It's been a while since I've blogged, so I just thought I'd give an update on the family...
The girls are doing great and loving the warm weather. They could be outside all day and is hard to keep them in enough for me to get some things done around the house.
We've decided that Allyson is going to be our "bruiser". She is going to be the child that takes us to the ER at least once a year (or so it's been so far). 2 weeks ago, she grabbed my curling iron and got second degree burns on her right hand. (Thankfully she is left-handed.) I ended up taking her to the ER because after 2 hours, I still could not get her calmed down. They put some cream on her hand and bandaged her whole hand up. It looked like a little cast. We had to change the bandages 2x a day for 4 days. She was a trooper and did such a great job washing her hand every time we changed the bandage and helping Mommy put the new bandage on. Her hand is doing much better now, but still shows us at least once a day her boo-boo and tells us it's better now. Here's a picture of her with her 'cast'.
At Ally's 2-year well-check, the doctor recommended that we have a speech evaluation done. She was only saying 3 or 4 words at the time and the doctor had said she should be putting 2 and 3 words together at 2 years old. So, last Tuesday, 3 ladies came to the house and did their evaluation. She had really started talking more and saying more words between the time of her dr's appt. and the speech evaluation, and the speech therapist that was here working with her said that she can say at least 20 words and although her speech is at the lower end of the normal range for her age, she didn't see anything to worry about at this point. She does want to reevaluate her in 3 months to see how she is doing, especially since a new baby will be joining the family and she is just now starting to talk. She said a lot of children can regress in a situation like this. So, we'll see, but as of now, Ally is really beginning to talk a lot and say words that we can understand. She is also so very expressive. It's so cute!
Abby has been amazing the past couple of weeks. Every since I was at the hospital 2 1/2 weeks ago and was told to stay off my feet as much as possible, Abby has been such a big helper. She has been very well behaved, but above and beyond that, she has been so helpful & has had such a great attitude when I ask her to do something...doing it right away and not asking why or me having to ask several times. I really felt as if I needed to reward her for being such a great help & she knew exactly how I could do that. So, yesterday the girls and I went shopping at the outlets that opened last November just down the road from our house and we went to the toy store. Abby was on the hunt for a Barbie. We found 3 or 4 that I thought would give her more than just the Barbie to play with but some things to do with the Barbie. (They were also on sale, of course!) So, then she had to decide which one she would like. It was really neat to see her make this decision. It took her quite a while and she took it very seriously, but I let her take her time. She ended up with a Barbie that came with a kitchen set (over 30 tiny pieces). She was very happy with her decision and took much pride in carrying her special purchase the rest of the time we were at the outlets and all the way home. She hasn't played with anything else since.
Daddy is keeping very busy as ownership has changed at The UPS Store where he works and he's been putting in quite a lot of hours there and where they have become pretty dependent on his knowledge of how things are done around the store while the new owner learns. He also only has 2 more weeks before he is done with his last class! YEAH! We are so excited and really are having a hard time believing that he's actually finished! He's excited to be done and be able to spend more time doing what God has called him to do and spend more time doing work for Daybreak.
I am hangin' in there. I'm pretty uncomfortable and consider it "awesome" when I get a good night of sleep! I do think I'm pretty much ready for the baby to come. On Monday night, I got the swing, bouncy seat, & car seat out of storage and washed the covers and got them all put back together. Abby & I got the car seat all buckled in to the van yesterday, so we are ready to bring home from the hospital whenever he decides to show up! I think we've also finally settled on a name. (We'll keep you in suspense, though!) I had a doctor's appointment this morning and nothing has really changed since I was at the hospital 2 1/2 weeks ago. I'm 2 cm dilated and the baby's head is down. So, we'll see! Who knows when he might come! I will be 37 weeks on Friday and everyone keeps telling me how boy's will be boy's and keep us wondering!
