Alexis at 15 Months

Alexis had a very busy month! So many new and fun experiences! She:

*Got to touch the gooey inside of a pumpkin! She was very hesitant to touch and made such funny faces! But she was intent the whole time and loved the experience!

*She was Tinkerbell for Halloween...and all of the other events we went to! We even dressed her up for Disneyland one day and she literally stopped crowds with her cuteness!=0) And usually when I do her hair she rips it out in seconds flat. On Halloween when I dressed her, and then did her hair....she left it in...ALL NIGHT!!! It's like she knew it was a special night and that she looked adorable!

*She spent an entire day at Disneyland and DCA so we could see World of Color. She did great and had a fun day. She really likes to be out and about exploring the world!

*She got to experience the "snow" at Disneyland for the first time and LOVED it!

*Cute story. Tyler won an award this past month so we were up at the school one morning. As we were leaving a huge group of 5th and 6th graders were waiting to enter the gym. Alexis was doing what she does best...running from one place to the next....until she saw those kids. They started ooohhhinnggg and ahhhhiiinnngg over her so she promptly stopped running, stood right in the middle of them, and beamed!! It was hilarious! She loves to get strangers attention!

*She had her Dr appointment right on her 15 month birthday and has been feeling sick ever since. Poor baby has such an upset stomach and a horrible rash as a result. She doesn't usually react to her shots so I'm not sure what is going on. Thinking maybe the flu shot? She also woke up with a runny nose this morning and has been super fussy and clingy. She does not do well when she is at all "off".

*At her appointment she weighed exactly 20 pounds!! I'm thinking she may be down again due to her upset tummy but we are waiting a bit longer to turn her around anyway since she was so close to the line. She is in the 10th percentile for weight and height so her weight moved from the 3rd to the 10th. She is still wearing all of the same clothes but just yesterday finally fit in her 6-12 month Gymboree jeans! Yay! Good timing since it has gotten SO COLD the past few days!

*Down to nursing just in the morning and at night. Dr gave us some more ideas for getting her to drink milk. Hears hoping it eventually happens!

*She tries to say "blanket" now as that is her most prized belonging. She started barking this month after visiting friends that have a dog. She says, "Woo-woo, woo-woo! It's very cute. She will also do a cute kitty sound. She has "Ma-Ma" down and says "Dad-DEE!"

She is our Joy even when she's cranky! We are looking forward to seeing her experience the Thanksgiving feast and the Christmas season! We will see what damage she does to the tree!=0)

When it Rains...it Pours!

I have had so much going around in my head the past months I think I just need to get it out on paper so to speak.

A few years back we bought a condo as an investment property. We were advised by Craig's friend to buy one in Indiana where they were especially "cheap" at that time. He had been buying up real estate like crazy as the market was super hot at that point. We thought we were being responsible, making a wise decision. Soon after the market began to decline, and our first renters were a nightmare.

We finally got that situation cleaned up (literally) and after a few month's vacancy through the winter, had someone else move in. Right away there were domestic violence police calls made on her and her boyfriend. Things in the condo were broken...another unbelievable situation. Eventually boyfriend moved out after a restraining order was in place and peace seemed to follow for the next few years.

In the meantime we were in the hole over $200 every month. With the market tanking we had to lower the rent even more. On the plus side we thought we at least had a "good" renter in there because we didn't hear much from the agency we hired to take care of it. No news is good news right? WRONG! So began our nightmare this past July when we find out the tenant wants to move out. She starts getting really weird and doesn't want to let anyone in. Long story short on this part...agency finally gets in and finds the place a mess. They apparently hadn't been checking things out at all. We then have the agent who sold us the condo go in and take a look...and she came out appalled at what she saw. It was a complete disaster. A huge leak upstairs left for who knows how long caused major damage, slats broke off accordion doors, walls a mess, carpet a mess, a bathroom counter broke in half, knobs on faucets broke, junk left needing to be hauled away and new refrigerator needed to be bought...and on and on. It was devastating.

The tenant took forever to let someone in to get quotes. And then being a completely awful person, she skipped out on us without paying that last months rent. After leaving the place trashed. We didn't know what to do and I was terrified of all the options. We felt that fixing the place up was really our only option and hoped once it was, it would rent quickly.

Well, repairs took forever once they were actually able to get in the place. I watched our savings dwindle to nothing. After trying really hard to build one up, it has been super stressful to watch it all disappear so quickly. More and more money was needed. And this on top of paying the mortgage and insanely high association every month since August. The place has been fixed up now for nearly 2 months complete with new refrigerator. A few people came to look at it in the beginning. In the past 3 weeks, 1 person has been by. Now we are in the holiday season and winter will be picking up. Not the time people move especially in really cold areas.

