more pictures

Here are a few shots from a few weeks ago when we took the girls to the zoo (I think the rest of the city had the same idea as us!) It was the first nice day, and man was it a perfect day!

This is the same spot we took that picture back in November......i think it might have to be a tradition now.

riding the tram
i have no idea what Ainslee thinks is so funny

Circus Pictures

Ainslee sat there entranced by the whole show, Kaylee thought it was pretty was amazing too. As you can see she sucks her thumb much more now, not sure why though.

One of my favorite pics
My beautiful little girl

This picture sums up my girls......Kaylee the goof trying to make people laugh and do her hardest not to smile for ANY picture, and Ainslee saying "look at me, arent I so cute!"

Riding the elephant

horrible quality but shows how incredibly delighted she was on the entire ride

well......except this one, she looks like she wants Marcus to save her

Kaylee's foot kept getting stuck when the elephant would flap his ears, he would pin her foot between his ear and his head, and she would scream. So funny!

Pictures as promised

Kaylee and Ainslee both LOVED the swing at their friend MT's house. They could spend hours in that thing. We would have to wait about 20 years before we had a tree big enough for a swing like that. It was so cute watching Ainslee's face light up with delight. She would practically hold her breath as she swung (swinged? whatever).

Ainslee LOVES the plasma car

Just before she got about 2 inches trimmed off

Painting at Paint a Piece

Tykes and Trikes

her first time on a big girl bike

this video CRACKS ME UP! She looks like she has been riding that bike for weeks, when in actuality she just learned about 5 seconds before the video was taken. She wasnt even looking where she was going, she looked like such a little old lady.

Spring Break and Sleep

I'm sorry for neglecting my little blog........but MAN HAVE WE BEEN B-U-S-Y!
Here are a few updates on what we have been doing

Last week was Kaylee's Spring Break, I know that sounds sort of corny, i mean she only goes to school 2 days a week, so she basically gets a Spring Break EVERY week. But I decided to make it sort of special for her (as if she even knows what the heck is going on, but oh well). I had a friend (at gymnastics) ask me the Friday before Spring Break where we were going for SB. As if EVERYONE goes on a vacation for SB. Anyways we didnt go anywhere, at least out of town, but we sure did rack up some miles running around to all the activities we DID do.

Monday we just chilled at home, preparing for the days to come, and getting some housework done.

Tuesday I took Kaylee to Paint a Piece. Kaylee painted a light switch cover for her room and a tile. While at paint a piece, I decided to start a tradition in our family. I am going to take the girls every year and have them paint a tile, and someday I have big dreams of using those tiles as some sort of artwork in our house. What sort of "artwork" is yet to be determined. I mean I want it to be portable in case we decide to move, but I also want it to be permanent too. I will have to think of how I can use them. I think it will be really fun and interesting to watch their artwork grow and evolve as they get older. And it is a great excuse to do something fun and fairly cheap, and we can do it as a family or one on one with each child. So many possibilities.
After Paint a Piece I took Kaylee out to lunch, she picked her favorite restaurant....Booyas. Then we ran some errands, got our allergy shot, and headed home for dinner and bed.

Wednesday I took Kaylee to Tikes and Trykes, which was really fun because 2 of her friends that have never been to T&T came. And on top of THAT she got to ride their "big girl bikes!" I was hesitant at first, I didnt think she would know how to ride, but boy was I wrong. She got on that thing and acted like she has been riding for months, granted there were training wheels on it, but still it surprised me how well she rode.

Thursday I attempted to take Kaylee to the Children's Museum, but as Kaylee put it "our ticket didnt work!" We bought a membership to the Children's Museum in Hot Springs last year when we went for my birthday, and at THAT time we could have gone to our museum, the one in Boston, along with 100's of other museums around the country, for FREE. Well apparently much has changed in "museum memberships" department since then. Our museum is no longer affiliated with our membership (and neither is Boston's) so they wouldnt let us in. And since I refused to pay 20 bucks, we left. Kaylee was sad for about 10 seconds, especially considering we were actually INSIDE the museum and she could see all the kids and fun stuff to play with, and she was thinking in her head how incredibly awesome the Boston Children's Museum was. I quickly assured her that the Boston museum is MUCH better and that I would take her to the zoo instead. When we got in the car, we decided to do lunch first. So we ate at Pei Wei . I LOVE PEI WEI!!! and so does Kaylee! She ate a ton, and thank goodness for the free orange slices, she had about 16 of them (not exaggerating). While we were eating I realized how incredibly close we were to LeBonheur Childrens Hospital. So I asked Kaylee if she wanted to go visit her friend J who just had surgery on his head. Her eyes lit up and she screamed "YEEAAAHHHH!" So we moseyed on down to the hospital, conquered the mazes of hallways, and found our way to his room. We sat waiting for him to return from recovery (he had a somewhat minor procedure earlier that day), while we waited she asked questions, and I answered, nurses came in to check on J and found that he wasnt back yet, so they enjoyed talking and playing with Kaylee instead. When he came into the room, he and Kaylee talked and played. I chatted with the parents and we visited for about 1.5 hrs. J's mom mentioned that during our visit, J's heartrate was the lowest it had been since his surgery, and she attributes that to Kaylee. It was so sweet/ comforting to see that just a little visit from a friend, even if he couldnt get out of his bed and play, made such an impact on him. But, Kaylee was getting more and more tired as the minutes past, I knew at this point that the zoo was out of the question, so my plan was to not mention it and try to get her to nap on the way home. And that is precisely what I did. We made it all the way home without a melt down about the zoo or the Children's Museum for that matter. But when we got home and Amma and daddy asked Kaylee about her day she told them BOTH that she went to the zoo. Now Im not sure if she thought that the hospital was the zoo (becasue of all the beautiful artwork on the walls) or if she dreamt about the zoo on the way home. Either way we had a very fun and rewarding day!

