The Meeces

Skylar Walking

2012-01-30T11:10:00.000-08:00

Skylar has made some great progress walking lately! This is a video of her walking at her therapy clinic. She does much better at the clinic because there are lots of long halls, wide open spaces, and on this particular day- no little sisters in her way :) Best walking yet! Hopefully before too long- she will be doing this at home too...

January and New Years Resolutions

2012-01-26T07:06:00.000-08:00

January has been a total blur so far. We had the great idea of starting off our New Year by potty training the girls. We started on New Years Eve morning and were going to attempt this intensive 3 day potty training method that goes cold turkey from diapers to undies. It was basically a nightmarish 3 days of cleaning up pee, doing laundry, and giving baths around the clock. Not a fun way to ring in the new year. I guess for the kids that it actually works for in 3 days- it is worth it- but it didn't quite work like that for us. After 5 LONG days, we decided that Skylar's little body was not ready for potty training yet. We also quit undies and broke down and bought pull-ups. Savannah has made slow and steady progress this whole month though. The M&M reward system finally clicked and she has had her fill of M&Ms! She is probably 70% #1 trained, and 50% #2 trained. But, I'm sure we will get there!

Spending lots of days running around the house in undies...

Entertainment on the potty...
First Ring Pop for going potty! We later decided this was waayy to messy for multiple times a day.....
What a lovely look!?

Savannah is excited to leave the house for the first time in 7 days :)

Skylar surrounded by a few hundred of her favorite friends :)

These girls are getting so big!

Tennessee Christmas

2011-12-29T08:09:00.001-08:00

We had an exciting whirlwind tour of TN for Christmas! The girls had so much fun seeing everyone, opening presents, and playing with cousins (and cousins toys!). They really did great with all of our traveling..including Knoxville, an overnight in Nashville, and a last minute quick stop in Chattanooga.

The girls having fun playing with the UT beach ball..

Savannah kept trying to arrange Minde and James's candles in their windows for them. She also loved to go in to the office with french doors and open and shut the doors. Two very fun but not so helpful things to do...

Savannah and Aunt Minde
Reading with Mimi
A visit from Santa!
Notice Savannah quickly heading in the opposite direction... and Skylar was so excited to see Santa and was waving to him saying Ho Ho Ho..
Santa brought presents for all the girls...

Aunt Lori and Uncle Jack with Santa
Playing with the new princess dolls from Santa
Christmas with Ty's family on Christmas Eve..
Caroline is excited to open presents!

New easel from Mimi!
Lori and Jack got the girls a cute bowling set. We were showing Savannah how to play- she rolled the ball and knocked a few down so we clapped and everything- then she picked the ball up and walked over to all the pins and in a clean sweep knocked them all down with the ball still in her hands. She was like- I have an easier way of knocking pins down! :)

Christmas Eve afternoon we drove to Nashville. Ryan and Jenny are in the middle of renovating a beautiful old house. It was the first time we had seen it, and it is awesome! They have been working nonstop since August and were sortof crazy but generous to host Christmas for everyone. Here we are Christmas morning waking up to Ben's new toys from Santa.
New kitchen and an Awesome train table...
How cute is Skylar!? Tyler likes to point out that she got her buck teeth from her mama...

Gigi and Grandude with the grandkids

Christmas afternoon we drove through Chattanooga to see Tyler's dad on our way back to Knoxville.

Fun times in the basement with Caroline's new piano mat...

We had a fun trip!

The girls are happy to be home now though, and playing with their new toys and sleeping in their own beds.

Christmas at Home and Santa!

2011-12-21T18:05:00.001-08:00

We are headed to TN tomorrow to spend actual Christmas with family, so we celebrated Christmas this morning at home. The girls know about Santa and get excited to see him, but still don't really get the whole Santa comes on Christmas Eve thing. So, we decided we could still travel before they fully understand Santa and have to worry that we will miss him if we aren't home. Gigi got to come in to visit for most of the week and to be here when Santa came. They had such a great morning and loved playing with all of their new toys! The new kitchen from Gigi was a huge hit!

Loving Family Dollhouse

Busy cooking and playing with new puzzles from The Lees

Giant Dora!

Rapunzel! Skylar was so excited to open the huge princess Barbie set...it was the fastest we had ever seen her open a present. She usually just wants us to open gifts for her or lets Savannah help...but as soon as she ripped the first piece of paper and saw Cinderella..she was all over it!

The vacuum was actually a huge hit too- Savannah vacuumed forever this afternoon!

Little People Zoo

KT sent the girls a trampoline for Christmas- how fun!! She got to see how much Savannah loved to jump on the trampoline when she joined us at our Romp and Roll birthday party. Skylar loves it too and was climbing up on it by herself by the end of the day. Thanks KT!

We are headed to Knoxville for Christmas round 2 and to Nashville for round 3!! Lucky girls!

December in Outfits...so far..

2011-12-18T06:27:00.001-08:00

The Meece girls know how to rock some Christmas outfits! We have lots of family that love to give them cute holiday outfits...and we also have a super stylish niece that gives us awesome hand me downs! They have had a great month playing with all of their Christmas toys and books that they only get to see once a year.

A sweet sweet hug for our babysitter Fegan...

Thanksgiving and Visitors...

2011-12-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

Of course it is almost Christmas now, but I still had to put these super cute Thanksgiving pictures up. We have been busy with lots of fun visitors. Gigi came to visit the week of Thanksgiving and made a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner for us. We had a pretty low key holiday this year with just the five of us. With Target opening at midnight this year, Tyler had to be at work 11:00pm. So, he spent the day doing a combination of hanging out and resting up for the big night. The girls loved having Gigi in town for the week. Here they are in their cute outfits...Savannah is wearing a dress that my mom made for me 30 yrs ago.

Hanging out and playing Thanksgiving morning...

Katie came in for a long weekend and we had such a great time! She got to come with us to a little buddy of ours birthday party at Romp & Roll. She realized all she's been missing on her Friday night schedule is 15 wound up toddlers in a confined area for a couple hours :) The girls had blast of course! We got to do lots of shopping with all the other crazy December shoppers, and she got to experience Ulta for the first time. We ended the weekend with a super yummy Sunday brunch at the Boathouse!

Uncle Ryan came in town for a quick visit too! He was here for a work meeting, but came a day early so he could see everyone and hang out for a bit. The girls were so happy to see him! The girls are getting a kitchen from Santa..and it had just recently arrived and was still in it's box in the dining room. He insisted on just "getting in to it" for a minute....and then a couple hours later..with just minimal instruction reading and part retrieving help from me...he had completely put the whole kitchen together! It was an awesome help and we think the kitchen looks adorable. Can't wait for the girls to see it!
Here he is taking the first call on the new kitchen phone :)

Savannah's Party

2011-11-26T15:31:00.001-08:00

Tyler's family threw a fun little family party for Savannah's Birthday! We cooked out at Uncle Jack and Aunt Lori's and had some wonderful food...complimented by a super cute Minnie cake from Mimi. The girls had fun opening presents, playing with balloons, and playing with Jack and Lori's dog, Murphy.

Rod and Sandy came by to join us for cake and presents....and wrestling...

Uncle Jack and the birthday girl...

Playing in Murphy's bed...

Savannah Loved her cake and ate a huge piece!

Twlight Marathon

2011-11-26T15:15:00.001-08:00

Breaking Dawn opened while we were in TN! Lori and I got to go to the Twilight Marathon starting at 4:45pm and ending around 2:15am. That is a long time to sit and watch movies! It was really fun though and we took little breaks between each movie. Still way better and more fun to see on the big screen with lots of other Twilight fans, then it is to see at home!
We packed a ton of snacks! Here is a picture of our spread.... but I don't know what we were thinking- because we didn't come close to finishing any of it. We started with peppermint mochas on our way in, added some popcorn around 10:00, and barely ate any of our candy....but it was fun to think we might do it :)

Finally time for Breaking Dawn!!!

