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April Happenings

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The past month the girls have literally been growing before our eyes!  I think in part it has to do with the changing of the weather and their new wardrobe…they look older in their new clothes.  But also they really have been growing physically. They are capable of reaching so many more things now and each week we have to find a new location for things because nothing is safe in its original place anymore. They love to climb; on chairs, on the coach, on diaper boxes, just about anything.  And when we discipline one of them, the other one goes and does the same thing!  Even things like picking their noses!  If one of them has their finger up their nose, and I say something about it the other one will put her finger up her nose. Sometimes they even try to pick other peoples noses!  They are so funny!  Back to growing though, cognitively they are getting smarter by the day.  Emerson repeats most words these days and Avery’s vocabulary is definitely starting to increase.  Last weekend they graduated from their high chairs and now have booster seats at the “big girl” table.  They love it and it does make for less clean up now that there are two less trays to wash every meal.  Now for anyone who has ever seen my parents kitchen table…the one that they have had since before I was born when my parents were a family of two….all six of us now sit at that table on nights when we eat together.  Growing up as a family of four it was ridiculous at times that we couldn’t invest in a larger table, but NOW with six, it is just so ridiculous that I have to laugh.  Here ALL six of us sit at this little table….it is so small that if Justin or I get up during dinner to get the girls something, we literally pick up our plates, utensils, and drink and take it with us or else the girls will start playing with our plate of food.  The other night we were eating Chipolte and there was now room for my chips so I put the bag of chips on the floor and would fetch a chip from the FLOOR every time I wanted them.  Sadly both Avery and Emerson caught on and would point to the floor for more chips….probably not the best thing for them to learn. The girls are also starting to be in tune with their poops which is a good thing as that is the first sign towards being ready for potty training.  It would be great if we could have the girl’s potty trained by their second birthday or shortly thereafter.  I’m not going to force it but I really do have a good feeling that it is going to go well and quick. 

In other recent events my sister was in town last month.  She was in the States for three weeks and each week she was in Virginia for about 3 to 4 days.  While I was at work most the time she was around, we did manage to go out for a few dinners, one of which was incredible.  I don’t know if it was truly that good or Justin and I just don’t get out for “foodie” food anymore that it didn’t take much to impress us.  Twice we went out with the whole family including the girls so our options were limited.  Dad chose Tequila Grande for his birthday and the girls were very well behaved.  Lauren’s last night here we went to Outback and I forgot the girls snack cups.  Service was on the slow side and while the girls weren’t bad, they wanted to walk around and not be confined in a high chair.  While I am sure others parents would have considered the evening one of their better restaurant experiences with children, for me and Justin it was one of our worst.  Those snack cups are key to keeping them content in their high chairs!  The most memorable dinner though was Tuscorara Mill where we had a double date with my sister and her boyfriend Gabriel.  Our mouths were salivating as we saw all the possibilities for appetizers and entrée so this easily could have been disastrous as we had built these extraordinary expectations when we had yet to even receive our drinks.   We all got something different and we were not left disappointed.  I had the filet which I always get (once a year when I go and the last time being three years ago) but I didn’t recall it being as amazing as it was.  If I did, I probably would have suggested that Justin and Gabriel get the filet or strip steak as well.  They each tasted it and while I know they were enjoying their dishes the filet was a cut above the rest and I could see the rewind decision occurring in their eyes.  Seriously though for two to three days after our night out, I couldn’t stop thinking about the evening….great food, great atmosphere, great company.   When we weren’t out eating, my sister did get to spend some time with the girls and while they were hesitant at first to approach her, it didn’t take long for them to warm up and feel at ease with her.  Her visits always go by quickly and she’ll be back again before we know it hopefully in the fall to visit Baby Pistachio (our code name for Baby girl)!

Also on the home front, Justin and I have started to look at some open houses, although the truth is we still have no idea where we want to be.  I guess options still include some areas of Fairfax County and some areas of Loudon County.  There are just still too many unknowns though with regards to our job locations and actual commutes though that I think is making the decision as to where we want to buy that much harder. We can obviously get a lot more for our money the further we move west but at the same time, commute time can make or break a day and we need to take that into consideration.  We looked at open houses in Vienna one day and in Great Falls another day mainly because they were convenient with the time frame that we were working in for that day but we still have tons of looking to do in multiple areas.  I just hope home prices and interest rates don’t continue to increase too much as we take the time in making our decision.

