The Princess Diaries: 2014

Had to do one last blog entry before the new year! I'm so behind! This year was another great year with more ups than I can count. We are so, so blessed. Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!

November was a rough month for sickness though...Ashlan got enterovirus the first week of November and by the third week, she had pneumonia. She was relatively symptom free for a week or so (bc we took her to the dr and had her on an antibiotic for the pneumonia) but then she was congested with a runny nose, and coughing again. Ah! Aila also got sick. I really thought she bypassed it bc she did for so long. She got sick while Ashlan was recovering and then everyone got sick again. I took Aila to the Ped during their Saturday hours, and she did have an ear infection, so then she was on antibiotics for that. Then we thought Dan had the flu over that weekend, but it actually turned out to be a small bowel obstruction again and an intestinal virus and he was admitted to the hospital. No surgery was needed to rectify it this time, thankfully!

Aila turned 8 mos on December 4. She is crawling everywhere, cruising the furniture, pulling to a stand, and standing alone for a few seconds. She also has two bottom teeth! Time is flying so fast. I can hardly believe she is 8 mos already and will be 9 months soon!

Ashlan turned four on December 3. Instead of a party this year, we took her to Disney, where she got to do some things she's never done before- like get all done up and pick a new princess dress out at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We also took her to Rainforest Cafe and to a character breakfast at Animal Kingdom. It was evident she was enjoying herself by the permanent smile plastered on her face and the occasional squeal of delight, lol. We all had a great time that weekend.

Dan's parents and sister came down for Christmas and we all had a wonderful time. We went to St. Augustine one day and the park multiple times since they got Ashlan a bike for her birthday and she needed the practice! She's getting better though! Dan says he has to run beside her and struggles to keep up, lol. She still needs to work on breaking and steering, but she's doing awesome.

Aila's first trip in the car cart. Ashlan was sneaking her bites of her cookie. :)

Two sickies. Yuck!

All the stuff they have for entertainment and they want me to pull them in a box. ;)

A bday toy from her friend, Jocelyn. As you can see, she LOVED it.

Happy 8 months Aila!

Birthday girl at Rainforest Cafe. She had a great time and asked to eat at T-Rex Cafe almost immediately after, lol.

Downtown Disney trip.

Being made up at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique as Ariel, her favorite princess.

All done up!

On our way to Epcot that evening.

At Hollywood Studios during a weekend before Christmas. The photo doesn't do it justice, it was absolutely AMAZING! Crazy busy with people, but definitely a sight to see.

Dan's new shirt. Ashlan's "smile" is cracking me up.

Another birthday meal- this time with characters. :)

At the Tusker House. Birthday cupcake...for breakfast. Lol. Parents of the year! ;)

At Dinoland in AK. Twenty pounds of baby that I'm wearing and probably a 20 lb backpack on my back. Good workout for mommy- she slept for two hours like that!

She never naps. That's how we know she's sick...she asks to nap. :(

Ashlan put the crown on Aila, lol.

Ashlan wanted to "wear" Mickey, lol.

Aila getting into EVERYTHING!

Hahaha! This was with my permission...using her leftover makeup from Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. She did a great job, don't you think? Looks like Pocahontas's raccoon friend, lol.

Visiting Daddy in the hospital.

I need photoshop- never a picture of them smiling together/looking at the camera!

Visit with Grammy, Grandpa, and Aunt Katie.

Christmas morning.

Workin the onesies.

Playing with Grammy.

Loved being pushed by Grammy. :)

Watching Ashlan on her bike. It was a little chilly.

In St. Augustine at A1A Alehouse. The girls were mesmerized by the fish right next to the table. So cool.

Dan and his family in St. Augustine.

Playing with Grammy.

At the park.

Aila with Grandpa.

Aunt Katie trying to keep up with Ashlan on her new bike. ;)

Aunt Katie showing Ashlan how makeup is really done...or trying too, lol.

Aunt Katie is a trooper...Ashlan gave her war paint, lol.

Aila getting into everything, lol.

This is what she does when she's protesting something, lol. She puts her head onto the floor and fake cries.

Aila had her 6 month appt about a month ago now, lol. Her stats were:
Weight 16.8 lbs   50%
Height 27.5   95%
Head 17 in   75%
Height is exactly the same as Ashlan's at that age.   Weight is about a half pound less than Ashlan though!