Savannah's Birthday Week

2011-11-26T11:27:00.000-08:00

Savannah had a really fun birthday week in Knoxville last week! We had such a great time seeing everyone and celebrating Savannah's big #2 day! We got to stay in Uncle James and Aunt Minde's beautiful new house and the girls LOVED playing in Caroline's castle playroom. We only got to see them for one night because they were headed to Disney, but they were so nice and let us invade their house for the week.
The girls loved having lots of wide open spaces and new toys to play with.

Skylar is saying Hi to her first Santa of the season..

We just had cupcakes on Savannah's actual birthday and then we had a little party for her Friday night....
Sister hugs/wrestling...

Savannah loving on her new Pooh Pillow Pet...

Cupcakes!

Aunt Lori and the girls. Skylar is holding one of her favorite toys of the week- Prince Chaawwrming! And Savannah is enamored by her musical light up crown card...

Savannah loves to steal Sky's walker and run it all over the house. She wanted to wear both of Caroline's aprons and make a statement:)
Yay that Skylar's new walker is on it's way and she doesn't have to use this shiny gold one anymore. She is blingin- but in a bad way :)
Fun new outside toys on a cold morning...

Clemson

2011-11-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

A few weekends ago I got to spend a really fun girls weekend in SC visiting Lauren. Everybody knew about girls weekend except Lauren, and her husband did a great job of keeping it a surprise. We all showed up at her house on Friday night about 8:30 and surprised her! We had an awesome weekend of walking, shopping, and eating! It was so fun!
Tyler did a great job with the girls at home. He even had a couple middle of the night throwing up episodes from Savannah that he had to deal with :( ....which somehow inevitably only happens when someone is out of town. They survived though and had a fun Daddy weekend.
What a fun getaway! Can't wait to do it again!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T17:57:00.001-07:00

Getting ready for Halloween...

2011-10-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

Books everywhere!

Savannah ate her first big girl pb&j sandwich all by herself- no more cutting up little bites! She was very excited that Mama was so excited :)

Busy Week

2011-10-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

We had a wild week last week. Gigi was in town visiting for her fall break and kept the girls for a couple days for Ty and I to go out of town. Her fall break happened to fall over my birthday which was an added bonus. Tyler went to Illinois for a couple days to see his family and then flew to Florida to meet me for a couple days. We stayed in Anna Maria Island. Ryan and Jenny found this place last summer and got us really excited to visit. It is a really cute town with beautiful beaches and by far the clearest water I have ever seen in the gulf. We had one beautiful afternoon on the beach and stayed out as long as we could- because the rest of our time was kindof stinky weather. We had a great time anyway and loved having no agenda. I read an amazing book (thanks Amanda!), called Kisses from Katie, about a young girl's mission work in Uganda. Thanks to Ryan and Jenny we had some wonderful Cuban food from Joses Real Cuban Food, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives last year. We also got to go to one of the shadiest movie theaters I have ever been to. It was a $2 theater in a mall that barely had any lights on because I guess they were conserving energy? Literally we were walking down the mall hall and it was pretty dark and one of the only stores still in existence was an entirely Jamaican flag themed clothing store. I seriously considered turning around, but we kept on- and we got to see Captain America for $4 total! And on Mondays movies were .50 cents. I wish we had a cheap theater at home- or a nicer version of one.

I didn't get my camera out at all because of the weather, but Tyler got a few pictures on his phone. Sunset on Anna Maria Island
We flew out of Orlando late on my birthday and we got to spend the afternoon at Universal Orlando in Harry Potter. Tyler had been wanting to go there since it opened- and it did not disappoint. We were surprised that there were so many people there on a misty day in October, but the lines weren't too bad and we got to see everything.

Yummy Butterbeer

All the wands at Ollivander's...
We got home late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning Skylar had her eye surgery. It was great to have Gigi in town for this too so that Savannah didn't have to endure the surgery and waiting. Her surgeon thought everything went well and when we went for her post-op appointment the next day they thought she looked great. We thought she looked pitiful, but apparently it is normal to look rough for a little while. This is Sky on day 4 after surgery. Lots of hanging out in pjs going on.

Day 5....Still Rough!

Savannah was so happy to have Gigi in town!

Apple Picking

2011-10-15T12:22:00.001-07:00

We took the girls apple picking over the weekend. It was a beautiful weekend for being outside! The girls are enjoying a fresh from the tree Granny Smith apple...

There was a big barn/bakery/cafe serving some amazing warm homemade apple cider donuts. Enjoying some donuts and cider....

Just hanging out...

Steps!

2011-10-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

Skylar took a few steps yesterday for the first time! She was walking from a chair to the couch to get Teddy Grahams. At first it was just one step (which we were already really excited about), and then we kept moving the chair further back and she just kept on going. It was a huge day and we are so proud of her! We tried to get her to take a few steps today, but she was not feeling it- even for cookies :) But now we know she can do it...and that is a great start!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-13T10:02:00.001-07:00

We had a fun visit to the Pumpkin Patch this year! Tyler's dad was in town and got to join us. It was one of our first chilly days this year. Thank goodness the cold weather only stayed for a few days.

We took a chance in the corn maze this year. Got lost a few times, but it was fun! Skylar's favorite part was the hayride to the pumpkin patch and Savannah's favorite was probably trying to pick up pumpkins bigger than her.

Skylar's Intensive Therapy

2011-10-04T11:53:00.000-07:00

In August, Skylar participated in another three week intensive physical therapy session. She did much better this time around and tolerated all her hard work as well as could be expected. She has on a few different compression type vests/suits and was constantly surrounded by bands, buckles, braces, and all kinds of gear.

Working on some core stability on the trampoline...and also just getting to jump and have some fun. Skylar and Miss Kristen
Skylar at home after PT one day..sporting her eye patch and some exercise tape on her leg. Sky has to have eye muscle surgery this month. The patch makes her use her weaker eye and helps make her weak eye as strong as possible before surgery. Her ankles are tight and the tape helps pull her foot up to give a good stretch and increase range of motion. She tolerates both well once they are on, but does not love the taking off part of either. Skylar with Mrs. Courtney- her physical therapist. She tried out some new braces that look like shin guards that really helped her. She stood for 17 seconds by herself, which was her longest independent standing yet.
More independent standing...
Skylar rockin out to Justin Bieber on the way to therapy! She loves him! Mrs. Courtney would get out her iphone and play the JB Baby video to motivate Skylar to walk....and it worked every time!
Here are a couple videos of Skylar walking just holding on to one hand. The therapists were constantly singing and entertaining Skylar to help keep her engaged and motivated. They were amazing and had endless patience and energy! Think of playing peekaboo (and not acting bored) for three hours straight- it was harder than that. I left every day exhausted and they obviously had to work even harder.

I love in the second video the song she is making up as she goes to keep Skylar moving....

Catching Up

2011-10-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

We have had a lot going on since our last beach post! We experienced an earthquake and a hurricane in the same week...which hopefully was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The earthquake shook us up pretty good for about 30 (long) seconds, but we were all fine. The hurricane, however, hit a little harder. Our neighbors tree fell onto both cars and the roof. We were actually lucky that the Expedition was there and kept the tree from falling through the roof into Skylar's room. We lost power for 2 1/2 days- no fun. It got a little stuffy with no a/c and we got tired of candles and flashlights, but it could have been much worse. Lots of people in Richmond were out of power for longer. We had a borrowed cargo topper on top of the Expedition that we were waiting to take back to our friends- and it got crunched too:(

Here we are in the dark setting up the porta-crib downstairs. The girls rooms upstairs were close to other swaying trees, so we kept everyone downstairs.

