Almost there

Yesterday started out good and went downhill quickly. I was blessed with 17 "other" children who were sent from God to teach me something. I am not sure what it is but I think patience. Oh my goodness! I left school yesterday in tears (you know me, I have pretty thick skin but yesterday was rough!!).

Then I picked up the kids, drove home and realized it was 5:30 and my poor children needed to eat. I made dinner, cleaned up (was totally exhausted!!!) and then we had a little play time and look what I found.....

someone is trying really hard to crawl!

While we were holding crawl practice, Jillian was making sure her babies were fed. Such a good mommy!!

When Jillian fell asleep at 8:15, I was out at 8:17!!! I was beyond exhausted!!

Today was a teeny, tiny bit better. I had to pull out "mean" Mrs. P and teach these kids some rules!!! You know, RULES!! I made several cry but I think they see that I mean business.

What will tomorrow bring?? It's only Wednesday!!!

First day of school and tooth#5

So far, so good. I got the kids to daycare and I got to work on time.

I had 17 little smiling faces waiting for me this morning. I love the first day of school!

Yesterday, Rocco was not napping well at all. Bryan started poking around in his mouth. No surprise....tooth #5 has poked through on the bottom.

My poor children!!! Once the teeth start coming, there is no way to stop them. Pile on the orajel and tylenol.

Well, I'm off to make sure my "other" kids have the best first day of school EVER!!!

Quick Comparison Part 3

I actually just got back from the grocery store and saved $37.11 in savings and in coupons ($29.74 in just coupons). I love HEB!!! They take all of my coupons with no questions asked!!! Both kids are still sleeping so I thought I would compare and contrast at 7 months.

God, I loved this dress. The smocking is sooo beautiful!! The matching headband just adorable. It would be tragic if another little Pearce girl didn't get to wear it!! Right, honey???

Big, beautiful matching toothy grins!!! Much to Bryan's chagrin (is that how you spell that?), I think both babes are looking alike which means they are looking like me. "Everybody" says Jillian looks like me so if Rocco looks like Jillian then that means he looks like me too. Did you get all that logic???

Jillian's "big" 7 month belly.

And Rocco's BIG 7 month belly. That's him and Aidan getting ready to have a sumo wrestling contest!!

Truly, the baby year goes by waaaaay too fast!! I just want to smell that sweet baby smell and kiss those baby rolls and have it last forever!!

2 days

2 days!!!!! That is all it took for my kids to get sick - 2 days of daycare!!!! How is that possible? Are the germs really that strong?? 2 days of daycare and Jillian and Rocco have yucky, snotty noses!! Both had trouble sleeping last night because of the drainage/coughing. Ugh!!!!

2 days people!!! IN.SAN.I.TY!!!!!

My friend Jaime is doing Flashback Fridays so I am going to try it out.

This is Jillian at 13 months with a very snotty nose and her first contraction of pink eye or as she calls it "goopy eyes."

This is Rocco at 3 weeks old hospitalized with a horrible case of RSV. Very scary time for us!! So happy he healed so quickly and has been pretty healthy overall since then!!!

Have a great weekend!!!

Random updates

The first day of daycare was hard for the kids but not awful.

Jillian's teacher said she did awesome in the morning and then when she woke up from her nap, she was disoriented and wanted Mommy. Duh?? A very natural reaction!! The afternoon teacher said she had an OK afternoon instead of awesome. Also, no potty accidents! Yay!!

Rocco did not fare as well. The teacher said he cried a lot and a lot of the staff took turns trying to comfort him (which honestly I do not think this would have helped b/c being passed from stranger to stranger is certainly not fun BUT I know everybody needs a break from a crying baby). The napped some and ate some. To no one's surprise, he refused all bottles and sippy cups.

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Today, when I dropped off the kids, Jillian was the first one in her class and the teacher was super sweet and took Jillian in her arms for some snuggle time and she was going to be the "helper" again for breakfast.