On another note, Avery had an eye exam under anesthesia last week mainly to check her eye pressures.  Even though Justin and I hate the fact that she has to endure such exams, I can’t help but to admit how darn cute she looked in her hospital gown and red non-slip socks, sized for an elementary school age child!  The exam was very quick and took a lot less time than I anticipated.  The results were great…her pressures were 11 in each eye which is completely normal.  Dr. Ellis again confirmed that everything else in her eyes looked good, her optic nerves and eyes are small, but not profoundly so.  We go for a follow up with Dr. Ellis at the end of the month at which time we will probably talk to him more in detail about the American Nystagmus Conference that Justin is going to attend on behalf of our family this July in Orlando, FL.  While I would love to go, I will be 8 months pregnant so it just isn’t realistic. Now that we have ruled out all the “bad” diagnosis, I think we can say pretty confidently that her diagnosis is aphakia (due to cataracts) and nystagmus.  Although I know Justin is nervous about going to some extent, we are looking forward to the networking opportunities and leads.

Easter Dresses

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Easter weather was rainy and cool, not real good for an Easter Egg Hunt or playing outside in pretty dresses.  But we still put on our pretty Easter dresses and Stuart Weitzman shoes for an inside photo op.  The truth was if the girls didn’t wear the dresses and shoes that day, which were a shower gift, then chances are they would never wear them because the dresses were size 18 months (they are now wearing 24 months) and the shoes were size 4 (they are now wearing 5 and 5.5).  For once we actually got good shots of the girls together. Emerson’s hair is wild in these pictures….she had a bath that morning and her curls were tame earlier in the day but with the several outfit changes and nap, it got quite crazy!

Picnic in DC

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We did it and did it quite successfully!  Saturday’s weather was perfect….60 degrees and sunny….we could not have asked for a better day for a picnic on the National Mall. The girls were awesome!  We were a little worried that they would want to run around constantly but to our surprise they were quite content to sit on the blanket and eat their grapes, tofu, and pretzels. 

Oh yeah….and they enjoyed a little of mommie’s brownie too!  Emerson was quite the helper with putting the food away in the stroller and wiping Emerson’s hands after they were done with their brownie. 

The girls ran around some and we tried to capture some of the moments.  Most these pictures are documentary because they would not sit still for a poised picture. 

We walked up towards the Tidal Basin hoping to catch a glimpse of the Cherry Blossoms; however, they hadn’t bloomed at all yet.  So we headed to the World War II Memorial where we visited with the girls on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning exactly one year ago.  Hard to believe a year had passed since our first and only other DC Mall visit.  

We had a GREAT GREAT time!!!!!!

March Birthdays!!

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Our girls are popular girls!  The first three Saturday’s in March they have had a birthday party.  Since their friends are all actually the children of our friends maybe that just makes Justin and me popular!  Actually we feel very blessed to have so many close friends.

First was Chase’s party.  Chase is Rich and Kristin’s son and he turned two.  His party was at his house in Purcellville.  It’s over an hour drive to get there but we took Rte. 50 in order to have the scenic view.  It was actually a beautiful day with the first signs of spring.  The girls slept much of the car ride there and when we got there Avery was ready to explore and Emerson was content to sit and take it all in as usual.  The girls wore their matching Zara dresses courtesy of my sister.  I figured they didn’t have much time before they outgrew them!  We had a great time at the party. Rich and Kristen are good hosts and since we were among all our friends this mommy and daddy really did have a great time. 

On a side note, this party was the first time we had seen a few of our friends in awhile so some of our friends found out at the party that we were expecting again.  The funny thing is one girl after another revealed her pregnancy.  While we already knew Augusta was pregnant (due at the end of May), and Kristin was pregnant (due June 1), it wasn’t known by the masses that I was pregnant, or Casey was pregnant (due end of July) or that Leigh was pregnant (due October).  It was actually pretty funny.  Besides Augusta who was already in her third trimester, I swear my belly was bigger than everyone elses!

Here are some pics from Chase’s party.

The following Saturday was Camden’s 2nd birthday at Clemyjontri Park in Great Falls.  Camden is Casey and Eric’s daughter.  The weather forecast was not looking good even through that morning; however, once we got to the park it warmed up some and actually turned out to be a good day.  Camden had a Minnie Mouse theme and the girls, especially Emerson, were not impressed with Minnie.  It was the first time they had seen a dressed character, courtesy of Eric’s mom, and they were just not having it.  The girls had fun playing on the playground especially on the slides and the train. While I was impressed with the lunch food, the girls are picky when outside their routine, so they ate mostly fruit.  At least they didn’t throw the food that they didn’t want.  The party wore the girls out so much that Avery even fell asleep on Mommy for about 20 minutes during present time.  They missed their morning nap but when we got home, we put the girls down and they ended up sleeping for several hours.

