Some Thanksgiving Moments in pictures

Tommy Kober!!
Watching Phineas and Ferb with Uncle Bobby
Coloring with cousin Riley.
What did our wondering eyes but appear, Luke Skywalker!
Maddie and Uncle Ryan
A future John Deer owner?!
The cousins

Sisterly Love

Gobble, Gobble!!

Happy Thanksgiving!! We have so much to be thankful for!!

-Morgan is thankful for "my Mommy, Daddy, my Maddie and my sisters. I have 10 sisters."

-Maddie is thankful for all of that, plus Similac Sensitive.

-Daddy is thankful for "my wonderful daughters, my overworked wife, and for our liberal government who pays her every month."

-Mommy is thankful for "my wonderful family, for healthy, happy children, and for Daddy to actually be home today!!!

Lord, We Humbly Ask Thy Blessing.

Lord,
We humbly ask Thy blessing
On the turkey and the dressing,
On the yams and cranberry jelly,
And the pickles from the deli.

Bless the apple pie and tea,
Bless each and every calorie.
Let us enjoy Thanksgiving dinner.
Tomorrow we can all get thinner.

For all Thy help along the way
We’re thankful this Thanksgiving Day.
We're thankful too, for all our dear ones,
For all the far away and near ones.

Although we may be far apart,
We’re together in my heart.
Keep us in Thy loving care,
This is my Thanksgiving prayer.
- Unknown

Happy Thanksgiving All! Pictures to follow eventually!!!

Giggles!

Finally was able to post a video on here!! Here are the silly sisters!!!

And here's Morgan's silly dancing!!

Weekend Update with Mommy McLean

Well, here's the scoop/short story:

- Daddy's home from his trip to Altman Farm/ND.

- Maddie's ear infection has cleared, but she's confirmed allergic to pencillin

- Morgan went to Lily's 5th birthday party, thanks to Lily's parents, and had an absolute ball.

- MTEL test is over, at least for now...would be a GREAT Christmas present!

- Gamma survived the day with the girls.

- And last, but most importantly, Mommy survived 7 long days and night...and is now headed to bed!! And to all a good night!!!

[Promise to add picts soon...it's been a little nuts!!]

Overtired Mommy

Me: I'm so tricky!!

Morgan: why?

Me: because I just mixed Maddie's medicine in her bottle..oh boy!! Yum, yum!!

Morgan: I don't like that. I don't want you to mix my medicine in with my milk!

Me (in my head): How do you know I didn't tonight?!!

HA, HA, HA! (signs of an overtired Mommy!!)

At least, I thought it was funny! Morgan had a great day....went to the doctors and no UTI; visited with Gamma and Papa; Irish Step Dancing; dinner and bed. I don't think she has stopped talking all day, especially with Gamma. And she has a new friend...Alex, the red girl...from Steve songs. Morgan asked for me to do her hair like Alex's this morning....uummm...???? OK.

Maddie had an okay day too, though apparently Papa was wearing his scary face because she was not happy looking at him!! Poor Papa! I think her teeth and ear are bothering her because she was unusually fussy and tired.

I got a bit more studying done today. Think my brain is fried and I'm so exhausted, so will probably take the night off from the books. We'll see if I get a second wind.

Madddie's 6 month check up!

I know that you're all waiting for the results, but I'm sorry to say you're going to be disappointed! Much like her Mommy, Madeline has lost weight this month! Due to her sicknesses, she has dropped from her previous almost 22lbs, and is now weighing in at (a still healthy) [drumroll please] 21.05lbs. However, don't feel too discouraged because she is still in the 99%ile for weight. And she's in the 90th%ile for height, at almost 27" long!! Her head circumference has even grown (much like her Dad's I'm afraid) to 18", which is definitely up there!!!

She had a great check up! And we discovered a couple of things: 1) she has her first ear infection [insert tubes now please!] and 2) she has a high tolerance for pain and lack of sleep!