Friday we tackled the Memphis Botanic Garden's - My Big Backyard! We had so much fun, and daddy was even able to join us (he took off work so that he could go). It was such a treat to have daddy there too. We didnt quite know what to expect so we werent exactly as prepared as I wouldve liked to have been, but we will know better next time. Friday was the PERFECT day to be doing an outdoor activity. It wasnt too hot or too cold. The sun and the nice breeze were nothing short of PERFECTION! We all had such a fabulous time. Then we grabbed a bite to eat at Humdinger's before our hair cuts.

Saturday we had a friends' 1 year birthday party. And once again it was a great day for an outdoor activity! Sweet little MT and her family sure did show us a thing or 2 about how to throw a birthday party. It was so cute! The decorations to the party favors, which I have to add were the cutest little things EVER! MT's mommy made a CD of all of MT's favorite songs and put them on a CD with her picture on them. What a fabulous idea! But then again I wouldnt expect anything less from K. We had a great time at the party!
After the party we decided to make our big trip to Costco for all our food necessities. Then home to eat, bathe, and bed.

Sunday we had tickets to go to the circus. We arrived a few minutes later than I had planned so the choice of seating was......well there wasnt really a choice of seating left. You see your tickets arent for a particular seat, they are first come first serve, and we definitely WERENT first! After walking around for a few minutes I spotted a section of bleachers located ON THE FLOOR, that looked just big enough for our be-hinds. I asked the guys sitting near the empty section, just to be sure they werent saving them, and then we made a BEE line for them. Oh and might I add that not only were they on the floor but they were basically center stage! Man did we luck out?!? Both girls thoroughly enjoyed the show! and by "enjoyed" I mean that the first HOUR AND A HALF (before intermission) flew by. I couldnt believe how well behaved they were just watching everything. It was so great! During the intermission, Marcus had to take out a second mortgage on the house to let us take a ride on the elephant. Just kidding about the 2nd mortgage part, but man were those ticket ridiculously expensive! Oh well how many people can say they rode on an elephant? The second half of the show went by even quicker than the first. We snapped a few more pictures before leaving and heading straight home to bed.

So like I said we have had quite an eventful week. Dont get me wrong, I had a blast doing all sorts of new and interesting things, but i am glad it is over. We are back in full swing now with school and my eBay work, and trying to dig out of my "housework hole." It is amazing how just a few days of neglecting housework can really catch up with you. There is laundry to be done and floors to mop and much much more! i will try and get some pictures (and a few videos) of all the fun things I just mentioned up this week, but I'm not making any promises.

I hope you all had a fabulous Spring Break whatever you did!


Oh yeah and this post is also about SLEEP!
well lets just say that not much of that has been going on around these here parts! Ainslee is obviously getting the most sleep out of all of us, and she needs the most sleep so that is ok. Her sleep schedule has probably the least disrupted, but the tooth she cut on St Paddy's day and the others that are trying to make their way in arent helping! Marcus' sleep has been somewhat disrupted too, but nowhere near as bad as Kaylee's! On top of pretty much refusing to sleep in her bed for naps AND bedtime, Kaylee thinks it is fun to get out of her bed 5000 times! She also thinks that it is cool to revert from her previously potty trained self, to this crazy bedwetter that has to wear diapers again! UGGGH it is SO FRUSTRATING!!! But she isnt the only one not getting any sleep, I havent slept much in the past couple of weeks either (actually it is probably more like months). I dont know what is wrong with me. But I sure do know what insomnia feels like! I am so tired but just cant fall asleep. My mind races, I toss and turn, and jsut as i am about to slip away to sleep something or someONE wakes me up. Then the process starts all over again! I think i am averaging about 4-5 hours a night, which that might seem like a lot, but when it isnt CONSECUTIVE hours of sleep it suddenly isnt considered "a lot" of sleep. I sure do wish that someone would just knock me over the head so I can get some rest at night. But for now I have decided that I will try and be happy with the sleep I do get and try and get some things accomplished when I am not able to sleep.......hope it works!

