Birthday Weekend

I had planned to take Jack to either the Children's Museum or an indoor play space on his birthday but he was feeling a bit under the weather, so we ended up staying home and playing "trampoline" on Annabelle's bed! Later
on that evening, we took Jack out to dinner. We were all feeling the effects of this cold/cough thing that has been lingering, and dinner ended up being a bit of a chore... In retrospect, I'm thinking Jack would have much rather preferred to stay home and open presents!

The next day we had a party at the house with all of Jack's little friends. Once again, Nick was The. Games. Master. He did his best to keep those kids wrangled during the games, especially while playing pass the parcel; it was like mini kiddie boot camp! He did a good job though, and Jack had a blast, which is all that matters...

The following day was Easter Sunday. We went to my parent's house for Easter and also had another party for Jack. I made mini car cakes for the Easter family birthday party, which Nick helped to decorate. I think they came out pretty decent... They look much better than my first "trial run" cakes, which stuck to the pan and were decorated by the kids!

Happy Birthday Jack!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!!!!!!

I can't believe THREE has come so quickly. Weren't you just born?

At three years of age Jack is the sweetest, and at the same time, most mischievous, child I have ever encountered.


He still loves his Teddy and Other Teddy, he takes them everywhere and can not sleep without them. Recently he has added Bear to his entourage. Bear was originally Annabelle's Care Bear, called Bedtime Bear, which she was kind enough to relinquish to Jack.

Jack is still a fanatic about cars. He has thousands of cars, all types and sizes, and he plays with them almost every day. It is rare to see him without a car in his hand... Even when he is doing something like playing with play doh, there is usually a car within reach!

He has been toting cars around in his orange trick-or-treat pumkin for months. He calls his pumpkin, his "pumpkin patch." Much like he says things like, "it's in my tummy ache" (rather than just tummy). Or, how he calls his floaty raft, his "swimming lesson."

Jack has a crazy fascination with letters and numbers. He can identify all the letters of the alphabet and count past 20. Sometimes he skips out number 16 though, I think he's been learning from his sister!

Number 2 is his favorite number. Whenever we are at any type of store he always asks to go to check out number 2. He gets very disappointed when register number 2 is closed.

Jack has become very particular about his clothing! He is very much a creature of habit, as he likes to wear the same few things over and over. I once made the mistake of indulging a sweatpants faze, which I thought would only last a couple of days, but ended up being about a 2 month stint. Even still, if given the option of clothing, he will usually choose his red sweatpants & red letter shirt!

Jack has also started to voice his opinion more, which is hard to do when you have an older sister who loves attention and talks NONSTOP.

He has started coming out with cute sayings like; that's ter-wible, or it's de-wicious, or too scare-wee (scary). I love the way he pronounces water- wah-der, and there- dere.

He is extremely silly. He loves to laugh and play goofy little games. One of his favorite games is; run away from mommy and laugh hysterically. He also likes to hide.

Jack is a very sweet little boy. Rarely do I see him push, or take toys away from other children... Except Annabelle- and she usually deserves it!

When it's bed time, he sometimes tries to keep me in his room by telling me there is a monster in his bed. He then waves around his little spinning light thing that he got at an Elmo show, a year ago, and says, "I get you monster!"... and then I am allowed to leave.

When he wakes in the mornings he never cries. He plays happily in his bed until lazy Mommy comes around to collect him.

Jack loves the water. If we are out and there is any sort of water area, bird bath, or puddle, within sight, he's headed for it. Thankfully he no longer feels the need to sit in puddles!

For some reason, he has a little fascination with the teletubbies, or as he would say, the tele-bye-byes. He's not too keen on the scary baby sun face though, he calls it "the crazy sun."

Jack hates to have his haircut. He freaks out every time we go near the haircut place. He thinks haircuts are scare-wee.

He loves to be outside but he hates the cold weather. He doesn't like to wear coats. He went the whole winter without wearing a hat or mittens. I could probably count the number of times he's worn his snow boots. He has been asking to go to the beach for months.

He gets along with his sister really well (except when they both want the same toy). They have started playing together more and having little conversations, it's adorable (except when they both want the same toy).

To be continued...

*He had his 3 year check up on April 4th- he passed all his tests, except that when she asked what color something yellow was, he said, "I don't know." He is 38 inches tall and weighs 38 lbs., which puts him in the 50th-75th percentile.

