Lex has a loose tooth! Eek! He’s growing up so fast. It’s the bottom, front one, right next to his gap. There is a big tooth growing in the gap and I’m sure it’s pushing those babies out. He told me this morning that I hurt his tooth with the toothbrush. When I checked things out, there it was, wiggling back and forth. I tried to take a picture of it today but he isn’t very excited and didn’t want to show it off. Oh well, maybe another time. This will be a whole new experience in parenting!
Happy 5th Birthday to my boy today! Where does the time go?! There are periods of my life that I have totally forgotten, and then there are days that I remember in full detail. Five years ago today was one of those days. We ended up holding a tiny baby boy that night, a boy that would change our lives, and now here we are, five years later, with a big kid! A sweet, helpful, strong-willed, intelligent, smiley big kid. I feel very fortunate today. (’cause it’s all about me, you know!)
We had pancakes for breakfast and I made him a silly card (crayons and construction paper at 11:30 last night!) to start his day off right. No presents, yet. Alan has a geeky one for him this afternoon. I’ll let Alan tell you all about it some other time. Lex took his “moon rocks” to school and everyone was wishing him a Happy Birthday. He was super proud, and thrilled when his teacher noticed his shorts and t-shirt. Eve and I made cupcakes this morning and we’ll have them at snack time. Alan and Lex are going to an energy meeting tonight. They are both excited. Eve and I are going grocery shopping, and a little less excited :) I need to start planning for the birthday party (non-party) this weekend. I think I’m going to stop at the balloon store while we’re out today. That will make him happy :)
Happy 5th Birthday Lex!
The birthday boy with his proud little sister
A little morning artwork. He drew a house and a tree, then a boy climbing the tree and smiling sun. I love it!
Lex had his kindergarten orientation today. It was rather uneventful. He was “excited and just a little bit nervous” as we got to school. I told him there would be four kids in his group so he got a little bit more nervous when he saw a parking lot full of cars. I guess I had forgotten to tell him it was a school day and there would be four in his group, but a whole school full of kids as well. He did fine. They brought my into a room to do paperwork and he went away happily with the principal. Afterwards he told me he built a block tower with someone and did some other things, but he couldn’t remember what. His favorite part was that he got an extra snack today! They had graham crackers and apple juice. He told me he said no thank you to the apple juice and they let him get a drink of water from the fountain instead. He was a little sad that they wouldn’t give him another graham cracker (probably didn’t have enough time), but I bought him some at the store today and he was thrilled :) Sometimes it’s the easy things that are the best. Anyway, a non-eventful event, I suppose. He seems to be no more or less excited about kindergarten in the fall. I think he still wants to stay at pre-k. :)
I realize this is a week late. I wanted to write a nice Happy Anniversary post, but on our actual 10 year anniversary I was in a less than celebratory mood. However, I do want to write the post.
Last Tuesday Alan and I celebrated our 10th anniversary and my parents celebrated their 30th! Happy Anniversary!! Marriage is such a complex thing, it truly feels like an accomplishment to be together, and happy!, after 10+ years and still wanting more. I have lots of deep, sappy thoughts flitting through my head but sadly I’m not eloquent enough to capture them. Sigh. So instead I will say thank you to my parents for modeling a strong marriage, through the good and the bad, and to my husband for standing by my side. Always. I am a very fortunate woman to have such love and strength all around me. Happy Anniversary and here’s to many, many more!!
A goofy picture on a super windy day at Syracuse University... where it all began!
My lovely parents after a busy weekend chasing the kids. Thank you!!!!
Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Eve… Happy Birthday to you!!
Here are her small presents from us. I like to leave them little surprises for their birthdays.
She said,"Ohh... what is this?"
The kids had pretend cake while I made breakfast. I also got her an apron, but she said, "I don't need an apron mom, it's just pretend food!"