We were talking about stories a few days ago and Ashlan kept referring to Hansel and Gretel as "Handsome and Gretel". I thought that was so cute.

We went to Home Depot a few weeks ago to buy shelves for the girls closets. A worker was making small talk and asked Ashlan if she was five yet. She answered incredulously, "Nooo, I'm only three." He looked at me for verification and I said she'll be four in December and he was so surprised, lol. Her birthday is right around the corner though. I can't believe she's almost four! Time is flying!

So we went to Disney two weekends ago. We usually get a one bedroom suite bc it's easier to get Aila to sleep without Ashlan in the room and also just in case Aila stays up later than Ashlan and is loud (rare but happens). So we checked into our hotel room, and noticed a whole bunch of stuff left from the people that were there before us. Turns out they did not check out, and we got a room with people still staying there! Thank god they weren't there when we entered the room! However, because of that they upgraded us to a two bedroom suite. I have to say that we were very spoiled that weekend! I slept in the room with the queen bed with Aila, and Dan slept in the double beds room with Ashlan. We each had our own bathrooms so everyone slept pretty good bc of the lack of interruptions from each other. In fact, Aila slept the best there than she has in months, lol. Overall, we had a great time at Disney though. We finally got to meet Anna and Elsa but it wasn't because fast passes opened up (they are still only available 30+ days out to passholders unless you stay on Disney property, which we never do because of our credit card points). We happened to have a friend who had extra paper fast passes for them and passed them onto us because she couldn't use them. Ashlan was so excited to meet them finally.

Aila is much better in the car now. She actually falls asleep now (when she wants to) without much fuss, if any. She was great on the trip. She also slept on me just fine when it was naptime, and sometimes I transferred her to the stroller from the wrap and she stayed asleep for longer. However, all this baby wearing (which I love!) is making her have a very hard time falling asleep at home. I'm not sure what I'd rather have, lol. I love having her be super easy when we're out, bc I can relax more but we spend more time at home trying to get her to fall asleep and bedtime can be challenging. A lot of times (if we're not out and she falls asleep in the car), I have to wear her and run the vacuum for her to fall asleep! Crazy! I love to wear her and it makes going out super easy but sometimes it's a pain at home. However, my house is the cleanest it's been in awhile, lol. I can easily vacuum almost the whole house everyday and some rooms twice, lol. I don't mind bc I love to wear her and with all babies, everything's a phase, so we'll see how long this lasts. She is seriously out in a few min after I turn on the vacuum though. So different from Ashlan- she hated that thing!

Aila is drinking out of a sippy now. She is also sitting by herself and getting up on all fours. She has army crawled just a bit but is pretty content to just roll anywhere she likes or just push herself backwards either on her back or stomach. I'm in no hurry for her to crawl, but Ashlan is! She's crawling around, trying to show her what to do. They love each other so much. Both want to be around each other when they're not. Keeping them apart from each other so the other won't get sick is sooooo hard, lol.

So that leads me into this...somehow Aila caught enterovirus. Then she gave it to Ashlan, and then Dan. I haven't gotten sick yet so I'm keeping my fingers crossed bc they've all been miserable and I have to take care of them all, lol. No idea how Aila caught it! Her symptoms were not as bad as poor Ashlan's, but Dan said he was reading up on it and they said breastfed babies are more protected than other kids. Poor Ashlan had the gamut wrong with her- sore throat, cough, chest congestion, high fever, stomachache, loss of appetite, rash, raised bumps/blisters, etc. I've never seen her so miserable. Aila had it a few days before but with not so many symptoms, thankfully. However, she was a bear! Lol. And truthfully, Ashlan was too for the first few days! I actually slept on the recliner with Aila on my chest for a night bc I could literally not put her down or she screamed her head off. Poor kid. Not that I don't love to hold her, but for about 36-48 hrs there, I had to hold her around the clock. That virus is no joke. I just don't know how the heck Aila got it. I haven't been to the gym with her in a week or more prior so who knows. No one in Ashlan's school had it from what they told me. They called me to find out more info on what she had bc we obviously pulled her out of school for those days. They said they were bringing in special cleaners during one night and were deep cleaning her classroom just to make sure. I was happy to hear they take precautions like that when one child is out for awhile.