I'm here, really I am...

So, my plan to post on my blog a couple of times a week has hit a wall. A wall called teaching, coaching, and parenting when I can. Luckily, this is a three day week so I have less planning to do, and the cross country season ended on Saturday with a very disappointing conference meet. I finally have more time with my family and even got to see Lydia get off the bus today! We went to Lydia's conferences tonight and were happy to learn that she's smart and is doing fine socially. She talks too much, but no more than any other five year-old. Lydia's teacher showed us a grid with 20 squares on it that they filled in with as many numbers as they knew, and Lydia got all the way to 20 and her teacher asked her if she could do more, and she said yes, so she gave her another grid and she just started with 101, 102, 103, etc. Ha! Just skipped 21-100 and started over with a 1 in front of each of them.

So, here are some things we've been up to...

I finally ran my marathon. After months of training, including long weekend runs, I accomplished something pretty huge, and was happy to be done and have more time for the girls. They came to support me at the finish.

We went to the Elegant Farmer and rode the train to East Troy.

Audrey waved the whole time.

The girls and I visited the Milwaukee Public Market, and then walked to the lighthouse on Lake Michigan.

We walked along the river on our way back to the 3rd Ward and the girls loved looking through the cracks at the water.

Our First Scar

We have never taken any of our kids to the ER or urgent care. I know we've been lucky. We came close this summer when Charlie fell off the couch. Lydia and Charlie have both fallen down the stairs. Lydia made it to the doors of the ER when she was about two. I was convinced she had meningitis. She had a fever and hadn't been feeling well, then complained that her neck was sore. I immediately called our doctor's after hours number and the doctor on call told me that if she couldn't put her chin to her chest, I should bring her to the ER. I asked her to put her chin to her chest and she couldn't and complained it hurt too much. Now, you have to understand that Lydia has always been an actress. I wasn't entirely convinced, but after several more attempts to get her to put her chin to her chest without luck, I called Jayson, who was at softball, and told him to get home and watch Audrey while I took Lydia to the ER.

We got in the car and she seemed to cheer up quite a bit. I kept asking her to put her chin to her chest, but then she would start to get more morose and wouldn't do it. We finally got to the ER, and knowing that if we went in there it would be possible she would need a spinal tap, I asked her one more time to put her chin to her chest. Nope. So, we got out of the car and headed to the doors of the ER. Then I had an idea. I pointed to a monkey on the front of her pajama shirt and said, "Look at this silly monkey! What's he doing?" She giggled and looked down at her shirt, putting her chin to her chest. I swooped her up and we headed home.

This weekend, my insurance plan changed. I went from a $300 family deductible to a $4000 family deductible. There is a wellness program that will be put in place to reimburse a large part of the deductible, but it won't start until January 1. Also, our deductible starts over January 1. We were told that our best bet is to just not need a doctor until next year. So, on Saturday evening, the first day of our new insurance, I was going upstairs to put Charlie to bed and Jayson was getting Audrey to bed. Lydia was brushing her teeth. I heard a loud thump and Jayson yelled, "Holly! Get down here now!" I threw Charlie in her crib and ran downstairs to find Lydia screaming and crying and Jayson holding a rag to her chin.

Lydia had somehow fallen off the bathroom stool and hit her chin on the bathtub, busting it open. She later told me she was goofing off and had forgotten to calm down for bedtime. I held her in my arms and held the rag to her chin. When I pulled it away, I saw a 1 cm cut that was spread open pretty wide. I put the rag back on and told Jayson, "I think she needs stitches." I'm pretty certain that had we taken her to the ER or urgent care, she would have gotten a couple stitches or they would have at least used that fancy glue. Jayson pointed out the fact that we would be paying in the neighborhood of $1000 or more if we went. We opted to call his mom and she brought over butterfly bandages.

After she fell as I calmed her down, she was making a gurgling noise and I couldn't figure out why. I thought maybe she was bleeding in her mouth, but looked inside and saw lot of spit and no blood. I told her to swallow, but she refused. I held a towel for her and she spit into it and yelled, "I was using your minty toothpaste and I'm not supposed to swallow it!" While I held Lydia and calmed her down, Audrey gave her kisses on her head and Lydia asked her to stop, so Audrey just stroked her arm, and Lydia said, "Audrey, will you please stop touching me?" Awww... she was very concerned about her big sister.

So far, we can't tell how it's going to heal. The butterfly bandage held it shut, so I'm glad we didn't go to the ER (I also ran a marathon on Sunday and was dreading the thought of Jayson spending the night in the ER with her and me being up all night worrying). I'm sure she'll have a little scar, but I think it will make her look pretty tough and give her a little character. 

