The Gobble Gobble Debacle

John, Alice, and I had a very quiet Thanksgiving this year. I made a smallish meal - just the basics - turkey, potatoes, corn, stuffing, cranberry (ahem) gel, rolls, and cheesecake. Alice was decidedly having no part of anything on her plate. She actually watched me make the potatoes but because there were lumps in them she would not touch them. We tried to get her to try the Cranberry 'jello' but the face she made was enough to make anyone give up. Then we asked her to taste one bite of her turkey....at that point, she started whimpering, "No Gobble Gobble". It was both hysterical and endearing. The only thing I can think of is that her class has spent so much time talking about turkeys that she decided that she did not want to eat the feathery animal that she had been drawing all week. We may have a future PETA member on our hands. Later that evening, Alice thoroughly enjoyed her bowl of Easy Mac.

That night, while Alice was sleeping, John and I set up the Christmas tree. Alice was enthralled with it the next morning and helped us put on a few of the kid-friendly ornaments. She has had a hard time keeping her hands off it but is doing a really good job.

No judgments on the next story - NO, we do not routinely give our 2 year old alcohol, nor do I routinely drink while being pregnant. It is just too funny not to share.

Last night, John and I had some wine with dinner. Alice always wants what John and I have so we obliged when she asked for some wine. John poured her a 'shot' of Cabernet, she took a big sip and exclaimed "I LIKE IT". She said that after every sip! LOLOLOLOL We spent the rest of the meal trying to distract her from the fact that she was not getting any more. (in retrospect, she probably had a little more than she should have....she practically bounced off the walls the rest of the night being very very silly, then slept soundly for 12 hours.)

Croup, Excitement, and other Updates

Where to begin. I know I have been slacking on the blog so I will try to sum up the last few weeks briefly but this is probably going to be a long one.

Alice came down with Croup on Oct 28th. I went in to wake her up that morning for school (John was out of town) and she just did not want to wake up. The fact that she did not immediately sit up and start telling me what to do was the first sign that something was wrong. She sounded raspy and just laid there and whimpered. I would have just let her go back to sleep right then if she didn’t badly need a diaper changed and I could feel that she was extremely hot and sweaty. I picked her up and she started crying – a really heartbreaking sounding cry. I stripped her down, changed her diaper, left her naked and sat down to rock her. I wanted to see if she would cool down before I called an ambulance (she was that hot). Sure enough, she cooled right down but as she did, her breathing got more and more scary sounding. It was so thick but very rapid. She, really, couldn’t even cry because she didn’t even seem to have much of a voice. Once her temp dropped, I called her pediatrician and brought her in an hour later. I tried to put her back to bed but at that point, she just wanted to be in my arms, which I was more than happy to oblige.

The doctor listened long and hard to her lungs and firmly diagnosed her with Croup. He wanted her to have a steroid breathing treatment right then and gave me some additional steroids to give to her in the following hours. Alice did not like the treatment whatsoever but mostly, I think, because it was a little scary (mask over the face, smoke coming out, mom and nurse holding her as she fought it). I think it made her feel better immediately because towards the end of the 10 minute treatment, she stopped fighting and sounded remarkably better when it was over. She and I went home, watched some cartoons and took a long nap.

When Alice woke up that afternoon, she sounded just as bad as she did that morning. I called the doc again and he told me to bring her in for another treatment. We did so and it went much smoother this time around. He was concerned that the initial “massive dose” of steroids did not break it up as much as it should have so he prescribed the necessary equipment and medicine for us to do the breathing treatments at home. The rest of that afternoon and evening were quiet. I got Alice a balloon at the pharmacy and we had macaroni and cheese for dinner – she really was such a good little girl despite obviously feeling so horrible.

Her next scheduled steroid treatment came in the form of a melt away pill due at 10pm that night. I hated the idea of waking her up to give it to her but I didn’t dare skip it. At ten, I went into her room, picked her up and carried her to the rocking chair, slipped her pacifier out and dropped the pill in the side of her cheek. Thank goodness it was a good flavor instead of just medicine. She flinched her cheeks a bit, I put the pacy back in her mouth and put her back to bed. Probably the easiest medicine delivery ever – ha ha.

Friday morning, she was still raspy but significantly better. So good, in fact, that I did not feel it was necessary to give her another breathing treatment but I, obviously kept her home from school. John was scheduled to be home that evening so we just had a quiet day reading books, playing with dolls, and watching cartoons. She continued to get better and better as the day went on and she slept well again Friday night. On Saturday, she really wound herself up. Daddy was home after being gone a whole week, and she knew she felt better so she did a lot of running around and being silly. By the afternoon, that rough-housing had taken its toll and she seemed to be getting sicker again. Another steroid breathing treatment and a good night’s sleep was what she needed to finally get rid of the yuk. Sunday she was left with a very mild cold and a little nasty sounding coughs.

