Before Glasses......

I got glasses today!!!

I just love my Mammaw!!

The Sandbox aka Playhouse!

Carleigh received a pop-up sandbox for her 1st birthday. We set it up (except for the sand) and she LOVES it! We plan on getting sand this weekend. Cody and Carleigh love climbing in and out of it.

Sharing the space with Cody

Aren't I cute?

Look at me!!

Loving her sandbox!

My mom (Mammaw) and the kiddos

Too much fun!

I am here for the ride!

I am glad that she isn't driving!

Carleigh tuckered out from the Memorial Day Parade!

Memorial Day Weekend

We were very busy! On Saturday, we played in the pool that we bought. On Sunday, we went over to our friends Shannon and Niki's house for games of cornhole and a cookout. Boy was it hot! On Monday, we went to the City of Hamilton's Memorial Day parade. Cody's favorite part was when the marching bands would beat their drums as they walked past him. Carleigh loved the flashing lights and noises. We had a cookout at Matt's sister's house afterwards.

Swim time!!

We bought a family-sized pool on Saturday. Pappaw filled it with air and then we filled it with water. It was cold at first and Cody and Carleigh was hesitant. But once they got used to it, they played in the pool for over an hour! Mommy sat in the pool holding Carleigh while she was splashing and having a grand time. Cody crawled around and played with the rubber duckies. Mammaw got in and played with the kiddos for awhile too!! I just love summer and swimming!

I can't wait to swim!

Drying off with Daddy!

Tired from swimming!

Driving Pappaw's truck!!

Carleigh and Mommy in the pool

Can I go swimming please????

Bathing Beauty

Carleigh is showing off her cute little swimsuit.

Having fun with Cody's piano

Fun times at Wonderland Park!

Cody and Carleigh attended a party of a friend of the family. It was a 1st birthday party. The kiddos had a blast riding rides and playing games.

Mommy, I am not sure about this!

Fun on the train

I am getting squished!

Why am I sitting on the table Aunt Connie?

Up, up and away!

Choo Choo!!

Carleigh in the Batmobile!

Fun in the stroller!

Just chillin'

Cody loves his wagon that we bought him for his 2nd birthday. He can ride for hours!!

SO cute!

Carleigh loves to stroll down the lane in the Wagon for 2! She loves to take a toy away from her brother while riding.

Swing Fun!

Walking!

Cody can walk independently! He can walk up to 15 steps before falling. The dafos (plastic bootlike braces) are helping him gain his balance to walk independently without falling. Here is Cody walking with his daddy at an Easter Egg Hunt.

What a WILD bunch!

We went to Parky's farm in mid-April with Matt's family. We had to stop and get a picture taken of the grandchildren. L to R: Devon, Cody, Riley, Raygan and Ryan. Carleigh was too little too pose!!

Easter 2006

Easter 2006 began when the babies woke up and explored their Easter baskets. The big hit for Cody was the new "Wiggles: The Big Red Car" dvd and Carleigh loved the bunny ears and plastic Easter eggs. After getting dressed, we went to Matt's family's church for Easter service. We had Easter dinner with Matt's cousins and went to our church Sunday evening for our Easter service. We had a busy day, but the children had soooo much fun!

Carleigh in her Easter dress

Carleigh showing off her Easter dress!

Our adorable Easter bunny!!

Carleigh received Bunny ears in her Easter basket. She loved them! Here is the Easter bunny aka Carleigh as she is playing with her Easter basket on Easter Sunday.

She loves the rocking horse

We decided to see if Carleigh would like Cody's rocking horse. It was a big hit!!

My early reader!

Cody loves to look at the newspaper and books! He studies the pictures oh so carefully!!

Soooooo sick!

We took Carleigh to Fairfield's branch of Children's yesterday. She has Gastroenteritis with dehydration. They gave her an IV with liquids and glucose to help the dehydration. The doctor was surprised with the blood tests because she thought that she would've been hospitalized last night. Praise the Lord the results were normal! Here is my sick little one...

Ready to roll!!!!

Cody and Carleigh caught crusing up our lane!! They love the outdoors and we can't wait until it is warm enough to go crusing every day!! Bring on the Spring!

She loves bathtime!!

Spring Break and another sick one!!

Today was my first official day of Spring Break!! Last night, we had sever thunderstorms with large hail! We had a tornado warning and went up to the corner basement for a few minutes. The storms passed without any severe damage to anything. Last night, Carleigh began to projectile vomit in her high chair after I finished feeding her dinner. She then went to bed after a bath. She slept all night and but had a nasty diaper in the morning with diarrhea. She didn't begin to run a fever until 11am or so. We tried giving her a little bit of cereal but she vomitted that back up immediately. So her diet is Grape Pedialyte and Children's Tylenol until the fever goes down. She looks just pitiful!! This is not how I pictured my Spring Break would begin. Oh the joys of being a mommy! I am praying that this will pass soon and that we can all enjoy the beautiful weather that we are supposed to have this coming week. I will be posting more updated photos sometime soon.

Snow Day

On Tuesday, while blow drying and finishing last minute preparations for work, I got a call saying school was closed due to the beginning of a small snowstorm. Hurray! I honestly had given up hope of having another snow day this year due to Monday being the first day of Spring. I guess God had another plans in mind! It was nice to be off and help Matt take care of two sick little babies. Cody was still recuperating from his stomach flu and wanted cuddle time with mommy. Of course I was happy to have some of this special time with him as he doesn't like to be held normally. Last night was the first night that we haven't been up with one of the children due to sicknesses. It feels great to have 6-7 hours of sleep!!

