Lexi Update

Oh we love this little girl!! There are many things she loves too! It would be wrong to not mention “sweets” first in this category J This girl definitely has a sweet tooth! Just the mention of something tasty and she claps her hands together and exclaims so excitedly, “I LOVE CAKE!”, “I LOVE DONUTS!”, “I LOVE CANDY!”, “I LOVE ICE CREAM!”…and the list goes on. She is not above stealing it either. The other day I found the refrigerator door open with a stool pushed up to it...and a cheesecake missing. Then I found her upstairs on her bed eating fistfuls of said cheesecake. Gum isn’t safe in my purse; she loves to sneak that too. But she doesn’t just take a piece, she eats the whole pack! She even found a fortune cookie in the trash that she began to eat before we could stop her :/ Donuts – she prefers to just eat the frosting on those. Came into the kitchen the other day and the frosting had been nibbled off several donuts…and she had a ring of chocolate around her mouth. I accused her of eating the frosting off all the donuts and she was quick to correct me, “NO! I not eat all! I ate 3! But they’re so good, I love them!”

Next on her list of faves are probably her brothers. She LOVES to play with them. And they are very sweet (most of the time) to include her. They have parties in their beds, build forts, play legos, trucks and trains. Levi plays with her dollhouse with her and sometimes will even play babies with her too, she in turn is happy to play zombies and bad guys with him.

She loves accessories of any kind on anyone. She loves to go through my jewelry box, loves her own necklaces, bracelets, bows and hair clips. She loves her shoes and clothes and is thrilled anytime I show her something I bought for her. The fancy, shinier, blingier, the better! She will usually exclaim, “Oooh, it looks like Cinderella!” And she is so patient and cooperative when I do her hair, then loves to check out her fully dressed self in the mirror. J

This was the summer she mastered swimming! We are thrilled! She is such a confident, skilled, happy little fish who LOVES to swim! She jumps in by herself and swims totally independently. She also has shown a big interest in dancing this summer. When she watches dancing on TV, she clearly has a preference for ballet and contemporary, “I like that dancing! I want to do that!” I took her to a trial class and she loved it. Just have to see where we can fit that in the schedule to continue.

Lexi is also an animal lover. We don’t have any real pets…so she has imaginary ones J At least a puppy and kitty, but she likes to pretend to be animals too – and that includes a wide variety. She and the boys will “play pets” too where one of them is the owner and the others pretend to be the pets. This could include puppies, kitties, bears, penguins, bunnies, etc.  She loves that. Although, sometimes the imaginary pets get into trouble and then she’s very upset – like if they get lost or if Levi steals them and runs away with them!

She got her new big girl toddler bed a few weeks ago and loves that too! It is seriously adorable and matches her room perfectly; really I love it too ;) She has always been happy to sleep in it, in fact she is an excellent sleeper who goes to bed without a fuss and sleeps easily all through the night in her own bed. Frankly she’s easier to put to bed and keep in bed than the boys! Funny thing is that she won’t sleep under the covers, she insists on sleeping on top of the minky comforter with her beloved pink puppy. Oh, and she must have her “Lexi” pillow in the room, but not actually on the bed. And she prefers a clean room. If there are things in her room that don’t belong at bedtime, like books, towels, boys’ toys, etc, she’ll toss them into the hallway before getting into bed. She likes the dark and doesn’t mind having the door locked, although she really doesn’t need it. But, if she gets up & knocks to go to the bathroom or something, when she goes back in, she locks it herself! Funny girl. She did develop a new habit with the summer and the new bed though. Lexi is definitely our early bird! She’s up around 6am, will come to my side of the bed and snuggle for a few minutes, and then will leave to wake the boys up. They’re pretty good about playing independently until we get up, although sometimes she’ll come and whisper in my face, “Mama, I need food, I hungry.” When she finally sees me up, she’ll exclaim with a smile, “Mama, you awake?!”

And finally, she loves learning to do things independently. She just started trying to bathe herself and wash her hair and is so proud of herself. She LOVES her panties (always picks which ones to wear herself and is excited to see when I’ve washed them, with an exclamation of, “You washed my panties?!”) and has been working on dressing herself. She likes to be helpful in cooking or cleaning up spills. She washes her own hands and face after eating, and can put most of her own shoes on.

One more love we hope she’ll have is for her new sibling joining the family in October. She asks about the new baby a lot and seems excited. She’ll tell me, “When him comes out, him wear a diaper, then him will sleep in my bed!” with a smile. She likes to pat my belly to see where the baby is, and I’ve noticed her playing with her baby dolls more often than before.

Bottom line is that although it’s clear she loves many things, I find myself saying throughout each day, “I just love her.”

Spring and Summer Update

Well, behind again. So let’s see, biggest news for us this year is the new baby we’re expecting in October! This will be the fourth and FINAL member to our family J I really had to convince Michael that this was a good move, but once we knew for sure, he was excited too J We’ve always revealed gender as soon as we knew it, but this time, although WE know, we’re saving it as a surprise for everyone else! I’ve definitely noticed a difference with this pregnancy with regards to my health. This one feels more difficult for sure…perhaps due to my age. But fortunately, I’m not decorating a nursery, so that has saved me hours of work!

