My Mommy Necklace

Since Lily was born I have wanted a Mommy necklace and have asked Mike to get me one. Although he has wanted to he has given me the job of picking one out. Since I'm not one to make quick decisions on really anything it has taken me two years to figure out what I want.

And, I found what I wanted on Etsy!

My necklace consists of 2 bubbled round sterling silver charms that have Lily and Emma's name stamped on them, 1 bubbled st. silver rectangular charm that has our wedding date and AL stamped on it and then 2 birthstones and a heart charm that go with them. I Looovee it! I can wear them all together, I can separate them and only wear the stamped charms or just the birthstones.

So happy and I certainly would recommend this etsy shop to anyone!

My Big Little Baby Girl

who at almost 5 months old...

can sit up for short periods of time by herself,

fills up her highchair,

can hold her own bottle,

tries to get out of her bumbo to play with her toys,

and eats applesauce and oatmeal like a champ.

Everyday is an adventure and we can't wait to see what you will be able to do next our sweet baby girl Emma.

Activity #7...

...a trip to the CHKD Emergency Room.

First, I have to say how blessed we are to live so close to such an amazing children's hospital. This is our second trip to the ER in almost a year along with being there for Lily's nose surgery when she was 8 months old. We can not say enough good things about the hospital and the staff! They are so wonderful!

So now to the story. While at Lorelei's party Lily lined up all of the kiddie chairs so that the kids could be involved with the adult conversation. Something she does at home and is kinda cute. But today as she was jumping over Lorelei she tripped over her own feet and fell right into one of the tanish chairs. Mike and I said, "Lil you're ok, just brush yourself off." Which she normally does and she's on her way.

A good look at the chairs lined up

But this time as Lily lifted her head I could see blood dripping down her face and onto her arm. I looked at Mike and as he was swooping her up to take her into the kitchen I indistinctly threw Emma onto Elizabeth's lap and ran in after them. The blood, from a torn up inner lip and a nice size gash on the outer, was just not stopping. So, at this point I gathered up all of our stuff ran it down to the car, got the car started to cool it off and was time to go.

Lily in the car on the way home with the Stahl's blue towel...thanks guys!

In a matter of 10 minutes the four of us were on the way to our house, with me making a mental list of what we needed and then we were onto CHKD.

We got into the ER, got checked in with our fancy picture id badges, Lily got her vitals done and were taken back to the exam room pretty quickly. Not because of the severity of the cut, it just wasn't busy at all...thank goodness.

The Dr (a Resident) came back to evaluate her lip and very patiently befriended our Lily enough to get a close enough look at her lip. And, she said Lily needed stitches. It was in a place where Lily wouldn't leave it alone, it could get infected and would leave a nasty scar. So, the wheels were put in motion. Mike and I chose the oral med option to make her "loopy" enough to get stitches. And, it worked like a charm. After receiving three syringes full of different medicines she was out of it, and really funny. Funny to us for about 10 minutes and then it just made us sad to see our girl in that state. But it could have been worse.

The team of four came in. The Dr, nurse, "the muscle" and "the distractor" all took their respective places around our girl. Something I will never forget. The muscle guy wrapped Lily in a bed sheet so she looked like a caterpillar in a cocoon and the distractor stood at her head to show her toys and blew bubbles all while the nurse steadied her head while the doctor put two small stitches that will dissolve in her lip.

And what did Mike, Emma and I do? Mike stood up and watched and thankfully stood right in front of me so one, I couldn't watch and two, Lily couldn't see the tears streaming down my face and Emma slept in my arms the entire time. Lily did great. She cried and screamed but I was assured it wasn't due to pain it was because someone was holding her down. I don't blame her, I wouldn't like it either.

But, she got two Princess stickers and a grape slushy after they were done. And Lily did GREAT.