Fun palette on the floor....using our only electronic source of light/entertainment....a fully charged iPad!

Post hurricane wagon ride around the neighborhood to check out all the damage.
Wearing our white dresses one last time Labor Day weekend!

Savannah does not approve...

First UT game of the season!

Outer Banks Part II

2011-08-21T10:07:00.001-07:00

Here are some more pictures from our fun trip... Ben making a fashion statement. Kiddos watching cartoons while we get ready for the beach...

More fun times at the sand wall...

Savannah would slide down and say "Yay!!" and clap for herself.

Everybody getting good and dirty:)...

Sweetest sandy face!

More shovel turmoil...
Took them both down. And look who ended up with two shovels....
Poor Ben:( I promise we did save him from the wrath of his 20 lb cousin...he won a few times on his own too...
From Jenny's camera...walking home from the beach... and straight into the bath!

Ben's favorite part of the day....Pops! He was requesting for ice pops as soon as we got outside:)

Such a fun time! I am SO not ready for summer to be over!

Outer Banks Part I

2011-08-19T10:56:00.001-07:00

We had such a wonderful time at the Outer Banks this year! It was probably our most successful family beach trip ever. We had a great house, great weather, and all the kiddos stayed healthy all week. The girls had so much fun playing on the beach and running and digging in the sand. One minor setback we had was that our air went out for a few days. It got Super hot inside! You know how good it feels to come in and cool off in the a/c after being out all morning...well, sometimes it almost felt hotter inside than outside when we came in for lunch. We may have had a little more pina coladas than usual to compensate, but by Wednesday night it was fixed and we were good to go for the rest of the week. Savannah and Ben had a love/hate relationship all week. They were mostly buddies and had a blast chasing each other around, but there were a few cousin altercations over some important toys:)

Skylar playing with Ben's Thomas magnadoodle
Day 1 on the beach...a little cloudy, but they don't care!
Savannah got hit by a rocky/sandy wave on the first day that really scared her..or actually just made her mad. So, she didn't really have much to do with the ocean after that. She would forget for a minute and come down to see us all having fun by the surf and then she would see a wave and book it back up the sand away from the ocean. She still had fun, but hopefully next year she can try the ocean again and not be scared.

It's a miracle!- all four of us looking at the camera!

Pampers shots...

Uncle Ryan and Sky

Playing Scrabble...

Watching Wonder Pets...

Baby pool in the pool..

Reading on the porch..
Daddy's glamor shots pose:)...
One of the most frustrating things all week was trying to get Savannah to be in a picture. No joke- she is an absolute nut about having to be still for one second to be in a picture. This is just one of many funny pictures- I have enough to do an entire post on hilarious Savannah outtakes and the faces of the rest of us that going along with "dealing" with her. The first time I took Ryan, Jenny, and Ben's picture they just got together real quick and said "cheese" and were all smiling beautifully and looking like the cutest little family....and it took less than 30 seconds. I was like seriously!? Not that I think everyone needs to be looking perfect all the time- I love candid shots. But every once in a while it is nice to have a family picture that doesn't have Savannah in some contorted pose and Tyler and I looking like we hate each other because she is making us break a sweat trying to keep her wrangled up for a picture. She will be a complete angel for a picture when she feels like it though. Skylar is usually great and cooperative, and it will be so awesome when she can stand up by herself for a picture.

That was another hard thing at the beach...to have a sweet 30 pound non walker to get to and from the beach everyday. We stayed one lot back from the beach- but it is a long way down a 3 story house, down the street, up the steps and over the dunes, and all the way back. She got lots of piggy back rides and got carried by grandparents, but hopefully one day she can do it on her own. It's just one of the simple things that make our life different, and that most people don't even think about.

Even with all of that, it is amazing how much easier the girls are getting, and how much better they are at traveling and being away from home. They ate awesome all week and got to have a picnic lunch out on the beach almost everyday.

Savannah ready for lunch in the tent...

Ben loved the ocean and the beach! He could have played outside all day.

Ben trying to chase Savannah and get her to come sit back down for a picture...

Savannah escaping from her spot...

Beautiful!

Gramp and Grammy and grandkids..

Digging with Gigi and Aunt Jenny... Grandude had to stay home with Phoebe, their sick dog, so he missed the beach this year:(

We went out to the beach to play a few times later in the evening. One family always left their tent/toys set up and Ben and Savannah were fighting over one particular shovel.

Savannah pulling with all her might...

Look at her happy little skipping face:) We were laughing that the shovel might as well have been a pitchfork with horns to match.

The same family had a really fun sand wall right in front of their spot. I'm not sure how much of it was man-made or was made by the waves, but the kids loved it. It was like a giant sand slide!

Savannah and Ben climbing to the top and sliding down. So much fun!

Uh-Oh...tumbled down...white dress and all...

Jack and Lori and Pooh

2011-07-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun visit with Uncle Jack and Aunt Lori last weekend! The girls loved getting to see them and we were really happy we all got to hang out for a long weekend. We went to an awesome dinner and to see Harry Potter. Tyler was seeing it for the second time, because of course he went at 3:00 am opening night. He has to go see anything in 3-D without me because it makes me feel car sick. So, he was happy to go see it in regularD with the rest of us:) We spent one afternoon playing at the pool and then Tyler cooked dinner for everyone...fish tacos, beans, rice, and homemade pineapple jalapeno salsa. Piggy back rides with Uncle Jack. Isn't that exactly what Uncles were made for? :)

We also took the girls to their first movie! We went to see Winnie the Pooh and they did a great job. There were lots of other loud kiddos in the theater, so even when they were being too loud- it didn't seem that bad. Savannah tried to get out of her seat once, but other than that did so good! She nevers sits that still for that long. And it helped that we brought goldfish...they must have eaten at least a half of a bag of goldfish. Skylar was so excited when we walked in to the theater and saw the gigantic screen. She got a little scared/nervous during the previews because they are SO loud, but then she was fine and I think she had a great time.
Skylar in front of a poster for the new Taylor L movie...
Sitting in Daddy's lap before the movie

We are off the the beach tomorrow!...Look for Outer Banks Pics next time....

Lovin Summer

2011-07-17T10:34:00.001-07:00

We all enjoyed a great visit with Mimi last week. The girls loved lots of extra attention! It was also nice to have the extra help and some adult conversation during the day instead of the usual gibberish conversations I get to hear all day. Skylar's hair is just barely getting long enough for pigtails- love it!

Skylar's new ladybug bikini from Rod and Sandy

The girls love to make a big mess with all the play food. I think Savannah just likes to dump it all out so she can get in the box.
Food everywhere!

Mimi was so great and kept the girls one day so we could go to Busch Gardens. It was a gorgeous hot day and we had a blast walking around, eating terrible for you food (like a soft pretzel wrapped hot dog-yum!), riding roller coasters, and swimming at the water park- Water Country. Water Country was so fun and had tons of water slides and tube rides. I went on almost everything at the water park, but left Tyler to fend for himself on most of the roller coasters. He did do one huge drop water slide that I didn't do and he hurt his back and was sore for days. We are getting old:) Here is Ty on one of the coasters...

He is on the very right with his hands up...
One of the best parts of the whole day was getting to come home after having a great time and being gone all day- and not having to pay a babysitter! Thanks Mimi!

We found a new park recently that has a huge sandbox and lots of ride on toys to play with. It is in a cool neighborhood sort of downtown with lots of row houses all around it. Lots of people walk and ride their bikes there. It is a big park entirely fenced in-which is great for not worrying if Savannah is going to run off. She just took off for the cars as soon as we got there and then didn't want to have anything to do with us and got mad if I tried to help her or ask her if she wanted to swing or anything else. She is an independent little stinker!

Girls at the sunflower patch....

