He did say he wants to play instruments when he grows up....

When I Grow Up...

Those became popular words out of Aiden's mouth this weekend. So far, when he grows up he's going to play instruments and baseball. This evening at bedtime he said he was going to drive an ambulance, which switched over to a fireman. While we were laying in his bed he asked what I was going to be when I grew up. ❤️ He gave me a couple of choices and we decided I'd be a fireman with him. Oh, the sweet moments in life!

Bonk!

Poor Sophia is just at "that age." The one where desire to do something and coordination don't quite line up, which ends in lots of boo boos. I remember Aiden at this age...the kid busted up half his face falling down one stair at the park, he gashed his chin on the bathtub, fun stuff like that. Well Sophia does not want her brother to have all the war wounds so she's doing her best to keep up. 

A few weeks ago we were hanging out at the neighbor's and she decided to stand up in the adult size chair she'd been sitting in (that adult size thing matters because it means she was higher off the ground). Well, the metal legs of the chair weren't super secure on the pebbled driveway so the chair didn't take too kindly to a standing toddler and Sophia fell forehead first onto the driveway. Big ouch. This happened on June 1st and the girl still has a visible lump on her head. 

Right in the center is a nice dot where she landed squarely on a pebble. Yeah, this one called for immediate meds. 

Now might also be a good time to mention that we made our first ER visit at the end of March...with Sophia. Short version of the story is that daycare called around 8:30 and said Sophia basically wouldn't use her left arm at all. They thought it was her shoulder. A few hours later they called back and said it was definitely her elbow. I took the first available doc appointment but that wasn't until 2pm. When we got to the doc, he thought she might have fractured it because of the way she just let it hang limp at her side. So, to the ER for X-rays we went. 

I won't spend much time dwelling on how sad Sophia was but the girl refused to do a thing with her arm. Her left thumb is the one she sucks and she would not even consider putting it in her mouth...just hurt her way too much to bend her arm. So we went for the X-ray and moments, literally moments after the X-ray, she had that dang thumb in her mouth. She was all better! Turned out she had a nursemaids elbow and the way they'd positioned her arm for theX-ray  popped it back into place. 

How'd it happen? Well, no one had eyes on the exact situation but Sophia had cried out that morning and Aiden was standing next to her. My guess is that he was "helping" her get up and pulled too hard or from the wrong angle and the end result was a mere $700+ bill two weeks before we closed on our new house. Timing is always perfect. :) Here are a few shots of my very sad little girl on her ER outfit. I think half the reason they gave this to us is because we'd taken her shirt off at the doctor but it hurt her so much that I just brought her to the ER bare chested. 

Everyone is healthy and happy today so cheers to that! We'll see what the evening holds...

Alright, Alright...

I know the crowds have been begging for the return of schwei-town so I'm here to appease them. :) That or I've really been trying to get back to this for months now but haven't been successful. Time, priorities, multiple reasons and excuses. But alas, we are back and that's all that matters.

Where do I start? In the past six months we've had Christmas, spent months home shopping, celebrated Aiden's 4th birthday, and finally found a home and made the move to McKinney. We made our first ER visit....with Sophia for a dislocated elbow that I'm pretty sure her brother caused. Sophia learned how to verbally communicate a few things so all "conversations" with her don't end in meltdown tantrums on the floor (for real, this is how life with that girl goes). Aiden is learning how to catch a baseball and learned how to ride his balance bike perfectly (now we have to figure out how to incorporate the pedal part of the bike...). We discovered the joy of a bubble machine (see picture below...) and Sophia found her favorite place in all the world - on a swing. Life has been full and fun.

I started a birthday posts nearly two months ago for Aiden. Rest assured that I will be finishing it. I'm telling myself that it's okay if the documentation comes a few months late...I have the pictures to prove we did celebrate in a timely manner. For true authors like myself, sometimes the words just take a little longer....(cue the laughter). For reals, though, I'll catch you up on the last few months through some picture posts, while also trying to hook you in to the present. I apologize in advance if the past/present toggle causes any sort of motion sickness for your brain.

For now, the joy of bubbles! (This was Sophia's Valentine's gift.....they have one at church and I noticed that she always looked so happy playing with it. I had no idea how much joy this machine would bring...)

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...my most favorite time of the year!

Here are a couple of pics taken in front of a big, beautiful tree at JFK, on our return trip from a fabulous Thankgiving celebration. 

Gaining lbs

When we went for Sophia's one year checkup, I was certain she'd be over 17lbs (because the scale at home said she was...). But she rang in at a sturdy 16lbs 10oz. That day I learned that when the nurse writes -3% for growth percentile, she means your baby is no longer on the charts because they don't track below the 3rd percentile. Fast forward six weeks to when we got our second round of flu shots. Sophia had felt heavier to me over the week leading up to the follow-up shots, and her daycare also commented that she seemed more solid. Plus, I'd put her in a few pairs of 12 month pants (instead of the 6 month "capris" she'd been sporting) and they actually stayed up! So I asked for a weight check....and she was up over 18lbs! I think the few oz over the 18lb mark were because she was still wearing a little bit of clothing so I'm not counting those...but I was impressed with how much she'd gained in 6 weeks. Hopefully Turkey Day did her some good and a forward facing car seat is in her future over the next year!

Happy Thanksgiving! Here's to hoping the rest of us stayed trim while enjoying heaps of delicious goodness!

A Nostalgic Night

A few nights ago we walked to the park. It was dark, since the sun sets early these days. We took our flashlights and enjoyed our little jaunt. We played at the park and eventually we made our way to the swings. At first it was just Aiden and me, swinging side by side...on the big kid swings. And then Ryan and Soph joined us, and as I watched my little girl in the baby swing and my big boy beside me, I couldn't help but get emotional thinking about how we used that swing set for the first time almost exactly three years ago, with a little boy who's bigger than I like to admit these days. On the way home from our walk he wanted to "ride" (okay, be carried) in the ergo, facing me, arms and legs wrapped around me. And this momma's emotions ran high and mixed all together, so much happiness, so much love and so much sadness that these moments will one day be over.