3rd and final (hopefully) growth hormone testing

So we are having Av tested to make sure she has the appropriate amount of growth hormones. Not that is she not growing, it is just one of the many, many things she could encounter in her life and we just want to have all our bases covered. She is growing pretty well. Actually she must have just had a growth spurt. All the sudden all her 2T clothes are too small and her feet have grown a few sizes too in just the last few months. Her feet have finally caught up with the rest of her. She was in baby shoes (sizes less the 5 in the baby/toddler size) until she was almost 2. She is now a size 8! She is on the growth chart just not where she should be. Based on John and my heights, Av should grow to be 5’ 7”. At the rate she is currently growing she is only going to hit 5’1”. 5’1” is great, we don’t care about that, but after doing some research we have found that growth hormones have many benefits; increased IQ, helps low muscle tone and with no negative side effects. The hormone is all-natural. Anyway to have insurance cover the hormones you have to fail the test twice. Av passed it the first time by a very small amount and failed the second time. So tomorrow we have it done again. The testing is something that would not be bad for an adult but for a 3 year old it is scary and not fun. They give her an IV and then every half hour they take her blood from it and then give her a drug. This goes on for 2 hours. The drug makes her growth hormones enter her blood. Making a 3 year old stay still and stay in a bed with an IV in her hand for 2-3 hours is not fun. She can’t eat either so that makes it hard too. So everyone think failing thoughts for us tomorrow.

a day in the life of a hoekstra girl

I had a great day off yesterday with my girls. They were both up a tad early but they were happy. Av was up first at 7:30. I was still trying hard to not be awake so I brought her in bed with me to watch cartoons. After opening my eyes and finding us nose to nose twice, I gave up and we cuddled for a few minutes. Then we started hearing happy squeals coming from the other room. Av was immediately off the bed and into Cami’s room. We lounged, got dressed and got Cami down for her morning nap all without a hitch. After Cami woke up we headed to the mall. Since it is cold out we find ourselves there a lot. We don’t buy anything usually but we have a circuit we do. First to Pottery Barn Kids where there is story time. After story time we play in the store for a bit. Av loves the play strollers they have in there. After that we head to the boat. It is this indoor play structure. After the boat we usually grab lunch. It is Tuesday Taco at Tumbleweed (tacos for .99 cents). If Avery is good and eats her lunch afterwards we head to the Mickey Mouse store (Disney), Apple store (they have computers the kids can play games on) and last but not least a few pennies into the fountain. Sometimes we have friends with us but yesterday we didn’t. It was really nice to spend a day with my girls. They were so good. Avery is a very big girl and hops on and off of her stroller, as she wants to. After the mall things got a little crazy. Av and I were working on potty training. She still has not gone in the potty but can hold it well. We tried and tried and then all the sudden she had pooped in her underwear. I left Cami on the living room floor on a blanket while I went upstairs to clean Av up. Halfway though the cleaning Cami started screaming. Poopy hands and all I ran downstairs to see what was going on. She had rolled herself onto her belly and didn’t like it at all. She can roll herself back and I tried to explain that to her but she was mad and tired and was not having any of it. After everything calmed down they both slept for about 2 hours. It was wonderful. After nap I got brave and took them both to the grocery. I put Av in the seat part of the cart and wore Cami in the front pack. They had the best time facing each other that close while I pushed the cart and shopped. After that it was dinner, bath and bed. It goes by so fast. They were both so good. I had a great day with them.

Aunt Ann sent Av a V-day card. She was so excited. It was snow white and it had stickers with it! As she opened it she said, “two snow whites.” I had no idea what she was talking about. There was only one on the card. She ran and came back with another V-day card she had received from her great grandparents. It was the same snow white card. She is so smart.

back to belly

Miss Linda (our wonderful and loving babysitter) just called me. Cami rolled from back to belly. It surprised her and made her mad just like I thought it would. I knew it was coming soon she was so close this morning to doing it. And yesterday she was trying and all 3 of us were cheering her on. When she does accomplish a task Av claps and cheers for her without any prompting from us. So cute.

