New Kicks

It is so funny how my attitude toward shoes have changed.....not only for myself but for my kids too.

When I had Jillian, even as a baby, she had a ton of shoes. I just couldn't resist those cute little things. She had some to match her outfits. Sandals, tennis shoes, shiny Mary Janes. They never stayed on and I learned quickly how ridulous they were!

Then came Roc, I got a little smarter and just bought a few pairs, but that boy grew so fast that each shoe was worn once and then his gi-normous foot would not fit in. BUT since he walked at 10 months, I had to figure something else. So enter T@rget and their cheap shoes and we could function again because every other month, we could buy him a larger size. (Which he has now entered a size 11 same as his older sister. sigh)

Then enter Hadleigh.....for 1 year 1 month, that girl has NEVER worn shoes. EVER!!!!
BUT her O/T has recommended that she start wearing shoes so to encourage the proper stance when standing (she is standing slightly duck-footed or toes out).
So no worries, I go to my bins of Jillian's old clothes and shoes and start pulling out some possibilities. I get a pair of tennis shoes and several pair of flats and try them on my Cinderella. However, unfortunately for Hadleigh she will have to play the part of the ugly stepsister because all of the shoes are too small!!!

Back to T@rget and after stuffing her feet in several pairs. We got this pair - size 5! She is so big!!! ha ha!!

1 year stats

(Sorry. There are no pics with this post. You know how much I hate that but my Mom has the pics from this week and I did not have time to get them on my computer. Excuses, excuses.)

Hadleigh had her 1 year old check up and once again, things just can't run smoothly. As the Doc examines her, she says "you know she has double infections, right?" Oh no, she has not shown us any signs of discomfort. Such a strange child!! So got meds for ears...

Her stats crack me up

Height - 31 inches (now down to the 95th percentile instead of being off the charts)
Weight - 20 lbs (45th percentile. This was GREAT after the disasterous 10th percentile she dropped to at her 9 month appt.)
Head - big (as the rest of my children)

In length, Hadleigh is wearing lots of outfits that Jillian wore turning 2 years old! Ha!!

She got routine vaccinations and they did some other blood tests and I thought nothing of it. Doc was happy she was in PT/OT.

Well, they call us 24 hrs after appointment. Hadleigh's blood test show she is extremely anemic. Doc says test has a tendency to give a lot of false positives so she wants us to go a labratory for a more extensive blood test to give a more accurate diagnosis.

My mom took her on Tuesday. The Doc instructed that the blood be taken from the vein so my Mom said they took it from her arm (like an adult). The stupid nurse kept poking her and poking her and never got a vein. Hadleigh was screaming!! My Mom about strangled the nurse (my Mom has no tolerence for incompetent nurses) and got a different nurse in and the new nurse picked the other arm and got the vein on the first try.

Anyways another 24 hrs later, doc calls again. Test is accurate. Hadleigh has anemia. Grrrr! Poor little thing!! So we have to start supplementing bottles and food with this poly--something, something drops. Doc will recheck at her 15 month appt. My mom said she had anemia growing up and maybe this is hereditary??? I don't know. I need to do some research if I ever have time.

If you have made it this far, Jillian and Rocco had a great first day at their new MDO. Actually I should say Daddy Day Out. There are only 7 kids in Jillian's class and 10 kids in Rocco's class with 2 teachers!!! Isn't that amazing!!!!! We got lengthy handwritten notes from both of their teachers claiming they did a wonderful job on their first day. If only public schools would get on this small class bandwagon???? A teacher can dream can't she!!!!

This weekend, I am hosting the steering committee of my MOPS group at my house. I have been MADLY trying to clean my house, decorate my house, beautify my house, etc. to get ready to have 15 women (who I am sure won't judge me on how it looks. yea right!!) in my house on Saturday. No pressure at all!!!

So that's what I have been up to this week!!

Why is Hadleigh in PT/OT?

