Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Maxwell's 6th Birthday - August 19, 2017

This was the first week of knowing about my 3rd pregnancy (I took the pregnancy test on 8-11 and it was positive!)... mentally I'm all over the place.  It's a struggle to get moving... dealing with weight issues - - I've worked so hard to lose weight I don't want to gain it again.  I think the kids will be excited... feeling too old to have kids - no one is this old when they have kids!

I've been nauseas all day but no throwing up.  I'm just so tired - I yawn all day.  I just want to sit on the couch.  I feel sore and don't want the kids crawling on me.  

Today is Maxwell's 6th birthday though!!  He's excited for the house to be decorated and get his birthday presents.  We decorated the night before and I put streamers on his door.  When he woke up this morning, he immediately came in and said that when he woke up and went outside of his room he was totally surprised and then he said thank you and kissed me.  He's been so sweet on his birthday.   He was excited to be the boss but has been really sweet - - giving hugs and kisses and happy.


Sweetly sleeping

Breakfast burritos were his choice


He chose Top Golf as his birthday activity with family (since this isn't a year for a friend party)



It was fun having Britt and her boys along with us

He also wanted to have a lemonade stand for his birthday.  We went through a lot of lemonade!

Note to self... big solo cups aren't the best idea for a lemonade stand - you go through too much lemonade too quickly!



Some Independence cheer leaders stopped by and were so cute with the kids.







Her friend Michael stopped by for some lemonade 

He wanted mac n cheese and salad for his dinner.




At his 6 year well child check appt was really talkative with hi doctor.  He said that he didn't learn anything last year in school because he already knew it all.  HAH!  He said his favorite vegetable was salad - with "cucancumbers" and he also likes apples.



Stats for my 6 year old:
Height - 43 1/4 inches (14th percentile)
Weight - 45.8 lbs (51st Percentile)

He's been into wearing sweaters this weekend.  Love this kid!

July 2017 - Notes from my phone

July 4- Max is getting muscles from swimming!  He chose to get dad a fidget spinner for Father's Day and we all got them too.  Emmalyn wasn't scared of fireworks today.  We watch Despicable Me 3 tonight as a family at the theater.  Maxwell has said I'm the best mom ever and is being really loving but not good listener to his parents.  Emmalyn still is a toucher and loves to be touched.  Maxwell came home asking a few questions from VBS Vacation Bible School but it wasn't too deep.  He didn't ask to be baptized so I was relieved with that.  Most of his questions are around praying.  He cried when I told him that we were going to Aunt Jules' wedding without him.  Emmalyn just loves Derek and he's pretty cute with her too.


29- Emmalyn is so much fun verbal! She has a funny personality...  For example, when counting to 20 she still skips 16. She knows her colors, knows most of (still gets confused with v,g,y, i) her letters too but when you ask her she says "I don't know". Has most of the sounds. Working on sight words but she gets nervous and uncomfortable when you ask.  She's doing great at  staying in her bed, stays dry during nap, working on wiping poop. She likes her hair in a headband and likes to wear clothes with pockets.



June 2017 - Notes from my phone

 June 2- On the last day of kindergarten, Maxwell's teacher, Mrs. Garza, said he had a big heart and what she loves most about him is that big heart and how he takes care of others.  Emmalyn is still having random accidents. We are trying to keep her diaper dry during nap time and it works a couple times a week.  Maxwell said he wanted to go to a summer camp to learn about negative numbers and multiplication. He asked me for a cursive poster for his room (a poster than shows how to write your letters in cursive).


7- Maxwell is really into learning "ode to joy" on his guitar with tab notation.  He wants to go to guitar camp and also a camp to learn cartwheels.  This is the first week of 4 days a week swimming for FAAST swim team.  He is so tired and hungry when he gets home.  He was so tired that by Thursday we decided to just go for pictures and skip swimming for one day.  (He DID also go swimming for fun 3 times this week.)  He likes cucumbers in vinegar, makes me so happy! Emmalyn likes my cherry tomatoes from my garden.

16- This week Maxwell did swim practice 4 times.  We are talking to him about working on not bobbing so much during class and holding to the edge or sitting on ledge to rest.  Hopefully that will make him a little less tired.  Emmalyn getting hang of swimming on her own a little if I'm there with her but she's fearless and will swim away from me to the middle of the pool.  Max didn't want to do breaststroke again in competition because he was so slow, but he IS only 5 years old compared to nearly all of the other swimmers that are older.

