A bump on the head

Take a look at these pictures of Tori, specifically the bump on her forehead. She tried to pull up on the barstool and it fell on her head. Needless to say, the barstools are now back in the garage. They were out for exactly one month and 2 days before the first accident. We'll see them again in 3 years.

I took Ryan to urgent care on Saturday. He's been having bad allergies and asthma all week and then started complaining about his ear hurting. It hurt him so bad he cried about it for 2 days so I took him in. He does have an ear infection even though he still has a tube in that ear. So he's on an antibiotic and ear drops. Hopefully we can get his allergies under control before our trip. I've been giving him benadryl at night to help him sleep and was relieved when the dr. recommended I do that without me even asking about it. So he takes benadryl at night, zyrtec in the morning, albuterol and pulmicort through the nebulizer twice a day and his antibiotic. What did they do in the old days I wonder!

Maddie has decided she wants to be a "mommy" when she grows up. She has a doll named Gracie that she has been taking care of religiously for the last few days. Gracie seems to follow Tori's schedule. She eats in the high chair, takes naps when Tori does, rides in the walker etc. It's very cute. She even goes to church and stays in the nursery.

3 teeth in one night

Tori woke up this morning with 3 new teeth! They all 3 came in during the night. AMAZING! So now she has 4 on top and 2 on bottom. Maybe she'll start sleeping better now.
I hosted playgroup at my house today without Maddie and Ryan. They're in school during playgroup times now but I'm still in it for Tori. All the moms have had a 2nd baby since we joined so now we all have 3 year olds and babies. It was fun seeing Tori "play" with the other babies. She kept following an 11 month old around and trying to touch her and pull up on her. She ended up making her cry. Ryan came home just as everyone was leaving and cried because he didn't get to play with his friends. I'll have to schedule some afternon stuff for them.

Tori is 9 months

Tori went to her 9 month wellness exam this week. She is 20 lbs and 29 inches long. She is 75-90% for weight and over 95% for height. She is reaching all her milestones just fine and no issues other than not sleeping through the night. The dr. just told me to give her rice cereal at night instead of the morning because it is more filling. Now if only I could get her to eat more! She's just filling up on breast milk. She also got her 3rd tooth yesterday. It looks like 3 more are coming in on the top.

Maddie got put in timeout at school for the first time yesterday. She was yelling and running around the classroom with 3 other kids when they were supposed to be quiet. She lost a popsicle stick on her chart and was upset about that. They start with 3 sticks each day and if they don't lose any they get a sticker.

Ryan has decided he wants a gray car for his birthday. A real car, not a toy one. He doesn't understand that only grown ups have real cars. Maddie wants a big girl bike, Hello Kitty stuff, Barbie stuff or Tinkerbell stuff. She also wants a bike trailer like Lincoln's mom (Cynthia) so I can pull them around with my bike. I haven't ridden my bike probably in 10 years! Doubtful she'll get that one.

Uncle Dave is coming to visit this weekend and next week we leave for our big vacation. Beginning with Vegas Baby, San Antonio & the coast. Can't wait!!

My vent

This entry is just to vent. Last night was HORRIBLE! Maddie and Ryan (& of course Tori) kept waking up. Ryan coughed with his asthma most of the night and kept crying. Maddie couldn't go back to sleep and woke me up at 3 & 4 am trying to get up for the day. They all got up at 6:40am. We went outside to wait for the bus at 7:30am and it NEVER CAME!! We stood out there for 30 minutes. Of course the phone # I had for the bus went straight to voice mail. So I had to take Ryan to school 30 minutes late which made me late to Maddie's school which made me late to MOPS. And then on Ryan's tardy slip they wrote that the tardy was unexcused. Then at MOPS they had to come get me twice because Tori was crying in the nursery and the 2nd time they said I had to keep her because she wouldn't quit crying. So I had to leave MOPS early. My foot is still hurting too. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel because Mike comes home today. Yay! Now maybe I can rest with my feet up while he takes over for the weekend.
By the way, I just noticed that people can post comments to me on this site. Thanks for all your comments everyone! I'm still learning all about blogging. Hope everyone has a better day than me. I feel better now!