The poor girl didn't have a nap before she left, and she had 5 shots!!! That's right, folks! 5!!! Her normal 6 month shots, plus the seasonal flu, plus h1n1. She needs to go back in 30 days for another seasonal flu and then another h1n1!! Needless to say, after a quickie bottle in the dr's office, she fell asleep on the way home and transferred beautifully into the crib. Only second time that's happened!! :)

The good news is that despite the fact that she hasn't rolled over yet isn't a concern. Apparently it's not a developmental milestone. The doc asked if she was happy and I said YES! And she said that big, happy babies tend to roll over later than small, happy or even small unhappy babies. Why roll over when she's doing perfectly fine on her back and side?!! She asked about sitting up (which is a developmental milestone) and I said she's doing very well with it...certainly closer to doing that than rolling over. The doc said she wouldn't be surprised if she rolls over and then goes straight from doing that to crawling! Scary thought, I say!!

SO, all good news. Maddie's doing just fine. We've got a prescription for the ear infection. I was told not to fill it until 24 hours from now, but we'll see about that. Between the 5 shots and the ear infection the next 24 hours could be pretty miserable.

Thankfully, Gamma and Papa are coming home today!! Yeah!!!

Teeth! Finally!!

I see white!!! Maddie's popped her first tooth today! Finally! I feel like she's been working on it for quite some time now! But, the first tooth is finally through! Red cheeks, fevers and all...at least we know why she's been so fussy, even after getting better from h1n1!! And just in time for her 6 month check up tomorrow!

All Maddie wants for Christmas...

IS A BIGGER BATHTUB!!!

Swine flu and Ali the Pony

It was either that title or "I gave my baby too much orapred" which is what Kevin typed into Google...as he gave Maddie another dose of Orapred, rather than the tamiflu. Thankfully, she's okay...may have some more stomach issues, but she's already got those!!

Yes, for those who don't know, Maddie has had swine flu this past week. The first two days were miserable, as her temp reached 104 degrees at its peek, she's had the cough, diarrea, and just sheer misery, but she's a trooper. She's been fever free now for about 2 days. Her cough and stomach ache are still there, but she's doing so much better, and for that, we are so very grateful!!

Morgan has also been a trooper and a great big sister. Usually she gets a little jealous when giving Maddie so much attention, but she's been playing on her own, and quietly, so Maddie was able to get lots of rest. She got her progress report from school today...she's so fantastic!! She got all "Age Appropriates" except for 3 which are in the drawing all body parts, drawing all of the shapes type of categories. As the youngest girl in her class, I'm really not worried at all!

And to explain the "Ali the Pony" Morgan came home tonight and said that she had a new [pretend] pony. "She likes to lick people, including Maddie, and eats candy and apples." When I asked her what her name was she said, "Ali. Ali the Pony." There we go...so now we won't be confused between Aunt Ali, and Ali the Pony!!!

I've included a video of Maddie and Morgan playing together last night...proof that she's feeling better!! Thanks, everyone, for all the emails, phone calls, etc. Couldn't have made it through without you!! :)

Busy Saturday

Yes it was busy. Morgan had a play date with Thomas, and as all their play dates go, it was a hit! She had a great time..thank you Dearbornes!!

After the play date she was off to her last soccer game where she received this trophy. [see below]

She came home, had about an hour and then we were off to her haircut...see picts below.

We tried to go rent some movies, but unfortunately the Blockbusters in our surrounding towns have gone out of business. We cancelled Netflix after Maddie was born, but now may have to reconsider joining again.

Since Mommy couldn't make it to the Premiere of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, I made some yummy "Kober Chili" is what I've decided to name it, to pay homage to the maker of the recipe. We enjoyed it very much...thank you Mrs. Kober (and Tim)!!!

Maddie crashed early since she hasn't napped well at all today. She's pretty congested so hopefully she'll be on the mend soon!! You can see a picture of her trying to eat the mat during tummy time. It's really not all that surprising that she hasn't rolled over yet when she does that!!!

Y

Madeline loves hats! And her feet!

Madeline loves her winter hat!


And her feet! Every chance she gets!!
Showing off that even though she weighs about 22 lbs. at almost 6 months old, it can be done!

Funny Day!

My wonderful husband surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers today...just because...how lucky am I? So sweet. The card on the flowers said "love Daddy, Maddie and Morgan."