I have been asked this question a lot lately and I thought I would answer it in one big post. But before I do that I wanted to show you how I started my morning.....

Poor Roc (or Sheriff Woody as he is recently going by)! He has a terrible cough and we had to start early this morning with a breathing treatment. He did a very good job! (Usually he fights us to do it but I think even he was tired of the cough after coughing all night!!)

Ok back to the Hads......I had a video perfectly prepared to show you and I cannot upload it. Grrrr! Anyways, on Monday, we had a great session with H's OT. She pointed out to me exactly what I should be looking for and gave me lots of great advice and exercises that we should be doing with Hadleigh. And if you are laughing to yourself, you should! It really is baby jazzercise!!! It is funny to watch and funny to do.

But when Hadleigh scoots on the floor, she pushes with her right foot and drags her left foot. Without the video, this is the best I can show you. See how she is pushing with her right foot and her left foot is doing nothing??

Again, she is pushing here with her right.

Also, when she gets herself from belly to the sitting position, she only uses her right side. She never pushes with the left side to get up. In the next two pictures, she is sitting with the right foot in front and the left foot in back. This is how she always does it.

Soooooo, OT explained that babies at this age should NOT have a dominant side. She knew that "some" people say babies do not have to crawl but she is against that way of thinking. To crawl, babies have to use their left and right side of their brains to move. Their arms and legs are moving in connection with each other to crawl on the floor. When a person walks, there is not that connection. You can walk without moving your arms and they do not cross over the body so both sides of the brain are not working at the same time.

She said Hadleigh has picked up this bad habit of only using her right side and it is not good. We want her using both sides of her body. She showed us all of these exercises where H is crossing her arms and legs across her body. She also wants us to "force" her in the all four position and rock her back and forth. I say force because Hadleigh really does fight back with this. She does not like this and will lay her head down on the floor to resist you. I asked the OT about this because I thought something might be wrong with her neck but she said that is a baby's natural defense of doing something she does not like. Isn't that interesting???

So I hoped I answered some of your questions, we have been busy doing baby exercises this week!!!

Finally, I never think I capture Hadleigh's smile in a picture. She always has her mouth open but I don't think it really shows her sweet smile. Well, I finally got it!!

Here is Hadleigh's full, gorgeous smile!!!

Big Changes Are Here!!

I have not been telling you everything that has been going on in our house.

Bryan and I have had a LOT on our plate and I didn't want to let ya'll in yet until we discovered how it would turn out.


Here's the story....
A little over 2 weeks ago, we received a notice (actually we received 3 notices - one for each kid) that the daycare tuition was increasing by $9.00 per week. For a normal family with one kid in daycare, this is not a big deal. For a family with 3 kids in the school, this is a significant change. Try $9.00 x 4 weeks x 3 kids = a lot more per month!!

We are already paying so much to this school (which I LOVE that is not the issue) that this increase just brought us to the breaking point. Bryan and I were stressed to the max. How could we afford this?? What are our alternatives?? Can we find a nanny? Can we find a cheaper school? Both of our jobs make it very difficult to get any personal business done during the day. Bryan is not supposed to have his cell phone with him at all in the warehouse. I have a break in the early morning and a lunch break and that is it. Very difficult to do personal business!!!


Bryan works on a rotating schedule. He never has the same weekly schedule. But what if we ask his supervisors for a set schedule?? All they can say is no.....but what if they say yes!!!! Long story short, after Bryan consulted three managers and sat in several meetings over the course of a week and a half, THEY SAID YES. WOW!!!!

The kids' last day of daycare was Friday. Ka-ching, Ka-ching!!! Do you hear our pocket books screaming with excitement???
Starting today, Bryan will be a brilliant stay-at-home Daddy on Mon/Wed/Fri and work Tues, Thurs, Sat, Sun. Every week. No rotation.

