Fall 2013 Picture Day

The girls' school went with a new photographer this year and to say that I wasn't impressed would be an understatement.  

Poor Audrey had a huge bruise on the left front of her forehead.

If you look closely, you'll see a large tear under Vivian's right eye and she's holding a graham cracker in her left hand.  This was because she was hysterical and they gave her food to help calm her down.  Notice that she has a pink hair clip in.

 Notice the new clip?  Not sure what happened to the one I sent her in.

While the pics ended up turning out okay, I still took more of my own when they got home that day.

I love my girls!!

Vivian's 15 Month Checkup

Vivian had her 15 month checkup today....it confirmed that she's a short fat girl.  She's 22.4 lbs (Audrey never passed 20 lbs until after she turned 2! Even now she's only 28 lbs.)  which is between 50th and 75th percentile and she's 30.25" (which matches what Audrey was) which is a little above 25th percentile.  Short and fat....it's really just her belly which seriously looks like a little beach ball.  It's perfectly round and we love it.  No one can say she doesn't eat.  I like to call her our Dyson (the modern day Hoover) and Audrey our broken dust buster.  Sounds harsh but it's true.  Vivian does not stop eating whereas Audrey barely takes two bites at dinner.  Here's a picture of our little butterball from before school today and, unfortunately, before I did her hair.

She Said WHAT?

I am writing this from the Philadelphia airport on the way home from my second Virginia business trip within two weeks.  I can't wait to get home and see my babies!  I just had to share this little nugget.  Over the last few months, Vivian has slowly start to mimic sounds of words she hears a lot like "Tigger" (our cat), "thank you" and "uh oh."  Within the last week or so, she's really started to try and talk.  I got to hear her tell me "hi" one night this week while we were video chatting over the computer!  My heart melted!  Bill also told me that she's walking every where now and not really bothering to crawl anymore.  I know most parents probably don't say this but I can't wait until she's talking up a storm and having conversations with Audrey.  This is when the fun really begins.  :)

There She Goes!

Ever since her first birthday Vivian has been toying with the idea of walking.  She'd act like she was about to and then change her mind and sit down.  She'd also hold onto your fingers and walk all around but the moment you let go, down she'd go.  The weekend before last, she finally took her first real steps - 3 of them.  After that, she practiced and practiced and is now officially walking.  She still prefers to hold onto to things for balance if she can and still crawls if she wants to be quick, but our little girl is finally walking.  Watch out world!

See Ya, Helmet

After switching Vivian to only wearing her helmet to bed 3 weeks ago, we had our last measurement check yesterday.  It seems we were lucky to start the helmet when we did because aside from the growth in the first 5 weeks of wearing it, she never showed any more improvement.  She's ending at a 6 which is the highest of the normal range and we're more than happy with that.  She has so much hair now you have to really be looking or feeling for the flatness anyway.  Let's just hope she doesn't go through a head shaving phase when she's older and we're all good!

The Peanut Curse

I don't know what it is but there's definitely something in our blood that is causing our offspring to have problems.  At Vivian's 1 year checkup, we had her tested for a peanut allergy as a precaution since Audrey has one.  I didn't think much of it.  In fact, I completely forgot about it until yesterday when I realized we never got the results.  It didn't really matter though because I was 100% sure that it would be negative.  I should have known something was up when Viv's doctor returned my call today and not a nurse.  I was absolutely stunned when she told me that Vivian is allergic and is already a Class 4 out of 6.  Same as Audrey.  I almost started crying while I was still on the phone with the doctor but kept it together until we hung up.  Then I sobbed and then got mad.  Again, same reaction I had with Audrey's news.  The only bright side is that now the girls are on equal food footing and I don't need to monitor separate meals or worry if they steal each other's food.  They can eat the same things and I can breathe freely.   The doctor mentioned getting both girls tested again in a few years and possibly having them participate in medically supervised food challenges where they are fed tiny, tiny amounts of peanut.  I'm not getting my hopes up because we know that Audrey's allergy only got worse so I'm assuming the same will be true in a few years.  But anyway, with no history of food allergies for me or Bill, I have no clue what has caused this in our girls and it makes me really sad and really angry.  Just one more thing for momma to worry about I guess.  :(

12 Month Stats

Vivian had her 1 year checkup this week.  She's 19 lbs 7.5 oz which is 50th percentile!  We're not used to having someone with a little meat on their bones!  Audrey was 18 lbs 6.5 oz.  It's only a pound difference but somehow, Audrey was always so small.  Vivian is already wearing clothes that Audrey was wearing at 18 months.  For height, Vivian is 28.5".  Audrey was 28.3" so they're basically the same.

The doctor said Vivian is doing very well and hopes to see her walking and talking within the next 3 months.  We believe that Vivian CAN walk, she just doesn't want to.  :)  The doctor also said that we really need to get transitioned over to table foods.  We still rely heavily on the jarred baby foods but Vivian seems to enjoy almost everything we offer her - even fish.  She's on the regular meal plan now at school so maybe we just need to get with the program.  She's on to whole milk now which means I'M FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!  {cough} I mean, which means that it's really great for her.  And she's a master of the sippy cup already.

I'll leave you with a little cuteness....okay a TON of cuteness for your day:

Vivian's (actual) 1st Birthday

Didn't think I'd really let Vivian's real birthday go by without taking a ton more pictures now, did you??  We even had another little cake for her!

And just for a fun comparison of looks - here's Audrey in this same outfit for her 1st birthday:

Back to Viv:

 Wearing the crown they made for her at school:

 The remaining photos crack me up.  We're singing "Happy Birthday" to her in the first couple where she's smiling.  Then she gets into the cake and her apprehension quickly changes into all out hysterics.

Notice that the cake has already been moved...

Happy 1st Birthday, Vivian!!

Vivian's 1st Birthday Luau!

Our little baby girl is 1!!!!  It's so hard to believe that a year has gone by but isn't that the story of our lives?  This year really has flown but it's been so much fun.  We held a 1st birthday luau in Vivian's honor this past Sunday and it was a blast.  I made most of the decorations myself with a little inspiration from Pinterest!  We even had a whole roasted pig and the girls and I wore dresses from Honolulu!  It was the perfect day - perfect food, perfect weather and perfect company for our perfect 1 year old girl. We love you, Viv!

Some details have been made internet-friendly so don't really try to contact me at that email address.

 Aloha!  Please take a lei!  :)

 Mmmmmmmm - pig!

Let the carving begin!  Bill got to use some of his surgeon skils on this bad boy.

 My dad.

 Mallory, the birthday girl, my dad and Aunt Dawn:

 Auntie Christina (who became Vivian's Godmother earlier that day) with Audrey:

Still carving.....

In addition to the pig, we had quite the spread - shrimp fried rice, white rice, fresh pineapple, salad, fruit salad, plantain chips, Terra chips, pineapple salsa, peach mango salsa and cheese pizza for the kids!  We also had pork egg rolls that my mother-in-law made and was frying fresh throughout the party.  They were a HUGE hit.  People said they could smell the food from down the block and couldn't wait to eat!

The little food signs I made:

My favorite decoration that I made:

 Getting some love from Mr. B:

Not sure what's going on here but I assure you that's an infant headband and not a garter belt!  Although I'm pretty sure they're one in the same.  lol

 Singing "Happy Birthday":

Vivian grabbed the cake!

This backdrop didn't quite turn out how I was expecting it to but we tried to have a little fun with it anyway: 

The big sister helping with opening gifts:

Hibiscus sugar cookie party favors: 

Our Thank You postcards we sent: