Thursday, March 27, 2014

Funnies from the Littlest Littles - Part 3

Xander: What's that?
Me: That's called cursive writing.
X: But, what is it?
Me: It's just a fancy way of writing.
X: Is it French or something?

(I was getting dressed one morning when Amelia Jayne came in before I had my shirt on.)
AJ: Your bottom!
Me: What? Is there something on my bottom?
AJ: (points to my chest) That's your bottom! That's funny!
Me: (baffled at first, then I looked down) Hmmm...that's called cleavage, sweetie.

Amelia Jayne: Look, Mimi! Eye patch!
(Grabs Mimi's bra from the bedpost and proceeds to put it on her head...as an eye patch. Or head patch as it turned out to be. Ha!)

X: Amelia Jayne didn't eat her gummies today.
Me: Yes, because she got them taken away. She hit and kicked at school today.
X: Well, I didn't hit or kick. I just concentrated on my work and ate lunch and all that.

The next day...
X: Did Amelia Jayne hit or kick today?
Me: No, she did great!
X: Oh good. I continued to concentrate on my work today.



Kid Snippets

Have y'all heard of the video sensations on youtube called Kid Snippets?
When you have some time, sit down and browse through. They are hilarious!
I've only watched a few so far, but this one made me almost spit out my coffee:


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

What's new?

A LOT has been going on over the past couple of weeks.

Xander and Amelia Jayne had dentist appointments.
Both of them did amazingly well. Xander has been multiple times now, but this was a first for Amelia Jayne. I was so proud of her! The hygienist took her hand and that sweet girl never looked back. They showed her all the instruments, cleaned and flossed her teeth, the dentist checked and counted her teeth, Amelia Jayne said thank you and please each time she was given something. Oh.my.goodness. What an amazing little girl. The only concern Dr. Matt has is that she has a slight cross-bite. He says it may be caused from her sucking on her blanket. I'm no professional, but I do know that her daddy has a pretty severe cross-bite, so I'm not that concerned. However, we are going to limit her time with nonny even more than we have been. She's gone several days without it over the past couple of weeks...but she still needs it at naptime and bedtime. We're getting there.
Dr. Matt recommended the "blanket fairy" come. Oh, Dr. Matt, how little you know about the relationship my daughter has with her nonny. Not only did she name it, it has nicknames - nonny nonster, the nonster, nonny nonny. "My nonny," as Amelia Jayne often refers to it, will never leave us...I just hope it leaves her mouth sooner rather than later. :)
I worry about Xander's teeth sometimes. They're extremely close together, so he doesn't have much room for permanent teeth. Dr. Matt told us that braces are in our future. $$ Cha-ching $$
Because of the closeness of his teeth, I always feel like he's going to have a cavity, but thankfully we haven't had to deal with that up to this point.
I am definitely thankful I started my kids at the dentist early. Xander told me yesterday that he wants to go back really soon AND that he thinks he should brush 3 times a day instead of just two! I told him to go for it. :)

Xander had his 5 year well-visit at the doctor...and is ready for kindergarten!
Oh yes. The words have been spoken and will continue to ring in my ears for the next few months.
Xander's doing very well. He is healthy in every way the doctor could determine. He had his first vision test and his first hearing test. Despite a slight struggle with the eye test (the nurse was evidently used to doing the test with children who aren't as logical as my child so he would question everything she asked him to look at...it was pretty funny. I finally just told her he knows his letters so she changed it up.) He did fine.
He's still a big boy - solid as a rock. He's slowed down on his height, now only reaching the 69th percentile. You know they're growing up when most of the doctor's questions are directed at your child and not at you, the parent. Oh my.

I've been sick...again.
We are a fairly healthy family overall. 2014 has kicked our butts when it comes to health. I'm willing spring to come and with it, better health. I've had a pretty severe cold which I'm concerned might be turning into an ear infection. I've been fighting this cold for almost 2 weeks, so I'm considering going to the doctor if it doesn't improve in a couple of days.
And well, if you've been reading any of my more recent posts, you can see all the other illnesses that have kept our family down this year.

Work has been so busy!
I love what I do. And I'm grateful. It's been very busy, though, lately. I can only attribute that to the time of year and the fact that I've been out a lot due to sickness and snow. I'm also dragging a little bit, which makes everything feel a bit more difficult.

Schedules suck.
Oh, for my brain to work right! I'm working on our summer schedule right now and have intermittently been working on our fall schedule, too. My brain is a jumbled mess.
Our babysitter, Erin (whom we LOVE) is going to watch the kids this summer, so I'm extremely thrilled with that.
Here's a little conversation I had with Xander about Erin:
X: I love everyone in the world!
Me: Really? Everyone?
X: Well, everyone in our family.
Me: You can love other people outside of our family.
X: I know. I love Erin..but she's part of our family.
Me: No, sweetie. She's not in our family.
X: Well, I think she is and I love her.
(I guess he wants to adopt her - they do both love One Direction.) :)

I've visited four preschools in our area over the past few weeks to determine if we should move Amelia Jayne in the fall or not. I LOVE our current preschool, but logistics and timing are going to be difficult to coincide with Xander's kindergarten schedule in the fall. Finding a preschool that I love, that's close to our home (and Xander's school), and that's affordable seems to be the impossible trifecta. I want what's best for Amelia Jayne, but I also want what's going to work best in our family. I'm praying that something comes up that will be perfect for everyone.

