Ash's school birthday celebration

This year Ashley's birthday fell on Thursday, the last day of the school week. Because her teacher is so incredible, she suggested that Ashley bring her special birthday snack earlier in the week so that it wouldn't coincide with the class Christmas party, which would be held on the same day. Ashley was all for an early celebration and woke up Monday morning eager to play Birthday Girl.

It was also the day that Ashley proudly brought home and presented the Christmas present she had been working on all month. I didn't realize sending her to school would mean gifts for me. Guess I should reconsider this public school thing after all, huh?

Birthday Girl in her flashy birthday crown ready to hand over a gift she was so proud to make and give

World's cutest handprint Santa Claus - this will be cherished and proudly hung year after year

In case you can't tell, that's one proud Midget

For her special birthday snack I had a friend who owns and bakes for Zoey's Delights make Minnie Mouse cake pops - I ordered a few extras...

...so that Natty Kat could partake in the Minnie Mouse fun as well

Tea for 1

Natty and Ashley were so excited when their Nana gave them each their own little Christmas-themed porcelain tea set (this was back in December and I'm just now getting around to sharing...). I had a heck of a time getting Natty Kat to put hers away even though she's less than gentle with something so delicate. One particular evening she was so into serving up a spot of tea that she literally wore herself out.
Not bad for a kiddo that goes-goes-goes all hours of the day!

One for you. One for me.

Forced smile? I think so.

Someone must have slipped a sleeping pill in that last cup

My loves

The other night lucky Jake got to cuddle with our triple crown just before bedtime. 

The only thing better than watching Jake cuddle with our girls is cuddling with them myself

Here comes Peter Cottontail

Check out Ashley's awesome drawing of the Easter Bunny. If I get my way (IF?? Ha!), this picture will get framed and will become a yearly Easter decoration. Not only does her bunny have chicken legs, but it would appear he also has the feathers of a toucan. 

You can't beat that!

When I unpack this drawing every year I hope it makes me as happy as it does today

Little suckers!

It's possible I'll never have a more precious picture than this one.

Loving our little suckers

Fantastic!

Fans. Frogs. Flies. Fruit.

This week has been all about the letter F.

So it came as no surprise when Ashley proclaimed she'd be sharing a flamingo. 

Midget knows what she wants.

This morning when she was getting ready for school and we were talking about sharing day Ashley said "Mommy today I'm sharing a toy flamingo. And I'm going to wear my flamingo shirt. And I'm going to tell my friends that flamingos are pink because they eat pink shrimp. And I'll show them how they stand on one leg."

It would appear Ashley is a flamingo fanatic.

This makes her Papa very proud!

Looking fabulous in her flamingos!

Feel the love

I was lucky enough to accompany Ashley to school on Valentine's Day to help at her class party. Earlier in the week we spent a couple of afternoons putting together Valentine's for her friends; I never imagined it'd take her so long to write her name 16 different times. I think after our first attempt I realized I'd better break it down into separate segments to keep her fresh and to keep me from strangling her. :)

I absolutely love going to school with her on party days. It's a great insight watching Ashley interact with kiddos her own age. It's hard, as a parent, to stand by when some little puke isn't treating her nicely, but I know it's all part of growing up. 

Plus Ash doesn't take crap from anyone so she's not down and out for long.

Homemade gifts for Ashley's classmates. They say "Bear hugs for (student name). Love, Ashley" and each baggie was filled with Teddy Grahams and gummy bears

Fancy!

Excited to have a card to open

7th year in a row for this fabulous shirt

Party time!

Since it was Thursday, Ashley also got to share for letter H - a book all about horses

Pointing out to Mrs. Huskey where the letter H is

Showing her friends

Windsock craft - this was the table I was in charge of

Mommy and Ashley's wonderful windsocks 

Snack time!

The kiddos got to frost and decorate their own cookies - big surprise Ashley's had nearly 1 cup of sprinkles on it

Valentine's box decorated by Ashley

Recess! Always a favorite time of day no matter if you're young or old!

Midget showing her teacher and I just how well she can swing

Special froggy-whistle Valentine from Mrs. Huskey 

Even Keely Q got a pink flamingo Valentine

After school Ashley, Natalie, Keely and I, along with  Nana, headed to the rocket ship park for lunch and play

Later that day while Ashley and Natalie decorated cookies with Grandma, Keely Q gave me a Valentine gift and let me rock her to sleep

Is it on straight?

First play date with a classmate and this is how Midget comes home. While I love her style, she's got a ways to go before she's ready for a job at the Mac counter.

Eye shadow for cheek color? Why not.

Simply gorgeous

All about the letter C

This week has been all about the letter C. Ashley made caterpillars and cacti, both of which are darling. 

