The dreaded 5 year shots

It's official. Blythe is ready to go to kindergarten.
Pee'd in cup. Check.
Vision test. Check.
Height/weight check. Check.
Reflex test. Check.
Blood pressure check. Check.
Hemoglobin test (aka finger prick). Check.
Vaccines (4 separate shots). Check.

Too bad she failed 3 of them and will have to redo.

Pee in cup - Fail. Although we were successful in getting some pee in the cup without making too much of a mess, they found protein in her urine. She needs to drink more water during the day and retest in 2 weeks. I just cannot contain my excitement of having to hold that cup for her once again.

Vision test - Fail. She tested at 20/40 vision and they like to see 20/30 or better. I personally think she can see fine. She was reading letters and didn't even try to read that last line when they asked her. But - may just need to keep an "eye" out for her and possibly retest. In 2012 when I add her to my vision plan.

Height/Weight check - Pass! Not really sure how you could fail that one, but anyway, she's 50th percentile in both. Weighs 39.5 pounds and 42.75 inches tall.

Reflex test - Pass!

Blood pressure - Pass (I think). Don't actually know the results of this one.

Hemoglobin test - Fail. 10.5. Whatever that means. Should be a little higher apparently. She needs to take a multivitamin daily to increas iron and retest in a few months. First off, did you know most kids vitamins have no iron? Found that out today as I was trying to buy some. Finally found a special "Flinstones with Iron". Second, I call "not it" on taking her back in a few months for a finger prick.

Vaccines - Ummmm.....I guess technically it's a Pass, but the process in getting from beginning to end...FAIL, FAIL, FAIL! She knew she had to get 4 shots. Okay, so first she thought it was just 1. Just before going to the doctor I told her I thought it was 2 shots (I was thinking it was actually 3). Then doctor said it was 4. Yikes! She acted like it was going to be okay. But then those nurses came in and told her to lie down and pull down her pants and that's when the screaming started. So one nurse and myself pinned her down while the other one did the shots. She screamed SO loud after the first one. Then EVEN LOUDER after the second. And then somehow managed to scream even louder after each one. I don't think there were any other kids at the doctor's office at the time and actually it was surprisingly very UNcrowded at the time, so good thing she didn't scare off TOO many people. It was awful. While I was pinning her down and she was screaming, I was actually fighting the urge to laugh. How awful is that? My little girl in agony and I just want to laugh? Weird how the human brain works sometimes. I guess I had to either cry or laugh and my brain chose laugh. Oh well, as soon as it was over she was completely fine. Never complained about her legs hurting or her finger bleeding. I think just glad it was over and now she was in the clear as far as shots are concerned.

Afterwards she picked out not one, not two, but THREE Hannah Montana stickers. Then we went to 7-Eleven so she could pick out some candy. She chose Wild Berry Skittles (gross). Then we came home and she played with Ginsey the rest of the day. See how traumatized she looks?



Sorry - bit of a wardrobe malfunction!

Anyway, we're ready for kindergarten registration!

8 months old!

Today Brynn is 8 months old. 2/3 of a year old? Boo. I know she must grow and get older, but I don't have to like it!

She is still the easiest, best baby on the planet. So laid back, goes with the flow, and happy just about all of the time. Before this month I would have qualified that with "as long as Mommy is around or Farida (her care provider at day care)". Those conditions, however, have been taken away. She changed day cares so no longer has her Farida. And she's been perfect in every way at her new day care. Eats great, sleeps great (or as great as can be expected at day care), plays well, etc. And Mommy went out of town last week for the first time since Brynn was born, so she was forced into a new dependence on Daddy and she was digging it.

So what is miss Brynn up to these days?

• She cannot crawl quite yet. She really wants to get things and will stretch very far to reach. She'll end up on her belly, but she will just go in circles or make only backwards progress. She'll figure it out in the next few weeks though. Then we'll have to put the baby gates back up. Yuck.


• She loves "talking" and says "Ma ma", "Ra ra", "Ba ba", "Pa pa", but no "Da da" from what I've heard so far.


• She has tried just about every baby food there is and likes (or tolerates) most of them. Does not like green beans and tolerates peas barely. Also not a huge fan of apricots.


• We're having a hard time with moving to the next phase after very pureed baby food. She still chokes on puffs. Now I've tried letting her bite them (with the 2 teeth she has) and that works a little better. We've tried moving to baby food with more texture and she's doing OKAY, but we've got a ways to go. She's slower at this than my other 2 were.


• She can stand with assistance, but doesn't pull up yet.


• She sleeps on her back and barely moves in her sleep. She has never rolled to her stomach while in bed. And she still sleeps with her hands behind her head.


• She can now hold her own bottle. She gets tired and lazy though while doing it.


