Happy Easter!

Well, the tooth fairy left Sydney $6.51. A $5 bill because it was her first tooth and $1.51 because that was apparently the value of a tooth on the day she lost it (kind of like the stock market). The tooth fairy left the money for Sydney in the envelope she left on her pillow.

We had a relatively low key weekend (didn't think that was possible around here). Friday, we went to a wedding and had a really nice time! The weather was great and we all had a lot of fun. The kids behaved for the babysitter and had fun making arts and crafts.

Saturday was also pretty low key. Sydney didn't have dance because it was spring break, so we went to the grocery store instead. Sydney was such a big helper! I wear Connor in a carrier when we go shopping, so it's hard to put things in the cart. She and I made a good team and I'd grab something from the shelf and she'd put it in the cart. She even unloaded the cart onto the belt at the check out. We got stuff to make a nice Easter dinner (on Saturday night), but ended up not making it because we all got home too late. Ham won't go bad, so we'll have it next weekend. Too bad we can't do our usual corn bread casserole because it's chock full of dairy :( I ate part of a piece of cheese last week and poor Connor is paying the price still :( He's so uncomfortable. Milk protein is a pain to eliminate because it takes 2 weeks to get out of my system and another 2 weeks to get out of his, so he could be affected for up to a month! Needless to say, I won't be purposefully challenging his tolerance to dairy again any time soon. Not worth it.

Sydney woke up a little before 7 on Easter Sunday and eagerly came to wake us up. I was already in Connor's room, so she got Brad up and we all went down stairs. The bunny had left her a note saying that he hid 12 eggs for her to find. She found them all pretty easily. They were stuffed with peanut butter cups, swedish fish, sweet tarts, and gummies. She even got a chocolate bunny in one of her baskets along with some mini Cadbury Creme eggs and chocolate peeps!

The bunny was good to both kids. Both kids got wi-fi piggy banks. They're pretty cool. Sydney got a new book, Kinetic sand (it's SO much fun!), a nice pair of sunglasses, a new water cup, a stuffed lamb, and a bin of dinosaur figures. Connor got a Nemo ball (which matches the clown fish in our aquarium), sunglasses, a teething toy, some leg warmers, a stuffed monkey, and a book. No candy for him!

Stylish, Oh, la, la!

Cool dude!

Easter Goodies

Connor Cottontail :)

Tooth Fairy

Sydney spent the day at Connor's school today. She was a little nervous at first, but by the time we got there and she saw all of the other kids, she happily picked out her "bin" for her backpack and coat (since she's not in a class and doesn't have a room or cubby), put her stuff in, and joined right in with the other kids. They were doing arts and crafts, so she jumped right in. It was almost snack time, so I said goodbye and headed to work. It was SOOOOOO much easier to have them both at the same school - I can't wait till June. It will cut probably 40 minutes each way out of my commute, between driving from school to school, parking, and walking in to each classroom. They said they'd call me if she was having any trouble today, but I never got a call (not that I expected to!). I had a meeting in Baltimore today, so Brad picked up the kids. Sydney ran in the door tonight holding a bag with her tooth in it!

Toothless grin! Well, not really toothless, since her adult tooth is already in. She's so excited!

Another goofy picture from daycare. His teachers love him so much and always comment on how happy he is :)

Can't wait to see what the tooth fairy brings! 

Great visit with Aunt Laurie!

We're so glad we got to visit with Laurie and Kaylee this weekend! Thanks for visiting, guys! They got in Friday after work, so we were able to have dinner and hang out before bed. Sydney really enjoyed doing some crafts with Kaylee. And Connor enjoyed snuggles with Aunt Laurie :)

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous! We went to dance in the morning, then to lunch, then Sydney and Brad had a Father Daughter dance rehearsal. They learned the dance that they'll perform at her recital in June. We all went to the DC United - Redbulls game in the afternoon. It was a perfect afternoon for a tailgate! Connor slept through much of it. Thankfully we had an umbrella in the car, so could keep him in the shade.

Sleeping at the tailgate.

Hanging out at home before the soccer game.

At the game.

Me and my girl!

A certain someone turned FIVE months old on Sunday! How in the world did that happen??? He's *almost* sitting unsupported, he's sleeping relatively well (most nights), laughs like a maniac (mostly at Sydney), and loves to stand on his strong legs. He's such a happy boy. Still no teeth, but I really hope they come in soon! 

He was not too thrilled with the attempted photos.

