Quick 5 - Spring Break Edition

It's been a long time since we've had a March Wallop of snow. Guess it felt the need to make up for lost time.

1. Last Friday was Alaina's Ellis Island Day. Her class sang a few songs about America, then got to participate in entering the United States through Ellis Island. Alaina answered her questions quickly and correctly and was granted entry.

2. Tuesday was a beautiful day. 70 degrees. Super windy, but very nice. We went and tried a new park. Lee challenged Joya to walk around the whole park on the ledge without falling. Bria celebrated eating a grasshopper by sliding and swinging her little heart out. Alaina made friends with a couple of kids, and taught them her favorite recess game called Groundies. A good time was had by all.

3. Less than 12 hours later the storm hit. We had to cancel our Wednesday plans and stay inside to watch movies. The wind was too strong for the girls to even go outside. We lost two big branches in the backyard, which is really sad.

4. We still had to postpone some plans for Thursday, so the girls played outside. It took 12,530 minutes to get them ready, and they played outside for 34 minutes. The snow was very deep, and they got tired of it pretty quickly. Oh well.

 5. There are still a few days left of Spring Break fun. We have fun plans today, and Alaina has Monday off as well. Throw in the celebration of our risen Lord, and this mama is going to need a vacation. Or a couple containers of ice cream.

 He is Risen!!

Quick 5

It's like the weather realized that it only had a few more days of winter, and remembered that it forgot to snow a bunch for the past two months. Boo snow!

1. When Lee started his new job, he was very surprised to see his old co-worker Nick already working there. Nick was a good friend at the old job. He has been here for dinner and has helped us move (maybe more than once.) He joined us for dinner again on Monday. Lee bought the girls a real soccer ball, and since Nick enjoys soccer he spent a lot of time kicking the ball around with the girls. In fact, he spent most of his time here playing with them outside. It was fun to have him here again, and I very much appreciate his kindness toward the girls.

2. Bria has eaten her weight in jelly beans this week. I've been a willing source of these jelly beans, because the girl is potty training! For reals. It took a bit of unorthodox strong arming, but on Monday we had our first ever success. And she's been going strong ever since. We've had one accident each day, but for the most part she stays dry. She also has to go about four times an hour, sometimes five. Or, you know, whenever she feels the need for a jelly bean. Which is very, very often. She loves wearing her underwear and balks at the idea of wearing a pull up, but Mommy insists at nap time, bedtime, and when we're not going to have access to a bathroom for more than an hour. But even then, with the exception of overnight, she can stay dry. It's been a pretty exhausting week for me, but this is a good trend.

3. It's probably been due to all the jelly beans, but Bria has been super active this week. Her favorite thing to do is run and do a tuck and roll on our bean bag chair. She launches herself without fear. And when she's tired of that, she just runs laps around the living room. Oh to have that kind of energy.

4. The leprechaun was up to his old tricks on Thursday. Literally. I think he only has one prank. The girls were delighted to see that he somehow turned their cereal milk green again. The milk was white in their cups, but turned green when they poured it into their cereal. He's a tricky one, isn't he?

 5. We made it to Spring Break! We don't have any big plans for the week. An oil change for the van. Lunch with some friends on Wednesday. We might get to go see some baby chicks at a friend's house. But that's it. We'll just play it by ear.

Goodbye Winter! It's been real!

Quick 5

March, I shake my fist angrily in your direction!!