Here are some pics from Camden’s party.

 

The following Saturday was Dylan’s 2nd birthday at Little Gym in Ashburn.  Dylan is Danielle and Matt’s son.  This was the 2nd time we had been to a party at Little Gym…that same exact Little Gym in fact with the same exact instructor.  The first time we were there was when the girls were about 10 months old.  Emerson was crawling then but I don’t think Avery was yet (I have to go back to look at her baby book…I can’t believe I already can’t remember!).  This time the girls were able to participate in a lot more which was neat.  They definitely enjoyed it especially the rings, the tunnel, and the basketball hoop/balls.  It was a quick party…scheduled for 1 ½ hours and the last 15 minutes is really for the staff to clean up so they really do throw you in and out.  Truthfully, I am not certain that much more time was necessary though.  The girls enjoyed the party!  Justin didn’t bring his camera in since he knew the expectations of being able to leave the girls unattended were almost non-existent, but he did take just a couple with his phone.   

Besides that first weekend of March, the weather hasn’t been very warm. In fact, we have had over 4 inches of snow on two different occasions in March…once this week and once two weeks ago.  The past few Sunday’s we had been hoping to take the girls downtown.  If it was nice we were going to have a picnic near the Washington Monument.  We did that exactly a year ago on a sunny Sunday towards the end of March.  We were hoping to see the Cherry Blossoms but they had peaked early last year and nothing remained.   The girls were not yet eating solids but we timed it around their bottle time so while Justin and I were having a picnic catered by Cenans bakery, including plastic utensils to cut a baguette, our girls were drinking their bottles on a blanket.  They weren’t mobile yet.  I imagine the experience will be quite different this time. If it wasn’t that nice but still fairly mild, we thought about taking them to the Museum of Natural History or possibly the aquarium.  But the truth is I like being outside and I love the start of spring so I am hoping that this weekend is going to be nice.  So far the forecast isn’t looking great, but it’s not too bad so I am hopeful!  The Cherry Blossoms have not peaked yet.  They are expected to peak midweek next week which means that this weekend could potentially be very busy downtown especially considering it is Easter Sunday and Spring Break for many.  Part of me is a little scared of their mobility amongst the masses but assuming the weather is nice, we can find a space to park downtown, I’m up for the challenge.


Udvar Hazy

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This winter has been very blah for the Maddy household. When the weather is warm we love getting out of the house and doing things with the girls. During those warm months our days are generally jam packed. But come the cold winter months my desire to go out always diminishes.  The cold dark days coupled with my first trimester morning sickness made for a lot of very low key weekends the past several months.  It’s not like we didn’t do anything these past few months.  We have had some play dates and trips to the park but we have also had weekend days where the girls outing was a trip to the grocery store or BJ’s.  Now that I am finally starting to feel normal and am getting excited about the prospect of spring, I was thinking of all the fun things to do with the girls this spring and I wanted to get an early start this weekend.  Last Friday I looked at the weather forecast for Saturday and it wasn’t looking so good so I thought what a great day to take the girls to the Udvar Hazy National Air and Space Museum in Dulles, VA.  And it was free admissions…even better.  Well free admissions with $15 parking!  On a side note you only have to pay for parking until 4:00 and the museum is open until 5:30.  Assuming that works with the girls nap schedule we need to keep that in mind for the next visit.

We took the girls inside in their stroller and for the first 10 or 15 minutes they were content in their strollers while Justin and I strolled along the upper levels of the museum and pointed out the planes.  We quickly made our way to the first floor where we took the girls out of their stroller.  They were a little hesitant at first but it only took a few minutes before the hesitancy turned into pure excitement as they were free to run in some very open spaces along the outskirts of the exhibit. 

After the girls had been running around for a little while, we started making our way towards the exhibits again where we came across a reading area where a librarian was having children’s story time.  We stopped and encouraged the girls to sit on the rug and participate and were surprised at how interested and quiet the girls were for story time.  Justin and I were truly amazed at how interested they were. (I guess I should look into the children’s story time at the public library.)

We made a few stops at the benches along the way for some picture time.  Some worked out…others not so much.

 

As we headed to see more exhibits Emerson decided she wanted to be a helper and push the stroller. We stayed for a little over an hour which was probably perfect for the girl’s attention span.  And although they were getting tired, I managed to keep them up on the car ride home so that could have their afternoon nap in their cribs.  It was definitely a fun time.


And Baby makes Three!!

