Dress Up

Two silly pictures of the girls. In this first one they thought it was so funny to wear their PJs on their heads. In the bottom one Reilly put on my robe then fell asleep.

Pee, Blood & Tears

This post is not for the faint of heart!

One of my earliest childhood memories includes peeing on my mom. Yep, that's right - I peed on her. We went to the doctor for my pre-kindergarten check-up and I had to pee in a cup. My mom held the cup for me and I peed all over her.

I have thought about this memory many times over the past couple years when I am at the pediatrician. I figured when Reilly was ready for kindergarten I would do the same.

Well the day of peeing in a cup came....early!! Apparently they now do that for Pre-K!!

Reilly and I showed up for her appt, and we were promptly given the cup marked "Reilly Harris." Reilly thought it was the funniest thing that she would be peeing in the cup and insisted that she could do it on her own. Once I convinced her she couldn't - it actually went pretty smoothly! And here is the cup to prove it! (See, I warned you!)

Poor Reilly though - it was a rough appointment, with finger-prick, shots and all. But one unexpected item was that Reilly had 5 bug bites, and one of them was infected. I had the doctor look, thinking it wasn't a big deal. Turns out it was pretty severely infected. He ended up squeezing it -which didn't go over well with Reilly.

We had to go back the next day because it was so infected she couldn't walk - a couple visits to the doctor, dozens of hot compresses and a few days of antibiotics later, it is looking better. But here is what it looked like on day 3 (and yes, I did warn you about this post!)

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July weekend. First we spent the night at a hotel here in Orlando. The kids had a great time swimming and playing. Then for the 4th, we went to Charlotte's house for a BBQ. Reilly was so happy to watch fireworks with her two girlie friends, Carson and Charlotte. Here is the trio with their sparklers and watching the fireworks.

5 Years Old!

Happy 5th birthday, Brady! I love you very much! I looked at your picture last week and realized HOW MUCH you look like Brooke - wow! Party it up today!!

A Letter To My Son

Work

I consider myself tough. I can hang with the best of them. I have thick skin and have dealt with some pretty tough situations over the years. But when I woke up this morning, I knew it was going to be a tough day.

You see, I had an all day meeting on the agenda with one of my toughest clients. I walked into the room, and sat down – and it wasn’t long before she was beating me up and calling me names. There were moments of quiet – don’t get me wrong. I even took a break at one point to check email – but I felt like I was just staring at a blank screen because I was just emotionally and physically exhausted. But I went back into that room and continued playing her games.

At the end of the day, I knew it was all going to be okay. The client came over to me, gave me a big hug and said, “I love you Mommy!” Sometimes the playroom is tougher than the boardroom.

Camp time

The girls transitioned from school to camp today and they are so excited! For Reilly, she will be swimming twice a day. Brooke will swim once a day, so it is a nice, fun break for them! They were all dressed in their swimsuits and ready to go this morning!

Happy Birthday, Reilly!!

4 years?? Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday that we waited (not so patiently) for all of our lung development tests to come in so that we could be admitted for our induction. Only to be disappointed to have to wait another day for the arrival of our bundle of joy. But alas, on June 1, 2006 at 4:25 in the morning, Reilly Elizabeth Harris was born screaming! Mike and I realized, in an instant, that our lives would be forever changed and that this beautiful little girl had us wrapped around her finger before she could even understand what that meant.

In 4 years Reilly has grown into a fun, loving, playful, joking, smart, beautiful young girl. She makes us laugh each and every day...and I constantly feel blessed to have her in my life.

This weekend we had her birthday party, with 23 little kids, at Pinnochio's Marionette Theatre. The kids watched a show, enjoyed some cake, and 2 pinatas. While Reilly has wanted this puppet show party for about 8 months now...she also wanted it to have a princess theme, so there was a Princess and the Frog cake, favors and pinatas.

Happy Birthday, Reilly Pielly!