Oldie

That header picture is getting old.  Time for a new one!  I don't have one yet, but you know, time for one.  I should work on that.

Oh, the joy that is full day school!  I can't even begin to describe how awesome it is.  Just me and Quinn, all day long.  Absolutely heaven!  I realized something though after a couple days, Quinn has no toys.  I think I took for granted how entertained they kept her all day long because she gets a little restless.  Thankfully someone donated some Peek-A-Blocks to the cause and she LOVES them!  Hooray for baby toys!

We are getting ready for Miss Ainsley's baptism.  She got to sit down and talk with Sister Boice today all about and about starting Activity Days.  I think I'm still full of those prego hormones because between Ainsley turning 8 and Caelan starting kindergarten, I feel like my emotions are a bit fragile.  I did NOT use to be this sappy!  Oh the horror!

Jim, as many of you know, found himself in need of employment.  The change is frustrating and the domino effect it has on our budget, our life, our family dynamic, but I'm trying to give myself credit and say that we're adjusting to it...well some of it.  The tighter budget is hard for me, but you know, I'm trying!

Caelan loves kindergarten and Ainsley loves 3rd grade.  Caelan already has a new friend.  Her name is Sedona and they hold hands and hug all day long, LOVE it!  Ainsley is adjusting well and her teacher is a good fit for her and her emotional nature.

Quinny the Pooh, well she's finally getting some chub on her (yay!) and she's a "real" baby now.  She's scooting around like crazy, can do a full split (no joke, I need to get a picture of it, just chills in the splits), and LOVES food.  Caelan and Ainsley were both still very much dependent on a boob/bottle still at this age, and she definitely likes herself some booby but her eyes light up when I come at her with a bowl of food!  She was a little iffy about some of the veggies at first but now will eat pretty much anything.  Her favorite is vanilla yogurt.  I still mix everything with rice because she's not so sure about the stronger flavors but I'm glad she's versatile with the veggie thing.

Miss Jordy is turning 16(!!!) next week.  I can hardly believe how grown up she's becoming.  Now to get that girl a driver's license!

Off to ponder guiltily about why I don't take more picture.

kids make us worriers

I thought Caelan's flare up of bronchiolitis a few months back was just a fluke and that the doctor was kind of premature in saying she had asthma like Ainsley but she's having another flare. :(

What's funny is that when Ainsley was younger and had all her breathing problems, I have actually had someone tell me that it was partly my fault because breastfed babies don't get asthma....well poo on you because Caelan was breastfed well past a year and here we are again!

Okay, really I don't care that much. Having her first flare up at age 3 is better than Ainsley's first which was at 4 MONTHS!!!!

Ainsley, by the way, does not seem to be growing out of it like her doctor had hoped.

Okay, enough parent rambling...

Hanna's is up north at her in-laws cabin and my mom is in Mexico (without me!!) so it's been a quiet weekend. I read three books yesterday (yes, full novels) and did some cooking and cleaning today with Caelan home from church with her horrible cough.

I suppose there isn't much else going on. I'm just working like crazy (trying to take on a little extra because of missing a lot of last week while on vacation).

Getting ready to do the hcg again so make a little more headway.

Ainsley's doing well in school but we're having a sort of personal/behavioral/medical problem that could possibly indicate ADHD and yet, she's doing well in school so I'm kind of stumped. We have a doctor's appointment Wednesday to begin the process. Hopefully it's the simple medical fix and not the behavioral that would start us on a whole path of testing (blah). She's my genius child so I'm sure whatever's going on, she will overcome.

Jim's crabby and moody. I think he's stressed with work and I'm at a loss as to how to help so we just stand back and let him figure things out.

And now it's time to take my poor coughing baby to bed :(

short break

I don't have much time because really I should be working right now but I feel bad for neglecting the blog.



Jorden: Got a really crappy haircut/hack job done by her aunt Michaela that I had to take her to get fixed so she has super short hair now. Thankfully she looks cute with any kind of hair and pulls it off nicely.