So I told Morgan when I picked her up that a mailman delivered some flowers for Mommy today and asked her if she knew who they were from...and told her what the card said.

I said, "thank you for the beautiful flowers." Morgan said, "I want flowers [in a sad voice]. For my birthday when I'm 5, I want daisies...white ones, pink ones and yellow ones."

When we arrived home, I told Daddy to ask Morgan about the flowers. She repeated what she said for me and when Daddy asked, "Do you know who gave Mommy those flowers?"

Morgan replied, "Yeah, the policeman!! [instead of mailman]!!

Morgan vs. the Dentist - Part I

Yesterday it was Maddie vs. Elmo...today Morgan vs. the dentist (though it could have been Morgan vs. the world!!!). Let's just say Morgan is 1, the dentist is 0. It was an awful visit...worst yet...so much so that the dentist suggested we go see someone else. I mean, seriously, who does that? Especially in this economy!! Turning away business...crazy!!!

So, needless to say the probability is high (you like that, Kev) that we won't be returning to them! We're going to find someone who is a bit more kid friendly, and on a side note, I'd REALLY appreciate taking Morgan to any appointment anywhere where she does not throw a fit and I have to hold her down! That would be the best present of all time!

So sad. Since the dentist was only able to count her teeth, we go back in 6 months (to a different place) for a cleaning...and hopefully she'll cooperate!! We miss you already Dr. Niosi!!

After Irish Step Dancing tonight Morgan came home to a nice and ready meal of Shepards Pie. If you were with us last Thanksgiving, all I would really need to say is that she reenacted what happened the previous year. Mommy said to eat more mashed potatoes (or as in tonight, Mommy said you need to finish your plate...knowing I did not put much on there)...and she threw up everything right there at the dinner table. Personally, I think she has something against mashed potatoes, which, let's be honest...what kind of Irish are you, if you can't eat mashed potatoes without gagging? Not Kennedy Irish...that's for sure!!

She felt great afterwards, even wanting some dessert...better luck next time, I said!!!

Madeline had another good day. She and I had some great moments in the "jungle" (mat) today. I tried showing her how to sit up in the tripod position and she would do well for a couple of minutes, and then fall either backwards or to the side. I caught her everytime, and believe it or not, she fell very smoothly. She DOES have some muscle under all that blubber!! But, she thought that this was a great game...sitting up and falling back, and she would giggle everytime. It was a fun time with her!!! Maybe next time we'll get some video!!

As long as Morgan has no fever tomorrow she'll be in school tomorrow. Maddie and I are looking forward to a quiet day with a few errands.

TTFN

Maddie vs. Elmo

So, it's been decided today that Maddie is not a fan of Elmo's. We have the hokey pokey Elmo and it took me about a half hour to install new batteries, and when I finally got it working again...she had the "pout" face on and was not liking it one bit. I even tried dancing with Elmo, and that didn't help at all. I showed Kevin and Morgan what Maddie does with Elmo...and it was priceless...same exact reaction. I really need a pict because it's so cute. Though, I must say, I think Maddie could take Elmo any day of the week!!!

Not much to report here. Morgan had another great day at school. Maddie had a good day as well. She's got a runny nose, which has really only affected her naps right now...I'm really hoping it doesn't affect her tonight. She just couldn't nap in the crib today, but she napped for about 3.5 hours in the swing. So, right now I won't complain.

I, myself, am feeling a bit under the weather. Feel a cold coming on and just more and more tired (and just not well) as the day goes on. Thank goodness Kevin comes home when he does, because the past few days, by 5, I'm about ready to drop. Have been in bed right after the girls all week and plan on heading there again shortly!

YEAH!!

It was a good Monday. Morgan was well enough to go to school and had a great day. She even got her school picts back, which came out really great again. I had time to clean up the house, do some laundry, catch up on shows, workout, and play with Maddie (who was very fussy - not a good Monday for Maddie). I think Maddie was missing Morgan.

And, the broken windows got replaced today. [One was broken from a bird flying into the porch window, and the other from Kevin installing the a/c].

So, a successful day. A nice dinner (loving those fajitas), and hopefully an early bed time for all!

Now, for Tuesday...