Lizzy's Big Girl Bed

Oh, the big girl bed...not too excited about it!  A while back we had converted Lizzy's crib to a toddler bed because we figured since we were potty training her, she should be able to get out of bed on her own.  Well, Jason went out of town for a week for work and I put an end to that pretty quickly and she was back in the crib.  The thing is...she was getting out like every minute and it was driving me absolutely insane.

Well now, Jason promised Lizzy that if she pooped on the potty, he would get her a big birl bed...not even a toddler bed.  And wouldn't you know it...she pooped on the potty and just like that, Jason converted her bed to a full size bed.  So now, it's not so easy to just put the crib back up...in fact, it's impossible.  And now, she really is driving me crazy.  She has been going to sleep between 10:30 and 11:00 pm every single night.  She comes out of her room constantly (Sydney never did this).  In fact, I don't think Sydney realized she could even get out of bed.  She would  holler for me every morning to come and get her...it was quite nice!  But Lizzy comes in and we try to be all "Super Nanny" and not talk to her, but she makes it so darn hard.  We try to just pick her up and put her in bed without saying a word until finally she falls asleep.  But, she when she comes in my room, she makes the cutest little faces and says the funniest things, that it's hard for me not to laugh and then she just thinks this whole bed time thing is a joke.  When she comes in my room (or downstairs), she starts singing me songs, like "rock-a-bye mommy" and I can't help but laugh.  Just last night she came out of her room with a suitcase and said she was going to Grandma Sharon's.  Basically, it's a new story every time she comes out of her room.
 
The bottom line is...although she's growing up and the bed is all cute and everything...I hate this no sleeping thing!  It takes away from my "me time" at night!  Oh, and let's not even talk about the morning when she comes out of her room at the crack of dawn.  This phase better end soon!  I'm thinking that room darkening shades might be a possible solution...I'll try anything!

Uncle Josh Comes to Town

Wow, we have been SO busy, but in a good way.  We have been constantly on the move and for the first time, I feel like I can sit down and actually document it.  I'm sure there have been plenty of other opportunities, but reality television gets in the way sometimes and rots some of my brain cells.

Anyway, my kids knew for a long time that Josh was coming mid-June and they couldn't wait.  Sydney asked me like everyday when he was coming until finally the day arrived.  I kept the kids out of daycare and my mom came over every morning for a week while Jason and I worked, so Josh could spend time with the kids.  They LOVED every single minute of it.
 
They went to Chuckie Cheese, the movies to see Mr. Poppers Penguins, Toys R Us, and probably other places that I can't even remember.  All I know is that these kids were spoiled rotten.  Lizzy has been walking around the house like a penguin now, but that's cool!  So, those were the daytime activities, but we can't forget about night! 

One night, Josh had plans to go out with friends and it just so happens that Jason's sister was in town, so we all went to the Tigers game with all of the cousins.  My kids don't exactly love the ballgame (well, Lizzy does) so it was just okay, but nice to see everyone and be all together.  The only thing was that it was hard to talk to everyone in that kind of setting, but fun nonetheless.  They had great fireworks that night, which kind of made up for the loss!
 
Over the weekend, Jason had to go to Midland for a basketball tournament, but we didn't let the fun stop...no way!!  My dad came over and we all took the kids to the Livonia Spree.  I had never been there before, but it was like the best carnival I have ever been to and will for sure be back!  Some guy sold us some vouchers for wrist bands and the kids were absolutely in heaven.  They went from ride to ride to ride without skipping a beat.  There were a ton of kids rides and no lines and they just had the time of their lives.  The smiles were permanantly planted on their faces the whole night.  Josh was pretty much the "yes" man the entire time he was there.  If anyone wanted anything, he was like, "suuuuurrrrrrrrreee, I'll go get it."  So my kids walked away with a couple goodies!  I thoroughly enjoyed watching my kids have fun.  Lizzy screamed "weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" all the way through every ride, it was so cute and I'm so glad we went.
 
