Long & Lean....and a Superstar!

That's my little man!

We just got back from Jack's 9 month appointment and he did great. Hitting all his milestones, etc. And the doctor reminds me about the blood draw they like to do between 9 & 12 months to test lead & iron levels. This time I was prepared. With Sam, not so much.

See, when I had Samantha I skipped away from the doctor's office after her 6 month appointment when they told me there wouldn't be any shots at her 9 month appointment. And they were right, there weren't any. However they neglected to tell me they would be doing a blood draw instead. A what? That's worse than shots. I've since made it my mission to warn all parents who see this doctor about this because getting caught off guard like that sucks. But with Lu and again this time, I was ready.

And then he gently reminds me that the first flu shot for a baby is given in two doses. Shit, I forgot that. So he needed one today, in addition to the blood draw, and he'll get the second at Lu's 4 year appt. next month. And yes, our whole family needs & gets them because Samantha is still considered high risk and her doctors recommend it. Jury is still out on us getting the H1N1 vaccine. Their doctor recommends it for all 3 of the kids, but was honest that he's not sure there will be much left over after all the high risk groups (as per the CDC) get it.

So, here comes the shot. I'm expecting tears if for no other reason than it's naptime. But nope, nothing. Hmm...pretty cool. I pick him up, gather up our stuff and go out to get Lu the sticker I promised her. But the sticker basket is empty. Oh crap. Thankfully she is a go with the flow type of girl, sometimes, and tells me she'll just use the ones that are in the playroom. So off we had down to the lab. They tell me to hold Jack in a bear hug away from me (not high on the list for a baby going through seperation anxiety). The tech finds a vein, needle in and....

Wait. No tears!! Not a flinch. No squirming. He's just sitting there watching what they're doing. When they're done, he smiles at them. Everybody in the lab is shocked and I'm giddy. This is the one part I don't like being about a SAHM. All these doctors appointments and resulting tears always fall on me. But he was a superstar! And the lab tech saved the day by giving Lu two sheets of stickers, bless her heart! And I have give the lab techs today props. One stick. That's huge, especially for a baby. I remember when Sam had to have a blood draw after her seizure and they must have stuck her 6 times. She was a human pin cushion. After a week of being one in the hospital.

But anyways, back to Jack. Superstar. And his stats:

20lbs 1oz (37%)
29.1 inches long (75%)
18.74 head circ (95% - well duh*)
* my kids all have HUGE heads. Nothing to be worried about, but they're big!

So he's lighter than his sisters were at this age, but longer!

And on a side note, when I pulled out the girls' baby books today I noticed that Lu is as tall now (at just under 4 years) as Sam was at her 5 year appointment! Lu is going to be tall I think. Which should be obvious to me as I just had to pack away 3/4 of her closet because everything is too short for her.

Long & lean - those are my kids! Better than the other way around, right?

Murphy's Law

If something can go wrong, it will go wrong.

And it went oh so wrong. Lu has a little stuffed cat that she has been attached to since she was about 1. Attached to, like it's an extra appendage on her. She takes that poor little cat everywhere and stands by the washing machine door the few times I've been allowed to wash him. She has a habit of taking him downstairs during the day and then forgetting to take him back up to bed, leading us to frantic search for where she may have put him.

Oh I didn't mention she likes to hide him?

Well, she does. And in the most obscure places sometimes. Like in their little toy oven or behind picture frames. Pretty much any place I wouldn't look. So we finally came to an agreement that the cat (named Uh-Oh because when she was little she'd throw him from the crib and when I'd come in, she point and yell "uh-oh" at him) would stay upstairs and she could pick another animal that could be the downstairs one. She agreed and yesterday was our first day. And she listened. Uh-Oh stayed upstairs, in her room. So imagine my horror when we couldn't find him ANYWHERE last night at bedtime.

I searched our entire house, unmade & remade her bed, looked in the closets. Anything I could think of. See, I get her attachment. I had a squirrel Rocky that I was equally attached to and my parents used to go the ends of the earth to reunite us if I had forgotten him somewhere, which I often did. So I was determined I was going to help her find Uh-Oh. But after 30 minutes and way past her bedtime I gave up. I was expecting the meltdown to end all meltdowns, but she shocked me. She told me she knew he has to be around and that she would just sleep with another stuffed animal tonight. See, they always manage to surprise me.

