Thankful Thursday

It's been a while since I did one of these babies!

This week I'm thankful for......

• a successful surgery and quick recovery for my momma
• my hubby taking my two big boys to "the pink house" for the weekend and letting Tyson and I stay behind to help Grammy, and take Amazih to basketball practice
• healthy kids
• my 20+ "other kids".  You know--the ones I spend 8-9 hours a day with while I'm at work.  They wear me out, but they're cute.  
• a Thursday night off of work
• rain

F-I-V-E

Our little Kayden is five freakin' years old!  Last week, he had a dentist appointment and his five year well-child check all in one morning.  His dentist appointment went well.  They are just watching one spot where a cavity may be forming, but the dentist thought with some consistant flossing, we should be able to avoid a full-on cavity.  

His doctor appointment also went fairly well.  Before the actual appointment, they do a hearing and vision check.  I was curious what they would fine in his hearing because we notice that he says, "huh?" a lot, and have been wondering if he is having trouble hearing, or if it is just a habit.  Turns out that is just a habit, because his hearing is fine.  His vision on the other hand, was--just like last year--not perfect.  His left eye was 20-32.  The doctor suggested that we take him back to the optometrist, which we will do.  We took him for an eye exam last year and they thought his eyes were ok, but planned to re-check them yearly to make sure things didn't get any worse.  So, within the next few weeks, we will be headed back to the eye doctor.  

We also got the same lecture we got after his appointment last year.  It seems his BMI is fairly high (100).  Our doctor is fairly weight-conscience, so she made lots of suggestions as far as getting that number down.  And, just like last year, I let all of that go in one ear and out the other.  I do not think that Kayden is by any means over weight!  He is just like my brother was when he was young--solid.  He does not have a single roll of chub on him!  Ugh, it's frustrating.  

Over all, the appointments went well, and the BWW's was well-deserved afterward :)

My not-so-little-anymore boys

Tyler has officially started his first ECFE class and is loving it!  He spends all of his time playing with the exact same toys that Kayden played with when he attended 2's ECFE---the animals!  I have to pry him away from them to get him to try other activities like painting(he has yet to try this), play-doh(nope, not this yet either), the sensory table, etc.  Hopefully in the coming weeks, he will venture out and try some of the other activities in the room.  He also does fine with the separation when I leave the room to have the "parent talk time".  He is getting to be such a big boy!

Another big step in the education department in our house is Kayden getting ready for *tear* kindergarten.  We attended Kindergarten Round Up last night and got lots of information about who the teachers are, and how things in kindergarten will work.  It is absolutely crazy to me, to even think that he is going to be in kindergarten already.  I wish I could just keep him little forever!

Girl Fun

A couple weeks ago I had another "girls weekend".  I L-O-V-E these weekends.  This year the weekend started Thursday night when my cousin Holli and our friend Michelle made the three-plus hour drive to my house and spent the night so that we could get our weekend started bright and early Friday morning.  Friday we did a little shopping, had lunch, caught a movie, then made our way to our weekend retreat.  When we finally got there, we spent the entire weekend scrapping, relaxing, EATING, sleeping and chatting.  It was perfect.  

At dinner Saturday night, we realized that this coming Fall, Michelle will turn 40, and I will turn 30.  I guess the rest of the girls think this calls for a special celebration, so the talks of our plans for next October are already in the works :)

Big Boy Beds

For a long time I was totally against ever moving any of my children to the basement.  My thoughts were that it's just too far away from me, and if there were ever an emergency and I couldn't get to them I would never forgive myself. 
Then.....
Last week, I somehow talked myself into it being ok.  I decided that I could no longer handle having all three boys' stuff crammed into one little bedroom when we have a fairly large, four bedroom home.  We actually have two bedrooms in our basement.  So, I decided that the eventual goal would be to decorate one room and make it Kayden's, and then do the other as Tyler's room, but still have them both sleep in Kayden's room on the bunk beds.  I think it's gonna work.  Last night we worked on cleaning out the first bedroom (Kayden's), and putting the bunk beds together.  We got an extra dresser from my parents, and things are starting to come together.  It will  be kind of a long process.  We are going to need to get a few things, and do some de-cluttering and re-decorating, but I think it will work.  Hopefully having the boys' bedrooms downstairs will make it easier for me to move most of their toys and other stuff down there so that the upstairs can stay a little more under control. 
So.....
Last night was their first night sleeping downstairs and they did awesome!  I put a little lamp kind of thing in their bedroom, and left the stairway light on, and put our old baby monitor in the bedroom.  They both stayed down there all night.  They came up this morning for breakfast, then went right back down to build a fort in their new room!  I really am excited about this big step.  I think it will help keep things more organized and under control.  Mike on the other hand, is struggling with the fact that he is running out of places to store all of his "stuff" since the kids have now taken over most of the house.  Sacrifices I guess =)

Where has my baby gone?

My biggest baby turned 5 today!  This is just craziness to me.  I honestly don't know where the past five years have gone.  In less than a month, we will go to Kindergarten Round Up.  This means it's real.  I really have to send him to Kindergarten.  I can't keep him little forever.  I hate that.  I want him to go to school, I know he'll love school and he'll do awesome, but I just don't want him to grow up.  

We had his birthday party yesterday afternoon at our house.  We went with a Lego theme since Legos are one of his newest loves.  He got lots of great presents and we were able to spend lots of quality time with lots of the people who love him.  

We spent the day today at Mall of America with just Kayden and Mike and I.  He loved it.  My mom had free passes for Sea Life Adventures.  He loved it!  He got a camera for his birthday and was snapping pictures like crazy!  We also hit up LegoLand (which, by the way is NOT what it used to be.  It's now just a Lego store.  Dumb.), we had lunch at Rainforest Cafe, shopped at the Disney Store where he spent some of his birthday money, and went on a bunch of rides.  He was beyond exhausted.  Our big boy needed to be carried by the time we were ready to head to the car :)  I really think he had a great time, and I'm so glad we took the time to spend the day with just him.  Even though, there were a few moments when he did say, "We should have brought Tyler here too".  I'm learning to cherish these days and these moments as I am now seeing just how fast time really does go. 

Problems solved????

In the past month, Tyson has had double ear infections twice.  So, we decided to have new tubes put in his ears, and the doctor also thought it would be a good idea to take his adenoids out thinking that they may be at the root of his endless ear problems.  

So, this morning, we dropped Tyler and Kayden off at daycare and headed to the surgical center.  After a quick 15 minute procedure, he was done and in recovery.  When they called us back to see him, he was cuddling with a nurse.  As soon as she handed him to me, he woke up and cried, attempted to rip his IV out, kicked and screamed and yelled for his daddy, so I handed him over :)  He ended up sleeping on Mike's chest for a good hour before he finally really woke up and drank his juice.  By 11:00, we were sent home.  Mike headed to work, while Tyson and I had to make a quick Target stop for an anti-biotic and some ear drops.  We've now been home for a few hours and he has been running around like a little animal.  I think he really enjoys being able to play with all of the toys without his big brothers stealing things from him.  We had planned on keeping him home from daycare tomorrow, but if he continues to do this well, I think he'll be able to go back to daycare and Mike and I can go back to work.  Let's hope this is finally the end of all of these ear issues for my little guy!