My Monster and His Big Sister: August 2009

Monday, August 31, 2009

Seven Years Ago!

Seven years ago I remember the excitement, the nervousness. I remember my sisters and friends in their red dresses looking so beautiful. The wonderful music played that still gives me goosebumps. Our wedding day was the funnest wedding, the most beautiful, carefree time of my life. I had just graduated college, was 23 years old and had my life planned out.

Sometimes in the midst of our planning, life doesn't cooperate and plans change. Shortly after my wedding my dad died suddenly and everything seemed to fall apart. My family grieved and life was different. I found out I was pregnant, and lost the baby at 12 weeks. We moved to a town where I didn't know anyone. We bought a house that needed an unholy amount of work. I'm pretty sure none of this was part of my plan.

I look at myself seven years ago and I think of how naive I was, how innocent. More than anything I think, how Lucky. I married someone that through all that unplanned life, is still married to me. I didn't have to walk through that alone. On top of it all I have two kids I couldn't love any more. There is that quote, "Life is what happens when we are busy making other plans." Life gave me heartache and sorrow, but it gave me two wonderful kids and Jeremy.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Round Two of Dr. Visits = Not So Good

Today Anders had his 1 year check up, and I'll just get this out of the way, he weighs in at 30lbs. I'm not worried, have no reason to be worried, and have had a handful of friends assure me that their children were larger at one year. The doctor on the other hand was VERY rude to me. Her instructions were, to stop giving him sweets and juice (if you know me and how I feed my kids you'll laugh at that) stop holding him all the time (he is to heavy to hold) don't but him in a exersaucer (way beyond them, donated it 2 months ago). Anders is apparently "behind" because he can't walk yet. WHAT????? He can't walk, but he walks around the house by holding on to things He is also at risk for type 2 diabetes. (again) WHAT??????? No grapes or bananas because of the calories. He needs to lose 5 pounds. The story goes on and on, and by the end of her lecture I'm almost in tears. She then decides that she wants to check his thyroid. He already was going to have a finger poke to check for lead and I thought they would do the same to check his thyroid. I was wrong. The nurse leads us back to the lab, and the very nice nurse informs me that they will have to draw blood to check his thyroid. I immediately started crying. The nurse was so nice and understanding, but I had just reached the end. You know how you can only keep it together for so long and then one little thing sends you right over the edge. I wasn't hysterical by any means, but I was so upset. So (after already having two shots) two of us pinned Anders down, while the nurse took blood from his tiny (chubby) arm. Needless to say, after all this, I'm getting a second opinion.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Dr. Appointment Craziness

Today Sayla had her 4 year check up. The appointment was scheduled for 10:40, so I started getting everyone ready at 8:00. I had to shower, give the kids a bath, get them breakfast, snacks, hair done, diaper bag packing....you get the idea. People say that mom's have the hardest job on earth. I think working mom's have the hardest, to have to get everyone ready and out the door is an art form.

So we get to the appointment (right on time) and they inform me that they can do the physical, but not the vaccinations. Why you ask? Because she hasn't turned four yet. I get it, there are rules, tests, Dr. laws, but maybe someone could have told me when I scheduled the appointment. I spent two days prepping Sayla to be brave, your going to be fine, I'll hold your hand, and honestly she was excited. So anyway, we'll make a trip back in a few weeks.

Sayla did great with her appointment. She's gained 3 pounds this year and grown quite a bit. The doctor was one we hadn't seen before and he was very nice, and I think he was new as well. He went over jumping on one foot, drawing a square (she can draw a square like a 4 1/2 year old), and then we got to colors. He asked Sayla if she knew her colors, and she of course said yes. Then he said, "Can you tell me what color my pants are?" The room was silent for at least 30 seconds. My heart was racing and I started wonder who was going to speak first. I finally said, "Um, I'm not even sure I know what color your pants are." They were a mix between a army brown and a army green color. You know that khaki brown/green color. He then moved on to more traditional colors that Sayla breezed through. Then he looked at me and said, "You don't know what color my pants are." I said, "No, are they brown or green." He laughed and didn't really have an answer.

So tomorrow, guess what, Anders has an appointment at 11:00. I'll update on that saga, and hopefully it goes as smooth as today.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Look Who Turned One!

This Boy!!!

When Sayla turned one she got a sugar-free poppy seed muffin with a tiny bit of frosting. I made this cake yesterday from scratch. We are calling it a organic vanilla cake, it make us feel better.

Anders loves trucks/cars/anything with wheels. We gave him one present last night and he'll have his "real" party on the 5th!

I can't believe it has been a year already.

Anders loves:

*His Sister

*Balls
*Trucks

*Fruit

*Baths

*Wagon rides

*Swings

*Puppies

*Fluffy Pillows (really, it's a little odd)

*Riding on Daddy's shoulders

*Music

Anders has lots of words. So far he can say,

*Mommy

*Daddy

*Ball

*Puppy

*More

*Down

*Cookie

*Done

We love you sweet boy!

Monday, August 24, 2009

Sayla Stories (or Anders Loves Puppies)

What Sayla Said!

For two weeks in August, I didn't see Sayla even though we were "together". For one week, Hannah was here to play, and I wasn't needed. The second week I was replaced by Rainy Lake. I had really noticed that we hadn't spent much time together and I really missed her. On our nine hour drive home last Sunday, Sayla announced, "It feels really good to have our family back together!"

She is now so excited for school to start, so I'll keep you posted on her stories.

How Anders Spends His Time!

What we've been up to!

Jeremy flew to California recently to attend Isaac and Christina's wedding. Christina's maiden name is Elliott, and I really wanted them to get on board with joining us in the hyphenated Elliott club.....their loss.

A few days later the rest of the family flew to lovely Iowa, and spent lots of time hanging out with the kids.

Then we packed up and headed to northern Minnesota to spend time with family up there. We drove as far as Bemidji on Wednesday, and the trip was not so great for Anders. Lot's of fussing, dirty diapers, screaming and very little napping.

After a full day in the car, my cousin Robbie and January decided to take us out to eat. Sounds harmless right...think again. Robbie takes us on a 45 minute drive to get pizza with one little guy that was so sick of the car already. When we finally get there we discover the road is closed to get to the restaurant. They were putting in a new bridge and the only way to get there was to turn around and drive all the way around the lake. Lord have mercy. So what do we do, cross the construction zone with four small children (you can see in the picture that the restaurant is right across from the river). We walked around the crane, over a plywood "dock" and through the ditch. We had a good laugh and gave Robbie a hard time. It was good pizza though.

Here is January with our waitress whose name was January...crazy. I announced like a four year old that my name was Summer, she wasn't that impressed.

The next day we headed to International Falls to stay with my Aunt Darlene and Uncle Babe. The kids had a blast! They live on Rainy Lake so we did some boating, canoeing and LOTS of swimming.

Saturday we went to a magic show. Here is our cousin Maya and Sayla dressed as twins!

Saying goodbye to Rainy Lake. We love going up there and hope Sayla and Anders will also have good memories of there time up north!