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-07T11:37:00.001-07:00

We had a great July 4th weekend! Mimi is in town visiting and we went to brunch at our favorite spot-The Boathouse, played in the baby pool, shopped, and Tyler cooked out yummy dinners on the grill three nights in a row!

Just Hanging Out

2011-07-01T11:19:00.001-07:00

The girls have been having a fun summer so far. Skylar's therapy schedule has lightened up a bit the last few weeks while lots of her therapists are on vacation, so we have had more free time. We have been going to the pool whenever we can and enjoying lots of baby pool time at home. And when it is way too hot outside or when we are too lazy to lather everyone up with sunscreen :) we play inside and make a big mess with all the toys.

Skylar loves Brownie and Pearl books now

Amazed by Daddy's birthday present tower

Still her favorite hiding place....hiding with her Aquadoodle pen

Skylar's favorite thing is still anything Doodling..Magnadoodle, Aquadoodle, and coloring..
Being sweet and sharing the Aquadoodle mat. Sometimes Savannah just comes and stands where Skylar is trying to color.

Happy Birthday Daddy! Helping Daddy open presents.

Warming up on the couch after a swim in the not fully warm yet baby pool.
Savannah loving her Snap N Style doll

Cape Charles

2011-06-16T10:10:00.001-07:00

We took a last minute trip to the beach at Cape Charles over the weekend. We had been debating it all week because there was a chance of some storms, but finally decided Friday afternoon to go for it. We had read about Cape Charles and it sounded like such a great place to go. VA schools get out this weekend, so we thought we could have one last weekend opportunity before the out of school summer rush. We are so glad we went- it was great! Cape Charles is part of the Eastern Shore of VA- we had to drive through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to get there. It is a really cool small little town. The town square had a pub, coffee shop, hardware store, and some art/gifty places. It felt like something out of a Nicholas Sparks book. It is also on the bay side, so the water was nice and shallow and not too many big waves for the girls. We rented a little condo close to the beach and right next to a park- and the girls had a great time. Savannah was immediately busy trying to shovel all the sand on the beach. Skylar took turns between the baby pool and the ocean. She liked to get neck deep in the water and sit or crawl around. We ended up having great weather in the morning which is what mattered most, and then it stormed some in the afternoon or at night.

It is getting a lot easier to travel with the girls. The funny thing about that statement is that it is still pretty hard when you think about it, but because it is getting easier, it feels like a breeze in comparison. Packing for the beach is nuts, but doing it spur of the moment in one hour on Friday afternoon was even crazier. We actually did pretty good though and only forgot minor things. Skylar is eating much better lately and can eat more typical 3 yr old foods, which makes traveling so much easier!! We didn't even have to pack a blender or a food processor. It seems like not very long ago we were still having to stop and find microwaves to warm up bottles...so glad those days are over:) She still doesn't love to sleep away from home, but she did pretty well except for waking up at 6:15 both days. Savannah wore herself out and slept like a champ.

Savannah liked to just take off down the beach. She doesn't care if any follows her or not and is not afraid to run off on her own. Of course when she realized I was going to chase her down, she would think it was funny and take off even faster. She has a funny little run that looks like a cartoon character running in place.

Skylar enjoying some cartoons. We thought this TV was funny....Tyler was like- "My TV in my room in 5th grade was bigger than that TV:)"

Jack and Lori's Wedding

2011-06-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

Wedding day was beautiful!! Lori looked so pretty, Jack looked very handsome, it was a beautiful sunny day, all the girls did great jobs as flower girls, and the wedding went perfectly! I haven't gotten to rehash everything with the bride yet (because they are in Jamaica!), but I'm pretty sure she feels the same way.

The girls dresses were adorable- everyone had an ivory dress and pink monogrammed sash. Here are some pictures of getting ready at the church. We brought lots of snacks and entertainment for our church stay, and they all did better than we expected.

Savannah ended up being pretty quiet during the actual procession on wedding day. She smiled for a second, but then just had a quiet expression the rest of the way down the isle. I was just happy she wasn't fussing or wiggling! As Minde was carrying Skylar down the isle, Skylar was saying- "Hi everybody!"..."Hi everybody!"...then she saw Uncle James and said bye to him and then said hi to Daddy and Jack. So, she was not quiet....but was entertaining. Caroline looked so pretty and did a great job with the flowers!

Two little short haired blondies and one beautiful long haired brunette..

Beautiful Bride! (she loved her pockets)
Lori and Minde
Pre wedding Magnadoodling

Mr. and Mrs. Meece!

The reception was at Ruth's Chris and everyone had an amazing dinner! It was great to see tons of people we had not seen in a long time. We had wonderful wedding cake and desserts and then spent the rest of the night talking and dancing. We had a hard act to follow...Caroline was one of the first people out on the dance floor and got everyone in the mood for dancing...

We couldn't be more happy for Jack and Lori and are so excited to welcome Lori into the family!

Rehearsal Dinner

2011-06-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Jack and Lori got married last weekend at Church Street in downtown Knoxville. They asked all the nieces to be flower girls in the wedding. All three girls did a great job and looked so cute. The church is beautiful and has a REALLY long isle we got to walk down:). During rehearsal Savannah was talking gibberish all the way down the isle. Skylar got to walk with Aunt Minde and Caroline followed everyone with the big job of tossing rose petals. She was really cute and "deliberate" in her placement of petals.

Following the rehearsal we had a wonderful dinner at Naples. Thanks again to Gigi for coming in town to help with the girls so we could go kid free to the rehearsal dinner and reception.

Mimi and the girls...
This is what Skylar thinks of being at the church so long....aaahhhh!! :)
I love these pictures. Jack and Lori looked great! Savannah is giving Uncle Jack a run for his money. I have about 6 or 7 pictures of this...all with Savannah in some wiggly pose and in each one she is getting closer to the ground until she gets what she wants... and gets to go crawl on the big steps.

Naples..

James and Minde
The almost married couple!

Chattanooga Aquarium

2011-06-06T10:53:00.001-07:00

We made a day trip to Chattanooga to see Tyler's dad and to take the girls to the aquarium. We got to meet up with Austin and Lara and their three adorable girls at the aquarium. We hadn't all four been together in maybe 6 or 7 years?! It was fun to catch up for a little bit and of course to see all the cool stuff at the aquarium. The place is amazing!

The Watson girls gave us a wonderful tour....

Butterfly Garden

I love Carly's sweet face...she is so excited about her butterfly

Fun Wedding Week!

2011-06-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

We had a great visit to Knoxville last week for Jack and Lori's wedding! We all had such a good time and loved getting to see everyone. We also took day trips to Nashville and to Chattanooga- it was a fun/busy week touring TN. Of course the highlight of the week was the beautiful wedding- more wedding pictures to come. We had lots of late nights and good times with family...most of which ended with James or Tyler making a run to Sonic or Taco Bell around 11:00. We played ping pong, made wedding signs, had a Girls Night Out, and Minde and I got to play her new Twilight board game:)
James and Minde hosted a really fun Memorial Day cookout...

Taking a little rest after our trip home from Nashville..

Baby Pool!

Loving Caroline's toys..

Wrestling with Daddy

Here are pictures from late night wedding sign making. I am sure this was a lot funnier in person, but Tyler and Minde pulled a hilarious MacGyver move to help us make an M monogram. Minde had these little stick on letters that we wanted to use, but they were too small for a big monogram....so they rigged up two cups and some plastic to hold the letter up, then Tyler turned the flash of his phone on and used it like a projector to cast the shadow of the M on the poster for us. Good times! I love that it also involved a toy tool box and lots of snacks in the background.

