big sister's gift

"Grace Releases a Ladybug"

Grace drew this picture and gave it to Marion for her First Birthday. She even wrapped it herself. It has a number 4 because Grace is 4 :), and the other arrow shows how she is releasing her ladybug. Such a sweet gift!!!

late night

Grace, with her glowing finger from the pulse-ox

Yep, we made another trip to the emergency room last night. Grace had a cough during the day and then started getting short of breath around bedtime. By 10:00pm it had gotten pretty bad, so we woke up Marion, dropped her off at a friend's house and headed to the ER.

It was a MUCH better ER experience than last time. We were taken right back, and after breathing treatments, chest x-rays and steroids, we got to go home. We made it home before 1am, which definitely beats being admitted! Her chest xray looked a little funky, so the diagnosis was the same as last time- bronchitis with underlying asthma. Coincidentally (or maybe not), she had an awful bloody nose earlier in the day. Has anyone ever heard of bloody noses and asthma going together? I'll definitely be watching out for it from now on.

Cute stories from the ER! { I'm currently reading a book about making the best of bad happenings ;) }

The nurse announced that she was going to get a "pulse-ox" for Grace. Grace got super excited, "She said she's going to get me COOL SOCKS to wear!!!" Oh well, no new socks, but she thinks the glowing finger is pretty darn cool too!

Marion often gets on Grace's nerves. After all, she's getting into EVERYTHING these days! In fact, last week she told me she wanted Marion to go to the other private school in town, not the one SHE is going to! Hmph! That was mean! Well, when we were driving home at 12:45 this morning (in a terrible thunderstorm), Grace asked about picking Marion up. I told her that Marion was staying at a friend's house and she started crying over and over, "I miss Maymay, I want Maymay!" She started again at 6:45 this morning... "Oh, I miss Maymay, let's go get her!" Who knows, it's very possible she was just jealous that Marion was having a slumber party! Maybe though, she really loves her baby sis!

happy birthday may may!!!

Me and my sweet baby girl!

We celebrated Marion's first birthday last weekend. Yes, there was still plenty of snow left from the blizzard that came through the day before. It was a pretty day though... cold, but pretty. The sun was out and there was no rain- I'll take it.

The ladybug release didn't go as well as it did at Grace's first birthday. They literally froze to death when they touched the snow. Paw Paw Jess joked that next year we should do it again... with canaries. Ha ha. Oh well, I tried.

Marion was a little sweetheart as always and made it through the whole day with only a tiny nap from 10am until 11am when the party started. She had so much fun with everyone (even spent some time in the jumpy thanks to Aunt Lindsey!) and got many wonderful gifts. Thank you everyone for coming out in the snow to celebrate our little Marion!!

No doubt, Big Sister added this decoration!

Marion with her cup of ladybugs.

Marion with her cake. It was yummy pink strawberry inside! She wasn't sure what to do with it!

I finally cut a slice, thinking that would help... she was still unsure. I had to chop it into baby chunks for her to eat it!

... but once she got started, she ate it ALL!

this is not why I live in the south!!!!

I'm Southern. I lived the first 17 years of my life in south Louisiana and south Mississippi. It snowed once, 1993. The farthest north I've ever lived was Auburn, Alabama. I think it snowed once in the 7 years I lived there. Being the true Southerner that I am, I slipped in an iced over parking lot and busted my ass. I moved back to South Mississippi less than 3 years ago. This is a picture of my house taken last weekend...it was the 4th snow in under 3 years!! (For the record, I once again slipped in an iced over parking lot and busted my ass during snow #3... this time holding a baby that I cradled like a football as I went down. She didn't even seem to notice that we fell- it happened that fast.) Honestly, I'm kinda over it. I like cool weather... you know, when it's about 60 degrees and sunny. This past weekend was much too cold for me. Luckily Marion remembered how cold she was last month when it snowed and screamed the second she was taken out in it this time. She and I stayed inside and stayed warm together.

Daddy and Grace played for hours...

I know I must sound like quite the scrooge, I'll explain! I was preparing for Marion's 1st birthday party. I had an outdoor party planned, and the snow didn't particularly go with my theme! Also, our whole little town seemed to shut down at the mention of snow. Businesses were closing early and the grocery stores sold out of bread among many other things. I am just so ready for Spring!!!

may may is moving!!!

Marion at her Mommy and Me Valentine Party

Little May May has been hitting lots of milestones lately. Today she wore black for the first time! I'm sure this sounds a bit trivial to many of you reading this; but to me, it's a big deal. I don't recall putting Grace in black and hot pink until she was about two and a half (and she only wore black once before that; a black and white gingham Halloween bishop). Black just doesn't have that fresh sweet innocence that I think baby clothes should have. Anyway, I got these matching tees at Target, and I think Marion looked pretty darn cute! She was thrilled with her Valentine treats... baby likes to eat!!

Marion is also still a star student according to her physical therapist. She now pulls up to standing on her own, cruises (very slowly!), and will take steps behind a walker wagon. She's really catching up fast!

Pulling up

We have to bribe her with food... this day it was Fruity Cheerios!

Enjoying her reward, she made it!

I must not forget to acknowledge my lovely assistant who puts out the rewards and cheers on Marion during "physical pherapy!"

Marion has found some motivation of her own too. She loves to open drawers, pull up on them, and empty them. Yes, those are plastic knives... you should have heard the tantrum when I took them away! As we were getting ready to go eat dinner tonight, she did this in my bathroom. She was emptying my nail polish drawer when the hot pink one broke... it went all over her and the floor. Ugh!! I won't complain too much though; because truly, I'm glad she's motivated and exploring :)

that itty bitty zoo again

We had plans to go to the Audobon Zoo, or the Aquarium, or even the NOLA Children's museum... but guess what... they're all closed on Mondays. So, we headed off to the local zoo. After all, the kids love it, no matter how small!

It was so nice for Marion to have Daddy along for this trip to the zoo. Without him, she's confined to the stroller!