October 2007

Nick had his 6 month appt this week. He's 17.5 lbs, 27inches long. He's still a peanut compared to Marlee who was 18lbs at 4months, but he's right on track for growth and height. Our ped. says his sleeping is "not typical" but that we should just continue to be patient until his 9 month appt. At this point he is still waking every 2 hours. We weren't able to get his vaccinations because he had the stomach flu but we decided to delay most of his vaccinations anyway. We're selectively vaccinating him and possibly delaying all vax until he is 2.

He is crawling and pushing himself to a sit. He's also self feeding! He's just getting so big, so fast. He laughs all the time, I uploaded some videos of him laughing and doing other fun things. Right now his top gums are swollen and he has to be teething, of course, he's been "teething" for months and nothing has come through.

Nick is going to be Nemo for Halloween. He doesn't know it yet, but he'll be the cutest lil clown fish ever, don't you think?
Nick is currently in 6-9 month outfits.

Marlee has been doing really well in tumbling. We give her a little pep-talk before each class and she loves her "teachers". I can't sit in class anymore so I sit out in the hallway with all the other moms waiting for them to get done. Look like she won't get into dance until next summer.

Marlee's behavior has gotten a lot better since the big kids went back to school. Sad to say that was part of the problem, but it was. We think she may have a little bit of a blood sugar problem too, so we're always mindful to keep her full of healthy snacks to keep the crabbies away. She got bit for the THIRD time at daycare last week. Apparently the other kid, Barrett, got in big trouble there and at home this time, so I hope it will stop soon. This time there was a huge blue bruise on her arm. It was not provoked.

Marlee had her 4 year checkup this week and like usual, she's very healthy and on track for weight and height. She's actually a little below for each. Typical is 40lbs, 40 inches. Marlee is 35 lbs and 39 inches.

She's very much enjoying her birthday gifts and talks about her recent party constantly :)

Marlee is wearing her ballerina costume for Halloween. She'd wear it every day if she could.

Marlee is a size 5.

US news:

We (the entire family) just got over the stomach flu. Marlee got sick on Friday. Threw up twice and was over it just as soon. I got sick Sunday and was not as lucky, Tim on Monday (sicker than all of us) and Nick on Monday night (he recovered relatively fast). Thankfully I think we're all on our way to healthy again. It just doesn't pay to be the mom of the family when everyone is sick. There's no one to feed the kids and give them baths and put them to bed, there's no one to do the dishes and laundry and take the garbage and recycling out when you're sick. And there's no one to bring you tea in bed and check on you or email your boss that you're dying and can't come to work. Why'd we have to grow up?


We still haven't gotten our new carpet. We've had no time to actually place the order. ARG. We are looking at new vehicles... we don't necessarily need or want one, but the basic warranty on our Kia is expiring soon as is the service contract and there are some pretty good deals coming out of our dealership so we are looking at larger vehicles like the Sportage and Sorento.

Tim got his car back in working order just in time for fall. We keep saying we're going to do some fall boating but haven't actually had time to get out on the water. And now it's time to winterize the boats. Maybe next year. We just made a trip out to Peck's farm in Spring Green. They have a farmer's market, petting zoo and tons of stuff for kids. If you hear Marlee talking about the scary house... it's because I tried to get her to go through a haunted house with me (age appropriate!!) and she flipped out. Now she's scared of all Halloween decorations (though she has been since she was a year old).

The saga of the ground squirrel has come to an end - if you haven't heard, Tim has been battling a ground squirrel since early spring. He's dug up our entire lawn (free aerating! free twisted ankles!) and all my flower beds. He dug under our driveway, causing it to sink and crack in two places. He dug out the "landscaping" and left huge piles of sand in our driveway. One day Tim chased him into the storm drain and then held him there while deciding what to do with him. He ended up wrapping the end of the drain with a garbage bag and waited for the squirrel to crawl into the bag. He then triple bagged it, paper bagged it, and threw it in our regular garbage containers in back. 3 days later I was home alone and thought we had an intruder. The next day, I told Tim his little squirrel was alive and well and inside the garbage container. He left him there for almost a week before finally taking him for a ride. When he let him go, the squirrel ran out in front of the truck and almost got hit... and Tim said he was heading for our house. :lol:
I'm on a huge environmental kick and just got ourselves some reusable grocery bags so we can stop bringing home all that useless plastic from the store. I have yet to make a trip to the store to use them, though! We also switched all our lights to compact fluorescents and we are reducing our impact as much as we can (and I think you all should too).