It’s 97 degrees and it doesn’t seem like Fall is here just yet. We started closing the pool last weekend and will have it completely shut down this weekend. It is a chore that makes me sad, but once those leaves start falling – I will be happy it’s done.
We had a great summer! No trips or vacations but we did have some very special visitors. Grandma and Papa Halcrow came to visit from Texas. It was great to see them. They got to meet their two youngest grandchildren. A good time was had by all! Especially me!!! ;-)
After months of planning and weeks of preparations, the girls enjoyed their 13th birthday party. It was an old fashioned carnival theme with games and concessions and chair dunking and pie throwing (real pies too – thanks to a fantastic sale at Bottom Dollar). Good Times!!! And now that it’s passed….let’s start planning next years! =) Just joking! We’ll wait until after New Years to get started on that!
The girls are back in school and doing well. Sabrina has joined her school’s performing arts club and is very excited. Jaime is entering her 3rd year of cheerleading and also enjoying being an eighth grader! I registered Junior for TBall (after missing the Spring Blastball sign up by 1 day!) and he was soooooo excited to start his practice on August 21st! He is really enjoying TBall and even maturing a little it seems. He is the youngest on the team and will be able to play for 2 more years, if it’s something he wants to continue.
After purchasing a fog machine and strobe light with their birthday money. We decided to have a Halloween Party/Haunted Basement Maze. Now if I could just have a yard sale to clear out the basement – we could starting decorating!!!
I just realized I hadn’t mentioned Little Miss Niki Lynn yet in this post. Well she is doing GREAT! She is such a happy, sweet baby who love to laugh, especially at her brother! She’s an eater though! She is eating everything out there (’cept milk, eggs, fish and peanuts) but the rest of the food items of the world – look out – or she’ll eat you! As I type she has 6 teeth showing and 2 just under the surface. She cruises furniture with ease, LOVES bath time and can squat like she’s an aerobic instructor. She’s amazing!
Sittin' Pretty
Niki has been sitting for a couple seconds alone now, sometimes for as long as 30 seconds, for a couple days now. Tonight, however, she sat up for atleast 3 or 4 minutes unaided. She is growing up WAY TOO FAST!
Four Month Well Check for Niki
Last night she got 2 shots and an oral vaccine. She LOVED them. NOT! After a couple doses of infant tylenol she was fine. She was actually pretty happy soon after but she did seem to have some pain in the night and get quite warm. She was all smiles this morning in the bath and heading to daycare. She weighed in at 12 pounds 12 ounces and 2 feet tall. I am definitely finding the other children’s’ shot records this weekend. I think Jaime was two feet tall at two years of age. I am probably wrong and I shall find out soon. Anyways, Miss Niki is doing just as she should for her age – rolling over, talking the doc’s ear off, following sounds and people. We can start her on pseudo solids too. But no cheerios until she holds her head up better and has a tooth or two – whatever! I joke that she’s going to turn into Monica from Friends because she’s been staring us down when we eat or drink for a month now. Oh well – this is all for experimentation and her learning about food anyways. What fun we will have!
3rd quarter grades are in!!!
Congratulations to Jaime and Sabrina for working hard and getting all Bs and As. Both also had perfect attendance this quarter! WOO HOO! Yep – with all the snow days they actually showed up to school for like 9 days this quarter. =) Just joking – great job girls – PLEASE keep it up and make a mama proud!
Here’s their classes and grades for Q3 2010:
Sabrina – 6th Grade
Reading 6 – - – B
English 6 – - – B
US History II 6 – - – B
Pre Algebra I – - – B
Science 6 – - – A
Health & PE 6 – - – A
Art 6 – - – B
Chorus 6 – - – A
Jaime – 7th Grade
PE 7 – - – A
Chorus 7 – - – A
Art 7 – - – A
Language Arts 7 – - – A
Social Studies 7 – - – B
Science 7 – - – B
Math 7 – - – A
Here’s their classes and grades for Q3 2010:
Sabrina – 6th Grade
Reading 6 – - – B
English 6 – - – B
US History II 6 – - – B
Pre Algebra I – - – B
Science 6 – - – A
Health & PE 6 – - – A
Art 6 – - – B
Chorus 6 – - – A
Jaime – 7th Grade
PE 7 – - – A
Chorus 7 – - – A
Art 7 – - – A
Language Arts 7 – - – A
Social Studies 7 – - – B
Science 7 – - – B
Math 7 – - – A
Parkside Cheerleading Competition @ King's Dominion
Jaime and her team placed 2nd and had a GREAT time
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@ King Dominion – front row – far right – wearing her glasses |
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| @ School (Formal School Athlete Portraits) – back row – far left – no glasses |
He's FINALLY Fourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
He’s been waiting for this day for months. I just hope it lives up to his expectations. The older girls set their alarms for 555am and we all sang Happy Birthday to him this morning, except Nicole – she slept through the whole thing.
Last night we went to visit the Easter Bunny. The girls were in disbelief when I didn’t make them dress in their Sunday best for the picture. I told them that they went to school like that why can’t they sit with The Bunny like that. I also mentioned that they were beautiful no matter what they had on and that the picture would be good for them in the future when they look back and realize what dorks they were! HA! They still didn’t think I was okay with it, but I was. I am quickly realizing that moments don’t need to look perfect to be perfect! :-)
I love, love, love this picture!