Ainsley: Still having a great time with school and is starting to make friends left and right. Her favorite friend is the little boy that lives next door to my mom named Nathan. They get along great. She is soooo happy to have Addie here and it's great that the two of them actually play now instead of fight like years past.



Caelan: As stated in my previous post, she is potty trained. And really she still wears a diaper at night but she is completely without accidents during the day and doesn't even need my promptings anymore. She is the most polite little two year old I've ever met too. She says please and thank you and excuse me and it's so dang cute. Her favorite song is twinkle little star but has recently added the ABC song to her repertoire but that song usually ends up turning in Jingle Bells for some reason.



And here is a Sully-ism for you: Kyle actually told the store of Sully at my mom's house. The kids were watching Tinkerbell and he was pointing at the TV and saying "Tinkerbell! Tinkerbell!" And then it turned into "Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell all the way" (i.e. His own version of Jingle Bells apparently) We thought it was pretty funny.



Hanna is here and it's AWESOME! They're in Glendale this week but I'll see her on Wednesday for some crafty stuff and then next week as we get ready for...



DISNEYLAND!!!!!



We were slightly stressed about Jim's job in the near future but it looks like things are okay at least for now and the next few months anyway.



My knee is officially jacked up. The pain has become pretty much constant now instead of just the once in a while ache that it was before. I'm wearing a brace now and hoping that it calms down before next week or I'm screwed. They'll have to stick me in a wheel chair for Disneyland.



We went to the Tempe Art Festival on Saturday. We didn't buy anything (we never do) but it was still fun and it was nice to be outdoors.



I officially hate my glasses and am ready for contact lenses again.



We moved Jorden's bed downstairs to share the office with Jim. Ainsley and Caelan are not sleeping well and we're going on two months of that affecting mommy's sleep too so we had to separate them because I think it's become apparent that mommy lacking sleep equals a pretty messed up household.



Let us all pray that I get some better sleep in the months to come. Who needs more babies when I already don't sleep through the night?

The full story (Warning: graphic)

I was upstairs enjoying a cat nap before I got ready for church when I hear screaming downstairs. I assumed it was just the girls fighting like always and then just starts yelling for me to come quick.

I ran downstairs to find ainsley crying and a bloody towel under her chin. It's not just a deep cut, it's like her chin just split open into a huge gaping hold, seriously the weirdest injury I have ever seen on one of my kids. Graphic picture here so don't scroll down if you don't want to see it.

Yes, that is a HOLE. You could actually see the fat and tissue under the skin.

She was AMAZING. The doctor brought two nurses in with her to hold her down while they did stitches. She barely moved a muscle with the exception of a handful of big alligator tears. She definitely got ice cream after that one!

She got 5 stitches in her chin and a big fat ice cream. Yay for Sundays!

Ainsley-ism

Ainsley decided to have a lemonade stand today.

We didn't have lemonade.

So Ainsley had a water stand. I had taken Jo to the dentist and Jim calls me cracking up!

She set the whole thing up herself with cups of water and a big box and her little chair.

Some nice old couple came by and gave her $2 because they felt sorry for her.

School

Okay, so I love charter schools. I like their teaching methods and just their whole structure.

But Ainsley's charter school is still very new. They're still in a temporary campus and still finding their groove.

So with the schedule change I had to take Ainsley to the public school instead. I took her over today after registering her yesterday, and I'm in love with it!

Her teacher is AWESOME! The office was organized and smooth running. The cafeteria is all digital, so after setting up her account I can now just add money to it online, from home.

I was nervous about the change, but after today, I'm so so so excited for Ainsley!

And yes I will put her back in the charter hopefully next year and hopefully they've worked out some of the bugs and I will love it too, but for now, I'm incredibly pleased.

I know I know

I keep saying, I'm busy, sorry for the lack of blogging, but that's pretty much all that's going on.

I got the girl's window valance done yesterday and one of the costumes cut out.

Caelan started dance class yesterday (yes, my mom is making fun of me for putting a two year old in dance, but we're already getting the family discount so really it wasn't much to add her in there, plus the owner said she would probably do some partial trade for Xerox printing stuff, yay for husbands!) But anyway, it was super cute and she had SOOO much fun. It's basically just a pink frilly play group so I think it's a good *seomthing* for her to do.

