Grant is 2!

Our little Grant-man is now two!  He knows how to say Happy Birthday so between his birthday and then Kevin's a week later he has been saying that a lot!  There was supposed to be a swim meet the night of his birthday but it got cancelled at the last minute so we partied hard with dinner at Chick-fil-a!  It was perfect for him.  He could play in the play area and then get ice cream after dinner.  After we got home we gave him a few presents.  He got a mini-Keurig style coffee maker.  He loves making Kevin and I coffee in ours so I thought he might enjoy having his own.  He also got a little wagon because he loves to pull things around.  Finally he got 2 new "No David" books.

We haven't done anything to celebrate with family yet due to the condition of our kitchen.  Hopefully at some point we will get everyone together and celebrate with an actual cake!

The morning of his birthday I took him to the doctor for his 2-year checkup.  Poor kiddo, I made him get a shot on his birthday.  He didn't even wince though.  He is such a tough guy when it comes to shots.  The doctor said he looks good.  He is probably a little behind on speech, but he is saying new things all the time.  He has some short phrases too.  He is just the third boy and has a lot of his talking done for him.  He gets very shy and stoic around others though.  He won't necessarily cry or anything but he doesn't make a sound.  Once you get him going he can be very silly though.  He dances with his "chicken wing" out.  That is what we call the way he holds his arm.  He also has quite a temper.  If he doesn't get what he wants he will flail around.

Luckily he is still a pretty good sleeper.  Except for a few very brief cries at bedtime he goes down like a dream.  He did go through a period of time recently where he was waking up very early for the day.  It would take quite a while to get him to go back to sleep.  Luckily ::knock on wood:: that seems to have passed. 

I originally started this post weeks ago.  In the time since then he has started saying so many phrases.  He isn't quite as shy in new situations either.  He can say Henry...and says it a lot.  We try to get him to say Nolan or even No No but he doesn't.  He can say No No but he won't assign it to Nolan.  We do think he has finally started call him Bruba though (for brother).  He adores his brothers and copies everything they do.

He is fearless when it comes to the pool.  He wears the puddle jumper and does very well in it...maybe too well.  He thinks he can jump in wherever and whenever he wants.  He kicks his legs and gets where he needs to be.
 



 


Grant @2:
Weight:  29.4lbs (68%)
Height:  33 3/4" (34%)
Head 50cm (90%)

Nolan @2:
Weight:  27lbs (50%)
Height:  33 3/4" (45%)
Head 49.5cm (80%)

Henry @2:
Weight:  27.5lbs (58%)
Height:  33.75" (24%)
Head: 50cm (90%)

Remodel week 7

Lots of work done in the past two weeks:  We have beautiful new floors, crown molding, and all the cabinet work is done - including the cubby built-in for the utility room.  We have our washer and dryer so we can clean clothes, but no other water downstairs (no potty or sink!).

Currently waiting on granite installation and painting, which will allow for sinks and appliances, and then we're done!

Kitchen remodel - Into July

Some great progress in the past week or so.  On Thursday, Superior Exterior delivered the new cabinets. They spent Thursday unloading them from a trailer and putting them together in the kitchen.  And on Friday, they were installed!!!  When it was finished, we were mostly happy with what we saw, but a little nervous because the doors didn't all line up exactly even.  On Monday though Dan explained that was normal and they would be fixing all that over the course of the week.  (Some of which we've already seen).

On Monday, more cabinet work was done - and crown molding installed - and Dan said if we could live without the downstairs bathroom sink, they could get started on the vanity right away, as well as the cabinets in the utility room, on Tuesday 7/7.

Erin has already purchased the pulls and doorknobs for all the cabinets, so we can't wait to see the finished product.

There was one minor mishap.  It would appear somewhere along the way, the drain pipe from our upstairs bathroom tub to downstairs was connected (Dan says the builder never would've done this, so possibly a repair some time in the past).  As I was draining the tub from bathing the boys, Erin yelled up at me to plug the tub back up as the water was coming out of the open pipe left today for the plumber to tie in to our new sink.  As you can imagine, it created quite a mess but luckily not too bad.

Kitchen remodel - week 5

I think I missed posting last week; nothing too visually stimulating.  The tankless water heater was successfully installed.  It seems to be working well as the water heats up faster than before.

