Another Welcome Visitor

We are also super happy to have Uncle Leroy and his wife Lynette and his son Patrick in town right now.  We had brunch yesterday at the Nortons and dinner today with them.  We have great family!

Bonus Surprise

My mom flew in to be with me for my surgery.  I was sad that my dad couldn't make it.  But then, he walked in the door on Friday evening!  Super fun surprise!  He stayed until this morning, so not a long trip, but a great chance to see him and chat with him.  Ben was especially excited to see him.  It was so cute!  We had a hard time getting a good picture, but it was fun!

Belly Update

I had my hernia surgery on Thursday.  I didn't have general anesthesia, just local and a sedative.  So, I felt better right away after the surgery.  The hernia was so small they didn't need to use mesh to repair it.  Looks like it should heal quickly and easily.  If I don't overdo it.  But really, I took pain meds for 2 days (and I think it could have been less).  Now it is Aleve and waiting for things to heal I guess?  I will be back teaching BP (without weights) this Thursday as long as my post-op appt. goes okay.

Trish's Belly--Warning (Kinda Graffic Belly Button Pics)

Libby asked why I was taking a picture of my super gross belly

So I am having surgery on Thursday.  Nothing super fun and exciting.  Originally when I found out that my hideous belly button was actually an umbilical hernia I was super excited that maybe that would result in an insurance covered tummy tuck.  Then maybe we would spring for a pair of implants to round out the package (ha ha pun intended).  But, I saw a plastic surgeon who I really liked, and he basically talked me out of the elective stuff.  I am going to have the hernia repaired with a mesh repair this week.  I am hoping for a VERY QUICK recovery.  I may, at some point in the future, still go for the implants, who knows.  But some of my friends wanted to see some before pics of the belly button--after pics to come in a few weeks.

Ben's Stats

This was his 16 month check-up.  He got 2 shots besides the flu shot (as I mentioned in my last post).  He did not like them AT ALL.  He was great while the Dr. was checking him out.  Other than that he was a PILL.  It was Monday at 2:00 pm (usually around the end of nap time, but why did I schedule it so close?).  I had to wake him up to get there.  (Which actually, I am noticing a pattern.  Sundays are exhausting for the whole family, not just me these days--he is now taking a 3 hour nap on Monday, 2 1/2 on Tuesday, and then it gets a bit shorter every day into the weekend.  Then Sunday happens and it is back to 3 hours on Monday.)  Anyway, during the checkup he reminded me that he is into screaming really loud (and I mean loud) when he wants something and doesn't get it.  I am sure all the patients in the rooms around us was wondering what the doctor was doing to torture the poor child.  Nothing.  He just wanted more Chex mix, or more Cheezits, or the book Libby was reading, etc.  Bleh.  It's just a stage, right?  And the huge molars making their way SLOWLY, EVER SO SLOWLY through his gums don't help.  I basically need to have him on an IBU drip.
When the nurse took his stats she was confused that his head seemed to have shrunk a bit.  Probably a mistake at the last appt.
He weighs 21 lbs. 2 oz.  20 %  (Which is good because I am having surgery this week and I am allowed to pick up about 20 lbs.)
height is 30 3/4"  40%
head 18" about 20%

Ben playing the pan lids.  Just his style. Super loud and ear splitting.

HOORAY!

That Blogger finally has an iPhone app so I can blog from my phone.  I have been waiting for this for 2+years.  Now let's see if I actually remember to use it.

BRAVE

I took Ben in for a check-up this week. He was due for a flu shot, so I decided to have Libby and Sarah get them too. Libby heard the word shot and immediately started crying hysterically. Sarah, on the other hand remained totally calm and collected. She simply said, "I am not afraid of shots. They don't make me cry." And she didn't really. I basically had to hold Libby down and she screamed for several minutes before and after. Sarah almost broke into tears just after the shot but held it together. I was so impressed.

