Saturday, July 11, 2009

Lorelei Fun!

Lorelei has been learning and doing a lot of new things lately. She is such a curious little gal. Here are some photos of her recent adventures.

Check them out here:

Lorelei's new adventures!

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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Lots of summer fun

We've been having a great summer. The girls are at really fun stages and are both very active! Lorelei is taking swimming lessons with her cousin Ethan and despite the tears, they are learning a ton and are doing very well. Charlotte no longer walks... she now runs. It is really had to keep up with her. She is now finally SLEEPING THROUGH THE WHOLE NIGHT! Praise God! Getting full nights of sleep has been a blessing after a year of getting up with her every few hours! Charlotte says several words now: Mama, Dada, Dog, LiLi (Lorelei), up, milk, no, stop. Some of these are in a language all her own. Lorelei is a bright little gal and amazes us daily with the things she knows and the things she says! We've been having fun enjoying summer activities and LOVE our pool. We are also really looking forward to Uncle Kyle and Auntie Aimee's wedding in a few weeks! Every day Lorelei asks, "can we go to Kaka and Aimee's wedding today?" and then says, "oh, the doors aren't open yet?" after hearing my answer. The girls will be the flower girls and we ask that everyone start praying now that they actually go down the isle! Hope all is well with everyone and we'll keep you "posted"!

Here are some summer photos:

Summer fun

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Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Memorial Day and Birthday photos from Grandma Barrow

My Mom sent me some great photos from Charlotte's first birthday party as well as fun photos from the memorial day BBQ at our house. We wanted to share them with you!

Memorial Day and Charlotte's first birthday 2009

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Thursday, June 4, 2009

I wish pets could live forever...

Today was a sad day for my Mom, Dad, Kyle and I. We had to put our beloved cat Tugger to sleep. He was shy of 16 years old and was fading fast. Over the last few months he went from being the slightly-portly but healthy, beautiful cat we loved to a shadow of his former self. His balance was failing him as were his kidneys and quality of life. Kyle and I opted to not attend the appointment today and said our goodbyes yesterday with a few scratches under his chin and kisses on his nose. This left Mom and Dad to be the ones by his side as he slipped away but they assured us that they didn't mind. He left his body peacefully and he gave the gift of peace to my parents by his willing surrender. We had made the right decision and we knew that he would be happy to see his old pal PeeWee as his paws padded across the threshold of heaven. There they would be agile once more, romping together in their nightly wrestling match.

Our beloved pets live for a fraction of the time that we are on this earth leaving us to experience the full cycle of their life and death...and then the void they leave behind. But the joy they brought by their uncomplicated and unconditional companionship makes the pain of their loss more bearable. How sweet it must be to live such a simple existance. We only hope that in their blink-of-a-life they found joy in our presence as well.

We'll miss you Tugger.

Love,
your family

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Turning ONE is so much fun!

Well, our little Charlotte is now 1! It really is so hard to believe. Was it only a year ago that we were just a family of three? Becoming a family of 4 has been so awesome and we count our blessings daily for our little Charby.

We had a great little party for Charlotte last weekend complete with ice cream cookie sandwiches. YUMMY! Thanks Grandma Barrow! Charlotte loved observing all of the action and looked cute in her birthday crown. She totally dug in to her ice cream and picked up chunks of it with her little hands until they froze! She received many nice gifts and was very attentive during the gift-opening session. What a nice day!

Charlotte also had her 1 year "well-baby" checkup with our pediatrician. Her stats are as follows: 17.5 lbs, 29 and a quarter inches. Overall, she is a peanut although her build is much more solid than that of Lorelei at the same age. She is taking steps on her own quite often now and even stops and changes direction! She still only says about 6 words, but why talk when Lorelei can do all of the talking for her?! Charlotte still gives us heart-attacks with her climbing and she can completely disassemble a room in a split second! But that sweet smile and personality continues to melt our hearts. What a joy she is.

