Vacation Day 3

Well, in our area, officials are instructing everybody to stay away from other people and hang out in your own house. So we have thought of a lot of new games and activities. On Wednesday, I let Jillian play in the sprinkler.

She started out a little timid but then she liked it.

She looked adorable in her pink bathing suit.

But then she told me that she didn't like it because it was wet. So off it went!

And then she didn't like that her diaper was getting wet so that went too. I am omitting all of the pictures of her in her birthday suit as to protect her "privacy." She is very concerned with her "privacy" lately.

And then she wanted to show Rocco that she was wet.

Rocco was not impressed with the whole thing.

Tomorrow I will learn whether I go back to school on Monday or we get another week off. Stay tuned....

Vacation Day 1

Jillian keeps saying, "Mommy doesn't have to work anymore." I keep saying that is not exactly true. I tell her, "Mommy doesn't have to work this week," but Jillian is choosing to ignore the end of the sentence.

Monday morning, while Rocco was taking his nap, Jillian and I decided to "chalk up" the drive way. I hate how the chalk gets everywhere so she always get to chalk without her clothes!! She loves that!

Here is some of our "art."

Jillian decided she did not like the rainbow and thought it was better to sit on the rainbow.

Monday afternoon the rain came and rinsed our chalk away. We'll just have to do it again because MOMMY DOESN'T HAVE TO WORK THIS WEEK!!!!

Pooch Parade

Back on Saturday, some friends from church invited us over to their house to enjoy the Pooch Parade. When we were younger, Bryan and I would attend Fiesta events like Niosa or Heights Night. Now two kids later, we attend events called the Pooch Parade. It was actually soooooooo much fun! Our friends, Sam and Leslie, have the perfect house on the parade route and their front yard is fenced in so I did not have to worry one minute whether Jillian was safe. They served breakfast and Mimosas and the weather was perfect....in TX that means not over 100 degrees.

Jillian ate breakfast (breakfast in SA means anything with a tortilla) with some of her favorite boys.... Luke, Cash and Quinn. Jillian was the only girl and that is usually the way she likes it!!!

Such a nice friend....Luke was pushing Jillian in the swing.

The police car that started the parade fascinated Jillian. Notice the little dog in the front seat!! Notice the white lab ready to watch his "friends" walk by. Ha ha!!

We saw big dogs, little dogs, Superman dogs, Spurs dogs, pirate dogs, hula dogs and pink and blue and green dogs!!! It was hilarious!

Jillian had the best seat in the house!

Even the babies got to enjoy the show. From left to right, that's Matthew, Lillian and Rocco. Matthew and Lillian are 6 weeks older than Rocco but I bet you can't tell that by looking!



Rocco did not seem to be impressed with all of the dogs but we had a really good time! Thank you Sam, Leslie, Quinn, Luke and Jake!

Swine Flu = A Week's Vacation

That's right, folks! We are front and center in the national news. Swine flu is not a laughing matter and has been all over the news, newspapers, internet, blogs, twitter, etc. for three days.

There are three reported cases in my school district. During Sunday lunch with my family, I got a call from the district's superintendent that all 14 schools in my district will be closed temporarily for a minimum of a week! Let me say it again - a week!

In all seriousness, I hope all the kids in my district have a swift and speedy recovery! Swine flu is sounding very very serious! In the meantime, I am going to enjoy a week off from work and party with my kids!! Can you believe this insanity???

Fiesta

It is that time of year again! We are celebrating Fiesta down here in SA! You know what that means? Lots of parades, food, music, dancing for 9 straight days.

Jillian's MDO is having Fiesta activities both today and on Thursday. Today they were supposed to wear Fiesta clothes including hats and shoes (following in the tradition of the queens on the Fiesta floats "showing their shoes"). Jillian had a precious outfit, hat and matching shoes to wear.....however......

Right now, she is in a stage where she does NOT want to pose for a picture. So what is a Mommy to do?? A little trickery......I told her that we would send the photos to Allison if she would stand still and smile. It worked!!

Why is she not wearing a shirt? She told me that was not part of the deal. Skirt and hat only Mommy. I'll take what I can get, I guess! Ha ha!!

Also, Miss Piggy had to wear the hat too!

The bargaining we will do to get what we want! Both I think both of us won on this deal!

Sunday

Sunday afternoon, we went on a nice walk with the family. The weather was perfect. I love going with Bryan because he walks fast (we call it the FedEx walk) which makes me walk fast and get a better workout. I have to give a huge thank you to the Mueller family for giving us their old double stroller. It really is a life saver when I am by myself and have to take the kids somewhere.

