Random happenings from the girls!

I know, I still need to put up Venily's 4 year updates!!!!  Moving to the top of my priority list!  And I'm so behind on reading other people's blogs that I try to keep up with, it's not even funny!  Uhhh!  I just feel behind at everything this month!... Anyway, here is some more random happenings from the girls:

We have a game where Haven and I tell each other how much we love each other.  Here was her response yesterday:

Haven:  "I love you more than all the hair clips in the world!  ...AND all the hair... long AND short!!"

Well, how do you compete with that?  lol.  I laughed so hard!

There was an assembly at Venily's school for bullying and the whole school was together to watch it (4K-8th grade).  Venily was one of 5 students in the whole school that got picked to come up and do stuff in front of the school! lol!  She got to help the guy with a magic trick and then got to bring home a cool hat he let her keep!  Her teachers said they were so nervous for her, lol, and said she looked scared, but I am so proud of her for going out there and standing out there the whole time!  Yay, Venily!!!  ♥

Venily's 4th birthday!!!

My little girl turned 4 years old yesterday!!!!!  HOW?!  We had a great day despite it being yet another rainy birthday!

Venily woke up to lots of balloons everywhere!!!  We made and ate 4-shaped chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate chips on top!  She also got cheetos which she has been begging me for at the store and I told her they were gross, lol!  I also curled her hair for the first time and she felt very grown up. :)  I really need a new curling iron though!!

We decorated cupcakes for her class.  She insisted she wanted "butterfly cupcakes".  I had no clue what she was talking about, lol!  I thought maybe she had them at her school or something before, but no.  I looked up an idea online and made these (Jason frosted them, lol!):

Right before I was about to make them she told me she changed her mind and that she wanted unicorn cupcakes instead, I told her that was too bad, haha!

We bought decaffeinated tea and had a tea party!  :)  She picked out Chammomile tea.  She said it tasted too much like water.  Kylee didn't like it either, but Haven drank hers straight down and wanted more!  :)

We dropped Venily off at school and when I picked her up she said she had a GREAT day!  Everyone loved the cupcakes and Alivin and the Chipmunks even sang "Happy Birthday" to her on the smart screen!  :)

We had to go straight from school to ballet, where she did yet another great job!  Her teacher even came up to me before class and told me that Venily is becoming such an amazing dancer and that she has shown tremendous improvement from the last session she took!

We went to the store where she got to pick out a cake or cupcakes since I only bought one cake mix and used it for her class (totally didn't think that through)!  Jason had to work, but Grandma came over and had cupcakes with us and played with Venily until it was time for bed.  When I put her to bed she said "Mommy, thank you so much for making this the best day ever!"

And she woke up this morning with a HUGE smile on her face and I said "Wow, you are very happy this morning!" and she said "I'm just so happy to be 4!"  :)

Oh, and Venily is almost completely back to normal from her allergic reaction.  She is still itching every once in a while and still wants Benadryl, but I think it's mostly in her head and the fact that she liked having so much attention! 

I am working on and will have her 4 year updates posted soon!

ANOTHER baby!!!!!

NOT mine (of course!), but someone very close to me!  It is still a secret so I can't say who it is, but I am VERY excited!!!  The middle of next year is going to be filled with babies! ♥ 

Makes me want to find a new husband... ;)

Haven is NOT Venily!

Quick story!

We were at Venily's dance class yesterday and we were there 15 minutes early.  They had an obstacle course set up with a tunnel and I told Haven she could play with Venily and the other kids until class started.  Haven was going through the tunnel and Venily was coming in behind her.  Another little girl growled really loudly at Haven.  First of all, Venily yelled at the girl, which I thought was funny (I love to see her sticking up for her sister).  THEN, Haven got out of the tunnel, walked right up to the teacher, pointed at the other little girl and said very loudly "THAT little girl over there just scared me!" (said with complete exasperation)  LOL!!!!!!  It was so hilarious and something that Venily would not have done in a million years at that age!

