A Christmas Story...

Malia and I had a little conversation on the way to the Christmas Eve service on Wednesday. Here's how it went: (get your tissues ready...)

Malia: (out of the blue) I love God and Jesus
Me: Aw, baby, they love you too.
Malia: In my story bible, on my desk, the bad people put Jesus on a cross. Why did they do that?
Me: (Trying to explain in a 3 year old way) Well, you know when you do bad things, like be mean or disobey? Jesus died on the cross so you could be forgiven for those bad things. But, remember, he didn't stay there, what happened to him?
Malia: He came back!
Me: That's right!
Malia: But if we have Jesus in our hearts, won't God miss Jesus? Shouldn't we send Jesus back to God, so he won't miss him?
Me: (sniff, sniff) No, it's ok. You should keep Jesus in your heart. God is everywhere, so he is with Jesus too.
Malia: Oh. God and Jesus have mustaches.
Me: (now laughing quietly)
Malia: That's how they look in my story bible.
Malia: Tell me a story about God and Jesus.
Me: Umm...ok...hmmm...when Jesus was on earth he used to help people alot. Like, he would help people who couldn't see, be able to see.
Malia: Where were their eyes?
Me: Oh, they had eyes, they were just sick eyes and they couldn't see, until Jesus made them better.

That's the basic conversation....definitely the sweetest talk I've ever had with her. It was very cute listening to her!

Meet Lily!

Here's the newest addition to our family!!

RIP Blue the Bug

About a year ago, Malia created invisible bug friends for all of us. Her bug is named Jacket, mine is Flewy, Justin's is Blue and Pressley's is Ducky. She's mentions them on occation, but mostly we talk about Jacket, her bug. On our way to Tyler and Natasha's wedding on Thursday (yes, Justin's cousin Tyler got married!), somehow the conversation turned to Jacket the Bug. Justin asked Malia if Jacket came with us, to which she answered, "Yes, he's flying up there (pointing to the sky)". And she proceeded to tell us that Flewy and Ducky came too. So, Justin asked, "Where's Blue?". "Oh, he's in heaven with God and Jesus". Justin asked her why Blue was in heaven, and Malia said, "He died". Surprised by her response, Justin asked her what happened, and Malia said that he got killed by a big, mean bug. We couldn't help but laugh, especially when she continued to tell us he was killed by a big, mean girl bug named Mixy.

Tubes

Pressley got her tubes today! I'm so glad it's all over! She did really well. We got to Children's about 6:15 this morning (got up around 4:45! Yikes!). Her surgery happened about 8 this morning. Justin went in with her for the anesthesia-brave man! There is no way I could have done that! He said it was the hardest thing he'd ever done. She didn't want to put the mask to her face, so they had to fight her over that, and then she just went limp. He said he felt sick. I sat and kept my mind off it by reading Twilight. The procedure was fast (though it didn't feel like it in the midst of it). The doctor came and got us after everything was over, and informed us that her right ear was infected (right on schedule-she's been getting them every 3 weeks). I had no idea she had an infection, she'd actually been sleeping well, and no fever! Plus, when we went in that morning her eye was red and gross-pink eye! We got to go in after she woke up, and she was very upset-crying and crying and crying. She cried until we got in the car and she fell asleep. We were in the car and headed home by 9:15. So surgery and all only took an hour. I can't complain. Especially considering there was a family in the waiting area with us who's child was going through a 5 hour surgery. Pressley is doing great though. Right now I'm sitting in the basement with her and she's running around playing with her toys. I'm just hoping that now we get our sleep back permanently!

Aunt Cayrye!

