Finally Finished!

I feel like I started this project months ago, I'm so happy it's finally done!! This was one of the first things I came across when I started reading decorating blogs, and I knew it would be prefect for the loads of artwork my kids make. I used spray paint for my frames (all of which I had already) and I got cute little clips in the scrapbook section of Michaels. I hung mine in the hallway, that way I get to see it all the time, but it's not too cluttered in the living room (I didn't think it would work well in the same room as my wall of photos). My kids have been up at my mom's for a few days, but they're coming home today and I'm sure the rest of the frames will be filled in before the end of the week, I just put up a few things I had been saving for now.
(Sorry for the bad picture, there wasn't much room to get a good shot.)



While I'm making a decorating post, here's a little something M and I made for her room... I think it turned out pretty cute and it adds a little something to her room. :)

Why can't it just be easy for once?

Well... I talked to the doctor and they decided to put N back on the same meds he was on before, but up the dose. She said if that doesn't work on it's own within a week they'll add a second med to the mix. The problem is, our insurance no longer covers it. By the time I figured that out the doctor's office was already closed, so I'll call them again tomorrow. For once I'd like something with this kid to be easy.


Did you notice I changed my blog around? I'm not sure I like it, but I clicked on the button to try it out and now I don't know how to get it back to how it was before. lol Oh well, I guess it was time for a change anyway... :)

Monday, Monday, Monday...

Mondays are not so crazy this summer, so I don't think the "Manic Monday" blog title really works right now, we'll see what the fall schedule brings... :)

Menu:
Monday- something easy for Matthew and I...
Tuesday- Just N & I, so I think I'll pick up take-out
Wednesday- something with potatoes?
Thursday- tacos
Friday- grilled chicken tenderloins (w/o the grill) and sweet potato fries
Saturday- chili (x2 and freeze half)
Sunday- 4th BBQ with friends at our house

To-Do's:
Monday- kids going up to Mom's, grocery shopping with N
Tuesday- Costco and Target with N
Wednesday- kids home, small group (bring dessert)
Thursday-
Friday-
Saturday-
Sunday- church, bbq here

My week looks nice and empty, but I actually have stuff planned, just not on set days. Here's the rest of my to-do list:
finally get my frames hung in the hallway (hopefully today!)
clean the outside chairs and kids' table
de-clutter
clean bathrooms
vacuum

Still not too busy of a week. I'm really looking forward to having just N for a couple days. I'm hoping I can really work on getting him on a good schedule. His naps are all over the place right now and I hate not knowing when he's going to go down or for how long. He's also been getting woken up (by R) at 5am and then he stays up after that some days, which doesn't help at all with the napping schedule, so I'm hoping that I can break him of that while the kids are at my mom's.

Not much of an update on where we are with N's doctors appointments yet. I talked to a nurse practitioner at the office on Friday and told her what Dr. Cody wanted to do (he was already on vacation). She said she'd talk to a doctor there and give me a call back today. Oh, she did tell me the official results of the upper GI (which were pretty much the same as they told me that day), everything looks normal, but he does have pretty bad reflux. So I'm guessing we'll start him on something for that sometime this week, but I'll post another update when I know for sure what's going on.

Better go plan my meals so I can come back and update this. lol

Crackers

I just gave N crackers for the first time the other day, think he liked them?

The Upper GI...

was not nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be!!
I went in with him (and got to wear lots of fun lead coverings) and changed him into a tiny hospital gown (cute, but sad at the same time). Then he laid down on the table and I gave him the bottle of contrast dye while the doctor took pictures. Luckily he liked the stuff and actually cried when we took it away. lol
The doctor said from what he saw everything looked normal, but he would look closer again after we left. He said N does have reflux (and then said "but all babies reflux"), so I'm thinking that Dr. Cody will probably have us try a different reflux med next.
I'm glad we went ahead and did it so we know there isn't something else going on in there. Hopefully getting him on the right med will help him keep the calories down!

Completely unrelated, here are a few cute pictures I took of him in the tub the other night (I do have more, but it took me over an hour to edit these two, so that's all you get tonight). We just moved him to the big tub a couple weeks ago and he LOVES IT!!! It's so fun to watch him sit in there and kick and splash like crazy. :)

R Funnies

I'll be back in a bit with a little update on N, but I wanted to jot these down really quickly before I forget (both said within 10 minutes of each other tonight).