A few small purchases over the past weeks, including a new downstairs toilet at Lowe's (elongated bowl and special quiet-shut technology!), and a new faucet, sink and door knob for powder room from Amazon.  Erin's dying to do some decorating for the kitchen, but I've begged her to wait until we see the final result before we start stacking up new stuff.

As of Friday, we have covered walls again.  Dry-wall put up and floated late last week.  Holes are all patched where the hot water heater had been in utility room and where the fur-down was in the powder room.  Not sure what to expect this week, but hopefully some big progress!

Future home of new fridge

Messy, messy, messy!

Kitchen remodel - week 3

More progress this week, but nothing glamorous that makes for exciting pictures:

The plumbers started work on Monday.  They took out our old hot water heater and began installation of the new tank-less one.  This required plumbing work on the inside and outside of the house, and eventually in the attic as that's where the new water heater is located.  Being that it's tank-less, the attic location shouldn't be an issue and it's a big space savings.

With Tropical Bill coming, SE tried to get us signed up for an inspection Tuesday, but the city shut down and so the inspector came on Wednesday.  Only one issue with the natural gas intake line that Dan doesn't seem worried about and we should be cleared soon.  Electric inspection passed with no issues.

On Friday, a new group of workers came and started installing the wall insulation in the kitchen (see below).

Second week of kitchen remodel

Last week, Dan's demo guys worked Wednesday and Thursday tearing out most of kitchen:  Cabinets, floors, insulation, pantry, doors, etc.

This week there has been some neat progress, though we still have a long way to go.  On Monday they shifted our back door over by 18 inches or so to make way for mudroom storage (cubby).

They installed a pocket door between the utility room and kitchen.  Removing the door that had been there should allow better access to counter space.

The electrician started this week and has been busy as well:  We have new can lights in the kitchen and main living room.  They are a great addition as the lighting in the living room is greatly improved.

Day 2 - kitchen remodel

Day 2 of the remodel:  They took out walls of kitchen and insulation as you can see exposed studs.

We didn't take a picture, but they also tore up the tile from the downstairs 1/2 bath.  Grant is loving the dust as he rolls in it constantly.

Day 1 of the kitchen remodel

(Guest poster, Kevin Brock):

Today Superior Exterior started our kitchen remodel.  We actually had a strange start to the day:  Erin called me at work because her car wouldn't start.  Grant has gotten into a daily habit of playing in the car of whomever brings him home, and last night it happened to be Erin's van.  When she tried to start it this morning it just made a clicking noise with lights but no engine.  I was already at work deeply involved in the transportation of hydrocarbon molecules (I was actually eating a kolache), so I raced home, picked up Nolan, and had him to his last day of Kindergarten before the final bell.  Then I returned to the house and jump-started the van.  She took my car to drop the other boys off at daycare and start her day, while I took the van to the mechanic and got a ride back to work.  We accomplished all of that pretty quickly as I was back to work at 8:24!

Anyway, the kitchen remodel:  Superior Exterior (SE) dropped off a dumpster in our driveway yesterday, June 2.  Today they filled the sucker!  Erin texted me to say the floor was already mostly up when she returned home from the gym.  When I came home at lunch to get my car, I could see cabinet doors and other wood debris in the dumpster.  By 5:00 when the boys and I got home for the day, the dumpster was nearly full with the entire kitchen.  It's really quite shocking to see the progress the SE guys made in the first day.  Even more shocking was how small the kitchen looked when empty!

For our first dinner with no kitchen, we had a rotisserie chicken from Costco and an orzo salad Erin had made and put in the fridge earlier in the week.  We dined on paper plates with plastic forks - forgive us Al Gore!

Happy 6th, Nolan

Our first born is 6!  To me, this age seems so big.  Five still seems young but there is something about 6 that makes them seem so old!  Maybe it is the fact that he is losing teeth and learning to read.  He will be in 1st grade in just a few months too.  Nolan is a good kid.  Sure he has his moments, but he seems to be so much more mature.  He is good with his brothers and generally does what is asked of him without too much of a fight.  He loves Star Wars and watching shows on the Kindle (mainly Power Rangers).  He still isn't the best fruit/veggie eater but we have made a little bit of progress.  His favorite is probably salad..  He is playing baseball and makes pretty good contact with the ball.  He also has a great stance down.  He finally graduated out of his car seat and was moved to a booster in the third row.  It is so nice that he can now fully buckle and unbuckle himself. 

