Little Hiatus

I think I am going to take a break from blogging for a bit. There has just been a lot of drama around here. Emotions going high and low. It makes me want to take my little family and find a cave to live in for a while to just get away from the outside world. Rich people vacation and poor people hide. Anyways, I need a little time to regroup and get level headed again. There wouldn't be so much drama if I didn't love them so much. Their troubles become my troubles and their hurt becomes mine. I wish I could be a little more robotic and feel less, but I can't. I don't think I will ever feel less, I just need to learn how to handle it a little better. If you need me, I will be in my cave. Love, Rachel

Check ups!

I took the kids in to the doctor on Tuesday for check ups. It was supposed to be their well checks for 18 months and 4 years. Well, they are 21 months and nearly 5! I'm just not big on the well checks. Taking them in to have the doctor tell you they are perfectly healthy when you already knew that seems like a waste of a co-pay to me! Well let me just update you on the two, since I know you are all just dying to know (ha ha).

Brooklyn is 29 lbs. and in the 90%. That is a bit of a jump for her. She was in the 70-80% for a while, but must have had a growth spurt. I told the doctor that we are literally considering putting a lock on the fridge and pantry because she is constantly eating. He said that it all seems to be fine and that keeping her out and active is balancing it out. I am going to have to put her in sports soon with the appetite she has!
I also mentioned to the doctor that I thought she might be a bit behind on her speech, but wasn't all that worried since I know it is typical of the second child. He asked me how many words she was using. I told him 20-40. He said that is actually better than what is expected. I know I am not supposed to compare, but Micah was like super boy and was a big talker. Not only that, he was so clear that anyone could understand him. Brooklyn says things that only I can understand sometimes. Ever since that appointment I have noticed how much she tries to talk. She knows what she is talking about, I just need to translate a little better.
Emmo unnies=elmo undies
mow=more
eemin=amen
moo=moon
tsow=show (DVD)
My ya=Micah
tees=please
uto=pluto
...and the list goes on!

Micah is 49 lbs. and also in the 90%. What can I say, we have big kids! He is actually becoming more average. He was always in the 98%. Well, if you don't have a four year old, let me just tell you that the well check for that age is long. He was checked everywhere and even had to give a urine sample. Try doing that with a one year old on your hip! Anyways, he also needed his shots to get ready for kindergarten. Micah hasn't had any vaccines done yet, so I was a little worried. With what I know about vaccines, I choose to delay them. It's a personal choice, not to say that one way is right or wrong, I just feel that the vaccines are very strong and don't think that tiny bodies can metabolize them as well, so I wait. Anyways, he had four to do. I sat with him and held his hand and at first he was fine and then he just crumbled. It broke my heart! It must have hurt bad. I don't think I could have done this to them when they were babies even if I wanted to! I nearly started crying too. Poor kid. He recovered quickly though and got a new car as a reward for his bravery. I'm such a sucker for his tears!

Day at the park

This park up in Nellie Gail was fun. We played on the springy thingy...

Watched the helicopters go by...
Teetered on the totter...
Spun around on this spinning thingy, both very fun and very dangerous...
Just looked plain adorable...
...and handsome. They are so dang cute!
Sometimes it is the activities close to home that are fun to take pictures of. No pressure, just cute kids and playgrounds.

I read this (or started to) blog post the other day and thought, I need to start teaching myself some photo skills. I'm hoping to make time to read the manual for my camera soon. Sounds like a blast, huh? Well, if it makes my photos turn out better, it will be worth it!

Medical

Thursday night was the beginning of some drama for us. We stopped by Chad's sister's house to drop something off and while we were there, his sister asked to see his back. Apparently, there is family history of skin cancer. She took a look at his back and said "This doesn't look good. This looks really bad." She then went on to tell me about her experience of finding a spot that was stage two and then told me the melanoma mortality rate. I was a little freaked out and planned to make him an appointment to see the doctor the next day.

We left and headed off to meet Deb and Russ for Frapy's. If you are local and haven't tried it, you must. It is like the typical self-serve yogurt places, except their flavors are way better. Italian Gelato Kiss and Red Velvet Cake are among my top favorites!

Anyways, we were talking outside and Brooklyn kept wandering into the plants. At one point I grabbed her fist and picked her up just to turn her around. I heard a pop, like I had popped her knuckle. Well she loses it. She is screaming, crying and holding her hand. I pick her up to comfort her, but I can't calm her down. I hand her off to Chad and she is still upset. As we leave we say, "Well we will let you know if we are in the ER tonight." We thought we were being funny. On our drive home, she continued to scream and cry. Then I got worried...did I really hurt her? So we decided to head home and give her some Tylenol and watch it. We did just that and she was crying on and off by this point. Chad being as protective as he is of his kids decides we need to go to the hospital. Back in the car we go. First we head to Urgent Care just to see that it had closed two minutes earlier. OK, so off to the ER. As we sat at the light at the bottom of the hill the crying has stopped, she is now laughing and playing games. She is also using what we thought was the bum hand to hold on to her blanket. That little stinker! This whole time she was just putting on an act! If she is doing this before two, I am in for it big time! We headed home and she was just fine.