After talking about how he wants a mow-hawk again tomorrow because the one I did today isn't high enough, "Mom, you need mow-hawk lessons."

I asked him if he was feeling okay before bed and he said "right here doesn't feel good" (pointing to his neck). I asked why and he told me it was because that's his dessert spot and it has been empty for too long. He then said he needs a cookie "this big" (showing me his hands) to fill it tomorrow.

I sure love that boy. Even when he makes me crazy and I don't know how to get him to obey, he's so sweet and so funny and I'm so glad I get to be his mommy. :)

No News Yet...

I know some of you are probably waiting to hear what's going on with N. We're still waiting on insurance to authorize the UGI. Hopefully we'll be able to get it done Tuesday or Wednesday so the doctor can see it before he goes on vacation for 2 weeks...

Other than that we've all been SICK! R got the flu Wednesday middle of the night and has thrown up once a day since then. I got super sick Saturday at 5am and it lasted about 24 hours before I started to feel slightly better. Then M started puking last night at 10:30 and it kept up every half hour until 9am. I'm SO TIRED of us being sick all the time. I feel like we cannot catch a break with these germs. I'm just praying Matthew and N don't get it!!

So yeah, no Monday menu or plans for the week. Our menu will consist of mostly beige foods and our plans are to lay around and watch movies and nap (besides hopefully taking N for the UGI at some point...).

Update On N's Weight

M had an appointment this morning with Dr. Cody, so I mentioned that I was concerned about waiting 3 months to see what happens with N's weight. He went and checked his chart and as soon as he saw it he said he wanted x-rays done on his stomach. I told him how N doesn't spit-up breast milk as much now that I'm not eating dairy, but he is spitting-up quite a bit after a solid meal, and that concerned him. He thinks there might be a web (??) in his stomach and that's what the x-ray will be looking for. If that's not the case he wants to try him on a different reflux med than we tried before. He did say that he thinks N isn't keeping enough calories down and we need to get more in him, but he's not having me do anything different at this point.
I'm still not sure if I'm doing the right thing putting him through all of this, but I really do trust the doctor we saw today. *sigh* being a parent is so hard.

Two things off the to-do list

Now I just need to figure out how to cross them off with html. lol

I liked what all 3 of them were wearing today, so I decided to take some pictures of them. Here are my favorites...



I'd like to get some outside at some point this summer, but it was too windy and cold today, and I didn't want to put that much effort in. lol

I also managed to get M's room cleaned up. It didn't need much, I just went through both kids' rooms not too long ago, but there were some things that needed some extra attention. I'm much happier when I walk buy and look in there now that I can't see clutter from the doorway. :)

Trying to decide if I'm worried

Well, N had his 9 month appointment yesterday and he's now below the 3rd percentile for weight. He weighs 16lbs, 10ozs now. We saw a doctor that we don't normally see, and all he said about his weight gain (or lack there of) is "he's a little skinny, is he eating okay?" I didn't even realize until I got home and looked at the printout they gave me that he was not even on the chart anymore.

So, on one hand I'm thinking he's fine. He eats well, has plenty of wet diapers, is happy and looks healthy. But, on the other hand, here are his weight percentiles from the time he was born:
6 days- 56%
12 days- 61%
20 days- 54%
22 days- 56%
5 weeks-53%
9 weeks- 38%
10 weeks- 32%
4 months- 15%
4.5 months- 15%
6 months- 10%
7.5 months- 7%
8.5 months- 3%
9 months <3%
I know charts and percentiles aren't always the best way to judge how things are going, but watching that number keep dropping scares me.

M has an appointment on Friday with (IMO) the best doctor there, so I think I've decided that I will ask him if he thinks I should bring N back in. I hate to ask about N when it's not his appointment, but I think it's okay to ask if he thinks N should be seen again. I don't know...

His height is still slowing down too, but not as fast as his weight (and I'm pretty sure the nurse didn't get a very accurate measurement, he was twisting around when she took it). He's 27.5" now which is 23rd%.
His head is huge, 75th% (which also makes me worried, but I think it's just me being a worrier with that one).