This past spring Jake played soccer and Levi played t-ball. Jake scored every goal at every game for his team! He had fun, but I wish the coaching had been better to help all the boys develop their skills better. He was asked to join a specific team for this fall, so that’s the plan and this upcoming coach is supposed to be fabulous, so we’re looking forward to that! Jake is really excited to play again and he’s learning more about the value of money, so he even agreed to do extra jobs every day until school starts since we’re paying for the registration.  Levi really like t-ball! I was really proud of him – not only was he super cute in his uniform, but he had a great attitude every game, tried his best, had a great swing, and learned quite a bit about how to play during the season.

For family vacation this year we went to Carlsbad, CA and stayed in a resort on the beach. The resort and time at the beach were fantastic! The kids traveled really well on the road trip, although I will say by the end of a week traveling, I’m ready for our home bathroom! Lexi was potty trained in February and it’s no fun taking little ones to the bathroom in public! We took the kids to Legoland and Sea World while we were there. We loved Sea World, but Legoland we could have done without.  The kids loved the rides and shows at Sea World. Although, I commented to Michael after the Shamu show that I was surprised the trainers didn’t swim with the orcas and he responded with, “Uh yeah, not since that whale killed his trainer a few years back.” “WHAT!?” I had no idea. So I spent the most of the return road trip home looking up info on that attack and the history of Sea World…then I had nightmares about killer whales for days. Oops. L Still a great family vacation though!

Jake was so excited for summer vacation to start this year! We really didn’t plan a lot of activities during the summer. Miss Becki was back to teach swim lessons this year. I’m so excited because this is the year that I feel like Lexi has absolutely mastered swimming! The first 2 days she cried about swimming, then the 3^rd day she wanted to swim and I told her, “Ok, but no screaming or crying.” And she agreed. Never cried or screamed after that, but swam with a smile on her face! Lessons started in June and by July she was a total fish swimming in the water completely independently and loving every minute! We had tickets for the movies each week. Thought that’d be something fun to do with the kiddos, but more often than not it was just exhausting. We had to race from swim to the theater, then the kids would drink way too much lemonade and we’d have to race home from the theater at the end of the show. By the last week, Lexi peed in her carseat. I was not a happy momma. And we probably won’t be doing this next summer!

Michael took the boys camping over the Fourth of July weekend. They were thrilled! They met Uncle Hobie and his boys up on the Mogollon Rim and had so much fun they came back filthy from head to toe! Haha. Oh, and Jake brought back a souvenir…the skull of a javelina. I had to put my foot down that that would be an OUTSIDE souvenir, and would not be allowed to stay in his room J Levi explained to me that he couldn’t bring his souvenir back…Dad wouldn’t let him. He’d found coyote bones, but since there was still fur and a paw attached, he couldn’t take it. Good call, Daddy! LOL Oh and they were quick to throw Dad under the bus and confess they only brushed their teeth twice while they were there. Nice. In the meantime, Lexi & I hung out at home together J I took her to the mall (she loves shopping), bought some clothes, got Wetzel Pretzels, I painted her toes (which she gets so excited about!), and we played at home. But we both missed our boys! L I definitely don’t like it when Michael is gone at night…we slept with the hall light on both nights. And I suppose it didn’t help that I watched a few Lifetime movies like “Deadly Revenge” and “Stalked by Her Neighbor” late at night either! So we were very happy to see our stinky dirty boys come home!! I like my whole family under one roof for sure! It’s the constant paradox of a mother – all I want is a break from the kiddos for peace and quiet, but once I get it, I miss them like crazy!

Our Sourpatch Kid, Levi

Two days ago Levi had trouble at bedtime. He’s always been the night owl, and no matter how tired he seems, he always seems to get a burst of energy and wildness right at bedtime. This leads to some rough bedtime routines. On this particular night I told him I wouldn’t sing him a song (current favorite is Wheels on the Bus while scratching his back). He burst into tears & was very upset. I relented and said, “Ok, since you didn’t know that’d be the consequence, we’ll sing tonight. But, know in the future if you don’t get ready for bed when told, there will be no song.” Ok.

Next day there is again trouble at bedtime, mainly not following directions or cooperating. Wildness. I gave him a warning about no song. To that he matter of factly responded, “that’s fine, I don’t want one.” Really? The same consequence that brought on a flood of tears the night before now makes no difference to him? This is one example of how he challenges us as parents. Just when we think we have a plan for reigning in unruly behavior, he changes the game somehow. After putting him back to bed several times, I locked him in his room. He pressed his little face to the door crack as I was walking away & said calmly, “Fine, then I’ll just peel the paint off the wall.” And he did. Never afraid to up the ante and always seems to be aware of how to push my buttons!

And although Levi has a “classic” mischievous, wild, rambunctious side, he also has a “classic” super sweet side. Today my boy was full of sweetness. “Mom, I love this dinner! This is one of my best dinners! You did such a good job; I’m going to tell you something you’ll really like… (wait for it) I love you. I’ll tell you too Dad. I love you. I put my plate in the sink, may I be excused? And now I’ll give you a kiss…even 3 kisses! Mom, do you want to sit with me on the couch?” Sure! And at that, he snuggled up with me on the couch, patted my belly, and I remembered just how easy it can be to love this boy.