Night before Kindergarten

Tomorrow my first born Max heads off to kindergarten! I cannot believe it's already here. He has run down to send the neighbor kids off at the bus stop and run down to greet them when they get home for 3 years now and FINALLY (in his words) he will be joining them on the bus! He is so excited and I'm not sure what to feel! I feel sad that he's going to be gone all day and that he will come home talking about people/kids that I don't know. I'm happy/proud that he's ready for kindergarten and that he has all the tools he needs to be successful. I'm so very thankful that I have gotten to stay home with him these past few years. I'm nervous that he won't wipe well enough after going to the bathroom, that his pb&j won't get cleaned off of his cheeks after lunch, or worse that he won't like lunch and will be hungry the rest of the day! Of course I'm nervous about more than that, but those are the three things that are on the top of my head right now! Tonight after he had been in bed for a few minutes, he came out and wanted to be sure I woke him up in the morning so he didn't miss the bus:) What a sweetie!

It will definitely be different around here. Mya will be going to school 4 mornings a week but doesn't start until next Monday. She'll be sad that Max isn't around, but there will be LOTS less fighting and tattling. Mya is awesome at playing by herself so I think the afternoons will go by fast for her.

I'll most likely be blogging more tomorrow and will include pictures of him getting on the bus and also at school. (Yes..I'm following the bus to school to make sure he gets to the right place on the first day:)

For now...a few favorite pictures I found tonight while looking around!

9 months, 1 week

I'm a bit behind on blogging these days, but it's not really my fault! We made the big switch from mediacom to directv a couple of weeks ago and somehow do not have Internet anymore! Chris got the wireless hooked up but apparently to get the desktop hooked up is going to take some drilling and since he is basically doing 2 jobs right now, hooking up Internet is not a huge priority! anyway....so this blog is being written on my iPad which I do not like to do a lot of typing on, but I wanted to get this post up before Ivy is 10 months old! Here goes....

Ivy is currently 18 pounds even which is about a pound heavier than Mya at 9 months and exactly a pound lighter than Max at 9 months! She's in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. She is in size 3 diapers, mostly 12 month clothes and does not care for shoes! She is a super happy camper during the day. She is down to 2 naps per day and is getting lots better at bedtime! Middle of the night is still a different story but we haven't really tackled that situation yet but I know we'll get there.

She LOVES all baby food (acts like a little baby bird when she sees the spoon) and is getting better with finger food. Currently she can do cheerios and puffs without gagging and puking! Progress:) Ivy is a super fast crawler....we didn't think anyone could out-crawl Mya but she's awfully close! She has also started letting go of things she is standing by and stands alone for 5-10 seconds. I'm not happy about this at all! If raspberry blowing was an Olympic sport, we'd have a gold medal winner here at this house. She is amazing at blowing raspberries and can do it for minutes on end. If she's upset about something, she blows them even louder:)

Her nickname these days is TROUBLE!! She loves to get into anything and everything she can't have! Her favorites are: an open gate, dog dish, crayons, anything important to Max and Mya, the tiniest object she can possibly find on the floor (money, legos, cracker crumbs, etc.), outlets, cords, cell phones, remotes, plants, night lights, and dirty shoes! Max and Mya didn't bother our wine rack but with Ivy, we had to move it downstairs!

Despite all of the trouble, she is such a joy to be around. She is the most popular kid in the neighborhood! They come in to ask if Ivy can come out and play quite often! That translates to "can we hold Ivy and pretend she is our real baby?" it's pretty cute:)

Enjoy the 9 month photos!

We're all about teeth!

We've been talking a lot of teeth around here lately! Chris took Max and Mya up to the cabin for a few days and on their way home Max lost his second bottom tooth at McDonald's in Cannon Falls, MN! The reason they were coming back Wednesday was because Max was scheduled to get his "extra" tooth out on Thursday morning at the oral surgeon. Poor little guy...this was his 3rd time being put under anesthesia. His first one was at 11 months with tubes, and his second one at 3 1/2 for tonsils and adenoids. He came out of the anesthesia just fine this time and only cried when he realized there was blood. We were supposed to keep him quiet and laying low yesterday but it was nearly impossible. He felt great and all he wanted to do was play with his neighborhood friends after not seeing them for a couple of weeks! Here's a picture of the two teeth he lost this week. And yes, if you're thinking that one on the left is HUGE, that's exactly what we think as well.