And it seems we are completely trapped. I have been sick to my stomach (literally) over all of this. Especially the past week as I try to pull Christmas together for my family and our car just failed it's Smog Check. As I continuously think of all the other ways that thousands of dollars could have been spent. When I think about how our once amazing insurance has turned so bad that I'm afraid to go to the Dr. because every time we go, we get a bill for a surprise amount anywhere from $60 up. I feel so scared, frustrated, angry and helpless. I. Hate. It.

What's making things even worse? (Yes, it can get worse) We have been planning on taking a trip to Disney World for the last 3 years. We were able to go 3 years ago but we combined it with Craig's business trip to save money. We missed out on seeing so much because we fit everything around his time at a convention. So we left with the consolation we would do it right in a few years. Around June of this year I really started planning for our trip the following June 2011. We signed up for Disney credit cards just to earn 2 free $100 gift cards, I bought gift cards for the kids with special Christmas messages in them to give them at Christmas. I was theming our entire Christmas around the trip. Bought Disney clothes, games and an autograph book. I started putting money aside and selling things bit by bit to pay for plane tickets. I have been watching plane tickets daily. And pouring over all of the different options. We have even saved up our Amazon points for the last year and almost have enough points for TWO FREE plane tickets!! With Disney you need to book 6months in advance to get reservations for their restaurants. And their big dining offer ends in a month. That means moving on things now...or not moving at all.

I don't want all of this planning to go to waste. Thankfully only a small amount needs to be paid up front for the trip but it's still hard to go through with such a big trip not knowing when the condo will rent. This trip has taken so much of my thought and time and energy to find ways to save that with everything else it would crush me not to go. I've prayed for God to send someone. I've tried to figure out what I'm supposed to learn. I've tried so hard not to think about it or let it stress me out. But it's always, always there. Nagging at me. Freaking me out. Telling me how I could have used that money to get someone to paint our house instead of doing it ourselves. Or I could have gotten my new wedding ring we have talked about getting the past few years but keep holding off on. Or new floors for the house. Or sign the boys up for baseball. Or put Jacob in an actual pre-school instead of just a class through the city. The thoughts go on and on.

If anyone reads this your prayers are appreciated. Especially that I could somehow find peace in the middle of this stressful situation. And of course that we would find someone to move in quickly that will actually care for the place. We haven't talked much about this situation, especially me, because it's really hard to talk about. But, I just needed to get it out.

I hope to have a praise update sooner then later.

The Sweetest Thing

A few nights ago we put the kids down as usual. Often one of the boys gets back up for one reason or another. That night I was feeding Alexis and in walks Zachary. He had a strange look on his face but keeping with the rules I told him he needed to get back into bed. He told me he needed to tell Daddy something. I responded that I didn't know where Daddy was and to just tell me. He started to speak and as he did, his sweet little face started to crumble and his voice break. He said, "Daddy just did something that made me so happy! He pulled my dog and he hadn't done that in a long time...and when I heard it...it made me so happy I cried. And I pulled it over and over again...." by now tears are rolling down his face. I thought my heart was going to break and my eyes instantly filled with tears.

"Dog" as he was affectionately named years ago, has been Zachary's "lovey toy" of choice since he was born. Dog has slept with Zachary every night the past 6 years. He is a pull toy and plays a little song for about a minute or so. Since Zachary's first year of life he started asking us to pull the string for him so he could hear Dog's song. Over the last year the intensity of Zachary's love for Dog has been waning which made me sad. As a result, we stopped pulling Dog's string. When Craig pulled it for him that night our sweet Zachey was moved to tears.

I'm telling you, that was one of the sweetest things I have ever experienced! Oh how I am going to miss their babyhood!

Alexis at 14 Months!

Time continues to fly by! Here's what Lexy is up to at 14 months.

*She started off being 14 months with getting really sick. She has had a cold for a little over a week and a few days ago she spiked a fever. Having dealt with Zachary and all of his ear infections (which eventually resulted in having tubes put in) I knew that a fever a week into the cold was a very bad sign. So the next morning we made an appointment for her fervently hoping I was wrong. Unfortunately, I wasn't. The Dr. looked into one ear, flinched, and said, "Wow! That ear is reeaallly red!" Then looked in the other ear and exclaimed the same thing. Poor baby has a double ear infection and is miserable. She has been super clingy, whiny and cries most of the day. She is acting like a total different baby. She is on the meds 3 times a day in hopes to really knock it out. I hope she wakes up tomorrow morning feeling like herself again!