Family Girls Night Out for margaritas before the wedding... Jill, Minde, Lori, Cathy, Jane, Becca

New sister-in-laws!
We had a fun night!! We visited Cotton Eyed Joes but didn't stay too long because it was pretty dead on Thursday night....but it brought back some fun college memories. We got to end the night at Ray's with some live music at the outside Tiki Bar.

Outside Weekend

2011-05-27T18:22:00.001-07:00

We had a gorgeous weekend and tried to soak in as much sun and fresh air as we could. The girls were very excited about their new baby pool Daddy got at Target. I think it is the perfect size for them and has really fun attachments. I foresee lots of days this summer playing in the baby pool. Probably everyone will get so tired of seeing the same pictures of the girls in the pool with their same 4 bathing suit selections. But, that is probably what we will be doing at the Meece house with this hot summer comin:)

Bbbbrrrr! It gets a little cold when you get out.

Sunday we went to a new beach we had heard about called Yorktown Beach. It was only a quick 1 1/2 hr drive. It is on the bay side- so there were hardly any waves and it was fairly shallow wading water. As soon as we got to the beach and I put Savannah down she immediately took off running straight to the water and I had to drop everything and chase her. She ran straight in and then froze in about 2 seconds with water up to her ankles. She clearly didn't remember the ocean from last year and I think she was thinking it would feel like bath water or something. She was so shocked that it was "cold" (it actually felt very refreshing), she didn't really want to have much to do with the ocean the rest of the day. I finally at least got her to get her feet in the water and throw a ball out to me in the water.
The beach got really packed by the end of the day, but we had gotten there early and had a good spot up by the water. Not as nice as the Outer Banks of course, but a really nice beach for such a short drive.

Lunch break...the girls did so good eating out of their element. They don't really do "picnic" style meals very often, but they chowed down on some PP&J, cheese, grapes, & goldfish. (which actually sounds like a yummy lunch to me too)

Sky playing with the cool bubble wand.....

Heeyyy!!! I want that wand....

And now I have it .......

Savannah ended up spending at least our last 30 minutes on the beach playing with the beach cart. She was tipping it up and down and then laid it flat on the ground and jumped on it like a trampoline. Whatever works:)

Easter Outfits

2011-05-08T11:34:00.001-07:00

We missed getting to dress up for Easter because of the stomach bug...so here was our attempt at some late Easter pictures. It was a gorgeous day, but Savannah was not feeling it at all. She can actually be quite the cry baby sometimes, and she was pitching a fit. She's so tough about some things, and then has such a short fuse about other things. The other day at the park she basically face planted on this basketball court and she made a little noise and looked at me like I had made it happen or something- and then she just took of running. I guessed it wasn't that big of a deal and then a few minutes later I saw it was a huge dirty goose egg on her head. She had shaken it right off. But heaven forbid she can't fit herself into whatever tiny apparatus she's trying to fit into, or a toy she knows talks/plays music and doesn't work now because the battery is dead, or she can't get her shoe on by herself, or the dog with the pull string falls over and won't roll anymore- she loses it! And lots more things that for some reason send her over the edge. And apparently on this day it was way too much to ask of her to sit still for 30 seconds to take a picture. I think we got some good ones of Sky, and actually now I just think the pictures are funny because they are very "real life."

Skylar's Birthday

2011-05-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

Skylar turned 3! She had a fun day and got to see lots of her favorite people. She got some new books, babies, Cinderella toys, coloring pad, and a giant Aquadoodle pad. She loved her cupcakes and singing Happy Birthday and always wanted us to sing to Vanna too. She is so sweet about her sister and always wants to know where she is and what she's doing. (until she tries and takes her crayon or Aquadoodle pen- and then a big sister brawl breaks out)

Skylar with her therapists Mrs. Donna and Mrs. Phyllis

Skylar wearing her new Cinderella jewelry from Fegan

Daddy and the girls

Playing with all the new toys. And a sweet picture of baby Skylar....

Nascar

2011-05-08T11:24:00.001-07:00

Tyler got free Target tickets to go to the Nascar Sprint Cup race in Richmond. I hadn't been to a race in forever and I forgot how entertaining the crowd was. I could have walked around for hours watching everyone. My favorite Nascar outfit was an awesome Miller Lite beer box trojan helmet. I'm sure beer box armor is not new at all, but I haven't tailgated in forever either- so it was new to me. Fun stuff!
It was a beautiful day and perfect for walking around, but as soon as the sun went down it got SO cold. I almost had to splurge on a big redneck Nascar hoodie, but I managed to survive without it.

Rodney Atkins performed on the track before the race.

(Lara- does this anorak look familiar? I still wear it- it is ancient!)

Lately....

2011-05-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

We have been loving playing outside lately with lots of trips to the park. Savannah loves the wide open spaces where she can run free. It would be awesome if the weather would stay like this all summer!
Our Easter weekend started off great. Ty and I went to see Water for Elephants which was really good. (If you've read the book though- where were the pink sequins?!) Then, later that night I got sick with the stomach bug. Luckily my mom was coming in town for Easter week because I was out of commission for days. Easter day was beautiful outside and I barely got to enjoy any of it. I was so sad we didn't get to dress the girls up in their Easter outfits and take them to church. We did a lot of lounging around in pajamas for a few days and Gigi took the girls on wagon rides so they could get out of the house a little bit. We didn't get to do all of the fun things we had planned to do with Gigi, but the girls were very excited to have her visit for the week.

The girls have been doing this hilarious rolling around on each other and laughing thing. It usually starts with Savannah sitting her tiny bum down in Skylar's lap and then Skylar laughs and pushes her off and they start just rolling around together. They also love this certain spot between the kitchen table and the back door. Of course Savannah loves her tiny little spots to squeeze into.

Sitting in my big sister's lap

Gigi and Savannah

Skylar is still obsessed with her magnadoodle- her favorite toy ever!

Savannah was loving this sand box! She was so busy and had lots of work to do in the sand. We can't wait to get her to the beach this summer- she will be a maniac!

Pajama morning playing with all the new play food from Gigi

Yay for playing outside weather!

2011-04-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

The girls have been loving their new pirate ship water table. Thanks Mimi!

Our little buddy Asher came over to play with the pirate ship too.
Such a cutie with those dimples
Savannah's best -I'm up to something look

Lori's Bridal Shower

2011-04-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

My future sister-n-law Lori had a beautiful bridal shower given for her in Knoxville. The decorations and food were amazing and Lori and Jack got lots of great things for their new house. We had a yummy pink champagne and wine cocktail followed by chicken crepes, basil tomato pie, and lots of yummy fancy sides. Tyler stayed home with the girls since I was only in Knoxville about 36 hours- it would have been a very quick trip with kiddos. We did get to shop for the girls flower girl dresses and they are going to be so pretty!

Bride to be

AMAZING Desserts!

Minde playing Vanna to showcase Lori's new bowl:)

Sandy, Lori, Deena

The new extended family

Lori and Mins

Lori and Jack

Savannah 16 months

2011-03-29T10:09:00.001-07:00

Savannah is 16 months old now and is turning out to be quite a handful! She has sortof a split personality. One side is super sweet and charming and wants to sit in your lap while you "ree-ree-ree" a book, and the other side is a little trouble maker. That sounds terrible to say...but it is so true! And of course I mean that in the most loving way:) She is in to Everything around the house. She loves to open and shut the trash can and throw things away. If the fridge or pantry door are open for more than 10 seconds- she is right underneath you trying to crawl in and get into something. She has a favorite little spot now between the couch and the end table that she likes to escape to with all of her treasures she finds and isn't supposed to have. She likes to come to the same spot to escape me and wherever I am trying to take her.

