October 26 Birthdays!

Jordan turned THIRTY this year. He's so old, hehe. Good thing he has me to keep him young, right? ;o)

We had a wild, I mean wild, birthday dinner for him at El Meson. Our party guests were Jordan, myself, Lilly Scott, Mac and Paisley. Crazy crowd. 

Jordan warned me to not share his birthday with them, but LS did. We got renditions of Happy Birthday in a couple different ways.

 Mac enjoyed playing with the chip basket once we emptied it. We love chips and salsa. We also splurged and got queso and guacamole. 

 The next day we set up the projector and had a hot dog party. We lasted as long as we could in the cold before we moved it in the garage.

 Sarah playing with Paisley and Jill keeping Mac warm. 

I totally failed getting pictures of the party guests. We had a lot of family {The Nashville Allens} and friends celebrate with us.

 Before Jordan's party, we went to Emory's FIRST birthday party. He and Jordan are in the 10/26 club, as Jordan puts it. Here we are with moms and babies :o)

Frances and Holden {Holden was born the day before M&P, and Frances delivered in the room I labored in. Funny story, actually, they moved her out of the room because I was coming and in labor.}, us, and Mary and Emory Jackson! 

as always, 

ashley

Performance, Family and Penicillin

Lilly Scott had her weekly camp performance last week. All of the campers perform dances and acrobatics they've worked on during the week. It's stinking cute, I tell ya!

 Paisley and Mac always love watching the kids. Paisley was admiring Lilly Scott's trophy.

After the show, our friend Emory came to play.

 On Friday, Mimi and Geep brought Aunt Lynn to visit us! We went to the Public House, which was absolutely delicious! Afterward, Mimi, Aunt Lynn and I walked around Warehouse Row while Jordan and Geep took the kids home for naps. Lucky kids, they napped and got clothes... :o)

 

We started out with fried green tomatoes topped with a special shrimp salad. For my meal, I got an amazing bacon and pimento cheese burger with home made shoestring fries. So. good...too good to splurge like that often :o)

 

Saturday our favorite cousins came! Carsen and Bailey are here to spend a few days with us, and we are so excited! So far we've worked on birthday party crafts, watched the Olympics, and ventured to Moe's for $6 burrito night! {Pictures to come!}

 Sunday Uncle Jeff came to visit!! He took LS to see Ice Age 4. We took Paisley and Mac to the doctor. P has run a fever in spite of the antibiotic she's taking, and Mac has been pulling at his ear. We learned that both have active ear infections. We switched P to a different antibiotic and were told the bumps that had appeared were likely a viral rash. The fever could have been either. Mac started an initial dose of antibiotic.

 After the first dose of the new antibiotic and a nap, Paisley started sprouting new red bumps...

 ...face... arms... legs...

 We gave her benadryl at bedtime and took turns checking on her. At first the benadryl seemed to work, but as the night went on, the bumps got worse... and worse. 

This morning, she woke up like this:

 WHAT?! 

Poor girl!! I planned to take her to the doctor this morning anyway, but this was awful! We were at the pediatrician at 9 am and were immediately put in a room. Paisley looks pitiful, but her temperament really is pleasant. 

Even as we were at the doctor, the spots started down her neck. We are relieved to have an answer: Paisley is allergic to penicillin and probably cefdinir {the antibiotic she was put on yesterday}. So we are taking her off all medicines to give her sweet skin a chance to heal. Fortunately, her ear infection is improving also. Weighing our options, we need to let her heal without any medicines going into her little body. 
Here's a picture of her tonight-

Please pray for our Paisley Grace. She does well during the day, but at night she's pretty fussy. I can't imagine how itchy or burning this may be, and I wish she could tell me how to make her feel better. Until then, I'll continue to hold her and appreciate that being in my arms is such a comfort to my sweet PGA. :o)

Let's also hope that Mac doesn't have a reaction...

as always,

ashley

Bye, Cousins!

We've had such fun with Carsen and Bailey! Lilly, Mac and Paisley had lots of attention, love and pictures. I also enjoyed being able to be hands off while Carsen and Bailey took great care of the the nuggets. I did some birthday party errands, visit the salon and work out!

Every night we sat in the family room and watched the Olympic trials. We visited the Chattanooga Market, Target, the mall, and other fun stops.  

