Always something here...

Wow, it has been super, super busy these few weeks. IT seems like we are always doing something, everyday. I  can't imagine how my mom felt with 4 of us having different schedules all the time! I have a hard enough time with just Lilly's schedule. ha


She just finished up her second year of ballet and has already told me that she wants to do it again next year. She has been working very hard in class every week for her final 'performace' for us and wouldn't you know that when that day came, last Tuesday, she had suddenly gotten sick about mid afternoon. I was at my doc appointment and my mom was watching her when I had texted my mom I was going to stop and pick up some flowers for her for that night. To which my mom replied, no need Lil is puking! I immediately thought, you have GOT to be kidding me!!!!! So she missed her last ballet class where they were going to be wearing some fairy wings and were able to wear a fancy skirt to perform in. I think I was more bummed than her. She only has class once a weak and there are only like 2 parents nights a year where we get to sit in and see what she is doing in class. She doesn't really practice at home, cuz after all she is still pretty young for that type of routine...so I was really looking forward to seeing her 'dance.' Oh well, there's next year!

We had a wonderful Mother's Day. We spent it in Maumee with my mom and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! We brought Rosie in to play with Jazz, my parents 3 yo golden, as if we could leave her home. lol Right before Mother's Day though I had injured my knee when I was playing with the kids. It wasn't some big traumatic experience or anything like that, in fact wen it happened I was just kind of like, oh my knee, then got up and was fine. It wasn't until the day after that I started to have some discomfort with it. I babied it for about a week or so then decided to go See my doctor cause it was still bothering me and I was in a fair amount of pain. So I went in and he tells me that I have patella femoral groove disorder. I know, I thought the same thing when I heard that!! HUH???? My first thing of course was, do I need surgery? He said that at this point I don't need it if I am willing to put in some hard work. So naturally I am willing to do whatever it takes to avoid surgery. To top it all off, when he was explaining it to me, it basically came down to this....every knee cap fits smoothly in a groove, but due to my ehem lack of toned muscle in my quad, my knee cap is essentially going outside of the groove and rubbing in place where it shouldn't being rubbing, thus the pain. So it was sooo incredibly great to hear that because my quad muscles suck, i have incurred this injury. lol So now I am in physical therapy 3x week for at least the next 5 weeks. Talk about taking a blow when I was already feeling pretty low these days. So I am working hard at getting my knee back to normal with NO SURGERY! I can't kneel on it and it is hard for me to get up from being on the ground because I don't want to put all my weight on it. My PT said that even though he is not "treating" me right knee it wouldn't be a bad idea to do all the exercises that I am doing for my left, for my right also. I guess this was the wake up call for me to really change some things in my life, such as my weight finally getting to where I need to be not just for myself and my own health but for my kids too.

I have been doing pretty good with all that I am trying to work on but every once in a while something like this comes along that just seems to yank you right back down. Seems like that is happening more often than not. So up we go, time to start over again!

I am soo not ready for her to grow up!

Lilly had a dentist appointment a few weeks ago and in the midst of it the dentist told me that her front two bottom teeth were loose! So we were pretty excited for that. I felt them when we got out of there and yeah they weren't like wriggly loose, just a tad, but still cool. Well we have just had so very much going on these few weeks that I have pretty much been leaving it up to Lil to brush her own teeth at bed and then I or Anthony do a double check. I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary except maybe her teeth getting a smidge more loose. On Mother's Day, we were in Maumee visiting my Mom and I forget who pointed it out first but Lilly has one of her bottom "adult" teeth already in! I mean it's not totally in, but it has broken through the surface and looks like this super white line behind her baby teeth. When I say super white we are talking "Ross from Friends episode white." I was so shocked to see that, cuz I guess I was just expecting baby teeth to fall OUT before new teeth came IN! It looks so funny to see that in there when she hasn't lost any teeth yet. I was taken back a little bit when she showed me simply due to the fact that I'm just not ready to keep on giving parts of her childhood up! Every time I turn around lately she is growing up faster and faster, no more days with me to do anything we want-off to school soon, baby teeth are beginning to loosen up and fall, adult teeth already IN, not needing help to brush teeth, Learning how to write on her own, getting her own cereal ....seems like wherever I used to help her in areas, she is slowly gaining her independence in them. Which is great FOR HER! Not so great for Mom! Starting to get inched out of parts of her life and she's only 5!!! Although I do look forward to inching my way back into other parts of her life as she grows! lol Only now do I truly realize why  my mom was always saying "don't grow up too fast" or "don't wish to grow up too fast." Being a mom to Lilly is the best gift in life! I have experienced feelings and emotions that I never even knew existed until I had her! I wish I could just bottle her up and keep her this innocent and young forever!

