i'm back...

...from my trip to visit my BFF Shannon and New York City. It was just what I needed. Some girl time spent with good friends (Allison went with me) and time to myself. I love, love, LOVE Michael and the girls more than you know, but everyone needs a break. And it was time.

But I missed them.

It's so nice to be able to have a conversation with Addison now. She loves talking on the phone. Her sweet little voice always makes me smile.

And when you're strolling the streets of NYC and you get a text message with these attached, how could you not miss that face.

(Taken at Five Guys. Morgan loves it too!)

Morgan was so happy to see me. I don't know if it was because she was finally feeling better or just 4 days older, but she smiled all afternoon. I'm happy to be home.

love day

I wouldn't normally spend Valentine's Day at a race track, watching cars drive around in a circle, but when your boss says, "want to go to the Daytona 500 with 20 other people, ride on a chartered bus and drink all day", how do you say no? And since I've never been I thought, why not. On the bus ride down I got to chat with my friend Tiffany and drink bloody mary's (not her, she's having a baby!). And we watched Talladega Nights. So much funnier the second time around.
It was cold. Not so much outside the track, but the wind inside was a little miserable. So miserable that the nice lady in the pink shirt to my right gave me her blanket. Yeah, it had frogs on it, but I didn't care. Neither did Tiffany. We snuggled until I wised up and went to the bus for my jacket and gloves.It was a fun time. I expected it to be a lot more rowdy then it actually was. And because of the cold I didn't get to see any "jorts" and wife beaters. But who am I kidding. I wear those things at home all the time.
We headed home near the end of the first LONG caution because it was long and people were cold. We all had dinner together back in Jacksonville and watched the end of the race, in the heat, on the tv. Then we were both asleep around 10.

treats

I took some cute pics of the girls with their lollipops and Shannon helped me create these cute cards for the girls. I spent two days baking brownies and putting together treat bags.

Addison's friends got m&m's and a brownie with her personal Valentine attached.
The babies got goodie bags with cereal and Morgan's card attached.
I don't consider myself very crafty, but it's fun to do little things every once in awhile. And Addison sure does enjoy giving gifts to her friends.

morgan's ears

Starting Wednesday I noticed that Morgan was a little hoarse. She had a yeast looking diaper rash and then wasn't eating right. I was on the fence about taking her to the doctor because her mood and temperature were fine, but I decided to take her yesterday because of the long weekend and the plans to take the girls to my mom's. And, you guessed it, another double ear infection. She also has thrush in her mouth which is probably causing her to be in pain and not eat. She is now on a different antibiotic for the ears, oral meds for the thrush and medicated cream for the infection on her bottom. She just finished 20 days of meds this week and now we start all over. That's 8 times a day. It wears me out! Back in 10 days to check on everything.

A side note. We just dropped the girls off at my mom's house for the first time ever! I'm a little nervous and was sad to leave them, but I know they will be well taken care of. Even with all the meds, Morgan is acting like herself so I have no concerns about her health (and the doc said she would be fine, I asked). And Addison was practically kicking us out the door. I've been home for an hour and don't even know what to do with myself. I'm looking forward to some alone time and a chance to get some things done around the house. And we have a big day tomorrow at the Daytona 500. Should be fun.

nine months

This sweet little thing turns 9 months old today. There's not a day that goes by that I don't want to just kiss and love on her. She melts my heart everyday.
At her well visit this morning Morgan was weighed, measured, checked and pricked (only once though). The result? She's healthy and right on track developmentally. She's still on the small side, but the doc has no concerns about her weight or size. For the record...

17 lbs, 2 oz (25th percentile)
27.875 inches long (50 - 75th percentile)
her noggin is 17 inches round (25th percentile)

Here are some of the things Morgan has been up to.

*uses her elbows and knees to crawl around, but not quite her hands.
*puts herself into a sitting position from her tummy.
*her first word was mama. she's learning other consonant sounds too.
*responds to her nickname "b-mo", because that's what Michael and Addison call her.
*loves to shake her head NO and I'm pretty sure she knows what it means.
*has a ton of toys, but loves to play with Addison's school bus.
*just this past week learned how to feed herself some puffs.
*eats three meals a day and prefers my homemade food to the jar stuff.
*drinks her bottle from beginning to end with no break. she gets mad if you take it away.
*will sprint from the living room to the bathroom if she knows Addison is in there without her.
*sneaks up on us in the kitchen when we're making dinner.
*loves to splash around in the tub.
*concentrates so hard on trying to pull up, but can't quite do it yet on her own.
*crawls over and puts her head in your lap when she's tired.
*loves avocado, yogurt and sweet potatoes.
*gets very upset when you take something she wants away from her.
*loves to point and grab at your nose.
*starting to point at pictures in her books.
*chews on everything.
*loves to swing outside.
*hates to have things on her head. hats, headbands, barrettes, towels, blankets - they only last 2 minutes.
*loves when daddy comes to get her out of the car everday.
*is starting to dislike diaper changes and getting in her car seat.
*thinks Addison is the funniest person on the planet.
*after a month of sleeping training and a lot of crying it out, Morgan can self soothe and is finally sleeping through the night.

I can't believe she's been with us just as long as I was pregnant. I can't imagine life without her.

monkey see, monkey do

Addison has to do everything that sister does. Like eat bananas. I'm sure this role will be reversed soon.
And why is it that I only take pictures of my kids while they're eating? Probably because it is the only time they are still and quiet.

new tooth

Morgan's first tooth finally broke through this morning. Now maybe she'll be interested in table food. But it may be hard to break her of the banana's.

giggles

Do you know the big bubble wrap that comes in packages? Addison got some last night in her package in the mail. I took it out and told her to jump on it. For some reason Morgan found it hilarious.

Do you know how much I love watching this?

A LOT!

this past week

Morgan was officially discharged from her physical therapy. Her neck is completely healed and she has full range of motion and flexibility. It's like it never happen.

Morgan went to the doctor for an ear check. The antibiotics are helping, but her right ear was still infected. We started our second round of antibiotics to hopefully get rid of it completely.

I ate some form of cake everyday last week. It started on Monday and ended Saturday. It's sad really. But oh so good.

I finally went to the doc for the crap I've been living with for a month when my throat got swollen and ugly looking this past weekend. The test was negative for strep, but there was definitely something living in there. I'm now on some meds to knock it all out.

Addison had a serious meltdown. It started in the garage when we went to leave. She has to get in the car by herself and was pretty mad when Michael put her in the seat. She cried the whole way to school and then flopped around it the parking lot for 5 minutes, in the rain. I finally got her inside where she embarassed me by hitting me and Morgan as I tried to free my hands. When all was said and done I got a big kiss and a sweet "I'm sorry" that made it all go away.

Morgan is up on hers knees, almost completely crawling. It's so cute to watch and I plan on taking video this week. She has also learned how to get herself into a sitting position from the floor. I was so happy with her not being mobile.

Addison whacked Morgan in the head with a plastic lunchbox. She seems to have some kind of baseball addiction and is really into "swinging" things lately. That's been a fun one.

I was able to sit both of them down for about 5 mintes yesterday and take some cute Valentine pictures that I hope to turn in to cards. I swear Addison has the attention span of a, well, two year old.

I officially stopped breastfeeding. I was really sad and emotional about it. It started in December when I stopped pumping during the day, but kept feeding morning and night. The lack of milk supply caused Morgan to have no interest and she did everything but eat when I tried to feed her. So I gave it up. But I started making homemade baby food so it makes it a little better.

I think that's about it. Just another typical week.