This morning, knowing he had to be in the house, I made her retrace her steps during "nap" yesterday. She claimed she stayed in bed, except for the 15 or so potty trips. I reminded her that I found a jacket in bed with her when I came to get her up and that's when the light bulb went off for her. She went, grapped her jacket and extracted Uh-Oh from the sleeve, where she had safely tucked him in.

Of course, a jacket sleeve! I should have known.

The Best Dad

I'm constantly being told that Nacho is the best dad there is. And I agree whole-heartidly. My kids are so lucky to have the dad they do. I don't understand why it's so suprising to people. I knew he'd be an awesome father, that's why I decided havig kids with him was a good idea! But I have to admit it makes me wonder - why do people always comment on dads being great, but never really about moms? I know, because we're the moms and the things that make dads great are just expected of us. Why aren't those same things expected of the dads though? Why does it make them above & beyond? It reminds me of when women say their husbands are "babysitting" the kids. No they're not. They're watching their OWN kids, which is their responsibility.

I don't need the acknowledgment nor does my husband. We know we're good parents. But it would be nice to hear once in awhile (about any mom, not just me), "you know, she's a really good mom."

5 Going on 25

If you read my last post you'll see I *just* described Samantha as 5 going on 15. In the course of a school day, she's apparently moved up to 5 going on 25. I had coffee with my best friend this morning while Sam was at school. This is our convo:

Sam: How was coffee with Auntie Jenn?
Me: It was fun.
Sam: What did you talk about?
Me: All sorts of stuff. How you're doing in school. Stuff like that. She missed you today and hopes she'll you soon.
Sam: I know. I'm just so busy. I'm free on Wednesday. *pause* Oh wait, I'm not free on Wednesday.

Back to School Night

Last night was our first ever back to school night as parents. Honestly, I'm still adjusting to being the parent and not the kid. The night started out ok with the principal and superindentant of schools talking. Except as the good parent I am, I stood outside talking to some other moms instead of listening. Bad I know, but I already knew about their handwriting curriculum because they use it as the preschool also. That's a good excuse, right?

After that we went to Samantha's classroom. It's been an interesting beginning to the year as her teacher was out all of last week after receiving devistating news that her father had passed away unexpectedly. So they're all getting used to be being back together. Mrs. M went over the work they'll be doing this year and hot damn, it's a lot. They are busy from that first morning bell until pick up. They do have recess & playtime after lunch as well as about 1/2 hour of free time right at the end of their day. But for 4 & 5 year olds, that's a lot of work. Makes me wonder how half day kindergarten jams it all in. Anyways, they'll be doing language arts (reading, writing, etc), math, science (earth, life & physical) and art. Due to budget cuts they had to let the PE teacher go, so she'll be taking them out when she can to do that. By the end of the year they need to be reading at a level 3 - not sure exactly how to describe it, but reading none the less. Oh and homework starts next week. HOMEWORK. IN KINDERGARTEN! She wasn't kidding when she said the days of milk & cookies in kinder were over.

We stayed afterwards to ask how Sam was adjusting, if she was behaving, etc. She told us that Sam was a dream student and thanked us for it! Although we know she's smart and can be sweet, she also has a 5 going on 15 attitude about her sometimes and she's been known to talk.. A LOT. Oh and let's not forget her preschool teacher told us she was tad bit bossy at her conference last year. So this was great news to hear last night. Apparently, she does what she is supposed to, gets her work done, is helpful and a delight to have in class. Maybe it helped that her and her best friend from last year were put in seperate classes (on purpose, btw). It hasn't seemed to faze Sam though, as she already has two new best friends. And so far they seem nicer.