Venily- 4K Parent Teacher Conference

On Monday (2 days ago), Venily had her 1st parent/teacher conference for 4K!!  It went FANTASTIC!!!!  The teacher had nothing but great things to say about Venily!  She went on and on about how wonderful of a child she is!!  She also said:

* She just found out that Venily was 3 and couldn't believe that she is so advanced already. (there are kids in her class that are 6 already!)

* She has great penmanship. She actually said that it is even better than her own, lol.  Looking around the classroom, I also couldn't believe how few kids actually write their name at this point.  There were only 3 that write their names on their projects, the rest had the teacher write it every time.

* That Venily is very well-rounded and is a friend to everyone.  The teacher says she knows that no matter who she puts in a group with her, she'll be fine with.

* She is very independent and is great with self-help skills and then once she is done with whatever she needs to do, she goes around and helps OTHER kids too. :)  I have definitely noticed this trait in dance class as well, lol! (she is definitely a little mother, haha)

* She is great at sharing and will try to solve her own problems and will only go to a teacher as a last resort.  The teacher said that this is a very advanced social skill at this age and that she expects most children to just come to her immediately.

* She is also really good at listening and even when other people are trying to talk to her like during circle time, she keeps her focus on the teacher instead, lol.

*  She got her MAPS testing scores (tests they took on the computer a few weeks ago) in and Venily tested at the range of an average kindergartner.  Which is great since she is only in 4K and we put her in a year ahead of schedule on top of that!

I am so happy that she is doing so well in school!!!!  Makes me so proud!!!  I only wish she behaved half as well at home as she does at school, lol, but Jason says that he'd rather she behaved at school than at home any day.... I guess I agree if we have to pick one or the other!

Girls' Birthday Party!!!! 2 and 4

We had the girls' birthday party last Sunday, October 3rd.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day!!!  Upper 60's- 70 and sunny.  Just perfect.  We went with an "Under the Sea" theme and I had a lot of fun with it.  I figure I don't have many years left to be truly corny without being embarrassing, so I am making these few years count, lol!  Venily and I made a bunch of sea creature decorations and we had some under the sea murals too.

We invited a lot of family as well as Venily's whole 4K class (of 18 kids).  4 children showed up from her class, 1 (our neighbor) was supposed to but fell asleep at her grandma's and woke up too late for the party, haha.  It was nice because we had the party at a park and all the parents came with their children (and some siblings) and all stayed.  We also rented a bouncy castle and I had a hard enough time keeping track of just my 2 children between the park, 2 pavilions, and bouncy castle and would have really struggled watching a bunch of children by myself!  The children that came to her party from her class were Lizzy, Eva, Nolin, and Vanessa.  (for Venily when she is older, haha).  One of her teachers, Ms. Jill came too (but she does every year, lol)!  The 3 girls are all best friends of hers that she talks about and plays with a lot.  And Nolin rides her bus.  She is ALWAYS talking about him as well, but is also always telling me that he says naughty words a lot and follows her around sometimes, lol.  And another of her best friends, Aubrey, who doesn't go to school with her and her sister Autumn, who is the same age as Haven came too.  As well as lots more friends and family (including all their cousins!) ...  Overall, we had 55 people come (that I counted off the top of my head)!! 23 of which were children.

I made the girls a mermaid photo op station, which was a lot of fun!  Jason made fun of me, but Venily and Haven were so excited about it!  I'd like to make a new one every year for as long as they'll let me, but we'll see! :)  We had different kinds of gold fish crackers and candies I made with fish molds.  I also made blue jello cups with gummy fish and sharks inside (which was a total PIA, lol!).  My mom made the girls' cakes.  Venily got a mermaid cake with a Barbie with a fruitroll up tail and Haven got an aquarium cake.  Overall, I think everything turned out really well and I know the girls had a lot of fun!!

The girls got way too much stuff too!!!  They have been playing with all of their new stuff ever since their party and are having a blast (like they really needed more toys....)!  All the projects and stuff REALLY came in handy when Venily got sick and couldn't get off the couch!!  (And I love all the clothes they got, lol, and the gift cards to Kohl's where I bought them even more clothes, lol!).

