Happy 3rd Birthday JaCee bug

The theme was Lady Bug. I am into this red & white polk.a.dot thing right now...AND...we call JaCee "JaCee bug" --- since she was little. Matt kind of started that ... his little bug he says. So I thought it would be cute. The invitations said, Oh how can it be...my JaCee bug is turning 3! We just did a few snacks, cup.cakes and punch. Short & Sweet. We like to go out to dinner with the grandparents after birthday parties...so we keep the party to a few hours of "kid-crazy.ness."

Here are a few pictures from the fun....

Morgen's 1st trip to the ER

Friday night as I was waiting for my parents to arrive from Montana...I opened the door that leads from the house to the garage ....pushed the button that opens the big rolling garage door & closed the small door as I walked away...problem.... the door did not close...instead it bounced back open. I turned around to see my little Morgen had slipped in behind me & her fingers were in the door jam. PANIC. As I look down I see a big white thing on her finger...my 1st thought is ---- her finger tip is hanging by the skin...Oh my! I picked her up & ran to the kitchen sink, didn't even look at it, just put pressure on the end of the finger & ran it under cold water for a few minutes. I glance up & my precious JaCee has gotten a chair - climbed up & is trying to get the ice pack from the freezer. Bless her heart...then she says Mommy --- whey are you crying??? Oh because I just hurt your sister really really bad! =(

My parents arrived a few minutes later. After further evaluation --- her finger is attached - fully. But the nail does not look good. The nail has come out from under the cuticle in the back by her joint. We decide to take her too the ER just to make sure it's not broken or anything. They took X-Ray's & her finger is not broken. But the part that is sticking out from the back of her nail bed is her growth plate part of the finger nail. They cleaned it up & put anti-biotic ointment on it ---we are on more antibiotics for risk of infection and we have an appointment with the hand specialist on Wednesday.

Here is the little one's finger all wrapped up.

My Poor baby girl. My only hope is she is TOO little to remember that MOM was the one that shut the door & caused this pain.

14 Months

How is this happening? Another month just FLEW by. I can't believe it! You are 14 months old today. To celebrate...we painted your toenails for the 1st time...and we put in new sparkly ear-rings. Silly I know. I don't know why but it sounded fun this morning. Here are your CUTE little toes. You picked out the polish & when we were done you carried the polish with you for a while....bending down occasionally and trying to put the polish on your own toes. I love your feet!! They remind me of how small you still are! And your feet are SO ticklish, every morning when we get dressed, I tickle your feet & kiss & nibble them & you laugh & laugh & try to get them away from me....I love it.

 Your sinus infection is getting better. We are about 1/2 way through medication & you are tolerating it well. Amoxicillian doesn't help your sister's infections at all...so I was wondering if you would have the same resistance, but you don't.

You are learning new things all the time. Your newest thing you figured out how to do is carry around your sister's little stool & put it against things so you can get closer/higher/on top of things. This week I found you placing it next to the toilet so you can reach the water...and then putting it against your dresser so you can climb up & pull all your clothes out of a drawer....but the best thing is you can now get on the couch all by yourself -- well with the help of the stool. It's amazing to think a year ago, you were 2 months old...so fresh & new to this world.

And here you are today! Your hair is getting longer every day...and is SUPER curly. Only in the back though...the top is straight - enough - to - make -a -sweet-comb-over. :)

And here you are on your rocking horse. You are just getting comfortable enough with this thing to not cry when your sitting on it.

Sisters.

 I love that. I LOVE that I have two girls. More than I thought I would.

"Of two sisters one is always the watcher, one the dancer." ~Louise Glück


If I had to answer this today....JaCee will be the watcher & you little miss Morgen --- will be my dancer!

And here is my watcher...sweet as can be.

1st anti-biotic for Morgen

My sweet little Morgen has a sinus infection. Two nights ago I was up a few times for a few hours each...finally bringing her to bed with me so I could rest. While she was sleeping on my chest, I came to the conclusion that her tummy was upset. Next night of sleep --- great. Yesterday she was cranky-cranky, pulling on her ear. Last night - up again - a lot! I brought her to bed with me again...and called her pediatrician 1st thing morning. The good news is she doesn't have an ear infection, but she does have a sinus infection. It's so hard with little one's that can't tell you what's going on, but I didn't want to "wonder what's wrong" anymore. I'm glad I did. We'll be on the mend soon.

In other happenings...my brother got engaged a couple of weeks ago. The wedding is set for this summer. The girls are going to be flower girls...how adorable. I can NOT wait!

We've had some sad news this weekend to deal with...my parent's 12 year old Golden retriever had to be put to sleep. My mom & dad are devastated...as any dog owners are that have to put their babies to sleep. The summer's are not going to be the same at the river without Dixon. He was the sweetest thing, loved the water & loved everyone! JaCee is trying to figure out what it means that Dixon died.

That's about all from here. We are looking forward to Spring --- in a MAJOR way here. JaCee turns 3 weekend after next ---- unbelievable, really....this weekend we have company in town -

Here are a few pictures of the girls. Clearly I've been slacking taking pictures of them as I had to search for these...Yikes.

Morgen's 13 months

 Here is Morgen with a pair of bunny ear's Grandma brought her back from Fargo!

