Alex and Mackenzie check-ups

This morning both Alex and Mackenzie had their check-ups at the pediatrician. For Alex it was his 4 year check-up and Mackenzie her 18 month check-up. Thank to Gods my mom came with me! With all the tests and stuff they had Alex doing, I don't think I could have done it by myself and watched the other 2. In the end it all went very well. Alex is 31lbs and 39 inches tall, and Kenzie is about 23lbs (I don't remember the length, but she is in the 75th percentile for length). And both are developmentally right on track. They both had to get vaccines, Alex just had to get one shot and he was a real trooper! He was definitly scared, but didn't fight it at all. Mackenzie had to get 2 shots, and well she acted like an 18 month old getting 2 shots, but in the end she was fine. So, in the end I have 2 very healthy "normal" children, LOL.

Universal Preschool-Update

Today I took Alex to have some followup testing done by the pre-kindergarten teacher at his elementary school. And I must say, while he did a good job, he acted very wierd. Things I know he knows he refused to do for her, like identifying his letters and pointing out body parts. But, in the end it may have been a good thing because she said he definitly qualifies for the program next year! So, next school year he will be going to pre-k tues-fri, 8:15am-11:30am at his elementary school. I really liked the teacher too, she was young, and really seemed to interact well with Alex. She said they offer a bus to pick him up in the morning if I am interested, but I just don't think I am ready to put my baby on a bus, so I told her I have no problem driving him, LOL. And he gets the option to buy or bring his breakfast with him to eat at school, though if he eats at home he can just play while the other kids eat. In the end I think this is going to be great for him, and it gives me some security knowing that he is now going to be followed by the county, so if any learning issues come up they can be quickly dealt with.

On another note, Mackenzie is now out of her crib. For the last month or so she has been trying to climb out of it, and in the process gets her knees stuck between the slats, sometimes giving herself some pretty good bruses. So, on sunday the crib came down and she is now on her mattress on the floor until she gets used to it, then we will put a toddler bed in. So far, she has done wonderfully, no crying or fussing at all. Sometime we will hear her up playing after we put her to bed, but later when we go to check on her she is always asleep in her bed. It felt so wierd though, that crib has been up, constantly since I was 27 weeks pregnant with Alex (when we got it), it was wierd taking it apart and putting it away. But I am proud of her, she is growing up too fast. Plus, she is now really walking most of the time. Where did all my babies go!! LOL. :-)

Also, as a last aside, my faithful digital camera of 4 years kicked the bucket this last week, so hence why no pictures of the kids. But hopefully the beginning of May I will be getting a new one, if anyone has any recommendations for a good one that doesn't cost the GNP of a small country please let me know. :-)

My Brother, The Rockstar

Ok, So this has nothing to do with my kids, but I had to post this picture. It is a picture of my brother and his band he was in when he was in high school back in the early 90's. My brother is one of my best friends in the world, and in my opinion is one of the most awesome people ever (mostly because we can completely dork out together over our common interests like U2, Star Trek, physics theory, and other random fantasy and scifi things). My brother is the one on the left playing bass.

So, this one is for you Dude! I love you and am so proud of you and all that you are working towards. :-) Long live Lord Rhombus!!

Back from the land of the sick

Well, I haven't posted in a while because the last 2 weeks have been a journey through illnesses. LOL. We had 2 bugs go through our household, and both sucked. The first one I got hit with the hardest I think, the second one the boys and Timm got hit the hardest. But, now we are all on the road to recovery and doing much better. Yesterday we had a great Easter. We spent the morning at my mom's house, had an easter egg hunt and some yummy food. Then we went to Timm's dad's house and had another easter egg hunt, spent time with family, and had more yummy food. So in the end, the boys made out like bandits in terms of candy, and we were all fed well. LOL. but really, we had a great time, it was a wonderful day, so thank you to everyone!! Not too much is happening this week, but that is a good thing considering I am so behind in most things (homework, laundry, cleaning...) that I need some time to catch up. Anyways, I will get around to posting more pictures soon too, really, I promise! :-)

What A Week Can Bring

Over the last week things have been busy, but good! The kids and I were sick with a nasty cold. I got the worst of it and was out for the count for two days. I felt bad that Timm had to make dinner and such on those 2 nights, but there was little way I could even get off the couch. it was almost nice that the kids were sick too because it slowed them down a lot and we spent a lot of time cuddling and watching tv together. Then, saturday was Timm's 31st birthday. My wonderful mom kept the kids for the night and we went to see Cirque de Soliel (I probably spelled that wrong) in Baltimore. It was fantastic!!! I wish I had half the talent those performers had. Afterwards Timm said it was one of the best shows he has ever seen. (which was good considering the tickets were a Christmas present to him from my mom, at my suggestion). Then we went to dinner at the Buffet at the racetrack and promptly lost $40 to the slots between us, but it was fun!! LOL. Then sunday we picked up the kids (and had a yummy cake with my mom for Timm's birthday) and went to my father-in-laws house for Timm's birthday party. We had a great time and the kids were happy that Mrs. Beth and her Alex and Jack were there to play with.

Now, we are into another week, nothing nearly as exciting though, just the usual preschool, clean the house, do homework (for me!) routine. Today looks like it is going to be a rainy, muddy day, so hopefully we can find something fun to do inside. Well, I better go get Mackenzie into daytime clothes before she manages to take her diaper off again. Off into the day I go!

Universal Preschool

One thing I have learned about West Virginia is that it does have a universal preschool program, meaning free half day preschool 4 days a week for 4 year olds. The catch? placement is very limited as there are only a few classes in the county and in order to register you have to take your child to be tested. So, this morning at about 9am I took Alex (and had Collin and Kenzie with me) to his elementary school to be tested, along with what seemed like 100 other kids and their parents. The result? At about noon I walked out with three very hungry, whinning kids. But, I can' not complain too much. Alex did very well. He had to be developmentally tested, and have hearing, speech, and vision tests done. He passed all but his speech completely. The woman said his articualtion was very good, but his comprehension was a little lacking. He had a hard time naming colors, and counting to 10 (he always gets all mixed up with colors and numbers) and because of that had a hard time doing some of the things she asked him to do. He also didn't answer some of the questions she asked him properly, for example, she asked him "who do you live with?" and he said "my school". She said it isn't enough to be worried about, but it would warrent him being retested during the school year. So, in the end all is well, but we are all exhausted. And we don't even know yet if he will be placed in a class, but time will tell.

Happy Birthday Alex!

Today is Alex's actual birthday, at 3:04pm 4 years ago my little man arrived into this world 11 weeks early via emergency c-section. I had preeclampsia which, after a week in the hospital, caused me to go into congestive heart failure with pulmonary adema. It was one of the scariest things I have every been through, but to see my little man today, I truely know what miracles are. Even though he spent 6 weeks in the NICU, today he is the picture of health. He is developing just like any other kid his age, though maybe a little short physically. No one I have ever told of his background said they could have guessed he was a preemie.

So, today he has preschool, where they will sing him happy birthday and he gets a crown to wear. And then afterwards we are going to go out of a picnic at the park (because he has been asking for a picnic for a while). And this morning I made him pancakes and bacon for breakfast, it was his choice.

So, happy birthday little man!! We all love you so much. :-)