Good Listener?

At naptime today, Lauren was in her usual state of procrastinating, and went to her bookshelf to pick out some books to read. Sometimes I think she just lays in bed and reads books during nap, which sometimes is OK, but on this particular day, Lauren was definitely needing a real nap.

Me: "One book today, okay Lauren? One book." 

Lauren: "Ok Mommy." (Smiles sweetly)

Me:  "You can read ONE book, then you have to go to sleep."

Lauren: "Ok." (Nods head)

Me: "How many books are you going to read?"

Lauren: "Three."

Halloween Prep

Halloween prep is in full force. I finally finished the kids' costumes..........meaning they arrived in the mail via disneystore.com (serious lack of sewing skills here). Lauren wanted to be Mickey Mouse. Not Minnie Mouse. Mickey Mouse. According to Lauren, Mickey is a girl and he talks like a girl. Evan wanted to be Pluto, but I couldn't find the costume, and he's going to be Simba, which turned out pretty cute. So, here are Mickey & Simba trying on their costumes.

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We went to the Bellevue Berry Patch last weekend and picked out pumpkins. I left the camera at home (on purpose) to make my carrying load a little lighter. It's a lot smaller than Vala's, which was kinda nice, but also not nearly as impressive. Still fun, though.

 

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We went to Patriot Elementary (Laurie's school) for Halloween Family Fun Night on Tuesday. Lauren thought Laurie's classroom was very cool. I always get a kick out of visiting Laurie's classroom, and seeing the tiny desks. There's just something fun about school supplies.

The Pizza Man was there, and all the kids got to make their own pizzas.

As Lauren was ransacking Laurie's classroom, she said "I'm going to be a teacher when I'm big." So cute.

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Wednesday night, we carved pumpkins. Our sticky-fingerprinted-full-of-food-crumbs-never-comes-clean kitchen table is now even stickier. Our fruit flies love it. Gross, but true. (Trying really hard to smile at the sometimes nasty evidence of small kids we have in our home). I love the kids (and even the mess), just not the fruit flies. :)

I convinced Lauren to put her hands in there and dig out some seeds, which she did exactly ONCE....she takes a little bit after Chad in this category (who also hates the gooey mess inside a pumpkin), and used a spoon from there on out.

We aren't too original, but I think it still counts.

Cuddles

Not much to say this week, but I had a few cute pictures on the camera. Evan has been super-sweet recently, as long as he has someone's full attention anyway. He is very cuddly, especially at bedtime. He is big into blowing kisses and will now even plant a big wet one on your face. He doesn't sit still AT ALL right now, so it is RARE to see him sit like this (below).

 

Evan is also in an I-want-to-help stage, meaning he loves to help load and unload the dishwasher. He also loves the vaccuum. As soon as I turn it on, he attacks it, and I can't hardly get around him. Good thing I don't vaccuum very often. He loves to rummage through everything. You never know when something is going to disappear or where it's going to re-appear. Yesterday I found Evan's shoe under our bed, Lauren's sippy cup in our shower, and a pumpkin under the living room chair. He has a hiding place somewhere that I haven't found yet, his own little stash. His desire to help is adorable, and as long as we don't need a tape measure or fly swatter (a few of Evan's hidden possessions) anytime soon, we'll be good.

Lauren was pretty cuddly on this particular night too  - in her sponge curlers & princess pj's. Even though I told her over and over again how Laurie, Erin, & I went to bed many nights and slept in sponge curlers, she wouldn't have it.....so we took them out about an hour later. Can't say I blame her, but oh, the curls would have been so cute!

Keith Urban

We road-tripped to Minneapolis last weekend to see Erin & some great friends! The whole weekend was perfect. We got there Friday night and met Baby Katelyn (Nagengast) for the 1st time. What a sweet pea. On Saturday, we visited Erin & saw her cute apartment. Lauren & Evan had a fun sleepover at her place Saturday night. Thank you Erin!!!! Erin graciously offered to babysit while we went out with the Nagengasts, Conrads, and Hartfords to see KEITH URBAN in concert. It was the last night of his tour so he played for 3 straight hours, which for us Keith Urban lovers, was awesome. It was the 1st time the 8 of us had been out without kids since Lauren was born. I didn't want to drag my big camera around all night, so we took a few pics at Rob & Annie's house, and called it good.

Annie - Abby - Me - Kim

Adam - Tim - Chad - Rob

Chad & I

Me - Kim - Abby.