*At the office yesterday they weighed her. I was curious to know how much she had gained and was surprised to find that she was still just over 19 pounds...fully dressed! So no facing forward for her. Maybe around Christmas?

*As a result of her smallness I am having a very hard time clothing her. Now that we are having cooler weather, I realized how few pants I have that fit her. There are 2 pairs of Carter's 6-9 month jeans that she can wear although they still sag. Why oh why don't they make adjustable pants for babies??? The 6-12 month Gymboree jeans I have for her are a joke...their huge! Does anyone know of a company that does adjustable pants for babies? And when do they start making those for girls?

*At 14 months she still isn't saying a lot of words. She loves to wave. A few times she has meowed like a kitty when I've asked. She will say "hi" and "bye" occasionally. And she still "blows kisses" and makes a cute smacking sound when doing it...love that!

*This past month she really began getting teeth in!! I was finally able to really look into her mouth and found that a few molars are trying to break through!

*She is officially in size 4 shoes. Still in size 3 diapers.

*She is still nursing. We went from 4 times a day to 3 this month. She loves it the most out of all 4 kids and will not touch milk. I don't mind doing it especially since we are down to 3 times...except when she bites me! I really wish she would start to take cows milk though so I knew I had the option!!

*We went to Oak Glen this past weekend. She loved walking around and looking at everything! Hoping to get another blog up on that trip!

Normally she lays down for a nap really well. Both times I have tried to put her down today she has screamed...which she is currently doing right now. She's exhausted and needs sleep more then anything to heal but isn't giving in. Looks like I am going to need to get her up again. God please help my baby to feel better...she is such a mess!! Hopefully next month I will be able to report a happy, healthy baby again! Until next time....

Zachary's Great Day

Last Friday Zachary told me he had had one of the best days ever. And it truly was an awesome day for him! It started off with a bang when he received an award that morning at the first assembly of the year. We were so excited to find out that it was for his artwork! He works at home everyday on his drawings and it has been amazing to see him get better and better and to watch his passion for art grow. Having someone else outside the family recognize that right away is super exciting!

Later that day he won the estimation jar! Every week his teacher fills the jar with a food item. Each child in the class gets to guess how many items they think are in the jar. The child with the closest number to the actual one wins and gets to take the contents of the jar home. This week Zachary's number was the closest and he got to take home a bag full of cheese Ritz Bitz!

When I picked the boys up I also found out that he had won their weekly class raffle and was able to pick a prize out of their treasure box! Both boys also received green all week (meaning perfect behavior, no warnings, on time to school everyday, school and homework all completed) and they were able to go to Principals Recess which is a reward for doing all of the things mentioned above. They get extra time to play and can purchase a treat for a quarter. Double awesome!

As if all that wasn't enough for a very cool day, I greeted the boys with the news that we were headed to Disneyland...right then! The screams that followed...priceless! We proceeded to have a great night with Jacob getting to ride Splash Mountain for the first time and all of us getting to ride the seasonally decorated Space Mountain for the first time. I do believe you had a fantastic day Zachary! ;0)

Alexis at 13 Months.

Baby girl has been one for a full month now. We are enjoying her as much as ever. In the past month she has:

*Not grown much. Actually make that the past 4 months! At her one year check up we found out that she only weighed 18 pounds 10 ounces. Not big enough to face forward and only weighing 5 ounces more then she weighed at her 9 month appointment. That puts her in the 10th percentile. She is only 27 1/2 inches which puts her in the 3rd percentile for height. Still baffled at that since Craig and I are both fairly tall. I hope she get s a little more height to her when she's older but for now we are enjoying our tiny girl!

*On that note she is still in all of her 6-9 month clothing and some 9-12. She is still in a size 3 shoe! I have been looking for a size 4 shoe in the stores and am having a hard time. Most hard sole shoes start at a size 5. Since a size 3 is usually worn by a 6 month old they make most of those a crib shoe (soft bottom). I started looking on-line and am currently bidding for a very cute pair of 4's. Now if the person bidding against me would kindly step away from the shoes...that would be great!;0) She also continues to wear a size 3 diaper.

*Right after turning one she said her first word...or words actually. She said Thank you (pronounced Tank-Chew!). Oh my word that was one of the cutest things I had ever heard! I thought it may be a fluke but she kept saying it! She also says "Hi" occasionally while she is waving and will blow kisses. She claps and dances when she hears music...all of which is super cute!

*Looks like she is getting two more teeth. I can see a little bit of white poking through next to each of her top teeth. Once those come in that will be a grand total of six!

