Blizzard of 2010!

Merry Christmas!  We had a great Christmas at the Smith house this year. We got to webcam on Christmas Eve with all of our family back home in Nebraska. That made it even more special to get to see everyone.  The girls really love the webcam. They do get a little crazy and it can be chaotic but it's nice that they get to see everyone. Gotta love technology! 

We had a huge snowstorm on the 26th.   Blizzard like conditions and about 19 inches of snow fell starting Sunday morning into the early morning hours of Monday.  We had big plans this weekbut they were not meant to be! We were supposed to go to NYC and see the tree with my parents but they never made it to us.  The airports were shut down and they couldn't get a flight out to Philly till late in the week.  I spent all day in bed Monday crying my eyes out but I'm starting to bounce back.  I had my little self pity party but it's time to buck up now.  The girls took it really well too.  Abby was pretty upset on Monday but she is back to her old self again.  We are all looking forward to them coming in the near future.Thankfully we can webcam anytime we want!   Hopefully mother nature will cooperate this time! Overall we had a nice Christmas and we are looking forward to the New Year. 

Happy Birthday to Emily

Emily turned 2 this week!  I personally can't believe how fast the time has flown.  It seems like yesterday that our little family of 3 became a family of 4.  She is truly a blessing.  Emily has quite the personality for such a little girl.  Tonight we had some friends over for cake and ice cream and she decided to show our friends a little bit of her attitude that I am always telling them about.  Emily was running down the hallway and she looked over her shoulder back at our friend and she stuck her tongue out at him!  That's my kid! TROUBLE!  I think the terrible 2's have arrived.  Wish me luck.  

Overall she had a great birthday.  She loved opening up her gifts. In fact today the day after her birthday she kept bringing me Christmas presents that were under the tree to open.  I keep having to explain to her that her birthday is over and she has to wait till Christmas to open more gifts.  Emily's response to this is, "NO!"  That's her new favorite word by the way.   My good friend Carol made Emily's birthday cake this year and it was wonderful.  Emily has a very deep love of Elmo and Carol graciously offered to make Emily an Elmo cake.  Emily loved it and it came out beautifully! 

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Ahh, December!  I love it!  It really is my favorite month. I love the change in the weather, getting ready for Christmas, my birthday and Emily's birthday.The music!  Oh how I love Christmas music! It just never gets old for me.  I've alway's loved Christmastime. I think it has to do with my birthday being 5 days before Christmas and now I love it even more because Emily is also a December baby!  I have so many fond memories of Christmas as a child and an adult.  I remember going to Christmas Eve mass and racing home to wait for everyone to arrive to eat dinner and then open presents! Grandma Jo sitting with us kids in the living room chanting, "Presents, presents, we want presents!"  Those are great memories that I still cherish to this day!
 The food is always delicious at my parents house and I do miss that since I've moved away.  Nothing like Orsi pizza!  We haven't been home for the last 2 Christmases but we do our best here in NJ to make the best of it.  We put our tree up last weekend and it has been quite wonderful watching my girls explore and touch the tree. Abby is still enchanted with the ornaments and the ribbon that goes around the tree and of course all the gifts underneath it! It  is really fun to watch Emily explore the tree this year.  Last year she had just turned 1 and she really wasn't into to much trouble but this year she is certainly up to no good!  I look over and I catch her standing as close as she can to the tree and she is touching and looking carefully at every ornament she can!  She brings me ornaments she has taken off the tree and I help her put them back on!  Today I walked into the living room and noticed she had unraveled some of the ribbon off the lower portion of the tree. No big deal though, we just fixed it. I think this will be a great Christmas. We have been blessed this year and I hope and pray this trend continues.  Merry Christmas!

Milestone time!

It only took us just shy of 24 months but Emily has finally made it to 20 lbs!  The irony of the whole thing is I have been very stressed about her eating the last few days but that little stinker showed me!  We weighed her 2 days in a row and she is at 20lb so we finally got to turn her car seat around.  She was very excited to ride in the car today.  Her little head was on a swivel and she was reaching around trying to grab the shade on the window.  I think Emily is really going to enjoy her new view of the world! We have been waiting and waiting for months now but she was just so slow to gain weight that we never thought this day would come.  I'm hoping this trend continues and she keeps on gaining weight!

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! What a day!  I made 5 pies on Wednesday, Pecan, Pumpkin, Chocolate, Apple, and a Chocolate chip pie.  There is always so much preparing leading up to Thanksgiving and then I am always seem to be a bit let down the actual  day because my kids won't EAT!  It is so frustrating. I slave in the kitchen, I make a good, juicy turkey that mind you is never dry and they won't eat!  Emily hasn't eaten a really good meal since Tuesday, so I know the little stinker has got to be hungry but do you think she would eat! Of course not.  I have to take a  much needed "Mommy time out" and tell myself that she will eat when she is hungry. It's not like she hasn't eaten at all in 2 days just not a enough for me to relax.  Oh the joys of motherhood.  I know she will be fine but when?  I am  sorry to complain a bit on Thanksgiving! I should be listing my thanks, so here goes!   I am so thankful. Thankful for my wonderful hubby of almost 12 years, our 2 beautiful daughters, our home, his job security, our health and all of our families!  I know we may not all talk often but we love you all and miss you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Let me eat Cake!

