It's Been Awhile, But They're Back!

I just read the past three posts on this blog-- two years ago?!  Wow.  So much has happened in those years, I can't even begin to list it all; what I will do is highlights and then get to the present.

We settled into our new home really nicely after the bathroom construction and wood floors.  We moved into our rooms and I began to really shop for décor and toys-- the house is basically done with all that now, we just need to finish the kitchen and we'll be golden!  Oh, and wood flooring downstairs... the carpet here is a nightmare, but I'm getting off track here.  The girls each like their rooms, and seem pretty happy to have their own space.  In 2015 we sent Penelope to Gloria Dei Preschool, which is about half a mile away from our house.  She was only nervous for the first day or two-- she LOVES school so much now.  Halfway through that first year, we realized we could send Lulu to school too, they had a classroom for two year olds, so we did!  She was already comfortable there, as we'd pick Penelope up together every day, and so it only took her a day or so to become acclimated.  We love their teachers, are super happy with the school in general, although for the last year they've had major construction, which hasn't been fun. 
Let's see... injuries:  Luciana fell off the swings at the cabin and got a cut on her scalp, which has become a scar.  She bled quite a bit, but only cried some; we put her in a warm bath and calmed her down enough to see that she didn't need stitches, thank goodness.  Daddy was with her when it happened, as Mommy CAN'T watch them on the swings because, well, they look super scary right there on the edge of the rocky hill.  Thankfully she is okay.  Also, our little Lulu (just recently, actually) swallowed a penny, which got stuck in her throat.  She was okay at first, eating a banana and a popsicle, but went downhill pretty fast after that.  She was vomiting in her bed, and drooling a LOT when I decided to take her to the ER.  Thank God I did it when I did, she needed to go under to get it surgically removed.  It was probably a 30 minute procedure, but Daddy and I were a mess waiting to see if she'd be okay.  Thank God she was, she is.  We didn't get to keep the penny, but we have a pic of the x-ray that I'll attach.  Penelope got nursemaid's elbow when she was about 2; she was trying to escape from her crib, and fell out.  She turned white, and immediately sweat through her Dora the Explorer pajamas.  She cried so hard, and it was apparent that she couldn't move her right arm (pretty sure it was her right arm).  I put her in my bed while I called Dad, and she passed out.  I packed us up and we went to the ER, where a very nice doctor did some kind of twisty turny thing on her arm.  He then put a popsicle up in the air and asked her to reach for it with her right arm.  She did so without pain, and that was that!  Thank goodness for the Mission hospital nearby with a very good children's ward, called CHOC. 
We've taken short trips, gotten a vacation house, and Penelope learned how to swim, that's all I can remember for now. 

So, here we are now-- Penelope is 4 1/2, and Luciana is 3 1/2, they are both really, really looking forward to their birthdays.  The girls are in preschool full time, and we have discovered that they both like staying there for extended day, which means napping there, giving us a real break.  We do this twice a week, it works for all of us.  They have a little less than a month left until school lets out for Summer; they'll be going to summer camp for a few weeks, which is right down the street,  They went there last year, and liked it there a lot.  We'll also go to Seaside for a week this summer, and to the cabin in Lake Arrowhead for a few weeks.  We are super excited about our newest home addition; a pool.  We have been saving up for it for a while now, and are finally ready to go!  Construction starts in a couple weeks, and if all goes well, we should have our HUGE pool and spa by the end of August.  I think if it's done early, while we're up in the mountains, we'll end up cutting that trip short!  The girls will do four weeks of swim lessons (starting this Tuesday, if we make the registration cutoff) to prepare.

Dad's at work today; he's been there since Tuesday and will be coming home tomorrow.  We girls are hanging in there, but we do miss him a lot.  We have been hanging around the house today, worried that it'll rain as soon as we step out to go to the park or on a walk.  So far, nothing.  Sigh... but, lots of wind.  But, I've kept us busy!  So far, the last couple days we have: made pink slime, painted with watercolors, played in the backyard, gone in the Jacuzzi (oh yeah, we got this inflatable jazuzzi), rented the movie Trolls (sooo cute), made chocolate covered strawberries, and made a little shopping trip to Costco & Albertsons.  We'll venture out this afternoon if there's no rain. 

Well, here we are again, blog... I'll post every few days.  I was reading the girls' first year blogs the other day and realized, how cool.  The girls will get to really see what our day to day was like.  And there is SO MUCH MORE happening these days than happened then.  Those first years seemed more about ME and my lack of sleep... sigh.  I can't believe how much I harped on that.  Sorry, girls.  I'll post about our days at home, our adventures and trips, your friends and about funny stuff you said and did.  While I remember, let me mention, Penelope likes a boy at school.  His name is Dylan, and he is allllll she talks about.  Her two best friends are twins: Hollyn & Lila.  Lulu doesn't like boys at ALL, and her best friends are Antonia, Kirra & Abby.  That is all for now!  See ya.

