Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Busy Weekends

Hannah is desperate to go to the beach. I can't even spell it because then she asks "are we going to the E C H tomorrow". Unfortunately we also have loads of busy weekends, none of which are really great for driving 90 minutes to the ocean. I'm actually hoping that next weekend will be nice. Odd to go on Labor Day weekend, and probably a TERRIBLE idea, but hey I'll take what we can get.

In fact this last weekend we stayed home so that Meema's truck could be fixed. And this coming weekend we've agreed to help Mimi and Iza's family move into their new place. We did manage to go do some fun things though like go shopping and go to Meme's for dinner and Wii playing. Hannah had a blast, and seemingly so did Steven and Gary. I've never played a Wii, but the cow race was pretty darn hilarious.

Norah is just getting slicker every day. I'm in the process of revamping her diaper stash because I can no longer put any diapers on her with Velcro. She takes them off. And the problem with summer is that I regularly just put her in a shirt and a diaper... and clearly you can see where this is going. So I've been selling diapers she doesn't/can't use and am using the money to purchase diapers that she can/will use and leave on. Though I feel like she will potty train earlier than Hannah did. Norah already tells me when she pees/poops so I can change her. That's certainly a start, even if telling me after the fact isn't always emminently useful.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Recent Pictures

Some new pictures, though sadly mostly of Norah because Hannah is at the "I'm making ugly faces at you when you get the camera out" age.































































Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Less than three weeks

I remember being a kid and being sad to see the summer end and school start again. Now that I'm an adult I'm so excited to watch them go back to school. Hannah's first day back is three weeks from yesterday, and I think that at least so far, she's just as excited to go back as I am to send her. She enjoys having school friends and learning, and I would love to encourage that in her. She's very intelligent and when she really applies herself she does well in most things she tries.

Norah just keeps getting bigger and smarter every day of course too. I think that the one on one time she and I will get while Hannah is in school will be fantastic for her. She's very smart and opinionated, which is frustrating but cool. She knows exactly what she wants, and most of the time has figured out how to get it, or at least get someone to do it for her. Unlike last year where she napped all of Hannah being gone at school, this year she'll be up and about because Hannah is in a morning class, so will go from 8:30 to 11, instead of 12:15 to 2:30.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Summer

It FINALLY feels like summer here. We're headed for our third straight day of oppressive 90+ temps, and while I love summer and try not to complain, I wish Norah liked the pool a little better. Poor girlie gets so red and sweaty when we play outside because she refuses to go in the pool and cool off. She's also figured out that if the big girls can climb up the slide the wrong way, so can she. She's already figured out how to get to the top of the playset slide, so the big metal slide won't be far behind.

Norah has so many words it's scary. She just keeps popping out new ones, I'm literally afraid of what she'll repeat next. I never worried about that with Hannah until she was MUCH older. Just shows how two kids from the same family can be so unbelieveably different.

Yesterday morning the girls and I headed to the hospital to visit Mimi, their first since she was admitted last Monday. Mimi was in good spirits and looking well, and Hannah enjoyed the visit and didn't seem so overly confused about what everything was and if Mimi was ok. They colored and played with some toys and Ella and Lily, and before we left I got a picture of all the girls and Kate. So if I ever boot up the other computer and download my camera I'll post it (with Kat's permission, I know how some people are about hospital pictures).

Monday, August 17, 2009

My sweet girl

Hannah and I were talking about how some of the medicine Mimi will be getting for her Leukemia will make her hair fall out. Mimi's twin, Iza, went and had her hair cut Friday and the plan was to find a hairdresser to come in to the hospital to cut Mimi's so it wouldn't be so shocking to her when it did fall out. So Hannah says to me


"Mommy I want to go get my hair cut too, I don't want Mimi to be sad that I still have long hair" So yesterday we did. And here is the result.







My girl finally learned empathy! Yay now I don't have to worry about serial killers in the family.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Please Pray to whomever you Pray to


Emilia Lapierre (Mimi) Age 4.5
Yesterday Mimi, who is one of twins who are Hannah's very best friends, was diagnosed with Leukemia (ALL for anyone researching it). I don't know much but that her family is very stressed and scared and could use any and all good thoughts/prayers. The Lapierre girls are like my own kids, I see them so often and have watched them grow up and change. Please pray that healing isn't too hard for her and for her family.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Lucky

So yesterday I was cooking dinner when I hear a crash. The kind that makes your heart jump up into your throat. Then the scream. Ear shattering and terror inducing. I run into the bedroom and find Hannah on the floor shrieking. Snatch her up and try to settle her down. She says that her arm hurts, but hey she just fell, that's normal. So we get her settled with some ice, and 25 minutes later she's still saying it hurts. So I call Holyoke Pediatrics and they say to take her to the ER. So we head over to Baystate because they have Pedi Priority. So at dinnertime on one of the hottest days of the year we were in and out in just over two hours. The entire time Norah hung out on my back eating fish and grinning at everyone who walked by. Hannah of course perked up about the time we walked in, and after quite a bit of poking/squeezing it was determined that she was fine and we could go home sans xrays. This morning she seems to be just fine, and she's happy to have her stickers.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Propensity to change her mind

Norah hates water. Pools, buckets, water tables... she wants NONE of it. Or so I thought. Apparently our city decides that they'll close the pools this week, you know because it's not finally nice and not raining *eyeroll*. So yesterday Kat, Kate, and I along with some other friends took all our girls (yes we ALL have girls) to the wading pool locally because today is the last day. Hannah and the girls all had a great time, and Norah sat in the water at the edge getting wet and giggling. She convinced Kate to take her out and let her walk around, and was so happy until she tripped and got her face a little wet. So I'd say next time I should wear shorts and/or a bathing suit.... except we won't be going again until next year.