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:

 

Sickie Update

We have finally emerged from a week and a half long sick house. Annie was sick with a fever, but no other symptoms a couple Sundays back, then Thursday night Rachel had a fever, but nothing on Friday, then Saturday the fever returned with no other symptoms, except feeling yucky when her fever would spike. Sunday the Rachel still had a fever, and had to visit the bathroom much too often all day. Annie woke up puking Monday morning and threw up every 40 minutes from 3am to 5am. Luckily the rest of Monday was easy and everyone was feeling fine and had no fevers. Wednesday afternoon Rachel's fever returned, and that night my tummy didn't feel too good (dealing with bedtime for 3 kids while Jake was at mutual and I'm feeling sick is not my idea of fun). Thursday Rachel still had a fever, but by the end of the day was ok. Jake came home from work feeling sick at the end of the day and ended up staying home Friday, then Saturday through Tuesday was Annie's turn with the diarrhea, making for some really nasty diaper (and sometimes entire outfit) changes. We are all happy to be free from that little virus.

And here are some pictures from the week and a half of fun:

We watched plenty of movies, especially the days Rachel or Annie were feeling dead to the world and didn't want to move. Of course Annie LOVES (the idea of) movies. If the doors to the entertainment center are open she will go search through the movies and bring one to me saying "moo-ee!" When she's sick she'll sit and watch the whole thing, but most of the time she gets up and plays with other things, and occasionally checks back in with the movie when she feels like it.

Rachel's ice cream goatee:

Annie's happy little face, despite some yucky tummy rumblings on Sunday:

The girls got out the doll stroller and Rachel was having fun pushing Annie around.

 I suspect Ryan will be sitting there in a few months once he's sturdy enough to become their live doll (they already think he is their personal toy, but they're mostly good about not moving him--Annie, only because she's not strong enough to).

Both the girls have been really in to painting lately. We made some tambourines out of paper plates the other day as part of the library summer reading program's activities, and here they are decorating them:

 

Tuesday I went outside to see if it was cool enough for a walk since it was getting cloudy and windy as a monsoon storm blew in (though it never rained on us:( ) and I found a doll nursery on our front porch that a neighbor had left there for us, since her daughter was mostly grown out of playing with it.

The girls have LOVED having this new toy. We moved their play kitchen out to the garage to make room for it in their room and they spend hours bathing and feeding their baby dolls and putting them to sleep. A definite winner.

And yesterday the day arrived for haircuts. Rachel and I have been having an almost daily fight for the last year when I tell her it's time to get her hair done. She hates getting her hair done, especially the tangles combed out. I would occasionally tell her when she was screaming/whining particularly loud that we could just cut off her hair if she didn't want to have tangles. She would always promptly refuse saying "But I don't want to look like a boy!" I liked her long hair and felt safe threatening a haircut occasionally because she did, too. Until she saw some pictures Sunday of her last time she got a haircut and realized that she could get a haircut and still look like a cute girl. So all week she's been requesting a haircut, and yesterday I gave in and pulled out the scizzors. 

Before:

After:

I intended to make her hair shoulder length. Oops. Close enough. Good thing I wasn't aiming to cut her hair to chin length, or who knows how short it would be. She has one spot in back that is giving me problems, but since I'm not a hairdresser I have no idea how to fix it, and she doesn't care, so I guess I don't care, either. 

This morning when it was time to get her hair done it was so quick and easy. She brushed her own hair, I parted it and put a barrette in and, viola! Done in 2 minutes flat with no complaints. I guess it was worth it.

Since I had the scizzors out, I also took about an inch off of Annie's hair to try to even things out, but I'm not sure it's more even, since she doesn't sit still very well for haircuts. (By the way, this was cut #4 and she turns 20 months tomorrow.)

The final masterpieces:

 

Our weekend

When Ryan was born we were gifted a picture bundle from Picture People. It was set to expire on the 20th, so we had to hurry and get in there to get our pictures taken, so I set up an appointment for Saturday. While I was at Target last week I walked past the clearance rack in the kids section and noticed some black and grey outfits, so I grabbed them, figuring black shirts for Jake and I would be easy to come by (which was true) and I could find something easy for Ryan (not true, but I finally did find something that worked). Rachel spent the day yesterday with a fever coming and going, kind of feeling a general yuckiness, but no other symptoms, so we got prettied up and headed in to take pictures.

Here are some of the pre-pictures pictures:

 

 

Most of the pictures had Annie with that dazed look on her face, or Ryan all blurry from wiggling, or with his hand in front of his face. But there was one that turned out nice, and one is all we need. Now we're done with pictures for a good while.

This morning Rachel still had a fever when she woke up, so we decided Jake would stay with her for sacrament meeting so I could go, since I'd stayed home with Annie last week when she had her fever with no other symptoms. Jake had to teach in the 3rd hour, however, so I was going to just go to some Sunday School, then duck out early to head home so he could go teach. I changed my mind when my paranoid mind thought Annie felt hot, so instead of sending her to nursery we just went straight home after sacrament meeting. It turns out that was a good idea, because when we came home I put Annie in her high chair to eat lunch before a nap, and after her second helping she asked for more, which I gave her, and two minutes later turned around to find this:

Annie always has been the easiest sleeper out of the 3 kids, but this is a new one. When I picked her up from her seat she stuck the handful of food she still had right in her mouth, with her eyes still closed. Sleep eating. She's got skillz.

Oh, and Happy Father's Day to my wonderful hubby and my dad and my father-in-law. I'm thankful for good men in my life blessing me and my family every day!

Happy Little Guy

Ryan likes to squeal and coo when he's in a good mood and usually he's in a good mood if he's not tired and/or hungry.  Here's a video of him talking to Colette.