Ivy is in the middle of getting all of her teeth we think! She has another double ear infection and is cutting new teeth each week. Currently she has three, but I can tell a couple more top ones are really close. I can see the white under the gum. She's pretty fussy and she doesn't eat well unless I coat her gums with orajel beforehand. Last night was a little bit better than the previous three nights. I think I only got up with her 3 times instead of 8-10! I'd call that a good night:)

And Mya...well, she's not having any issues with teeth except for the fact that she's jealous of all the attention Max is getting with loose teeth and the tooth fairy, etc. so she keeps telling us that she has loose teeth as well. We just nod and say okay Mya:)

"List-es"

Mya has really been into making "list-es" as she likes to call them for Chris and I. She thinks she is really writing and it's so darn cute to have her give us these lists of things to do! Most of the time she wants me to pretend I don't see who gave me the list and then I have to act all surprised that I have a list of things to do! She could pretend all.day.long if she had the chance:) Anyway...this has been happening so much that I find these laying all over the house, in all of her purses, in my purse, in drawers, etc. and I had to take a picture and write about it so we don't forget!

Soccer fun!

Sunday was our last day of soccer for the year. It was a 6 week program split up throughout the summer which was perfect for us. Overall, it was a great experience for both kids. This was Mya's first team experience and for Max, he really got into soccer this year and we saw LOTS of improvement from last year. Before, he would get out of the way of the other players when they were about to score a goal! This year he was all over them, trying to slide and kick it out of the way and even became a "scoring machine" (which is what his coach called him:) towards the end of the session. As for Mya, the first time out on the field I had to hold her hand for 10 minutes or so and by the end, she was running out to high-five her coach! She never did get used to the shin guards though:)

I took some pictures of them yesterday and just had to post them. When I was looking through, it brought back so many memories of pictures of me playing sports. Growing up in a small town and playing 3 sports, my picture was in the paper from time to time and every single time, my mouth was open. The pictures of Max and Mya are the exact same. Their mouths are open and in most pictures, their tongues are also out!

Happy Birthday Mya!

Miss Mya Pat,

Today you are 4 years old! I'm so happy for you that your day is finally here! And I'm happy for me too because now you have to eat 4 more bites when you say you're done eating instead of 3!! When you woke up this morning, the first thing you said was, "I can't believe I got to 4 already!" I couldn't have said it better myself:) Where to start...

I'm pretty sure there is no one like you in this world. I don't think there is anyone that can make me so happy and so irritated in a matter of 10 seconds as you can! We laugh at you all the time...the things that come out of your mouth and the faces you make are priceless.

You are starting to be a lot more social. We're working on looking at adults and talking to them when they ask a question and you're getting way better at it. Yesterday you ordered yourself an ice cream cone at the pool which was quite an accomplishment for a couple of reasons. For one, you can't see above the counter so I'm not sure how they knew you were there and two, you had to speak in a loud enough voice for them to hear what you wanted! You are a great friend to everyone. I never have to worry about you at play dates. In fact, some of my friends request you to come over because you're so good to the little ones!

You're around 31 pounds, wear size 8 shoes, 4T tops, 3T bottoms, love finger nail polish and prefer that each nail be a different color, you hate being cold when you get out of the tub, still fall out of bed regularly, are a total grump if you get woken up from a nap too early, love snacks, hate meals, still get confused about what order the meals are eaten each day, yogurt tubes and lemonade are your favorite things in the world right now, the hair twirling has calmed down a bit, but you definitely still do it when you're nervous or tired, you can eat 5 pancakes for breakfast, you're stubborn as hell-very persistent, have very little patience, we don't think you could ever have enough dolls or dresses, you can hit the ball when we pitch it to you more often that you miss, you have a wicked two hand forehand and two hand backhand in tennis, can't quite get the basketball to the rim when we have it at its lowest point, and you're anxiously awaiting your first goal in soccer!