The next morning, I got up and checked her hand again just to make sure. No swelling or bruising, a confirmation that my daughter is a total drama queen! So, then I make an appointment for Chad to see the doctor in the afternoon. My mind starts to wander off to the worst case scenario. The mortality rate is playing in my head. What if it is cancer? What if he need chemo? What if he dies? How will I do this alone? I thought I was going to lose my mind and the day was just dragging. I was doing anything I could to distract myself. Cleaning, playing with the kids, going out for a walk, but I couldn't get it off my mind. Finally, the afternoon rolls around. Chad calls me. The doctor says the spots on his back all look fine and he shouldn't worry about it. They are going to biopsy them this week though just in case. Ah, I can take a breath. I felt like I had been holding it all day! Thank goodness it was Friday. My nerves were shot. I felt as though I was buzzing with stress by that point. At least it all worked out OK. Now I think I need a massage!

Things I Use Thursday

Some people have Must Have Mondays or Friday Favorites, but I am going for Things I Use Thursday. Does it have a ring to it? Maybe a little. Anyways, you know how people seem to always want to look in other people's medicine cabinets? They want to see what kinds of things that person uses on a day to day basis and what not. Well, I have always had that curiosity, but have never looked. I don't like to be a snoop, but oh I would love to! Anyways, I thought I would do this in reverse. I'll let you in on some of the things that I use and would love to hear what you use or if you have any good secrets. This week: beauty!

Carmex-A must have. It is like a cure all and the best part is if you put a little on before bed, your lips are super soft in the morning!
Lash Blast Luxe Mascara-I got that in my stocking this year. It is just like the original Lash Blast, but they put shimmer in it. I think it is cool.Burt's Bees Orange Facial Cleanser-A couple weeks back, I ran out of face cleanser and wasn't sure which to get since the one I used to use isn't sold in stores anymore. In the mean time (this is so bad) I was using hand soap. Well, I just happened to pick up a magazine that reviewed this cleanser and since it was cheap and at Target I picked it up! It smells great and feels good!
Neutrogena Micromist Sunless Tan-Easy way to look like you have seen the sun. Just don't over do it girls, we don't want to look like we are from the Jersey Shore!Almay Clear Complexion Foundation-My skin normally stays pretty clear, but once in a a while it flares up, so I use this to try and keep it as clear as possible. It also helps to heal the skin after and evens out the tone so you don't have a red spot there forever.
So that is is ladies. Now that you have looked in my medicine cabinet, you get to spill it too!

A Quick Getaway

Chad had today off and since Micah is a typical boy and loves trains, we decided to be a little spontaneous and took a train ride down to Solana Beach. Funny enough, this was the first train ride for all four of us. Neither Chad nor I had been on a train before, so this was our little adventure. We hopped on the train in San Juan. While we waited, Brooklyn decided to become a free apartment guide magazine. We almost boarded the wrong train...whoops! We made it on the right train though and about 40 minutes later we were in Solana Beach. We jumped out and knew nothing about where we were or what to do, so we wandered around. Luckily we ran into some friendly locals and they were nice enough to give us pointers on where to go! We stopped at a local cafe to eat lunch, headed to Fletchers Cove to let the kids play on the playground and at the shore, then headed out for gelato and our ride back home. It was a lot of fun for all of us!

Pretend City

Last night I got an e-mail from my good friend Carrie saying she was invited to go to an event at Pretend City and she invited us as guests! I said yes instantly. Pretend City is a hands-on children's museum that is like a mini city for them to participate in. They have a grocery store, farm, beach, post office, home, cafe, doctor's office, etc. We had never been before and heard so many great things. I was glad that the kids would be able to experience it. The place it pretty fun and they let the kids play and create like crazy. Here are some of the pictures from our time there.

Brooklyn hit the beach...
Micah was quick to find a car to drive around in...
He even used it to go through the drive thru...
Brooklyn found the stage and danced her booty off...
An hour later and Micah is STILL in the car...
Brooklyn and Logan at the water tables...
About a half hour later and Micah is in another car...
Brooklyn and Logan getting artsy, or in Brooklyn's case, destructive...
Eating at the cafe...
Finally Micah got out of the cars and was the checker at the grocery store for the last hour...
Thanks Carrie for inviting us, we had too much fun!

Combos

OK, so I have a few subjects to cover so here we go...

As an update, I am not going to be participating in that long team run. I found out we aren't going to be around, so not only am I not training, but I haven't gotten the stroller that I wanted either. Not much working out going on over here. I actually had a dream that I went to a gym last night even though I haven't had a membership since before Micah was born! Is that a sign? Maybe I should check into that.

