VERY unwelcome decorations

This morning when I was thinking about what I'd post today, I assumed I'd be writing about the kids' Christmas program at church this morning, Pop Pop's 73rd birthday celebration, or the kids opening their Christmas presents. I will do so, but the title of this post is in reference to a certain little boy whose initials are O.E.K. This boy made a bigger mess today than the other two kids EVER made over the past 6 1/2 years. There was one time when Nadia was a very small baby (she was less than 3 months old) when I was changing her diaper and she started pooping and the stuff was FLYING all over the room (landed on me, the wall, closet door, etc.); it was mind boggling that a tiny little body could produce that quantity. Paul was home, and I remember screaming my head off for him to come up and help me. Well today was reminiscent of that, only much worse.

This morning I put pork chops in the oven before we left for church because that is one of Paul's dad's favorite things to eat, and yesterday was his birthday. The kids and I arrived at church at 8:25. The adult choir (that I sing in) sang a medley of several Christmas carols at the start of each service, and then the kids' choir put on a Christmas program that included five songs and four scenes of acting in between the songs. Oliver was up in his classroom from 8:45-12:15. I usually go to Sunday School during one of the two services, but this morning I attended the worship service twice in a row because I wanted to see the kids' program both times. Paul and his parents joined me for the second service at 10:45. Ian did a great job. He continues to make SO much progress. He was smiling and singing most of the time and doing the motions some of the time. He didn't play with the candle at all (as I asked him not to because he was distracted by that in the dress rehearsal yesterday), but he did play with his belly button a little in the second service (UGH!). Nadia was singing and doing the motions all the time, but the girl forgot to smile most of the time. Frankly she looked bored. I said this to her and she was surprised. I need to show her the video. During the first service she came in a little early for the duet. The second service she came in at the right time, but she didn't start on the right pitch. It was a challenging entrance because the accompaniment wasn't playing the part. I had heard her sing it 100% correctly in rehearsals, but that didn't happen today. I was proud of both of them. although I hope next time she'll smile more! The only downside was that I didn't get to dress Nadia and Ian up in fancy Christmas clothing today, and they were wearing those same t-shirts for the gift opening. Oh well!

We came home and had lunch. Paul's mom had brought her yummy baked macaroni and cheese. The kids had never had pork chops before. Oliver and Nadia did a great job. Ian took a lot longer, but the motivation of opening presents plus some help from Grandma did the trick. We sang happy birthday to Pop Pop, and he blew out three candles on a pie Grandma had brought. I had also bought a pumpkin pie so we  had plenty of desserts to choose from! Normally I would have put Oliver to bed after lunch because usually he goes down at 1pm, but I decided to put him down a bit later. I let him open his presents (while Ian was still eating) and play with them a bit, and then I put him down at 2pm. Yesterday he kept escaping from the bedroom during his nap. Last night he stayed in bed from 8pm to 6:20am, but I thought he might escape this afternoon. When he didn't come out, I assumed he was sleeping. BIG mistake. I should have turned the monitor on to check on him!!! Ian had finished eating so Nadia and Ian started opening their presents. At 3pm (after he had been up there one hour) I heard Oliver banging on his door. I thought to myself that this was a little bit shorter nap than usual, but one hour is a reasonable time.

I opened the door and started screaming because there was poop EVERYwhere. I put him to bed in a diaper because he doesn't always stay dry although ironically he woke up dry this morning. He managed to pull off his diaper without even undoing the "tape". Paul came up and started to tackle the room while I took Oliver to the bathtub to clean him up. Then I stripped the bedding off of Oliver's bed (which had only been on there for 24 hours) to wash it all. There was poop on the wall, on the door, on his blankets, sheets, one of his stuffed animals, in the clothing hamper where his clean clothes were, on the dresser, etc. The worst  by far was all that was smushed into the white berber carpet. Paul used various cleaning supplies and spent a lot of time on the carpet, but it is still stained. Ian was the one who spewed the most stuff on our carpets, but Oliver wins the prize for producing the most stains. First, the carpet in our bedroom got stained by blood when I was 22 weeks pregnant with him and bleeding all over the place (the stains are still there), and now the carpet in his bedroom was stained by brown poop. Great. I am SO thankful Paul helped clean up that fiasco. I wasn't planning on doing two loads of laundry today, but that is what happened.  I have seen others post on Facebook that their child took off a poopy diaper during a nap and "decorated" the crib with poop, but until today it had never happened to me.

