We leave the sliding door propped open during the day, the little girls love playing outside, but truth is, our yard is not very kid friendly, we have some atrocious cement that is rough on tender feet and knees. Something we always wanted to get fixed, but never have due to the huge cost of tearing it up and getting a load of cement to pour, and men to make sure it is level and such... My idea is to get
interlocking foam mats and place them all over the patio, that way my little girls will be more comfortable and much safer.
We will likely go to Home Depot and get a package at a time until we have enough.
So today after lunch, the little girls went outside to play a little, Amanda was singing to me, so I went out and she was sitting at the swing, her way of asking to be put up on it. I put her up and Kara soon joined her, I could hear them playing while I washed out the bibs and bowls. (Our kitchen opens into the back yard, so they were right beside me really)
I heard the swing begin to squeak and knew Meghan had joined the girls, I heard laughing and went outside to see them all hanging out. Of course I had to get my daughters camera, I still have not replaced mine, I feel so lost without it, I am sure other moms understand that, especially if you love taking pictures like I do.
As soon as I clicked the first two pictures, Amanda was trying to get down and Kara was struggling to get to me, she loves to see herself on the camera, something left over from our days in Ukraine.
Of course big sis was having none of that, and attempted in her kid way to restrain them, and of course mommy had to get her to let go, talk about a choke grip. LOL
Well, Kara got away and sat by me, but Meghan pulled a reluctant Amanda right back up with her and held on. Meghan adores Manda Moo and is always wanting to hold her.
Amanda though, got Meghan's hand off of her and tried to climb off the swing head first, at the same time Meghan stood up an Manda fell, head down on the cement.
She landed on the side of her head and her cheek, her mouth bled a little too. She cried for 15 minutes while mommy held a cool clean cloth on her head and face. Here she is after she stopped crying, you can see her pink left cheek and he red puffy eyes. (right in the picture), poor baby, she was so sad. This happened in seconds and I tried to get to my little baby and grab her, but I just could not react soon enough.
After Amanda calmed down, both little girls had a bath and had their bangs cut; crooked bangs because they both refused to stay still. LOL I kep Amanda awake all afternoon, keeping an eye on her, she seems fine, but I feel so badly for her.
So, I think we will be getting those mats as soon as possible, no more of this kind of thing.
Kara, she loves getting her picture taken and then looking at herself afterwards. She was pretty happy yesterday, playing with Meghan, both of them giggling, splashing. Amanda turned her back and looked the other way, no matter what Meghan and Kara did, she would not acknowledge them. It makes me sad when she isolates herself that way.
Silly Meghan, all she does these days when I try to take her picture is stick her tongue out and laugh at me, so I got this picture without her tongue LOL. Meghan has alopecia aerata, in May her dermatologist told me she was failing the squaric acid protocol, she mentioned steroid cremes or injections, but we decided to try to alter her diet instead. We eliminated gluten completely and began to wean her off dairy, specifically the 4 glasses of organic milk she drank daily. We bought some whole grain organic rice milk, vanilla flavored, and gave that to her instead, then weaned her off that to plain organic rice milk. She does well on it. In late August we noticed that her hair was growing back in several places, she has tiny tendrils of new hair all over her head, so we feel we are on the right track with this. I know it is only hair, but it makes Meghan happy to have her hair back. You can see the shorter hair along her temple in the picture below, that is all new hair.
I love this picture of Kara, she looks so sweet, you can almost see her dimples, I do not know if it is her low tone or not, but they do not always show when she smiles.
Amanda just had an off day yesterday, she went off on her own, would not play with the girls at all, barely smiled. When she had feeding therapy she would not cooperate and would not look at Ms R at all. Right now she is rocking on her dog, backwards. We feel like we are making great strides with her and then those days happen and it makes us wonder if anything is helping...frankly, I do think it is, but we can get pretty discouraged. She did clap last night at her sisters Julia's musical theater performance, though she was keening quietly the entire time. She was just so unhappy. 
Amanda ignoring all of us, she did not enjoy her pool time yesterday, I think she is fighting a cold, and after the flu too, she also has a few chigger bites, she loves to play in the grass, I guess that is where she got them? I will be glad for cooler weather when all the bugs go to sleep, bugs love her. 
