What happens in Kindergarten...

This is Aidan's first week of Kindergarten and although a bit nervous about it he was also very excited. My mom and I (and the babies of course) walked him there for his first day and he did really well. Went right into his classroom, found his desk, and said goodbye to me. No kisses for me in the school because that would be WAY too embarrassing. 

This kid has grown up way too fast!

 
I decided after walking that first morning that I would be driving for now until the weather is cooler. 100* + temperatures is just way too hot even though the school is less than a mile away. 

After picking him up in the afternoon I was asking him how his day went and he was flipping all over the room. It's like they gave him some Red Bull during snack or something, seriously. Aidan is not generally a hyper kid but I guess sitting still for 6 hours makes him a bit stir crazy.

So, are you ready to hear what is going on in Kindergarten these days?? Well, here is what he told me........

Today when I got to school I was the first kid in my class so my teacher told me to sit at my desk. Then she put me to sleep and inserted a microchip in my neck that programs me to be able to dance. Now I can do the moonwalk*.

*said while doing a very interesting demonstration*

No matter how many times I asked him what he did at school and no matter who asked him, this is the response I got. Wha???? Kids have the wildest imaginations.

The only other thing he has really told me besides the basics about his day is that he had gym the other day and at gym he told the teacher that he thought the boys should all work on their abs by doing sit ups, planks, crunches, and v up roll ups. I wish I could have seen the teachers face when he said that.  

Aidan has now finished 6 days of school and he seems to be enjoying it for the most part. He has had a perfect report every day and has only asked to stay home because he was "sick" once. That little plan didn't work out like he'd planned. Hopefully he continues to do well and we figure out a way to get the ants out of his pants at the end of the day.

Oh yeah, I asked him what he wants to be when he grows up, and he told me he wants to be "a mechanical engineer with abs just like my dad". So there you have it! If you haven't noticed a pattern here, Aidan is recently obsessed with "getting abs" as he puts it. If we tell him that if he eats (insert favorite food here) then he won't be able to have abs, he actually won't eat it. Silly boy...

Skylar's 1, 2, and 3 Month update

 Life is a little bit busy with two kids that are 15 months apart (imagine that!) so I haven't been able to update my blog until recently but I will cram in three monthly updates at once. These updates are more for me to be able to look back on later anyway because I know that I won't remember anything without it!! 

1 month
Skye baby came home from the NICU when she was 12 days old and I was very quickly thrown into insanely busy mode. Colin was just 16 months and he can be quite a handful by himself so when you throw a newborn in the mix, well, things become a lot busier. 

She weighed about 5 1/2 pounds when she hit one month old and of course was still wearing all preemie clothes. In fact, there were many preemie clothes that were too big. 

At just 2 weeks old she started rolling over from her stomach to her back and I was lucky enough to be taking a video of her at the same time so I caught the moment on camera!

By 3 weeks old she was already very interested when people were taking to her and would turn her head and look at them. At 4 weeks we got our first "on purpose" smiles from her and she hasn't stopped since. Colin didn't smile (for real) until he was closer to 12 weeks (which was completely normal because he was also 6 weeks early so milestones typically go by adjusted age). It was shocking that Skylar started doing these things so early (2 weeks before she was even supposed to be born!) but maybe it's just the first glimpse of what life will be like with a girl. My little social butterfly.  

My hands (and my <3) are very full :)

2 months
We started out our second month with Skylar on a family vacation to Orlando. It may have seemed crazy to some that we booked a trip for 3 weeks after my June 20th due date but I knew I wouldn't make it all the way to my due date. As it turned out she was 9 weeks when we went so it was perfect. We didn't go to any theme parks or anything but we just wanted to get away for a change of scenery. It had been a while since our family has had a vacation and we needed it - especially after two back to back really stressful pregnancies.

At Skylar's 2 month check up she weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long. The size of a newborn finally! She's little but very strong! People don't believe me when I tell them how old she is because she is such a tiny peanut. 

At about 7-8 weeks old Skylar started "talking" to us. She will just talk and talk. Once again, I have a feeling this is a sign of things to come. She started pushing up more and more when we lay her on her stomach and would flip over when she got tired of it. She also became slightly obsessed with sucking her thumb this month. The problem is, she doesn't have the coordination needed to always get her thumb in her mouth so she would get really mad and scream. The more mad she would get the more impossible it was to get her thumb in. Not fun!! 

             The pictures above show what happens when "someone" steals her thumb. Hopefully she will
                                                            learn to keep it in on her own soon!

18 months

This is how she feels about all of the noise that the boys make

He's such a goof!

3 months
Skylar just hit 3 months a few days ago and I'm not sure how much she weighs but last time I weighed her she was still less than 8 lbs. She is still wearing newborn clothes (some preemie clothes still fit her) and I still have to fold newborn disposable diapers to fit her better. Most of the time she is in cloth diapers though. 

