Where has the time gone?

Wow, I haven't posted anything about the girls in MONTHS!! CrAzY, where do I even begin?

How about- JoElle is getting so big! She weighs 46 lbs, had to get size 6 shorts, skirts and shorts- her 5T won't even fit over her bottom or thighs- her muscles have gotten HUGE from 3 times a week gymnastics practice, 1.5 hours each time...

Speaking of gymnastics, she is rockin' it! Back in April or so, her class was going to be broken up and sent to different teams, her coach, Ms. Tamara, wanted the girls to stay together, she told us that this is the best group of girls, balance of girls and parents, she has had in the past 30 yrs and she wants to stay with them for another couple of years, so she told the gym owners she would coach them for competitions.

So, JoElle and her team will be competing at Level 2 starting in just over a month, their first meet is Aug 21st at their gym. Her coach said they could have started at a higher level, but it would have been more competitive, more stressful, the girls would be less successful on all skills and events, so she wanted them to start at 2, get experience, and she will continue to teach them higher level skills. They were working on level 4 and 5 skills before it was determined they would be competing.

JoElle looks so great with her hands, arms, legs, feet, very graceful, but she is super fast, so powerful, she has to try to SLOW DOWN and control her movements. She has her entire floor routine memorized, I did NOT think she would get it, it seemed to have so many components, but now after about 5 weeks of practice, she has it, just needs little tweaking, like where arms go, and they just started working on cartwheel-roundoff, so she has to practice that a bit more, almost there- she is just going too fast.

Tonight, she earned the Top Cat award for working the hardest, she worked so hard today! She fell on the high balance beam while working on her tuck jump, but she just kept going! She was absolutely beaming and glowing tonight afterwards!

She is really really great at the balance beam, I think it will be her best event, although she looks good on everything- vault is hard for her....she has to learn how to push with her shoulders so she doesn't hit her head on the springboard.

Now, on to Alexa...

Wow, she has really grown and grown up too!! She weighs 35 lbs! She weighs more than many of the 5 and 6 yr olds that work out with JoElle! She wears 4 and 5T and she is only 2!!

She talks so well, she understands so much, she is showing how very intelligent she is, so many examples, can't think right now, but wow, she amazes us constantly.

Alexa is extremely strong willed, she has quite a temper, is very blunt, but then is also so very sweet and polite! She is great saying thank you, you're welcome, please much of the time, is learning yes sir and yes ma'am. She loves to try to be mommy to JoElle- telling her "No ma'am!", "Be careful Jojo", "stop climbing Jojo", "Shhhh! Too loud!" etc etc

Alexa has been super fussy these past two weeks, not sure why, but I do know she needs to nap but she quit officially napping months ago...we are going to try to work on that again though starting tomorrow.

She is understanding potty training, tells me she needs to go, holds it sometimes, sometimes goes poo poo on the potty, but then she gets stubborn and doesn't want to b/c I am asking her to... So we still have a ways to go.

She is not that interested in chocolate milk, but JoElle still loves her milk! They both still love their fave blankets. They still play really well together, but really get on each other's nerves at the same time!

Alexa LOVES to play with her Little People and blocks. JoElle has also gone back to playing with both, actually I have never seen her concentrate so much on them, lining them up, making them do gymnastics, etc. She learned from Alexa that it is fun to sit quietly -sort of- and play with toys. They fight over the people of course, but they are figuring it out!

Alexa is starting to lose interest in Fresh Beat Band, although she asks for it all the time. She is liking Wow Wow Wubbzy! while JoElle is losing interest in it! JoElle mostly likes the dramas on Disney, esp Wizards of Waverly Place, sometimes Hannah Montana- on our trip to Corpus Christi a few weeks ago (oh yeah that's another post, mental note...) that was all she could watch, she loved it, Alexa watched too.

JoElle is only on sleeping pills right now, but she would like to get off of them. Her dr wants her to stay on them b/c trazadone is also a mild anti-anxiety medication. She is very nervous about starting school, but we are constantly encouraging her and reassuring her. I am more worried about Alexa than JoElle, what will she do without her big sister???????

First night of no sleeping meds!

JoElle fell asleep so easily tonight for the first time in 6 months without 1 full Trazadone and for the first time in over 3 years without Benadryl.

I am so excited! But, do not expect this to be every night. Yet. I know she will get to that point, most likely when school starts and she is practicing gymnastics 3 times per week, 1.5 hours each time.

Tonight was gymnastics, her coach was tough on them and JoElle learned to pull herself up on the high bar, flip underneath, hold it at the top, then flip back over, lowering herself s-l-o-w-l-y. Very impressive as tonight was the first night for her to practice this.

JoElle's coach read my mind tonight, was going to ask her if she would be adding a day of practice anytime soon, before I could ask, she told me they would add another day so the girls will practice 3 days per week- JoElle was driving me crazy early in the week, begging to go to gymnastics- she told her coach she wants to go every day, and she means it!

Her coach also told me and Tim to keep her in gymnastics and let her practice as much as possible b/c gymnastics is JoElle's "thing", and it is, I know I am her mom, but the girl is is gifted in the arena.

