Life Lately

Busy.  Busy.  Busy.  That should be the end of the post but I must say everyone around here is busy doing all sorts of new things!  Willa has finally mastered the art of rolling from her back to her tummy!  Something she has been working on for quite sometime.  Fay takes her babies for a stroll in her mini stroller every day and loves to wave bye bye to literally everything, her dinner, the outside, her crib...she sends very fond farewells!  I have been out of town without the kids the past two weekends and the break was nice but I am looking forward to warm weathered weekends at home in the weeks to come.

Dave and I went to The Gage hotel this past weekend with some couple friends and it was a blast, however the west Texas wildfires were a little too close for comfort and we lost power Saturday night, which made for a hot night without any air conditioning.

And I have been producing a movie...a movie you say?  Yes a movie.

Shane Carruth won the Grand Jury Prize for his movie PRIMER at the Sundance Film Festival back in 04.   Just so happens he is a good friend of Dave's and we are beginning fundraising efforts for his sophomore film A TOPIARY.  Steven Soderberg and David Fincher are attached as executive producers and the film is going to be incredible.  So besides being a mother of two almost all of my spare time is dedicated to the financing of this film.  It's exciting...life takes you places you never thought you would go but I love the adventure.  Shane will be here next week taking initial pitch meetings and things will probably just get more busy, but that's just the way I like it.

Fashionista and 4 Months

Willa turned 4 months old on St. Patty's day!  She went for her well baby check today and she is in the 60% for weight, 13 lbs!  However the most surprising development is that she has cut her first tooth!  You can just feel the top of it and the Dr said we could start solids.  All in all it was a great visit and fun to have miss Willa bean all to myself.

Fay has now started voicing her opinion on clothes...I am actually very proud of her.  We haven't bought many spring outfits yet and I only had one that was her size and not long sleeved, which was given to us.  I wasn't wild about the outfit either but it was clean, fit, and was the right season so I didn't really care.  When I started to dress her she just started shaking her head and saying no, I asked her "do you not like this outfit?" and she answered definitively NO!  I love that she has an opinion (I am sure this will change with time), but I let her pick out her dress that day, she chose a UT cheerleading dress that her Gran Nan gave her, with a tutu panty.  She looked great!

Dave keeps stealing my memory card so I have no new pictures to post :(

SURPRISE!

Dave surprised me last week by joining the Racquet Club!  We are officially members and just in time for summer, so we have somewhere to take the girls swimming.  I had NO idea this was coming and he took me out last Tuesday to a fancy dinner just the two of us.  It was really good food and it was exciting to be eating there not as a guest, not on my parents tab, but on the Joyner tab.  It feels like we are real adults.

Thank you sweet Dave for making life so unpredictable...I love all of your surprises!  

Vegas and Church (What a post)

Dave and I took a very romantic trip to Vegas last weekend.  IT WAS NEEDED AND AMAZING.  We stayed at the Trump....it was SO nice and non-gaming and non-smoking.  So when you wanted to gamble we got to pick a place go for a few hours and then when the dinging and smoke started to get to us or we had lost all our money we could go "home" to our nice relaxing hotel across from Fashion show mall :).  The first night was really fun, steaks at Smith and Wollensky's, then downtown gambling at the Nugget.  We broke even that night and had a really good time.  The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and it was good too, I had a crab omelet and Dave had the American breakfast.  Then we sat by the pool until it was time for me to go to the spa.  I had a hot stone massage and a facial.  It was literally glorious...what a blessing this time of relaxation was.  Dave gambled at the Wynn and had a great time losing all his money.  Then we met up and went shopping.  Dave didn't even complain.  Afterwards we had a margarita by the pool and then headed back up to the room to get ready.  That night we ate at Shibuya (sushi) at the MGM and it was awesome, great food and a fun atmosphere.  Then we caught the late show of KA which was also fantastic, however I was very tired at this point and we cabbed it back to the hotel and hit the rack.

The Joyners had flown in from Dallas to the keep the girls and it didn't go flawlessly but everyone survived.  Most importantly Dave and I had a wonderful 48 hours just getting to be Dave and Katie...not Mom and Dad.  But it was great to get home and cuddle with the babies.  Time away helps make it so much sweeter...especially when you have a day like today.