Overall, a really great party! :)

Haven- 2 years old!!! UPDATES

Well, since Venily will be 4 tomorrow, I decided I HAD to get Haven's 2 year updates posted!!!!!

Haven Araya turned 2 years old on September 26th, 2011.  THIS is what we did that day.  She is so grown up at 2 years old, it saddens me a lot (but makes me so proud at the same time!).  She doesn't have a single "baby" thing left and is such a big, independent, smart little girl!!

Here is Venily's 2 year stats and updates:

http://youngmommyandwife.blogspot.com/2009/10/venily-2-year-update.html

http://youngmommyandwife.blogspot.com/2009/12/venilys-2-year-well-check.html

COMPARING SIZES:

Haven had her 2 year well-check on Oct 6th, as posted HERE.  At 2 years old, Venily was 27lbs, 6oz and Haven is 29lbs, 8oz.  Also, Venily was 37 inches tall and Haven is 38.5 inches tall!  And here are Haven's current weight and height charts.  I had to do her height chart myself since it kept getting an error for 38.5 inches, apparently it only goes up to 38 inches, lol!

Here are some of Haven's 2 year updates!!

SIZES

Clothes- 3T tops and 3T bottoms. Pants have to have adjustable waistbands and it is hard to find them that fit perfectly since she doesn't wear a diaper so she has a lot of room where her butt is (certain brands fit a lot better than others)!  She wears a couple 4T shirts as well and has a few shirts she shares with her sister, ahhhh!  Pajamas are mostly 4T (if they are tight-fitted) and 3T if they are not.

Shoes- 8

Underwear- size 4 in brand name underwear like Disney or whatever (store brands are goofy fitting!).  Her favorite underwear she has right now are My Little Ponies and The Little Mermaid (p.s. Venily is in a size 4 in underwear too, lol!)

Hair length- Need to measure still!!

Color- Getting darker, but definitely still red!

* Also, very curly at this point.  I can give her a bath in the morning and blow dry her hair straight and after nap time, it is back to being 100% curly again, lol!

# of teeth- 16 as of her actual birthday, but 17 as of today's date!  She cut her top left 2 year molar on October 10, 2011 (maybe earlier, but that was the 1st time I had checked in a while).  Top right is swollen.  Bottom 2 don't appear to be coming in at all yet.  Haven, you don't literally have to get your 2 year molars the second you turn 2, lol! 

nicknames- Havs is what I call her the most besides Haven.  I also call her princess a lot or sweetie.

speech- Is very advanced at speaking for a 2 year old.  She speaks in multiple word sentences all the time and has a crazy good vocabulary!

She has also fixed her "I/my" problem.  She used to say "My want to go outside" instead of "I want to go outside".  Then she had it down right about 90% of the time and now she doesn't do it at all anymore.

silly/funny conversations and sayings:

* If I or someone else is sleeping she loves to say: "Wake up sleepyhead, wake up!".  It's actually my favorite way to be woken up! :)

* "I already did!"  Most of the time I'll be trying to tell her something or trying to remind her something like "You need to make sure that you turn the light off every time you leave the bathroom" and she'll turn it off and say "I already did!"  Huh.... I really hope she doesn't become as sassy as her sister!!

* "You better not!"  She says this to Venily a lot.  And one time she was playing with her little dogs by herself and I heard her say to the dog "You better not pee in your underwear dog!"  LOL!!! 

* One night she said "Tomatoes with dinner?  I'm a lucky duck!"  Ahhh!  She cracks me up! 

* We have this conversation at least once a day...

Haven- "Can I have some gum?"

Me- "No, sweetie, you can't have gum"

Haven- "When I get a little bigger?"

Me- "Yes, when you're a little bigger."

Haven- "I'm a big girl now!"

or

Haven- "Mommy, am I a big girl?"

Me- "Yes, you are a big girl."

Haven- "Can I have some gum now?"

Me- "No, hunny, you need to be a little bigger still!"

(LOL, I think I'm going to let her try some gum soon.  Venily was 2 years, 3 months when she started chewing gum and she IS a big girl...)

