Did my blood work this morning

...and got notification a few hours ago that the results had posted online at my account. YAY for Kaiser. Man they're fast! So while the glucose testing came back normal, it appears that I am anemic. Do they give you pills for that or something? My RBC, HGB & HCT were all low. So I suspect that I will be contacted by my doctor shortly.

Well I am glad I got that taken care of anyway. Daddy had the day off today so I took Christopher to school and headed right on down the road to the lab. When I got home as tired as I was, I took Alyssa to the park for playdate. Now she is napping and I should be doing the same but I have been spying on my child in his classroom for the past few hours. The just came back from break outside so I am off to spy again for a few more minutes. Gotta love those classroom cameras.

More on school day & today's Dr's visit

A Look at My Grumpy Child.
I was trying to get her crying but when she saw the camera she stopped immediately.

Yesterday I fell asleep on the sofa after dropping the boy to school. I woke up only to see that I had missed a call from the school. I was so scared. I was thinking geez he is having so much of a hard time adjusting & following someone else's rules that he's not behaving. Well I was wrong, turns out she needed me to bring back his immunization card.

I picked him up at 6pm on the dot! Got to get your money's worth you know. Hehehehe........The teacher said he was pretty good for his 1st day. They have some things to work on though, like him starting to cry when things are taken away from him and apparently he tells the teacher NO a bit too often. Oh I almost forgot, when he saw me he didn't run over. Instead he smiled at me and continued to clean up. Then he said, "Where are we going?" I tell him "home", as if 9 hours was not enough. Then he says, "can I stay here?" That made me happy because it meant he enjoyed school.

Thursday is Wear a Costume Day. We have no costume so what am I going to do?

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Had a doctor's appointment today. All is well still but my doctor informs me that after looking over the notes from my last doctor, she saw that I have a clot on my placenta. She asked me if I had early bleeding which I didn't and explained to me that it was not serious. Apparently it's supposed to dissolve in about 4 weeks which is why she ordered another ultrasound just to make sure.

She saw how worried I was and kept telling me it was not serious and that i should not worry. Weight-wise, I am up a whopping 5 lbs. My goodness. I guess it all goes downhill from here. I have gained a total of 13 lbs which is explains a lot. I cannot even tell you how much I have slowed down. On a happier note, the kids behaved so well today. That was a relief.

1st Day of School

I fell asleep at 5am. I knew it would happen. I was too nervous and excited to go to bed at a decent hour. As promised my mom called me at 7:45am to wake me and do you know I answered the phone and talked to her in my sleep. Kind of scary that things could possibly slip out of my mouth without my knowledge :-)

My mom knows me so well. The phone rang again in 3 minutes for wake up call #2. She suspected that I was "sleep talking"


Lucky for me I had packed his lunch bag and back pack the night before so I really had nothing to do other than tell him to get dressed and dress myself. I planned on just waking Alyssa and putting her in the car in pajamas when everyone was ready. He was so excited when I woke him up. He is a heavy sleeper just like his mama but this morning was no trouble.

We were ready in no time, and only then did it dawn on me that my son was growing up. I don't even have to dress this child anymore. He is very color co-ordinated unlike his daddy so I usually don't have to worry when he chooses his clothes himself.

We got there a little later than planned, 9 am instead of 8:30, but that's okay. I wanted to get there earlier because they provide breakfast at 8:30 but when I got there and saw the breakfast tray, it's a good thing I was late. They had bagels with cheddar and a large pitcher of milk and this boy child of mine does not touch bagels, nothing bread-like. His milk also need to be in his special cup and warmed at a precise temperature. Daddy cannot even do it. Talk about issues eh?

Maybe he will be opened to trying new things after being there for a little while though so Thursday I will still give him his breakfast (waffles) at home but will try to take him early anyway.

She wanted a photo also, so here she is. Isn't it amazing how fast these kids heal. There is barely a spot on her eye where she got her booboo

Alyssa was a little sad when we dropped him off but she did okay. I on the other hand kept my sunglasses on because I knew I wouldn't hold up. I signed him in and watched him walk hand in hand with one of his teachers, as she led him to his classroom. He had forgotten all about me. Once he arrived in the classroom, she asked him if he didn't want to tell mommy goodbye. He said, "Oh, oh yeah" Walked over to me, gave me a half-a$$ed hug and walked away.

