Look Ma - NO HANDS!

So Violet is 1 year old today and we JUST got done with her party. While her and Piper are sleeping I thought that I would quick post this photo I took of Violet from Saturday - I think that walking will come quickly now but I hope not b/c I love having my little baby still be a little baby (sure all 22 little pounds of her *wink*). I am also submitting this as my Best Shot Monday b/c I NEVER have my camera around when she does this so it is a miracle shot for me. You may see that dress again b/c I was trying it on her to make sure it fit for her party.

Best Shot Mondays has moved to a new home for now until it arrives at it's final destination hopefully Jan. 21st.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

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I want Daddy to...

EVERYTHING! Matt has been home for the past week on vacation and Piper has turned into a TOTAL Daddy's girl. "I want Daddy to change my diaper", "I want Daddy to put my clothes on me", "I want Daddy to give me my medicine". Ah well, I guess that I should be happy that I am able to do some of the things I am not normally able to do on a daily basis like shower, shave, my hair - you know crazy things like that *wink*

We took Piper on Christmas Eve BACK to the doctor's office b/c she complained again of her ear hurting her and she was on her final day of meds so I figured better safe than sorry - ear infection still there! We are on our last kind of medicine and then off to an ENT - I hope that this medicine takes care of it b/c I would hate for her to have to go and get tubes. Although common, you never want your baby to go through something like this you know?

I asked Piper what she wanted to leave for Santa (b/c he needs a snack too) and she decided on a family favorite - M&M's. We left out 1 M&M for the big guy (my kid is stingy) and off to bed went our babes. Watching Piper's face when she woke up and came into the living room was so cool - Santa ended up getting her a glittery pair of princess shoes and a wand made of ribbon and tulle - lucky girl! Violet has been banging the drum since she laid eyes on it - she has been so much fun this Christmas. Side note on her - she WANTS to walk SO BAD! She tries to pick herself up but falls after a few steps - but she is TRYING which at this age Piper had no interest in, they are such different kids.

We decided to brave the zoo on Wednesday with the girls - they had so much fun there. Matt fed the lorikeets and both him and Piper fed lettuce to the beautiful giraffe that greeted us when we came into his area (I think he was hungry). There are great shots of both in the montage that I put together. We saw the penguins eat and also big male gorilla smiled for the camera and then took a dump for us - class :) The pictures run a little long for any family that wants to see our holiday but if you have about 1 1/2 minutes check it out - some neat shots of Piper playing and from Christmas.

We are getting ready for Violet's birthday and things have been crazy around the house lately - I am hoping to start blogging regularly again after the New Year - happy Thursday!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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To return or not to return

I feel like my husband and I have gone completely crazy with presents for our children. When we first started out shopping Piper was ONLY getting a Waldorf baby in a crib and Violet was getting a Dora chair like her big sister's and some instruments. SINCE then I have been picking stuff up, not really realizing how much I was accumulating until I sat down and looked at it all - OMG! I want to teach my daughter's to be thankful for what they get and not to expect too much and then I go WAY overboard. Honestly, it isn't THAT much but more than a doll and chair KWIM? Again today in an effort to get a Christmas photo with Santa I asked Piper what she would ask Santa for - princess shoes. Huh? I waited and asked again in an hour (or so) - princess shoes. Seriously, can I NOT get her the 1 thing that she would have asked Santa for had she decided to actually talk to him? Is 2 years old too early to grant a wish like this? For fun I bought her a pair of those cheap plastic heels that the little ones look like they will break their necks when walking in - totally thrown away after just 1 day. What to do, what to do! Should I return the Mega Block Dora set that we got for her (b/c YESTERDAY she LOVED Dora) and get princess shoes instead? UGH!!

In a fun note I played around with my Photoshop last night and even though I am a TOTAL beginner I think that the little project that I created for the girl's Grandma turned out rather nice. I included names so that she would never feel at a loss when she didn't remember which kid was which- if she doesn't no one will be the wiser when she is showing them off.

Oh, and I got half of my cards finally sent out today, I forgot the other half at home - don't ask! I guess 1 or 2 friends/family might actually get a card from us before Christmas. The thing about when you send out cards this late is that people are probably thinking that they got purged from our list but we received their card so we had to hurry up and send them one too - nope, I am seriously just THAT behind this year :)

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Another Long Week

Here is a photo on the way home from our weekly playgroup on Wednesday - call it my Wordless Wednesday b/c I didn't have time to post then. I opened all the windows in the car to try and keep the girls awake and this photo was taken by me just putting the camera behind me and blindly shooting. It was the ONLY 1 that turned out (we were on our road when I took them so I wasn't being unsafe).

My poor Piper STILL has the ear infection that she came home from Thanksgiving with - Friday morning she came out of bed and told me that her ear hurt so after another trip to the doctor we were told she need more medicine. I am not used to this, my girls haven't been sick and I feel really bad for her b/c I am sure that it is hurting. The thought crossed my mind to not go to Matt's Christmas party Friday night but I was leaving the girls with our friend Sherri and her daughter so I knew that they would be ok.

We were actually late to the Christmas party b/c traffic was HORRIBLE for some reason. We were not the only ones though, 3 of the drivers were also late so the ENTIRE party had to wait for them to arrive so that we could eat. I was STARVING! The meal was really great but I have to just comment quickly on how rude many of the employees were at The Speedway Club. One banquet server totally blew me off when I asked where the bathroom was, the lady excusing the tables got on the microphone and yelled at the guests that were upstairs, and the lady that was helping the photographer was extremely rude to both my husband and I (to her I smiled and wished her a Merry Christmas which was met with a blank stare). Anyway, parties that we have been to in the past have been much more fun and I am not sure I will be too excited to go next year.

