The Bankston Family: Randomness

Melody working the balance beam at gymnastics.(That was a long time ago, I know.) We will hopefully start back in the Fall.

Thought this was kinda funny of me and Addison. Like mother like daughter!

I LOVE beignets and love to make them. They are super messy but I think it's worth it in the end. Addison helped roll out the dough. She is really into cooking and wants to know the exact ingredients of everything. Once we tell her all of this, she will run to her play kitchen and find all of her play ingredients and put them in the pot to make her very own. What's funny is weeks later she will randomly say she is going to make gumbo or some other difficult recipe and will go an collect all the ingredients and show them to me. She is always right on! She has a memory that shocks everyone.

Matt frying the beignets. He's a great cook!

Addison brought this home from school one day and I wanted to document it. Thought it was pretty sweet.

Melody using my foam roller. I've used these religiously for 10 years and love them. By the way, we just did our first half marathon a few weeks ago and it was awesome!! It was the Rock n Roll New Orleans. We are addicted now and will be doing the Dallas one soon! More on all of this later....

Addison hanging out at the Aquarium in Dallas. This was the time Matt took her to her Baylor apt by himself and I had to stay home with Melody. I was sooo jealous I wasn't with them!

Love the JOY on her face!

How cool is this?? It would have freaked me out seeing all those sharks swim around me! I have an intense fear of sharks and alligators by the way!

The Baylor apt. was right after Melody's birthday so I sent some cake with them to enjoy in the hotel. Addison was pumped about the treat! She had no idea we packed it.

Every now and then Addison will come home from school wearing one of these. The teacher will hand them out to the kids that are really well behaved in Chapel. There are so many dang rules you have to follow when you go....it just shocks me that kids get them at all. You basically can't talk, or touch anything the whole time. I would never get one of those!!

Time for a checkup! Addison loves the dentist and eats it all up. Really anything dealing with doctors she is ALL about. This time was different though! It was Melody's first cleaning! They got to go at the same time and sit in chairs next to eachother. Melody was pretty freaked out and wasn't as "into it" as Addison is. She'll get there though. Every since that day they have loved playing Dentist at home.

We had Totsie with us cause I knew I would need the extra hands. Definitely was necessary!

She was looking at her like, "You must be crazy! I'm not opening for you"!

Then we get home and the role playing begins. Everytime we leave a doctors apt, Addison always walks away with a new set of gloves. Counting all my teeth!

At the beginning of the year Addison had to make a pennant for school. They sent it home blank and she had to fill it with all of her favorite things. She helped pick some things out and would cut them and glue them on. She also used some stickers (waaay easier than cutting)! Each kid was able to present their pennant to the class.

Melody got a haircut!! Hallelujah!! Her hair was doing the same thing Addison's was when she was this age so it was definitely time. When they were babies sleeping on their backs (and in swaddles) they would rub their heads back and forth in the crib and would cause the hair to break off in the back. Sooo, when it starts growing out, things are just a little uneven! I couldn't wait to get it one length. We called Mr. Brian (who cuts my hair)- he is so great!

She did amazing. I wasn't sure what to expect since this was her first time. When she is in a new situation she will get really quiet and sad acting and then bust out into tears. On this day she just did the quiet and sad looking thing. Thank goodness! She wouldn't say a word or make any type of expression. When Matt was this age he was always known for falling asleep while getting a haircut. Yep, he liked it that much. So, for awhile there I was thinking she might be taking after her Daddy!

I wanted her hair to finally be one length and I knew we would have to go pretty short to get it there. I was fine with it cause it turned out to be the most precious little bob!

Seriously....look at those cheeks and double chin. So loveable!

And this is what she did the whole time. Just stared at herself!