Fast forward a couple of days to Election Day. John had explained voting to her the night before and she was excited to come with us the next morning. When he went to get her up the next day, he found her already standing up exclaiming “I VOTE, I VOTE”. She was not thrilled about standing in line but was super excited about the stickers we all got on the way out. She ran into school telling her teachers that she voted! So funny.

Alice has also decided that she wants two brothers. She and John were talking the other morning about the babies in Mommy's belly. John asked her if she wants the babies to be girls or boys and she said "Boys, two brothers". I firmly believe that is because she does not want to share her dolls. :)



John and I got to see the twins again on the 11th. They are growing so fast and have very strong heartbeats. We found out that they are definitely fraternal, not identical but we still do not know if they are girls or boys. Next month we go in for the Fetal Anatomy Screening when they measure all the organs to be sure they are growing properly, we will find out then. The waiting is killing me....I want to get planning!! Here are a few pics of the Ultrasound.


John and I FINALLY remembered to take the camera out this weekend. Alice just loves going to the park. She is fearless on even the highest slides.

On Sunday, we went to have Alice's 2 year pictures taken. Here are a few of the super cute shots.

She was given a basket of silk leaves to throw up in the air - so funny.

She spotted this bear and would not let it go....that was the beginning of the end of the shoot.

And...the end of the shoot.

Park with Dad

John took Alice to the park yesterday so I could get some rest. 30 minutes into the outing, I get this text picture. So THIS is what happens when Mom is not around. lol :)
I should add that Alice pulled her own pants down...this was not a staged photo op.

TWO! (and the two)

Can you believe that Alice turned TWO YEARS OLD yesterday? Wow, where does the time go? Even though she is fighting a cold, the birthday girl woke up with a smile on her face. When I told her what a special day it was and that she was going to have a treat at school , she immediately said, "Cupcakes?" Hope the frosted rice krispie treats I made aren't too much of a disappointment - ha. John left work early today and we took the Birthday Girl out for one of her favorite meals - Macaroni and Cheese. She really hit the jackpot with such great stuff from Gaga, Nana, and Baba. John and I got her a tricycle but we are going to save that for the weekend. As you can see from the pics, Alice got a "cleaning cart". I am told that she uses the vacuum toy at school all the time so we figured we might as well take advantage of the cleaning help at home. :)

Alice had her 2 year old well visit at the doctor today. She weighs in at 28lbs, 13oz (75th percentile) and measures 36 1/2 inches (100th percentile). She had two shots and the first of 2 doses of the flumist - there were tears but she recovered quickly once she saw that she had duck bandaids! No more shots until 4 years old! yeah!

I went to the OB yesterday for a check-up on the twins. They both have very strong heartbeats and are growing right on track. They were both moving around quite a lot, doing all sorts of jumps and flips. Back in one month for more pictures and another check-up. If we are lucky, we might be able to find out if they are boys or girls....probably still too early though. The U/S tech said that if she had to make a guess, she would say they twins are fraternal but it is hard to really say for sure.

School Fun, Puck-in Farm, and "The Whos" update

There have been quite a few birthday celebrations in Alice's class over the last few weeks. The parents usually bring in cupcakes or cookies - very fun for the kiddies. Alice turns the BIG 2 next week and I am going to make Star Rice Krispie treats for her school celebration. 2 years old...amazing!


The Huntsville Fire Department came to Alice's school for a demonstration. Alice's class got to sit in the captain's seat. You can tell from her face that she was not too sure about it but she makes sure to point out every "big truck" we see while driving.

Last weekend we went to Lyon's Family Farm to pick a "puck-in" (as Alice calls them) and to see the animals. We went as part of a new group I joined...the Huntsville Area Moms of Multiples - a little insane, I know. Alice had a blast! She LOVED this inflatable jumper/slide and spent quite a lot of time in it. John only had to show her once how to climb up with her feet in the holes and she was off. The farm had a very large array of baby and adult animals but Alice was not too keen on meeting them. She spent the entire time in our arms, holding us tightly.

Alice really wanted to ride the Cow Train. She sat in her seat like a good little girl and even had a smile on her face as it started moving. She was ok until Dad was out of eye-shot...

....then she started crying. John ran out and got her.

We went for a hayride out into the pumpkin field and Alice got to pick out the one she wanted.

We are going to paint the pumpkins this weekend but that is really all we are going to do for Halloween. We are going to skip Trick or Treating this year. Halloween is on a Sunday and Sunday evening is not really a good time in our house. Plus, Alice is not really interested in strangers lately so I think she would spend most of the door to door hiding between my legs. Just not worth it.