I will be sending Micah to school this year. I have felt like such a mean mom this last week making him do a lot more on his own than he used to. Giving him verbal instructions, handing him his snack still in the wrapper, making him wipe his bum and so on. Poor kid, maybe I will go back to wiping his bum for a while longer for my own sake. It is just more sanitary! By the way, this kid showed me the other day how smart he is. I was reading him a Berenstain Bear book and it showed a picture of the inside of the body. I told him, "When you eat it goes down this tube into your stomach, then turns around in the small intestines and then the large intestines and then you poop." Then he says, "When I have juice, it turns to my weiner." I laughed so hard I was crying. Yes Micah, you are right. How bright of you to notice the difference!

Today, I went on a spur of the moment D-land trip. Al and I needed to get out and we had fun! Might I add, I earned my Disneyland Warrior badge today. You thought I got it on my last trip, right? Well, this time I have the wounds to show for it. I bought some new flats that are super cute for $7. I had worn them before, so I thought all would go well. Well, after walking to the park, around the park, through some of the attractions and then walking back to our cars, I told Al my feet were hurting. I thought I had rubbed some of the skin raw. Well, I didn't just rub them raw, or get blisters. Both heels were bleeding! I told Chad to take a picture to show the damage, but he wouldn't. It is too gross! So there you have it, my Disneyland Warrior badge has been earned!

Valentine's Day is coming up on us soon. I am scheming right now. I am hoping to make this a really good one for Chad! I also have an idea for Micah. Chad is in charge of taking care of us girls. As for the day of, I am not sure what to do. Is there anything that you are supposed to do? I was thinking about making them a heart cake or something. Not sure. How do you celebrate?

Hearts and Hand-me-downs

On Thursday we had a big package arrive at our front door. It was a Valentine's package from Ghee and Papa (aka Chad's parents). Brooklyn was napping when it came and I couldn't make him wait, so I let him dig right in.

Inside were little toys, a book and candies. They have been having fun with all of it. Thanks Ghee and Papa for the fun package!
In other news, Brooklyn has become obsessed with Elmo. That and Yo Gabba Gabba are her very favorites right now. Well, I remembered I still had this shirt:


I dug into my old clothes storage and grabbed it out, threw it on her and told her to look in the mirror. Her reaction was priceless! She danced in the mirror and kept poking herself in the tummy saying "Emmo, Emmo!" In fact, she loved it so much she wouldn't let us take it off for bedtime and slept in it!

To go or not to go...

Today I went to Micah's Kindergarten Round-up. For those of you who don't know, it is basically an orientation to the school, teachers and programs available. In the process they gave us about a millions things to do (i.e. immunization charts to fill out, physicals to do, dental appt., forms, PTA to join, early bird vs. late bird, and so on). I left feeling very overwhelmed. First and foremost, we are on the boundary of three schools, so I am opting for open enrollment to get him into the school closest to us since it is rated the highest. The school isn't impacted, so it shouldn't be a problem. This means I won't know until April if he is in for sure though.

Well, after the whole presentation, I wasn't sure if I should even put him in this year. Micah is an August birthday, so he will barely be five when he enters. Along with this, the teachers went over a check list of the many things they want the kids to be able to do before they get into kindergarten. They asked that they are able to take care of all bathroom duties, can completely dress themselves, can open all their own food containers/wrappers, can sit and focus for at least ten minutes, take verbal directions and use scissors. Well, I still have to wipe him, he can dress himself, but the button on the top of his shorts are hard to get, he has a tough time with opening things like granola bars (those things are tricky buggers), ten minutes of sitting and listening is a stretch, don't get me started on verbal directions and although he can use scissors, I don't think he can cut out a shape. Among my other concerns are the early bird vs. late bird option. 7:45 am is really early for us, but 9:45 am is wasting the day away. Also, Micah doesn't participate well in group activities. He likes to observe, but isn't much for doing the group thing.

Then there all his great attributes. If you have ever met Micah, you will know this kid is super social. He has no fear of coming up and making friends with anyone, I mean anyone. He isn't intimidated and is always complimentary. He is also very smart. In fact, when they gave us the sheet of what would be covered in the year and he knows 98% of it already and is doing some reading. He also has known his shapes, colors, letters and numbers forever. He just has a thirst for knowledge. He can articulate how he is feeling and won't hesitate to let you know. He writes his name even if it is in all capitals and as I found out today that is a no no. Whoops, I still think he is amazing! Anyways, so considering all of this, what would you do? I still am flip flopping, is this the year to go or not?

P.S. I realize I have about seven months before kindergarten starts, but I'm just trying to think it out.

Nachoooooo

Sometimes I like to wear stretchy pants...with Elmo undies on the outside!