• I have no idea how much she weighs or how long she is. Guess we'll find out at her 9 month appointment.


• She is growing out of her 6-9 month clothes. Things sized 6-12 month seem to fit her well. Except her feet..she must have small feet as 6-12 month Robeez are still too big.


• She still goes in the exersaucer some and love the Johnny jumpup


• I'm pretty sure bathtime is her favorite part of the day

Anyway, that's Brynn in a nutshell these days!

Ethan never ceases to amaze me

This is the bathroom in Blythe's dollhouse.

It's pretty clear that the toilet is not a real toilet. It's for BARBIE'S. To PRETEND pee in. Right? Pretty obvious, right?

Yeah, that's what I thought too.

Blythe is 5

Blythe is 5 years old today. She's probably celebrating it right now at Taco Bell eating cheese rollups and cinnamon twists while I'm 1200 miles away at a conference for work. Sometimes having a full time job really sucks. We did have her birthday party last Sunday and she opened our gifts to her on Monday, so we have already celebrated it, but it still sucks to be gone.

The big milestone in our household with turning 5 is that she can now chew gum. So Braden took her yesterday to the store to pick out 2 packs of gum. She chose strawberry flavor and Juicy Fruit. Hopefully she doesn't swallow too much of it! Ethan keeps saying, "I five. I chew gum." Keep dreaming buddy.

There are some very exciting things that will happen at 5. Namely, she will go to KINDERGARTEN! Still over half a year away, but it will be here before you know it. I actually have quite a few memories from when I was 5. I remember my first day of kindergarten. I remember moving to a new state. And I remember getting shots. It's very traumatic. Not looking forward to next Wednesday when Blythe gets hers. But I am looking forward to getting past that so she can actually enjoy being 5. She's quite stressed about getting shots sometime while she's 5. So it might as well be soon so she can just move on.

We haven't measured her recently (guess the doctor will next week), but I do know she weighs about 41 pounds. She wears size 5T or 5 or 6 or girls XS or S. At this toddler/girl overlap stage in clothes, it's hard to find what actually will fit.

She's wearing size 10 or 11 shoes. 10.5 would probably be best, but I'm pretty sure they don't make those.

She is just barely starting to learn how to read. She knows the sounds of most of the letters and can put some together (but has a hard time with the vowels). I started using flashcards with a few words a week or so ago and she did okay. "Rug" gets sounded out as ruh-uh-guh though, so even when I say "say it all together fast", it still doesn't sound like "rug", but it's a bit of progress.

She writes letters and numbers very well. She's always wanting to write and asks me how to spell stuff all the time. There are some words she knows how to write on her own. At church one day all the kids got a paper that said, "I am thankful for..." She made a list of all of the things she knows how to spell:
books
dog
cat
dad
ethan
brynn
mary
ginsey
ashley

Other than cat, that's actually a pretty good "I'm thankful for..." list. Interesting how she writes "mary" and not "mom". For a while she wrote "mom" on everything. Every piece of art she made was for mom. "mary" is more challenging to write/spell than "mom", so she's just showing off how smart she is.

She's now started making her bed in the mornings. Thank you, Laura.

She's actually a pretty good dancer. Must have learned all her moves from me (and anyone who's ever seen me dance knows I am being completely sarcastic about that). She can also learn songs incredibly fast these days. Amazing how quickly those little kid brains absorb things.

She starting to use her imagination a lot these days and it's so fun to watch. I always felt that Blythe and Ethan would play well together when they were at least 5 and 3. Now we're getting there and I can totally see it. Blythe has the imagination to make up games and scenarios and Ethan just wants to play along. So they'll play "going to the store" or "going to a dance party" or "ice cream shop".

I think I'm going to like this year. 5 will be lots of fun. Happy Birthday to my sweet Blythe.

Blythe's birthday party

Blythe's birthday is on Thursday, but we had her birthday party yesterday. For the 3rd year in a row, she's had a combined birthday party with her best friend Ashley (who's birthday was on the 10th). Sure makes it nice when you can split the cost of the birthday party in half! Probably this will be the last year as they likely won't be at the same school next year (and therefore won't have the same group of friends).

I just cannot believe Blythe is turning 5. 5? 5 years old? Already? Unreal.

Anyway, the birthday party was at the pool. The new pool where VT swims. All of the friends they invited were from their old school (except Ginsey next door), so it was really nice for them to get together with friends they went to school with for several years (but haven't seen since mid-December).

Last year's party was also at a pool and the theme was Ariel (fitting for a pool party). So this year's theme was....Rapunzel. It was fresh on the mind.


Here they are blowing out the candles. Geez...5? 5 years old?