She passed out with Tinkerbell on the way home. After we got situated on the couch to watch a movie and have some dinner she got sick and threw up all of the grape slushy, supposedly a side effect of all of the meds she got. Talked to the main dr at the ER and was told to put her to bed and if she got sick anymore to call her back. UGH. But, all turned out ok.

I have to put this is...my husband is a such a wonderful Daddy. He took care of her at the party, at the hospital and slept on her bedroom floor to make sure was ok through the night. Your girls love you!

The next day...fine as can be.

She let me clean it, put neosporin on it and left it alone. By Tues evening the first stitch along with a scab fell off and Wed afternoon the second stitch came out. Thank goodness!

Mike and I are hoping this will be our last trip to the emergency room but odds really aren't in our favor.

Lorelei's Birthday Party

This morning we attended Lorelei's 2nd Birthday Party!

The theme: Chocolate!

Lorelei was even dressed in a shirt that said I Love Chocolate :)

Activity 1: Party Hat Decorating

Pink and Brown were the colors of the party so Miss Elizabeth covered party hats(Lorelei loves party hats!!) with the coordinating colors to let the kids decorate them with stickers. They had choices of monkeys, sparkly gems, pigs and hearts. They had lots of fun although they didn't wear the hats for very long.

Activity 2: Pudding Painting

Out on their deck they prepared for toddler painting with their easel and bowls of chocolate pudding. They had their choice of paintbrush and had a blast. They even got a few bites of the yummy chocolate treat!

Activity 3 and 4: Presents and Lunch

Lorelei did a great job opening her gifts and had such a good time playing with them with her friends. Lunch was delicious although very unnecessary since they had veggies and dip along with a very delicious chocolate fondue with my favorite strawberries and pretzels. I definitely plopped myself in the seat directly next to the fondue and enjoyed every minute of it!

Then came time to sing Happy Birthday and enjoy cake!

Lorelei even blew out her candles all by herself and on the first try!!

Way to go Birthday Girl!!

The girls enjoying their next chocolate treat together.

We practiced all week leading up to Lorelei's party singing Happy Birthday. Glad some things sink in, even if you do think sometimes you're a broken record.

Good job Lily!

Activity 6: Emma and Leah pics

They are so sweet together and we so enjoy watching them grow!

Next photo shoot will involve Baby Boy Stahl which will join their family on Sept 8th via a scheduled csection.

Happy Birthday Lorelei!!

Look for next post for the Party Activity #7!!

Girls Day Out

Today's weather forecast was sunny, breezy and a high temp of 83 degrees!

So the Check girls decided to hit the Botanical Gardens to get some fresh air.

We got there by 10 and had to wait for the 20+ cars in front of us to through the gate. Not a good sign for how crowded it was going to be. But it wasn't too bad. We walked, took our time and went in to the butterfly house. Lily kept saying, "Look Mommy, but-tie, pretty". After watching the butterflies fly all around and getting too close to Lily for her liking we headed to the children's garden. Lily played in the water for a bit but definitely wasn't as carefree and adventurous as I thought she would be. She stayed really close and wanted to snack while watching all the other kids.

By 1230, we were all ready to go.

We all had so much fun I can't wait to take them again soon.

Can You Tell...

...what Miss Emma does when she gets excited??

We had Lily hide in the kitchen to capture Emma's bouncing habit. She does this a lot when she's in the bouncer especially when she is happy and gets excited about something.

We Now Present....

Lily.

Our Little Performer.

Please take note that you may have to watch a few times to notice all of Lily's similar dance moves and that she is singing along with them intermittently. And, what are we watching? We are watching Sid the Science Kid. This particular show they are singing their favorite science songs...They ones here are about charts/data and estimation. She knows all of the words, songs and dance moves to the entire show but I had to pick and choose the best of the best of Lily.

Enjoy our Lily!

Family Style Shoot

We are a family that adores the self-timer on our camera.

And, Lily positions and sets the camera for us :)

Not too bad when you consider that.

