First Dentist Visit

I have been putting it off and putting it off because I could envision our first dental visit: screaming, crying, yelling and otherwise plain mayhem!



Was I ever wrong! I had prepped our visit very carefully explaining what was going to happen and talking about how fun it was going to be. Our dentist even had take home books that I picked up before hand to read with the kiddos. Needless to say, they were pumped (as pumped as 2 year olds and 1 year olds can be!)



To my amazement everyone did a really great job getting their teeth looked at and cleaned. Hailey was our only screamer, but I don't think she really "got" what was going on. It helped that every single person we passed commented on how super cute the kiddos are (I mean who doesn't like compliments).





Lil Pete even had to get X-rays, which I thought "Oh here it comes", but he did fantastic! But with the X-rays came the bad news: Pete's front tooth needs to come out. About a year ago, Pete pulled a cabinet down on top of himself, loosening that tooth. Well, it re-attached, but now there is an abscess behind it meaning that we will have a toothless wonder on our hands very soon. He is going to have a little bridge with a fake tooth put on to keep the space. And guess what - insurance doesn't cover it (surprise, surprise!) I'm going to try to fight it, but you don't EVEN want to know how much this is going to cost! ugghh!!

EVERYONE goes to school!!

That is right . . . all 3 kiddos are in preschool this year! I felt a little skip in my step as I prepared everyone to go to school the first day (which preparing 3 children is a monumental task!!!)

I found a preschool that I really like at a church that is fairly near to us. It is amazing the difference between a liscensed preschool and a MDO. I get all kinds of reports, notes, artwork, feedback! The kids really do terrific projects and are thriving! They go to school two days a week, for 4 hours each day.

Avery and Pete are experienced pros at this whole school thing. They happily give me a kiss and skip along on their way. Now Hailey, she's a little more attached to her mommy. She has a bit of a tough time watching me leave, but as soon as I'm out the door she calms down. I drop Hailey off first, so after dropping off A & P, I can swing back by Hailey's room to make sure she has calmed down - which she always has.


I guess Avery equates Hailey being around with MOMMA being around. The first day that Avery and Hailey passed in the hall it seems Avery just lost it. She was screaming for her "MOMMMY!!!". I guess she saw Hailey and thought I must be somewhere around hiding from her! But, the funny thing is once I talked to Avery about how I would always come back for her, it just "clicked". We haven't had the passing in the hall problem since. Every once in awhile Avery will ask me, "Momma, you always come back for me???" and I say "Yes baby . . .always and forever!" And then Avery happily skips off singing "Always and forever, always and forever".

Have I mentioned that kids are precious???

Lil Pete's Jungle

When we moved into our new house, Pete was moved to his own room. He got to keep the old nursery decor since he loves animals so much! I didn't change a whole lot in his room, but he still seems to love it! Sometimes when is getting sleepy and we are laying down in his room he will point out some random animal and smile.

Avery and Hailey's room

This summer I worked on fixing up rooms in our house that I hadn't quite finished over the past (almost) 2 years since we have lived here. (In a distant post you will also understand my other motivation for fixing up the house, such a teaser, right?)

I love having little girls. I love dressing them in pink and putting bows in their hair. So little by little I created a pink flower explosion in their room! My first big task, almost a year ago was to paint the flowers on the wall. I keep saying that I NOW know how to do it, and would re-do it all differently now. But the girls love them and that is enough to make me happy!


I had these letters just painted in one with little pink dots embellishments on the wall originally. After getting inspired I took them down and did a "redo" with all materials that I already had. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how they turned out! Now if only I could keep Hailey from ripping them off the wall . . .



We also made them photo boards with coordinating fabric and the kiddos actually love to look at the pics.



I really love this room - it makes me happy every time I walk in!! I'm so thankful for my girls!

Summer 2010 - Avery and Pete's adventures

Ah - once again, Summer 2010, how glad I am that you are over.

Now Avery and Pete didn't have any emergency room visits (Thank God) but they did have a lot of free time since preschool does not run through the summer. At the beginning of the summer I went and bought all kinds of activities, paints, learning manipulatives, ect. to keep us busy. Let's just say by August I think we were all ready to pull our hair out. The kids were tired of being around me, we were all tired of being around each other - non stop, everyday.




About the end of July, the kids and I were at our weekly story time when we ran into twins from their mother's day out. Jack and Hagan had been in their class and their mommy Sarah is so nice! Plus, she has twins + 1, so if anyone understands what I'm dealing with everyday, it is her. Isn't is amazing how God gives you exactly what you need when you need it? So, Sarah and I started having play dates and meeting up at Chick-Fil-A to break the monotony of the week, and boy, did it help! If you can believe it us two mommies took our 6 kids to Chick-Fil-A every Weds! (I still have a hard time believing it myself!!)




