Our "Stay-cation"

Drew was preparing for a hunting trip with his dad and was going to be gone for 4 days. So we decided to spend some quality family time together and do a small getaway the weekend before he left. We went to Flagstaff, which is 2 hours from us and just hung out, played, and enjoyed getting out of the house and the heat.

When we got to Flagstaff we checked into our hotel and let the kids run and stretch their legs. It was rainy and freezing when we got there. We unpacked and got our rooms situated and then ran to Wal-Mart, the new Tinkerbell movie had come out and we thought during our down time it would be a fun movie to watch. After Wal-Mart we went to dinner at Olive Garden (my favorite!). When we got back to the hotel we only had about half an hour before the kids needed to go to bed. Luckily Autumn had her own room and it worked out great. We had Weston in a pack in play in the main living area between the two rooms.

The next morning we enjoyed a filling breakfast compliments of the hotel. The kids really enjoyed it too!

After breakfast we decided to just drive around and see parts of Flagstaff we hadn't seen before. We found a fabulous park and let the kids play there for almost 2 hours. The weather was great and since school was in only a few kids were there.

After the park we took the kids back to the hotel where we ate lunch. The little table worked perfect for the kids, they ate left overs from the night before.

Everyone napped and then we played in the hotel room. I let the kids pick something to bring with us, Weston picked some trucks and Autumn picked a coloring book. Which was great for that down time, when we wanted to just hang out.

Late in the afternoon we went to the mall there, which is nothing spectacular, but we knew they had a play area for the kids and a few stores we would enjoy browsing through.

 On the way back to the hotel we stopped and grabbed something quick from a local restaurant and took it back to the hotel with us. After dinner we stayed at the hotel and let the kids watch their movie, run in the courtyard and play in the rooms.  

 That evening the kids slept so well. It really was a refreshing trip. On Fri. morning we got up and planned to eat breakfast and hang out in Flagstaff even after check out, but it kind of gets to the point where you're just ready to be home. The town doesn't have a TON to offer so after breakfast we packed up while the kids played and watched cartoons. We left right at check out time and headed back home.

 We were only in Flagstaff for 48 hours but 2 nights away from home and eating out alot gets to a person (well it does to me- probably because I am pregnant). We got home in time to put the kids down for naps and so the house was nice and quiet for us while we unpacked and relaxed. We are so glad we got to go up there, even though it was only for a couple of days. It was nice doing something different, and together as a family before Drew left for 4 days to go hunting.

Autumn's School Pictures

The morning before school we practiced for Autumn's first school picture day-

(These pictures are back when her tooth was chipped. Also- I chopped Autumns hair to shoulder length and I LOVE it!)

I couldn't wait to see them because I was curious if she smiled for them or would be making some funny face. Even though she didn't smile, she still looks pleasant and adorable to me! The quality of pic is terrible because they printed the photo on the order form. :)

I can't wait to get my real copy.

When is enough ENOUGH and too much TOO MUCH?

We unfortunately still don't know the gender of our baby. So in getting ready for the baby to come I decided to go through ALL of Autumn and Weston's old baby clothes & shoes to better organize them, and decide what items were worth keeping and what I could (and needed to) part with. Westons stuff was easy to go through, took me all of two days. That kid had no clothes compared to Autumn, and being that he army crawled for months his shirts and bottoms were pretty much ruined and tossed out when I boxed up his clothes as he outgrew them. But Autumn on the other hand. She had so many clothes that many still have tags, and there were some outfits I only remember her wearing once. She was obviously spoiled and had way TOO much.

For the first year of Autumns life both Drew and I were working, so money and budgeting weren't an issue and I remember if I saw something I liked or wanted I bought it with out a thought. At the time she was my parents only grandchild living near by so naturally, as grandparents do- whenever they saw something cute Autumn got it. When I was pregnant and found out we were having a girl, with Autumn, my parents went shopping that night and came by our place with a big bag of clothes. We should have seen it as things to come. I remember at her baby shower everyone was very generous, and when my brothers wife would come into town she would buy Autumn things because she lived so far away and wanted to treat her when she could.

So when I was going through Autumns clothes & shoes (which took a whole week to sort through and organize) I was just completely shocked.

I went through everything so carefully deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. This is what's left of the KEEP. These piles are separated by Newborn, 0-3 mos., 3-6 mos., 6-9 mos., and 9-12 mos. This is not including anything 12 mos. and over or what I am getting rid of.

 I was going through the 6-9 mos. pile and Autumn had 9 pairs of pajamas. What baby that size needs 9 pajamas? So that was my biggest task, finding what she had too many of and narrowing it down.

These are all of Autumns shoes, that I decided to keep. From size newborn to 4, so these are some of the shoes that I am holding onto that she wore for the first 18 months of her life.

