Who had more fun???

On Saturday, Jillian was invited to a birthday party at a local gym but the whole family tagged along for some fun! I am not sure who had more fun.

Here is Team P assessing the situation. Jillian looked ADORABLE and very much like a blond Mary Lou Retton in her gymnastics outfit that her friend Allison gave her.



Here is J & P in the "cheese pit." We serve Jillian those cheese cubes and she thought the foam in the pit looked just like cheese. Rocco was not a fan of the cheese pit.

Rocco loved the exercise balls.

Daddy loved flipping into the cheese pit.

Jillian loved swinging into the cheese pit.

R loved the balance beam.

Daddy was showing off on the rings.

I am not sure who had the most fun....but I bet you can take a guess? I bet you can also guess who was very sore on Sunday!!!

15 months old

The rock star is 15 months old today. He has blossomed so much in the last three months. He is talking more. He is climbing more. He is eating more (didn't know that was possible). He is becoming a toddler (sniff, sniff).

The funniest thing of the last three months is his Michael Jackson syndrome. My child is getting lighter and lighter. I didn't know that could happen. His hair is so blond and with summer around the corner, you know it will be getting even lighter! We get comments all of the time. Very peculiar!

Things Rocco says:
Mama
DaDa
Jill-ee-n
uppy (aka "Somebody pick me up!")
again
Dat? (aka "What's that?)

Favorite foods:
chicken
ham
green beans (will eat an entire can)
avacado (will eat an entire avacado or more)
apples (will eat a whole apple)

He got teeth #13 and #14 (the top two incisors). There has been a ton of drool and discomfort!

He can point to his nose, his hair and ears. He also loves playing the stinky feet game with Jillian and he knows exactly where his feet are.

He now has an interest in books and loves pointing to different things in books so you can tell him the name.

Here he is looking so handsome!!!



Sign language has taken off! He can do:
more
drink
done
cereal (aka Cheerios b/c that is the only cereal I give them)
milk

This is his favorite "sign" - the double point which means "I want you!"


This is his second favorite "sign" along with the word "uppy."


He has also started the crinkle face. Jillian loved making the crinkle face!! So cute!!

Now here are some comparison shots! Poor Bryan is sorely neglected on this blog so this is for him!

This is B at 15 months. He looks smaller than Rocco and does not have nearly as much hair as the Rocc-ster! But I do see similarities!


This picture is B at 2 years old and that looks A LOT like my R-man. Honestly this looks like Bill to me but the date clearly says 1979 so it has to be Bryan. I love that his lovely locks match Rocco's!!!


This is also Bryan at 2 1/2 years old with the best smile ever! He had just gotten in trouble for dumping the shampoo. (You can see it in the background.) Obviously, he was pretty happy about it!! Again the hair looks like Rocco's now!


Finally, this is one of my fav Bryan pictures. Again he is around 2 1/2 and look at that smile! So cute! Definitely starting to see the olive complexion starting to come out!


I'll leave with a funny story. On Tuesday, Bryan had the kids up at school with me so that we could eat dinner together b/c I had a function up at school Tuesday night. One of my students saw me holding Rocco and he said, "He looks just like you Mrs. P." I said, "You don't think he looks like his Daddy?" He said, "No, the Daddy is too brown." LOL!! He said it, not me!!!

My Happy Place

I am not even going to waste my words describing another difficult morning with Princess J. This whole turning 3 thing is for the birds!!!! Nobody tells you that in the parenting instruction book.

I did drug her with Benedryl last night so she had a decent night of sleep. I plan to drug her again tonight to continue the trend. hee hee!

So I will focus my mind on a "happy place." Maybe a cottage in the woods? Maybe a lodge up on a snowtop mountain? Or how about a beach? Yes, definitely a beach!!! Actually, let's just go!!

I am heading to Port A after school today with the kids by myself!! That's right, by myself! It is Sandfest and hopefully we will have a fun time......I am praying we will have a fun time.....really, really praying :-)

I leave ya'll with picture proof of how fast a year goes.....

J&R - April 2009


J&R - April 2010

Easter - 2009
Easter - 2010

How come Bryan is getting smaller and I am getting bigger??? Don't answer that!!! I am going to work on that!!!

Happy Friday! See ya next week!

Confession

Jillian has not had a fever since Monday. But she has not returned to her normal self. She has major fits, throws tantrums, cries and whines constantly.

She has not slept well in days. She goes down easy at 8:00 but is quickly in our bed by 11:00. She tosses and turns and wakes up frequently. When she wakes up, she is crying or screaming. I mean, it is a little scary. Is she wrestling a demon?

Mommy and Daddy (and even Grammie and Poppy) are drained. When is our sweet charming little girl going to return?

