The Plothows: January 2015

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Ouch!

Avery started complaining about her wrist hurting last Friday morning. I thought she had slept on it funny and figured it would work itself out. For the next few days, she would be using her right hand just fine. Then, she'd hit it on something or fall on it and start crying. This off and on pain was bothering her over the weekend and Monday. I thought, there must be something else wrong with her. So, Tuesday morning, I took her to see the doctor, who recommended we get an x-ray. So, we headed to Urgent Care. When Morgan had her ankle x-rayed a little while ago, she cried the entire time and was a mess. I was expecting the same from Avery, so I wasn't looking forward to the x-ray. But, this time, I was more prepared. I had a lollipop and told Avery if she was good, she could have it. Bribery is a great tool for toddlers. ;) She did great! No tears. She let me hold her hand in the correct position for the x-rays and sat still. I was surprised and relieved. So, after that, she got to have a blue lollipop and she loved it!

But, not even an hour later, the doctor called and said Avery had a broken arm. Ugh! The doc said we had to see a pediatric orthopedic doctor that same day. Luckily, the pediatric ortho doctor said it was very minor and just a buckle fracture. Lots of kids get them from falling on their hands wrong. Thank goodness! We had the option of a removable or non-removable cast. Of course, I went with the removable one. Avery is now sporting this cool brace for the next few weeks. She already figured out how to remove it on the way home. So, we're going to have to keep an eye on her!

Enjoying a little ice cream for her afternoon snack after a long day of doctor's visits

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Papa's visit

Grandpa came for a visit this past weekend because we needed a babysitter on Monday night.

We all went to see Frozen on Ice on Sunday. Avery did really well and watched most of the show. Morgan watched the show a bit, but wanted to snack and run around and play with the light wands and spinner toys Aunt Erin bought the kiddos. That girl does not sit still!

On Monday night, Matt and I met up with his college roommate who was in town from Alabama for a conference. Lawrence's wife, his business partner and his wife were in town as well. So, we all went out for dinner at Chicago Cut and then caught a show at Second City. Lots of fun, but a late night for a Monday. :)

While we were out, the girls got to play with Grandpa. Erin and Grayson stopped over for a bit as well. The kids love playing with those toys from the Frozen show!

In the entryway closet with the lights off

Avery showing Papa where her arm hurts

Monday, January 26, 2015

Gymnastics

This past weekend, the girls started gymnastics class with their cousin Grayson. I predicted that Morgan would love it and Avery would hate it. And that was so true. Morgan loves any sort of activity that allows her to burn off energy, so she had a blast. Avery is shy and very reserved in new situations. If it had just been the four of us there, she would've loved it. But, since it was a big group of people she didn't know, she mostly just sat back and took it all in. Plus, Avery has a sore wrist from some unknown injury and I think she was tentative about doing anything to hurt it more. I'm hoping over the course of the session, Avery will start to feel more comfortable and enjoy the class more.

Ball Pit

Morgan could've jumped on this all day

Morgan didn't want Matt to hold her hand - "me do"

Poor girl

Parachute fun

Avery loved the pink ball

Monday, January 19, 2015

Books!

The girls decided to go through all of their books this weekend. So they kept bringing us stacks of them from their playroom.

Hey, whatever keeps them busy! :)

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Avery = purple

Remember this rule: If there is a choice between any color and purple, Avery wants purple. Cups, bowls, clothes. End of story.

The other morning, I grabbed two pairs of socks for the girls - one pink pair and one purple pair. I put the purple pair on Morgan. As I was getting her shoes on, Avery starts crying and says "No, Mo-Mo pink socks. Me purple socks." And then Avery proceeds to have a meltdown. I ended up taking off Morgan's shoes and socks and putting the purple socks on Avery and the pink socks on Morgan (who didn't care which color she was wearing). For a few minutes after Avery had those purple socks on, all she kept saying was "purple socks" over and over.

Also, on this day, when I picked the girls up from school, this is how their shoes looked... see anything wrong???

I really hope they weren't like this for long!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Daycare buddies

There's a window to the kids' classroom at daycare and I usually sneak a peek before going in to get the girls at night.

This is what I saw the other night...

Avery and Grayson just chilling out on the rug together. :)

Bye Bye Christmas tree

The girls loved running down each morning and turning on the lights on the Christmas tree. They each had to take a turn! And then they would clap like it was magic! :)

So, needless to say, we were all sad to see the Christmas tree go. While the girls were napping, we de-Christmas-fied the house. When they woke up, they were a little confused. Avery said "uh-oh tree?" We showed her it on the curb and she just looked at us like "why did you do that?"

It was surprisingly much easier to have a real tree than I thought it was going to be. Of course, Matt did all the watering and lugging the thing around. But, it didn't really shed needles that bad and made the house smell nice. :)

Happy New Year

We didn't really celebrate New Year's Eve on Dec 31st. Matt was working a ton that week and Ross was spending the night at the hospital with Beckett. But, we got together with the Wilken crew the Saturday night after and had a make-shift NYE. We had make-your-own-pizzas and some libations. We threw confetti in the air... and cleaned it up and threw it again and again. The kids loved it! They even loved sweeping it up. Thanks to Grandma Ruth for some new kid-sized brooms!

Erin was messing around with the settings on my new iPhone...

Family Pictures

Every year, I see family pictures people get with all the pretty fall colors in some park like setting and think "we need to do that". And by the time I get around to actually booking something, it's practically winter and snowing. Maybe next year I'll be more on the ball. But, we did get family pictures, which was a nightmare! Two year old toddlers hate getting their picture taken. The photographer seemed a little flustered with our crazy family. When he left, he said he didn't think he had many good ones. Ugh. It was mostly true. In each picture, there is at least one of the four of us with eyes closed or looking the other way or crying (the toddlers, not us). We did have a few ok ones which ended up on our Christmas card. These were probably the best of the bunch...

And then there was this one... our last picture of the day. Morgan had taken off her shoes and Avery was holding one of them. Avery was so ready for us to be done!

"School" Pictures

The girls had pictures taken at daycare back in November. I think these pictures sum up the girls' personalities very nicely. Morgan is happy-go-lucky and Avery is the skeptical one. The photographer said Avery wasn't so sure she should smile and this was the best they could get out of her. Ha!

Monday, January 12, 2015

December - Part 2

Oh, the holidays! Crazy, fun, exhausting, exciting! This year, we hosted Christmas at our house. Matt's mom flew in for a few days to celebrate with us. My parents came up from Rochester and stayed over at Erin and Ross' place. Sandi's family is in the Chicago area, too, so we were all able to spend quite a bit of time together.

Let's start with this great video... the girls had a Christmas show at school. The toddlers and the 2's were supposed to sing Jingle Bells. I knew the girls were working on it at least for a week. Morgan was the first to walk out and when she saw all the parents in the room, she freaked out a little. Both girls kept scanning the crowd to find us and we dodged them for a while. But, once they saw us, they both started crying. Matt went up to hold Morgan and one of Avery's teachers held her. I'm not sure you can actually hear singing over Avery's screaming. Yikes! Granted, she did have a bad case of hives that day, which I didn't realize until after we went up to get her. That new red dress was cute, but I should have washed it before letting her wear it. Lesson learned.

Besides that experience, the girls have been so excited for Christmas. They don't really get the whole Santa Claus thing, but they love getting new toys and having lots of playtime with us and their grandparents and cousins.

Another little video... we're not sure why they are moving their arms like they are.

Here are a bunch of pictures from the holidays.