In the first 6.5 years of being a mom none of my kids had ever decorated anything with poop (aside from Nadia's projectile pooping incident which really she had no control over which can't be said for Mr. Oliver). I am REALLY hoping and praying this never happens again. I think part of the problem was that usually we eat lunch early and he poops before nap time. Aside from the lesson learned of using the baby monitor, I also was reminded to allow enough time in between the end of lunch and when he goes down for a nap to make sure this does NOT happen again. It's actually been very rare over the past 2 years that Oliver has pooped in his diaper when he's been in his crib. Usually he only poops when he's awake and out of his crib. I falsely assumed he had slept some and then this happened, but he fell asleep in my arms on the couch at 6:30pm (which NEVER happens) so I then came to the conclusion this boy didn't have a nap today. He was a very cranky boy after I woke him up because he just wanted to go to bed for the night, but 6:30pm is too early of a bed time. I don't want to start my day at 4:00 tomorrow morning!

Paul's football game was on at 4pm. His wasn't aired on tv in our area, but he watched it on his computer up in our bedroom. My game was on at 1pm, and it was aired but between our 1pm meal and the kids opening their presents after that, I only saw the last quarter of the game. The only thing I watch on tv is my Steeler game. I used to say I watch 3 hours of tv a week during football season (and none during the rest of the year), but it has become harder and harder to watch my game. Once the kids are older I'll be able to go back to watching my 16 games a year or more if they go in the playoffs - which is going to happen this year. YAHOO! I didn't see much of last week's game or this week's game due to family celebrations (Ian's birthday last week and Christmas presents today), and I'll be missing next week's game because we'll be driving to Harrisburg during the game (although I'll probably be able to watch the last hour of the game at his aunt's house). I love the Steelers, but I love my family FAR more than football.

Oliver went to sleep easily this evening. At least the transition to sleeping in a twin sized bed has gone smoothly for sleeping at night although the same can't be said for his naps yet. We'll be driving to Maryland tomorrow so he can nap in our van. Hopefully we can get him to nap in a pack  n play or an air mattress at my parents' house the rest of the week! Life as a parent is NEVER dull and often includes dealing with some sort of body fluids, that is for sure.

End of an era

We have been using at least one crib in our house for almost exactly 6 1/2 years. For a little over one year we were using two cribs (December 2009 - January 2011). We had a little break during the summer of 2012 after Ian was promoted to a twin bed and before Oliver was discharged from the NICU. Ever since Oliver climbed out of his crib on Wednesday I have been dashing up to get him as soon he woke up. That did the trick on Thursday and Friday, but this morning he climbed out of his crib right before I entered his bedroom. I knew this meant we needed to take down his crib today, but I was dying of curiosity to see how he was doing it so I put him in the crib and asked him to climb out. I took a short video so I could show Paul and his siblings how he did it. Paul's theory had been then he was flipping himself over like he does when we play "skin the cat," but that wasn't the case. This evening he is sleeping on a twin sized mattress for the first time in his life. I don't think there will ever be a crib in our house again. I'm going to keep our pack and play to use for guests who bring a baby. It was very hard to get him to take his nap today, but he eventually stayed in his bed. Tonight we didn't have any troubles. I'm hoping he'll stay in there until at least 6:00 tomorrow morning! His mattress is only sitting on a box spring right now, but frankly it makes the distance shorter if he were to fall out of the bed. We will get a bed frame in the near future. They didn't have the twin size in stock at Sears today, and they cost twice as much at Sleepy's. His comforter is supposed to be delivered to our house on Tuesday. My baby is growing up. I admit it was an emotional thing for me to take off the crib bumper and such knowing I would never be using one again. These lasts can be hard on a Momma! I am very thankful though that the Lord gave me three children which translated to 6.5 years of having a little one sleeping in a crib in our house.

