Stones, Angelina, and Walter

After sleeping in (all of us) and having a big breakfast, we decided to celebrate Father's Day at one of our favorite local attractions, the zoo!  We braved the clouds, loaded up the wagon, and had an interesting visit!

At the end of March, we purchased personalized paving stones as a fundraiser for the purchase of a new cougar.  And today we were pleasantly surprised to find our bricks had been installed just the day before!  I loved seeing the girls' names carved into the stone and nestled next to each other.  Natalie pointed to and named each letter.  Charlotte stuck her finger in the heart shape and proceeded to crawl around.
 

The stones were placed in an area that overlooks another part of the zoo.  It's directly above an exhibit of rather large birds called Emus.  If I knew what I was talking about or thought it would even help, I would compare emus to an ostrich.  Large.  Flightless.  Small head.  Large body.

As you can see from the photos above, Natalie is clutching a small animal in a dress.  Well, that's a newly-acquired (during yard sales yesterday) Angelina Ballerina doll - sporting a delightful yellow tutu.

We aren't entirely sure of all the details, but that well-dressed mouse took a nice, long fall into the emu enclosure.  Natalie screamed out and started crying immediately - fairly certain she was fearing for Angelina's life.  The crowds down below all turned to look. A nearby zoo intern radioed for back-up and tried to distract the emus.  Despite her efforts, several of the large birds trotted over for a closer look. And I grabbed the camera ...

Walter, in particular, was quite smitten with Angelina.  Thankfully, the zoo keeper was able to retrieve the dancing mouse!  She was returned ... dirty but all in one piece with yellow tutu still in tact!

another Saturday night

Honestly, I barely remember what I used to do on a Saturday night before kids.  Okay, that's a lie.  I do remember ... sort of ... but I choose not to think about the details of that carefree time of my life ... lest I get all depressed and stuff!  No, I am only kidding!  I won't trade this time of my life for anything!

After a rainy, dreary day, CPV rallied the troops and took all three of his girls on a date.  Or maybe we took him since it is Father's Eve.  Either way, we were all presentable and left the house in a semi-not-chaotic state - always a good thing ... on both counts!

Daddy got to choose the restaurant, and no surprise ... he wanted to go to Stan's BBQ.

 Charlotte loves food with a little "kick" ... she gobbled up smoked meatballs and baked beans!

 Natalie tends to be drastically less adventuresome with her palate.  She opted for mac-n-cheese and whatever bread she could get her hands on!

Dinner was followed by ... drum roll, please ... dessert!  At our favorite local cupcakery, which just happens to be walking distance from the barbecue place.  Trust me, Chad's choice was most definitely not a coincidence!  We ordered two cupcakes: banana with whipped chocolate frosting and chocolate with cookies-n-cream frosting ... both were delicious!

I am super bummed that I didn't take a photo of the cupcake eating!  That would've been so much cuter than a bowl of processed cheese-covered noodles!  We did, however, have a delightful conversation with an older couple, who were there when we arrived.  They have 9 grandchildren living in three different states, which explains why they were so entertained by Natalie's journalistic sense of question-asking and story-telling!

We finished off our date night with a walk down the railroad tracks.  The rain had finally stopped, and despite a heavy layer of clouds, it was actually a very nice evening.  I especially love that I was able to get four good photos ... with my point-n-shoot!

Perhaps the best part, we were home and in our jammies by 9:00!  Now, that's my kind of Saturday night!

another fever

My sweet baby has been running a fever since Friday.  We made a trip to the doctor's office on Saturday, but didn't get any answers.  We both got wet and a little cranky but no diagnosis.

Low grade fever with no other complaints.  No runny nose or cough.  No vomiting.  Doctor mentioned that both of her ears are red, but not infected.  We attempted to get a urine sample.  Charlotte was cooperative and peed within 10 minutes of being "bagged."  However, the nurse put it on wrong, and I ended up with a very wet lap.  The chair didn't fair so well, either.

I am fairly certain this is another UTI.  Charlotte's second.  Her first was at the end of February.  Interestingly, Natalie was just treated for a UTI last week.  Not sure what is going on here.