Avery completely quit taking naps this summer which I believe was why things were a little rough. Not only did I not get a break, but she was exhausted all the time. Nights have been tough too, but I think they are getting a little better. We even tried slumber parties with her and Pete, but that only seems to complicate matters and creates a whole new set of issues!



I'm going to start with this statement: Swim diapers are VERY expensive. So, this summer if they were playing with the hose or the baby pools at home then we didn't diaper them and just let them run free as little jaybirds. Um, I guess once they hit two this kinda becomes a problem, because we had quite a few discussions about "body parts". Sounds funny right? Yeah, it was at first . . . :)

We have had alot of great things this summer too. A & P are talking up a STORM and completely carrying on conversations. This summer they seemed to turn from toddlers to big kids! This age is great because you can reason with them and they are beginning to understand consequences, ect.

But once again, I will reiterate: I am glad that summer is over!! :)

Summer 2010 - Hailey's adventures

Ah, Summer 2010 - how do I describe you?

I tried to make a list of everything I wanted to blog and journal about but I never seem to have time to blog anymore. My list just kept getting longer and longer. I love writing and keeping track of everything on this blog, but I'm afraid that as my kids become more active my days of keeping track of EVERYTHING are few and far between. So here goes with a brief synopsis of some of the big events this summer.

My sweet little baby Hailey has become the most accident prone, monkey climbing, daredevil leaping 18 month old I've ever seen. In the span of 2 weeks we had 2 emergency room visits, along with pedi visit's. Yes, that's right: pass the "Mom of the Year" award right on by me.


So first visit: Hailey, this summer, discovered that chairs were fun to climb on. So as she was climbing, she fell and hit the corner of the chair (right in that spot that 95% of children hit-above the eyebrow) and it busted it right open. Well, she screamed, and screamed and screamed. You would think a screaming child in the emergency room woud get you in faster, dang that whole triage thing. After a very harried day, I was one frazzled mommy so I decided to go on to Bible study. When I came home, Pete said, "You are not going to believe what happened!" (Always what you want to hear when you walk in the door.) It seems Hailey had tripped, and fallen, and hit the wall right in the same exact spot and RE-OPENED the cut. So, the next day, I took all of the kids to the pedi's office, to try to get it fixed. And guess what, sitting in my lap, she reared her head back and hit the corner of the cabinet . . . IN THE SAME SPOT, RE-OPENING IT ONCE MORE. Nonetheless, when the doctor came back in, not only was Hailey crying but so was this Momma. I tried to find the humor in the situation later. Some day when Hailey is irratated by that little scar above her eye, I will gently remind her that she did EVERYTHING in her power to get that scar, so she better embrace it, because she worked HARD for it.

Second visit: As I was making grilled cheese for lunch, the kiddos were happily watching TV in the living, ALL OF THEM, sitting there watching TV. I'd just put the sandwiches on the griddle, and turned to walked less than a foot to get the spatula. In that short, short time period, Miss Hailey had walked behind me through our dining room and pulled the griddle down on top of her. People, I don't know how it missed her face - I just kept telling everyone it was truly by the grace of God.

It of course DID hit her arm and gave her a second degree burn. Now, if you think she was screaming with the cut forehead, it was nothing compared to the burn. I have harbored alot of guilt about this incident, and am still trying to get over it. I really won't even get the griddle out anymore unless someone is home with me. She's fine, and really it's amazing how the human body can heal. I've been pretty diligent about putting cream on it, and yesterday I had to search both arms to try and find the reminants of the burn.

On another note, this 18 month old is just about the cutest little thing I've ever seen. Even with all our mishaps this summer she is doing so well. She is singing and dancing up a storm. LOVES her brother and sister and wants to always be around them. LOVES talking on the phone and famously says "HI DADA" no matter who she is talking to. LOVES to walk around with a purse and a tutu while prancing and singing.

So really all of these tough experiences are just a drop in the bucket to all her wonderful-ness!!

The fish, the sushi, and the rookie parent mistake

After Avery completed her potty training chart her treat was being able to pick out a real live fish that she gets to keep in her room. She was so excited and we had really been working it up (more to try to get Pete motivated!!)

We spent a very crazy few minutes with three totally excited kids in PetSmart. Avery picked out her "pink" beta fish (that was 14.99), that we promptly returned for a more reasonably priced red beta fish. Who knew they had 14.99 beta fish, ah well, live and learn - ask for the cheap fish before showing them to your kids.

Anyway, Avery was on cloud nine, happy as could be! I was so dang excited to be out of the house after days of potty training misery, I made the rookie parent mistake of thinking that since she completed her potty training chart, then she of course was ready to go to a restaurant. Yes, I believe you know what is coming . . .

