One word – BIG! Much bigger than at this point in my pregnancy with Alex. I wore the pants I’m wearing in this picture until he was born, but I fear these won’t last that long….
But, our little girl is growing well and doing good which is the best of all.
Tons and tons of snow! Almost 3 feet! Whew – at least we have a generator this year so no power outage on Christmas day! Alex loves the snow. His hands would get so cold because he wouldn’t wear gloves, but he didn’t care one bit.
Well, we finally had the last straw.
It all came to a head last week when Lance was taking him to preschool in the morning and he said that he was crying and saying he didn’t like preschool – like he has been doing every morning since switching to this new preschool. He would cry and beg and plead not to go saying that nobody liked him and he didn’t have fun. It broke our hearts to hear this over and over again, but to some extent – this is to be expected. After a fun weekend at home – who would want to go to preschool?
But this was different – we’d been trying to make this work and trying to make this work for a long time. What was going on?
After reflecting for a bit we realized that his personality had changed since we’d been going to this preschool. He is very outgoing and always wants to play, but especially these past few weeks at Wiggle Worms he hasn’t wanted to do anything – just sit on the sidelines and not participate. It’s so odd for him – but we finally put the clues together. He thinks of Wiggle Worms as another “preschool” with a “teacher” and he doesn’t want to do it. He has loved Wiggle Worms in the past and has been fully of energy running up and down the trampoline and jumping in the blocks.
After our the last preschool that was so wonderful and Alex loved it – this was a hard one to take:
1). drop off at 7:45 AM – probably followed by 1+ hours of cartoons – is this what we pay almost $1000/month for? And that is just the morning. I have no idea how much tv he actually watched there.
2). heavy emphasis on kindergarten readiness – letters and numbers and coloring “in the lines” with no imagination work or play or art. No play-doh, etc. He’s 2 1/2! Who cares if he can color in the lines?
3). two boys who are older (that also have older brothers) that taught Alex about fighting, sending him to “jail”, and “guns”. The teacher would say that when they did it too much that she would put them in time-out and say “you know how boys are”. (Although I know this is probably inevitable at some point when he’s older – I don’t think it’s OK to have this be his day when he’s just 2 1/2!)
4). He fell off a toy and hit his mouth pretty hard. His gums bled a bit, but there was no incident report. She told us about it – but nothing else. When we asked him about it – he said it really hurt and he cried and cried. We took him to the dentist (at his regularly scheduled appt) and they said that his two lower teeth are LOOSE! I can’t believe this one!
5). A teacher who answers the door and expects the parents to just leave their kids there “it just works better this way” and who doesn’t give some sort of synopsis of his day either written or verbal.
6). lack of supervision – often I come to pick up and the kids are outside on this covered deck with a locked gate. She is sometimes in the bathroom changing a kid and the kids are outside by themselves unsupervised.
After writing all of that – I feel bad that we didn’t do something sooner. How awful! We finally put all the clues together and had the last straw. Time to find a new preschool – not an easy task. Especially considering all the other things going on.
But, craigslist came through for me again! We found a wonderful preschool and visited last week – just Lance and I. There were lots of toys and the teachers looked happy and engaging. The kids were all happy looking as they got their coats and shoes on to go outside. It was much more like our last preschool that we loved so much. It’s a Mom who has her two kids there as well as other kids. She’s been in business for 3 years and has 1 full time teacher and 2 part time teachers. She has a well established routine. We were very impressed with the whole setup. She diapers/potty times the kids all at the same time so they can learn from each other, with as needed diaper changes/potty times of course!
So, Monday morning we took Alex to visit and meet everyone and he loved it! We were welcomed in and introduced to everyone. We got to see other parents drop their kids off and we liked what we saw – parents who came in and took a few minutes to get their kids adjusted and the kids were happy when they left. After a few minutes of being shy, Alex started playing with the cars and trains, play-doh, tools and other kids. They got to watch the salamander get fed crickets. It was so fun he didn’t want to leave! It was definitely a rough time to have to go back to the dreaded preschool after seeing such a wonderful place.
But, we only have 6 more days left and we’re outta there! Such a weight has been lifted off our shoulders – it was hard to keep track of how bad it had gotten until we put it all together. It’s difficult to put all this in words – it’s confusing and has been a tough situation for us.
No Way!
I’ve got my parents wrapped around BOTH of my little pinkies. See those 2 popsicles in my hands?
Sick boy – taken on Sunday
This last weekend I got sick, and I mean sick. I had a fever of 100-101 on Friday and got to stay home and watch tv all day! Then in the evening – my fever rose to 102, then 103, then 104! And, let me tell you – that slows you down. I felt sick and told my parents that I was sick and that I had to sleep with them. Boy! they said it was a rough night, but I felt so loved and taken care of. My throat was so sore! I just wanted to drink milk, juice, eat ice chips or have the wonderful popsicles you see in my hands.
