{"id":483,"date":"2013-05-01T15:36:08","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T19:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themaddlife.com\/?p=483"},"modified":"2018-12-29T13:13:05","modified_gmt":"2018-12-29T18:13:05","slug":"april-happenings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/?p=483","title":{"rendered":"April Happenings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The past month the girls have literally been growing before our eyes!\u00a0 I think in part it has to do with the changing of the weather and their new wardrobe\u2026they look older in their new clothes.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And when we discipline one of them, the other one goes and does the same thing!\u00a0 Even things like picking their noses!\u00a0 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!\u00a0 They are so funny!\u00a0 Back to growing though, cognitively they are getting smarter by the day.\u00a0 Emerson repeats most words these days and Avery\u2019s vocabulary is definitely starting to increase.\u00a0 Last weekend they graduated from their high chairs and now have booster seats at the \u201cbig girl\u201d table.\u00a0 They love it and it does make for less clean up now that there are two less trays to wash every meal.\u00a0 Now for anyone who has ever seen my parents kitchen table\u2026the one that they have had since before I was born when my parents were a family of two\u2026.all six of us now sit at that table on nights when we eat together.\u00a0 Growing up as a family of four it was ridiculous at times that we couldn\u2019t invest in a larger table, but NOW with six, it is just so ridiculous that I have to laugh.\u00a0 Here ALL six of us sit at this little table\u2026.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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Sadly both Avery and Emerson caught on and would point to the floor for more chips\u2026.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.\u00a0 It would be great if we could have the girl\u2019s potty trained by their second birthday or shortly thereafter.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to force it but I really do have a good feeling that it is going to go well and quick.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

In other recent events my sister was in town last month.\u00a0 She was in the States for three weeks and each week she was in Virginia for about 3 to 4 days.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if it was truly that good or Justin and I just don\u2019t get out for \u201cfoodie\u201d food anymore that it didn\u2019t take much to impress us.\u00a0 Twice we went out with the whole family including the girls so our options were limited.\u00a0 Dad chose Tequila Grande for his birthday and the girls were very well behaved.\u00a0 Lauren\u2019s last night here we went to Outback and I forgot the girls snack cups.\u00a0 Service was on the slow side and while the girls weren\u2019t bad, they wanted to walk around and not be confined in a high chair.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Those snack cups are key to keeping them content in their high chairs!\u00a0 The most memorable dinner though was Tuscorara Mill where we had a double date with my sister and her boyfriend Gabriel.\u00a0 Our mouths were salivating as we saw all the possibilities for appetizers and entr\u00e9e so this easily could have been disastrous as we had built these extraordinary expectations when we had yet to even receive our drinks.\u00a0\u00a0 We all got something different and we were not left disappointed.\u00a0 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\u2019t recall it being as amazing as it was.\u00a0 If I did, I probably would have suggested that Justin and Gabriel get the filet or strip steak as well.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Seriously though for two to three days after our night out, I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about the evening\u2026.great food, great atmosphere, great company.\u00a0\u00a0 When we weren\u2019t 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\u2019t take long for them to warm up and feel at ease with her.\u00a0 Her visits always go by quickly and she\u2019ll be back again before we know it hopefully in the fall to visit Baby Pistachio (our code name for Baby girl)!<\/em><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 I guess options still include some areas of Fairfax County and some areas of Loudon County.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I just hope home prices and interest rates don\u2019t continue to increase too much as we take the time in making our decision. <\/em><\/p>\n

On another note, Avery had an eye exam under anesthesia last week mainly to check her eye pressures.\u00a0 Even though Justin and I hate the fact that she has to endure such exams, I can\u2019t 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!\u00a0 The exam was very quick and took a lot less time than I anticipated.\u00a0 The results were great\u2026her pressures were 11 in each eye which is completely normal.\u00a0 Dr. Ellis again confirmed that everything else in her eyes looked good, her optic nerves and eyes are small, but not profoundly so.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 While I would love to go, I will be 8 months pregnant so it just isn\u2019t realistic. Now that we have ruled out all the \u201cbad\u201d diagnosis, I think we can say pretty confidently that her diagnosis is aphakia (due to cataracts) and nystagmus.\u00a0 Although I know Justin is nervous about going to some extent, we are looking forward to the networking opportunities and leads. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The past month the girls have literally been growing before our eyes!\u00a0 I think in part it has to do with the changing of the weather and their new wardrobe\u2026they look older in their new clothes.\u00a0 But also they really … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[46,30],"class_list":["post-483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-family","tag-kids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}