February Follow Up

Hello! Well, 2008 has not proved to be a healthier year so far :( Dave brought home the flu in mid-January, then Luca and I got it about a week later. Perry had our first ever ear infection and Ella ran a fever one night and had a bit of a cough, but otherwise, the girls stayed clear of the flu. Poor Luca was too young for Tamiflu so it lingered around for him the longest...he was out of sorts for close to 2 weeks. Everyone is relatively healthy now though. Not sure which is worse, the flu or the stomach bug. At least we didn't have to clean up puke though ;)

My new GI doc agreed with the celiac diagnosis and I confirmed it by accidentally having some sugar cookie with P&E at Barnes & Noble. I was nauseous almost immediately and spent the next 6 hours in a food poisoining state. Since then, I have been feeling very good though. I had a follow up with my original GI (who I will be staying with) and my iron was low again. Of course I'm not taking my supplements like I should be...whoops.

I registered the girls for "summer school"...they will continue with their PDO class through August. We're hoping to get spots at Dardenne Presbyterian for next year. It's a similar program but will only take about 5 minutes to get to as opposed to the 25-30 it takes us to get to Harvester. They also have a preschool, so eventually P&E can do that while Luca goes to PDO. We're gonna wait awhile to start Luca. The girls were 22 months old when they started and they had each other. Luca won't be 22 months until March of 2009 and he'll be all by his lonesome.

The girls enjoyed their dance class at the YMCA. They spent the first 2 classes pretty much just running around in circles, but towards the end of the session they were following the teacher. Ella more so than Perry. Our last class was cancelled b/c of the weather and I think we're gonna hold off on anymore dancing until they're 3 and can take it at the rec center where it's half the price. Unless we make a few trips to Great Aunt Carole's studio in Bethalto. We start swim class this Saturday anyway...so I'm sure they won't miss dance too much.

We bought some preschool prep videos to help the girls learn their colors, numbers, and letters. During the 2nd viewing of Meet the Colors, Ella was identifying and repeating almost all of the colors. I have a feeling Perry knows them too, but was more interested in eating (we watched it during breakfast). She's my silent learner ;)

They definitely have a twin language b/t the 2 of them. They are VERY verbal lately, but it's mostly "jibberish". "USE YOUR WORDS" is the most common phrase said in this house.

Luca is crawling!! He only army crawls but he can definitely get around. Perry and Ella eat breakfast and lunch in booster seats on the floor in the bonus room, so he is quite the annoyance to them when they're trying to eat. He has also interrupted craft time and puzzle time. Good thing he's so cute :)

He is also expanding his eating habits. He's eating Puffs and Cheerios (picking them up himself) and has tried and liked a few different types of baby food lately...veggie chicken, sweet potatoes and corn, a tropical mix of guava/mango/banana, and pear/raspberry. He also eats YoBaby yogurt and tried diced peaches last night. We'll probably start giving him milk in a sippy cup within the next couple weeks. Such a big boy!!

The basement was finished up in mid-January and while we were all home with the flu, we moved most of the toys down there. It is very nice to have a place, away from the rest of the house, to keep all the toys...and the girls enjoy going down there. We still have some things in the upstairs bonus room, but it definitely looks more like a living room now instead of a playroom.

We are going to Las Vegas at the end of March, with Grandma and Grandpa Bast. We're staying at the Signature MGM which has suites with bedrooms and kitchens...and several pools. We're hoping it's warm enough to go swimming once or twice (most the pools are heated) and maybe take a gondola ride or a trip up in the Eiffel Tower. Lots of animals to see too!