The Things They Say...& Random Things

We just returned from a wonderful spring break visiting Grandpa Reimer and family. We also celebrated Sissy's birthday with the Stohs family and the Reimer family over spring break. Pictures will come when I finally get them downloaded. We came back from spring break with 2 tired kids and one very black eye. Poor Garrett missed Grandpa's front porch steps completely on the way down. His forehead caught the brunt of his weight. Luckily he had no signs of concussion but got a nice scrape on his forehead and a very black eye. It's starting to turn yellow around the edges so I know it's healing. He's a tough guy.

I wanted to blog about the cute things my little kids say....

Avery associates everything purple with K-State (her daddy is very proud of this). When she sees purple, she says, "Go K-Steak!"

I'm amazed at how much Avery and Garrett are alike. When Garrett was 2-3 years old, he was obsessed with dogs and would pretend to be a dog everywhere we went. I remember him barking and licking packages in stores! Avery often pretends to be a dog and refers to herself as "Arfie." "Arfie will open the door." "Arfie wants another sucker." The funny thing about this is that Garrett also referred to himself as "Arfie" for a short time, but Avery would have been too little to recall this.

When Avery hears something new, she will often respond, "I didn't know that..." with a really high inflection on the word 'know.' Garrett did exactly the same thing when he was 3, and again Avery couldn't possibly remember that. How is it possible that she says some of the exact same things that he did at her age???

Garrett asked me tonight, "Mom do you remember when my favorite color was blue? And now it's orange and green."

Happy 3rd Birthday Avery!

Avery,

Happy 3rd Birthday! We can't believe that our baby is turning 3! You've grown up so fast. Sometimes you seem so mature for your age that it feels like you are 2 going on 8. We are so proud of the big girl you've become. You are such a kind sweet like girl with a big caring heart. When you saw your birthday presents the other day, you said, "These are for me and Garrett?!" You would share anything if you were asked to. You LOVE your big brother and mom and dad. Tonight, as I tucked you into bed, you said, "I'm your best friend, Mommy. And I'm Casey's best friend, and Garrett's best friend, and Daddy's best friend. You have a soft spot for animals, much like your mommy and Grandma Reimer. When Daddy didn't let Casey come inside one day, you burst into tears. Three of your favorite stuffed animals/blankets are puppy dogs. As you turn 3, your favorite things are playing with Garrett, snuggling with Casey, your 2 blankies and stuffed puppies, anything that is green, riding your bike, listening to books and "reading" them yourself!, matchbox cars, trains, stuffed animals, Scooby Doo, and watching movies like big brother! Happy Birthday sweetheart! We thank God for you everyday and are so lucky that God has chosen us to be your family.

Love, Mommy, Daddy, & Garrett (& Casey too!)

Welcome Cousin Colton!

We welcomed another cousin last weekend! Colton Peddicord arrived March 6th, weighing in at a solid 8 lb 13 oz! He's a healthy boy and looks very cute! We can't wait to meet him and will post pictures of him when we can. Congratulations Kim, Tucker, and big sister Isabella!

Rough Day

Friday ended up being a rough day for us. When I arrived at daycare to pick up the kids, Lynette surprised me with the news that she has now decided she will NOT take care of our new baby this fall. Like I said, this was a bit of a shocker to me. When we initially told her I was pregnant in the fall, she said she had room for the baby. Then later this turned into only 3 days at the most. And now, not at all??? What?? I'm very puzzled and irritated by this. She explained that she prefers to focus on the kids preschool activities and playing outside (both things we love about her) and that she can't keep up with a little baby in tow. I do understand that, but couldn't she just do us a favor? She currently has a baby that comes once a week and she said she dreads that day. She doesn't want to dread taking care of our baby each week. I don't want that either. Our baby is welcome at Lynette's when he/she is 9-12 months old.
On our drive home, Greg called me. "You won't believe what the dog ate today," he said. Apparently Casey decided to chow down on an entire large tube of Aquaphor that I left on the kitchen table. I proceeded to tell Greg that we had bigger problems than that, and told him about Lynette. When I arrived home, I checked the ingredients label of Aquaphor - petroleum and mineral oil. That can only equal one thing...diarrhea. So the dog spent all of his time outside or penned in the kitchen this weekend when we were not supervising.
Greg headed off to poker night with his coworkers after the dog incident on Friday, so I had the evening to myself with the kiddos. It was easy-going and relaxing, which was nice. However, when I climbed onto Garrett's top bunk bed to read him some books, I managed to catch my big toenail on his ladder. This particular toenail was black and blue last fall and had released from my toe about 2/3 of the way. One side was still growing and attached so following my doctor's advice, I had been taping it on until it falls off on it's own. Well that won't be necessary now because I ripped it completely off. So now I only have about 1/4 of a toenail and a very irritated spot where it was ripped off. Pretty painful for several days, but thankfully much better starting yesterday. To make matters worse, I wasn't wearing socks on Sunday, trying to let it breathe and heal a bit when I dragged a big cardboard box across my foot and got a big paper cut where I should have a toenail. Ouch.
Luckily, Grandpa called on Friday night with the news that he wanted to come visit us for the weekend so that helped to cheer me up. We celebrated Avery's 3rd birthday a little early with him and she loved opening her dollhouse from Grandpa and us! Garrett also insisted that she open the Tangled doll that he picked out for her! Don't worry, we still have a smaller gift for her to open on her actual birthday.
There's more to tell about the weekend, including a dog pee incident, which involved both myself and Grandpa sitting in dog pee, but I'll spare you the details. Thanks to the advice of my friend Ashley, it turns out that vinegar and water is really the best carpet cleaning solution.

Our Ultrasound

We had our 20-week ultrasound today! Several hours later, I still can't believe that we did NOT find out if we are having a boy or girl! The suspense might kill me, but it is exciting! The baby is perfectly healthy which is the most important thing. Garrett and Avery joined Greg and I for the ultrasound, which was a pretty special experience to see them smiling and watching their little baby brother or sister on the monitor. During the ultrasound, the technician asked the kids what names they liked for the baby. Garrett came up with the following ideas: Peaches, Diego, or Possom (wait a minute...aren't those characters from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs?) or Dora. The baby's heart rate varied from 138 to 133 beats per minute and later 154 with the nurse. We'll see if my theory (and gut feeling) that it's a girl holds true. I have always heard that lower heart rates are girls and that held true for Garrett and Avery. We got to see a lot of movement including the baby opening and closing her mouth and swallowing. It took a long time for the technician to see an air bubble travel to her stomach to pinpoint that the stomach was located in the right place, so the ultrasound took a really long time. We even took a break and tried a second time before she located the stomach. But eventually she saw it and everything looked great, so all is well.

Garrett's First Love

When I picked up the kids last week from daycare, Garrett pointed out one of the school-age girls sitting on the porch. "See that girl over there Mom? I like her. I think I'm falling in love." He gave me a big smile. I couldn't tell if he was teasing me or serious. I asked, "What's her name?" He replied, "I don't know..." (This week I finally remembered that her name is Morgan.) Garrett might have his first crush. My boy is growing up!