Artic birthday party

Soooo weeks ago, our favorite set of twins invited us to their exclusive birthday party at Kiddie Park. The twins' mommy and daddy had won a raffle for a birthday party at night (park not usually open at night) just for their group of 50 friends with free pizza and a professional photographer! Sweet!!

However, leave it to South TX to roll in a freak cold front. It has been colllllldddd!!! Yesterday, I did not want to go to the party. The kids don't really have jackets. Why?? I live in South TX. And it was realllly cold. Like 43 degrees. I did not want to take Hadleigh out in this weather much less the older kids either. Soooo I called twins' mommy and tried to graciously bow out. She was crying on the phone that so many people had canceled she wondered if anybody would show up. Grrrrr.....fighting the guilt.......nope, guilt won. The kids had been asking for mi'ens and sarf from Santa. So what does MOmmy do??? Open up the boxes of the new stuff I had been saving for Christmas, dress ALL 3 kids up in hats, mittens, scarves and jackets and load up for the party. Am I totally nuts or what????? By the time we got to party, car temp said 41 degrees.

Here is Kid #3 not thrilled with the chilly temps.



Here is kid #2 thrilled with his new mi'ens and jacket.

Here is kid #1 VERY thrilled with new hat, gloves, and scarf and puffer vest. Although after an hour at party, she said she needed a jacket with arms. HA!!!


We seriously had the whole park to ourselves. On every ride, Jillian and Roc were the only two on the ride. They had no interest in eating pizza or cake.

Happy riding the boats.....

Happy riding the bus.....

Then came the horses......
This is Luke (brother of birthday twins). He and Jillian are 2 months apart in age and are good friends.

However, last night, Luke tried to take it to a whole new level....

You could hear Jillian yelling, "No Luke, I won't marry you!!!" I could hear Bryan yelling for the man to stop the ride AND telling Luke that we don't kiss our friends, we just hug. I was laughing hysterically when I realized I had caught the moment on film.

Jillian was QUITE embarrassed that she had been man-handled and reported on the way home that she does not want to ride any more horse rides with boys. AMEN JILLIAN!!! Remember that for 16 more years!!!!

All in all, glad we went but seriously, would have been just as happy at home with a fire blazing in the fireplace!!!

Christmas Fashion and KK

This month, I will display lots of the girls' and boy's adorable holiday fashions. I need more days in December to show off these adorable frocks. Mom finished Hadleigh's stocking dress and they both wore them to church this morning! Nothing like a little cold front in SA to get all the kids at church to wear some cute holiday clothes!!

Mom made Rocco a cute Rudolph sweatshirt but he took it off way too fast after church before I could snap a picture!

Since we couldn't catch Rocco and KK was still wearing his holiday outfit, we made him take a picture with the girls.

Rocco-isms

I have to tell ya'll about some hilarious Rocco-isms before I forget them.

His obsession over phones has decreased over the past few weeks. He does not have to have one in his hand every single second. BUT his obsession over purses has increased so Bryan thinks we have failed as parents. Grammie tries to help by calling them "man bags" but he refuses to call them man bags and refers to them as they should be called "purses." He stole Grammie's white purse, he loves my big red purse but calls it his green purse even though he knows his colors. He also uses my small brown coach purse on occasion for his collection of pens and phones as it will not hold much. He also uses by pink coach purse to house his marker collection. He likes to store his purses in his cabinet under my sink in the bathroom.

He is also continues his OBSESSION with all things pen. Black, blue, red, green, orange, purple, ball point, fine point, felt point - it doesn't matter he loves them all. He loves to hunt through Poppy's desk and find a secretly stashed pen. He likes to use his pens for his notebooks - the spiral kind. He has no less than 7 notebooks - green one, he stole Jillian's pink one, a spiral notebook shaped like a leaf, a notebook with his name on it. It doesn't matter he loves a bunch of paper wrapped with a spiral. He even found my teacher guides to VBS and stole those too.

He is really getting into those 3 year old tantrums. The other day we were making them clean their playroom. Rocco had made a mess by pulling out all of the paper from one of his notebooks. I told them to both go get a broom out of the closet. Jillian cheerfully shouts out "Let's go Rocco. Let's get the brooms and be Cinderella." To which Rocco threw himself on the floor screaming and crying. When I finally got him calmed down I asked him what was the problem? He responded with the most poutiest face imaginable....."Mama, I do not want to be Cinderella. I want to be the stepsisters." AKA stepsisters don't have to clean. Rocco is a sly one for sure!!!

He is obsessed with a shirt that my parents got for me in approximately 1982. My parents took a trip to Georgia and visited Stone Mountain. All they got me was a lousy t-shirt with Mickey Mouse riding a train at Stone Mountain. Now flash forward 30 years and Rocco thinks it is the GREATEST piece of clothing every made!!!!! He will not take it off. When he gets dressed for the day, he will wear two shirts - his normal one and the Mickey Mouse shirt underneath.

