Halloween

Since it takes more than a 5 year-old's skill to wield a knife, we decided to forgo the carving of pumpkins this year... and instead  painted them! Right choice. The kids had a blast. Thank you Chad for seeing that the pumpkins got completed this year. I'm down in the basement finishing costumes this whole time!

Check out these masterpieces!

And please excuse my half naked kids. Chad decided that was easier than using the craft aprons...

After having contractions every 5 min for 8 hours on Wed I was pretty sure I wouldn't be going to work Thurs (Halloween). Um, then they just stopped. It was really hard to get my mind back in work mode! Here's my costume...

Oof. The 3D effect was a vital part of the costume... but the pic makes me grimace.

Huge thank you to my mom for her help with the costumes! Never woulda happened without you! It's been tradition to do homemade costumes, they're a lot more work but they're cuter and more durable and my kids wear them all year long. This year though, I felt I had a pretty good excuse to not do them seeing as how I would be 39 weeks pregnant on Halloween. But then I felt guilty taking that tradition from my kids without their consent, it's been such a fun tradition for us! So I decided to give them a choice.

Big mistake. What's that saying, "Never give your children a choice that you don't want them to choose"? Yep, that's the one. I knew Jaedyn wanted to be a witch and Lilia, a cat. So I got online and found pix of what I thought were cute costumes on Amazon for an incredible price. I then found a pic of a pattern of costumes and showed the pix to Jaedyn. I was sure I knew what she'd choose. I was so dead wrong! And so surprised when she preferred the pattern costumes! And thus we embarked on the ridiculous journey of prego me bending over on the floor, cutting out patterns! I was reminded of Don Knotts on The Shakiest Gun in the West when he exclaims, "Air! I need air!!"

Here kitty kitty! You're so cute! Note the black sock covering her cast. It was definitely stroller trick-or-treating this year :)

At this point I was glad to have gone to the trouble. Don't they look so cute?!

Happy Halloween!!

Beep Beep... Coming Through!

Oh thank heavens THIS is not a permanent condition! Oi. 38 weeks and counting... not fast enough! I seriously feel humongo this time like I need back up alarms. I keep misjudging door ways and corners (ha!), and leaning over a counter is a thing of the past. In fact, just watching someone do that, makes me flinch!

Pretty sure it's been longer than 9 months. I asked the Doc at my last appt if anyone had ever been 55 weeks pregnant. He told me, "only in the tabloids". Haha. Well it's not just me. Even my friends have repeatedly told me that this pregnancy of mine is longer than anyone else's. I'm not sure if that makes me feel validated or irritated! 

"I Wanna Pur Pur one!"

And here she is. Beauty eh? Lilia did really well while she was getting casted. Jaedyn really wanted her to get a pink cast but since Jaedyn has the claim on all things pink around here, Lilia has developed an affinity for purple. When she was given her choice she very clearly wanted "pur pur". And they even added sparkles for her! Talk about turning a lame thing into fun!

And as you can see she's navigating fairly well. It's actually easier for her to walk on this little baby than the splint that extended past her toes several inches! The little humdinger ends just above her knee but it's only slowed her a little.

She has to have it immobilized for 3 weeks and then they'll saw it creating a split cast that will be held on with velcro. She then can remove it for baths and sleeping for the first week and then up and walking without it only having it on for rough play and trips out! Much better than the old 6 week smelly things! Woop! She has had an amazing attitude about the whole thing. It's incredible to me how adaptable toddlers can be.

More Adventures

Apparently my kids are more adventurous than myself or Chad. Or bigger risk takers. Or just plain and simply, more accident prone. They have now surpassed us in accident related injuries. Jaedyn, by getting stitches following an injury at the age of 4... something Chad and I have as of yet to experience. And Lilia, by breaking a bone at the age of 2. Also something we have as of yet to experience.

Storytime...

Really the timing could not have been better, if you can say such a thing without sounding gruesome or cruel. A few weeks ago, Chad was working full time and it would have been on the babysitters watch as the accident occurred on a Thursday when I was at work. A couple of weeks later and we would have had a newborn we were hauling around as well.

As it worked out, Chad is working part time and was home with the girls on Thurs morning doing some yard work... okay really, he was cleaning up the dog poop. So indirectly, I guess you could say that it's the dog's fault. It usually is.

The girls were playing on the slide and what we gather from what Jaedyn told us, is that they were going down the slide together and half way down Jaedyn let go of Lilia. This is typical, normal play. Unfortunately Lilia planted her feet just as Jaedyn was catching up to her which resulted in a twisting action on Lilia's leg. She started crying and Chad ran to the rescue.

Lilia is not dramatic. She is a sweet-natured, calm, happy child. So when she was still whimpering and refusing to bear weight on her right leg after 20 minutes, Chad called me at work. Now when I say Chad called me at work, what I really mean is, he called my cell phone and left a message. I've since filled him in on proper emergency protocol which includes calling the place of my work so I can be contacted immediately. We got in touch after another 20 minutes and decided to have him take Lilia into the instacare for x-rays.

Here's a sweet piece of the story. As they were getting in the car, Jaedyn was confused at the seeming urgency in the air and the rush to the car. She asked where and why they were going. Chad told her that Lilia's leg was probably broken and Jaedyn instantly started crying and exclaimed, "My heart is broken!"

By the time they got in to the Doctor, Lilia had calmed down. As Chad walked in with the girls the lady asked, "Couple of sickies, huh?" Chad explained the situation after which he received an incredulous "overzealous dad" look from the lady at the counter who I'm sure was skeptical that our completely calm toddler could possibly have an injury. Lilia acted the same way during the x-rays and exam, cooperating with the rad tech and looking around curiously at everything. Chad called me about an hour later to report that Lilia was splinted for a midshaft tibial fracture and would need to follow up with ortho for a cast on Tues.

He got them home for a late lunch and missed naps. When lunch was ready he called the girls in and after a few minutes he heard Lilia call from the living room, "Dad... I need help!" He had completely forgotten she couldn't walk on her own! He felt so bad. He ran in to help her and found her tri-podding on the floor with her hands and good leg.

The rest of that day, she was a little more quiet and cuddly than normal. She slept completely through the night with just a small dose of tylenol at bedtime. Friday she complained once or twice if she twisted it wrong or tried to stand. And this is her today, Saturday. Happy as a clam and crawling all over the house!

I love my brave little girl!