Princess Briar Rose

I had no idea how hard it was going to be training a puppy! I mean I knew it would be hard but nothing really compares to it until you are actually in the moment of training. We went and picked her out at the farm where we had "won" her in Lilly's school auction a couple weeks ago, and when we got there we had our pick of 4 females. Lilly of course couldn't really tell the difference between any of them, and really nor could I, so I brought my mom along to help me out. Who better to bring than the dog whisperer herself! So after deciding on her, we left with no puppy. I wasn't quite set up at home yet and needed a bit more time.

We must have gone through over 50 names for her. The puppy's mom name is "Princess" and my mom's golden she has is  "Princess Jasmine," Jazz for short. So we thought it was very appropriate to go with Princess Briar Rose, aka Rosie. The name fits her well, she just looks like a Rosie. So Lilly and I went to pick her up April 30th. It was a lot of fun to see her pure joy and excitement when we went to get her. We had a really nice talk on the way over there,again, explaining to her the responsibilities of a dog, helping each other out with her etc. So when we got there and picked Rosie up, of course it was raining..I buckled Lilly in and spread the towel across her. Then we got Rosie situated on Lilly's lap and were off! Let me just tell you that was the longest 15 minute car ride home I have ever had in my life! I just kept saying "hold on to her Lilly. This is a very important job. It's kinda like your first test..." Then I hear from the back seat, "Rosie this is a family. You are part of a family now. And I don't want to lose you(by this point she was crying, almost sobbing while talking to Rosie) So please sit still Rosie cuz this is my first test. I love you Rosie." It was the most adorable thing I have ever heard. She started out just talking then turned into crying. lol I was laughing silently pretty hard up front to myself. And when we were about 3 min from home Lilly pipes up and says with tears in her eyes, "Mom I can't take this any longer. I am gonna fail my first test. How much longer?" My poor baby...so we counted down the minutes and successfully made it home! She looks panicked, but oh so innocent while holding her on her lap.

Fast forward one week since we have had Rosie, well one week and 3 days....OMG What a week! I am soo mentally and emotionally exhausted that it feels like it has been years since we got her. We got her on the 30th of April and May 3 Van got sick. It started with a fever, then turned to diarrhea, follwed by vomitting for 3 days-no love says a mothers love like sitting in a bathtub with your sick baby to bring fevers down when they decide to puke-, and now excruciating gas and stomach cramps. He is still sick today and I am just worn out. Doctor said it's just a bug going around,  so nothing I can really do for him. I pray each night for him to wake up and be well, but so far it hasn't happened. Thank the Lord my mom has been here because I have no idea how I would be training a puppy in its first week with an extremely sick baby at the same time! All Van wants to do is lie around, but not in bed or on the floor, in my arms. You can see how it would be difficult to even go to the bathroom myself let alone take care of a 7 week old puppy. Needless to say it has been a whirl of emotions this week and if he doesn't start feeling better soon........The poor guy has been through so much his first year. He was able to spend 2 full days with her before he got sick though. We had to make a small pen for Rosie to play in, which consisted of baby gates and furniture, so Vance had to get used to some ehem, new boundaries.