We gave him his first taste of cereal. I was going to skip it and wait another month to give him "real" food, but thought it might help with the amount of spit up. Spit up is supposed to "peak" at 4 months, but it's not getting much better. We're kind of used to it at this point, but it is really gross. Poor kid goes through probably 5 outfits a day and there are days that I do as well. I can't even get dressed for work until I put him in the car seat. Bibs do nothing since he misses them and ends up soaking the rest of his clothing. He's already on Zantac and his dose is constantly adjusted for his weight (one advantage to the many doctors visits we had in March). It's also just for "practice" at this point since there's no nutritional value to the cereal. I don't think it's helped his poor tummy at all, but it will at least get him used to the spoon.  He wasn't too sure...

Connor thought dad was pretty funny :) He laughed and laughed and laughed while I ran some errands :) 

Have I mentioned that I love his daycare? This was one of the photos that popped up on my phone while I was at work on Monday :) Makes me so happy!

Bubbles!

Big boy! He can stand and turn the exersaucer around now. His legs are SO strong and he'll even stand when just holding on to our hands!

Thank you Aunt Jenny for Connor's new jammies! Sorry his hands are ALWAYS in his mouth...makes it hard to take a decent photo. Hope those darn teeth pop through soon!

We realized on Monday that Sydney's school is closed Thursday, Friday, and Monday. Quite possibly the most inconvenient "spring break" a daycare/school could have! Montgomery County Public Schools have spring break this week, so there are tons of options for camps and such for this week, but also being closed on Monday is difficult. Turns out that Connor's school can take Sydney on Thursday (they have extra spots available for kids who are enrolled in the before/after school program on days when the county is closed), but that doesn't help for Friday or Monday. Since she's enrolled for the summer already, they're allowing us to bring her on Thursday. His school is also closed on Friday and can't take her on Monday because the county schools are open (even though she doesn't yet attend a county public school). Oy. So she'll go to his school on Thursday and Brad and I will handle Friday and Monday somehow. I see lots of Frozen viewings in Sydney's future!!! I'm SUPER busy at work right now, so this couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time.

I've had to do a lot more travel for work lately (thankfully just to Philly for day trips). Brad was on kid duty yesterday morning and evening, but I got home before bed time, so got some time with the kids. Sydney was looking at the fish and then pretended to be a fish herself. It made Connor absolutely crack up. He must have laughed for 10 minutes straight.

We have a wedding to go to on Friday, so that should be fun! Then we're REALLY looking forward to a "down" weekend. Since it's spring break, there's no dance on Saturday. And of course, Easter is Sunday, so I'm assuming we'll get a visit from the Easter Bunny :) Being dairy free with all of the candy around is going to be hard!

Hope everyone is doing well. We'll see some of you at Beanie's graduation in a few short weeks...can't wait!

Vitamin D Therapy!

It was FINALLY sunny and warm enough to spend some time outside over the weekend :) We had a great weekend. Sydney and I went to dance on Saturday morning, then to a wedding shower for Wendy in the afternoon. We had a blast and it was great to see everyone! We're looking forward to a fun wedding next week :)

On Sunday, Brad ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. We usually go spectate, but decided it was just too much this year. I couldn't figure out how to deal with Metro and a mile plus walk with 2 kids before sunrise. Connor's too small to sit in the stroller without his car seat, so I would have had to wear him in a carrier, carry his diaper bag, and try to keep Sydney with us. Just didn't seem workable. So we met Brad, Alex, and Colleen at a restaurant in Bethesda for brunch afterwards. Brad did great and ran his second fastest 10 mile race! Not too shabby!

Brad took Sydney out rollerskating. She kept falling on her bum, and even though it really hurt, she was determined to get back up, brush it off, and learn to "do it right." Those are her words, not ours :) Love her so much!

When she had enough skating, I took her out on her bike for a bit. She's' a LOT less timid on her bike now. Can't wait to take her somewhere flat where she can really ride, rather than our hilly neighborhood.

Silly selfie. You can only see the back of Connor's head :)

Getting pretty confident!

That hand must be mighty tasty! 

I tried to sit him up in his glider, but he's not quite ready. His hair has gotten so blonde - just like his sister!

I don't think Connor was too impressed.

I love this one. They absolutely adore each other.

Brad was teaching Sydney how to use a compass! She picked a compass out of the treasure chest at the dentist's office a few weeks ago, but it was a toy and didn't really work. So we bought her a real one and *tried* to teach her how to use it. We'll have to keep practicing. 

We went on a walk after dinner tonight. The weather was perfect and it was great to get outside!