Break Through, Break Down

We had a little break through with Jack today; I accidentally left a full (open) can of diet Pepsi on the dining room table and Jack, rather than his normal dumping out the contents and smashing the can on the floor, carefully brought it over to me without spilling a drop! He was too cute, holding the can with two hands and carefully placing it front of me as he said, "here you go Mommy, you forgot your pessi".

On the flip side; Annabelle is causing me a mental break down. She had a MAJOR meltdown as we were leaving the gym because I zipped up her coat. I zipped up her coat. I ZIPPED UP HER COAT!!!! She actually shouted at me in the car- a first, the shouting thing. When did four become the new fourteen?

Boy Genius

I remember writing this post and thinking that, at 3 years 5 months, Annabelle was so clever because she could recite her phone number! Here Jack is, a mere 4 days shy of his 3rd birthday and today, when I jokingly asked him to tell Nana his phone number, he did. And he was correct.

Genius I tell ya.

Speaking of genius, the other day as we were waiting at a toll booth Annabelle started to spell out "Fast Lane"- obviously we are not fast lane pass holders, otherwise we would have zipped right through with no time for spelling- but seeing as we were stuck, Annabelle was wondering why all the other cars were not stopped and why they got to go through that other lane with the sign that read; F A C T L A N E. Just as I was about to inform her of her little mistake, Jack piped up and said, "Annabelle, that's not a "C". It's an "S"!!"

The scary thing is; that wasn't the first time he's had to correct her.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Cruisin' In the Hood

Jack finally took a ride in super car! They've only taken the car out a few times and, up until yesterday, Jack has been afraid to get in it while it's moving... I don't blame him, I wouldn't want to be in there with Annabelle driving either! He wasn't quite ready to drive, which was a good thing because Annabelle wasn't quite ready to let him, but he was one very happy little monkey cruising around in the passenger seat.

School Pictures

These are Annabelle's very first school pictures!!

Further Proof That She's Insane

Yesterday she was running around like a crazy person on a frantic search because her phone was ringing and she just had to find it. After tearing the back porch apart, she located her little pink princess phone:

"Matthew, hi. Yup. Yup. Ohhhh stop, hehehe. I'll see you later."

and then:

"Hi. Daddy. Good news. Uh ha. Yup. OK. Bye."

I will never know what goes on in that head.

Quote Of The Day

The kids and I went out to lunch with my mother today. After being there a few minutes, Jack had all of the sugar packets out all over the table and was trying to empty the salt shaker. The table was a mess. My mother, in trying to help tidy up the table, accidentally knocked over her drink, most of which ended up on my lap...

Jack's immediate reaction was: "Nana, you spilled your drink on Mommy, you made a big mess. Nana, you need a time out... TIME OUT, NANA!!!"

At The Movies

Annabelle and Jack made their second visit to a movie theater, to see a kiddie film called "Easter in Bunnyland". They, and by they I mean Jack, was much better behaved than I had expected; He stayed at his seat the entire time, well, apart from when he tried to follow Nick to the concession stand, but he came right back when I called for him, and for the most part was either sitting or standing in front of his seat, or sitting on my lap... He was very good, and very quiet!

Annabelle of course was the poster child for how one should behave in a theater... For all of the begging she did to even go to the movies, she knew if she acted up, it would be a long while before she saw the inside of a movie theater again!

Make Them Laugh

It's a shame we left Los Angeles...

Snow

Making Pizza

The Monkeys make their own supper:

There are more pics in the photo album link...

Gotcha!

Now give me my ball back.

Lunar Eclipse

These are all blurry... I should have used a tripod but I wasn't really planning on taking pics, just stuck my head outside on my way to bed to check out the eclipse... And it was FREEZING.

Never A Dull Moment...

Everyone I know has been sick, including myself. Last month Annabelle had infections in both ears and was on antibiotics for 10 days, this month she had another (or the same) ear infection and was put on a different/stronger antibiotic for 10 more days. Her Doctor said that the new antibiotic might cause stomach discomfort so it was no surprise to me when she started complaining of having a tummy ache a few days after starting her new meds...