This weekend my sister and Jeremy had a Christmas party and the girls (Malia, Pressley and Megan) got presents to open before dinner. The t-shirt inside is what you see above! Yep! Justin and and I are going to be an aunt and uncle! We are so excited! And Sara is due the day before Malia's birthday! On our way home, Malia asked me, "Mommy, why was Gigi sad about my shirt?". I explained to her that she wasn't sad, she was just happy-sad because Aunt Beebye has a baby in her tummy-to which Malia responded: "What are we going to name my cousin when we get one?". Ha ha! So funny! I told her that Uncle Jer and Aunt Beebye would name the baby, and asked her if she had any name ideas for the baby. "I have lots of names" was her response. "Oh yeah, what name do you like?". "Snowflake". We are very excited for Baby Snowflake to make an appearance in mid-July!

I Spy

Malia and Pressley love to play I Spy. Today, Pressley started saying the words, I spy something *insert color*, after Malia taught her how. Pressley says it like this-I pie sussen boo (I spy something blue).

Rescheduled

Pressley's tubes were rescheduled for December 16. We ended up just having a consultation with the surgeon today. It made for a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

Frosting the Snowman

We got a decent snow here in WV over the last few days, so yesterday we took the girls out to Justin's grandparents to sled ride and build a snowman. Here are a few picture from yesterday-us with "Frosting" the snowman, as Malia calls him!

Smarty Pants

We've been in WV since Sunday to spend Thanksgiving with our families. I took Malia a couple days ago to lay down for her nap. She took Nuk (her purple hippo) with her along with one other toy and she chose an egg separater. (I know weird, right?) As she went to lay down, she asked for another toy, but I told her, you are only allowed one toy and you chose 'this' one. She responded, "I know, but I want a toy with a face". Surpressing my laugh, I bent over, kissed her and brought her a stuffed cow.

Build-A-Pressley

Yep, this is Pressley dressed up in Build A Bear clothes...you know you'd buy her if she was in the store!

Ohio Adventure!

Yesterday Justin and I traveled out to Laurelville, Ohio to take a sneak peek of a furry little present we are getting the girls for Christmas! She is a Lhasa Apso and was less than 2 weeks old when we saw her yesterday!! She was so tiny she could fit in our hand! While we were there we realized that we were super close to Columbus, so we got to squeeze in a surprise lunch with my best friend, and former college roomie, Krissie!! It was so great to see her and catch up over lunch with her and her 3 little ones. To top off our terrific day, Justin and I found gas for $1.54!!! Woohoo! We filled his car for less than $20! The first time that has happened since we bought that car!! It was a fun day, except for hitting a snow storm on our way home and sitting in traffic that allowed us to travel only 9 miles in an hours time! Below are pictures of our puppy! We can't wait for Christmas!

Tiny Toddler and Tubes

Pressley had her 18 month check up today! She weighs 19 pounds 10 ounces!!! and she's 30 inches tall. She's actually on the charts now...a whopping 10 percent! She's doing really well, and she's way ahead on her communication skills...she can say a 3 word sentence now..."I dod did" (I got it!). We also scheduled her appointment for her tubes today. We head to Children's Hospital December 1 for a 3:00 appointment.

Pictures from Johnny B's Wedding

The Anatomy of a Clown

The other day Malia and I were looking through a toddler Look and Find Book, called, "Best Friends". It's a Disney book that has pictures of Bambi, Lion King, Nemo, etc. Also in this book is a circus picture from Dumbo. In the circus picture is a picture of a clown with a very exaggerated bum and chest. Malia pointed to the exaggerated chest and asked, "What's that?" So I told her what it was (her big boobies) to which she said, "You don't have those". Yes, Malia, thank you for pointing out that the boob fairy never came for me.

Animal Sounds

Pressley is learning her animal sounds. They go something like this:

A cow says: Moo
A doggie says: oof oof! (followed by panting sounds)
A duck says: Dack Dack (with wing movements)
A kittie says: M ow m ow (pronounced "ow" I hurt myself)
A pig says: ink ink
A horse says: (This is my favorite) Neighhhh! (with feeling) Ba dup ba dup ba dup ba dup (you know galloping sounds)

Pressley's New Words

Pressley is becoming such a big girl. Just today after Malia told her, "Look Pressley...", she responded, "Oh, cool!". She's picking things up so quickly! It's amazing!

