Pageant...

Aubrey had her very first pageant this past weekend. It was a lot of fun for both her and I, and to make it even better she won! What a sweet girl she was all day. I LOVED seeing her so excited about it. She absolutely LOVES to be on stage so this was right up her alley. The pageant was here in town so it was easy and way less complicated for a first time experience. I can't say that we are going to go all out and do a ton of them but I am all for the experience for her. She absolutely loved it and was disappointed on Sunday morning when I told her that she didn't have one that day. Goofy girl. I am currently in the process of finding another one for her to do!

OK so here we go!

Well first Miss Claire because I thought she looked adorable!

Leah (her nanny) practiced on her hair Friday.  Isn't she beautiful?

We got up Saturday morning and went and got her nails painted.  She LOVES this.  Such a girly girl.  She chose to have a flower on two fingers, and the rest of the nails hot pink.  This is not required of her as they are natural beauty pageant but we thought it would be a fun thing to do.

After our nails we went over to Leah and Laurren's (her nanny's house) to have them help with her hair.

Here she is getting ready to go.

When we got there they did a practice round on the stage, and then they headed into interviews.  Man I wish I could have sat in on her interview! 

Here she is with some of the girls.

Then it was time to begin. They started in their casual wear.  For some reason we did not get a picture of her in this outfit on stage.  How cute does she look? Seriously!

Of course she had a big cheering section.  Colten was SO proud of her.  He even made a sign for her to hold up every time she went on stage.

How sweet is he?

On stage in her casual wear!

Then they came and changed and it was time for the onstage interview.  She did AMAZING.  They asked her about her favorite book, movie, animal, etc. Her answers were all great and I hope things like this help her so she never has a fear of public speaking.

Then it was time for her party dress.  She was asked a couple more questions before she was allowed to leave the stage.

After this they brought all the girls back on stage for one last look!

Seriously!  He cheered SO loud for her.

After what seemed like ten years it was finally time for awards.

SHE WON!  She was Miss Cinderella Tot Manhattan.  Of course in things like this everyone "wins" but she actually one first place and she was SO excited.  She jumped up and down on stage.  Not going to lie when we got home she decided she needed to rest for a while...while snuggling her trophy!

Here she is with Miss Manhattan!

Love them all SO much.

With Leah, and Laurren.  Aren't they all SO cute.

I am still not over how proud of her he was.

With her Grandma's!

And Miss Claire.  Isn't she sweet? 

Uncle Brett with his nieces and nephew.

Family photo.

When we came out the local TV channel asked if they could interview her for the news.  Of course we agreed.  Naturally she did great on these questions too.

One final picture before we headed home.

Aubs we are SO proud of you!

Pajama Day...

The kids had Pajama Day at school yesterday in honor of Catholic Schools week. Needless to say both of them were SO excited for school yesterday. This morning was not nearly as fun as they had mass so their mass attire is what they were dressed in. Tomorrow is Wacky Wednesday so I'm sure they will both come up with a fun ensemble!

Wordless Wednesday...

15 Months...

Look who turned 15 months yesterday! 

A Good Night's Sleep...

Early this morning Colten, and Aubrey snuck into bed with me after Justin left for work, and they heard the door clothes (thank you Jack, and Newman for barking). While I was twisting and turning wishing I had more room I started thinking about how much I wanted a good night's sleep. After pondering with that I became mad at myself for making that wish. These day's won't last forever. There will be days in the NEAR future where I want nothing more than three beautiful babies in bed with me.   So today I am thankful that we do not get a good night's sleep nearly enough.  Thankful that I have three babies in bed with me.  Don't you love how Aubrey is going to town on her thumb, Colten is about to roll off the bed, and Claire is facing the wrong direction.  Oh how I love a good night's sleep.

The Difference Between Boys and Girls...

One spent MLK day at baseball camp....

While the other one wanted nothing more than a pedicure!

Either way I am so thankful to have them both in my life!

Grief...

I read this the other day and it made me think of Jeret.  I found the words SO true.  We miss you baby boy!

“You don't want to get over it. Don't act surprised. As awful a burden as grief is, you know intuitively that it matters, that it is profoundly important to be grieving. Your grief plays a crucial part in staying connected to your child's life. To give up your grief would mean losing your child yet again. If I had the power to take your grief away, you'd fight me to keep it. Your grief is awful, but it is also holy. And somewhere inside you, you know that.”

Tubes, and Adenoids...

Poor little Claire had her adenoids taken out on Wednesday, and ear tubes put in. We were suppose to do it on the 9th but due to the fact that she had a terrible ear infection (the kind where oral antibiotics didn't work so we had to resort to shots) things were postponed a week. We had to be at the hospital at 5:30am for a 7:30 procedure. She woke up before we left the house (unfortunately) but overall did pretty well. She couldn't eat or drink anything so we were a little grumpy but it was not nearly as bad as I thought it might be. They called us down at about 7 and we went and waited in the recovery part of the hospital with her. We were there about 20 minutes when her nurse came and got her. This part was HORRIBLE. The nurse assigned to her was obviously not a child person, and she did not try and comfort or consul her before grabbing her out of my arms. Needless to say I had a melt down right along with her after they took her from me. I just could not believe the nurse they assigned to her...to make matters worse she smelled like an ash tray. It was awful to see my baby so scared and confused. Justin and I headed down to the cafeteria to get some caffeine with his mom at that point. When we got back up to the waiting room we had to wait another thirty minutes or so until she was done. At that point we met with her Doctor who told us he had to remove a LOT of thick rubbery fluid from her ears, and that is probably part of the reason for the delay in her walking. He also said having that fluid off would probably improve her speech as well. Her adenoids were huge according to him, and he said he suctioned her a bunch while she was under. This was all great news to us and made the surgery and the pain we put her through to have it done completely worth it. After we spoke with him we went back and waited with Grandma for about five more minutes until the nurse came and got us to go to recovery. These nurses were awesome! Both of them had little kids and the second nurse was just over there to help since her patient was not out of surgery yet. This was great. It was nice to see a nurse trying to comfort my baby when we walked in. Naturally she was crying and REALLY horse from the tube being down her throat. They had just given her some morphine for pain so it didn't take very long once she was in my arms for her to fall back asleep. We went back to her room in the pediatric unit after that and stayed there. I rocked her as she went in and out of sleep. We were discharged about 11:00 and I enjoyed the rest of the day at home on the couch with my baby. It was wonderful that she wanted nothing but to be held by me, and although it was not worth the pain she was experiencing I enjoyed a 14 month who held completely still on my lap!

Claire pre-surgery.

Claire in her room at the hospital post-surgery.

Finally back at home and snoozing on mom's lap.

Poor girl kept pulling at her ear in her sleep.

Finally awake...sort of.

She was SO thirsty all day!  She also ate a TON!  I could not believe how many times she wanted to go in the kitchen and get a snack.

This picture cracks me up because you can tell she is drugged from the Tylenol 3.

About 4:00 she decided that she had a fair amount of energy again, and that she needed to chase the dogs around.

And before bed she was all smiles.

So glad this is all behind us!