I love his speech right now. He cannot say "th" so everytime he says "thing" it sounds like "ting." So funny. Mama, what is tat ting? Mama, can I have tat ting over tere? So funny!!!

In another post, I will tell you about the battle over our bed that we are fighting right now with both kids but even though we are having a lot of tantrums lately from both kids, they can be really cute. They love to snuggle with each other. This is how close they sleep almost every night. Awwww!! (p.s. No surprise - That is the above-mentioned shirt he is wearing. )

Nutcracker and Fashion

Once again, my Mom has outdone herself. Even though it was her birthday, she made Jillian (and Hadleigh) a new holiday dress. Sooooo adorable!!!

Here she is modeling her new dress!

And a full-length shot.....
She is showcasing her dance moves because we took Grammie to the Nutcracker!!

Jillian did really well this time at the theatre (she has some scaredy-cat issues about the dark theatre that I think are working themselves out!!) She loved all the dancing and even busted out in the aisle with some of her dance moves. It was hysterical!!

Here is the birthday girl and the girl with the red dress on!!

I really can't believe the holiday season is already here! Only 14 days left of school and then I get another break!! Whooo-hoooo!! But who's counting???

Good News, Bad News and Fashion

Sorry to leave ya'll hangin'.......end of school overwhelmed me and I couldn't get to the ole blog.

Let's get to the point....we fed Hadleigh every second she was awake for a week....and good news, she gained some weight. The doc was happy to see that. She said we went a little overboard, we need to chill out and feed her normally and supplement a little formula and she will be fine. She said I need to stop beating myself up and that I was not "starving" her and I need to cut back on my pumping and again, a little formula supplementation does not make me a bad mom. I really needed to hear that!!

Bad news, she is still not crawling and some other 9 month milestones so if she is not crawling by 10 month appt., then doc said she needs physical therapy.

Bad news - My grandma has a very rare form of breast cancer.
Good news - They caught it early and she will have a lumpectomy after Thanksgiving. No chemo or radiation. My grandma (age 93) is one tough ole broad and seems to be taking it in stride.

Finally, the fashion. Seriously I love that hat I told ya'll about in Hadleigh's 9 month post. I love it so much that I bought several outfits to go with the hat. I know - I am a genius!! Seriously, every person stops me and asks where I got that hat - Crazy 8 for your information.

Here is daughter #1 (My disobedient daughter is not wearing the hat with the hat with the outfit because she says it is itchy. So I had to get a headband with the rosettes.) Look at that pose!! Can I tell you how much personality this one has??

Here is my obedient daughter with outfit #2 and the hat!!! So stinking cute!!!

Then there is the boy!! I told him how handsome I thought he was and he told me, "No Mama. I am not handsome. I am beautiful.!" (eating orange cheese for those of you wondering what is in his hand.)

9 months old

Hadleigh-boo turned 9 months old last Thursday. She is outgrowing the length of 9 mos clothes and is wearing 12 month clothes. She is wearing a size 3 diaper. She still has 8 teeth. In my opinion, her hair has gotten lighter aka Rocco style. Time will tell if she develops Rocco's Mich@el J@ckson syndrome of lighting up until she is a full-blown blonde.

She had her 9 month well baby visit on Thursday afternoon. She has an ear infection and the doc rechecked her ears and they are getting better. Doc noticed her wheezing and coughing and diagnosed her with bronchitis and recommended breathing treatments. (Get out nebulizer at home.)

The doc then proceeded to ask the series of developmental questions...like is she sitting up? is she crawling? is she feeding herself?? Although I was VERY happy to report, she is now sitting up, most of my answers were no. Doc seemed concerned and recommended physical therapy. Here is her name tag/ certificates at school. So stinking cute!!

Then the doc then started going over her percentiles

height - 29.75 in - 105th percentile

weight - 16 lbs 6 oz - 10th percentile

head - 46 cm - 95th percentile

You can guess the category that raised some eyebrows. Since her 6 month appt., Hadleigh has not gained any weight. Any. I was floored. I cannot explain it. The girl drinks her bottles, she eats baby food like a champ. But they weighed her twice on two different scales and the result was the same. Soooooooo, they put her on special high-calorie formula and want to check her in a week. Then they want to check her in a month. They want to see her gain some serious weight.

I am trying to remain calm. I am looking forward to her appt. on Thursday to get a second opinion from another doctor. Good to have more that one opinion.

She is such a happy baby. Here she is sitting up!!! AND in the past three days, she is saying "Mama" very clearly!!! Yea!!!! I am hoping all of this stuff will resolve itself with minor work and worry!!!

My mom was noticing that with Jillian's monthly pics, I always had her in a hat. But with Hadleigh, it is always a bow. Soooo, here is my Hads in this ADORABLE hat!!!

I'll let ya'll know how it goes on Thursday but hopefully she has gained something.

Game Day

TEXAS FIGHT!!!!