Halloween!!

Justin got back into town on Halloween. His flight was suppose to land at 6:15, right in the midst of trick or treat, so we thought we were not going to be able to go this year. He lucked into getting on an earlier flight, and landed at 4:20, so not only could we trick or treat, but he was able to go with the girls, something we didn't think he would be able to do until Malia was 5 (because he's away at school during this time). Anyway, here are a few pictures from our evening.

The girls had so much fun! Pressley loved it. Once she got the hang of it, it was so funny. She would run up to people saying tick teet with her hands wide open. She got to a point that she didn't want to give up her candy, so she'd run to people with her hands full of candy from the previous house and then had a hard time deciding which candy to give up and put in her bucket in order to get more candy.

Pressley's Favorite Color

This morning we were walking into the church for a meeting, and as we were walking in, Malia and Pressley had a little conversation that went like this:

Malia: Purple! That's my favorite color!
Pressley: Me!
Malia: No Pressley, your favorite color is orange!
Pressley: Oh tay.

It's been really cute to watch them talk to each other and have actual conversations! I can't believe how big they are getting! Pressley is so funny lately because if you say anything to Malia, Pressley chimes in, "Me! Me!", and points to herself! She does not like feeling left out!

Pressley hearts NKOTB!

I've brain washed my girls (so Justin would say). They LOVE New Kids on the Block! Any time we get in the car, Malia asks to listen to them. She knows the words to the songs, knows who sings the songs, and tells everyone she knows, "Mommy went to see New Kids on the Block". But I think the cutest thing of all is hearing Pressley attempt to sing the words and dance to the songs. Here's Pressley's version of The Right Stuff: "Oh oh oh Rye Stuss". It's so cute! Even if you hate New Kids on the Block, like Justin does, you'd still think it was adorable!

Sick, sick, sick!

So, Justin left for the next two weeks on Sunday and the girls and I are in WV until the 29th. Pressley hasn't been sleeping well the past three nights. I noticed a rash on her feet and hands yesterday, but figured it was from wipes we had used to wash her hands after eating a cupcake on Tuesday. She has very sensitive skin, and has broken out before from using those same wipes. At any rate, she's also been fevering and having a runny nose-but she has molars coming in, so I just lumped all these things together, because it's typical behavior from her when it comes to teething. Last night though, I decided to take her to urgent care because the rash was getting worse, and we could all use some more sleep! After seeing the doctor, we found out she has strep throat and...more ear infections! Which means at my next doctor's visit, with Pressley's pediatrician, we'll have to schedule an appointment for tubes. This is her 3rd ear infection in about 6 weeks (and 6th in 6 months). They told us in June if she had 3 more in a year we would have to have it done, and we hit our three in the past 6 weeks. We just finished our last dose of antibiotics not even 2 weeks ago! So anyway, I'm hoping that once we go down that road I'll actually have a child that sleeps through the night. We haven't had much of that in the last 18 months, so we'll say a little prayer that Pressley will just feel better all around and we can all get some rest!

Sparkle Toes and animals

Malia: I have sparkles on my toes!
Me: You do?!
Malia: Yeah! Do you want to feel them?
Me: Sure! (Feeling the invisible sparkles)
Malia: They're resky
Me: They're nasty?
Malia: No! Resky
Me: Oh. What's resky mean?
Malia: It means they need to come off.

The next day...

Malia: Look at the animals! They're all jungling.
Me: What's that mean?
Malia: They're chasing each other.

Malia's Big Day!

Malia had a big day today! It started with her tracing her name! (See above) We've been working on writing the letters A, L and I...so I thought M would be somewhat easy, so I showed her and wrote her name and had her trace it...this the first time she's ever written her name! Not bad for a 3 year old!! After writing her name, we finished the day with a poop in the potty! She hasn't done that in about 21 months...since she was Pressley's age! She did it with much convincing..."either you put on a diaper and go in it like a baby or you use the potty! I'm not cleaning poop out of your underwear!" Being that she does not want to be a baby...she used the potty with great success! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will last!