She also says "Mommy, I turned big, I can eat cough drops now!"

* "Here Mommy, it's a little tiny baby booger!"  (as she hands it to me.... this happens more times than I'd like to admit, haha!)

*  One time she wanted to know how to do something and she said "How dare you do this?"  She wasn't trying to be sassy, she just wanted to know how to do it, haha!

* While jumping on her trampoline with me: "Mommy, I'm a big girl and you're a big girl!  We're both big girls!  Mommy is a big girl and Haven is a big girl!" :)

* We were looking at pictures of Venily doing ballet and Haven says "Look Mommy, Venily is doing an arabesque!"  I actually had to google the term to see if she was correct and she was, lol!  Apparently she pays more attention during Venily's classes than I do, lol!

* ATTITUDE already?!

Haven: "Can I watch Dora?"

Me: "No, Daddy broke the computer and hasn't fixed it.  Do you want to watch a movie?"

Haven: "Yes!"

Me: "Which movie do you want to watch?"

Haven: "I don't know."

Me: "How about Finding Nemo?"

Haven: "Actually Mommy, it's just called Nemo, not Finding Nemo!"

WHAT?!  I think she inherited some of her Daddy's know-it-all-ness. :(  (Venily too!)

* "I'm not a _______, I'm just a big girl!"  or "I'm not a _______, I'm just Haven!" insert with any nickname I come up with (sassypants, cuddlebug, sweetiepie, princess-face, etc, haha)

* Haven just told Venily "You can't call me naughty names, do you understand me?!"  and then she told her "You can't say purple-pants ever again or you're going to go straight in your bedroom!".  She does my work for me! :)

SLEEP- Goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up at around 7am as of lately (which is kind of a "late" sleeping in time for Haven).  She takes a nap around 12:30/1:00pm for about 1.5 hours (though it ranges between 45min and 3.5 hours).  She always asks us to lay down with her when it's time for bed so we'll stay in there for a minute and then say "Okay, I'm going to go do something, I'll be back to check on you in a little bit." and she says "okay" and falls right to sleep, lol.  She likes to sleep with at least 2 toys every night, though it doesn't always have to be the same 2.  Her FAVORITES though are her 2 kitties.  "Epic Maggie" is a big calico cat and "Midnight" is another black kitty she loves!  ♥  Some nights she still wakes up and tells us she needs to go to the bathroom, other nights she sleeps straight through and doesn't have to go until the morning.  She wakes up in the early morning and crawls into bed with us a lot still as well.

What do you know, as I'm typing this Haven puts "Epic Maggie" on my lap and says "I love Epic Maggie SOOOO much.  Can I have some milk?"  lol!

Playing:  Her favorite things right now are her stuffed animals and babies.  She is always carrying one around, pushing it in the stroller, etc.  She loves getting them tiny pillows and blankets as well.  She also loves anything dress up, especially her high heels and tutus.  Many days I put her in regular clothes only to turn around and see that she has her pants off and is wearing a tutu instead, haha.

She would have me read her books ALL DAY long if I could.  She has my love of reading for sure!   Every time I finish one it's "Just one more.... pretty please?!"  ♥

Super independent:   Needs to do everything herself!!
Heaven forbid I should try to help her pull her pants down to go to the bathroom (or move her stool, or open the lid on the toilet, or sit her up on the toilet, or flush the toilet, or turn on the water... lol, you get the idea!).  Anytime I do something for her, she undoes it and redoes it while saying "I can do it all by myself!"  Oh, boy!


She also brushes her teeth and spits the toothpaste into the sink all by herself.  It definitely helps to have a big sister to want to be just like! :) 

No more gates on stairs:

We took the top and bottom gates off the stairs about 2 months ago.  I left them up for Kylee, but when I asked her mom if we could take them down, she said yes.  Haven does great on the stairs and is always really cautious.  She knows that she has to hold onto the black railings 

No more "baby" cups!:

About 2 months ago, we decided that "baby cups" (aka- sippy cups or straw cups) were for in the living room only and she was only eating with regular cups and then about 1 month ago we cut out ALL "baby" cups so she is now using only regular cups.  She does really well and hardly ever spills any.  I think Venily has spilled more than she has, lol! 