I grabbed up Alyssa so quickly and headed to the van for fear I would start sobbing loudly. On my drive home I called my mom to talk. I was so sad. She was excited. I told her I walked in the place with my sunglasses on. She knew what I meant. She said she cried too when she first sent my brother to school. Wow! That was 34 yrs ago. After our talk I felt much better.

I never made it to the store yesterday with Christopher so that he could choose his own lunch box so I will try to do that tonight after I pick him up. We're on our own again, probably until Thursday. Daddy is stuck up north again.

It's a great day today.

Today's gripe as promised.

Do you know my husband has never given the kids a bath? Yes NEVER! I can understand a newborn. He is clumsy with his large hands and was probably scared. As a matter of fact I know he was but they a big enough now so what's his excuse. I have brought this up many times. On one occasion he told me that's just one of the things that "I" do. WHAT?

Listen Mr. Do you realize how hard it is for me to give these monsters of yours a bath with this big belly? Bending over is so hard which is why there are so many toys on the floor. I just can't do it! I can't even do my toes myself anymore so off to the spa/nail salon I shall go at your expense.

Yep I'm stretching! See the marks? I think I am a little luckier than my mom though. Her marks were bad! Mine goes away almost completely once the belly goes back down

I need some sympathy and company in my sad place. Thursday I got a burn on my huge belly taking something out of the oven. I guess it was too much in the way. Look at it. It's small (the burn that is) but it hurts.

My last request is to Ms. Ashleigh Hannah. Please settle down just a little bit. I love that you are getting ready to meet us and all and I know that all this movement is healthy, but you beat me up so badly sometimes that mommy cannot sleep. Last night I don't know what was going on in there. It felt like you were either dancing or practicing your jumps as I believe hands, feet & head were moving all at once. Remember you need your rest too! Your big day is drawing near.

Ok I'm done and I feel a little better

Only 1 child today.....

The husband took the boy up to grandpa's in Irvine for the day. Just the boys. So Alyssa and I are home today to do as we please but it's HOT..HOT...HOT! We hit 100 degrees before noon. I don't want to go outside, for nothing but she can't stay in here whole day. I thought about going to the mall but the whole of North County is probably there to escape the heat and I don't feel like dealing with a crowd.....so what can we do today?

I think the fabric store sounds good. That's my happy place. Alyssa gets so fed up with me. She is my model for the toddler outfits on My Etsy and sometimes I have to bribe her to put on the clothes so that I can take a photo. For this outfit she bargained with me for a sugar-free lollipop, which is odd because she is not a candy fan. Most times the bribing doesn't work but I got this one 2 nights ago and I realized how grown up she looks. It makes me sad.
The booboo is healing well but some redness and a bit of blue has spread over her entire eyelid. It actually looks pretty bad.

The husband is behind me to produce some cutesy 9 month old outfit that his friend requested. I don't like feeling pressured and he is pressuring me. I explained to him that I can only sew when the mood hits me otherwise I will ruin the project which is what happened with one of my 4th of July halter dresses I made. It is ruined because I did it with a heavy heart and I am not sure how to fix it or maybe I don't want to fix it.

It's meant for a 4T - 5T and I know it would not have fit her properly but it looks awful as there is a fault on the sides. Oh well. I guess I will try it again sometime with different fabric when the passion returns.

Okay enough griping for the hour. I have more gripes but I'll save it for tomorrow.

Good Lord it's hot!!

There is a severe weather alert over here! No kidding! I ran some errands this morning and just getting out of the car and walking the door of the facility produced sweat. YUCK. I got so grumpy and my kids were grumpy too!