Nolan had his 6-year check up and he is 42lbs and 3'9".  I have no idea where he is percentage wise but he is definitely on the skinny side! Dr. Crane said he looks good and gave him a pep talk about the importance of eating fruits and veggies! 

After lots of going back and forth with different ideas we decided to have Nolan's party at Sky High.  We went with a Thursday night party on his actual birthday.  We had a great turn out and I think all of the guests had a blast jumping.  He had a big cookie cake as his cake.

I asked Nolan the following questions about 2 weeks after his 6^th birthday.

1. What is your favorite color? orange

2. What is your favorite toy? Legos

3. What is your favorite fruit? Small bite of apple

4. What is your favorite tv show? Star Wars Rebels

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Square PB and Nutella

6. What is your favorite outfit? Orange and gray shirt with orange shorts

7. What is your favorite game? Spot It

8. What is your favorite snack? Nilla Wafers

9. What is your favorite animal? Cheetah

10. What is your favorite song? Turn Down for What

11. What is your favorite book? Bob Books

12. Who is your best friend? Finn

13. What is your favorite cereal? PB Toast Crunch

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing

15. What is your favorite drink? Lemonade

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Baa Baa, Gumbo, Gerald, and Piggy

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cinnamon toast waffles

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Hamburger

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Fighter Jet Maker  

Happy 4th, Henry

Henry just celebrated his 4th birthday!  My second baby is getting so big!  The day before his birthday he had his first friend birthday party at Biron's where he takes weekly gymnastics class.  He had a lot of fun at his party.  They set up a little obstacle course for the kiddos.  I think they probably loved the trampoline the most.  He had a construction cake.  I think he was most excited about the two plastic trucks from the top of the cake.







 
Oh his actual birthday we went out to breakfast at our favorite breakfast place, Pecan Creek Grill.  He scarfed down all of his eggs, bacon, and pancakes!  After breakfast we went to church while Nolan was in CCE.  The rest of the day we pretty much just hung out around the house because it was a rainy, yucky day.  Nanna and Poppie and Pegby also stopped by to bring him some presents.  From mom and dad he got the Dyson vacuum that he wanted (it really picks up!) and a backpack with his name on it for when he heads off to Pre-k next year.

Below are the 20 questions I asked him:

1. What is your favorite color? yellow and red

2. What is your favorite toy? Legos

3. What is your favorite fruit? blueberries and grapes

4. What is your favorite tv show? Mighty Machines

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pizza

6. What is your favorite outfit? jacket

7. What is your favorite game? Sorry and Uno

8. What is your favorite snack? Pirate Booty

9. What is your favorite animal? Tiger

10. What is your favorite song? Happy

11. What is your favorite book? Star Wars

12. Who is your best friend? Carolina and Claire

13. What is your favorite cereal? Fruit Loops

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? ride bikes

15. What is your favorite drink? apple juice

16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Baa Baa

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? waffles, pancakes, sausage biscuit, french toast sticks

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? pizza

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? garbage man, referee, police man

Two weeks after his birthday he had his 4 year check up.  He is doing well.  He is 37lbs and I think it was 3'4 3/4".  I didn't get the measurements written down.  He had to get 2 shots so was pretty sad about that.

Long time no blog

I have been really bad about blogging lately!  I think about it and even have pockets of time that would be good to write but then I never do.  I will likely write this today and then forget to post it for 6 weeks like I did the last two!

We had a nice Christmas.  Nolan was off from school for 2 weeks.  Kevin and I both took a little extra time off so we had a lot of time off with the boys.  There were a few days that they did have to go to the daycare though.  Christmas was all things Lego and Star Wars for Nolan.  Henry was excited for his new cookie set.  Grant really didn't know that he wanted anything but got a fun little ball popper truck.  The boys got Connect 4, a Star Wars Face Off game and Sorry.  We have enjoyed playing these at night before bed.  Nolan has already gotten pretty good at Connect 4.
 


I feel like Christmas was so long ago now I can't think of much more of an update than that.

For NYE we went to my coworkers house for a little party.  They had several NYE parties back before everyone had children so this was the first one since I was pregnant with Nolan.  The group sure has grown.  There were 18 children and 11 adults!  We had fun.  We were home at a reasonable hour and Kevin and I were even asleep before it turned 2015.

