Wednesday, April 30, 2008

To the Pedes... again.

Well, today we are off to the Pediatrician. When Micaela gets out of school we will take Lara to have her ears checked. Last week, during registration, the school nurse talked to me about Lara's ears and told me that she actually failed her hearing test. The nurse broke out the otoscope and, upon examination, she said that the tympanic membrane inside of Lara's right ear was "flat" (which can indicate fluid in the eardrum or a perforation) and said that Lara's left ear was severely swollen. All of this may be due to a recent spate with a prolonged ear infection. She also had massive amounts of snotter dotters (yes, that's what we call nasal mucus in our home, aka "boogies") in her head that may have been clogging everything up and creating undue amounts of pressure inside her cranium. So while Lara should have been able to hear things at a level of 25 decibels she was straining to hear beeps at 40 decibels and was totally zoned out between 30 and 35 decibels.

I am not particularly worried about the situation, she seems to hear just fine to me. She can be watching a cartoon and hear me whisper her name from across the room, so I'm thinking it was a one time occurrence. You can never be too safe though so we'll take her to have her ears examined and, hopefully, rule out any hearing loss.

I'll report on the results later this week. :)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Super Scoop!

For those of you who didn't know, today Ben and Jerry's is offering a free cone! Check here to find out if they offer a free cone at your local shop!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

The sugar plum girl

Well, DH finally found the camera! all of the pictures stored on it were fairly cheesy... and blurry. I do covet those with fancy cameras and I always say that I want/need a better camera but when it comes right down to it, I am SOOOOO bad about being consistent with my picture taking. I go in spurts of taking a picture of anything and everything that I see for a couple days and then the camera goes in the case and doesn't see the light of day for a few months. Yes, months. We really are that bad. Little Sugar Plum Girl is more than a year old and we've not taken a single family photo. Heck, #2 is four and a half years old and we have never ONCE had her portraits taken. We are crappy parents. Supremely crappy parents. Hopefully one day my little girls will forgive our irresponsibility.

Annnnyyyyyhow, here's a super cheesy photo of the Sugar Plum Gurrrrrrruhl! This was right around her first birthday and while I think this looks nothing like her I found it irresistible in it's goofy appeal and felt compelled to share with you all!

Friday, April 25, 2008

It's Daddy's Turn Tonight

This evening DH got to take #1 to school for "Fun Night". It's the last fun night of the year and tonight's event is the culmination of a full day's worth of school spirit filled activities; games, crafts, snacks, a BOGO book fair and to top it all off like a cherry on top of the sundae, she will walk away with a t-shirt in the school's colors: black and orange.

I don't remember ever going to any events like this with my parents but I feel privileged that my husband and I are able to take part in these fun activities with our girls and I look forward to doing the same with BOTH of my school aged girls next year. I think it's great to get the kids out and involved and it's especially nice that hubbie and I can take turns at it. Tonight #1 is getting some precious father-daughter bonding time and the two little ones are home with me... which is nothing new, but it's nice to have an evening to ourselves. ;)

I keep telling myself that these days won't last forever and while I find myself drinking in all that each day has to offer, I still feel as though I take entirely too much for granted. My little girls are already turning into productive members of society and I couldn't rightly tell you when it even started to happen! Ahh, how I LOVE my family!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

And then there was One.



Yesterday I packed up my two youngest and off we headed to Kindergarten registration. It hardly seems right that my middle child will be entering school this fall. #2 has made herself a very large soft spot in my heart and I still think of her as my baby... she is definitely her mama's girl. While she has become much more independent in recent times, she is a solace seeker--and usually she finds her comfort with her Mommy. I am sure that school will help her to gain some independence, but she'll always be my little baby--even with Little One around, I still tell all of my girls that they'll always be my babies. They laugh, I get a little wistful. All I can think of is an old Dr. Seuss book:

"Oh the places you'll go..."

Monday, April 21, 2008

Do you expect any less from me?

Fresh in from NJ, we're happy to be home and diving back into our routine, but we MISS our friends!! I know that there will be no surprise when I tell you all that we forgot to take our camera. Actually, I thought I'd put it into DH's backpack as we were leaving little one's birthday party last week and we hadn't taken it out yet but alas, when we got to our friends' place this week, no camera was to be found in the bag. :( And I hadn't started up on the ol' Kodak in the diaper bag yet so I was really out of luck...



On the up side of things, we surprised the kids and my oldest daughter got to meet Nat and Alex from the Naked Brothers Band this weekend and had her picture taken with them and she and my middle girl got autographed posters. Needless to say, they were thrilled! To the fantastic couple who made the whole occasion possible, THANK YOU Tracy and Christine!!

The whole weekend really was fantastic, I couldn't be any happier. Any time that we visit we have great fun; our kids play well together and love each other, we all get along great and whether we get a sitter for the little ones and head out for the evening or we settle in for a quiet movie night or even hang out while washing dishes, run over to Target for bubbles, or spend a couple hours looking for to owners of a stray miniature doxon who frightens police officers, we always feel right at home together and absolutely LOVE each others' company. It really is nice to have such wonderful friends--I could go on for hours talking about the Ferschies! They're just great people and anyone who gets a chance to hang out with them is blessed! We're hoping to celebrate our independence and patriotism with them on the Fourth of July, hopefully I remember my camera then!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Good Friends, Good Times


We've certainly been missing our friends these days! This evening we're off to visit some of our DEAREST friends and I think that even distance and time will never fade that special bond we all share; it's the girls only club!!! They have 4 beautiful girls and when coupled with our 3, they're a powerful force to be reckoned with!