Despite the one mom who had to jump in after her kid because the sucky lifeguard wasn't doing her job, everyone had a great time. Even Brynn swam and only cried a little when she got splashed in the face (okay, she cried a lot).

Mama Mama Mama

Brynn can say Mama! Or actually "Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma". Here's a video from last week. I thought she'd say it for a day or 2 and then move on to other sounds, but she's still going strong.


Not a great video. Clearly she needs to be louder and more assertive to be heard in this household, but I'm sure it won't take her long to figure that out.

It should be noted that Brynn has NOT said the "Dada" sound yet. She is my only child to say "Mama" before "Dada". As if it wasn't clear before that she's a Momma's girl, we now have additional proof.

And as for an update on Ethan...he hasn't been in our room in the middle of the night at all this week. Cha Ching! Actually I think he's afraid to come in our room now at all because he doesn't even come in when it's morning. All it took was ice cream the first day, a single malted milk ball the next couple days, and then the promise of a "special treat" that last couple of days. He asks for his "special treat" as soon as I see him in the morning, but I've failed to actually follow through. Problem solved, right? Wrong.

Instead of coming in our room in the morning, now he goes in Brynn's room. At around 6:20 or 6:30. One time she was already awake. The other times he has woken her up. I'm sure he knows better than to go in Blythe's room. She loves her sleep and will likely bite his head off if he tries to wake her too early. And now he thinks our room is off limits. So that leaves Brynn. And of course she acts very happy to see him every morning, so why not? Grrrrr.

It's like having a newborn again

Ethan doesn't sleep all that well when he's stressed. And unfortunately for Braden and I, he has been really, really stressed with going to a new school.

He's always been our one that doesn't sleep all that well. But for the past few months, he's rarely gotten up in the middle of the night and I was so shocked when he completely slept through Blythe's stomach bug and the 3 bed sheet changes that went with it.

So last Monday he got up once during the night. Came into our room and wanted in bed. Not sure why he asks that since we NEVER let him in the bed. Anyway, took him back to his room and he was fine. Tuesday night same thing. Wednesday night same thing. GET.TING.OLD.

Thursday night he got up twice. The second time though he had a bloody nose and it was all over him and his sheets. So Braden and I were both up, cleaning up Ethan and changing his sheets (have I mentioned how much I LOVE middle of the night laundry loads???). Anyway, you should have seen the kid by Friday afternoon. The bags under his eyes were PURPLE. How could he possibly not sleep through the night on Friday night?

7 times. That's how many times he was up Friday night. He basically didn't sleep from 10:30 until 2am (and therefore nor did we). I mean, it was just getting ridiculous. And to top that off, no nap on Saturday. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how he was awake and functioning by Saturday evening.

So Saturday he didn't even have school, so there was less stress. Maybe that night would be better. After his 3rd time waking that night (when we woke to the sound of Ethan beating on Brynn's door), he got thrown back in his room and we locked the door (several months ago we turned his doorknob around when we were having trouble with naptime...because we are geniuses). There he was left to cry himself back to sleep and not bother us.

I really don't want to lock him in his room every night or discourage him from coming to get us if he has a problem, so that's not really a long term solution. Long term solutions are so much harder. But I think it had an impact, and then as another attempt to keep him in his room the whole night I promised him a "special treat" if he stays in his room and doesn't come in ours. For the WHOLE night.

Amazingly we got a whole night of sleep last night. At about 7:15 I found him in the bathroom trying to put his pants back on after going potty. So he hadn't even tried to wake me to announce to me his plans to go potty. Nice. He asked about his special treat. It had to be something of significance to encourage him to keep staying in his room. So he had ice cream. With sprinkles. For breakfast.

You're welcome 3's room teacher at day care.

Bathing beauties

We have a couple of bath related updates to make.

First, Brynn is now bathing like a big kid. She was in the infant bath tub, then transitioned to a "bath seat" in the big bath tub, but is now sitting well enough to sit by herself in the big bath tub and play with toys and splash like a maniac.



I bathed her one time with Ethan, but apparently "try not to splash Brynn in the face...she doesn't like that" translates to "splash the living daylights out of the water until Brynn cries" in Ethanese. Didn't go over so well, so maybe we'll try again at some other time.

In other bathing news, Blythe can now bathe herself. All I have to do is fill up the tub and she can take it from there. Soaping herself up, shampoo, conditioner, dry off, empty tub, and put on robe. And I never have to go in there (only on occasion when she can't get the conditioner bottle open). And this whole process takes a mere 45 minutes or so. Oh, forgot "play with mermaid toy for 40 minutes" in that process.

And since I'm pretty sure it's illegal to post pics of Blythe bathing, here's one of her in curlers the other night. Braden and Ethan had a "guys night out", so us girls had a "girls night in".

