Sydney is Advancing Rapidly & Ears Are Pierced!

Our little Syd is off and running...not literally just yet, but making rapid progress in all areas.

MyGym has been so good for her -- she is SUCH a little climber and her gross motor skills are getting better every day.

She picked up a bunch of new words and signs this weekend and is communicating very effectively. Some of her messages include:

Words --
YumYum
Mama
Light
More
Yes
This
Meow (for kitty)
Moo (for cow)
Milk
Sissy
Whoa!
Uh-oh
Bye-bye
Good girl
Sis-Sis (for "Sissy")
Peek-a-Boo
Dada

Signs --
Light
More
Eat
Down
Uppy
Hot

We also got her EARS PIERCED on Tuesday. She was quite brave and looks absolutely stunning now.

Hooray, Sydney!!

Here we are in New Orleans

We flew into New Orleans on Thursday, and Francois picked us up at the airport. We had a nice dinner of shrimp and pasta carbanera at their house, and stayed up late visiting and holding Isabelle.

Friday, Francois was working, but while Sally was napping, Andy and I took Sydney to The Galley for some boiled crawfish and a stuffed artichoke. Yum yum! That night, we headed over to Nana and Poppy's for dinner -- shrimp chowder, boiled shrimp and shrimp and pasta. What's the deal with all the shrimp? We weren't complaining -- we were so dang happy to have fresh seafood cooked right!! Sally spent the night at Nana and Poppy's and drove up to the Ooms Ranch the next morning with them.

Saturday we got up and got packed and headed up to Independence to Susu's house with Sydney. It was time for Harry's Memorial weekend party. Before Harry died in July, he told Susan "absolutely NOT" for a funeral or wake, and when she pressed him, he told her she could have a party or a bonfire. Since nobody really felt like celebrating last summer, Susan thought it would be fitting to have a bonfire and weekend-long party at their house for February 22nd -- which would have been Harry's 53rd b-day.

And what a party it was! She had the food catered, plus folks brought all kinds of stuff and sacks of oysters and boiled crawfish, too. Susan had also hired 3 local bands for entertainment, so there was pretty much around-the-clock entertainment during daylight hours.

And oh, the people who came! I saw cousins from Poppy's side that I hadn't seen in about 5 years (since DeDe's funeral) and even some folks from Nana's side that I hadn't seen in nearly a decade. I met a lot of Susan's friends and heard a lot of comments like "I haven't seen you since you were just a little girl!" (Susan and I are 16 years apart, you know) and it was a grand old time. Uncle Alden and Aunt Renee flew in from Atlanta, and so did Aunt Joanne and Uncle Mike, and there were over 150 people there altogether.

Sally ran with "the pack" of kids all weekend, so she was dog tired by the time we left. We also froze our tookas' off during the 1 night we camped (!) but it was still fun.

Sydney was the surrogate grandbaby so she got passed around and doted over all weekend long. It was great fun.

We drove back Sunday late afternoon and last night, Francois made us BBQ shrimp -- deee-lish! Hands-down the best BBQ shrimp I've ever had. We got their recipe and I know we can get shrimp here so I look forward to enjoying that again sometime soon!

Not sure what's on the books for our last full day in town but I know tonight we'll be making Easter Pie...whatever that is!

Whew! What a Weekend!

Well, I have heard some powerful comments about this past weekend's Fluency Workshop. Phrases like "life altering" and "perfect" and "absolutely magnificent" are being batted about by participants and we've already set the date for the next event (Father's Day weekend in June).

Marilyn flew home on Monday, and we would have loved to have her here another week! It's always such a delight to visit with her.

We got the girls back into their routine, and I'm about to take a short breather with my business.

My Fluent Writing class wraps up tonight but I won't get much of a break because I'm about to launch THREE new teleclasses (whew!) More to come about that...

Next we are gearing up for our trip to New Orleans.

Sydney's First Steps!

Our little Miss Sydney has been cruising for awhile now, but last night she took her first "unassisted" steps! We got her to repeat it again today, so away we go.....

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valetine's Day is probably my favorite holiday of the year.

Sally had a valentine exchange at her school -- we decorated a shoebox for her to receive her valentines, adn she signed all her schoolmates' cards her self. And of course they had cupcakes and cookies and got all wound up before coming home!

Then we took the girls to the photo studio to have portraits taken. Syd was not entirely cooperative (I know that surprises most of you, but she does have her moments, even if they are few and far between!) but we still managed to get some nice shots.

The girls napped after that (!) and Marilyn babysat tonight so Andy and I could have a nice evening out. We went to Texas de Brazil, the brazilian steakhouse, and it was fabulous! We enjoyed a great bottle of wine and had a delicious meal and an in-depth conversation. Bellisimo! Or however you say that in Brazilian...

Tomorrow we head down to Manitou Springs with a small group of friends, and this weekend is the highly anticipated Fluency Workshop at our home. Can't wait to see what unfolds during and after this one...

Sally's 4-Year Checkup

Well, all is well with our little Sally belle today, as she visited the doc for her four-year wellness check.

She got to do an eye test (black and white symbols instead of letters) and get all the usual exams. Height and weight look good, she is no longer super-tall for her age and she is within 2 lbs of moving out of a regular carseat with a back and into a booster-only seat in the car. Woo-hoo! That'll be much easier for travel, for sure.

Speaking of travel, a friend of ours (Marilyn Overcast) comes into town today and we are most definitely looking forward to her visit. Did I mention that Andy's hand is broken? Ah yes, we've been dealing with that as well.

Let's see, what else is new. Did you know I got brown highlights? Not sure if I'll keep them or not, although I did repeat the look yesterday at my hair appt. Nothing terribly fabulous to report at the moment...will keep you all posted!

Fun at the Fish Fry

I can still remember last year when we went to the local KC lenten fish fry, and I was surprised to see they were serving anything other than catfish! What a southern girl I am!

At any rate, we went again last night and it was deeeeee-lish. Even though Sally still won't tough seafood (except for that fake crab stuff occasionally), Syd gobbled up a good portion of my baked cod but didn't particularly care for the fried stuff. Sal-Sal mostly ate french fries and toast (and plenty of lemonade). We met some friendly folks and had a good time.

Then we headed over to the local Rec center, where we recently purchased a membership and took the girls swimming for awhile.

We were supposed to attend a Marriage Encounter Valentine's Day family dance tonight, but Sally was being a terror (as is the case with all members of our household who get insufficient sleep) so we opted to skip the dance and just laid low at the house. Tomorrow we'll head to Unity church in the AM assuming everyone gets a good night's rest!

Welcome to the World, Isabel Camenzuli !

Well, we just got the phone call from Francois!

Baby Camenzuli is a girl -- (aka Isabel) and was born just about 45 minutes ago at EJ.

Kelly was in labor for 7 hours and then Isabel's head got stuck in Kelly's pelvis, so they did an emergency c-section.

Kelly is resting, doing fine and baby Isabel is "very pink" according to new proud papa Francois.

Isabel weighs 7 lbs, 7 oz...her head circumference is 14 cm...she is 20" long...and we get to meet her in just about 2 1/2 weeks!

So Amy is now a "Mimi" (Isabel's godmother)

Hooray!!! Welcome, little darling!

Sydney's First "Thank You"

Earlier tonight, Sydney was walking around and Andy and I were watching TV. Sydney indicated that she wanted a cracker, and when Andy handed it to her, she spontaneously said "thank you."

Andy and both looked at each other, as much to say "did you hear that?" and "did she really just say 'thank you'?"

It was sooooooooooo cute !