Well, as you all know, I'm HORRIBLE at getting photos and actually sharing them so this time I'm going to post a preview photo--here are my girls' "Bestest Friends" along with Mel, one of my "favoritest friends!"

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Away to park we go!

Yesterday we took a walk in the afternoon, just to get out of the house. It was beautiful outside and I couldn't see keeping the kids cooped up in the house, I think we ALL needed to get out. So off we went to drop off a small bag of random kid stuff to one of my neighbors.

After leaving a plastic amalgamation of little kiddo socks, smocks and I'm not sure what else precariously dangling on her doorknob we started to trot off. We didn't have any real direction of where we were headed, other than away from our place. That wouldn't last too long though, I thought, as I adjusted the straps to the infant carrier that has Hailey plastered to my lumpy abdomen.

"Hey, girl!" The proclamation came from my side and as I glanced over I saw my neighbor's cute little boy come running up to see who was hanging out in the street in front of his house. As it turns out my neighbor was taking her little ones for a walk too. So we meandered off to the park at the elementary school and let our little ones hash it out in the sandbox and on the very peaks of "castle park" for an hour or so. It was GREAT to be out of doors, to let the kids play and to get some adult conversation all at the same time.

If only I could remember to take the camera along on these jaunts. I think I'm going to stuff my OOOOOOOOLD digital camera in my diaper bag and leave it there for these types of occasions. It's some granny-style Kodak easy something or another from about 5 years ago but heck, it'll do the trick. Besides, it's better than nothing.

Now I just have to remember the batteries... ;)

Monday, April 14, 2008

Spring Break has OFFICIALLY Started

Any time that the child gets a chance, she seems to enjoy correcting me. She has to be very precise you see.

"Hey, kiddo, can you get the baby a couple of her baby snacks, please?"

"A couple means two," she'll declare as she heads to the pantry. I start to envision her opening the whole container of little banana shaped puffs and pulling out just two for the infant to whet her appetite on. Not good.

"I meant a few then, just give her some. Thank you."

She flick off the pantry light and head for the high chair proclaiming, "A few means three," as she pops a puff into her mouth. "Mmm, tastes like bananas."

"Just give her a handful then, you know what to do. Be Mommy's helper while I'm washing the dishes..." As if she could hear the frustration in my voice and sense that I'm beginning to crack she typically just has to go in and finish the job off:

"OK, Mom. I've got it. Does my beeeeby weeeeby want some wittle beeeeby snacks? Here ya go, Hay-yuh-lee!!" And with that she dumps half of the container of puffs out onto the highchair tray.

Anyhow, this morning when she would typically be getting ready for school she was instead bouncing on my bed asking why there were toys in my closet. You know the ones, the small pointy ones you step on when you're en route to the lou at 2 a.m. and invariable end up whisper-shouting "Fudgesicles, fudgesicles oooooooohhhhhhhwheee like the DICKENS that hurt!" Through it all your eyes are nearly shut so you can't see what toy found you but you'll never forget the impression it has left. The whole time you're peeing you're plotting war against the toys. So I told the kids months ago that whatever they didn't have room to put away they didn't need. And with that, several small tubs of fisher price animals made their way into my closet.

"I put your toys that you didn't have room for in my closet. If you can keep your toys put away neatly, you can have them back." The whole time I'm saying this, I'm thinking of their wooden blocks that they play with several times each day. Heaven forbid that I need something in their room when they've got those suckers out. They pretty much carpet the room with them, building towns and roads and bridges, etc. I'll tell ya, it's like intentionally walking across a bed of crushed glass trying to get to the diapers. "You really need to put these blocks away, NOW."

"But we're playing with them, Mommy!" A wail from the ballerina princess wielding a pink pony prompts my response:

"You're playing ponies, honey... c'mon, I'll even help you."

"But, but, but we're building houses for the ponies and their friends!"

Sure enough, if you move a couple blocks you'll find that each of those mounds was actually a home to a cherished Littlest Pet. I relent and retreat muttering something to the effect of "my mistake."

All that to say this: Now that we have reached the first day that Micaela should have been in school were it not spring break, she conceded to me that "NOW it's spring break." And not a one of my children let me sleep in for an extra wink this morning. :)

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Happy, Happy Day to You!

Hailey celebrated her first birthday on Thursday and we celebrated with the whole family yesterday. It was great fun and the kids all enjoyed themselves. Hailey particularly enjoyed the cake... as did her hair and her toes. She did not, however, care for the bath that followed the cake. Now if I could only get my camera out of DH's backpack I would share photos with you!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Fun little test




Ran across this on a blog this morning, thought I'd share it with you all... see where you rate! I took the test a few times and here's how I measured up:

74 words

Speed test



According to that test, I type 68 wpm while talking to my 4 year old, 57 wpm while holding and nursing my 1 year old. My greatest level of success however is in typing while listening to my little ones babble along and dance with "Dark Pink Pony"; 74 wpm, baby!!

Tardy or Absent?

I guess I've been both! I have been slow in posting and the past two weeks I've been entirely absent! I'll try to be better, I promise!

We celebrated Hailey's first birthday quietly last night and we'll be doing the family shin-dig on Saturday. I'll post pictures then--she's growing sooooo quickly!

Well, I'm off to early morning laundry at the laundromat; don't kill me with your envy!