I swear, i blink my eyes and the weekends are over.  They just go by so fast!  I got to play tennis in the record high heat today but our team won all our lines and clinched the division!  So excited:)  I love my tennis Sundays and my team is so much fun.  We had a pretty busy weekend.  Last night we went out to dinner and yogurt with some friends and lots of kids.  Brent had his tennis match yesterday morning, and Friday night Brent grilled out some really yummy burgers and hot dogs for us.  It was a perfect weekend.  We wrapped it up with some Brusters tonight after finishing up the screen door for our back porch.  Life sure is good these days:)

3 is hard

the age that is.....although i can speak from experience that 3 kids is hard as well. You would think after being a nanny for 6 years i would realize the different ages and the challenges that they bring. But, i forget a lot of stuff..maybe try to block certain things out:) Let's just say that there have been a lot of tantrums lately..mostly just from manipulating. She tries very hard to get what she wants. If she asks me for something and i tell her no, she will walk right up to Brent and ask him. We have a book called "Do princesses wear hiking boots", and it asks if princesses follow the rules. Sadie will admit that she always follows the rules in school. she has never been to time out at school and always listens to the teachers(their words, not mine). She does exactly what they tell her to do. Then she will say "but i don't follow the rules at home, because i don't like to". huh??Now don't get me wrong, the good FAR out weigh the challenges that we have been facing lately with our sweet little Sadie. I'm just hoping this phase passes very soon. Each child should come with a custom manual when they are born, based on their personalities. That sure would be nice:)

Van is getting so big! I really can't believe he will be 1 next month. where in the world did the last year go? He is still doing his army crawl(if you even want to call it that since it is more of a sideways army crawl), but hey at least he can get around:) He now has 6 teeth, three top and three bottom. I looked in his mouth today and saw one of the bottom teeth almost as tall as the ones that have been there for months and i felt like a horrible mother because i didn't even know that tooth was coming in!

We are looking forward to summertime, sleeping in, and lots of fun activities:) and the Beach!

Jump the Frog

That's the name Sadie gave to the frog that has been living on our deck the past couple of weeks. We get a LOT of frogs around here..there always seems to be one hanging out on a window or door when it gets warm out. We cam across this guy a couple weeks ago when we were filling our built in deck planters with lots of soil. Brent got him out and took him to the other side of the house. Then when i went to plant my honeysuckle vine in the planter i saw him there again. We let him be. Sadie was fascinated with him. Then today and yesterday he has been right on top of the deck, and then when it gets real sunny there he goes to a shady spot and sleeps. I know it has to be the same frog because it literally comes back to the exact same spot every day. He literally slept all day today. We kept checking to see if he was even alive! Sure enough when it got dark out he took off. Don't worry, he will be back tomorrow:) We even make him a little mud pond out of a pie plate:) Here are some recent pics of the Easter egg hunt at school today, Sadie planting her flowers, and of course one of Jump the frog:)

I apologize that the flower pics are completely backwards out of order!

whirlwind!

Wow! the past month and a half has been quite a whirlwind. Van is finishing up some antibiotics...again, and hopefully no more sickness in this house for a while. He had brochiolitis along with double ear infections about a month ago. Sadie had this also when she was 3 months old and i remember it being the worst 48 hrs ever. Van slept in about 30 minute increments..for.2.days. We were all exhausted. the bronchiolitis stuck around for quite a while and then he got another nasty ear infection when he caught a second cold. Poor guy. Not quite thinking about tubes with him just yet but after a couple more ear infections we may be visiting a ENT. Sadie also had her first ear infection since she had tubes. She had a horrible cough that just wouldn't go away and after about a week of that she started waking up hysterical in the middle of the night. When i asked her if anything hurt she said her ear and then she said stuff was coming out of it. wonderful...her infection had gotten so bad that her ear drum had a small rupture.

On a much lighter note, now that the weather is absolutely wonderful we are enjoying a lot of time outside. Sadie is getting really good on her scooter and she loves having boundaries outside. She has a long stretch that she can go all alone(with someone outside of course) and not crossing the street. That is one thing that i do love about where we live..we live on a nice quiet street that doesn't get a lot of traffic. She can play freely and i can work in the yard...or have coffee on the swing:) I know i mentioned before that she is my helper and she is still my little helper, now more so than ever. I love giving her responsibility. I let her plant her own pot of flowers , she put all the soil and flowers in and is responsible for watering it too. And she is super excited about it too:) Hopefully she can keep them alive!

I still can't believe Van is 10 months old. That just seems so unreal. He is 20 lbs 2oz (as of his last sick visit). He has 4 teeth, 2 top 2 bottom, and his upper gums are super swollen so it looks like the side teeth may be coming in soon. He ins't crawling, just rolls to where ever he needs to go. Today he started to an "inchworm" crawl. He lays on his tummy acts like he is about to roll to his back then puts his butt in the air and pushes forward(all on his side). Maybe one day he will get it:) I brought his not crawling up to the dr. at his 9 month check up and she wasn't concerned because his muscle tone seemed fine and he was meeting all his other milestones. So, i try not to worry but just want the little booger to get moving!