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Big News in the Maddy family!  Our family of four is expanding; yes, we will be welcoming Baby #3 into our family in August!  Crazy, I know.  Especially considering if this baby is two weeks early then we will have three kids under 2!  Note I did not say three kids 2 AND under but three kids UNDER 2!  Needless to say the girls and our newest arrival will be two years apart.

So our little bundle of joy came somewhat as a surprise.  Let’s just say Justin and I knew we wanted a bigger family but it happened a little early in the “plan”.  So our plan of living at my parents for a year more realistically turned into a year and a half, but that’s okay.  We definitely want a place of our own but we could use the help especially in a few months when I am bigger and lifting the girls may not be as easy.  Plus the truth is we are still undecided on where we want to live so this gives us more time to make that decision. 

 As the girls get older and near the “terrible twos” we have on occasion got to witness the a glimpse of what a terrible two temper tantrums may look like.   Emerson is not a huge fan of getting dressed or changing her diaper and she kicks her legs during the entire process.  She also associates a snack with anytime she has a cup and she is prone to fisting her hands and getting very angry.  Avery doesn’t have a temper nearly as often as Emerson; however, when she does boy does she get angry.  And occasionally she will bite or throw her body around if she gets that angry.  During these times Justin and I think what in the heck have we gotten ourselves into?  But most times our girls are really well behaved girls and manage to put huge smiles on our faces.  Like today Justin got a haircut (his hair was getting long and unruly) and when Justin got home Emerson kept laughing at Justin, pointing to his hair and trying to touch it.  The thought of her doing that just cracks me up.  And while I was at work today our nanny Ana sent me a picture of Avery playing dress up.  She had a pretend frumpy green dress, a scarf tied around her head, a baby doll being carried on her back all the while she was pushing a shopping cart with another baby doll in it.  She looked homeless but I couldn’t help but to laugh and smile.  So while we sometimes have our holy crap moment at the thought of another kid we really are super excited and overjoyed for the newest Maddy baby.

I am 15 weeks this weekend!  The first trimester was rough. Starting about 6 ½ weeks I started to feel nauseous and while I started feeling ever so slightly better probably at about 10 weeks, it really wasn’t until about 14 weeks that I started feeling “normal”.  That part was hard because it has been hard taking care of the girls and truly enjoying them when I feel like complete crud myself.  Especially considering my first trimester with the girls was really easy.  Seriously, there were 2 weeks where I thought maybe I felt nauseous.  Looking back I know for certain I was but it was ever so slight that I questioned it!  While I know that I was tired during my first pregnancy trimester, I still worked out regularly at my gym; whereas, this time around I spent very little time on the treadmill during the first trimester.  Being awake and caring for the girls was enough of a workout for me most days.  The good news is that I am finally feeling better.  In fact, this week, I have walked on the treadmill 5 times this week, done a few squats, and more importantly have actually enjoyed it!  Justin had been doing more than his fair share of responsibilities while I wasn’t feeling well so I am looking forward to getting back to our normal shared routine and responsibilities. Believe me, I’m sure he does as well!

Almost 18 months already!

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The girls turn 18 months on Monday!  I can’t believe it.  They are turning into little young ladies.  The past few weeks Emerson’ vocabulary has really increased.  She tries to repeat words now, doesn’t always quite get it but she is trying. Her cutest is “all done”….I have got to get a video of her saying it because it seriously is the cutest thing ever.  She also has learned a lot more body parts recently including knees and shoulders.  She loves the Learning Puppy and when he sings the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”, she imitates accordingly.  Avery isn’t quite as far along as Emerson in her vocabulary.  She understands so I am not that concerned about it, yet at the same time I wish she would get the show on the road a little bit.  She consistently says “up” when she wants to go up but other than that she doesn’t really say a whole lot of other words with meaning. 

One awesome thing to report is that this past weekend, the girls had the most independent play they have had to date.  We seriously sat on the couch and watched them…I swear it must have been at least 20 minutes were they were able to entertain themselves.  It’s fun to see the things they come up with.  For example, they like to push their big comfy chairs to the middle of the room, turn them upside down and make a fort where they can hide out and read their books.  They also like to take all the containers out of the cupboard but now they like to put a container on each chair and then fill each container with their cheerios or whatever other snack they have that afternoon. 

I’m just so amazed at these little people they are becoming.  I know I am biased but they really are just wonderful!!


