Katelyn and the Doctor

So we decided to take the kids to the doctor to get a flu shot. Well, the flu mist. Ethan sat on the table and took it like a man. No problem. Zach sits on the table kicking his feet, "I'll do it!" The first side shocked him and he said, "it's kind of hot." Well, as far as I know it isn't hot, but it must burn a little bit. Second side, he flinched a little, but not bad for a three year old. (This is the kid that when we took him to his first dentist visit, didn't move a muscle while his teeth got cleaned. Which was amazing to us because the other two at his age kicked the dentist, and at one office we were asked not to come back.) Anyway, so Katelyn, who started to cry when we first got there, was absolutely hysterical when Zach said "it's hot." So we sat her on the table and said, you can either have the mist up your nose, or you can get a shot in your arm. (The last time she got a shot, at 4 years, she kicked the nurse, and the needle almost broke in her arm.) Okay, so she wants it in her nose. The nurse just gets close to her, Dan is holding her head, kind of hugging her, and she starts to scream like we are killing her. She screamed soooooo loud!!! Oh my heck. I could not believe how loud she screamed. And of course the entire office heard her. So we get looks from EVERYONE as we march out. (Having a large family we are like a parade everywhere we go anyway, so we are kind of used to it.) What I don't understand though is when they look at you like you are a bad parent. As if we love it when our kids scream and yell. It wasn't as if she was being bad, there is a huge difference between being scared to death, and being a bad kid.
Once when I took the kids in I ran into my OB doctor and we were talking about if Dan and I were going to have another baby any time soon. One of the receptionists overheard our conversation. So a little while later, she apparently thought I had left, I hear the receptionist talk about how crazy I was to want more kids, etc.... As if it was any of her business. That was back in May, so I am sure she was surprised yesterday to see that my stomach has expanded a lot. :)I don't know what she was all bent out of shape for. The more kids I have the more her job is secure.
We really aren't sure what to do about some of Katelyn's fears. You mention the word doctor, and she goes and hides under her bed. She is afraid of her own shadow. No really. One night before she went to bed, she had to go to the bathroom. The hall bathroom was occupied, so she went into ours. All of a sudden Dan hears her screaming her head off and she comes running in to get him. "I saw something in there!!!" So Dan walks back with her, "okay Katelyn what did you see?" "That!" She was pointing to her shadow. She used to come into our bedroom pretty often really upset because she has had a bad dream. So finally I said, "Katelyn, when I am afraid of something, I say a prayer to Heavenly Father. He will help me to be brave and to not be afraid anymore." So every night before she falls asleep, I hear my little girl, "Dear Heavenly Father, please help me to be brave and to not be afraid, and to help me sleep." She hasn't woken up during the night since. We tried that when we go to the doctor... so I hate to think what would happen at the office if we didn't say a prayer first!

So this is what they do when I am gone....

Dan is such a fun dad!

Field Trip!

I am still scratching my head wondering where the time has gone. I took Katelyn on this field trip last year, and I am still amazed Zach is old enough to go. He was a lot of fun to watch today. Towards the end of the tour of the fire house, he really had to go to the bathroom. We were all upstairs, but when Zach was done, everyone had already gone back down stairs. Zach could hear them talking, and he yelled, "oh no! They started without us!" So he ran to catch up to the group. The Captain who gave us the tour was asking the kids what their favorite part of the tour was. Zach raises his hand and said, "I just went potty." The Captain said "give me knuckles". The firefighters who were watching were laughing so hard. Zach is just so animated about everything. It was a lot of fun for the kids, and the firefighters really did a good job making it really exciting for them. They got to watch one slide down the pole. Zach says, Hey can I do that?! Such a boy. Too much fun. Right as we were saying thank you, they got a call and had to rush out, sirens and all. So that was really exciting for the kids. Although Zach was pretty disappointed that they didn't let him climb up the really tall ladder on the ladder truck. Ohhh.

Beauty Parlor

Ok, so Alyssa is such a girl. She loves to have her hair (what hair she has) done. She will sit still and let me comb it, spray it, and put a clip in it. (Although the second she walks away the clips come out) She follows Katelyn's lead. I was just really amazed that she didn't try to pull the curlers out.

I have to admit, I am loving this. They are such sweet girls. It is a lot of fun with them around.

We have a tie breaker!

Hi everyone! (Sorry for the cheesy music, we are so excited!) Today we went to the dr. for our ultrasound. (I CANNOT believe how fast it is going, I am 19 weeks...)

I love that the offices have big tvs so everyone who comes can see. (When I had Ethan, we all had to look on the tiny monitor) So that was a fun family activity for us and fun to have grandma Smith there. The kids got to see their new Baby Brother on the tv. Surprise! Surprise! Everyone keeps asking me how I know before hand what we are having. The answer is, I really don't know. I just know. And this time, the kids all knew. Everyone said it's a boy. It still does not seem real. He started to kick a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say I am so excited to have another little one. I have been feeling better than ever, and able to get so much done, I feel a lot more productive than I have in months. Which is such a nice feeling. I was pretty emotional today. Just seeing all of my kids there watching the screen at the new little life and the wonderment of it all. I was so overwhelmed, I just felt so blessed.

Everything looked healthy during the ultrasound and the baby is right on schedule. Katelyn said, "is the baby coming today?!" They are all so excited.