Rocco must have suspected what was going on and decided he did not want him Mommy to leave and started crying. I mean loudly, hysterical crying. Poor thing. I felt soooooooooo awful. I cried all the way to work again. But we called at lunch time and the daycare said he was doing much better and had just finished a jar of carrots. That's my boy!!
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Our a/c was fixed!! Hallelujah!!! The best part about it......it only cost $14 to fix it. Thank God Bryan's brother can fix things. He came over, saw a part that had blown a fuse and ran to Home Depot and picked up a new one, installed it and PRESTO - cold air!!!!

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Meet the Teacher Night is tomorrow night so I have been working like a mad woman to fix up my new room and get it ready. It is looking good. I will do the finishing touches tomorrow.

That's it for today!!

Crocodile Tears from the Mommy

Today was Jillian and Rocco's first day at daycare. They both did awesome on the drop-off. Rocco was looking at all of the other babies and playing with the toys. Jillian was a little skittish but the teacher scooped her up and she was the "helper" for passing out breakfast.

Mommy held it together until I got into the car. Then I let the tears loose. I miss them so much. They are getting bigger.

Luckily, I have a terrific job and I only have to work about 187 days out of the year so who am I to complain?? Looking forward to seeing how they blossom in the new environment!!!

Really Fun Weekend!!!

We were so lucky to host the McAfee family this weekend. Amy and I met my freshman year at UT and quickly became friends and now, 13 years later (geez, can that be right??), our children are fast becoming friends!!!

Jillian and Allison did LOTS of things together:

They worked on puzzles.

They painted!!!

They shared cheerios and watched their favorite movie - Barbie and the Diamond Castle.

They blew bubbles.

They drew art on the sidewalk!!

They had a slumber party!!!!

They had a tea party.

While Rocco and Aidan...

chewed on things.

Then we stripped them down to compare their chunk. Cracks me up!!! Amy, I see a lot of trouble for us in the future. Look at these two hams!!!

The McAfee Family came in to town to celebrate Rocco's baptism.

Our family!!

All eight of us - Bryan, Jillian, Ashley, Rocco, Aidan, Amy, Allison and Tyler.

We had such a good time - even when our AC decided to call it quits at 8:00 p.m. Saturday night!! What timing!! So we sweated our tails off getting ready for church Sunday morning.

But we got through it, and Rocco did awesome at church!! He did not cry at all but looked around and seemed quite entertained by it all. I just realized that I did not get a single picture of him in his christening outfit BUT stay tuned as Rocco is being featured on a website later this week from a photo shoot we had earlier this week. I'll post a link!

Thanks McAfees for such a fun weekend! It's our turn next to come and visit you!!

7 months

Rocco has hit 7 months with a bang! He got baptized!! (Another post will follow with that story...)

Not much has changed since 6 months. He is still not crawling. He now has 4 teeth. He likes to spit!! He loves to scream and he has the biggest smile ever.

Here he is with his many different smiles!!! I think the hat makes him look like such a big boy!!!!

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Well, that's all she wrote folks!!! Time's up!! I go back to work tomorrow at 7:45 a.m. sharp!! What a wonderful summer we have had!! My first summer with two little ones! We had tons of great days, some good days, and a couple of bad days.

A summary:

1. Jillian is 97 percent potty trained!!! Yay Jillian! As evidenced today with her choice of lip color - she really is doing great. She has not had an accident in several days!! Yay for Mommy!! She changed LOTS and LOTS of diapers for 6 months.

2. Jillian has done fantastic at her gymnastic class. She really has blossomed athletically over the summer. She has gained confidence and I can't wait to take her back next summer and see what she can do!!

3. My little fish Jillian had a slow start with her swimming this summer but now she has taken off and is Little Miss Daredevil. She scares the pants off of us and she shows no fear even when she goes under water. She jumps, she paddles, she kicks, she glidges, she floats.

4. Rocco now has four teeth. If you look close, you can see one of his top teeth!!

5. While the bottle has grown dust on it, Rocco has decided that he LOVES to eat real food (what a surprise I know!!) He has not refused one thing we have offered to him. He seems to be taking after his Daddy and becoming Human Garbage Disposal, Jr.

6. His little personality is growing every day. He loves to sit and play with his toys (no crawling yet) and loves, loves, loves watching Jillian. He can be quite the ham but also can be quite sensitive and will give us big crocodile tears when he is upset.