Sarah and the Dollies

Two years ago for Christmas I gave the girls this giant pack of dolls from Costco that have magnetic outfits.  They haven't played with them very much.  (Rachel and I played with them way back then and got super frustrated that the outfits are lame and don't match.)  But anyway, Sarah has gotten super into them.  She calls them the "Dollies" and wants to spend hours playing with them.  She is actually also quite good at helping clean them up, so I am totally willing to let her.
Her other favorite activity is to "Pway with Pwaydough"  But if I say it back to her like that she gets huffy and says, "Play with Playdough!"  (She is also starting to correct herself when she says "Wibby" and say "Libby" instead.)  Anyway, she uses the playdough to make dresses and furniture for her little princess dolls and can play for literally 2 hours if I let her.  This makes a mess in my kitchen, however, so she only gets the playdough one or two days a week and not every day.
She also spends lots of time playing with my phone.  She is very good at navigating.  She is currently sitting next to me watching Tom and Jerry in Spanish on YouTube.  She loves to color and take pictures.  Only occasionally has she accidentally deleted apps.
She also needs to take "notes" for school.  This means that she wants me to open a word document on the computer for her to type into.  She is my technology girl!
On a side note, the other day in the car she told me that when she has a baby it is going to have "pink poop."  Dream on girl!

Libbyisms

Libby has come home from school with a new phrase or two that I don't like.  We had to work on the "Oh my G...O....") after kindergarten camp and that is mostly gone I think.  She gave a talk on not taking the Lord's name in vain for primary last week.

The newest one I have noticed is "I'm sorry but...."  It usually sounds like this, "I'm sorry Sarah, but I am stronger than you" or "I'm sorry Sarah, but my doll is prettier than your doll" or "I'm sorry Sarah, but I got the pink plate."  OHHHHH it is making me so frustrated.  This competitive, I'm better than you attitude.  It is so unnecessary.  It seems to have calmed down a bit, but  I know she is getting this from some other kids at school.  Sarah doesn't usually get too upset, but it does clearly bother her, then she says similar things back.  I am hoping to move through this phase quickly.

On the funny side, the other night I got the girls and Ben in bed about 8 (miraculous, I know) and started working on other things.  About 9 Ben started crying.  I was wrapping up what I was doing so I could make him a bottle when Libby charged into the room.  "DUDE!" she exclaimed, "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT BEN?  I CAN'T SLEEP WITH HIM CRYING!"  I guess not.  Who knew that she was still awake?

Lake Goodwin

Somehow I missed posting about our trip to Lake Goodwin.  I figured it would be a great idea to take the family on an outing.  We would go to the outlet mall, do some school shopping and then head to a nearby recreation site for some fun.  I forgot one tiny thing.  I should NEVER TAKE DEREK SHOPPING.  He was MISERABLE the whole time.  His motto, JUST BUY IT SO WE CAN GET OUT OF HERE.  So I bought Libby tons of clothes.  (That she, for the most part, refuses to wear.)  Hopefully Sarah will wear some of them.  And maybe once it gets colder Libby will veer away from dresses every day.  (There are 3 new school dresses she also won't wear...can't figure that girl out.)
Anyway, I digress.  Lake Goodwin.  AWESOME lake for kids.  It had a huge shallow area (sandy bottom)  for kids with lots of ducks for Ben to chase after, but the water wasn't nasty.  It also had a playground right off the beach for kids who get too cold in the water (Libby).  It wasn't crowded at all (it wasn't a super hot day, but it was a nice day).  LOVED it.

Ben loves playing in the sand.

Sarah spent most of the time in the water.  She is quite the little fish these days.

Okay, maybe he ate some sand too.  Yuck.

Libby jumped off this dock to Derek several times (Sarah wouldn't).  The water was only up to Derek's waist.

Showing me a new skill for Libby...

Going under water!

Big Boy Benny

I feel like when you are parenting a toddler, they go for weeks without making any big developmental strides, then all of sudden, one day, they wake up from a nap and they can say 5 words.  I guess he had been practicing them, but all of a sudden I can understand a few things.
He says, "K" (like ok)
"Yeah"
"Dad"
the "B" sound which is ball, blankie, bottle

He still says this stuff randomly, but I know he is starting to talk!

He is really consistent about a few gestures.  He holds out his hand, palm down, and makes a come here motion with this fingers.  This means, I want that, I want more, I want some.  So basically gimme!  It is always accompanied by a similar grunt.
He waves "bye bye" although he has been more likely to do it to say "night night" he is starting to do it to say goodbye too.

He LOVES to carry around my iPhone, but only wants to do it when there is music playing (he is a great dancer) or when the screen is lit up so he can see the handsome picture above.  He brings it back to me to push the button over and over.  My phone screen is nasty all the time right now.

