Summer activities

This summer we decided to be busier than we normally were during the school year. Which I quickly realized was a bad idea. Having somewhere to be every day of the week was a bit much. Rachel had gymnastics and Annie had a little Movers and Shakers class on Mondays, then Tuesday thru Friday they had swim lessons. For the first two weeks of summer. I made a token effort to sign up for the next session of swim lessons, but it didn't work out and I wasn't too disappointed to have our schedule be much lighter. Rachel really enjoyed her gymnastics class.

When I told her that gymnastics would be over at the end of July and dance class would be starting she told me she would rather do gymnastics. I'm glad she enjoyed herself, but dance is a lot closer to home and cheaper, so I managed to convince her this time, and said we'll do gymnastics again after dance is done. 

The last day of class they showed off all their skillz. I stayed with Annie and Ryan and my mom got to go watch her (though I'd seen most of it through the window every week) and took pictures for me. 

Here's Rachel's turn showing off her "floor routine" which mostly involved a somersault (which she can finally do on her own without going sideways) and a donkey kick. We have our own little gymnast. Almost Olympics quality. ;)  

Annie also loved her Movers and Shakers class, spending most of her time on the slide over and over and over, occasionally doing a somersault or playing on the obstacle course or with the balls. We only got her to class maybe half of the time because of sickness or other things that came up, but she enjoyed when we did make it. I decided it was a waste of time and money, though and we won't be doing it again. Rachel loved those classes when she was Annie's age, but I think Annie gets in enough climbing at home just carrying around her stool everywhere in the house to help her reach whatever she wants to climb on, and a lot more social interaction than Rachel got being the only child at that age. Annie has plenty of chances to play with other kids, particularly Rachel, but also friends we have playdates with, so I think we'll forego any of these classes in the future. 

 For the last session of the summer I decided to sign Rachel up for swimming lessons, knowing that she'd miss half of the classes since preschool had started (and it costing $2 for the session, I didn't have to worry about getting my money's worth). I had tried to do some one on one lessons with her myself and she is just the kind of kid that does better with a teacher other than mom. With me she is perfectly willing to throw a fit and get mad or refuse to do something she doesn't like (like putting her face in the water, which is kind of a big part of learning to swim). But with a "real" teacher she'll do what they ask her to do even if she doesn't want to. She actually was sick with a cold for part of the session, so instead of attending 4 out of 8 lessons, she only got in 3, including the last one that turned in to just a free play time in the pool.

 

But in those 3 lessons she really did make some progress and was willing to put her whole head under the water on her own several times that last day. Woohoo! Now if I can just make sure I take her occasionally between now and next summer maybe we won't have to completely start over at the beginning of next summer. :)

Good news!

Rachel's tests came back normal--no celiac disease!! Woohoo! That saves me a lot of headaches. Especially with her starting back to preschool today and the potential for food sharing, treats, etc. (The school district we live in they're on a modified year-round schedule, so school started this week, and the preschool Rachel is in follows the school schedule mostly.)

trauma and puddle jumping

Thursday we started out the day with a little trauma, taking Rachel in to get blood drawn to test her for Celiac Disease (we'll get the results Monday, I'm hoping). It was as bad as I had imagined. I held her on my lap, clamped my legs around hers wrapped my arms around her arm they weren't drawing from, and held her head looking away from her arm while she screamed and cried the entire time, and they had two techs there to hold her arm still while they drew the blood. I hope to not have to do that again for a long time. Or ever. As we left everyone gave us looks of sympathy when they saw Rachel's red face from crying (and I'm sure they realized that the screams they had been hearing for the last several minutes--the door was left open and that girl has LUNGS--were from her). 

After that trauma she deserved a treat, so I took her to McDonalds for lunch, let her play on the slides and stuff, then got her a travel sized Hungry Hungry Hippos game (which Annie seized as soon as she saw it when we got back). The rest of the day she proudly showed off her bandage (which the tech said to leave on for 20 minutes or so, but is still on because she has to show it to Dad when he gets home from his campout this afternoon).