Today we celebrated Eve’s 3rd birthday. My baby is growing up! I made her another birthday cake (red velvet with raspberry butter cream frosting and chocolate bunnies). I made a small cake for the family and 12 cupcakes to take to a playdate this morning. We ate cupcakes at 9am with friends. It was fun. Yesterday Lex was very upset that I wouldn’t let him stay home from school. He had it in his head that we were having another party for Eve and almost cried when he realized that our family and friends were not coming back today. It was sad. He decided to go to school and told EVERYONE that it was her birthday. She wore her birthday crown to school too, so it was pretty obvious. His teacher said he’s been talking about it all week :) After lunch and naps (good naps from both of them!) we went to the aquatic center for Lex’s lessons. Eve and I swam and we all had fun. They were both really tired though! We ended up leaving after an hour because Eve was crying (some kids bumped into her on the slide) and she said she wanted to go home now. Then Alan and I subjected ourselves to some parental torture and took two exhausted kids out to a crowded restaurant for dinner. Eve’s choice, but in hindsight we all would have had more fun (and at least three of us would have eaten better) if we had just gone home. Oh well. Once home it was past bedtime but I had pink and red cake in the fridge, so we sang Happy Birthday and had cake. It was a long day! :) Luckily they went to bed with minimum fuss and I hope to be in bed soon too!
Yumm.... red cake :)
A big three year old bite of red cake!
Red velvet cake (a very unnatural color!), with pink raspberry butter cream frosting and Annie's chocolate bunny decorations.
We celebrated Eve’s birthday this weekend. A good time was had by all. As usual we had a crowded house and sugared up kids. She wanted a chocolate party, which is hard to do for a three year old! I think it went well though. My nauseous stomach even cooperated that day, though it was back in force the next day. The party continued into Sunday and by last night we were all exhausted! Today the kids both eagerly took naps and I napped the entire time with them. Whewh! One more recovery day and then a mini party for her actual birthday on Wednesday. Just one more day until she is a big three year old!
I’ll let the photos tell the party story…
My lovely fruit platter to balance out the chocolate fest.
The birthday girl in a new party dress from Grammy Lynn.
The cake this year was in flux right up to the end. Eve and I had a cupcake thing all planned out, then about a week before the party, she started insisting on cake instead. Turns out she wanted the EXACT same cake as our friend Dylan had at his party. We settled on a different style of cake, but the day before the party I realized I didn't have the right pans. Ugh. Back to cupcakes. I had this vision in mind so I made cupcakes and cookies the day before and during naptime on party day my dad helped me set them all up. Then Rachel came in and suggested putting jelly beans on top. Genius! A complete team effort that turned out really cute, and delicious! Thanks all!!
Eve and her balloon, which she calls Tommy. She REALLY wanted this balloon and was asking about it for weeks. It was a big hit at the party.
I took a ton of pictures of these pretty girls sitting together. Caitlin, Eve, and Molly.
One more of the three of them.
Kitty. Eve loves, LOVES, soft cuddly things.
I like this picture because it looks like she's saying "ooohhh" :)
Molly was trying to be helpful and put ALL of Eve's new hair bands on her head at once. Eve was not impressed.
Look at how excited Dylan and Eve look! They are so cute!
Chocolate covered Caitlin
Who is this crazy doctor!?
Doctor Eve gives Molly a flu shot. Eve likes to make sure EVERYONE (people, animals, toys, etc.) gets flu shots daily.
Totally coincidentally, the leftover cupcakes left a message.
At breakfast the next morning Eve works VERY hard to cut her pancakes.
