Update: Liv + Lilly

I borrowed the title of this blog from my nanny, Ashley - she uses this title when she blogs about the girls (you can check out her blog by scrolling down the right side of my screen and finding it under my favorite blogs list - check it out - she does a fantastic job).  Frankly, the only way you would know what was going on with the girls lately is to look at her blog, so I thought it was fitting that I steal her title.  But I am finally catching up and want to give a quick update on what we are up to these days.

Liv is also growing like a weed.  By the end of the summer she had grown out of her 4T clothes - and she is only 4 1/2.  I measured her height recently and she is 3 1/2 feet tall.  She also weighs over 40 pounds - looks like we will be going to a booster seat soon!  Liv has also returned to preschool for their morning pre-k program (4 days a week) at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and she loves it!  It is so nice to see her look forward to school and have so much fun with her friends.  She is learning so much - she knows the months of the year and the seasons, is learning to write her letters and her numbers, and is learning to spell her colors.  It is amazing how quickly she can pick things up at this age.  She struggles a bit on writing the numbers "2" and "3" and gets very frustrated very quickly, but otherwise, she loves learning.  She has announced to me recently that she is going to be both an astronaut and a music teacher when she grows up.  Judging by her singing ability, I think astronaut may be a better path!  Liv is also playing soccer this fall (in addition to taking a sports class at the Little Gym that gives her an opportunity to try out all different kinds of sports) and has enjoyed it more than I ever thought possible.  Jeremy is one of her coaches and it has been so fun to watch him and Liv on the field.  Lilly and I enjoy cheering on the Pumas every chance we get and we are looking forward to spring soccer in hopes for a repeat of a great season.  Liv has even expanded her horizons a little over the past year - she is going to be Scooby Doo instead of Buzz Lightyear for Halloween this year - pictures to come!

Lilly is growing too, but not quite as rapidly as Liv.  We recently took her in for her quarterly appointment with Dr. Kanga and she weighed a little over 22 pounds and is 32 inches long.  That puts her at about the 3rd percentile in weight and the 10th percentile in height.  Her height to weight percentile is 10% - not terrible, but not where we need to be (about the 50% range).  Jeremy and I do everything we can to plump her up - she eats a high fat, high protein diet with supplements, but I feel like we are fighting a battle that we are not winning anytime soon.  At the same time, I am starting to accept that Lilly is just going to be tiny.  Although she is small, she doesn't look malnourished and is actually far from it.  She eats great (especially since we went through the cleansing ritual at UK Children's Hospital - glad that is over) but she is constantly on the move.  She is so busy and such a talker - it is amazing to me how much of a vocabulary she has at her age compared to Liv at the same age.  I guess she just picks up more being around her big sister.  Lilly's health has been good lately and despite her weight, we have been receiving good reports from the doctors (knock on wood).  She is still on her usual round of medications - enzymes, Prilosec, CF vitamins, and Pulmozyne with chest therapy - but we have added some allergy medicines as well since allergies have been plaguing her.  She is taking both Singulair (a bronchodilator) and Claritan (an antihistamine).  It is so frustrating trying to keep up with all her medicines and getting her to take them, but despite some resistance that is to be expected from an almost 2 year old (yes, I said it - she is almost 2!!!) she is actually very compliant.  Lilly has been a busy girl this fall too.  With Olivia in school most mornings, Ashley has been taking her to story time at Barnes and Noble and a class at the Little Gym that she has loved (courtesy of a Groupon - I so love a deal!).  I think she enjoys her "Lilly-time" but misses her sister.  She has enjoyed the Little Gym so much that I plan to enroll her in her own class next semester, assuming she is healthy enough to attend (you never know with winter so imminent - I dread it!).  Finally, Lilly has given up her "P" or her pacifier!  We decided to do it cold turkey before the winter (and germs) set in and she was so good about it.  She had a difficult time going to sleep the first few nights, but since that time she hasn't asked for it but a couple of times and accepted the fact that it is gone.  I keep waiting for the ball to drop - it shouldn't be this easy, should it?

As for Jeremy and I, we are doing everything we can to keep our heads above water.  I feel like we never have any down time - work-out, work, dinner, bath, bed, bills - then doing it all over again.  But I guess that is the life of a mom and dad.  Frankly, I stand in amazement of my mom and grandmother when I think of the number of children they raised - I can barely juggle two, much less four or five.  I guess that explains why the blog has been so outdated - but not anymore!!