An Artist in Our Midst

So today at school Andrew had an assembly about how anyone and everyone can be an artist. The speaker came and showed them how to draw in 3-D. Apparently it had quite the impact because Andrew came home and insisted on being an artist with me. (and that is exactly how he phrased it) For any of you who do not know, I am no artist. Never have been and absolutely never will be. But for the love of my boy I sat down with him to draw. We drew a bowl of cereal (1), a dinosaur with his tongue hanging out (2), a crater(4) and a dragon (3). All pictures were complete with shading and shadowing. I won't distress you with my pictures. Yes, they were that bad. Andrew had a good time though and who knows, maybe he will be a talented artist someday. My grandma was quite artistic and somebody in the family needs to get that talent and ability! Zane had a great time being an artist too. Andrew tried to tell him that he wasn't old enough to be an artist but that didn't fly so well. He had a good time drawing with us though. Now as long as no one comes and tells Andrew that he can be an opera singer we will do ok. I can only imagine the headaches that would produce if we all had to practice at the same time!

*** Edit addition: Enjoy the artistry of my Andrew!

Trapping the "SH"

Today Andrew had his very first speech therapy session. Of course he didn't bother to mention it until about 7:15 this evening so I tried to pump him for details as much as possible in a short amount of time before bed. I guess they worked on his "sh" sound. Andrew mentioned something about playing a game with a fishing pole and catching fish. But the amazing thing was that he was telling me about it and actually saying the "sh" sounds at the beginning and ends of words correctly. I almost burst into tears. My little man who is so unintelligible most of the time (and especially to other people) could be understood. It was amazing. He was trying really hard to say it right, I could see his brain really working to make his mouth be in the proper position. While I was giving him a bath we talked about how he knew to make the sound and he told me that he has to keep his tongue in his mouth and trap it with his teeth. Sure enough that is how to make the sound. (Try it yourself) I was very proud. Eric and I aren't supposed to work with him at all until given the ok by his instructor (probably about a month) but it was WONDERFUL to hear him make a sound correctly. I will keep you all posted as the improvements keep rolling in!

The Princess Ascends Her Throne

Lucy is loving being more mobile. For her party we brought out the booster seat for some guests that might potentially use it. In our typical fashion it has yet to get put away. But I think Lucy feels that it is a throne for her to ascend any time she so chooses!

How do I get into this contraption?

First one foot.....

See I can do it all by myself!

Bring the royal wand!

Does she think she is tough stuff or what?!? And the boys love it. They think she is adorable in the chair. They flock around her like all loyal subjects should. All characters in the story are pleased with their roles for sure!

Sick Little Girl

Lucy has been sick all week. It started on Tuesday night. Eric and I went out to dinner and to my doctor's appointment (baby heartbeat in the 160's and sounding wonderful), the kids went to Alice and Gene's house for dinner. We got home from our adventures and the kids were playing. Our house has a room with two steps down and Lucy was sitting at the top of the stairs. Zane was playing and bumped her and down she went landing on the flat back part of her head. She started crying immediately and Eric picked her up and walked into the kitchen. Practically as soon as he got in there she threw up. And not just a little, a whole lot. So we started worrying about a concussion. Apparently with head bumps you get one free puke before you have to start to worry so I didn't freak out too much. Then Lucy woke up Wednesday morning and ate breakfast, only to immediately yak that back up too. Hmmm..... so then I start to worry about concussion. Quick trip to the doctor that afternoon ruled out a concussion and pointed to the stomach flu. Great. Just what I love. Wednesday night Lucy still seemed ill and so I didn't put her in the nursery with the other kids (I was teaching class, what else was I supposed to do). By the time I got home on Wednesday night I wasn't feeling so hot. I got up Thursday morning feeling nasty. But I have been feeling nasty for about 7 weeks so what was the difference right? Well let me tell you. I came down the flu too. Not fun. I don't think I had it as bad as Lucy though. I felt much better after 24 hours. Lucy on the other hand just spent all of last night throwing up and having super diarrhea. Not fun at all. And I think Eric is coming down with it now and he is a bigger baby when he is sick than Lucy is. Oh the joy of having a germ petri dish in the house. If only I can keep it from the boys!

Lucy Fern- 1 Year!

Today was Lucy's 1 year checkup. It always amazes me how fast they grow. Anyway, here are the latest stats.

Height: 30"- 79% No wonder her 12 month stuff is just almost too small and the 18 month stuff is still a smidgen too big.

Weight: 21# 10oz- 60%

All in all a pretty healthy girl. Her weight is dropping on the chart like I expected it would. She reminds me a lot of Andrew in the growth department.

Lucy also got some shots this morning so I am sure she will be kinda a crabby girl for the rest of the day. She was very angry over the shots and managed to squeeze out some big crocodile tears just to make me feel bad.

The doctor seemed pleased with all that she was doing: eating table food exclusively, walking, waving, saying "mama" and "dada." I guess that is all right on track. Now I just need to focus on labeling stuff for her more. I find I talk at her more than too her. Funny how things change when you have older ones in the house that can actually carry on a conversation. Less one sided talking is done. So now I need to make a special point of it.

I am excited to turn her car seat around so she can see where we are going as well. It makes the van so much easier to get into for Zane!

Snow Hut!

