Girls 1 year pics

Here are some fo the pictures from Natalie & Rebecca's photo shoot for their 1 year old pictures. We got a few cute ones, but most didn't turn out well. They were so cranky that day. I even planned the time so it was right after a nap and eating...oh well.

Who wants a dirt colored egg? Anyone? Anyone?

The weather was so nice today I took John and the girls outside to dye Easter eggs. I have officially decided that I am way too much of a control freak. I let John do what he wanted with them, but the whole time I am thinking to myself, "No! Don't put the green egg back into the purple dye! Just let it sit for a minute or the color won't be nice and bright! Wait! Hey! I want to do one!" :) So, we have a few blue eggs, one yellow, and the rest are a nice murky brown. Appetizing! Mmmm! After coloring he got VERY upset that the Easter Bunny was not there. I mean really upset. Crying, screaming, the whole thing. It was fun. And yes, I was a terrible mother and did not take him to see the Easter Bunny at the mall. He is always so scared of people in big costumes I knew he wouldn't sit with him. Now he keeps asking when we are going to see him. Agh!

On a happy note, I think we are potty trained! At least during the day. We made our first outing in big boy underwear with no incidents. He did have an accident during dinner the other day and one during lunch about a week ago. I think he forgets to go to the bathroom when he is eating. Priorities, I know!

Oh, and I thought I'd put a little public service announcement out there for any parents of little ones reading this. If your child puts a crayon in their straw and puts it in the dishwasher without you knowing, it makes a huge waxy mess over all your dishes when you go to wash them. But if you run the dishwasher 2 more times (yes, that's 3 times total for 1 load of dishes) it will all come clean. :) Not that this happened or anything...I just heard that this works. :)

Here are a few pics of our egg dying.

Let the dying begin!

Very nice. Just place it in gently.

Nooo! Don't just drop it in! Wait...calm down Mommy. We're outside...on newspaper...everything will be okay...

Our beautiful eggs...before John's second round of dying where they turned nice and brown

The girls were content to eat Cheerios and watch from the sidelines

He's on a roll

Just a quick update. Natalie is doing great. She's taking her antibiotics like a champ and has been acting like her old self ever since we got home from the hospital. In fact, she has been downright cheery! All smiles and giggles. I love it.

Also, I may be jinxing myslef by posting this, but John has gone 3 days with NO accidents. He has been wearing his big boy underwear all day except for naptime. I haven't even been asking him if he needs to use the potty. He just announces when he has to go and takes off. Wish us luck that this streak continues.

Natalie's home

We are home and all is well. Natalie's surgery went just fine and she is sleeping soundly home in her crib. I'm exhausted. I think I'll go hold the couch down while the kids nap.

Surgery tomorrow

Yesterday Natalie's dimple on her neck was looking pretty bad (I will spare you all the gross details) so I called the doctor and got an appointment to have him look at it today. He didn't want to wait 2 more weeks for her scheduled surgery day so she is having surgery tomorrow morning. I'm a little freaked out that it got bumped up so quickly. Please keep her in your prayers. I'll update tomorrow when we get home.

Future Hockey Star

Today I took John ice skating for the first time. Or as he would say "Just Mommy and John. No babies." I wasn't sure how it would go...but he LOVED it! He was a little timid when we first stepped onto the ice, but the walkers they had for kids really helped. It took just a few minutes until he was pushing it around on his own. After a few laps with the walker we set it aside and went out on our own. There were definately some falls (his not mine, amazingly) but that didn't bother him at all. He just got right back up and kept going. He was all smiles the whole time, well, until it was time to leave. We will definately be going back next week. 1 more year until hockey...

His first pass using the walker.

A little hot chocolate and zamboni watching

skating on his own!

time to leave :(

How long until he has his license???

John has become such a little backseat driver lately. I made the mistake of teaching him what the colors of the stoplights mean and now he is obsessed with them. If we are waiting at a light and it turns green I hear "Go Mommy. Go. Light's green Mommy. Light green. Go Mommy." Never mind that there are 10 cars in front of us. Then once we get moving he is always asking me to go "super fast". Even when we're on the highway he is always telling me to go faster. Maybe they'll up the driving age before he turn sixteen! I can always hope.

Rebecca can say "hi" "bye bye" "mama" and "dada" now, but never seems to perform when I want her to. Very frustrating when trying to show just how darn cute my kids are! :) Natalie has starting growling like Rebecca was a month or so ago.

Rebecca babbling at me

Mommy wanted to do the girls hair, so Natalie got a pony tail...

and Rebecca got pigtails. (Who needs toys when you have a comb?)

John was not very happy when the girls decided they wanted to play trains too.

"Oh, Mommy! Look at me! My hair is beautiful!"

"Yeah, I know I'm cute."

What a cool kid. For some reason John calls these his Santa Glasses...but they have frogs on them...and he didn't get them from Santa...I have no idea.

What did you say???

I can't believe the girls are so close to a year old! Time flies! I ordered them the cutest shirts for their birthday. I can't wait until they arrive. Here are their 11 month pics

Natalie - 11 months

Rebecca - 11 months

They have been babbling like crazy. Rebecca can get LOUD! Especially if I am eating something that she can't have. She definitely lets me know that she is NOT okay with that! They are both pulling up and cruising around on the furniture and Natalie will stand up in the middle of the room, but then she gets so excited and starts squealing and falls.

We signed John up for another session of swim classes and he is doing great. He's not quite swimming by himself, but he tries. If he has a noodle he can lay on it and swim around pretty well. The weather was so nice yesterday so we took advantage and spent a majority of the day outside. John got to ride his Escalade around the yard and we took a nice long walk. So long that John got exhausted and wanted to be carried. Carrying a 3 year old and pushing a double stroller is not an easy feat, so he ended up sitting on the handle of the stroller and holding on to me while I pushed. We got a lot of smiles and waves as we made our way back home. :)

John is starting to repeat everything he hears, which can be cute...but can also be not so good. He said his first bad word the other day. He repeated it a few times and I just let it go thinking maybe he was mispronouncing something. Finally, I realized what it was and told him "That's not a nice word. We don't say that." He replied with "Daddy does." :) Daddy has since been VERY good about censoring himself around the kids. I must admit, I was a little relieved when he said that and not, "Well, you say it." Now... if he starts yelling "USE YOUR BLINKER!" I will know exactly where that came from. We had a cute conversation in the car the other day. He wanted one of his kids cds on, so I opened the holder to let him pick.

John: I want the purple and green one
Me: Um, that's Jimmy Hendrix
John: Yeah. I love Jim and Rex
Me: Alright...(turned on the cd)
John: Ohhhh, Mom. I LOVE this.

It was definitely nice not listening to Mickey Mouse and Raffi again and again and again. He has since given up on his love for Jimmy though. Maybe I'll have to introduce him to the Beatles. He'd probably like their early stuff. Here are a few pics of the kids

Doesn't everyone wear a snow hat with their pajamas?

Rebecca playing with (eating) her monkey

Rebecca was so intent on getting something out of the toy box that she almost went in head first. She had both feet off the ground and was teetering on the edge.