Claire’s 4th Birthday

We had several scheduling conflicts with Claire’s birthday party and then ended up throwing a last minute party together up in Hillsboro. We met up with some friends and family at Out of This World Pizza. It was super fun to see everyone and catch up, eat a little pizza and let the kids play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am seriously shocked that it’s been 4 years since I held that sweet baby girl in my arms for the first time. She has turned into such a smart and sweet and silly little girl that is so full of life. She has the most amazing memory; we are constantly amazed at what she remembers from several months to a year ago. She is extremely strong-willed and wears her emotions on her sleeves. She has been a more wonderful big sister than I could have ever imagined. She is constantly making me laugh, especially when I am trying to be firm with her and I have to try so hard not to laugh. We butt heads occasionally but I love her more than I can even put into words. Gosh, she is just so grown up!

Levi didn’t work on her birthday so we told her we could do whatever she wants. First thing that morning she opened presents from us. We got her a Lite Bright and a Nerf basketball hoop set, both Levi’s ideas. She chose to go to Old McDonalds (she thinks McDonalds was named after the Old McDonald song, we don’t have the heart to correct her) for lunch and to play in the play place. I don’t think I’ve eaten there in like 8 years, not my fave but it’s not my birthday. Then that evening we went to Pietro’s and played in the arcade. We’ve done that a couple times now; she just loves it because it’s super fun and we love it because it’s super cheap. :)

 

Growing Like Weeds

A week and a half ago, William had his 2 week checkup. The doctor said they really like to see babies back up to their birth weight by 2 weeks, well we don’t have to worry about Baby Will. He was 21 inches long (67 percentile) and 9 lbs 7 oz (81 percentile), we have a little chunky monkey on our hands! She said he looks just perfect.

Claire had her 4 year child wellness checkup last week. She measured 3’ 7.75” (99 percentile) and weighed in at 44 lbs (94 percentile). No surprise there, she has always been so tall! I still just cannot figure out where that height comes from. I’m 5’6” and Levi’s 6’1” which is maybe a tiny bit on the taller side but at the rate she’s going she’ll be taller than me by middle school!  Claire has had a rash on her back since she was a baby, I had asked the doctor about it at each of her wellness checks and she told us to put Vaseline and Eucerin on it 2-3 times a day. It was extremely frustrating because we kept telling her that wasn’t working. Anyhow, we have Kaiser insurance now and I love the kid’s new pediatrician, she took one look at Claire’s back and said it’s excema and prescribed a topical cream, yay! Now if I could just get my sleep-deprived brain to remember to rub it in her back twice a day. Claire told me for a couple days before her appointment that she hates shots. She had the flu vaccine by nasal spray and then the nurse lined up 2 shots. He had her lay back on the bed with me leaning over her to comfort her and keep her from bucking up (Claire made up that word about a year ago, now we all use it). He put the first shot in her left leg and she immediately started screaming/crying. He very quickly did the second shot and she continued crying for a good half hour; it was super sad. She got really freaked out when she saw a little bit of blood. The whole rest of the day (and for several days after) she regularly mentioned that she hated shots and that she hated doctors and even made up a little song that she would not sing for the camera. I told her that it was the nurse that gave the shot and that mommy told him to give it, so she should be mad at me. She said she still hated the doctor. But good news, she doesn’t have to have anymore shots until she’s 11.

More on her birthday and her love of dress up in the next post.

Completely unrelated side note; watch out for Barbies on baseboard heaters. Claire keeps asking me to fix her arm, eek…

Halloween Festivities

I have had a cranky baby on my hands the last couple days so I have been unable to blog. I am actually conducting an experiment. He's been pretty fussy since Halloween and I've been eating a lot of chocolate since then; coincidence, I think not! So I am not eating any chocolate to see if that improves his fussiness and gas. This may be the worst day of my life; I love chocolate, a lot!

2 weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch. Claire loved playing on the playground and the hay fort. Her and Levi roped some cattle and she did surprisingly well. She also enjoyed riding around on the mini tractors and petting the animals. Then we took a stroll through the corn maze. As far as corn mazes go, it sucked. There's no real beginning or end, just several places you can do either. The best corn maze (by far!) is the one out at Sauvie's Island, especially if you go at night for the haunted edition. But Claire enjoyed this corn maze. Last year she took a bite out of the corn and started bawling, probably because it tasted so awful! This year she attempted to take a bite but we stopped her just in time. Claire got a little too cranky so we didn't pick out pumpkins and the pumpkins looked pretty sad anyway. Will pooped, ate and then slept the rest of the time we were there. All in all, we had a fabulous day!

Last week we headed out to the Oregon Gardens in Silverton. I had purchased a Groupon a couple months ago and we just hadn't had a chance to use it. I can't believe we've lived in Salem for over 6 years now and have never toured the gardens. We've been out there twice, once for a banquet for a company party of Levi's and then another time for a concert, but we weren't able to tour the gardens either time. It was so gorgeous this time of year! The leaves have all turned colors and many trees had either begun to lose or already lost all of their leaves. The fun thing about this time of year is that people and businesses make scarecrows for the garden. Claire really enjoyed pointing out all the scarecrows and seeing the different ways they were dressed up, super cute! We started out our tour by taking a tram ride through the entire park. Then we stopped to take a couple pictures and (not surprisingly) we spent the rest of our time there at the children's area. It was a little chilly so we were ready to head home after about 2 hours. But we cannot wait to head out there again in the spring or summer; I can't imagine how beautiful it will be then!

And then to wrap up our Halloween festivities we went trick-or-treating (after eating some yummy mummy dogs, thanks pinterest!). Levi's parents joined us and we had a great time. It seems like not as many houses were participating, but we got our exercise that way. Claire dressed as a witch (thank you grandma Debi for making her beautiful costume!) and Baby Will dressed as a dinosaur. We practiced with Claire what to say/do for trick or treating; she did pretty well but needed a little cuing. After the first couple houses she would run back to our group yelling, "I did it, I did it!" and then later on in the evening she would run back to everyone else and say, "Flash it, flash it! Look at all my candy!" By flash it, she meant with the flashlight, just thought I'd clarify. :) Levi's pumpkin is the far left (don't you think it looks like the character from Nightmare Before Christmas), then mine (I am so not creative!), Claire drew on hers with a green marker and Baby Will's is spitting up, hahaha.

P.S. I apologize that the photos are all over the place. I usually use Windows Live Writer to write blog posts but we just got a new computer and haven't installed that yet.