On Saturday they took me to the doctor and they stuck some q-tips down my throat to test for something called “Strep” and something called “the flu”. Both came back negative – which means I probably( Most likely) have the dreaded H1N1 or what some people refer to the “the dreaded swine flu”.
(Apparently the flu test only tests for type A and type B, but not specifically for H1N1)
I continued watching tv all day on Saturday and watched about every cartoon out there; sesame street, sponge bob, fireman sam, tom & jerry, and my new favorite scooby doo.
My parents are such pushovers that I got to sleep with them AGAIN – two nights in a row!
Then, Sunday – my fever broke and I was feeling better, not 100%, but better enough to be bored and playing around, albeit not at my usual pace. I still got popsicles all day and watched my fair share of tv and we also decorate the Christmas tree a little bit.
The parents were tough on Sunday night and said that I wasn’t sick anymore and had to sleep in my own bed. Well, after some pouting and shouting, I gave in and slept in my own bed. I really didn’t want to go to preschool on Monday and cried the entire way there. I told Daddy I was sick and that I wanted to stay home and watch tv. But, he said we “had to” go since Daddy had to go to work and he said I wasn’t sick anymore.
Now I’ve just got this cough that is lingering, but at least my sore throat is gone.
Scuba divers, starfish, and octopus – oh my!
We took a trip to the aquarium this weekend and had a very nice time. Alex is obsessed with scuba divers. OBSESSED!
And he saw “HUGE” fish and “HUGE” starfish. He also loved his hood – couldn’t get him to take it off even for the photos.
We even posed as a scuba diver and a fish!
P.S. Sorry for the photos – I forgot my camera and we had to use Lance’s iPhone. Not the best in the low lighting of the aquarium!
We had a nice time at Uncle Mikey’s and Alex had a good time – so comfortable in fact, that he decided to eat his pumpkin pie with no pants on!
Wow – Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I can’t believe it’s the end of November already! Where has the time gone. I guess things are just going well for us and I am thankful for so many things. Our health, a pregnancy that is going well, our new jobs in this economy, and last but not least - family and friends.
We are looking forward to spending time with friends and family and enjoying our long weekend. Decorating the house, doing some shopping, relaxing, and enjoying the time off.
It’s fun to look back and see how much Alex has changed over the years. His first thanksgiving – I think we gave him a little bit of sweet potatoes. His second thanksgiving – as you can see – he’s got his own knife and sitting in a chair!
This year – his third thanksgiving - we’ll just have to wait and see.
Thanksgiving 2007
Thanksgiving 2008
We were out shopping at my favorite consignment store and came across a Seahawks football jersey that has “Alexander” on the back (a former Seahawk player). I’ve been wanting to get one for quite a while and the stars were aligned that day. Lance wasn’t trilled, since the Seahawks aren’t “his team”. But, he put up with the purchase.
Well, we got home and asked Alex if he wanted to wear it and he did! And he hasn’t taken it off since! Except for this Monday morning when Daddy decided that Saturday and Sunday were enough and he had to change his clothes for preschool. Well – that didn’t turn out well. So, Alex will be happy that Tuesday morning he will have no struggles from his Daddy about what to wear. Lance learned that that is not a battle he wants to fight. Who cares if he wears it to preschool every day this week? I certainly don’t care and Alex will want to wear it, I’m sure. Especially after sleeping in it, too!
Not long after I snapped these photos – Alex remembered that football players have helmets. So, we got his bike helmet and he wore it all night and on Monday morning before preschool. It was only after some fancy talking that we got it off him in the morning without incident (Don’t you want to play with it tonight when you get home from preschool? Yeah, well we need to take it off now so that it will be home and ready to play tonight. OK? OK)
P.S. He had to sleep with his helmet on Monday night, too, but we did make him take it off. Man, have we created a football nut or what?
Alex – November 2008 (~20 months old)
Wow – what a year it’s been. I would easily say that this is one of our most challenging years ever. Let’s start with a brief recap:
1). Lance was laid off in November 2008 – totally surprised by this one!
2). Allison was laid off in April, but had to keep working until July.
3). Lance found a new job in January (although, didn’t like it and thought he was going to get laid off again, but luckily found…) another new job and started in August.
4). Allison found a new job and started in August.
5). Alex started a new preschool in January after we had to pull him out of his old daycare because it was near Lance’s old job and we just couldn’t take him that far anymore.
6). But, then had to start another one in September after the owner decided to only offer part-time. Whew!
7). Allison got pregnant, faster than expected, and knew she was pregnant on her first day at her new job! Sounds great – but was actually very stressful.