Baby No More

In the past month, Charlie has been replaced. With a toddler. You see, just last month, she was scooting around on her knees and pointing at things and grunting. Now, she walks. She talks. She knows what she wants. It seems almost over night, she has transformed from a baby into a toddler. When she's done eating, she throws her arms in the air and yells, "All done!" As people leave the house, she casually waves and says, "Bye." She asks for her baby, her bike, her shoes, and crackers. She runs up to us and hands us random items and says, "Thank you!" She yells for Mommy. She yells for Dada. She's also very feisty. If she doesn't get her way, she gets angry. Very angry. When her sisters take toys from her, she screams and holds on for dear life. When we ask her if she wants to go to bed, she gets a disgusted look on her face and yells, "Nooooo!!!" When we ask her if she wants to brush her teeth, she toddles to the bathroom and puts the first toothbrush she can grab into her mouth. You better not lay down on the floor anywhere near her because she'll jump on you and bounce up and down.

This week, I switched the girls' clothes over. Summer out, winter in. Anything less than size 12 months got put away. No more baby clothes. No more tiny little onesies. No more socks that seem impossibly small. We also put away some old toys, ready for a rummage sale. No more play mat. No more walker. No more bouncing swing.

No more baby.

I'd be lying if I said it didn't bring a tear to my eye. I'm so excited to see what they become, how they grow, watch them learn. But, sometimes I just wish it could all stop. I want to kiss boo-boos, rock sick little babies to sleep, come home to shouts of excitement and giant bear hugs. But I also want them to go to bed without it being a huge ordeal, feed themselves without making a giant mess, and I'm ready to be done with diapers.

It is definitely bittersweet.

Mean Girls... and So it Begins

Last year, for K4, Lydia picked out a Disney princess backpack. I wasn't too excited about it. I tried to steer her towards Toy Story or Dora, but she insisted on princesses, and if that's what she wanted, fine with me. Of course, being a backpack that cost less than $10, it was looking pretty ragged by the end of the year.

This year, we looked online for one, and my aim was to spend a little more money on a decent backpack that would last several years. Maybe even get her name embroidered on it. As we searched online, though, we came across a Phineas and Ferb backpack that came with a matching lunch box. OMG! She was smitten. Had it been another princess backpack, I would have shot her down, but I admit, I loved the fact that she was drawn to a "boy" backpack and not another Disney princess one. Today, Phineas and Ferb. Tomorrow? Social advocate! Awww... my little feminist. We found a Perry the Platypus water bottle to go with it, and completed our order.

When her backpack came, it was a pretty big deal. She immediately ran to get her school supplies to put in it. We opened the box with the water bottle and discovered they accidentally sent us three! Christmas in August! I quickly claimed one as my own to bring to school. (Scroll down to the previous post to see her wearing the backpack).

Then, it happened. Lydia told me girls at school were bullying her because she didn't have a princess backpack. They told her Phineas and Ferb was for boys, and she should have a princess backpack. I asked her who was saying that, and she said all the girls in her class except for her friend who had a monkey backpack. My heart broke. My first instinct was to talk to her teacher. Well, actually, my first instinct was go to her class before school and find those girls and tell them through gritted teeth that the needed to leave my daughter alone and their stupid Disney princess backpacks were ugly. Alas, I refrained.

Instead, I talked to Lydia about bullying and why girls do it. I helped her come up with something she could say back to them, which she has memorized. I talked to her about sticking up for her friend with the monkey backpack too. I hope that the girls forget about the backpacks and she doesn't have to worry about her comeback, but I'm also kind of looking forward to her asserting herself if they don't forget.

Back to School

Last week, Lydia and I returned to school. Just like last year, I didn't get to see her get on the bus, but Jayson took plenty of pictures for me. I think it's probably better that I wasn't there because I think both Lydia and I would have been in tears.

Audrey really wanted to go to school with Lydia, and we talked to her about it and told her that when she turns four, then she gets to go to school with Lydia. On the night before school started, we were getting Lydia's backpack ready and Audrey asked if she could use her old one. I told her she could and then realized she meant immediately. She wanted to get it packed and wanted to go to school too. I reminded her that she would go to school when she was four, and then realized she thought that would be happening in a matter of days, not almost ten months. It was very sad, but for now, she's happy getting to go to the gym with Daddy every day.

