Second Post of the Year!

It's January 2nd!  And here's the daily news...not really a whole lot.  No school today (it starts back tomorrow!) and everyone relaxed a little.  Only thing we did "out" of the house was go to the pet store (just looking!) and to Target to grab a few things.  Pretty low key.

You read Pete the Cat (something about being the bravest cat) book to me tonight and you had a pretty good day overall!  Hope you're getting a good night's rest for school tomorrow!

The New Year

Happy New Year!

Today, you are 3,098 days old!  That's a lot to remember...so it's a good thing that there's a website that calculates it for us!

New Years Eve was good...you attempted to stay up with the grown ups (coming downstairs to hang out with us after your sibs were asleep), but still didn't stay awake til midnight.  You did get to see the ball drop at 10pm (New York, Times Square), so it's something!

Happy 2017!

Sunday and Monday

Your dad pointed out that the previous post on your blog was a bit...abbreviated.  So I'm hoping to remedy that with this post a little bit.  At least make the post longer than a paragraph.

This entry covers yesterday and today, just because I was a slacker and didn't get around to doing entries yesterday for any of you.  So, yesterday we moved the pool outside and filled it up with water. You, Jared and Kaitlyn could hardly wait to jump right in (which you did as it filled).  After some quality time splashing around, we hit the road to wind everyone down, going out for a car ride.

Dinner and then bedtime!  You got to read a bit before bed, which you are getting better and better at, and with a bit more confidence.

Onto today, Monday.  You got to go swimming TWICE (once with Daddy around lunch, and again once the girls were back in the afternoon).  We also set up the slip-n-slide...sort of.  It needs to be inflated a bit more, but it didn't seem to phase you guys.  You got to binge watch quite a few shows as well...I guess you're just getting into the swing of things with summer vacation.

Well, tomorrow should be fun...planning on going to a movie!  Happy Monday!

Saturday

Here's the second day in a row blogging!  It was a pretty typical Saturday, consisting of a trip to Target for a swimsuit (you picked out a minions one...although you were more interested in watching a video than you were in picking out a character suit) and then a drive up South Mountain again.

I know it's only a paragraph long, but I guess the weekends aren't really super eventful sometimes!  Hopefully next week we'll have some fun things planned!

All Done with 2nd Grade!

As of yesterday, you officially completed the 2nd grade, and are moving on to 3rd grade!

So much has happened since last blog post (and, as I mentioned with your siblings posts...I'll catch up later!).  Since the last one, you turned 5, started kindergarten, had a baby sister born, finished kindergarten, started first grade, finished first grade, started second grade, had ANOTHER baby sister, and so on.  We've also moved to a new house, you've gotten to fly several places, gone on a few road trips, been in a wedding as a ring-bearer and sooooooo much more.  It will be a very exciting summer!

You've grown SO much, even in the past year and even in the past few months.  You are almost up to my shoulders in height.  Yikes!  You are getting so much better at reading, and a lot more confident too.  You went the entire year without a trip to the principal's office (yay!), and you have been such a big help at home too.  Also in school, math is DEFINITELY your best subject (Mommy is secretly or not so secretly happy about that...hehehe), and you have even started showing an interest in science.  Yay!

In any case, we're really looking forward to the summer!  Swimming lessons are next on the agenda for you and Jared, and after that we're going on our road trip vacation for two weeks!  Happy summer vacation!!!

Happy 5th Birthday!

Wow...imagine that, I actually got around to doing the obligatory birthday post today!  I'm on top of it!

In any case, today you turn FIVE years old!  I honestly can't believe it!  You've been so much fun over the past five years (and more, if you count pregnancy...you were entertaining then too!), and we can't wait to see what the next years hold.

Five years ago, yesterday, we didn't know if you were a boy or a girl, and we were sitting at home having a nice quiet evening before your induction scheduled for the next morning.  Instead of getting a good night's sleep, my water broke and we were off to the hospital.  After waiting anxiously over the night, and pushing for a couple of hours, you were born at 4:55am...about an hour before we were due to show up at the hospital for the induction.

(And...if all goes well..so far so good...your baby sister will NOT be giving us a recreation of your birth today!  I'm sure you don't really want to share anyway!)

