Exersaucer...for two?

I pulled the exersaucer out of storage on Wednesday...

Rachel cheering her sister on
Natalie wasn't sure what to make of this new contraption.

Rachel decided it would be best if she showed Natalie how to play in the exersaucer.

Playing peek a boo

Being a ham for the camera. She was having a blast!

First time in the swing.

This is how I found Rachel the other night when I went to bed - how could that be comfortable?

Nurse Rachel

Better check the other ear, too!

When you bark like a dog, Natalie laughs so hard. Not sure why?!

Brushing Natalie hair. What a nice big sister!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!

Spiders

What a day! We headed out to Costco first thing this morning (well, 10am since that's when they open) and then we went to Real Canadian Superstore to do some grocery shopping as well. We were doing really well with timing so when we were all done I put Natalie in the car and then I went to put Rachel in her carseat and there is this black hairy spider with white spots on the side of her carseat. EWWWW So I take my shoe and try to kill it but of course I was wearing stupid Crocs so they aren't hard enough. The spider goes on the floor. I grab the umbrellas that are there and try hitting him but he takes off...under my seat. I HATE spiders to begin with but when they are hairy with spots and BIG, I'm REALLY not a fan. I swear to God I had a panic attack right there in the parking lot. I honestly didn't know how I was going to drive. I knew I couldn't because if that spider came out while I was driving, I'd get into an accident. Then I talked myself through it and said "I'm bigger than him, I can do this". But then I thought 'What about the girls? What if he lands on them' $&%*#!#$

Anyway, I called Ron - went right to voicemail. Makes sense since it's only 11:30 in the morning. I left him a message and told him to call me. Tried my parents - not home. If I would have had the stroller with me, I would have walked home...and honestly, it would have been a LONG walk :) (It's a 20 minute drive to the grocery store and that's taking a road that is half highway)

So anyway, I try Ron again - nope. Then I called Linda. She is pissing her pants while I'm telling her this and I'm so freaked out that I start crying! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Which of course makes Linda laugh harder. It was her lunch time so she came to rescue me. I was almost to the point where I was going to ask her to drive my vehicle home and I'd follow her in her car and pay for gas or something. I had all these groceries in the back (4 bags of milk of course) and I knew I had to get them home but I couldn't get in that vehicle knowing Mr. Spider was in there...somewhere. So she tears my car apart, looking, looking, looking but she can't find him anywhere! All of a sudden, I saw him on the side of my seat so I started freaking out again and Linda, trying to control her laughter, took her shoe off (smart to have real sandals on - but I guess when you work, you would wear normal shoes)...and she killed him. I have spider guts on the one part of my seat but I don't care. I am just so happy that she killed him. I wanted to hug her and kiss her right there in the parking lot but considering I was already getting funny looks, I didn't need to add to the excitement.

*sigh*

By the way, the whole time this was going on, Natalie was sleeping in her carseat and Rachel was playing with her books and dolls. Thank goodness they weren't a little bit older to understand what kind of freak their Mom is :)

Play doh & finger painting

The weather was a little cool yesterday so we only played outside for about an hour. We had lots of fun inside though...

Rachel wasn't sure about the Play Doh (but I had fun! ha ha)
Getting ready to finger paint

'Hmmmm...how do I get this on?'

The beginning of a masterpiece

Natalie was quite content to watch Rachel

Rachel wasn't sure about getting her fingers dirty

What a beautiful piece of art!

She wouldn't let go of the smock

On to the next painting...Rachel made 3 in total. She kept saying 'more' but I think 3 pictures in one day is more than enough. Maybe we will do more painting this week since it's supposed to be cooler outside

The Wiggles!!!

I am so excited!!! This morning I got tickets for Rachel to see The Wiggles in Detroit on her actual birthday! How awesome is that?!?!?! Now I just have to hope that she'll still like them in August :) We took her to see them in October and she had a blast. I'm thinking now that she'll be 2, she'll enjoy them even more!

