Fun With My Sis!

I love having 2 little girls and seeing the sisterly bond as they grow up.

Of course some days all they do is "fight"-as much fighting as Cassandra can do at this point, but I'm sure you catch my drift. Some days they just don't mesh. They're like oil and vinegar.

And others, they are like this...like peanut butter and jelly:

Reading books together:

And Avery dressing up Cassandra....and Cassandra agreeing to it!

Oh if only every minute of every day could be like peanut butter and jelly!

For "My Girls"

This post is a shout out to some really cool chicks who play a huge part in my life and helped make me who I am today. They are my pals, my BFFs, my girls.

A quick intro for ya:

Jessica: Jess and I met back in 8th grade English class. She was the new girl at school and sat right behind me. She was (and is) quite the artist so I commented on a picture she was drawing and the rest is history! We were pretty inseparable for a few years then life sort of happened and we didn't see each other as much through college. To this day, we seem to pick up right where we left off though like no time has passed since our last visit. She has 2 kids now-Connor and Caroline. And I just figured out that we've known each other for 21 years....which is totally insane to me!

Jess and Connor, Avery and I (God I look young!)

Megan: Megan and I met our Freshman year of high school. I think we only had band (geeks!) together that year. We met through a mutual friend. That summer, we started hanging out quite a bit and quickly became inseparable. We worked at Putt-Putt together and waitressed together. We went to 2 colleges together (no joke!) as well...yep, inseparable! She also has 2 kids-Noah and Leigha

Meg with Avery

Katie: Katie and I met through a mutual friend in college. The funny thing? We went to high school together too but really didn't know each other! We heard of each other, but that's about it...that's what happens when your graduating class has 365 kids! We attended the same college (along with Meg) for a few years and became good friends. She has 2 kids (see a trend?)-Roman and Ava.

Katie and I

Renee: Renee and I also met in college. We went to the same school (with Meg and Katie) and pledged sorority together (which was hysterical), which is how we met. At a few of the sorority get togethers, we started talking more and eventually started hanging out together. She's pregnant with her first child now (YAY!).

Renee and Cassandra

These girls and I have some awesome memories in our book-dancing at the clubs, loser guys, parties, vacations together, heart breaks, moving, finding "the ones", late nights (or early mornings?), engagements, bachelorette parties, weddings, and babies! They truly mean so much to me and are the sisters I never had. If I could transport them all here with me, I'd do it in a heartbeat!

Before I was married and had kids, I always pictured my life with kids and in that life, my friends and their kids were there. Always getting together, living near each other, the kids going to school together, impromptu play dates, etc.

Unfortunately, that's not reality.

Reality is that Meg, Jess, and Renee are still in Buffalo, I'm in Rochester and Katie is an air force wife...so she's been in Omaha, Baltimore, and currently-Florida.

Reality is that I see Megan probably once a month, Renee and Jess every few months and Katie probably once a year (this past time was 18 months!). Reality sucks at times....

Times like these that happened last weekend where Meg and Katie (who was in town) both came over (and Renee came by shortly after they left) and our littles played their hearts out together:

Noah, Roman, Cassandra

Cass gettin' all dolled up

Roman, Noah, Avery, Ava, Cassandra

They all got along so well. There was no bickering, no fighting, no shyness. They all just played and got along like they've seen each other every day. And it totally sucked when Avery asked, "When can I play with Roman again?" and I had to tell her, "not for a very long time."

It was so, SO great to see everyone and have everyone be together. It was like old times, but new since we all had our kids too.

And this visit, as great as it was, made me sad after. Sad because it's not the reality I dreamed of. Sad because I wish we could do this more than just once a year. Sad because I miss my friends. And I know I should (and do!) cherish these moments that we have together, but when I saw all of the kids together and having fun, it broke my heart a little. I just wish our kids could grow up together. I know they will to some extent, but it's not the same.

But...today I'm feeling thankful....thankful I met these girls (women!), thankful for their wonderful babies, and thankful that we do keep in touch after all of these years. I'm happy that our kids will know each other, whether it's every day or every year. They'll know how important you all are to me. That I am sure of! Love you guys!

The Many Faces of C

These are just a few of the silly faces we got during dinner last night in a matter of about a minute! This kid cracks me up!

Visitors!

We had a very special treat yesterday!

One of my BFFs, Katie, was in town (in Buffalo) from Florida. I haven't seen her since Xmas 2011 when I was pregnant with Cassandra. Since then, we had Cassandra and she had a little girl named Ava. Typically when Katie comes to town, it's for a week or so and usually I try to see her when she's here. The past few times just haven't worked out though. This time, she came home for 3 weeks so for a special treat, she made a trip out to our house!  She got to see our place and we got to meet each others babies!