I am so not ready for this heat. My poor husband is stuck up north and I won't see him until Saturday afternoon. He's been calling me whole morning keeping me informed of the schedule. He left at 3am this morning, finished about 3pm and had to go find a hotel. He gets about 1 hr rest before his boss calls to tell him he needs to drive further up north. He won't be finished until like 10pm, putting him back at the hotel around 12pm. He will sleep in the hotel for 4 hours, go to some job close-by, then drive to Palm Springs for 7pm. They are working throughout the night because of the unpleasant conditions. I checked the temperature for Palm Springs and it's 115 during the day, 82 at night.

I informed my husband that this is not legal. They are not supposed to be operating/driving that heavy equipment without 6 hours rest. It sucks but in a way we are thankful they are keeping him busy because others aren't so lucky. We are going to have some monstrous bills this summer running that central air 24/7 because there is no way this pregnant lady is sweating in her house.

I managed to wrap up most of Christopher's school business too. I had some more forms to drop off and I had to talk to the director. The only thing left is his Physician's Report and I made a doctor's appt for him already, July 3rd.

I am getting nervous by the day. Tuesday is it! I have to tell both my husband and mother to call me super early in the morning and to keep calling until I actually answer the phone and say that I am awake. Don't laugh but I have been known to turn off alarms and answer phones/converse in my sleep with no knowledge of anything ever happening when I am actually awake.

I want to get him there at 8:30am, that way he will get breakfast there and get in on the lessons and the early activities.

I was informed that Tuesday is Water Balloon Toss Day so an extra set of clothing is needed. Sounds fun. I do need to get a little lunch bag for him though.

Not sure what was so funny

I am convinced my daughter is crazy. A few minutes ago, I was pleading with her to stop carrying on so wildly, she wouldn't listen. She was spinning on the sofa and before I knew it I heard a loud bump. She's screaming, but not for long.

Before I continue, I want to know how long it will take for these kids to realize that something bad always happens when they don't listen to mommy. Why can't they make the connection? I can't take these things much more. My stomach was in my throat because it upset me so much to see her bleeding like she was.

Minutes after the incident:

She seemed so proud of it

This was the look she gave after she saw her picture on the viewfinder. She was saying "WOW"

Yes and there was a smile

I got the bleeding to stop and used one of those ice-pak thingys hoping to prevent some nasty swelling. We have so many just waiting for an accident.

Bandaged up, just a small one

Still a pleasant expression

She is such a tough one. When I uploaded the photos she looked at it and said, "A bad BooBoo mamam". I answered, "Yes it is". When she saw the close-up she said, "Oh my goooooodnesssssssss". It has started back bleeding and I am not sure what I could use to stop it.

I am sick to my stomach right now. I'm not sure why this bruise upset me so much and here I am typing about it. I guess I know where she got the craziness from. Hope it doesn't look too bad in the morning.

Night night all.

Playing Babies

This was Christopher's game for the longest time, in secret. He used to come ask me, "Mama, can I play with Minnie and Ellie?" Of course I would say yes never knowing exactly what he was doing with the animals, not that it mattered.

He would get up early in the morning and I'd wonder what he was doing quietly in his room. I'd sneak upstairs only to find him laying in between Minnie and Ellie, Alyssa's babies, covered up under the blanket. I have to sneak a photo one day because he still does it. It's the cutest thing. He looks so peaceful just laying there with his eyes closed among the animals.

The funny thing is, he would be ashamed when anyone, especially daddy walk in on him playing with the stuffed animals.

Got the bibs on!

Last week we were all watching television when there was complete silence upstairs. Chris walked slowly and quietly upstairs only to see Christopher playing Minnie and Ellie in our bed. Christopher then threw the stuffed animals off the bed and hid himself, I am assuming out of shame. I don't know where this came from.

Me too! Time to play Minnie and Ellie

So I had a talk with my husband. I wanted to know if he had told him something, anything, or teased him at anytime about playing with the stuffed animals. I didn't think he did but I still thought I'd ask. He said no. So at that point I called Christopher who didn't want to talk to any of us because daddy had caught him playing Ellie and Minnie.

Notice the bibs

I don't want my son thinking that he was doing something to be ashamed of. And frankly I am puzzled as to where he would get the idea that something was wrong with him playing with the animals. It was obvious he wasn't comfortable having us see him play with them. So I had some work to do. I tried hard to make him feel comfortable about the whole thing and while I don't know if he will play with them in front of daddy, he played with them in front of me last night so that means progress.