Opening doors:

She learned how to open regular-knob doors a few weeks ago.  Darn it!  I had put her in a time out in my bedroom and shut the door (she hardly ever gets timeouts) and she opened it right back up.  I yelled at Venily for it, lol, and she told me Haven did it.  I didn't believe her, so I closed it again and sure enough, Haven opened it right back up! :(  Venily didn't open doors until she was like 2.5 years old, lol.   I really wish she didn't know how to open the refrigerator door, that gets really annoying!  I have contemplated trying to put a lock on it, but I probably won't since it's such a pain!

Other favorite things in this world:

* Playing outside

* Dora (one of the only shows she'll actually watch.  The only movie that she will sit 5 minutes for is Finding Nemo, though that doesn't last long either!)

 * Rocks- everywhere we go she wants to bring a rock with her!  She has rocks all in our car, rocks in our house, rocks in her pockets, etc.  lol!  She also is always wanting to put the rocks that get out of the areas they are supposed to be in "back with their families".  I love her!! :)


*KITTIES- she has her stuffed animal kitties, but she also loves real cats and when she sees another stuffed animal kitty at someone else's house or at the store, etc, she becomes instantly super attached to it!

* She also loves ALL animals, not just kitties.  She is always asking me "Can we go to a barn and see all the animals?" 

* Loves eating things out of the garden.  She asks me all the time if we can "go check on the zucchini's"  haha.  The zucchinis and carrots are the only thing that are still going strong.  We have a few tomatoes left too.  She LOVES picking and eating things from our garden.  I really wish we could have a garden all year round.  It has been so fun this year!

Other random things:

* She has counted to 21 several times now and then starts saying random 20-something #'s, haha.  Counts to 10 in Spanish!

* She has such a little tiny soft voice.  Her yelling is equivalent to Venily's regular speaking voice, lol!  Sometimes I have to ask her to repeat herself like 3 times!  Especially living in a house with someone as loud as Venily!!  I think this is yet another way that Haven and myself are alike! 

*  I still need to do my research for preschools for Haven for next year!  She wants to go so badly!  She asks me all the time if she can go to 4K or ballet class, etc.  I wish there was a class that I could sit out of for kids that are 2 years old, but I haven't had any luck finding any.  Even her pediatrician said that she is definitely advanced enough to take a class by herself.  I could probably ask, but she just turned 2, so I would feel bad about asking her to be in a class of 3's.  When she is closer to 3, I won't feel so bad! 

* Today Haven SANG HER NAME at her Building Blocks class.  We always sit in a circle and pass a toy microphone around.  I always hold it up to her mouth, but end up having to sing her name myself.  I was SOOOO VERY HAPPY that she sang her name today!!!  Venily only started singing her name a few weeks ago after being in these programs since she was 12 months old.  She seems to be much less shy than Venily was at this age!  She was also playing and talking to Ms. Joy today. 



****I will have to add any updates I missed and add in pictures at a later time!  I'm trying to get as many posts in as I can, since my list is still incredibly long and gets longer each day!

Venily Update! Allergic to Amoxicillian!! :(

We got a call at 2:30pm yesterday saying that Venily wanted to come home and she was complaining of knee pain.  The school nurse was very concerned with what I told her the walk-in doctor had said.  She said that it shouldn't be getting worse and the swelling and rash should be getting better if she's on Benadryl.  I called Venily's doctor again (who was out until Tues) and spoke with the other pediatrician's nurse again.  She wanted Venily seen with the other dr. asap.  In the past, I have always avoided this other dr.  I'm not sure why, I did hear another mom complain about him though.

