses and sneezing. Can't avoid it really. Both Justin and I suffer from seasonal allergies so our children were not spared. But Iris is well and also back to her goofy self.

(3.30.09)

(3.31.09)

iv:

One hundred sixteen more days to go...that is if Rose decides to come when she's due...which is never the case with my children... I'm more than halfway along now. I cant believe how quickly this pregnancy has been passing.

Physically,baby wise, I've been doing well. I'm having a bit of trouble gaining weight, though I'm not very worried. Rose seems to be growing just fine and her size coincides with her due date. She's very healthy, and VERY active. Now just physically,I feel like utter crap most of the time, though. I'm horribly tired, bloated, and my allergies are 10x worse than before. Nothing I can really do except take Benadryl and Sudafed for my symptoms. It really sucks. The meds aren't really helping. My blood pressure keeps dropping dramatically and I get light-headed and dizzy quite often. I had to quit work because I was fainting during my shifts.

Emotionally I'm doing well, too. I've been taking Prozac again now for almost two months. It's helped out a lot on keeping me focused. It makes me jittery, like if I had too much caffeine, but it's better than wanting to do murders and burn this place to the ground.

So far so good. My everything aches, so I really want this pregnancy to hurry along.

iii.

OK, so I said I would post about the girls at the end of last week...well, we've been busy. :-P

Anyway, Lily is large and full of sass, which is nothing new. She's the size of the average 4/5 year old and intellectually at that level. She's still a brat, though. Almost every day she's in time out more than once before noon. *sigh* It's been a struggle with her behaviour but we are working on it. It feels like there is just constant whining and back-talk from her. I am super happy when she's behaving, but lately those days have been few and far between. :(

On a different note, a private preschool up the street from my house at the Lutheran church is willing to take Lily early this school year. I usually have to wait until she is a certain age, but they said as long as she is not a disruption to the class, she is allowed to start with the four-year-olds this year instead of the three. She's super excited. Lily has been asking me for the past year if she could go to school, and for the past year I have tried everything to get her into Head Start or other similar programs for preschoolers. But since she is not developmentally challenged nor handicapped in any way, they didn't want to take her early. It was frustrating for all of us. I understand the "no child left behind" but because of it, it is hindering the progress of the children who are above the average. It's great that these programs are helping children with disabilities reach the proper level by a certain age, but what about the children who are like Lily who need more to satisfy their thirst for knowledge? *sigh* Oh well, at least I finally found a place who would take her, even tuition is a little over $100 a month.

On the Iris month, she hasn't been a big pain behaviour-wise like her sister. She does have her days when she's in a mood, but those are few and far between. I just wish Lily's moods were, too. LOL. She FINALLY has teeth. Her first tooth came in on the 9 of last month, while her second one just cut through today. I've been impatiently waiting for her teeth. LOL. She doesn't care less, considering it was never a problem for her. That kid has razor-sharp gums made for eating...and she loves to eat, that's for sure.

All in all the girls are happy and healthy as well as incredibly brilliant. They had a developmental screening last week on Thursday and they mastered everything for their age and above, Lily the 3-4, and Iris the 1-2. ;)

We've been spending a lot of time of family time during the weekends. Justin's been taking us out and about on Saturdays and so far we've been to the aquarium at the Doorly Zoo and two days ago we went to the Children's Museum. They had such a blast. I feel bad with the fact that their only friends are Mommy and Daddy, so I want them to interact with children as much as possible. Justin just absolutely loves the way their faces light up when we take them somewhere.

Anyway, it's snack time and the girls are asking for food. ;) It's amazing how quickly they grow...

ii. Lily the photographer

So I haven't updated on the girls in a while, I know, and I'll get to that this week for sure. However, this post is about Lily's latest hobby: picture taking!

In December her father bought her a Fisher-Price camera; those large, cushioned ones that are made specifically for toddlers. She absolutely loves it and I think it's cute with its pink and pretty flowers. Last week she finally filled up the camera memory (400 pictures!!) and I decided to upload them to the computer.

She now has her own personal web album for her to share her "art work." Yes, she's 3 and 90% of her pictures are either blocked by her hand or sleeve or of random things, but there are some picture of her sister that she took that are AWESOME. So go to the website and check it out!! DO IT!!!

http://toddler-photog.blogspot.com/

The site is still a work in progress. There are 400 photographs that she has taken the couple of times she used this camera (we misplaced it for about a couple of months) and I've only been able to upload about 50 or so. :/ But enjoy what we have; I'll be updating the site with more of her pictures soon. ;)

i. updated pictures

Photos of the girls have been updated
http://lilypix.blogspot.com/
http://pixofiris.blogspot.com/

ENJOY!!

07: Baby on the way

Some of you know this, some of you don't. I haven't told many people, and I have not mentioned it at all to my family. And no, I do not plan on telling family any time soon. I want it to be a surprise, and some family members tend to nag and ruin things for people.

If you missed the title of this post, I am pregnant again. According to my last menstrual period, I'm due July 14, 2009. I went to the doctor December 3 for a dated ultrasound--due date was set to July 21, 2009. I have another appointment coming up in a few weeks; we'll see what it says then.

We were *hoping* to wait a couple of years before having a child, but the Gods had other plans. I somehow miscalculated my cycle (again) and well, the rest is history. :) I'm happy though. Even if I do feel like utter shit 90% of the time. Doesn't help that the entire family has been sick with something nasty for the past two and a half weeks.

Anyway, I think it's another girl. We're naming her Rose Amelie. (That is NOT pronounced Emily) I won't find out for another month though. I'm only about 3 months along... (12 weeks) I'll be keeping updates here under locked posts until I finally tell everyone, which probably won't be until it's to hard to hide it. ;)

I hope everyone has a rockin' new year's eve, and a kick-ass 2009.



Mary, Mary,
Quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?

06: Pictures

I know it's been almost a year since I last posted pictures of the girls, but Lily's has been updated. :) (and Iris's as well...there is a link at the site.)

http://lilypix.blogspot.com/