John and I are calling the twins The Whos - in reference to the previous post. I am finally starting to feel better and beginning to get my energy back. Going to the doc next week so I hope to have some more pictures to share. Since the typical fetal heart monitor cannot tell one heartbeat from another - with twins, I am told that I will have to have an ultrasound almost every office visit. I think that is pretty cool - this way, we will get to see the babies much more than we would if we only had one pregnancy. John and I are so eager to find out the sex of the babies so we can really start planning...ok, well, I am the one who wants to plan....

Alice hears the Whos!

Alice and I try to read a book every night before bed. She is really into Dr. Seuss. On Sunday night, we read Dr. Seuss' book Horton Hears a Who! In the book, Horton (the elephant) finds a whole tiny community on a spec of dust and his adventures trying to care for the little whos. The next day we found out that we have two tiny Whos. (Yes, you can insert a joke like "Colleen's belly is whoville") So, we have Alice and the Whos.

Here are some pictures from the last two weekends. Most of the pictures are from the nearby "professional" garden and the playground. Enjoy!

And of course, what happens after we come home.........

TWINS!!

John and I were pleasantly surprised last month when we discovered I was pregnant. We had the shock of our lives this morning at my first OB/GYN appt. We are having TWINS!

The Terrible (and not so Terrible) Twos

Even though Alice is a month shy of her 2nd birthday, she is starting to show some major diva-like behavior. Her two favorite things to say are MINE and NoNo.

No matter what John and/or I do, it is almost never the right thing...which leads to "NoNo Mama/Dada" and lots of tears. Yesterday morning, Alice had a meltdown because Dada cut her apple the wrong way. I came downstairs and asked her about it - of course, she cannot articulate what she is feeling - so all she could say (through her tears) was "NoNo Dada". She started to calm down when I asked her if I could cut her another apple, she agreed and happily ate the 2nd apple. This is an almost daily occurrence in our home lately. If it is not over an apple, it is about where I am sitting or what book I choose to read to her. We just cannot win with her lately.

The other battle we are having is about her possessiveness. EVERYTHING belongs to Alice. She goes back and forth between "mine" and "Alice". I tend to have big problem with her shoes. She will take them off in the car and hold them. When we get to our destination, I will ask her if I can have the shoes to put them on her feet...

Alice: MINE

Me: I know they are yours, can we put them on?

Alice: Alice shoes (clutching shoes and yelling if I try to take them from her)

Me: Yes, I know the shoes are Alice's shoes, we need to put them on Alice's feet

Alice: MINE

I could continue but I am SURE you know how the rest of it goes.

Alice is also very possessive of me, especially at school. When I pick her up in the afternoon, if she does not see me come in, I go over to whatever activity she is doing. Now, a number of the other kids know who I am (just as Alice knows their parents) and are so very sweet - talking to me, showing me things, etc. Alice gets very angry so those days usually end with me explaining to Alice that it is not nice to push her friends and Mommy is allowed to talk to her friends. But it doesn't end there. Another weird thing is her vigilant patrol of other's possessions. You would think the world is about to end if I even PICK UP John's cell phone or if John touches one of my hair clips.

In other growing up news, Alice has officially moved out of her high chair. This was not really a mutual decision, however. When we were at the beach, there was no high chair so Alice sat in a booster seat at the kitchen breakfast bar. When we got home, she pretty much refused to sit in the high chair - even after we removed the tray and pulled it up to the table. So, we got a booster and she is starting to warm up to it. Thank goodness it is green (her current favorite color - because it is one of the two colors she knows and can identify) so we can pump up the idea of her Green Big Girl seat. She still knows how to play Dad and occasionally gets to sit in a chair without the booster but she is generally doing a good job.

Alice's vocabulary is exploding and, although her speech is still on the lazy side, she is very good at communicating her intentions. She can count (with help) to seven and knows most colors. She will only say green and yellow but she can identify the others. She is very stubborn and will not say a lot of words that clearly knows and has said. She does not perform on command!

We have not had any potty successes since the initial one at school. She is still interested in sitting on the potty seat and will tell us that she has to go poop but nothing yet. Her teacher tells me that none of the girls are really having any successes. The bathroom in her class has 6 little toilets in it and I am told that the girls just "sit and talk like it is their social hour" - hysterical, can you imagine seeing that? Six 2 year old little girls sitting on toilets just chatting away. Wish there was a PC way to get a picture of that!

Despite these complaints of Alice's terrible behavior, she really is still such a good, charming, funny kid. Check out this video of Alice's new form of entertainment!

Beach Baby

John, Alice, and I joined my extended family on Long Beach island, NJ for a week in early August. We had such an awesome trip - so relaxing, so fun, so perfect. Alice was very hesitant about the sand and the water for the first few days but she got the hang of it all and was smitten by the end of the week.

Uncle Kevin & Nate digging in the sand. Alice was still not sure if she wanted to be a part of it.
well, ok, maybe a handful...
mmmm, snack time (as the seagulls hovered)


Our Happy Family
Alice and Nate



Alice meets her first lobster

Hi there!