Venily was again at the point where she couldn't walk again and was in severe pain and itching like crazy!  :(  We brought her to the doctor and it was one of the best appointments I've ever been to!  He did an actual thorough exam, explained everything as he went, did research regarding her symptoms online, and came up with a diagnosis for us.  She was diagnosed with "serum-sickness like reaction" to Amoxicillian!   And he was PISSED that the stupid walk-in doctor told us to continue on with the rest of her Amoxicillian when there was even a possibility that it could be the cause.  (pretty sure I'll never go back to the Burlington walk-in again even though I DO like a few of the doctors there.  I'm also not too happy with her regular pediatrician since the problem could have been caught so early and was staring her right in the face!  uhhh!).

He gave us a ton of options of things we could do.  If we wanted to be super aggressive about it we could have said we wanted allergy testing, blood work, etc, etc, but he recommended that we not go that route if there wasn't a need (and we're pretty sure there isn't).  He said if the itching and swelling gets a lot worse then he can do a steroid shot, but wanted to wait it out a few days first and hope it gets better now that she is no longer on the Amoxicillian.  He actually gave us his personal pager # to use this weekend since he and another dr are on call and said we could page him if she gets worse or we have any q's etc.  I was pretty shocked!!!  He also wrote out the diagnosis and gave it to us and encouraged us to look it up online.  (P.S. We did and it fits her symptoms EXACTLY!!!).  Overall, I think I really like this doctor!  He is super tall (taller than Jason even) and young and really thorough and seems to know exactly what he's doing!  He even went over his regular hours time to talk to us, explain everything, and make us feel comfortable with his diagnosis.  However, I highly doubt he has children of his own.  He just doesn't seem like he does.  He is really sarcastic and was joking but kind of getting annoyed with Haven while we were there.  She was INSANELY hyper and talking to him like crazy, asking him questions, saying the goofiest stuff and just basically wanting to leave, lol!  (she is NOTHING like her sister was at this age!!!  Even Venily hardly said anything to him and mostly just whispered to us answers to his questions, lol!).  However, I love that their actual pediatrician has 4 children of her own and is really good with my children.  I think it will be in my best interest to use both the pediatricians now that I know the other one a little better.

Here is a before and after pic of her last dose of Amoxicillian:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

You can just see the absolute misery she was in!  :(  I sat on the computer crying while trying to research ways to make her feel better while Jason gave her yet another oatmeal bath!

She had a rough night once we got home.  Basically in excruciating pain and itching.  We tried EVERYTHING to make her feel better.  She finally got to sleep and actually slept pretty good.  We woke her up at 2am for her dose of Benadryl.

Today has been more of the same.  Itchy, pain, swelling.  It has spread to her ankles as well as her face (her forehead, eyelids, lips, and chin are swollen and itchy).  She is also now covered in bruises, mostly in her joints, but also everywhere she has big welts, large bruises are forming in the middle, though overall she does seem to be getting better.  :(  She just got out of her 5th oatmeal bath.  We have 3 different kinds of creams and are still giving her Benadryl every 6 hours.  She is starting to walk a bit again but it hurts her to do so and she limps around.  This has been such an awful experience and I am terrified of the next time she gets sick and needs to take antibiotics! :(

P.S.  Both my brother AND my mom are allergic to antibiotics...

I'm glad that Venily has off school on Monday.  I'm hoping she is all better by Tuesday, and Thursday is her birthday!!!

Girls' Yearly Well-Checks and another trip to the walk-in (also probably my scariest mom moment ever!)!!!

Haven had her 2 year well-check yesterday and Venily had her 4 year well-check!!

STATS:

VENILY:

HEIGHT- 42 inches (92nd %)

WEIGHT- 35 lbs (62nd %)

**She is on track to be 5'10" when she is 18 years old! :)

HAVEN:

HEIGHT- 38.5 inches (100+ %, WAY off the charts)

WEIGHT- 29.5 lbs (81st %)

HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE- 49.75 cm (95%)

**She is on track to be 6'2" when she is 18 years old!!!  Oh goodness, I hope that isn't true Haven, lol!!

Both girls did really well at the doctor's.  Right before we had their check-ups I took both of the girls to the bathroom.  I noticed a few dots on Venily's legs and she was itching her neck like crazy.  I brought it up to the doctor and she thought the 2 things were unrelated.  We figured her neck was just from her seat belt rubbing mixed with the fact that she kept putting hand sanitizer on her hands and must have touched the area.  Though I must say, my intuition said that something just wasn't right about that explanation...

