What a Day

I started my day out this morning by breaking my Life is Crap mug. What worse omen could there be right? So far:
Henry is being very fussy. I think he may be sick on top of his tooth being almost through. His nose is very runny, he is sneezing a lot and his temperature is 99.3 an hour after having tylenol.  :(
He is finally napping though! :)
Both big kids slept in a little bit this morning. :)
Lucy was singing a happy song about going to school in the van on the way there. :)
When we pulled in and I unbuckled her she said she didn't want to get out of the van. She always wants to go to school, so I wasn't sure what was up with that. :(
When I pointed out all the snow on the playground she happily jumped out of the van so she could get her gear on and be ready to go out with her friends. :)
The class went sledding! :)
Freddy happily ran around with his super hero cape all morning and played with his train. :)
Dave went to pick Lucy up at school for me so that I didn't have to put cranky baby in his car seat. :)
Lucy sobbed for 20 minutes because it was Freddy's turn with the bug  book during quiet time. Very unlike her! Perhaps she is getting sick? :(
Henry is awake from nap already. That was not long enough. :(

That is 4 frowns and 6 smiles. Not too bad so far! :) I will go check if the big kids are napping in a few minutes. I hope Lucy is asleep but then I will know for sure that she is sick because that is the only time she naps anymore.

I am still typing because I am trying to let Henry cry it out for a little bit in the hope that he will go back to sleep because he is sleeping so poorly today. It does not seem to be working though. :( Oh boy! Well, I will say thank you again to Julie now for the awesome baby carrier she made me for Christmas, it is a life, back and arm saver on days like this.

What was I saying earlier? I think it was something about Lucy being awesome. ;)

She just made this Valentine picture for Henry. When she started it she said it was me but Henry woke up from nap and she switched it to be for him. She is so sweet to her brothers!

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A Post About Lucy

Yesterday Dave and I went to Lucy's parent teacher conference at preschool. Before we left I was joking with her and I asked if she thought the teacher would say she was the naughtiest in class, or the loudest, or maybe the quietest. She said that Ms. Gigi would say she was "the goodest in class." Well, Lucy was right. :)

Okay, I am exaggerating a little bit, but not much. We all already knew this of course, but it has been confirmed that Lucy rocks! :) They said she is a pleasure to have in class; she has lots of friends and the other kids tend to gravitate to her because she is so smart and gets along well with everyone. That is probably the best thing you could ever be told about your child!

This year before the conferences, the kids all had a turn to hang out with the head teacher (Ms. Gigi), one-on-one. The purpose of this was for the teacher to do a bit of kindergarten readiness screening. Lucy exceeded on every item. Most of her skills already go beyond what they will be expecting of her next year. She has excellent fine motor skills, she can write her first and last name, she can count past forty without help, she knows all of her shapes and can draw many of them. The best one of all though, she scored 20 out of 20 on the pre-reading assessment test! She is sooo close to reading on her own. (Tessa- thank you for telling me about starfall.com! Ms. Gigi said they use it in the kindergarten here.)

Henry is fussing so I have to be done with this post. To summarize, Lucy is just awesome! Freddy and Henry are too but the details on those boys will have to be another day.

This the way Henry usually sleeps, with his hnads behind his head. He is so cute! :)

I just found the best new place for Henry to play- he is sitting in a bin of fabric scraps! I was holding him and picking up pieces for him to feel  when it occured to me that if I put him in it in the corner, the sides of the bin would keep him sitting up right. This cool right? Not mean and only sort of weird? 

He is talking to the fabric and biting it. Oops, he just spit up all over it. It's washable though. :)

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Food, for lack of a better title

It has been quite some time since I wrote a proper blog post so here I am. :) 

Henry is on his second week of eating solids. He really likes rice cereal! He could give or take zucchini, but that is all he has tried so far because I have been too lazy to put in any more effort. This weekend when I grocery shop I am going to buy lots of veggies and make more food for him. It is actually less scary to start him on solids than it was with the other kids because we already have a good idea of what he is allergic to. Although I am worried about what would happen if he himself ate something he is allergic to.

