"yellow!"

Everything, and I'm mean everything, is yellow according to Chloe.  And what's super crazy about that is yellow really should be the last color name she learns what with all those Y's and L's.  But she annunciates it very well and has latched on to it for her answer to everything.  Any color is yellow, any shape is yellow, even letters and numbers can be yellow. 

Merry Christmas 2014!!

Speech Therapy 101

Chloe put two words together!  Abby had rubbed a big raw spot on her ankle last weekend while roller skating.  As she was getting in the tub just now, Chloe pointed to it and clear as day said: "Abby boo-boo!"  And in a super sweet voice to boot.  Go Chloe!!

Ryan!!

Happy 7th Birthday to my Little Man!!!!!!  [alright, yes, it's a little bit late, just a wee bit.  But better late than never.]  We had a great celebration - Mommy came to lunch at school, the bus stop greeted you with noisemakers and hats and cupcakes, dinner at Wendys and dessert at home with the Grandparents, a fun fall party at the birthday party playground.  I know it's cliche, but I just cannot believe you're seven!!  Thanks for being a great kid and an awesome brother and an amazing person!

Ryan's seven year checkup was on October 2nd.  His weight was 49lbs 8oz, just under the 50th percentile curve.  His height was 47.5", again hovering just under 50th percentile.  His height and weight are staying very consistent on the charts. 

heartbreaker

Ryan and Daddy left for boy scouts a couple of minutes ago.  Ryan gave me a hug [at Daddy's prompting], but he had no interest in giving his sisters one.  And they were running late, so out the door they went.  Chloe tried to blow him a kiss as he left, and she burst into tears when the door shut behind them.  The girls were sitting next to each other at the table in their booster seats, and Abby leaned over super sweetly and put her arm on Chloe's shoulder.  In the most sympathetic Abby voice, she told her:
"Chloe, that's just what boys do.  He didn't even give me a hug and I wanted one."

Dawgs and Dirt

Our Abby is a chatterbox.  She's always talking.  She talks out loud, thinks out loud, narrates her life - and the life of her sister - out loud.  She's always mumbling and pretend playing and chatting up her babies or stuffed animals or anything else.  It's fun to eavesdrop and try to figure out what's occupying her thoughts.  Today had two very distinct themes : Todd Gurley and Dirt.  Yup, I'm raising her right! 

If you happen to not be a die-hard Bulldawgs fan, Todd Gurley is our amazing running back.  Abby has latched on to his name.  Todd Gurley this, Todd Gurley that.  She called Chloe by the name Todd Gurley.  I even heard her use his name in vain while doing the Highlights picture search.  "Todd Gurley!  I can't find it!"  Fortunately she doesn't know many true curse words, because this girl has a mouth on her. 

Her other preoccupation has been Dirt.  Dirt is Florida-Georgia Line's current hit single.  And one of Mommy's [and therefore Abby's] current favorite songs.  We listen to it a lot.  She asks for the Dirt song as soon as we get in the car.  She hasn't latched on to any specific lyrics, simply the word "dirt."  Dirt, dirt, dirt.

I love her little, well actually huge, personality :)  She's a mess!  And she's so different from me, there's times I just don't know what to do with her!  She can always make me laugh, and she has the cutest things to say.  She's certainly the most extroverted of the family.  Although, in her old age, I have noticed she seems to be scaling back.  She's not nearly as talkative or comfortable around strangers [not necessarily a bad thing!].  She takes more time to warm up when we get somewhere.  And when she's done, she's done.  She has a blast at playdates or school, but then she needs to come home and chill and regroup [which I think makes her an outgoing introvert instead of a true extrovert.  psychology 101 expert right here.].