Later that afternoon it rained pretty good at our house, so after the rain was done we headed out to play in the puddles. The girls had a blast.

 

Annie kept getting her hands wet in the puddle, then going to the dry part of the sidewalk, making handprints, then jumping up and yelling "ta da!" 

 

 

 

 

Oh, how we love monsoon season. Bring on some more rain!!

The kiddos

By the time Annie was 3 months old my mom had been hit by a truck, I had visited her (with Annie in tow most of the time) once or twice a day for most of 3 week stay, we had driven to Utah and back, and we had gotten my mom settled in at home and she was beginning to be allowed to put weight on her feet and get around on her own more, and I felt like life was back to (our new) normal with the new baby and I had a handle on things. Here we are with Ryan going to be 4 months old next week, no life-threatening injuries, no big trips, nothing really out of the ordinary going on the last several months, and I still haven't found our new normal. Or maybe I have, and it's just chaos. ;) I have at least gotten to the point where I can make dinner without too much trauma or screaming most days (or maybe I just tune out the screaming better now), and we have clean clothes to wear, even if they are in laundry baskets waiting to be folded half the time. So I guess that's progress. And one day I'll be able to bake something again without waiting for sometime when Jake is around to help me juggle the kids. 

And here is the main problem keeping me from being able to do anything useful around the house:

(We finally got his tax deduction t-shirt picture that we also have of Rachel and Annie.)

 He's a cute problem to have, at least. :) He and Rachel are identical in their sleep habits at this age. I often wish it were Annie he mirrored, since Annie could fall asleep so easily all on her own. With Rachel I would spend what felt like forever bouncing on the exercise ball to get her to sleep, then longer holding her before she was in a deep enough sleep to stay asleep when I laid her down. Then she would often wake halfway through her nap and if I caught it quick enough I could get her back to sleep, but if I wasn't quick enough she was cranky and had to be held until the next naptime cycle began. Ryan is about the same. Only this time around I have 2 other kids vying for my time, making naps more difficult. I have high hopes that his naps will be getting more regular, longer, and easier in the near future. When he is awake he's usually pretty happy, though he does prefer to be held. A lot. :) At least he's a skinny boy.

Speaking of sleeping, this was where Rachel fell asleep the other night:

We had put Annie to bed early that night, so when Rachel asked if she could read a book before she went to sleep I told her she could read it in the hallway before she went to sleep. Apparently I should have been more clear that she should read in the hall, and sleep in her bed.

Rachel is enjoying her summer with a gymnastics class, which she LOVES. She did one session of swim lessons, and may do one last session starting next week, though we've had one "class" with me teaching and she improved more in that half hour than she did in two weeks. We'll probably have a couple more one on one lessons this week, then hope for a better teacher next session. Paying $2 for a 2 week session, you can't complain much if you get a bad teacher in the luck of the draw--I figure it's cheaper than taking her swimming twice, and she gets 8 times, so even if she learns nothing and has fun it's still worth the $2 and I can teach her myself when I take her swimming.

One worry I've had lately with Rachel is whether or not to get her tested for Celiac. She's had a lot of canker sores lately (which are related to Celiac Disease), and several random tummy aches. It doesn't seem like much, but I recently read a study where they screened 1st degree relatives of celiac patients and 20% of them tested postitive for the antibodies related to Celiac Disease, and had NO symptoms. The test is unreliable under 2 years old and less reliable until kids are between 5 and 7 from what I've read, so I'm torn between getting a blood test done (which will involve much weeping and wailing on Rachel's part since she HATES shots) and maybe have an inconclusive result or just putting her on a gluten-free diet for a month or so, then reintroducing gluten to see if she has a reaction. Or I could just do nothing until worse symptoms show up, but I'd rather just have a kid with Celiac Disease, than wait until more damage is done from not treating it and have her develop another autoimmune disease like lupus or type 1 diabetes, and still have Celiac Disease on top of it.  So we're either doing the blood test or the GF diet, we just have to decide which one.