The doctor was super impressed with both of the girls!!!  She kept saying that they were both so smart.  She loved that Venily is writing letters and drawing pictures and that Haven knows her alphabet and how to count and that she's potty trained already.  I had some concerns about Haven.  1st, that her right foot still turns inward substantially when she walks.  We had the doctor watch her walk and she then tested out her range of mobility, etc in that leg.  She says that she has a great range so she told us that we need to do 15-20 minutes of ballet with her a day to strengthen up the muscles and get her to turn that foot outward! :)  So that is what we are going to do to!  If the problem does not resolve itself, we are going to be sent to a podiatrist to get it looked at.  I also had the doctor look at a birth mark on Haven's leg that just showed up a few months ago (definitely long after birth).  It's really light and almost not even noticeable, but she said that was normal.  We can also officially all go on 2% milk (we all drank whole milk for years now, haha, Jason and I have been on 2% for a few months now).

Haven had to get 2 shots.  Hep B and the flu shot.  Venily had the option of the flu shot but we decided to go elsewhere and get her the mist instead (her pediatrician doesn't carry the mist, but gave us a list of places that do).  I am SOOOO glad she didn't get the flu shot today b/c it would have always been in the back of our mind that maybe it caused what happened later in the day....

Haven was a champ taking her shots!!  She whined for just a few seconds and was done completely.  When she was done she said "I'm a tough girl!  I'm so strong!" and she got to pick out a prize from the treasure box.  She was super happy! :)

A few hours later, after we dropped Venily off at school we got a call saying that Venily was itching her neck like crazy and that it was bothering her.  We were like "Oh yeah, we already had her pediatrician look at it.  She thought it was "x" and that it wasn't a big deal."

After school I picked her up, looked at her neck and saw that it looked exactly as it did in the morning and drove her straight to ballet.  We were in the car in the parking lot when she started itching all over, especially under her arms.  I looked at her hand and it was covered in red dots and her knuckles were all swollen.  I looked in her arm pit and there were giant welts, dots all over and the whole thing was unbelievably swollen.

I called her doctor and  had to settle for the other doctor's nurse.  She said to go to immediately to Urgent Care b/c it sounded like an allergic reaction.  So off we went (we were just 3 minutes away) and Venily was sad to miss ballet!  As we were driving she kept saying things that were freaking me out.  "Mommy, I'm soooooo tired!"  "Mommy, I can't bend my legs anymore."  "Mommy, I can't feel my arms!".  I was so scared.  Then, when I went to get her out of the car, she couldn't stand up b/c she was in so much pain.  I had to carry her all the way.  We had to wait in the waiting room for quite a while.  She tried playing for a few seconds and was limping like crazy and then curled up on me instead.  I lifted up her pant leg and couldn't believe how swollen her knee was!!

We finally got into the exam room and I finally got a better look at what was going on!  I was SHOCKED!!!  It looked so awful!  It took everything I had not to cry every time I spoke with a receptionist, nurse, doctor, pharmacist, etc.!  The doctor said it was just an allergic reaction to something and that she should take Benadryl and oatmeal baths.  I wanted to scream!!!  I'm like "Ummm.... she can't walk or bend her legs b/c she is so swollen!"  She said the Benadryl should help that and that it would probably get better, then get worse and then get better again and should be gone within a week!  Ahhh!  It's hard not even knowing what set it off too!  She ended up falling asleep at 6:30pm on the way home and staying asleep all night.  We set an alarm and fed her her medicine whenever she needed it.  She was moaning in pain any time I touched her, it was so sad!

In the morning she looked a lot better and was excited that she could bend her legs and do "criss cross applesauce" again! :)  She is still itching like crazy though.  I gave her an oatmeal bath and covered her in Cortizone cream.  She said she wanted to go to school so she is there right now.  Pretty sure I'm going to get a call saying I need to pick her up, lol!  This is how she looked right before she left...

