Corina is FIVE!

At FIVE years old Corina:
- is 39 lbs.
- is 44 in.
- is very opinionated.
- loves her accessories.
- wants to do everything herself and her way.
- enjoys art immensely.  She mostly likes free drawing and painting, but sometimes will take up a random craft.
- has taken ballet for two and a half years and shows no sign of stopping.  She LOVES dancing!  :)
- learns very quickly, and enjoys doing it. 
- is a book fanatic!  She is not reading on her own yet, but is super close.
- likes to write notes, even though she has to ask how to spell everything. 
- is super girly, but also not afraid to roll up her sleeves and show the boys who's boss.
- will tell anyone who will listen how perfect she is (insert eye roll here).
- is SO excited to start Kindergarten in August!!!
- makes friends super easy.
- will readily eat macaroni and cheese, pizza, pancakes, PBJ/H, pizza rolls, strawberries, yogurt, applesauce, pretzles, and cereal.  However nearly everything else is up for debate on a daily basis.  She is a very picky eater.
- loves her Mommy, Daddy, and brothers more and more every day!!!

Bluebonnet Pictures 2015

Today we took pictures in the bluebonnets.  As always, we had lots of fun exploring what can be found in a field of wildflowers, and came away with some wonderful pictures. 

 

Asthma and Asher

We were hoping Asher wouldn't develop the dreaded symptoms that lead to an asthma diagnosis.  And while he does not have an official diagnosis of asthma yet, in the past month he's had two asthma attacks.  His first was mid January which landed us in the doctors office four times that week, an oral steroid, and of course breathing treatments to manage his breathing. 

The second occurred February 13, and landed him in the ER.  He arrived with a pulse ox level of about 93, and they immediately gave him a dose Prednisolone and ordered three rounds of two Albuterol respules and one Atrovent respule.  That's a heck of a lot of medicine!  It did the trick to get him out of the woods though, for a while anyway.  We left the ER with instructions to continue treatments every three hours.  We followed up at his pedi (saw Dr Poppy this time) that afternoon.  By the time we got there, he was laboring pretty hard again.  So after two treatments at the doctor's office, he'd made enough progress that we (thankfully) didn't have to return to the ER.  We were under orders to continue treatments every 3 hours while he was awake and every 4-6 if he was sleeping well.  The following morning we followed up again with Dr Poppy, and were very thankful to see that he'd made some good progress overnight.  Whew!

If this happens again, we'll look into preventatives. And likely look up our trusty pulmonologist, Dr. Copenhaver.  Waiting is the hardest thing.  I feel like we're waiting for the other shoe to drop right now.  And while I really hope it's not going to, if it is, I hope it happens soon so we can get it over and done with.  Then I can figure out the new normal, and not this weird in between.

Asher is THREE!

I'm not quite sure how the past three years past so quickly, but here we are.  My baby is THREE! I have found this birthday hard for several reasons; 1) There are no more babies behind him. While this is a good and planned thing, it still makes it really hard to see him grow bigger. 2) We are so busy due to having three kids going in generally three different directions that time simply speeds by.  As soon as I think I'm savoring the moments, poof, they're gone again.  But with all that being said, let's celebrate Asher!

At THREE years old, Asher:
 - weighs 30.5 lbs.
 - is about 38 in tall.
 - is my athletic kid.  He runs, kicks, throws, punches, jumps, climbs, etc, and he does it all really well.  Now that he's three, next on the list is finding some tiny sport he participate in.  :)
 - is the absolute most strong-willed child I have ever met.  He is most certainly my boundary-pusher.
 - is a good eater, but does listen first to if Lukas or Corina's opinions on food.  New (and therefore healthy) food usually proves to be more of a challenge at this point.  He will out grow it because eventually his stomach will overrule the unknown.  At that point he will realize that I do not serve him nasty dinners just because it's unfamiliar.
 -  loves cars, knights, Transformers, Octonauts, Spiderman, Team Umi Zoomi, and balls.
 - would stay outside all the time if allowed.  He simply loves to be and play outdoors.  This is such a switch from everyone else in the family because most of the rest of us enjoy being outside but gravitate to indoor activities first. Since it's not what I think of first, I have to actively remember to make time for him to get that energy out.
 - LOVES Lukas and Corina!!  While he has his own opinion about how things should be done, he loves playing with them as much as time will allow.  And on a side-note, I absolutely love watching my kids play.  Not so much the fighting that always comes with the playing, but most certainly the playing and listening to their ideas and stories together.
 - enjoys school.  You'd never know it right now if you watch him at drop off, but he really does enjoy being with his school friends and teachers.  Thank you Footprints Preschool for giving him this amazing experience!
 - loves his Mommy and Daddy more and more every day!!!!!

We dealt with the flu all week leading up to Asher's big day, so we had a small family only celebration this year.  He had a great day playing with balloons that we blew up for decoration, decorating his cupcake, opening and then playing with new toys, and best of all doing pretty much what he wanted all day.  

Crystal Beach Weekend!

This past weekend, we went to Crystal Beach for a mini-vacation.  We stayed in a lovely house near a nature preserve and about half a mile from the beach.  It was quiet, relaxing, crazy, and so much fun!  It was Corina and Asher's first time to the beach, and Lukas' first time that he remembers.  We spent Saturday morning building sand castles (and other things), getting muddy, searching for the perfect shells, jumping waves, digging up clams, and enjoying the perfect day God gave us for family time.  The rest of the time we lounged around (inside and out), rode bikes/tricycles, drew with sidewalk chalk, played games, grilled, and forgot about daily problems.  It was refreshing and wonderful!