Usually they all have bibs and are covered with a blanket

So last week, I started telling him how gentle he was with the babies and how sweet of him it was to put them to bed which is what it seemed like he was doing. I also told him that he should teach Alyssa how to play Minnie and Ellie which basically involved putting on the bib and putting them to bed. At first he told me no and ran away but I kept at it and last night he showed her how to do it.

I also let him know how happy I was that he was so good at it and that he would be a great big brother helping mommy when the baby arrives. He smiled, very shyly but I think it worked.

They had so much fun last night, not to mention playing Minnie and Ellie is a QUIET game.

I was so scared at the pump today

JUST LOOK AT THIS CRAZINESS!!

I usually am not the one to fill up the vehicle but the husband has been extra busy and that little light came on today so I found myself at the cheapest Chevron. Every pump was in use because they had the cheapest gas "today". Mind you I was not completely empty so this bill could have gone up some more. Thank God my husband doesn't drive his truck a lot and rarely has to fill up. His tank is bigger than mine. And I guess I got a bargain, over the weekend it was $4.69 a gallon...WooHoo! Geez......


Just call me MS. Greedy!

This is probably the reason I have gained about 9 lbs so far! Hopefully it's all baby. I stepped on the scale this morning just for laughs and it had barely moved from the last time I weighed which was around the time of my last appointment.

I took this photo after I had eaten about half. Yes half. My cravings are just so strong I don't know when to stop. Today for lunch, I ate 2 containers of strawberries, the big containers not the small ones and will probably eat another tonight. I can sit and eat half a large cantaloupe.

Sunday the husband went to Sprouts and bought 10 - 1 lb containers of Strawberries. We have 1 left. I have no shame either, it was all me. Alyssa got a few bites but that's pretty much it.

Hey, at least it's not chocolate right? Then I'd be in huge trouble. This time around I promised myself not to wait as long as I had done with the other kids, to get serious about losing the baby weight. I know I will have some work ahead of me but I am ready.

Photo update due

My goodness look at that belly! Excuse the tinting I turned off the flash

I can't believe I am almost 30 weeks. I never thought I'd make it this far and it still seems to be dragging along extra slow. Great news. My mom will be visiting next month for 10 days. She arrives on the 3rd. Yay! And she's bringing me Dhalpuri, Pholourie, mango chutney and some other type of tamarind sauce to eat with it. Oh boy. I know some of you know what I'm talking about. Then she'll be back the following month for the birth of her 3rd grand-daughter.

Alyssa is getting more troublesome by the minute, but she is manageable.

At the tender age of 2 yrs 9 months, she refuses to leave the house without earrings and perfume. Oh and get this, last Tuesday we went to the park, she pulled out her pretty earrings and buried then in the sand, then ran to me to tell me the wonderful news. Someone managed to find 1 side but the other is lost. What am I going to do with 1 earring? Now she uses a pair of my smaller ones, pink of course :-)

Before going anywhere she needs to make sure she has "pretty toes" - nail polish on her toes. She also checks herself in the mirror. Where did all this come from? What will become of her in a few years?

Oh well, I am so excited because Christopher is excited to meet his new sister Ashleigh Hannah. I decided I am sticking to it, the name that is. I have no doubt that he will make an excellent big brother. Look at these.

Look at his face. It's so bright. Alyssa was only 1 month then. Alyssa on the other hand no longer wants to use the potty and is telling me that she is a baby in diapers. I'd heard of this happening with the younger siblings when a baby is due so I am not worried. I asked her today if she will give the baby her diapers because the baby will need it and she said yes, so we shall see. Yes we shall see. I was looking forward to only having 1 in diapers but I am well prepared to have 2. She'll get through this.

WooHoo! We're registered!

You know it's true what they say, bad news travels fast. I have lost track of how many people I told in person and on the phone about that nasty pre-school. All were moms and some had pre-school aged kids so you can be sure they've lost a lot of business.

