All better!

Bailey has been on antibiotics for 24 hours due to strep throat and feels MUCH better.
Taylor has been doing better too. Her rash is almost gone!

After several days of the girls not eating/drinking well, these pictures make my heart smile! I am so thankful that we seem to be able to join the land of the living tomorrow. We get to meet Taylor's "MDO-mothers day out" teacher tomorrow and Bailey's preschool teacher on thursday!

PS- Happy Birthday Mom! Hope it was a great one...look forward to seeing you very soon.

Sick girls..

Taylor started feeling bad on Thursday early morning...fever started first, then diarrhea.
Late friday, this rash started to appear on her face and then has graually spread to all over her body. Fever and diarrhea acted like they went away, then late friday. Boom...everything was back.

Now...Bailey has had a fever for 12 hours. Taylor is doing better (no fever), but still has the rash. We will be heading to the doctor first thing tomorrow, though my gut tells me this is just some weird virus. I am fairly certain it is Roseola. This virus has a very long incubation period (12 days) before you start exhibiting the fever/rash. It is common in kids 6mo-4yrs. Some kids have rash, some do not. It looks like Bailey might just be getting the high fever part of the deal. Good news? It is self-limiting. Bad news? Can take up to a week before the rash goes away. Diarrhea is not usual with Roseola.....and Taylor is the only one with that. She may have caught a GI bug and Roseola! Poor girl :(.

We are praying hard that they both get better soon. I am weary and exhausted by worrying and getting broken sleep. I think the toughest part of it all is not having Daddy home to keep Mommy sane!

Jace and Bailey

Pulled this from Allison's blog...SO precious!

I want to be just like my big sister!

Tales has been waking up an hour earlier then Bailey most mornings... The other morning I was trying to finish my devotional and she had me put on Bailey's new backpack. She just loves all "bags!" She just walked around and around thinking she was the best thing since sliced bread (this would have never happened had Bailey been awake....can you say jealousy!)
"Bailey" wanna-be :). Don't you love this pack? I got it from garnetthill.com and it came with a free matching lunchbox! It is her bday present/first year of preschool present.

Look, It is Snickers!

The many sides of Bales and Tales....

Tales...a little focused
Bales...wearing big girl Ming Ming (The Wonderpets) panties!

Meet Mr. Turtle float...Bailey's new best friend. Turtle goes to the potty with us, eats, sleeps and swims :)

Tales is often not far from her...paci and blankey!

It is all about the accessories!

Pete's hat... Check. Sunglasses... check. Hairbow..check. Dora bandaid...check. This is how you will often see Bales these days!

Watching Special Agent Oso in their special chairs :).

Taylor reading

Taylor all ready for school and starting to read! She just melts my heart :)

Taylor 15 months

My sweet, little fairy is now a big 15 months old! She is such a daily delight to me and Bailey. At 15 months Taylor, you are:
- 30 inches tall (30%), 22.5 lbs (50%), 46cm head (50%). Perfect in every way!
- Are beginning to talk more every day. Your favorites are: Dadda, Momma, juice, UP!, What's that?, Nemo, Mermaid, kittycat.
- Love to do anything big sister does. You are now eating in her old booster seat at the table and love being a "big girl".
-Love, LOVE books. You will still seat and "read" by yourself several times a day and love to be read to.
-Music and dancing is a joy for you! You like to sing "5 Little Monkeys", "Wheels on the Bus" and "Open, Shut them".
-You still are very allergic to milk (even cheese :(), egg and peanut. We are praying that these become less severe as time goes on.
-Your favorite foods are pasta with olive oil, any and all meat, all fruit.

We love you sweet Taylor!

Schneider Family Homecoming!

I had the honor of going with Allison, Jace and Sydney to take pics of Jason coming home! I just LOVE homecomings. It has been a long (and very busy) 7 months since they have been whole...

Here are the girls waiting..

Hugs

It took awhile, but Jace finally warmed up to his Daddy :)

Whole again! Yahoo!!

We miss you DADDY!

Success!