I love you my Abby-Girl!! 

spontaneous dessert playdate

On Monday, I made Christa's triple layered yumminess for small group.  [think chocolate chip cookie dough, Oreos, brownies.  think lots of leftovers and not much willpower on my part.]  Eager to find some friends to help us finish up the dessert, I randomly started inviting people over for an afternoon snack.  Abs had lunch bunch today, so I didn't pick her up until 1:00 and she had already eaten lunch.  So from 1:15 until we left for the bus stop, we had friends in and out.  It was so much fun!!  I love when we are able to get some of the "littles" together.  So often I feel like the girls' friends are Ryan's friends and their sibs and they tag along with his activities.  [or actually in reality, I suppose, their friends are my friends' kids :)].  So having a house full of preschoolers was a fun change, that doesn't happen enough these days! 

We had Ms. Erin and Max, Grant, and Grace for awhile.  They weren't able to stay too long due to nap times.  Ms. Beth and Jack and Smith came; we haven't seen them much recently, so that was really nice.  Ms. Kelsi and Naomi and Alice came by, as did our newest neighbor Ms. Ashley with her twins, Sam and Jack.  A houseful of little guys was so much fun!  Abby, Naomi, Sam, and Jack are all the same age [as is Max, but he left early].  We love watching those four play together and thinking [aka, worrying!] about them being in kindergarten together next year. 

We do talk a lot about moving, but I have been pretty content the last month or two.  And days like this remind me how blessed with are with amazing friends and neighbors.  Our bus stop is already pretty awesome, and it'll only get better next year with all the rising kindergartners.  I love the thought of Abby riding the bus with her big brother and all those friends.  I'm starting to think we really are stuck here forever! :) :) 

brotherly love

Last night Chloe was up throwing up.  All sorts of fun, crib cleaning, laundry loads, quick rinses in the bath tub, you get the picture.  Not much sleep for us!  We moved Abby to Ryan's bottom bunk so she could sleep better, which meant it was really hard to get Ryan up for school without waking her up.  And then Chloe had diarrhea on our comforter and Nellie missed the litter box and Ryan wet the bed.  And Chloe had her Babies Can't Wait eval at 8:30, so no time to clean up or even think about getting back into bed!  Needless to say, Mommy was pretty frazzled by the time Ryan got on to the bus and coffee was a must-have. 

But ... right after Ryan got off the bus, he immediately asked, "how's Chloe doing?"  My heart melted!!  What a sweet big brother!  I love my awesome Little Man! 

Mommys

I know this is a pretty similar statement to the one she made on her questionnaire a few days ago, but so cute and sweet that its worth repeating.  When asked today what she wants to be when she grows up, here's Abby's answer:  "I'm going to be a mommy so I can turn mommy into a grandma."  Love it :) 

Chloe's two year

After some crazy scheduling, Chloe had her two year appt.  Her original appt was with Dr. Bowman, but when I thought we'd be leaving any minute for Great-Grandma's funeral in Massachusetts, I cancelled it.  They didn't have any openings for a long time, so we left it at I'd call back to reschedule.  Of course, by the time I realized we could still make it to our original appt it had been filled already.  We ended up still going in, we just saw a nurse practioner instead of a doctor.  That's my only complaint with Roswell Pediatrics - they're so good everyone wants to go and it's hard to get an appt! 

So anyways, Chloe got a referall for a speech therapy eval.  She also failed her hearing in her left ear.  They did it four times, cleaned her ear out in between, and she was amazingly cooperative.  So I'm not really sure what's up with that.  She will be rechecked at Ryan's seven year and if she fails again, they'll refer her to an ENT. 

The nurse was super happy with her weight, hooray!!  She weighed in at 24lbs even, which is somewhere around the 15th percentile.  But she's steady on the charts and that's what they look for the most.  She actually said that most kids dip on the charts at this age, once they start eating real foods and getting picky.  Of course, we did discuss Chloe's love of whole milk.  She is drinking too much milk, which I'm sure helps her weight.  Apparently, too much milk can affect iron absoprtion.  So we'll work on less milk, more water, and 1% milk instead of whole.  She was 33.5" inches tall, roughly 45th percentile, again this has been a very steady line on the charts.  Her head was 18.5" which is fairly average I think.

Happy happy birthday Sweet Chlo- Chlo!!