He loves toys he can push.  He spends lots of time pushing this cute stroller (or getting his sisters or parents to push him in it).  He also likes to vacuum with the toy vacuum.  I hope this actually translates to a love of cleaning.  He is very good at putting things in the garbage when I ask (and when I don't) and helping to clean up toys.

Now if only Ben's molars would hurry up and finish coming through.  The top 2 are almost through.  (It has taken like a month.)  Now we have 2 more to go. They don't seem to bother him most of the time, but when they do, it is horrible!  It is the worst when he is tired.  He also still wakes up at least once a night most nights for a bottle.  I figure that once the teeth are done, (he still needs his canines too) I will stop going in there at night.  But for now, it is easier to give him a bottle and go back to sleep than to listen to him cry.

School Days

I am LOVING having school in our lives.  It is so good for Libby, but it is also good for all of us.  I am such a routine person, but for the past 5 years, life has had kind of a day by day routine because I taught at different times each day.  Now, school is a constant.  Here is our new School Day Schedule:

5:30 am  Trish wakes up and gets her scriptures and choreography learning in.  Somedays she even gets her daily chore done or almost done before the girls get up.

7:30 am Libby's alarm goes off.  I get them up and they both make their bed and get dressed (this takes lots of prompting and help from me at this point, but I am hopeful that they will get used to it and be able to do it on their own?  Maybe in about 3 years.)

8:15 We get Libby on the bus.

8:15-11:30 Maybe one errand and then a trip to the gym.  I only teach one morning weekday class now, a water class at 10:00 am on Tuesdays.  So I get to pick most of my workouts.  On Mondays I drop Sarah off for Preschool at 9:00 am.

11:30 Pick up Libby (and then go get Sarah on Mondays)

Then we eat lunch and they each have one chore to do (I come up with the chore depending on the day right now...this may standardize at some point)

Then I created 4 AAB (After School Activity Bins)  They can pick one of those each day.  I just took stuff we already had, puzzles, coloring books, kid magazines, watercolor stuff, etc. and divided it up into 4 bins.  They have to play with/do the things in the bin and then they can have free play time (notice there has been no time for a movie in here at all!)

Ben naps during the lunch/AAB time.  It is going really well so far (knock on wood).  Libby is eating a great lunch when she gets home from school.  I don't even have to prompt her.

Sarah and Ben enjoying a walk into the house after our trip to the gym.

PLAY TIME!

We had a really fun week this week.  We went to a park that is literally just down the street from our house that I never even knew existed.  It has these super fun sprinklers that Ben and the girls LOVED playing in.  (Yes, it is still warm enough for swimsuits here...HOORAY!)

Ben loving the sprinklers and a ball that he found there.  He played in a water by himself for quite awhile.  For the first hour we were there Derek and Ben were at their class at the Little Gym, so the girls were kind of done with the water by the time he got there.  Didn't stop him from having a blast in the water.  

Then yesterday the girls got to go to a party at Cascade Elite Gymnastics for their friend Cora's birthday.  (The girls used to take class there, it is a great gymnastics studio).  

They wanted to pose for in their new leotards.  

This is Libby in her "I'm about to do a cartwheel" pose.  And, this is the leotard I bought for her because she said if I did I could throw away the princess leotard (which had gotten WAY too small but she was still squeezing into.)  So I took her up on it.

When the girls were done posing, Ben walked right up to the spot like, "okay, my turn now."  He is  the kind of kid who watches me do something, then does it (or attempts to do it) himself.

Ben loves our pantry.  I found him playing in there the other day  messing with the water heater.  NO BEN!  NOT THE WATER HEATER!  But I captured him playing peekaboo and that was adorable.  He would close both doors and then throw them open and giggle like crazy.  

The other morning Libby and Sarah set up this podium so they could play Primary.  Sarah was leading the singing and then Libby would take a turn.  Primary chorister is the most coveted calling in our house.

Labor Day Fun Run/Walk/Ride

Everyone did some walking/running on the trail, even Ben!

The winning team!

Sarah also ran a few parts of the trail.  She can't keep up the running for long, but she is a good little sprinter.

Derek even took a ride on Libby's bike during the finish line festivities.  (Okay so it was just kid Clif Bars and water, but that was pretty fun!)

We had a fun 5K on Labor Day.  We got together with the Fillmores, Aunt Maren and the Sessums from church and traveled 5K on the Interurban Trail.  I say traveled because the modes of transportation were varied and fun.  I ran back and forth and "supported" different groups.  I am most proud of the Libby/Maren team.  Maren helped Libby and Libby made it basically the whole 5K on her bike!  They also came in 1st!  Good job team!

