Baby Oscar

We got to meet another little newborn friend last month, Oscar Joe. What a precious little guy!

Aunt Susan is so much fun!

Backyard Photo Shoot

What do you get when you combine a perfectly lit April evening, a bench, and two cute girls? You got it! A photoshoot!

First, let's water the yard so it starts turning green.

Then we'll eat dinner so we're happy and full. (Yes, Emily is giving the "eat" sign!)

OK, now let's stand by this bench and look cute!

An intense conversation about dandelions

Addie sets out to explore the bench

Emily does her little hip wiggling dance

Addie eats some bark....

and then makes obscene gestures when I try to take it away

Emily gives me her flirty "come get me" look
She's started understanding "chase" and loves when Chris chases her around the coffee table

Mid-photo shoot, Chris came home from work, and he got quite a warm reception

Emily is in awe of her daddy!

Another attempt at the two at the bench with Dad's help, and we have smiles!

Now let's go explore the yard

LOOK! Over there!

Thanks for visiting!

See you next time!

Post-Easter Egg Hunt

The girls got to hunt Easter eggs with their twin friends Abbie and Ian. Well, they didn't really hunt eggs as much as open the eggs we threw on the blankets. They'd all had plenty of egg practice and knew how to get to the goodies.

On our way back home, I spotted a beautiful pink tree that I just had to show Emily and Addison. I'm not sure which they loved more, the tree, the dandelions growing under the tree, or the ants climbing all over the tree.

Addie's such a hugger. She'll even hug a pair of sunglasses.

This is Emily's flirt face. It starts as a smile, then the head tilt follows.

Easter

Happy Easter!

We had a very memorable second Easter with the girls. While our trip to church was somewhat unsuccessful and Addie had a little too much to eat at lunch, we had a great time at Uncle Bob's that afternoon.

When we make it to church these days, we go to the 11:30 service. The girls have had their morning nap and the only drawback is that lunchtime occurs right in the middle of the service, but we've managed to keep them happy with snacks so far. The nice thing about Catholic churches is that there isn't a nursery, so we get to spend time together as a family. The hard thing about Catholic churches is that there isn't a nursery, so we need to attempt to entertain two toddlers while remaining stationary and trying to listen to the message. But I digress....we usually go to the 11:30 service, and planned to do so on Easter. We showed up about 10:30, nice and early to beat the "Easter and Christmas Eve" crowd, only to discover that our usual service wouldn't start until noon. Yikes! We spent some time at church, but didn't want to hoard a seat when we knew we probably wouldn't make it through the entire service, so we left before things really got started. The girls did get to see lots of big kids all dressed up for Easter, which was quite entertaining for them, and they got lots of smiles and ooos and ahhhhs over their cute little hair clips from many of the parishioners.

Back home, we Skyped briefly with Eric and Cathy while Emily and Addison had their lunch. We took their Easter dresses off to eat, but didn't bother taking out the teeny tiny little clips in their hair. Big mistake. They each started lunch with two little clips in their hair, and with all the chatting and eating, we didn't notice until it was too late that Addie only had one. Where did the other one go? We searched high and low with the sinking feeling that our little monkey, who loves to put everything she can get her hands on into her mouth, had swallowed her clip. Several panicked phone calls were made; one to the doctor's after hours line, one to Aunt Liz, and one to Uncle Mike. Everyone told us the same thing: keep looking (everywhere!) and it will turn up, not to worry. Well, it sure did turn up, two days later in her diaper!

Afternoon nap followed, and we were all ready for a little rest, and then it was off to Uncle Bob's.

Cousins! Emily's reading her book, Addie's eating her dress, and Callie's eating her "can-ny!"
 (The best shot we could get, but at least they're all in the same frame, don't know if we'll be able to do that next year.) 

Addie just wanted to walk walk walk all day on Easter

Daddy and Em

Silly Monkey!

Emily LOVED the treats she found in her eggs

Yes, that's right, Addison is walking unassisted here! Like I said, she was a walking fool on Easter!

Skirt in the bloomers...a great trick for crawlers! 

Great Grandma Nicoll with 4 of her great grandkids

Giggling Girls

If I Do Say So Myself

I may be biased, but I think we've got a couple beauties on our hands.

A Scary Trip to the ER

In case you haven't heard the news, Addison had a febrile seizure on Sunday afternoon. 
Febrile seizures are caused by fevers, and it isn't how high the fever is, it's how fast it spikes. 


Addie had a low grade fever on Saturday and we attributed it to teething (damn molars!) but then on Sunday morning, she was hotter and we took her temp and it was 102. We gave her Tylenol, and after morning nap, she seemed to be doing better and didn't feel warm, so we continued on with our plan for the day to go to Bass Pro Shop to look at the fish and get some gear for Chris's birthday. 


While the girls and I were waiting for Chris to check out, Addie started getting fussy so I took her out of her stroller, and she felt hot, but we'd given her another dose of Tylenol before heading out, so I didn't think much of it. As Chris was coming back, Addie's arms started shaking and I looked at her face and it was frozen. I yelled to Chris to call 911 and started yelling for help, yelling "she's having a seizure!" 