Here are some photos:

2009-05-29 Charlotte 1 year old, may 29, 2009


2009-05-30 Charlotte 1 year old, may 29, 2009


2009-05-30 Charlotte 1 year old, may 29, 2009

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Monday, May 18, 2009

Late May Fun

Well, the end of May has roasted us with some very hot weather and we've been enjoying the pool...(all except Charlotte). Lorelei would love to live in the pool along with Baxter! The girls have been up to their normal antics of playing and fighting. Charlotte has become very willful lately and lets her sister (and parents) know how she feels by ear-piercing screeches. Oh boy. We'll be putting a stop to that! Lorelei is still a very tolerant and sweet big sister but once she reaches her limit, all bets are off. As a result she's become quite a regular in her time-out spot. And because practice makes perfect, she is now able to articulate very well the reason she was placed there each time! Hug-and-kiss apologies are often not well received by Charlotte but Lorelei feels that until her little sister is smothered into submission to receive the hug and kiss, her debt has not been payed...then Charlotte gets irritated and the vicious cycle continues! Despite the drama, for the most part the girls play together very well. Charlotte loves to imitate EVERYTHING Lorelei does. She cut two new teeth and she has been working on her first independant steps this week. Soon she'll be running behind Lorelei without the use of the push cart! Lorelei has been making up songs left and right and she entertains us in the evenings until we nicely ask her to quit. May has been a fun month and we know there will be many more memorable moments to come in June.

Here are some photos:

Charlotte Lola late May 09

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Charlotte our little spider

Just like the spider in the movie "Charlotte's Web", our little Charlotte is quite the climber. Here are a few shots of her in action. Yes, she causes us a heart-attack at least once a day.

Check her out...and hold your breath!

Charlotte the climber 11.5 months May 09

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Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Goodbye dear friend

Many of you will remember the dear friend of ours who stood guard on the porch of every place that Matt and I called home: our beloved cast-concrete E.T. Matt "acquired" him from a college buddy and ever since he has been with us through each move and change. He traveled with us from Sacramento to Eureka where he adorned two different porches...and then on to Orange County and then to each of our houses in Lodi. But last night he was taken. We are so sad. We had hoped that my brother had taken him as a joke but no...he is gone. We knew we were taking a chance by having him in our front yard but everyone knew our place by our E.T. I will be posting an ad on Craigslist if we can come up with some sort of "reward". Maybe we'll wake up tomorrow and he'll be back in our front yard. That would be cool. I just hope some dumb teenagers didn't steal him to shoot at him with a BB gun or smash him in the road somewhere. If they did steal him, I hope they were on bikes and I hope they put him in a basket on the front. He would have liked that. But instead, I would like to think that maybe his spaceship just came to take him home. If that was what happened, we're ok with it.

Here are some photos of our dear E.T.

ET

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11 months old!

Well, Charlotte is now 11 months old. How can this be? Her new trick is that she blows kisses...it is so adorable. Here are some photos of her:

Charlotte 11 months

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April photos

Here are photos from the rest of April. Overall it was a good month and the girls are growing and changing by leaps and bounds! Charlotte is running all over the house behind her push cart chasing her sister everywhere she goes. She loves to feed herself finger foods and now waves, shakes her head "no, no", says "Mama", "Dada", "Dog", "naw, naw" (no, no) and gives hugs and kisses on demand. She climbs anything in her path and loves to sneak over to our indoor plants and eat the bark and dirt whenever she can. Poor Lorelei...she is having to learn to deal with a very grabby baby sister who claims things with her slobber and chews on all of her coloring books! But overall, Lorelei is a very patient, loving big sister. She is very helpful to Mommy and loves Charlotte to pieces. Lorelei's vocabulary never ceases to amaze us as well as the clarity with which she speaks. She has great little sayings like, "oh dear" and "hey there Mommy-o" and "no way Jose!" She is potty trained (#1), but we are still working on #2. Lorelei is a dancin' fool and will move to the beat of anything! She loves spotting police cars on the road since Uncle Kyle drives on of those cars and she lives and dies for time at the park. Lola also loves to help clean and works alongside Daddy when he mows the lawn or tends the garden. What a big girl she has become! We are so proud of her. Our girls keep us busy and we love them to pieces but Matt and I find enjoyment in the little moments we have alone after the girls are in bed!!!