We're all eagerly awaiting Laurie's visit this weekend! Can't wait for her to meet Connor. I think he's been saving up lots and lots of smiles and giggles :)

Pelican Food

Connor was FINALLY healthy enough to get his 4 month vaccines :) Little guy was a total champ. Took the oral vaccine with no problems (since he's on reflux medication 3x a day, he doesn't think twice about taking medicine from a syringe) and he didn't even cry when he got his first shot. He cried for all of 2 seconds with the second shot, then was completely fine. We were in and out in a few minutes and everything looks good. His ears are also finally perfectly clear. "Pristine" in the words of his doctor! We're on the verge of being too close to his 6 month appointment for him to get his 6 month vaccines, but they said we were ok to keep our already scheduled appointment, so that was good news. His 6 month appointment is with the doctor that Sydney has seen for the last 5.5 years (she's hard to get an appointment with), so I'm happy to have her see Connor as well. He's also finally gaining weight again and is up to 12lbs 4oz. Still small, but growing as he should be :)

I took him to school after his appointment so I could finish working for the day. His teachers cuddled him and kept him comfortable when he got a little fussy from the shots. He took a nice long nap :)

He was smiling and very happy when I picked him up this afternoon. When we got to Sydney's school, she had just finished reading an entire book to her class :) I'm so proud of her! She's reading so incredibly well - she's one of two kids in her class in her guided reading level and they're reading several grades ahead of where they "should" be. She's really been enjoying reading chapter books to herself lately, too. Of course, her favorite book at the moment is Frozen. To say she's obsessed is an understatement!

We met Brad at Dogfish for dinner (it's really close to her school). Shockingly, she didn't get the mac and cheese (that's usually why we go there). She got a grilled cheese and ate a really good dinner. We let her get some ice cream for dessert. She couldn't shovel it in her mouth fast enough.

 

She got to help feed the fish when we got home. She's changed the name from Sarah to Ice Cube. Brad was talking about which kind of food to give the fish and Sydney came in to Connor's room and told me they were going to give the fish some "pelican food." Huh? Brad told her "pellet" food and she heard "pelican" food. That made us all laugh.

I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday. I've been telling Brad that every day now feels like a marathon. There's so much to do and not nearly enough time (or energy) to get it all done. Weekends aren't much less busy, but at least there's less pressure to get up and out the door with our millions of bags on time and the evenings don't have to be spent preparing for the following day.

Hope everyone is well - take care!

School Picture Day!

Today was Sydney's school picture day. We got her a cute new dress, but didn't realize that she didn't have a single pair of dress shoes that fit her until it was too late! She ended up having to wear sandals that were a little too small (and that she wasn't allowed to wear at school because they are open toe). So I sent her to school in her pretty new dress and her pink fake Uggs (so she could easily change shoes for the picture). What a sight - wish I would have gotten a picture! They also took some pictures in their caps and gowns - I can't wait to see them!

Connor actually slept last night! He woke up to eat twice, but I'll take that over what's been going on the past few weeks any day. Fingers crossed that tonight is the same. We go back for an ear check and hopefully his 4 month vaccines tomorrow (even though he's almost 5 months). This will be something like the 8th visit to the pediatrician in the last month. He's still breaking out in random hives and is congested, but hopefully will be healthy enough to get his shots.

We went to the Diner near Sydney's school for dinner. Brad was in DC at a lecture and I was too tired to cook. Sydney likes the Diner and I can always find something dairy free to eat.

She looks like such a big kid! How did she grow up so fast???

He just hung out and played with his dragon while we ate. He started to get mad, so he ended up sitting in my lap and was perfectly content to stare at Sydney. 

Hopefully tonight is a decent night! G'night all!

Sunshine!

Spring may finally be here! It snowed and sleeted on Sunday, but was almost 70 today!!! What gives??? I'm not complaining, though! Sun and warmth does a lot to lift my mood. The snow in the parking lots is finally melted and parking at daycare / school isn't nearly as bad.

Connor had an AWFUL night Sunday night (and of course Brad was out of town for work). I was convinced he had another ear infection, but thankfully that's not the case. He was up 10 times between bedtime (8pm) and midnight and finally fell asleep from 12:30-2:30. But then he was up again until 5 and only slept till 6. He just couldn't settle and was whiny, but not all out crying, even though I was just holding him and trying to calm him. A sleep pattern like that is what has happened with both of his ear infections (same thing happened when Sydney had ear infections). I made an appointment with his doctor yesterday morning to have his ears checked just in case. Both ears looked ok, but he's super congested (which we obviously knew) and he keeps getting hives on his face, so must still have some underlying virus. Nothing we can do except continue doing what we're doing: saline, suction, humidifier, keeping his crib elevated, giving Tylenol if he's in pain or has a fever. Last night wasn't much better, but we at least slept from about 3:30-6:30. Fingers crossed tonight is better. I have a colleague with an 8 day old who is sleeping more!

Naptime while waiting for the doctor yesterday.

The car that Sydney made out of a tissue box and toilet paper roll :)

This morning when we dropped Connor at school. He responds so well to Sydney and she loves him so much. 

Good night all!