Summer Catchup

Wow - has it been a long time since I jumped on to update the blog with all our family happenings. First, I was very busy looking for a new job, and now I am very busy at my new job. I am working for UnitedHealthcare in Operations Reporting and really enjoying it so far. It is quite a change going into an office for the majority of the time, but I like having people around me and being co-located has been very helpful while trying to get up to speed on my new responsibilities, new industry and new people I am now working with. I have been working from home about 1 day a week, so I still am able to have that flexibility when needed.


The kids are all doing great and adjusting well to being at daycare full time. Nicolas is really enjoying the summer program at daycare. He's visited a number of museums, gone to the movies, and visited a splash pad water park. I can't believe that in little over a month he'll be getting on the school bus and heading off to kindergarten.


Jackson is also enjoying the summer so far with all the great visitors they bring in over the summer. He's been able to touch some sea creatures (lobster, starfish), and some bugs (stick bug, cockroach (ew!)). He is getting ready to start Pre-K at the end of August and I can't believe how fast he is growing up. Both boys spent a week with my parents and when they came back informed me that next summer they are going for a month! Nicolas said they were so busy they didn't have time to miss us. That's a good thing, right?

My parents said they boys were in and out of the pool multiple times a day. They also went to the zoo, and cool "club house" place that had giant bounce houses as well as a plasma car racetrack, kid-sized tractor driving, went out for ice cream, and visited with my brother and nephew as well as my aunt and uncle. We were able to Skype with them a few times and the highlight of the zoo visit was that they saw a snow leopard pooping. Boys! Nicolas was apparently an excellent big brother and both boys were well behaved. It was very quiet and clean in our house for the entire week they were gone. We all missed them, but it was a nice little break for everyone. Lexi got some 1-1 time with us and the house didn't look like a tornado just went through it.


I swear Lexi is growing every day. Just yesterday (or so it seems) she was our happy little baby eating pureed food. Now she walks/runs/struts around the house like she owns the place! Her favorite words these days are "no mommy" or "no daddy" but she says them in such a cute little way (it also helps that she is still too little to put up too much of a struggle). Her vocabulary is growing exponentially and she amazes me every day with something she either says or does. I had almost forgotten what a fun age this is! She is now a very good sleeper and almost always sleeps through the night (thank goodness!). She is a better eater than either of the boys and will eat almost anything we give her. She is particularly fond of corn on the cob these days, and who can blame her - this is the perfect time of year to eat it! She is a very empathetic girl and feels the need to point out to me when one of the boys is crying. She also enjoys putting her stuffed animals and dolls down for "night night" and/or naps. She lays them on her stomach, puts a blanket over them, and rubs their backs. Which is what she has us do when she goes to bed. It is absolutely adorable and she will do it for long stretches of time as long as she has a blanket and animal/doll to work with.


Lexi is also in the midst of potty training which we have been doing haphazardly since she was about 18 months old. I thought it was a little early, but she has really pushed it on her own, so we're trying to go with the flow. At this point, it is about 50/50 when she uses the potty, but I think with a little more encouragement we could go cold turkey. She hasn't had any accidents on the floor in a while - the last one was my mother's day present of a giant poop on the middle of the playroom floor, which, thankfully, is NOT carpeted.

I'm going to do my best to be better about keeping this updated - at the very least one day a week, but hopefully more often.

A Special Mother's Day Present

Lexi has figured out how to take her diaper off and does it ALL the time.  The boys never took off their diapers,so I am somewhat at a loss as to how (or if) to deal with this.  Normally, I let her run around naked for a bit, with momentary spurts of sitting on the potty until she has had her fill of being naked and lets me put a diaper back on her.

This morning, in honor of Mother's Day, she left me an extra special present on the toy room floor.  Yup, a big poop.  Lovely - just what I wanted for Mother's Day.  Luckily it was on the hardwood floor so it was easy to clean up, but I will be very glad once she is really potty trained.

The rest of the morning was spent moving the office furniture into the basement and trying to get somewhat organized.  Then Lou's folks stopped by after lunch to see the kids and check out our almost completed basement.  It was a nice surprise.

Now if I could only figure out where all this paper in the office came from and where on earth I am going to put it all!

Haircut and Attitudes

Lexi has been peeing on the potty at least once a day which is pretty awesome.  Less awesome is the fit she throws after I determine that she has run around naked long enough and needs to put a diaper on before having some kind of accident on the floor.

Today we took the kids to pick out a tree to plant in the back yard.  Lexi threw a fit as we were leaving the first place we stopped at since she didn't want to get into her carseat.  So she was very quiet during the ride to Home Depot.  Luis thought she was falling asleep, but I said, "no, she's just mad at mommy".  I turned around to look at her and said, "right -you're just mad at mommy" and damn if she didn't look at me and then roll her eyes.  Luis saw it too and busted out laughing.  Seriously - at 18 months she's going to start rolling her eyes at me??  Neither of the boys have picked up that lovely attitude (yet).  Is it a girl thing?

Lexi finally had her first haircut on Thursday.  The ends kept getting tangled, so I wanted her to get a trim.  She looks adorable and even though I can't get the ponytails even, at least she has graduated to 2 (verses the one that made her look like a unicorn).

Nicolas is almost done his latest round of antibiotics for strep.  I swear someone in this house is always on medicine for something!  This is the third bout of strep Nicolas has had this year.  Its like a bad penny that keeps turning up.

Already?

Ok, so it has been a LONG time since I last posted. Here are the most relevant updates:

Basement project: Almost completed.  Cabinets will be installed on Wednesday this week and then all the other little things that are left can be completed.  Shew.

