the botbyl girls: there's a lot going on.

I finally can sit down and blog about what's been going on with us. Let's see... let's start with the fact that we moved, we're settled and we are loving our new home. The girls have transitioned well... with the exception of Chloe waking up almost every hour during the night. She takes great naps, but when it came to night time, she was up a lot. With Jeff and I doing a lot during the day, we were exhausted getting up with her. But, now, after just a couple of days, she's finally sleeping better!

The girls love their playroom but what's more fun then playing in the sink? If the door to the powder room is open, they both run in and start washing their hands.

And then there's the pantry... Chloe's new hiding spot has been the pantry. I think she's trying to sneak some food here!

I've been enjoying putting my Uppercase Living up. The girls' names in their rooms are awesome too... I'll post them later.

Cambelle is my new little chatterbox. She talks to me like she's 12 and says the funniest things. Just recently she tells Jeff that he smells like a skunk and he needs to shower! To his defense, he smells manly and awesome, we don't have a skunk living with us.

Jeff registered Cambelle in preschool on Friday and as of September 10th, she will be attending Children's Garden Christian School in Williamstown. Jeff and I agreed that Jeff would be the one to register Cambelle (so I can stay home with the girls) and when the whole ordeal was over - he met her teacher and Cambelle and her have an observation on two weeks - he told me he was one of three dads there. Jeff is such a trooper... he rocks!

Last Wednesday, we took Cambelle back to Jefferson University Hospital for a follow up with her GI doctor, but to also discuss about her "new belly issues." Cambelle's been complaining of her belly hurting for MONTHS! It's been a never-ending problem, and I wanted to make sure everything is OK. And, if not to get this issue under control so she's not in pain anymore. Here's what the doctor said:

- She doesn't like the way her eczema looks - even though we saw her in September and it looked the same - she still doesn't like the way it looks. Oh, and Cambelle also saw a derm doctor at CHOP in September and he said nothing about it being more then just eczema.

- She thinks Cambelle's not gaining weight has something to do with her eczema.

- Since we've seen her once already, she's going to be more aggressive with her actions and do an endoscopy on Cambelle.

- All this could be related to an allergy.

So, in a month Cambelle will be going back to Jefferson to have an endoscopy done. I'm terrified b/c she will be out and I'm nervous about the whole thing. If all this is related to an allergy we'll be going to see an allergist and hopefully get all this figured out. If she can't find anything wrong then we know that Cambelle is saying her belly hurts for attention. I know that sounds mean, but what else could it be?

On to Chloe... Chloe turned 15 months on February 25th. We took her to her check-up and she has now passed Cambelle on the scale. She weighs 22.5 lbs. Chloe has been showing her personality lately. She has a temper, she likes to show it, and wants everyone to pay attention to her when she's freaking out. She already throws her body on the floor when she's mad, she yells "down," when she want to get down, she says, NO! to me and then crosses her arms and she hits Cambelle A LOT! She's hysterical and I find myself laughing at her all day long. Her personality is different then Cambelle's and they are like night and day! She's into everything. She doesn't leave a room unmarked... things are everywhere and she makes my job of cleaning up a never-ending task. She tests me, loves me, hates me and shows me all those feelings in one minute. She's a tough child... and even though I feel guilty saying that, I wouldn't trade her for the world. I adore her and I'm immensely in love with her, but man, she makes parenting the hardest job I've ever had.

One of the many reasons, Jeff and I love this house is that we get to entertain. We love to have people over and to be surrounded by friends and family. We had many friends over on Saturday night, and tonight we had my cousin and three children over. Here's Connor and Cambelle enjoying some pizza at our island.