Just know that fever is hanging on.  8 hours after ibuprofen, it rears it's ugliness once again.  Which is why I am typing this at almost 3:00 am.  Charlotte just woke up and cried out this pathetic, I-feel-lousy cry.  I picked her up, felt her forehead, grabbed the thermometer, and confirmed ... the fever is back.

Poor little thing.  I could barely see her - with nothing more than the dim light from the stairway lighting her room.  She was frantically signing "binky."  Once she had that, I asked her if she wanted some milk.  She started signing "drink" and then "milk."  I walked her down to the kitchen, grabbed the cup, and then headed back up to snuggle and rock while she drank.

I hate that she is sick.  But I love that she is so much more confident in her ability to communicate.  Something that brings us both relief.

sweet sliding

CJV is officially hooked on sliding!

I love the anticipation at the top ... she holds onto both sides of the slide and carefully scoots forward, gives me her signature big grin, and let's go!

At the bottom, her face says, "Hey, look what I just did!"  She is so proud of herself!

And ready to do it again and again and again!

Glad to see our garage sale find from two years ago is going to get some more good use!

signs and chatter

Within a week of CJV's developmental evaluation, in which it was determined that she is delayed in both receptive and expressive language skills, she has gained a bunch of new signs and has been vocalizing like crazy!

Why is that always the case?  Not that I am complaining.  But, seriously, how do you explain that?


She is answering yes and no questions with nods and shakes.  She signs swing as soon as we get to the park.  I taught her the sign for cheese at lunch today.  She also signs please and thank you, does a one-handed sign for play, and rubs her belly at bath time!  Bird continues to be her favorite sign, and she uses it all the time ... even when there's no bird in sight.  I love seeing her little index finger and thumb press together and her chin lifts up toward the tree or sky ... so precious!

Just sharing a little victory on the language front!

hair clippie

neither of my girls were born with a lot of hair.

heck, i've never had a lot of hair.

and their hair grows slowly ... just like mine.

natalie rocked a mullet for a good long while.

charlotte has a similar style with a bit more length in the front.

which explains why i feel the need
to put adorable little clippies in her "bangs.

if you are in the market for super adorable,
custom-made hair accessories ...
and if you have a daughter (or two)
you really should be in that market ... 
please check out Millie's Bows,
a local mama with the cutest bows around!

funny story, i actually ordered six new bows for natalie,
and this little flower clippie was included as a little thank you.
natalie loves her bows, and so do I ...
but she refuses to let me take a picture of her wearing them!

second visit with dr. fancy pants

It had been six months since our introduction to Dr. Fancy Pants.  We've had several blood draws and result reports since then, but this week was our second time seeing Dr. Fancy Pants for an in-office appointment.

After lots of weight-checks and needle sticks, Charlotte has developed a bit of a dislike for doctor's offices, nurses, scales, white coats, ... pretty much anything to do with the healthcare industry.  Of course she also has a healthy case of stranger anxiety, which certainly does not help the situation.

Thankfully, the waiting room had some bright-colored toys and big windows for bird-watching, which created the perfect distraction scenario.  As soon as the nurse called for us, Charlotte started clinging to me as if her life depended on it.  She cried while being weighed and measured.  I hated to see her upset but know that those procedures are not even remotely invasive in the big scheme of things.  She weighed 15 pounds 12 ounces, which is a gain of over two pounds in six months.  She measured just over 28 inches long.

Our time with Dr. Fancy Pants involved more clinging and crying, which made understanding his accent all that more challenging.  I'd catch like every third word and about every sixth word I didn't recognize as English.  I did a lot of nodding and pretending to understand, especially when he talked about extrapolating data and statistical analysis ... heck, I was lucky to stay awake through that!  He did a thorough examination, asked about sleeping, eating, and pooping (not his word, I am sure), and measured her hands and feet.  All of her measurements - although tiny and still  no where near a chart - are proportional and maintaining their own (pathetic) growth trajectory.  Her growth hormone levels are in the low-normal range, which means we won't have to make the dreaded hormone treatment decision.

Diagnosis is still failure to thrive, which I most definitely hate ... but there are much worse things you can hear from a doctor's mouth.   Essentially (and no surprise here), Charlotte is tiny but growing at her own pace.

And, yes, that is a sigh of relief you just heard.