Do you think he is tired?

Elliot come upstairs this afternoon and says that she found Grey asleep on the floor.

So we go down stairs and this is what we find:
I was going to be putting him down for a nap, but the poor guy just couldn't take it anymore and did it himself. Luckily, I was able to transfer him to his bed successfully and after a good nap we will all go to the pool to get out of the HEAT!!!

Swim Lesson Nightmare

Elliot loves to go to the swimming pool. Swimming lessons are another story. She doesn't want to put her face in the water, she doesn't want to participate, she gets nervous around the other kids (I guess?). I don't know what the deal is. After the first day of her freaking out (not joking, like crying and screaming as her teacher is trying to get her to do her floats), I took her to the pool by herself and worked on the floats. She did them all beautifully for me. I thought she would do great with her teacher, show Kate all we had worked on. I thought wrong. It was ridiculous. We practiced again Tuesday afternoon. Justin took her Wednesday and Thursday to lessons and no better. We actually got the "maybe you should try private lessons" talk. So embarrassing.

Yet she smiles right before having to do anything:

Today was the first day of our second week and I thought it might be a little better. Yeah, she didn't even get out of her clothes. We sat on the deck of the pool the entire lesson. I was fuming. So now, my question is do I make her finish out her last 3 days, or do I just bag it and move on? I don't want her to "win" and not have to finish, but I really don't think it is accomplishing anything. Any suggestions?

Birthday Weekend!

A few weeks ago we planned a weekend to spend out at my parents' lake house with some of our very good friends from Olympia. Thankfully the weather cooperated and everything went so smooth for a terrific weekend in the sun. The weekend that worked for us all just happened to be Justin and Grey's birthday so it was fun to celebrate that with family and friends. Having Grey with me most of the time made it difficult to take many pictures and Christine has an awesome camera so these are just a sneak peak to our weekend. I will post more/better pictures when she sends me a disk with them on it.

This is me and Christine with Taylor (8) and Grey, hanging out in the sun after playing on the boat:

Sammy (4) and Elliot in their twiner shirts that we bought on our excursion to the outlets Friday evening after dinner:
Justin got a leather jacket out there and tried to get Jason to get one so they could be twiners too :)

Slumber Party!

The birthday boys, July 11th:

Fun on the boat:

(The little girls weren't really excited about tubing, but they loved just being on the boat, especially when Justin went on the "skeeters")

This was what Grey did on the boat:

I don't have pictures yet to prove it, but Christine and I went tubing and had quite the adventures hanging on for dear life!

Saturday evening we went out to dinner with my parents and Michael (he drove down from Western). Grey must have known that he was the birthday boy because he was all smiles and such a happy little man.
My mom made Grey a lady bug cake that was adorable and he certainly seemed to enjoy it as well!

I hope that both Justin and Grey had fantastic birthdays. I love them both so much. Justin is such a great husband and father. We have so much fun together. He works hard to provide for our family and it does not go unnoticed. I love you so much and thank you for the life we have together.

Grey is such a joy to have in our home, too. He's been a little more challenging than Elliot was, but all-in-all a very good boy. He is as cute as can be and has this funny little "half smile" that always makes us smile. Then his sqwinty-eye toothy grin that just makes you full on laugh. He has taken a few steps here and there, but this weekend he is very close to full on walking. He is a great kid and I love him so much, dispite his sleeplessness at times.

Happy Birthday to my two favorite guys!!!

Happy Independence Day!

Growing up I learned this poem from my Grandma Dolma and I taught it to Elliot today. She thought it was pretty funny:

For those who can't quite understand her, this is the poem:

I've got a rocket in my pocket. I cannot stop to play. Away it goes; I've burnt my toes. It's Indepedence Day!

We headed out to George, Washington to a little festival they were having there. There was actually quite a bit going on in little old George.

There was a petting zoo. A horse, a pony (shown), a tiny goat, and 2 ducks.

A blow up bouncy toy that Elliot got to jump in and later got a sno-cone for free, just because she was "so darn cute in there."
This was the world's largest cherry pie, according to the George people. It was pretty big though and they were giving large portions away free! So we all got to try the "famous" pie.
Grey even had a few bites:

All in all, a pretty fun outing. Now back home and Justin is getting some ribs ready to smoke on the BBQ for later. Yummy!!! Happy 4th of July everyone!

It Got WORSE Before it Got BETTER

So we woke up Sunday and Grey's rash was getting worse. I still wanted to try to wait until Monday to have him seen by our regular doctor, but after a few people at church looked at him too, we decided that I better take him in. These pictures are actually after going to Urgent Care and having some benedryl so it has even gotten a little bit better at this point. You can't really see (it was mainly on his belly), but the rash was red, white and purple in some areas- like a bruise.

The PA that we saw at the clinic was great. I actually used to see her before Grey was born and we started seeing Dr. Hemmerling. Jodi, the PA, was concerned that it was menegitis at first and said that if he had had a fever, we would have been in the ER. We had to have some blood work done to test for a few things and he was a trooper for that. The tests came back all normal and we think it was the amoxicillin that he had a couple days prior. I didn't know, but you can have an allergic reaction 7-21 days after taking the medication! We went back in on Monday for a follow up and he looked probably 90% better. We have to keep him on prednisone for a couple more days, but he is pretty much back to normal.

Grey's Spots

Any guesses on what this is from? They are all over his back and stomach, armpits, a few on his legs and arms. Itchy, raised and red. He had his last dose of antibiotic on Thursday night and these started Friday afternoon and got considerably worse Saturday afternoon. I am thinking a food allergy, but have no idea what. We are in wait and see mode. Maybe need to take him to the doctor on Monday. Poor little guy!

Visit to the Dentist

Being in the dental field, I would hope that my children would be perfect, cooperative angels in the dental office. Not exactly so. Elliot has had a couple of little "practice appointments," but 6 months ago she was going to try to really get her teeth cleaned and checked. It was a nightmare. She wouldn't lay back in the chair so I polished her teeth with her sitting up. I tried to sit with her so Dr. Klingel could check her teeth, but ended up holding her down with her screaming at the top of her lungs. I was so embarassed! I stuck to my guns though and she left with only a toothbrush- no other treats or toys that we give to the kids. Not even a balloon.

So 6 months have passed and it was time again for her to come to the dental office. We watched Bernstein Bears going to the dentist video and have been talking about it non-stop trying to prep her for it (doing the same thing really helped for the doctor's visit a couple months ago). She was still a little nervous, but did AWESOME! I didn't even think about having my camera there, but Justin took this picture with his phone.
So if your kid has been bad a time or two at the dentist, don't fret. He or she may just need a little more time and try books and movies to prepare. They have worked really well for Elliot!