Whew! I couldn’t have predicted this year and the challenges we faced. But, we knew there was only one way to get through it all – together. There were many times when we didn’t know HOW we were going to get through it all. I don’t have any secrets, just a day at a time, one problem at a time, sacrifice and compromise, encouragement and listening to each other, remembering what is actually important in life. And that’s just what we did. I would definitely say that we are more careful and conservative with our money, and we also know how lucky we are especially in this economy. We have a house to live in, food to eat, company to share, and lots and lots of giggles to be had. The hard times definitely make you appreciate the good times.
Here’s to another year – what ever it may bring!
We hired a local photographer (Keri Meyers) to take some family pictures of us and here are some of the best! We had a great time and I think the pictures turned out really well. I love Mr. Blue Eyes!
He loved swinging in between us and we did many swings after….
1….. 2….. 3…. SWING
1….. 2….. 3…. SWING
1….. 2….. 3…. SWING
I don’t get that many pictures of my boy and me – so I cherish this very much!
Mr. Blue eyes again!
With #2 - Not huge (yet), but much bigger than last time!
With #1 - at around 22 weeks with Alex. It’s totally true you get bigger faster with pregnancy #2, but I’ve heard you don’t necessarily get bigger overall – just bigger at first???
We had a really fun time for Halloween this year with Alex being a lion. We practiced knocking on the door and saying trick or treat, saying thank you and saying Happy Halloween! Alex was the most ferocious lion! He said ROAR a lot!
We went to a friends house and they have such a nice neighborhood for trick-or-treating. Alex was so excited, not necessarily about the candy, but the knocking on doors and saying “trick or treat”, “Thank you” and “Happy Halloween!”
And the whiskers – we just had to do whiskers!
Here are the three trick-or-treat kiddos that were there – Allison the bumble bee, Megan the witch and Alex the lion.
Look at that cute lion tail!!!
Hello,
It’s been a while… I know. It’s been a challenging week. Here is a general update of all that we’ve been dealing with. No wonder I’m stressed!
Monday started with a visit to “Dr. Risky” who is aka Maternal-Fetal Medicine or Perinatologist – the high risk obstetrician. I was very anxious about this appointment. What were they going to tell me? My worst fear was (honestly) that I was going to be fine and I had nothing to worry about. Well, I guess my worst fear didn’t come true. With all my anxiety about the appointment – my blood pressure was about 140/80 – too high. I told them I was very anxious and that I had been taking my blood pressure everyday and it was around 115/70 and that I had even fainted because of the low blood pressure, but they said they wanted me back on the medication. I asked what BP they wanted me at and they said 120/70, or thereabouts. So, I came home and checked my BP, and it was fine. So, I haven’t started it up again. It’s not something they prescribe pregnant women unless they have to, and if I don’t have to take it – I won’t.
I also have a low amount protein in my urine, both a symptom and a sign of preeclampsia and just generally that the kidneys aren’t functioning as well as they should. This may be just the way I am when pregnant, so they’re not too worried right now, but it will be something they keep a close eye on.
I also had an ultrasound at the appointment. It was great to see our little baby. Baby was moving around quite a bit and wanted to face backwards a lot during the scan. We got a couple of pictures to keep and baby is measuring right on time. I’m 14 weeks now and starting to feel better. I ate dinner again these past two nights. Yeah!
You would think, on the other hand, that having low blood pressure sounds great! Especially after having high blood pressure…. well, you’d be wrong. I’ve been feeling very low energy and very tired, more than the usual. I get very tired going up stairs and generally doing anything. And fainting is not fun, either. But, for now – I’ll take the low blood pressure and all that comes with it. My BP has, like I said, about 105-115/70-80.
I got a migraine on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. It was pretty awful. I can’t take any medication for migraines, partly because I haven’t had one in so long that I don’t have it anymore and even if I did, it’s not a great medication to take when pregnant. Lance took care of Alex all night on Wednesday and woke him up on Thursday and got him ready to go. While I was puking in the bathroom, Alex would come in and scream that he didn’t want to go to preschool and didn’t want to put his clothes on and this… and that… It was so rough. I knew what was happening – he had missed me the night before, even though he had a good time with Lance, and by the time Thursday morning rolled around and I was still incapacitated, he broke down. I felt like such a bad Mom. All my kid wanted was a little time with me and I couldn’t give it to him. I know that I’m not a bad Mom, in fact, I’m a good Mom – but in those moments – it’s very difficult to think that way.
Alex has had an ear infection and we had to learn a few things about ear tubes and infections before the medication started to work. First, warm rag on the ear for a few minutes before putting the medicine in. It warms everything up, Alex loved it because it felt good and he got to hold it and once you take it off – you use a q-tip or something else to clean all the gunk out of the ear first. Once you have it warmed up and cleaned out, then put the medicine drops in the ear and it (mostly) goes down smoothly. At first we were just putting the ear drops in and trying to get through all the gunk and it wasn’t working. I was ready to go get oral antibiotics if needed, but after those tricks – we didn’t need to and I can (hopefully!) say – his ears seem to be fine now.
