Sunday, September 20, 2015

Half Way There!!!!

Can you BELIEVE that I forgot to celebrate our half way to one year mark!?  When I was prepping for Kalina I thought about buying those cute little month circles for onesies. Wouldn't it be so cute to take a photo each month marking her progress and the changes to 1 year? Then I chuckled to myself and was like, I have three kids, when would I find time to put a sticker on her onesie and take a picture? I feel like this falls into that category. Too many kids, not enough time for the little things.

But that doesn't change the fact that we are indeed there and we couldn't be happier with Selene's health and life as we know it.  Not that anyone really cares (other than maybe my Aunt Merlann) but I'll give highlights of our past few weeks!

Ainsley started Kindergarten and is loving it. We are still working out the kinks of afternoon school and getting everyone to the bus stop on time. I'm having flashbacks of way too many runs for the bus when I was little, but we haven't missed it yet. Though Selene is pretty determined to make us miss it because she needs her backpack filled with toys every time we go.

No tears from anyone!

After her first day.


Sweetness.
Working on a pie for Daddy's birthday before heading to the cabin.

We also took our trip to the cabin and had a great time. It went a bit faster than normal since we left Sunday late afternoon instead on Monday, but we had fun. And are eager to take Selene next year. We spent Saturday afternoon at my Dad's friend's house in his lovely pool and Ainsley went from timid water bug to little mermaid. She wouldn't get out of the pool for 4 hours. It made me realize that she'd be swimming laps if we had her in the pool all summer. Needless to say a pool membership is on our list for next summer (if you know me well, you'll wonder what's gotten into me because I hate sun and I hate chlorine and wet towels!)

At the pond.

At the rifle range with ear plugs in!

Getting a lesson on floating


The local police chief brought over automatic rifles, needless to say I refused to shoot any of them. 

A dream come true! Amy saddled up Snickers for Ainsley to take a trail ride on!

Me and Bam, he was not a fan of the heat.




Happy Birthday, Daddy!


I know I complained about this before but we had Selene's bone health appointment. We had to get there at 9am which meant fighting traffic. And by the time I got my Starbucks coffee (darn drive thru line was 7 deep but I wasn't skipping it) we were about 10 minutes late. They are not terribly busy and we were taken back within a minute. The appointment was as unnecessary as I had expected. She looked at her vitamin D levels which were a little low (antibiotics and major meds I'm great with, but I'm spotty with the vitamin D now that it's the only thing she gets). She checked her over and it was done. Let's talk about how miffed Selene was when she asked Dr. M to check Zibo and the doctor just stared at her. We have been spoiled with the lovely Miss Ellen and Dr. Olson who always make sure Zibo is in tiptop shape. I honestly don't want to go back in 6 months for what she said will be our last appointment. Do the x-rays, draw the Vitamin D levels and call me if there's an issue.


Every nurse can't believe how cooperative she is!


Life continued to be filled with fun when we celebrated Nana Anita's first Sunday as the head pastor at Lenape Valley Presbyterian. A beautiful service and picnic welcomed her and we were thrilled to be there as a whole family! I don't think we will continue to take Selene to church especially with viral season upon us, but it was great to get her there. She was so well behaved! And Ainsley loved Sunday school. So we will definitely have to visit occasionally.






My Mom came to visit this past week and it was amazing. To have someone around to help with meeting the needs of all of these kids is such a blessing. We miss her when she leaves!



Nana Robin found some pretty dresses at a consignment shop.

So fancy

Puddles

Dan and I had a date in Old City while Nana took care of the girls

Almost Pope time!







And, because Selene doesn't go to the doctor enough, she had her first walk in clinic visit.  Ainsley has had this brilliant idea to take our pop up tunnel and try to make it be a slide. I've warned her this is not a good idea, and more likely a very dangerous idea. While I was making dinner they decided to once again try this feat. And it ended with Selene falling and smashing her elbow. We waited until Sunday morning to take her, we had hoped it would stop hurting. They confirmed it wasn't broken but there is fluid which will hopefully subside on it's own. Girl can't catch a break!



Tuesday, September 1, 2015

"Let's Go to the Mall"

Everyone better be singing Let's Go to the Mall by Robin Sparkles right now.

You're Welcome

Dan took Selene to CHOP today.  After a round of crying over wanting to wear one of the flower girl dresses they found in the back of the closet, we settled on a regular dress. I almost let her wear it, but I'm still holding out that Aunt Jojo will get married when one of the girls fits into it :-)

Her numbers looked amazing today. She had her IV antibiotic and did great eating snacks and watching the iPad. And her liver numbers are 111 and 123 down from 392 and 296!! Ellen is thrilled!

Also good news. They aren't as concerned about crowds anymore and said we could venture to the mall! The girls are thrilled. That is always our kill time get away in the winter or on a rainy day. Mall, Starbucks, Disney store, Auntie Anne's. They nixed the pumpkin farm because of hay, animals and other unknown germs. I knew they would but if you know me you know that we hit up the farms a few times each fall. I HATE leaving Selene behind but we probably will at least once.  I'm sure there's a Nana out there willing to spoil her for a few hours.

Dan and I are also taking Ainsley and Kalina to a cabin getaway with my family. We go every labor day weekend. I planned to stay home with the little girls but my family hasn't seen Kalina since she was a month old. And drinking coffee overlooking the pond on a dewy morning is just the kind of recharge my soul needs. So Selene is all set for a special sleepover with Nana and Grand-dad this weekend!

We also finished out the year with a few lessons for Ainsley from one of Dan's former swim students. Yes, Dan is a swim instructor, but without access to a pool that's fairly useless. We didn't want a year to pass by with Ainsley not being in the water since comfort and water safety are important to us. I think next summer I will swallow my hatred of all things hot and chlorinated and get a membership to our local pool.

Of course it's September, so Ainsley starts Kindergarten tomorrow! So I took her to meet her teacher, see her room and see some of the other kids. She'll be going with her little neighborhood BFF and a girl from her preschool is in her class. So we are very excited!

Otherwise I have to say that we've had quite a lovely summer despite our restrictions.  I can't thank everyone enough for the prayers. I can't believe we are a week away from our 6 months anniversary!

Love to all!

Prepare for a Photobomb

There will be a lot of photos of this munchkin

3 Months

Cleaning out the closet turned into a fashion show

Glee

Ainsley's swim lessons with Jenna

Kindergarten orientation

Dress up time

My girls!

Kindergarten!

Loves holding "My Kalina"

Go ahead and swoon!

Daddy tried to take her Steelers bag!

An old one my nephew took when she was 6 weeks old!

It stayed!!

Bell ears :-)

Who wants to actually get wet from the sprinkler?

After a trip to the kids' salon.

Antics during Daddy's birthday happy hour at Iron Hill!


Digging into dessert