Kaitlin's 4-year Checkup

Well, it's a month and a half late, but I thought I needed to post about Kaitlin's checkup this year. She measured 39 inches tall and weighed 32 pounds. I was so excited that she finally hit 30 pounds! The doctor said she looked great and had no concerns. Kaitlin had to get a couple of shots and took them like a champ. Of course, the nurse and I had to team up to get her out from under my chair, but she did great once we got a hold of her! She didn't even cry! Later that afternoon, Kaitlin decided to celebrate her health by cutting her hair!! She was so proud of herself! (By the way, she does not have a head injury in this picture. Kaitlin feels it necessary to put a band-aid on every minor bump or scratch. It does add some drama though!)



Although she's never had a visible reaction to peanuts/peanut butter, Kaitlin has always had a strong aversion to anything with peanuts in it and we wondered if she might be allergic to them. Keven and I wanted to know for sure so I discussed it with the pediatrician and she agreed that it would be a good idea to get her tested. I took her to the allergist a couple weeks after her checkup and discovered that our suspicions were correct. So, we are now an epi-pen carrying family. I don't think her allergy is severe, but it is definitely stressful. We have to think about things differently. I think we are also fortunate that she doesn't like anything with peanuts so we don't really have to worry about her eating it.

I usually just do Kaitlin's pictures at the same time we do Ethan's, but this year our photographer/friend, Heather, was having a mini-session for girls called Tutus & Tiaras right around Kaitlin's birthday so I decided to get some special 4-year-old pictures taken. Kaitlin had a ton of fun at her special photo shoot (no Ethan, no family pics, just all about Kaitlin) and Heather got some amazing pictures of her! I had such a hard time decided which pictures to get because they were all so good! This is just one of the beautiful pictures:

Halloween

We had a great time Trick-or-Treating with the kids this year! We had some friends over for pizza and went with a group which is always fun. We also had a sweet college student come over and hand out candy so that Keven and I were both able to go trick-or-treating.

Kaitlin was very excited and was asking all day if today is the day to go trick-or-treating. She dressed up like a princess and I have to say, she was the most beautiful princess I've ever seen!! She is in a Cinderella dress, but she has never seen the movie Cinderella. MomMom and PopPop took her into the princess shop at Disney World to get a dress and that is the one she chose! I guess we need to rent the movie soon so she knows the story of Cinderella! She had a really fun time trick-or-treating with her friend Bryce. They would hold hands walking between houses and race to the doors. It was really cute!

We decided to dress Ethan like a monkey for Halloween and he loved it! He wore his costume to Trunk or Treat at our church on Sunday and had a great time! Tonight, when I said "let's go get your monkey costume on" he ran into his room and started signing "hat." It was very cute! I got Kaitlin's dress on her and told her to stand in front of the china cabinet for pictures. When I was done, I put Ethan's hat on him and he ran over to the china cabinet (without being told to) for his pictures. He also enjoyed trick-or-treating. At the first, he wanted to go inside every house! After a few houses, he got the hang of it and was excited to go up to every door.

Here are some pictures. I hope you enjoy them!

Party Time!

Kaitlin had a very fun Monsters Inc. Birthday party today. It took her a while to warm up to all the people, but she finally perked up after having some cake and seemed to have a good time. She opened all her presents and she handed out goodie bags. She even thanked everyone for coming when she gave them their bags.

Kaitlin's Birthday

Wow! Today Kaitlin turned 4 years old! I can hardly believe it has been that long since she was born. She has been anticipating her birthday for a couple of weeks and woke up a couple mornings last week asking "Am I 4 today?" We put a sticker on her birthday on her calendar and marked off all the days until her birthday. That definitely helped her understand.

Kaitlin has also been anticipating the arrival of family for her birthday party. She's been especially excited about having a sleepover at MomMom and PopPop's hotel. They were supposed to arrive on Thursday and Kaitlin started packing her bag on Monday. She did a pretty good job: pajamas, clean panties, books, Crocs, and a blanket. We had a little talk about how when her cousins Sarah and Robbie are here, she is going to want to stay at home and have a sleepover with them at our house. To that, Kaitlin responded that Sarah and Robbie could come to MomMom and PopPop's hotel too! She even added extra pajama pants for Sarah and one of Ethan's pajama tops for Robbie. What a hoot!

Kaitlin has had a little trouble understanding that her party was not going to be on her actual birthday. Apparently, in one of the shows she watches, they had a surprise party for someone because yesterday she told me that when she came home from her swim lesson today all her friends would be hiding in our house and would jump out and yell "Surprise!" I explained that we would celebrate her birthday as a family on Tuesday and her birthday party would be on Saturday. I'm not sure she was too happy with that answer, but she seemed got over it.

Overall, I think Kaitlin had a great day celebrating! She started the morning by opening up her new big girl bike! Then, we played at Frog Legs (an indoor inflatable place), had lunch at Moe's, played at home, went to swim lessons*, ate dinner at Provino's and then opened more presents! We decided to let Kaitlin open some family presents today since she will be getting more presents at her party on Saturday. Here are a few pictures.





*I have to brag on Kaitlin here. She has been going to swim lessons all summer and is finally swimming all by herself. Her teacher told me on Thursday that she had a breakthrough day so today I hid and watched. Kaitlin was swimming all by herself for about 10 feet at a time. I never get to see this because when I take her to the pool, she just wants to swim with her Puddle Jumper.