Of course in my perfectionist way I would have preferred the lighting to be better BUT enough already – it’s a great picture. Jaime is back to school today and Sabrina goes back tomorrow. I go back to work next Tuesday, and Junior and Niki start back to daycare on Wednesday. I have had a wonderful maternity leave, my last maternity leave. Next time I’m off work this amount of time, I’ll be retired! WOW! Okay – back to the present. I realized this morning that I was able to enjoy extra time with all of my children because of the extreme amount of snow we’ve had in the area. I also had a fleeting thought that perhaps the world still did revolve around me and this was God’s way of giving me more time with the girls AND the babies. Tough break for the rest of Northern Virginia – sorry about that, but it was good for me. Having typed that, I do need the bad weather to cease and desist now that I am headed back to work and juggling everyone’s schedules. :-) I am nervous about the schedules but I have faith that all will work out wonderfully. Bridget is very comfortable with Simon and George, as they are with her. In fact the only thing I worry about with them at home alone on Wed – Fridays is that they will eat my kitchen cabinets and trim. I have been wishing for new cabinets though. Hmmmmm – perhaps I’ll hold of on spraying the bitter apple just yet.
Junior teaches us the meaning of love
This post chronilogically should be before Junior’s Birthday, since the event occured at Niki’s 6 week well check. When I updated our COMING SOON section just now, it came to mind and I recalled how I had intended to blog it – so that I never forget the first tangible example of the LOVE Junior has for his little sister. I write LOVE because I believe at the moment it happened I realized what love really is – in it’s simplest form – is when you’ll do everything in your power to keep someone you care about from feeling pain.
So the story goes…..Junior goes with me to Niki’s checkup and he reads some books at first and switches back and forth from the rocker to the chair in the room, then the doctor comes in, and he keeps trying to tell me something all through her checking Niki’s eyes, ears, nose, joints, etc. All the children use the same practice so the doctor recognizes him and tells him “Joe, this appointment today is for your sister and I am talking to your Mommy. You need to wait until we are done talking and not interrupt.” My thoughts were a mixture – of gratitude for the discipline she instilled – and sadness because he really seemed to want to say something. He held onto me while the doctor mentioned four or five more things and then turned to him, acknowledging it was finally his turn. He immediately looked up and said “Tell them don’t put the pur-temp-pur in Nickel’s bum”. My heart melted. I apoloized to the doctor for his interruptions but explained that he had been trying to tell us not to hurt Niki because at Niki’s last appointment the nurse poorly attempted a rectal temperature THREE times, to which she screamed her head off and Junior obviously didn’t want her to go through that pain ever again. The doctor dropped to Junior’s level and told him what a wonderful and caring big brother he was to protect his little sister like that. Junior was proud but deep down seemed more relieved and very happy that his baby sister would not cry on this day. (Note: I didn’t let him go to the 2 month well check – She got 3 shots – I really wasn’t ready for him to try and take out the nurse with his plastic sword. He’ll be skipping the 4 month well check too.) =)
So the story goes…..Junior goes with me to Niki’s checkup and he reads some books at first and switches back and forth from the rocker to the chair in the room, then the doctor comes in, and he keeps trying to tell me something all through her checking Niki’s eyes, ears, nose, joints, etc. All the children use the same practice so the doctor recognizes him and tells him “Joe, this appointment today is for your sister and I am talking to your Mommy. You need to wait until we are done talking and not interrupt.” My thoughts were a mixture – of gratitude for the discipline she instilled – and sadness because he really seemed to want to say something. He held onto me while the doctor mentioned four or five more things and then turned to him, acknowledging it was finally his turn. He immediately looked up and said “Tell them don’t put the pur-temp-pur in Nickel’s bum”. My heart melted. I apoloized to the doctor for his interruptions but explained that he had been trying to tell us not to hurt Niki because at Niki’s last appointment the nurse poorly attempted a rectal temperature THREE times, to which she screamed her head off and Junior obviously didn’t want her to go through that pain ever again. The doctor dropped to Junior’s level and told him what a wonderful and caring big brother he was to protect his little sister like that. Junior was proud but deep down seemed more relieved and very happy that his baby sister would not cry on this day. (Note: I didn’t let him go to the 2 month well check – She got 3 shots – I really wasn’t ready for him to try and take out the nurse with his plastic sword. He’ll be skipping the 4 month well check too.) =)
And then there were FOUR!
Nicole Lynn Dalbo was born at 1249pm on 1.12.10. She weighed in at 6 pounds 11 ounces and measured 19 inches long.
I hope to post her birth story in the next couple days on the preganacy blog, but, uh, my track record wasn’t too good the last couple months, so we shall see. I will say that Niki had “brow presentation” meaning she tried to come out forehead first and that is why she has the bruising and eye issues. She’s perfectly fine though. As of this post – she has very little bruising left, a small amount of blood in the whites of her eyes, and one tiny little scab under the corner of her left eye. Oh and she’s got my nose – poor thing – and she’ll just have to learn to live with it. :-)
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