On Wednesday morning, after coughing all night, Jack woke with a fever. He was pretty lethargic and grumpy so I called and made an appointment with the Dr. for later on that afternoon. Just as we were getting ready to leave for the Doctor's office, Annabelle started complaining that her tummy was bothering her again. She had mentioned it several times that day but, once again, I told her to try and go to the potty and dismissed it as a side effect of her antibiotic (which, at this point, she had been on for 9 days). By the time we were in the car and on our way to Jack's appointment, she was screaming and crying that she was in a lot of pain. By the time we arrived at the Dr.'s office (20 minutes later) she was doubled over and hysterical.

The Dr. saw her right away and gave her a quick exam... Within 2 minutes, she had called an ambulance to take us to the hospital. Two minutes after that, the Dr.s office was filled with paramedics and fire fighters... It was amazing how quickly they got there.

They loaded Annabelle, Jack, and I into the ambulance and zipped us off to Children's Hospital.

Once there, they performed a series of tests and hooked her up to an IV. The CAT scan results showed what looked like early signs of appendicitis, but they were inconclusive. The Doctors weren't 100% sure it was appendicitis so they opted to wait and observe her for a bit before performing surgery.

Lucky they did decide to wait on the surgery because, although it was a rough three days in hospital, she was eventually discharged WITH her appendix! They believe that the pain was caused by a virus, but we were told to keep an eye on her for the next few days "just in case" it really was the early stages of appendicitis... So far so good!

The first two days were pretty tough but once Annabelle began to feel better, she really started to enjoy hospital life...
She had constant attention, a tele in her room, room service (once she was allowed to eat), all the chocolate milk and popsicles she could ever want, an activity room filled with toys, books and movies, and a never ending audience. The Doctors and Nurses at the hospital were amazing. They took great care of us and made Annabelle feel right at home. They even arranged activities for the kids on Valentine's day; The three activity rooms on her floor each had a different theme: one had card making, another had cookie decorating, a chocolate fondue guy, and a fruit sculptor, another had painting. Annabelle almost didn't want to leave!

Eventually Annabelle was discharged, but not before everyone on her floor knew her name!

After all that, Jack finally got to see the Dr. today... He has an ear infection.

Happy Birthday Annabelle!!!

Hard to believe that Annabelle is FOUR YEARS OLD!!! I feel like I was just writing a post about her turning three, and here it is, in the blink of an eye, one year later! It feels like it's gone by so quickly, yet so much has happened over the past year; Annabelle has basically gone from a little toddler who swore she would wear diapers forever, slept in a crib, and thought the world would end if she couldn't find her binky, to a big girl who goes to school, made her own decision to stop using a binky, and basically potty trained herself!

She sure is growing up...

In growing up, Annabelle has become very particular about certain things. Things like clothing, and shoes. She likes to decide what she will wear for the day, and night, and usually changes several times a day. It is not unusual for her to wake up wearing different pajamas than the one's she went to bed in. At times she will fixate on a certain article of clothing and want to wear it for a week straight... Last month it was this shirt she saw at Target, which she just had to have, but could care less about now. Other times she just wants to wear something similar to what Jack is wearing; he's wearing monkey pajamas-she wants to wear monkey pajamas.

At four years old, Annabelle is still very outgoing. She is overly friendly and extremely talkative, she talks to everyone. She always needs to know who everyone is and what their story is. In the mornings when we are walking to her classroom she will say hello to everyone she passes, when she doesn't recognize someone she will ask them who they are, if they go to school there, who their teacher is, their social security number, etc... And everyone knows Annabelle. She makes friend's very easily... Even if someone doesn't want to be her friend, they become her friend. She is just that relentless... And she has this crazy Jedi mind trick thing.

Annabelle seems to be pretty athletic; she loves to run, play soccer, ride her bike, ice skate, and roller skate. Her newest obsession though is the skateboard. Recently she got it into her head that she needed to have a skateboard. And so, somehow she batted her eyelashes enough and her Daddy bought her (an adult size) skateboard for her birthday... He also got one for himself. Not surprising, she is a natural... Daddy is not.

Annabelle also loves to draw and paint. Most days she comes home from school with at least two paintings... She is actually getting pretty good! She also loves to take pictures with her camera and has recently mastered using the computer- Scary.

Annabelle is very goofy... She still loves to dance and put on a show, she has recently invented some crazy new break dance moves. She loves to be the center of attention and has a flare for the dramatic.