I’m a little nervous to write this and jinx us, but Lex has now gone six nights in a row without wetting the bed! Could he possibly be done with diapers? He has been marking D on his calendar each morning that he wakes up with a dry diaper and Alan told him that when he gets four Ds in a row he can try sleeping with no diaper. This week that happened! And then two dry, diaper-free nights followed! Yesterday Alan promised Lex a trip to the playground today if he had another dry night. This morning Lex was dry but the weather outside was most certainly not. Somehow, in Lex’s mind, that reward trip to the playground morphed into a trip to the “ice cream store” (the village store) and then when Alan woke up the plan became lunch at Friendly’s with ice cream to follow. I suggested a trip to the science museum afterwards to burn off the ice cream! The boys went out and had a great time! Eve wanted to go, but Lex decided this was his special treat (which was fine because she really needed a nap anyway). She was sad to see them go. Here’s a little video. Sorry again for the sideways.
Eve watching the boys drive away. She decided she need to wear Lex's hat and mittens to wave goodbye :)
We had fun, somewhat, at home without them. I was pretty tired so we ended up cuddling in the big bed and taking a nap together. Morning sickness and exhaustion both hit this week and I’ve been happily napping with the kids each day. I love naptime! I woke up and exercised and Eve woke up an hour later in tears because I wasn’t in bed with her anymore. Oops! A few cuddles later she was fine.
Anyway, back to Lex… done with diapers? I’ll keep you posted! (and I’m sure I’m ruining it just by writing this!)
Eve had her first swimming lesson today and boy was she excited! This is her first lesson with the “big kids” instead of the Mommy and Me group. She has three other kids in her class, two boys and a girl. I was worried about her jumping off the ledge when the teacher isn’t looking, but she only did it twice and all the other kids did too. She is the smallest and youngest in her group. The age cut-off is 3yrs and she’s a month shy, but the teachers knew her well from the Mommy and Me lessons and they both agreed that she is ready for the preschool group. The preschool group!! Such a big girl.
Look at the eager little face
Jumping off the ledge to the teacher
Monkey crawl around the pool. She is such a strong girl!
I am super proud of my kids today. We went to the dentist and they did amazing. I had to pick Lex up early from school for a 10:10 appointment and we waited in the waiting room for an hour! (unusual for this place) The kids played and we read and they were super sweet. When it was their turn, Eve sat very still and listened closely to everything the dentist told her to do. Since it was her first appointment he had her sit on my lap and she was very calm. Lex, big boy, went into the other chair all by himself with the hygienist and got his teeth cleaned. He let her use the electric brush and all the normal dentist tools that he has, in the past, strongly objected too. He even let her do a fluoride treatment. They are growing up so fast!!
To counter that last statement, here is a picture of Eve sleeping in the car this morning, something she rarely does any more. :)
Lex went on his first unaccompanied playdate today. His friend’s mom picked them up after school and took them home. He had lunch there and played and I picked him up an hour and a half later. I was nervous! Why? Well, I don’t know the family (though mom is very nice at school) and didn’t know the house (though i had the address) and mostly I was just nervous about my little boy growing up. Over the past few days we’ve talked about good manors and whether or not he had to eat the lunch she served him and what to do if he came across dangerous items. I’m nervous about guns because there are so many hunters in this area and Lex has zero experience with real guns and very minimal experience with toy guns, which, overall is A-OK by me. So we talked about if he saw guns, real or toys, or knives or anything else that he though might be dangerous, to just walk away. He’s a good boy.
I took Eve to a storytime that we usually can’t go to because of the 11am preschool pickup. It was nice to be with friends and not home wondering about Lex. Again, not that I had any good reason to worry, just nervous about this “first.” I put Eve down for a nap (thanks Grandpa Tom for being here to stay with her!) and went to pick up Lex. Guess what? Crazy thing. The family lives in a house we looked at when we ended up buying this one. I, of course, didn’t know what was in the house, but I knew the house very well! Apparently they bought it a year after we were looking and the owner was very eager to sell. I remember that it had already been on the market for awhile when we looked at it. :)
I’m sure it goes without saying that Lex had a great time. She fed him a PB&J sandwich for lunch and he ate the “emergency” granola bar I had sent with him. They played games (“Mom, she even has Sorry!”) and had fun. Whew!
