Catching Up

Jeepers, the past week has been eventful. Rewind back to Easter and all was calm. I had the Monday after Easter off and I enjoyed every second of it with my girlies. It was a cleaning and playing day. Perfect! Come Tuesday, the girls went back to Mary's. Megan had had a cough for what seemed like a few weeks, but never enough where I thought I should take her in. However, Mary said Megan's cough was getting worse and I might want to have it checked out. So, off to Urgent Care we went. As we sat and waited for an hour and half with a 3 year old and 1 year old, Megan spiked a temperature of 103 and come to find out she had a double ear infection. Thankfully her lungs were clear although it sounded like she was going to cough out a lung. Bring on the amoxicillan. Her fever finally broke late that night, but it was still high enough that she needed Mommy to stay home with her for the day. We made it through Thursday and Friday and were excited for the weekend. Mattey had baseball games out of town that Saturday so the girls and I planned to go to the park. However, guess who popped a fever now? Kelsey girl. I was painting her nails and she said "Mommy, I'm hot." Yup, 102 degrees. Bring on the tylenol. She laid on the couch for awhile and rested. All of a sudden she got off the couch and said she was fine. Her temp was gone and she was acting ok again. Weird. Oh, forgot to mention that we had to get a new water pump in our car that day (which come to find out was a different problem.......and that's another story......). So we decided to try the park afterall. We called Grandma and she joined us. Kelsey still loves the swings the best, but she has also ventured out onto the playground equipment and is more willing to try things besides just the swings. Megan has become a swing lover as well and would have stayed there the whole time.

 As we were leaving Grandma and Grandpa's house Kelsey started to look pretty down again. Her fever was back. Time for more tylenol. The girls took baths and it was an early jammie and cuddle night. Kelsey finally broke her fever Sunday morning. Both girls returned to Mary's on Monday. Megan had a really nasty diaper rash that we thought was from her meds and had a sore on her face under her mouth that we thought was maybe a fever blister. Thought is the key word. Soon all the pieces were put together as we found out that a few cases of hand, foot, and mouth had shown up at Mary's. Ugh :( The spots on Megan's face and bottom were hand, foot, and mouth. Kelsey's fever was the same. I guess a fever comes first and then the spots. Thank goodness though, the spots never came. We found out after lots of research that by the time the spots come you are not contagious anymore. Megan only had a few spots that dried up pretty quick, too. She still has a little lingering red on her chin, but not too bad. Oh goodness. What a wild few days. Throw in baseball, dance class, and teaching and I would say it was a busy week. On a happier note, Kelsey and I went to ECFE night where she got to see her teacher for next year and participate in a bunch of preschool activities. So fun!  Just she and I went while Matt stayed home with Megan. The event was really close to our house so Kelsey and I walked there. In the pouring rain. Under an umbrella. Which only lasted a little ways until she said, "Carry me! I'm getting wet." Hey, I got a little workout, right? :) Now for the fun stuff--I have to share a few things happening in our house too because there are SOOOOOO many fun daily things going on. Unfortunately I only focused on all the chaos in the beginning of the post. Ok, so Miss Kelsey loves to wrap up her hair in a towel after bath now. The first time I did it this week she let out the funniest giggle while looking in the mirror. It it funny because the wet towel on her head weighs as much as she does!

As for Megan, her current likes are purses which she wears around her neck, phones that she always has to be talking on, sitting in the princess chair, wearing sunglasses that she rummages through her bag to find daily, and reading books and turning the pages while jabbering away. She is so fun right now. She interacts and plays so well. She points at what she wants, too which I love because I feel like I know what she really wants at times. And drumroll please.......She weighed in a whopping 17 lbs at her urgent care appt. Grow, grow, grow, little one!

Although it probably sounds like I was  complaing above about our crazy couple of days, that is definitely not the case. It is more about documenting our life which includes the good and the not so great. These are all issues that I am thankful I can experience because it means I have children to care for, a family to tend to, and a wonderful life happening. I gladly take it all!   Just look at these smiling faces--Is there anything better?

