Disney 2012 Vaca Photo Book

Check out this Photo Book we made by Shutterfly of our 2012 Disney Vacation...(better late than never, right??) LOL

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Ayla's 3rd Birthday Pics and Video & Lil' Chris' old 3rd Birthday Video :)

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I can't believe my baby girl is 3 years old already!!! She is getting so tall just like her big brother:) Check out the video above of her 3rd birthday...She picked out the song ;)

For her birthday, the 4 of us went to Disney World at the end of January!!! We had sooo much fun!! It was their 2nd time going! More pics to come:) Minnie is her fav:)

Things she's doing now...

We started potty training her the first week of January and my goal was to have her ALL potty trained by her birthday 1/29...I'm proud to say she did it, and is 100% potty trained!!!! She didn't even wear any pull-ups in the long car ride to Disney!! She has had only one accident since before her birthday and that happened just the other day. She has been daytime potty trained since March of 2011 when she was 2, but now it is sooooo nice that she is potty trained at night time too!!! I know she could've done it earlier, but I guess my husband and I were just being lazy and didn't feel like changing sheets in the middle of the night yet;-) LOL! In the beginning of potty training, she would call for us at least once in the middle of the night to go potty, but for the past month or so, she has been holding it ALL night like her big brother!!! Sooooo proud of her!!! And I'M soooo happy to not have to get up in the middle of the night anymore;-) LOL

We changed her crib into a toddler bed once she turned 3, just like we did with Lil' Chris when he turned 3. She liked it at first, but then when it was bedtime, I think she missed being the baby;) She wanted us to pick her up and put her in just like when it was a crib. She also has not gotten out by herself in the morning either. She will stand up and call for us, just like she used to in the crib. This is kinda good and bad...good b/c she never gets up a million times like her brother does, bad b/c she's trying to act like a baby still, and also bad b/c then WE have to get up and go get her. That was the big reason I wanted to change the bed, so she could get out herself and not call us to go get her since she is usually the first one up around 8am!!! Oh well, she'll learn soon enough I'm sure. For now, I should enjoy it b/c if she's anything like her brother...she'll be driving us nuts soon getting up and down out of bed and not wanting to go to sleep!!! LOL

Her hair is starting to get really long. She HATES it when I try to put ponytails in so it's not so wild and crazy when we go out!! LOL

She is talking A LOT, maybe a little too much!! LOL! Her speech is not as clear as Lil' Chris' was at this age. She has problems with her "R's" and "L's" so we are working on it. Her pediatrician says it's normal at this age and she will get better when she starts school probably. For now we just keep correcting her and it is soooo funny watching her stick her tongue way out for the "L's." :) I can't help but laugh sometimes, it's so cute:)

She can spell her name and pick out the letters, but she can't write them. She's a little stubborn when it comes to writing, but I remember Lil' Chris was too at this age. We'll have to practice lots before she goes to preschool, possibly this Fall. Ever since we got the iPad, she's been learning her letters and numbers more and more. She works that thing better than me!! She goes from one game to the next game, and she can look at pictures and blow them up...I wonder what the future of these kids will look like with learning all this technology at such a young age?!? :)

She is very particular about things being in their right spots. She will usually correct what Lil' Chris does if it is wrong. For example, if he takes his jacket off and just throws it on the floor, she will come and pick it up and put it on the chair where we usually put their coats all the while saying "Chris! It goes over here!!" She's kinda motherly to him in some ways, even when it comes to him doing his Vest or taking his pills. She will remind him if I tell him to do something and he doesn't do it right away:)

She still sucks her pointer finger on her right hand when she sleeps. Not sure how I'm going to stop her from doing this. Her teeth are really starting to stick out b/c of it though, so we'll have to start doing something really soon.

Lastly, she can be VERY stubborn when she wants to(I have the video's to prove it;) LOL!! But overall, she is a pretty darn good kid! She listens very well and if she doesn't, she does what I tell her usually by the time I count to 3, b/c she knows she will get a spanking if she doesn't. She rarely has to sit in time out, but when she does, she sits very well until I make her apologize for usually hurting her big brother and then gives him a kiss and a hug....I make them do that part more for ME than for them, b/c it just too cute;-) LOL

Today I came across Lil' Chris' 3rd birthday video that apparently I never got around to editing and posting, sorry about that;) Better late than never, right??? Sorry it's not edited completely:) Check out the video below...I can't believe how little Ayla was!! Her hair was soooo short and she wasn't even talking!! Lil' Chris looks so different with longer hair too:) He now gets buzzed by Mommy just like Daddy does...his first buzz cut by me was last month;-) I think I like him in shorter hair, it looks cute:) You'll see in the video that he doesn't get a break from treatments on his birthday...his day STARTED with the Vest and ENDED with the Vest with no complaints! He such a good kid:)

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I hope you enjoyed the pics and videos,
M

SURPRISE!!!!!

Here it is, our big announcement to the kids...

