Frowing Up

Long story, but bear with me. It is funny in the end. The day David went back to work Elle started complaining of her stomach hurting (which more often than not coincided with getting in trouble or being asked to do something she didn't want to do.) So, I figure she isn't really sick and is just wanting attention, especially since it came and went so quickly. Sunday night she woke up crying, saying her stomach hurt again. We think maybe she is telling the truth, but she seems mostly fine the next day (again, unless she was in trouble.) Tuesday morning we drop Sydney off at school and I hear Elle in the back seat "frowing up." Great. (And this is my child who doesn't do messy.) So, we stop, do the best wet wipe job we can do, and get home as quickly as possible.

Three "frow-ups," two baths, and two outfits later, we are at the doctor (poor thing threw up a again on the car-ride down), and they start checking her. A urine test (ever had to get a two-year-old  to pee in a cup?) later, things look fine, but her Pediatrician is still convinced something is wrong. So, she checks her throat and says it is a little red, she'll do a strep test, and if that comes back negative we are off for x-rays and some dye tests to check for this whole list of random things that *might* be happening in her tummy. But, the strep test comes back positive and apparently in a few kids they will have stomach pains instead of their throat hurting. So, she is put some antibiotics, which of course entails a trip to Wal-Mart to pick them up along with some gator-juice. Walking through the baby section she starts "frowing up" again. And a lot. It is everywhere before either of us realize what is happening. Her clothes are soaked. Nice, huh? And remember, this is my kid who HATES being dirty. So, I send Sydney to the nearest rack for a set of jammies (and she picks Dora - Ms. Elle's favorite at the moment.)  We find someone to apologize profusely to for the lovely mess we are leaving them with, and go to the bathroom to change Elle. She is pretty darn excited over new jammies.

Fast forward a few days, and Sydney is complaining of her stomach hurting. Of course, as soon as we send David off for a night out at the Razorback game, she starts puking. As soon as Elle realizes what is going on, she runs over and their conversation goes like this:

E: Sydney, you frow-up


S: Yeah, Sissy feels sick.


E: (excitedly) You frow-up you get new jammies!!

Camping...

inside.

Corbin's Arrival

Baby Belly

36 Weeks (when I was sure I couldn't possibly get any bigger)

And the night before I had him....39 weeks, 3 days
(I must say, I was wrong. I could get bigger...a lot)

Yes, that is a basketball...my belly wins the "which is bigger" game. I guess that is what happens when a person less than 5 feet tall has a 9 pound baby.

We're cute!!

My kind of camping

A month or so ago we went to a charity event that included a silent auction. We came back with this- definitely a planned purchase, right? (oh, and a pony birthday party, too) 

The girls have already had friends camp over (inside, in the air conditioning) but they love it!

Sydneyism

S: I'm having a hard time going to sleep.

(This is at least her fourth time out of bed)

M: Go lay in bed, close your eyes, count to 200. If you are still having a hard time, come see me.


(Less than a minute later and she is back)
M: There is no way you had time to count to 200.

S: Yes I did. I counted by 10's.

First Day of Kindergarten

So, I thought Sydney had a good two weeks left until school started. I was trying to come up with some really fun, exciting things to do to make her last days of summer extra special. She and I had already had a mommy/daughter date to buy her school supplies - she was pretty excited. I was pretty much dreading that day - sending my oldest off to complete strangers five days a week didn't sound so appealing.

Then we got a phone message at 4 p.m. on Wednesday the first week of August, and there was an opening in the school I'd really hoped she we get to go to, but was told that it was full. Everyone else had started on Monday. So, we asked her what she wanted to do - turns out maybe she was a little more nervous about starting school than she had let on earlier. Bring on the melt down. We were debating what to do and still hadn't decided when we put her to bed (she had dance class at 8 the next morning.) Finally, at 7:40 the next morning with the kids loaded in the car for dance and David ready for work, we decided that we wanted her at the year-round school.

I called that morning to tell them we were interested and asked when should she start. (I'm thinking at least Friday...we are on the way to dance class) and they asked if she could start that day, and if not, at the latest, Friday. So, I let her make the decision - I was worried about her making friends and missing out on all of the fun stuff happening the first week of school. Well, of course she says, "Today - if we can go get a new dress like you promised first." So, I pull off at the next interstate exit, call David and book it on over to Target (where else do you get a first day of school dress at 8 in the morning!)

 

She got there around 9:30, new dress, but minus a lunch (we didn't have the time or supplies to make one that quick!)

She was glad to go. Daddy was already inside starting the mountain of paperwork to get her enrolled. I'm not going to lie, 7 months pregnant and sending your oldest to school is not the best combination, especially when you have less than two hours to prepare yourself. I cried like a baby and she smiled bigger than anything when we left her at her classroom. She was excited to be "the new student" and was happy to see a friend from church in her class as well.