We are home now, and Ethan and Zach are fighting as I am typing this, Alyssa is pulling all of the wipes out of the container, and Katelyn is dumping out her dress-ups. I am so excited to have another one.....hmmmm. :)

Well, off to another event at the school.

Camping!

Her favorite chair

Ethan really liked using the ax, it was a pretty dull one, but made me a little nervous!

Katelyn's deciding if she needs to go "that bad". Stinky bathrooms!

Dan finally had a weekend off, so we decided to take the gang camping. We have been wanting to go all summer long, but thought we should wait until Alyssa started walking. Who knew she would take her sweet time with that! We surprised the kids and set off for Mt Lemmon. (A lot later than we wanted to, isn't that the way it always goes?)
We got to our favorite camp site just as the sun was setting. Which by the way, we were amazed at how much they charge now for a one night camp site. I said for that kind of money, they should have valet parking and put up your tent for you! Anyway, we unloaded and cooked dinner,

(hot dogs what else?) Katelyn took forever to roast her hot dog, she was afraid it would get black things on it, (burned) and so she held it mostly outside of the fire pit. As we were eating, Katelyn started to cry, well, wail. She was so upset. Upon investigation, we realized that she was upset by the uninvited guests (bugs, flies and moths) that we had at dinner. Okay, her being afraid of the moths were my fault, the week before I was in the kids bathroom getting a hair tie for one of the girls. A moth flew out at me and startled me. I screamed and did the "bug dance" that I learned from my mother. For the rest of the week, Katelyn would not go down the hallway without an escort. So back to camping, she was very upset by the moth intrusion. So we told her to go sit by the fire, because they would not get her there.

All's well that ends well.

So after dinner, we set out to put up the tent. By now, it is dark. Note to self, Alyssa is terrified of the dark. So when Dan needed my help, (soooo sad) Alyssa sat on the ground sobbing Mom! Mom! So heartbreaking. When we got in the tent, she is still crying, nigh night! Nigh Night! And was pointing outside. (when Ethan was a baby he couldn't say good night, so he said nigh night, it stuck, so everyone says it) So I took that as, I want to go home and go to bed in my crib! I have to say, that now that she is getting older I don't get to hold her very often. So that night was kind of nice, because she held on to me and would not let me put her down. It was also kind of nice, because Dan had to do all of the work Haha. Just kidding Dan.

The good news was that the kids were so tired that they slept all night and even though it was a little colder than we are used to, it was a great night. Alyssa even slept all night. And they even slept in! Not long enough though, and I told them when they woke us up that the sun comes up faster in the mountains and it was still the middle of the night and to go back to sleep. No, they did not buy it, but it was a nice try.
Zach was the first one awake and we heard him say in his deep sleepy Zach voice, Ethan wake up, it's morning. Then (Ethan was buried deep in his sleeping bag because it was so cold) Katelyn! Wake up! Ethan's gone!!! He was so worried he lost Ethan.

We had a fun time, and wondered why we don't go more often. Although, Alyssa still hates the tent, she refused to go in it, even in the day time. :) The boys were in their element. While Dan and Ethan were taking down the tent, Zach started to throw pine cones. I looked up just in time for him to hit a tree with a pine cone and it bounced back and almost hit him in the head. He said, Cool! Too much fun. But it went by way too fast.

So a bag of marshmallows later, we headed back for home and reality.

Quote of the day...
So this morning (Sunday) the boys were playing with their light sabers (sabors?wow who knew sabers were in the spell checker... up until I married Dan I thought they were savors) anyway, I said, hey, it's Sunday. We don't play Star Wars on Sunday. Ethan said "It's not real Star Wars mom, it's Sunday Star Wars, we're not really hitting each other." Oh really.

Speaking of quotes, so many times the kids say stuff that make us laugh so hard, and I always intend on writing it down. Intend being the key word. So for anyone who cares, here are some of the quotes from the kids...

When we were talking about the new baby, Katelyn said "is he going to be here this week?" Ethan said, "No, Katelyn. February is when mom's gonna burp the baby out."

Oh, if it were only that easy.

Zach hit a little boy at preschool on second or third day. So on the way home we were talking about hitting. I said in my best concerned mother voice, "Zach when you hit at preschool, it makes Ms. Dana really sad." He said, "no mom, it makes her really mad!" Well, at least he gets it. :)

Heart Beep

Last week Katelyn was having a hard time getting ready for school. She was just going so slow! So I told her that if she didn't hurry she would have to go with me to the doctor. She is absolutely terrified of the doctor's office, so that helped her get dressed and out the door in no time. She later asked me if I was sick. I said, no why? She asked why I had to go to the dr., and if I had to get shots. I told her I was going for a check up and that the dr. was going to listen to the baby's heart beat. She said Oh! I want to go with you to the dr, I want to hear the baby's heart beep!
The dr appointment went pretty well. I always enjoy those visits, to reassure me that things are going the way that they are supposed to. It is really hard to believe that I am already 16 weeks. I love this part of the pregnancy because I feel great, and I am not too big yet, so I can still move around. It still hasn't sunk in yet, for me. Every time I go to the dr., I say is there really a baby in there? She just laughs at me. I finally had to break out the "fat pants" (Dan calls them the Thanksgiving pants) I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. :)