Our Kids

Well today was Landis’ 3rd birthday:) She is just the cutest thing EVER. She has truly benefited from having older siblings because she is so much more animated and conversational than her sisters were at this age.

We celebrated with Grampy Jack, Grammy Kathie and Uncle JJ on Saturday and then had a little celebration here on her actual birthday with a surprise visitor, Nana Peggy! Landis was totally in to opening packages and either she stops and wants to play with that one thing or just keeps rolling through the presents for the thrill of opening and doesn’t even look at what they are.

The night is over and Landis came up to us and said, “me tired me go bed now.” So our little angel is pooped out after her big day and we are so happy she is ours:)

Phoebe has mastered the pincer grasp. She can deftly retrieve a cheerio and place it on her gums and chew away. Still no teeth in those jaws but that doesn’t seem to stop her.

Also we are deep in to the age of discovery. You know the one where they notice they have toes, fingers, feet etc. Today she found her head, it was so cute. She kept putting her hand on her head and patting it and smiling and patting it and smiling. I am not sure if she was more excited she could reach up that high or that something was up there. I am pretty sure she doesn’t realize it is attached to her at this point but hey all in a days work.

Jason and I are building a new house and we call it the magic castle. It is magical because of all the things we are expecting it to do. First and foremost it is going to get us closer to the girls school, Desert Marigold. That is one huge thing. Also Jason gets his own office (finally, thanks for being patient) with his own bathroom. The girls are getting a Jack and Jill bedroom set up AND we have a guest room. Not to mention I get my own crafting and personal space. We are over the moon excited. It is also right at the bottom of South Mountain which provides us excellent mountain views, hiking and walking trails and closer to downtown, farmers markets and the Farm. We probably won’t be in until December but we just can’t wait.

Oh and another reason we call it the castle is because it has a turret, yeah a turret, I LOVE IT.

Landis has gotten even pickier with her clothes, as if that could be possible. Now even things that are size 4 and 5 when she is a 3 are “too tight.” Sigh. I know this is a common developmental stage for 3s as many of my friends have gone through it. She spent the last two days without clothes, just a “panty party.”

Well today we had to run to Target to get replacement toothbrush heads for P and Ls toothbrushes and Landis would not get dressed. Everything was too tight. When we got to Target she was still in her patnies but was complaining about being cold (how she could be cold in this heat/humidity is beyond) so I told her that was why we wore clothes. She agreed to wear them inside Target and while we were there I snagged a dress on clearance for 2 bucks that she agreed to wear because it had no elastic and was cotton.

If you think she is picky about clothes don’t even try to get her to wear shoes. Piper has some things too about how clothes lay on her and seams in her socks but Lela seems to be able to wear just about anything with no complaint. I know we all have our issues but sometimes I just want everyone to be dressed and ready to go in the morning:) I know dream on lady, dream on.

Well here it is, one of my perfect days. On this day the big girls are having fun at their school, little Landis is having fun at her school and little Phoebe is napping. I actually have a few moments to myself. The first time that happened I did not know what to do, I was struck instantly dumb surrounded by things to do but not knowing what to do.

Today I have a load in the dryer, I am watching Food Network and blogging life. I have learned it is okay to do nothing in these brief moments of solitude. In about 20 min I need to wake up Phoebe and go and get Landis and the quiet will be over so I take a deep breath and enjoy.

We are having a good week. Last week Landis had a bug and it blew through Piper in a matter of hours and struck Lela yesterday. She had to miss school and she was sad to be without her friends. Piper did okay after about 20 minutes of “sad” time at school. Her teacher is super and had Piper busy setting the table, going to the compost bin to keep her preoccupied, in the end she had a great day. This morning Lela had a hard time going back to school saying she would miss me. I think she enjoyed being home with Landis and I but she is having a good day I am sure.

All is well here in Haslupville, just busy!

Here is the lowdown:
Phoebe is sitting and grabbing and getting chunky:)
Landis is go go going and needs to nap but doesn’t
Lela is getting eaten alive by mosquitoes (I think we have a bad pool behind us)
Piper is in love with a boy at school (really? already? come on people!)

Jason and I are doing great, we have been super tired lately but that could be the weather (or our age, lol). Otto has had an ear infection for months but we finally cleared it up, yipee, one less thing on my to do list each night.

I can’t believe tomorrow is Monday already, I didn’t get everything done this weekend I wanted to but there is always next week:) We did have a garage sale and clean out a heap of stuff and make a little extra dough so that is always a plus but I am not sure the inside of the house has recovered from my impromptu garage sale:)

Phoebe is just finished up a bout with Roseola. It was the days of unexplained high fevers and irritability that should have tipped me off. But I must say as the number of children increase so does my paranoia that something bad is going to happen to them. I suppose it is because I have so much more to lose now that I am so quick to run to urgent care. Phoebe has been to the pediatric urgent care 3 times now, twice it was nothing (meaning nothing to worry about) and once she was sent to the ER and admitted for a week. But the Roseola has passed and the rash has cleared yippee. Just when I thought we were good….

Enter vomitville! Now I must say how impressed I am with Landis. She is so in tune with her body it is amazing. If you believed in past lives you would swear she was a healer or doctor or something. She knows every movement of her body and tells you about it.

Tonight she told us she was tired and wanted to be put to bed. Right before that she was gagging herself and we told her to stop that she was going to make herself throw up. Well she listened to us and then around 6:45 she was throwing up in her bed, a lot of throw up! So when we were telling her to stop she was actually listening to her bodies need to get rid of something. Crazy stuff! Anyway, she has thrown up again but this time we think she finished the job she started earlier in the evening. I dunno what it is, a bug, bad food or what. No fever, no runny nose and no other symptoms…..yet.

Just when I thought I would get some rest:)

Well today Phoebe had her 6 month check up. She is of course in excellent health and the same words were echoed by her ped, “you can’t argue with perfection.” She is a weed for sure and busting out of her 9 month clothes. She weighs in at 18 lbs 4 oz and is 27.5 inches long. She is a chubber and has lots of rolls that can hold lots of stuff which makes her fun to keep clean:)