A new baby to love

My cousin Kevin & his wife, Jennifer, welcomed Norah Theresa into their lives on Sunday afternoon at 2:04pm. Norah weighed 7lbs 7oz and has a FULL head of hair! I can't wait to meet this little one...hopefully next weekend when we're in their neck of the woods. I imagine Natalie will look like a giant beside Norah ha ha

Norah & my Godson, Chad (they are 1st cousins). Check out Norah's hair - she could seriously use a haircut since it's already over her ears...how cute! :)

(AC - you hit the nail on the head about the cycle of life!)

The girls were in a great mood yesterday after their naps so I captured a cute shot of them on Rachel's chair. Rachel slept from 10:30-2:30 (crazy, isn't it?) and Natalie had a few cat naps during that time.

I took Natalie to the doctor last Wednesday for her 4 month check up and she weighs 17lbs 5oz and is 24 3/4". She is in the "97+++" percentile for her weight and 75th percentile for her height. When the 2nd nurse came in the room to help out with the needles (each nurse gives a needle at the same time so there isn't as much screaming), she looked at Natalie and said to Sharon, our nurse, 'I don't have the right one' thinking that Natalie was older than 4 months. Sharon & I just giggled and told her she had the right one. That's when she admitted she thought Natalie was over 6 months but was confused since there aren't needles at the 9 month check up. :) Since Natalie has "delicious thighs", she didn't make a big scene when she got her needles. She's a trooper :)

We are finally getting Spring weather again. Last week was weird in regards to the weather. It was down right cold and windy. Yesterday was a beautiful day here - up over 30C and today is supposed to be 14C - what is Mother Nature doing? Oh well, at least it's sunny so we'll be able to play outside again this afternoon. Grandma & Grandad are on babysitting duty again tonight while Ron & I have dinner with friends. I know Rob & Amanda wouldn't mind if we brought the girls, in fact, they would probably like to see them, but I'm looking forward to a night out...and adult conversation :)

Aquadoodle ROCKS!

It's been a busy week and unfortunately I didn't have any time to post anything here. I'm hoping that things will be back to 'normal' this week.

Last Saturday, Ron's Step Dad, Sam, was rushed to the hospital after having some severe pain in his chest and shoulders. At the hospital in Clinton, they weren't sure if it was a perforated ulcer or a perforated bowel and since both require immediate surgery, he was rushed to the hospital in Stratford. He had his surgery at 6 that night (the pain was really bad around 1 in the afternoon) and was in the recovery room around 8pm. It ended up being a perforated ulcer (he didn't even know he had an ulcer in the first place) and he would have to take it easy for at least 6 weeks. For those who know Sam - this will NOT be an easy task but thankfully Ron's Mom will keep him in line, especially since she is a retired nurse :) Anyway, last Sunday morning we packed the girls up after church and headed to Stratford to see Sam. It was really hard to see him with all the tubes and IV's and what not but we were so thankful that he got to the hospital in time to have his life saving surgery. The surgeon basically told him that he needed surgery or he would die. Sam was pretty out of it when we were there but he still managed to make us laugh. He made a comment about the fact that I was in better shape after having the girls than he was. Hmmm...I think I was on a ''natural high" and that had something to do with it. Not to mention, I didn't have any drugs either so I wasn't groggy :) Anyway, we didn't stay long because we knew Sam needed to rest and take it easy so we headed to Woodstock to visit Ron's Aunt Mary who was also in the hospital. Unfortunately it was a much different mood in that hospital since Aunt Mary wasn't doing very well with her battle with cancer. I am so happy that we got to visit with her on Sunday even though it was only for a few minutes. She passed away Tuesday afternoon. We went to the visitation on Thursday night and then the funeral was on Saturday morning. There were over 250 people at the funeral; what a tribute to a very special lady! Yesterday we headed back to Clinton for a bridal shower that I was co-hosting with Ron's Mom. Ron & the girls tagged along so they could see some relatives we haven't seen for awhile. After the shower, we had a bite to eat and then headed back home. It was another late night and after such a long week, we were ready for bed by 9:30. Too bad Natalie wasn't :)

Rachel likes to put her own shoes, coat & hat on now. She insists on wearing her hat backwards and I'm not sure why?!

