Jillian & I making cookies. She is singing "She Thinks My Tractors Sexy"

Carleigh fell asleep while holding her Elmo book.

My girls!!

Jillian defeats daddy!!


Busy, busy, busy, that explains our lives right now! I can't believe that Christmas is only 10 days away! I think we are pretty set for the girls. I keep buying for Carleigh, but I need to realize that she will have no clue that she gets less presents than Jillian. I just can't help myself. LOL.
The girls have their Christmas Program tomorrow, then Saturday is our Greensburg Christmas and Sunday is my families Christmas! Very busy weekend. On the 23rd, we are going down to Franklin for the Holland Christmas then cookie baking on Christmas Eve & then it's CHRISTMAS!! I can't believe how fast it has gone.It is so exciting to be seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child. We bought Elf on a Shelf this year & it has been fun hiding Elfie around the house for Jillian to find. Every morning Jillian gets up to search for him.
Jillian has been fighting a UTI since Thanksgiving. Hopefully this last round of antibiotics will do the trick. It was a rough couple of potty breaks there for awhile & one awful doctor visit last week.
Carleigh has been doing well, no ear problems as of right now, but she isn't sleeping worth a crap! I think she is teething, someone at work told me that the cuspids she is cutting are the worst ones to cut. I think she may be the class clown because she does things & if it gets a laugh out of us, she does it over & over again. She cracks me up!!
I have been slacking on picture taking but will try to do some pictures during these weekends. I want to try to get the girls in front of the Christmas tree & take pictures of them together. We will see if that happens!!

Carleigh had her 15 month check up today. She weighs 25 lbs which is 89%ile; she is 32 inches long which 87%ile and her head circumference is 19 which is 97%ile. So, more or less, we have yet another big baby. It has not been a good month for her sleeping because of her ears and even since she has been on the anti biotic she is still waking up at night. But her ears look good this time, so it may just be that she is teething now. When she wakes up at night, we try to give her a paci & she shakes her head or hits it out of our hands. She has a slight temper. lol. She eventually goes back to sleep but not without a huge fuss which in turn wakes Jillian up, but I'll get to her later. Carleigh is doing well walking and making us laugh. The other night at dinner, she kept sticking the fork on her head, taking her hands off of it & then laughing hysterically because it was staying. It made me laugh, so Chris had to keep telling me under his breath to stop laughing because that is why she continued to do it, but I couldn't control myself. it was so funny. She is a stinker & keeps us on our toes.
Jillian is keeping us on our toes also, but she has been a very good girl at home & school. She went to see Happy Feet with Papaw this Saturday. She was so excited & said she had a great time. She ate most of papaw's popcorn, all of her gummy worms & most of his Sprite. LOL. And she said her belly hurt.....wonder why. Bob said on the way there he had his turn signal on & Jillian asked what the noise was she heard. When Bob told her what it was & maybe that they were turnning left (I missed that part of the story) Jillian told him that the movie theatre was farther up. And Bob said "And by God she was right". lol. That still cracks me up. And I think I overheard him say that she kind of directed him back to our house too. If Carleigh doesn't wake her up, then she is having bad dreams according to her. When we ask what it was about she says she doesn't want to talk about it because she will get scared again. But I'm begining to think she is pulling my leg because she knows I won't turn her away if she has had a bad dream. I had to try to tell her the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" tonight. We will see what happens.
We are looking forward to Thanksgiving. We are going to Brooke & Steve's again this year. Mom & Granny are going to visit my Aunt Sally & the rest of the family in Red Bud for Thanksgiving. Ellen and I are going to try our hand at shopping on Thursday since we only go to Target and Walmart anyway. I'm going to crash at her house that night & am looking forward to it so much since this month, as I said before, has sucked when it comes to sleeping this month!! I love the holidays!!

It has been awhile since I blogged. I guess we have been busy, but I don't know if any of it has been blog worthy.
Carleigh is walking very well all of a sudden, guess she is going to have a mind of her own & will do things at her own pace. She just got up one day & started walking instead of crawling. She can say a few words & is a funny 15mth old. She makes me laugh on a daily basis.
Jillian has gotten into trouble at school a little bit recently. She spit on a girl who called her yucky, hit a boy for being in her face, told a boy (may have been same one she hit) that he wasn't smart after he was getting praised at circle time and back talked a teacher! There are times I am at my wits end with her. Other times she is so sweet & good, I'm amazed. The next picture is a perfect example:
She came in to tell me one day while I was in the shower that Carleigh wanted me. I told her Carleigh would have to wait until I was done. When I was done, I saw their bedroom light on. I went in there to find Jillian sitting on a stool reading to Carleigh to keep her entertained. Carleigh was sitting very content "reading" a book herself. It was very sweet. And as cold hearted as my co-workers think I am, it brought tears to my eyes.