New school

Yesterday was Blythe and Ethan's first day at their new school. Both were really excited to go. Since it was the first day and they didn't know yet what to expect, I anticipated drop off would not be too bad. I was right. Blythe's best friend Ashley was already there when we got there, so it was no issue for her at all. And she had a great day (aside for the fact she hardly ate...it really wasn't a great menu day). Ethan didn't know anyone in his class. His friend Luke (Ashley's brother) is already 3, so he's in the 3's room while Ethan is in the 2's room until he turns 3 in March. When we picked him up from school yesterday, he was sad/kind of crying when we got there. They said he was happy at times and sad at times. Poor guy.

So this morning when it was time to go to school, Ethan said, "I already went to the new school yesterday. I want to go to my other school." Ugh, times like these are hard. I knew today's drop off for Ethan would be much harder. And I was right. He didn't cry, but I knew he was sad. And we saw Luke crying in the 3's room too. I told Ethan's teachers that his friend was in the 3's room and it might benefit them both to see each other at some point during the day.

Apparently Ethan was kind of sad much of today as well. He has started getting attached to one of his teachers though. So this afternoon the school called and asked if I thought it would be okay to go ahead and move him to the 3's room since he's pretty advanced, already all potty trained, and so it would avoid having another transition just about right after he gets through this one. I was so relieved! I think it will make his transition much better to be in a room where he already has a friend. So anyway, hoping tomorrow is better than today or yesterday.

I'm sure by the end of the week, we'll be pretty good. And then Brynn's transition will come next week. OMG, totally dreading that one. She's in the height of stranger anxiety right now, so should be totally awesome. She was even a little apprehensive about going back to her old daycare yesterday after being home with me for almost 2 weeks. Guess she thought that arrangement might be permanent!

Well, we'll take it one day at a time!

The Christmas Post

Blogging becomes kind of a chore when the kids are home with me ALL.DAY.LONG for days on end. The only time I have to do it is after they go to bed and by then all I want to do is veg on the couch. But the kids finally go back to school tomorrow, and since Blythe and Ethan are starting at their new school, I will probably want to blog about that. And therefore, I must do a Christmas post. I contemplated skipping it all together, but really that's just not acceptable.

So anyway, as mentioned before, we were skeptical of Blythe's excitement over getting a camera from Santa. Her reaction was pretty much as expected. Nil. She wasn't upset over it, but didn't ask us to open it up or anything. I opened it later for her and then we brought it with us to Gommy and Poppa's and then she did end up really liking it and took pictures of EVERYTHING. Pretty cool actually.


Ethan's reaction to his big, green tractor was as expected...total excitement. Though he did first pick up the toy sword Santa left and play with that before he ever sat on the tractor.



Brynn amazingly actually really liked her little Fisher Price kitchen she got from Santa. That is until Blythe and Ethan wanted to play "with" her. That was about the time she was getting tired anyway.


Braden cheated and bought me a Kindle. He said technically it wasn't cheating since it fit in my stocking. I cheated too and bought him the Godfather trilogy on BlueRay. Technically it would have fit in his stocking too, but it was full of other stuff. I love the Kindle though and have already started reading a book on it and it's awesome.


Anyway, we spent Christmas morning opening gifts here at home and playing with them. We were blessed with a beautiful white Christmas this year, perfect in that it was beautiful, easy to shovel, and only about an inch or two deep so didn't impede our ability to travel to Gommy and Poppa's later that day.


At Gommy and Poppa's we got to finally meet our new neice/cousin Harper (well, Braden had already met her when he went to Raleigh last weekend). She is so, so precious. Amazing Brynn was that small not too long ago. One day those 2 will be close buds.


We had our Christmas #2 on December 26 there. And amazingly it snowed there on that day (but not the day before), so we had 2 white Christmas's! Seeing as there were 12 people to open gifts for, the gift opening took us a good chunk of the day. There may have been 5 or 6 or 7 gag gifts in there as well (keeps everyone on their toes).


I got Laura the Michael Jackson dance game for the Wii, so we spent a good chunk of that afternoon and the next dancing our little hearts off. And getting a bit of a workout in. On Monday, Braden left in the morning and then Doug, Lynette, Ada, and Harper left in the evening. And that's when the crazy days of puking, kidney stones, and busted chins started. Somehow we actually had a night of good sleeping smack in the middle of all that and so we all felt well enough to go to Chuck E. Cheese one day. The pizza and red fruit punch turned out not to be the best choices for Ethan later that day (or rather the carpet in his room), but we did have a good time there and we racked up 359 tickets...go us! Even Brynn rode a few rides.


So although there were some crazy and not so fun times for some of us, overall it was a superb Christmas season for us!