Job: I got laid off on March 1, with my final work day being March 31.  I haven't found a new job yet, working out the kinks in my resume with the consultants provided by IBM to help me find a new job.  Signed up for a PMP Certification class that runs next week- hopefully by the end I'll be a certified PMP.

Nicolas: Turned 5 on March 19 - holy cow that went by fast.  We had a great time celebrating with the family.  Poor Tyler didn't quite know what to think of his 3 crazy and non-stop cousins.  His favorite gifts seem to be the Trio buiding set and his new bike, although he has been using everything that he got.  Has had 2 bouts of strep throat, a minor stomach bug (on his birthday no less) and a double ear infection in the past month and a half.  Poor kid.

Jackson:  Currently has an ear infection, but is doing fine otherwise.  Is enjoying riding Nicolas' old bike now that he can reach the pedals.  Started soccer this past weekend. He is on the same team as Nicolas and is very excited to have his own pair of cleats. 

Alexis: Growing too fast for my liking.  Is in the 60% for height and 25% for weight.  I don't know how that works since she is a non-stop eater and eats just about anything I give her. (Except what she throws on the floor - I am very ready for that phase to be done!).  Has transitioned into the Toddler room at daycare.  Started speaking LOTS of words a few weeks ago and on Friday she finally started saying "Mommy" consistently.  Peed on the potty on Sunday and again this morning.  So proud of herself for doing that.  This morning she woke up with a dry diaper, and wanted to go on the potty where she peed, although I thought it might not have been that much.  I was right as less than 5 minutes later she peed a LOT in my pantry.  Awesome.  My own fault - I should have had her sit on the potty longer but she was so excited to show us all her pee (right before she put her hand in it).

Luis: Working hard as usual.  Thank goodness one of us has a job!  Already mowed the lawn once this year - his favorite chore.

I'm going to do my best to post at least a couple of times a week since so much seems to happen and I feel like I am missing so much when I can't get a chance to write down my thoughts.

Signs

Our little Lexi is quickly becoming not so little anymore.

Since I last posted (egads almost a month ago), she:
- Learned how to shake her finger back and forth, as if to say "no, no, no". 
- Became obsessed with monkeys, particularly the stuffed Curious George she has, but happily hugs & kisses any monkey (plastic, stuffed, etc.) that she comes across.
- Became quite proficient in self-feeding with a fork or spoon, although still requiring some assistance on occasion.
- Started to resemble cousin Itt if she pulls out her barrette or elastic
- Will sometimes blow her nose when asked (I don't remember the boys doing this until 2.5 - 3 years old!)
- Walks around saying "daddy" all day long

And to top off all this progress, she slept on a cot for the first time at school today.  She will be transitioning to the Toddler room starting at the end of March, so they want to make sure she won't have any issues and she apparently lay right down and slept for 2 hours on her new cot. 

Our little girl is growing up so quickly right before our eyes...

Trying to think in the box

Luis spent most of today running back and forth to various stores getting the necessary supplies so that we can finish sealing the concrete in the basement so that we can move forward with our plans on finishing that space.  So, I had the kids home with me for the majority of the day.  Sometime during the late morning the boys were playing in the livingroom and Lexi was busy wandering around the kitchen/dining room area while I washed some dishes.  All of a sudden I heard some rustling and then Lexi started crying.  I ran into the pantry where the noise seemed to be coming from, and was immediately confused since I didn't see her anywhere, even though I could hear her.

I looked down into the giant BJs box of single-serving chips that was half empty and found my darling daughter head-down in the potato chip box wriggling around to no avail since it was a fairly narrow box.  I have no idea how she got into the box, but there was no way she was getting out on her own.  I scooped her up and once she was safely outside the box all was well again.

Something tells me that won't be the last time I find her in a predicament like that one.

Sharing the Spirit of Christmas

My sweet darling boys woke up on Saturday morning almost back to their old selves.  They didn't eat too much, but were not longer getting sick and felt just fine enough to play and play and play with all their new toys and games.  Awesome!

And, since they are so sweet and darling, they were kind enough to share their sickness with me.  I knew around lunchtime that I was going to be in for it later.  I finally caved and crawled into bed around 2:00 or so.  The vomiting started at 3:30 and lasted about 12 hours, just like the boys.  I puked like clockwork every 2 hours.  And it wasn't pleasant in between the puking either.  I felt so sick I was doing almost anything to make myself get sick - like chug water and Sprite.  It did eventually work, but generally only moved the timeframe up by about 30 minutes or so.

I did feel well enough on Sunday morning to nurse Lexi around 6:30 since I hadn't vomited since about 3:00 and figured I was past the every 2 hour milestone and was feeling slightly better.  After cleaning the bathroom and a nice hot shower I was still feeling pretty drained, but at least no longer sick.

I just hope that Luis and Lexi are able to sidestep this one - it ain't no fun.

On a happier note, Lou's parents stopped over on Sunday afternoon to exchange gifts.  The boys were psyched to get the Bat Cave, which they had been talking about for weeks and were slightly disappointed since they didn't think they were going to get it.  Lexi was quite interested in the flushing potty noise of the Little People Happy Home and I got a beautiful baby blue cashmere sweater.  Luis got a nice merino wool sweater which he kidded his mother about saying it was the 5th year in a row that he had received one of those sweaters, all in the same color (and it is mostly true LOL).

By the time dinnertime rolled around I was even able to eat some food - yippee!  Maybe I'll use this to kickstart my diet.