Keeping Track of Lauren & Jack » March 2008 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Mon, Mar 31, 2008 4:12 PM
Friday Jack had his last day of music class which is teddy bear day. They're encouraged to hold the bears and role model different things with them, but Jack was not that enthusiastic. I probably should have brought his green elephant he got from Aunti Tati, he's been wanting to sleep with him lately.

Lauren had her first soccer game Friday evening, which seemed to go fine at first. She happily ran around and frolicked on the field like a newborn foal, just sort of following the crowd. She didn't seem to really get the concept that she was supposed to go after the ball and kick it into the net, but she wasn't unhappy either. That all changed when they took a water break, and she wanted to color in the books that I had brought for Jack to keep him busy and off the field. After that she was quite petulant and then before we knew it the game was over. I think it's only half an hour altogether. Somewhere in all the excitement I was bitten by a fireant or something and it REALLY stung. OWWW!! I thought it was nice that they made the kids go through the lines and shake hands (it was more like high five or low five slaps) in the spirit of good sportsmanship. Overall I think it's going very well. There's one boy on her team who won't even step on the field and remains stuck to his Mom'sleg the entire time, so I really can't complain about a little moodiness! Mike met us there and we had a little family dinner at a casual pizza place close to there.

Saturday I had my "Queen for a day" Spa Day at the Saddlebrook Resort (which Mike got me for my 40th birthday in July so I was way overdue!) so Mike took Lauren to ballet. I only got home after naptime and Lauren was crying because she had been playing out in the cul-de-sac in her flip-flops (don't get me started)and she was bitten by about 30 fire ants, and I'm not exaggerating. Her left foot was entirely covered with bites and the right had some too. I felt so bad for her. I was really suffering from my ONE bite, and she's so much smaler than I am. But I think I was experiencing a mildly allergic reaction, and Lauren at least hasn't been itching at them. But oh, my oor baby!

Sunday we went mattress shopping which probably wasn't thre smartest thing to do as a family. The kids were jumping on all the beds and running around like crazed bansshees. I couldn't make a decision, so the quest for new beds continues!

This morning it was warm but humid and cloudy and it seemed like it would rain, so I took Jack along to drop Lauren off at school and from there we headed to Kidz Club. We sort of stumbled across a craft class in progress, which Jack did not want to join, but we did participate in some circle time with parachute and bubbles. That was fun, Jack really went after the big bubbles. That's all for now. . .more later!

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Thu, Mar 27, 2008 9:54 PM
Lauren's eye seemed better Wednesday morning, so I sent her to school. The school pictures are in. Even though she looks pretty cute in her yellow dress, her bow had fallen out of her hair, and the barrett that was underneath it was slipping off, so she just looks sloppy. I know it might seem silly, but it just ruins those pictures for me.

We had Jack's playgroup at the house on Wednesday, and only a few came, so it was pretty mellow. Plus it was mostly girls, and they were fairly well behaved.

Today, on the other hand, we had Lauren's playgroup. There were a lot more boys, and they kept fighting over the pirate dress up gear. But what mostly kept me busy was my two screaming and fighting with each other. After everyone left I had to lie down for a short while before I could function enough to make lunch and put Jack down for his nap. Lauren refused to nap, and I didn't have the energy to insist.

Later on they met up with Taylor on their way the park, and we decided to go have dinner with them at Boston Market, which the kids were just thrilled about. Jack and Lauren were dancing around holding hands saying that they were getting married. They seem to think that dancing together is what getting married means since that's what happens in Cinderella!

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Tue, Mar 25, 2008 11:50 PM
Jack's Mygym class was pretty good. He alternated between good listening and screaming or just laying on the floor, but we only had one time-out. One of the practice skills was a backwards roll, which he loved! In fact, he's taken to attempting sommersaults all the time lately outside of class in the most unlikely places!

After naps I took Jack for a haircut so he's looking pretty sharp. We tried the clippers set at #3 and I think it sits better, but I didn't like the way she blended it into the rest. Oh well, it will grow. Every 6 weeks or so we have another chance to experiment with something else.

I took advantage of all the Easter clearence sales and finally gave the kids their Easter baskets. I felt like I was being really cheap with them by doing that, but it was really more a lack of time last week. I don't think they can tell that everything's a few days overdue. They're just excited about new toys and candy! The gummy bunnies seemed to be the favorite. (Big surprise!)

Lauren's left eye was looking a bit red today, and she said it was itching, but I only saw her itch at it once. I really hope it isn't pink eye. I had that once in graduate school and it was miserable!