Dear M & M's,

I am not quite sure if I should give all the credit to you. You see, Bailey has been struggling with potty training for a LONG time. I started praying about it a little while ago, even though I felt like a weird thing to pray about. I read somewhere that M & M's worked for her child and since it was one of the only things we hadn't tried I bought 2 packages. Oh me oh My! Within 3 days Bailey went from having accidents every hour to going all day accident free!!!! Praise the Lord.

Thank you,

Bailey's Mommy.

PS- Isn't it funny that when we FINALLY place a struggling situation in God's hands, he does a better job then we could ever hope to? When will I ever learn to place everything in his hands first?

CRUISE DAY 4: Cozumel

Pier

This was my least-anticipated port of call. I have been to Mexico several times now (West coast, Cancun/cozumel, and a couple border towns).....it is safe to say that I never left anything there that I had to go back for :). I have gotten sick there and overall just not had great experiences. Because I refused to actually eat in the country, we decided to do Snuba (a combo of snorkeling and scuba) for a couple hours and then head back to the shipt o eat lunch. It was a great plan- we had a blast SNUBAing (I always thought I couldn't clear my air, but I did well after a few "wrong" tries!), made it back to the ship to change/eat and then went back out to do a little shopping. Thanks Cozumel for a better experience!

Going to Snuba!

CRUISE Day 1-3: Grand Caymen

So, YES. I am a procrastinator. We got back from our cruise 2 months ago and I am just now uploading the pics to the blog. BUT, our lives have been through a whirlwind in those 2 months....so I need some grace on this one :).

We have desired to go on a cruise together forever, but with 2 babies in 2 years with 2 deployments mixed in there, it just never was able to happen. God worked out all the details, and we were able to enjoy a 8 day, 7 night cruise in May on Blair's pre-deployment leave. My parents kept the girls for 4 days and then Blair's parent's kept them for 4 days. Thank you guys...this wouldn't have been possible without you!

I don't have any pics from leaving Tampa or our day at sea. Honestly, I just think we vegged out and relaxed by the pool most of the time. It took us a day to adjust to "de-stressing" from all the pre-deployment work we had been doing.

Day 3: Grand Caymen.

This is the town of Hell. Yes, we've now been to Hell and back :). LOL.

Seven Mile Beach. We just layed in the sun for awhile and rented a snorkling kit and saw some awesome fishies!

Turtle Farm

They had a ton of turtles, but I declined to get "hands on" !

Our driver, Rita.

Welcome to Grand Caymen! We took a tender boat from the cruise ship to shore.

Overall, we were a little disappointed with the Caymen's. It is really touristy. It was nice for a day, but we won't be going back for a full vacation.

Our cruise ship: Carnival Legend

Formal Night! My handsome husband on our balcony.

Me :)

Who says girls don't eat?!?

We had leftover spaghetti tonight...this is the third "meal" from this batch of spaghetti (this is what happens when hubby is gone- one meal lasts forever!!!). We've had a busy, fun-filled day and the girls each ate 3 helpings of spaghetti. My portion got widdled down to just the hamburger meat (they eat mainly the pasta). Don't have any fears for me though....I made sure to make up the missed calories with a half of cookie :).

Kitchen Remodel, DIY

Old Kitchen (before we moved in) Vinyl floors, laminate counters, yellow walls, wood cabinets with some damage..
DIY kitchen remodel over 3 1/2 years :). Sanded and painted cabinets. Installed hardware. New light fixtures, wall color, curtains. Tile floors done in 2008 and Granite installed this week! Completion!!

LOVE my new sink and faucet.

Swim Lessons

This week we have had swimming lessons every day from 9:30-10:00 for Bales. She did surprisingly well, although she in no means is "swimming" yet! I did it more for exposure to the water and water safety.

Here is her teacher Miss Susan with Bailey and another little girl

Bailey practicing her arms and kicks!

Doesn't she look like such a big girl?!?

Busy Bee's

Seen any cuter ladybugs or bumblebees around?
Pool time- a must in this weather!

"Cheese and Pickles!"