Then to help document their adorable matching surfer shirts we decided to capture the essence of Lily and Emma as sisters.

Not only do they have fun together but they absolutely ADORE one another.

Meet the Teacher

This morning all four of us got ready and headed out to Lily's school to meet her teacher. Although we have met Mrs. Simonis before this was pretty much a formal meet and greet to discuss school/class procedures. Of course they were cleaning the floors this morning so we only got to spend a few minutes in her classroom and then headed down the hall to have the run thru.

Mrs. Simonis brought some toys for Lily to play with to keep her occupied while we talked. Too bad they didn't entertain Emma! I pretty much did the entire talk while Mike handled the girls.

So..this is what is on our counter now!

A folder that I'm all too familiar with!

Some things that we learned:

*Lily's name is always going to be associated with this bird picture. Teacher doesn't expect them to recognize their name since they're 2, too bad we've been working on it all summer :)

*We have to walk Lily in every morning and sign her in, wait for the bell to ring at 9 and then walk her to her classroom. And...we can't go in! We have to say goodbye to her in the hall and then turn around and leave... :(

*We of course then have to go in everyday at 1230 to pick her up.

*Lily is 1 of 2 kids signed up for the T/R class which has 6 spots. The other child's name is Jake and he is only a few weeks older than Lily.

*Her new Tinkerbell bookbag needs to hold everything. Extra clothes, her folder, lunchbox and security toy.

*She needs a snack and lunch.

*She gets Spanish, computer, chapel and music every week.

I'm sure there are more things that I will remember but right now can't even stand to think that my Lily is going to be a big girl in a few weeks and go to school! By the time we left she was helping her teacher pick up toys and referring to the room as "Lily's Classroom". I have a feeling that this is going to be a lot harder on me than it is her.

Oh, how I'm dreading September 14th!

Cousins

Uncle John and Aunt Sara had a little mini vacation on the Va Beach oceanfront this weekend. So were able to hang out with them tonight when they came over for dinner. It was so wonderful to see everyone and definitely wish we lived closer!

Emma and Carson

Emma 4 months and Carson 6 months

Emma definitely had something to tell Carson...too cute!

All day Lily just kept saying "Kaylee, Kaylee" so needless to say when they got here she wouldn't leave Kaylee alone.

We had a very simple dinner but the kids didn't seem to mind. They had fun eating in the kitchen and poor Kaylee had NO room...thanks Kay for being such a good cousin!!

Weeds and Pool

This morning after a "quick" trip to the grocery store with all four of us we got ready and headed out front to do much needed yard maintenance. I mean MAJOR stuff. Like pulling weeds that have pretty much have been growing since mid-March. (Mike is unable due to being highly contagious to poison ivy...and we just happen to have a ton of it so weeds are my job)

While I was taking care of business on the weed front Mike had to bring in the girls for a potty and diaper break. And, of course they had to snuggle in bed. So happy he captured these moments for me. They LOVE being in Lily or Emma's bed cuddling.

After a few hours of being outside and practically standing on my head pulling three trash bags full of weeds we took our neighbors up on their offer to let us borrow their pool. Since they were off to the beach and the house was empty we decided to take advantage especially since we have been thinking about adding a big pool to our backyard next summer.

Growing up with a huge in ground pool I loved it and Lily did too!

Here we come pool and spring swim lessons :)

Walking Time

Since Emma came we have gotten 3 double strollers!

We know...a little overboard maybe.

But we love every single one of them.

The side by side Peg, is great for trips. (clist)

The Sit n Stand is great for shopping. (new)

And...or latest and final addition, the Double Jogger is for our walk/runs. (clist)

Two out of three from craigslist, not too bad.

Our first walk just the three girls.

They held hands, or foot in hand the entire way.

We eventually had to rush home because of this.

Guess I'll try to get out of the house well before nap time is approaching.

And, once the cooler weather sets in we'll all have a better time.