More Launa Schenanigans

Launas latest craze has been figuring out my iphone. Her older cousins show her how to do things that I don't ever spend the time to learn. One Sunday, she got irritated at me and so she changed my password, and I was locked out of my phone. I don't have a home phone so I had to go into her elementary school, get her out of class and ask her what the password to my phone was. The secretaries watched in disbelief as she (with a smug little look on her face) told me the password. Sure enough, it worked!! Then I watched her through the window go back to class and she was laughing the entire way. What a piece of work. Fast forward two days. I told her to ride the bus and she told me she didn't want to. I told her she was riding the bus. She decided not to get on the bus and the office had to call Mark. Mark decided to teach her a lesson and not go get her (and then I found out and told him the secretaries have to leave!!) so I called his Mom to see if she could grab her (I was babysitting a bunch of kids and had no way to transport us all in). You would think she'd be scared and crying. Oh no, she was having the time of her life, giggling with Kyla at the stunt they'd pulled. And, she has since tried it again since. She is gutsy, I will give her that. Once again, pray for me to have patience!!!

Kate & Meg Stats

I took the girls in for a group "well-child check", which never exactly turns out that way. This is where they were at: Meg: Weight: 21 lbs Height: 29 " Pretty impressive considering she was like 12 pounds at six months. She is actually my only baby to be over 20 pounds at a year I think. At 1, she is the sweetest little thing ever still. She sleeps from 7 to 7 almost every night, can say "mama, dada, and baba" although Launa insists she can say her name too. Her favorite thing to do is to get pushed around in her car she got for Christmas (and she likes it high speed screeching around the corners - we chase the other girls and she laughs so hard she can't catch her breath. It's awesome). She is extremely independent and into everything. She loves to go in rooms and shut the doors so she can get into stuff. When I come in to get her she scampers off and laughs. Her favorite food is meat, pretty much any kind. She always prefers that over anything else. The first year of her life she has been such a joy that it makes me sad it's already over!! Kate: Weight: 37 pounds Height: 41 inches She was actually a champion at the doctor considering she was screaming when she heard me schedule the appointment. I'm pretty sure she is going to be taller than me by the time she is in the 4th grade, but she sure is a sweetheart. Last night, she had a bad fever after getting her flu shot. At 3:30 in the morning when she was delirious and coughing and miserable, she came and got me and said "do you know I love you mama." She is so affectionate and just really, the sweetest little thing.

Allergies, Asthma, Eczema...

Poor Katie Bug has an assortment of ailments. Truthfully, I am amazed that she can be so happy most of the time considering everything she has going on. I know no sleep, constant itching and not being able to breath would make me a GROUCH!! I took her to the Doctor yesterday and he told me that she definitely has asthma. Maybe I am uniformed, but I assumed asthma was usually brought up by sports or exercise, but he informed me that was not the case, and there are multiple reasons people have asthma. I got three different prescriptions and some over the counter cream for all of her problems and $235 later I am supposed to be giving her a minimum of three breathing treatments a day plus a new prescription allergy medicine. Did I also mention that she has pretty severe eczema that she scratches non stop while she sleeps. He enlightened me on the eczema issue and I was baffled I had not heard this information sooner since I have mild eczema myself, so for those suffereing, here is what I found out-- the major culprit for eczema is water and soap. I am never supposed to allow her to be in the tub for longer than five minutes and to only use soap when absolutely necessary. Lotion evidently makes it much worse and cream is always the way to go. I was pretty much 0 for 3 as she baths sometimes twice a day because she is always so dirty and I have been lathering her up with lotion her entire life!! I am really hoping all of this makes some improvements. The child sleeps miserable! She is constantly snorting, rubbing her nose, scratching her eczema, thrashing and pretty much just not sleeping! For those with experience with asthma (especially the allergy induced variety), I would love tips and information. Her allergies don't appear to be food related, but outdoor related. Unfortunately, we live on a farm in the middle of all sorts of fields so it's going to be pretty hard to find relief from that. They can't do more extensive tests and treatments until she is like 7 or 8. I am really praying she grows out of it. Thanks for your advice and experiences!!