Thankful Thursday

1. Nadia and Oliver loved playing in the snow last Thursday.

2. I appreciated that my parents planned to come to be with us for a few hours on Ian's birthday. The snow interrupted those plans, but it was very sweet of them to be willing to make the 7 hour round trip drive on his behalf!

3. I am VERY thankful for Ian Alexander! What a delight he has been the past five years!

4. We enjoyed the Christkindl Market on Friday evening as well as meeting Santa at our local grocery store.

5. Nadia and Ian enjoyed going with Paul to Lowe's to build train engines on Saturday morning (it was the nicest project they had ever done there), to our church to see the 3 hour long musical Narnia on Saturday afternoon (Paul's parents met them there), and to the Frozen singalong on Saturday night. That was a jam packed day! Over 4,000 people came to see Narnia at our church last week!

6. It was so nice to have Paul's brother, sister-in-law, and parents come up to celebrate Ian's birthday on Sunday afternoon. He loves all the presents they gave him, and the cake Millie made was delicious as usual!

7. We all enjoyed the Polar Express train ride on Sunday night.

8. The kids are generally healthy, which means the only time we usually take them to the doctor is for their annual physicals. PTL!

9. Although he has more accidents than I wish he would at this stage (like one at church last night), Oliver continues to make progress with his potty training. He now is telling me more often when he has to go potty, he went potty for one of his teachers at church, and he can take off his pants and underwear and climb onto the toilet himself now! His diaper stays dry overnight about once a week, and it stays dry during his nap about four times a week on average. He goes through 5-6 diapers a week these days.

He was SO proud that he finished the puzzle! YAY!

10. Both of our teams won their games the last two Sundays. It would be awesome if that trend continued for the last two games of the season! The Giants don't have a chance to make it to the playoffs, but the Steelers could still win the division or be a wild card, if they keep playing well. Neither of our teams made it to the playoffs the last two years. We need that drought to end!

11. The soloist did a beautiful job singing "O Holy Night" on Sunday morning. Gorgeous!!!

12. The kids had a great time at the Children's Museum on Tuesday. The pictures of the kids holding crafts in this post were crafts they made at the museum.

13. Oliver and I went to CVS on Saturday night. I paid a total of $2.05 for 8 boxes of cereal, five 2 liters of Pepsi, and two bags of Hershey's candy (the Kisses were used in baking cookies that night). Before coupons and sale prices my total would have been $55.06!

14. Oliver slept past 7:00 on Monday and Tuesday morning. Ian was up bright and early on Monday morning (before 6am), but he went back to sleep in our bed. On Tuesday morning Ian slept until 7:00. Yahoo!

15. Paul gave his final exam yesterday. The end of the semester is definitely in sight now!

16. The homeschooling group has a "Mom's Night Out" once a month. I've never gone before, but I'm going tonight because they'e meeting at a restaurant a lot closer to our home. I'm looking forward to it!

17. After a lull in submitting job applications, I did three this morning and plan to do three more today (one in PA, one in GA, and four in FL). That will bring the total to 25 submitted for the 2015 job search. Hopefully in January he'll start getting invitations for phone interviews!

Escape Artist!

I started making Christmas cookies on Saturday. Oliver helped me decorate quite a few trays of sugar cookies, but Nadia and Ian weren't able to help much due to their outings with Paul. I also made a batch of the peanut butter cookies with a Hershey kiss on top that night. Today we made a big batch of gingerbread cookies as well as a batch of peanut butter cup cookies. On Saturday I'm going to make a batch of chocolate peanut butter chip cookies to take with us to Maryland, and after that I will declare us done with making Christmas cookies. I always wait until January to do gingerbread houses with the kids. I haven't made M and M cookies lately so I think those will be next on the list after we return home. We gave away six plates of cookies on Sunday morning, we gave away seven more plates this evening at AWANA, and we'll give three more plates away on Friday night at the kid's dress rehearsal for their Christmas program.

