Speech Graduation

Cecilia has graduated from speech therapy!!  We still have some work to do at home, but not $80/week worth of work.  She is doing so well, and we are so proud of her.  We had her assessed again and she is now scoring in the average range, and her confidence level is way up.  She is still scoring low, but definitely in a comfortable range.  We will continue practicing and working with her at home and school, and we will possibly go back for a check in appointment at the end of April.

We are so glad that we got her the help she needed when we did, and that we continued private therapy for her with Brianna.  Brianna, her speech therapist, has done such amazing things with Cecilia, and we are truly blessed to have had her in our lives.  Cecilia is definitely going to miss seeing and playing with  her.

Why do they call it Spring Cleaning??

Because of the MUD.  Yep.  We have mud, and lots of it.  Our back yard is not quite half grass, and more than half dirt at the moment.  We are planning to re-sod it in the next few weeks.  But until then, we will probably have many more moments of tears and mud being carried over the freshly cleaned floor and straight to the tub.  And extra laundry.  Yep.

 

Good thing we still know how to have fun inside too :)

Going to the Dentist

Cecilia got to go to the dentist for the first time on Monday.  Lucky for us, we happened to be reading an Elmo book where The Count goes to the dentist, and Cecilia thought that was pretty neat.  She was excited to go, and did a great job getting her teeth cleaned.  She choose the raspberry flavor for the paste, and got good report from Dr. Greg.  She and Lilly got to pick a toy from the "treasure box" and they both got new tooth brushes.  Lilly has since been dubbed "The Dentist" because she requests her tooth brush every chance she gets.  She loves to have her teeth brushed :)

 

Sunk the Battleship

When we bought our house the inspector told us two things about our original 1956 furnace.  He said "The good news is, these things were built like battleships.  The bad news is, these things were built like battleships."  That furnace has sailed right along, and probably would have kept sailing, but it was time for it to go, and last weekend was the weekend.  Of course, we can't plan the weather, and we happened to pick the day that we had temperatures in the twenties, and we got close to a foot of snow.  We cranked the temp on the furnace up in the morning.  We were roasting at 85* by 10AM.  It was the hottest my house has ever intentionally been.  It was a good experiment though, because we were barely down to 77* at 5pm.  Our windows were doing a great job!  Such a good job, that we had to open the windows and turn the attic fan on to cool the house off enough so the new furnace could be turned on.  I'm sure our neighbors thought we were crazy.

The major driving force behind its evacuation was our desire to finish our master bathroom.  The old furnace was venting straight through our master bathroom, causing the small shower space to be even smaller, like 32x32 small.  The new furnace vents out the side of the house, giving us a space of 32x48 for a shower.  Now thats more like it.  I'm excited to get moving with the bathroom project.  The goal is to have it done by the time the baby gets here.   It is amazing how much we notice the air actually blowing through our house now.  We can actually tell the furnace is doing its job.  And, I'm really excited to see how much money we will save monthly with the new 93% furnace.  We figure the old one was doing about 50% efficiency.
 
We've replaced the windows, plumbing, and furnace and now we have one more house "organ transplant" to do: the electrical.  Ugh.  Good thing my husband is handy :)

First Hair Cut

Lilly Jeanne's hair had finally grown out enough to warrant a trim.  Just to clean up the ends and even it out.  She has so little hair still, that we were only charged for a bang trim, and not a full hair cut.  Lilly did so good sitting in the red fire truck while she had her 3 hairs trimmed.  It really did clean it up, the pictures don't do it justice.  Of course, she requested a bow at the end.  She requests a bow or a clip just about everyday.  She's my little girlie girl.  I still can't believe she's going to be two in less than two months.

 

Chicks and Leprechauns

We made an impromptu visit to my parents house last weekend.  It had been a while since we had gone up to visit, and my Dad got chicks!  Pops the Chicken Farmer was so excited about his baby chickens that he called me three times last Friday to tell me all about them, and that he had "got them home safe", and that they were "so cute!" and the like.  Seriously, my Dad was reduced to a a big softy last friday all because of these little birds.  Cecilia was very excited to see them, and used every chance she could to go check on them.

Sunday was St. Patricks day, and Cecilia and Mammaw made a leprechaun trap.  Those leprechauns are fast!  He wasn't trapped, but he did make use of the facilities and he left behind some green rubber duckies.  Cecilia was not impressed that he forgot to flush the potty and told us "He peed green!  That's gross!"  Hehehehehe.

