Brookie Update

Well, we had a little scare with B. a few weeks ago. I took her in for a same day sick appt. and they noticed her soft spot was not indented. They measured her head (about 8 times) and decided that she jumped right off her normal growth curve. She needed a CT scan, just to make sure everything was ok.

We scheduled it, but in the meantime she got better from her cold and started acting normal again. She doesn't have any other signs of hydrocephalus so I cancelled the CT and waited until her Dr. apt. yesterday. She seems to have gone through a growth spurt. Her head is measuring the same (HUGE) but the Dr. decided it'd be fine if we just waited and watched for abnormal behavior. So... no CT scan... yet. We'll see. She's always had an enormous noggin, so I am not too worried.

9 month stats

Weight 46%

Height 46%

Head >97% (it always has been!)

Looks like she grew a little longer. Last time, she was in the 25% for height. Maybe we're slacker parents. No MRI, no CT scan. Hmm...

Did You Know?

Jake's preschool teacher, Miss Jana, has a blog with all the fun things they're up to in preschool. It's sixthstreetpreschool.blogspot.com. Check it out!

This is Jake doing a picture collage. He found a Twilight add and loved the vampire teeth.

Haircuts and Gerrard's Visit to Flag

First, some shots of the little B. She is such a stinker with a PERSONALITY. Seriously, peeps, she is and will be quite the handful. She threw a full fledged fit yesterday, complete with kicking feet and rolling around screaming. Wow, she keeps us on our toes. I should say "me" since she refuses to allow anyone else to hold her if I'm in view... including her dad. Yesterday evening I had to pop some earplugs in to keep my sanity while Scott attempted to play with her and feed her. I was just trying to cook some dinner! What a crime.

Here are the haircuts courtesy of brave Scott. I would never have attempted it. He did a pretty good job.

One side ended up a little shorter than the other. I'm sure whenever we see my sister Lisa she will go to town to trim it up.
Jake snapped this beautiful picture of me. Seriously, I look hot.
Here's me attempting to get a picture of my hair. This is the final product. Looks pretty good, eh? Way to go Scotty! He cut off 6-8 inches in some places. It's pretty short, for me. I took some front shots, but omitted them as I look like a psycho in them. Li might be dying about now, but I was impressed at Scott's "just do it" attitude.
We had a fun extended weekend. The Gerrard's came down to see us. We met in Flag and stayed at Scott's parent's house, since they were gone for spring break. It was so nice to see them and pick back up where we left off. We've lived within walking distance from them since we were married, so it's been weird to be so far apart.

We had a good time hanging out, chatting, swimming, sitting in the hot tub (nice but not relaxing with kids in, too), and eating. Well, Scott and I are on a strict diet, so we ate vicariously through them. It was a nice, relaxing few days. Can't wait to see you again, Gerrard's!




Before I forget, I'd better say that Jake and Hallie played as if they saw each other every day. Jake also had fun sword fighting with Mason. Alisa liked playing with Hallie and trading nightgowns with her. I have a feeling that in a few years, Alisa and Hallie will be doing "girl" things and Jake and Mason will hang out doing "boy" things. Weird how they separate.

Hallie said some of the sweetest prayers. She was scared of snakes and prayed to not dream about them or think about them. Jake prayed for a nice snake to come visit him. Jake and Hallie slept in the same room, which worked fine the first night. The second night we finally had to separate them around 9 pm.

Once Jake wasn't being nice to Hallie. She came and told me about it. She said, "Jake is following Satan's rules, but I am following Jesus's rules." I about died laughing.

Taking Me Back

Driving home from picking Jake up today, I laughed out loud when I heard the beginning of a great song. Then the chorus started and I had to sing along:

Girl, you know it's true, g-g-g-girl, Ooh, ooh, ooh, I love you...

Which reminds me that Jeff (my bro-in-law) thought Milli Vanilli was saying I'm in love with two girls (bop, bop) ...

That takes me back... almost 20 years when I was in 5th and 6th grade. If THAT wasn't enough to make my day, the next song that came on took me back to my more recent past:

What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man!

With high-quality lyrics that include this gem:

You so crazy! I think I wanna have your baby.