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Mon, Mar 24, 2008 11:57 PM
Can't believe I haven't blogged in almost a week. Let's see, the most exciting thing was Lauren's first soccer practice on Thursday. It was a bit disorganized, but very cute once they finally got going. Jack had a blast running round in circles. It's going to be hard to keep him off the field for games! Lauren was a bit shy, with the all the new people and a new surroundings, but I think she'll warm up as she gets used to it. I liked Coach Ashton's attitude. He said, at first it's going to look like a mess, and that's OK. Eventually they're going to get the rules like not using your hands and that you need to kick it into the goal. I guess kids feel a lot of pressure from their parents yelling to them from the sidelines. I have to make a conscious effort NOT to be one of those parents!

Friday Lauren said goodbye to her tracher Ms. Dawn at her preschool, who landed a job much closer to were she lives. Even though I don't think she was the most inventive teacher I'd ever seen, she was very sweet and calm with all the kids and Lauren just adored her, so I know she'll be missed.

Easter weekend was sort of a bust around here because I was so busy with my show, but they did dye hard boiled eggs on Saturday. Apparently Lauren ate one of the tablets before Mike dissolved it and had a mouth full of orange food coloring for a while. Thankfully those things aren't toxic! Sunday I was soooo wiped out, we didn't do a whole lot, but we did play outside long enough for Lauren to slightly scrape both knees. (When will I learn to put her in pants when she's playing out there?)

Today Jack had his first dentist appointment and it went very well. They don't take x-rays until 3 1/2 unless there's a problem. He sat pretty still for his cleaning. He wasn't always willing to keep his mouth open, and he tried pushing with his arms, but there was no screaming, so that was a relief! The dentist said he looks great, no cavaties and that we just need to floss his top middle teeth. It was a good first experience, so now hopefully he'll come along willingly for his future appointments.

Jack has been slowly permitting some sips of milk from the Avent sippy cups with the green lid and tonight he drank willingly! So perhaps the milk strike is over. It's like he's realizing, hey I really like that stuff and it tastes the same coming out of that green top!

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Tue, Mar 18, 2008 11:31 PM
I can't beleive I forgot to blog about this! The other night Jack peed in the potty! Yeehaw! He got a jelly bean, which he has been asking for for months now, and I meant to give him the Buzz Lightyear doll I've been saving for this very occasion, but I forgot because it was right before he got in the bath and then pretty soon after thast he was in bed. Maybe we'll save the big treat for a poop instead. I can't believe I'm actually celebrating poop, but that's where we are these days folks!

I just saw the two new videos that Mike added from just the other day and they are fairly hilarious. You can see that these clips are perfect examples of their love/hate relationship. They love each other so much sometimes it's all we can do to keep them from killing each other!

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Fri, Mar 14, 2008 11:56 PM
Jack had music class and it was fun, even if Jack did spend a lot of time laying on the floor! We only had one time out, when he started screaming about something. Afterwards he accompanied me on my quest to find Lauren's soccer cleats. We finally found them at the 5th store! It was worth the wait, they are so cute, with a pink Nike swoop thing on the side! I thought about getting unisex colors, but then I thought, who am I kidding? By next season Jack's going to be a size 12 or something!

It turns out it was all much ado about nothing because her practice was rained out. She was very disappointed, but there wasn't anything we could do about it. Too bad it had to happen on the very first practice. I think next week they have a game already! I guess that makes me officially now a soccer mom.

Something I've been meaning to mention from a few days ago, I was surprised to hear Jack sing the alphabet song. And it was pretty complete! He's also counting spontaneously up to 10, which seemed to happen all at once as well.

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Thu, Mar 13, 2008 11:09 PM
I can't believe I haven't blogged all week. It's been tech week for my comnunity theatre show, known commonly by actors as "Hell week". It's when you finally get on the set and put all the elements together, lighting, sound, costumes, props, etc. Rehearsals have been long because we don't really have any crew and we have to move the entire set off the stage every night. Ugh!

But back to the kids. . .Jacks's milk strike continues. Luckily he's still eating a ton of yogurt and cheese, but I'm wondering if I should be concerned. He did very well during MyGYm class this week. He listened and sat patiently on the mats for his turn. and since we didn't have a milk break to interrupt things, the hour just flew right by!

Lauren's been very happy to be in school this week, which is much better for me, since I feel guilty all day if she's the slightest bit reluctant at drop-off time. Their theme is pirate this week, and they had a treasure hunt on Wednesdsy which sounded fun. I'm trying to think of a good show and tell item for tomorrow. Maybe the book of Peter Pan?

A huge box from the Disney store arrived yesterday, and the kids were very excited. Apparently there was a bunch of stuff on sale, and Mike ordered half the store! The neatest thing is the remote control Cinderella carriage, which has a video camera that shows you everything from the carriage point of view. You can even view it from the TV!