Blist-hurts

I bought Kaylee some summer shoes the other day. The cute.the versatile.the stylyin.......JELLIES! She had a pair last summer*** they seemed to go with EVERYTHING! I just loved them (and so did she)! So this year my friend and I were on a search for more. I found some at Old Navy (that's where I bought hers last summer). She was SO excited when I showed them to her. She wanted to wear them immediately. So I let her.......ALL DAY! Big mistake! As you all know my child has some sort of deficiency when it comes to her pain receptors, I mean she doesnt feel pain! So she walked around all day long letting those shoes rub her feet RAW! and I mean raw! The tops of her feet the backs of her heels, the poor little baby has blist-hurts all over her feet now. So now she fears the jellies! Great! Why didnt I think to check her feet throughout the day.....I'm such an idiot!

After we noticed the blist-hurts we tried putting bandaids on them to make it easier for her to wear her other shoes, it was a complete FIGHT to put those darn bandaids on her. She wanted nothing to do with them! When I managed to get them on her she was fine, I guess she thought they were going to hurt or something, despite me reassuring her they werent. Then nighttime came and I thought it would be better if we let her blist-hurts breath so they would dry out and heal quicker. Trying to get the bandaids off was an even bigger ordeal than trying to put them on. Holy Moly that girl!

So now that the blist-hurts are healed, we are going to give those jellies another shot........well when the weather warms up again........COME ON SPRING!


***she was wearing a size 7 last summer, by the end of the summer she was growing out of her 7.5's and pushing into a size 8. Ainslee on the other hand is STILL in a size 3. That is so weird to me. She has such small hands and feet, they are unproportional to that big belly she has hanging out in front. We have a shoe store FULL of shoes, but NONE that are small enough to fit Ainslee. Put it this way, Kaylee's "1st shoe" was a size 4! She is now wearing an 11 or 12 in some brands.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

(sorry I'm late posting this)

Hanging on.....waiting for Spring!

Trykes and Tykes

Pediatrician

I am currently in the process of finding the girls a new pediatrician. I am struggling with this decision A LOT!!! Sometimes I feel like I am crazy for the way I feel. It is not that something terrible has happened with our current doctor I just dont feel like she (or the practice) is the right "fit" for us. I cant really put my finger on the problem, lets just say......i dont feel happy/ satisfied/ comfortable with them. I dont leave there feeling good. I want more from our pediatrician. I am going to have a relationship with this person (through my children) for the next 18 years, and I want it to be a good one.

is that too much to ask for? Am I crazy?

Does anyone have any tips/ advise/ suggestions WHATEVER, to help me in my search?

Powerseller

I am a POWERSELLER! YAY for me! Most of you probably have no idea what that means, but it is a good thing! It doesnt mean that my eBaying is going quite as good as I would like it, but it is going. Im in a bit of a rut right now. I have had a few days off from my eBay responsibilities and I am enjoying them. I hope to get back in the swing of things next week.

Wordless Wednesday - 1 year Portraits

warning.....this post is only partially "wordless"

My great friend Bethany came over to take some 1 year pictures of Ainslee and I am more than thrilled with what she was able to capture. She has such a gift!

These are just a few of my favorites......

daddy came in to the room for a little bit to see what was going on, and Ainslee was less than thrilled when daddy had to go to bed. I see another daddy's girl in the making. I just think this shot is so sweet her looking up at him.

This one makes me laugh.....and also think about all the trouble this sweet little angel will be getting into in a few short years.

We used this pose for Kaylee's 1 year portrait and loved it so much that it is one of the ones in our living room. It didnt go quite as planned with Ainslee. She thought it was more fun to hang from mommy and daddy's arms than anything else.

baby booty's are the BEST! this was my favorite shot of the bum and the rolls too

She has been obsessed with her belly button lately (not as obsessed as Kaylee with toe fuzz). I love this shot because it shows how fat she is.....fat babies are so darn cute!

Ainslee was showing Bethany a thing or 2 about how to take good pictures with HER camera

begging for momma to pick her up. this shot captures what I go through on a daily basis. If Ainslee is not IN my arms she is at my feet wanting to be picked up

my little blanket baby. It is crazy how she is so comforted by this little blanket. Once when we were at the doctors office, she became really upset when the doc was about to examine her. I gave her her blanket and even the doc was amazed at how quickly she calmed down and relaxed. she couldnt believe how her heart rate responded when she was given the blanket.

ignore how incredibly WHITE I am compared to my baby.
She cant wait get outside and play

she has big dreams of outside when the weather gets warmer (and those fat cheeks make me smile too)

Panties? What panties?

Yesterday I got home with Kaylee after school and she had to go to the bathroom. I realized that she was not wearing any panties. I asked her "Kaylee where are your panties?" To which she responded "I dont have any." I thought to myself "What do you mean you dont have any" but the words that came out of my mouth were "did you have panites at school today?" To which she replied very matter-of-factly "no i didnt wear them today." I laughed, on the inside, because I didnt want Kaylee to think that it was ok to go to school without her panties.

You see she spent Monday night at my moms house. Amma was responsible for getting her to school Tuesday morning. Apparently she decided to let Kaylee get dressed by herself (without supervising), and Kaylee made the decision to go commando to school.

I texted her teacher to explain the situation so that we could get things cleared up. She replied "We giggled about it today.....figured it was your mom which made it even funnier! It didnt seem to bother Kaylee at all."

So here we have it a 3 year old who likes to go to school without any panties.......FABULOUS!