Obviously, this is great for our pocketbook BUT not the perfect situation for Bryan as he has no days off. Sooooooo, after a lot of research this weekend with frantic emailing to some MDO directors, we have found a "happy medium."

There is a MDO program at a church near our house that meets on Mon/Wed from 9-2. PERFECT!!! I have already talked to the director, there are spaces for Jillian and Rocco and we go for our orientation visit on Wednesday! Bryan will keep Hadleigh and be able to nap when she naps and have an easier day (because let me just stress how sweet and easy our 1 year old is!!!) with just 1 as opposed to 3. He will have to be a full-service daddy daycare on Fridays! AND it is 10x cheaper than our other daycare.

Can you say winning??? (insert Charlie Sheen enthusiasm here)

I am so excited for this new chapter for our family. I feel like so many times in this last year, God has directly answered our prayers. This is definitely His Plan!!!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!!

I just can't believe this....

has turned into this!!!! My sweet baby girl is 1!!!!

This was her this morning looking oh so big in her crib!!!

At our house, if it is your birthday, then you get breakfast in bed. Rocco and Jillian insisted that Hadleigh have her "breakfast" in bed just like everybody else!!!

It seems to be delicious!!! The other two are watching Little Bear (their new favorite cartoon).

And now she is dressed and ready for school! Just to show you how tall she really is........ Jillian wore this outift on her 2nd birthday!!! Hadleigh needs it for her 1st birthday!!!
See I am not kidding....here is Jillian at almost 2 years old.

Mom, bye!!! Please stop taking my picture!!! I need to finish my ba!!!

It is cold and raining but such an awesome day!!! Happy birthday Hadleigh-boo! Mommy loves you!!

A Blast of Cold

We have had a blast of cold this week. On Sunday, I required everybody to wear a hat.


They look so cute!!

After church, we stopped by Summer and Bill's and Hadleigh and KK got to play together. Well, Hadleigh stood by KK's bouncer and stuck out her tongue and yelled "Nanny, nanny boo-boo, I'm out here and you are stuck in there!!" Just kidding. She didn't say that. She was just thinking that!!

Hadleigh was drawn to Summer's DVD collections and I couldn't distract her so we left quickly! Don't worry Sum, she didn't destroy too much!! ha ha!!

Seriously In Love

I have so much stuff going on that I have been struggling to find time (and energy) to blog. But I have to show you these pictures.

We are having a typical "winter" here in SA. A South TX winter involves heat and moisture. And I have to show you what it is doing to Hadleigh's hair.


Let me get in reeeeal close so you can see. Look at those curls!!! She looks like she has wings!!!
I am seriously in love with this hair!!!! So stinking cute!!!


She is totally giving me the stink eye!! She did not want to be photographed! She wanted a bottle and nap!!

Grammie has taught her to stick out her tongue. Ha!!

Any-who, I have been overwhelmed at work as I got my 23rd student today. Grrr! I don't even have a chair for him. Poor thing.

MOPS has me busy. Hadleigh's P/T and O/T have me busy. Plus, I haven't told ya'll this but at Rocco's 3 year old appointment, the Doc suggested that we have his speech evaluated soooooooooo there is a lot of paperwork involved with that but Bryan and I got it together and he goes in next Wednesday for his hearing/vision screening and then we will schedule the evaluation. (more to come on this but I have 6 more minutes of my lunch break) I had J and R's yearly check ups together and Rocco is a mere 2 lbs less than Jillian. Ha!! Solid Steel that boy!! Jillian was 37 lbs and Rocco was 35 lbs.

Finally, you know that childrens' clothes are like crack to me and the spring catalogs are coming in the mail and I am living on a high. There is something wrong with me. I could just look at these pictures all day and dream about the cute clothes my kids should be wearing. Bryan put his foot down and has told me that Rocco is forbidden from wearing anymore John-Johns. Sigh.........I'll have to be more creative in my selections! Ha!!

Summer clothes are the best!!!!