We all watched Bryce and baby Cole last night - Piper is such a little mama. Matt and Piper were feeding Cole while I nursed Violet and I finished first so I was able to capture my big girl helping out, she makes me so proud!



Hopefully we will have well kiddos and a fun filled next few weeks as Matt is off after Monday. I will be busy getting things ready for Violet's first birthday - I can't believe that my baby is almost 1 *sniff sniff*. Where does the time go?

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How much can you cram into 3 days away from home?

Well we managed SeaWorld, the ocean, and a quick tour of Savannah and now we are saying "Ah, it's good to be home". The zoo made it there and back and it was a lot of fun but always nice to be home, the mounds of laundry that we seem to acquire from getaways like this never cease to amaze me. Instead of recapping the entire weekend I have decided to just do a photo show – there are some fun shots so try and make it through. I chose the song from John Ondrasik b/c he was the vocal entertainment at the banquet on Friday night and sang this song. There was also a HILARIOUS comedian that performed, John Pinette, and if you ever have the opportunity to catch one of his shows I highly recommend taking it in.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A big thank you to Paula Dean for just having about the best fried chicken that I have EVER had on her buffet when we swung through Savannah on Sunday and ate at The Lady & Sons for lunch. I put the first bite into my mouth and was in heaven! The meal was finished off with the banana pudding and gooey butter cake, OMG!! I HAD to mention that b/c I am STILL thinking about it!

Because of the amount of photos that I took it was hard to choose my best shot this week but I have decided on this one. Our baby LOVES the beach as you can see by the look of sheer joy on her face. Join in on the picture taking fun and post your Best Shot Monday!


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Walgreen's Pharmacy

I decided instead of cleaning my house (which I need to do before we leave for FL) to sit down and post about what happened to my family today. Even now, hours later, I am still sick to my stomach that something like this happened and it is so very hard for me not to blame myself partly.

Last week I posted about bringing the girls to the doctor's office and that Piper had her first ear infection - very common from what I understand talking with other mamas. The doctor wrote out the prescription and talked to me about it, I can't for the life of me remember now what exactly was said back then as I had 2 really crabby girls that I was dealing with. After leaving the doctor's office I went and dropped off the prescription to Walgreen's and headed to the grocery store while they were filling the medicine. The technician went over the instructions with me and off we went. Yesterday I noticed that I was starting to run out of the medicine and figured that they didn't give me enough so this morning I called my doctor's office to get more b/c we are heading out of town. Well, after talking to the nurse I found out that Walgreen's wrote the WRONG instructions on our medicine therefore I was giving Piper 2x the amount she was supposed to be receiving. The sweet nurse assured me that b/c it was mild antibiotic that Piper was alright but I should bring her in to make sure the infection was gone. The Pharmacist from Walgreen's did contact me and apologize, what else could he say b/c he can't take back what happened, but I did manage to tell him (through my tears) how I was EXTREMELY disappointed in their QC - how did this happen? He blamed the technician for typing wrong, Pharmacist on duty for not double checking, blah blah blah, we'll pay for your co-pay on the doctor visit, free prescription, blah blah blah, so sorry, nothing else I can say (WHICH TOTALLY PISSES ME OFF WHEN ANYONE SAYS THIS). I can't even go in there b/c I am so angry with myself for not checking the prescription without handing it to them and TRUSTING them - never again! As anal as it may seem from now on I will photocopy each prescription for any member of the zoo to make sure that what we are doing is correct.

Please make sure that you all do the same, I wouldn't wish for this to happen to any other family. As it happened Piper just got a pretty bad yeast infection out of it BUT she could have got that from the regular dose too (but right now I doubt it).

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Sick children, a new suit, and a paci

What do all of these things have in common? It has been my life for the past week and a half. My poor little Piper woke up in the middle of the night screaming - her ear hurt and after a doctor visit it was confirmed that she had an ear infection (her first). Violet still has a yeast infection that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy that after treating with over the counter cream for a week finally called in for some stronger stuff to *hopefully* get it on its way to healing before our trip to Orlando this weekend.

My husband has gained a little bit of weight around his midsection and after trying on the suits he had at the house we had to go out and get him a new one - last night. He is a procrastinator and PROBABLY should have thought of this a month ago but didn't so off we went to the mall to get him a suit. He tried on a few at the first store, liked one, but continued going to all of the stores looking - guess which suit he got? Yep, at 9:15 PM he got fitted from the first store for a suit. Thank goodness we found a nice one though and it was 60% off with another 20% off on top - normally when we are running out at the last minute the savings is minimal so we were thrilled. I, however, wrecked the pedicure that I got yesterday b/c of the shoes I chose to wear (who knew that I couldn't wear shoes 7 hours after) so today I have to go back and buy some polish from them to try and fix what I destroyed. Not my best Monday night in awhile.

Finally, the paci. Who would have thought that my almost 1 year old would take to something that she has never seen so well. Yesterday I gave her a paci and she loves it. Most people are trying to take it away from their child at this point but not me, she will be enjoying it for the next 2 weeks while Matt and I attend funtions and someone else must make my babe fall asleep without her mama's boobs. We tried a bottle on her last week and she didn't want any part of that so this should be interesting, it is also the first time that I REALLY have ever left her with anyone for more than an hour - that is a post all in itself though.

So life here is still nuts but I have been playing with my Photoshop and it is so.much.fun! I tried making a header but was not happy with the results so I will continue working until I am. Also a big THANK YOU to Drea for answering some questions for me so that I can now get it to post.

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