Annabelle is a puppy maniac. She has about 200 stuffed animals on her bed, most of them puppies. She desperately wants a real puppy, which we are not ready for, so is compensating by stocking up on the stuffed variety. Every time she is allowed to choose a toy these days, it is puppy related. She is even having a puppy themed birthday party on Saturday!

She is also still crazy about balls... I've lost count, there are so many.

Annabelle can be a very bossy sweet and caring little girl. She loves her brother and, although she has been known to put him in "time out" on occasion, she genuinely looks out for him. When her Nana took her out shopping for her birthday, Annabelle came back with a few presents, including two stuffed puppies. After holding onto them for a day, she decided to give one of her puppies to Jack.

Annabelle is always very keen to help. I often see her helping her brother with his coat and shoes. Today she said she wanted to help with his pajamas, and then asked if she could help change his diaper! I will be reminding her of that when she is a teenager... She also loves to do things like make a mess pancakes, dust, clean the windows, push the dirt around sweep the floor, and put things in the trash for me. I can usually get her to do things by telling her that I have a "big kid" job for her, which is an excellent card to play when I want her to help clean up her toys!

As big as she is, she is still my little girl... But don't ever tell her I called her little. She still mispronounces some words (pajamas are WAjamas), which I think is adorable, and she says things like; "He gived it to me", and "I hurt-ed my knee". One of my all time favorites though is when she is trying to say "Don't forget about" something, she always says "don't about" something... She forgets to say forget!

I won't about wishing you a Happy Birthday, Annabelle!!!!

Smarty Pants

The brilliance kills me. He's a mischievous little devil, yet so clever!

Yesterday Jack was watching Annabelle as she was playing the Super Why game on the computer. Whenever she would get stumped he would shout out the CORRECT answer!

A little while ago he was watching Curious George on PBS when all of a sudden he ran into the kitchen and came back with some magnetic letters from the refrigerator.

This is what I found on the coffee table:

Officially A Big Kid!!

Yesterday, Annabelle decided that she was ready to take the final step in becoming a "big kid" and tossed all of her binkies in the trash!

We had been discussing losing the binky for quite some time... As she used it only at night we weren't in a major rush to get rid of it, but had given her until her fourth birthday to make her peace with the separation. She had agreed that four was too old to use a binky and said she would be willing to give it up then, but I had my doubts. With a little over two weeks to go, I was mentally preparing myself for a battle.

Much to my surprise, she announced yesterday that she was ready. She marched over to the trash bin with a fist full of binkies, tossed them in, and said goodbye. When it was bed time she went straight in... Without even mentioning binky!!

WAH!!!!

The boy has finally discovered that he can climb out of his crib. Not good. I was kind of hoping that he would take after his sister and stay put until he was at least three and a half, but now I'm thinking that's not going to happen. He's a determined little bugger, that one.

This has been a looooooooooong week. I was sick with a pukey stomach thing (no, I am not pregnant), and then Annabelle came down with a coughy thing. The cough is not that bad, just constant... And annoying. She has been waking every hour on the hour at night, as have I, and not napping AT ALL during the day. I fear her napping days may be coming to an end soon and this frightens me... I look forward to my daily nap time "break", as I think it is what keeps me sane(ish).

Anyway, because she has been sick and the weather has been crap, we have been trapped in the house for days. I'm starting to feel a bit crazy. I'm actually looking forward to taking Annabelle to the doctor later, just to get out of the house.

Speaking of feeling crazy, Annabelle has developed a new sound, kind of a cross between a moan and a whine, and she has been making it constantly. Constantly. As in, all day. And night. At 5-7 second intervals. I know she isn't feeling well, but this noise, this awful noise, is making me want to rip my hair out!!

Speaking of wanting to rip my hair out, Jack has become insanely mischievous whilst we have been under quarantine. Every time I turn my back he is into something new... I'm wiping up the 2 gallons of water he has spilled on the floor in the kitchen, he is in the living room playing in the fireplace (filled with ashes). I'm cleaning up the mess from the fireplace, he is pulling Annabelle's hair. I'm consoling Annabelle, he is getting up from his "time out" and putting my coffee pot in the trash bin. That sort of thing.

Life is good.

*update: Back from Annabelle's Dr. visit and I no longer wish to rip out my hair. Despite the fact that neither child napped today, they were both shockingly well behaved at the Doctor's office. As it turns out, Annabelle has double ear infections. She's on meds and seems quite chipper, in fact, she is roller skating around the house at the moment.

Painting Banks