So I have a confession to make. This morning, I was on my own. Rocco has been waking up early around 5:30 or 5:45. So I was giving him a bottle and trying to quietly get ready while Jillian slept. BUT then she woke up and started the day with her crying fit. She wanted to make muffins. I calmly explained that we did not have time to make muffins today because Mommy had to work and she had to go to school. Another crying fit started with “I don’t want to go to school.” Mommy is starting to panic. But then it struck me – Ashley, do what you have to do to have a pleasant morning and get the day started with positivity. So I said,

Jillian we don’t have muffins but you can have a bar. AKA one of these……

This instantly made her happy. Then I said she could get it out of the pantry herself. She was more happy. And then I said she could get one out for Rocco. More happiness.

So there is my confession…..I am a terrible mother. I cannot control my daughter and I used chocolate granola bars to get some peace and quiet in my house.

So we were good for about 10 minutes. I finished getting dressed and ready for work and then I got Rocco dressed. And then I tried to get Jillian ready. Let another tantrum start! She did not like the outfit I picked. She repeated she did not want to go to school and basically cried the whole way to school. Fighting me to put her shoes on. Fighting me to get in the carseat. Fighting me dragging her in the school. And crying when I dropped her off in her classroom.

Pleasant, pleasant morning!!! God bless the bar that gave me 10 minutes of peace this morning. I really hope she snaps out of this soon!! We can only take so much.

Easter

Aside from Jillian being sick the entire weekend, we had a really wonderful Easter. Jillian struggled with a high fever for most of the day, but she was still a real trooper. Both of the kids had no interest in what the Easter bunny brought. Their loot is still sitting on the piano bench untouched. Maybe when she feels better we will try it again???

But as is always the most important thing......they looked cute!!!

Here are the boy cousins...looking so dapper!


Finally convinced Jillian to join and to smile! Hooray!!

All the men!!!

Our fam! So hard to get everybody looking the right way at the same time!!

All the ladies at my Mom's house!!! With Gigi and Aunt Sherry!

Then we headed over to the in-laws for the "serious" Egg hunt!! There is a lot of money at stake so Daddy was giving a big pep talk to the kiddos!! (Doesn't Rocco look like he is taking it seriously with the broom in hand??)

The cousins young enough to still want to be in the egg hunt!

Miss J smiling right before she crashed.

He loved all the noisy eggs!!

Daddy and J counting the loot!!

Doc said J's virus should last 5-6 days so hopefully by tomorrow, she will start feeling better. AND I really don't want R to get it next. Sterilzing house is on my to-do list for tonight!!!

Pink Fun

Thursday evening, Jillian started to get sick. She had a slight fever and was lethargic. Friday morning, we had tickets to see Pinkalicious at the Magik Theatre. Even though she was not feeling up to par, I dragged her and Grammie to the show!

Of course we all wore pink!!


The baby had to come too!

The performance was soooooo stinking cute and quite funny!

Jillian did not want to take a picture with Peter or Dr. Wink.

She only wanted to take a picture with Pinkalicious.

She put on a brave face but she really wasn't feeling good and she shivered through the whole performance.

After the show, we immediately called the doc and Jillian has a virus and pink eye in both eyes. Ahhhh joy! This is the way to celebrate Easter!! I spent the rest of the day at the pharmacy getting the medicine and then getting her to take it (which is such a battle these days).

Today, her eyes are swollen but getting better and she is feeling slightly better. Hopefully, by tomorrow she will be feeling well enough to do some egg hunting!!

Bragging

We all know that I have a slight obsession with clothes. Most also know that I am very picky and particular with the clothes I select for my children. I have admitted that I am in need of therapy and if I had the time I would speak with a professional about my crazy clothes obsession.

BUT here is my newest confession.....my mom is my enabler!!!

I have spoken before that I come from a long line of crafty women. They can cook, sew, paint, garden, etc.

Well, when I say sew, I mean sew well. Before my mom retired, there was no time for such hobbies. But retirement has brought back my mom's craftiness.

This was her first project for Jillian.

This was her second project for Jillian!

Then Rocco got a pair of shorts!

Notice the details on the pocket. My aunt monogrammed his name.

But then I reminded my Mom of my tendency toward matching up my cutie-patooties.....

She had made these warm-up outfits, so now it was time to get serious!

so she made these.....

I should have taken a close-up of the material but there are stars on both fabrics. We are ready for the 4th!! Soooooo stinking adorable....

then she wasn't done yet....

This is the back of Jillian's outfit. It has a criss-cross back and the top is lined with the stripes.

Am I in heaven or what??? My own personal seamstress!!!! The kids have never looked cuter!!!

I think I am going to start sending my therapy bills to my Mom.

Wait until you see the projects she is working on now!!!