I think we're staying...

She ate ok and I took Alli Claire back downstairs. She's seemed ok so I'm staying at work for now...

Here are some pics from Christmas 2006!!

Still sick...

Alli Claire is still sick today. She's supposed to be at the Caring Corner...instead she's sitting at my desk with me. All of my co-workers
are "baby-sitting" :-) I won't be here long. She tends not to like strangers
which poses a dilema for me. Do I leave her down there crying while I work and
save my time or do I go home... Decisions. Decisions... I think I'll just go home.

I have pictures from Christmas that I have here today, but no time to download and post them. I'll get those for you later.

Sick babies...Funny kids!

Yesterday, I got a call from Alli Claire's pre-school. She was running a 100.4 degree fever as of 12 noon. I took her to the doctor (who by the way absolutely adores her :-) She said it was a fever virus and would take 3-5 days to go away....
WHY couldn't this have happened on a Wednesday?? Alli Claire's last fever virus lasted approx 4 days.... Anyway, her fever this morning was 104. Needless to say, Martin is home with her today. She'll come to the Caring Corner tomorrow and any other days this week that she's still sick. The Caring Corner is a sick day-care. It's fully staffed with nurses and other wonderful people who love on the kids when they're sick. Graisi loves to go down there. I am so fortunate to have something like that at work. Please say a prayer for our baby...she was SOOO pitiful this morning.

With that said, Martin is home with Alli Claire, so I took Graisi to school. On the way there is a large pasture with cows in it. Every morning Graisi looks to see what's going on in the lives of the moo moos. You just never know...some days they're tee teeing...pooping, sleeping, eating, new babies appearing. It's all very interesting when you're six :-) Well this morning Graisi said, "They need to hurry up and saled those cows. They've got price tags on their ears. They need to get them saled so they can build a shopping center out there." I just got so tickled at her thinking the tags were price tags. So then I explained that they were not price tags, but much like a wrist band for the owners. They would know who was in the field and if any got lost, they would know which ones. She said...."Well, there are some lost." I asked, "How do you know?" She said, "Because there's not as many out there as there were yesterday morning!" That's my Graisi!!

The Weekend

Saturday was pretty uneventful. Martin took Graisi to ice-skate that morning and then got her two new swings for the swing set. The others were dry-rotted. Tells you how long we've had it, huh? Then she came home and played with her friends all afternoon. They had water balloons they were carrying around the cul-de-sac in an Easter basket pretending they were dragon eggs. Ahhh...the imagination!!

Before Martin left to play Poker, Alli Claire tasted her first food Saturday night. I didn't realize baby-food banana's were so tangy! She would taste them and then push them out, pucker her face up and shiver as if someone squeezed a lemon in her mouth. It was a bit amusing! Last night we tried it again with the same response. So I mixed her up some rice cereal with apples. She liked that much better.

Church was great!! Buddy taught on the benefits and fruits of marriage. It's always nice to hear that it's ordained by the Holy Word of God!! YEA GOD!!!

After church, Martin grilled Salmon for lunch with mashed potatoes. It was also great! He kept Alli Claire while Graisi and I took in a matinee movie. A Night at the Museum was a fantastic kid movie. Albeit, it did have one word that the movie could have done without (the "a" word), but it was still funny. We both really enjoyed it. When we got home it was time for spelling homework, dinner and baths.

I'm loving the slower pace these days!!

I finally got the pictures we took at Christmas, but I forgot them at home today. Hopefully, I'll remember tomorrow and get them posted. Gives you something to look forward to :-)

Alli Claire is a big girl!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that Alli Claire is now sitting up by herself! Martin and I were sitting at the table eating dinner last night when we looked over at the floor and there she was. She's been sitting up, but only for a few seconds. Then she would lean to one side or the other and topple over. But last night she was just sitting up there like a big girl. After a few minutes of course she did fall over. But we were so excited of her accomplishment and wanted to share with everyone.

She's also "swimming" on her tummy and it's sooo cute! She'll swim and then look up at you and smile as if to say, "Did ya see me Mommy? Did ya see what I can do?" She gets excited and starts giggling. I LOVE baby giggles. I also love to hear Graisi laugh when you tickle her under her neck. She still sounds like she did when she was a baby! I love my life!! I can't imagine it getting any better :-)

Birthday Update

To all of you who think I'm the most horrible wife because I don't cook...this is for you.

Last night before Martin got home, I had the kitchen cleaned, Graisi was showered and dry and dinner was on it's way :-) I also went to Edgar's and got him a delicious chocolate cake that had beautiful scroll work on it. I bathed Alli Claire after dinner which gave Martin a stress free night!!

I think he had a really good birthday. I hope he did anyway :-)

Graisi was a VERY good babysitter while I was cleaning. I was quiet pleased with her!

Alli Claire found a new sound to make last night before her bath. I thought, to begin with she was hyperventilating. But then she started breathing normally and I figured out she was just making noises. But it was bad enough I called Martin upstairs to double check. She's such a funny baby!

Happy Birthday Martin!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. I am so thankful God has given you one more year with you!

We had dinner with our friends, Ed and Sallie, last night to help celebrate the big day today.
I do want to say, "THANK YOU!" to the clown-like balloon maker who made Martin's night. We ALL know how much he likes clowns :-)
There wasn't much conversation due to us all watching American Idol over the noise of the sports bar. It's really funny watching 5 and 6 yr olds critic the performers. Even they know what sounds good and what doesn't. How come the actual singers can't do the same???

Anyway, Graisi was not 100% on the ice last night. She was falling a lot so we cut the session short. My hope for her will be to skate fluidly and be somewhat graceful. We'll see if either ever happens. If nothing else, she really likes it.

Once upon a time there was a DUCK.... It's a Graisi thing!

Today I'm entering into the age of technology! I'm blogging!! Who da thunk it?
Anyway, this is for all of my friends and family who I don't get to see nearly enough.

Just a brief snipett on each of us and how we're doing...

Shelli - TIRED! Don't know why b/c I get enough sleep, but I'm just so tired all the time. I think Alli Claire is literally sucking all of my energy out. Having two children is definitely different than having one!

Martin - he is doing good. Tired from work and taking care of the three of us, but otherwise good. Thank him the next time you see him for doing such a great job!! He deserves it!

Graisi - she will be 7 yrs old next month!! She's in the first grade and reading on a third grade level. We are sooo proud of her! She's still extremely SLOW getting ready for school and for bed at night (can you say 60 mins for a shower, hair and PJ's??) , but if this is all we have to deal with, we're doing exceptionally well!

Alli Claire - she will be 6 months old next Sunday. To date, she still hasn't had solid foods, but weighs close to, if not 19 lbs! Needless to say, the lack of solids hasn't hurt her any. She is still nursing very well! Next Sunday, we will start her on cereal and gradually increase the friuts and veggies.

I hope I've filled you in for now. I'll post more later!