Rob, Annie, & Baby Katelyn. It was their 1st time leaving her with a sitter. I totally remember that feeling. :(

Tim & Abby. Lauren is slightly obsessed with Abby. :) Abby is a speech pathologist and has a trunk full of toys that she brings to her schools/homes. Lauren took one look in her trunk a few months ago, and hasn't forgotten it. That trunk full of toys (and Abby too) made a huge impression on Lauren.

Kim & Adam -  who also have 2 little kids that stayed home. Collin is 3 months old, and just 7 days older than Katelyn. Evan is exactly 1 year older than both of them. Their daughter, Grace, is only 2 months younger than Lauren. So we are gonna have our hands full at the next get-together. :)

Lauren & Katelyn. In a few years, the 3 year age gap won't seem so huge!

Katelyn Nagengast - 3 months old

Head CT

 Hopefully this will be the first and LAST time for this post. Lauren fell and hit her head last weekend in church. She was kneeling on the pew, facing backwards, lost her balance, and fell backwards onto her head. It didn't seem that terrible at the time. She was upset, but I thought it scared her more than it actually hurt her. She had a headache the rest of the day, but otherwise seemed fine. Around 5:30 she started acting like she wasn't feeling well. She went to the freezer to get an ice pack for her head. Then she started vomiting. A lot. I called our pediatrician's office who told me to take her to the ER immediately. Yikes. The ER is of course packed, but once they hear why we are there, they bring Lauren to a room to be evaluated right away. She checks out fine, which of course I already knew, b/c psycho mama had already done a neuro exam on her. :) The timing of everything had them concerned for a head bleed, so the Dr. ordered a Head CT, which was totally normal. Thank God. I got to go with her and hold her hand during the scan, which was quick and painless, and she did great.

We're thinking she got nauseated b/c of the headache and most likely had a concussion. (You can't rule out concussion on a Head CT). We kept her home for a few days to watch her and keep quiet and prevent repeat injury. We watched Toy Story four times in a row the next day. She was in a daze and slept most of the day, but perked up on Tues AM and then Tues night she finally snapped out of it, and our normal Lauren returned. :) She is now back to school and doing just fine. We probably could've just watched it and avoided the head ct, but that's easier said then done when it's your own kid and someone tells you to take them to the ER. And we learned a very important (and very expensive) lesson in church etiquette.

We are so glad you are better!

Interview with Lauren

Lauren's teachers did an "All About Me" interview with her at school recently. I thought it'd be kinda fun to post her answers and see how they change over time. These are Lauren's answers (verbatim).

My name is: Lauren Elizabeth

I am  __  years old: 2
My eyes are: Blue

My hair is: Black

My favorite animal is: Piggy

My favorite Food: Waffles

My favorite game is: Candyland

My favorite thing to do: Go to the park

My favorite color is: Green

My favorite movie is: Lion King

My favorite book is: The monkey book

My pet is a: Dog

My pet's name is: Bailey-boo

The city I live in is: Omaha

My address is: I don't know

The name of my school: I don't know

My teacher's name is: Miss Jessi

The thing I like most about school is: Going to snack

Ways I show others I care: I go to the park

My best friend is: Brady

Things I like to do with my friends: Go to snack

Things I can do really well: Coloring

Daycare Chaperone

Education Express took a field trip to Vala's Pumpkin Patch last week. They invited parents to come along "just for fun." I've never been to Vala's and have heard such great things, so Brady's Mom and I signed up, thinking it'd be fun to see the kids interact with their friends and teachers. Education Express had over 50 kids there, so we split up into groups, according to age. It was mass chaos. Here are a few pics from our day.

Our group in the famous Vala's chair. Did you count them? You can't see all of them here, but there were FIFTEEN.  FIFTEEN 2-3yr olds and TWO teachers. I came prepared to help watch a few of the kids, and ended up with Lauren and FIVE other 2 yr olds to keep track of. Let's just say it's a small miracle that we didn't lose anyone. According to Vala's, there were 800 kids at Vala's that day, so keeping our 15 together was um....impossible. 

We rode the train, watched the pig races, played on the slides, fed the goats, did lots of walking around, ate a picnic lunch, and took a hayrack ride.

Lauren, Ellie, & Ava. One perk of the day was that I got to learn the names of the kids in Lauren's class and met some parents I hadn't met before.

Here we are watching the pig races.

Potty break. I found out at this point that not everyone was potty trained. And that they only packed 1 diaper per kid for the whole day. Hmmm.

We then got a very entertaining performance on one of the empty stages.