Yep. Nice, huh? I have to confess that my sister and I (who shared EVERYTHING) had a tape of Salt 'n Peppa (or however they spelled it), which dates me. All the lyrics are nasty. I knew they were suggestive, but listening today I realized just what they were talking about. Quality.

I must say, though, that the whole album reminds me of running track (especially my freshman year of high school) and how we used to sing these while we warmed up, cooled down, and on the way to meets.

Now I am just hoping that the D.J. of this radio station was taking a walk down memory lane himself, not playing what he considered to be great hits of today...

Spring Teaser & Our Adventure

Remember the chili story from the last post? Here's our top chef working away at the three pots of chili.

L-R: Chocolate chili (which was super yum!), regular chili for the kids, and chipotle chili. We made the beans in the pressure cooker (pinto, black and kidney).

It was just a little warm for a few days and felt like spring! We had the doors open and I cleaned the house in the middle of the day. Something about warm weather makes me want to clean. Anyway, we busted out the bikes and rode around for awhile. The kids loved it. Jake's getting really good on his bike. The next day, Jake took us on an "adventure" (his idea and wording). We rode to the end of our street and hiked down an hill to discover this stream and bridge. I didn't cross it that day (since I had the baby) but Scott and the kids went later and crossed it.

We were all bundled up because the day before it was really windy. This day it got warm and we soon stripped off the layers. Why do people think B is a boy?! She's sporting Jake's old tractor outfit.

Look at all that erosion. Big tree roots.

The creek is really snow run-off. Brrrr!

Brooke had a cushy seat. I put her down because my bladder was about to explode! :) She loved playing with the weeds.

Exploring the creek. Glad they wore crocs.

After a long ride on our adventure, Alisa is ready to take a rest in the stroller. At this point, she's freezing from falling in the creek. Brookie was just happy to have some company.

Jake used to have a little 12" bike, which was the perfect height, but somehow Scott hit it with his truck in the garage (our garage is super narrow and barely fits our cars in it. I don't know who designed it, but we have a narrow strip of all of our stuff in between the two cars. Now you know our garage woes.). Anyway, we bought this bike off craigslist. It's bigger and Jake has just figured out how to balance and start riding on his own. He fell a lot the first two days, but he's got the hang of it now.

I guess this just was a spring teaser since yesterday and today it's been snowing again. Boo! I'm ready for warm weather and not outdoor deficient kids!

Stay tuned for our weekend of haircuts. That may not sound exciting, but we ALL got haircuts at home, which means that I cut Scott's and Jake's (no big deal, I always do) and Scott cut Alisa's (aline) and mine (layers)! How did they turn out? I'll let you be the judge!

Sleepless Nights

Well, not exactly sleepless, but my kids have been getting up in the middle of the night to go potty, then not going back to sleep for a few hours. It's not that fun. I get a little grouchy.

The one kid who is the constant, fantastic sleeper is Brooke. She sleeps from 7 pm to 6:30 or 7 am. Without fail. No dream feeds, no interruptions. I hope I'm not jinxing myself here. Last night I went in to check on her. She had pooped. Nice. She was sound asleep. Scott and I tried to quietly change her together. I heated up her wipes in the microwave and he changed her (I can't reach her in the crib). She was awake, but went almost immediately back to sleep. Yay! Sigh of relief.

Alisa woke up at 4:45. I put her back to bed after a potty break. She stayed awake, turned on the light, woke Jake up, and partied. They were really nice to stay in their room. When they came out around 6:15, they shut our door. Then they came in and asked if they could have a yogurt. I was awake the whole time, but tried to go back to sleep. Oh, well. Here's to another crazy, tired day with the kids!

Jake's at preschool. Alisa fell asleep on our extended drive home. Brookie is asleep. Maybe I'll sleep. Or shower. Or both. Hmmm...

On an unrelated note, our kids have had the worst gas lately. It is really gross. They think it's hilarious. They'll totally rip one, then say "toots!" and laugh really hard together. Yes, I am trying to correct this behavior, but so far, no success. It might have something to do with the fact that we've had beans at dinner for a week straight. Scott made some scrumptious chili (3 different kinds and all were so good!) followed by two straight nights of soft tacos, my go-to meal when I don't want to cook or nothing sounds good. Does anyone else have one of those meals? Mine is always soft tacos. So easy and quick.