I have a secret.  I love cake. In fact I eat cake at least 1 or 2 times a week. I'm serious.  It's a problem. So I am starting a cake ban for the next 2 weeks.  It's going to be hard and a test of my will power but I think I need to say good bye to my dear old friend, Mr. Carrot Cake! 

Cheerleader??!

It happened the other day, Abby came up to me and said, " Mom I want to be a cheerleader!" My response, "We'll see, what about dance? You were so good at it!".  No luck, she is dead set on being a cheerleader.  The youth center here offers cheerleading in the winter months so I am going to have to swallow my pride and go sign her up.  I'm sure some of you are wondering what is the problem with cheerleading? I don't know why but for some reason I just can't wrap my head around Abby being a cheerleader!  I know there is nothing wrong with it but the idea just seems so foreign to me.  Maybe it's because I am the most uncoordinated person I know.  I run into walls for goodness sakes. Abby was good at dance and I know she'll be great at Cheerleading too.  She does love being the center of attention and she had no problem getting up on stage at her dance recital either.  I guess I'm doomed or destined. Destined to be the mother of a cheerleader!  Maybe part of my hesitation is because I was never a cheerleader, I had aspirations as a freshman in High School to be one but alas it never panned out.  I just hope Abby does well and enjoy's it and maybe I will too! 

Update on Emily

I had my visit with the dietitian on Monday and it went very well.  The bottom line is Emily is doing well.  She did fall off the growth curve for awhile there but she is back on curve. It's her own curve but she is growing and that is what is important.  We have some new rules we've implemented at our house for all meals and snacks and so far everything is working!  We stopped giving her the Instant Breakfast in her milk and just give her plain milk now.  It's amazing the instant results we got when we did that one thing!  Her little belly is no longer full on milk only and she is eating 3 meals a day plus snacks. I'm keeping my hopes up that this trend continues. I must admit that I feel like the doctor's here have let me down. They gave us all these things to do in order to fatten Em up and none of it worked! According to the dietitian it's the wrong information.   1 year of stress and worry for nothing!  I wish I would have visited the dietitian last year and saved myself a year of stress and tears.

Labels! Who needs em?

Why is everyone so quick to put labels on everything, people included? Actually, let me be honest, especially people?
Short, fat, tall, thin, skinny, smart, stupid,  the list goes on and on.  As a parent of a child who is labeled I am tired, upset and angry that someone's short sightedness makes me feel bad as a parent. Sure it's easy to say, "Just ignore them" but it's hard to do when it is the paid professionals in your life that are labeling your child!  Why can't people look up from the paper, chart, etc. and see the person before them before they speak and say something that may not be true.  I guess this is a teaching moment for me as a parent. I get to teach my children not to be so quick to judge and label people because, labels can hurt.

My Little Peanut

A friend suggested I devote a post to Emily since she causes me so much stress and worry and I need to vent so this post is devoted to my Emily.

Well it's no surprise that we call Emily our little peanut. She is such a tiny little girl. She's been slow to gain weight for some time now. Actually this has been going on a year now. I've had my moments where I wonder, "Am I failing her as a parent?" "Will she ever reach 20lbs?" the list of my unanswered questions go on and on. The doctor's have found nothing medically wrong with her other than an egg allergy and I thank God for that every day! Is it just genetics? Did she just inherit the "short gene?" Maybe that is the case but who knows!

I have a meeting next week with a registered dietician and I guess I should say that I am looking forward to it but I'm not. I'll be honest, I'm scared. I'm scared of what they may tell me. I don't want to hear that I have been doing everything wrong! Then again, maybe a fresh set of eyes will help me because I am tired of feeling frustated everytime we sit down to eat. I know every kid is different but it's hard when one is so different from the other and I am getting no explanation for why she doesn't want to eat. I know she is strong willed and stubborn so maybe that plays into her not eating well. People keep telling me she will eat when she is hungry but that doesn't make me feel any better. Since she is so little I know she needs to eat and her missing a meal doesn't feel like a good option to me. Hopefully the Dietician can help us out and ease my mind a bit. Till next week!

Pasta Face!!

Coast Guard Day

I apologize again for not blogging as often as I should. A lot has happened since I last blogged. Abby started school, we had the best Coast Guard Day ever and Emily is close to breaking the 20lb mark. Fun times in the Smith household.