*She has started pulling out her hair bows, ties etc. As soon as she realizes they are there, she rips them out. As soon as I try to put it back in, she rips it out again!! Little stinker! Doesn't she know how adorable she looks with piggies? Doesn't she know how excited mommy is to do her little girls hair? Apparently, not so much.

*She's as busy as ever. Roaming the entire house. Shoes, magnets and baby purse contents strewn all over the place. She loves her baby dolls. Loves toys in general. She continues to be very good at playing by herself. Something she needs to teach her youngest brother!

*I love how silly she is getting. Her "sniffy face" is the best! If you haven't seen that you are definitely missing out! She scrunches her nose up and sniffs loudly...it's a family favorite!She even does it on command! Lately she has also been sticking her neck out in a really funny way while looking to the side...it's hilarious to watch. I nicknamed that "The Turtle". She has also started growling, such a goofy baby!

It's fun to see our little girl growing and changing! I can't wait to keep finding out more about her!

Tyler

Tyler's teacher asked us to send in a note about our kids so that she could know a bit more about them. Due to the chaos that is our house I just got that email out to her. Also due to the craziness I realized I never did an update around Tyler's birthday. So, I thought I would post here some of what I wrote to her. We love our boy and are so proud of how he is growing. We are also proud that his teacher calls him "Smiles" and that she constantly says he brightens her day! =0) Here are a few things about Tyler at 8 years old.

Tyler is a smiley guy! He has a very big heart and really likes to please people. If he knows he's done something wrong or really upsets someone, he takes it pretty hard. He is very kind and is usually willing to give things up for his siblings.

Tyler is an avid reader. He can be found at all points of the day with a book in his face! Usually when we can't find him, he's tucked away somewhere with a book. It makes me so happy to see his love for books (I love them too!). His other great passion is video games. If allowed, he would play them all day! That is one of the things that can make him lose all train of thought...when playing that's all he can think about! As a result that is the thing most often taken away from him! He also loves all things Star Wars and has recently become obsessed with Michael Jackson! Hilarious to watch he and his brothers "put on shows" for us!

Often Tyler can seem to be "walking through the clouds". He will daze off and we have to bring him back to Earth! This leads to forgetting to do certain things or losing items such as jackets, glasses etc. As he gets older he has been doing better but there are still times when he is really focused on a book or a game where we really have to put effort into getting his attention! He is also quite a chatter box and loves to let you know about facts that he has recently learned. He is specifically interested in animals and learning all about them.

I am so happy at how sweet and innocent he is. I love that he will still happily watch "Backyardigans" or "Go Diego Go!". He isn't trying to grow up too fast or be older then he needs to be. Other things he enjoys are riding bikes and scooters, going to Disneyland and Sea World, playing baseball and going out for frozen yogurt. He loves his family and has a good relationship with each of us. I love when he shows concern when one of us is hurting. He will come up to me and rub my back asking, "Does this feel better, Mommy?" Too sweet!

Alexis is a Year Young!

Baby girl turned a year old last week. Still can hardly believe it. I spent that day and those leading up to it remembering what was happening at the same time last year. How awful I felt, how nervous I was. Then on the 18th, after our normal trip for a Stress Test, we were sent to the hospital to "have a baby"! Such a crazy, exciting, stressful,amazing and life changing time! By 11:18 that night we were holding our little girl.

It has been an awesome and challenging year. It's a year that started out rough when she wouldn't sleep and cried more then not (and so did I!). But once her little system worked itself out, it has been so much fun! She is truly a delight. A joy to our family and others around her. She smiles willingly. Giggles. Makes funny noises and faces. She's determined yet so super sweet. We all adore her!

At a year she is:

*Still wearing size 3 diapers, all of her 6-9 month clothes and most of her 9-12 month ones. Still in size 3 shoes but almost ready for size 4.

*She is WALKING EVERYWHERE! Pretty much right after the 11 month post she stopped crawling and started completely walking. She loves to walk! All day long she will walk back and fourth...so cute to watch her!

*In addition to walking she has also learned how to climb this month. She crawled up onto Jacob's little toddler bed and thought that was the best thing ever. So she decided to try something even better...the stairs! One day I didn't see her walking around, went around the corner, and she was already half way up the stairs! I let her finish and she made it all the way up. Now that's all she wants to do and we are constantly having to block the stairs or she won't stay off of them. She can go up great...but not back down. She is keeping us on our toes!

*She has her 1 year appointment this Friday. It will be interesting to see how much she has grown since her 9 month visit and sad that she has to get her shots. I hate when my babies have to get shots!

