Our Five Ring Circus: I Should Blog

Monday, November 17, 2014

I Should Blog

As the holiday season nears, our schedules are picking up.  This time of year is always so busy!  I feel bad that my blog posts are few and far between right now, but there simply isn't enough time to do everything!

Here's what we're up to:

*Dylan is turning 10 on Saturday.  HOW is that even possible?  An entire decade passed since our (big) preemie was born a month early!  He certainly changed our lives and is the sweetest, kindest, most loving boy.  He makes us so proud!

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*Lexie is beautiful, but she's also sweet and incredibly smart.  This girl is kicking butt in second grade!

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*Lily keeps us on our toes.  She is the funniest little girl, and has quite a personality. She is also ridiculously stubborn. Parenting Dylan and Lexie was easy.  Parenting Lily is not. She challenges us every day with her stubborn, independent streak!

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*I had a rough day last week. Liam was really struggling to crawl.  He can pull up, stand, and cruise, but HATES being forced to try to crawl.  After a particularly challenging Physical Therapy session, I found myself near tears, thinking he would never get it.  After a short-lived pity party, I took Lily and Liam to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather and I let Liam be a regular little boy.  It was exactly what we needed.

I needed this afternoon. Very rarely do I feel my positive attitude slip, but it did just that this morning. Liam worked so hard during PT, and many tears were involved. It's so hard to watch him struggle to do things that are easy for typical kids. I fou
She wants to take the dinosaur home.
When it's 68 degrees in November, we go to the park!

*And guess what?  Two days later, something clicked.  All it took was some food bribery!

I was so worried on Tuesday...but look who finally started crawling! He's cruising more, too. I guess something clicked and he decided to do everything at once!

*Dylan and Liam look so much alike.  Liam has always looked like his big brother!

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*Our sweet Great Dane, Bailey, is showing her age.  She's going to be 10, which is the end of the average lifespan for her breed.  She's losing weight, acting anxious all the time, and chews on her legs.  Lily loves her dog, and I hate the fact that she won't vividly remember her, and that Liam won't remember her at all. She's the sweetest dog, and it hurts to think about saying goodbye.

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*Dylan and Lexie had sleepovers on Saturday night, so Lily, Liam, and I had an impromptu visit with some of our favorite people!

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Spent a few hours with some of our favorite people tonight. Liam loves his buddy, Violet!

*We got an awesome new fireplace!  It's the favorite spot in the house!

We got an awesome new fireplace and can't keep Liam away from it!

*We got a dusting of snow on Friday afternoon, and again last night.  It's supposed to be super cold tonight and tomorrow (16 overnight, and 19 is the high tomorrow in Pittsburgh.  It will be colder here, north of the city.).  It's way too early for this!

Well, two living beings like the snow...

*Liam got his third haircut.  Some people, who shall not be named, were making fun of his long combover. The bathroom sink was the perfect haircut location.

Mr. Baby Combover said goodbye to his Donald Trump hair. This is halfway through. After I dry my tears, I'll share his new 'do. I hope all you combover haters are happy (Aunt Annie!!!). This is his third haircut, so I know it will grow back quickly!
Brace yourself: Winter is coming. Also, I didn't realize just how much hair he had until I chopped off over 2 inches from his combover lock. His new fauxhawk is cute, even when it's flattened by wet snow!

*I have a holiday clothing shopping problem.

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Darn you, Target. At least Liam's Christmas outfit and pjs are bought.

(Top 3 are from Old Navy. Bottom 4 from Target.)

*My Netflix #StreamTeam package arrived at the beginning of the month. I'm still giddy about this opportunity! This month's post is coming up soon!

So excited to be part of the Netflix #StreamTeam ! Thank you so much, @netflix !

*I dragged all 4 kids to Dylan and Lexie's parent teacher conferences.  It was quite an adventure!  I wrote the time down wrong for the first conference, which meant we rushed out the door 5 minutes before the start time.  It takes 10 minutes to get to the school, park, and get everyone into the building.  Liam was still covered in his breakfast, so he had a baby wipe bath and clothing change in the stairwell, between conferences.  Both teachers raved about Dylan and Lexie, so I was one proud mama!