Post Sick Children Two Week Nightmare

If the title is a bit confusing, it means that we are just getting out of the worst two weeks we've had in a loooooong time: both girls were sick, one after the other. :(

It all started after we attended our friends' daughter Catalina's 4th birthday party-- it was a Frozen themed party, and let me just say, the girls had a lot of fun. :) We noticed a couple days later that Luciana was acting a little weird, irritable, tired, just "off". She went downhill fast, after that evening and for 2 and a half days, she was very sick: high fever, on and off (highest at 102), lethargy, congestion, coughing, followed by TONS of snot, just pouring out at all times for the next few days, and a lingering cough. I took her to the doctor on her 3rd really sick day, where she received a breathing treatment (albuterol through mist machine), and two days after that is when we noticed Penelope started to cough. :/  It was evening when she coughed a little, and by morning our baby was fully sick like Lulu was. Her fevers were just as high, and all her symptoms matched Lu's... Both girls were extremely irritable and clingy, making it difficult for me to give anyone 100%.... I had a sick, feverish baby attached to me for a week straight! I took P to the doctor on her 2nd sick day, and they have us the breathing treatment machine to take home, with a prescription for a week's worth of treatments. It was a challenge getting her to take them!!! Same with medicine-- both girls have always liked Tylenol, as it is flavored, but the cough medicine is just yucky, so that was a huge thing! :(  Once, I tried to "make" P take her cough medicine (it's this honey based stuff, all natural) she projectile vomited on me, the chair, the floor and her big stuffed rhino. It was a big lesson to Mama: sneak the stuff into juice!! That worked about twice, and then it was a lost cause, making Penelope's last few sick days very uncomfortable for her. :(  The cool mist humidifier was a life saver, for both girls, thankfully we had one!! 

We finally made it out of the worst of it, Daddy and I were amazed that we hadn't caught it... And then Daddy got it. :'(  He is currently on day #3 of his illness, and I can only hope I don't get it!  We have been so lucky that the girls haven't been sick until now, that we haven't had to go through this until now, and I hope this is the last until NEXT YEAR! 

It's been two full weeks of illness in our house, and I imagine we'll see Papa better in a couple days, if we are lucky. 

Sigh....

Uh oh, time to wake Lulu up from her nap, bye bye!

A big day for Luciana

Today Luciana walked about 10 feet all on her own!  She actually tried to walk for the first time on New Year's Day, and it was toward her Aunt Holly. :)  Today is January 6th, and she has just made sooo much progress.  She definitely falls down a ton, but I give her so much credit because she gets up immediately after!  She hasn't really hurt herself yet, but she has certainly gotten scared and bumped her head, but it doesn't seem to scare her too badly. 

Here is a pic of our sweet Lulu today-- she and her sister playing in the bathtub:

She is always watching P, soaking eeeeeverything up. :) 

Here we all are at Granddaddy's house on Holly's birthday:

And here we are at the tide pools that same day:

Penelope ended up getting soaked that day walking around in the puddles, and walked home in just an unbuttoned onesie & a sweater. :) 

Ahhh.... Well us gals are home, Papa is at work until the day after tomorrow. I used to have our routine down pat, and things were so easy... The girls would do the same things every day, until things just all of a sudden changed! Now we are getting back into a groove, so that's a relief. :) We are looking forward to Lulu sleeping through the night, and weaning from breast milk. She isn't interested AT ALL except when she's sleepy, letting me know it's more of a comfort thing, and she's built like a Butterball turkey, so I know she can spare the calories! As for P, we are working on so much: her tantrums, potty awareness (the beginning of potty training), and hopefully sleeping beyond 4:30 am!! It's probably the thing I'm looking forward to most. I haven't slept a full night since I was in my second trimester, pregnant with her! I'm sooo looking forward to sleeping someday soon. :) 

Since I'm just rambling, I'll sign off for tonight. See you again soon, my lovely babies (who are not babies anymore, if you're reading this!!) -- know that your Mommy LOVED every second of your young life, as much as I complain!! I haven't ever loved anyone the way I love you girls and Daddy now.... I hope we are all still as close as we are today.

Love,

Mom

Here we go again!

Well girls, Mama is back at it.  I guess you could say that I began to miss writing about you girls, to you, sometimes.  After I finished Luciana's 368th post (I messed the whole 365 thing up, I guess!), I took a nice long break-- that was in November.  Now we are in a near year, it's January 3rd, and even though I intended on posting on the first, I guess this will do.  :)  I didn't want to forget all the things that happen with you two, all the funny, amazing, silly, naughty, and sweet things... there are so many, you two are doing SO much growing now. 

