June 2006 Mommies - Turning into Big Kids!

[June '06 Mommies]

Now that our babies are 3, it's time to move into the Big Kids' Club!

Looking back...

Getting to know our new babies (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22078)
Celebrating 1 Year and Many More To Come (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32319)
Walking and Talking Our Way To Age 2 (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34901)

It's amazing how much we've been through over the past 4 years, the surprise and excitement of a positive pregnancy test, giving birth to our beautiful children, and watching them grow from little bitty babies into wonderful, adorable, sometimes challenging little people. What a ride!

[June '06 Mommies]

May 20: Troi Michael (niko&troi)
May 22: Brady (gina73)
June 1: Baby Girl M (kmmommy); Peyton Thomas (Dan's*Girl)
June 5: Javan Christopher (shaqangel); Annabelle Rose (IzzyJune2006)
June 6: Kaelyn Reese (kaelynsmom); Micah (Graffy)
June 8: Declan (amurphy)
June 10: Emily Lena (Ryan); Ethan Michael (MrsBrownie)
June 12: Bailey Hope (sunshineab622); Noah (ds2003)
June 13: Lucas Nathaniel (Baby Lust)
June 15: Nicholas (jbenny75)
June 16: Mallory (shouldaeloped)
June 25: Ayla Elizabeth (jay&erinn)
June 28: Owen Paul (steviem)
June 29: Julia Edythe (Mystikal)

[June '06 Mommies]

Saved for resources

[June '06 Mommies]

Welcome to the new thread!!

[Baby Lust]

Sorry it took me so long to move us to the big kids' forum! :o I can't believe it's been 3 years! I am in awe of Lucas every day. He has turned into such a little man! And his imagination makes me laugh constantly! :D

Looking forward to another year! :)

[Niko&Troi]

Wow, I haven't been in here in forever. Thanks for the new thread!!

Well we've been super busy but I'll do the short abridged version. We had Troi's 3rd birthday party at our community pool. It ended up being a very nice day and it didn't rain. We got a very nice surprise from Brian's dad, he flew down for the day to come to the party. It was so nice to see him even if it was only for 24 hours. He also gave us our birthday presents while he was here, he got us annual passes to Disney :D We've been there a few times already and the boys love it.

Troi went through some testing for the school system here and got accepted to a speech therapy program. He will go twice a week for 1/2 an hour during the regular school year. While he's in the speech program they are going to give him an occupational evaluation. Hopefully he'll get picked up for that too.

He has come a long way but we still have a few bumps here and there. We just take one day at a time and as it comes. During Troi's testing they kept telling us that he is very advanced for his age. He tested at a 6 year old on intelligence, but a 2 year old in speech. He is definitely smarter than Nikolas on a lot of things, then there are moments when he doesn't even act like a 2 year old :( So we just do what we can for him and just love him through it.

The boys have been taking swimming classes this season and they are like fish out of water. They are both jumping off a diving board at classes into the 12' foot section. If it was up to them, we'd be in the pool 24/7 :D

So it's been busy and hectic but nothing will compare to what's about to come. No I'm not pregnant! When we moved here last year Brian had tossed around going to Iraq for a year with his company, but they wouldn't let him go because he was too new. Well it's been a year and he's no longer new, so on or about August 25th, Brian will be leaving for Balaad Iraq for a year :(

It is not the ideal situation, but we could not pass up the salary. We will be able to pay all of our bills off, purchase 2 newer cars for us and put some $$ into savings. So the negative is that he will be gone. There are a few positives, we'll get to see him after 6 months when he can take vacation. He won't be allowed to leave the base at all, so he'll never see combat. His company will pay for lawn service for a year and they will get us an accountant for our taxes next year, part of his pay will be tax free. And he's already been told that when he gets back he'll be promoted within 3 months. So there are more positives than negatives.

So I'm an emotional mess whose stomach has been in knots over 2 weeks now. But I have lost a little bit of weight if that's any consolation :o My main worry is the boys and how they are going to handle this, especially Troi. He doesn't do well with change and this one is going to be major :( We did go and buy new laptops yesterday and they both have cameras and the skype is working so hopefully we'll be able to chat a few times a week. But Brian not being here, well that is a whole different story so we will see.

Well that is our life. Pretty boring huh :/ I'm going to get my pictures uploaded to a website soon and post them here.

[Baby Lust]

Lorraine, So glad Troi is doing well! That's great that he gets so much therapy!! I'm sure it will make a huge difference! I'm so sorry Brian has to go to Iraq, but at least he won't be in danger and the perks sound great!!! I'm sure it'll be a tough year for all of you, but hopefully it will go fast!