Jillian posing one day before school.

Chris & I went to a Halloween party on the 29th. We had a good time, from what I can remember. haha.I think the jello shots caught up with me eventually. A lot of it is a blur, but it was nice hanging out with friends & Chris.

Chris & I at the Halloween Party.

Ellen & I at Halloween party.

We had a nice Halloween. Jillian enjoyed carving her pumpkin & actually used the knife to carve a lot of it. It made me realize that when a child is carving a pumpkin, you have to sit back & not worry about perfectionism. On Halloween, the family went out around our neighborhood. Jillian was so excited because this is technically her first year we went out & went trick or treating. She asked a couple of people if she could have candy for her sister (another sweet moment). After awhile Carleigh & Chris went home while Jillian and I finished our street. Then her and I headed over to Ellen's neighborhood for a little trick or treating because there weren't a whole lot of people giving out candy when we started in our hood. She eventually got tired & wanted to come home.

Jillian carving her pumpkin.

Supergirl saving the Cow before she topples over.

Daddy & Supergirl before we went Trick or Treating.

Mommy, cow & Supergirl before Trick or Treating

This past weekend, we went to a birthday party on Friday for a co-worker's daughter. Then on Saturday, we went to McDonalds for a birthday party of one of Jillian's classmates. She was not happy when we had to leave, but I expected that response. Then we went & got her hair cut. She did a GREAT job! I didn't even stand by her. I went and sat in the waiting chairs.
So, like I said, life is a little boring, but we are chugging along. Jillian is very excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hopefully I will do better at this blogging then what I have been doing.

Jillian after eating PB&J.

Carleigh after eating PB&J. Its even in her hair!!

g.

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It has been over a month since I have blogged...Sorry Judy. We have been pretty busy these last few weeks. Here are some pictures to recap the last few months.

Carleigh climbing through the tunnel to the tent.

Jillian hanging out in her tent.

Jillian at the park.

Chris and Darcy at Ellen's.

Jillian in front of Papoo's motorcycle.

Carleigh at her birthday party. She was Ms. One-derful.

Rhianna & Carleigh at Carleigh's birthday party.

Lia comforting Carleigh when I walked away.

Me and Carleigh.

Life is busy, but pretty good. Jillian has started Pre-K and we are working with some sight-words. Which is exciting because she loves to read, so anything that will help her read herself is great in my book. We went to the Zoo this past Thursday for a field trip. She was so excited to go, she would mark off a day each school day on a makeshift calendar we made on her easel. She rode on the daycare bus to & from, while I drove behind her. She could have cared less that I wasn't on that bus with her. She was just excited to be on a bus. LOL. We had a good time.
Carleigh is standing up a little on her own. She actually took 2 steps today. Now she likes to stand on her own & kind of fall into me. And then laugh a mischievous
laugh that she likes to do. It is quite comical when she laughs that way. She has also started climbing on things. I have noticed her lifting her leg up to try & get in the bathtub, but yesterday, she climbed up on Chris's footstool. We had to remove that from the living room for the time being.
Jillian and Carleigh are so cute together. For the most part, Jillian loves sharing with Carleigh and trying to make her laugh. It is quite cute to hear them interact. I hope they continue to stay close & have fun together.

a year ago tonight

A year ago tonight, I was a little sad that Jillian wasn't going to be the only little girl in our house. I can't believe Carleigh will be a year old tomorrow. I remember the night a year ago very well.

Jillian & I sat on the couch where I cried because of how our lives were going to change the next day. Then her & I laid in our bed watching Cupcake Wars before she went to bed. The normal thoughts were going through my head, like if I was going to be able to love Carleigh the way I love Jillian. I was worried about how I was going to be a mommy to two kids. I was worried about how I was going to be a good mommy to Jillian when I knew I was going to be sleep deprived taking care of Carleigh for hours through the night. I was also worried about how Jillian was going to handle not being the only child, would she be jealous? would she be mean to Carleigh? So many insecurities & questions were running through my head. I am so happy to say, I had nothing to worry about as I look back now....

I absolutely love Carleigh as much as I do Jillian. I have somehow managed to be a mommy to 2 girls (thanks to Chris of course, kudos to single moms). I don't know how I did it, but I think I have been a pretty good mommy to Jillian even though I am STILL sleep deprived (a few hills along the way of course). And Jillian has amazed me with how great of a sister she is to Carleigh. It brings tears to my eyes as I type this with the love that Jillian has for her. I think the love for Carleigh was as instant for Jillian as it was for Chris & I. And I know they are not always going to like each other, but right now it is so cute how much Jillian cares for her. She is always so worried when Carleigh is crying, wanting to make her feel better. Always wanting to include Carleigh in whatever we are doing. Goes and sees her a couple of times at daycare because she misses her. Always trying to make her laugh. The other night, Carleigh woke up while Jillian was laying in bed still awake & the next thing I knew, instead of crying, I hear Carleigh giggling. I don't know what Jillian was doing to make her laugh, but she was giggling quite a bit. THAT made my heart fill with joy! Then tonight as we were driving home, I heard Carleigh laughing & it was because Jillian was doing something silly to her to make her laugh.