We also started taking him to see my chiropractor. She told me that ear infections are often caused by misalignment of the back and neck. We took him in and she did a couple of tests. She asked me if he turned his head one way more than the other, and I said I hadn’t noticed. But, I thought back to when he was a baby and he would NOT sleep on his back – it had to be his side, and he definitely favored one side. So, she did his adjustments and he loved it! It was strange watching it all happen. She was so good with him (she has 4 kids of her own!) and would ask him if he heard the popcorn in his back when she was doing the adjusting. I think the adjustments were definitely helping with his ear infection and we took him 3 times last week and go on Monday, too.
I’ve also been seeing a accupuncturist and have enjoyed my treatments. At first I felt like it wasn’t doing anything, but I can see now that it is. I come out much calmer and remain calm for at least 3 days. I have been clenching my jaw, which not only hurts my jaw muscles which are sore, but has been hurting my teeth. She has been really helping me with this.
So, there is a reason I’m writing all this. We have been having very busy weeks with many appointments for myself or for Alex. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do another post this week or not. I feel bad that I haven’t posted any pictures lately, but the truth is that I haven’t been taking many pictures. I’m hoping with feeling better that I will be able to do more. I miss showing you all what we’ve been up to.
This week we have for Allison: 2 chiropractor appointments, 1 regular OB appt, 1 massage appt, 1 accupuncture appt and who knows what else.
For Alex: at least one chiropractor appt and a swine flu vaccine appt.
Busy week!
We have been talking a lot about babies around our house lately. Alex even thinks he has a baby in his belly, along with Bella, our dog. Mama always says that you have to be careful of the baby in her tummy so we have to be careful of the baby in his tummy, too. And sometimes, the baby is hungry and wants to eat a lot!
Well, we got to visit Eric and Becky with their new baby boy, Evan, a few weeks ago. We talked about how there was a baby at “Allie’s” house and how if he was really careful – he might even get to hold him. We sat him down and put a pillow on his lap (and you can see Eric’s arms helping out) and he did GREAT! He was so proud. He remarked how little his fingers were and his little nose.
All practice for this coming summer!!!
P.S. Sorry folks for the time in between posts. It’s been very difficult for me in the evenings to even think about doing anything (let alone starting up my computer and all that). Bare with me – I’m hoping to feel better within about a month or so.
I had my first real photo shoot Sunday and I think it really well!
I really wasn’t that nervous (I thought I would be) until right before we started. It really helped knowing my good friend, Zoe, her husband and son. I took some notes on poses that I thought would be good, and when my mind was stuck with what to do next…. I pulled it out and it gave me all the confidence I needed. I remembered some of my tricks from my workshop in June: keep moving around, look for the light, find ways to get the kiddo to be involved, show the view screen to the customer to show them how wonderful they look, & don’t always take the posed shots. Just some of the lessons I’ve learned and practiced over the many months, I guess
Little Liam was so fun to work with and he LOVED looking at the pictures after I took them on the the view screen. It was so funny – he had the BIGGEST smile when looking at the view screen – but when it came time to take the pictures, it wasn’t that easy. When I was taking a picture where Liam was the “cheese” between his parents as the sandwich he kept saying “we’re a family” and my heart about melted. It was so right on. Times go by so fast – sometimes I feel like I’m on a fast rollercoaster and in this moment, I slowed down and remembered what it means to be a family. Thanks to Liam for reminding me! That’s why I’m doing this – to capture those moments and have them to remember always.
Here is a sneak peek of the wonderful family – thanks so much for trusting and believing in me! It was so much fun!
Anyways – I would love to hear your comments – Let’s tell Zoe & Family how wonderful they look. I think they look like a very happy family!
Alex’s newest word is “forgot”. He has undoubtedly heard me say it many times to myself or as I’m talking to him. Oh I forgot to change your diaper, I forgot to put this away, etc.
But, the other night – it was so cute.
I was putting him to bed by myself while Lance was somewhere (I can’t remember) and we changed his diaper to put on his night diaper, put on his Paa-jees, chose some books and snuggled into bed to start reading them. As we were about 1/2 way through, he looked at me and said “You torgot to brush my teeth!” “That’s silly”
We had to stop everything because Mama was being silly because she “torgot”!
The other day as we were coming in our house after preschool and working, I unlocked the door and he ran inside to go find his beloved toys. After about five minutes, he was sitting in the living room and said to me “I torgot to take off my shoes, That’s silly!” And preceded to take off his shoes and put them in the cubby at the front entry way.
It just tickles me …. I torgot (his pronunciation, not mine!)
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