She rolls from her stomach to her back all of the time and she learned how to roll from her back to her stomach 2 days ago. Just in the past week she started putting herself to sleep by sucking her pacifier and holding her blanket. It is so cute! And it also provides me with a much needed break. Up until now, she wanted me to hold her All. The. Time. which would be okay except I have two other kids that need me too. I was getting burnt out big time.

Her schedule now is basically bed time between 8-9 PM, wake up at 3-4 AM to eat, back to sleep until its time to eat around 7 am, and then back to bed until 9-10 AM. During the day she usually eats, plays for while, takes a nap and repeat. Thankfully she has put herself on this very reasonable schedule much like Colin did. It definitely helps me keep my sanity!

I can't lay her down on her stomach near anything because she scoots everywhere and she is fast. Yesterday she was in the middle of her quilt and I had to leave the room to tend to Colin who was having a complete meltdown. I was just out of the room for about 3 minutes and when I came back I saw that she had scooted about 4 feet over to the computer chair and had butted her head up against it. OOPS! Bad mommy. She wasn't hurt or anything though. 

Colin and Aidan absolutely ADORE their sister. I am so so thankful. Aidan is my little helper and is always loving on Skylar and telling her how cute she is. Colin tries to "help" and he kisses her about 12,498,739,394 times a day. He gives her a pacifier - not always in her mouth, he helps me burp her, and he just recently thought it would be a good idea to share his bottle (of regular milk). Now THAT is love!

Colin is changing daily. He turned 19 months old today and is really developing quite a personality  He is a daddy's boy for sure. He loves me and he loves other family members but the world revolves around his daddy. His speech is getting better daily and he is able to really communicate much better than he could even a few months ago. Right now he is working on saying people's names. Just a few he says are Laura (war-wah), Melissa (Sah), Skylar (kye kye), Aidan (dan dan), and Jess. His two favorite words that he says are "wow", "baby", and "yes!" 

Aidan starts school the day after tomorrow! I can't believe I have a kid in kindergarten. Craziness I tell you! He will be going to the public school right by our house and it will definitely be a huge adjustment for all of us but I think he do well. I am planning on having a school post up by the end of the week to talk about how his first week went.

         This is how Colin "helps with the baby. He was sharing his milk all over her face!!

Colin was put into time out here because he wouldn't stop throwing his food on the floor. Can you tell he is devastated?

  I just installed cabinet locks on all of the kitchen cabinets. This is the response I got from Colin when he made the discovery that he could remove all of the contents of the cabinets anymore.

Introducing Skylar Noelle!

Our sweet "Skye baby" as my 5 year old has dubbed her was born on May 9, 2013 exactly 6 weeks before her due date. She only weighed 4 lbs 2 oz and was 16 inches long. My last baby was also 6 weeks early but he weighed 4 lbs 12 oz - it is amazing what a huge difference 10 oz makes on a person that small!! She looked much smaller to me!

 She had to spend 12 long days in the NICU but thankfully she never needed any breathing assistance or anything serious like that. She was simply a "feeder & grower". I'm not going to go into too much detail because I already gave a shortened version of her birth story on my other post HERE but I will provide a huge photobomb. I think pictures can tell a story better than my words could anyway. So without further ado, here is my precious baby girl Skylar Noelle. 

This is just minutes after she was born (if it was even that long) and I was already feeling a little better

Daddy's first time seeing her in the NICU

Poor baby had to have an IV in her head for fluids 

Daddy love

This made me laugh (after I was done crying of course). I had a tubal ligation the day after Skylar was born and the pain was making me extremely sick to my stomach (notice the barf bag to my left). So what did the nurses bring me!?! Crackers of course! I was being "crackered*" even after my HG baby was born. I'm guessing those nurses have never actually thrown up crackers.... It is NOT fun....

*Being "crackered" takes place when you are pregnant and suffering from Hyperemesis, attached to a PICC line, IV fluids, Zofran pump (any or all of the above may apply) and someone tries to be helpful and suggest you just "eat some saltines crackers before getting out of bed in the morning"... When this happens, you are being crackered.
Being  crackered can also mean when someone suggests ginger, prego pops, or sea bands. I promise you, if someone is sick enough that they need to stab themselves in the stomach every day with a zofran pump and be hooked up to multiple IVs and or PICC lines, crackers, ginger, and all of those other remedies just aren't going to cut it. Believe me, they HAVE tried all of the above.

The nurses made signs for all of the babies beds in the NICU :)

I was able to give Skye her first bath when she was a few days old. She wasn't a big fan but when I was done she just laid there and stared at me

Getting her sun tan on (phototherapy for jaundice). The nurses called her a "beach bum" because she had her glasses, sun, and all of that long blonde hair

They made me a card for Mother's day (when she was 2 days old) using Skylar's foot prints. So sweet!

Sleepy smiles

I'm a mess here but this was her first time in clothes. 3 or 4 days old I think

She has the greatest expressions

So hard to stay awake for food!!

Finally doing the car seat test on day 12. She passed and I was able to take her home!! So exciting!

All packed up!

Colin was intrigued 

This big brother ADORES his sister