almost 5 months

Cami will be 5 months on Sunday and she is such a big girl now! It sometimes makes my heart ach how fast she is growing up. She is so happy most of the time. She is a big roller now. As soon as you put her on her belly she flips herself over. I go and flip her back a few times. It’s a fun game we play. By the end she gets mad and then just wants me to pick her up. Nothing else will do. She has not rolled back to belly yet but has come very close. I am sure when she does she will not be happy about it when she realizes what she just did put her on the dreaded belly. She's talking SO MUCH, blabbering on and on. Her noises are so sweet; from the conversations she has to her high pitched squeals. She still communicates a lot with her eyes "pick me up! pick me up!" She does a lot of raspberries these days too. Pretty constantly when she is happy. She spits so much her face is always covered. And she drools so much. Avery only drooled while teething. Not Cami we go through a lot of bibs a day trying to keep her dry. Her naps are still most often around the 40-minute mark. In the afternoon she naps in her bed for about her 40 minutes then wakes but she is still tired so I move her to the swing and she will sleep there for hours no matter what is going on around her. She takes 3 naps a day and goes down for bed around 7ish. At night she is still up twice. Trying hard to get it to one, but I am not succeeding. I think I will start cereal soon. Hopefully that will keep her fuller longer. At least though I am able to feed her and put her right back down. When I hold her and feed her, she is reaching and playing with my face and clothes all the time now. She's also fascinated with hands. She is not crazy about being in her car seat. I think we killed that letting her sleep in it for 4 months. When we get to the store or whatever she rides like a big girl in the stroller or in the front pack. She loves the front pack. She would ride in that all day and has fallen asleep in it. She's starting to sit up for longer intervals. We still have to be right by her, but she's really getting stronger. Her favorite thing is to be talked to, by anyone! She also loves watching her big sis. Cami thinks Av is so neat and gets to do the best stuff. She is fascinated by her big sis! She really plays in her exersauser now and can do a lot of the toys on it. And there you have it. The life of a 5 month old!

Big girl bed and carrots

So John finally talked me into getting a big girl bed (bgb) for Avery. I didn’t want to get her one while she was still napping because I knew the naps would disappear if we did. She has pretty much stopped napping and if she does nap it makes bedtime harder so we have done away with nap time and moved on to ‘quiet time.’ So yesterday when she woke up I asked her if she would like a bgb. She got so excited and said “big girl bed like Caroline.” I was surprised she knew and remembered that Caroline was in a bgb. So all day we talked about it and I told her she would have to stay in her bgb and not get out in the middle of the night. I told her we would leave her crib in her room and if she didn’t stay in her bgb she would be back in the crib. She was so excited. So shopping we went. We got her a cute little white toddler bed with a drawer underneath it. She had the biggest smile on her face while shopping and on the way home she was clapping and trying to turn around in her car seat to make sure the bgb was still back there (we forgot and took the car with us instead of the Jeep so J had to tie the trunk shut on the box of the bed). She was happier then I have ever seen her. When we got home her and John spent the next 45 minutes putting it together. After that she spent all night in her room playing with it. Opening and closing the drawer, putting her treasures in the drawer, making it, putting her babies to sleep in it. When it came bedtime it was all made pretty for her and ready to go. We read the normal couple of books, brushed her teeth and then asked her to get in bed. She pointed at her crib and said she wanted to sleep there. No talking her into sleeping in the bgb. So back to her crib all her stuff went. Someday maybe she will sleep in it. Hopefully….

Not that I am complaining but when I become a mother, never ever did I think the words “you have had enough veggies, now eat your pizza” would ever come out of my mouth. But they did, last night. After Av had 2 helpings of cut up cucumbers, a few pieces of green pepper and then 2 helpings of cooked carrots, those words came out of my mouth. No wonder she poops 4 times a day.

Auction

Avery’s school had an Auction this weekend as a fundraiser. They have one every year. We had a great time. I splurged and got a new dress, accessories, shoes and all. I also got my hair done. It was a nice night out for John and I. We ended up getting a night stay in a nice hotel here and a gift certificate for Ruth’s Chris. I also won 2 weeks of summer camp for Avery at her school and John got a basketball signed by Rick Pitino. All and all a great night.

another day on the Avenue

Splashing in the puddles..  ahhh to be a kid again. Sometimes its just fun to just throw on some old duds and splash around. Av and Jackson had a blast this day (thanks again J for the boots). We've had a lot of rain here lately or shall I say rain, snow, ice. 

New sleepers

So we are having a new problem with Camille. She is of course wearing most of Av’s old sleepers, but today I have to go buy a bunch of new sleepers. She kicks so much that one of 2 things is happening:
1) She kicks and kicks which pulls the snaps open, so next thing I know she is screaming and from her chest down she is out of her sleeper. She does wear a blanket over her sleeper but I guess it is not comfortable to her once she has kicked out of it.
2) Or she kicks so much her legs come out of the leg parts but the sleeper stays snapped so her legs are at her chest and she can’t straighten them again (her legs are up in the body of the sleeper).