I've been stepping out of my comfort zone slowly these past few months and it is a learning experience. I realized that I can't take on to many projects all at once other wise I just end of up feeling overwhelmed so I am picking and choosing what I can and cannot do. Abby has a busy social life so that keeps me busy. Plus now she wants to do Girl Scouts! Between my Ombudsman duties and the kids I have been a busy little bee. I joined a Mother's of Preschoolers group that meet's 2x a month and I am so glad I joined! It was uncomfortable at first to go and meet new people but it get's easier. I will try to blog weekly for now on but I make no promises!

Out of Sorts

I realized that I never posted pictures or video of Abby's Dance rectial back in June. I am not doing so well this summer. Time is flying by and it seems to go even faster since I've been on my own the last few weeks. Jason is down south somewhere working hard for the Coast Guard. We miss him terribly and look forward to seeing him soon. The girls are growing like weeds! Abby seems to have gotten really tall and thin this summer and Emily is sprouting right up too. Emily has gained a 1 lb in a month which is great news! We are so close to that magic 20lb mark! Abby has mastered riding her bike and has even moved onto a bigger bike!

Summertime!

Phew! What a summer so far! We've been busy beyond belief. We left on Father's Day for Omaha and we were there for almost 3 weeks. The drive as usual stunk! 2 days in the car with 2 small children is not a recipe for fun. We made it though and it was worth it. We got to do spend time with all of our family when we arrived in Omaha and we kept super busy. Aunt Janet took us on a wonderful boat cruise of the Missouri River, which the girls loved. They ate lunch and then were off looking at the sights. Jason and I were able to make to the last College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium, which was a real treat( thanks Mom and Dad for babysitting)! We hung out with our cousins and even made it to the zoo. We spent time at the cabin and Abby and Emily saw there first real parade. We did leave someone behind in Omaha though, we said goodbye to our dear old cat George. He moved in with Mom and Dad permanently. He is adjusting well and so is Abby as George was truly Abby's cat. We miss him but we are thankful that Mom and Dad were willing to adopt him for us.

Once we arrived home from New Jersey we have been busy, busy, busy. We came home to doctor's appointments and more doctor's appointments! We also came home to some super nasty weather. We've had a heat wave that just won't quit as well as a flash flood on our street. The girls and I were on our way home when we got caught in the flash flood. Luckily we turned around and headed for Jason's work. Our street was so flooded that the water came up to our garage door and front door. Thankfully no water got in our house, one of our neighbors cars is pretty wet though.

Spring Concert part 2

Here is a video of Emily dancing at Abby's school spring concert. She can't help herself! Once she hears music she starts dancing!

Spring Concert

Here is a brief video of Abby's Spring Concert. The Kindergartener's sang the theme to the Mickey Mouse Club.

Whatever one does the other has to do it too!

It was an uneventful Saturday evening at the Smith household. Abby was at the neighbors playing and Jason and I were relaxing. Emily was wandering around the house and keeping her self occupied with her toys. Emily and I went to my bedroom for something and as we were walking back to the living room she turned around and looked at me. The problem was she kept walking and she walked right into the doorway of her room. She had an egg that appeared instantly on her forehead. She cried a bit and then she was fine. About 45 min later we heard a knock on our door and then Abby says, "Mommy, can you come out her please?" She was in our garage. Then I heard my neighbor's voice with her. I walked over to the door and there is Abby, our neighbors and their son standing in our garage. Abby had an ice pack on her head! It seems she got hit in the forehead with a child's horseshoe! She had/has a huge egg on her head too! Both girls are fine but it was actually quite funny that they both decided to get a good bump on their heads! I took a picture this morning of their matching goose eggs. I hope it shows up in the picture. Abby's is on her right and Emily's is on her left

Music time!

Whatever Abby does, Emily does

Emily thinks that Abby's room is the best place in the house. She is not really allowed in there due to the amount of tiny toys Abby has. Whenever Emily does get the chance to get into her big sister's room she never misses the chance to grab Abby's music player. Emily likes to put the headphones on her head and then she proceeds to push all the buttons she can on the MP3 player. She usually stands there and sings and dances. I actually thought she was listening to music until I realized she didn't have the darn thing on! She knows it plays music but since she couldn't figure it out she made up her own music and danced to it! Here

is picture of her holding the MP3 player but not listening to any music.

Outside fun in the Sun!

NYC! Teeth! Slip and Slide!