I was hoping that we would get most of the cookies decorated during Oliver's nap, but he decided to take a short nap today. When that happens I usually don't get him right away because some times he falls back asleep. Well today he did something the other two never ever did. He somehow climbed out of his crib even though the side railings were all the way up and the bed is in the lowest position possible. I have no idea how he did it, but I should not be too surprised because I have noticed many times that this boy is a climber. I promoted the other two to twin size beds when they were 2 1/2 years old. With Ian I wanted him to move out a couple of months before Oliver was born so Oliver could use the crib. I had planned to promote Oliver in a couple of months, but his Houdini act today has sped that time table up. We already have a mattress and box springs for him, but we don't have a bed frame yet. We need to get one asap. I also spent some time searching online today for a comforter for him. If I just picked one based on his current interests, I'd pick Thomas the train or Mickey Mouse, but kids this age can change from one thing to the next so quickly. When I picked his crib set, I purposefully picked a gender neutral one because I knew we'd be doing a FET and might be having our fourth baby. The crib set is a teddy bear theme, but I expanded the room into more of a jungle theme in terms of the bookcase, laundry hamper, clock, and light switch cover (and changing pad cover but that's no longer in the room). It was harder to find something to match the colors and theme of those items, but I finally did! I found one that I really like, but let me tell you it wasn't cheap. The comforters I got for Nadia and Ian's rooms were MUCH cheaper. Hopefully he'll like it! The sheets that technically go with that set are just way too expensive. I'm going to buy some solid color sheets that will go with the comforter elsewhere. My baby is growing up!

While I'm on the topic of Oliver, I have to share two funny things he said. Yesterday he was eating some potato chips (from our train ride) and he started throwing some on the floor. I told him what the consequence would be if he did that again, and he immediately said to me "no thanks" (meaning he's declining that consequence). Cracked me up!! At least the boy has manners! Then one time today he asked me if he could use the iPad or watch tv, and I said no to both requests to which he said "NO FAIR." I wonder where he's heard that before? My other two never said "no fair" when they were two years old, but that I guess comes with the territory of having two older siblings. I mentioned this to them to illustrate that they are in fact role models for him whether they want to be or not! In one of the pictures you can see that Oliver colored his hands with markers Nadia left out while I was doing school work with her. I thought to myself that Oliver is a little too quite and sure enough that's what I discovered he had been up to. This is why he usually only is allowed to use Color Wonder markers!

Battery not included

Today we made our fourth trip to the Children's Museum on a $2 Tuesday this year. In August I learned that I needed to bring my zoom lens (most of the time I use a 50mm prime lens) and my speed light (external flash). The pictures were better in October and November. This morning in addition to putting on the flash and lens, I brought the user's manual for the flash and my grey card as I wanted to work on the white balance as well as using the flash more expertly. Once I was there I discovered I had forgotten to put the battery back in after charging it up yesterday. OOPS! So I couldn't take any pictures while we were there. I did read more of the manual though. The kids had a blast as always. The were able to play with "insta snow" and do several crafts starting at 2pm. We spent about 3 hours there, and as usual the kids wanted to stay longer! I hope the $2 Tuesdays continue in 2015. If we stay in the area, I think I'll get an annual membership. I'm also thinking about getting an annual membership to Reptiland, which is less than 10 minutes from our house.

Annual physicals times two

In 2012 I had to reschedule Nadia's four year old physical because of my hospitalizations while pregnant with Oliver, and then it didn't end up happening until October in conjunction with Oliver's 2 month appointment, and last year I took her in November with Oliver's 15th month appointment. This year I decided to combine her visit with Ian's five year appointment. Oliver stayed home with Paul to make the 90 minute experience easier for me, and he dropped Oliver off at the Pediatrician's on his way to work. At her three year check-up, she weighed 34lbs (80th percentile) and was 36 inches tall (26th percentile). On October 12, 2012, she was 40lbs (75th percentile) and 40 inches tall (39th percentile), on November 8, 2013 she was 47 lbs (80th percentile) and 42.5 inches tall (30th percentile). The last three years they've said something to me each time about Nadia's BMI, but the NP who saw her today didn't say anything (woohoo!) because at 50 lbs she's at the 55th percentile for weight (much lower) and her height at 46 inches is at the 45th percentile (higher). She passed her hearing screening, but they said she didn't pass her vision screening because one eye was 20/20 and the other was 20/30. They recommended taking her to an eye doctor. Does 20/30 in one eye really possibly warrant eye glasses? Unfortunately I made the mistake of only electing for vision coverage for Paul and I this year to save money. I should have gotten family coverage, but in the past none of our kids have needed vision insurance.

