Race Day!

Sydney ran a 1K race this morning and LOVED it! It was her first run "by herself" without either Brad or I running with her. She did great and was the second girl to finish!

We went to the DC United game tonight. The weather was perfect and we had a great time with friends and family of friends! 

Sydney and Arabelle were DC United ninjas :)

Connor has moved on to peas. He wasn't so sure about them the first night, but now likes them. 

Sydney chose his next food - carrots! We made him some yesterday and he LOVES them! I think we'll try either green beans or butternut squash next. We have to do a new food for at least 3 days, so it's kind of slow going at this point. He's done pretty well with food, though - I'm really glad we waited as long as we did. 

We'll have a short week next week - the kids and I are driving to Charlotte to visit with Jenny and Great Grandma - we're all really excited! I just hope the drive isn't too daunting and hope we don't hit too much traffic. I'm going to take a day off on either end of the long weekend to hopefully avoid some of it. 

We're also taking Sydney to her elementary school next week so she can participate in a Kindergarten class. That should start the process of early entrance to first grade in the fall. We had her teacher conferences last week and she's definitely ready. So we just need to figure out the logistics. Thank goodness we were connected with the principal who is working with us to make it an easy transition for us all.

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!  

6 Months Old!

I can't believe that Connor is 6 months old already! Seriously, where has the time gone? I didn't have time to take a photo with his month sticker today (Tuesdays are crazy busy with soccer), so we'll have to do that this weekend.

We started our day at 4am (he almost always wakes up at 4 and about half the time he stays up for the day, the other half I can get him back to sleep). Ended up being ok because I had an INSANELY busy day at work, so I just started working. He had his 6 month check up today with our favorite pediatrician in the practice. I say this every time I go there (which has been often lately), but I'm SO thankful that we've found the perfect pediatric practice to take the kids to. I feel so comfortable with all of the doctors and they all take such good care of us.

He fell asleep in the car on the way there. That's always how it goes - he falls asleep just in time to have to get out of the car seat and have his clothes stripped off :( What a rude awakening! Anyway, he's a whopping 13lbs 6.5oz, which is only the 1st percentile for weight. He's gaining perfectly according to his own curve, though, and his doctor is very happy with his growth. He's meeting or exceeding all of his developmental milestones, he's just small! He even showed off his fondness for standing and jumping while we were there - the doctor laughed about that.

Connor had allergy testing done last week since we can't figure out why he keeps getting hives. Testing didn't show anything overwhelmingly positive, but showed a possible peanut allergy. They don't do a full panel on a baby so small (his back is pretty small!), so they only tested for 6 major food allergens. He didn't have a strong reaction to dairy, which is good, but he could still be intolerant, just not allergic. They're having me eliminate peanuts and obvious sources of soy (tofu, edamame, soy sauce) from my diet (and stay dairy free), keep a detailed food log of what I eat, what he eats, and what his reactions are, and we have to re-test in a month. He was a trooper for the testing and it was really no big deal. I hope we can figure out what's bugging him!

Food wise, he's had rice cereal (for a few days), oatmeal, bananas, and avocado. We introduced sweet potatoes when we got home on Sunday night and it really hurt his poor tummy :( He threw up for the next 8 hours and was just generally miserable. He didn't fall asleep until 3am, which was rough for all of us. His doctor told us to wait a few months before giving sweet potatoes again. Strange since that's usually a pretty safe food, but I don't want a repeat of that! We tried peas tonight and he wasn't a fan. They stayed down, but he made the classic baby icky face.

We had a great weekend! We drove to Fredericksburg to celebrate Christine's graduation from Mary Washington! The whole family was able to be there, which was awesome. Terry and Laurie figured out that the last time we were ALL together was 8 years ago. And of course, there are 2 new additions to the family since then, so it was Grammy and Grampy's first time with all 6 grandkids at the same time! It was Connor's first stay in a hotel and thankfully he did pretty well! We kept him up REALLY late Friday night to visit with everyone, but he slept the whole night in his pack and play. Saturday night was not as good, so I ended up bringing him to bed with us (after spending a lot of time getting him used to his crib sleeping on his own, I really, really hesitated to do this, but we all would have woken up otherwise). At least I was able to get a little sleep that way.

Graduation was really nice, but it unfortunately started raining :( Thankfully the weather held out long enough for us to see Christine receive her diploma and walk across the stage. The kids and I headed back to the car when the rain started. We still got wet, but at least weren't soaked. We met everyone for lunch after the ceremony and had some yummy BBQ!!! After lunch, we went back to the hotel and all took a nap! I was pleasantly surprised, but we managed to get both kids to sleep for 2 hours! Granted it was in a double bed with me and both kids, but I'll take what I can get.  When we got up, we went swimming. Grammy was already down in the pool, so she helped Sydney a lot. Connor just floated around with me and had a blast. He really loves the water. I let Sydney get in the hot tub when we were done to warm up a bit and she enjoyed that (it wasn't too hot, don't worry). After a quick shower, we headed out to dinner with the family.