Family does not suck.
We've been able to spend a lot of time with family lately. My mom and Ame came down one Saturday and we enjoyed shopping and eating and spending time together. Another Saturday David's mom, dad and sister came down and hung out at the house. Becky's coming down this weekend to hang out, too, so we'll enjoy another weekend of fun family time. I'm so thankful for family and having the opportunities to spend time together.

Xander finally had his birthday party!
I'll probably dedicate a whole post to this topic, but we had an excellent time. Poor boy had to wait a whole month after his birthday to get to celebrate with his friends, but nobody seemed to mind. Fun was had by all. :)

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Fun in the sun



Though it's winter here again today (high around 50F), we had some fun outside in the warm weather on Tuesday, when it was 79F! David was recovering from yet another stomach bug (which I got yesterday...sigh) but which, luckily moved on fairly quickly.


.

Here's to a happier, healthier end of our week.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Funnies from the littlest Littles - part 2

X: I love that song, "Love is an Open Door."
Me: You do?
X: Yeah, you know why I like it?
Me: Why?
X: They sing the song so beautifully.


X: Amelia Jayne, did you know that I beat all the levels on Jake?
AJ: Oh! You such a big boy!
X: Yeah, when you complete them all you get an official Never Land Pirate certificate! And I got it!


Amelia Jayne spied a picture of Xander as a toddler.
AJ: Ooh look! A pictoo of me!
Me: That's not you. Do you know who that is?
AJ: A boy play balls.
Me: Who is that boy?
AJ: I dunno!
Me: That's Xander-boo.
AJ: Oooh, Xana-boo! He's so cute!


Kids were in the other room playing and I heard them squabbling.
Me: What's going on guys?
X: She said I was rude and I was not rude. And I need to compromise her. Amelia Jayne, I would not like you to say that anymore!


Amelia Jayne was being very loud while Xander was trying to tell me something.
X: I can't talk with all that noise going through my ears!!


I gave Xander a tissue in the car.
X: What's all that stuff floating in the air?
Me: Oh, you mean the dust from the tissue?
X: Yeah. What are all these dust barnacles?


Xander at church with a new teacher who didn't know I was his mom.
X: Yeah, that's Emily. Usually I call her mommy.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Whew

My sweet husband and I have had a rough couple of weeks, especially him - mine has mainly been the fallout of his misfortune and taking on the responsibilities of both parents while he healed up.

His grandma passed away 10 days ago. While we were at the services, he hurt his back. He was out of work all last week.

Since David couldn't drive or watch the kids, I ended up having to take time off of work (14 of the 20 hours I would normally work), so I didn't get a whole lot done at work.

Then, on Thursday, he and Amelia Jayne picked up a stomach bug. (Amelia Jayne threw up at school. In the lobby. That's another story.)

I went to get David's prescription at 11pm on Thursday and both of our cars had flat tires.
Both. Of. Them.
How does that happen? Mine had a slow leak, that was getting progressively worse, but of all days for it to be flat?? David's was able to be pumped up, so I drove his car to get the Rx.

And to top it off? We lost an hour of sleep on Sunday.

It was like a comedy of errors! I mean, how can all of those things happen in one week?

I am willing this week to be better. And I'm going to take some naps.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

A great loss

Not long after I wrote my last post on Friday, February 28th, I got a call from David. His grandmother had passed away. We knew it was coming. She had gone to the hospital the weekend before. Things weren't looking good then, so David and Becky were able to drive over to Tennessee on Sunday and see her. Sunday was her best day before she passed away. She was chatting with them, laughing, watching videos of Xander and Amelia Jayne, and exclaiming over the artwork they had made for her. I'm so incredibly thankful David and Becky made the trip and got to be with her before she died.

David's mom tucked those pieces of art in Gigi's casket.

It's been a long week. I was tired on Friday, remember? And it certainly didn't get any easier. We had plans to celebrate my mom, Kaitlyn and Xander on Saturday, so Ame asked us to go through with our celebration plans. I had a commitment on Sunday at church, so we decided to leave for TN after church on Sunday. We got to Johnson City around 8pm. The visitation was Monday night and the funeral services were Tuesday. We left Tuesday evening and arrived home around 11:15pm.

Even through the sadness and tears, there was laughter and celebration. It was nice to see family. The services were beautiful. The love that was shown was incredible. She was so dearly loved by so many people. I am thankful to have known and loved her.

You can read her obituary here.

My favorite picture of Gigi with Amelia Jayne


Gigi with Xander for his dedication at church circa 2009

Most of the clan at Xander's dedication. He's wearing the gown that his great-great-grandfather wore. It was 104 years old when he wore it!!
One of the many family reunions we've had over the years. We've had at least one per year since David and I have been married, sometimes in Johnson City or at someone's lakehouse, and sometimes in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge.

Another family reunion :)
Melba loved children.
Her own children honored her by dedicating a park to the city of Johnson City in her name.
My children have played on it and loved it. I'm sure many children have gotten enjoyment from the park.
She was incredibly generous with money and gifts. She always brought the kids a little gift or had something waiting for them when we got to her house. She would send clothes back with Ame when they had gone shopping together.

She was incredibly generous with her time, as well. She came to visit us only a couple of months ago to see our new house. Even though my kids are young, she made a point to be at many of the important moments in their lives. She came to visit both of them not long after they were born. She came to both of their dedications at church.

She will be remembered with love.