So as I wrap up my rambling, I am happy to say having Carleigh has changed our lives for sure, but all for the better! I never understood it before when people said their lives were complete because of certain situations, but I can sit here & honestly & securely say, my life was complete the day that beautiful girl was born! She scared us quite a bit those first few days, but has brought us great joy from day one.

Home for the day!

Two weeks ago, Darcy, Rhianna, Oscar, Kieran (Rhianna's boyfrined), Chris, the girls and I went to Illinois for the day. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. Darcy called me on Friday to see if I would want to go. Originally we were going to stay the night at our Uncle Bill's but Jillian didn't really want to do that, so we just went for the day. We had a great tme!! It felt like being at home. I loved every minute of it. We started off swimming...

Then we headed back to the campsite to eat. We had some hot dogs & smores. Granny & mom came out to see how things were going & to see if the campground had changed since the last time they had been out there. Which it hadn't changed too much.

Carleigh wasn't very happy that she couldn't crawl around everywhere. LOL

Then Jillian went fishing for the first time. It was slightly frustrating, but I tried not to let it get to me too bad. Jillian had some nibbles, but that was all. I think she really liked doing it though. We will have to do it again.

Then we decided to go into Goodwine & play on the train tracks a little. Chris stayed back at the campsite to take a little nap. But we put some coins on the tracks & waited for a train to smoosh them. Everyone but me & Carleigh tried to walk down to the old bridge, but it was pretty grown over so I didn't want to take Carleigh. There was also still the old caboose that they went on to take pictures. A couple of trains did go by, so I think all the kids did get a smooshed coin to bring home.

Then we went back to camp where Chris & jillian did a little more fishing.

Then the Holland clan packed up & we started on our way home.

It has been a while since I have blogged.. We haven't necessarily been busy, but haven't really just been sitting around either. I think we have had something to do every weekend, that is for sure. I just wish I could remember what we have done......

Judy came in to town for a week. She stayed with us for the first couple of days. Jillian was so happy to see her & Carleigh warmed up to her right away. Which is a little surprising because she is pretty "stranger" resistant recently. Jillian didn't want to stay home with her on that Monday though, so Carleigh stayed home with her for a little bonding time. Judy went down to Greensburg for some of the week & then to Rick & Shelley's for the rest of her visit. We went down there on Saturday to say goodbye to Judy & Tara because she was going over seas for a trip.

Chris, Tara & Jillian hanging out at Rick & Shelley's

Grandma Juju teaching Jillian how to play T-ball.

Jillian hitting the ball. I love the look of surprise on her face.

Jillian "running" the bases.

I will have to figure out what we have done since then & catch up on my blog later.

We went down to Brooke & Steve's on Memorial Day weekend. There was big wheel riding,
Basketball playing,
And a whole heck of a lot of fun in the sun.








We had good food, good drink (at least I did. haha) and a great time with the family. After most people left we stayed so Chris & Steve could play cards later. I loved sitting out on the deck listening to the sound of the lake next door to their house. It brought back great memories of being out at camp when I was younger. By the time I got back into the house, the kids & Brooke were asleep watching Sprout. So, I went out to the garage & watched the men play cards (snore). We finally left around midnight I think.

Then this past Friday night, Jillian had a program at her school. She actually did a good job with participating in the singing this time.





Then on Saturday, we went to Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday party. She was so excited beforehand!

We had a good time. By the time it was over though, we were exhausted. Brooke, the kids & Steve came over for a bit & then Steve stuck around to try to fix Chris's computer & for them to play cards. Chris poured me some wine for me to relax, and then another and then another......and that was about all I remember. LOL.

Sunday, the girls & I hung out at home while Chris golfed. Carleigh ate her first "finger" food by herself.
I had to clean her up real fast in the sink. So.......
That meant I had to clean Jillian up in the sink too.

Tomorrow Jillian goes to the doctor for her 4 year checkup. I am notlooking forward to her flipping out about it. She doesn't even know yet, figured it would be better to wait til tomorrow for the freak out. I have been telling her the next time we go to the dr it will be so they can make sure she is big enough for the rides at Holiday World. Let's hope that softens the blow. It may be ok until she figures out she will be getting shots :(