 There is a definite up side to his eating solids, I could actually leave him for a little while. He would probably still cry, but he wouldn't have to go hungry while I was away. This was always such a relief to me with the other two and I was anxious to get to this stage with them. With Henry though there are some down sides. The main thing is that I am worried that someone might feed him something he is allergic to. Now I know no one would do this on purpose but he is allergic to so much that it takes very careful label reading to know if something is okay for him. Most food labels say what allergens they contain but soy isn't always included. Soy goes by many different names too. Vegetable oil is made of soy, so is shortening, vegetable protein, textured vegetable protein, tofu, and MSG. Also, his being allergic to wheat is confusing some people. I guess when you say wheat it makes people think just of brown bread. Wheat is flour, anything made with flour in it is out. That includes a few things you might not think of, Altoid Smalls (which I used to eat a few a day) have wheat in them, some people use flour to thicken their gravy, etc. Anyway, you have to read labels very very carefully when you have a food allergy. 

The other downside to Henry starting solids means he is starting the weaning process. He will be nursing for quite a while yet, but this time when he needs me and it has to be me, no one else, is dwindling. It is a bit sad this time since I don't know as there will be any more babies in this house. It is getting a bit crowded around here, we can barely all fit into my bed. :)

Speaking of it being crowded here, the new house is coming along swimmingly! The framing is finished and has been inspected. The plumbing is next up and then I think it will be time for the electric. The electric is an interesting thing, Dave has decided that we are going to stay off of the grid. (This means that we won't be getting our electric from the electric company, we will have to make our own.) You would have to ask him the hows and whys of this, but the brief explanation is that it would cost a LOT to give the electric company the rights to parts of our property and we would be paying all this so that they could charge us every month. How it will work is over my head but it will include some wind, some solar and a propane generator. I am just blindly trusting him on this one. :) 

I haven't mentioned Lucy or Freddy at all yet, oops! Freddy is...well, he is almost 3. Anyone who has ever lived through raising a 3 year old knows what I mean. He is full of it and he knows it!! He is the cutest thing on the planet and he knows that too!! He tells stories, he is able to play elaborate pretend games with Lucy, and he can almost concentrate enough to play a board game. He LOVES his train set that Santa brought him and second to that are his matchbox cars. 

Lucy is the sweetest and most caring girl ever! She notices when I am feeling down and will come give me a hug, she is so sweet to her brothers and helps me out with keeping Henry happy and entertained. She is just the best! She loves school and can't wait to go to kindergarten. I have heard that the information about kindergarten should be coming in the mail soon.  Yikes! Oh, Freddy is all set to go to preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings next fall (the same program Lucy was in last year). 

I am off to brew some tea and waste a little time surfing the internet before I hit the hay.

Hello from Henry!

With only a little bit of support Henry can sit up now! Isn't he handsome? :)

Happy Birthday Oma and welcome home Oma and Granny!!!!!

Best bib ever!! It is called a Bapron and the pattern is here: http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/2011/05/bapron-tutorial.html

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To say My kids need me might be an understatement. All three of them have needed to be very close to me today. I was woken up at 4:52 am by Lucy who wanted in bed next to me because she had had a bad dream. Ten minutes later Henry woke up and Dave put him in bed on the other side of me. About 45 minutes later Fred came in and cried because Lucy was in his usual spot, so he climbed on top of me. I have a bit of a backache this afternoon but I wouldn't trade it for anything

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Santa brought us moustaches :D

Lots of pictures from me today! 
Having the fabric all organized didn't inspire just me. We are trying to make a dress for the Baby Cinderella doll she got for Christmas. The plan is for Lucy to help sew the two pieces of the dress together and then I will do the finishing. I am thinking bias tape but I think Lucy is thinking ruffles. Wish us luck! I will post a picture of whatever we manage to make. 

This is what Dave made for me for Christmas. :) I feel a little less like a hoarder with my fabric all nice and neat- I am still hoarder, but a bit neater.  ;). 
This is all of my quilting weight and apparel weight fabric. I am going to put ky flannels on the right side I think. I feel inspired now that I can see what I have!!!

Freddy made a pizza sandwhich. 

Play-doh fun. Lucy made waffles and pancakes.