Thank GOD there was a nurse and a doctor close by. They came running over and when Addie started arching her back, the nurse took her from me and held her for the remainder of the seizure (it lasted 3 minutes) and then they both stayed with us while we waited for the paramedics to show up. 


We were taken by ambulance to Children's Hospital, (poor Addie threw up several times on the way), where Addison was given ibuprofen and observed until her fever broke a couple of hours later. 


We learned that 4% of kids will get febrile seizures, and they're just more sensitive to fast spikes in fevers. If they've had one, they're more likely to get another one, so we need to watch her closely for fever and treat it with medicine right away. If Tylenol or Advil doesn't bring her temp down within 1/2 hour, we need to give her whichever one we haven't yet and give her both until the fever breaks. We need to get her cool as soon as possible, so striping her down, cool bath, etc. and we need to consider 100 a fever for her instead of the usual 100.4.


A febrile seizure isn't going to cause any long term damage, and Addie won't suffer any brain damage or anything after the seizure. It's scary to witness, but there aren't long term effects, it's just the brain's way of re-setting itself after a quick rise in temperature.


Addie's temp has spiked the last two nights, which has led to several tepid baths, but no seizures. A good tip: if you ever do use a bath to bring down a fever, make sure it isn't too cold. If the child is shivering, it will actually raise their temp. We're learning as we go, here... I've been sleeping in the guest room with her in the packnplay cause it's just too scary to leave her all alone. A woman in my twin's group has offered to give us her old video monitor, so that might be helpful (or it might just make me more neurotic, we'll see!)


Prayers are appreciated. My dad gave me a good visual for times like these: God is the mountain, and you just have to stick the jam in the crack and hold on tight. So my faith is like the jam device, stuck into the crack in the side of the cliff. Gravity (Addie's seizure) is pulling down on me, but I'm just holding on tight, knowing that God is steady and constant, ever-present, looming larger and stronger than the seizure. THERE before, during and after, and, as always, full of Love and Grace. And I also like to picture wings, wide and strong, coming out of the mountain to hold me, and Addie and Chris and Emily, holding us while we hold on.

We've Got Talent, Yes We Do!

Last night when I was cleaning up toys, I picked up our wooden disk stacking toy and asked Chris if he did this:

He swore he hadn't. Emily has been getting the hang of getting the little hole to line up with the peg, but neither of us had ever seen her stack them according to size. She must have done this while I was making dinner. Tonight, we tested her to see if we could watch her repeat this amazing feat. She mixed up the red and dark orange, but she does seem to be getting the pattern down.

Moments like these fill us with such pride! Watching Emily stack the disks, deliberately choosing which one would come next, was so exciting. I think Chris and I were both ready to climb to the top of the roof to tell the world what a smart little girl we have.

But wait...there's more!

This morning, Addison was in the living room while I was in the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast. A suspicious quiet, followed by the crunching of leaves brought me in to find this:

She had used a push toy to climb up onto the table so that she could reach the plant. When I walked in and she saw the surprise on my face, the biggest grin spread out on hers.

Addison has been taking one step away from furniture for quite some time, but on Friday, April 6th, she took four steps from a chair to me. We had spent the afternoon with Enslea, and after Bree came to pick her up, Addie was standing by the front window, saying goodbye to her friend. Then she turned around, and took four steps away from the door. I was so excited I grabbed her up and rushed out to the driveway, where Bree was loading Enslea into the car. I had to share the big news! Then, two days later on Easter Sunday, Addison became a true walker. She was walking 4, 5, and 6 steps all over the place (and receiving lots of cheers from the Nicolls, which probably helped keep her going!) After Easter, though, it was back to crawling and single steps away from safe handholds.

But this morning, that table climb must have boosted her confidence, because the rest of the day she walked in little bursts all day long. We managed to get a little of it on tape this evening.

Emily and Addison are changing, growing, and learning so much and so quickly. They amaze us every day and fill our lives with so much joy. 

Can It Be? Claire is Three!!

On April 9th, Claire turned three years old. This was the first birthday party the girls have attended while mobile, and it was fun watching them watch the big kids.

Popsicle stick craft time!

Playing with Claire's big girl toys

Beautiful Mama with her little girl...and another one coming soon! :)

Our Favorite Cottonwood Tree

There is a wonderful trail near our house that goes by many majestic cottonwood trees. We love these trees for their shade, and their great big trunks make great backdrops for pictures, too. There is one tree in particular that I really like. It served as a backdrop for Callie pictures in the spring two years ago.

It's hard to believe she was once this small

Two years later, Emily and Addison had a chance to pose at the base of the same tree! Addison was just getting over a stomach bug, so I wasn't able to get her to crack a smile, but a kind couple walking along the path helped me out by getting the girls' attention behind me, so at least I got them looking in the same direction! :)

These girls are mesmerized by big kids. Here they're watching some big kids go by on bikes.