Preschool Christmas Pageant

Roo's preschool Christmas pageant was this past week. We've been working with him to let him know that it's ok to sing and participate and not to worry about all of the people there. He had his line memorized and he let us each know that he wanted us to be there. We decided to get there a little early so we could have front row seats; we thought that having us nearby may help him feel a little less scared.

The kids all filed into the chapel and were ringing bells. They each took their seat and the program began. Roo did a lot better this time in terms of getting up and down and singing a little bit. When it was his turn to speak into the microphone though, he got really nervous and ended up not saying anything, but that was ok, we were still really proud of him.

After the show we told Roo how proud we were of him and we went with him, the other kids and parents and enjoyed some cake. We thanked his teachers for the time they spend teaching him and making his first school experience so wonderful!

Grandma and Grandpa's Broken House

Grandma and Grandpa are in the process of building a house closer to where we live. We've been going to their house every weekend for a while now to check out how the construction is going. Roo likes to call the house their "broken house" since it's not built yet. The house is coming along really well and they will hopefully be moving in at the end of the month. We're looking forward to having Grandma and Grandpa nearby!

Happy Hanukkah

This year, since Roo is old enough to really understand holidays, we're celebrating Hannukah and Christmas. We had Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Matt over to our house for a nice Hannukah dinner. Mom made her yummy pot roast and Uncle Matt and I made some really delicious latkes; without egg! It was a tasty meal and the boys had a lot of fun opening up gifts from Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Matt. The boys have enjoyed lighting the candles every night and get the concept that you're not supposed to blow them out. Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Birthday Mack Doggie?

Today we celebrated Mack Doggie's birthday. We're not quite sure how old he is or if it's really his birthday but Roo declared that it was Mack Doggie's birthday today, so we celebrated! We sang happy birthday and sure enough, in the middle of the song, Bug ran to the freezer to get cake, because you eat cake when you sing happy birthday! Luckily, we have a lot of leftover cake from Bug's birthday in the freezer. So, after we sang happy birthday and spoke about Mack Doggie's wonderful day at school (not Roo's preschool mind you, Mack Doggie school), we ate cake! Happy Birthday Mack Doggie! Think he'll have a birthday again tomorrow?

Roo's 1st Preschool Program

Yesterday we went to Roo's first preschool program. He's been practicing his line all weekend and we even got him to start saying it louder so everyone could hear. He was a bit reluctant to practice the songs with us but he was singing them in bed, while he was playing and as we were going places, so we know he knows them.

We got to his preschool and the had the room set up with little chairs for each of the kids and then a sitting area for all of the adults. The teachers walked the kids into the room in two groups as there were two different rows of chairs. Roo was in the front row and as soon as he walked into the room he stopped in his tracks. His look said "who are all these people and why are they all taking pictures."

Once all the kids were seated they started the program. Know what Roo did for the whole entire show? He sat there without saying a word!!! And you know what, that's just what we were expecting. Talk about stage fright and shyness all wrapped up into one. He was so cute and we were so proud of him and loved seeing him at school!

In the end, he said he had fun and though he thought the whole thing was a little scary.

He did really enjoy eating lunch after with all of his friends and was back to his normal silly self.

The teachers mentioned that they have a Christmas program so we've started preparing him for that. We'll see how it goes!

How Many Doctors Appointments in 1 Week?

Last week we played a game called "how many doctors appointments can we go to in 1 week." Bug had his well baby scheduled for one morning and before the appointment I took him for a foot xray since he limps on it on occasion and complains that it hurts. Since we've gotten him a new pair of shoes this has happened a lot less but we figured we might as well take him just to make sure we don't miss anything. That ultimately broke our "no more than one appointment per day" for Bug rule, so by the time we got to his well baby he was done. The major topic of discussion at his well baby was his eating habits and how he gets his nutrition. He's a pretty small little guy and still uses a soy supplement, that he gets through his bottle for a significant portion of his nutrition. The ped suggested we see an eating specialist to see if they can help us get him off the bottle and on a more normal toddler diet.

Later in the week Bug had an appointment with the allergist to get his flu shot testing and flu shot. Since we hadn't done any SPT in a year, we did a pretty full panel of foods and cat/dog on Bug's back. We waited for that and the 1st flu shot test to be done and as we were waiting I could tell that some of his food allergies were still really bad, if not worse, at least according to the skin testing results. The good news was that his flu shot test came back negative but since his egg allergy was out of this world, we still needed to do the interdermal tests, fun! So we waited for those and Bug didn't like that at all, especially since he could see it all on his arm. Those came back negative as well and he was given the full dose of the flu shot all at once and we had to wait a half hour before we could go. The good news for the food allergies was that there weren't really any new ones, the bad news was that none of them really went away and we still continue to get negative results on some foods on his skin but positive on his blood work, so we'll learn more when he has his RAST testing done and sees Dr. Wood this winter. Here's to hoping we get even just 1 food back!