Today Eric and Andrew went out to Smithbrook (Stevens Pass area) to build a snow fort with our friend Travis and a ton of his buddies. Andrew was very excited to have an excuse to go use his snowshoes and to spend some quality time with Eric. Eric was excited to get out into the great outdoors and building a snow fort sounded like fun.

Andrew scooping some snow for the fort.

Inside the fort.

Hanging with the ladies.

Apparently Andrew was quite a hit with the girls that came to help build the fort too. I heard a lot about playing freeze tag and some story about a girl getting all goofy while talking to him. Terribly cute!

A long, cold, fun day!

The guys got home around 6:30 this evening. Traffic was bad and they were super tired. I guess these snow forts are actually something you can sleep overnight in. They heat up to about 60 degrees inside. Now I won't worry so much when Eric goes snowshoeing by himself. I will trust that he can build a fort to save himself! All in all an awesome and fun day of daddy/son bonding!

Happy 1st Birthday Lucy!

A birthday extravaganza for Lucy happened today!

First we wake up for some breakfast.

Then mom makes a ton of cupcakes. Tinkerbell's wand complete with pixie dust for everyone.

A big cake with a Tinkerbell wand for Lucy.

Tons of presents. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!

A very cute hat and scarf by our knitter friends! (You know who you are!)

What is all the commotion?

Not so sure about this cake!

Maybe it's not too bad.

Okay fine, it's DELICIOUS!

Happy Birthday my little love!

A Speech Evaluation. Finally

So we had the meeting about Andrew's speech this morning. The results were about what we guessed they would be. He has significant issues with several sounds and has compressed the sounds of several different letters into a "th" type of sound. He also continues to have issues with his "l" sounds and "r" sounds. They are going to start with the "th" issue and the "l" issue. "R" issues are completely age appropriate at this point and won't be addressed until probably next year at the earliest. The speech pathologist lady will start working with him next week. He will go two times a week for a half an hour each for three weeks and then he will have one week off. We are all very confident that he is going to do great and no one seems to be concerned about him missing that much class. My little man is smart as can be and will just pick everything up a bit later. Anyway, it will be very nice to have him start this therapy. The people in the room were funny. I think that they must worry about offending the parents with talk of special ed, that is what speech therapy qualifies as, because they kept asking if we were ok with all of it. Eric and I are fine with it. In fact we kinda pushed the issue until it happened. Anyway, I will hopefully have some great progress reports about his speech progression for you all in the near future. My baby will be articulate and easily understood soon!

I scalped my baby

Andrew has entered into a phase of wanting to be just like daddy. And since mommy cuts daddy's hair that is what Andrew wanted. So today I cut it. And I cut it just like Eric's. Now I am no beautician but I can do a buzz cut with the clippers.

I usually use the #2 and #1 guards with Eric's hair and that is what I used for Andrew's as well. Somehow I think I maybe should have gone for the #3 or #4 instead but hair is hair and it will grow back. Now we will see if Andrew likes the hair cut in the long run and continues to let me do it. If so it is going to save me $15!

My Little Buddies

I love being at home with my crew. Now that the sickies are starting to fade a bit I am getting back to enjoying life again. It is amazing how little I want to do with life when I feel nasty. ANYWAY, today I am doing laundry. It is a lot and I will be busy with it most of the day. It is so fun to have my two little buddies with me all day (and Andrew in the afternoon). I just love them so much!

Sibling Love! Too Sweet!

The Beautiful Girls

Today Andrew came downstairs and said, "Mom, I just really want to hug all the beautiful girls!" I asked him who he meant and he said, "Sydney and Sarah" Apparently old mom doesn't make the list anymore. He was terribly cute though. I think the overwhelming crush of a 5 year old has definitely hit. Oh the wonders of kindergarten love!

Big Boy Shoes!

Yesterday Zane got new shoes (Andrew did too). Eric and I have been working with him on learning how to dress himself and take care of himself. Last time he got new shoes he insisted on ones with laces. I have been patiently waiting for him to outgrow them so we could get some Velcro shoes that Zane can put on himself. Finally, his feet grew and now we are the proud owners of some very cool light up Fire truck shoes. The best part is that he is able AND willing to put these shoes on by himself. It is a wonderful load off my mind. I have one less person to worry about shoes for and frankly sometimes I half forget to put my own on. Hooray for little boys that can shoe themselves!

Oh, in case you are curious. Zane got size 11.5 and Andrew 12.5. Talk about some huge feet!

Another Blessing!

So I mentioned that I have not been feeling super hot lately and there is a definite reason why. We are expecting another little blessing this year! Currently I am 9 weeks pregnant and Eric and I got to see the sweet little gummy bear yesterday. It is so cool to see a little flickering light (heartbeat) and know that an adorable new little one is happily growing inside. It will be a few more weeks until we know what we are having. Andrew is hoping for another sister and Zane is hoping for another brother. I am just hoping to not be sick anymore. Although I think a sister for Lucy would even the scales out nicely :) I hope you are all having a wonderful start to the new year!

Oh, in case you have no idea what is actually in the picture. The dotted line is measuring the length of baby (and determining age). The top left lump is babies head and the bottom right lump is babies body/arm and leg buds. The curious circle hanging out right above baby is the yolk sac and will give nutrition to the baby until the placenta is complete.