CJ's weekend

This past weekend while the big girls were off with their grandparents we did fun things with CJ. On Friday it was bowling, thanks to the free summer bowling program in town...

Choosing his ball

Will it knock down the pins?

Moving the ramp

Handsome boy

1...2...3...Go!

Big boy carrying his own ball

Okay, I did it!

Bowling freestyle

We bowled two games and CJ did really well. He always ends up losing interest about a few frames into the 2nd game, but this time without the girls there too he stayed interested longer. There wasn't much time for him to get into anything else between turns.

On Saturday we had such a nice day so we decided a picnic in the park and some fishing was in order...
CJ's 1st catch of the day!

CJ's 2nd catch of the day!

And CJ's last catch of the day!

Then we came home to wash up and relax for a few before going to Chuck E. Cheese. CJ got my camera and took this picture of his sister...

Not too bad of a picture for a 3 year old. I wish he would have moved his chair out of the way first, but he did good. And with that we were off to Chuck E. Cheese. He had a blast running around. I didn't get any pictures because it's hard keeping up with a 3 year old and pushing the baby around in the stroller. He was so cute when we left though. He said, "Thank you for taking me to Chucky! We come again morrow?" Sorry baby, but mommy and daddy can only take so much Chuck E. Cheese.

And that was CJ's weekend.

Alyssa's 6 month checkup

Hello from Princess Alyssa! I'm 6 1/2 months old now and doing great. I am now 14 pounds and 25 3/4 inches tall. My doctor says I should about double my birth weight by now. Even though I'm not quite double the doctor still seems pleased. As I am sitting up and passing things from hand to hand. I babble and roll over in both directions. So all things I'm supposed to be doing by now.

I surprised mommy by handling the exam very well. The doctor was so funny playing peek a boo with me. I love peek a boo. How did she know that? And she had all these neat shiny things hanging off her neck for me to grab at. Loved it! Just when I thought I was in the clear because mommy started putting my clothes back on that doctor came back in with these long sharp things. She started out giving me some drink. I really wasn't too thirsty though and spit some out. Then my world changed and not for the better. They started blowing bubbles and playing these silly dancing toys and then they stuck me in the legs with those sharp things. That hurt! Then the doctor picked me up and started dancing me around and making me pop the bubbles. Just give me my mom. Finally she handed me over to my mom and things were better.

I was so happy to be out of there. I do have a bit of a yeast rash so we had to stop at the pharmacy to pick up some Nystatin. I'm hoping I don't have to go back and do that anytime soon though. I think I heard my mom say something about an appointment in November. I am not looking forward to November.

I guess until then! Bye from Alyssa!

Don't forget to vote for Kaitlyn in the Messiest Eater contest!

Messy eater contest

I entered Kaitlyn into a contest that I felt was very fitting for her. Don't worry, I asked her before I did this. She has been asking me since I submitted the picture if she won too. Well, voting has begun and I'm calling upon all of my readers to go vote! You can vote for her once a day. Please pass this along. I'm aware that she is probably the oldest in the contest. I find it endearing that she still enjoys her food so much that it doesn't always all get into her mouth. I don't know how she manages it either. If I recall correctly this ice cream incident ended up with ice cream up to her forehead and on her arms even. By on her arms I mean up to her elbow. So please go vote for this 9 year old who really gets into her food.

Thank you!

Monica's Musings #17

Time for some random things about the family.

*I finished buying all of the kids back to school supplies. That includes Natalie's binder. I made that a much harder task for myself than I had to, but I had a reason to as well. And Natalie is very happy with her binder. I just hope it will work out for her. She's going to have to make it work.

*Somehow Alyssa ended up with this scratch on her face...
It goes from her nose to the corner of her eye. I'm not sure if it was a casualty of her brother or if she did it to herself. I think it bothers me more than it does her.