[kmmommy]

Thanks for the new thread, Amanda. I haven't been here forever. I'm hardly on CC anymore.

M is doing fabulously well. She's so determined to keep up with her big brother and little sister. She's doing PT, OT and speech therapy each twice a week. She's spoiled rotten by her therapists and will be starting preschool in about a month. She went to summer school and was a big hit with the kids and the teachers! Miss popularity also has 2 boyfriends - Brady at therapy and Tritan at school. Tritan even kissed her - oye are we in trouble with her!!

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well!

[shaqangel]

Thanks for setting up the new thread Amanda!

Lorraine wow what an opportunity you guys have. It will be tough but a year will fly by really quickly. Just think of how fast 3yrs have gone by with our kids. Glad to know the boys are doing well, eps Troi.

kmmommy too funny about M ... she definitely sounds like a little social butterfly.

~~~~~~

we are doing well here. Javan is a chatterbox. Its NON stop conversations with him and its actually really fun. He speaks in complete sentences and is a sponge with anything. He's also an awesome big brother - just loves his baby sister. He is fully potty trained during the day, at night we still put a diaper on and that was cos he ended up PTing so close to the new baby coming that I didnt want to have to deal with cleaning sheets and a mattress during the night if he had an accident. but he begs to wear his big boy undies at night time so at soon as these diapers are done, we're going to work on night training. He is sleeping in a big bed and does really great on that. sometimes he will get off and come sleep with us. one thing I have noticed in the last couple of weeks is that he is becoming a little more defiant - in terms I know you asked me not to do soemthing but i'm going to do it anyways. it really irks me. other than, he's doing well.

on his 3rd bday - he had a soccer themed party at home
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q289/veryll/javan%203rd%20bday%202009/DSC_0027.jpg

baking - he's a great helper in the kitchen!
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q289/veryll/august%202009/4037637-DSC_0024.jpg

hope to hear from more of you soon!

[steviem]

Thanks for the new thread and it's so great to hear from everyone :) Our babies are big now.....wow!

Owen is doing really well. He starts preschool in September. He will go 2 days per week, from 9-12pm. I am excited but nervous.... he loves playing with other kids but he's never really been left alone (i.e. mommy is always there) so I worry that he will freak out when I leave him at school.

We potty trained he one month ago and he mastered peeing in 4 days! Woo hoo! He wears underware 100% of the time now. Poop, is an entirely different story. It's actually pretty bad. He refuses to poop and he has now been consitpated a few times. The doc said it is normal during potty training and that we need to feed him a fiber rich diet (which we already did) as well as give him Miralax (like Metamucil) every day for a while. It is really frustrating. Did anyone else experience issues with this?

He is talking up a storm and I just love listening to him :) Some of his words are still hard to understand so the doc said (at his 3 yr WCV) that if after a few months we do not notice an improvement in his articulation, then we will look into a speech therapist.

Speaking of his 3 yr check-up, here are his stats:

38 3/4" tall
35 lbs

Here are a few recent pictures of my big boy (celebrating his birthday "Spidey" style, and one taken at a water park.)

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o247/sjanisse/Summer09009.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o247/sjanisse/Summer09035-1.jpg

[jay&erinn]

I figure I'll finally make it to check in on the new thread.

Ayla's doing well. She talks NON-STOP! Everyone comments on how much she talks. I feel bad for strangers that approach her since they get sucked into her conversations about the princesses and her dolls that are waiting for her at home, and what she wants Santa to bring her, etc, etc. And the more tired she gets, the more and louder she talks. By bedtime I'm ready for earplugs. Her newest thing is asking me how to spell everything (any word she can think of). Than she rattles off a bunch of letters and asks me what it spells, and then wants to know why it doesn't spell anything. She's really exhausting some days, but incredibly funny. Her and Mia gets along really well most days, and Ayla really misses her sister now that Mia is in school full time.

Preschool- We didn't send her this year, since we didn't want the teachers to hate us quite yet:rolleyes: Although she follows directions really well, I don't think she has enough self control to not talk constantly in class yet. I didn't want her first school experience to be full of negatives so we decided another year of maturity would go a long way for her. Plus, in our area, a June birthday is REALLY young. Mia is a sept birthday and there are 4 kids out of 14 that are older than her in kindergarten. Ayla would be way too young for her class. Add to that how tiny she is- most people think she's only around 2.5, and we kept her home.

[Graffy]

Wow, it's been a really long time here, too. So good to see and hear about all of these awesome 3 year olds we have! Micah is doing great, enjoying baby brother Silas who arrived in July. He's not going to preschool this year since we're leaning toward homeschooling in the future. I'm not sure I want to put him in preschool and then take him out for kindy, but we'll see. The other thing is that my sister is the teacher of the preschool we would send him to, so I'm not sure how well listening and following directions would go with Aunt Jen (the world's biggest pushover when it comes to Micah :p) as the teacher.