Other than growth he's doing well. He still seems slower than the other two with meeting his milestones, but not so slow that I'm worried. He's sitting pretty well now and starting to try to crawl forward to grab things out of reach. He stands very well while we hold him up and has just started trying to pull up on anything he can get his hands on (which isn't much yet because he's not crawling). I think he'll have the crawling thing mastered pretty soon though, he's getting much more comfortable on his tummy and is starting to get up on all fours (and he rocks a ton!).
He's very verbal now too. He says "Dada", "Mama", and I've caught "hi" a couple times (but I'm not sure he knows what they mean yet). He also babbles random sounds all the time, and copies the kids if they're screaming (yay) or playing peek-a-boo (he'll say "boo").
He loves food and gets very mad if we don't give him something while we're eating. His favorites so far are fruits, bread, and chicken. I love being able to feed him little bits of things now and watch his reaction. He had melon last weekend and LOVED it, and I gave him broccoli last night which he was not a fan of.

So, he seems to be fine, but I'm just not sure about that weight. I don't know what else we could do though. He nurses on demand during the day and is up to two solid meals now (and it's not like he acts hungry all the time). I've gotten his spitting up to slow down quite a bit with my no-dairy diet, so I don't think it's that... I'm smaller, and it could be that he's just taking after me...
Like I said, I'm not sure if I'm worried about it or not at this point (and even after typing this all out I'm still just as undecided).

Because I needed another list

Like I don't have enough lists going already, hu? lol
I may make this one more of an ongoing to-do list of projects I'm wanting to do soon, we'll see. :)

Things I want to get done this summer:

Take a great picture of all 3 kids
Clean the refrigerator
Clean/organize hall closet
Clean out M's room
Decorate shelves (that I'm still waiting on, July hopefully!) and get art supplies organized!!
Finish frame project in hallway
Get shelves with wedding photos up in our bedroom
Plant blueberry bushes (I think this one has gone on every list I've made, lol)

Manic Monday

Whew, what a day! All day long I felt like I was trying my hardest to get things done, but not getting anywhere. I needed to go to the grocery store, finally made it out the door with all 3 kids in tow a little after 12, drove to the gas station first, but it was super busy and I didn't want to wait, so I left and went to Safeway. Got a great parking spot and went to grab my purse only to realize I'd left it at home. Had to come back home and start all over. And that pretty much sums up how my whole day went. I did manage to get a few things done this afternoon, but not as much as I'd hoped to.
Anyway...

Menu:
Monday- TJ's butternut squash soup (won't be buying that kind again!) with french bread
Tuesday- Tacos (again)
Wednesday- appetizers at small group... 7 layer dip (with some made without the dairy for me)
Thursday- pasta and broccoli
Friday- out, mac-n-cheese for the kidlets
Saturday- BBQ?
Sunday- no clue yet

To-Do's:
Monday- get settled in after being gone for 3 days (not out of town, just gone all day), grocery shopping
Tuesday- 9 month appointment for N, trip to Target and other errands in town??
Wednesday- Errands if I don't get to them, small group
Thursday- nothing at the moment, maybe we'll check of "be lazy" on our summer list?
Friday- 10 year high school reunion
Saturday- reunion family party, possibly another party to stop buy
Sunday- church, costco, father's day stuff

School's Out For The Summer!

I have a love/hate relationship with putting these first day/last day pictures side by side. It's so much fun to see how much the kids have changed and grown during the year, but it makes me a little bit sad to see just how fast they're growing and how much they're changing each year. The days are long but the years are short!!
(click to make the pictures bigger)

M, first day/last day- 1st grade


I think the biggest change for M is that she decided (last week) that she wanted to grow her bangs out and she's been pulling them back now. I can't believe she's at the age where she's doing her own hair and deciding how she wants it already.


R, first day/last day- PreK


R's last day was actually yesterday. He was supposed to have a picnic today, but they canceled it due to rain, poor guy. I let him eat his lunch on a blanket on the living room floor instead. lol


All the kids, first day/last day :)



Teacher gifts this year (got the topper here)

Our Summer List

Yet another idea I found in blogland... this one is here. I think she fit a lot more on hers than we did, but oh well. I saw this idea after I'd posted about wanting to really enjoy the summer with my kids, and I thought this would help. The kids and I took turns picking things we wanted to do this summer, all fun stuff, I have a whole other list of (maybe not so fun) things I want to get done this summer. It's now hanging in the dining room, we may have to move it once my shelves get made, but that won't happen until July.

Blue-eyed boy and a little project

Just a cute one of N that didn't fit into my other posts...