Bird Poop

There was a little bit of bird poop on our sliding glass window today. Malia saw it and said, "Eww! There's bird poop on the window! He shouldn't poop on the window, he should go in the grass, that's his potty!"

Three Weeks Without Diapers

Well, we're on week 3 of Malia wearing big girl underwear!! We've had some little accidents along the way, but for the most part, she is peeing on the potty like a big girl! She doesn't have #2 down yet...which is where most of the accidents have occurred (yuck!), but I can't complain, because we have cut WAY back on diapers!! And actually, between my two girls, I have one completely potty trained girl! Pressley has been consistantly pooping on the potty since August! So, I really can't complain!

A Scary Moment

Today we went to the mall with a friend of mine and her two little ones. We played in the play area for a while and then had to run upstairs to a store. As we were getting ready to head into the elevator, the door opened, Malia stepped inside and Pressley was ready to head in after her. I stopped her for a second, grabbed Pressley to let my friend and the stroller go through, and then Pressley and I were going to follow behind, but instead just as I had caught Pressley, the elevator door shut, with Malia inside alone. Both my friend and I grabbed the door and tried to open it, but we couldn't stop the door. All I could hear was Malia crying inside. I grabbed Pressley and ran full speed up the escalator. But, by the time I got to the elevator, the doors had closed again and Malia was on her way back down the elevator with someone else. Fortunately, my friend was at the bottom and got Malia as the doors opened again. I rode the elevator back down and met them to ride back up all together. Holy cow! I was sweating and shaking like crazy. Malia had calmed down at this point, but I think it took me an hour to calm down. As scary as that was, I was glad I grabbed Pressley, otherwise, that door was so fast, the two of them could have gotten stuck together. Pressley is a bolter, and as soon as those doors opened at the top, she probably would have ran out of there, thinking it was all fun. I couldn't believe how fast that door closed. It literally opened up, and shut as soon as it opened. What a day!

Pumpkin Time!!

It's my favorite time of year already!! It's hard to believe, because last year after we went pumpkin climbing, for months afterward, we would drive by Trax Farms and Malia would say, "I want to go climb the pumpkins!". I would have to remind her every time that we would have to wait a whole year before we could do it again...and, well, here we are!! So, here are a few pictures from our morning. The girls were so excited to finally get to climb pumpkins! They had so much fun, and I had a blast taking some pictures-it's my favorite picture taking spot! Enjoy!

Bad Hair Day!

Pressley woke up looking like this the other morning...I don't know what happened in her sleep!

Sleeping Like the Dead

On her way!!

Malia stayed dry all day long!! We are on the way to underwear!!!!

Success!!!

Woohoo! I'm so excited! Last night my sister and brother-in-law were in town so the girls and I headed down to Station Square to meet them for dinner and a little hang out time. After dinner, they wanted to head to Starbucks, and on the way, Malia said she needed to use the potty. If you don't know, Malia's history with using the potty is that we have had to fight her to try to use the potty, to change her diaper, etc. She has no interest in taking time out of her day to use the potty or have her diaper changed. We've done everything imaginable to get her interested, but to no such luck. Even Pressley's potty success has not been enough to get her to go-she just cheers her sister on ("Good job Bugsy! I'm so proud of you!!" "Do you want to go potty Malia?" "No"). So anyway, when she asked to use the potty last night, I was really hesitant. I HATE public bathrooms because she ends up touching everything. She's always asking to go potty when we're out and about, so we make this big fuss of getting her ready to go, touching every discusting thing in the nasty bathroom, only to have her sit on the potty for a second and say she's all done. So, you can imagine that I was not too thrilled about taking her to the bathroom last night. As we were walking, I told her there were no bathrooms outside, so if she could hold it, we'd walk over to Starbucks and use their potty. A few minutes later we made it to Starbucks, got the potty ready, undressed Malia, she sat down and....Yay!!!! Pee!!!!! A lot of pee!!!! She was so proud of herself. We were both squealing and cheering like crazy! (I can't imagine what they thought outside!) Hopefully this means that we are on the path to big girl underwear and out of diapers for good!!! Let's keep our fingers crossed!!!!!!!!

