Halloween

I confess that this year I really didn't have the energy to think too hard about costumes. Luckily, last Christmas, my sister made each girl a cute animal hat to go into their dress-up basket! I found appropriate colored clothing to go with each hat and had instant costumes! Emmaline was a Princess Monkey (see the crown?), Lil a cat, and Idgie a pig.

They may all look all cute and innocent:


Put really the evening festivities made them more giggly and wired - like this:


Rating: Too, too, too much Halloween Candy

Pumpkin Pancake Party

Today Emmaline had a class party for Halloween. They got to wear their pajamas to school and for the party they got to eat Pumpkin Pancakes! This worried me a great deal actually since pancakes involve eggs and milk, so I volunteered to help out at the party. It was a good thing I did since they were planning on letting the kids actually help make the pancakes and not just eat! They made sure to have Emmaline be in my group to cook and I was able to keep an eye on things and allow her to participate as much as possible while minimizing the chance of contact. She did things like mixing the dry ingredients while the other kids mixed wet ingredients. Last time Emmaline was touched with just a trace of egg residue she looked like this - so I didn't take this party lightly.

Her teacher and all the other parents helping were really great and made every effort to keep things clean and to have the kids to good handwashing and such. I really, really appreciated the effort they all made. Emmaline had a fantastic time at her party and she was thrilled to have me there. Give it another couple of years and she'll be embarrassed to have me, but I'll enjoy it for now!

Rating: 4 Pumpkin Pies

Parent/Teacher Conferences

First off - we got Emmaline's school pictures back!


We had our very first conference with Emmaline's teacher! Emmaline is doing very well in school overall and we are all really happy with how she is doing. The only things that her teacher mentioned could be worked on have more to do with maturity than academics. That is no surprise since Emmaline is the youngest in her class. She said that Emmaline needs to work on focusing on getting her work done and to not talk quite so much. We both nodded in agreement - since we are very familiar with those issues at home too! It isn't that her talking is bad necessarily - it is that she ALWAYS has something to say! And she does tend to get distracted while doing a task and let her brain wander off into La-La Land. Both things will be cured with age and aren't a huge concern.



You're doing a great job in school Emmaline-Pie!

Rating: 3 Lollipops

Speech Evaluation

So today Liliana had her speech evaluation with the school district. She ages out of her current speech therapy when she turns three in January. At that point, kids who need services move to a preschool setting if they qualify. We went for the evaluation and Liliana did really really well. I doubt she will qualify for the preschool. It was funny to see the evaluators reading the reports from her Speech and Occupational Therapist and have them say, "this is not the same child as what is written on these papers!" Lil WAS having an exceptionally good day. One of those perfect angel days!

I am so proud of her and how far she has come in her speech. She really is a different child from a year ago. She has her moments, but she also has such a sweet tender heart and is so quick to give hugs and kisses and to cuddle.

Rating: 3 Lollipops

Soy Challenge

She passed!!!!!!

Emmaline passed her soy challenge today. Not a single drop of vomit! (Well I vomited, but that didn't have anything to do with soy)

We need to be careful for a few more days but then after that we can feed her soy! YAY!


Rating: 5 Tofutti Bars!

Lately

Lately I haven't been blogging much. So this is just a little post to catch up on what the kiddos are up to these days. Along with it I give you some cute pictures I took of them a few days ago eating apples. Even Idgie consumed half of her apple all on her own - gnawing away at it with her six little teeth!

IDGIE

Lately Idgie has been jabbering away at us. She also has taken very nicely to walking and follows the other girls around like crazy. She wants in on the fun! At bed time she goes to both Lil's and Emmaline's beds and leans in to give them kisses. It is so cute! Last Saturday, she got to wear shoes for the very first time. Can you believe we've never put her in shoes? We never needed to since she took so long to walk! It was hilarious to watch her try to figure out trying to walk in them. She HATES shoes. However, she loves boots! That girl is content to clomp around in a pair of snow boots but don't you dare but those cute sparkly pink and purple sneakers on her! No way!

LIL

Remember what a fashonista Lil is? Well lately she has been into socks. We keep all the kids socks in a bucket - it is just easier that way and she digs through, past all the plain white socks, to find the most colorful, sparkly, fabulous socks she can find. She has no concept of what matches her outfit, she will rock whatever glitzy socks she can find. We're considering writing to Santa and asking him to fill her stockings with stockings this year - the flashier the better! Lil has also been talking up a storm! This is not the same girl who started speech therapy at the beginning of the year. She is speaking in full sentences and trying out new words everyday. She expresses her opinion using words instead of screeches - it's great! When she turns three, she will "age out" of the current therapy she is in and potentially qualify for a free preschool program through the school district. She has an evaluation next week for that!

EMMALINE

Emmaline is just loving school. She is so excited about everything she learns and still begs to do her homework every night. She reports that the boys chase her on the playground every day and try to capture her and put her in their castle. Hmmmmm..... not sure how much I like that. She also has had a few funny one liners lately. We were discussing the new baby and she said how glad she was that she "landed in the right tummy" so that she could be in our family! She also reports that if this baby is a boy that she will "tease it and call it names." Good to know.

Rating: 5 Pixie Dust

12 Weeks

Well I have made it to the 12 week mark. That is when people magically start feeling better right???? Lies. All lies. At 12 weeks though I figure it is okay to start taking pictures - even though most of my belly is just bowel displacement and not quite cute baby yet!

By the time you hit #4 though - it is NOT a lie that things start to fall apart sooner - assuming they went back to "normal" at all. So for fun I give you a new photo and also a photo from the family archives!

Here I am pregnant with Liliana (baby #2) at 21 weeks! This was almost exactly 3 years ago in September 2006.

And here I am currently at just 12 weeks! EEK!

Rating: 4 Lollipops