He's being a pill lately! He won't let me out of his sight at all without screaming, even if one of the kids is sitting with him. Pretty much the only time I get to put him down all day is during nap time and if he's sitting in the high chair eating. Other than that he screams if he's set down (unless I sit on the floor with him). Neither of my other kids had separation anxiety like this. By the end of the day all I want to do is hand him off to Matthew so I can do something with both hands, it's exhausting!! I do love that he loves me so much he doesn't want to be without me though. :)


In other news... here's a little bit of cuteness I've added to the house in the last week. I saw the idea for the gumballs here, and I happened to find that picture when I was digging through my boxes of frames for another (yet to be completed) project. Eventually I want to put this on my shelves in the dinning room, but they don't exist yet, so on top of my desk it is for now. Sorry for the bad picture, the lighting hasn't been great with all the RAIN we're still having, and I didn't want to wait any longer to take the picture.

Ballet

M had her ballet performance on June 6th. She was a rainbow sprite, and pretty much the only one in her class who was paying attention during the dance. lol We weren't aloud to take pictures during the show, but here are a few I took right before we left the house.






Next year she's either going to be moved up to the right age group for ballet or she might take Latin Dance through the same studio. Either way she'll be with kids her own age, which I think will make it a lot more fun. She did enjoy it this year, but the social aspect wasn't there at all for her, and she's normally so social.

Graduation

N is napping so I'm going to try to get caught up...

R's preschool graduation was on June 3rd. There were only 8 kids graduating from his preschool this year, so it was a nice small ceremony (unlike past years). On a side note, I just read that 2005 (the year R was born) was a low birth year, and kindergarten registration is down because of it, so it sounds like he'll always have a smaller class all together (I'm sure it won't change is actual kindergarten class size).
On to the pictures... :)

waiting at the door to come in



with his friend C (who he has a little bit of a crush on)



getting his diploma







The goofy boy I live with :)




Here is what R's teachers said about him when they gave him his diploma:

R enjoys expressing himself in different ways. When he is really energetic, he enjoys dancing with is friends while listening to music and he also loves to play outside. When he is a bit mellow, drawing and coloring are his activity of choice.
R is enthusiastic about learning, does not easily give up, and is eager to try new things. It has been our delight to have R here at NA (preschool) and we wish him the very best in kindergarten.

T-ball

R's last t-ball game was June 1st, and it was a perfect night for it!! Unusually warm, to the point where we didn't even need sweatshirts until the end of the game. He had a lot of fun playing this season, even though half of his games were rained out, and it was fun to watch him improve. Here are a few pictures of R playing...



I love this one of him running, if you look closely you can see the smile on his face. :)






Of course, as I type this post he's sitting on the couch with "two strikes" already before 9am (three strikes and he's grounded). He's been so difficult lately and I really don't know what to do with him. He's been flat out not obeying us, even saying "no, I won't" when told to do something, and now he's lying. He spent a day grounded to his room earlier this week for drawing all over the bathroom and then lying about it, and I'm betting he'll be grounded again before the end of the day with the way he's acting this morning. It makes me so sad. He use to be my easy one, he was the easiest baby out of the 3, and such a fun little guy, but now he's SO hard. I want to enjoy him, but I find it very hard these days. I'm praying for wisdom all the time, but I just don't know if what I'm doing is right or if there's a better way to teach him to obey and show respect. *sigh* Parenting is always so hard.

Catching up... some pictures

I just edited a TON of pictures, but I'm not going to post them all tonight, I need to get to bed! Hopefully having them all ready to go will help me get them on here sooner though.
So, let's see... I have to go back to MAY for some of these, I've been so lazy about opening photoshop unless I absolutely have to, it's just running too slow and it makes my blood pressure go up every time I have to use it.
Anyway...

Our church had this little set put out a few weeks ago...



Of course, I'm the only dork in our family picture who actually did a surfing pose. lol


N had peaches for the first time, they were a little sour (but he still liked them). I love this face I caught! I never did end up making any fruits into baby food and freezing, he's moving onto table food now, so I've just been cutting them up into chunks. He's still working on the veggies I have stored in the fridge, but I think he'd be fine on just table food at this point.


Did I mention he has a tooth now?!? He's my latest teether, beating M out by over a month (R cut his first tooth at 4 months). It came in on Memorial weekend, and he was very fussy the whole week before (but he was also pretty sick, so I'm waiting on this next tooth to see how hard teething is really going to be).
It's pretty cute though, I'll have to try to get a picture of it soon, it's really starting to stick up.

And one last picture for tonight of the big kids, I love the bright colors, it's so summery (unlike our rainy weather lately, ugg!!)