 
I honestly can't remember every little detail because it really flew by, but it was definitely action packed with a couple bbq's and another trip to Tiger Stadium for another ball game, and ANOTHER loss.  I'm beginning to think that Jason is bad luck, lol...it couldn't be me, right?  It was actually an awful game, so we let the kids ride the carousel and the ferris wheel.  I ended up going on the ferris wheel alone with the kids because we didn't have enough cash on hand for all of us, so Jason waited on the side.  They put us on the ride with this young couple who were about to have a baby and they got a kick out of Sydney and Lizzy.  They asked Lizzy what her name was and she said, "My name is girlfriend" (she still likes me to call her girlfriend buddy, so funny).  Then Lizzy sang them "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".  Everyone's favorite part is when she starts barking like a dog because she things that the songs says, "Roof roof roof for the Tigers".  It was a good time!

And finally, the week came to an end.  The kids were sad to see Josh go.  I mean, who wouldn't want to be spoiled for a week?  I'm sure we will eventually have to plan a trip out to see him.  I mean, Florida isn't exactly a bad place to visit.

Pre-School Graduation

Sydney is officially done with pre-school!  I'm very proud of Sydney and happy that she's moving on, but it's very bittersweet!  I'm so sad that she is leaving Mrs. Bruder, the best teacher ever.  I know it's only pre-school, but I know a good teacher when I see one.  Fortunately for us, we have had her for the past two years.  She was at Eagle where Sydney went when she was 3, but when Eagle closed, we followed her over to Alameda where she happened to be teaching 4 year olds...it worked out perfectly!  We are REALLY hoping Lizzy gets her when she turns 4!

Anyway, the ceremony was very cute.  The kids sang 4 songs in the gym and threw some confetti and then we headed back to the classroom for some cake where Mrs. Bruder gave each student a cd and a porfolio of all of their work, pictures, and projects throughout the year (an amazing gift)!  I now have two years worth of memories displayed nicely in a book...I'm very appreciative!  I don't know if this is normal, but that would be pretty darn cool if all of Sydney's teacher's do this in the future...or maybe I have the bar set very high, I'm not sure!

So...goodbye to pre-school and hello to Kindergarten...it's all happening so fast!

A Slacker's Re-Cap

Okay, once again, it's been like forever and a day since my last post, but that doesn't mean we haven't been doing anything!  Well...actually, in a way, we kind of haven't been doing anything because these darn kids (but I love em') keep getting sick!  I swear, every single time we have plans, one of them is sick!  It seems like ever since Christmas time...every other week it's something new!  I actually took Sydney to Jake's birthday with a fever because we were missing so much!  But anyway, within the last three weeks, Lizzy had diarrhea for 11 days, it was absolutely awful and she was miserable (she even threw up, but we won't talk about that).  Then the next week I get a call to pick up Sydney from day care because she had spots everywhere, so I took her right to the doctor to discover Scarlet Fever...lovely!  You can only guess what happened the next week.  Why yes, Lizzy caught it, but she only had Strep Throat.  I have never seen her more miserable...she cried non-stop becuase her throat hurt! And this week (yesterday), Lizzy woke up with a cough and fever!  Seriously...can we catch a break?  So far it's not looking like it...I'm home today with a low grade fever, but fortunatley it means I can catch up on this blog...here's a brief update on what's been going on in between illnesses...

Sydney's Dance Recital:  Sure, it was cute, but I'm glad it's over!  I always feel like I'm running here and there, so it will be a nice break this Summer.  We'll see if she takes another class...she's not so into ballet and only wants to be a cheerleader, so maybe we'll sign her up for a pom pon class??  She loves swimming, so maybe we'll just stick with that!

Kindergarten Round-Up:  I cannot believe that Sydney is heading off to Kindergarten next year.  She is getting SO old.  She acts way older than four years old...she doesn't even like cartoons anymore and loves watching Glee and listening to grown up music, it's so weird!  Her teachers even tell me she a new peer group...ALL BOYS!  Apparently they play Star Wars and she is Princess Lea (of course)!  Anyway, Sydney loved riding the school but and visiting the different class rooms.  She wasn't shy and jumped right into the activities so she is definitely ready.  When they were introducing the teachers, Sydney said in a really loud voice..."I want THAT one because she is the prettiest."  I was a little embarrassed, but the person next to me said, "I agree with her, she is the prettiest and I pick her for my son, too!"  Sydney has this thing for pretty girls and I always points them out to me and is really into hairstyles and clothes...I'm telling you...she is not a typical 4 1/2 year old....or maybe she is...what do I know?