Ear infections

It looks like were on the road to tubes. Pressley went to the doctor today for her 3rd ear infection in less than 6 months. The doctors at the cranial center told us if she had 3 more in a year's time, we would have to get tubes put in. One down, two to go. Pressley did weigh in today at an enormous 20.1 pounds....with her clothes on. So I'm sure the shoes weighed at least 2 ounces of that 20 pounds. I don't think she's broken 20 pounds with her clothes off. Ha ha. She should still be facing backwards in her car seat...but she's just too long and cramped. Oh well...any way that's the news for today!

Sharing

Last night we had a couple friends over who have two little ones around the same age as Pressley and Malia. Malia and the little girl, Kylee have always had a love-hate relationship. Last year at this time, we were always breaking fights up between the girls. They couldn't share toys, and as soon as one had a toy the other wanted, here came the pushing and hitting. We'll as the year has gone on, they have done much better. (and even last year when they were on and off, they always talked about each other and how they wanted to play together) So last night, they did a great job playing together. Not one single fight, melt down of fist thrown. At one point, Justin walked back to Malia's room to check on them and one of the girls had something the other wanted, so Justin asked them if they could share. Kylee replied: Sharing is caring, right Malia? To which Malia replied: It's always more fun to share with everyone! We felt like successful parents! :-)

Preschool Princess

Today I took Malia to the Preschool class at church today. It's on a different floor than her old classroom and is set up like a school, because we do have a preschool at our church. As we walked up the steps to the classroom, she asked me if we were going to take the mommy bus to her new class and not the school bus. It was really weird taking her to that class. I don't know how she got so big!

Malia

"Mommy, you can change my diaper. I won't kick and cry."

Little Dancer

Malia started her new dance class today at The Lori Allen Dance Center. She's taking gymnastics, ballet and tap. She was the only one in class today...they scheduled her as a 4 year old, so we may be switching to the Thursday morning 3 year old class. She did great with the one on one attention and seemed to have a blast! She was super excited about wearing her new clip-clop tap shoes, she loved the trampoline and pretending she was Ariel being chased by an alligator. Her new teacher's name is Miss Lori and she has been fantastic. I'm very excited to see what this new class has in store for her! We'll keep you posted...recital is already scheduled for June 13, so mark your calendar if you plan to attend!! :-)

The Doggy Did It!

Remember that Cosby Show episode where Olivia has an imaginary dog that gets into trouble? I tried to find the video clip on Youtube in case you're not sure, but I couldn't....anyway, I think that dog has found his way to our house in stuffed animal form.

Today Malia opened the linen closet (that also contains cleaning products) to get a Barbie bandaid. I was in the bathroom getting ready and I noticed that she was in there longer than she should have been and I heard some things banging around. When I asked her to close the door and leave things alone, her response was: "Oh, well, my puppy jumped out of my hands and got down to play. He wanted to play in there". To which I responded: "You need to tell your puppy he is not allowed to play in the closet. Please make sure he listens and obeys!". Wow. Who knew the blame game would begin already!

A Puck

Malia: Daddy, Guess what?! We saw 7 deer and one was a puck!

Vacation, Vacation, Vacation!!!!

Well, after a two week adventure, we are finally home from vacation! The girls and I spent three days at my sisters before she headed back to school, then we were home for a night before heading to WV for Justin's 10 year reunion, followed by 4 days at Holly River and then Justin and I were off to Toronto for a Hillsong Conference. Whew! We had tons of fun camping together...despite me being very nervous about going with a three year old and a 16 month old! The girls had a blast!! Malia pretended she was Dora the Explorer every second of the day! She climbed rocks, jumped off the edge of the pool into Justin's arms, played at the playground and road her bike like a mad woman!! Malia played Dora, Pressley was Issa, Justin was Boots and I was Alicia! It was so much fun!!!