She loves to be picked up on her terms and says "UPppp!" (with a 3 second p), but is a defiant little devil when she doesn't want to be picked up. She thrashes her little body around and tries to twist out of your arms. She has perfected the 'throw your arms up straight into the air to the point where they look dislocated' move and can make it as hard as she can to be picked up. She loves to just hurl herself around too- if you are sitting or lying on the floor- she will just come tackle you and laugh and laugh. I had two random bruises lately that I am sure came from a bony little elbow or knee. Her sweet side is just so cute and so "classic baby"- she talks jibberish all the time and points her tiny little 2 inch longer finger at everything. I'll be glad when she is saying more words, but I'm not trying to make any time go by faster...I know she will be there soon enough and I will be missing this funny little phase.

Snuggling with Minnie

My favorite- a dirty trash can!

Here is a few days worth of pictures from her favorite hiding spot...

A remote and a Kleenex box..

Kleenex and a really fun find..a to-go coffee cup

Just hiding with a snotty face...

Savannah loves this little horse and drags it around the house. She has recently learned to do some trick riding...

Tackling Skylar...

Just sitting in a shoe box to play with my doll..

Wild One

2011-03-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

This is just a 30 second example of Savannah being a wild woman. She is dancing, which to her means...jumping and spinning and in this case..spiraling out of control. She does hilarious stuff like this all the time and loves to be the center of attention.

This particular episode doesn't end well for Savannah:(...

Muslce Biopsy

2011-03-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

We were in Atlanta last week for Skylar's muscle biopsy. It was a really fast/busy trip and Skylar was such a trooper. She got up at 4:30 in the morning and made it to three appointments the first day and then we had to be back at the hospital at 6:20am the next morning for the biopsy. The Children's Hospital there was great and we were really happy with all of the doctors and nurses. Even with a few sad pitiful moments after the procedure, she recovered really well. She was back to playing and being hyper like 6 hours after surgery. We were all exhausted and she had some great anesthesia sleep and was ready to play:) We had to stick around for a day just in case of emergency and we headed home early the next morning. (We will find out results in 6-8 weeks.) Thanks to Gigi for staying home and keeping our other little peanut and to Mimi for helping us in ATL!
How cute is this picture?! We would not have made it through the trip without the iPad. Thank you God for iPads! It is barely 7 am and she hasn't eaten, is in a strange place in a weird bed, and people have already been poking and prodding her...but she doesn't care because she has Wonder Pets and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse:)

Skylar's Intensive Therapy

2011-03-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from Skylar's intensive therapy session. It was such hard work and she was pretty much sick the whole time, but she did a great job all things considering. She got lots of practice walking in her walker and lots of balance and strength training. It was a big time/effort commitment and we had lots of great family come and help out- thanks everybody!
Here is Skylar walking in her walker on the treadmill with her Therasuit compression suit on. Fancy stuff!

This was a really cool bike she got to warm up on every morning. It has rear steering and is tall enough to not break your back pushing it. Her feet strapped in to the pedals, so she got some "free laps" and then she had to actually push down and do the work to make it go.

She didn't always love being there, but she loved all her therapists. They were so fun and energetic and were always trying to distract and entertain her into having a good time and not thinking about the hard task she didn't want to do. Skylar's favorite distraction was her therapist Kristen singing two new verses of the Itsy Bitsy Spider that we didn't know before. Skylar loves singing!
Of course Savannah wants to be just like her sister and loves to play in/on/under both of her walkers....

Amanda's Wedding

2011-03-14T10:29:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I headed down to Gulf Shores for Amanda's wedding. It was so fun!! Tyler and Mimi stayed at home with the sick little girls all weekend. I am so glad that Mimi could help out. I sitll felt bad leaving sick kiddos at home, but it made it easier to go knowing there were two people to wipe noses and clean up throw up.
Katie met me at the beach and was my date for the weekend. We all went out to the Flora-Bama bar one night and had a great time. We also got to do lots of relaxing and having no agenda- which I love to do since we are always so scheduled at home. Tyler called one morning while KT and I were at breakfast and he was like- "Yeh, having breakfast at 9:40- that's awesome." And that same night we didn't eat dinner until 9:00 because we were trying to find a place that Katie didn't think looked like Shoney's. (Haha- threw you under the bus again!)
The day of the wedding I was so worried for Amanda about the weather. She had everything planned for a beautiful beachfront wedding and come wedding time it was raining and pretty cold:(
It could not have turned out better though! The wedding took place inside and Amanda looked beautiful and had such a great attitude. The house where they got married was insanely awesome and looked like it should be on MTV cribs. I think it had like 15 bedrooms or something and it had a couple different living areas and loft areas. It was by far the prettiest beach house I have ever seen. They had a band and lots of great food and drinks- everyone had a blast!
So happy for Amanda and Win!

Hanging out at the FloraBama

Lauren and Ellie came over to visit for a little while..

Paul and Ellie

How cool is this light on the dance floor with their names?!

View from the loft..

Hanging out with Ben

2011-03-01T12:08:00.001-08:00

Ryan, Jenny, and Ben got to come over for the weekend to help celebrate a late birthday with Gigi. We had a fun weekend with little toddlers everywhere. Savannah and Ben together was definitely like having twins. Cute little girl and boy twins. They wanted the same toys and the same persons attention pretty much all the time. Skylar sort of stayed cleared of the drama and did her own thing. We actually had a babysitter one night after the kiddos went to bed and got to all go out together baby free for Gigi's birthday dinner. We were supposed to go to her favorite restaurant on the lake by our house, but there ended up being an almost two hour wait. So, we ended up going to a Mexican restaurant and got to enjoy some giant beers and margaritas. And finished with Gigi's favorite part of the meal....frozen yogurt from Sweet Frogs. Not as good as Pinkberry yogurt, but pretty good.
Jenny and Ben were sweet enough to stay a few extra days and help with Savannah while Skylar was at her intensive therapy program. She ended up having to miss two days because she caught the stomach bug. Sweet Jenny was a trooper with emergency bath/clothes/sheets changes. I was so lucky to have her there while Tyler was out of town and Skylar was sick! We had a great time without any sickness one night and got to drink wine, eat pizza, and watch Eclipse. (All of which I would love to do every night!)

Wagon ride with Gigi

Ben loved to get right in Savannah's face and check her out. We think he was thinking....what is this tiny person that is only half my size?

Pushing Savannah in the car...and then taking off for the stairs..

Art time

(aka: lets find something for everyone to do that will keep them contained and not fighting, opening cabinets doors, or pulling knives off the counter)

Finally feeling better...

2011-02-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

After two weeks of major sickness in the Meece house we are almost all better. Everyone caught the flu and between the four of us we went to the doctor 8 times! We had to keep going back for new symptoms and worse coughs. Savannah ended up having a terrible double ear infection too and wound up on steroids, antibiotics, and nebulizer treatments. Poor thing was so sick! She basically cried and slept for 3 days. Thank goodness Gigi was coming to town to help with Savannah during Skylar's first week of intensive therapy. She got in town just in time for me to finally be the last one in the house to get the flu. Everyone is feeling so much better and almost back to normal.
Here is the week in review of sad sick pictures...

Drawing while we wait for flu and rsv test to come back...

A few days later with Savannah waiting for tests to come back...

Poor sick girl who I didn't know could actually be so still

Trying to get Savannah to wear her mask...this lasted all of 5 seconds. We ended up having to just try and hold it as close to her face as we could while enticing her with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Happy Valentines Day! Feeling good enough for a little smile...

Sky loving her musical Valentine card

This video is of the first night Savannah felt better and started acting like herself again. She is "jumping" through a sea of toys on the floor.