As for the last little kiddo:

She is starting to be a little talker, just in the last couple of weeks picking up more and more words, or at least enunciating them better so I can know what she's saying (though most everyone else still has a hard time). She LOVES jumping and carries the stool around the house, climbs up on it than says "jump, jump!" holding out her hands so I'll hold her hands as she jumps down. Or she takes the stool to the couch or ottoman and jumps from the stool onto the couch or ottoman (then from the ottoman to the couch).

Annie is getting to the fun age where she knows how to make us laugh and shows off for us and is really cute. Which is also the "fun" age of getting a mind of her own and throwing tantrums and biting and hitting and pinching. The cuteness balances out the monster-ness of the (almost) terrible twos, just as God intended, I'm sure. Annie loves nursery and occasionally randomly starts doing the hand motions for Popcorn Popping, or The Wise Man, and today even (kind of) sang her own abbreviated version for me. She loves sitting on the potty, though has has fewer successes lately than she did when she first got interested in the potty. Somehow, though, she always seems to know just when Ryan is almost asleep or really needs a diaper change himself and decides that is the exact moment to come tell me "Poopy! Paw-ee(potty)!" demanding that I remove her (very full) diaper so she can sit on the potty. If only I had 3 or 4 hands I would be just fine. 

I think that mostly sums up life for now. Our floors are dirty, there are crayons scattered in the wierdest places around the house, and I have no hope for clean windows in the next decade, and if Rachel does have Celiac I have no idea when I will find time to make her baked snacks like muffins and granola bars and such, since I have only baked once, I think, since Ryan was born. We're still adjusting, I guess, and we're getting to the new normal bit by bit. The one thing I do really love about not being able to get anything done because Ryan is in my arms so much throughout the day is that I sit and play or read with the girls more often than I probably otherwise would. I have no "I'll be there in 5 minutes when I finish _______" excuse since I don't often get around to starting ______. :)

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

Our little man is growing up. A little too fast if you ask me. I really like the smiley, cooing, IMMOBILE stage of babyhood. Unfortunately that stage doesn't last very long for our kids, I guess. Rachel rolled over at 4 months and one week, crawled at 8 months, and took her first steps at 9 months. Annie rolled at 4 months, crawled at 6 months, and took her first steps at 9 months. And Ryan rolled over on Sunday, two days short of 3 1/2 months old. I was really hoping that he would be slower than his sisters, maybe wait until he was at least one before he started walking. I guess there's still some hope, but it's waning....

One milestone it's okay for Ryan to reach early is sitting up on his own. He stays content where he is a lot longer when he can see more things, and lately he has been happy to sit in the highchair (though Annie doesn't always take too kindly to him sitting in "her" chair: "Dow! Ry-ee dow!" (Ryan down) is her favorite refrain).

He also likes the Bumbo chair. For 10 or 15 minutes. He always lasts longer when Rachel is entertaining him.

 

On a mostly unrelated note (though illustrative of why rolling, followed by crawling, followed by walking, followed by climbing, followed by stool-moving is best put off for as long as possible), here are some pictures of Annie's resourcefulness when we made some no-bake cookies this weekend.

She managed to help herself to one before it was all the way set, but she sure liked it. And didn't make as big of a mess as she could have. :)

And lastly, some pictures of Ryan shortly after rolling over. He first rolled from back to front, but later the same day also figured out how to roll front to back (though he has done that accidentally at least once a while back in his crib). He also has been scooting for about a month, or maybe a little more, mostly in his crib (since we rarely give him tummy time 1.because he alwasy spits up when he does tummy time, and 2.to stunt his motor development ;). We usually find him stuck in a corner of his crib no matter where we lay him down, where he's scooted until he could scoot no more.

I have a feeling he'll be chasing his sisters around as soon as he can, causing trouble right along side them. Look how excited he is at his newfound skillz: