Let's Go Skwimming

We just finished our winter "skwimming" (how Abigail pronounces it) lessons.  It was Abigail's first lessons with a teacher.  Caitlin and I did Mommy N Me swimming lessons.  Neither one of the kids is leaving being a better "swimmer", but both had fun and are comfortable in the water, which I suppose is the purpose at this age!

For summer swim lessons, I think I'm going to just put Abigail in them, but put her in the class that takes place when the pool is open to members, so Caitlin and I can do our own swim lessons (after 5 rounds of Mommy N Me, I think I've got the jist of it).

Anyways, here are a few pics from our swim lessons...not very good pictures....

Caitlin "floating" with mommy and teacher.  Caitlin really had no fear and would put her face in, blow bubbles, float with noodle, and go down the slide a hundred times!  Then, the last day they turned on all the water fountains and she FREAKED out!  Now, she even cries if the water is running out of the faucet at bathtime. Oh boy....let's hope this new found fear of "water flowing" ends before the summer because our pool as a lot of water fountains!

Blowing mommy a kiss before lessons start!

Mommy N Me getting ready to play.  She LOVES the slide behind us!

Abigail did great with her swim lessons.  She is "timid" but not afraid of the water and she LOVES the slide too.  One thing she learned during these lessons was how to stand in line.  Abigail's personality is so kind and gentle that when she would stand in line for the slide, all the kids would just walk right in front of her.  So we worked and worked at standing in line...and by the end, she figured out to stand in line and take her turn.  I know it sounds kind of simple, but she would just stand there and everyone would go first, and then swim lessons would be over and she would cry she never got a turn.  Of course, there was the incident when the kid kind of pushed Abigail and got in front of her and Rob, who was watching lessons, yelled "Push Her Back!"....but we won't discuss that.....

Loving the Slide some more...

Isn't being warm in a towel after swim lessons the best part???

BUG

So that's winter swim lessons!  Counting down the days till the pool opens (36 days) and summer begins!!!!

Easter with our families

After a great start to our Easter morning (see below) it was time to head out and see our families.

And in keeping with my tradition, I took lots of pictures of the kids, but none of the adults.  I didn't even get one picture of Rob or myself with the girls, let alone their grandparents.  One day.....

We first headed to my parents' house for brunch!  It began with an egg hunt and LOTS of Easter baskets (each kid left with 3 easter baskets full of fun gifts, movies, shoes, books, and lots of bubbles)

Caitlin definitely got into the egg hunt.  Next year I see her pushing down anyone in her way!

Abigail found her Easter basket with sparkly shoes and Tangled...what a happy girl!

My little LuLu decided to show off her new skill of crawling!  She started crawling on Easter morning...what an Easter miracle!  ;)  She looked beautiful in her Easter dress, I could have held her all day!

I cute moment I randomly caught between my grandma and Abigail.

Cousin picture attemps!  I took like 20 pictures, and it was funny to watch Caitlin's face go from excited to annoyed and Lucy to fall a little bit further each picture.  Abigail kept her same "natural" smile the whole time!

falling.....

Cousin cuddles

Aunt Katie with the girls

After a great brunch with too much food (we get polish food and it's such a treat), horseradish, and some mimosas, it was time to head to Great Nani and Great Papa's house for the Rob's mom's family Easter!

It's always so great to see the family...and Uncle Al and Auntie Jam are back from Florida so that makes it even better!

When we got there, Nana and Papa had HUGE baskets full of goodies for the girls!

"Can we open?"

ELMO!  I have a feeling he'll be joining us on our vacation this summer!

Great Nani with her great-granddaughters.  She always serves too much food, but it's so delicous.  Homemade ravioli's....mmmm....my mouth is watering thinking about dinner!  She also has baskets for the girls!

And Cake!  Lots...and lots...and lots of cake!

(Funny side story:  at my parent's house, someone asked "Who wants cake?" and out of nowhere, Caitlin raised her hand and said "Me"...I've never seen her do that.  No matter what she was doing, if she heard cake, she stopped and raised her hand.  It was so funny!)

Abigail's Pinkalicious puzzle was a big hit with Abigail....and the adults!   This puzzle was done numerous times, Abigail was in heaven!  It's a reversible puzzle, which left some adults a little "puzzled"....

Apparenly Uncle Al doesn't do puzzles...but how can you say no to that little face?  

When we got home , I realized I didn't get pics of the girls.  So we attempted....

Abigail's "smile" is so natural...but look at that bug smile!  ;)

Sisters....melt my heart!

Thank you to everyone who helped make our Easter such a great day.  It's so nice to be able to spend the day with our families...we really treasure these times!

Easter Eggs and Morning

On Saturday, the girls colored their Easter Eggs!  LOTS of purple eggs this year!

Easter morning, the girls were very excited to get downstairs and see if the Easter Bunny had come!

JACKPOT!!!!

The Easter Bunny left Abigail a Pinkalicious puzzle, Art Set, socks, new cup, book, candy, etc. and Caitlin a new stroller, dolls for dollhouse, cup, socks, book, candy etc....

Taking Easter-basket-Elmo for a spin in her new wheels!