Skylar's Story

2011-02-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

I have been meeting lots of new moms lately that have children with special needs. The ones who have blogs have really great descriptions and updates of what is going on with their child, and it inspired me to do the same. I really haven't written much about Skylar's special needs in the hopes that one day when she is looking back at our blog she would remember fun times and that she had as normal of a life as possible. The reality of our life right now is that even though we try and keep it as "normal" as possible, it still pretty much revolves around doctors appointments and therapy for Skylar. Sweet Savannah is such an angel and a trooper and I hope that one day she is a stronger person for experiencing everything with Skylar. So, hopefully this can serve as a description of Skylar's story for new families we meet or for people that we haven't kept up to date very well. I am going to try and figure out how to make links on the right side of our blog and will post any updates or news about Skylar there in the future.
Skylar will be 3 in May and is currently diagnosed as having a Developmental Delay. She has both cognitive and motor delays and currently has the biggest delay in gross motor skills. She has very low muscle tone in her whole body. Her characteristics are similar to some types of Cerebral Palsy. She did not sit up by herself until 15 months old and did not crawl until 17 months old. She cannot stand independently or walk. She can stand at a surface and cruise but cannot pull to a standing position by herself. She has two different walkers that she is learning to walk in (but she doesn't LOVE either of them very much). She has a pretty good vocabulary and learns new words everyday, but still lacks the communication/understanding skills of a typical two year old. She has the sweetest heart and the sweetest smile and loves people!
Here is a little bit about how we got where we are today...
Everything with Skylar's pregnancy and birth went smoothly and she appeared perfectly healthy. She ended up crying almost the first two months of her life. She had colic and feeding issues, but we finally got her on some special formula that really helped. She also had terrible reflux that our GI Dr. actually said was one of the worst cases he had ever seen. Around 4 months we started noticing that she wasn't doing things that a typical 4 month old should be able to do, and by the time she was 6 months old we were fully immersed into our new life with a child with special needs. We started seeing multiple pediatric specialists that consist of: GI, ophthalmology, genetics, neurology, ENT, ortho, and developmental specialists. We also started with Early Intervention services, and Skylar has been receiving 4-6 therapies per week ever since then. She has come a long way in the therapy world over the last two years. She used to whine and cry the entire hour and not want to do anything that we were trying to work on, but she is pretty cooperative now, except for a few two year old moments still thrown in there sometimes. She receives physical, occupational, and education therapy. Thank goodness she has "graduated" out of feeding therapy (which was my least favorite!), although we still struggle with feeding and weight issues. It has been suggested multiple times that Sky have a feeding tube put in because she has such poor weight gain, but we are still trying to put it off as long as we can. We calorie boost her food as much as we can, but she can't eat the average volume of a typical two year old. Her low muscle tone makes it harder for her to chew solid food and she also tires out quickly from eating.
She has had multiple genetic tests done that have all come back negative: Retts Syndrome, Angelmans Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Mosaic Downs Syndrome, and a few other widespread chromosome tests. She has also had MRIs and EEGs and nothing significant has presented that would help us find a more specific diagnosis. So, basically we still have no idea what is "going on" with Skylar or why.
Through this whole process we have become experts at all things insurance related and have learned to have patience with all things doctor related. We wait sometimes months for appointments, then wait sometimes hours in the waiting room, then wait for results. Needless to say, it has been an acquired patience. We definitely went through the panic phase where I thought we were going to get immediate answers or a quick "fix" and couldn't imagine having to wait two months to see a doctor. I was researching everything constantly and could probably still recite from memory the development charts from What to Expect the First Year. As time went by we realized Skylar's development was not something that could be quickly fixed with some miracle drug or procedure and we are still trying to learn what our version of a normal life will look like.
One of the hardest things emotionally is the loss of expectations. I am realizing that I had these certain expectations of what our kids/family would look like that I didn't even realize I had. Thats the funny thing about expectations....they kindof just grow and form in your head without you knowing and then it takes them not being met to even realize you had them in the first place. We have no idea what to expect with Skylar in the future, but we hope for the best. She continues to make progress every day which keeps us hopeful. We also see lots of kids every week that are not as fortunate as Skylar, which helps keep our perspective thankful for her health and for her happy spirit. She pretty much wins everyone she meets over with her pink glasses:) Thank goodness for Tyler who is such a great dad and has an unconditional amount of love and patience for Skylar. I could not do this without him!
Next week we are starting a new intensive physical therapy program. It is 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks. We will be using some new therapy techniques that Skylar has not tried before that include 'suit therapy'. There is a great program in Michigan called EuroPeds that also uses suit therapy. They have a good little video on their website that describes the process. If anyone wants to check it out....
http://www.europeds.org/
Skylar will be going to Richmond Hope Therapy (http://www.richmondhopetherapy.com/) The founder of RHT was actually trained by the person who started the program in Michigan. It is about a 40 minute drive each way, but it is a lot closer than Michigan, and we are excited there was an opportunity like this for Sky right in our own city.
Our next big event for Skylar is a trip to Atlanta sometime this spring for a muscle biopsy at the medical neurogenetics lab there.
I will keep you updated on Sky's progress and appreciate your prayers for her!

Caroline's Birthday Party

2011-02-10T07:23:00.001-08:00

Our beautiful niece Caroline turned 3 last weekend and had a Princess Aurora Birthday Party! Princess Aurora made a guest appearance at the party and Caroline had a blast! She had "magic wand" chocolate dipped pretzel sticks for everyone and of course Minde and James hosted a beautiful birthday party. Tyler and Minde took lots of decoration pictures for me because I had to stay home with a sick Skylar:( Skylar ended up getting RSV and the flu and was the most sick she has ever been over the weekend. Tyler braved the trip solo with Savannah to make it to Knoxville for the big day. It was also Mimi's birthday and everyone celebrated together with a surprise birthday dinner at Chesapeake's. I was so sad to miss all of the fun events...especially after a whole week of outfit/tights/shoes/bows planning, but Tyler and Savannah had a great time. By the time they got home Savannah was sick and now she has a terrible cough and is so sick and pitiful. It has been a nonstop week of trips to the doctor/pharmacy and wiping noses and cleaning up throw up! Skylar isn't 100% better yet, but is getting close. Hopefully Savannah is only a few days behind and everyone can be well by sometime next week! Hopefully!

Caroline got a mini trampoline for her birthday that Savannah loved! Ty and Lori would send me videos of her jumping and having so much fun.

Trampoline!

Princess Aurora Birthday Cake

Birthday Girl!

Mimi's Party...

Jack and Lori (who officially have a wedding date now! Yay!)

So sweet

Happy Birthday Mimi!

Phone pictures...

2011-02-02T11:32:00.001-08:00

Savannah playing in a shoebox..

2011-02-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

Savannah loves getting in and out of tubs and baskets. This one is the size of a shoe box and she is so tiny she can fit all the way in it. She can entertain herself pretty easily with some empty containers...

New chair from Mimi...

2011-02-02T11:06:00.001-08:00

Mimi got a new chair for Skylar for an early birthday present and they are loving it! Savannah pretty much thinks it is her own personal throne, but she lets Skylar sit on it every once in a while too. They both look so big sitting in a big girl chair.

Savannah loves to step on things. She carried this lid in to the kitchen by herself and came and put it on the floor next to where I was standing so she could stand on it. She loves to stand on Skylar's magnadoodle like she is skating on it and on all of Daddy's shoes.

Getting back into the swing of things...

2011-01-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

We have settled back into our normal routine after the holiday madness. The girls are still loving all of their new toys. We haven't "re-organized" yet since Christmas, so we basically have toys everywhere. All the more fun to make a big mess out of!

The Children's Museum had another special night for families of children with special needs. This is the girls playing in the "arctic ocean". It was literally freezing cold water with polar bears and penguins to play with. They loved it!

There was a bell choir that came with lots of instruments for the kids. They got to play their own bells and pipe drum stick things which made lots of great loud noises.

Hugging Baby

One of Savannah's favorite past times...heading up the stairs. She goes to the baby gate in the hall where you can just see the bottom of the stairs and says "up!" She knows the sound of the gate coming down and wherever she is she drops everything and makes a run for the stairs.