25- Max stepped in ant hill at park while I was dealing with Emmalyn having a potty accident. He was scared.  It ended up being really itchy.  I felt so bad.  He woke up the next three nights during the night and I think he also was having nightmares.  Max couldn't wear flippers to swimming because of the ant bites on his feet.  Emmalyn has been going without diapers or pull-ups during naps the last couple weeks and staying dry! She's asking to be taught how to wipe poop, very aware of when wearing a diaper and will just go in the diaper because she knows she can.  Emmalyn wakes up in middle of night when she wants socks on her feet.    Emmalyn's doing great at swimming and starting to come up to take a breath on her own when swimming to you.  Maxwell swims at least 7-10 times a week!

April/May 2017 - Notes from my phone

I'm so far behind in blogging that I'm just going to post the notes from my phone so they are documented somehow even though there are no pictures...

April!

1st- Emmalyn says "restauronk" instead of "restaurant".  Maxwell loves soft things like fleece shirts, soft blankets, soft stuffed animals, sweat pants...he's all about soft. He asked his little friend at school, Brooklyn, if he could marry her and she said yes. They are pretty cute together - she's a head taller than him.  Emmalyn is throwing tantrums with kicking feet if she doesn't get her way. I remind her it works better to use her words.

27th - Emmalyn has had an awful week for potty training... Has gone pee in front of the toilet many times and had many accidents.  It's so frustrating!

May!

8th - At the dentist appointment last week, Emmalyn did awesome. She watched me during my cleaning/exam and chatted the whole time.  She was totally up and looking in my mouth.  Then it was her turn and she was a little nervous but did great.  She was really excited about "mr slurpee" and the sugar bugs. She was even able to do the fluoride treatment!  Then it was Maxwell's turn.  He wasn't as nervous but when things touched his tongue started coughing and would cough randomly. Could tell he was nervous but he was strong through it.  Then today Maxwell had a visit with the pediatric opthalmologist.   He did awesome during the visit.  The doctor said his eye is improving - it's almost as good as his other eye.

Emmalyn back to doing good on potty.  She can get herself into the big potty and so she goes there most of the time.  She sings Kindermusik songs all the time. She does pretend play with toys more often- will see her sitting there pretending and talking to her Minnie Mouse for example. She is riding her bike with training wheels!  And we have moved Maxwell's seat on his bike higher.

Emmalyn's 3rd birthday 4-13-17

Cute words she says wrong - "Restauronk" for Restaurant, "Molana" for Moana.  I love her sweet little lisp.

Counts to 20 but always skips 16.  Knows her letters but depends on the day may forget some.  She has been working on sight words with Brittany and knows 13 of them.

Pretty solid usually on her colors.

She knows her birthday is April 13th and totally understood that starting on the 13th she would be three years old.

Won't let me choose her clothes all the time now - so we compromise.  I choose one day and she chooses the next day.  She's great at putting on clothes as long as there are no buttons, snaps, or zippers.

Doing great with potty training.  Only 1 or two accidents a week (we still put a diaper on her during nap/sleep).  She's really aware though and when we are going somewhere she will ask if there is a bathroom there so she knows she will be able to go.  She ends up going multiple times when we are out of the house.  (At the baseball game I think she went 8 times)

Loves the movie Moana right now.

She loves Kindermusik and loves to sing.  I'm really impressed with her memory for music and she can match pitch at times but better than Maxwell could.  At Kindermusik she's super engaged and likes to try and take charge and tell Ms. Carolyn what she should do.

She's an animal lover, especially dogs.

She loves her brother and cousins Landen and Hayden.  She is like their shadow and wants to be playing and doing what they are doing whether it's a game or baseball outside or riding bikes.  She's great at riding her trike.

She likes to color and write with pens.  Not close to writing her name yet.  I just started introducing her to writing an E the other day.  Poor girl is going to have a much harder time learning to write her name compared to Max.

She's very much your usual kid eater.  For breakfast she likes cereal and milk (while watching her ipad) and for lunch she likes peanut butter and jelly.  For dinner she would love to eat pizza, mac n cheese, or chicken nuggets every night.

She will eat more types of veggies than Maxwell does and even eats tomatoes sometimes (I'm super proud of that).

At bedtime she always wants daddy to brush her teeth because he will let her watch Moana videos on his phone while he's brushing her teeth.  (She brushes them in the morning).  She likes to cuddle and sing songs.  She hasn't slept with a sleep sack for probably 5 months and now sleeps with the fleece Peppa Pig blanket she got for Christmas.  She is not a very sound sleeper and often wakes up when we walk in the room.  Plus, I often hear her cry out in the night with her dreams and even talk in her sleep.  But when I go in there to check on her, she's asleep.  One of the last things she always says before we close her door at night is she tells you that in the morning she wants cereal & milk and to watch the ipad and play on the ipad.

