Swim Team

Nolan did swim team this year.  Whenever we would see people at the pool or in the neighborhood we would be asked if we had done or would be doing swim team.  Kids can start pre-swim at age 4.  We didn’t do it last year because of being busy with a brand new baby but knew we would do it this year.  We had heard what a great program they had and how pre-swim would teach them how to swim if they weren’t swimming yet.  At the very first practice there was a little skills test to see what section of the pre-swimmers Nolan would be grouped with.  He was placed in the “better” group and practiced with the 6 and unders.  Within a short period of time he was swimming so well.  We were out of town for the first swim meet but had a few once we returned.  We were told that the beauty of pre-swim was that he would swim at the very beginning of the meet and we could go home after that.

At his first meet he jumped in and swam the entire length of the pool by himself with no help! During pre-swim there is a coach in each lane to help if needed. The coach said since he was doing so well he would be swimming an actual event at the next meet. This was great but meant we actually had to stick around the meet! He was in event 19 which was 25m freestyle. He swam in the last heat and came in dead 3^rd out of 3 swimmers in his heat. We were so proud of him for swimming all by himself though. The last meet of the season he once again swam the 25m freestyle. This time he was the second to last heat and came in 4^th out of 5 swimmers so he already improved by so much in just one week. Swim season is over now and I can’t say that I will miss the daily practices. He loved it so much though. I’m sure he will continue to practice his skills throughout the summer.

 

Disney

This has been written for a while, I just hadn't gotten around to adding pictures!

For Valentine’s Day this year Kevin surprised me with a trip to Disney World.  We had discussed going to Disney at some point in the future and the boys even had a money jar that was our “Disney Fund” but I was thinking it was still a few years away.

I had mentioned to Kevin at one point that the Carrigan’s were going for a week so that put the thought in his head to move the trip up.  Well that and the fact that Nolan is Star Wars obsessed and he thought it was the perfect age for Nolan to do the Star Wars stuff that Disney has.  The one catch was that we wouldn’t be bringing Grant with us.  I knew that it would make the trip much easier to not have him there but we had never both been away from the kids before so it was going to be hard!

We didn’t tell the boys about the trip until Nolan’s birthday, which was 2 weeks before the trip.  We didn’t want to hear for weeks on end “when are we going” we also didn’t want to threaten to take any part of the trip away if they misbehaved.

The big day finally arrived.  We dropped Grant off at daycare and headed to the airport.  My dad had booked my ticket so I was in a primo seat up front while Kevin and the boys were way in the back.  It is only a two hour flight though so I had faith he would survive!  Once we arrived in Orlando we found the shuttle to our hotel.  Even though we were there before check in time we were lucky that our room was ready.  The boys really wanted to go to the pool but instead we got on the little water taxi outside of our hotel and went to Downtown Disney.  We meet up with the Carrigan’s but they were in an arcade that we didn’t plan on going in so we just visited for a few minutes and then went to check out the Lego store.  This place was huge!  The boys both enjoyed it because they had bins of loose Legos out that you could build with.  We also checked out the huge Disney store.  The boys had fun looking around and were good about not asking for every little thing.  Rain was coming and they shut down the ferry so we took the shuttle back to the hotel.  That night we met the Carrigan clan for dinner at their hotel, which was next door.

Thursday morning we were out the door bright and early waiting on the bus to take us to the Magic Kingdom.  Kristin had informed us the night before that it was a magic hour day meaning that they were open, to the people staying on site, one hour early.  That meant doors open at 8.  By the time we actually made it to the park and inside it was probably about 8:15 or so.  We snapped a few pictures in front of the castle and then set out to do some rides.  Too bad we didn’t plan our picture a little better because that was probably the only time that there really weren’t many people in front of the castle.  We could have had an unobstructed view!  The first thing we came upon was a carousel so we rode that.  After that we did the famous “It’s a Small World” ride.  I don’t think we did anymore before it was time for our character breakfast.  We had breakfast with the Winnie the Pooh gang and then went back out.  We rode the tea cups first (and met Alice in Wonderland and White Rabbit).  The tea cups were a big hit but made me feel a bit dizzy!  I don’t remember every ride we did that day nor will I list them but we rode a few more rides and met a few more characters.  One thing we did happen upon was the 3:00 parade.  We were riding the train and when we got to the Main Street station the announcement said they were on parade hold and you could stay on or get off.  Not knowing how long the hold would be we decided to get off.  There were lots of people sitting around waiting for the parade so we decided to do the same.  We had an excellent viewing spot and the parade was really good!  After it ended we decided to head back to the hotel and let the boys swim. 

