Where has the time gone......

I can't believe it has been a week & a half since I last posted - the time just seems to be flying by. Things are busy with us & we are having lots of fun.

The kids are sweet, funny, silly, teasers, monsters, sassy, grumpy, loud, affectionate, happy from one moment to the next. I had forgotten how noisy & active a 2 & 4 year olds are. They move from room to room & cause havoc where ever they go. :) I told some of you that I was counting on the kids as my new weight loss program - I am happy to tell you that so far I am down 10 lbs. :) Now only 40 or so to go. I don't think I have been super active to lose that weight but I am certainly eating a lot healthier.

There has been so many changes in the short amount of time they have been home. The kids are no longer afraid of the dogs & actually seem to really like them now. D adjusted to the dogs the quickest & would pet them but now C isn't freaking out anymore either. She still gets a little scared if they jump up on her but she doesn't become hysterical anymore & she likes playing with them. We even surprised the kids tonight while they were in the bath & threw the dogs in the tub with them. They were so surprised but it didn't take D long to start dumping water all over them. Dogs didn't look overly impressed but the kids, A & I found some humor in it.

D still has a runny nose so I don't know if it is lactose intolerance or not, although it isn't as bad as it was before. I haven't tried the rice milk yet as none of the grocery stores around my place seem to carry it. I will have to make a special trip out to try & find some. For those Mom's out there that have taken your kids off of milk products - how long was it before you saw an improvement? No not just an improvement because I have seen that but how long until the nose stops running.

The kids are sleeping until 7 - 8 in the morning now :), nap at 1 wake at 3 & are in bed for the night at 8:30. They go to bed incredibly well, I put them to bed together in a single bed (bottom bunk) & they are asleep in 5 - 10 minutes max. I don't have to sit with them anymore at nap or bedtime - I just tuck them in , hug & kiss them & they are good to go. I usually go sit in my room so if they call me I hear them right away but it is so easy. I wish my big kids went to bed that good when they were little. D has fallen out of bed three times now but I just run in there, pick him up & put him back to bed & he has gone back to sleep immediately each time. Other than that there has been no one waking up in the middle of the night.

I live in a 4 level split so we have lots of stairs which both kids were a little scared of. D even fell down one flight, one evening on his tummy head first but didn't get hurt, just freaked him & I out a bit. Footy pj's on laminate stairs are not a good idea. They both navigate the stairs now no problem & now know why I was telling them to hold on to the railing. D has had two good goose eggs on his forehead so far, once he flipped off the couch & I can't recall how he managed to get the second one. C crashed into a corner today & got her first cut / goosebump on her forehead so they are both normal kids. No major injuries yet so we are doing good.

I haven't taken the kids in for medical check-ups yet but I am sure we all have guardia & need a round of Flagil, otherwise they seem super healthy & full of life. I would just like to blood work done & get them tested for lead & get a good general checked up. D still has the super big buddha belly so I am assuming that is indictive of parasites.

We took the kids swimming on Sunday & they had a blast! C was a little tentative to begin with but D was a maniac & not afraid at all so it wasn't long until C was doing all the stuff he was doing. They had a great time & I think we will have to make it a weekly event.

The kids love car rides. As soon as they are fed & dressed in the morning they are asking to go for a car ride or out for a walk. C can get in her own car seat & buckle herself in too so that is convenient. They travel good & get very excited about seeing big trucks & trains. They just are so busy looking at everything & eventually just fall asleep. We haven't been on any long trips but spent a couple of hours running around this afternoon. We are hoping to go visit my folks soon & they live three hours away so I am sure the kids will love that trip.

The kids are testing us constantly to see if the rules are still the same as they were a minute or hour ago. If I give C heck she has taken to mimicking everything I say along with finger pointing & ugly faces. She is starting to figure out that being sassy is logging her alot of corner time. She always gets two warning & the third time she is sent to the corner. As soon as she sees me getting up she starts saying "Excuse me, Excuse me, Excuse me" (instead of sorry) but by then it is too late. She hates sitting in the corner so maybe that behavior will decline quickly. I think that they never had a ton of consistency as far as discipline goes (at least from the volunteers) so they were able to get away with some of that behavior. I don't like it though, so we are working on that one.

All food issues are resolving themselves quickly. D still goes into panic mode as the meal is being prepared as he wants to eat instantly but it is getting better. The last two days I have told the kids they need to stay out of the kitchen as I cooked as they were always under foot or clinging to my legs & with cooking on the stove or opening the oven it was a hazard. D will stand at the entrance & whine & beg to be put in his booster chair, even though supper is just being prepared. Before D was very protective of his bowl of food & would lose it completely if anyone came near it or if he spilled food. Now he isn't doing that & will even let me feed him some times. They eat everything & probably more than me most meals. They eat all fruit, veggies & meats no problem. So far so good.

I am really looking forward to the weather warming up & spending the summer outside. :) I miss seeing my friends at work & doing lunches, but I can see this time off with the kids will fly by. Thanks for the emails everyone I appreciate you thinking of us & keeping in touch.

Hugs, Laurie