All of this was especially good news after the conversation Sam and I had the other night. Last Friday I took the girls to rent movies since Nacho was at a baseball game with work. We didn't get around to watching the one Lu picked until early this week. It's an American Girl movie about a girl (4th grade) who starts a new school and is bullied. I did read the back before renting and knew it was the storyline, but I had NO idea they were so mean. Horribly mean. And the sad part is does probably happen just this way a lot. So I decided to use it as a teaching moment and talk to the girls about bullying and not always following what your friends do, especially if you disagree with it. Sam says all the right things in response (per usual Lu wasn't listening to me)....and then comes out with the following:

Sam: You know mom, me, S & A are really popular at school.
Me: Oh you are. That's good. What about the other girls in your class?
Sam. Nope. They aren't
Me: Why
Sam: Because they aren't in our group.

Oy Vey!!!

So then I got to explain about how they didn't have to be in her group to be popular, they could be in their own group. I'm glad she's self-confident, something I wasn't growing up. Here I am so worried about her possibly being bullied that I never stopped to think she might be the bully. Her teacher assured me last night though that Sam is happy to play with everybody and openly welcomes anybody into their play group. Thank goodness! But now I know we have to keep that conversation going.

Oh and apparently Lu is thriving being in preschool without her sister. So much so that they can't get her to be quiet. Even during library time. While the librarian is reading. Hopefully the newness of having her own voice will even out soon. Or it will be a long year for her teachers.

Bling

The girls got bling. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Our weekend started out with one goal. To find the girls some new sandals. A bunch of money later and we still don't have sandals. How is it that you can always find so much else you "need" to buy? Our trip started at our local outlet mall because we normally go to the Stride Rite there. One pair of sandals, but not in the girls' sizes of course. We hit up every single shoe store there and come up with nothing. But we walked by Claire's and Sam says she wants to get her ears pierced. She's been saying this for a year now - the first time I didn't like her reason for wanting them done and every time after that she's chickened out. Which I honestly believed would happen this time.

But nope, she hops up into that chair, picks out her earrings and is ready to go. Of course we would choose the day that they are down to one employee because somebody called in sick. So not only is she swamped, it also means that instead of doing the ear simultainously (I don't think I spelled that right), she has to do one ear after the other. I do have to give her credit though - she took her time doing this and didn't get flustered once with all the people waiting for her help. Lu claimed she had no interest in getting her's done, until she saw Sam with hers. I don't know if it was the shiny bling or the lollipop they got after that changed her mind, but before I knew it, she had climbed into the chair and told me she was ready.

The girls did great and absolutely no tears! They've even been good about not touching them, something that I was sure to be a fight in our house. The lady doing their piercings even complimented them on how good they did saying that kids this age almost never sit still. Because they got birthstone earrings, they spent the rest of the day telling eachother "I like your October earrings", "Thanks, I like your March earrings". Too funny!

An ironic part of this is Nacho, who wanted Sam's ears pierced when she was a baby (I said no - I wanted it to be her choice), actually had a hard time when they got them done. I think it's a lot of growing up for his baby girls in a few short weeks. But we both agree they look beautiful and we're so happy they did them on their terms, when they were ready.

But as much fun as that was, we still didn't have sandals. I posted to Facebook about my frustration and bunch of people told me to try Target. So Sunday we headed off to Target. One pair. One freakin' pair and again, not in their sizes. But since we were there I decided to pick up baby food and few other things we needed. After that we went to Costco, where we always spend too much. How does that happen? If we go in and buy a cartload of stuff or if we go in for one thing, why is the total bill always the same? But they had jackets and jeans for the girls and since they've hit yet another growth spurt, they need them. They've gotten to the point where hand-me-downs are no longer an option. They are pretty much in the same size now! We measured Lu yesterday and she's grown 3 inches in the last year! She's only 2 inches behind Sam. Back from that tangent - they also had Carter's fleece sleepers so we had to get a few for Jack, who is now in yet another size of clothes. Will somebody please tell my children to stop growing so fast?

So it's Monday and we still don't have sandals. I get the stores are getting their fall stuff ready, but we're in California. It's still summer! And we'll have warm weather for at least another month or two. Will they ever learn?

Mission Accomplished

So, after two nights of letting Jack cry it out, which lasted a total of less than 3 minutes each night, he is back to going to sleep on his own and sleeping the whole night. So glad we didn't have to drag it out because while I'm willing to give it a try, I really am a softie and I hate listening to him cry. Especially because he's always so happy.