When it came time to pick her sharing thing it was a no-brainer. I gave her a list of items and she easily picked her Coast Guard t-shirt and picture of herself standing in front of the USCG Sea Lion (Shaun's boat when he was stationed up in Bellingham). She tried really hard to convince me to call Shaun and have him come. I told her that the rules of sharing day is that it has to fit in your backpack, but she didn't seem to care. Then I explained Uncle Shaun has to work and she responded "No. It's okay with Aunt Lindsay if he comes!"

Because even at 5 Ashley understands the hierarchy of marriage. :)

Calm, cool, collected and ready to contribute her letter C sharing

Wordless Wednesday

Totally tubular

This morning Natty Kat had her regular every-6-month-tube-check with her ENT. Her 2 year surgery anniversary will be March 25, and since tubes generally last 6-18 months, the fact that hers are still holding on nearly 2 years later is pretty awesome. It's good to know she's getting every penny out of them.

Because she's had more otoscopes and instruments in her ear that most adults, Natty has no problem holding still and letting people take a look. In fact she almost gets a little giddy when it comes time to check out her ears. Sure it sucks she's had so much practice, but at least we don't have to hold her down and fight her tooth and nail to have an exam. 

The tube in her left ear recently fell out (I'm not sure how he can tell it was recent?) and was caught up in a ball of ear wax, just chilling in her ear canal. Natty held still beautifully as he prepped her ear with a ear funnel and then reached in and grabbed the tubes with something that looked like an ancient Chinese torture device. I told Natty she needed to hold very still, so when she squeezed her eyes shut, clamped down her jaw and burrowed her eyebrow, I knew she was uncomfortable but was being extra brave. I was so proud of her! And when she got to see the tiny blue tube, that was reward enough for her.

Natty Kat will go in next week for another hearing test. Sometimes we wonder if she got all of her hearing back after the surgery. Her normal talking voice is pretty dang loud and I'm not sure if that's typical 3 year old volume levels, or if she just can't hear. I am *not* a fan of the hearing test booth thingy, but I'll put on my brave Mommy face and deal. Good news is that Natty doesn't seem to care one way or the other.

Typical Natty Kat.

I think about all of those sleepless nights I rocked and sang to Natty as she battled through another EI (we think she had somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 EI's in 4.5 months). I'm not sure how many miles the rocking chair has traveled or how many verses of Do You Hear What I Hear? I've serenaded. And looking back now I can't come up with anything fond or loving about that time. I was tired and frustrated. Natty was in pain and cranky. It was a miserable time for everyone. The words Patience, Strength, Understanding where my motto as I begged her back to sleep at 3 am. Patience because my supply was running dangerously low. Strength to make it through yet another day sleep-deprived. And Understanding because Natty had no idea what was going on; only that she was in pain. I'm thankful she had the surgery and am even more grateful that it worked. And now, as Keely heals from her 3rd EI in 4 months I wonder if we are headed down that same road? I pray we aren't but now that I'm on the other side of Natty's EI horrors, I know there is life afterward. Even if the life IN the EI horrors totally and majorly sucks, at least I know there's life on the other side.

Love you, Natty Kat. 

Brown Baby joined in today's festivities 

Brave girl

Tube from Natty's left ear - that piece of hardware costs $100 but its benefits are well worth 10x that amount

Keely's 6 month check

Last week Keely braved her way through her 6 month well-child check. In addition to the normal height and weight check, the 6 monther also means vaccinations. 

Out of all of the girls the award for Most Upset When Getting Poked goes to Keely Q. Ashley would cry for 10 seconds. Natalie would cry for 15 seconds and shed 2 tears. Keely Q cries for about 30 seconds, sheds a  handful of tears, and then whimpers off and on for another minute. To be perfectly honest, tears brought on by vaccination shots doesn't upset me because I know the benefit of being vaccinated FAR outweighs the short-lived discomfort. Sure, having to deal with a cranky baby the next 24-48 hours sort of sucks, but it's over soon enough. Unlike her sisters, Keely always seems to get a fever a few hours after her shots. Hate seeing her so pathetic, but I know it's all for good reason.

Keely Q has *finally* doubled her birth weight! She was 7# 3oz at birth and weighed in at a perfect 14# 6oz. Usually babes double their birth weight by 5 months, so Keely was just a tad behind schedule. Her weight puts her in the 22%; she's our lightest 6 monther, ever. And at 25.5'' long, 46%, she's also our shortest chitlin.