*Hey, did you see in the picture above that hand on top of Alyssa's head? That's CJ's hand. And yes he has purple finger nails. He wanted his finger nails painted by Natalie today when he saw my toe nails this morning. Much to Joe's objection I let her do it. He has peeled most of it off now so I knew it wouldn't last long.

*Speaking of my toe nails, look how pretty...

It's actually really nice that Natalie is at the age where she wants to do these kinds of things to me instead of me always doing them to her. She had a lot of fun doing this and I think it looks pretty cute. I never paint my toe nails either, so what a treat!

*Kaitlyn loves holding Alyssa. She often carries her around. Well, today while I was cooking dinner she even got Alyssa to fall asleep on her. Awww, so cute...


*CJ might not be going to school this year. We still haven't been able to get him to potty train. Today he sat down on the floor and just peed and sat in it. And yet other times he can tell us he has to go all the time. I can't figure him out. Must be a control thing. We might be able to get away with him at school because he still does do really well when we are out. It's when we are home that he pays zero attention to the fact that he needs to use the potty.

*I almost don't want to say this. It has only been a few days after all. I think Alyssa is sleeping through the night though. Well, she has for the past 3 nights. So maybe possibly she is sleeping through the night. That sure would be nice.

*Cloth diapers are still being used in our house and I'm still really enjoying it too. There are so many cute diapers out there. I really could make this an expensive habit if money were no object.

Well, that's about all I have for now. Plenty of updates coming soon as we start another new school year.

Getting excited about Back to School

Well, it's that time of year again. The class assignment letters are starting to get sent out for the elementary school students. The team assignments for the middle school students. Everyone is getting ready to start a new year. Everyone is starting to get excited.

Natalie's team assignment came in the mail last week. We already knew what team she was going to be on, but we were excited to get her supply list so we could start working on getting some stuff. Thankfully no one will be needing new back packs this year. In spite of Kaitlyn constantly telling me what she wants for a backpack she will not be getting a new one. We spent a lot of money on backpacks last year for the express purpose of not having to buy them for a few years, hopefully. And everyone's backpack is still in good shape. So she's stuck with it for another year.

Kaitlyn's teacher assignment came today. Her only hope was that she NOT get one teacher. And she did NOT get that teacher either! Yay! She's very happy with the teacher she got. I will be calling him in a few weeks to set up a conference so we can discuss what Kaitlyn will get this year for her special accommodations. Looking forward to a great year and found out that her awesome 3rd grade teacher is now teaching 5th so thinking it would be so neat if she got him again for 5th grade.

Natalie called her best friend today to find out what team she got on and they are on the same team. And now Natalie is really looking forward to 7th grade. I'm looking forward to it too. That was a huge issue for her last year was the friendships she had. She bonds really strongly to people so it was hard not having her best friend on her team. Now she will be unstoppable with her best friend by her side. So I'm really excited for her this year.

We still have a few weeks of vacation left. They don't go back until September 1st. So we will continue to enjoy our summer vacation and prepare for an awesome 4th grade year for Kaitlyn and 7th for Natalie. Oh and lets not forget, CJ in Pre-K4 this year. Although, if he doesn't shape up with this potty training they might kick him out. We're still working on it. I think it's just at home that he's not potty trained though so maybe he'll be fine at school. He doesn't start until after Labor Day though so we get an extra five days to work on things.

6 months of Alyssa

I think I blinked and half a year went by. Alyssa is now officially 6 months old. Here's a little peek of how she has grown and changed over the last six months...


She is getting so big. I'm going to guess that she's probably around 14 pounds now. We won't find out for sure for a couple more weeks though. But here is what she has been up to.

She is still exclusively breastfed. Although, I think that will be changing very soon. She is getting much more interested in other food and has been nursing much more often so I think it might be time to add a little more to her diet.

Teething has begun. No teeth yet, but she is drooling and hands are usually in her mouth when she's awake. She chomps down hard on anything she gets her hands on.

She is very interested in toys now. Her feet are a pretty big hit too. If she doesn't have a toy in her hand then her feet are.