My poor sick little ones

Carleigh started sneezing Friday evening. On Saturday, the sneezing turned to coughing, more sneezing with tons of snot (sorry if this is TMI...) and a fever. She was absolutely miserable all weekend. You could see the sickness in her eyes. My poor baby girl! We took her to the Children's Urgent Care and waited for 3 hours for the doctor to say that she has an upper respiratory infection and to continue to giver her Tylenol every 4 hours for the fever and for her teething. We also discovered that she is cutting 3 top teeth at one time! Yep, 3 teeth! Yikes! She is cutting her two front teeth and one side tooth to the left of the front. This may also be a reason for her whining and irritability. All day Sunday, Cody was warm and acting unusual. Matt seemed to think he was just tired, but I knew better. He feel asleep on the floor in his room while playing. We put him to bed early, he woke up at 1am crying. He then began to vomit 3-4 times and was just miserable and had a fever. We stayed up with him watching his favorite tape of the "Wiggles" until 3am. Matt held him on the couch and they both slept until 6am. I went back to bed and monitored Carleigh in the baby swing (due to her congestion). I probably slept 3 hours or so. Carleigh was bad this morning, but made a turn for the better this evening and was actually playing and babbling...a first for her since Thursday evening. Cody was looking peaked again and running a fever. We gave him a bath and a dose of Tylenol and he seems to be a bit better. I hope this fever and sickness end soon for them. I would rather be sick than to see them be sick. It is hard on a mommy's and daddy's heart.

Carleigh at 1!

Happy Birthday, my sweet little princess! It is amazing how fast 1 year can pass by! It seems like yesterday when I brought home a tiny 6 lb little girl. She has been such a blessing in our lives. On Saturday, we had her party at my sister's house with mostly family and a few friends. Her party theme was butterflies and pink! She wouldn't eat the cake but loved the ice cream! Oh well! She had a great time, crashed when it was over and then didn't go back down for the night until midnight. Early thing morning, we heard her jabbering around 3 am. I guess she wanted everyone to know that it was her birthday! Carleigh is crawling and trying to learn how to pull up. She is such a happy and sweet girl. She loves her new toys and she will look so cute in her summer clothes and bathing suit!

Happy 1st Birthday Carleigh!

Cody hanging out at the party!

Her 1st birthday cake!

My pretty little princess!

Changes

Our daily routine and life as we were used to have changed. Due to my mother's emphesema, she cannot care for the children while Matt and I work. Therefore, we discussed all of our options and chose the best option for us at the present moment. Matt will be a stay-at-home dad until the summertime. Then, we will discuss any changes that will occur in the fall. God has blessed us with an increase in our foster care stipend due to their special needs. That increase will help us make our ends meet while Matt is not working. It is wonderful how God takes care of us when we REALLY need it!

Good news: Cody has been making 9-10 steps at a time! All of a sudden, Cody has been walking from the couch to the loveseat or the couch to the over-sized chair! Matt and I were shocked like Saturday night when he took off! We try not to give him too much attention or he will get too excited. Way to go my little man!! Carleigh is crawling. She is not crawling on all fours but does the army crawl style. She can also stand and hold on to the walker or exersaucer. I am thrilled that Matt can work with them at home. I am amazed at the progress they have done in less than 2 weeks!!

Carleigh's party is Saturday and I will post new pictures of her and the party sometime this weekend.

Playing is such hard work Mommy!

Bathtime is fun NOW!

What a week and it is only Wednesday!

What a week it has been and it is only half-way over! Last weekend, my mom came down with what sounded like an upper respiratory infection that she caught from my dad. Well, Monday morning she called me at school saying she really wasn't up to watching Carleigh while I took Cody to the ENT for his tongue to be clipped. So, my sister watched Carleigh on her lunch break until my niece Brittany came home from school. Britt watched her until we got back from the ENT. At the ENT's office, all was well until we went back into the examining room. Cody became extremely bored with sitting in a swivel chair for 20 minutes. Can you really blame a 2 year old? The doctor came in, scooped him up, and took him to another part of the building for the procedure. I waited for 10 minutes, and I heard Cody's distinctive cry. He was crying down the hallway and when the nurse brought him back, he had blood coming out of his mouth and had blood on his little hand. I wanted to cry, of course, but was strong for the little guy. He reached his arms out, wanting his momma. He cried for about 5-10 minutes until I strapped him into the carseat. Then, he became a normal little boy. He ate extremely well that evening considering having his little procedure. While I am talking to my sister in law, Connie beeps in stating that Dad called on Mom's cell phone saying that they put mom into the hospital. So, Connie and I go to the ER. We find out that while Mom was at the dr's office in hopes of getting some medicine for her respiratory infection, the dr. gave her a new drug in a breathing treatment and found out that she was highly allergic to. It made her quit breathing so the dr had to give her 3 shots in her stomach to counteract the medicine. The dr. called 911 and an ambulance took mom to the Mercy Hospital. She was admitted that night and has been in the hospital ever since. She is hoping to get out of the hospital tomorrow or Friday. Because my mom is my babysitter, we were in a dilemma over babysitters. Due to their current "foster child" status, I can't allow just anyone to watch them. So, Matt took off yesterday, and I am taking off for the rest of the week. Matt and I are both scheduled to be off on Friday due to Cody and Carleigh's genetic appointment at Cincy Children's. I am enjoying my days off, but it is not so nice since it is an unpaid time off. I am hoping and praying that Mom gets well soon and can begin babysitting on Monday. Hopefully the rest of the week will be very uneventfull!!