Happy Holidays 2016!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! I have taken a lot more pics recently but for now I wanted to share the family ones from our card. We did them more mid-year this time. I loved how they turned out but it was actually two different sessions because the first one was a disaster for Avery. Getting the right light ended up being too late for her, and she was miserable. Lesson learned! Luckily, we have a wonderful photographer who met up with us again and got some great shots.

November Updates

I guess my new tradition is to wait until the absolute last day of the month and suddenly realize (at around 11pm) that I haven't posted once! Awesome. I also literally took about 5 total photos this past month... also awesome. We will have to revert to bullet point updates because I honestly don't have the brain power to compose further adequately structured paragraphs.

-Late Halloween night, Avery started having clusters of seizures again. We hadn't seen these since last February before she started on a new medicine.  Instead of the short, individual ones that she was having 1-3 times a day, these were more intense and would go on every couple of minutes for 30-45 minutes in the middle of the night. NOT COOL. She had them every night for almost 2 weeks before her med increase seemed to kick in. We were all very tired. 

We are still seeing the clusters every now and then. The individual ones we see during the day are also longer and more intense, but come one at a time. We are still increasing her meds and crossing our fingers that we they will go away! 

-Baby Bubba is doing well, growing just like he should be. I had my 19 week anatomy scan and it was so fun to see him movin' and groovin'. He's kicking me like crazy lately, even as I type this. If only we could agree on a name for this sweet thing...

-I got to accompany Maddie's kindergarten class on a fieldtrip to a local farm and it was both entertaining and exhausting. Maddie had a blast! Here are two really terrible phone pics of her on the pony and riding the choo-choo train with her friends.

-Rachele, one of my best friends from childhood came to visit with her daughter and it was so nice to catch up! Her daughter Elizabeth and Maddie had TONS of fun together. We hadn't seen each other since our trip to Hawaii almost 2 years ago. 

-Bub the hub and I got away last minute for an afternoon and evening to attend an Aggie football game. It also happened to be our 11 yr anniversary! Whoop! The Aggies managed to tank the football game. Not whoop. Still had a good time!!

-Hubs had a full week off of work for the Thanksgiving break, and it was incredibly nice to have him home, especially since Avery was off of school a full week. Her behavior has been pretty challenging lately and we just barely made it thru the week. BUT we did have a very nice Thanksgiving day with both of our families. This is the closest to a good family pic we could get. :)

I'm just noticing now that the girls look SO OLD. 

I can't even take it.
Going to bed! xoxo

Halloween 2016

I'm so embarrassed that I haven't blogged in 2 MONTHS! Poor blog. I have a pretty good reason though. I mean, it will be good at the end! We're expecting another little pumpkin!!

And this momma has been feeling pretty sick for about...3 months. Ugh. This last week, I've finally been feeling considerably better.  IT IS TIME! And we found it it's going to be a boy!! Ahhh! We're so excited.

Here are the pics you are really waiting for though: Minnie Mouse and Belle!!

   

Back to School 2016

My beautiful girlies started their new school years last week. It was incredibly less stressful for me this year because I finally hired a caretaker to help me with Avery. It's something that I've wanted to do for a long time, but a hard step to take. Our new helper started in late July and it's definitely been easier for me to juggle Avery's needs with her assistance.

SO.....

Maddie Brynn started Kindergarten

She was ecstatic for her first day and showed no nervousness at all. She already knew her teacher very well from last year and had a couple of friends from PreK that were in her new class as well. I was so proud of her. She walked right in with hardly a look back!

Maddie's Kinder teacher, Ms. Davis, is our fav!!

My Avery wasn't quite as sure about starting back. We talked about it a lot, and even went to a "meet the teacher" day to try and get her familiar with the new classroom and teachers. It was nice to have her caretaker with me to actually get some decent pics of her on the first day!

We went with a big bow and super cute, fluttery dress for the first day. 

She whined a little when we first walked in but adjusted and started smiling within 10 minutes. Her new teachers are just wonderful, and instill so much more confidence in me than those in her previous classroom. They are enthusiastic and cheerful and so accommodating to all of her special needs.

I went home that day and realized that I hadn't even thought about shedding a tear at either drop off. This is HUGE! I am usually so emotional, especially when it comes to Avery. Maddie always tells me exactly how she is feeling, and what happened during her day, and I honestly almost never worry about her. She adjusts to new situations so quickly and without drama. Avery, of course, is a whole 'nother story, and it's hard to ever feel comfortable leaving her with new people. 

This year has been so freeing. Avery adjusted so well, so quickly, and continued to smile at every drop off for the rest of the week. This wasn't even happening after months and months last year! She was really showing me how comfortable she was with the new teachers, which made me feel the same. I think both girls are going to have a wonderful year.

August Insanity

The month of August has been the busiest of the year, by far, and I have so much to share. We might have to go for TWO posts, y'all.