Avery and Roman hit it off right away-they were loving Hungry Hippos for awhile!

Ava

We tried getting a picture of all of the kids-let's just say that didn't work out very well (as you'll see). I thought getting a shot of 2 kids was hard...try 4!

Failed attempt #1:

Ava and Cassandra playing:

Ava:

Failed attempt #2 (Roman where are you going?):

And failed attempt #3-babies crying take 2!

Anyways, we had a great visit-of course it went way too fast! We all had lunch together and the kids did lots of playing. Roman didn't want to leave and as soon as they were gone, Avery asked, "When can I play with him again?"  Luckily, I got to tell her soon since we're hoping to see them again this weekend! Yay!!

Eighteen Months

Miss Cassandra is now 18 months old! A year and a half....totally crazy!

She's still wearing 12 month clothes! In fact, some of her 12 months shorts fall right off of her because they're too big! I'm about to drag out her 18 month stuff soon, but really I have no idea what will fit her. She's a peanut! She's still in size 3 diapers for day, 4's for night.

She is still a really good sleeper! Sleeping through the night for 11-12 hours and usually a 2hour (or longer) nap in the afternoon. I really can't complain about her sleep habits!

Her eating is still hit or miss. Some days she loves what we give her and other days she doesn't. She of course devours fruit (just like her sister). She really likes yogurt, bagels, waffles, pasta these days. She had ketchup/dip for the first time and was really into it-so sometimes I'll give her some to try and coax her to eat some sort of meat! Of course it usually ends up with her covered in ketchup/dip and needing a bath!

At her pediatrician appointment, the doctor told us she is talking like a 2yr old...and I totally believe it! This girl is amazing with her words! Some new ones: "ABCD", "ku ta ta" (Hakuna Matata), "pancake", "more music", "rainbow", "oops", "pigtails", "fish", "butterfly" and you also say most names now. One day I started saying the colors of the rainbow...when I said "red", you said "orange". Then I said "orange" and you said "yellow"-I was totally amazed! You also point to our faces and say "eyes", "nose", "hair", etc.

You also sprouted tooth #12 finally! You just have your pointy canines left and your 2yr molars. Also this month you started shrugging your shoulders! And for the first time, you went to time out. I don't even remember why, but Daddy told you to go to timeout and you walked to the step and sat down all by yourself! You sat there perfectly until we told you to get up. I have to admit, it was pretty darn cute!

Here are your photos for this month:

My faves:

Hugs!

I told you to say "cheese"

Flashback: Avery at 18 months!

Two For One

Both girls had to go for check ups yesterday at the Pediatrician...Cassandra for her 18mo, and Avery for her 4yr visit. I decided to get them both done on the same day to get them over with-sort of a 2-for-1 deal ya know?!

That morning, Avery started getting anxious about the appointment, asking every few minutes if she would need to get a shot. I just kept telling her I didn't know. And she didn't stop asking!

We got there and Gabe surprised us by coming too (YAY!). They called us back and took Avery to a room to check her sight and hearing. Then they put her on the scale and measured how tall she is.

We got to the exam room and they got Cass on the scale and did her height too. Then the doctor came in. I fully expected Cassandra to not be very cooperative. At her last appointment, she cried from the time we walked in to the time we walked out. It wasn't fun. I was expecting yesterday to go the same way. But, I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, she was way more calm than Avery. She let the doc do his thing and didn't make a peep! He checked out Avery and she did ok-she was still whining the entire time about the possibility of getting shots.

So their current stats are:

Avery is 39 1/2" tall (50th percentile), 32lbs (20th percentile)
Cassandra is 301/4" tall (10th percentile), 19lbs 14oz (5th percentile)  Just to show how tiny Cassandra is, she is the height that Avery was at 12 mos!

Then we had a decision to make for Avery. She needed 3 shots-either yesterday or next year before kindergarten. He suggested doing it now and getting it over with since she was already so anxious about it all. I was going to choose that route anyway. So...the nurse did Avery first-2 shots in one arm, 1 in the other. She screamed her head off!  Cassandra had to get 2 shots-one in each arm. The child didn't even flinch! No tears at all!

The good news is that Avery doesn't need anymore shots now until she's 11 years old! Crazy! Cassandra doesn't need anymore (besides the flu shot) until she's Avery's age! Yay! Cassandra's next check up is in 6 months and Avery's isn't until next summer-a nice long break for us!

5 Years!

It's hard to believe that this was 5 years ago!

I so wish I could go back and re-live that day! It was so exciting and so much fun! It just goes by way too fast!

Happy 5th Anniversary my love! To many, many more!!