What bothers me is that there are actually parents who send their kids there. I don't care if it was free! And since my neighbor is the one who referred me to this place I cannot help but to think that she keeps a nasty home. Otherwise, she would never think that those conditions were okay.

So enough, I am overwhelmed with paperwork from the school. I am all new to this and had no idea all the information that they are asking for was needed. I believe the only thing I am lacking is the Physician's Report. I never knew about these things. I have a whole lot of running around to do on Monday. One thing I have to do is go to his old pediatrician because I had forgotten his Immunization card at home so there is no record of his last shots on the card that I have.

I hope these kids behave themselves. It's hard making multiple stops with them but I will do what I must.

Chris' nephew had his graduation yesterday and we attended the get together at his home. I have to confess, I dragged my lazy self along because there was the possibility of some drama taking place. Chris' mom and his dad with girl friend was there. It's funny how you can actually feel tension in the air. His mother doesn't give a hoot but his dad was very stressed and it showed in his face and actions. Why because he has asked his soon to be ex-wife to take him back twice. It was crazy but thankfully the adults behaved themselves.

OMG............

I wish I had taken my camera with me this morning. Oh shoot, silly me I should have taken some photos with my phone. You all would have been shocked. I got to the pre-school at around 10am and it was only out of courtesy that I went through the gate. The kids were scared and it wasn't just because of the strange people.

I had a "tour" if you want to call it that. The classroom, where all I saw was an insufficient number of chairs and tables for the number of students in the class. I also saw Christopher's would be class having snack time. Well they were seated in a circle on a mat that hadn't seen a vacuum in quite some time. This mat had seen much better days. I scanned the place and I saw 2 curtains that covered a bunch of mess in the back of the class. I could not believe it. I wanted to get out of there so fast.

She then showed us the playground. Poor excuse. They did have a garden that the kids had planted(at least that is what the director said) which was nice but it seemed like a bunch of confusion.

So I started moving towards the gate to leave and we stopped to chat a little. Alyssa was downright upset and said "I want to go home" Christopher kept asking me if it was time to go to the park yet. He was not at all interested or the least bit excited. That was when we both started sneezing, Christopher and I, we're both the lucky ones with allergies. Another breeze blew and it smelled strong of cat urine. At this point the lady is telling me that they cook all their meals from scratch and how healthy...blah...blah...blah..blah...blah...blah.. I seriously blanked her out. I started feeling sick. I quickly asked her about the curriculum and while she told me that they did such and such, I didn't see one paper or pencil in the class.

Does she actually think I am going to leave my baby here? I cut the conversation short as the kids patience had ended and my tolerance for that nasty place had vanished. I thanked her for her time and told her that we had another pre-school to visit. She asked the name then proceeded to semi-bad talk the place. That was it for me. I was out.

So we get to the other place and it was like heaven. First thing I noticed. It was clean. No odors either. The kids were talking to the staff unlike what I experienced at the other place. They were very professional. Oh wait did I tell you that the "teachers" at the other place were wearing house clothes? Dirty house-like clothing. UGH....I still cannot believe it. Although this will cost us more, I am extremely satisfied with them. I didn't have an appointment so they didn't put on a show. I was a walk-in. I took a tour and saw some kids learning to count money. At another desk in the classroom, there were papers laid out for the kids to trace letters. Christopher is very excited about learning to write properly so this did it for him. Alyssa didn't want to leave because the lady convinced me to tour the 2 - 3 year old classroom. She loved it. I was so impressed.

The playground was beautiful and they even had like 8 trikes there for the kids along with the play structure and learning toys. Oh they had the fire department visit last week. This place was also more diverse plus they teach ASL and Spanish. Wonderful!

My goodness such a difference. There's another plus. They have cameras that I can view online. YAY, so I can see how they deal with Christopher if he decides to throw a tantrum. I will return to this place with my registration fee tomorrow and will probably start him next week or the week.

Man...what an experience it was today. So when we were done, I took them to the park and relaxed under the shade.

Must wait another day

Thanks everyone, I am excited about this pre-K. I know he will love it because he has been telling me he wants to go to school.