Otherwise we finally got a call and Lauren's soccer starts this Friday. I will have my show so Daddy's on duty for that one. He'll have Jack too since Sara's off for the weekend, but he'll be under strict orders to take lots of pictures and video. Today we went shopping for her gear, and I found shin guards and long socks, which are the most imortant. Also got her some shorts and a pink soccer ball to practice with at home! Couldn't find cleats in her size though, so that's tomorrow's mission.

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Mon, Mar 10, 2008 10:43 AM
Saturday evening we went to a basketball game at USF. There was supposed to be a big staff and faculty appreciation tailgate event beforehand, but it was cancelled due to high winds. We all dressed up in our USF colors (green and gold) and Lauren wore her cheerleading outfit that we got her for Halloween. We had dinner at Crackerbarrel (Jack ate well, Lauren only picked at her food)and then headed into the game. We got all the way up the stairs to our seats way up at the top, and then Lauren decides she wants a snack, and she HAD to come with me. So she and I trooped all the way back downstairs to get some popcorn. She did get some smiles from other people on our way, but it was confusing because Notre Dame have the exact same colors as USF. People would smile and then see the gold U Bulls horn symbol and then the smile would sort of fade away. When we finally got back to our seat it seemed like we were surrounded by "Fighting Irish" fans. It didn't help that Lauren kept saying she wanted to go cheer with the other team's cheerleaders. I have to admit they were more actrobatic than ours were! But Lauren shook her pom poms and shouted "GO TEAM, GO!" like a real pro. And Jack yelled through his megaphone, although most of the time he stood whacking it on his seat. Soon enough they started getting tired, Lauren wanting to lay in my lap and Jack got very hyper. Sadly, USF lost, but it was a good game, USF closing in on the lead Notre Dame had, until it was within a few points. That kept it exciting. It was well after bedtime by the time we got home, but they both insisted on taking a bath anyway. I guess there's no shirking the routine!

Yesterday we had a visit via webcam and Skype with Aunti Tati and Tiffany in California. The kids were showing them their rooms and all their toys. That's the advantge of having the webcam on the laptop, you can move it around! It's still amazing to me that the kids understand the whole concept that it's like a phone call but we can see the person too. I often still need to remind my little tots to be in front of the camera. I think they think if they can see the screen, then whoever's there can see them. But it's amazing that they are so adapted to the technology. I wonder what things will be like by the time they're teenagers?

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Sat, Mar 8, 2008 9:53 AM
Well, let's see. Wednesday Lauren had school, Jack had playgroup at the park. He had fun pushing his big Tonka dump truck around in the sand. He was coveting another boy's matchbox car, so we arranged a trade which seemed very satisfactory to both parties. Jack didn't even pitch a fit when we had to swap back, so maybe he's learning to share and take turns. . .a little bit.

Thursday at playgroup Lauren sat for a long time with a book that had a little magna doodle pad on it that encouraged her her write letters. I thought it ws a great idea so I when I saw it later at Target I bought it for her. They both ate a ton for snacks, so lunch was a wash that day

Jack's milk strike continues. I think he's waiting to see if any white sippy cup tops magically appear. It's very difficult, but I'm holding my ground. I've been giving him yogurt at every meal and lots of his usual cheese, so I'm hoping he's still getting enough calcium and Vitamin D etc. He's been drinking plenty of watered down juice so he doesn't seem dehydrated. This morning he even drank some V8 Fusion drink which is supposed to have a serving of fruit AND vegetables in each 8 ounces. He actually ate some french toast slices for breakfast, and he even dunked them in syrup, so maybe breakfast time is looking up.

I've been trying to decide about what sort of bedding to get them both for their big kid beds. Jack's was easy, because we're limited to things that will go with his green gingham rocking chair, he has green curtains, and his walls are blue. So I had to buy something that mathched those things if I didn't want to completely start over. I finally found a quilt and sheets at Pottery Barn Kids online that has the right color combination, and it has constuction trucks all over it! He's very excited. His quilt has already arrived but the pillow shams are back-orderd until June! The sheets were also back-ordered, but I saw that they had them in the store, so I went and bought them yesterday, so Jack's room is pretty complete. Now we just have to buy the mattress.

Lauren is another story. Her arm chair is floral and there are a lot of floral accents in her room. She's been saying that she wants a princess room, and that her favorite colors are pink and purple. It hasn't been easy to find something that takes all of that into consideration. Plus she's been begging us to paint her room pink. If the walls are pink, the bed can't be pink too or it will be too much. As soon as I get hers figured out, then we'll go shopping for mattresses. I think it will be best to make the transition for both of them at about the same time. They've also been asking to sleep together, which might be possible to try once they both have their double beds. I'm not really looking forward to the prospect of Jack wandering the halls in the middle of the night. We might have to put a gate up across his doorway.