I know it's been awhile since I last posted and I am sorry. Life has a way of getting in the way! Let's see we took a family trip to NYC, which was amazing and I can't wait to get back. Emily has been sick with an ear infection and I just discovered 2 new teeth today. Jason is preparing to have lasik eye surgery next week and then I am looking forward to an all girls weekend in Atlantic City with two of my oldest friends, Carrie and Carrie! It should be just like old times! I am looking forward to a kid and husband free weekend and some serious girl talk! The weather here in NJ the last 2 days has been unbelievably hot! Like 90 degrees hot. I put the slip and slide and water table out for the girls yesterday and they had a blast. Emily really didn't like it when Abby would go sliding down the slip and slide. Abby tends to yell and scream a lot. She is only 6 after all and everytime she yelled, Emily thought something was wrong so she would yell at Abby. The

Learning to ride a bike!

Abby has been trying to learn to ride her bike for quite sometime now. We started late last summer and she wasn't ready. This year we've only tried 2 other times but today was the day! She got out there and started riding her bike like an old pro! We are so proud of her! Now we just need to teach her how to start and stop all by herself.

Emily, Emily, Emily

She is cracking her dear old Mom up today. She decided to put a purple headband on her head and she has been wearing it for quite some time now. She is walking around with a kid's size broom, a princess cell phone with her headband on her head. The funniest part is she's talking on the phone with her head at an angle. I love it! She is quite the character these days. Also her first official word is "hi". We hear it all the time these days and it's wonderful!

11 years and Counting!

Wednesday was Jason and mine's 11th wedding anniversary. We fed the kids early and made ourselves a nice dinner of steak, lobster and bacon wrapped asparagus. Yummy! We plan to go out to dinner all by ourselves next week. I must admit that the last 11 years have flown by. He truly is my best friend and I know I am his. We tell each other everything and still enjoy spending lots of time together even after all these years. We've grown up together and thankfully not apart from each other. Marriage is hard work and it takes two of us to make it work. We appreciate all the kind words our friends and most of our family expressed to us on our day. I know we have many, many happy years ahead of us. Thanks to all!

Abby's Birthday

Today is Abby's 6th birthday! Who knew that once I got married and had kids that time would go by so quickly. I remember like yesterday going into labor with Abby and having her down in good old Key West. Today she is 6 and she amazes me each and every day. She is reading now. It's an amazing thing to watch her sit down and read a book. She has been on the brink of reading for a few months and this last week it all just started to click. It's hard for me to comprehend this when I can still remember bringing her home from the hospital! Oh well, I'm waxing philosophically I guess. I'm very proud of our super smart and beautiful little girl, she is an amazing sister and daughter. She has been a trooper these last few days too. She came home from school on Tuesday with a headache and she has been sick ever since. Last year she was really, really sick on her birthday, so sick in fact that we spent a good part of her birthday in the ER. This year she was still sick but no where near as bad as last year. Two years in a row she has been sick on her birthday and she has stayed fairly positive both times. Next year I am going to give her vitamin C a good 2 weeks before her bday in hopes that she doesn't get sick again!

St. Patricks Day

I have been a blogging slacker this last month. It's amazing how busy our lives have gotten and time just gets away from me. I swear I will try and do better! Here is a video of the girls dancing to Irish Music in celebration of St. Patrick's Day!
Enjoy!

Snow, snow and more snow!

I love my seasons. In fact when I lived in Florida I missed snow so much! Well I got my wish this winter that's for sure. We had a huge 20 inches of snow on December 19th, last Saturday we had another 16 to 18 inches and last night we had a blizzard and we got another 16 inches or so of snow! I am officially ready for Spring! We made it through the storm just fine, thankfully. The lights did flicker a few times but luckily they stayed on. Abby and I have been having a lot of fun in the snow. Last week we went sledding and today we had a snowball fight in our backyard with our friends. Hope everyone else is staying warm! Bring on Spring!

Ombudsman

Just a quick update on what's been going on in my life. After much soul searching I decided that I would volunteer to be the Ombudsman for our unit. For those of you who don't know what and Ombudsman is I'll explain. I will act as a link for the families and the command at our unit. I will provide information about housing, medical, schooling, jobs, etc. and assist the new and existing families at our unit about all sorts of community information. I went through the interview process today, which was a bit daunting, and I will know officially if I get picked in 30 days. I decided to step up and do this because I felt something was missing at this unit. I figure I shouldn't be complaining about something if I'm not doing anything to change it! I look forward to providing families with the information they need to make their lives comfortable here and to learn new ways the Coast Guard can assist us all, I'm also looking forward to meeting some new wives and making the transition easier for them. I have only dealt with one Ombudsman in my Coast Guard wife career and I hope to take what I experienced with her and improve, tenfold!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I did alright in the interview since it's been awhile since I last had one!

Lagging behind

Sorry for the lack of posts these past few months. It was a busy holiday season with Emily's birthday, my birthday, Christmas and my parents visiting. We are finally back into the swing of things and I will post some new things soon. Just a few updates on what is going on in our lives, Emily may have a tooth or 2. We still haven't seen them but I can feel them. Abby started ballet, tap and tumbling class and she loves it! The kids are doing great and we are too.