2009-04-16 Charlotte Lola April 2009


2009-04-17 Charlotte Lola April 2009


2009-04-22 Charlotte Lola April 2009

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Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter-palooza

Where did Easter weekend go? Wow! It was a busy, fun and BEAUTIFUL weekend. The girls really enjoyed all of the Easter festivities. Although the Easter Bunny scared the be-jesus out of Lorelei when she met him at a picnic this weekend, she still liked the basket he brought for her. Charlotte seemed to like watching the flurry of things going on around her and she looked adorable in my dress from when I was her age. We spent time with those we love and had an overall awesome weekend. It really is a wonderful life.

2009-04-11 Charlotte Lola Easter weekend 2009

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009

March Round-Up

March was a fun and crazy month. We enjoyed rain and sun, health and illness, a Birthday for me and LOTS of other friends and family including little Cade Andrew Moreno (the third son of very dear friends of ours) who squeaked his little arrival in at the end of March. Congratulations Chrissy and Mando! Throughout March we were busy with work and play and the girls continued to amaze us and make us laugh. Lorelei is a master at the playground now. She can do the big slides all on her own and even the big kid swings (she swings herself on her belly). She is getting better at dressing herself and can use the big toilet on her own! The things she says never cease to make us smile (and sometimes cringe). Charlotte is now a big 10 month old and in March she learned to wave bye-bye (in the hospital for pneumonia) and to clap. She says "Naw-naw" (no-no), "Mama", "Dada", "Daw" (dog). Her crawl is still very unique but it gets her where she needs to go. She pulls up on EVERYTHING and is walking behind her walker now. WOW!

We are enjoying our time with the girls at these ages and we know it will be gone in a flash. Matt and I got out of the house a few Friday nights ago for a "date-night" and had so much fun. (Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Barrow!) We laughed and laughed- it brought us right back to the days when we were getting to know each other over meals. I had a yummy margarita (cantaloupe)and realized that I am quite the light-weight now since over the last three years I have either been pregnant or breastfeeding! We are really enjoying our little moments alone together when we are allowed them- we often feel like two ships passing in the night with his busy work schedule and the girls at demanding ages.

Easter will be here soon and we'll post again then!

2009-03-23 Charlotte Lorelei late March 2009


Here are some fun photos from the park the other day:

2009-03-26 Charlotte Lorelei March 2009 Fun at the Park

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Monday, March 23, 2009

Pneumonia- a rough spring for Charlotte

Miss Charlotte has had a rough 2009. Back in February she came down with a terrible head cold that made its way into her chest. We ended up in the ER on a Saturday (Valentine's Day) and she was diagnosed with "Bronchiolitis" and was given antibiotics and breathing treatments. She then became worse and was diagnosed with "RSV" which is a nasty childhood respiratory virus. After healing from that she was left with wheezing and coughs. Last week we went back to the doctor and found out that she had asthma. It is a "chicken or egg" scenario because it may have been that she had a predisposition towards allergies which caused her to come down with RSV more easily or it could be that the RSV caused damage which then became asthma. Who knows. On top of this, she had a very high fever a few weeks ago with no other symptoms...we took her in and she was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection (uncommon in babies). They think she may have a reflux-like issue in between her urethra/bladder/kidneys which is allowing bacteria to multiply. We have a bladder ultrasound tomorrow to check that situation out and a radiological catheter exam in a few weeks to actually "see" if there is reflux.

