Lucy Fern- 15 Months

Lucy had her 15 month checkup today. She is getting so grown up I can hardly believe it! Here are the latest stats on my baby girl!

Weight: 23# 3oz (56%)
Height: 31" (67%)

I actually thought she would be a bit taller than that but apparently she is just looking tall to me. In comparison to the boys she is close to tracking with Andrew for weight but she is considerably shorter than he was at this point. As I told the doctor, I am glad she is not on track to be a lumberjack! The only thing the doctor and I chatted about this time was that Lucy is not terribly verbal yet. I just assumed that since she is a girl she would be super chatty by now. I think part of the problem is that I am not listening to her babble and interpreting it correctly. I think she really only says "ma" and "da" but in the office both the doctor and I could swear she said "read it" "elmo" and "book." So maybe my ears just need to be listening better. Either way it is nothing to worry about (according to doctor) until she hits 18 months and then they would just test her hearing. I am sure she will be chatting my ear off by then and I will be wishing for a little peace and quiet. :)

Here are some Lucy lunchtime pictures to enjoy!

"Seriously lady, I am eating here"

I think she was trying to say "cheese" in this one!

All Star Andrew!

T-ball, for all the uninformed out there, is hilarious. Andrew had his second game today and it is so much fun to go and watch kids picking daisies, missing the ball, fighting over the ball and occasionally throwing it where it is supposed to go. I hate to brag (ok, I don't really) but Andrew is pretty stinking good at t-ball. Part of what works in his favor is that he has a good attention span and reasonably good hand/eye coordination.

His team is called "The Zoo Crew"

Today Andrew got to play catcher, center field and second base. I really enjoy the league that he is playing in too. Every inning, every child gets to bat. There are no outs and everyone gets to score even if they are the last hitter. Andrew's coach is really good at moving the kids around too so that they will get into a position with a chance to actually touch the ball. Let's face it, in t-ball there is not a ton of action to the outfield! Each game we have played has been 3 innings long. It usually lasts just about an hour and a half. Kinda long and by the last inning the kids are done but it is fun and very educational. What I have figured out about t-ball (and baseball in general) is that it is a much more complicated sport than soccer. I am sure that big kid soccer has more rules than what Andrew played this year but it certainly was less confusing than t-ball.

Getting ready for the game!

Andrew gets a HIT!!!

Andrew's biggest fan!

Andrew's other biggest fan!

Andrew playing catcher, keeping his eye on the action. They have to stand behind the fence in case of thrown bats. Good game today, only one thrown!

The thing that impressed me most about Andrew today was that he is totally a team player. When he got a chance to play second base he would try and field the ball (he made several great stops) but if the ball rolled past him he didn't mind letting other kids have a turn. It was very impressive that he had that much position integrity. Many of the other kids ran all over the field every time the ball got hit. Not my guy though, he is a team player all around!

Planting Strawberries

Today we planted some strawberries in our front yard. I am not much into gardening but I do enjoy strawberries and they tend to take care of themselves. Plus the boys are very excited about growing something they will be able to eat and enjoy in the near future. First order of business was weeding. We had not weeded yet this year so it needed to be done. This was a perfect reason and excuse to get out into the garden and do it. The boys were amazing helpers. I may have some gardeners on my hands in the future!

Zane was agreeable to getting his picture taken!

Andrew helped me pick out the plants!

Busy weeding. Notice the grumpy look on my face. Weeding is not therapeutic or enjoyable to me!

Planted and ready to go!

The boys are hoping we will get enough to make jam. I am just hoping for a snack. I know they will spread in years to come. Someday maybe we will have enough for jams and jellies!

Rockets

The Easter Bunny brought the boys these wooden rocket kits this year. They had a great time painting and then assembling them. It is interesting to see how their minds work while they are creating their masterpieces. Projects are the best presents for my two little men. They just love an activity. Almost more than just getting a toy.

Zane didn't seem to want to get his hands messy.

Andrew was very determined and diligent about painting his rocket EXACTLY how he wanted it.