Five years have passed and you've had many adventures and gone through many changes as you've grown up.  In those years, you've lived in two states (NV and AZ), three different houses and become a big brother almost twice over!  You've flown more times than some adults have in their entire lifetime  (10 trips!) and been to quite a few states in the process (8!).

The past year alone you've grown by leaps and bounds.  You became 100% potty trained (overnight and everything!), learned your ABC's pretty well, learned to spell your name, became more brave and determined to swim independently, figured out so many things on the computer, and taken really good care of your little brother (helping him out whenever he gets stuck!).  You also started speech therapy (which has helped so much with your confidence and being able to talk...you are so funny and smart when you share what's on your mind!).  And finally, you've gotten ready for school, and attended the school district's preschool...all ready for kindergarten next month!

With that...I hope today is the best birthday yet!!!

Let's See...Where Were We...

Sorry for the lack of updates, kiddo!  You're second on my list of blog updates today (and by the looks of it, it hasn't been since Disneyland?!).

Where to start, where to start?!  I guess a lot of things and changes have taken place, and even more will soon!  I'll try to make this as organized as possible, but you're mommy is a slacker, so hopefully it makes sense and I don't miss the big things.

In October, you were evaluated at the speech therapist and started going to speech therapy.  It seems like now that it's helped you IMMENSELY, and I think you like that it isn't so frustrating to be understood by your teachers and friends.  You went through a little bit of a rough patch towards the end of the year at school in that you liked to "hide" behind things and kind of do your own thing in your classroom.  It didn't help that once you were finally in Preschool 1 at daycare, that you were put pretty quickly into Preschool 2 (within about 6 weeks!).  Your teacher left, and you went back to Preschool 1, only to have her leave pretty soon afterwards too!  They then moved you to Preschool 3 (aka Pre-K).  Everything was a huge change for you, and I don't think you knew what to do or where you were going each day!

December came and so did Christmas.  You LOVED Christmas this year, and loved helping with the tree, loved the presents and all of that good stuff.  We went to your Grandma and Grandpa (Coon)'s house and spent Christmas Day there, which you enjoyed too.  I think you were a bit sad to see Christmas end.  December also marked something big as well...you are going to be a big brother again!  But, more on that later!

January came, and you got back into the speech therapy every week routine, and went for an evaluation (a very LONG one) at the Developmental Psychologist.  It was terribly hard for you to sit still for that long, but we got through all of the questions and tests and things.  She diagnosed you as being on the autism spectrum, which is up for interpretation...it's a big spectrum.  But, in any case, recommended that you be referred to the school district to see if going to the preschool there might be good for you.  After several meetings with the district and your new teachers, you started half days at the school where you will attend kindergarten in the fall.  You were SO excited to be able to ride the bus (the bus picks you up from daycare and drops back off again).  I think you really like the different things that are going on at that school too.  You've already gotten to see baby chicks in your class, watch caterpillars grow into butterflies, have a Mother's Day tea party, and do Build-a-Bear.  It's going to be sad when it ends...we only wish we could have gotten you to start there sooner!

Onto the laundry list of sickness and all things health related as well!  You had your last tube removed (well, it was kind of hanging there) at the ear nose and throat doctor.  We got to keep the little tube as a sort of souvineer, which was interesting (for your parents, at least...you may find it neat later!).  You were pretty healthy until right after Jared's birthday in March...when your eardrum burst!  Once that was all fixed up, things were going alright until you got a fever suddenly one weekend, and we noticed a red rash all over your body.  We took you in and it was...Scarlet Fever with the strep throat.  You had a mild ear infection to go with it (but when your ear drum burst, it was negative for MRSA this time!).  That fixed up pretty quickly, and you were on your way until food poisoning (from pizza) hit you, me and Daddy.  Throwing up all day is certainly not fun!

Well, that appears to be that!  You missed out on spring pictures at daycare (when you were out with strep!), but your school did send pictures of you holding the baby chick (hooray!).  In April, we found out that you're going to have a little sister, and earlier this week you were pretty excited to see the ultrasound of her moving around.  It's going to be a fun summer!