Then, it was time for the egg hunt!  LOTS of eggs were found, full of bunny crackers, candy, and money!

After some playing, Mommy and Abigail went to church while Daddy made the sacrifice to stay home so Caitlin could get a good nap in!  Then, it was time to head to my parents for brunch, followed by Rob's grandparents for Easter dinner!!!!  LOTS more pictures to come!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Katie!

Happy Birthday to Aunt Katie!!!!

We love you because:

"She touches my nose when I sing" -Abigail  (???????)

You live on a train!  (That's what Abigail thinks since she takes the train to visit us...she's gonna be shocked when she sees her "home")

You buy us the best presents, even ESPECIALLY LARGE stuffed animals!

You make us feel so special!!!!!!

We love you!!!!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Katie!

March for Babies 2011

We were beyond humbled and grateful for the amazing turnout at the March of Dimes walk! Our entire family came out in the cold, windy day to walk in honor of Abigail and all babies born too early!

Thank you so so much for being there for us!!!!!!!

Although it was a cold day, the walk went great.  We got to see some of our favorite NICU families.  We even saw my FAVORITE nurse, who got to see Abigail 3 1/2 years after watching her for 12 hours a day!    I have two favorite moments with her.  One was when she moved Abigail from the front "high-risk" part of the NICU to the back of the NICU.  My other favorite moment was after we got home.  We had left a disposable camera in Abigail's hospital room so they could take pictures of things when we weren't there.  Since I was alwasys there during the day, I didn't know what I'd find.  There were tons and tons of pictures of the night nurses (who we always talked to before we left for the night so we knew who they were) with Abigail.  Dressing her, helping her make "art projects" for us, and sometimes big moments like the time I got there in the morning and she was in a big girl crib instead of an incubator.  They documented those moments.  And some of my favorite nurses took pictures with Abigail which I didn't know, so when I got home I had pictures of them!  What an amazing gift I didn't even know I was getting.  Seeing Jane was  a great "full-circle" moment!

Some pics of our day:

The whole group!  Team Abigail!

The reason we walk...our 3 lb miracle

Getting ready to face the cold wind for 3 miles!

The after-walk celebration!!!!!  We did it!

This was also Aunt Katie's celebration...she decided to make her bday celebration the walk...thank you so much Aunt Katie!!!!  We love you!  Happy Bday on Tuesday!

Our family...all here and heatlhy thanks in part to the amazing advances made by March of Dimes, as well as the doctors and nurses at CDH!

Just one of those days....

After a long week, it's just the 3 (or 3 and a dog) of us...and we are having a hard time finding motivation today!  We were going to go to the gym, but started playing with Bendaroos instead.  We were going to do errands, but started playing EVERY board game we own. 

We are just having one of those days....but the girls probably need it.  Both have had crazy runny noses and sore throats all week...

So today we are still in our pjs (or tutus if you are abigail, because only tutus or tights/dresses/skirts are "fancy", but pjs and pants are NOT) and about to watch some Sesame Street and probably head up to brush our teeth soon!  :)  Everyone once in a while, I guess you need one of those days!

So I guess we'll do another puzzle! 

And let mommy take some pictures....

And laugh....

I never posted about our winter projects.  This winter, our projects were 1) paint walls and put up chair rail 2) backsplash  3) screen door.

I am happy to report we have done 2.5 of our projects.  All we have left is the chair rail.

Here's our new screen door!  Very exciting...it really adds light to our house.  It also has a drop-away screen so we get lots more fresh air (when there is not crazy construction in front of our house). 

Here's what it looks like when the door is closed....so dark! 

And our big project last weekend...the backsplash!  Here is the before: 

And after: 

And here's the before and after side by side: 

We love our new kitchen!!!! 

This weekend we have the March of Dimes walk!!!!  It's probably the last year we will walk, so we are really hoping for good weather!!!!  And check out this bad boy that will be coming with us on the walk this year: 

The newest addition to the Wennerstrom Family.  She doesn't have a name yet, but will soon!  I'm so excited...finally a double running stroller!  I got an amazing deal on Craigslist...got it new in the box!  Abigail loves it almost as much as me.  We have been "trying" out running strollers and she has been very opinionated.  Yesterday when we picked it up, she kept saying "I'm so excited to see it.  I can't wait.  It's like the best present!"  We went for a quick (cold) walk yesterday to try it out and her review is "perfect". (She is my mini-me!)

So Sunday, we'll be out walking with our whole family to honor all babies, those born too early and those born on time, but all born perfect!!!!

We are so blessed that Abigail has such little "effects" of being born so early, but everyone once in a while I'm reminded that she still is a preemie.  Her lungs were still "premature" and even though we were so lucky to get steriods and not need a ventilator, she still has problems.  This week she had a cough, and most kids can just get better, but she needs to nebulizer to open her pathways.  Such a little thing, but a reminder never-the-less.

"One day, ALL babies will be born healthy."  -March of Dimes

(In unrelated news, Caitlin is the FASTEST baby ever to go down the stairs.  I have a video to post!  She also is talking a lot more...only words I can understand but they are there!  Her favorites this week:  backpack and banana.)