1. This week was marked by a sick Bria. She had unladylike lower intestinal issues. Tuesday morning she woke up and scared the living daylights out of us by being non-interactive. She was responsive; she ate and drank and answered questions, but she was pale and silent. Usually first thing in the morning she is either completely chatty or whining and fussing as loudly as possible. She took a nap during morning room time and seemed to be a bit more like herself for the rest of the day. Then Wednesday she woke up and cried about how her tummy hurt. She ate yogurt for breakfast and calmed down some. We ran an errand. Then around 10:00 she started crying (literally) about her tummy again. Then she did not stop for an hour. She didn't want to be held, she didn't want food or drink. So I called our pediatrician and they had me bring her in right away. I scooped her up and Joya and I ran out the door. She was still crying about it at the doctor's office, and the doctor couldn't even get a good exam done because she was resisting so much. So the doctor told us to go to Children's Hospital, because they needed to do x-rays and possibly an ultrasound to rule out appendicitis. Bria actually began to calm down a bit on the way to the hospital, which was good because I was beginning to freak out and Joya needed to cry too. Bria was much calmer at the hospital; calm enough for the doctor there to do a good exam. Immediately she ruled out appendicitis, because she said she was "mashing down on it pretty good" and Bria wasn't even flinching. But the doctor felt that her belly was distended, and she could feel a lot of air in there. We were able to get into x-ray pretty quickly, and by the time we got back, Lee had arrived with chicken nuggets for Joya and me, since we hadn't had lunch. When you're at the hospital all you do is wait around, so that's what we did too. Joya and Bria got to watch a Mickey Mouse clubhouse DVD, and we just waited. Then Bria started literally gassing us out. So much stink from one little girl. The doctor came in and said that the x-rays showed there was no blockage, so they started giving her juice and crackers to see if she could keep them down. She did. All of that was for gas, I'm both embarrassed and relieved to say. My consolation is that it was on the doctor's orders that we went in; I wasn't just being a panicky mom.

Gassing herself out

2. On Thursday morning Bria woke up completely back to normal. All is well. Not even a smidge of stink left.

3. Which brings me to my PSA/Soapbox for the week. As a mom, a nursery director and a babysitter, I feel I need to remind the Mom World to keep their kids home when they are sick. And YES, moms, diarrhea IS sick. I know your kid is much more active when they have lower intestinal issues, as opposed to when they are throwing up, but it is STILL SICK. Last Thursday at our babysitting, a mom dropped off her girl and told me that she had been having "really gross diapers." She said that if she needed a diaper change to call her and she would do it. I'll be honest; I didn't think much of it. But if she had been having those issues, then she was sick. She touched everything in that nursery, and then so did Bria. And Bria still puts stuff in her mouth. I'm very sorry I took Bria to the library on Wednesday morning. I didn't let her play with toys, but we probably shouldn't have been there. My point is, if you have any respect for your fellow mothers, DON'T TAKE YOUR SICK KID AND PUT THEM IN A NURSERY SETTING WITH OTHER KIDS.

4. On the bright side, Joya did AMAZING on Wednesday. She was hungry because all this was going down at lunch time, but she went with the flow. She was patient. She didn't whine. I'm so proud of her.

5. Also, Bria completely missed her nap that day for the first time ever. She did amazing too. She pretty much passed out when I put her to bed at 6:30 that night, but she really handled it like a champ. Which means I don't have to worry about the nap so much. I'll keep it as the main part of our lives, but if there is something we need to do, she can probably handle it.

Looking forward to a weekend filled with 70 degree days!

Quick 5

1. I can't decide if this is a parent fail or a PBS Kids fail, but my kids are having a hard time grasping the current season. It's still winter. Yes, we are having quite a few mid-60s days. So we've been wearing short sleeved shirts. So it must be summer, according to the littles. Explaining seasons is hard.

2. Bria is becoming wise in her old age. No one had to teach her the art of Changing the Subject. If she is in trouble, or simply is being told something she doesn't want to hear, she will immediately respond with a question or statement that is a completely different topic than the one we are discussing. For example:

Me: Bria, do NOT throw sand!
Bria: I like my book!

Me: Bria, you have to wait your turn! You can't just take toys out of people's hands!
Bria: I have an owie!

So far we haven't been fooled, but by golly she's going to keep trying.

3. I attempted homemade spaghetti sauce this week. It looked fairly simple. I even simmered it for the recommended hour and a half. I learned that I think we're going to be a Prego family for life.

4. We never properly celebrated the fact that we went through the entire month of February without any major health incidents. We're a pretty healthy family in general. I like to think our Juice Plus consumption has really supported that. But the month of February was marked by the fact that we were between health insurances. Our insurance from Lee's old company terminated on January 31, and the insurance from the new company wasn't effective until March 1. We had the option of Cobra as a safety measure, but we didn't want to use it. And we didn't have to, thank the Lord. It made me nervous, but we were fine.

5. This girl:

Plod onward, friends.