She is the only non-Spanish speaker at her table, but she says they are teaching her. She loves her current teacher, Mrs. Fields, but is having a little trouble with remembering not to talk during class...can you imagine that? Her regular teacher is on maternity leave, but will be back after their two week break in October. I can't believe she is growing up so fast!

I

Miss Ava

Round two with a new cousin! The girls finally got to meet her in late July. Elle decided that just maybe Ava was more fun than a baby doll. Now, every time we see anything baby and pink in a store Elle says, "That for baby Ava."

Just maybe they are related...

What a sweet girl, we love her!

I feel pretty

Sometimes a girl just needs to feel pretty.

And sometimes a little silly.

What one does, the other must, too.

And, we can't leave Daddy out.

Kansas City

Our mini-vacation this June was to Kansas City. David had to count Chapstick (seriously, we counted thousands of tubes) so we got to go too. While the last day of our trip seemed like a very long trip to Wal-Mart (I think we visited 9 when all was said and done) we did do some fun stuff before. 

The first night we went and watched our very favorite baseball player. This is Ryan Fox, Sydney's dance teacher's husband. Sydney was thrilled to get to see him, and I think he might have felt the same. So, we had dinner watching the Kansas City T-Bones play - the all-American baseball meal of hotdogs and Coca-Cola, of course.  I came very close to crying when they closed down the funnel cake stand in the fifth inning- we were saving that for when the kids needed a good distraction. Because of all the rain delays, we left early so we could get the kids to bed - 10:30 or 11 I think. Sydney told Mrs. Britney she could text her to let her know if Ryan won or not. We then drove to our hotel. Just an afterthought, if you can get a room for $42 dollars with tax, you should probably look elsewhere. That might have been the scariest night of my life. 

The next day, we had breakfast at McDonald's, which had a huge playground and Wi-Fi.  This was a work trip for David, so he spent several hours doing what he does best. Thankfully this McDonalds had lots to do, including computer stations with games for the kids.

Then we were off to Great Wolf Lodge. (David always poses like that by wolves.) After a long day of swimming the kids got to go to story time that night, and then we went to the room for television and dessert - hot chocolate and cookies. Yum! 

But, first we had dinner at some really yummy BBQ place. The nachos were the best (and way more than we could eat) and Sydney managed to fall backwards out of the booth and spill her lemonade everywhere while Elle slept. We'll contribute both things to being tired from all of the swimming that day.

Which was followed by more swimming the next day - 6 or 7 hours I think?

And, what trip to Great Wolf Lodge would be complete with fuzzy critter souvenirs. Meet Ricky Montain (a raccoon) and Hedgehog (who is missing...if you find him, can you please return him??) They have probably been played with more than any toys we've bought in a while.

 Sydney is already asking to go back....water park, anyone?

The Witch

While Sydney was at dance camp they went to a swim party at one of the dancer's houses. As they were having dinner and the mom was helping serve, Sydney looked at her and said, "You don't really look like a witch to me." Everyone was a little puzzled (and probably wondering what I said behind people's backs) - and then she pointed them to a sign by the back door (probably meant for Halloween) that said, "Welcome - The Witch is In". 

Sydneyism

The other day I was being a little harder than normal on Sydney. She had to write a talk for church the next day and had managed to worm her way out of it all week. So, when she got up for the fifth time in five minutes to play piano, I raised my voice a little and told her to come right now or I was done helping her. Her response: "Mom,  when you are pregnant, you sound just like Dad." I was quite glad to know she only considers me grumpy when I'm pregnant. As for David, I'm pretty sure there isn't a baby influencing him. :)

Dancing Queen, the sequel

Elle has started dance - she loves it!

Her teacher is Miss Tracy, who has to be one of the most patient people I know.

She really likes the music loud.

This is her smile now...

News worthy?

Sydney has been almost swimming by herself most of the summer, she just hasn't been very confident about it. She is great and quite the little fish in any water where she can touch, but get where she can't touch and she freaks out a bit. The other day we were swimming and somehow her Daddy managed to talk her into going off of the slide with him standing there, but not catching her. The water at the slide is 5 ft deep, and some days I can't touch there depending on the water level. She did it and swam to the side all by herself. I went over to her and said, "Sydney, I'm so proud of you - you are an official real swimmer now!" She says back, "Yeah, I know. I think I might even be on the news right now."

Elleism

M: Elle, eat your dinner.

E: I a snake.

M: Ok, well, snake, eat your dinner.

E: I a snake. Snakes no eat burritos. Sorry!