great face lotion!

I just have to share about a great face lotion I have found! My sister started dating a guy named Josh this summer. Josh grew up in Aruba and now lives here in Indianapolis (with about 6 inches of snow on the ground and 4-8 more inches on the way right now, I bet he wonders what in the world he is doing in Indiana!!!!!) I, unfortunately, have not been lucky enough to go to Aruba, so I would have never known about sunscreen and lotion products made by a company called Aruba Aloe, but as it turns out, Josh's family bought this company about ten years ago and they have expanded from only selling their products in Aruba, to now selling via the internet worldwide! Josh manages the internet sales. I wanted to try some of the products and Josh was nice enough to create a 15% off code for me when I placed my order. I ordered some face cream, hand lotion and face lotion to try. I love all of the products I have tried, but so far, I think my favorite might be the Desert Bloom Face Care Lotion. It comes with 8 oz. compared to many face lotions which come with only 2 oz. or less and cost quite a bit of money. (I am VERY into products and LOVE LOVE LOVE to shop at Sephora, so I have tried quite a few face creams and lotions and have never been able to buy a face lotion I love that comes in an 8 oz bottle!)
Whitney and Anne both have dry skin due to the dry winter air, but poor Whitney's cheeks have become VERY chapped, even though I have been putting all kinds of moisturizers on her cheeks multiple times throughout the day. I just got this new lotion in the mail last week and thought maybe I should try it out on Whitney's cheeks - guess what, they have dramatically improved. I LOVE this lotion and just thought I would share in case anyone else out there is looking for a good deal on a great face lotion. I called Josh this morning to see if I could share the 15% discount code with my friends and family and he said I could go ahead and share it - so, if you are interested in trying it out... go to http://www.arubaaloe.com/ and type in the discount code SNOWDAY15 to get 15% off your total purchase. I can't wait for warm, sunny weather so I can try out the sunscreens!!! My sister, Melissa, who is fair skinned went to Aruba with Josh for New Year's (and she ALWAYS manages to get sunburned any time we go on vacation) and she said for once she did not get sunburned!!! (Josh gave her Aruba Aloe sunscreen while she was there) Now I just have to convince Mike that we need to go to Aruba... I NEED some sunshine and warm weather - I am SO over winter!!!! :) I hope everyone who is covered in snow is managing to stay warm! Spring is just about 40 days away... hopefully we will see some glimpses of spring soon!

We have another tooth :)

I have to admit I have been more of a "reader" of blogs than a "writer" in the past couple of weeks. Nothing TOO exciting has been going on... Whitney has been working on her top/front two teeth for I don't know, about 8 or 9 months!!!!!!!! FINALLY, her top, right middle front tooth popped through a couple of weeks ago. She has had her bottom two middle teeth since about 8 or 9 months old, it took until almost 17 months old to get her 3rd tooth! I think the one next to it will come through soon, maybe???
We had a cardiologist appointment for Whitney last Thursday. The last time we saw the cardiologist was July of last year, and we had been going to the cardiologist about every 3-4 weeks and then every 4-6 weeks. In July, Whitney was doing well enough that the cardiologist didn't need to see her for 6 months! When we saw him last week he could not believe how big Whitney had gotten and how well she was doing. In fact, she was doing so well that we do not have to go back for a whole year!!!! Yeah!!! Her mitral valve is still leaking more than he would like to see, but as of right now he is going to keep an eye on it for a while longer before deciding if another surgery will be needed to repair it again.
My mom had a cardiologist appointment today to see how everything is going with her heart (follow up from her June 2009 aortic valve replacement open-heart surgery). She also received good news- she is doing so well that she does not have to return to the cardiologist for one year, too!!!
I do not have much to report about Anne, other than she is getting way too big, way too fast!!! Last night I was holding her and looking in the mirror with her like I used to do when she was a baby - and it just is hard to believe that she is such a "big girl"!
I tried to take some pictures of Whitney's new tooth, but they didn't turn out so well... here they are:

Wordless Wednesday

Actually - Two Words: BED HEAD

Snow Day

This past Friday, Anne, Whitney and I got all bundled up and went out to play in the snow. (As you can imagine, the actual bundling took longer than the time we were out playing) Whitney did not enjoy playing out in the snow last year (actually - she was just made to pose in pictures, she wasn't quite ready to 'play' in the snow yet at just 5 months old.) and I think this year, she pretty much had the same thoughts as last year on the whole idea of "playing in the snow"... Anne, on the other hand, LOVED the snow (last year and this year)!


Whitney and Anne last year (Jan. 2009)

January 2009

last year -2009

This year - January 2010

*We are starting to see this face more and more when Whitney doesn't want to do something :) Most of the time you would never imagine Whitney crying and making a face like this - but she does have a "streak" of willfulness in her!!!

Our Little Christmas Crawler

Just before Christmas, on December 22, 2009 Whitney crawled for the first time!!! We were at my friend Jenni's house with our other friend Leah and all of our kids for a little playdate/Christmas get together. Jenni has three boys and they had a foam sword that was just out of Whitney's reach. Whitney must have been fascinated (we do not have any of these toys at our house) and decided this was worth crawling to go check out. She crawled about 4 paces and reached the sword. We all saw her and were so excited! Whitney was also proud of herself - she sat up and clapped for herself with a big smile on her face. Here is a video of Whitney crawling. She is also starting to get it when we say "How big is Whitney? So big!" Hopefully she will be signing more than "milk" and "doggie" soon :)

The 12th Day of Christmas

Since today is officially the 12th day of Christmas, it is not too late (hopefully) to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010!!! :)(Whitney looks like she had a little too much champagne in celebration of the new year!) :)

Instructions for putting your winter coat on

Anne has learned how to put her jacket on by herself. Here are the lyrics to the song she learned at Peter Panda Preschool :)

You put your jacket on the floor, and you stand at the top. You put your arms right in and you do the "flippy flop". You do the zipper pokey and you're ready to go out. That's what it's all about!

Getting closer to crawling... still working hard!