Suddenly spring

Like a large part of the rest of the country, New Jersey is currently experiencing amazing spring-like weather in the middle of March. I wore flip-flops today, people. Flip-flops! So naturally, we've been trying to make the most out the weather and get outside as much as we can.

This morning after music class we met Uncle John at a local park for a little nature walk. Charlie and Lily loved playing in the gazebos, climbing in and out of the (unfilled) fountain and tossing little tree seeds (what DO you call those prickly round things that fall of the trees!?) into the water from the bridge.
We've spent a lot of time drawing with sidewalk chalk in the driveway. Lily is quite the chalk artist.
And of course, Charlie and Lily make Daddy work to keep them entertained. (Notice how he's still in his clothes from work, lol.)
On Monday, after a fun afternoon outside, we hit the Chinese buffet for dinner. Charlie and Lily ate peanut butter and jelly (I couldn't even get them to try the egg rolls. Who doesn't like egg rolls?) but had a great time in the restaurant.
Last Friday (before the weather got so nice!) I was called upon to fill in last minute as the mission speaker at the PSE&G March for Babies kick-off. I had to bring Charlie and Lily with me to the breakfast, as I literally found out that I was going at 9:00 the night before the 9:00am event. They were SO good at the breakfast - smiling at everyone and chatting away, while carrying their toys around in March of Dimes donation buckets. They came up with me while I gave my speech and at the end Charlie yelled, "Thank you!" into the microphone and waved. He was so sweet! As we left Lily asked if we could go get a donut, and since they had been so good we headed right to Dunkin Donuts for a treat.
And by now you may be wondering why Lily is wearing a Sesame Street hat in every picture. Last week, one of Joe's students made him an Elmo hat. Lily took one look at it, claimed it for herself and wore it constantly. I mean constantly. She put it on the moment she woke up in the morning and, other than when she napped, kept it on until bedtime. Poor Charlie was left out, so Joe' student was kind enough to make a Cookie Monster hat for him. Which, upon seeing, Lily ALSO claimed as her own. So for the past week she has not been seen without either Elmo or Cookie on her head. Silly girl!

Calling All Cloth Diapering Mamas!

So my friend Gretchen is kind of a cloth diapering rock star. Her online business, Twinkie Tush, makes some of the most amazing and coveted diapers around. In support of our March for Babies team, Three Cheers for Babies, Gretchen is hosting an online auction tonight starting at 8:00pm EST for a mini group custom slot. All proceeds from the auction, minus paypal fees and shipping, will be donated to our team. Be sure to check it out - and thank you, Gretchen!

March of Dimes Auction: Mini Group Custom SYOF - 3 diapers to 3 addresses :: twinkie tush Online Shop

Tea for Two (plus a few)

I just thought these pictures were too cute not to share! Yesterday afternoon a spontaneous tea party broke out between Charlie, Lily and the Sesame Street gang. Charlie and Lily were so adorable, giving their furry friends sips of "tea" and bites of plastic cakes. Since we've moved I've been unable to find the camera, but luckily Joe came home right as the party was getting into full swing and located it so he could take some pictures.
Tea for Cookie.
And some for Oscar.
Saying goodbye to Murray and Cookie when the party finished.
Tea parties are more fun with Super Grover. Charlie kept saying, "Super Grover, you showed up!" which is what they say on Sesame Street, lol.
Charlie then balanced out the calm of the tea party with a little Daddy rough housing.I've still been doing our weekly lessons, but since I hadn't been able to find the camera I don't really have any pics. Last week was M week, though, and we made M&M cookies (an activity that taught me that I need to become more familiar with the oven in this house, since I burned a bunch of them) and Charlie and Lily glued mini marshmallows to the letter M for art. We also discussed what words start with the letter M, and Charlie and Lily were able to tell me that "mommy" and "monkey" start with M, without me even giving them a hint! They are getting really good at identifying letters just by the sound they make. We read If You Give a Moose a Muffin (they love the If You Give A...books) and Joe topped off the week by bringing them home giant Mickey and Minnie Mouse balloons :)

Because we'll never forget

Why do we support the March of Dimes? Because we will never forget that this is how our beautiful children began their lives:
And we'll never forget that this is what we lost:
On April 22nd we'll once again be walking in the 2012 March for Babies as Team Three Cheers for Babies. We hope all our local friends and family will be able to join us again (you all rock!), but if you can't walk with us we hope you'll consider donating to your team to support the March of Dimes by CLICKING HERE.

One day we will live in a world where all babies are born healthy.

Ch-ch-changes!

It's been a very busy week here, and it's only Wednesday! First off, we moved! We're almost all settled in our new house and are very happy. It's great to have so much space again. We liked our townhouse, but we were very on top of each other there. Here we have much more space to spread out, and Charlie and Lily even have their own playroom, which they love.
The actual move itself was relatively painless, especially because I had so much help packing and unpacking.
And once again, none of this would have been possible without our wonderful family. Thank you to Pop-Pop and Uncle John for helping Joe move dresser drawers and closets full of clothes and set up our new television. Thank you to Crackers and Nana for babysitting Charlie and Lily all day long while we moved (it was Charlie and Lily's first time being at someone's house without Joe or I and they did awesome!) and to Mom-Mom for amusing them the next day while we unpacked, and the day before we moved while we packed. So family, thank you, and I'd like to promise that this is the last time we'll be moving again for a LONG time, but you've all heard that before ;)

The other big news is about me - I got a new job and I'm so excited! Starting Monday I will be the Family Team Specialist for the New Jersey March of Dimes. I can't even tell you how wonderful it feels to know I'll be working for an organization so close to my heart. I've been volunteering with the March of Dimes for awhile now, but I love that I'll now be able to support them in a professional capacity as well. The job is part-time, just 17 1/2 hours a week, so I'll still be able to continue being a stay-at-home mom to Charlie and Lily as well, which is incredibly important to me and Joe. But I'm eager for this new chapter in my life to start.

