Monday, November 24, 2008

Week.

I really need to get back in the swing of blogging on a frequent basis.. mental note.

However, since I'm not on that band wagon, here's a run down of our past week.

Monday:
As you know, we went to the Dr.'s for Hayden and Kaitlyn and we managed to walk away with germs.

Tuesday:
Hayden proclaimed his leg was dead and dramatically limped around the entire day. Tetanus shots will do that to a kid. Normally I would have offered Tylenol and carried on but since he's my sensitive texture child, that was a no go. He gags and throws up with literally every kind of medicine.. even chewables. Ugh. So he stayed home from school.

That evening I took Aubrey with me to count Book Fair money (I'm the PTA Treasurer) after Drew got home. Poor Drew had forgotten and wasn't having the best day.. so leaving him with three kids who were screaming for me.. let's just say that night wasn't one of his best.

Wednesday: I left the house just after four to take several bottles of salad dressing over to the school. It was day #2 of Parent Teacher conferences and the PTA was in charge of dinner for the teachers. Meaning I had the pleasure of helping get the dinner set out and ready for them to eat in their half hour break. Unfortunately, that also meant I had to heard my children into a corner and keep them quiet during that time (I know, you're laughing so hard right now, right?). Back to the good luck, once they were done eating and we were done cleaning up, we were able to divide the leftovers. The leftovers were: FREE DEL TACO! lol Who doesn't love free soft chicken taco's and nacho's?? And, one of the PTA ladies made fabulous Tamales. *drool*

I left the school at 6:30 to deliver Drew's dinner to him as well as his youngest two children. I then walked BACK to the school with Aubrey and Hayden for their conference. Aubrey is doing AWESOME. All A's and 5's. She's extremely helpful and patient with the kids in her class. Her teacher can always count on her to know the answer or help out. She LOVES having Aubrey in her class. (I poked Aubrey and told her she should try some of that out here at home ;o) Oh, and her teacher loves Rock Band so we talked about that a little too. hehe

Hayden is improving a lot.. he entered preschool only knowing a few of his letters (he didn't really care about learning them) and now he knows more. Whew. I was wondering when he'd jump on that train. He's a very good listener and follows directions well. He does well socially with the other kids and makes them laugh. :o) Really, that's what I wanted for him.. just more social. The teachers all love how he draws.. he's super good in that department.

And then we hit the Book Fair.. it was B1G1 so we purchased four total and donated one to Aubrey's class. And then we helped take down the book fair.. cause I'm PTA. And then I counted the money. I didn't get home until 8:30 and Hayden was super cranky.

I should have known what was to come..

Thursday: Hayden had croup. Remember back to those pesky germs we left with at the Dr.'s office. :-S He was wheezing while he was still asleep and had the barky cough and felt warm. Another missed day of school. Nice. Luckily it was early day so I was able to schedule a Dr. appointment for him that afternoon. I'm usually a wait-it-out kind of gal but since we've BTDT in the ER with croup(for Hayden) I decided to be proactive. I figured a $30 copay (OUCH) was better than a $45 after hours visit or $100 ER visit. Anyway, the Dr. agreed with my diagnosis. I then had the pleasure of telling the Dr. that Hayden should have the steroid meds via shots.. because there was no way Hayden would be able to eat a chewable. Having had four shots on Monday, Hade FREAKED when he had to have two more (they were totally full too). Poor guy. Luckily it did the trick and we're over it and the nights weren't bad at all. AND NO ONE ELSE GOT IT!

Friday: No school.. stayed home. Cleaned bathrooms. Picked up toys for the 100th time. Mopped floor (and yes, it was spilled on with in minutes). Listened to Christmas music. Such is life. Oh and because all of that wasn't fun enough, just as I was rescuing a frazzled Kaitlyn who wanted to nurse.. our *lovely* cat knocked over a plant. Backwards. Onto the stairs. Right next to Carson and then it dumped ON him. Lucky for him, he and Hade had piled every blanket and pillow they owned at the bottom of the stairs.

Can you guess what I spent the next hour doing?? Thank goodness Carson was so upset by having dirt all over him that he stayed in the same spot without moving an inch or even making a noise. Who would have thought. Poor Kaitlyn screamed almost the entire time.

With early day tomorrow and no school the rest of the week, I'm waiting with baited breath for the rest of this weeks adventures. :o)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Festivities!!

Finally, I'm posting the birthday celebration(s). Hope you have a comfortable seat.. maybe you should go get a drink or something. You KNOW there will be a lot of pictures.. hehehe

Hayden decided he wanted donuts for his school treat. So after I dropped him off, I went to walmart and picked up 2 dozen donuts, napkins and wipes. When it was time to take it to his class I put Kait in the stroller, had Carson running around all crazy like and was pushing the stroller with one hand while I helped balance the two large donut boxes on top of the stroller with my other hand. As if that wasn't difficult enough, it started raining. And then my cat started following us. I'm sure I looked fantastic as I became the "crazy cat lady" who screamed and chased it away. Oh, and because school was almost out, there were parents in the parking lot. Most excellent.