He's been fully potty-trained since January, although he still had some regression after the baby came. A little bribery by the way of a sticker chart seems to have gotten things back on track.

And his emotions have definitely been quite dramatic since he turned 3. :eek: We never had to deal with too many meltdowns before, but sometimes his emotional state seems about as stable as a 13 year old girl right now. Oy. But he's a loving and fun boy and he loves his little brother. Hopefully that will still be true when his little brother becomes a little more of a force to be reckoned with. :)

Stevie: Micah had a spiderman birthday with a cake just like that one! I'm not sure where his spiderman obsession came from. He goes back and forth between spidey and buzz lightyear right now.

Babylust: Your girls are so precious.

KmMommy: Good to hear from you!

Shaq: Javan looks so big in that picture!

JayErinn: Micah is a talker, too, but not to strangers. He's more likely to turn his back on someone he doesn't know well than to say hello. :rolleyes:

Here is a pic of my big boy with his brother in blue (almost 2 months at the time) and cousin in camo (1 month):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2483/3987539617_83583f8944.jpg

[shaqangel]

bumping this up to wish our 3.5yr old (yikes) a merry christmas! hope you all are enjoying time with your families while celebrating this wonderful season:)

we are having TONS of fun. Javan is a riot! In a good way of cos. He is full of conversation, extremely observant and very helpful. He loves his baby sister and is extremely possessive and protective of her. I feel really bad for her when she grows up! But I love it. I absolutely love watching him develop his relationship with her. He is 3 so of cos sharing doesnt come so easy, esp when its his trains or cars she is after. Never a dull moment here for sure!

graffy and steviem - beautiful boys!

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy115/verylld/dec%2009/DSC_0610.jpg

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy115/verylld/dec%2009/DSC_0623.jpg

Would love to hear from you all ... pls post an update when you have a chance!

are any of you on LJ?

[kmmommy]

Hi everyone,

It seems like I'm never on CC anymore - unless I need a recipe. ;) The kids are doing very well and had a blast opening gifts tonight! The girls got an amazing wooden kitchen, lots of wooden food, new Radio Flyer trikes and the list goes on. They were so excited! DS got a lot of wonderful gifts too.

M is doing so well. She goes to special needs pre-school 4 mornings/week and is Miss Popular. :) She has this magic about her that just attracts and wins over everyone. DS's little friends always gather around her, strangers come up to her everywhere - it's strangely amazing. She hugs servers at restaurants and is just a sweetie pie. Don't mean to brag (hope no one takes it that way) but I just find it amazing how many people she wins over with a smile and "hi."

Hope you all have a great holiday!

V - Your kids are beautiful! Glad Javan is doing so well with his sister. I'm on LJ though I'm not great about posting. I'd love to keep in touch on LJ. I'm kms03 over there.

[Niko&Troi]

Hi ladies.

It's been forever since I've been here but we have been super busy. Brian did leave on August 29th for Iraq. It was a very hard day to begin with but got even worse when we had to rush Troi to the urgent care because he broke his arm :/ So he was in a cast for 6 weeks after that and it was a very rough 6 weeks with the cast and him not understanding but we made it through that.

Troi is in a regular preschool right now but I'm trying to get him moved into a special needs preschool. He's in a room with 13 other kids and 1 teacher so he's not getting the attention he needs and is having problems. We are on the waiting list for this school and will hopefully be in by the end of January.

Nikolas is doing good too in kindergarten. He's learning how to spell words so I basically can't spell anything I want to hide in front of him. Just another hazzard of growing up lol.

Brian is doing good in Iraq. He's bored because it's the same routine but he said time is flying by for him. I wish it was for me, it seems like this is taking forever :/

As for me, back in October I joined a gym, got a personal trainer and started weight watchers. As of December 7th I had lost 10 pounds but then had to stop everything because I finally had my much needed long awaited breast reduction surgery. So these past 3 weeks have been super painful but so far well worth it. I am soooo much smaller and perky.

And in general, right now the plan is for me to take the boys over to Germany in March when Brian gets vacation and he'll meet us there. We're still not 100% sure on that though, he might come home for the week. We have to decide what we're going to do. And even though this deployment is taking forever, it is doing what it was meant to do, we have paid down our debt by $10k in 4 months. We will have everything paid off by the time he gets home and some put into savings. So we do miss each other, but it is working.

Here are the latest pictures.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2685/4222446740_c3fd3e7214_m.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2655/4221680979_cebf59daee_m.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2784/4221678177_c77dbdd9a2_m.jpg