Thanks so much, girls!! We miss you already!

 

We need a protector for the crib side because Paisley chews on it when she's awake. 

Yesterday we had a short playdate with Mary and Emory! We've missed them the past couple of weeks. When Emory sat down, Paisley crawled past him, backed up, and plopped in his lap!!!! We laughed and laughed at them, and she stayed long enough for me to get a picture! 

Look at them!! Priceless picture, and one of my absolute favorites!

We wish you a happy freedom day!

-ashley

Randomness

We are back in the swing of things... well, sort of. It's tough coming back home after being away for a week. Mac and Paisley did great while we were gone, and I credit that to their confidence in our routine. I know routines aren't for everyone, but with twins, I believe it's crucial. The more I read, the more I am confident in the power of a routine for them. Babies don't come with manuals, after all. 

Mac wanted me to hold him instead of taking his picture. I did both :o)

 Paisley loves her teething biscuits.

Sweet babies

 Hey, buddy!!

 

Last night we got together with our small group. We had dinner and played bocce ball at the park. So fun!

Logan and Maggie were dancing to the music.

 The girls entertained M and P

 Rachael's turn!

Brandon rolls for the guy's team.

 See that green ball closest to the yellow? Yeah, that's mine ;o)

Mac and Paisley were so good! 

 This morning's breakfast- blueberries!

 Paisley did another first... she fell asleep in the high chair.

We went to the park today! We walked with our friends Mary and Emory, and Mac, Paisley and I had a picnic lunch after the walk. It's been nice around here the past few days so we are taking advantage of this beautiful weather!

This picture was made at home. I didn't get a picture at the park because I didn't have an extra set of hands. Notice Paisley's pose. She is always on the move....

 ... So Mac is easier to capture than P.

On the way home from the park I heard a siren so I looked in my rear view mirror and started to pull over... But no, it was just the squeals from the back seat. They fooled me. I did get a kick out of it, though. 

I ironed some of Paisley's clothes today. That's a huge deal around here. In these parts, if it needs ironed, it gets thrown in the dryer with a wet washcloth. As "domesticated" as I can be, ironing isn't a priority... unless I can't tie a bow on the outfit or the collar won't lay-- and Jordan nor I have many clothes with bows or ruffled collars ;o)

You know what tomorrow is!?! Woo hoo!! Weekend, here we come!!

Summer Fun!

We have had such fun this week with play dates and our new baby pool! We went to Winchester, TN to visit Adrianne and baby Collier and Kathryn and Miller (who just turned one.)

Paisley with her "Aunt Adrianne" and three mamas with their babes. 

Sweet memories with special friends. 

 Traffic was stopped on our way home, and as we scooted closer, we could see why. Traffic was still stopped when I took this pic, don't worry :o)

We had a play date with Emory in our new baby pool too! 

P was quite the attention getter (of course!) so she was front and center with the camera. 

Sweet Emory in his coordinating frog gear :o)

 It's unfortunate that Paisley's swimsuit wouldn't stay up... 

It was Lilly's so it's special, but we won't be wearing it again :o(

 They still love blueberries. Here's evidence-

 Mac has really done some fun stuff this week! A tooth is starting to bud, and he's playing peek a boo. As you'll see in the video below, Mac does a funny smacking thing when he eats sometimes. It won't be cute much longer, but it cracks us up now! Paisley is getting around quite well, and Mac is starting to follow suit. I've been in denial about baby proofing my home, but the time is here. I took a couple of videos of Mac's new "tricks".

Paisley has started to figure out how we work around her crib... basically we belly crawl when she's awake to prevent a meltdown. Now that she knows what we do, she pulls down her crib bumper and looks for us. This morning Jordan went to her room, and she had crawled to the other end of the crib, pulled down the bumper, and was staring at the door. Seriously.

 Today I braved the baby pool by myself... 

AND I took a few one-handed pictures. We had our yogurt and fruit in the pool, can you tell?

 Then Paisley nestled in my lap.  

Mac was tired of the water so he sat beside the pool and played.

  

Can we talk about the fact that M and P will be NINE months old tomorrow?! What?! I have loved every age, and this stage is SO fun as they interact more with their environment and reciprocate all the hugs and kisses they get.

TGIF!!!!