Another double

I took Ava in for her six month checkup today. Besides being 99th percentile in height and 75th percentile in weight, she also has another double ear infection. YEAH! :)  Monday we go to the ENT, and hopefully the tubes will follow shortly after that. And after that? Blessed sleep!

When do you get mad?

Bedtime tonight was excrutiating. Abby forgot to read a book for reading, Nolan was so, so pokey, and Max was just a little overtired and, therefore, crabby. Dinner wasn't as bad, but the battles of "How much do I have to eat?" along with the kids getting up, teasing each other, and doing literally everything except eating their dinner gets old. After all was said and done, and Dave finally got everyone tucked in as I fed Ava, I just looked at her and asked Dave, "How old are they when you start to get mad at them?" When I look at Ava I just can't imagine being mad or even a little upset, though I know, soon enough, I will be. But for the life of me, I can't remember how old that is. Nine months? A year? 18 months? How old are they before they should "know better"? I'm not sure, but I know I'm glad Ava's not that age yet. Lord help us when she is!

A tribute to Sadie

This came home in Nolan's backpack today...

A relaxing Sunday

I love Sundays when there's nothing to do, especially after having something to do on Saturday. Two days of in the house hanging out is too much for me, but just one? Perfect! I don't think we got out of our pj's yesterday--none of us! Plus, Dave did laundry and cleaned while I napped with Max and Ava in the basement. I mean, they just sleep better when I'm holding them or next to them. :)  We played games with the bigs, and the three older ones played outside before dinner. Add in the watching of some Olympics and some Planet Earth (shows we all like to watch together!) plus a dead on 8:00 bedtime for the kids and 8:45 for me and voila! Super Sunday!! Oh, and Dave isn't traveling this week until Sunday. BONUS!!

I also need to clarify my last post. I made it sound like Abby lies ALL THE TIME. She doesn't--it's really just now and again, mostly when she thinks she's going to get in trouble. It feels like all the time to me because it's such a big deal to me, but I think the last time we had to talk to her about it was maybe 3 weeks, a month ago? But if we could stop it now, I'd be ever grateful!

Happy Monday!

Pants on fire

There's no good way to put this... Abby is a liar. We've tried curbing it through conversations or a good talking-to, but sometimes it just doesn't work. Today, case in point. We were at my mom and dad's with my sister and her fam, and my three-year-old niece came up crying. Through the sobs we heard "Abby sob sob door sob sob." It was enough for me to piece together something. When Abby came up I asked her what happened, and she looked at me big-eyed and said "I don't know." I asked where Erin was playing. She didn't know. Where were you playing? Nowhere near Erin, apparently. Question after question and nothing. I actually started to believe her and she went downstairs to play. Then my nephew said they were hiding in the bathroom. Ah, jackpot. Playing with doors. We've told her a million times not to do it, and apparently she was worried that, even though I know it was an accident, she would be in trouble so she lied. When we confronted her again, she broke down and admitted it. And cried, and cried, and said she was sorry. But this time, not enough. She got an early bedtime, which almost killed her on a Saturday night, since Nolan gets to stay up late now and play Wii with just Daddy. But she did see a silver lining... "If I go to bed early, I'll be the first one up!"

I mostly know when she's lying. I mean, my mommy instinct kicks in. But today she almost had me fooled. What will I do when she gets bigger? When the lies aren't about accidental things but big things? I don't want to be one of those parents who blindly believe their kids on anything... "I wasn't at that party." "I would never do that, mom." Or any other of a million lies that anyone of us told our mothers. (Except for me, of course, mom!!) It's scary, scary business.

And for those of you who've been dying to know... when Max goes to bed at 4:30 in the afternoon, he sleeps until 3:30 AM! Yup, that was fun. I actually thought he was going to fall back asleep in my bed, but then hunger won out and we had to come down to get something to eat. (Understandable since his two-year-old belly hadn't eaten since lunch.) Then we went up to bed until 4:30 and then came down and watched a movie. Abby got up at 5:30, and then just when I needed to start getting ready for the day around 6:00... Max fell back asleep. Are you kidding me?? Luckily, he slept until about 7:15, then got up and got ready. And believe you me, he had a nap that day. And you know what? So did I!!

Early is one thing

Max has been struggling with naps lately. It really comes at an unfortunately time, because finally, FINALLY! I feel like I'm getting some energy back after the whole pregnancy deal (yes, six months later). There may be afternoons when I could put him down for a nap, feed Ava, actually get up and put her down in her crib instead of falling asleep with her in the chair, and get something, anything, done. But no. Now Max is up. Sometimes if I'm lucky, he'll fall asleep in the car, and I can quietly get him on the couch and get another hour. Or on a rare day, he'll fall asleep watching a little bit of TV. But where I used to be able to say, "OK, nap time!" and up he would go and actually sleep, now he fights it. If I do get him up to his room, he plays up there and doesn't go to sleep. I wouldn't really mind that, but around 2:00 or 2:30, he actually does fall asleep. And then at 3:10 I need to wake him up to go get Abby and Nolan and he screams bloody murder.

OR... He doesn't fall asleep. And then by 5:00 he is a beast. It makes dinner hard, and in general he's crabby and doesn't want the kids to do anything near him, or even in his vision. Around 6:00 I'd be fine with putting him to bed, but by then he gets his second wind and is running all over the house. Truthfully? I just don't have the energy.

But today takes the cake. Today, he took a 10 minute nap in the car around noon. Then he fell asleep in a chair at 4:30. By 6:15, when I still couldn't wake him up, I put him to bed. Now, it's 10 PM and he's still sleeping. My hope is of course for all night. Either that, or I've just completely screwed up his sleep schedule, quite possibly for the rest of his life!

She won't eat baby food...

