Birthday Girl!

I cannot believe my first baby is 5 today. It has been a crazy, wonderful, FAST 5 years. I love her more each and every day. I am so grateful for her and we are blessed to have her in our family. 

We have had a big day so far. She woke up to her surprise new kitchen. 

Then we got ready for church, face timed with Nana, and headed out. After church we went to target to pick up the cakes. One Barbie and one Hello Kitty, because how could you choose?!

Then some presents and lunch. 

Oh and the eating of the cake...

Sydney told me I am the best decorating human she has ever seen and that she loves her birthday. :) For her birthday dinner, Sydney picked "chicken nugget steak" also known as country fried steak. 

I'm looking forward to what this year will bring for our big girl!

Blogging Take 2

Well Sophie is now about the age Sydney was when I last posted. So to catch up...

- I ended up being put on bed rest three weeks before Sophie was born. 

- Sophie was born with some unexpected issues and had to have surgery and spend weeks in the NICU at a higher level hospital. 

- she is now mainly fine except for the things that will always be a issue. 

- We got to spend lots of time with my family since Sophie has been born. 

- Steve and I started eating healthier and working out and lost a lot of weight. 

- We found a church home out here. 

- Steve started a couple of new jobs.

- Sydney fell in love with Sunday school.

- Sophie finally started staying in nursery so I can now listen to the sermon without holding her and pacing. 

- Steve has been baptized. 

- Sydney started karate. 

- Sydney quit karate. 

- Sydney is an amazing big sister and helper who is turning 5 this Sunday!

I am going to try and do a better job of keeping up with our posts this time. :)

School update

Friday night we did an outdoor lesson. We played with sidewalk chalk as a family and worked on letters, shapes, colors, and numbers. I think everyone enjoyed this one!!

We took yesterday off since our new supplies was arriving tonight. I got three tot trays ready for tonight.



This is the first try I did. I ordered foam letter stickers. When I received them, they were much smaller than I thought. I decided to put them on construction paper and make letter "patches" instead. (This could easily be done with puff paint and I think I will in the future.) On another sheet of construction paper I wrote out the letters in the same colors. The object was to match the letters, work on what the letters were, and the colors. Sydney liked this tray, matched a few up, and new all the colors!



The second tray I put together was lacing. This one did not go over well, but we will keep trying.



The last tray was counting, sorting, and colors.



Sydney enjoyed the sorting and colors on this one. (super blurry pictures)





When we tried to count she started crying and saying "my toys". I am not sure who taught her this phrase but it will not stand in our house. I explained that we share our toys and she had to take a break several times. (Taking a break here is pretty much time out) I am hopeful that the phrase will pass and she will be my sweet sharing girl again soon!!

4th of July

For the 4th of July we went over to some friends' house. We had a fun time hanging out and Sydney was able to play with her friend too.


She quickly ruined her 4th outfit Nana got her by playing in the sand and water, but she enjoyed every second of it. We ate some great food and had a lot of fun until Sydney was warn out and ready to head home.

We made it home thinking this was another year that Sydney would go without seeing fireworks, and then we heard our neighbors! They are really nice, and from Iowa, which makes me feel "at home" a little. We all ran outside and watched their fireworks.


Sydney really enjoyed them. They were great with her and she kept offering to "help" Mr. Kevin with the lighting. We had another neighbor who had some much larger and louder fireworks. Those were a bit scary so she wanted her silencing headphones.


This is Mr. Kevin and Keagan setting up the next round of "kid friendly" fireworks.

So on her 2 1/2 birthday Sydney finally got to see fireworks. She was even up past 9. It was a fun day for our family, heat and all!

Clarification

By guilted I mean inspired. Sydney loves her letters and deserves to learn. We cannot take her to a preschool program during the day since we both work. This leaves the teaching to mommy. At 8 1/2 months pregnant, I currently consider inspiration for extra projects as "guilt". School is great for both Sydney and I and we are grateful for the tot tray inspiration!!

Preschool Begins

Well I have been guilted into Homeschool preschool for Sydney by my bestie Brittany at Learning in Grace.

Sydney is super into her letters right now. So tonight when she saw me prepping we had to start school. I found some free printables online while we are waiting for the rest of our supplies.


We started with the letter "A". She did really good on this one and would color inside the lines when asked. I started with markers thinking that would be a fun "treat" but she was not impressed and switched to crayons. (Which by the way it is almost time to stock up on crayons and markers for free with coupons during back to school specials.)



Next we worked on the apple tree. Sydney got tired of coloring and wanted some help. She handed me crayons telling me the color and saying " you help". Girl is already great at managing others. :)



The managing continued during A is for alligator. She did great with this and new it was alligator, not crocodile. I was impressed!


The lower case "a" was a struggle. She kept calling this "D" and I couldn't really argue with her, it did look like a "D". That was my bad on selecting this one.

She had a great time tonight. I asked if she wanted to put school away and take a bath and she lost her mind. She loves to take baths and anything involving water, but school won out! I hope that continues. :)

Crazy Week

Last week went by in a blur. Things were going as normal until Wednesday. We had plans for
Steve's birthday party that quickly got changed when my doctor's appointment for Sophie didn't go as planned. Poor Steve ended up having to go buy his own cupcakes and making our dinner.

My blood pressure was high at the doctor and I had massive weight gain from swelling. The doctor and nurse were far from pleased. Once they got done with writing all of my tests up I had to go across the street to the lab and get the stuff I needed to do the 24 hour urine test. Fun times! I immediately proceeded to flip out and worry about everything. I did some research and my freak out got worse. Then I talked with Angie and started to feel MUCH better. I knew if she wasn't worried, and thought my doctor was doing the right stuff, then Sophie and I were okay. I worked late Thursday and Friday to make sure I can get everything done, just in case I go out of work earlier than planned.

Friday morning Sydney had her follow up ear check with the specialist. This pretty much was us just paying $55 to torture our child. There was no change from when we were at the pediatrician a month before. The office is not child friendly and the doctor has 5 patients at one time. Then after the wait and no news we had to go do a pressure test that hacked Sydney off even more. Then more waiting to confirm there was no change. Sydney was even climbing into her stroller and saying "buckle up" it was really sad.

Yesterday was a much needed change from the week. There was no working, no doctors, and no tests. Steve smoked some ribs, I made some sides, and we had a friend over for dinner. Sydney was super shy around him, but she enjoyed her BBQ dinner. :)

This morning I woke up to a blow out from Sydney, the start of my urine test, and then Sydney's ear tube came out the rest of the way. This was all before 10am. Things have obviously improved from there but I think we are all looking forward to bed tonight. Fingers crossed for a calmer week!