Family Pictures -- 2012

For those of you receiving my Christmas card, you will probably see a few of these twice. Sorry!! Woo hoo for Jen for doing these for me!! I have learned some lessons regarding doing family pictures when they include adult men and children. There can be only one outfit and it must be done in an hour or less, otherwise everyone is far too grumpy (especially the grown men)! Jen and her sister, Allie are now doing pictures for others if anyone is interested. They specialize in the outdoor photos. It's $150 for now and that includes 8 photo edits and the CD so you can print whatever pictures you are interested in. My pictures would be typical for the pricing. Alli is also working on a photography studio so that they can do indoor photos in those as well. They also do fantastic newborn photos. They are working on a blog to display ideas but if you show up with poses or props you like, they are always willing to spice it up with new options. Their contact information is as follows: Jen (208) 313-3876 Alli (208) 313-3921

One Tough Little Cookie

Launa had her first day of school on the 27th. She was nervous, but really excited. We went to the school and met her teacher and Launa thought she was great. She is 7 months pregnantly currently. She must be patient because if I had to deal with 25 5-year olds while being seven months pregnant I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty. In the car Launa asked me "so... is she having a baby or is she just fat." I told her she was having a baby and that it was rude to say things like that and she responded "I know, that's why I didn't say it to her, I said it to you." Oh well, I try. Mark and I have been having a power struggle over her riding the bus. Our bus was supposed to come at around 7:15, but came that day at 6:58 AM. Luckily, we were ready, but I didn't want to put her on the bus by herself without Kyla to help her out. Mark was adamant that she was tougher than I thought and he put her on the bus. I went to the school to wait for her to get off the bus, and waited, and waited, and waited. I was told all the buses should be there by 7:35 but there were still lots of buses coming. I ran back to her classroom to see if she got there before me and still couldn't find her. ALL the buses came and went and NO Launa. At this point, I was having a little anxiety. I called the bus garage and they had to find her. They are all supposed to transfer buses at the high school. Evidently, she didn't know what to do (why would she for pete's sake, this is Kindergarten and she's 5) so she just stayed in her seat and didn't move. I'm not really sure if the bus driver realized there was someone still on there or not when I called the bus garage. Anywho, she was all by herself on the bus when the driver brought her back to Wahitis. I thought she would be crying and a mess, but she is and always has been so tough. Not one tear. She was shaking when I got her off, but I walked her to her classroom, got her settled and left 10 minutes later. I went back after school to see if she wanted me to drive her home, and she said no, she wanted to try to ride the bus with Kyla (I did go make sure she transferred at the right place -- it was pandemonium, the whole thing makes me nervous) and they made it home just fine. Rough start to the start of school. That night she asked me why Daddy and I put her on the wrong bus. It about broke my heart. Since then, she says school is okay, but that she doesn't even have time to play any more, and recesses are just NOT long enough!! It's kind-of true, it's all day kindergarten. Her favorite subject is P.E. and she says she hasn't decided what she wants to be when she grows up.

Gearhart Family Reunion

For the semi-annual Quinton family reunion (my Mom's side) we went to Gearhart, which is just a couple minutes from Seaside. This was my kids' first trip to the beach and they thoroughly enjoyed digging in the sand and playing in the water. It was so beautiful and fun -- I definitely could have stayed for a few more days. I anticipated 85 degree weather (yes, I know now that this was unrealistic) and it was more like 65 degrees so I had to swing into Carter's to buy poor Meg some warmer clothes. The kids loved playing with their cousins!! Mark was unable to attend so my parents helped me and were fantastic as usual. My mother-in-law let me take her Denali because it had a DVD player in it. I wish I could say they sat and watched peacefully, but it wasn't the case. Kate screamed so hard she threw up and then peed in her car seat. The other two did a little better. But THANK YOU to my parents for helping me. Without them it would have been miserable, so the help was much appreciated. Here are a few pictures of the trip -- notice my Dad actually giving a big smile in one picture, Meg and I doing the "two-headed monster" (she's in my Baby Bjorn with my jacket zipped up around us) and how you can tell it's slightly windy on the beach. :)

San Poil 2012

We spent the last week at Mark's annual family reunion in San Poil up near Keller. It was actually my best year yet as I actually made it the entire week and we really only had one rough night with Meg. I have had some serious war stories in the past with sick kids, grouchy kids, kids who won't sleep, etc. :) This year the weather was perfect and we had such a great time. The kids loved spending time with their cousins, Meg got spoiled with me holding her the entire time, we thoroughly enjoyed the jet skis and boats, the marble tournament, and lots of snacking and chit chatting with family. Mark's Mom always does matching sweaters for the girls and they turned out adorable. I guess that's one perk to having all those girls!! Before we left I took the girls to my Dad's orchard and picked cherries. They got to ride in the back of the pickup to get the full experience. Can you tell it was a tad bit windy. :)