But man, she LOVES pancakes!!

I hate stupid doctors

It's just the stupid ones, so Beth, if you're reading this, you're fine. :)  Ava still wasn't feeling well this morning, and she's been on antibiotics (the third round) for over a week, so it seemed like she should be peachy by now. When I called, it turns out that our regular doctor is out until next Thursday, so I got the fill-in doctor. He of course doesn't know her or her history. He asked me why I think she's sick, has she been running a fever? Nope, no fever. She's just irritable and won't sleep. Then I get the resounding, "Oh." "Oh," as in she's not really sick, you just think she's crabby. Well, considering the track record of her ear infections every time she's up all night, I'd say my instincts have been pretty good, and usually I erred on the side of not bringing her in fast enough. So, he looked in her first ear and said, "hmmm." Then the other one, and that one looked fine. Then the first one again, and he said she has a slight ear infection there, but the remainder of her antibiotic should clear it up. You mean, the antibiotic that she's already had 18 doses of and only has two doses left? You mean it'll take care of it, and it won't just flare up again as soon as she's done? I don't believe it.

But then he didn't leave it at that. He had the nerve to look at me and say, "You know, she is at the age where she could be getting teeth. If she's just irritable, I'm confident that that's what it is. You should just give her tylenol." (Yeah, thanks. I have three other kids. That's helpful.) When I questioned how long I should give her tylenol for, since I've been giving her that, or ibuprofen nearly every night for as long as I can remember, he said,"Don't overdose her, but you can give it every four hours." Like what, forever? I just can't bring myself to give it to her that often, even if she's crabby. Between that and the antibiotics, it feels like she's overmedicated already. So, we'll go back to our doctor on the 23rd, where I actually hope she has a bad ear infection, we get in to see the ENT, and the tubes go in and we live happily every after. The end.

Just pics. And some explanation.

Ok, I realized as I started this post that Blogger changed the way I upload pictures. Either that, or I did something with the new format. Either way, it may be easier to put things in order, but I didn't quite get it until it was too late. SO... pictures are still out of order, and all over the place! Bear with me...

So, finally, here's pics from Christmas. an example of Dave's parents' village, and Max on Nolan's skateboard.

Ava getting used to her tummy. She's not a fan.

The kids performing light rituals...

Max still on the skateboard

Abby and Nolan showing off their snowshoes

An M&M village houseAva in the wrapping paper

Dave's new shirt

Elephant Max

Ava with cousin Megan

Dave's sure Max has something in his pockets

The Gawrych Grandparents. Ava's carolingBig enough to be in her bouncy

Sisters...What Ava looks like every time I feed her

Abby making sure the boys get read toMegan and Jake and the village

We did spa day at our house. Abby and Nolan did my hair, Dave did the boys' hair, Abby and I did nails, and I did Max's toes. Then we decided that with Max's curly hair and that thing in it, he needed a toga!

That's it! I think I'm caught up on pictures, for a little bit anyway.

Have a happy week!

Book 'em, Dan-o

After what feels like months and months of pondering, and hours and hours of online research, yesterday we finally pulled the trigger and booked our spring break vacation. And the grand destination is... Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic! I gotta tell ya, I am SO excited. The resort looks great, is all-inclusive (so we don't have to pay $5 for every beer Dave drinks!) and will be perfect come April (April 4-10). Plus, it's already been a great learning experience for the kids. Abby has learned what food they eat, and has even decided she'll try to learn to like some of the things before we go. Nolan is learning the baseball players. Both have located it on a map, and Abby has realized that they share the island with Haiti. I have some other projects planned for them to complete before we go, but me? I just keep checking out those beach pictures.

P.S. I'm playing with blog formats. Not sure if one will stick, if I'll just go from one to another, or if I'll revert to the original. Guess we'll see!

And again

Ava didn't sleep again last night, so I brought her to the doctor today. She was happy and smiley at daycare this morning (of course), so I was worried it was for naught, but alas, another double ear infection. Ugh. If it doesn't clear up with this round of antibiotics, or if she gets another one, she gets tubes. Nolan has them, and in the grand scheme of things, it's not such a big deal. But it's still feeling bad that you can't feed her, putting her under, general grogginess, etc. But if she sleeps, it'll be worth it!

For anyone missing the little lady, here's some pics at the waterpark. It's only her because I still haven't gotten pictures off the camera. These are from my phone...

My other little lady, Abby, is pretty funny. She's old, but little. She sleeps with a stuffed elephant she has, Ellie, who I've always told her would watch over her. That God sent Ellie to be her special friend and that if she can't sleep, she can hold Ellie and tell her all her problems. The other day she told me that it's funny that she's seven and still sleeps with a stuffed animal. My goodness. If you can't sleep with a stuffed animal at seven, when can you?!? Then tonight, we were watching "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and at the end, it seems the main guy may not be coming back from the cave he had to go in. His dad and the girl he likes were very sad. But then, lo and behold, the guy came back and all was well. A couple minutes later, Abby asked if I wanted to hear something silly. Of course I did! She said it's really silly. Ooookay, what is it? She said when she didn't think he was coming back, she started crying. And that? That put tears in my eyes, too. I think we have empathy covered.

Dave was scared, too

Dave hardly ever reads the blog, but today he did. And then he yelled at me because I scared him. Geez! I'm pretty sure it would signal a problem if I told the world (or, those who read the blog, anyway) before I told him! That wouldn't go down as the best way to tell your husband you're pregnant!

In other news, Ava is Miss Roly Poly. When she's in a good mood, she flips back to front and back again. It's pretty funny to watch. She also LOVES her bananas. She chows down the baby food, and then will eat one if I put it in her baby net thing that lets her chew on "real" food without choking. And I still can't believe she's old enough for any of it!