Ni Hao Kai-Lan

So Alana loves this show on Nick Jr. Ni Hao Kai-Lan. The other day she was counting things at the store and busted out with Ii R San (I'm sure I butchered the spelling...) It is really adorable.

Here is a video of her singing along with the theme song. I hope it shows up right.





ETA: So when I go to view it shows 2 videos, one from blogger and one from photobucket (blogger orginally said my html was wrong for photobucket, but now it is showing up)..the html is all jumbled and it took soooooo long to upload my video on blogger that I'm just leaving it as is!! haha

A week of the sickies

So, as I mentioned in my last post my sister flew out to visit last week. The last time I saw any of my family was November 1st, 2008. It is hard, really hard, to be away from family. I'm used to either living with my family and my in-laws or seeing them 2 time or more a week. What a change it has been to be half way across the country from them. I never imagined that we would be so far from family.

Growing up I never lived near my family either. My maternal grandma and 3 of my Aunts lived in California. One Aunt in Michigan. My paternal grandma is in North Carolina and one older brother lived in many different places (Japan, Nevada, Texas, etc...) No one was very close to us in Connecticut. I was used to this and I always felt like my time with my extended family was extra special since I didn't see them often, but I was always jealous of the kids who would spend the weekend at their grandparents and the kids whose grandparents would come to school on Grandparent's Day. I wanted that for my girls. Unfortunately this economy took that opportunity away. Maybe someday we'll return to the Northeast or maybe our family will come out here, but at this point in time I can only hope that my girls will look foreword and appreciate the vacations we take to visit family. I don't want them to forget.

Anyway...back to my sister visiting. We were all super excited for her to come visit and had a grand vacation planned. Nothing goes according to plan for us...nothing! Here is a rundown of how it went.

The plane was scheduled to fly in at 9:40 a.m. on March 11th. I am not a patient person so I was very happy that all I had to do was go to sleep and once I woke up we'd be on a mad dash to the airport. We wake up and get ready to go. During that time I receive a phone call from my sister that her connection flight was canceled. She made it from Connecticut to Detroit, but was now being sent to Minneapolis MN instead of WI. The kicker, however, was that she couldn't make it to WI until 8:00 p.m. So many flights were canceled due to wind the day before that all earlier flights were booked up and had LOOOOONG waiting lists. So that stinks...I sucked it up and spent all day watching the clock. We were supposed to head out to IHOP (my deceased grandma's favorite restaurant) after she came in, but since it was so late we hit Hardies's for some fast food.

That night Jimmy and I wake up to Alana gagging. She got sick overnight, but I wasn't too worried. She occasionally throws up overnight but is fine the next day. That didn't happen this time. She was sick all of Thursday, vomiting ever 30 minutes or so. It was terrible! I expected her to be better the next day, but this went on for nearly a whole week with the vomiting getting less and less each day. To add to this Jimmy and I felt ill Friday - Wednesday. I wasn't sick that badly, just a little queasy, but I am not used to being sick that long! I am usually not sick longer than a day. Jimmy didn't fare as well. And of course Kylie became sick Friday night. I was really hoping it would skip her, but we weren't as lucky. She only just started feeling better and eating normally today. Poor baby. Luckily for my sister the sickies seemed to miss her!

That was basically the whole vacation. We ordered Chinese food once when Jimmy and I were feeling a bit better and The girls started to feel a bit better the last couple of days they were sick (no vomiting, just not much appetite still) so we went to the mall on Tuesday and then I took the girls out to eat with my sister before she left Wednesday (Jimmy wasn't feeling well enough to go either place.) That was really nice.

She plans to come visit again, but I don't know when. We are heading out to visit our family in NY an CT this August and I am so excited! 2 weeks of family! WOO!


We bought a cake to celebrate :)


We took this picture at the mall...Alana did not like it.

I have some more pictures but Blogger is being difficult and won't upload them...I'll probably put them up in the next post!

Just a quick update from me...My sister flew up to visit for a week and just left Wednesday. The whole time she was here we were sick! Ugh! I'm off to catch up on all of the blogs I missed out on (I wasn't online much while she was here) and then I may be back to write some about her visit.

A tale of no sleep...

So, I've been having a ton of sleep problems with the girls lately and have been SOO tired! Jimmy and I decided that Alana will be going to bed at 9:00- no exceptions. Before this she was resisting sleep badly and fell asleep around 11...bad!

Well the other night Alana went to bed sometime between 9-9:30 and Kylie went to bed at 10:00!!! This is exciting progress, but here is the kicker. Alana didn't wake up all night and Kylie only woke up once...at 6:30!!!! Then we went back to bed until Alana woke up at 7:30! I couldn't believe it! Even when they fall asleep earlier they wake up all night long. I was so excited!

Then came last night....

I put Alana to bed at 9:00 and she fell asleep at 11:00. Kylie went to bed at 10:30 or so and slept until 12:30. I fed her and put her in our bed, but she still woke up at 2:00 again. Alana woke up right after Kylie calmed down and I put Kylie back into her pack and play (she is staying in our room while we sleep train since they share a room) and I went to sleep with Alana. Kylie woke up again at some point, but Jimmy took care of that. Then Kylie woke up again at 6:20 as well as Alana. Alana has been up since that time...what a great night, huh? Ugh..

