Answering comments

Anonymous said...
i love your choice of clothes. have noticed previously you are a boutique kind of woman and gymboree. i love her hair bows.

Man, am I busted, I admit to loving the more upscale clothing for my girls. I buy from Target, but find their kids clothes do not have the hand-me-down durability of Gymboree or GAP. Most of Amanda and Kara's things were Meghan's, many were bought for resale on eBay, when I used to have a store. I rarely buy retail unless there is a good sale.

We have two big baskets of hair bows, also many were Meghan's, but when her alopecia took off, the hair pretties made her hair come out faster, so we no longer use them on her. She also complains her scalp hurts when I put barrettes on her. I am very happy to have two little girls whose hair I can put bows in again. Meghan feels badly that she cannot have them too...

BTW, I belong to yahoogroups for children's clothing, I have for 5 years, I made very good friends there.

In reference to Amanda's self stim and teeth grinding:
Mandy said...

After Alex was sick, he regressed A LOT - started doing the head banging and "bumbling" --- went on for about 2 weeks and then faded out - it about drove me nutty though! Hang in there - you are a great mom and Miss Amanda KNOWS it :)

Meghan and Kara regressed some too, but Amanda was never ill, which is why I got so perplexed from the regression, though she seems back on an even keel now. Thank you for the compliment, sometimes I feel like the worse mommy ever, especially when all three are grumpy and whiny.

Jennifer said...
I LOVE the new photos!! She is such a princess! Aidan is a teeth-grinder, and he does it more when he's off schedule, or sleep-deprived, or getting sick. Then things go back to normal.

The teeth grinding thing is something that sets me on edge, I can almost hear her destroying all that dental work. It has eased off some, she did it more when she has a runny nose, makes sense, her sinuses were probably hurting her.

Carla said...
I just love all the pictures of Amanda. She is just to precious. Victoria our 9 yr. old did the same thing when she first came home. I think when she started getting too comfortable with us she would do it afraid of getting to attached.

I wondered about that with Amanda too, you could almost see her thinking "Wait a minute, these folks are relatively new to me, what am I doing trusting them so much?" LOL

Alice said...
Any chance she has a tooth bothering? You've probably already checked. Baby teeth can flare up fast!

Last time she did this, I rushed her right over to the dentist, he said all her teeth were fine, though if it continues, i will take her back. I am feeling like I am getting the eye roll when I call the various doctors all the time, oh well, they will have to get used to me or we will find another more understanding and welcoming medical team. *BG*

In reference to scooting and buying Amanda a birthday present:

Cammie Heflin said...
Kris there are several things on the Toys R Us website, I found a pony, horse, fire engine, alligator and caterpillar!

Thank you for looking for us! I looked on there a few days ago, what we need is a plastic rocker that can endure being outside, we do not have room inside for all their ride on and rocking toys.

Meredith said...
Happy birthday little one!

The scooting is how Brianna got around for about 2 years before she started walking, though about a year before she walked she did learn to crawl but only did it on occasion. I babysat a little girl that was crawling everywhere... she caught on ;)

Emma now scoots like that too. She doesn't have the ability yet to separate her arms or legs to move, so if she tries to crawl it comes across with two hands forward then two legs like a little frog hop. We still encourage it but she doesn't like to do it.

Eventually Brianna did walk tho and does it just fine, so I'm sure once Amanda is more interested in keeping up with the older girls she'll be up and running! :)

Thanks for the birthday greetings, I am looking forward to our little family party for her.

I admit Amanda is a first for me, other than a vidoe, I have never seen a baby or toddler get around this way. It just goes to show how good we humans are at problem solving! I try to get Amanda to crawl and she giggles her head off, apprently she is really ticklish. LOL Makes it more fun to do. Getting her to kneel has been huge challenge fo rme, she fights like no ones business when I try to get her to.

I am just thrilled Emma is doing so well, I bet the frog hop is adorable to see.

Lately Amanda has been working on standing from a squat, talk about a workout, she has a lot of trouble balancing, mostly because she tries to on her tippy toes.

Lou said...
She's adorable! Mattea knows that scoot too! And I love her pretty, pretty blonde hair---

Amanda's hair is so pretty, and of course my husband, who loves blondes...like me I guess...thinks her hair is gorgeous. They are very bonded to one another, it is so wonderful to watch them together. Mattea looks so good, any word on surgery?

Leah said...

Where in Wisconsin is the pick-up for the rocking toy? Also, I was going to comment on the dry hair issue. The the olive oil on hers too! Angela's hair is still SO SOFT even 3 days later, and believe me, the winter here DRIES US OUT!!! Anyway, I 'm going to be driving out to the Wisconsin Dells this weekend, so if the pick up on that toy is anywhere on my way I'll gladly pick it up! How about a spinning thing? I have a spinning thing from Ikea that Angela used once. It's along the lines of a sin-n-spin, but they can lay their whole body on it if they want to.

Hi Leah, I have to say first, that I loved your typo; sin-n-spin sounds very naughty! As the quessn of typos, I have written some interesting things...Thank you so much for offering to pick up the toy for Amanda, but when I looked for it again on Craigslist, the listing was deleted, I guess it sold, that is so depressing! I was going to ask if they would consider shipping it.

I always thought Wisconsin was a wet place, but I suppose we all get dry hair and skin in the winter, I really do not have a point of reference for anywhere but AZ, the only state I have ever lived in. Of course I was in Ukraine for 6 weeks in the winter too, and yes, I remember my lips were very dry, i was thankful for my Burt's Bees lip balm.

The girls do not play with their spinning toy, but I bet they would yours, I will look on Ikea and see what they have, thanks!

Shea mentioned that: Could you maybe make your own spray in with a little olive oil and such. I bet you could come up with something. The pics are cute by the way.

I am going to work on some sprays for the girls hair, Olive Oil sounds like a good idea, I know they make special spray bottles for using it when cooking, why not try it on hair too? I thought the Organic hair product manufacturers may have something, but even those have some estrogen disruptors. Call me goofy, but my 16 year old went through puberty much too early, and I am convinced it is from a lifetime of regular milk, produce with pesticides that mimic estrogen in our bodies, and hair and skin products with parabens and PEG. As a cancer survivor, I am very careful about everything we eat, clean with, and bath with

Charissa said...
That last photo reminds me so much of Ava! By the way, Ava scoots too and ruins the seat of her pants. That's why I only buy her clothes at the Goodwill, at least until she is walking! :)

I just love Miss Ava! She is petite like Amanda, they do look very similar in body type. Thank goodness for Savers, I get a lot of denim for $1.99 and let maanda do what she may to them. I am glad Kara can wear frillier pants now that she is no longer crawling.