Avery – Wills Update

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We’ll I’m overdue in writing some blogs and I do have a good amount to report.  First Avery had a doctor’s visit at Wills Eye Institute in Philly on January 22.  Her appointment was at 11:00 so we left at 7:00 a.m., which was way better than having to leave at the 4:00 a.m. hour to make her 6:00 a.m. appointment in Baltimore a few months earlier.  Anyway, Avery is just awesome.  Justin took her out of her crib earlier than normal so she wasn’t quite ready to get up…which was fine actually because we wanted her to fall back asleep in the car which she did within just a few short minutes and she slept most the ride to Philly.  At the doctor’s office, she found her way to the play room and made herself right at home.  There were other kids in the playroom and Avery was not shy about going up to them. She really is such a free spirit!  With regards to the actual examination, Avery did awesome!  It makes me happy and sad at the time, although mostly happy.  No kid Avery’s age should be so used to being examined by a doctor, but the truth is she is used to it and tolerates it so well. 

Overall, the outcome was good.  Dr. Levin confirmed that the ERG report was essentially normal and the minor abnormalities were a technical glitch of the report.  So Avery has no retinal or cone rod dystrophy!  Dr. Levin was very pleased with the progress that he saw from exactly one year prior.  Similar to Dr. Repka, he felt that Avery’s nystagmus was a result of the cataracts and smaller eyes and optic nerves but didn’t feel it was anything further than that.  He basically said unless her development falls behind schedule he doesn’t want to see us anymore!

After the appointment, we went to the same French café that we had gone a year prior.  Last year when we went we felt the food wasn’t that good and it was overpriced.  Yet we found ourselves back at the same place.  The temperature wasn’t even out of the teens and it was windy so we didn’t want to venture very far with Avery.  We decided to give it another try but decided we would order something different than last year.  I am happy to report that the meal was much better than last year, although still not great and definitely still overpriced.  If we do have to back to Wills again, I want to visit this place again afterwards since now it is just part of the routine.

After our tummies were full we loaded up the car and headed back home.  Avery was exhausted and fell asleep for a little more than two hours.  When we were about 45 minutes from home she started stirring and woke up.  Justin and I were talking about how I was going to climb into the backseat to sit with her when all of a sudden we heard what sounded like Avery had choked.  I said Avery “are you okay?”  Not that I expected a response but I didn’t get one.  As I was crawling back I could start to smell the vomit.  Poor little thing had thrown up in her car seat!  It smelled like sour milk…it was so gross.  It didn’t even phase her.  Avery’s normal meal schedule had been off that day due to travel so she had more milk than normal.  On top of that I gave her yogurt for breakfast since it was easy to transport.  Poor little thing had too much dairy!  Justin from the front seat thought he was going to vomit from the smell.  Luckily we were only about a half hour from home by this time.  Once she was home she was happy to be able to run around in familiar territory and happy to see Emerson.  Emerson was happy to see Avery too. Emerson definitely knows when Avery isn’t around and misses her in the way that 18 months old miss their siblings:)

Winter Colds :(

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I haven’t written a blog the past few weeks because we haven’t really done much of anything.  The girls came down with a cold on December 28 just two days after our play date with the Farmer extended family.  We tried to get a picture of all of us at first.

 We decided we might have better luck if we tried with just the kids….

As you can see they weren’t very enthused about sitting still for a picture together so we decided to get one picture of just us 4 high school friends.

Not too bad….anyway, back to the cold…I predicted it would happen even before their play date occurred.  Many of my friends would tell me horrible stories about how much time they spent with their babies the first year at the doctors office…their babies would have ear infections, hand foot mouth, colds, thrush, you name it.  So when the girls turned eight months old on April 4, 2012 I was pretty excited that neither of them had ever needed to go to the doctor for a sick visit.  BUT then on April 8, 2012 we had our first play date with the Farmer clan.  I didn’t notice any kid being sick but the girls came down with their first cold that lasted two weeks just a day or two after our play date. 

I just had this feeling that they would end up sick again this time after our play date scheduled for the day after Christmas.  I was certain of it when we got there and both Owen and Sophie had runny noses.  Oh well, my girls need to be exposed to germs sometimes.

Avery had a little cough some days but for the most part their runny noses were the main culprits.  They are pretty good sports when it comes to being sick and don’t let it get them down too much.  Emerson has been a little more tired than normal sometimes and has wanted her lovee and her pacifier during the day but really am I am impressed with how well they handle having a cold.  We even switched the morning bottle to a morning cup while they had their cold and the transition didn’t phase them!  

Emerson and her runny nose….

Avery wasn’t feeling good enough to take her normal nap but once she got out of her crib and got to hang out in the basement with Mommy and Daddy she was all smiles. 
This picture cracks me up…This is Emerson imitating how a baby cries…check out those lips!!