Our Kids

Well at first I wasn’t blogging because I was tired:) I have been volunteering at the girls school and wrapping up my time on the board of a local non for profit in anticipation of Phoebe’s arrival and I was getting so tired:) Then we got sick. First it was Piper and then Landis with Jason and I at the same time. We knew what it was/is….Rotovirus. Yuck! The good news is that it didn’t really phase Piper but little Landis is having a harder time kicking it. She is on about day 3 and seems to be finally coming around. She is old enough to know she is hungry/thirsty but not old enough to correlate that what goes in must come out:( I have her hydrated on coconut water which she seems to be keeping down today and I will give her some toast in a bit. Hopefully this is the end for her. Jason and I feel tired due to nighttime vomiting from Landis but otherwise the Roto doesn’t much bother us anymore, we know we have it but it passes. Ah….germs gotta love em’.

Lela went back to the ENT today to have her hearing and tubes checked. No fluid behind the ears, hearing test perfect and tubes in tact. So all in all it was a good thing to have it done, hopefully they won’t last long since she is getting them so late in life:)

Lela asked for skates for Christmas and she got them. Generally the girls have different likes/dislikes and Piper specifically said she did not want any new skates but on Christmas day that all changed. Maybe because Lela’s skates were so cool or maybe because Lela stayed in them most of the day, but Piper had to have some. I finally got her skates in and new elbow and knee pads for the girls. They are loving those skates. Piper falls down a bit more, well a lot more, than Lela but she still likes it. So far they are just practicing in the backyard and in the house. I really like their skates because they do various sizing and they are real skates not those cheap princess type ones. I will have to get some video and post it to Flickr. Grandpa Norman was outside with them this morning handling skating lessons and they were all laughing and having fun with the occasional, “I’m okay, I’m okay” from Piper each time she fell down.

Landis is actually peddling and riding her tricycle! One day this week she just started peddling and went around the whole driveway. She still is not quite sure she is doing it and needs a little encouragement on the uphill but she is loving her newest form of mobility and big girlness. She can also ride her plasma car all the way around our block. She loves that car and those are the best purchases we have made for outdoor toys they never seem to get old. I remember at this age the girls had a hard time walking around the block much less riding something.

On the potty training note I think I can say she is definitely not ready. I have been taking her diaper off during the day and seeing what she will do. She will pee and poo herself is the answer, the best part is the look she gives me like hey lady what the heck is going on, why is this happening to me???? She knows what the potty is, what goes in it, where she is supposed to be putting her pee and poo and she even wants quiet alone time when she needs to go. But the connectors are not all there as to what happens if I don’t have a diaper on and she will sit on the potty but not go. This morning she was diaper free and pretty much told me she had to poo so off she went for some quiet time and about halfway through her poo I remembered she was diaper free, oops. It was quite a pooptastrophe and she was pretty upset about the poo on her leg, lol. We got her all cleaned up and her stuff in the wash PDQ and she seemed to be okay with it all. The last thing I want is to make her have bad feelings about pooing/peeing so we will just wait another couple months on that, no more diaper free days for now.

The girls started back to school today and they were very excited. Returning to school has been an emotional upheaval for both the girls after each break. Today was no different. Lela was very excited for school but got overly emotional at home breaking down over each little thing. Lucky for me my folks took them to school and my dad took them in so the drop off was probably better than if I had gone. Lela was standoffish but Piper went in and started playing. Then when I picked them up Lela was happy as a clam and Piper started her tantrum. Since I expected both reactions this time I wasn’t surprised or upset by either. All in all they are very happy to be back at school and happily playing outside with Noa as I type.

We survived the holidays:) I wonder when we enjoyed the holidays starts happening again, lol! With kids it seems like things get so busy and throw in a birthday or two and yipes! The girls anticipation for their birthday, Christmas Eve with the Haslups, Christmas day with the Slocums and then Christmas Day II with that Haslups was almost too much for Piper’s brain to grapple with. The poor thing went from meltdown to meltdown. Not that they did not enjoy every single minute of every single event and that they would not (nor would we) change a thing but it is a bit heartbreaking to see them struggle with being overwhelmed.

I am thinking next year we may celebrate their birthday early and then have a quiet family night on their actual birthday so we space it out a bit. They were excellent this year and I can see our family traditions taking shape. We did not put out any presents until after they went to bed Christmas Eve we decided not to taunt them (or drive me batty) with endless can we open this now questions. Christmas morning Lela was first up but it was at her normal time, Piper kept snoozing away and Landis woke up with Lela. Lela wanted to open her stocking but it wasn’t for another 20 min or so until they wondered aloud if there were any presents under the tree, lol.

They still don’t like the idea of some strange bearded man creeping in to the house at night while they sleep and leaving gifts. So Santa did not visit us again this year but Olivia, Dora, Diego and a couple Princesses did leave gifts.

We have managed to get our thank you notes out and Christmas successfully put away so 2010 is starting off pretty good so far. I felt a bit grinchy taking everything down the day after but I am in the home stretch with Phoebe and not taking any chances or leaving anything to the last minute since I have never gone longer than 36 weeks with my pregnancies. On that note this pregnancy does look like it has staying power so Feb 8th is most likely the date of our new addition, Phoebe Melissa Haslup.