Summer Fun

Perfect way to cool off after school.  A Popsicle and running through the sprinkler.  (Sarah was sleeping, she has a bit of a cold this week.) 

Ben loves Popsicles.  He ate at least 1/2 of this before he fed the rest to me.  For the record, honeydew Popsicles are gross.  

Ben got even more wet than Libby.  He decided that running in the sprinkler is SUPER fun.  Maybe he liked it more this time because he was helping Ken enjoy the water too.  Ben and Ken are soaked.  

Libby outgrew her swimsuit in the last week.  So she was wearing Sarah's and Sarah had to wear a leotard.  Good thing this weather is just about over. 

Yes, that's right.  It is September and we are still having summer fun.  I couldn't be more happy about the weather.  It has been amazing.  I even have tomatoes ripening.  Yum.

Libby's First Day of School

Libby had her first day of school this week.  I was so excited.  She has been ready for a long time.  I just wanted to get the first day over with.  We went out to meet the bus.  It is SO great that it comes right across from our house.  This is the best thing ever.  It turns out that most parents take their kids to school on the first day.  Libby got on the bus with only one other little boy.  Oops.  But I think it was good to just get her started going on the bus.  I think I will stop by and pick her up one day this week so I can meet her teacher (I did meet her at kindergarten camp, but more officially) and see her classroom, etc.  I didn't cry when she got on the bus.  In fact, after it pulled away I did a little cheer.  I am now realizing how people have more than 3 kids.  They send some of them off to school and get a break during the day.  It is amazing.  Sarah also thinks it is amazing.  She is loving not having anyone boss her around all morning.  Ben is indifferent.  

Libby seems to be having a good time.  She is making new friends.  She and Reid seem to be moving in different circles, and that is basically what we knew would happen.  They are both too type A to really play well together.  Here are the snippets that I have picked up from Libby about what has happened at school.  They learned to sing "Happy Birthday" to the sink while they wash their hands.  Fancy Nancy came to visit the class and read them a story (this is the librarian, Mrs. Bell, she seems awesome!).  They had an assembly and said the pledge of allegiance.  I just found out that Mrs. McShane told Libby that if her glasses make things blurry she should tell me.  And that is about it.

There has been nothing in her backpack.  No communication from her teacher.  I don't know how long I can go knowing just about nothing.

Libby did tell me that they got to go to a cave that was like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory where they could eat lots of candy.  I asked her what Mrs. McShane would say about that if I asked her.  "Well, Mrs. McShane didn't go to the cave..." was her reply.  Hmmmm...This is a whole new world.

Mad Skills

Ben has a new skill.  Throwing things in the garbage.  This is a great skill at certain times.  When I ask him to throw something into the garbage, I can hand it to him and he will do it.  This is not great when he starts deciding what is garbage.  I have found:  legos, blocks, Sarah's shoes, my flip flops, and much more in our kitchen garbage.  Luckily I have started looking before I toss new stuff in on top.

He can scale a ladder.  In no time.  He first climbed up on the ladder outside when Derek was up on the top rung.  All of a sudden he felt Ben's hand on his leg.  Yikes.  Now he can do the girls' bunk bed.  This makes me so nervous!

Can you see the giant goose egg on the side of his head closest to the camera?  It is going to be pretty impressive tomorrow.  He has a matching one on the other side from a battle he lost with the wall in our hallway this week too.  Poor little guy!

He also showed us a new skill at the zoo today.  He can throw himself out of the moving stroller.  Right onto his head on the concrete.  Boo.

Zoo Trip

We had a fun time at the zoo today.  We went for the birthday party of Derek's sergeant's son.  They have a great birthday party venue at the Woodland Park Zoo.  Our kids were all decked out in Husky gear since tonight is the opening game (they are winning right now as I type).  

This is one of my all time favorite pics of my kids.  Each kid is striking a pose that perfectly summarizes their personality I think.

Libby's New Glasses!!!

 Look at how good they look?  She is adorable.  She is spending a lot of time looking at things, and touching what she sees.  She keeps telling me how big everything looks.  But she did say when things were close up they look blurry.  So, I may need to have them checked.  I am not sure if she just said that because she didn't want to wear them, but she seemed honest.  This whole thing is such a new experience!