Outside

Boy, they were all glad to be outside! We didn't empty everything out, though, so V got her boots all wet the first few minutes we were out there. I put another pair of boots on her but one kept falling off. Then I put her shoes on her and she went out in those, but with no jacket. You can't see here but she was FILTHY and wet and dirty. So I just snapped a few pictures and let her walk around for a few minutes and then Mike took her in.

My father cut her hair, with kitchen scissors, while I was out of the room, so I am blaming him for her demented look. I'm going to try to straighten them out but it's a bear. It would be MUCH easier if she would keep anything in her hair, but she just won't. I've tried everything. Sometimes, if I have a barrette in my hair, she'll take it off my head and point it toward hers. Then (like a dumbass), I put it in her hair and she takes it out. Repeat repeat repeat.

Her evaluation is Tuesday at 10:30 and we'll see what's going on with old Veevsy Voo. I can't wait!

Gorgeous

Look at those teeth!

Red Cheeks

With Mike's mom, the day after Christmas. Poor Veevsy, I don't think she feels good here lately. I don't know if it's teeth or what. She has been up yelling pretty much once a night and this morning, I came downstairs and took her in the bathroom with me. She has been having some horrible freakouts when I walk away so I figured I'd take her with me. She was eating an apple and she started to cough and I thought 'uh oh' and next thing I knew she was throwing up all over us, while I was peeing! Nasty! She seems fine since, I just wish I knew what her deal was. The First Steps people came today for the intake, now we wait a few days for them to have a therapist call to schedule the evaluation. Ugh. I hate starting all this, I am nervous all the time about it.

Blurry

It's blurry, but come on! She is a cute thing. It's good because she would drive me crazy if she were an ugly child, constantly, CONSTANTLY reaching and pulling at me. Clingy is not a strong enough word for how she is behaving lately. She has moments where she is fine, like we went to a playgroup today and she played on her own for quite a while. Then I went out to my car to get something for someone and she cried and screamed like I was ripping off her ARM. She took a SUPER long nap today, like from 12:30 to 4:00 so what does that mean? Does that mean she can go to bed at her regular time tonight? I wanted to go to bed RIGHT AFTER her regular time tonight so I am hopeful it works out. I wonder if we'll ever have the kind of life where we can go to sleep and feel relatively certain that we'll sleep for like six hours in a row. I hope so.

Holiday Party

Veronica, at Anthony's school's party. She had a high old time. She's in an old outfit of Anthony's here, I LOVED this outfit. It's size 12 months, ha, Anthony wore it when he was like six months old. I just found a bunch of his clothes, though, and I wanted to get her in it. She was good at his party, but it was hard. There was a BUNCH of people there and it's hard to explain to ANY of my kids that it's not their turn yet for the swing, or whatever. We left before Santa came because we had to get to church last night, but it's fine by me. I don't care if they ever get a picture with Santa.

Can you believe this is our little Vivi, one year ago? So cute, then and now. She is having the hardest time sleeping. Oh, she is up for HOURS in the night and she is wide awake. The other night, I got up with her - I was hoping to let her cry and cry but she has a cold and I felt bad to hear her coughing. So I went and got her, around 3:00, and we went downstairs and I was hoping to just hold her on my shoulder and lie on the couch. But she scrambled down and climbed up in her high chair and patted the table, looking at me expectantly. I got her some raisins and cereal and she ate the HELL out of everything. Last night we just let her cry though, the hell with it. I can't be up all night - then I am really tired and then Anthony has a meltdown or Maria is impossible and I just don't have the - whatever it is I need to deal with it. So for everyone's safety, she has to figure it out and sleep in the night.

She is going to be 19 months old and here is what's worrying me. She doesn't talk at all. Not at all! She babbles quite a bit and she certainly asks for things and she shakes her head 'no' in answer to questions. But she doesn't talk, she doesn't even try. She also seems to have some sensory issues, to me, in that she never, EVER sits still in her seat. She pedals her little legs when she is in the car seat, when she is in her chair eating, and when she is sitting on the table. Is there something wrong with her development? Who the hell knows. We have to call First Steps and have an evaluation and just the idea of it freezes my heart and makes me want to cry. I don't feel like I can go through it again. But I have to, I have to get her checked out because if there is something wrong, we should start early. But if she wakes up from her nap and starts talking away, that would be fine with me too.