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We surprised the kids with a trip to DISNEYWORLD!!!! WOOHOO!!! It was soooooo much fun!!! We ALL had a BLAST!!!! It truly is a magical place:)

Don't worry, the video above is not the only video I got! More pics and video coming soon:)

I couldn't believe how tall the kids have gotten since last May when we went!! Lil' Chris is 44 inches and Ayla is 38 inches!! They got to go on extra rides this year!! Lil' Chris got to go on his first really BIG roller coaster!! I thought he was going to be scared(I was), but he LOVED it!! He went 2 times with Daddy and 2 times with me:) I couldn't help but watch his face the whole time laughing and giggling, even though I was afraid of hurting my neck on the twist and turns;-)

So get this...I got the letter from the CF clinic like last time so that we wouldn't have to wait in the hot lines b/c he has a fatal lung disease....and wouldn't you know...when we got to the park the first day, I had forgotten it at our hotel room!!! UGHHH! So I went to talk to them to see if I could get that pass at any park and the girl said "What did you need?" At first I didn't know what she meant. Then I said, "Well, last year they gave us a pass for the rides and also one for our stroller." She said "How many are in your party?" I said 4. So she wrote them up and gave them to me!! I was SHOCKED!!! I didn't even have the paper or nothing!! I was soooo happy tho, b/c we ended up going on a lot of rides that night. We got to go on a lot of rides EVERYDAY thanks to that pass!!! We would just get right on!! We even got to skip the lines for the characters autographs too!!! Although, I usually felt bad doing those, so we would only do it on the really long line ones, like for Mickey:) It was AWESOME!! The one and ONLY good thing about Cystic Fibrosis! I'm just so happy he was healthy enough to go again!!

I was a little worried about what the weather was going to be like, but the Lord blessed us with an absolutely beautiful week!!! It was in the 80's the whole time and no rain until we were driving home, then it rained a little on our drive!! Usually when we go to Disney, it is soooo hot that I have to use a fan/water squirter, but I didn't have to use it at all this time!! We even went to Blizzard Beach Waterpark the last 2 days and didn't have to worry about burning our feet on the hot concrete!! Both kids went down water slides that I was even leery about going on at first;-) LOL

Unfortunately Lil' Chris developed a cough on the second day. I think it was b/c we went swimming in our All Star Sports resorts heated pool late at night and then when we got out, it was a little chilly. I guess too much for his lil' lungs, IDK. Anyway, that night he woke up at about 2 in the morning with that weird barking cough that he had once before. He coughed for a lil' while and wanted to lay with me. Luckily I brought his inhaler and Acappella. He eventually calmed down and fell back to sleep. His cough didn't sound as bad when he woke up, but he did have a lil' cough the rest of the week, and by the end it turned into a wet nasty cough. Monday 1/30, when we got back home, the first thing I did was call the CF clinic. They got him on an antibiotic right away, since he cultured a new bacteria last time. He cultured his usual Staph Areus(MSSA), and then Stenotrophomonas (Xanthomonas) maltophilia, which is new, but they said does not need treatment unless he is ill. They said that this is a common bacteria and may come and go in his cultures from time to time.

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The CF nurse doesn't think it was b/c of the pool, but who knows?? He could've caught something at the park or at a rest stop on the long drive. Going to Disney is always a risk we take. I was especially nervous this time, b/c we went in cold and flu season. I guess in a way we are lucky he only got a cough and not the flu.

So he is taking Bactrim 2 times a day, 12.5 ML each time...that's the most I think he has ever taken!! Please pray his cough goes away completely, it's already starting to get better! He has a CF clinic appt on the 15th, so I'm praying it will be gone by then and his new throat culture won't have any new bacterias. Stinks he will miss his preschool Valentine's party;-( I was so sad when I noticed that, b/c that was my favorite day of the year growing up and I got all excited he was going to have one this year. Oh well, it's not like he doesn't have 12 more years to go, right?

My sister D and bro-in-law were nice enough to let us stay at their house on the way to Disney and back to break up the looooong drive. It was soooo nice spending time with them!! I really miss my big sis! I had a lot of fun painting nails with my nieces too. They are getting so big!! Lil' Chris had fun playing new video games with his cousin:)

On Sat 1/28, we celebrated Ayla's 3rd birthday!!! YEA!!! It was so nice celebrating with my family:) Ayla loved all her princess presents, esp the castle that Aunt D got her;) Pics/video coming soon, I have to finish editing it:) The story of my life!! LOL I noticed I have a ton of video's that I uploaded but never posted b/c I never finished editing them. Hmmmm I wonder if I can edit them on my iPad??? I'll have to try it.

Oh yeah, not sure if I mentioned it on here...I won an iPad2 at work!!!! I still can't believe I won it, I never win anything!! I'm soooo very thankful for it tho, b/c Lil' Chris loves playing with it while he does his Vest....I love it b/c it keeps him quiet during his Vest;-) LOL Plus it's a good incentive for him not to complain about putting his Vest on..."If you put your Vest on, you can play the iPad!" He usually runs right over;-) Sooooo nice!

On another good note about work, I was accepted into the Advancement into Management training!! I'm already part of the management team, but on the low end. This will make me an Executive...an Assistant Store Manager:) I've already completed my training and am just waiting for a position to open up!! I'm REALLY hoping and praying that I get to stay at the same store!!! I really don't want to be too far away from Lil' Chris if anything were to happen with his breathing. Also, IF he were to ever get hospitalized, I may still be able to work since it's only like 5 min away. Please pray with me that I get to stay at my current store :)

Thanks,
M
PS. Ayla developed a stuffy nose last week, but so far no one else has caught it...maybe allergies or something b/c it's not bad at all???? Probably something to do with this crazy warm winter we are having! Although....it IS SNOWING NOW!!! YEA!!!