Ian weighed 32 pounds in December 2012, 35 pounds last year, and 39 pounds this morning, which puts him at the 45th percentile for weight. He was 36 inches tall in 2012, 39 inches last year, and 41 inches this morning (12th percentile which is lower than last year). Ian got three shots today (DTap-IPV, MMR, and Varivax) he cried during all of them but settled down pretty quickly after they were all done. It had been years since his last shot so he had no memory of what it was like to get one. He won't get another one until he's eleven unless I opt to have him get the flu shot. I declined the flu shot for both kids today. He passed his hearing screening, but he failed his vision screening at 20/40 in one eye and 20/50 in the other. I guess I need to make eye appointments for four of us. The NP also suggested a PT evaluation and consult for "BLE weakness." I continue to see a lot of progress with him. Starting in early January he is going to be taking ice skating lessons from 4:30-5:15 on Thursdays for 10 weeks, a homeschool gym class (volleyball, basketball, dodgeball, etc.) for 9 weeks from 10:00-11:30 on Fridays, and a gymnastics class for eight weeks from 11:30-12:30 on Wednesdays. I think that will be enough "physical therapy" for the time being. Considering how hard it is to keep size 4T pants from falling off him (I'm thinking of buying him suspenders), I am surprised that his weight percentile is so much higher than his height percentile, but no one has ever said anything to me about his BMI. I am very grateful that both of these kids are very healthy. The only time we usually go to the Pediatrician's office is for well child visits! PTL!

We had planned to stop at the Dollar Tree on the way home from the Christkindl Market on Friday night, but there was a MASSIVE pileup from an accident  that prohibited us from making that stop (we rarely deal with traffic jams around here so it was a big deal for us). I decided to use the balloon as the reward for enduing three shots. He picked a Spiderman balloon. So I guess the birthday celebrations weren't quite over yet, ha ha! The favorite toy today is DEFINITELY the remote controlled Batbot. All three kids love playing with it. Ian told me this morning it was the best birthday gift he had ever gotten in his whole life. The second favorite toy would definitely be the new Legos he got yesterday. They've also been playing with those a lot. One other time they were given a remote controlled toy (a car) but it didn't work properly so this was the first time they really had a remote controlled thing that worked. I bought Oliver a remote controlled Thomas train engine for Christmas so in a week we should have two remote controlled things roaming around our house. (As a side note, these snow pictures were taken last Thursday morning.)

Ian's Birthday Celebrations!

The first thing we did was put up his Avengers Happy Birthday banner on Wednesday morning. On Thursday afternoon we stopped at Dunkin Donuts to buy a dozen donuts for his birthday breakfast on Friday. I had called my parents to find out what kinds they wanted. They planned to arrive on Thursday night, but in light of the snow we got that day, they didn't come. On Friday morning we ate donuts for breakfast with an Avengers tablecloth on the table, and then Ian opened his presents! We gave him 2 Little Critter books, 2 Slug and Bugs cds, 2 Newsboys cds, 2 VeggieTale dvds, a pack of Star Wars underwear, and 2 costumes (Mike from Monster's Inc and Captain America). I put a candle in Ian's donut since he wasn't going to have his birthday cake until Sunday afternoon. Ian was the first to spot Blitz on Friday morning, and Blitz was wearing a birthday outfit that Great Gram gave us last year. Paul took Nadia and Ian shopping for my Christmas gifts while Oliver had his afternoon nap, and then we then headed to Mifflinburg's Christkindl Market..

The kids would have enjoyed the outdoor German Christmas market even more if it had been a little bit warmer out. Ian's favorite part was Hilby the juggler. Paul laughed throughout much of that show. Oliver's favorite part was the live nativity. Every time I said it was time to go, he said "do it again." Nadia's favorite part was the "Elf School" where they made an ornament with Mrs. Claus and received an elf hat. Ian lost one of his moose gloves while watching the marionette show. Ian loved that St. Nicholas gave him some "gold" coins. All three of the kids liked the little toy that the other Santa gave them. Because the kids were cold we didn't stay for the glass blowing demonstration, lantern parade, etc. So after I ate something at home and we used the bathroom, I took the kids to visit the Santa near our grocery store. The kids liked the hardback notebooks he gave each of them - a princess one for Nadia, Spiderman for Ian, and Mickey Mouse for Oliver. Last year Oliver cried, but he didn't this year! When Santa asked Nadia what she wanted for Christmas, she said I want what I asked you for last year (all of Ariel's mermaid sisters). He asked if she wanted anything else, and she said an Elsa stuffed animal (plush).