Friday

This child! Two nights ago she was up overnight from 2:15 until 5:40 and last night she was up from 11:30 until 3:00. The hell? What could it be? We think maaaaybe it's teeth but who knows. She does have some new ones. I do know that it's killing us. Thank GOD Mike was home this week. I am just praying it stops. The first night Anthony fell asleep at midnight and Veronica was up at 2:15. I put her back at 5:40 and Maria was up at 6:30. So for those mathmeticians out there, that's like less than three hours where we weren't with one or other of the kids. I love them a lot but that is too much! Anyways. I am hopeful she sleeps tonight and that it gets better. I have been going to this little prayer/mom's group thing on Friday mornings and this morning Veronica couldn't stay with the other kids and the babysitter. She is just ... tender, or something. So I hope it doesn't last because although it's sweet, it's also annoying and tiresome.
She is still not talking but man can she boss a person around! She plays peekaboo, plays catch, gets whatever she wants to eat, and the only thing she'll really do is nod her head 'no'. I am hopeful that she starts talking soon, it would just ease my mind a little.

Oh, Veevsy

She really knows how to have a good time.

Ahoy, Veronica!

Snackwell

She loves these Snackwells cookies, and she's the only one that likes them so no one ever bugs her for them, which I bet she also loves. She has some BAD excema, at least that's what I assume it is. Horrible patches of red bumps, almost like blisters but dry. We are taking her for her 18 month appointment next week and I'll ask about it then.

Fun

She had fun, too, even though she still has the pen!

Serious Swinging

Doesn't she look serious? Especially with that pen? Like some accountant, swinging, or something.

I was telling my Mom today, Veronica is getting VERY ... um....I don't want to say it's bad but she is really coming into her own, as far as making her wants and needs known. Up to this point, she has been pretty sweet and calm, but she is SICK of a certain SISTER of hers taking every DAMNED thing, if you know what I mean. And I think that you do.

Seriously, this is like .2 seconds

My mom asked what was she so mad about and I said I don't know, I don't even remember. She rarely gets mad, but I guess when she does it's fast forgotten. Lately she has been a BEAR to put down for a nap and for bed. She is in for the shock of her young life when she gets her own room and I start just LEAVING her in there to cry. Ha ha! Not really, I am not laughing because I think it's funny, but it's more of a victory cry. I think she's only crying because we have been rushing in there to make her STOP crying because she wakes up Maria, and once she has her own room and can settle herself down, I think it will be better. Eventually, we will probably move she and Maria into the same room again but for now I'll be glad when they can have their own space for sleeping.

Maybe Next Year

Veronica didn't go trick or treating this year, she was up allll night on Saturday.  I got home at 11:00 and I was having some trouble sleeping around 11:45, but I was determined to stay in bed so I could get some rest in case the kids were up early.  Right then is when Veronica woke up and she was up until 4:45.  She was pretty miserable during the day, so we figured maybe teeth?  She seems fine today, who knows.  Anyways, she wanted to put on Maria's costume after she got home, so I put it on her.  She is funny, I put on the body part and she handed me the hat - "Meh!  Meh!" she said, accusingly, so I put it on her.  Ha!

Veevsy

She's super cute, right? What will we do in the new house, I wonder? Should I keep the girls sharing a room and just set up a crib for Veronica in the fourth bedroom? They are used to each other, mostly. Veronica likes to shout a little bit before she goes to sleep and that makes Maria crazy, but it only happens every third night or so and they usually quiet down after a few minutes. My guess is that we'll keep them together for a while.

Still not much talking from V. She is very engaged and pointy and babbly, so I'm not worried but it would be nice if she would just start to talk so I could stop not worrying about it.

Rash

Poor Veevsy Voovsy has a rash, she can't nap because of it, so we had a mid-day bath. She is too big for that sink and made a mess!

Pretty

She's been having some trouble sleeping, both going to sleep and staying asleep. I am hopeful this means she is getting ready to talk more, it's as good a theory as any, I suppose.

Humiliation

I am always letting Anthony ride on my back like this, sometimes I do pushups with him on my back, because he likes the feeling of going up and down like that. Of course, the girls don't care about any therapeutic reason for it, they just think it's a good time. Because we haven't had any rain in six months or whatever the hell, our backyard is just like cement. So that is a fake smile, is what I am saying.

On the chair on the table

I had the chair on the table, so I could clean it off and then do the floors. She is a nut with the climbing, but I look back at Maria and Anthony's blogs and they were the same way, so I guess it just seems worse, the older I get. I must put her down off of something 20 times a day. I am looking forward to this stage being over. It's already better, because she does seem to know that she's up there and won't just walk off, like she would have a few months ago. But still. It's alarming.

Busy and Happy

We have fun while Maria is in school. Two weeks ago we went for walks, last week we laid low because I was sick and today we went shopping. She was grumpy today because they both woke up early but she's napping now.

outfit

Cute, right? I picked her up the tshirt at Target the other day and the pants are Maria's. They're size 18-24 months so she is kind of swimming in them, but they stay up, which is all I care about.

Hanging Around

Ha, I couldn't resist. She was only in this cute outfit for like two seconds today. She has a little rash, so I gave her a bath with oatmeal. It seems to have helped, she was super scratchy before. She is as crazy as ever with the climbing. I swear she is worse than Anthony or Maria ever dreamed of being.

Sunday in the yard