My Accident

Yesterday I tripped and fell down 3 stairs while holding Tori. I managed to keep her safe but sprained my foot pretty bad. I've been considering going to Urgent Care for an x-ray but decided to wait one more day and see if it gets better. Meanwhile, it's been very difficult taking care of the kids with a hurt foot and no husband. (Mike is in Milwaukee). Maddie has told me several times to put on a bandaid so my foot will get better.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful this week. We've been going to the park daily and the kids are loving it. Even Tori loves to be outside. She's been swinging in the swing and would like to play in the sandbox but since she eats everything (sand, rocks, grass, sticks) I can't let her play in there anymore.

Both kids are loving school. Maddie is really enjoying her teacher because she gets rewards for being good during the day and resting on her mat at naptime. The other day I couldn't get her to leave the class and she wouldn't tell my why. When we finally got out of there she told me she was waiting for her sticker from the teacher. The previous class she had gotten one right as she was leaving so now she expects it everyday. The teacher has it set up so they don't get a prize everyday though, they have to build up to it.

Ryan seems to be thriving at his school. Every day he runs off the bus into the house ready to tell us about his day. He can tell you the day, month, date and weather daily. I think that having him and Maddie in separate classes is really going to be a positive thing.

FYI, do not buy magazines or books from door to door salespeople. Mike (why he did this I'll never know) ordered some books ($55 for 4 books) from a supposed college student from UTA. After she left I told him we'd be lucky to ever see the books. We looked up the business online and it had numerous complaints with the Better Business Bureau. Mike ended up cancelling our check ($35) and order. I was beginning to feel bad for the poor girl in case she really was legitimate but then there was an article about her in today's paper. She's a scam artist!!! So, we never would have got our books anyway.

I've been busy trying to plan the twins birthday party. This will be the first year we have one for them at the house with their friends. We are planning on renting a bounce house and having a pinata. I looked into having it at several other places but everything is so expensive! Chuck E Cheese is $10.99 per kid! It's going to be pretty big with us inviting both of their classes, playgroup and other friends. We'll also have the family party down at the coast.

First Day of School

Today was Maddie's first day of school and she loved it! She was a little shy when I dropped her off but when I picked her up she was talking up a storm about how much fun she had. She has 1 person in her class from last year and a friend from playgroup in there as well. She told me that the kids yelled at the teacher when she put the puzzles away. That didn't sound good but the teacher said the day went fine. The only negative is that Ryan wasn't there with her. Maddie really misses having Ryan in her class.

Ryan is riding the bus now. He loves it because it makes him feel like a big kid. He's so cute getting on the bus! It makes it a lot easier for me but I miss seeing his teachers and the other kids from his class.

Ever since school started Ryan is doing so good eating. He has been trying new things every meal and has suddenly started eating vegetables. I don't know if it's related to school or not but it's really nice.

Tori is driving us a little crazy. She does not want to take naps and is waking up all night to eat. We've tried some crying it out at night but it seems easier to just go in and nurse her. So I'm back to getting up 2 or more times a night to feed her. The only good thing is without napping as much she is going to bed at 7:30 which is nice.

My blogging attempt

This is going to be my trial attempt at creating a blog. My primary purpose is to create something similar to a journal that Maddie, Ryan & Tori can read when they get older. I will include daily events and happenings that I want to remember and that I think they will enjoy to read later. This site will also be open to family & friends who want to keep up with our lives and see the children's growth and accomplishments. Family and friends will be able to make postings on here as well (I think). You can be sure that Mike will add some funny content along the way.





Ryan just finished his first week at school. He goes 5 days a week from 8 to 11. He loves his classroom, teachers and friends. One of things I learned from his teacher this week is that carrots are his favorite food. I thought for sure that Ryan didn't understand the question (becaue his favorite color is orange and I thought he was confused and associating orange with carrots) but when I asked him later he said yes, carrots are his favorite food because they are crunchy. And he ate carrots for dinner!

Ryan took this picture himself.