Now that we are home, we have spent the day hanging blinds in the girls room (in hopes Pressley will begin sleeping better) and preparing Pressley to move into a big girl bed (also in hopes she sleeps better). We hope that darkness and more space will mean not waking up in the middle of the night or so early in the morning!

I also had an exciting bit of the day as I finally (after lots of searching) found a dear friend of mine on Facebook!! I am so very excited to be back in contact with her and look forward to catching up on the past few years!!

Here are a few pictures from our vacation adventure to Holly River:

Malia and Nuk

Our little home for the week

Sitting by the campfire

(Malia looks 13 in this picture!)


And...a little video of Malia and Pressley's show from the week!!!

Malia, Music and Pressley the BIG Helper

Malia is a huge fan of music and has been from the beginning! She will always ask me who is singing on the iPod or will tell me who is singing when someone she knows is on the iPod (The Beatles! John Mayor! Bon Jovi!). So the other day we were in the car and a Rascal Flatts song came on the radio. She asked me who was singing and I told her. She asked if it was a boy or girl, so I told her he was a boy and she said, "It sounds like Cher!". It was very random...I didn't even know she knew who Cher was.
Pressley is at such a fun age. She loves helping around the house. Anytime the dishwasher is open, she loves to grab the silverware and hand it to me. She also understands if I ask her to take something to Malia or Justin. She's so proud of herself for helping out. It's really cute! She's doing really well potty training too. This morning she has already peed on the potty 3 times! I can't believe how big she's getting so quickly.
Today we head out for a week of vacation-Justin's 10 year reunion, followed by a couple days of camping at Holly River and finished off with a trip to Toronto for a Hillsong Conference. It'll be nice to get away for a bit and spend some quiet time together as a family. We are all really looking forward to some much needed time away!

Pay

Pressley has been talking like crazy! She's added so many new words to her vocabulary in the last few weeks. The newest words she likes to use are pay (for play) hep (for help) and up (for clean up not pick me up). We were sitting on the floor the other day with a ton of alphabet magnets. She kept taking my hand and placing it on the letters and repeating pay, pay because she wanted me to play with her. It was very cute! Yesterday I was helping Malia clean up her toys in her room and we were picking up blocks. As we were picking up, Pressley would say, hep! I would ask her if she was helping us clean up and she would shake her head with a big smile and say up! I'm just amazed at how much she understands and responds to! What a little smartie!

The Scoop...

So, in attempt to catch everyone up on what is going on in our lives, I've started this blog...yes, we do have a website that has a blog...BUT my hard drive crashed about a month ago and we have not had a chance to get it repaired yet. There has been so much happening around here so, here's the scoop!

Pressley
Pressley has been a busy, busy girl!! She has been pooping and peeing on the potty everyday!! We've had only 3 diaper poops in the last week and a half or more!! What a big girl!
She's walking and talking like crazy and trying so very hard to be a big girl like her sister! At her 15 month old doctor's appointment she weighed 18 pounds and was 28 inches long...still in the 0% for her age! Right now she has been cutting her molars which has meant we've gotten NO sleep over the last few weeks! No fun!

Malia
Malia had a big week last week! On August 3, she asked Jesus in her heart! We were laying on the couch that night and out of the blue, Malia asked Justin, "Where is heaven?" and he told her her it's "up in the sky". Then she asked, "Where is God?" and Justin said, "in heaven". After a little more thought she asked, "Where is Jesus?" and Justin said in your heart. So Malia paused for a second and said, "I want Jesus in my heart." So he prayed with her. It was super cute.
At her 3 year old doctor appointment, she weighed 33 1/2 pounds and is now 3 feet 3 inches...VERY,VERY tall for a three year old! Yes, she did turn three! So hard to believe! We celebrated her birthday here with her friends and had a princess party, we were able to celebrate in WV with family as well...it was very fun!