She's a Wild One!!

Sweet Meg is quickly turning into Wild Meg, but she sure is irresistible. Every time she sees her cousin Boone, she wants to wrestle him to the ground. She literally knocks him down, get on his back and mauls him for whatever item he has in his hands. I hope he learns how to defend himself soon, poor kid! She has recently discovered the great outdoors. I'm too afraid to let her roam the grass since our last episode where we had to chase 3000 sheep off. They left lamb poop all over and I'm too worried she'll try to eat it. So since she is resigned to the concrete she is already starting to work the scooter and is loving every opportunity to play with Dad. I love the picture of him holding her up to the basket. It is lowered (he's tall but not THAT tall)!!

Bikes & More Bikes

Two weekends ago we were all going to Tony and Alli's and I was going to walk with the kids and Mark was going to drive to pick us up there. Mark gets in his truck, backs up, and crunch, runs over a scooter. A few swear words, he pulls forward and to the other side of the driveway, backs up and crunch, runs over Kate's bike. More swear words. Incidently, Kate has really never gotten a bike of her own and the hand-me-down that was a mess was ready to be retired. Mark took her to Walmart with just her to get her her very own bike. She was one happy little girl!! Launa's comments: "I am leaving my bike behind Dad's truck so he can run mine over next!" I informed her that would only get her no bike for the entire summer.

Launa's 6 Year Old Stats

Launa Virtue is growing up. Today she weighed in at 43 pounds and was 44.5" tall. She is approximately in the 35th percentile so kind of little. I think I was even smaller than she was. She has come so far this year in her learning. She writes the cutest notes where she sounds out the letters (my highlights include one telling me I was the best mom ever and another one telling me she wasn't going to church because I was mean). She counts all the time and is an absolute nazi about her homework and schoolwork. It has to all be done on Monday when it's assigned. She has also mastered jumping rope (which was quite a feat), hula hooping, she's a pro at bike riding and is now mastering her electric scooter. She has so much energy and actually likes to work. She continues to amaze me with her logic for such a young age. There is nothing better than when Launa decides to be sweet. She gives eskimo kisses, writes sweet notes, does little favors and wraps little gifts. I hope she continues to develop that really sweet side to her personality. She definitely always keeps me on my toes.

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