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

April 10. 11 years have gone by since my mom passed away. 11 years? Can that be right? In the days following her death, I remember just trying to get through the funeral, then it was finish school, get through the summer, make it through the rest of the year and so on now. Now here I am typing this after 11 years worth of getting through things that have happened. I find myself thinking back to things that happened when she was here and how I wish I would have done things a little different. For example, I am going to share a story that will make me sound like a complete brat, but at the time, I sure acted like one. When I was a senior in high school, I wanted to take a trip with a friend to Ohio. We were going to go with a few other people. However, my mom didn't want me to go. I remember talking to my friend on the phone and talking loudly enough that I knew my mom could hear me in the next room. I used many harsh words and was just plain mean. Being a mom myself now, I would be so hurt to hear my girls talk about me like that. And again from my own mom perspective now, I probably would not let my own girls go at that young of age by themselves. I should have acted better, I could have been kinder, and I wish I could take it back. Those are the kind of memories that I wish my mom and I could look back and laugh about now. You know, one of those conversations where we laugh and say how stupid I acted. Instead, that act of selfishness sticks with me. Shoulda, coulda, woulda........I also find myself thinking about how different life would be if she were still here. Not sure why I put myself through that, but I do. Holidays seem to bring up the most emotions. For instance, my mom loved Easter. I know she would have made a big supper complete with her bunny cake. The grandbabies would have been spoiled with gifts and goodies from Bucia. She would have taught them Polish phrases and told them stories and traditions. She would have absolutely adored all the grandbabies. That hurts a lot to think about what a good grandma she would have been. It makes me smile and it makes me cry at the same time. If mom were here, I imagine her to love facebook and own an iphone where she could keep up with all of us. She would have been calling us to ask how to use it or better yet, used Skype to use it. Heck, she may have moved here by now to be closer to the grandbabies. There are nights when I dream of her and wake up thinking how good it was to see her and hear her voice. The last thing I heard my mom say was. " Bye Tooty, love you." Then as they rolled her down the hallway for her surgery she told the nurse " I have great kids" I will cherish that statement forever. My mom was good. She had a heart of gold, and I miss her. I know she watches over us everyday. I have many blessings in my life to prove that. As I hold my sleeping baby on my chest, Kelsey is sitting next me, and Matt is across the room. What could be more amazing than a night with my family? I am blessed beyond belief. Thank you mom for blessing me. Miss you.

Happy Easter

It was a full weekend of Easter activities for us. We started with breakfast and coloring eggs at the Ginskey's yesterday.

Afterward, we went to my sister's house. We had planned to have an egg hunt, but the rainy and cold weather made that a little difficult. The kids played well inside and were content with their bags of candy they got anyway. It seems like we have not all been together in awhile so it was good to catch up and let all the kiddos play together.

We were all pretty tired by the time we got back home. But we did manage to fit in a movie night. The movie of choice was Hop. It was pretty cute :) Afterward, Kelsey put the baskets out in hopes that the Easter Bunny would come at night and fill them.

Sunday morning Kelsey woke to find the baskets were missing. She searched the living room and ended up finding both her and Megan's baskets. She was pretty excited to find some goodies she really wanted in her basket. Megan liked cuddling with her new stuffed lamb.

After hunting for baskets and getting ready, we went to church to celebrate that Jesus is Risen!
Next up, we went to a gathering with the Skala side. As always, there was good company and good food. The kids had an egg hunt and enjoyed playing outside on the playground equipment. Kelsey did not get a nap all day and she fell asleep in the parking lot before we even left. It will be an adjustment getting back to daycare and following a routine again after spring break. Thankfully I have off tomorrow so the girls have one more to relax with me :) Happy Easter!

Photo Shoot with Aunt Diane

Diane recently took some pictures of the girls for us. They turned out great! Here are a few of my favorites:

Spring Break with Daddy

Matt had spring break this week. Since I had school all week, he got to spend some quality time with the girls while I taught. After the nasty stint of being sick on Monday, the rest of the week got better. Matt had his first game on Tuesday that the girls and I went to. It got a little chilly, so we didn't end up staying the whole time. While at home, Mattey played every game we have with Kelsey, chased Megan around all over the place, and enjoyed lots and lots of cuddle time. I was quite jealous I couldn't be home with everyone, but also happy for Matt to get that time with the girls because it gets busy for him during baseball season and he doesn't always get that 1-1 time. He is such a good Daddy :) The girls cling to him and it is precious to watch them together. We owe a big thank you to Stacey for helping to watch the girls for us a few days while Matt had to get to baseball and I was still at school. Thank you! Kelsey and Megan loved their time with you and the boys. Now it is Friday and I am finally off to join my family! Here's to a great Easter weekend!

Kelsey putting on a puppet show using socks on her hands :)

We All Got It

As a follow up to the previous post, we all ended up getting sick :( Matt stayed home with the girls last Friday. Kelsey seemed to be better after about 24 hours. I went to school on Friday and came home feeling sick. That evening I went to bed early and slept a ton. On Saturday we were all pretty good. The girls and I ran some errands, had lunch with Mattey at a baseball team picnic, and stayed busy with house stuff. But by Sunday afternoon, we were all headed down. So the rest of Sunday and Monday were pretty miserable around here. Kelsey, Matt, and I are all doing better now, but Megs still has something going on with nasty diapers, a cough, and a really runny nose. Let's hope she gets over it soon and we can be done with that because we are all sick of being sick.