She still takes a nap in the afternoon that's usually 1 1/2 to 2 hours long.

She's a cuddler and likes physical touch.  She will rub your back or your arm if she's next to you or she will scoot super close to you on the couch so that you are touching.  I love it when we are cuddling at night because she will want our heads to be touching.

She still doesn't have a favorite toy.  It changes all the time.  She does like to play with her doll house.

She's wild and would jump all over the couch if we let her.  I keep trying to get her to go jump on the trampoline she got for Christmas but she never does.

Like a typical 3 year old she's quick to cry if she doesn't get her way but she also can shut it off super quickly if we remind her that she needs to use her words instead.

She's super polite and says "excuse me" if someone is in her way, or thank you and please.  She's really aware of when someone is giving her a compliment and will say thank you.  She's also pretty demanding and has no problem telling you what to do.

She loves wearing her squeeky shoes and while they totally annoy Peter, I find it great to know at all times where she's at.  She also loves wearing her boots.

She doesn't want to kiss Peter except on his forehead because his face is "spikey"

It's great when you get home because as soon as she hears mom or dad come in she will yell "mommy" (or daddy) and run full at you.

Different than Max in that when she's done eating her cereal in the morning she wants to come in and cuddle rather than keep watching her ipad.

Her curly hair is crazy.  When you do it, it's super cute but she will want it undone when she takes a nap so usually her hair looks great in the morning and then awful the rest of the day.

She loves ice in her water.
She calls Maxwell "brother"  and is always super aware of what he's up to and where he is.  They are starting to have conversations and really engage with each other (he's also starting to be willing to help her with things).

She loves swimming but doesn't want to go to the bottom of the pool to get the ring. I am hoping she will be swimming a little bit on her own this summer but we'll see.

She's at the phase where she's fascinated with whether or not everyone has a penis.  "Does he have a Peanuts Momma?"  All the time.  And she will ask for people that she already knows the answer.

For her birthday she wanted "a doll that closes it's eyes when it sleeps"  and for her birthday dinner she asked for Jambalaya (that was out of left field for me) but then didn't really eat it because she still rarely eats more than a couple bites at dinner.

She's a great cheerleader and loves to cheer on others (especially her brother).  For example, during Maxwell's Kinder program, she cheered for him multiple times. "woo Go, Maxwell!"

Flashback - 2013 Top Women in Grocery Award

In November 2013, I got to go to the award celebration for winning the Top Women in Grocery Award through Progressive Grocer Magazine.  I was at the "Rising Star" level.  It's pretty cool to be recognized like this! They feature all the winners in their magazine and throw a really nice celebration.  I went to some training in the morning and then a nice award's gala/dinner at night.  

This was the first time I won the award.

No pictures because since this is a flashback post and I'd have to go dig through an old external drive to find them  :)


Flashback - November 11 2013

This old post was stuck in my "drafts" on my blog.  I've already printed my blog books for 2013, so I'm just going to throw it in and it can be a flashback...

At this point I am 16 weeks pregnant.
Last week I hit the point that it was uncomfortable to sleep on my stomach.  :(  such a sad moment... plus I went for a massage with Shannon and had to do the prenatal massage.  While it was nice, I would have rather had a normal massage.
I think I felt the baby move!  (It's hard to tell completely but now that I'm more familiar with what it feels like, I'm pretty sure.)
I have had a horrible cough that is slowly getting better.  It's been awful to have such a bad cough...bladder control is a friend who has left me.  :(  Plus sometimes I cough so much it leads to throwing up.
The nausea is basically gone!!!  But unfortunately, due to this cough, it means I am still throwing up.
My Biggest issue is just being tired and not wanting to do anything.
Most food still doesn't sound good.
I really need to exercise but have zero motivation.
I wore my maternity levis because I didn't have any clean clothes.  They were comfy but a little big.  I am still able to fit into my clothes but haven't totally told everyone so some shirts I am now avoiding.
I lost the bottom half of my belly button - it's so weird!
I've gained a lb and a half.
I had a dr. visit and it took a while to find the heartbeat (it's a little baby!) and it was nice because I wasn't nervous or freaked out like during my last pregnancy.
I thought I'd have to wait until 20 weeks but my doctor surprised me and said let's schedule your ultrasound in a wk and a half!  So we are going to find out at 18 weeks - right before we go to Utah!!

Pregnancy Week 17:
I let the cat out of the bag... I put it on facebook and it's out there...a few people at work knew but now I'm really sharing!