2 parent teacher conferences with 4 kids. Ended up rushing out the door, because I put the end time on my calendar instead of the start time. Liam was covered in his breakfast and we got stuck in traffic. Changed him in a stairwell between conferences. De

*They both received perfect attendance awards, Lexie got straight A's, and Dylan got all A's and two B's. All the tests in 4th Grade are challenging Dylan, but he's getting the hang of it. Both kids are reading way above grade level! They definitely love to read!

Way to go, Lexie and Dylan! Straight As and perfect attendance for Lexie. Perfect attendance and all As and B for Dylan.

*Liam had some Santa Claus practice with his Papa.

Santa practice. No fear.

*Lily was completely potty trained just before her 2nd Birthday.  For the past few weeks, she has been having accidents, and it's driving me crazy.  We just went back to bare bottom method and she has to earn back her underwear.  Ha!

*Liam is teething like crazy, which means he's drooling like crazy, too. I have a fun review/giveaway coming up later this week!

*Liam is NEVER allowed to have a Fiber One bar again.  He sampled one in Costco, and it gave him the most awful gas ever.  We went to the grocery store after we left Costco, and I felt so bad for the fellow customers.  He was tooting in every aisle, and the smell was gag-worthy!  He thought our reactions were hilarious!

Grocery Shopping shenanigans with Lexie and Liam. Only 2 kids with me today...it felt like a vacation! Also, Liam is NEVER allowed to have a fiber one bar again. I was ready to pass out gas masks to the other people in the store!

*Grant and I recently had an afternoon date.  With one kid.  When you have 4 kids, taking 1 kid with you feels like a vacation.  We had breakfast, started our Christmas shopping, and went to Starbucks.  Liam's Aunt Annie, who works in HR at Toys R Us, took him behind the scenes while we shopped.  Grant and I had a great afternoon, even with our baby sidekick!

On a breakfast/Christmas shopping date with the husband. And  one kid.
One of the perks of having an aunt who works in HR at Toys R Us is hanging out in the break room with Geoffrey.

*Speaking of Grant, he works overtime almost every single day.  The mortgage industry keeps him very busy!  I swear, his coworkers see him more than we do!

*I mentioned it in the previous post, but Liam had a great appointment with his new ENT!  He doesn't have to go back until May!

ENT appointment today! We love his new doctor! Little man is 16.2 lbs and 28 inches.  No concern over tonsils/adenoids right now. His one ear drum moves (as it should), but the other still doesn't move. Based on the fact that he passed his ABR test at 1 m

*I *THINK* we might need one of these around our Christmas Tree this year!

He thought the Christmas Tree at the shopping plaza was awesome!

*Finally, I leave you with the funniest picture from the past two weeks!

Jurassic Park.

14 comments:

  1. I love Lily's outfit!!! yay for good grades!!!

    I love that fireplace!!!! Breanna has been having accidents too, its like she is too involved in playing and forgets to go.

    That last picture is awesome

    miss you all!!!!

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  2. Such cute pictures of them all. Tis the season mama! :)

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  3. I have no blogged in a long time either. Just not enough time to do all the things.
    Great pics.
    :)

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    1. There really isn't enough time. Hence why I'm awake at 1 AM, trying to blog!

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  4. I love Lily's outfit with the yellow buttons too! I also like the fire place. We've been talking about getting something like that. How well do you all like it? Does it put out much heat? Anyways, I am glad to know that all is going well. You are a blessed mama.

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  5. Love all the updates and pics as usual. i can't believe you took all the kids to the conferences - brave woman!! Love Liam's holiday outfits. Boo about Lily's potty training troubles, but she'll be back on track in no time!

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    1. Thank you! I was slightly crazy to take them, but didn't have a choice. Thankfully, she's back on track. Phew!!!

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  6. Love your updates! I laughed so hard about the fiber one toots!!!! The look on his face in those photos you can tell he was entertained by your reactions. Cody was just doing the same thing at dinner last night and it is so hard not to laugh!!

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  7. You are supermom!! Super students, super kiddos...wow! And Liam is crawling!! Food is such a great motivator! ;) What a fun update!!

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