Sisterly love.....it comes and goes right now. It's like they love eachother so much and couldn't be happier one minute and then a freakin' bomb goes off. The blowups and tantrums are always over the smallest things. This pic was taken a few months back but speaking in present day, it's been pretty rough between them recently. They are both to blame though. Addison loves to tick Melody off and knows what buttons to push and LOVES to push them. Melody is super sensitive and will freak out over anything. She needs to toughen up a bit. I think it's gonna be like this for a very long time! Maybe I need to toughen up a bit!

One of Addison's favorite things is eating lunch in Daddy's office. We will randomly get McDonald's and bring it up there. She thinks it's sooo special and acts really sweet. It's a win win for me cause lunch is already done by the time we get home and they are well behaved while we are up there. Usually when we get home from school on a regular day everything just falls apart. Melody is spoiled having me to herself the first half of the day and when Addison gets home she is completely exhausted and that takes a toll on her attitude big time. Then when you mix those two things together they just scream at eachother and me. It's loads of fun. I try to tell myself that Addison is just sooo very tired and can't help the way she's acting. Sometimes I just have to go ahead and feed Melody and let Addison cry/throw fit by herself for about 45 minutes until she's decided to act human again. I have really figured out that ignoring her when she acts like this works better than time outs and spankings.

Melody doing what she does best. Being a monkey:) I turned around one day and saw this. She will figure out a way to hang off of anything. Today I caught her doing a one- legged downward dog. (yoga pose). Sporty little thing.

Big News!!! We have weaned Addison off of Baclofen!!!!! This took place back in the Fall. It was a 6 week process and every week we would drop the doses down a tiny bit. It takes this long cause it is a drug and one that she has been on since the accident. If you stop too soon your body could go into withdrawals. We have been wanting to do this for a long time but wasn't sure if it was possible. The doctor at Baylor- Dr. Raji has had her on this since day 1 and insisted that she needed it in addition to botox. Baclofen is suppose to help her muscles from tightening up so much (specifically her feet since she walks on her toes). Well, we got Melanie Massey herself to evaluate her awhile back and told her what we were thinking. She fully agreed and thought she didn't look like she needed it at all. I love how everyone has opposite opinions. So we presented all of this to Dr. Raji and she basically said, "fine, good luck." We assured her we would get her physical therapist to constantly monitor her feet and range of motion and if she started to tighten up then we would stop with the wean. Deep down we knew that she would be ok. We just wanted to see what would happen without the meds. You never know until you try. Well HA! I was so proud and couldn't wait until the next Baylor appointment to brag about being done with Baclofen. It was funny cause the doctor never really gave us the satisfaction. Before all of this she said she expected her to tighten up if we tried this and that she would need to be on this for many many many years, but that we were the parents and we could make the call. Last year we fought her on the botox issue and she would push and push everytime. Then one time she said, "she doesn't need botox. I would be crazy to do botox." Sure am glad we never did it. We always knew that with consistent physical therapy and improvements that she would grow out of some of this. So, we are proud to say that Addison is medicine free!! AMEN!! That is such a blessing. I think doctors are too medicine happy and want instant gratification. I am very much the opposite.

Even though we gradually decreased the dose, it had a big effect on her mood. Good gosh- Addison on a typical day can be very high maintenance. That's just her makeup. Well, when we added the wean, it was basically a nightmare. Massive tantrums. We knew it wouldn't last long and that it would be the worse at the beginning. We were constantly having to be with her and entertain her and the second she got bored you had better have something else wonderful up your sleeve. That's where the mani/pedi came in. That kept her happy for about 30 minutes. It was a long and very hard month! BUT totally worth it to be medicine free!

Melody is really into "hide and seek" right now. Addison's the one that taught her and she really just kinda plays along. She is a great hider and will not make a peep when you go looking for her but when it's your turn she will totally rat you out. I will go hide and when Addison is done counting, she will drag her all the way to where I am saying, "she's over here sister"! Addison on the other hand will go hide and when we start looking for her she will crack up laughing and say, "I'm in here, I'm in here"! She just gets sooo excited about the whole thing.
They LOVE to play doctor together. The patient will either lay on the coffee table, chair, or trampoline. They have this whole doctor kit and Addison knows how to use every single thing in there. There are a TON of little instruments in there. She has just had LOTS of experience with doctors:) Melody of course learns from her and how to use all of it. Matt and I love being the patient cause we just get to lay there and act like we are sick! Pretty easy!