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Tue, Mar 4, 2008 11:11 PM
Monday was picture day for Lauren ay school, so I tried to get her into my favorite new dress for her, but she insisted on a yellow one, so we'll see how they come out. She scraped her knee in the morning, so hopefully she wasn't too long faced when they were taking the pics. She was in tears when I went to pick her up.

Jack was a good sport as I spent the entire morning steam cleaning the high-chair which I am giving away in a charity drive through my Mom's club. It's in pretty good shape, but it was so gross, I just couldn't give to anyone in that state! Most of the time he spent lying on the floor plating with his trucks. He did, however, find his way into the bathroom at one point and emptied out most of a tube of hair gel into the sink before I got to him! Little rascal!

Today he's been on milk strike. He finally bit his way through the last white rubber nipple for the Avent sippy cups, so all we have left are the hard plastic green ones. So he didn't drink any milk all day long. Not a drop. I just refuse to buy more of those white ones because he bites right through them. Oh well. I guess he'll adjust eventually. He's very stubborn.

MyGym class was challenging as usual. Every time Jack started screaming I took him for a time out. We went on quite a few. At least 5! But I think he's starting to understand that that behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. I also tried ignoring him when he refused to participate in circle time and layed on the floor with his face down. It took him quite a while, but he did eventually get up and come to get my attention.

Back at home, we put out an older laptop computer on a low folding table so that Mike and I can have custody again of the laptop we keep in our kitchen. Both kids are completely addicted to Noggin.com! Lauren even knows how to turn on the computer, although she is forbidden to do it because she also turns it off without logging off. This weekend was the last straw when Jack pulled one of the barstools over. It's just too dangerous for them to be climbing up there to use the computer. They still fall over fighting for their turn, but now they're only 1 foot off the ground and over carpet instead of tile!

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Sun, Mar 2, 2008 9:22 PM
So much for getting a good night's sleep! Sadie was barking at some creatures out in the yard (probably racoons) at 5AM, Lauren came climbing into bed about 6AM, and those few disrupted hours made me feel tired all day!

I decided to take the kids downtown to the Hyde Park area. There's a nice park there, but it was a little nerve-wracking because Lauren wanted me to push her on the swings, but Jack was climbing up walls and hanging from monkey bars that were really high up, so I had to keep running to ward off disaster. Then Jack saw a matchbox car of another boy there, and he had a complete meltdown when he had to give it back when we left for lunch. There's a nice sandwich place closeby where we sat outside and they ate surprisingly well. Then I had the bright idea to go to Pottery Barn Kids to check out the bedding that I ordered for Jack and see if Lauren liked any of the bedspreads in particular. Well, Jack got it in his head that he wanted to buy some little trucks they had for sale, and Lauren wanted to buy a pink bed, meaning the headboard etc, when we are planning to convert her existing crib/daybed into a full size bed. Once they both were screaming I just decided it was time to go with no purchases whatsoever. I am determined to respond this way so they learn that it's unacceptable. I guess if it happens enough, they'll adjust their behavior. They both screamed hysterically all the way back to the car. . . Urgh! Of course they both fell right asleep on the way home. That was the most relaxing 40 minutes of my whole day! Jack transferred into his crib easliy enough, but Lauren was again hysterical when she woke up and it took her quite a while to calm down. She was very happy to wake up a little later to see Daddy back from his trip! Yippee! Lots of wrestling ensued!

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Sat, Mar 1, 2008 8:50 PM
I got up at 6AM this morning in order to shower and be ready by 7AM when Sara arrived. We moved the car seats into her car so she could take the kids to Lauren's dance class. I had a staged reading I was taking part of this morning all the way over in Clearwater which is an hour away, and Mike is off in Raleigh until tomorrow for a conference.

I'm glad to say from all reports that all went smoothly, and Jack's apetite is slowly returning. They both seem to be feeling much better with only the occasional cough here and there. Sara took them to the ballet class which is just down the road, and then to the nearby park, and then out to lunch. I got back in time to get Lauren changed into her fancy dress and we went to a birthday party for Dylan, a boy in her class at school. He also lives right in our community so it was right at our own community center. We left Jack napping with Sara and he seemed pretty cheerful upon our return. I have a feeling that these days of him being blissfuly unaware of what he's missing are rapidly coming to an end!

Dinner was OK, bathtime went relatively smoothly, but somehow it all fell apart trying to get them into bed. I guess I'm out of practice! Lauren just does not listen to me, and time outs are only somewhat effective at this point. The whining and the screaming and the carrying on and throwing herself on the floor in depspair are really wearing thin. I was feeling a bit cripsy myself from such a long day. Ugh. Please let tomorrow be better! I'm going to bed right now, which is ridiculously early for me, and maybe an hour after the kids bedtime, but I think it's my best defense (a good offense) for tomorrow!

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