                  
Rosie has been pretty good so far. She has had a couple accidents but they were our fault, not hers. She has slept through the night since the first night we brought her home and still continues on that path so keep your fingers crossed. Lilly is doing a good job with her. I have to keep reminding myself that she is only 5. lol Puppy training, traing a 5 yo how to train a puppy, sick baby all make for a week of terror. lol My mom and I were able to put up some green galvanized chicken fencing because Rosie, only a week older, is starting to really want to explore our whole yard and just run all over. She is a pretty good little girl. Lilly has already taught Rosie her first trick. Lilly has a little tikes orange and blue slide in our backyard, the one with jsut two steps. She has taught Rosie to clumb up the steps and actually slide down the slide! It is so funny to see. We have even caught Rosie going up and down the slide on her own, with no reward. lol The key to it all is wearing her out! I never realized how much more I owuld be up and down, moving all over, in and out, with a puppy. I can honestly say now that a puppy is much worse than a baby!! There has been blood, sweat and tears with this one..blood from putting up fence, sweat from 'running' around the block with her, and tears of frustration.  I am praying she turns out to be a wonderful dog for us.

Tonight will be the true test because my mom is going home for what I think may be just a rest, a very well deserved rest..let's pray she will come back! Although if I were her, heaven knows I wouldn't want to come back to this stressful, crazy, out of control home! I am totally over the "puppy" stage and ready for her to be housebroken and grown! lol That must be why God gave us kids to look after and NOT puppies! I never want my kids to grow up, but Rosie, it couldn't come fast enough.

My mom has been such a blessing to me and to our family. I have no idea how I would get through half the things I have gotten through without her. She celebrates 38 years married with my Dad today! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Time to go, I hear my 3rd child crying for me!

Vance 13 mo update

A break in the clouds, finally!!!! Van's GERD was a huge issue this past year. HUGE! But once he was put on his zantac he started putting some weight back on and from 9 mo to 13 mo, he has shot up!  He had a wonderful check up at the doctors a couple weeks ago. His doctor was so happy to see him growing at a great rate. He now weighs 21.3 lbs and is 31 1/4 in. Needless to say, mommy was very very excited to hear and see his results!

He has been taking a couple steps here and there the last few weeks so I am sure walking is just around the corner. Of course I am in no hurry right now, with the puppy and all, but excited to have him up and walking. Carrying over 20 lbs on your hip or in your arms every day all day can be quite exhausting. But I DO have the massive mommy arm that comes as a result of a non walker. ha! Van has really started to learn and do so many more things it feels like since he turned one. He is really developing quite the little personality. Stubborn as one can possibly be, just like his sister and his dad, oh wait and his mom...so no getting away from that I guess. He is really starting to lose that "baby look" and beginning to look like a toddler now. Bittersweet. Always.

And I swear once I started saying out loud that he is looking more like a toddler, the fits were instantaneously!! I forgot all about the temper tantrums and fits being thrown for really no reason at all. lol On top of those, he really knows how to manipulate you. He has begun this whining thing where he will just sit in his highchair, say after a meal, and just whine like he is hungry, but won't eat or wants something, but all you offer he shakes no to. So finally I just realized that i had never just told him "stop" or "no." And that's all it took. I will tell him to stop and he just looks up at me, stares, then quits.  That little........

We have been outside quite a bit lately and it is really funny to see him react to the grass and the patio. He absolutely does not like the grass one bit. So trying to even put him down in it is not going to happen. HE ends up looking like a monkey clinging to you with his legs still holding on for dear life around your waist. And you might as well forget about getting him to crawl to you on any type of cement. I guess he doesn't like his perfect skin getting all scratched up. Because now he puts his butt waaaayyy up in the air and still crawls on all fours. lol It is soo funny to see. Between no crawling in grass or not to much on cement this is really all he will do, walk behind his walker! Which we have then dubbed him our little old man!