The next day we were going to Disney Hollywood Studio.  This is where they have the Star Wars attractions.  There are several Jedi Training performances a day that children can be in but space is limited so Kevin and Nolan took off running as soon as we made it in the park.  Nolan did make a spot in a show but it wouldn’t be until 1:00.  We went to ride the Star Wars ride but were told that Henry was too small.  Kevin went with Nolan and I waited with Henry.  After they were finished Nolan came out loving it so I went and rode it with him.  It was 3D and pretty cool but I was quickly realizing that I didn’t love rides as much as I did when I was younger!  After that the boys built their own R2D2’s in the gift shop.  After that we went to ride the popular Toy Story ride.  Before that we met Buzz and Woody.  We had a really tight schedule with our fast passes and lunch reservation but we made it.  Lunch was another character meal with the Disney Junior characters.  After lunch the 100% chance of rain that was being predicted was starting.  We were really hoping that the rain would hold off so that Nolan could do his Jedi Training.  They had told Kevin that morning to still come to the meeting spot and even if they couldn’t do the performance they would still do something with the kids.   Nolan did get to put on a Jedi robe and hold a lightsaber and learn a few moves.  He was happy with that, but it was a little disappointing to us that one of the big things we were looking forward to for him was rained out.  The rain was no joke.  Very heavy with lightning and thunder too.  Luckily a lot of the stuff at Hollywood studio is indoor shows so we just watched a lot of those! 

Saturday was going to be another rainy day.  The chances of having some dry time did seem a little better than the day before though.  We were going to do another day at the Magic Kingdom.  It was raining that morning but it wasn’t too heavy.  It actually was kind of nice because there were no lines for rides.  We knocked out quite a few in a very short period of time.  We should have done Splash Mountain because we were already wet but the boys didn’t want to.  That probably wasn’t such a bad thing though because the drop looked kind of scary.  As the day went on the rain pretty much stopped and the park became more crowded.  We rode The Barnstormer and Henry loved that!  Nolan and Kevin rode Space Mountain.  Technically Nolan was just a little too small for the ride but they didn’t stop him from riding.  He thought the ride was awesome.  We watched the 3:00 parade again, this time in front of the castle.  Our spot wasn’t as good as the time before but it was neat to have that as the background.  We left the park around 6:00 to eat dinner but planned to return again for the nighttime parade and fireworks.  We arrived back at the Magic Kingdom around 8:45.  The electric parade begins at 9:00.  It was starting to get rainy again and the temperature was quite cool.  We decided to head back to the hotel immediately after the parade.  The boys asked a little about why we weren’t seeing fireworks  but weren’t too upset about it.  We had been gone for 12 hours so they were tired.

The next day was going home day.  Of course the weather was gorgeous!  We had a few hours to kill so we just ate breakfast and walked around the hotel.  There is a small playscape and also an arcade that occupied the boys.  Finally we let them each pick out a little momento from the gift shop.  Nolan got a Star Wars pin and Henry got a little Toy Story toy that looked just like the ride we went on.   I flew at the front of the plane by myself again but checked on the boy’s mid-flight.  There were acting a little crazy but luckily it is a short flight and there were lots of kids on the plane!  We have already decided that we will make another trip there once Grant is old enough to go and have fun.

Nolan is 5!

Nolan is 5 now!  Kevin and I have survived half a decade of parenting!  Nolan is super obsessed with Star Wars, at the moment, so he had a Jedi Training birthday party the weekend before his birthday.  We just invited a few kids from his class and cousins Kyle and Wade.  I made everyone light sabers and Jedi robes.  There were a couple of "training games" that the kids played.  It was a lot of fun! 