And even later this week, I took bug to the ENT because he had drainage over the weekend and was still complaining that his ear really hurt. And since neither the ped or the allergist could see if the tube was still in and said his ear still looked infected even with the ear drops, off to the ENT we went. And the result was great, the tube was still there and the infection was clearing up nicely.

While we were at the ENT, Daddy went to the doctor because he wasn't feeling well. Turns out he has a sinus infection and got medicine for that and should be much less grumpy.

And then to seal the deal on Doctor Week, we took Roo to the ped on Saturday because his cough didn't sound good. And though we thought we could be wasting our time going since he didn't sound that bad by Saturday, she said that his throat looked like there was major drainage and decided to give him a round of antibiotics.

Guess Bug and I will get sick this week!

Bug's 2nd Birthday Party

Last year Bug was sick with H1N1 for his birthday party so we decided to have a larger party than we normally have for Bug's 2nd birthday. Also, instead of baking his cake this year like I normally do, I found an allergy friendly baker that was local enough and ordered his dairy, egg, nut and other allergen free cake from there. The bakery is called The Lemonade Bakery, and everyone, especially Bug, really enjoyed the cake. We also made a few appetizers to put out and everyone enjoyed those as well and were sometimes surprised to hear that everything was allergy friendly.

Before the party started we decided to give Bug his big present from us. This is the first really big present he's gotten from us and he loved it! I know I can drive real cars, but that Jeep Rubicon looks like so much fun! And he really loved being a passenger in the truck as well!

And just before our first guests arrived, Grandma and Grandpa gave Bug his very own red wagon! Roo has a red wagon that he got from them for his 2nd birthday and Bug was so excited to get one of his own!

After everyone arrived and we all hung out for a bit we eventually had the yummy cake. Bug loved when we sang happy birthday to him and kept trying to reach for the fire on the candle. He was really cute blowing out his candle too.

After cake Bug opened his presents. It was hard to keep his attention after each new gift and he loved each of them. He loves dancing to Rock n Roll Elmo and can be found most nights dancing to the songs before bed.

He really loved the new drill. Little did the gift giver of the drill know that Bug loves drilling his teeth! That drill accompanied us to the doctor's office later that week and helped the time pass nicely.

The Toy Story race track was also one of Bug's favorite gifts! The shake and go cars are really fun to watch speed around the track, and the house, and the boys play with it every night; thanks Grammy and Papa!

Bug also go a couple of his own really big Tonka trucks from Uncle Matt. We're hoping to keep the trucks inside through the winter since the boys have so much fun racing them around the house!

And, the loudest present ever, was actually one that Roo and I picked out, not knowing it would be so loud. The push lawn mower, that Bug loves so much, is so so so loud! This may be the perfect gift to give to all my friends and their kids ;)

Bug got a ton of great presents from everyone and loves all his new toys!

We had a wonderful day celebrating Bug's 2nd birthday and we were so glad that he was well this year and could enjoy the celebration! We had so much extra cake that I froze a bunch of it and, ssshhh, don't tell daddy, I let them have cake for breakfast the next day! It was so much fun having everyone over to the house and it was a great day!

Happy 2nd Birthday Bug

Bug is 2 today! It's hard to believe our little baby is 2. We suprised him with cupcakes after we enjoyed spagetti night; a family favorite.

He loved the cupcakes and really loved when we all sang happy birthday to him; he did his little dance to the song, just adorable!

Happy 2nd Birthday Buggie, we love you :)

Roo's 1st Field Trip

Roo's preschool took a fun fall field trip to Belvedere Plantation. This was our first time going as it costs a bit more than going to Westmoreland Berry Farm thought it has a ton of fun activities. We met up with his class in the morning and it was a big cooler at the farm than at home so it was good Roo had his jacket. He was in a little bit of a shy mood so he mostly stayed around me as his classmates arrived and we waited for the field trip to begin.

The class took a class picture before going into the farm.

Once we got into the farm we made our way over to the tractor that takes everyone to the pumpkin patch. We each got a pumpkin and I let Roo pick my pumpkin which we agreed would be for Bug. He had a lot of fun picking the pumpkins and even found some pretty blue flowers in the patch.

After the patch the class did several different activities including going to a small petting zoo. Roo loved petting and feeding the animals!

After that the kids headed to a hug hay barn to play on rope swings. Though Roo doesn't have an food allergies we discovered this summer that he's very allergic to hay. As soon as we walked in it was clear that this hay barn was not a great idea. I felt terrible for pulling him from the field trip, but it was the last activity and he really wanted to go to lunch anyway. His teachers understood and we headed off for lunch.

Since I was already being a little mean, I decided to take a very short detour so we could get our flu shots. Roo was great and said he'd get his first. He didn't cry but exclaimed to the nice nurse that she hurt him! I got mine and then we headed of to Pho for lunch. We had a great time and headed home afterwards so we could relax after our busy day!