A little ridiculous? I think so. Drew was surprised too, he knew she had a lot but once it's all layed out and you see it it's something else. We truely do feel blessed since going through her stuff, she has some beautiful clothes, adorable accessories, and fun shoes. I really hope we are having a girl. I won't have to buy anything but diapers if it's a girl. If it's a boy, I will need some clothes, but not much. But I will feel all set- if this baby can use their big sisters stuff. :)

Parent Teacher Conference

Today I had my first Parent Teacher Conference for Autumn. It was really enlightening. Autumns teacher talked really highly of Autumn and commented on how smart she was. She was impressed that she can count to 14 on her own and recognize all the numbers, and that she knew all her alphabet letters both capital and lower case. She said Autumn is very social and has made a lot of friends. There is one girl in particular whos name is Sierra and her Autumn are joined at the hip. It really makes me happy that kids are so forgiving of faults, and even though Autumn can't hold a conversation and answer their questions that the kids don't see or care about that.

The conference wasn't all praising, she asked me to work with Autumn on getting her to sit and be patient. She said Autumn will sit to do a task but as soon as she is done she is up running around, where other kids sit and wait to be told what's going on next. There is a circle time mat and the teacher used to have Autumn placed in the very front of the mat assuming Autumn would act better if right in front of the teacher. She has since moved her to the middle of the mat, and placed her between 2 students who have better speech and what the teacher refers to as "typicals." (Typicals are students who model age appropriate behavior during a specific activity.) She said moving Autumn to the middle of the mat has made all the difference. She can't get up and move and escape. She is surrounded by kids and handles the circle time much better.

Her writing and tracing of letters is at the level 3 year old are at. The teacher is impressed with the homework and how well Autumn does with it. The teachers 2 biggest concerns was getting Autumn to sit for an extended period of time w/out being distracted (and she is having me work with her at home) and her speech. The whole reason I was even interested in this preschool program was because of the speech therapy. But Autumn didn't qualify when I had her tested in May. The teacher has since reread the speech evaluation and doesn't agree with it. She talked to the Speech Pathologist and is having her reevaluated next week. What a relief! That was what I mainly wanted to talk to the teacher about during our conference. She said even she (who works with loads of kids all day long w/all kinds of delays and disabilities) has a hard time understanding her. So hopefully whatever the Speech Pathologist missed can be brought to her attention again through Autumns teacher.

So it was a successful conference. I teared up hearing Autumns teacher give her such praise and talk about how smart and good she is, and how the other kids in the class love her. One weeks curriculum was on friendship and they discussed the role of a friend and they gave each student a friendship bracelet to share with a friend in the class (Autumn is one of the younger students, many of these kids were in the same class together last year) and one girl went to Autumn w/out hesitation to share her friendship bracelet, which resulted in another little girl (Sierra who I mentioned earlier) being severely disappointed that she didn't get Sophia's bracelet and that she couldn't give Autumn her friendship bracelet. I am so proud of Autumn, this preschool and their program is really going to do wonders for her.

Here she is doing her homework. 2 weeks ago they talked about the letter P.

I am so proud!

Autumns 1st Trip to the Dentist

I was waiting till Autumn was 3 1/2 to take her to the dentist for the first time, but well- something came up and we had to take her in earlier than planned. Which worked out for the best anyways, she will be 3 1/2 right before the baby gets here, and I am sure the last thing I will want to do is take her to the dentist when I am in the last few weeks of my pregnancy. The dentist office was so much fun. We got a referral from Autumn's pediatrician and had I not called them I would've taken her to a regular dentist, one that could be seen by the whole family so that one office had all our dental records and info but they recommended a pediatric dentist because of what happened. I am so glad we went with their advice. The office is called Treasured Smiles which is so fitting.

The entire place was pirate themed. The murals on the wall, the decor, the books, the toys. I don't know what has gotten Autumn into pirates, but lately she closes one eye and says, "Arg." (Actually- I think it's Captain Hook and his crew from Peter Pan, that's the only place I can think she has seen pirates.) Their waiting area kept Autumn completely occupied while I did paperwork and set up future appointments.

Here are some pics of the office:

This is an XBOX 360 and Playstation station, but we went early in the morning and they don't turn them on till the afternoon when the older kids come in. But Autumn pretended she played and kept asking to go up the stairs...

Checking out their fish tank-

She called this guy Captain hook, and kept walking around him checking him out.

Even the bathroom was done up. So fun.