On his actual birthday Kevin and I went up to school to have lunch with him.  That night I made the dinner of his choice...tacos.  He got some nice new gifts but the big one that we revealed to him of his birthday was that we would be going to Disney in 2 weeks! 

The day after his birthday he had his 5-year check up.  He is doing well, but skinny!  Dr. CS said he isn't under weight but just lower on the curve.  He was 37 1/2 pounds and 3' 7". I think it was ~25% for weight and about 50% for height. 

I asked Nolan the following questions about 1 week before his 5^th birthday.

1. What is your favorite color? Golden

2. What is your favorite toy? Chewbaca

3. What is your favorite fruit? Fruit salad (still doesn’t eat fruit)

4. What is your favorite tv show? Scooby Doo

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Chocolate milk, salami, twizzlers, crackers.

6. What is your favorite outfit? Super hero shirt and shorts

7. What is your favorite game? Mario

8. What is your favorite snack? pretzels

9. What is your favorite animal? Elephant

10. What is your favorite song? Foo Fighters 1^st song

11. What is your favorite book? Dino Baseball

12. Who is your best friend? Sam Webster and Jacob

13. What is your favorite cereal? Fruit Loops

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

15. What is your favorite drink? Apple juice and chocolate milk

16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? all toys that sleep in bed (Baa Baa, Gumbo, Gerald, Piggy, Buzz, Woody, Spiderman, and Brobee)

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Chocolate pancakes

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

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Hockey player  

10 Months

Grant is 10 months old now!  Nothing too much to report about 10 months.  He is crawling everywhere and plugs are his favorite things.  He also pulls up on everything he can.  He shows no interest in walking holding our hands though. 

Grant is bathing with his brothers some and thinks it is just the best thing ever.  He splashes like a mad man and also loves to stand, which can be scary!

Sleep is going better.  I had to sleep train him a little because he was waking up so much during the night.  He now goes to sleep like a champ but still wakes up at least one time. 

He is self feeding more and loves Ritz crackers.  He still doesn't eat a whole lot of meat yet.  I also bought him some 'lil crunchers and he loves those.  Kevin calls them Funyuns because that is what they remind him of.

Finally, the one thing that everyone who sees Grant says:  "Look at that fuzzy hair!"  He is a total fuzzy head right now.  It is so soft and everyone loves to touch it.  His hair still has some red tones to it but I think ultimately he will be white blond for a while. 

Firsts

We have had a few "firsts" over the past week.  Grant has been our healthy kid.  Other than the flu he had right at 6 months he hasn't run a fever at all.  I know the flu is a big deal but he barely ran a fever with that and was back to normal within a day or so.  Well, last week he woke up and I immediately thought he felt warm.  We took his temp and it was about 100.  The days leading up to that he had been a little congested and he was tugging on his ear some so I figured it was an ear infection.  We made an appointment with Dr. C and sure enough he had a double ear infection (9-1/2 months without one was a pretty good run!).  I had hoped that the antibiotic would knock the fever out quickly but he continued to run a fever for 2 more days.  On Friday he took two 3 hour naps!  When they weighed him at the doctor he was up to 20lb 10oz!  Chunker had gained a full pound in 2 weeks!  The night before his fever Grant had spaghetti for the first time.  He was a fan!



That weekend Nolan had his first t-ball game.  The Tigers suited up and headed out to the field.  I was curious to see how it would all go because they hadn't practiced all that much.  When they were in the outfield it was pretty funny because 10-kids would all run after the ball.  Let's just say they need a little practice on their catching and throwing!  When it came time to bat Nolan hit the ball on his first try.  He didn't know to run to the base so he had to be guided a little.  Second time up he hit the ball well again.  That time he knew to run.  They don't count outs or anything so I really don't know who "won".  Nolan had a good time though and declared that he loves t-ball. 