Not sleepy!

Sassy face

Christmas in Knoxville

2011-01-04T08:37:00.001-08:00

We decided to head to Knoxville on Christmas day because VA was supposed to get tons of snow the day after Christmas and we wanted to miss it. We ended up driving in snow most of the way anyway, but it wasn't too bad. We caravanned with Gigi and Grandude to Knoxville and then they drove all the way back to Memphis. The girls did pretty good and were happy to have Gigi sit in the back and entertain them for most of the trip.

We recovered for a night and then got right back to opening presents the next morning. They basically got to have a whole month of present opening!

New food basket that they have been loving...

Dress up clothes for Caroline...

Taking a break to watch a show with Olivia

We were trying to get a picture of all the girls and everyone was cooperating....except Savannah. She was being a nut and flailing all over the couch!

Finally we decided to just lay her in everyones lap and hope they could hold on to her. She was still resisting at first and then she realized she was the center of attention and started being a ham and loving that she was in the middle. She is so bad!...in a cute/trick you sort of way...

Caroline and her "snowballs" from Mimi

Savannah loved this booster seat on the floor and was happy just getting in and out of it and playing with the buckles. All the new toys and she loved Caroline's booster seat the best.

While we were in Knoxville we celebrated Tyler's Grandma Carroll's 80th birthday. We had a yummy dinner at Litton's and lots of Tyler's family came in town for the occasion. Caroline was helping Grandma Carroll blow out the candles. The girls actually did really good for having to sit in their seats for two hours.

All the great-grandkids from Tyler's mom's side of the family...Seth, Olivia, Caroline, Skylar, Savannah...

A fun visit with Grandpa...

Caroline's playroom was by far Skylar's favorite part of the whole trip. She was loving every new toy and book and especially the kitchen and all the play food. They played so great and most importantly didn't make a peep! "Quiet" non-fighting/non-whining playing is a rare occurrence at our house and it was so nice! There were enough toys to share and they really only got into it over Caroline's comfy chair.

Busy girls...

This is the chair they both loved and Skylar was sitting in the chair drinking her milk and Savannah just pushed her tiny butt up on the chair right in Skylar's lap and sat down anyway.

Great picture of Grandpa and Sky! This is Savannah's I'm way to busy for a picture face....

It was a wonderful visit with good times with family, good food, and presents.

We were all really worn out when we got home and are glad we are staying put in VA for a little while....

Merry Christmas!

2011-01-04T08:32:00.001-08:00

"Christmas" morning! Loving the new castle...

Big sister baby...

Lots of new books and a school bus...

A fun Christmas Week...

2011-01-04T07:45:00.000-08:00

Gigi and Grandude got to visit for the week of Christmas and the girls had a great time! We had our Christmas on Christmas Eve and then headed to Knoxville on Christmas day. Santa brought a blow up princess castle ball pit that was a huge hit Christmas morning. It was really fun dressing the girls this month in all their fun holiday outfits. So many people gave the girls cute Christmas clothes- it was great!

We love our jeggings!

So cute!

Savannah playing peekaboo behind the curtain and looking super cute in her Santa Baby outfit.

Gigi and Savannah

Watching Gigi make apple pie...and getting a taste

Yum!

So, we kindof waited till the last minute to go see Santa this year and when we got there we waited in line for a while and then they told us he was going on break. This happened last year too and we got all dressed up again the next day and went back....but not this year! It was freezing cold out and the mall was so insane that we didn't try again. As we were walking by Santa on our way out he looked right at Skylar though and gave her a big wave- so we thought that was pretty cool and could maybe suffice until next year. Terrible parents!

Savannah had the most fun walking around the mall while we were in line. She loved looking at everyone and pointing at everything. [Don't you love the dress, tights, and fleece sweatshirt look:)]

Look how tiny and stinkin cute she is!

At least we got a pretty good one of Gigi and Grandude and the girls while they were still all dressed up.

7 1/2 teeth now...

Meredith's Wedding

2010-12-14T11:19:00.001-08:00

Meredith's wedding was a great time! We left our camera at home, but Lara was nice enough to share her camera with us for the night and sent us some pics.
The wedding was really sweet and Meredith looked gorgeous. The reception was at a really cool place in Nashville called Houston Station. I think maybe it was an old train station?? It was decorated beautifully and had a really fun rustic feel but with a chic modern twist. I loved the table centerpieces...

It was great to see lots of friends we hadn't seen in a while. We are so happy for Meredith and Kyle!

Early Christmas

2010-12-14T11:10:00.001-08:00

Our friend Meredith got married in Nashville over the weekend so we decided to all go and celebrate an early Christmas with some of my family. It was such a wild/fun/exhausting weekend...
We were debating on what time of day to fly with the girls since there is really no ideal time to be traveling for 5 hrs. We left at 6:30 one night and at 1:00 the next time. We decided that neither of those were great and next time we are going to try a morning flight:) They actually did pretty good on the way there and were such troopers with everything. We are getting much better with all of our travel organization too and learn something new every trip. We have the security check points down to a science and it takes lots of teamwork. Unload all the bags and take out the baby food and bottles so they can do their test on them, take off our jackets and shoes, send the car seat through the belt, take the girls shoes off, each pick up one of the girls out of the double stroller, fold down the stroller and then team lift it up on to the belt while holding squirming babies that want to get down. It is a process! The trip home didn't go as well because we were all so cranky and tired and ready to get home. I will be glad when they can at least "understand" why we have to do all of that and know that its just a trip and we will eventually be home. I think they thought we were never getting off the plane or going home. It's a hard concept to understand when you are just carted around everywhere with no say in anything. Thank goodness for the iPad and Wonder Pets- they were our lifesavers.
Regardless of the traveling part, we had such a great time getting to see everyone and are so glad we made the trip. Ryan and Jenny hosted Christmas and had the most amazing brunch prepared for us including mimosas and yummy spiked eggnog. We opened presents for hours and the girls were so good. It was right in the middle of lunch and nap time too, but they were having so much fun they didn't care. After they had lunch we literally didn't hear a peep out of them the whole time- they just crawled around in all of the bows and wrapping paper and every once in a while actually stopped to play with a new toy. Skylar's favorite present was a baby doll with glasses and I'm pretty sure Savannah's favorite toy was not actually one of hers but was a work bench that Benjamin got that has a power saw on it. She had much more interest in the wrapping paper and tearing it into tiny pieces than in the toys.

Big Ben

Playing with Ben's truck

Eating toys

Presents everywhere!

Savannah and Great Uncle Lee
Feeding baby
Pillow Pet!!
Lost in the wrapping paper...
Christmas madness

The girls after a long day of traveling!

Night out on the historic tizzzown...

2010-12-09T05:54:00.001-08:00

I had to at least try and make visiting Colonial Williamsburg on purpose sound more fun. Just kidding Tyler!- it was actually a cool experience. Even cooler because we were baby free! The girls spent their first night alone over the weekend with a babysitter that wasn't a grandmother. Fegan kept the girls overnight Saturday night and we got to experience Colonial Williamsburg at Christmas. We live just an hour away and Ty has been wanting to go since we moved to Richmond. It was the perfect time because they have lots of pretty Christmas decorations and do some special events for December.
We walked all around on Saturday (cold!) and took tours of the historical buildings and everything and then Sunday we did some outlet shopping on the way home. It was a really fun quick trip! We are so thankful to be able to leave the girls and know they are in good hands. They always have a blast with Fegan too. I wish we had family closer too, but am so happy for a wonderful babysitter!
Here are a few pics from our trip... The Fife and Drummers were awesome to see. Everybody was dressed in 18th century clothing and we kept thinking about how different it would have been to wear those kinds of things. The swords are all from the Governor's Palace...