I didn't take any pics once we went back into the rooms, but they took us on a tour of their facility. I saw the operation rooms, xray rooms, the sterilizing room, where the dentist hangs out between patients and the main area where they do cleanings. I didn't take any pics back there because there was so much for me to pay attention to and Autumn was super clingy. But they had treasure chests everywhere and every square inch of this place is made to look like you're on a deserted island, or hanging out with mermaids and/or pirates. But it wasn't annoying or distracting.

On Wed. night Autumn was playing on the couch and we have a rule (that we try and enforce- but kids will be kids and it's hard to teach them not do something when they see other kids doing it) of no standing or jumping or walking on the couch (or beds or chairs or others people furnitrue) and I wasn't in the room and Drew was walking out of the living room- well Autumn somehow rolled or fell of the couch and smacked her face on the tile. I came running in and picked her up and tried calming her down, but there was obviously something wrong. She was crying harder than she does when she has a normal fall or hits something, and grabbing her lower jaw. So we focused all our attention on her bottom teeth and made sure none of them were loose. Once she calmed down and was fine I ran to the store. When I got back I was showing Autumn some clothes I got her and Weston and when she smiled and said, "Oh cute!" I saw it. She has chipped one of her front teeth, giving the appearance of a gap between her teeth. My heart sank. I hadn't noticed it before because when she grabbed her mouth she grabbed her bottom teeth, but really- it would be quite awkward to try and hold your top teeth so she grabbed what felt natural in her mouth so we looked in the wrong place.

She wasn't having any issues talking or drinking or eating but we decided to take her to the dentist anyways (ok- I decided- I am a worrier). I worried about future cavities, sensitivity, nerve damage, the tooth turning yellow/brown. So into the dentist we went. He was glad we came in, many people let chipped baby teeth go, figuring it's just a baby tooth and will fall out but it really can impact the health of the permanent tooth that will replace it. He could tell that the tooth had been pushed back when she hit the floor but because she is a thumb sucker when she sleeps she had pushed it back into place. The dentist was worried about stress that was put on the root/nerve at the time of the trauma so decided that by filling and putting a cap on the tooth this would help calm the nerve. He was very thorough in explaining everything and making sure I understood what all could be entailed from chipping a tooth and the best options for such a young kid. I thought he would take xrays to check the root but he is going to wait till we do the cap, when she is sedated. Which makes sense. If he sees any damage there will be further surgery, but we're hoping that nothing extensive needs to be done outside of the procedure of filling and capping the tooth. Because even that is a pretty penny, but I am grateful for insurance. The only thing the insurance is not covering is the anesthia, and Autumn will require 2 types of sedation because she is so young. At a time like this, we are grateful that the moment the kids are born they are covered under our medical, vision, and dental.
This was right after I noticed it-

Now she is used to lifting her lip up so others can see it.

I realize the gap is small, but when she is talking or smiling it's all I see, because it wasn't always there. It's actually quite noticeable and even her preschool teacher commented on it after school yesterday. In a week Autumns beautiful smile will look just like it used to.

As a side note, the dentist did say when she is 6 or 7 he will refer her to a orthodontist because she has lots of crowding and an overbite (from sucking her thumb.) And can already tell she will need braces. Which is no surprise- Drew and I could've benefited from braces when we were younger. Other than that and the chip her teeth look great!

Curriculum Night

Last week Autumns school did Curriculum Night- A Day In The Life Of Your Student. I was really excited to go because it's hard to get answers out of Autumn when I ask her what she did at school, so I really looked forward to seeing exactly what her day consisted of. Luckily my mom was in town that week and she is great at taking photos, so she took pics of Autumn in her classroom while I paid attention to what her teacher was saying. Students didn't have to go, in fact most parents didn't bring them but I wanted to see Autumn in her classroom and see what she likes and does. For security purposes, on school days, parents drop off and pick up the kids under a ramada outside so I haven't seen her in her classroom since Meet The Teacher night. It keeps parents and random adults from entering the school, for which I am grateful.

I am glad my mom got to see Autumn in her school environment too. She showed us where she sat on the Circle Mat and we saw where her assigned table was. Their day at Preschool is so structured and sounds so fun. While it's highly educational for Autumn, the way in which her teacher presents the material is a lot of fun and these students don't realize how much they're learning. I was glad to hear about all the individualized attention the students get. The teacher has two aids which helps gives the students a lot of attention. I also thought about how the kids might get bored with their classroom and the toys after awhile but every 6 weeks they change out the stations and toys keeping the classroom fun and helping the kids to continually learn new things.

This teacher has fought for this program and makes sure it is treated just as fairly as the rest of the school. I think any parent with a kid in public school has worried about funding and the quality of education since we know education has taken a huge cut. (Plus our small town has 2 charter schools, resulting in fewer kids attending public schools which severly hurts the public schools funding.) The parents school supplies list was probably as long as the Kindergardeners and 1st graders, but the teacher has tons of resources, since she has been doing this for 4 years here and 2 years previously in NY, and there are 2 other schools with the same program out here so if she doesn't have access to something the schools trade materials. They participate in Field Day like the rest of the grades, they take Field Trips, and do Meet The Teacher and Curriculum Night like the rest of the school. This teacher is perfect for this program.