Miss Sharon gave Hayden his crown (he decorated himself) and talked about how old he was and then they sang Happy Birthday.

I presented the donut boxes only to be greeted with some "you've got to be kidding me" looks.. because that day was also bear day. All the kids brought their bears to school. Bears+Sticky Fingers= Not Cool. Luckily, I was able to redeem myself once I presented the baby wipes.


Look at Hade following directions.. I told all of the kids to wipe their fingers and mouths with the wipe. And no wiping on clothes. Our birthday tradition is to let the birthday person decide where we go out for dinner. Hayden chose... Super Salad! He was able to eat mass amounts of pickles, shredded cheese, cotage cheese, jello, watermelon and a few other little things. And of course there was his ice cream sunday with an overdose of sprinkles. My in-laws and Sister-in-law and her husband, Lock and Marci and Danno (who hates buffets) all joined us.. our table was huge.

One of the best moments was after dinner as we were walking out to the car. And Marci asked where Carson was. :-S Uh, yeah. IN THE RESTAURANT! I ran back in to be greeted by confused employees who then laughed as I proclaimed that I had forgotten my 2 year old. Nice.

Once we were back at the house, it was time for cake and presents.. I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

Hade received this balloon boquet and bear from my dad and step-mom.. and it was delivered at the perfect time because he had friends over.. they kept talking about how cool and lucky he was. :o)

Opening a present from us (Imaginext pirates)
And his big present.. the Imaginext Pirate Ship he's been dying to have! He was so excited to get it.. the other kids thought it was pretty neat too.. so much that they all climbed on the table too. lol
I have about 5 pictures that all look like this.. no eye contact. Hayden's exact words were, "It's my birthday- I don't have to look at you if I don't want to."
Kaitlyn was tired.. but thought I'd try to get all 4 kiddo's in one picture.
I won't tell you what he's eating. *barf*The Party Goers.. Lock, Marci (playing Tetris) and Danno.
I finally got Hade to look up because I told him it was time for bed. Heh.
Happy Birthday, Hayden!! We had a great day and so much fun. :o)

Wow, you're so good to have looked this long.. and sadly, you're not even half way done I bet! I'm SO SORRY! Kind of. Not really. MOVING ON..

I decided the day after his birthday to do a Build-A-Bear party. I usually wouldn't even consider it because it's $$$ but earlier that week we recieved a mailer that showed they had a bunch of $10/$12 animals. And, there was a coupong where if you book a party, the guest of honor gets a bear and clothes free ($20 worth). And, I sold the Transiberian Orchestra tickets that Drew had bought for us (he forgot that it was on his sons birthday..) and made some money off of them. If those weren't the stars aligned then I don't know what is.

We had already invited my sister Amy and her two girls as well as Misty and her 4 kiddo's to come over because I knew we would do *something*.. so that's who all went to Build a Bear (Hade wanted to invite a few other friends but the stars weren't THAT aligned.. lol).


Putting name tags on.
Hade chose the cat who looks like Kitty-Kitty Meow (our cat)
All the kids had their bear on their head and marched to the back while yelling "Stuff Our Bear" over and over. LOVED IT!

The magical Build-a-Bear lady managed to get all the kids to sit down again!Birthday boy went first!
Mindy and Carson played with the hearts.. I love this little girl!
Each of the kids were given two hearts. With the first one they all closed their eyes and gave Hayden a birthday wish and then they all put it in his bear. The second one was for their own bear.
Drew was sweet enough to hold Kaitlyn's bear.. Pinky.

Bath Time!

You too, Kaitlyn..
They are almost the same size. LOL
Kaitlyn leans in for a kiss..
Carson tried to put the bear Hats and Guitars in.. shocker, they didn't fit!

All the bears are dressed and have bows.. let's get a group picture!
Here's everyone!
If you click on the picture you can see better.. Aubrey chose a black bear and Carson chose a doggy whose name is The Brain. If you were wondering.
Silly Faces..

More silly Faces..
Then some of the kids needed a bathroom break.. my manly man Drew was so kind to hold the cute stuffed animals. This picture alone helped make the money worth it... ;o) Oh, Hayden's is the cat wearing the Iron Man costume and the Orange bow tie.
Me and my little man.

After the pictures all of the kids yelled TAKE ME HOME as they marched to the front of the store. Then, the staff sang happy birthday to Hayden and they also gave him an Autograph bear. All of us attending were able to sign it.. how cool is that?

And how cute is this little girl???Back at the house singing Happy Birthday..

Making a birthday wish (again)

May all his wishes come true.

Mission in progress.

If you remember from my "Operation: Fatten her up" post, you'll know that Kaitlyn didn't even gain a full pound between her six month and nine month check ups.