Last year, Lydia was in K4 and did great. This year, we told her K5 would be the same, except she would eat lunch at school and she would have quiet time. I was worried the most about quiet time because she stopped napping shortly after she turned two. As it turns out, quiet time wasn't what I should have been worried about. She returned from school on her first day and told us she hated it, she was scared of the lunch room, and she wanted to go back to K4. She also barely touched her lunch. So, I did that thing I hate and wrote a note to her teacher on the second day of school to let her know about Lydia's apprehension and to ask if she could please make sure she had a friend to sit with at lunch. The next day, she returned to tell us lunch was much better, she got to sit next to her friend, she ate most of her lunch, and she wanted to get hot lunch. She even had her five-digit code memorized.

She also asked me if she could go to the after school program and I pointed out to her the fact that both her parents are home after school. So, that was a no-go.

Today Lydia again asked to get hot lunch, so I figured out how to put money in her account (I hope) and discussed with her the idea of a "balanced meal." She knows what healthy food are, and I told her she needs to eat more healthy foods than unhealthy foods. I also told her no chocolate milk and she looked at me and said, "That's all they have. Chocolate milk." I assured her they would have white milk too. I'm very interested to see how she does.

Here are some pictures of her first day:

New Phineas and Ferb backpack and lunch box, and Perry water bottle.

Ready to go!

Audrey and Charlie had to get in on the action too.

 

Heading out to the bus.

Watching for the bus.

One last hug.

Off to K5!

Babies Holding Babies

This week the girls got a new playmate! Their cousin Mason was born on Sunday. They are absolutely in love with him and fight over who gets to hold him. Audrey keeps calling him "Little Baby Mason."

Jayson was excited to be the first in our family to hold him. He was only 6 lb. 14 oz., a whole pound smaller than any of our girls ever were! 

So tiny and so perfect!

Lydia and Audrey both loved holding him.

 ...and poking him.

Charlie was by far the funniest. We thought that with how much she loves her dolls, she would be all over Mason, but she really wasn't that interested. In fact, she found a shelf that was just her size and hung out in there and got really angry if we tried to get her out, so we just let her hang out in her shelf. It was kind of weird.

But, once Lydia and Audrey were done holding Mason, Charlie climbed right into the chair, grabbed the Boppy, grunted, and pointed at Mason. She wanted to hold him! So, we let her. But, she was very suspicious of him. At first she refused eye contact. I LOVE this first picture. Look her just eyeing him up out of the corner of her eye.

She was so weirded out by him.

Finally, she looked at him, and then she started crying.

Pretty Girls All in a Row

When I was younger, my mom dressed my sisters and I in matching dresses and outfits. I'm not sure what their feeling were on it, but I actually loved it. I loved how special it was to wear coordinating dresses. So, of course, I do the same with my girls, and they love it too. It's not every day, because I don't have that kind of money, and sometimes it's just outfits that are similar but might be different in color. However, I do love putting them all in identical dresses. I quickly realized that 1) It can be hard to find matching dresses in the sizes I need. Sometimes I could just find two in the smaller sizes or two in the larger sizes, but not all three. 2) Dresses can be expensive.

So, this summer, I set out to make dresses. It was surprisingly easy, and I definitely got better with practice. I also made matching diaper/underwear covers because my girls tend to sit like...well, not girls.

Here was my first attempt, a pillowcase dress. I had to mess around with the pattern a bit to increase/decrease the measurements as needed, but the dresses were pretty forgiving.

Here is the pattern:

http://www.nancysnotions.com/text/pdf/LittleDressesforAfrica_pattern.pdf

And a youtube video with instructions that I found easier to follow than the pattern:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQJwdEEsLog

And the diaper cover:

http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/06/diy-diaper-cover-tutorial-with-free.html

My next attempt was a little more difficult. I found that the smocking was easier than I expected, but it was hard to figure out how big to make the dresses before the smocking, and then what I wanted to cut off would have made the skirt too narrow, but it worked out OK.

Here's the directions I followed for these:

http://www.marthastewart.com/266202/smocked-sundress?lnc=38f9cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=search_tv

Finally, my wonderful friend Jenni made the girls dresses as well. First of all, they're black. GENIUS! I really don't care if they spill on their dresses because I know that happens and they won't last forever anyway, but it's nice to know that they can last just a little bit longer. Second of all, who the hell makes three handmade dresses for kids that aren't even theirs? I very good friend, that's who. Thanks, Jenni! The girls love these.

I'm done making new dresses this year, but I'll be back at it next summer. I'll be back at it until they're 18, actually.