So, the director had told me to call before coming because she was going to be pretty busy today. Apparently they pick up Kindergarten kids from school and bring them there for an after school program plus she had a funeral to attend. When I called today she had given me a time when she would be in the office for an hour but unfortunately that was not convenient for me. So we'll try again tomorrow.

I decided to break out the dusty crib today and start to get things ready because you never know. Well that led to a lot of stuff that I had no business doing. I moved the kids to the other bedroom because it is larger. I dismantled and reassembled both their beds. I ended up trying to remove an old bookshelf. I also moved some heavy books along with both their dressers. Then as I walked by the kids bathroom I had to clean it. I could not believe the mess. All the while when I had been telling Mr. Christopher to put his clothing away, guess where he's been throwing it.

There was toothpaste all over the counter, on the floor, the mirrors and in the front of the medicine cabinet. Also on all of the cabinets and we won't start talking about the toilet bowl. While the inside was clean, my goodness this child either has a terribly bad aim or he is playing spray while peeing. I would have taken some photos but I would have had to make an extra trip downstairs to grab the camera....hehehehe.

You may find this strange that I only now discovered the mess but I rarely go upstairs. Most times Christopher puts himself to bed because my lazy behind starts huffin' and puffin' anytime I make trips up the stairs. So I avoid it at all cost.

Well needless to say I started having really bad pains. At that moment I decided to call it quits. Chris had also arrived. When he walked upstairs and saw how wonderful the upstairs looked he immediately came back down to scold me. Asking me if I was crazy lifting all that heavy stuff and how I shouldn't be doing that....and blah...blah...blah...blah...blah...blah...blah...blah...blah...blah... Then he saw the bookshelf that I had managed to get to the top of the stairs. He was pretty upset. He looked at me shaking his head, asking me if I was actually going to try to move that thing downstairs. I lied and said NO.

I know he was right but sometimes you just get into that mode. I said nothing all the while because contractions started coming on sort of strong. All I could do was sit quietly and breathe. I was yelling at myself in my head because I really shouldn't have been doing all that especially lifting the heavy things.

So I'll be taking it easy for a few days I guess. Only going to the school, I hope.

Relief is coming soon

My babies at bathtime ~ Swimming in the tub
(I'll have to use this one for a Wordless Wednesday)

Can you say Pre-K? I finally will be moving forward with my plans to put this child in a program. I already spoke with Jen last week Friday, she's the person in charge, and will be visiting the school tomorrow, if I can get up off the sofa :-) I will be walking with check in hand. How long ago I told my husband I wanted to send him? He has done and said nothing so I am just doing it.

You want to know what's more exciting? They don't close for the summer which means I am starting him as soon as I can. Initially he was going to start on September 2nd. I cannot even imagine that day. Baby should be here already.
Anyway, I no longer sounded like I was asking the husband when I informed him of my plans. I simply told him what I was going to do. His answer? "Good!" I honestly believe, my occasionally cheap husband, did not want to fork up the monthly fees to send him to school. Now it's no longer up to him.

Good for me and good for Christopher. He'll be going for 2 full days a week. If I get him in now it will be Mon & Fri. In Sept. he will be going Tue and Thurs. They are open from 6am - 6pm and they would like us to bring him in no later than 9am so that he can get in all the lessons. That will be super hard for me but I can do it!

You know what time Alyssa and I got up this morning? 12pm. Yep NOON. Christopher had gotten up earlier. He woke me to tell me he was making breakfast. He then made his waffles and went back upstairs to "daddy's room" to watch television quietly. Me, I went right back to sleep. Yes I can sleep soundly now because we're locked inside safely and he cannot escape, again.

My relationship with my mom

I just love it. It's hard to think that we actually went through a rough phase when I didn't want to talk to her. Now I see she was only looking out in my best interest at the time and didn't want to see her baby girl hurt. It took me years to realize that.

I was trouble the few months before I left NY. Man was I trouble. I wouldn't deal with me if I were her but she tried. Now there isn't a day we don't talk via phone or text. Yes my mom is hip to the texting.

We talk about everything, even things that others would be embarrassed to talk about.

