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!!