My favorite sushi place was right around the corner andI thought "Oh, we'll hurry - she just went potty before we left!" No problem, right???

We had just ordered the kids some chicken nuggets when Daddy Pete very quickly lifted Avery up off the seat as she was having an accident all over it. I swooped her up, but the damage had been done.

So, in this video Avery explains what happened at the restaurant and also gave us another surprise: the name of her fish. I was laughing so hard when she told us, that I could barely keep the camera steady. That kid sure has an imagination on her, not really sure where or why she came up with this particular name . . .

What is your fish's name? from c s on Vimeo.

Potty Training 2010

Potty training is a bit like giving birth: It really stinks when you are going through it, but when you are done you think "Oh, that wasn't so bad!"

I made it through my first potty training experience. I'm not gonna lie. . . it nearly did me in. Big Pete came home those first couple of days to a very grumpy, very frazzled mommy.



I started off trying to work with Avery and Pete at the same time. I had everything ready: the undies/panties, the rewards, the stickers and chart. I thought I was going to be able to handle both at the same time. Yes, I was wrong!!! :)



We "threw" away all the diapers and pull ups. We put up our little charts. I keep saying what my book told me say "Tell Mommy when you have to go pee pee". I started filling them with juice and salty snacks. And then they started ganging up on me . . .

I would run one out of the room to the potty, and the other one would pee pee in front of the TV! Plus, little Miss Hailey still needed full attention pointed at her. On top of that, Lil Pete was screaming and crying everytime I tried to put him on the potty. So, to save my sanity . . . I kept it up with Avery and but diapers back on Pete. I know, I know, total wrong thing to do, but I just couldn't figure out how to "watch" both of them at the same time and take are of Hailey too.



So, this is how I did it: Basically for three days, you and the kiddos do nothing but stay within close proximity of each other. We colored, painted, read books and watched a WHOLE LOTTA TV. You have to "watch" the potty training child like a hawk and catch them each and everytime they start to go, in order to run them to the potty. If you miss it even one time, it puts off the process because she is not able to understand and learn.

So with that said, you have alot of pee and pooh everywhere, and I mean everywhere!! UGGHHH But, at the end of three days, Avery had it. I mean she was still having accidents and didnt pooh in the potty until day 4 or 5, but she basically had it down.

Now we are about 2 weeks out, and she has accidents very infrequently. I also don't put her in a diaper at night and she has done great. The first time at Sunday School she had an accident, but this past Sunday she told them and went. I'm so proud of my baby girl and how good she has been doing!! Now on to #2, and #3! :)

Baptism

Last Sunday, Avery, Pete and Hailey were baptized at the church we have been attending. Our church has become very meaningful and special to me, so I was excited that we would have their baptism done there.

Pastor John did a wonderful job "dealing" with our children and showed them complete love and respect. A,P, and H must have thought the church altar was their playground, because they spent most of the ceremony running around it. At the very beginning, as we were all standing there, they all just stood next the railing on the altar smiling and waving out into the congregation.




Avery very intently watched the Pastor as he sprinkled a little water on her head. Pete wiggled and shouted and even pushed Pastor John's hand away at one point. Pastor John was so good about it, though, and said something in reference to Peter, the disciple of Jesus. To me it added a little personal tough which I loved. Now, Hailey was enthralled. In some of the pictures you can see her very bravely smiling and looking at Pastor John. She was quiet the whole time he held her and LOVED all the attention.


After the service we had all of our family in friends come to our house for a lunch. The whole day was wonderful and I felt the effect of all the love for days after. I was so happy that we were finally able to do this, especially at church that is so special to me! Thank you to all our family that came from close and far away to be a part of this with us!

1st overnight trip to the country

My parents recently added on to their "country home" (hee hee). They actually haven't built a "home" there yet, just the barn. But they are blinging out this barn, better than any home! My mom has fully decorated and it looks awesome. So, with the hopes that we would sometime come for an overnight visit, they added a bedroom. I actually got to see the beautiful sunsets and sunrises, which are gorgeous and I began to realize why my parents are spending so much time out there!!!



The kids and I went one weekend when Pete was working, so unfortunately he missed out on the fun. I was a bit worried about so many of us in a small area, but it actually worked out really well. It was nice not to run from room to room, or up and down stairs and always have everything close by. Plus, the property and barn offer alot of room outside of the house to be.




We did everything while we were there. We fed fish and watched them splash around. We chased grasshoppers and caught a few. We rode around country roads on the four wheeler and looked at all the cows, horses, and other animals. We played in the barn with all the toys that my parents have acquired. Needless to say, we just wore out the kids (along with wearing out the adults!!!)