We went on a very quick family vacay during the first week of the month, and I took literally no pics. BAD MOM. It happened to be my birthday that week, so it was nice to spend the day laying by the pool. Maddie had a blast on the water slides and Avery tolerated everything quite well, although sadly she was in no mood for swimming. Ah well.

We came back home and immediately went into party mode for Maddie's 5th birthday. But I did get to do something memorable as a birthday gift from Bub the hub....

DIXIE CHICKS!!!

OMG how I have missed them.

I got to go with my bestie, Allison. 

It was an amazing show and I'm so glad we got to go!

Then it was back to party mode. We were celebrating Maddie's birthday the second weekend of August with a Flamingo Luau Pool Party!! This pic was on the back of her invite:

The party went amazingly well, especially after the initial promise of rain... and momma did not have a back up, so thank goodness it stayed clear! As you might imagine, I have a jillion party pics, which I will do in a whole 'nother post. OK, maybe just one...

This is one of my favs! If you can believe it, I still have this balloon floating around my house.

Maddie was lucky enough to have her aunt and uncle come from Dallas to help celebrate her birthday. They were a wonderful help and always spoil the girls so well!!

As does their Nana...

Maddie got her new Kindergarten backpack, 

among many other fun goodies! 

She was an enormously happy birthday girl. A couple of days later, on her actual birth DAY, we had a donut breakfast (of course) and then went to get her birthday checkup at the doctor. This sweet girl is healthy as a horse! and mommy and daddy are so grateful for that.

(she took Ariel for support :)

Then we took our first adventure to the roller rink-- the exact same one that her mommy rolled around countless times at the same age-- and she just blew me away.

She started off using this helper contraption but asked after about 30 minutes if she could try it by herself. She fell about 25 times but got up every time with a smile on her face. Her determination definitely made this mom tear up a bit. By the end, she was skating like a pro!!

We ended the day, at Maddie's request, at our tennis club. We ate dinner and the birthday girl got to play on the indoor playground, which is one of her favs.

Happy 5th Birthday, precious girl. I hope some day you will read this and remember how much fun you had. You were smiling ear to ear all day, and mommy and daddy kept shaking their heads, unbelieving that you are already five years old!! Your light shines so bright, my love, and we can't wait to see what's yet in store. 

July Selfies

My normally could-care-less-for-pics lil'bub was all about the selfies earlier this month, which I obviously need to share.

That smile just lights up my heart ♥

The BIG news is that this sweet love has been seizure free for over two months!!

This is the longest she's gone in YEARS.

Such a relief.

There are some other big changes happening with this bub that I will share soon.

ALLLL positive :)

And not to leave out this sweet little sister bub, who has a new look....

glasses!!!

She picked out the pink ones herself, and she's not wearing them full-time, but boy does she look cute when she does. The eye dr. says she's far-sighted and the prescription is very small, but it's a good idea to start early. The dr. thinks her sight will actually improve over the years! I'd never heard of sight improving. I assumed everyone just slowly became blind as a bat like I did! So glad it seems like her vision will not be as bad as mine was.  Meanwhile she will rock the cute pink glasses.

Swim Team

For the past month and a half, Maddie has been attending swim practice and meets with our neighborhood swim team. She was eager to get in the water every single day. From beginning to end, she became a completely different, independent swimmer, and it's been so cool to watch.

We were also excited because Maddie's cousin Molly joined the team, which made everything so much more fun :)

The first thing the coaches did was teach her how to breathe and swim at the same time. Which is actually pretty hard to do, especially when you are four! Here is after the first week or so when she got a hang of the breathing thing. The coach would tap her on the head to remind her to breathe to the side.

After a month of practice on most week days, Maddie was ready for her first swim meet. Here she was, totally relaxed before her first big race.....

I really had no idea what to expect and she totally blew me away by swimming the entire length of the pool only using the breathing cues from her coach. I was so proud!!

Maddie ended up going to four swim meets! Some of the races were harder than others, but she fought through them and finished strong every time. She really enjoyed getting those ribbons too. Ha.

What I especially loved about the season was that she learned how to be on a team, and cheer for others. The kids would do a team cheer at the end of practices and it was great to watch them all pulling for each other.

Maddie is at the bottom right here doing the cheer. Go Sharks! I loved the spirits of these kids. We are excited to do the team again next year. I am really hoping she loves to swim as much as her mommy did. So far so good!

Last Day of PreK

Only about a month late, here is Maddie's last day of PreK! She had a wonderful year, and we are very proud of her. She's grown up so much. She had excellent progress reports and we know she will definitely be ready for Kindergarten.

oh that dimple!

trying not to be too silly...

too hard!

Maddie already misses her two beloved teachers. They were exactly what she needed this past year. I can't believe how much she learned this year. It's the reading that really clicked though. She is putting words together more and more.

Mrs. Campbell was her lead teacher. 

Mrs. Arocha was the assistant teacher.

She adored them both! And we love her little elementary school. I can't believe my baby is going to be in Kindergarten :)