Manic Monday

The last Monday of the school year, I can't believe it!!

Menu for the week:
Monday- family dinner, Costco chicken salads I think
Tuesday- tacos
Wednesday- pasta with meat sauce
Thursday- pancakes (at the request of M to celebrate the last day of school)
Friday- something easy :)
Saturday- @ mom's??
Sunday- @ moms or something with chicken

Weekly to-dos:
Monday- school, groceries, pick up R, lunch, pick up M, ballet (last class, cast party), family dinner
Tuesday- get teacher gifts together, pick up poster board for summer list
Wednesday- enjoy my last day with just N before summer :)
Thursday- picnic at the park for R's preschool, M gets out early
Friday- up to Mom's to hang out with extended family
Saturday- back up to Mom's...
Sunday- N gets dedicated @ church, up to Mom's after?


Things are starting to settle down a little this week. We're done with t-ball so that frees up the evenings a bit. I think I'm crazy and I have signed both kids up for soccer in the fall, plus M will be doing either ballet again or Latin dance through the same company. Crazy I tell you... I might have to change the name of my blog. :) But, this is exactly what I had in mind 8 years ago when we decided to start a family, and I feel so blessed. :)
I'm really looking forward to this summer. One of my friends said the other night that we only get 18 summers with out kids before they're grown, and that really made me think. I don't want to waist any of this summer. They're growing up so fast, and they're so busy during the school year, and even have homework during school breaks now (not summer, but Christmas and stuff), so I want to really make the most of this time with them.

I'll be back later this week with R's grad pics and M in her ballet costume. :)

30 by 30

I've seen this done on a few different blogs and thought it sounded like fun. Yes, I'm only 28, not 29, but I figured I'd give myself a year and a half for some of these things. :)

30 things I want to do before I'm 30:

1. learn how to tie a nice bow FAIL (I tried a few different tutorials and never could figure it out)
2. grow herbs in pots in my kitchen window
3. plant a tree in our yard just waiting on our apple tree to be ready to transplant into the ground
4. go on a vacation with just Matthew FAIL :(
5. hire someone to take our family photos
6. plant blueberries in our backyard
7. find a good thrift store to shop FAIL (but I don't really want to anymore)
8. go on a shopping weekend away with my mom
9. hang wedding pictures in bedroom
10. take kids to Disneyland We're going in April, I'm calling this one good. :)
11. be done having kids
12.take a cake/cookie (frosting) decorating class FAIL would still like to do this!
13. make at least one new (different) decoration fro the front door
14. modge podge something
15. start volunteering in the kids' classrooms more regularly FAIL hopefully next year when N's in preschool, there's just no way I can do it with him
16. plant hydrangeas
17. exercise more regularly
18. get a new computer
19. get a flash for my camera and learn how to shoot with it FAIL
20. by a new couch
21. build a wardrobe I like
22. finish (and print) another year scrapbook BIG FAIL I've now made this a 2012 goal, hopefully I can do it!!
23. get new bedding for our bed
24. put more shelves and decorations up in living room
25. get over my fear and learn cook something with yeast (like these breadsticks) FAIL
26. paint the bookshelf white FAIL
27. refinish table and paint chairs 1/2 FAIL 2 chairs done, lol
28. learn how to make homemade pasta sauce
29. paint chair red
30. finish making this list!

May's Thankful List

I'm thankful for...

5.1- tissue paper flowers
5.2-
5.3-
5.4-
5.5-
5.6-
5.7- Friday Night Lights starting back up!
5.8- an enjoyable day with my family
5.9- these 3 little people who made me a mommy
5.10- low blood pressure
5.11- fun things in my mail box
5.12- finding a tray
5.13- leftover Easter candy
5.14- a little boy who said "mama"
5.15- a solid NINE hours of sleep for me!
5.16- a visit with family
5.17- being a little lazy
5.18- batteries
5.19- at least one kid being easy and fun to be around (that would be M)
5.20- a comfy bed to crawl into
5.21- mom's night out!
5.22- not having to leave the house once today
5.23- getting some stuff done (or at least started)
5.24- 72 little green army men that are keeping R entertained
5.25- a trip to Target
5.26- a nap that lasted well over 20 minutes
5.27- photoshop not running like molasses when I needed to get something done
5.28- being able to get N in to see the peds even though it's Friday before a 3 day weekend
5.29- having Matthew home with us all day
5.30- how blessed I am :)
5.31- a 3-day weekend!