I remember how disappointed I was when she was not here for the births of the 2 kids. With Christopher she arrived 2 weeks after and with Alyssa it was over 1 month. I was bitter about the whole thing.

Before I got pregnant this time, I told her this will probably be the last time and I would really like her to be here, at least when we bring her home. She refused to be in the delivery room. Hehehehehe....I thought she would want to be there but that's okay. She thinks that's a special time for the husband besides who would watch the kids?

Earlier this week we were talking about when she had us. I was telling her that that the baby has been having hiccups for a little while now and she was shocked? "How do you know that?" Like she didn't believe me. She said she couldn't remember way back then.

Sometimes I forget that she is getting older. Her memory is fading. I mean noticeably so. My brother and I have discussed it as we started noticing a couple years ago. I worry a lot about her being by herself. Lucky for us my brother is always flying to NY and he checks on her often. Instead of staying at the hotel with the rest of the flight crew he goes to her house. Sometimes I just wish we lived closer.

A Day At the Pool

The Spray Ground

I actually managed to get off my tired behind and take the kids to the pool this afternoon. I forgot how much they loved the water. Christopher, with his newly found confidence, could not wait. Those swimming lessons really benefited him.
Even though I forgot his dive rings, he still voluntarily put his head under the water. Then he tried to get Alyssa to do it too but it wasn't working.

Alyssa is too brave for her own good. She held on to the sides and kept inching out. She went further than I would like. I mean her feet couldn't touch the bottom of the pool. I was nervous because I did not get into the pool today and had to make extra sure that she didn't forget she couldn't actually swim.

So here are a few pictures from today. It's been a while since I got some photos of them and that's because we haven't really been going anywhere fun! Enjoy


At first, I had to force him away from the spray ground. I was beginning to think he would never get into the pool

Alyssa wanted nothing to the with the spray ground. She had more fun in the pool

She kept saying, "Look mamam, I swimming!" So I cheered he on!

We spent about 1 1/2 hours because I realized I hadn't eaten and was beginning to feel weak and sick. Otherwise we usually stay until closing.

A few minutes after we got home.......

My Christopher.....

Here are this week's funny photos

Eeeek....they don't come much goofier than this. Just look at how he is standing and Lord that hair and those humongous teeth. He said some girl had braided it and that's how it looked after he took it out.

.....the small one not the big one. He's been such a pleasure to be around for a the past weeks. I honestly thought we would have to ship him off somewhere. Something had taken over my boy a few months ago and it was horrible. Tonight I took them for ice-cream. Well I took myself for ice-cream and dragged them along.

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Oh before I forget, we always ask him every week about the baby. Last night daddy says, "hey Christopher, what should we call the baby?" He thinks for a while and says, "Brianna". Now I like that name even though I was stuck on an "A" name. Then he changed his mind and said, "Ashleigh" which is the name I had mentioned weeks ago, Ashleigh Hannah. My husband was opposed to it because of the spelling I chose. We had actually decided on Hannah Ashleigh but I need some more just in case she doesn't look like a Hannah. So throw in Brianna Ashleigh as another choice.

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I think his mom is gorgeous

When we got home the living room floor was such a mess. Toys, cushions, shoes, you name it, it was all scattered on the floor from earlier. My baby cleaned up so nicely. He knows where everything needs to be better than daddy does. I am looking at the floor now, pleased, because I couldn't have done it better myself. I was so tired and I wasn't going to pick up the mess.

So when I took him upstairs to tuck him in, I caught a glimpse of the toy room. Books were all over the floor along with some baby clothing that someone got into. I am not sure who. I sighed. We both stood there looking into the room. I asked him who made this mess and what were we going to do about it. He says, "Uhmmmm, she did it. How about we clean it up?" I gave him a big hug and told him we'll try to do it tomorrow. I thanked him for being such a helpful boy. I thanked him for cleaning up downstairs and told him that he does such a great job, that I think I'll let him do it all the time. He agreed. Hehehehe......he was so happy. I don't think he realized I was trying to trick him into cleaning. Hey it was a compliment nonetheless. We'll see if it works.