Both make her so mad and are happening a couple times a night. So today I am off to get sleepers from Children’s Place. They have sleepers that zip up and are tight at the ankles so her legs stay in them. Anyone reading this who needs sleepers remember this: Children’s Place has the BEST sleepers. Don’t waste your money on any others.

You know your child is to old for diapers when…

She can put them on by herself! Ugh, Av is something else. Yesterday she told me she wanted to wear her underpants. After I did my happy dance, we took off her diaper and put them on. She told me 3 times in a row she had to go pee-pee. All 3 times I took her and sat her on the potty. She tried and tried. Grunted, but could not make anything come out. I just thought she really didn’t have to go, just testing a new skill of hers. So I went back to making my lunches and set the timer to try again in 10 minutes. She told me she was going upstairs to put her ej’s on. A few minutes later she came down with ej’s in hand and a diaper on!! She has never done that before. I checked it and sure enough she had peed in it. So she knew she had to go and was able to hold it, just not able to make it come out when sitting on the potty. I am going to take this as a good sign. We are getting there. Slowly but surly.

4 Months, big girl!

Camille weights 13 lbs and 3 ounces and she is 24 inches long.  The exact same Av was at 4 months.

Visit with Grandma and Pap-pap

(Sorry Pap-pap, we didn't have a new pic of you - you probably took this one!)
Well this last weekend was a great one. Grandma and Pap-pap were in town and the girls of course ate up their love and attention. Camille has really found her voice and she loves using it. She has now spent countless hours in her crib (the time she used to use for sleeping) screaming cute and happy screams. At least they are cute at 4pm, not so much at 4am. Whenever someone walks into her room they are rewarded with the biggest 2-dimple smile ever. That is all it takes and she has Pap-pap wrapped around her little finger. She rolled over too! 3 times this morning. The girls were in my room watching cartoons while I was getting ready for work. Cami is allowed cartoons only if she is doing ‘belly time’ while watching. I kept putting her on her belly and she kept rolling over!

Avery is of course cute as cute could be. She is Grandma’s little shadow. John and I are chopped liver when Grandma is around. John and I just went to a parent teacher conference this morning and her teacher (Miss Beth) told us that she is now “using longer phrases with adults and peers about 75% of the time.” That is up from about 50% in the fall. She is making such great progress. She also knows basic colors, shapes, numbers 1-10 and most letters.

This weekend I wanted to get a picture taken of the girls together. I got them all dressed in coordinating outfits and put cute pigtails in Avery’s hair. They looked great. Once there, Avery decided that they were not going to take her picture. Not one picture was taken of Avery and no amount of encouragement from Grandma or bribery from mom was going to make a difference (even a candy bar). We did get some pretty cute ones of Cami, although I would have put her in a totally different outfit had I known. The outfits were cute together, but separate, not so much. Plus, even though Cami had a bib on until the second before her pics were taken she still has a drool-stained shirt. I give up!

Good old Chuck

Well, you got to hand it to Charles Schultz... yes the creator of Peanuts and beloved Charlie Brown. And yes, just when you think you've rid the television of Charlie Brown specials - after Halloween, and Thanksgiving (plus the extra "How Pilgrims got to America part") and Christmas (plus "I want a Dog Charlie Brown"), you get to the New Year and think... wow, what will 2009 be like until Halloween with no Charlie Brown? HA!  Your power comes back on and WHAM Charlie Brown Valentine is here. So, now we're back to watching Charlie Brown. Everyday. Twice a day. Sometimes 3. Nope, no more UL basketball or prime time shows - "charlie brown dadda. I wanna watch Charlie Brown"... "Again?" dad asks... "Yeah dadda" says Av. "You sure?" -- "YEAH DADDA!"

ok, ok. At least I like Snoopy. Something about him never gets old. The kid in you has always got to love Snoopy.

Day to day update

Avery has become quite independent. She can dress herself from head to toe and does many, many times a day. She loves her pjs or ejs as she calls them. As soon as she gets home from school on go the ejs. Only to be changed at least once before bed. Her favorite is a princess nightgown that I got for $2.50 at a second hand store. She can name all the princesses and will correct you if you get them wrong. Her fav is still Snow White (No White). She talks all day long and we butt heads all day long. Sometimes I think I am going to lose my mind but then I remember something very important. "A 3 year olds job is to butt heads with her mama." (Thanks Aunt Anne for helping me keep my sanity) She also loves her school so much and calls it school day. Makes it so much easier for me to go to work knowing that she is so happy and in a good place.