I had to take both sick kids to the Dr by myself which was hell and I will never do it again.  Willa basically cried all day while Fay whined and coughed.  Turns out Fay has an ear infection and Willa is just cranky because she doesn't feel well...which translates to her not napping well, which means she is a ball of fuss and mommy cried today too.

But my parents watched the girls tonight so we could go to Ash Wednesday services and boy did I need me some church.  I was exhausted and got to be in prayer for a whole hour.  Lord, thank you for the blessing of tonights service.  

Of Late

Willa is sleeping great.  We changed her to a soy formula and she is a different child, I just wish we had done it sooner.  I can't get over how much better she is doing...I feel so proud.

Here is what they are up to...

Fay:
Learning how to use a fork and spoon on her own
Trying to give up a nap but still gets too sleepy to need just one
Pigtails and ponytails
Washing hands
Giving high fives
Still loves Harper the most
Loves blocks, can ride her train and put the blocks in the right place
Loves her puppy (her stuffed dog that we take every where)
Sucking her fingers with the ear of the puppy up next to her face
Unloading all the cabinets
Helping with the laundry
Peek a boo
Bad diaper rash
She points at her bottom when she poops (I think we are going to need to start potty training sooner than later)

Willa:
She is eating 4 5oz bottles!!!!
"Talking"
Waking up happy
Sleeping 12-13 hours at night with 3 naps
Loves bath time with her sister (starting to splash)
Her swing is still so fun and she really likes the mobile that lights up
She gets upset when you leave the room and she realizes she is by herself
Singing
Her hair is changing colors
Now that she is on soy formula she is a really really happy baby.

I am so proud of them both.  They are the most fun people...and I can't believe I get to stay home and hang out with them every day.  Today we went to the grocery store and they were both so good...not one single tear.

My Valentine, My Hero

Okay so Vday was great!  Dave made me an awesome steak dinner and gave me not one but 2 pairs of gorgeous earrings from Kathy Eastham.  I couldn't have had more fun.  He is very romantic and I love all the memories  I have of his surprises....I got him some bad cologne that we are having to exchange.  I tried!

This past monday (president's day) I was having a terrible day with Willa...the child doesn't like to each much and this was a truly scary day since she hadn't eaten a real bottle in almost 24 hours.  I called Dave at the office in tears, whaling about how I have tried everything and she isn't sleeping and she isn't eating and he rushed home.  When he walked in I was on the phone with the Dr's office, in tears, weeping about how I just want her to sleep and eat at the right times.  He swoops in grabs Willa and immediately she is better...and so am I.  The Dr prescribed a strict schedule for us to stick to, which involves offering bottles at set times and if she won't take it then she doesn't get to eat until the next set meal time.  And it involves letting a starved kiddo scream all night because she can't keep eating whenever she feels like it.  Needless to say I knew we had a long 24 hours ahead of us, but Dave helped me stick to my guns.  The next night we only heard from her once for about 30 mins but she went back to bed.  I know I have created this situation by not being tougher earlier...but when your kid isn't eating you kind of start to bend the rules and offer her food at any sign of distress in hopes that she will eat SOMETHING.

Last night was better...not great but better.  She went all night with out eating and you would think she would be STARVING by 7am but she only ate 2 oz.  So we are giving it another couple of days and if she still isn't eating enough we are seeing the Dr.  All this to say...Dave has been awesome, with Willa and me.

Here's to hoping that after this week the schedule is set in stone.

Smiles, Ponytails, and CANDY

If you have ever been to our house you know that I keep sweets out.  Yogourt pretzels, trail mix, or chocloate covered almonds.  I am not a sweets person so I don't mind sabotaging other people's diet.  It has become somewhat of a joke around our house, people are ticked if they come over and I am out of any of the treats...especially my mom :)  Any way the other day I was on the phone with my friend Brenda and I couldn't hear Fay playing, which normally means she is doing something she is not suppsed to be.  As expected I find her on her tippy toes with chimpmunk cheeks full of trail mix shoveling it into her mouth as fast as possible.  I can't help but laugh as she looks at me like "what, I don't know what you think I was doing...I wasn't doing anything"  So I take the candy jar and put it where she can't reach it, and then with cheeks popping out she just starts signing "more" in sign language frantically.  It was SO FUNNY.  So yesterday she was searching for the candy again.  Here's a quick video...when she starts to walk away from me she is signing "more".  Oh and I wanted to document her ponytail!

And here is a video of our gorgeous sweet Willa bean...such sweet smiles.