Thursday, May 21, 2009

That Itches.

Have you ever had one of those days? It's definitely been "one of those days" for some of us in this household today. One of us actually woke themselves from a deep sleep this morning by falling out of the bed, while simultaneously biting three of their fingers and a lip. Thank goodness that wasn't me! I would feel really silly for that one, but it's okay for a three year old Avery to do it.

Another one of us woke up covered in poison ivy. That one would be me. Which reminds me...

It's my fault that Avery is so "active," as Daniel and I call him. Yup, I had poison ivy so badly while pregnant with Avery, that I had no choice but to risk taking the prescribed steroids to get rid of it. I get severe reactions to poison ivy - like severe enough to scare the doctor - and it just gets worse when I'm also pregnant. When I took the steroids, I worried that Avery would end up huge when he born, or at least come out as a mini-jock with a football in his hand and a crewcut on his head. But alas, he did not. Now that he is three, though, I can see what the steroids did to him. They made his little three year old body think it is a sixteen year old body constantly playing football, and so he cannot hold still.

So, even though I refuse to use an epidural while giving birth because I fear it will hurt my baby, and I refuse to give my kids formula because I fear what it might do to them, I sure will give them steroids while they are still fetuses. Because, after all, I was itchy.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Introducing.... The Cutest Ethan, EVER.

So, this little guy has gotten quite cute lately. Not that he wasn't already cute, but now with the talking and the facial expressions and the cuteness - he's become unbelievably cute to me. I can see that these are his last days of babyhood, so I wanted to share with you guys just how cute he is. Here's a video of Ethan talking (including some bonus Abby and Avery bickering in the background):


Our Vacation

Last month we took a... vacation? I guess it was a vacation, even though it seemed way too short and we only traveled five hours to get here. But the kids seemed to have fun, nonetheless. Here are some pictures:



Ethan's first time in a cave. Coincidentally, it was also his first time sucking his thumb. Maybe the dark was a little too much for him... Or it could have been the white crawfish and "cave spiders."

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Abby has a new love for birds. *sigh* I hate birds. But, she got to feed some on vacation, and has talked about birds a lot since then. Too bad no bird will ever, ever enter our house.

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And then we tried to feed Avery to a lion. Turns out it was a fake, bronze lion. *phew* That was close.

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We visited a life-sized Athena Parthenos. Abby was quite taken by Athena, but I'm not sure if it was her size (41 feet), her gildedness, or something else. I think Abby will end up an artist one day.

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Monday, May 18, 2009

You Think They'll Forget That?

It seems that my kids never forget anything. Unless, of course, it's something that I've told them to do...

Yesterday, we all got in the van, buckled in (or so I thought), and I backed out of the driveway. As soon as we hit the street, Ethan starts crying hysterically. I slow down, look back to see what's wrong, and he's pulling at his carseat buckle. Which, by the way, is not fastened. He was crying because he thought the world might end or something if he left the driveway with no seat belt on. Don't worry, I stopped and Daniel buckled Ethan in.

This is very similar to Avery's fear of falling out of the car if he does not wear a seat belt. He's dreamed a couple times that he did fall out, and that we kept on driving and left him on the road. Now how pitiful is that? And all because I told him once that he had to wear a seat belt, because it keeps him from falling out of the car!

Abby's memory has always amazed us, too. She remembers every detail of her 2nd birthday, from how the cake was made and decorated, to who was there, and what presents she received. She also has a very vivid memory of the time she spilled an entire gallon of white paint on our brand new bathroom tile and ruined it. Daniel hosed her off, and that is something you just never forget, I guess.

So now I've realized how careful we have to be about letting the kids see things on TV that might later affect them. One time Abby walked in the living room while Daniel and I were watching The Simpsons. They just happened to say a** as she walked in, and she laughed and repeated it. She had never heard the word before, but we were afraid of her remembering it in preschool two days later. Fortunately, we never had a problem with that one.

However, a week ago she walked into the living room while we were watching The Soup. Due to some weird freak of nature, the clip on at the time was of an outdoorsy guy tasting... bear excrement... to find out what the bear had been eating. This made me sick, but it absolutely delighted Abby! Now she has been mentioning it every day or so for the past week. I wonder if her Kindergarten teacher has heard about the guy who eats bear poop? Wonderful...

I've really got to be careful with these guys and their darn memories!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

New School

I'm kickin it new school now. Not really - I'm actually just talking about Abby going to a new school next year. You remember how I stressed over sending Abby to Kindergarten at a public school or a private school? Well, I did decide on the private school, since the Kindergarten was half-day. But now that full day school is just around the corner, and Avery is also about to start school, followed by Ethan in a couple years... I've just realized that we cannot keep paying to give our kids an education.



And so, Abby is heading off to public school for first grade. To ease my anxiety a little - oh yeah, and Abby's anxiety - Daniel, the kids, and I went to her new school last week to register her and to take a tour. The school is brand new, and has a cute little music room, art room, and a library. I'm actually excited that she will be going there, and that she'll be going there for a full day. I think that Abby will get to enjoy things like music class and art class more when she has more than 3 hours to her school day.

But, the issue of lunch still exists. I will not be the one feeding her, making sure she eats well, making sure she eats the good stuff before the snacky stuff... It's so hard to let your kids go in certain areas. For me, it's food. I won't know if she's eating nothing, a hotdog covered in frosting, or just a cookie for lunch. All I can do is pack it, or send money for it, and then the rest is up to her. I think I'm going to need to stock up on after-school snacks around here.


Also, Avery heads off to preschool this fall. Can you believe it? My little blue-eyed baby is going to school. I'm sad to see him go, but he is just so ready for it. I took him to his preschool to register him and let him visit the classrooms, and he wasn't at all afraid. He walked right up to everyone, talked like he had known them for years, and then went into the classrooms and exumed dinosaur bones (rotini pasta) from the sandbox like a professional palentologist.

This is the same preschool that Abby went to last year, so maybe he just feels at home there, you might say. But no, when we took Abby on the tour of her new school, he did the same thing. He was totally ready to join the second graders in music class, and make Mother's Day cards with the first graders. He walked around like he owned that school, even though he was only the second smallest kid in the entire building. That kid has guts, that's for sure. He's really not afraid of anything, other than Ethan's growling and the hand vaccuum.

So, now I'm trying to slowly let myself adjust to idea of having only one kid with me three days a week. That will be quite a change. I'm expecting to adjust to it around the time Ethan starts school, and then I'll have no kids all day. But still, the idea of having another baby hasn't completely left my mind...

As Wrong as Pants on a Trout

Thanks to Curious George for that title.

I've been told by my hundreds (or a couple at least) of my fans (okay, family members) that they just do not know me anymore since I've slowed down the blogging. Well, I used to make it my goal to write at least one blog post every week day, but then life got a little more lifey, and something had to go. However, since I finally finished the past semester (college, you know), I have found myself with a teeny bit more time on my hands. Also, pretty soon Abby will be out of school for the summer, and that frees up a lot more time.

And so, I've decided to try and start blogging regularly again. I'm starting with telling you guys about everything the kids, Daniel, and I did while I was not blogging. That's actually a lot of stuff, so I'll try to leave out all the toothbrushing and eating of lunches, and basically all of the redundant stuff we do every day. But, if you've ever read my blog before, you probably realize that I like to write about that stuff, so that promise may not be kept after all.

But either way, I've realized that my not blogging is as wrong as pants on a trout - at least to me.

 
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