Thats about all for now..i'll try to get some pictures up soon!

9 month stats

Just a quick post about Van's 9 month stats. Still not quite sure how he is 9 months already!:(

19lbs 9 oz (25-50% %)

28 3/4 inches long (50%)

head circ(not sure of the number but 50-75%

big boy is growing! he has one more tooth coming through up top right now, and the other top one looks right behind it. He still isn't crawling, but the Dr. isn't worried since he is hitting all his other milestones. He is just pretty laid back and content just watching. He is doing MUCH better on his tummy though..he used to immediately roll over to his back but now he will stay a while on his tummy and then eventually roll over but he will also roll back onto his tummy down. he also has mild torticollis where his right side of his neck is a little tight and tilts that way a little. we have to do some massaging and exercises with him but i also think i may take him to a pediatric chiropractor to check him out. He got a new medicine for his infant acne (he has two spots on his face from where he had 2 blemishes like 2 months ago and the spots are still there). This is much different than "baby acne". most babies experience some sort of baby acne within the first few months of life and it eventually clears up. infantile acne starts after 6 months and is very stubborn acne. sometimes lasting longer than 6 months. It's not very common at all. Poor lil Van:( She thinks this cream will work better than the one we were using that the dermatologist told us to use. we shall see. Other than that, he is just as perfect as can be. We are very thankful that those things are all we have to worry about:) He continues to be just the best lil guy i have ever met. he is so sweet, laid back and just so happy.

I'll try to post again about our last month of fun and sickies:)

back to life, back to reality

Now that our break is over, reality has officially set in. Daddy has to go to work everyday, and we have to be up and at em by 7:30 to get Sadie ready for school. Good thing tomorrow she gets to wear her jammies:) We had an amazing Christmas. This year was definitely the most fun so far. Sadie really got it. She asked for specific things for Christmas (well, she only asked for one thing..a baby doll that looked like her), but Santa thought she deserved more than just a doll:). She was really excited about Santa Clause..and very hesitant to sit with him this year. This was a little surprising because last year she let him pick her up and all. We have the sweetest Santa that comes to our clubhouse every year.

Both of the kids are doing awesome. Sadie is growing up everyday it seems. Age 3 has by far been the most difficult yet. I'm really not sure who coined the term "terrible twos" but two was nothing. 3 is all about manipulation, defying behavior etc. She still has her moments but she is so much better. Van is doing well too. He has 2 teeth now. yay! He is still the most happiest baby ever. He is rolling all around and sitting very good. No crawling just yet. I am one of those crazy moms who actually wants their baby to start crawling. I remember thinking the same thing with Sadie and everyone said i would regret it..i didn't. Right now, Van is just frustrated. He wants something and he can't get it. I love playing with him and all, but i'll be happy when he can get around a bit on his own. The only thing i am nervous about is all of Sadie's small toys. She knows that he can't have small things, but man she has a LOT of pieces to her toys. I really can't believe he will be 8 months next week. Where in the world has the time gone?

Today was the first full successful day without sleeping at all in his swing. He took 2 1.5 hour naps and one 45 min one. I think i'm going to have a party when we put that swing in the attic.

I don't remember his 6 mo stats, but i do know that he is 18lbs, 5oz right now. Growing boy!

happy halloween!

we had a wonderful Halloween! For the past few weeks Sadie has changed her mind every day(literally) trying to decide what she wanted to dress up as for Halloween. She wanted to be a ladybug, superman(not woman...don't ask), a ghost, witch, her lalaloopsy doll, a dog, caterpillar, pirate, a mermaid...and the list goes on. She finally decided on a witch. we went with a simple costume, black and green theme of course:) She had green fish net tights with a black tutu that my mom made. i bought a black leotard and some sparkly green tulle to use as a belt. I also found a cute black and green hat at walmart that matched perfectly. She insisted on getting the long black wig that went all the way down to her butt but that came off before we even left the house to go trick or treating:) she wanted to take the hat off too but i told her no one would know what she was if she didn't have it so she said "ok, i'll just wear the hat, no wig though":). She had SO much fun:) This was really the first year that she was really into it, and knew exactly what was going on. She came home for a potty break and then went back out for round two. she came home with lots of loot and now i have to deal with figuring out how the heck to make it disappear without her eating it all. I didn't get a costume for Van this year(i know, horribly mother), but i knew he would be down for the night before we even went so i didn't bother. oh well. he spent the night at home with mimi and nana and helped pass out candy. then i came home at the break and got him back to sleep while everyone went back out. All in all, it was a wonderful Halloween!

Van is doing pretty good. He still has this yucky cold and i'm hoping he kicks it soon. He is such an awesome boy. He is just over 5 months now. I am making my own baby food for him and so far he has tried:sweet potatoes, prunes, bananas, and peas. He has loved everything so far and does fantastic eating it. I am amazed how much less expensive it is to make your own baby food. I got a new food processor for Christmas last year for this exact reason and it has come in really handy. Now i just need a giant freezer to store everything:)