Another first was a trip to see bluebonnets with 3 kids!  I love driving to see the flowers and taking pictures of the boys but they did not share in my joy!  Nolan and Henry immediately started complaining about it being too sunny.  They would shade their eyes or close them.  We finally let them wear their sunglasses but they still weren't super cooperative. 






Our final "first" was Henry's first (unintentional) swim of the season. This also let to his first rescue from the pool.  We went to our friends house for some crawfish.  They have a pool that the boys were immediately drawn to.  We watched them very carefully but Henry did eventually get too close and fell in.  Luckily we were right there to rescue him.  No photographic evidence of this happening though!

Rodeo Time

For the 5th year in a row now we went to the livestock show and carnival.  Five years ago Kevin and I went when I was VERY pregnant with Nolan.  Even though we weren't going to a show that year I still wanted to go so that I could have some rodeo food.  Every year I get fried pickles from Sudie's.  They start out so yummy but after about half a basket I have had my fill.  I know there are so many other yummy foods but that is the only time of the year that I have them.



Nolan was on Spring Break this past weekend so Kevin took Tuesday off of work so that we could go.  We decided to send Grant to daycare so that we didn't have to worry about his schedule at all.  We got there pretty early because the power was going to be off at the house for a few hours.  We were able to walk through the livestock.  There was a lot of movement with the cows.  Nolan held his nose like a city boy.  Henry was a little more open to interacting with the animals.

Next stop was to climb on all of the tractors.  Nolan was so nice to even let a little boy climb on one with him.





Henry did a pony ride and the petting zoo.  Once again, city boy wasn't interested!  Nolan was excited to see the Rodeo mascot though and gave him some high fives.  This is where Henry was not comfortable...he doesn't trust a man in costume!





After a fair amount of walking around inside we went outside for lunch.  The boys had declared that they wanted pizza!  After lunch we watched a little animal show, did a "life on the farm" thing, watched some pig racing and mutton busting and finally finished up the day with a few carnival rides and snow cones.  Fun day!  We said that maybe next year we would get tickets for an actual show so that the boys could see the rodeo competition.

9 Months

Grant is 9 months old!  My baby almost isn't a baby anymore!  He is getting into everything.  He crawls and pulls up on a lot of things.  He isn't trying to cruise though and doesn't try to walk if you hold his hands.  He is starting to enjoy food with more texture.  We have tried puffs, yogurt melts, beans, pasta, carrots, lima beans and green beans.  I have given him a few little bites of meat but he seems to have a more difficult time with that.

He has moved up to Infant B, which is for the more mobile babies.  We hear how much food envy he has.  If another baby is eating he wants to eat too.  He is also known for trying to steal pacifiers.

He is generally pretty happy.  There are times that all he wants is to be held though.  His brothers make him laugh and the cats fur is fun to pull.  He still doesn't sleep solidly through the night but he does go to bed very easily.

He had his 9-month appointment on Tuesday.  He is doing well.  Meeting all of his milestones.  He is my biggest baby at 9 months weighing in at a whopping 19lb 9oz!  I like to say that he carries his weight in his thighs.  Nothing cuter than a chunky thigh (only on a baby of course!)  He still only has his bottom 2 teeth but I can see the marking of some up top.  Dr. CS said it looks like 4 are about to come in!





Grant @9 months
Weight:  19lb 9oz (50%)
Height: 28 1/2" (51%)
Head:  46cm (80%)

Henry
Weight:  18lbs 6oz 12%
Height:  28 3/4" 75%
Head:  46cm 75%

Nolan
Weight:  18lb 12oz 23%
Height:  28" 49%
Head:  46cm 75%

**I wrote this a week ago but hadn't posted yet.  Since that time he got in one top tooth.  He loves to grind them together, which I hate!  He is also self feeding a lot more.  I left the room for a minute and when I came back in he had gotten a hold of one of Henry's french toast sticks!  He has also been sleeping pretty well and actually did 12 hours with no waking up the other night.  Of course the next night he had to go and wake up 3 times, 2 of which also woke Henry.  Oh well, baby steps!