New Masthead

OK, I finally updated the masthead with current pictures of the kids and animals. Actually, it is the same picture of the cat, but he hasn't changed much (although, I think he may have lost some weight from running from the dog). Sadly, Harley was removed, but now there is a picture of Samson. This, plus a beautiful and loving wife, is my life. It is a nice image to reflect on this Father's Day. I am blessed.

Pickin' Berries

We decided to go pick some blueberries yesterday at a local farm. At first, I didn't really think we were going to pick much because Ethan kept wondering over to the greenhouse nearby, but I finally got him to stick near Kaitlin and me while we picked berries. He spent most of the time taking berries out of my bucket and either throwing them on the ground or trying to put them back on the bush. As you can imagine, he got a little frustrated when they wouldn't go back on! Kaitlin had a good time picking berries and hiding from me in the blueberry patch! We didn't really get a whole lot of berries, but it was a fun time!

One Week with Samson

Well, we have now had a yellow lab puppy for one week. And I haven't killed anyone. Yet. Last Saturday, Keven and I drove to Douglasville, GA to pick up our newest family member, Samson. We were pretty much smitten with him after about 5 minutes (yes, we). Those who know me, know that I was very much against getting a puppy (and I still am), but Keven talked me into it. I gave him some conditions that I never really thought he would agree to or keep, but he did. So we have a puppy. He is an adorable handful and I know that he is only going to become more difficult as he gets bigger. After one week, Samson is already losing his fluffy white fur and getting in the coarse, yellow fur of a lab. They do grow up fast!


A few things about Samson, the puppy:

• After spending the first 8 weeks of his life outside, Samson has had a taste of air conditioning and loves it. He does not like to go outside.
• Samson is not a big fan of his crate and he lets us know it!
• When he realizes I am trying to get him outside, Samson lays down. Then he runs away when I try to pick him up.
• Samson's newest hobby is tormenting Simba.
• He quickly discovered his two favorite sleeping spots: behind the toilet in the kids' bathroom and under my desk. Much to his dismay, he has been banned from the playroom and can no longer lay under my desk. I'm actually a little sad about that too. I kind of like having the little guy at my feet. :(
• From day 1, Samson knew that Ethan was not his biggest fan. Any chance he got he was next to Ethan, sniffing, licking, and knocking him down. Ethan doesn't seem as bothered by him now.
  

Messages to Heaven

I actually posted this last week, but the post has disappeared for some reason. I guess blogger was having some issues, so I'm reposting.

Kaitlin is always asking questions about Harley and why he went to heaven and wanting to know if we can go visit him in heaven. Since she always points to balloons in the sky and says they are going to heaven, I thought she might like to send Harley a message via balloon. She colored this sweet picture of herself hugging Harley and I wrote a note to Harley on the back of it for her. It was so sweet and I got really choked up! I wanted to include Ethan so I printed out a picture of Ethan and Harley and wrote my own note on the back of it.


It's a little hard to read Kaitlin's message in the picture, but this is what it said: Dear Harley - I miss when you lick my hands and my sucking thumb. I wish you could come back. I wish heaven would make you unsick and throw you back down to our house. I love you, Kaitlin.

It is both fascinating and frustrating to see how children process things like death. It has been almost 10 months since Harley died and Kaitlin still talks about it all the time. I sort of thought that getting a new puppy would eliminate the Harley talk, but it hasn't. Every time Kaitlin tells someone about her new puppy, she tells them about Harley too.

Happy Easter!

Here are some pictures from Kaitlin and Ethan's Easter Egg Hunt. Kaitlin was sick again this year so I went to church to serve while Keven stayed home with the kids. I was very upset that Kaitlin wouldn't be able to wear the new dress I made her to church so Keven dressed her up in it for the egg hunt. And of course, he put Ethan in his matching outfit. Kaitlin was running around so much it was hard to get a good picture of her!


For some reason, the snaps on the dress don't stay together very well, so her dress kept coming undone. You may notice in some of the pictures that it looks like it's falling off and that's because it is. I guess I need to make a few changes on the dress so that it doesn't fall off of her when she wears it in public!

Ethan's 15-Month Checkup

Poor little Ethan had a rough morning yesterday. It started out by him falling and hitting his mouth on the edge of the train table. It was one of those moments when you see that your child is about to get hurt, but you're too far away to prevent it from happening. His poor litle mouth was full of blood and I know it must have hurt. He recovered from his fall just in time to head out to the pediatrician's office for his 15-month checkup and yes, shots. Ethan weighs 22 lbs, 11 ounces and is 29 inches long. The pediatrician said he looks great!

After his exam, Ethan had to have two shots. One of them was the dreaded MMR. I agonized over this shot when Kaitlin was little due to the theory that it causes Autism. We talked to our then pediatrician who reassured us that this was not the case and we decided to go ahead with the shot. I cried more than Kaitlin did. Boys also have a higher rate of Autism so some have wondered if the shot effects them differently. More worry. I realize that the research leading to this theory has been debunked, has not been replicated, and the doctor who led it, is losing his license, but that little seed was planted and there is still worry at the back of my mind. He was waving "bye bye" at Chick-fil-A last night and I take that as a good sign!