Tyler, Kayli, and Lauren on the hayrack ride, which was a hit, and my favorite part of the day b/c it meant I wasn't carrying anyone. :)

Picking out her pumpkin

Lesson learned: Next time, pick smaller pumpkins. You can imagine who got to carry those 15 pumpkins back to the bus. :)

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We were all totally exhausted after our day at Vala's. I definitely want to go back, with my TWO kids, and a husband to carry the pumpkins. I'm going to make a few a lot of suggestions for the next field trip. Lauren seemed to get a huge kick out of having mom there, which is good, b/c even though my day "off" turned out to be a lot more work than I bargained for, I will probably volunteer again, just to make sure my kid gets home okay!

Harvest Time

The kids & I recently enjoyed a quick trip back to Humboldt to hang out with my Mom and get some rides in the combine. It was both Lauren & Evan's 1st official ride in a tractor, and it ended up being a beautiful day to be in the field. 

She wanted to make sure she got to go all alone. When my Dad asked if Evan could come, she replied, "Evan can't come. He's busy."

If you look close, you will notice who's in the driver's seat! (Evan)

Lauren got to go in the combine first, and Evan wasn't too happy about it. Once he found out there were more tractors and wagons around, he was like a kid in a candy store.

This should be the poster for Future Farmer's of America don't you think? The ISU gear makes it all the more perfect. :) Which surprisingly I didn't plan.

This was Evan watching Lauren ride away in the combine. He stared it down for several minutes......before he noticed the awesome crunching sound he could make when he walked around.

 

New Job!

It is with great excitement (and a little sadness) that I say,
I HAVE A NEW JOB!
I have accepted a position with Oncology Associates at Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center starting in November. Oddly enough, even though I hate cancer, I enjoy working in oncology and am excited that I get to continue doing so. I am going to miss my old coworkers and boss, Paula, immensely, I can't emphasize that enough (that's the sadness part). But the hours and schedule with bone marrow transplant were taking its toll on Chad & the kids, and they come first. The hours and schedule with my new job ROCK (that's the excitement part!).

It has been very hard to think about leaving a job I enjoy, but it has been so fun to see Chad's excitement as we talk about spending our nights and weekends together. And as much as I loved the great medicine and the way things "work" at an academic hospital, I was very ready to leave the "Oh, just keep working extra for no extra pay and do more with less" philosophy they've had the last few years. Hopefully private practice will be different. We will see. I'm sure it will be an adventure. :)

Lauren 3 Years & Evan 15 Months

We had check-ups last week with Dr. J and all came out well. Once again I felt very lucky to be leaving the pediatrician's office with 2 very healthy kids. After Lauren's Old McDonald's birthday dinner, Lauren said her ear hurt. After about 5 minutes, she forgot about it and never mentioned it again. Turns out she has a nasty ear infection. Otherwise she looked good and here are her stats:

Weight: 31 lb 2 oz (55%)
Height: 36.9" (39%)
BP: 86/58 (normal)

Evan also had a great check-up. He even gave Dr. J a high five. He got 2 shots and goes back in a month for flu shots (Lauren too).

Weight: 23 lb 12 oz (40%)
Height: 18" (37%)
Head Circumference: 31" (73%)

So what else is new with Lauren at age 3? Well, she is a KID now. She does kid things. She says kid things. She has a kid attitude. Every once in awhile I get to see a glimpse of her toddlerhood. She is mommy to dozens of stuffed animals & babies (her nightly count averages about 17 in her bed), she plays make believe, talks to her toys, and dreams about princesses. She is super-friendly and outgoing around other kids but a little shy around adults. She has been a little more jealous of Evan lately, not sure why, but otherwise she's a good big sister.

What else can I say? She is a late-sleeping, healthy-eating, park-loving sweetheart. The girl actually chooses fruit over french fries at restaurants, wonder how long that'll continue.

She went through a rough patch this summer with her excessive whining, temper tantrums, whining, attitude, whining, and more whining, but she has seemed a little better the last month or so. I know it's so cliche to say, but I just cannot believe she is THREE already. At the same time, I hardly remember my life without her, and wouldn't change a thing about the last 3 years.

What is Evan up to at 15 months? My favorite new things about him are that he loves to blow kisses and do "ug-a-mug-a" and give us Eskimo kisses. It's pretty cute. He is learning lots of sign language at daycare. His favorite is "please." He loves to brush his hair and brush his teeth - this boy spends a lot of time watching his mama and mimicks everything I do. Not to worry though, he is still obsessed with playing with any sort of ball. He is doing awesome in his new room at daycare. It is incredible the difference with his new teachers. He is coming home well-rested, well-fed, and with lots of fun art projects. He still loves to cuddle with me at bedtime, which is my all-time favorite part of the day.