Things Cecilia Says

This girl cracks me up.  For example:

On an overcast day last week:
Cecilia: Mom, I can't see the sun.
Me: Where is it??
Cecilia: Um, its laying down in the clouds.

When she woke up one day and it was snowing outside:
"Mom! Mom!  The snow is full!

While I was driving and the guy behind me could not have been closer to my bumper:
Me: (under my breath, but not enough) Jeez, get off my tail dude.
Cecilia: You don't have a tail.  Lions and Tigers have tails.

After swim lessons one day, Cecilia was pulling on her ear and said, "I hear my swim lesson!"  She was referring to the water in her ear.

Star of the Week

Cecilia got to be the Star of the Week at School the week of March 11.  She got to bring in a few of her own toys to show her classmates and she got to tell her class all about herself and share pictures of her family.  She was most excited to tell them about baby Tater Tot.  We filled out a simple survey of "favorites" that she helped color.  This is what she said:

Favorite Movie: Cinderella

I like to collect: Baby Dolls

My Favorite Sport: Swimming

My Favorite Color: Purple

My Dream Vacation: Mammaw and Pops' House

Meanwhile,  Lilly Jeanne has been talking about going to school non-stop recently.  She has even practiced going places with her backpack.  

Habemus Papam!!

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 

Matthew 16:18-19

Last Wednesday, the 13th of March, I got home from MOPS and opened up my Facebook just in time to see "White Smoke!" posted on several of my feed's.  Then my phone got a text message with a "Pope Alarm" and I turned the TV on to see it all unfold.  It was wonderful timing to be able to see it all.  I did have to feed the girls and get them down for their nap, but it all worked out.  Cecilia was excited too.  She kept asking "Pope here?!?"  I watched and cried as Pope Francis made his debut and prayed for him and with him.  It was amazing to see history unfold, and to see Church history broadcast   for all to see.

Sledding

The weathermen in Denver need to look up the definition of a blizzard.  We were supposed to have a blizzard on Saturday.  It did snow, about 6 inches, but it was so warm that it didn't even stick to the streets, and it was not windy at all.  We got snow, not a blizzard.  It was perfect though, because Sunday was a beautiful Colorado day!  Close to 50*, blue sky, and beautiful white snow for sledding.  We took the girls out for the first time to a sledding hill close by.  It was so much fun and the girls did great.  Jon and I were thinking they'd be in tears and over it by 4 runs, but they were champs and I lost count of how many runs they did.  Both of them even climbed up the hill each time.  They had so much fun.  After sledding we visited our new favorite frozen yogurt shop, Smart Cow.  It was a perfect family day!!

 

16 Weeks and a Date

Jon and I went to an annual date night held by a group at church.  Its held at the golf course with an open bar, dinner, dessert, and dancing.  We had a great time!  Last fall we were lucky to find a Small Church Community (small group that meets regularly) that has been such a blessing to us.  It is comprised of 7 couples and currently 9 kids, with 2 on the way.  This group has welcomed us in and we have enjoyed fellowship and nurturing our faith with this group and we look forward to growing with this group as all of our families grow.  We were lucky enough to be able to sit with our SCC at the date night, and we all danced the night away!  

In other news, Tater Tot is growing, and so am I!  

How Far Along: 16 Weeks

Size of Baby: Avocado.  4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 1 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Still slightly wardrobe challenged.  I've swapped 95% of my regular clothes out to the basement for a full closet of maternity gear.  I busted out the full panel stretch jeans.  The first pair of maternity jeans I ever bought when I was pregnant with Cecilia had to be retired.  They had been stretched out too much between Cecilia and Lilly.  This meant I had to go buy a new pair of jeans, which I can't decide if I like or not.  

Baby Movement: Not yet...

Sleep:  Pretty good, except for the fact that I am so congested that I wake up 2-3 times per night to clear my nose.  

What I miss: A glass of wine, or two.  

Cravings:  Savory!  I've been craving salty food, and not sweet food like I did with the girls.  I'd rather have a large fry than a Blizzard.

Aversions:  Not too much.  I guess it depends on the day, or time of day.  

Symptoms: I've been feeling soooo much better!  My energy is back, I have only thrown up once or twice in the last few weeks, and I haven't been nauseous.  I do have this awful congestion thing going on.  I blow my nose constantly, and in the morning my ears are even clogged.  I also have this terrible metallic taste in my mouth.  Nothing I eat will get rid of it.  Its pretty gross.   

Best Moment:  Friends noticing that I'm showing :)  It's nice to know that others see that you are pregnant, and not just gaining weight.