 And trying to get her to smile for the camera. Morgen...you are sooo sassy now! Your little personality is REALLY coming out & I love it! You know when your being funny. You do a cute thing where you throw your head back & run away from me when your making me laugh! You understand so much more now...today I after lunch I said are you ready for nap-time? You clapped your hands & walked toward your room....stopping only to make sure I was following you. I said where do we go? And you walked to your room --- over to the rocking chair & laid your head down on it. And your started putting your hands out & shrugging your shoulder's if you don't know where something is. I say, "where's your binkie?" and you put your hands out ... and look at me. CUTE! You have another cold right now, so your pretty clingy...Your still very out going --- even to strangers...and you are still copying everything JaCee does. You HAVE to be carrying SOMETHING around at all times. Your a great eater! Except we found out this month you don't like Strawberries. You are just learning how to suck out of a straw. I give you the little Adam & Eve juice boxes & your starting to do really good with them. Although a major fit follows the realization that all the juice is gone. Yes --- you still throw fit's! They are short lived though.

We'll see what the next month has in store for us! We love you so much Morgen!

FARGO!

Last Thursday my mom & I took off on an expedition of sorts. We got on a plane to fly to Fargo, ND for a wedding. Actually my mom's best friends' daughter was getting married. It was a GORGEOUS wedding! My mom had not been on an airplane since 1989!! We flew into Fargo Thursday night. Friday morning we set off to explore Fargo a bit...the mall & a store called Gordman's --- which we loved! Friday night there was a Rehearsal dinner at an Italian restaurant that was great. Saturday was the wedding...and Sunday morning our flight left at 6:30am. Yikes. At the time it sounded crazy we would have to be up at 4:15am, but in hind-sight, we were happy. We were the last plane to get out in the morning. The weather took a turn for the worst, and most of the other guests that flew in for the wedding were stranded in Fargo until Tuesday. Wheww...so happy we made it home.

Now ... where were the girls you ask? At home. With Matt. And my dad. Oh ya...and they called over my brother from Missoula for extra reinforcement!!! Ha~ Matt did great with the girls! He is really good with them anyway ---- I had not ONE doubt or worry. I cooked a turkey before I left, and mom brought over a lasagna dinner. So we knew they would not starve. On Saturday night Matt said to me...I understand why you are cranky when I get home from work sometimes....I was worried something wasn't going well at home & he said no, it's going fine ---- it's just NON-STOP! He's right! I am busy...a 13 month old & an almost 3 year old...there is always something going on. Everyone says it great for dad's to be with the kids for more than a couple hours at a time. I think 4 day's gave him a really good idea of what my day's are like. I missed the girls like crazy. I wondered if Morgen would forget me. I knew JaCee was Ok. Just missed me. I left her a countdown calendar she could mark off every night before bed. So she would know Saturday night, she got to see me the next day. When Morgen saw me ... she ran to me...I picked her up & she just started at me. She wouldn't cuddle with me, kiss me or give me a smile. Just a stare...like how dare you --- then she reached out for dad. Poor thing was mad at me.

It was a fun trip...just mom & me...and a gorgeous wedding....

Here's a couple of pictures from the trip.


Mom & I before the rehearsal dinner



Lighting the unity candle

The reception



The Bride!



Binkie Fairy

So the binkie Fairy visited JaCee on Friday night! She's almost 3 & it was time for the binkies to go away. (actually it was long overdue but with a new baby in the house, it was just easier for me to give JaCee a binkie on many --- many occasions!) We did the countdown all week & talked about how other babies need binkies more than you need the binkie. She bought into that idea ---- fully ---- until bed time. I will say it went better than I thought. She fussed a little while, talked a while, and that was that. Last night was the 3rd night, and she was fine.  She is taking a lot longer to fall asleep. She talked & sang for a good 45 minutes at nap yesterday before falling asleep. She's just finding her own "new" way of falling asleep without her binkie!

JaCee also had to get 2 fillings at the dentist this week! Yikes. I was poking around in her mouth & I found 2 little spots I wanted to the dentist to look at. He did & said they were soft spots he would like to do a little filling for. I LOVE our dentist! It's a children's dental office so they know how to handle the little one's. They gave her a sedative/amnesia medicine to drink....(the same stuff they gave her to drink before she had her thumb surgeries) it relaxes them --- in theory. Didn't work her her this time. The dentist said she's fighting it. So he gave her a little laughing gas...and after a few minutes that finally did the trick. Needless to say when she got home & in her own environment, the medicine did kick in .... she was sooo loopy. Cute, but trying to convince her to sit on the couch because she couldn't walk was hard. She got up to walk around & would fall down & look at me like why? Anyway --- a good 3 hour nap & she was back to her old self.

On a happy note ---- the girls got their 1st pets!!! FISH~ HAha....2 goldfish. We want to get a dog in the future....so I said let's start with the fish. JaCee LOVES to feed the fish...and Morgen watches them...grunts at them...and then waves Hi to them. So cute...

Yesterday we had some friends & family over for Superbowl after Church. It was fun! Baked Potato Bar, Nachos, fruit salad, banana cake and cookies...yummy!
Here's a few pictures of the girls from last week.

 My stinker baby the climbs IN anything she can...I found her IN her baby's crib! (*Note the baby sleeping on the couch)

 

What? ME?

 Giving her sister a kiss during the super bowl!

What you can't see...I was trying to get a picture of her 1st ponytail. She has enough hair on top to put it in a little rubber band!