Samantha's 5th Birthday Party:  Samantha is a girl in Sydney's class that we are totally going to miss.  It's hard when all of the kids break off into their "home" schools.  But Samantha is going to Walled Lake schools so we will have to stay in touch with them.  Her birthday was at Farmington Gymnastics and they were nice enough to let Lizzy come too, which was very fortunate because this was right up her alley.  Lizzy has been asking ever since when she can go to gymnastics (she says "nastics"), so I'm thinking we might sign her up for a quick Summer session becauase she NEVER gets to do anything!  Sydney had fun too, but Lizzy likes to move non-stop and that's exactly what she did!  We might have the girls' party there this year; all of the kids had a ton of fun!

Swimming at Grandpa's:  Although she doesn't take lessons, Lizzy's other love is swimming!  You can bribe her to do anything if you tell her that she'll get to go swimming.  We had a ton of fun, although Sydney forgot her goggles, so she wouldn't show us everything she has learned in her lessons.  But she had fun jumping in and just enjoying the water and nice weather.  Lizzy stayed close to the steps and liked jumping to me...it never got old for her!  We plan on doing a lot of swimming this Summer...well, as much as you can do with two working parents!  But apparently, only in swimming pools...every time we go near or drive past lake water, Lizzy says, "Oh, we don't swim in that yucky water, only in blue pools."

Lily's 4th Birthday: Shauna went all out this year with a cowboy and cowgirl theme and had farm animals and horse rides at the party.  When we got there, I thought my girlie girl Sydney was going to freak out.  She isn't the biggest animal lover and HATES smells.  She refused to ride the horse, but as the party went on, she opened up a little bit and went near the animals and ended up having fun.  Lizzy, on the other hand, LOVED the animals, especially the little bunnies.  She held the bunnies almost the whole party.  She was holding it like a baby and kept rocking it and saying, "oh, she's so cute."  She also walked around telling everyone to "hold it from the butt", which is what they told her before holding it.  We are NOT getting a bunny, but ever since the party, Lizzy wants to go to Lily's house to play with the animals...she doesn't quite get that they are gone now!

Memorial Day: We joined the Becker's at the Schwartz's house for leftovers.  The kids had a blast playing in the water and making mud pies.  Although it was "Africa Hot", as Jason says, everyone had so much fun and the kids got along great!  It was a casual, but perfect day!

Bower's Farm:  Have I mentioned that Sydney hates smells?  This was their last field trip of the year and Sydney did not like it at all.  She basically stood there holding her nose the entire time.  I didn't have high expectations for her, but I took off time from work to go with her (because I HAD to...I'm not really a farm person either), so I wanted to at least enjoy it.  But oh well, we survived!  Mrs. Bruder was even able to convince (or drag) Sydney in to milk the cow and feed the baby goats.  Sydney was proud of herself, but then gave me a look that pretty much said...okay, let's get the hell outta here!  I think we were the first to leave!

So, that's about it!  I'm sure there is way more, but these are the things that come to mind!  Maybe I'll do a little better at keeping this thing up to date...but I won't hold my breath!

Mother's Day

Sydney could not wait to give me my mother's day presents!  It started off with breakfast in bed.  I knew it was coming since 5 minutes before it arrived, she ran upstairs and said, "guess what, we have breakfast in bed for you cuz that's what  my teachers told me to do", LOL!  Jason made eggs and Sydney did the rest.  She put some fruit on my plate and picked out apple and cinnamon oatmeal. When Jason carried the plate in, he told me that he felt sick, but not to worry because he didn't touch the eggs.  That kind of changed my mood for the day and put me a little on edge because it had been a REALLY rough week and I was just tired of everyone being sick and was SO looking forward to my day of relaxation.  So this meant Jason AND Lizzy were sick. He went downstairs with Lizzy and Sydney stayed while I opened my presents.  Jason had actually Sydney and a sick Lizzy to the mall to pick out my gifts which I appreciated because it means a lot to me that Sydney actually picked out my gifts...I'm sure Lizzy just watched!

