Milestones

I know that my girls are growing up. Some of the signs are the fact that I can walk across a parking lot holding both of their hands (it may be faster to carry Caroline, but she can at least do it!) We can also stay up past bedtime without complete meltdowns...not past mealtimes, but bedtime! One sure sign that the girls are getting bigger is the fact that there are no more babies in cribs. This weekend, Caroline made the move from the crib to the bed. Although Aly left the crib around 18 months, I swore that Caroline would be in her baby bed until the age of 5 because she is half maniac and half monkey. But I'd been finding her daily up in Aly's bed, and she also had been pulling her big girl bedding that Nana and Papa bought her out of her closet to look at everyday. So we tried it, and she's done surprisingly well! We've had to take down the curtains, but besides that, all decorations have stayed in place. She has only fallen out once, and it wasn't due to rolling...it was because she stood up trying to reach for Aly's curtains! Needless to say, she hasn't tried that one again!

Here are some shots of the girls' new abode

And Aly... thanks to a friend, we have a 'new' hand-me-down bicycle for our big girl. We got the training wheels on yesterday and I think she was ready...she took right off! So hard to believe that I have a kid old enough to ride a bike!
Here's my little ballerina taking a 'breath-er'... she said, "I'm breathing hard right now, Mama. That's what you do when you stop." That's also called, "Out of shape", Sweetie!

Tim-ber!

I was in Atlanta Friday night for a senior high girls retreat. Aly had been sick with the stomach bug (yes, the third since December!) earlier this week, so when my phone rang at 1am, I assumed Chad was calling to tell me that Caroline was sick. To my surprise, it turned out that the two-century-old oak in our front yard had collapsed into our house! Just the call everyone wants to get! On Chad's end, I can only imagine how scary the sound must have been! He had fallen asleep knowing that there were tornadoes in the area, and awoke to what he thought was a tornado in our house! He ran straight to the girls' room, both of whom had sat straight up in bed, assured them it was just thunder, then looked out of their window to see the huge oak...literally right out of their window! He couldn't get out on the front porch or out of the driveway, so he waited for the fire department in the rain with a few neighbors out in the street. We have holes in the roof but amazingly enough, not a single window was broken so we are able to stay in the house while the roof is repaired! After getting the call, I was unable to quite get back to sleep as I tried to grasp the idea that this enormous tree came just feet from changing our lives. I kept picturing kissing the girls 'good-bye' before I left for Atlanta while not giving the tree a single thought or look back. The girls' beds are on the same side of the house as where the tree hit, and I can't shake the feeling that we are blessed that we are very tired this weekend but not more! God is good!
And if you're wondering about Caroline, she did get the stomach bug...last night. Chad and I were literally walking to bed, so excited about the good night sleep we were about to get. Ha! I guess that we can sleep later! We have a safe family and a safe house. What more could we ask for?!