She is getting better and better at sitting unassisted everyday. She can pull herself up into a seated position too if she is partially propped up.

Alyssa pretty much always has to have her eyes on me. She definitely knows who I am and that I am her food source. If I'm in the room she will practically jump out of who ever's arms are holding hare to get to me if she's hungry.

Alyssa likes to roll around. Diaper changes have gotten fun with her trying to turn over every time.

Speaking of diapers we are still cloth diapering. It hasn't been all that bad. It seems to be working out nicely.

As far as sleeping goes she is still getting up at night. It's not too bad though. She wakes once to eat and I usually just lay down and feed her and will fall asleep while she eats. So it hasn't been causing too much less sleep for me.

Alyssa has certainly found a place in our family and our hearts. We are all enjoying watching her grow and change and try new things. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next six months are going to bring for her too.

CJ-isms #2

Wow, I haven't done one of these in a really long time. CJ still cracks us up with the things he says and does. And three is a really interesting age. I think in some ways it might actually be more terrible than the terrible twos. I wouldn't want to go back though because even when he's at his worst his best is just so great these days. He has some really funny reactions to things. So here are a few of his latest antics...

*If I tell him to do something and he really doesn't feel like doing it, if he doesn't throw a temper tantrum, then he gets up and storms out of the room and will say something like, "Fine, I go to bed!" Okay, well while I really would like for him to pick up his toys I don't think I can argue with him going to bed. It's not really a punishment for me and I'm not sure why he thinks it is.

*He gets really fed up when I ask him questions sometimes. I ask him a lot of stuff. What's your name? Where do you live? How old are you? You know important information I like to quiz him on from time to time in case he needs it. If he doesn't feel like talking to me though if I keep pushing he'll turn his head in the air, cross his arms over his chest, and say, "I not talking you!" with as much attitude as he can possibly muster.

*One day Natalie was cleaning her room and she had told CJ to get out. He was really hurt by this and told her, "You broke my heart!" Where does he get this stuff? And the way he said it too; it made all of us feel so bad for him. It took some time and some begging and pleading on Natalie's part too for his heart to not be broken anymore.

*I almost wish he'd use that line more often though because the newest one of, "I hate you!" is really driving me crazy. He doesn't understand it though, but Natalie and Kaitlyn think he knows exactly what he's saying. Even though he'll tell his book shelf that he hates it at random times or his sock or some other random thing he runs into. He says it with the same gusto he tells his sisters that he hates them too. So sometimes Natalie and Kaitlyn try to correct him and "punish" him. Like today Natalie wouldn't let him out of the kitchen until he said he loved her. Sigh, I had to explain yet again that we need to ignore this one from him and he doesn't know what he's saying. He gets a reaction though so that's why he says it.

*Speaking of random things he hates. He hated his name today. He said, "I hate my name!" So we talked about what a better name would be and what we should call him and he wants to be called Crash. It did not last for long. He quickly decided CJ was okay. See what I mean though about not getting the word "hate".

*At random times he'll inform any one of us that we are his best friend. It tends to go something like this, "Mommy, you're my best friend!" Which of course I'll reply with something like, "Aww, thanks CJ you're my best friend."

*Just as easily as he makes you his best friend though he will take it away. Much like how he tells me he's not talking to me he'll do that same action to tell one of us that we are in fact NOT his best friend anymore.

*CJ still isn't too big on hugs and kisses. So lately when I ask him for a kiss if he's wanting to give any out he'll do it on my arm. He does not like to kiss on the face usually.

*If he doesn't want to give a kiss or a hug he'll tell me it's broken now. I haven't figured out how to fix it either.

*He has definitely gotten better at saying I love you. That is still one of my favorite things from him. "I love you mommy!"

As you can see though he tends to run very hot and cold. You have to carefully ride his moods and maneuver them. He is super stubborn too. Too bad for him I'm more stubborn than he is. It's good to know though that when he gets in one of his moods they are usually short lived. Unless he's tired. That usually cues bed time for him though.