If only I worked out and ate like her, would have a great body, she is very lean, muscular, and she can pick up 2-3 times her body weight, not to mention the back kickovers, handstands and flips she is doing on the bar, pretty amazing! She has been at this gym and with her coach for almost a year now, I can't help but just wonder, what if she had started even earlier? She would have some crazy mad skills, flipping across the floor and on the bar I am sure :)

She is close to a back handspring/flip- you know with no hands down- I don't know the terminology until JoElle, sighing, tells me, "Mommy, that is a cast, not XYZ..don't you know?" Then I gently reminder her that, no I do not know until SHE teaches me, as I have never done gymnastics before myself.......

Has anybody written a book Gymnastics for Dummies b/c I could sure use it. I never did gymnastics, or anything else for that matter as a child, just ask my mom, I was stubborn and or scared or both..... no wonder where Alexa gets it...

Fun at the botanical gardens!

We had fun at the botanical gardens in Ft. Worth and also ran into our cousins taking family pics!

We needed to get out of the house, so spur of the moment, I decided to drive to the botanical gardens where we smelled the beautiful roses, literally. Ran around the "mazes" in the Rose gardens, as JoElle calls them.

We loved the smell of the purple wisteria growing on the arbors- so beautifully fragrant!

Both Alexa and JoElle were super excited by the water spurting up just beyond the walkway of wisteria, not to mention the pond filled with turtles piled on a hill- which we later found out was actually the fountain and once it started to work again, they scrambled off in a jiffy!

JoElle posed for a plethora of pictures, most dictated by herself, posed by herself, interesting facial expressions and questionable hand gestures...



Alexa mostly chilled in a stroller, I tried to get her to walk, but ended up back at the car for it. Those magnolia trees are gargantuous- I recall they were gigantic back when I was young, now even more so! This cute squirrel was digging up all of his nuts and munching on them- there were over 50 holes underneath the shelter of the magnolias, and also riddling the fizzled out daffodils. Alexa told the squirrel "HI!!!" but then was a bit scared of him, even with me holding her.




We went on a nature walk, found plenty of large goldfish swimming around, birds flitting from tree to tree, turtles still sunbathing..until that blasted water fountain is turned back on!



We sat under some large oak trees to eat our snacks- fruit snacks for Alexa, cheesy Doritos for JoElle, water for all.

They both loved climbing up the steps in the Rose garden, touching the water streaming down, oh yeah, a little boy tried to take off with our stroller we had abandoned at the bottom of the steps...Alexa was not happy about him touching her stroller!

We also walked to the other pond, a newer section with some beautiful functional sculptures, one a butterfly bench, as they threw acorn shells into the water and ran around the paths, smelling flowers. Before we left, Alexa had to stumble and scrape up her knees, that is the way she rolls after all :) Like her Mommy.



Tired, we ate at Galligaskin's per JoElle's request. Who can resist these most delicious Italian Cold Cut subs with fries?? yum yum.

Rest when we get home? Naw! More playing outside, in the backyard! Until JoElle had an allergic reaction to the pollen she had accidentally sniffed into her nose that I had to wipe off. The back of her neck broke out in one itchy, red, bumpy rash, her throat was itchy and dry, perhaps some anaphlaxis, so I gave her a full adult Benadryl and gave her a bath in Cetaphil, her back was also bumpy from eczema, brought on by the pollen I am sure.

She is fine, slept ok once she got past all the issues...!!

Alexa's fave phrases....

"I don't want to, I want to....

I don't like it, I like it....."

These are her favorite things to say right now, pretty much about everything. She finishes off the sentence with whatever activity or object is applicable.

Last night, her blanket was dirty, so she asked me "Where's my blanket, Mommy?"
I told her it was dirty and I needed to wash it. So, she took Daddy's hand and asked him, "Daddy, you wash my blanket, please??"

It was too too cute!!!

Alexa is sleeping in her toddler bed!!

The last two nights, she has slept in her OWN toddle bed!!!!!!!!

The previous two nights, she slept in JoElle's room on the trundle bed!!
The two nights before, she either fell asleep at 1:00 a.m. (with Benadryl) or with Tim sleeping on the floor in her room.

So I am so excited that this transition is going much smoother than the first two days!!!

My little girl turns 2 in less than a week!

JoElle is in the No Cavity Club!

It's official, JoElle went to her first dentist appt and she is officially in the No Cavity Club, sticker and all!!

I was thinking I would get fussed out for not bringing her in earlier since hse is now 5, so I was excited about the no cavities, but even more so I was SO happy that she went back with the dentist and the assistants ALL BY HERSLF! This would not have happened a few months ago, she would have cried and wouldn't let me go, she would not have answered the dentist's questions.

The dentist talked to me briefly about JoElle's depression and anxiety and I was able to educate her a bit on how it can start as early as 3 or 4, she thanked me for all of this so she can be looking for it in her patients, she hasn't seen anyone younger than 6 in her office suffering from depression.

So again, our situation might have lasting positive influences on others, I love this dentist, she is great, and a woman obviously and she is also black, I think it is important for JoElle to see that it doesn't matter what gender or race a person is, they can do what they want if it is God's will.

I got to see JoElle's X-rays, you can see her 6 year old molars starting to come in, they have been coming in since she was 4.5, the dentist estimates another two months till they actually cut through. These will be her first permanent teeth!

Then she will start losing her baby teeth, bottom first, then top, etc. pretty much the way they came in is the way they come out and get replaced by permanent teeth!

It's cold

Alexa was walking in the snow yesterday, then looked up at me, with a red nose, and told me,

"I don't like it!"

hehe