Well yesterday was her follow up visit.

SHE GREW!

*happy dance*

Last time she was 12 pounds 15 ounces and this time she was 14 pounds 2 ounces. However, and this is a little embarrassing to admit, but her diaper was kind of wet. I changed her before her nap and when I woke her up (early) to leave she was dry. However, by the time I checked Hade and Aubrey out of school and we drove 25 minutes to her appointment and waited.. yeah. But still, a wet diaper can't weight THAT much, right?

ANYWAY, she's still off of the growth chart but it looks like she's making her own growth curve again. What a relief. Her Dr. was very happy. She's still eating mostly baby food and has a yobaby yogurt every morning as well as snacks. I offer table food but that's not a big hit yet.

OH! And she grew almost TWO INCHES!! :-O No wonder I have to roll a lot of her pants twice so that she can't crawl right out of them. On the growth chart that means she went from 3% to 19%.

I also asked the Dr. about her grinding her teeth. She does it a LOT. I am thisclose to poking my eyes out. Oh, it's so bad. The Dr. said it's "normal" and then gave a laugh that was much like the laugh when I told him Carson started crawling when he was 4 months old. At least I have his sympathy.

Hayden also had his 5 year old check up and he's doing awesome. He's 40 pounds (50%) and 42" (36%) although I don't think Hade was standing all the way up but whatever. He was super duper brave and only had a few tears. I think it helped that I told him to act like Hulk and during the shots we made loud AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH noises. :-D Poor kid is limping around from the Tetnus shot and won't take any Tylenol to help with the pain. Why? Because all medicine makes him gag and throw up.

Hey, did you just hear my Dr. laughing again????

Then and Now.

Six years ago, Drew and I signed the papers on our house and officially became homeowners.

It's amazing to me to think about how much has changed over that time..

To the house, Drew has totally fixed up the lawn (it had been foreclosed on and was empty for almost a year) and we have laid sod in a few areas. We've added in flower beds. We have planted three trees.

To the inside, we have added much more furniture.. we didn't have *anything* for our front room when we first moved in. Drew has built and finished a fourth bedroom. I have acquired wonderful items from my grandma (piano and china hutch). There are many more beds.. which happens when you go from one child to four. ;o) And my how my taste has changed in decorations... lol

I've also been thinking about how much clutter I have (for those that have been in my house, you can stop laughing now. I mean it. NOW!). Ok, I think about it a lot anyway and how I wish I had the time/motivation to do a mass de-clutter. I have stuff that hasn't been used in years. YEARS. So why do I have it?? Time to start parting with that stuff.

And just for fun.. here are two pictures of Aubrey from around that time. "Back Then" we only had a camera with film and so we would use our camcorder to take still pictures (I'm explaining the poor quality). lol

This was Aug. 2002
March 2003 (on her 3rd birthday)
Crazy...

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Happy Birthday, Hayden!!

I can't believe Hayden is FIVE today!!

Wow.

FIVE.

Hayden was born after 17 hours of labor (and I took Castor Oil.. pretty sure that means bonus points).. and almost 3 hours of that was pushing (that's double bonus points). And it took us over 2 years of trying before we even got pregnant with him. I was SO happy to finally meet this little man!

Hayden is such a good kid.. definitely my EASY child. He takes time to notice others and what they are feeling and are interested in. He's incredibly gentle with Kaitlyn and talks softly to her.. he goes along with Aubrey and calls her Hannah Montana because he knows she loves it.. and he wrestles like no other with Carson. He loves to have down time with me and Drew.. just to sit and talk or have his back rubbed. Wow, does he love to talk. He loves to play outside and be with friends. He enjoys giving gifts to people. He hates wearing socks and the first thing he does when he gets home is take them off. He hates tags on clothes. He loves to be naked. If I had a nickel for every time I told him to put underwear on... But at the same time, he's horrified if someone outside of our family were to see him. He loves anything that has to do with Hulk, Spiderman or Ironman. He LOVES Halloween. He's very picky with what he eats and what he doesn't eat based on textures/sauces and how it's prepared. He is increadbly good at drawing.. he draws his family members in a size appropriate manner. Hayden's belly laugh is the most fantastic sound. If he laughs to much, he throws up. He definitley wears his feelings on his sleeve.. from tearing up to turning into Hulk himself ("hulk angry"). I love that he looks so much like Drew. He has my lips.. I love that I can claim them. I LOVE THIS CHILD.

Newborn
First Birthday

Second Birthday
(his cheeks are rosy because he had a fever.. we were in the ER early that morning from Croup)
Third Birthday
Fourth Birthday


And because every post deserves a montage but I don't have the time.. here are two that I did a few years ago.

First, a silly one.


Now the tear jerker one.



I Can't wait to celebrate my child today!!



(fingers crossed that Kaitlyn stops throwing up)