Which is still way better than yesterday, but her whole body is still covered in hives! :(

September Resolution Review!

 3/4 Done with the year!!  (already thinking about what I'm going to do for next year! ;)  )  I think I'm going to do a 100 item resolution checklist and try to do as many as I can on the list!

 

Resolution #1- Read 100 books this year.  So far I've read:

January- 11 books

February- 5 books

March- 10 books

April- 8 books

May- 11 books

June- 9 books

July- 5 books

August-  6 books

September- 9 books

 TOTAL: _75_ books (should have 75 read at this point!)

Status:  RIGHT on track.  Now I just can't get behind!


This month I read Books 3-9 in the Dark Hunter series.  Also the newest short story book by Charlaine Harris and a non-fiction book on art.  

 

Super excited The Death Cure comes out next week!  I've been checking to see if any libraries have it in their databases yet each day so I can be one of the first ones to get it on hold!  :)  Yep, I'm a total nerd, haha!

********************************************

Resolution #2- Work out at least 30 minutes 2x per week.

STATUS: Officially over, though it was good while it lasted!  Jason is currently obsessed with working out and there can only be enough room in our family for one! :)

*********************************************

Resolution #3- I WILL donate blood this year.

STATUS:  Completed 2/17.  AND again 8/30!!!  Hoping for one more time before the end of the year!!

*********************************************

Resolution #4- Get boudoir pictures taken of myself.

STATUS:  Still waiting.... I'm running out of excuses....

*********************************************

Resolution #5- Drink more water

STATUS:  Doing okay, could probably work on this some more.

*********************************************

RESOLUTION #6: Plan out a home-schooling curriculum for Haven!

STATUS: (edited this one a bit).  Here are my goals this month:

1.  Make and put up letters and numbers again up on my walls (had to take them down when Haven was little and ripped a bunch, haha).  We are going to be letter-crazy for awhile until we learn them- I'm excited!!  She already loves asking me what letters are all the time!

2.  Make a weekly lesson plan.  Nothing crazy, just a few activities a day for the little girls to do!

3.  Start calling and making appointments to see preschools for next year for Haven!  Leaning heavily towards a Montessori school.  *fingers crossed* I find one I love and is in our budget!!!

 

 

*********************************************

RESOLUTION #7:  Paint a picture of my girls to hang up in my house.  (This is something that I've wanted to do for a very long time and I know will be very time demanding, but it's something I really want to do!)

STATUS:  No painting yet.  I did paint something for the girls' birthday party though, lol!  Other than that, I haven't even gotten to draw at all lately b/c I was so focused on preparing for the party!  Hoping to at least do some more drawings though this month!!

Latest Videos!!

I actually have a bunch more that I haven't gotten uploaded yet, but I have to start somewhere, lol!

Haven- 22m, singing "I love you Mommy" song and playing the guitar! ♥

We went to the Racine Zoo on August 31st (the last day of our membership)! :(  The girls had so much fun as both girls LOVE animals.  Debating between buying another Racine pass or going for the Milwaukee one next time!  I have a hard time driving places I don't know so the Racine one we definitely go to more often, but the Milwaukee one is so much bigger and cooler!  The Racine one also only takes a few hours to walk through while the Milw. one is an all day event. 

We fed the giraffes, parakeets, and goats which was both of their favorite parts!  We had to pretend Haven was 2 even though she wasn't yet but nobody questioned us at all, lol! ;)

Venily talking about her first day of 4K!

Haven STILL talking about the zoo 4 days later, lol.  23 months old.  And I LOVE that she gets a sudden urge to be the "big bad wolf" at the end! :)

Playing and jumping on the trampoline.  Haven- 23 months.

Driving their new princess car (they have a jeep too, BOTH free at the dump, lol.... people actually spend hundreds of $'s on these?! haha)

Haven counting to 10 in Spanish.  She is up to 21 now in English!! :)

Santa's sack of kids!   As soon as I stopped taping Haven says "Can we do that again?!" LOL!  Haven- 23m, Venily- 3.5yrs