Yesterday Paul took the kids to Lowe's to make trains at 10am, and then Paul's parents, Paul, Ian, and Nadia went to see Narnia at our church at 2pm. I would have enjoyed seeing it again (Nadia and I went last year), but someone needed to stay home with Oliver. We were looking forward to tasting some Turkish Delight for the first time, but they had sold out of it already (our church did six performances over the past four days). After a quick dinner at home, Paul took the kids to the Community Arts Center in Williamsport for a Frozen sing a long, which cost $1 a person and included free popcorn. Nadia, Ian, and Paul were out and about most of the day, which meant I had the day with Oliver. He and I went on a few errands and also made some Christmas cookies to give to all three kids' Sunday School teachers today. It was his first time decorating cookies, and he did a GREAT job and his attention span for this was longer than his siblings when they were older than he is now! Nadia and Ian did a little decorating at dinner time, but I'll be making a big batch of gingerbread cookies on Wednesday that they can decorate since Oliver and I decorated most of the sugar cookies. I also made some peanut butter blossoms last night for the six plates of cookies we gave away at church this morning.

Ian had asked for pizza for his birthday party so nine of us had pizza and birthday cake after church today. Paul's parents also joined the kids and I at church. The nine included Paul's parents, Aunt Millie, and Uncle Al. Millie made a yummy half vanilla and half chocolate Avengers birthday cake! The television was on during his party because both the Steelers and Giants were playing at 1pm. Both games were aired, and we only own one tv so we were flipping channels, but mostly we were focused on the birthday boy so we weren't actually watching too much of either game. Both our teams won last Sunday and again today! Great Gram wasn't here, but she had sent along a Jake (the pirate) sword, which the kids enjoyed playing with today. Nadia especially likes the compass. Aunt Millie and Uncle Al gave him a BIG storm trooper (a little smaller than Oliver) and a 100 piece Avengers puzzle. Paul's parents gave him a Batman remote controlled robot. I realized on Friday that what he REALLY wanted were Legos. I think he would have traded all the gifts I got him for some Legos (although he has been changing his underwear at least twice a day the last few days because he loves his new Star Wars underwear). I called Paul's mom and said if they had some Legos that they were going to give him for Christmas maybe they could swap the gifts and give him some for his birthday. They came through! He LOVES his new Legos. He was so excited about the gifts he got today that he didn't want to leave the house for our train ride, and he had no trouble leaving the house on Friday after he opened the gifts we gave him, so they definitely hit the mark better than I did this time. I tried!

 This evening we took a ride on the Polar Express. Although Ian was NOT happy about leaving our house (because he just wanted to stay home and play with his new toys that he had opened 3 hours earlier), all three kids did have fun on the train ride. They especially loved meeting all the characters who walked through the train - a gingerbread boy, snowman, Rudolph, Grinch, elves, Santa, etc. They were playing Christmas music during the entire 60 minute train ride and at one point they read the Polar Express book over the loudspeaker. At the end the kids each received a bag of goodies (chips, fruit snacks, muffins, cereal bar, coupons, jingle bell necklace, etc.). Although we don't have big parties for our kids and haven't invited anyone except close family thus far to any birthday party, we do try to plan special events to make a memorable birthday for the child! Some day we'll have some parties, but for now the kids are happy to participate in special events (like Nadia always asks to see a Sight and Sound show and last year we also went to Six Flags on her actual birthday). Also, Friday was a "holiday" for us in terms of not doing any school work. Tomorrow life will go back to normal around here. Our birthday festivities have come to an end. Blitz will shed his birthday garb that he's been wearing the past three days. I took TONS of pictures today; here are a few of the pics from the last three days! More will be shared in the coming days! :)