Kevin's dad gave us a HMNS membership for Christmas so we have made 2 trips to the museum already.  First we went to the smaller one in Sugar Land and then once to the main location.  The boys enjoy seeing the dinosaur bones.  Once the weather is warmer we plan on doing picnics at the park and doing the museum.  Our zoo membership has lapsed right now but we will probably renew that as well.  They are good little activities for a Saturday morning.

 

Nolan still loves all things Star Wars.  He got 2 large Lego ships for Christmas so he plays pretty independently with those in his room.  He is enjoying school and is becoming a pretty good reader.  He has a list of site words that we practice nightly.  He now has it down and doesn't make any mistakes.  He also makes little books at school where you can see that he is attempting how to sound out words and spell them.  Last week he started attending Ikids.  This is the onsite after school care at NHE.  Since pre-k he has been picked up by our daycare but this whole year he has been asking if he could stay at school.  We had to wait for the next semester to start because you pay based on that.  He is already loving it though.  He has several friends that are in it with him and he is even doing karate on Mondays.  I just got him signed up for t-ball.  In kinder they actually do a hybrid between coach pitch and a t.
 

 
Henry is still Mr. Happy to anyone he sees.  He has been a little stubborn and Mr. Grumpy to us though.  I think it is just normal 3 almost 4 year old attitude.  He is still going to speech and loves it.  He is doing really well too.  We will probably stop going pretty soon.  He has finally learned to make the K and G sounds.  He still is having some difficulty with it but I am pretty sure it will all click soon.  He got into NHE for pre-k. He is also signed up for t-ball in the Spring.  He just barely is eligible based on his age but several boys that he should be in school with next year are playing. He cracks us up with the faces he makes.  It all started when he got a laugh out of us when he would try to mimic a face that Grant makes and it has morphed into many different faces.  We are also planning his 4th birthday party at Biron's.



Grant is doing well.  He is finally only using his paci for sleeping.  If he throws a major fit we might let him have it for a few minutes but overall he is doing really well with that!  He still loves watching videos of Elmo on the computer.  He demands you show him some.  If he is grumpy at all they really improve his mood.  Within the past few weeks his speech has really started to take off.  He recently moved up to the 18-24 month class so I think being around kids that are talking more has helped.  He loves to dance and he makes the funniest mouth and arm movements.  His favorite song for a while was "Shake it Off" but lately it is "Turn Down for What".


 
We are looking forward to our Spring Break trip to FL in just a few weeks.  The weather is already starting to warm up a bit and put us in an outdoorsy kind of mood. 

18 Months

**Another post that I wrote and never hit publish!**
I know it is always said, but wow time is flying.  Hard to believe that Grant is 18 months!  He is doing well.  He had been a little whiny and clingy lately but we are blaming it on his last two teeth that are breaking through.  We should now be finished with teething until those awful 2 year molars come in.

He had his 18 month appointment yesterday and all looks good.  I did mention the fact that he still doesn't have a ton of recognizable words, but she said not to worry because it is quite typical for 18 month old boys.  He has started to try saying a little more over the past few weeks.  He knows the word hot and will say it whenever I am cooking dinner.  He also makes the cookie monster noise.  Yesterday he saw Santa on the TV so we started to say Ho Ho Ho and he was trying to repeat it back to us.  The more important thing is that he understands language.  He definitely does.  He follows commands like "go get your shoes" etc.  He acts out songs and books that have hand motions to them.

His eating is decent.  With the teething going on I don't feel like he really wanted to eat all that much lately...mainly yogurt, but his appetite does seem to be improving.  Last night he gobbled up a ton of chicken tortellini.  He still does not care for pieces of cheese and he doesn't drink nearly as much milk as his brothers.  I don't think it is a case of not liking it, he just doesn't drink a ton of anything.

Like his brothers at this age he loves Elmo and Cookie Monster.  Since the only place he really ever sees them is on the computer he will point to the computer room until we turn it on for him.  A few little videos really perk up his mood!

His hair is still his most talked about feature.  It is crazy.  I am beginning to wonder if it will ever settle down. He is a happy guy though.  He loves to wave hello and goodbye to anything and everything, he gives high fives and fist bumps (complete with the blow it up sound), he sporadically blows kisses, he will now give you a kiss if you ask for it, he loves to give hugs, he plays peek a boo (Nolan often plays with him in the car), will bring you book after book to read to him, loves to climb on the furniture, gives good belly laughs while watching America's Funniest Videos and much more!
 






Grant is the biggest guy at this stage but has the smallest head.  I don't really think of him as being tall for his age.  Maybe his hair added to his height!