6 month stats for our Triple Crown

              Ashley                          Natty                               Keely

weight  19# 1 oz - 90%            17# 6oz - 75%               14# 6oz - 22%

length   27'' - 90%                      26'' - 75%                      25.5'' - 46%

head     17''                                 16.8''                              16.1'' - 15%

I had reason to believe there was left-over fluid in Keely's ears from her ear infection (EI) 15 days prior. I don't own an otoscope, I don't have Go Go Gadget x-ray vision, I don't even have an MD behind my name, but I *know* when an EI is brewing. I certainly owe Natty Kat credit for my Super Powers; if she didn't have 20+ EI's in 4.5 months, then I wouldn't have had the opportunity to perfect my skills. Unfortunately there isn't anything that can be done about fluid in the ears if it's not infected even though it causes pressure and discomfort. Sometimes it can take a month (or more!) to clear out. Our plan of attack at her appointment was to just wait and see and pray it didn't get infected. Too bad not even 48 hours later I was back at the pedi's office because, like so many times before with her sister, I *knew* an EI was among us. 

Keely's reflux was addressed. For now she'll continue to get her daily dose of Prevacid. One of these days I'll have to snap a shot of Keely's face when she's taking it. For a while I thought she was just being silly and making stink-faces so I decided to steal a taste....bad idea! Just imagine if you took 10 lbs of dirty socks, soaked them in a vat of vinegar and then added melted head cheese. I'm certain even that concoction would taste better than liquid Prevacid. But it works. So for the time being she'll have to power through the nastiness. Poor Keely Q.

We discussed Keely's vast palate of foods. To date she's had: carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, corn, green zucchini, yellow zucchini, peaches, acorn squash, butternut squash, pears, pumpkin, avocado, applesauce and banana (All homemade by yours truly. Yes, I'm that kind of wonderful.). It's great because she hasn't met a food she doesn't like, but it's also cumbersome because the child does.not.poop. I thought Natty Kat had a sucks-every-drop-of-water-out sort of colon, but it seems Keely Q is going to give her sister a run for her money. At this point her plum juice doesn't seem to get things moving, so I'm going to do a bit of research on pro-biotics and see if I can't find some that don't contain dairy proteins (this is the part of the dairy she's allergic to). Poor thing needs help in the "getting moving" department.

All-in-all it was a good appointment. Shots. Stats. Shits. Now that I'm a mom of 3 I'm beginning to understand the 3 common S's of well-child checks.

Rocking the 6-month grin (and duck-fuzz hair!)

Natty, my silver lining

Super quick...

Keely Q had her 6 month check on Thursday (that post will come later), and the pedi confirmed what I had known all along; she still has fluid in her ears left over from her ear infection (EI) back on February 21. While the fluid is clear and not infected, it's still sitting in there causing pressure and discomfort. And because of the nature of the ear, the fluid can easily come infected.

The last few nights with her have been rough which makes me think the fluid has turned into an infection. I'm waiting for the pedi's office to open for Saturday hours, but in the meantime Natty Kat has provided me with a silver lining. Through no fault of her own she calls an EI an "Ee in-f*cktion". 

No joke.

If you know Natty then you know she's still figuring out how to make certain letter sounds (the result of one too many Ee in-f*cktions herself).

Oh dear Natty Kat. I couldn't have pegged those nasty EI's any better myself.

Getting our glam on

The morning of New Years Eve also happened to be the morning of the soon-to-be-miraculous Drake/Schoonover wedding. 
It still amazes me that at 7:30 pm ceremony warranted a noon hair appointment. But when you have the amount of hair that Sissie has, starting any later than that would be nothing less than stupid.
In an attempt to 'divide and conquer', Jake took Natalie and I had Ash come along with me. My plan was to just put her hair in hot curlers and let her rock those scrumptious curls she's been blessed with.
Okay. That's a lie. It was a plan to have her hair in hot curlers, but I wasn't banking on me doing it. Between Shawna and Sissie I can't hold a candle to their hair-doing capabilities, and since Sissie was 'the gal of the hour' I couldn't exactly ask her. Lucky for me, and Ashley's luscious locks, Aunt Shawna stepped in and did her thang.
What a lucky Midget.
What a lucky Riane.
My hair dresser and her sister came and did all of our hair. Shawna gifted Sissie a room at a local hotel, so we got to crash there, hang out, get fluffed, get glammed and count down the hours until the "I do's".

Heidi getting a look at just how much hair Sissie has

Our (self-selected) hostess with the mostess, Midget

Eeek. Get some make-up on, Mama.

Hair done-zo 

I can't be certain, but I'm pretty positive Ashley ate every piece of cheese off of the meat/cheese/cracker platter 

Contrary to the look on Ashley's face, she loves with Aunt Shawna plays with her tresses 

Going European. 

Hair curlers in means shower cap on

Crazy kiddo

Looking cute no matter what

Hair and make-up done, next stop dress and shoes!