(This is also a good point to mention that Team Three Cheers for Babies is back in action for the 2012 March for Babies! CLICK HERE to visit our team web page and join our team! If you aren't local or can't walk with us, please consider making a donation to our team to support the March of Dimes. Thank you!)

And now, even though it happened last week, I have to share a few pics from Valentine's Day. We decorated Valentine's Day cupcakes for a special treat. Charlie and Lily are becoming expert dessert decorators and managed to use 3 full containers of sprinkles in their efforts.
As usual, Daddy spoiled his girls. Early Valentine's Day morning Lily and I both received a delivery - a dozen red roses for me and a single pink rose, heart balloon and stuffed kitty cat for Lily. She was so happy.
Charlie was my valentine, and I treated him to an Emily train (from Thomas the Tank Engine - he's obsessed and loves Emily), a Thomas and Friends t-shirt and a Thomas DVD. I also got a treat from Charlie! Joe took him to the chocolate shop and let him pick anything he wanted for me. He chose a chocolate truck. I think its an excellent choice ;)

What's New

I know, I know, I promised to do a better job of updating the blog. And I'm trying - really, I am! Things have just been kind of hectic around here. First, as I discussed in my last post, we were taken down by the horrible stomach virus, Charlie had a sinus infection and then both kids needed nebulizer treatments three times a day, which seriously cut into my computer time :P And we're moving. In 8 days. Eeek. So there's been a lot of packing going on. Charlie and Lily like to "help" me with this, and Lily especially loves "labeling" the boxes after I seal them up. Reminder to self: toddlers and Sharpies are not a good a mix. On top of that we've had music class, visits to the gym kids' club, trips to Dunkin Donuts and a fantastic family team kick-off party for the March of Dimes March for Babies (I have a separate post planned for that, but Team Three Cheers for Babies will be back in action this April!).

So we've been busy. And Charlie and Lily have been awesome. Seriously, they are growing up so fast. They are both constantly singing and talking and making us laugh. Every day when Joe gets home from work Lily gives him an entire detailed summary of her day. It usually goes something like this: "I wake up and have milk and Mommy have coffee and we watch Sesame Street. Then I go to gym and then we go to Target! Then Charlie pooped and Mommy change his diaper. I have peanut butter and jelly and then I take nap. I close my eyes and be quiet. Then I wake up and see Daddy." And Charlie loves to sing. He'll randomly bust out with the lyrics from music class songs or songs he heard on the radio. I love watching him push around his toy cars while singing, "Give Me Everything" and "Good Feeling." There's not a lot of quiet here anymore ;)

We have been trying to squeeze in some things to celebrate Valentine's Day. I love holidays! On one of our recent trips to Target (we may have a little bit of a Target addiction here...) we picked up a little foam heart craft kit. Charlie and Lily enjoyed assembling the hearts the other morning. Well, Lily enjoyed it. Charlie lost interest after about 30 seconds and went off to be with his true loves - the trains from Thomas and Friends.
Lily helped me make a lot of hearts though, and then we hung them to admire.
Our Target purchases also included a bag of candy conversation hearts. I gave them to Charlie and Lily with a bunch of bowls, spoons and scoops and let them go to town. Those little hearts kept them busy for over 45 minutes, and then for almost the same length of time the next day. They got a kick out of dumping the hearts from one container to another and loading up the toy trucks with the candies.And then they put the buckets on their heads, because Joe taught them that it's always funny to put things on your head.
Tomorrow we plan to make pink Valentine's Day cupcakes to round out our holiday fun. Then it's back to packing, packing, packing!

Sick :(

Nothing more to say about our week than that! On Tuesday night, Charlie woke up around 9:30 throwing up. He threw up 3 more times that night before we managed to get him (and Lily, who woke up from all the commotion) back in bed around 1:00am. The next morning I took Charlie to the pediatrician for a lingering cough unrelated to the stomach bug. The nurse pracitioner we saw said the cough was from a combo of leftover cold and allergies, and we had to wait it out. The next day, Thursday, began with Lily throwing up and Charlie still weak, lethargic and coughing. As the pictures on this post prove, the poor boy could not stay awake for more than half an hour. On Thursday and Friday, both kids took a 4 hour nap, woke at 4:30 and were back in bed at 6:30. When they were awake, there was a lot of dozing, whimpering and begging for milk, which of course they couldn't have. And Thursday afternoon, I went down for the count with the stomach virus as well. (And oh, was it horrible!! I feel even worse knowing just how bad poor Charlie and Lily felt!)

Thankfully, Joe managed to avoid the virus (so far, at least!) and was able to stay home on Friday and take care of us all. But by yesterday morning, while the vomiting had stopped and the kids were eating a bit, they both were coughing, Charlie worse than ever. So off to the pediatrician we went again. This time, the doctor we saw said she heard wheezing in Charlie's lungs and diagnosed him with a sinus infection. She put him on an amoxicilin and prescribed nebulizer treatments for him every four hour. Lily gets nebulizer treatments for her cough as well, until it goes away.

I'm glad that we got some help for Charlie, and as of last night he seemed to be perking up a bit, so fingers crossed! Is it spring yet?!?!

(On another doctor note, Lily returned to Dr. Wasserman on Tuesday (before the plague hit, lol) to have her eyes re-checked. Dr. Wasserman has been following Lily since her NICU stay for a few pigment spots on her eyes. Lily was such a good girl at the doctor (she especially liked how we got to go walk around the mall while we waited for her eyes to dilate) and Dr. Wasserman determined that the spots are absolutely nothing and she's all cleared.)