This has been a great way to keep the girls happy/occupied while I make lunch/dinner. It's also a way to avoid any fighting. Things are pretty peaceful when we pull out the paint. Melody makes me cringe cause she tries to drink the paint water when I'm not looking. There's all kind of things wrong with that to me- it's out of the sink (and there's not filter on the sink and it tastes horrible) and she's straight up drinking paint. Ugh. AND she knows I don't like her to do it. She will tell me to go away and when I turn around she's got the cup by her mouth.

They do love each other too:) They have really great moments together and then really bad moments together. I have had to separate them a bunch lately. Addison in the living room and Melody in the kitchen with me while I make lunch. The gate separates them. Addison just gets really tired when she comes home from school and lets it all out. It's just best to separate them for about 30 minutes.

Oh gosh. My mom bought these for the girls and I just have to laugh. She use to make me sleep in them for so many years and they do NOT feel good! I'm not sure I can do that to them. Not sure Addison would even go to sleep at all. Anyway, one day I thought it would be funny to put them in Melody's hair. Looks like a little old lady! They didn't last long.

Melody's going through this phase where she likes to squeeze our faces and kinda pop the air out of our mouths. She really gets a kick out of it. I think Matt showed it to her once and it has kinda stuck with her!

Here's my little helper in the kitchen. She LOVES to help me cook/bake anything. She especially loves to make banana bread but not necessarily eat it. She gets really excited when the bananas are super ripe cause she knows what time it is!

Making banana bread

Here we are at Mary Hadley and Grahams bday party. They live down the street so that was nice and convenient! It was princess themed and of course I didn't even think to dress them up in princess dresses. Livin' and learnin'. Mom of the year:( I kept asking Addison if she wanted me to go home and get some dresses for them and she kept saying no. I felt horrible. She got her makeup done though!

They loved their pizza and then it was time for the dessert. Well, because of the peanut allergy I was prepared with her special cupcake (Melody gets one too). That was fine and then someone broke out the ice cream and put one of the cups in front of her. (they didn't know about the allergy) It was pretty ice cream too. Matt and I immediately reacted and took it away once we checked the label. It was manufactured in a facility with peanuts:( She was sooo upset. Such a tease. Basically ruined the rest of the party. We promised her we would go to Exxon and grab some chocolate ice cream for her and that it would be even better since she could have more than just a tiny cup. Made it a little bit better but she was still pretty upset about it all:( I am sooo excited to start the program in the Fall to get rid of this crazy allergy!! Her first appointment to start the whole thing is in June. Oh, and it's in Dallas. Isn't everything in Dallas?

This was at the doctor a few months ago....I think it was some kind of virus. Speaking of that, it has been sooo nice not having to go to the doctor every week. Last year we seriously were there once a week. Ever since last April/May we really haven't had many problems thank goodness. When Melody starts Pre-K 3 next year I'm not expecting her to get as sick as Addison did. Her immune system has gotten nice and strong thanks to her! She would catch every single thing Addison brought home.

Totsie had no problem rocking her to sleep during all of this!

She still loves a good pile of laundry:) They love to pull all the laundry out of the chair and jump on them like they are muddy puddles (just like Peppa Pig).

This is one of Addison's signature ballet moves. I think it's precious! I'm pretty sure she gets most of it from Dora.

Mom got Addison this Hello Kitty outfit as an option for a Halloween costume. She decided on a black cat but kept this as dress up clothes. She LOVES to dress up and is constantly changing her outfits. Melody just kinda follows along and if Addison dresses up, so does Melody.