Here is Autumn in her classroom-

Showing off their hats:

She has a play kitchen at home but this was clearly one of her favorite stations in the class:

Playing with a doll house:

Here is Autumns Teacher:

On the way out of the school we stopped to take a quick pic:

I can already see how much she has learned in just the few short weeks she has attended preschool. Everyday when I pick her up her teacher tells me how great she did that day. Which during the teachers presentation she noted that if she tells parents their kid had a rough day it's usually because they had problems trasitioning from one activity to another. Like when they have to clean up stations to do crafts or something. So I am glad Autumn has had nothing but great days at school because it means she is listening and doing the things she asked.

Pregnancy Post

A few people have asked for a pregnancy update/post- so here it is.

I am 22 weeks pregnant. My due date is Dec. 23rd, and the gender for the baby hasn't been confirmed yet, but at my last ultrasound when I was 20 weeks the dr. guessed a girl because he couldn't see anything, but the baby really wasn't cooperating all that well and the dr. was having a hard time getting a good visual.

We found out I was pregnant a few days after our trip to Texas back in April. We waited to tell anyone until I was 12 weeks- we waited until my first dr. appt which my dr. waits till 10 weeks, but I scheduled the appt for when I was 11 weeks only to go in and find out that I was 12 weeks along. My parents and Drew's parents knew when I was 6 weeks, but everyone was gracious to keep it a secret until our first appt.

When we got to the dr. office and weighed in I was excited to see that I was down 9 lbs. What a great way to start the first appt. I had used websites online to estimate the due date and we were figured Dec. 27th, until the dr. corrected us that it was Dec. 31st. We weren't exactly thrilled with any due date at or around a holiday (this pregnancy wasn't planned, and was a huge surprise) but figured Dec. 31st wouldn't be so bad. Weston was born 2 days late so maybe this baby would have the same results putting it farther from Christmas. During the ultrasound my dr did all the measurements and he concluded that I was actually one week further along than we thought and moved my due date up to Dec. 23rd. I actually teared up for a min. Remembering how chaotic Christmas was for us last year when we moved into our house 3 days before Christmas, and how I just felt overwhelmed and like I threw Christmas together in a couple of days. Now- with a baby due 2 days before Christmas I worried that my kids might not get as great a Christmas as I would like again. (My thoughts and ideas on this have changed- but I am telling you my first initial reaction.)

My first 2 pregnancies were exciting and somewhat planned, both times it was like- "If it happens it happens. And we got pregant right away." Plus both pregnancies were fantastic and I felt great. This time around we had decided to wait, and wanted to start trying around Weston's 2nd birthday, and well to our surprise this baby is coming a couple of weeks before his 2nd birthday. Even when we started telling family and friends I would cry when making our announcement because even with an ultrasound and seeing the reality of what was going on it hadn't sunk in and still wasn't what I wanted.

Don't judge me for having those thoughts. I was feeling hundreds of emotions, excited about the thought of having another member join our family but feeling inadequate of being able to deal with 3 very young kids. Not having this in my plans, and seeing my husband try to be excited and make me feel better. Then came the not feeling well and not eating much for 4 weeks (resulting in the 9 lbs. lost at the first appt.). It wasn't until I was 19 weeks and my sister in law had a baby shower and watching her pull out all of these infant/baby clothes that I started to get excited. Plus at my last appt. to see I am now down a total of 12 lbs. since getting pregnant I have come to terms with everything. We are planning for a baby girl but I am not pulling out all of Autumns old clothes/stuff and shopping for new girl things until Sept. 3rd when the ultrasound can confirm whether it's a girl or a boy. We have had an inkling that it's been a girl for awhile now (but I thought Weston was a girl so I can't go off my gut feeling). We have a name picked out for either gender and are starting to get excited and make plans for our new arrival. Drew can feel the baby kick, my appetite is back (for the most part) and I am starting to feel like myself again. Even though it's Aug. we have already made plans for one last family trip in Nov. as a family of 4, and our Christmas plans have been made.

I am very excited now and can't wait to hold a teeny tiny baby in my arms. I always thought the toddler years were my favorite, but until I had one (and now have 2)  I have come to realize the newborn stage (as exhausting, sleep deprived, and hard as they are) is my favorite favorite stage. Weston was the perfect newborn and so I have high hopes that this baby will be just as easy and fun.

My newborn Autumn:

My newborn Weston: