a weekend in nc, ear infection, and bees

This has been one CRAZY crazy week! There's so much I wanted to blog about once we got back home from North Carolina but I'm sure I've forgotten half of it. So here goes....

We had a great time at Dawn's house even though it was NUTS! Having 4 kids (3 of which are babies) in the same house is nuts. Getting everyone out just to go to Target was a huge chore in itself. So most of the time we just stayed home. Lily did not do well most of the weekend. She was VERY VERY clingy/fussy, etc. I don't know how much of this was due to her ear infection and how much was due to she was in a new place. She didn't nap well at ALL, bedtime the first night was AWFUL (took an HOUR), and she wouldn't hardly drink ANY of her bottle! Ahh - I was a mess! She's been better today since we got home so won't know truly what the issue is because her ear infection should have been cleared up mostly by now. Oh well! I did read somewhere that travelling now at this stage can be very difficult because seperation anxiety and stranger anxiety really start to set in. Yippee.. can you tell how excited I am?

One morning Lily was crawling around in the kitchen and all of a sudden I heard Matt say in a urgent voice.. "Amanda come get Lily!" I went and picked her up and then Matt said... "I think there's a dead mouse under the fridge. GROSS!! And Lily found it! My sister hadn't told me they thought there was a mouse in the house because she didn't want me to get freaked out. I guess it was a good tactic but oh man, that was disgusting. Matt picked it up by the tail and threw it out.

Just when you think nothing else bad could happen... My sister, Ava, and me went to church on Sunday morning while the guys stayed home with the babies. I got home and I hear Matt say in another serious voice... "I need to tell you something." He told me that Lily had gotten stung by a bee. Of course, I start freaking out even though Lily was okay when I got there. Chris was able to get the stinger out while Matt held her. They made sure she wasn't allergic - watched her breathing and her tongue for swelling. I called the pediatrician when I got home and they said that if she was allergic the bad reaction would have started almost immediately. They said to give her tylenol and benadryl for the pain/itching and to ice the area to help any swelling go down. There was a red area around the bite but it has gradually faded the past day.

Wow - can you tell that I'm wore out?! I'm hoping things can get back to normalcy for us this week! The babies (Cecilia and Owen) are adorable and give the most beautiful smiles now. They actually only woke once during the night to eat while we were there. I'm hoping that keeps up for my sister's sake! I am just so proud of her as a mom to a 4 year old and newborn twins. I don't know how she does it all.

Ava is just a hoot now! She is my sassy/smart alec/beautiful 4 year old niece! A few funny stories about her. We were looking one morning at halloween costumes online and Dawn had said the "halloween collection" was out on a website. Fast forward to later that afternoon... We were in the car on the way home and we hear Ava say out of the blue "Why is the halloween collection out already?" Haha! Her vocabulary is incredible and she remembers all this big words that people use. Second story.... Ava can act JUST like Sandra Lee (from the Food Network). It is SOOO cute. She puts on this whole Sandra Lee show and knows like all her sayings too such as "it's so creamy and delicious." She even pretends she's grating stuff. While she was doing this show for us one night Matt was talking and she said "put your ones on!" We were all like what? She meant that Matt was supposed to put his finger up over his mouth like the number one so he would be quiet. Apparently she learned this at art camp last week - hilarious!! She is also a big smart alec and really knows how to work the system too now! For example.... she was upset in the car because Dawn couldn't find her minnie mouse to bring with her. We leave regardless and Dawn tells her that she needs to settle down. Well anyways Ava says "the only way I can settle down is if I have my minnie." And last Ava story... she is so cute with Lily sometimes. Lily LOVES to watch Ava play around. Ava will play chase with her and get Lily to follow her around. It's SO cute. Can't wait until all our kids are a little older and can all really play together!

In other news, my parents just got home from Brazil today! Haven't talked with them long yet but they had a great time. They are very glad to be back home in American though! Thank you to everyone that has been praying for them!

And finally, some new Lily updates. Lily this past weekend figured out the concept of "cruising." For those of you that don't have a baby... this is when they walk along the couch holding on. Lily seems to always pick up something new when we're at Dawn's house. Matt got her to walk along the couch to come and get something. So she's figured out that her feet/legs can do something for her!! Yeah Lily!!! I don't know if I've blogged about this yet either... Lily loves the curtain that hangs down to the floor in our living room. She will play peek a boo with me behind it. She covers her face with it and I say "where's Lily" and then she'll move the curtain and pop her head out and I say "peekaboo!" It's SO cute!!

Wow - I'm drained out now from recapping everything! I think this may go on record for one of my longest blogs. My sister took all the pictures this weekend in her camera so once I get those from her I will post some!