So cheers to the last day of summer vacation, I am looking forward to this upcoming school year and see what is in store for us!!!!

Here are my crazy pair - horsing around today on Grammie's bed.

Teeth #3&4

That's right!! Right on schedule. According to my scientific calculations, Rocco is exactly 3 weeks behind when Jillian got her teeth. So I have been watching all week to see if Rocco's top two teeth were coming in....well, they made their appearance on Friday.

Poor thing, it is like someone turned on a faucet in his mouth. The drool is out of control!!!

If he is anything like his sister, this may be a very rough time for him. Jillian got teeth 3, 4, 5, 6 one after the other. It was miserable!! Lots of crying!!

Here's to hoping that Rocco's mouth may be different. I doubt it but a girl can hope, can't she??

Flying Bats and Glowing Fish

Last night, we had a really great evening. We started out by having dinner at Tomatillo's. Then we travelled to downtown SA. Everybody loves the Riverwalk but what people don't know is that there is a brand new part of the Riverwalk that recently opened.

We parked at the San Antonio Museum of Art and made our way down to the River. It was hot but the sun was setting and there was lots of shade and a little breeze.

We hailed a riverboat and had the whole boat to ourselves!!!

Here's everybody - Grammie, Poppy, Bill-Bill, Masure, Daddy, Jillian and Rocco (Mommy is behind the camera)!!

Mommy got a new super-short hair cut so Jillian said we had to take a picture together!!!

Jillian wanted to borrow my sunglasses!!

Daddy and Rocco!!! Poppy has our tickets for the boat ride!!!

Here comes the art!! Under Camden St. bride are the flying fishes!!! (They don't glow until later)

Here's a close up!!

Under the same bridge at about 7:30 p.m., a huge swarm of bats comes out for the night. It is really impressive and a little bit spooky.

My pictures don't do it justice. This video is better!

You know my girl, always gotta check out the wild life!!


Later in the evening, the fish start glowing!! Here are the fish all lit up!!!

We had a great time!!! I would recommend it to any living or visiting SA!!

Dancing Queen

Jillian loves Ariel from the Lit.tle Mermaid. But Jillian LOVES the teeny-bopper music video that comes on after the movie. She watches it with total focus. She asks to watch it over and over and over and over.

Last night, we danced and sang together at least 8 times. I grabbed my camera and Jillian made her own music video inside of a music video.

So here is Jillian Avery with "Kiss the Girl."

Landa Park

On Thursday, we (we being me, Jillian, Rocco, Grammie and Poppy) traveled up to New Braunfels for some fun at Landa Park. LP has everything a kid could want. Lots of jungle gyms, a train, ducks to feed, squirrels to chase and a natural spring water park.

I know that you know what is coming up? Pictures of Jillian on her favorite thing!! A SLIDE!!! and this place had plenty of them.

She is getting quite daring - Head first!!

She also got to try out a seesaw for the first time and she was not that impressed. But she looked cute!!!

Rocco and Poppy watching Jillian play.

After play time, we walked over to feed the ducks. Well, I walked, Grammie pushed, the kids rode and Poppy drove the car over.

Jillian went to feed the ducks!! Jillian was quite in her element. She made Grammie happy because she fed the squirrels too!! Jillian was like a mini-Ace Ventura!!! She has all of the animals surrounding her.

Jillian got REALLY close to the ducks!! They didn't seem to mind as long as she had more bread!!


I told Rocco about Payton's fetish with water bottles so he was trying it out!!

About that time, Masure showed up with Gavin and Roy and we rode the train!!! Can you tell how hot it is by Jillian's cheeks getting redder and redder throughout the day???


Rocco slept through the whole ride and Mommy sweated through the whole ride carrying 20 lbs of dead weight!!



After the train ride, we went into the water park!! It is the perfect place for toddlers.

We tried to get a group shot but this little girl would NOT get out of the way!!

Suddenly the skies turned dark and the winds picked up, lightning flashed, the thunder rolled, so we had to go!! But it was a super fun time!!!