Penelope has (finally) reached a milestone: she has been without her binky for two days, today is the third, and she is napping, just fine, without it now.  (Which is why I'm able to sit down with my new laptop-- thanks, Daddy! -- and write)  She is talking so so much, everything that she hears goes straight into that little brain and sticks there like gum.  We'll hear her say things that we haven't said, and just wonder where she picked it up.  Penelope: counts to 10 (and can go a bit beyond), knows her basic shapes and colors, eats with a fork and spoon, drinks out of a cup, plays on the big kid stuff at the playground, listens pretty well to us, brushes her own teeth, and wrestles rough with her Daddy.  She is working on learning how to do lots of other things, like putting on and taking off her clothes, and other things that require patience, but patience is a tough spot for her.  We are often telling her to calm down, try it again, and try to help her, but she hates that.  She is so independent now, and will only let us hug and kiss her quickly, unless she's tired, scared, or has just fallen down, and needs extra cuddles.  We try to let her do things on her own, learn the hard way (with some things), and find her own way, but she's only two and it's so hard, especially for Mama.  :)  We'll try to begin her potty training when she's 2 1/2, so maybe around April?  Yiiiiiiiikes.

Luciana, on the other hand, she is just one year old and is fresh in her awareness stage-- aware of the world a bit more.  She is trying soooo hard to walk these last two or three days (falls down a lot, but isn't discouraged one bit!!), is "talking" lots more (not words yet, but more sounds, and she tries to mimic), and is trying more table food.  She had been eating ONLY yogurt for the last 4 or 5 months, in addition to breastmilk, and is only recently trying cereal, fruit, toast, fruits and veggies... it's a slow process, but she is definitely making progress!  She is really good with sitting at her little table and eating a snack, and plays very well with her sister.  She really loves her big sis, and watches her like a hawk, learning all P's good and bad habits! :/  She is still waking up throughout the night, but I think once I wean her from breastmilk, that should work itself out.  She only nurses before nap and bedtime, and when she was sick recently, I nursed her more and she actually ended up getting better much faster than her sister. She is still loving her binky, but that's ok.  She's a very cuddly teddy bear baby, something her sister was not (it's okay, P, you just didn't like sitting still for long!) and lets me smother her with kisses and hugs, and will cuddle up to family members and friends, as well.

So, there it is, our girls' progress since I've last written.  I'd like to keep this blog as informal as possible, posting when I feel like I have something to say, or a photo to share, and maybe print it out after we have something substantial.  I like knowing that you girls will read these words one day, and know what your Mommy and Daddy were seeing and thinking, and know how proud we are of you two.  Being a stay at home mother is the toughest job I've ever had, but I feel extremely lucky to be here with you girls every second, seeing you learn and grow, being here for you and giving you as much love as you will let me!  Daddy is at work usually half of the month, his days scattered here and there, but he is as involved with your lives as I am.  He'll come home from a 72 hour shift and get right down on the floor and play with you guys or take you out on a walk to the beach so that Mama can get rest, and because he misses you when he's away.  You two do a lot of growing while he's gone, sometimes looking different after only two days! :)  We Face Time with him at bedtime, when we are both able to, and you girls love saying goodnight, seeing his face. 

Lately we are able to get out a little more, you girls are sort of on a similar nap schedule, so that enables us to get going after lunch, and since Lulu isn't taking a second nap anymore (unless she's super cranky), we are able to do things without having to rush home.  Just the other day we put you two into one bike trailer (for the first time, together!!!), rode down PCH to a Mexican restaurant and had lunch.  Granted, our table looked like a dump, Daddy had to take you both for walks to keep the peace, and we had to kind of make it fast, but we ate out!  We even stopped at a little museum afterward... imagine that!  We took Penelope to Knott's Berry Farm in December, and she LOVED it.  Oh, and we all had a very nice Christmas this year; Penelope knew who Santa was, and both girls had fun opening lots of gifts on Christmas day, in front of family.  We had my parents, and Daddy's family over for Christmas dinner, which was really nice.  I think next year will be even more fun, both girls knowing what's going to happen! :)  Also, we have a new family member!!  Aunt Anita had baby Angelina in December, and us girls have gotten to meet her, she's an angel. 

I think that's it for now.  There's the update!  Oops, there's Luciana, awake from her nap... gotta run. Bye!!

Winter coat/hat shopping

Thanksgiving at Fire Station #85

Penelope on her first ride at Knott's Berry Farm

What a big girl-- look at all those new teeth!!

The girls trying out their Christmas gift from Gramma & Papa

Lulu hugs her Christmas gift after opening it

Mama & P at Doheny Beach

Penelope is taking Luciana on a ride in her new car :)