Sydney picked out some sunglasses for me which couldn't have been better timing since mine broke just the day before.  Of course, they had little diamonds on the side, which is how I know FOR SURE that Sydney picked them out. They also bought me a Glee CD which I kind of suspected was coming.  The day before, Sydney said, "I bought you something that you watch on TV and it's NOT Dancing With the Stars." So funny!  So, the kid's not so great with secrets, but oh well!  I also got some special lotions and scrubs for my feet since they are always so dry and Sydney actually massaged them...how sweet!  They also cleaned out my entire car the day before which was GREATLY appreciated...it needed it!  Apparently Lizzy slept through the whole thing!

When I came downstairs, Jason went to bed and slept the entire day while I cleaned and did laundry.  I can't stand a mess and wasn't going to be happy until it was spotless.  As I said, I wasn't in the best mood as it just wasn't what I wanted to do the whole day, but it IS my job as a mother, and so I did it anyway (with a little chip on my shoulder).  Looking back, I realized that I shouldn't have had the attitude and should have gone with the flow a little better...it's life and people get sick...but I never said I deal with sickness very well! It's one of my (many) downfalls.

But alas, the day got better!  My mom came over and gave me a present that I really needed...a gift certificate to a salon to get my hair cut and highlighted and a mani and pedi.  Oh...and a membership to Costco...yayyyyy!  Now I can go to Sam's AND Costco and won't have to send my dad and friends to by animal crackers, hummus, and squeezy applesauce!!  We gave her a photo blanket which she really seemed to like!

Finally, Jason came around and started to feel a little better.  My mom, Sydney and I were going to Champps for dinner and Jason decided he would bring Lizzy and drive separately just in case.  We made it through the meal, said goodbye to my mom and got the kids ready for bed.  After they were finally down, Jason brought up the computer and showed me a picture of what he ordered me for mother's day.  He was going to take me to the store, but that didn't happen since he didn't feel well.  He bought me a brand new patio set which turned my mood around even more.  I have been wanting a nice new set, so I was very happy and excited, not to mention appreciative since it was totally unexpected.  I love surprises.  At that point in the day, I thought I had received everything I was going to get (and I was completely satified), but this was just icing on the cake.

So, all in all, it turned out to be a good day.  I just wish Lizzy wasn't sick...it just breaks my heart.  She literally had diarhea all day for 3 and half days and had the WORST diaper rash...so sad!   She even ended up staying home with Jason the next day!

In Your Dreams!

So, this morning Sydney came running into my room and told me she had a good dream.  I asked her what it was about and she said that she had a sleepover at our house with some friends from school.  I don't even know how she knows about sleepovers, she certainly has never had any of her friends sleep over before.  Anyway, I asked her who came over and she said, "Andrew" very quietly in an embarrassed voice.  I was like PLEASE tell me there were other kids.  Thankfully, Samantha, Chloe, and Brooklyn were in the dream too!  I was a little worried that my four year old was dreaming about having a boy sleep over.  I know it was just a dream, but here's to praying she stops dreaming about boys for many many many many many years!!

It Was the Best of Times...It Was the Worst of Times

This past week has certainly been quite the roller coaster ride with many ups and downs.

It all started with the Royal Wedding on Friday.  To be quite honest, I wasn't all that interested in all of the hype!  But Sydney...OBSESSED!  She loved that Kate was now a princess.  And anytime a princess is inolved...Sydney is all about it.  Every show that came on about the wedding, she just had to watch.  At school, they took a few kids who were interested into the library to watch it all happen.  Sydney was one of the interested ones.  That's all she talked about after school that day.  Usually, she tells me she didn't do anything...typical kid!  When my People magazine came in the mail with Princess Kate and Prince William on the cover, she literally ran into the house and started reading it.  She kept saying, "this is real life, mom." They even kissed." Poor kid wants to be a princess...she'll always be our little princess though!

