What a big boy!! (P's 30-month check-up)

Our sweet boy turned 2 1/2 on Thursday, July 11!  He is a sweet, charming, stubborn, strong-willed little boy.  He loves sports--every.single.sport.  I'm not sure where this love comes from, as we are not really involved in sports beyond attending a few Saltdogs games and Husker football (GBR!).  But he is so obsessed that he will watch anything from wrestling to tennis to baseball.  He's full of energy--all boy, all the time.  He loves Blue's Clues, Team UmiZumi, motorcycles, everyone's flip-flops, and his bat, glove, "real" baseball, and scooter.  His favorite foods are macaroni and cheese and hot dogs and popsicles, but he will eat nearly anything, or at least try it. 

He's so very smart, telling us his shapes and colors.  He can count things pretty well, up to 4 without fail and sometimes further depending on his mood.  He can rote count up to 10.  He can participate in pretty decent conversations and loves to pray at the dinner table.  He's pretty good at throwing and very good at riding his scooter, or "motorcycle."  He's not potty training yet, but I'm sure it will come on his own time.  He's pretty good to his sisters, and loves them dearly, but can be rough with E and a pest to A.  If you tell him "I love you," he responds with "Thanks!"  He and A are finally getting to a stage where they play well together, and its one of the sweetest things to see.

Dr. Bargen was impressed with his motor skills and she compared him to a three-year-old or higher.  Our little guy is 11th percentile at 34 inches, and 29th percentile at 27.8lbs.

Our Boy:

Beautiful Babies!!

All three of our beautiful babies at about 7.5-8 months.  Just because I can't help myself.

                                                                            ~A~

                                                                              ~P~

                                                                              ~E~

A Budding Entrepreneur

So a few weekends ago It was a very hot day and I was out mowing the lawn and doing some other yard work.    There were a lot of people on our street because the Highlands Garage sales were going on and a couple of our neighbors had stuff out.  Amelia decided it would be the perfect time to do a lemonade stand!  (see...  She understands supply and demand!)  But the bad news was that we were all out of lemonade.  She was a bit discouraged but decided that it was a hot day so she would sell an alternate product.  She decided to have a water stand.   Not an ice water stand mind you...   Just a water stand...  

So she took to making a table out of a storage tub and even made a sign for the front.  She decided that a 1/3 of a glass of water would be worth about $1 a cup.  When I asked her if she thought that might be too much to charge for a cup of tap water and she said simply "it's a hot day...  people will pay for water."  So she sat out there for about 15 minutes with not even anyone stopping.  But she wasn't discouraged!   Luckily she had a captive customer base since Grammy decided to go out and buy 2 cups from her!   Amelia was ecstatic that she had made a sale!  In fact, she even overcharged her by 50 cents!!!!  (not that Grammy minded I don't think.) 

Pretty soon I had to move to the backyard so Amelia had to close up shop.  But she was pretty happy with her haul from her water stand!   Here are some pictures:

Back in my day we sold Kool Aid for a dime a cup!  (okay, that made me sound old... )

-L

E is 6 months!

We had Eleanor's 6 month check up on May 6th.  Our little roly poly is 16lb 11oz (62nd percentile), 25" (16th percentile), and her head is 16 3/4" (50-75 percentile).  She is most adorable with her little  chunky legs and cellulite-y tush.  She is definitely the most robust out of the three babies.

She is rolling back to front and front to back now and has been trying to get on her hands and knees as of late.  She almost does little baby push ups because she doesn't quite make it all the way to her hands and knees.  At least she stopped being super frustrated when she would roll from her back to her stomach and be stuck there!   She also does this push with her arms while she's on her tummy, and it ends up scooting her backwards.  She can also go around in a circle, which usually happens because she is trying to see something just out of her line of vision, and she has to move to see it.

She's such a happy little girl!  Tickling her squishy thighs or under her double chin will almost inevitably make her laugh every time.  She's a good nurser and a good eater, and we will start on some baby oatmeal this week.

She's also a pretty good sleeper, but still does wake 1-2 times per night.  I think she just wants to be near us.  E loves to be outside, or in the swing outdoors which is much like her brother and sister.  But unlike them, she still won't take a pacifier, so I think I officially give up on that front.  I'll just have to be the pacifiers for awhile longer!

Don't call me four-eyes

So as most of you know, or have already seen, Miss Amelia had to get glasses.  She had to have an eye exam for her Kindergarten entrance, so we set an appointment.  I never even thought she was needing glasses because she seemed to be able to see just fine.

Luke took her to Eyecare Specialties to have her checked and they did an amazing job with her!

She sat perfectly for all the parts of the exam, and the doctor determined she needed a farsighted correction with an astigmatism in both eyes, with a worse one in the left.  She may have Luke's beautiful blue eyes, but she got my vision..... Poor girl.  The doctor said she was exceptional in performing the tasks he asked of her.  She's a smart cookie! 

She's beautiful as always with her glasses and she looks as smart as she is!!

Having her eyes dilated.

Freaky!!!  As if her eyes aren't big enough...

                                                                        Silly girl!!!

                                                            And the ones she ended up with...

PS The pictures look squishy--so sorry, I hope they don't stay that way....

Kids say and do the darndest things some times!

The other night Pierson was in a very deep sleep and out of the blue i hear him crying on the monitor.  So I get up to go take care of him.  He is yelling, in his sleep mind you, at Amelia telling her that it was his blues clues book!!  He was very adamant.  I could barely get him to settle down at all until I reached up and handed him his blues clues book (which was right next to him).  He immediately stopped crying and said (in a very stern voice) "It's MY Blues Clues Book, MIMI!"  It was very funny!

So last night Beth put Pierson to bed.  Pierson has this turtle that shines stars on the ceiling above his bed which he likes very much.  Beth turned it on and at about the same time both Pierson and Beth noticed a small spider crawling across the ceiling.  Now Pierson has no problem picking up just about any bug EXCEPT spiders.  He doesn't like them at all! (and I think most of us can agree there is nothing wrong with that!)  So he points and excitedly says "pider!"  Beth goes out to the coat closet and grabs on of her snow boots and proceeds to give the spider a hasty squashing.   After taking care of the spider she put the boot down and says good night.  Pierson settles in and goes to sleep.  About 30 minutes later Beth goes in to check on him and he is snuggled up next to her boot in bed! (like you would snuggle a teddy bear)  I guess he didn't want to go to sleep without an effective spider killing weapon!  Just in case...

Oh kids are hilarious!

-L

2013 Nebraska Spring Game

Living in Nebraska you quickly learn a few things...  A "light snow" can be anywhere from 1 to 16 inches, summer is road construction season and Husker football is king!  While not quite as crazy as a regular season football game the Spring game is always a fun time!  Well, we decided that this was the year for Amelia to finally experience what it is like to go to a Husker game so we had planned for Beth and I to take her together.  My Brother Justin and his son Dominik also joined us.   However, with Eleanor's recent hospital visit at the last minute Pierson got to take Beth's seat so that she could stay home with Eleanor.  We had a fantastic time and all the kids seemed to really enjoy it! 

Here are a few pictures:

She's trying to make a "N" with her fingers...



Someone got a bit tuckered out about halftime...




Buds



- L