Ainsley is doing so much better with school. In the first week or so, for some reason her teacher kept moving her cone (the cone is where the kids meet in the morning for flag ceremony) so Ainsley started having all this anxiety about going to school and was sobbing in the morning. I took her onto the school grounds a few times and helped her get comfortable with the other teachers on the playground in the mornings, and it didn't take long for her to love school again. She is making friends that she loves to tell me about.

Work is a bit crazy, but I'm taking on the extra to help pay for Disneyland for Christmas (which I can't stop thinking about, I am SO excited!)

We're also really busy decorating, one room at a time. We painted the girls' room Saturday, got their quilts on the bed finally (my mom bought them months ago) and now the valance is done. I found some headboards on craigslist for $25 too, so off to pick those up this week and the room should be just about done. Next on the list will be Jorden's room and the girls' bathroom.

Jim's boss is in town this week, so I'm not really seeing him much, between lunches and meetings and presentations and clients, but it's giving me a chance for some major work catch up today since Ainsley will be at school and Caelan will be at her friend's house for a couple hours.

Sunbeams is still going okay. I'm still a little frustrated with the whole situation of it all, but I guess it is what it is.

We're heading up north this weekend for my cousin Macey's wedding that will be a nice break from the heat and to snuggle me some baby Hunter (yes I love Kassie just as much, just so you all know, but he's a boy and since I have no boys, he's my favorite so neener neener)

Gotta get Ainsley off to school here in a bit, but hopefully this was substantial enough a blog entry to keep you all satisfied for a few more days.

Off to grow my mother heart! (have you had your visiting teaching lesson this month? LOL)

The first day of school...

I was a little sentimental, but mostly just excited for her. No tears on my behalf and not even a hint of sadness (yes, I love my daughter, but we were just both ready for this)...that was until....

All of a sudden I didn't see Ainsley standing by her class, so I start looking for her big white hairbows (yes, I made her some dorky bows last night for school) and I found them and realize someone was kneeling beside her and of course I then realize something is wrong. Jim goes over there and she's sobbing because she can't find her teacher...neither can I at this point, she moved her class and neither Ainsley nor I had noticed (yes, I'm a little irritated), but she was so upset! Jim consoled her for a bit and then she seemed okay.

Poor kid was traumatized on her first day!

added pictures for hanna :)

Yay Ainsley!!!!

Ainsley had an injury today that even much LESS traumatic would have sent her into unconciousness/seizure as in the past...today, NOTHING!

She got really close, but took a big breath and was okay!

To be over breath holding spells just in time for school is a HUGE relief!

And on a not so happy note, Jorden's cousin Abigail was definitively diagnosed with Epilepsy after her unfortunate hospital stay, so prayers for their family are much appreciated. Abby's mom has a newborn baby right now as well, so I know this is taking a toll on her.

This post is dedicated to my first born child

Ainsley Beth, the big fat baby that came roaring into this world August 16, 2003.

Her nicknames are Ainsley Painsley, Pains, Love Bug, Big stinky (Caelan is little stinky, not sure if I put that one in her nickname list), Ains

Her favorite color changes everyday, but she is of course a big fan of PINK

Her favorite tv show at the moment is Phinneas and Ferb.

Her favorite movies are Enchanted and probably Madagascar.

Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese.

I have never in my life seen a kid more excited to be starting school. August 24th can't seem to get here fast enough for her.

She loves twirly dresses and showing off for anyone that will give her a second of their time.

Her favorite thing to do right now is have sleepovers at grandma's house and she LOVES playing video games (apparently she is her father's daughter)

She also loves jamming out to Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers.

She is excited to start dance again in a few weeks and wants us all to know that she is a ballerina.

Her stats today area:

At 5 years:
your child is 36.5 pounds, and that is at the 26th percentile for weight.
your child is 41.5 inches, and that is at the 29th percentile for height.

Thank you Ainsley for making me a mommy!