Camille has recently found her tongue, grabs at everything constantly, and is a very happy baby. She smiles a lot and squeals. No giggles yet though. We are working on rolling. So far she just gets mad and screams. I am a sucker for the scream. She also has started spending time in her exersauser. She looks like such a big girl in it. She loves being talked to and getting her diaper changed. For some reason that always puts her in a good mood.

There is mutual fondness between the sisters. So far they really are happy to have the other one around. I hope it stays that way. When I pick Av up from school she comes running, but not to see me, to see Cami. It is cute.

Camille's birth

I know this is a little late but I am just getting my blog up so I want to make sure this is posted. Cami was due Oct 7th, 2008. I really really really wanted her to be born before Oct 1st. That is the cut off here for the public schools. She has a lot of future friends that were born this year and I wanted her to be in school with them. She had other plans though. Anyway the week before she was born, I was having contractions and they were pretty regular. We thought it was time. I showered, packed a bag for Av and ate (all the necessary things before having a child). Av went off to a friends house and was very excited to be spending the night and to meet her baby sister soon. John and I got to the hospital only to be turned away with them saying I was not in labor. My contractions just stopped. It was pretty embarrassing. So I was determined for that not to happen again. So early on Oct 1st, I woke with contractions. John and I were up most of the night timing them. They were never 100% regular. By 6am they had pretty much stopped. I was SO disappointed. I sent John to work, got myself ready for work and Av ready for school. Dropped her off at school and started my work day all while having contractions. They were still just uncomfortable and not regular at this point. By 10am they were still coming and John was insisting I left work. I sent my last work email to my boss at 10:52 am letting him know I was leaving. I had a dr apt that afternoon to be checked so as I was leaving work I called to see if I could come in early. So off to the dr (hospital) I drove myself. John was still at work. I told him to stay put and I would call and tell him what the dr said. By the time I started driving they started getting worse. By the time I got to my dr's they were bad and I knew it was time. I called John and told him to leave work right away. I got to my dr's office and was pacing while waiting to be seen. They checked and I was 6 centimeters. They rushed me to labor and delivery. My main concern was if I was going to be able to get my epidural in time. Once there I had to sign a waiver for the epidural. Usually they have to do a blood test before giving it but there was no time for that. I did get it, but by the time it was kind of taking effect I was 9.5 centimeters. They broke my water and 2 pushes later Cami entered the world at 1:32 pm. 2.5 hours after I left work! It hurt like no other but it was well worth it. I was the last mother into L&D and the first one out! Cami latched and nursed like a champ right away. It was wonderful. Since I barely got any epidural I was up walking around 5 hours later. Oh also, about the false labor, my parents were half way to KY by the time I was told I was not in labor. Oops.

Ice storm

We still don't have cable or internet. It has been a long 2 weeks since the ice storm. At least we have our power back though. 5 days is enough. We did get to go home after 3 nights at a friend's house. We ran a generator. It worked pretty well. The night we lost power I was home alone with the girls. I hate being home alone at night but more then anything I hate not having power. I knew there was a good chance we were going to lose our power from the storm so before we went to bed I packed our bags. I knew I would not be able to stay there without the power. So sure enough at 3am we lost our power. I got the girls up and took them to a friends house 2 streets back from us. Thank goodness for good friends! It was a scary night, you could see the sky lighting up from the transformers shorting out, you could smell electricity in the air, and hear the tree limbs cracking. Just waiting and wondering where they would fall. Glad we didn't have more damage then we did. A big tree limb from our neighbor's tree did fall on our power line which ripped it and the power meter from our house.

Sleeping, the ups and downs

This weekend we finally got Cami sleeping flat on her back! This is a big win for us. She was sleeping in her car seat in her crib. Now if I can just get her down to eating once a night I will be happy. She sleeps well though. Usually for about 12 hours (2 feedings in there) and goes right back to sleep after I feed her. For a long time she was sleeping in her car seat in our bathroom. A friend recently asked me if she was still "sleeping in the loo?" Why the bathroom you might ask? The bathroom put her close to me without her being too close (she is a noisy sleeper). Av was and still is a great sleeper. We put her to bed around 8pm and don't hear a peep until around 8am. Although she has learned a new fun trick. She takes all her clothes off and sleeps all night with nothing on. We have started to tape her diaper on. After changing her sheets 4 mornings in a row, we got the tape out. She thinks it is very funny. The other night we forgot to tape her and sure enough she was soaked the next morning. When I get her up in the morning the first words out of her mouth are "no take diaper off." I just look at her and laugh, of course she didn't take her diaper off, she can't!