Apparently I should have fed Natalie before I took the weekly cow picture. No smiles on Friday!

Grandma & Grandad were lifesavers this week when it came to babysitting duties (THANK YOU!!!) I think they had fun but I'm sure they were ready to go back to their QUIET home at night ha ha

We still haven't figured out if Rachel will be left handed or right handed. She does everything with both hands...and very well, I might add! If you look at the picture with Grandma, you'll see Rachel is using her left hand and then in the picture above, she's using her right hand.

Rachel even convinced Grandad to get down on the floor and have some fun with the Aquadoodle. This seriously is one of the coolest toys. You just fill the little pens with water and then when you write on the mat, your drawing appears. After a few minutes, it dries off and then you can start all over again. No mess - LOVE IT!

Natalie wore a dress on Sunday that used to be Rachel's. It was one of my favourite dresses but I have to admit that it fit Rachel much better. It was a little tight on Natalie around the neck and chest/belly so it wouldn't stay in place like it did when Rachel wore it

Hanging out in the Bumbo this morning (Rachel picked Natalie's outfit - she obviously wanted Natalie to wear the same shirt as she was wearing - cute!)

Almost a wink...

Enjoy your day!

Jolly Jumper

Rachel makes me laugh on a regular basis.

Rachel was only in the jolly jumper for about 5 minutes in total. Then it was Natalie's turn. She quite enjoyed it as well...maybe not as much as Rachel though :)

4 months old

Natalie is 4 months old...or is that 4 months young?

Rice cereal, tree work, flowers & licorice

It was an exciting day around here on Wednesday. Natalie tried rice cereal for the first time...

She wasn't sure what to do with it at first. Funny how she kept opening her mouth every time she saw the spoon though :)
Rachel was just hanging out while we fed Natalie. She even tried a bit of the rice cereal but certainly didn't want more than one spoonful.

Once she figured things out, she was a happy camper!

It was time to repaint Rachel's toenails on Thursday morning. She picked out a very bright purple colour; her toes look so cute! I love how she is blowing the paint dry in this picture.

We stopped by to see Daddy at work in the afternoon. He was busy taking down a big tree. Rachel loves to watch him while he works in the bucket truck but when he comes down to see her, she isn't too sure about him until he takes his safety glasses off.

Our next stop was Rona Home & Garden. I just wanted to 'look' and check things out but the soil was on sale and the flowers were too pretty to pass up. Plus, having Rachel help pick out the flowers this year was a lot of fun! The poor Escape though - it was so full!

We even had to put some flowers in the front on the floor!

Grandma came over to plant the flowers and she was happy to have a helper this year! Rachel liked using her own gardening tools.

What a cutie!

Tonight marks the first of three nights that Daddy is 'on duty'. Every Friday afternoon at 4:30 until Sunday at 10pm Ron is usually on duty but since it's a long weekend, I get another day off! YAHOO!!! It's a nice little break in my week. I mean, I'm obviously still around to help and I still make formula, change diapers, etc but for the most part, Mommy can relax a bit.

Even though Ron cut the grass on Thursday night, Rachel thought it needed another quick cut.

Yes, that is a piece of licorice in her mouth. Silly Grandad! (It was cute to hear her sucking on it though...and check out the grip she has on that piece!)

Awwwww...Daddy & Rachel relaxing on the swing after a busy evening playing.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow and Sunday...what else is new? It seems that on every May long weekend it rains. Hopefully it will hold off though so we can finish our deck. We are SO close to getting it done. At least my flowers are planted (thanks Grandma! Yes, I know I'm spoiled!)

Have a great weekend!