Jillian has been so much better about staying in the stroller which makes it fun to take her. She was obviously very thirsty.

Rocco chilled out in the back.

Sunday night, we had our 9th date....only 1 date left. We went bowling with some other couples and had so much fun. I cannot remember the last time I bowled and my scores clearly showed that! Bryan threw several strikes and spares but we decided we definitely need to practice more, however, the purchase price of $31.36 for two games will prevent this from happening. Isn't that ridiculous??

As always, Rocco had to tag along. Next 10 Great Dates, he will be old enough to stay in the nursery. As for big enough, he is wearing a 6-9 month outfit. Geez!

My camera is approximately 3 years old, and I do not like how it is taking pictures inside anymore? See how dark my inside picture is?? Is it going kaput?? Can the flash go kaput?? Does it need a new battery?? Do I need a new camera?? My birthday is coming up!! Bryan will love to hear that!

The Photo Shoot

You know me, it's not official until the pictures are taken.


So I decided it was only fitting for me to use Aunt Allene's quilt as a backdrop and put Rocco in the same spot I put Jillian in two years ago. Here's the results of Rocco at 3 months:


Please notice how fitting his shirt is (for those that can't read it - Muscle Man) Ha!!







Yay! Mommy is finished!!

3 months old, Mommy Guilt and Discharged

I will address these three topics as follows:

Rocco is 3 months old today? How did that happen? He is such a sweet baby! He is very mellow and really does not cry much. He does have a fussy period in the evening but it is usually because he is tired. He is very strong, has great control of his head, and sleeps all in all pretty well except for a little fussiness around 5 am. He is smiling more and more, loves to "ooh" and "goo" and loves watching Jillian Avery. Here he is giving me his adorable smile dressed in his Sunday's best:

I also have to show you an oldy but goody. This is one of my favorite pictures of Jillian. In every monthly birthday shot, I dressed her in a dress. This one is an old dress that my Mom made for me. It fit her perfectly. The backdrop is an old quilt from my great Aunt Alleen (did I spell that right? or is it with a y? My mom will correct me.) She looked so cute. She was so tiny compared to you know who! Ha ha!!

Mentioning Jillian Avery brings me to the next topic of "Mommy Guilt." It is rearing its ugly head this week. It starts in the mornings. When Dad comes over in the mornings, Jillian is usually estatic to see him and barely glances at the door when I leave for work. But this week, Jillian decided that it is NOT ok for me to go to work and screams and cries when I leave. Ahhhhh! So heart wrenching. Also on Monday, we were sitting at the dinner table. I was trying quickly to eat my dinner. Rocco started fussing (as every baby I have had does when I try to eat) so I put him in my left arm as I continued to eat. Then Jillian is trying to wiggle out of her seat so to not finish her dinner and I reached over to get her back in her seat. You know where this story is going?? Rocco jerked out of my grip and hit his head on the table. Bam, hard. I felt awful. Still do. Sometimes I just try to do too much.

Last topic: staph infection. After my 5th trip to the Dr., the Dr. said I was "discharged." I still need to watch it. I need to scrub it with soap "until it hurts" to make sure the infection does not come back. Keep it dry and bandaged until the hole closes up. The moral of this story is DO NOT GET A STAPH INFECTION!

Have a good day!

Happy Easter!

Please Staph Go Away!

I went to the Dr. again today and I still have quite the infection so they had to do surgery again on my leg. I will stop there and spare all of you the rest of the details. But it is AWFUL! Don't ever get staph - Lysol and Chlorox your house right now!

Have a great Easter Weekend! Most will be going to church however I have to go back to the Dr. on Sunday to see how my leg is doing. Wish me luck!

Egg Hunt with Cousins

Last night, Uncle Bill-Bill had his boys so we celebrated Easter a little early. Gavin and Roy are Jillian's favorite cousins but it is hit or miss with Gavin sometimes. Last night was a miss as he really did not want his little cousin running after him. Oh well, next time he will love her.

Here they are! Ready for their Easter baskets - Roy, Gavin, Jillian and Rocco

Let's open the baskets! Jillian got some new silky jammies and books!

Rocco got a book too and a hat that is a little too big for now! (We were so happy that Daddy got off early and could enjoy the evening with us!!!)

It looks like somebody is ready for the egg hunt....

