The last baby is weaned!!

I know you are thinking, "Finally!!" well so am I in some ways... I actually had intended to wean her long ago but then we had that whole not eating table foods issues and I just could not bring myself to not have her getting that extra nutrition. Then it just was a matter of me making myself say No to her... it was hard for many reasons, she is my last baby, it would be the last time I could cuddle a baby in that way, the last time... the last time... I was just sorta sad about the whole thing, part of me has been really ready for a while but then there was that part that just was not willing to admit my baby days are over (minus the potty training issue!).

But now that it has been almost a week, it has been going really well. She understands that Mommy's milk is "all gone", she has only asked twice and once I told her No, all gone she left it at that.

So we still do our nightly routine all the same way, minus the very short nursing session that we did after reading and she goes off to sleepy land without a problem. Bed time was the time I thought we would have the most difficulty with but it has gone off without any problems.

Yeah me!! and Yeah to my Big Girl!!

Very Proud of Alex

I got a note sent home today letting me know that Alex has been selected to be a part of a Reading Enrichment Group for the 2nd grade. To be selected for this group, he had to test at a certain level for his reading comprehension and fluency I believe. This new program will entail a much harder level of book reading (like novel type books), he will have extra spelling words and vocabulary words each week (on top of his regular classroom spelling words), he will have extra journal work, extra quizzes and some other work in addition to his regular classroom work. I think he is up for the challenge, based on the work his teacher sends home each Friday, he needs something to push him harder right now in terms of his writing, and reading. I am so excited for him!! Just had to share :)

Nik's 5/6 Soccer Team won the HYA Championship Game!!

It was a very exciting and nerve wracking game!! It was 0-0 in regular game play, they were very evenly matched. You could tell these were the 2 teams that deserved to be in the Finals. The game then went into a 5 minute over time play, still ending at 0-0. Now we had to go into Penalty Kick over time. Each team picked their 5 best kickers and they took turns shooting on the goal. Nik's team ended up winning that 4-3. It was so great for our team but I did feel it was a horrible way to lose for the other team. They both played so well!!


Here are a few pictures of Nikolas from last night and his team soccer pizza party.

Our Fall Zoo Trip

We took the kids to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC this past weekend. They had a ball after we had a minor medical issue. We stopped for breakfast at IHOP before heading out of town and Lainie ate mostly fruit. I did wipe her hands and wash this off in the bathroom before we left but I guess the scent was still there. As soon as we entered the zoo and I was taking a picture of the boys, I heard her say "Bug". When I looked down at her I did not see anything. A few minutes later I saw she had some kind of small welt on her cheek that looked like a mosquito bite so I guessed that was the bug she saw. Well then about 10 minutes later Kerry asked what was wrong with her thumb. We looked down at it and it was swollen.... so we turned around and headed back to the entrance to see if the had any benedryl in the First Aid Station. All they had was a topical gel to help with the what we were guessing was now a bee sting. After that we headed back to where we stopped and got going again. Just about a minute later Lainie just started screaming, Kerry took her other hand that she was holding and saw it must of been a yellow jacket sting this time. He pulled out a stinger about 1/4 inche long!! It instantly started swelling. At this point we decided to leave the zoo and find a store to get some benedryl since she had now been stung twice in 30 mintues. We got some medications and ate lunch. After the meds kicked in the rest of the trip was uneventful and fun. We saw most of the animals and even got to see a bunch of Lion Cubs playing. The highlight as always was the penguin area, they love playing in there!!
Here are some pictures from our day!

Recent pictures from Halloween and others

A Family Update of sorts I guess..... it has been awhile

Well I have not been keeping up with blog of mine lately, shame on me. I will probably be more active here once the weather stays cold and we spend more time indoors.

Well what have we been up to lately.....

When I last posted an entry, we were heading to VA for my 20th reunion. It was a blast, so much fun to catch up with all my old classmates. Many I had gone to school with since elementary age or early middle school. So much fun to sit and talk, only probably was it was such a great turn out I did not have time to talk to everyone. There has been talk of maybe having some informal gathering over the next few years so we can all keep in touch. And many of us have found our way to Facebook and that is helping to keep up too.

Kids are doing well at school.

Alex got his first report card and got his first "4" ever since starting school. "4" means they are above grade level for that subject. He got it for reading fluency. He is reading above grade level so I expected that. All of the others were "3's" for being right where they need to be or S. So all and all he did very well. We are currently struggling a bit with timed math quizzes that are new to the 2nd grade math program here. He has to answer 30 questions in 1 minute. They are simple adding and subtracting but my son is very disciplined and speed is not one of those things on his list. We are working on it and making progress so that is the important thing.

Nikolas loves his new teacher so the whole teacher leaving worry is gone. He had to fill out a "Student of the Week" question sheet last week since it was his week and he wrote it all himself, I just had to help with how to spell his answers. His teacher was pretty impressed that he had done that. He got to bring the class mascot (a stuffed tiger named Julia) home for the weekend and he loved being responsible for her. At the end of the week he got a medal and a star topped pencil. We also are just about finished up with soccer. One more game on Monday, his team made it to the Championship game for their level (5/6). So his team will at least be second if they don't win. I think they get another trophy either way too. He will be thrilled. There were 10 teams so this is pretty impressive that they made it this far!!

And Little Lainie... well we are finally sleeping thru the night for the most part. She sleeps 8pm to 6am pretty regularly now. Still working on the weaning process. I think part of me wants to hold on b/c I know she is my last baby and I don't want her to grow up but when she does still nurse it is only for a few minutes. Still working on potty training too!! NOT progressing as quickly as I thought we would. This week I am going to bite the bullet and just keep her in panties most of the time and see if this will make it click!! She has good days where we make it to the potty and then not so good days! She is still eating just about anything you give her. Ate broccoli today at lunch with her pizza.

Well I will finish up this post. I will add pictures from Halloween and other recent ones to a new entry!