However, I am going to be super stubborn this time and Alana is going to bed at 9:00 EVERY NIGHT! We have daylight savings time coming up and if I can't get these girls to start going to bed at least a little later, we'll be in an even WORSE situation come March 15th!

In other news, my sister is flying out to visit us on the 11th. I am so excited to see her. I miss my family so much and it upsets me a lot to think about how the girls may not know their family too well. We are going to have a great time.

As always, I'll end this with some pictures. It's been a while so there are quite a few.



Alana running circles around me.


She has so much hair!


I love this picture


Flying Kylie!


This is so cute!


That attitude cracks me up!


Daddy and baby!


I LOVE this picture!

Valentine Survey

I know Valentine's Day is over now, but I saw this survey and felt like filling it out!

Where did the two of you meet?

At my friend's house for a barbecue. I was a senior in High School and my friend in college was coming back home for a town fair and brought some friend's. We had a bbq the night before and went bowling. That is where I met Jimmy.

What was the first thought that went through your head when you first met him?

Wow he is hot. He seems to cool to hang out around me.

Do you remember what he was wearing?

I'm not entirely sure, but my guess would be khaki color cargo pants, a plain undershirt, and an unbuttoned long sleeved button down shirt.

Where did you go for your first date?

What we call our first date wasn't really a first date. We went out with dinner with 3 other friends, but we planned it as our first date. It was a fancy Japanese restaurant. I tried sushi for the first time and had to go to the bathroom to spit it out. Good times.

Where was the first time you kissed?

I went to go visit Jimmy at the college. We had fun and then I had to go drive home. It was raining out, but Jimmy still walked me to my car. When we got there I went to say goodbye and he kissed me. It was a quick peck. I didn't expect it, but was happy. That was Jimmy's first kiss ever as well.

When was the first time you realized you liked him?

I thought he was cute and seemed like a sweet guy since I first met him. I joked with my friends to stop telling me things about him or I'll form a crush, but the first time I realized I liked him was probably the weekend after I met him. I'm not sure what it was that made me like him, but I was drawn to him.

How long did you know him before you became a couple?

Not even a month. We met October 1st and starting dating October 25th.

How did he propose to you?

I wrote about that in this post: Back to the start.

Do you have kids together?

2 daughters. Alana and Kylie.

Have you ever broken the law together?

Not that I can think of. We are good kids. :P

Do you trust him?

I trust him with the important things. My life, not to cheat, etc... I don't trust that he'll do his own dishes or laundry.

Do you see him as your partner in your future?

I wouldn't want it any other way.

What is the best gift he gave you?
My necklace. Our first christmas together he gave this necklace


What is one thing he does that gets on your nerves?

He escapes into the bedroom for long periods of time without telling me. I'll be cooking dinner and I'll look into the living room and he's gone. He'll be taking a shower or working out. That's fine, I just want to know when he's unavailable.

Where do you see each other 15 years from now?

Let's see...in 15 years we'll be 37. I can see us taking nice vacations together since our kids will be in their late teens.

What causes the most arguments?

Stress. We need to learn how to better manage our stress and not take it out on one another.

How long have you been together?

We've been together for roughly 4.5 years, but our 3rd anniversary of marriage is June 10th.

To be continued, I hope.

I haven't been on here in a week or so...I'm trying to catch up on blogs I'm reading and then I may come back to write some of whats been going on around here. It all depends on whether the girls are content to play on their own for a little longer or not.

I will put up some pictures now, just in case I don't make it back today!


Jimmy and Kylie

I think she looks like her Daddy.


My pretty toddler.


They love to play together. It's great.

Here are the many faces of Kylie...these were all taken within the span of a couple minutes.

Braving the cold.

There hasn't been too much for me to update on lately. Life seems to just be going on day by day over and over boring and boring.

It certainly doesn't help the monotony when it is freezing outside! We had to go grocery shopping yesterday and I was dreading it! We started off this cold spell with a gallon and a half of milk for Alana and she busted through that thing. What can I say? The girl loves milk! Anyway, we had to pick up a few things so that meant braving the cold.

The girls went out in their footie pajamas because it is warmer that way. Maybe it's weird, but at least they didn't have cold ankles! I also forced mittens and a hat on Alana, which made her pretty angry. This girl does NOT like to wear gloves and hats. I chose the mittens so she'd have a bit more trouble getting them off and, of course, that made her even angrier. Oh well...she wasn't winning this one.

We got to the store with my nicely written down list of items and go pick up what we need. We got a cart full of food for only $100.00. I was proud! For the next two weeks we'll only have to go out for milk and bananas! GO ME!

Of course I get home and what do I realize? I forgot to get the last thing on the list. I ALWAYS forget something! Alana's vitamins were the forgotten this time. We were lucky in that we still had enough left over to last us to the next shop date. I'm glad that I usually pick up a replacement before things run out.

So there is my saga of going to the store. I've had a boring week and that has been my highlight....and it's a boring highlight...oh well! There's always next week! Or at the rate this weather is going, next month.

Now for some pictures!


She is pulling up on everything! She even stood on her own a little bit!


Eating an apple and trying to show off her painted toenails.


Both kiddos...they are getting so big.