Girly Girly Girls Night (Plus One Small Truck)

Let me tell you what passes for a wild Friday night around here for me and my Noodle. Dad took Squash to his first NFL game tonight (Chiefs/Eagles preseason, and we are BIG Eagles fans). So it was just me, Noodle and Truck. What did we do?

First, I let Noodle watch "Phineas and Ferb" while I fed Truck up in his room. A little peace for him before the chaos of "Noodle Night" began.

Then, we went to IHOP. I let her order the chocolate pancake with whipped cream. I have never ever let her big brother order it. She is dying to tell him.

Then, we went to Target. She insisted that ALL her friends wear dresses and she has NO dresses at all. I found four. Hey, they were on clearance, and they were so cute. I wish I could wear these cute cotton dresses!

Then, I let her pick out a snack (she picked Chex Mix Original Flavor) (after I vetoed cheese popcorn because EW.) and we hit the video section. I let her pick any movie she wanted. She picked Strawberry Shortcake.

Then, we came home. I set her up watching Strawberry, took Truck upstairs for his last feeding and into his PJs and crib, and then washed bottles while she finished Strawberry.



[Look at this beast! Can you see how he gets his ENTIRE fist into his mouth?]

THEN (no, it's not quite over yet), I read The Little Mermaid to her. I answered 500000 questions about the book (Mommy, what's heartbroken? Mommy, who's Sebastian? Mommy, where's Ariel's voice? But what HAPPENED to the necklace?) And then she finally went to sleep. Hopefully she will remember it as the awesome night that it was.

Time for me to go fold some laundry!

Back to School

Look at these monkeys!

This is the three of them on big brother's first day of 2nd grade. He came home that night missing his 2nd top front tooth (has already lost 2 on the bottom and 1 on the top). Alas, he swallowed it. Guess what? The tooth fairy came anyway!!

Second grade is all it's cracked up to be. I think this is the year they learn cursive!!

Sis is back at preschool and happy as a clam. She came home today and told me she has a new boyfriend named Logan (her old boyfriend Liam moved away this summer). She said her two good friends were mean to her today (one said she was a bad dancer, and the other said she didn't like her dress), so she decided to play with Logan. 3 1/2 is an awesome age!

And Truck is doing fantastic at his new school. He has lots of plump new friends who are so darn cute. School wears him out so he is going to bed around 8 these days and you will hear NO COMPLAINTS from me. Speaking of which, time to go wash the bottles, etc.

Park-a-palooza

I read about this idea in Family Fun magazine and decided to modify it for our family's last day of summer vacation last Sunday.

When the kids woke up, in the middle of the living room floor (where I knew they would be headed to watch cartoons), there was a note explaining that today was PARK-A-PALOOZA and we would be going to not one, not two, but THREE parks.

There was also an envelope that they had to open. Inside, four dollar bills and a note that they each got $2, because our first stop would be the gas station where they could each buy themselves an "11 o'clock treat" (that is, a treat to be eaten at 11 AM!).

Then as soon as we had eaten breakfast, we loaded into the minivan with a pile of bottled waters and headed to a local park that we don't often go to. I told the kids we had 20 minutes to spend at each park. We spent a little longer, but it was nice to have this time limit set from the start because there was no whining when it was time to leave.

We went to two more parks, same drill, and had the BEST time. The kids made friends everywhere we went, they ran around and got sweaty and exhausted, and generally had a blast.

We stopped at Fazoli's on the way home and treated ourselves to lunck with lemonade and all the garlicky breadsticks we could eat. We will definitely do it again next year. Even though it seemed a little ridiculous that August 2 was the "end" of summer...

Peek-a-boo

Truck and I went to the doctor today for his 4-month check-up. He weighed in at 19 lbs (90th percentile) and is 26 inches tall (97th percentile). Official Truck Status was awarded! He was a champ for his shots. He slurped down the Tylenol, then let out a yelp when the nurse stuck him, but he was smiling by the time we were out in the waiting room. He fell asleep, not surprisingly, on the drive over to day care and hopefully will do a better job sleeping for them there today.

The best part of the doctor's appointment was when we were in the exam room and I was trying to keep him occupied while we waited for the doctor. I decided to lay him on the table and play some peek-a-boo. We had never played it before. He LOVED it. Every time I "appeared" and said peek-a-boo (from behind my hands), he laughed a full-body laugh. Mama, you are SO hilarious!

Truck at School

Truck had his first day of school today. It went great - much more smoothly than the first day of school for either of the other two back in the day. They looked at me funny when I said he would drink four 6 oz. bottles. Hello, he is a truck! He ended up eating only three, which was nice because #4 has to be formula. I am pumping to the max at work (three times a day, at 9:30, 12:30 and 3:30), and that results in about 18-20 oz. total. Plus he nurses in the morning first thing and then about 3 or 4 times before he goes to bed at night (6, 7:45, sometimes 8:30, and 9:15). Anyway, I am ok with him eating formula for whatever he wants beyond the first three bottles at school. He is getting plenty of breast milk!!

He didn't cry when we dropped him off, and he was smiling and looking around when Dad picked him up. I think he likes having all the new faces to look at, especially his new friends. He didn't sleep very well but he doesn't sleep very well anytime that I am not there putting him in bed (his naps for the past 2 weeks that he's been home with Dad have been sporadic).

Anyway, it was a successful first day. I am very proud of the little Truck.