After the asthma diagnosis of last week we went back to the doctor the next day because her breathing treatments at home were not helping and her cough was getting worse. She sounded terrible in her chest and had a high fever. After chest x-rays we found out she had pneumonia in her right lung and needed to be hospitalized so that she could be treated with IV antibiotics, hydrated with IV fluids, monitored closely and given more frequent breathing treatments by respiratory specialists. So...Mommy and Charlotte checked in to Lodi Memorial Hospital on Thursday morning. We were happy to see Auntie Aimee working on the floor. She helped by recommending a nurse and helped to get Charlotte's IV started. It was heart-wrenching to watch a baby being held down while doctors and nurses tried to feed a tiny IV tube into her vein. She had blood drawn (yet another stick) and was put on a nasal cannula for oxygen. She was attached to lots of tubes/monitors! The first day was rough. She felt terrible and wanted to just be held. The night in the hospital was long, but she was a good sport. She slept next to me in the hospital bed. The next day was better. Her fever was gone, she felt better and was smiling more. But, trying to keep an active 9.5 month old busy on a hospital bed when she wants to crawl around and mess with her IV is HARD! We were released Friday evening and sent home with instructions and meds. She is much better. We will continue breathing treatments for her asthma as long as needed but we are so happy to have her home. Matt missed his little baby and Lorelei missed her little sister...and we missed them! A big thank you to Grandpa Barrow, Auntie Colleen and Auntie Amanda for helping out so much and taking care of Lorelei so that Matt could still work!

Here are some photos:

Charlotte pneumonia March 2009

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Monday, March 16, 2009

Zoo time with the Troys

Last Saturday we had a wonderful day with the Troy family. We ate sandwitches at their deli "Cut the Mustard", went to Micke Grove Zoo to enjoy the animals, and spent time on a fabulous play set too! Lorelei had so much fun with Nicole (3 yrs) and Camille (4 years). I didn't know that Lorelei knew how to play with little girls! All of her little friends are boys! Charlotte enjoyed her first time to the zoo and passed the time eating snacks in her stroller. It was a beautiful day spent with good friends.

Here are photos from the day courtesy of Chris Troy

Day at the park and Zoo with the Troys

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Mid March fun

Half of March is already gone. The girls are enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having and Mommy has really been enjoying spending time outside of the house with the kids! Here are some photos from the last week or so.

2009-03-12 Charlotte Lorelei Mid March 2009

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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Baptized!

Better late than never, right? Charlotte had a beautiful private Baptism ceremony last weekend at St. Joachim's Historic chapel in Lockeford, CA. She was a very happy girl and looked adorable too!

Here are some photos from the day: courtesy of Larry Peters (cousin) and Beth Schneider (friend). Thanks guys!

Charlotte's Baptism, March 2009

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Recent favorite photos...

The girls are now 9 months old and two and a half. I've been so bad at keeping up to date on the blog that it is way too overwhelming to post all that has gone on in the last four months. So, here are the girls now! Charlotte is crawling (strangly) and saying "mama", "dada", "nawnaw" (no no?) and "daw" (dog). She is pulling up and starting to cruise. She is eating crackers, meats, yogurts and all kinds of things now and is a very happy baby. Lola is a talker and loves to "read" us stories, and has a great imagination. She loves to dance to music and do summer-saults. She loves to be outdoors with her dogs and is almost potty-trained (thank goodness). Lorelei loves to ride her trike and sing songs too! These girls are growing up so fast. I am holding on tight to each moment and trying to live in the "now" instead of looking forward to the next thing they will do.

Charlotte 9 months, Lola 2 and a half

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Baxter vs. Lorelei

Well, this is what happens when a 90 pound dog's muzzle makes contact with the eye of a toddler as he's racing around the front yard like a maniac while being chased by Bailey! When Baxter is in one of his crazy moods he has no awareness of his surroundings or of his size. His nose smacked straight into Lola's eye and he just kept on running! The bruise formed immediately as did her tears! Oh Baxter. What are we going to do with you?

Lola vs. Baxter March 2009

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