The hunt begins!!!! Look high and low...


She is counting her eggs...

Rocco just got to watch this year but next year, I bet he'll give Jillian a run for her money!

Thank you Grammie and Poppy for the yummy dinner and cool presents! We had so much fun!!

A Funny Girl and her Prayers

Every night right before she goes to bed, I have been teaching Jillian about praying. We pray about all sorts of things. Last night, we specifically prayed for our family.

This was our actual prayer:

Me: Dear God. Jillian, now you say it.
Jillian: Dear God.
Me: Thank you for Daddy.
Jillian: Thank you for Daddy.
Me: Thank you for Mommy.
Jillian: Thank you for Mommy.
Me: Thank you for Rocco.
Jillian: Thank you for Rocco.
Me: Thank you for....
Jillian: (interrupting) Mommy, thank you for Jillian.
Me: (with big smile on face) Of course Jillian, thank God for you.
Jillian: Of course.

That girl is funny!

What is Staphylococcus?

Staphylococcus is group of bacteria, familiarly known as Staph (pronounced "staff"), that can cause a multitude of diseases as a result of infection of various tissues of the body. Staph bacteria can cause illness not only directly by infection (such as in the skin), but also indirectly by producing toxins responsible for food poisoning and toxic shock syndrome. Staph-related illness can range from mild and requiring no treatment to severe and potentially fatal.

Why am I posting about Staph you might ask? Because I have it! Grrrrrrr! I went in for my surgery/removal of the sore on my leg last night. Leg is very sore today. When will the Dr. visits come to an end?

No one believes the amount of time we have spent in a hospital or dr. office in the last 3 months. Let me just outline the Pearce sickness outbreak for 2009:

January 15-17: Hospital stay for the birth of Rocco
January 19: 4 day old visit for Rocco
January 29: 2 wk visit for Rocco. diagnosed with yeast rash
January 30: 2 year old visit for Jillian
February 2: rash not going away. given stronger medicine.
February 8: ER visit. Rocco diagnosed with RSV
February 9-10: Hospital stay for RSV
February 16: Follow-up for Rocco's RSV
February 19: 6 wk post birth visit for me
February 27: Bryan's mom has heart attack. multiple visits to hospital
March 3: Jillian diagnosed with double ear infection/sinus infection
March 16: 2 month visit for Rocco
March 17: Jillian diagnosed with pink eye and ear infections
March 20: Bryan diagnosed with staph infection in his leg
March 25: Jillian diagnosed with ear infections AGAIN
March 26: Rocco diagnosed with pink eye
April 6: Ashley diagnosed with staph too.

THIS IS INSANE!!!!! WE HAVE TO GET BETTER! WE JUST HAVE TO!!! I am going to dump a big jug of Clorox all over my house. Maybe that will work??

Very Busy Weekend

We were sooooo busy this weekend. Yesterday, we had lunch with G.G. She is our last remaining grandparent and Jillian adores her. So we got all dressed up and met her for lunch on the south side. We had fun and then Jillian had a birthday party to attend.

Bathed, dressed, with cheesy grins!

Four generations of chicks - G.G., Grammie, Mommy and Jillian

Rocco was very happy too to see his G.G.

Then we went to a very fun b-day party at MiniTown. It was so cute. Each room had a different theme - grocery store, beauty shop, kitchen, school, disco, movies, etc. They also had fun stuff outside. Jillian had a ball!!

Getting her make-up done!

Going grocery shopping! She took ALL of the carrots. Imagine that!

Making dinner with her friends!

Here she is in the music room! Billy Joel eat your heart out!

You know Jillian! She loves a good slide!

Choo-choo! She and Daddy riding the train!

Jillian had a blast! It was the cutest place! We stopped by Grandma and Papa Cheese's house on the way home for a visit! Needless to say, we were exhausted when we got home! Daddy put Jillian bed and fell asleep too!

Today is Palm Sunday which is a big deal at my church. The kiddos wore the cutest matching orange outfits. The color came out so pretty in the pictures!! Good choice mommy!!

Rocco is 10 weeks old! What a stud!

It is so difficult to get a good picture of them together!

It was VERY difficult to get Jillian to understand the eggs were pretend. No eating please!

Palm Processional! She did a great job - no crying!

The grand finale - an Easter Egg Hunt after church! The wind was AWFUL once again but we still had a great time!

Look at all of those eggs!!!

Rocco slept through the whole thing with Grammie but obviously was very happy when we got back in the car!