Grant @ 18 Months:
Weight:  26lbs (75%)
Height:  33 3/4" (90%)
Head:  49 cm (89%)

Henry @ 18 months:
Weight: 25lb 11oz (71%)
Height:  32 3/4" (62%)
Head: 49.5 cm (94%)

Nolan @ 18 months:
Weight: 23lb 8oz (20%)
Height:  33" (75%)
Head:  50cm (90%)

This and That

12-12-14 Just realized that I had this post from about 6 weeks ago that I never posted!  

I am very behind on updating the blog.  I have started writing a post several times only to get side tracked when I come back to it the information is all out dated so I don't finish!

Things have been good, but busy.  Nolan is playing soccer again so we have practice on Tuesday nights and then a game on Saturday.  This year they play with goalies.  The first game of the season Nolan was put in as goalie.  He had barely even practiced the position before.  He did great though!  Everyone was so impressed with his skills.  While he did let a goal or two be scored against them he had many more stops.  The coach said that he would just rotate all of the kids through the position but Nolan has played it a few more times because of the fact that he does well at it and genuinely likes it.  When he isn't goalie he is doing pretty well too.  He hasn't seemed to get in the mix quite as well as he did last year but this last week he seemed to be improving.
 


We have also had quite a few birthday parties to go to this fall.  They are fun and the kids enjoy them but it just reminds me that things will be a lot busier once all of the boys are involved in sports and parties!

Nolan is doing well in school.  He enjoys going and I think is doing well overall.  We had our teacher conference last week and his teacher said that he is doing great.  He is reading really well too!  He asks to read to us at night.  It is crazy how much he has improved in such a short period of time.

Henry is still a happy guy.  He is enjoying gymnastics.  He is learning to draw pictures of people and learning to identify letters.  He is a pro at finding H's!  We had an evaluation with the school district for some speech therapy due to articulation issues he has (G sounds like D and K sounds like T) but he will not qualify for district services because it isn't bad enough.  We are going to go the private therapy route just to knock out the issue.  As his mom a feel like I understand most of what he says but with him hopefully going to pre-k at NHE next year we didn't want him to face any issues.



Grant (aka Pigpen) is also doing well.  He is basically running now.  He is so fast running down the street trying to keep up with his brothers and the neighbors.  He is into everything and such a mess.  He could literally take multiple baths a day because he is constantly dirty.  He is really good at dancing now too.  He loves to turn on his musical toys and dance.  He still isn't saying all that much but he does understand what we say to him and is learning to identify more objects in his "First Words" books.  He is super social and loves to wave to people and cars going by.

A few weeks ago I had a message from daycare. When I checked the message it was the director saying that Grant had fallen and hit his lip.  They said that they weren’t sure if it was bad enough for the doctor to look at but that I might want to check it out.  Henry and I headed straight there with the groceries still in the car.  Grant was in perfect spirits when I arrived.  It was a decent cut but I wasn’t sure if it would need stitches either.  I tried calling the doctor but just left a message for the nurse.  I took a picture and then left him to eat lunch and take his nap.  I texted my sisters the picture and they both thought it probably was bad enough to need stitches.  In the meantime the nurse had called back and said that he would just need to go to an urgent care or ER for the stitches.  I let Grant nap and then picked him up.  We were seen immediately at the stand alone ER.  He needed 4 stitches.  I am a pretty tough parent.  I don’t get worked up when they need shots etc., but being there during the stitches was pretty hard.  He was velcroed down to a little board and he screamed the entire time.  Once it was finished he was back to normal as if nothing had happened.  

  

A few weeks ago Kevin and I went on our first kid free trip.  Kevin's friend Scott was getting married in Austin.  The boys stayed with Kevin's dad.  Everyone did well. The build up to leaving the boys was harder for me than actually leaving them.  We got frequent text updates with pictures so we knew they were in good hands.  Kevin and I had fun.  We went to San Marcos on Saturday to do some shopping and went to lunch at the Gristmill.  The wedding was a lot of fun too!  I only wish I would have been able to sleep in those 2 mornings in the hotel.  Old habits die hard though.

 

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  Not the best pictures in the world but they were ok. We also went to a Touch a Truck event with Kevin's dad and Lisa.  Finally I also went with the moms club to Dewberry Farms with Henry and then Kevin went two days later with Nolan's class field trip.