It was really nice to visit with everyone at dinner and the food was DELICIOUS! I had tuna, which was to die for, and I ate far more than I needed to. I'm really proud of how well Sydney behaved - it was a LONG day and she was a champ through dinner, even though it was pretty late for her.

Sunday morning, we woke up early and drove to campus to get some family photos taken. I'm so glad we were able to arrange for that.

Thank you, Laurie for the iPhone snap shots from our photo session. Here are a few.

Grammy and Grampy with all 6 grandkids

Grammy and Grampy

Terry and Michael

Three generations of Clements men

Jennifer and Christine

Girl Cousins

Courtney and Kaylee

All of the Cousins

Here are a few more from the past few weeks...

Hi mom! What are you looking at??? I'm 6 months old today - no big deal!

Sleepy boy on the way to the doctor.

Enjoying a nice evening watching Sydney playing soccer. Ignore the pj's. It's what he came home from daycare in and I didn't have anything else to change him in to!

He actually held a crayon and colored an apple for us :) 

Sydney's Mother's Day gift to me. A Mother's Day journal where she and Connor can write / draw a letter or picture for me every year. It will all be in one place and nothing will ever get lost. She obviously wrote the letter entirely on her own and I could not be more proud!

The only photo we have of the three of us. I love it!

Sydney's school participated in a Community Parade. One of the teachers in her school painted this and the kids love it!

Connor's teachers kept asking for a picture of me with him for Mother's Day. Sydney took this one with my phone :)

Enjoying an afternoon in the sun.

More to come. Hope everyone is doing well!

Catching Up

It's been a busy few weeks and I've started a few posts and just haven't finished. Let's see...what's new in the past few weeks?

Sydney and I had her "Kindergarten" Orientation on Monday. I was foolish and scheduled it during Brad's weekly team call, so he couldn't go :( She misses the county cut off date wise and should technically be going to Kindergarten in the fall. We've had her in a private Kindergarten this year in anticipation of applying for early entrance to first grade in the fall. Despite the goal of having her go into first grade, we have to register her for Kindergarten and go through the orientation process. The official process is to have her start in a Kindergarten class in the fall for up to 6 weeks, make the necessary observations, then decide if she's appropriately placed. If she's "ready" for first grade, they'll move her. We knew that was the process when we decided to send her to a private Kindergarten this year, but it still seems rather disruptive, not only to Sydney, but to the teachers and the rest of the class as well.

Anyway, the orientation was good. Sydney got to meet some of the teachers and didn't hesitate to leave me at all (once we got in the building, at least). After the parents presentation, I stuck around to talk to the assistant principal and the principal. Just wanted to be sure we were all on the same page in terms of the whole early entry thing. We've agreed on a plan that may allow her to bypass starting the year in a Kindergarten class and start right in first grade, so that made me happy. They're very willing to work with us and thankfully, the academic director at her current school used to teach 2nd grade at her elementary school, so her evaluation of Sydney's ability will go a long way :)

After the orientation, we got to go on a bus ride around the neighborhood! Sydney was SO excited! And it made me feel better to get to be on a bus with her and see her sit still and know how to behave. I'm VERY passionate about car seat safety, so putting her on a bus (without a car seat) gives me great anxiety. The fact that one of my clients is a school bus company doesn't help...when you're in insurance, you tend to see the really bad accidents... But anyway, she behaved really well and had a BLAST. When we got off the bus and were walking back to the car, she told me it was the best day of her life!

Connor's a happy boy at school!

He made an umbrella this week!

Waiting at the eye doctor for his follow up. He was a trooper and his eyes look great for now!

Saturday night was ROUGH. Connor was up literally all night and I was beat on Sunday. I had to get out of the house, or I would have been super frustrated at his lack of napping (he hates naps, too). So we headed to the zoo. It was Connor's first time sitting in the stroller without the car seat and Sydney had a great time. We got her face painted like a kitty and she got to ride the carousel all by herself. 

Sydney read to Connor at bedtime on Saturday night. So glad they get along so well (for now). He still laughs at her like crazy and she adores him.

Silly bedtime selfie.

Last week was Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day! I took Sydney with me to work in the morning and she had a lot of fun. She got to learn about fire insurance and they had lots of activities planned for the kids. They did a really nice job and I didn't even have to stay with her (in fact, she told me to leave). Then we met Brad for lunch and he took her to the Museum of Natural History in the afternoon to see the Dinosaur Exhibit before it closes for the next 5 years. She really enjoyed that too! 

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. It's been a long, busy, and sleepless week. Hope everyone is doing well!

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!