Andrew's finished product.

Zane's finished product.

I am a little bummed. I got these rockets at Target (on clearance even!) but they have stopped carrying them. Now where I am going to get such cool projects?

Our Easter Finery

Sorry for the delay! Yesterday was a crazy busy day and by the end of it I had a pounding headache that sent me to bed at 6! Unheard of for me for sure! Anyway, the kids and Eric all matched this Easter. (Thank you Target!)


I was trying to get a picture of all of us but I didn't figure out my self-timer and we were running late. I was the odd one out though because I was wearing black and not yellow. But there is only so much a person can do when stuck with maternity clothing!

I forgot to tell Eric to not cover the bottom of Lucy's dress. It was very sweet with yellow and black butterflies and orange flowers. I am sure she will wear it again though and I will try to get another picture of it.

The Bunny Came to Our House!

A super quick MORNING! post to let you all know that the Easter Bunny came to our house. I think Andrew likes Easter even more than Christmas. He was over the moon excited about his basket and the egg hunt that we always do on Easter morning. He also is fully aware that this is the day that "Jesus came back to life" As long as we have that cemented in his mind as the real reason to celebrate. I am good with all the Easter festivities. Yesterday we went to our church and they had a huge Easter egg hunt. Seriously, I think they had around 6,000 eggs laid out and the kids went nuts. Of course I forgot my camera so you are going to have to live with the pictures from Eric and my not so super egg hunt. Oh, and apparently the only reason for a house to have a chimney (in fact it is why they even exist) is for Santa. Found that one out this weekend courtesy of Andrew's brain as well!

Isn't this the sweetest picture!

I haven't gotten such a good picture of the two of them in AGES!

Lucy on the hunt for eggs!

Zane's big stash

Andrew emptying out the goods. (Robin's eggs this year)

These two are MINE!

I will take more pictures of them in all their Easter finery. Hopefully that will get posted tonight! Hope you have a wonderful and blessed Easter!

Report Cards and a Speech Update

The picture is of course from Disneyland but I thought I should give an update on Andrew and school. The day we left for our vacation Andrew had his spring conferences. Eric and I were not concerned about school. I was interested to see if there was anything we needed to do to prep him more for 1st grade. Andrew's grades were overwhelmingly "exceeds expectations." Not only is he reading all of the sight/wall words that he is supposed to be reading for the quarter, he also is reading over half of the ones they will be covering from now until the end of the year. His teacher just encouraged us to keep him reading and to let him read as much and as difficult of books as he wants to. No need to keep him at grade level at all. She also gave me a list of the high frequency words for 1st and 2nd grade so we can work with those a bit too.

The one thing he needs to work more on is his writing. He has to be willing to take a chance and write a word regardless of whether or not it is spelled right. He is very concerned about what is the "right" way to spell. Unfortunately it can bog him down and he tends to simplify his vocabulary when writing to words he knows how to spell correctly rather than take a chance with a more difficult word. The more he reads and the more he works at it though the easier it is going to be. And lets be frank, spell check is a beautiful thing for those who are spelling impaired!

The last thing we received at the conference was an update on his speech. Andrew has been working so hard both in his homework and normal conversation and Eric and I definitely hear an improvement. He is currently working at sentence level with his "sh" sounds. He met his objective for the sound in individual words and is making progress with the sound in sentences. Andrew's progress with his "l" sound has been great as well. He is working with the sound at a sentence and monologue level. It is coming along nicely and we are very proud of him! The final sounds he is working on are the "s" and "z" sounds. He is still working with these sounds with the therapist exclusively and is having a harder time with them. Eric and I are kinda baffled a bit because we don't hear anything super wrong with the way he says the sounds but if they say it isn't coming out right then maybe we all are just not knowing what to listen for. I am sure we will be getting homework for those sounds in the near future as well!

All in all it was a great report card and we are super proud of all the great work Andrew has done this year. He is loving kindergarten and I am sure this is just the start of a pattern of loving school in the years to come!