Pretend play is your favorite these days. You want your daddy and I to order food all the time and you're always telling us to "pretend you are..... or pretend you don't see me....or pretend I'm the mom and you're the kid.....etc." You are still into coloring pictures and love me to spell words out so you can write them. You are going to 4 year old preschool this fall for 4 mornings each week. Ivy and I are sure going to miss having you around! Speaking of Ivy, you are just as in love with her as you were the day I had her. You are a huge help to me several times a day. You'd do anything I asked as long as it involved Ivy in some way. I just wish Ivy liked you to hold her as much as you like it. I'm so happy you have a sister and I hope you love her as much in 10 years as you do right now. You and Max have a love-hate relationship right now. Just the other day you told me that Max was doing your buttons. I think you meant he was pushing your buttons:) I love when you play nicely together, but sadly it doesn't happen all that often. Tattling has become the norm around here.

Dr Jekyll and Mrs Hyde. Enough said.

You are still a Daddy's girl. You love to run into his arms when he gets home from work and after 4 years you're finally trained to call for him in the night instead of me! Speaking of night...you are finally what we might call a "decent sleeper!" You sleep through more nights per week than you get up!

We're so happy you are our daughter Mya. We can't wait to see how you change this world:)

Love you lots My-My!
Mommy

July 18, 2008


July 18, 2009


July 18, 2010


July 18, 2011

 

July 18, 2012

First fishing trip!

Yesterday my aunt Kathy and uncle John came down to Dubuque to take the kids (and me) fishing! Max has been bugging us for 2 years to go fishing. Problem is, we don't fish! We went over to a pond near our house and thankfully had tons of success! The kids are now both fluent in fishing lingo and have already asked me today (more than once) when they can go fishing again! Even I was putting worms on hooks by the end of the day. The kids each caught at least 10 fish. (for awhile they were keeping track of who got more of course) The smiles on their faces each time they reeled one in was priceless.

John didn't cast his line once, but was busy the entire time putting worms on, taking fish off, un-tangling lines, and patiently explaining why we couldn't keep these fish as pets:) Once they realized we were not keeping them, Max really enjoyed throwing them back and only dropped the fish on the cement once!

I'm not 100%, but I think between Chris and I, we could manage to take them fishing on our own now. We just need a couple of tools and some worms and we should be able to make it happen! If not, I guess Kathy and John will be coming more often:) Next time we give it a whirl, we'll wait until it's not 97 degrees! For now, I hid the fishing poles:)

 

Quite the week for Max!

Last week Max went to Y camp out at the Union Park YMCA camp here in Dubuque. It was Monday through Thursday from 8:30-4:30. Long days, but it was great practice to see how kindergarten would go in about a month! He was tired at the end of the day, but I knew he loved it when each morning rolled around and he couldn't wait to go! His neighbor friend Owen did it with him, which worked out great...he got a friend with him and I got someone to carpool with! It was a good indication of what life would be like this fall when I just have Ivy and Mya home with me. Turns out..when Mya is without Max, she doesn't.stop.talking.to.me.ever! One afternoon Chris's mom called and I ended up letting Mya talk her ear off for 10 minutes or so just so I could get a break from talking to her!! She did take a couple of naps so that was nice because I got a couple of naps in too.

Max loved camp. He got to go sliding down the black hole, creek stomping, swimming each day with lessons, eat picnic lunches, sing songs, play lots and lots of camp games and go hiking! I'm sure they did more, but that was all I got out of him. We all went out to camp on the last day and watched a little program and ate dinner. We were especially excited that Max was chosen as camper of the week by his counselors. He won this award because of his listening skills, patience and always having a positive attitude! The only reason he cared was because he got to pick out something from the camp store (a giant pixie stick...great:), but obviously Chris and I were happy for other reasons. Max and I have had kind of a tough summer, so it was reassuring to see that some of things I've been harping on him about are actually sinking in.

Below is Max and Owen in front of the black hole.

Max's other big news of last week came on Friday night. We were over at a friend's house and he lost his first tooth! He came running outside with a complete look of horror on his face, but once he started getting major attention and people started throwing money at him, he turned it around to one of the most excited faces ever! We were with all of his best buddies, but he still wanted to leave immediately to get home and get that tooth put under his pillow! The next morning he got up early and was carrying his little baggie with the $3 so proudly. We told him that the fairy gives you more money on your first tooth, so not to expect $3 for all of his teeth:) He then started asking some pretty tough questions like "What does the tooth fairy do with all of the teeth?" Later he thought that maybe she gave the teeth to babies like Ivy who are getting their baby teeth! I thought that was a pretty good idea. He claims to have seen the fairy's wing. Who knows....I guess it's possible Chris put on one of Mya's fairy wings:)