*She still has quite a few nicknames. I think that I have somehow forgot to write about one of the top ones I came up with. One of the sounds she makes all the time is, "Tee-tee". Stemming from that I somehow started calling her "ti-ti Roni" (R0-Knee) and now sometimes it's just Roni or Rone. The whole family has picked up on it. Tyler, awhile back, started calling her Pexy and the other boys will too. When she gets into everything I like to call her a Lex-a-soraus! There's also Joy Bear and Mama Girl!

*She still has just 4 teeth although it had seemed like she may be teething last week. She has such a cute smile with those 4 little teeth!

*She loves playing and plays so well on her own. She has really been into the magnets on the refrigerator. We have the Leap Frog Farm and Letters on it and they are constantly being spread throughout the whole house! She always has something in her hand, walking from room to room. A baby doll, an item from one of her new play purses, or a magnet! So cute!

*She likes to try and put hats and other accessories on. This is one of those things that is already different then the boys. She wants to do it all of the time. When she finds one of our hats she is instantly trying to put it on and then will walk around with it...adorable! Yesterday she wanted Grandma's sunglasses on and yelled when they were taken from her. Today she took a stethoscope and hung it around her neck...so cute! She loves the sets of bead necklaces we got on vacation and will play with those forever. And she also loves shoes! She will get into our shoe bin everyday and walk around with them, spreading them all around the house!

*As far as talking she babbles a lot. It sounds like she has said "hi" a few times. It doesn't seem like she pointedly calls any of us anything yet but there has been quite a few times where it's sounded like it.

*She waves hello and good-bye almost anytime you say it now...one of my favorite things!

So that is Alexis at a year. I am so happy that I have all of these memories written down at each stage of her life. I plan to keep doing her updates every month since they still change so much. Let me know if anyone is still reading these...good to know you are out there! I hope to get to a post on her First Birthday party within the next few days...it was a lot of fun!=0)

Quote of the Day Returns!

So in an attempt to get more memories down I am blogging from my phone for the first time. I just had a conversation with Zachary and Craig that went like this.
Me: Who is taking charge of this platypus?
Zachary: Me.
Craig: isn't it a duck?
Zachary: No! It's a platypus!
Me looking at the tag: Oh it says Daffodil the Duck.
Zachary (after pausing a split second) Tell you what, I'll just call it a platypus!

The First Day

The first day of school is always extra exciting. I remember the way I felt as a child. Nervous. Excited. Apprehensive. Sad to see summer end but eager to see what the new year would be like. And now as a parent I felt...nervous. Excited. Apprehensive. Sad to see summer end yet eager to see what the new year would be like! So strange! Same emotions but now through a mother's eyes. I had been feeling super anxious about Zachary going from half day Kinder to full day First Grade. Especially with the school hours changing and the kids now getting out at 2:57 instead of 1:57. That just seems so much later! And I think having two big, school age children is throwing me for a loop. I spent the whole night before their first day asking myself, "How did my babies get so big?! How did my babies get so big?"

So, ready or not, Wednesday August 21st arrived. The boys got up super excited for the day ahead. I had gotten everything ready the night before. Clothes laid out, new backpacks out, lunches and snacks packed. Before leaving we made sure to go out front and get our traditional first day of school pictures. Then we were off to school.

A few days prior we had found out the kids teachers and who would be in their rooms. We are so pleased that they both seem to have gotten really wonderful teachers! Zachary's teacher is Mrs. Cromwell who is the one everyone seems to want. She is the head of First Grade and we are really excited to have her! Quite a few of the kids he had last year are also in his class so it's nice to see the familiar faces! When I asked Zachary how he liked his teacher he said, "She's really cheerful. She's cheerful all the time!" So cute! Tyler is paving the way for our family so we didn't know anything about the Third Grade staff. So when we saw he had Mrs. Helmer that didn't tell us much. But after just 4 days of school, we already think she's great! He is so excited about being in her class and I'm excited because she already thinks Tyler is great! =0)As an added bonus for him his little buddy Nolan is in his class again after they were separated during 2nd grade!

We were able to go into class With Zachary, see his desk and take a picture with Mrs Cromwell. As we said good bye I felt the stinging begin and as we got into the hallway...the flood gates opened. I tried not to cry, but I was just so overwhelmed with emotion. I'm not exactly sure why I had such a hard time considering he is my second in full day school. The days seem so long with the time change and school not getting out until nearly 3:00. I hate not knowing what they are doing during the day but look forward to helping out in both of their classes as much as possible. I already spent some time in Tyler's and love seeing him in class!

When I went to pick up the boys they were so excited and both had great days! We are off to a good start to a new school year!