On Sunday morning, we had Jake's birthday party at the Troy Aquatics Center.  Lizzy was so excited to go swimming; she just LOVES it.  I knew she would have a blast.  We just had one problem.  Sydney was acting weird and it turned out that she had a fever.  But she wanted to go so bad.  And since it wasn't over 100, we took her anyway and let her swim.  I didn't tell anyone and just tried to keep her away from other people.  They both had fun, but it was hard for me to relax just knowing that she wasn't feeling well.  But it was still fun, nonetheless.

Sunday night...wasn't so great!  There was some strange activity going on in front of our house.  There were like five cars and one car was blocking the others and wouldn't let anyone move.  It was really strange, and after 20 minutes, it kind of freaked me out because I couldn't think of a reason for all of this to be going on at 10pm on a Sunday night.  Finally, Jason called the police and they ended up staying for almost an hour.  I was going crazy trying to figure out what was going on and of course a ton of people were gathering outside.  As it turned out, there were some high school kids playing water wars (with water guns) and it got a little out of hand.  I'm glad that it wasn't anything major, but it's scary to see weird things like that.  How were we supposed to know they were water guns?  We weren't taking any chances!  And to top it all off, Sydney still had a fever (well duh, we are the geniuses thatlet her go swimming) and ended up staying home with Jason that day.

Next night...not so great either!  Around 10:30 pm, Lizzy threw up! OMG...we all know I hate that and of course I went screaming for Jason.  She threw up one more time after that but I stayed up the whole darn night in anticipation; my worst nightmare!  AND, Jason HAD to do something important for work the next day, so I HAD to stay home with her.  I was literally on pins and needles the whole day.  I wouldn't let Lizzy or Sydney (just in case) eat anything the entire day.  Well, I let Sydney have a yogurt...and that's it!  Lizzy was so pissed.  I would give her tiny bits of juice a little at a time, and she would say, "don't give me a little, make it big".   And then she would throw her cup at me when it was only a little.  The next morning, she woke up earlier than ever and came into my room before my alarm went off for work and said, "I'm hungry, give me breakfast."  I starved the poor kid.  I'm a bad parent sometimes, but she didn't throw up again!

The next night came a little good news for the world.  An alert came across the tv that President Obama had to make a major announcement.  At first Jason thought it had to do with the crazy high gas prices, but I thought there was NO WAY he would make an emergency announcement about that.  Just as I suspected, Osama Bin Laden had been captured and killed.  I'm still a little uneasy that there will be some retaliation, but this is a postive thing for the U.S.  So, I guess this will be one of the "good" parts of this blog...but still...I'm a little worried.

We somehow managed to make it through the rest of the week without anymore issues, although I didn't feel very well on Thursday.  I'll spare the details, but I went to work anyway, and somehow managed to push through.  Finally, Friday came...thank goodness. I went on a girls night out with Shauna and Jenn to Benihana (where they cook in front of you).  It was fun and needed.  I wasn't really sick, but I still kind of felt off, but I didn't let it bother me.  I had fun and enjoyed a night out without the kids.

On Saturday, Lizzy woke up with diareha...bad!  I ended up putting a diaper on her.  I had to change her 4 times before Jason even woke up.  I felt so bad for her.  Poor Jason had to deal with it, because I spent the day in Troy with my Mom, her sisters, and my cousins.  They asked that I didn't bring the kids so we could have an "adult" day with shopping and lunch.  I had a good time; my mom bought me another charm for my bracelet and I bought a couple things, but I kept thinking about Lizzy.  So, I headed home after the mall instead of going back to my mom's.  Afterall, it had been six hours!  She was still very miserable and getting worse.  She had the WORST rash and was just in tears.  She wouldn't let us touch her or change her.  She just kept crying.  Finally, I just threw her in the bath and let her soak.  I hope she is better by tomorrow.  This has been an awful year in terms of sicknesses.  Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so hopefully she will be better so that I can enjoy the day and enter it into the "best time" category instead of the "worst time".

So, this was definitely an interesting week.  It's too bad tomorrow is already Sunday because I already know I can use another day!  Wouldn't it be nice if I only worked four days a week?  A girl can wish, right?

P.S. It was such a crazy week...I didn't even take pictures!