Movies on Thursday

My Thursday technically started at 11:45 pm on Wednesday night.  That was when Elliott woke up crying for the second time.  I rocked with him until 12:30.  He still hadn't fallen back to sleep and I was, honestly, getting pretty pissed.  I decided that I was going to bed.  No more rocking.  He was just going to have to go to sleep on his own.  Yeah.  After about 650 rounds of crying, then talking, then crying, then playing with the blankets in his crib, then crying, I looked at my phone for the 651st time and saw that it was 3:15 am.  Elliott still hadn't fallen asleep.   I then woke up at 5:00 am and he was sleeping peacefully. This tells me that he fell asleep sometime between 3:15 and 5:00.  Lovely.  Do you think he slept later to make up for his 4 hour middle of the night playtime?  Not so much.

 

I had originally told my sitter that I didn't need her today since I didn't have to go to work.  Then I thought about it and realized that I could actually go and do something fun for myself if she came to watch my kids.  I have actually never used a sitter (not counting grandparents) for anything other than going to work.  Never.  Well, except for when Monica came and watched them for our anniversary.  Other than that, never.

 

So, Dorothy came over at 9:00 this morning.  I happily handed over my kids and did this workout:

Then I took a shower, got ready and headed to the movies.

I saw Oz, Great and Powerful.  It was really good.  Honestly though, it could have been footage of paint peeling and I probably would have enjoyed it as long as it didn't have a soundtrack of a baby screeching.

 

I ate popcorn for lunch.  It was a good choice.

 

After the movie I walked over to Starbucks and got a tall blonde roast.  Then I just sat there and enjoyed the quiet.

 

Michael was in Tucson all day at a training.  It ended pretty early, so he actually got home significantly earlier than if he had been at work all day and drove home in rush hour.  We took the opportunity to go to Costco for much needed items like broccoli. And string cheese.  And chicken nuggets.   I wanted to buy the 6 pack of carrot cake cupcakes and eat at least 5 of them for dinner, but I refrained. 

 

After Costco we went to Carters, because everything is 50% off right now. 

 

When Spencer was at the doctor yesterday he weighed in at 41 pounds.  That was in clothes and after he had eaten.  This morning, in light pajamas, before breakfast he was 40.0 pounds.  Minus the pajamas he was probably 39.8, but this is the first time that he has ever broken into the 40 pound range on our scale.  He has also grown almost 2 inches since his 5 year check-up. 

 

(UPDATE: On Friday morning while totally naked he was 39.4 pounds.  Dang! So close.)

 

I went through his shorts today and took clothes that fit him last summer and literally put them straight into Elliott's dresser.  Spencer was wearing a pair of 18-24 month shorts LAST.  SUMMER.  He had 5 pairs of 2T shorts that he wore as recently as 5 months ago.  They actually still technically fit, but they are getting short so I'm not letting him wear them anymore. 

 

We're going to the mall to see the Easter Bunny tomorrow so we got some cute coordinating outfits.  You'll see.  Tomorrow.

Orthodontist on Wednesday

Spencer's orthodontist appointment was at 9:00 this morning.  Getting us anywhere by 9:00 am takes an act of God and two days worth of planning. We are in really big trouble when kindergarten starts in July. We managed to make it by 8:58 though.  Thanks God.

 

Here he is.  His last time taking off the mask.

 

 

 

It's actually going to be a little weird not having this be part of the bed time/wake up routine.

 

We were the only people at the orthodontist's office this morning.  It was a little weird actually.  Usually that place is packed with patients. 

It took about 30 seconds for her to pop the palate expander out.  Then she popped off the red things that were on his bottom teeth that helped his teeth slide and the jaw moved.

The pictures and x-rays took about 20 minutes.  We were back in the car before 9:30.  They gave Spencer a water bottle full of previously forbidden candy and gum.  He was really excited about it. 

Spencer has had a weird discoloration on his arms and legs for the past week or so.  It doesn't come off when he soaks in the tub and it doesn't scrub off either.  We were just barely starting to get worried about it so I called the pediatrician's office to see if we could get in this week.  They could actually get us in 90 minutes later so I took the appointment and we went to the park to waste a little time.

So, one $15 co-pay and one embarassed mama later we figured out that something (we've narrowed down the choices to the swing set or his comforter) is slowly staining his skin blue.  We figured this out when the physician assistant took an alcohol wipe and rubbed Spener's skin vigorously and the strange coloring came off.

Spencer is going to have quite a few dates with a cotton ball and some rubbing alcohol in the coming days.

After the appointment we came home for lunch and I let Spencer eat the Snickers bar from the orthodontist. 

Elliott took a nap (two hours and I had to go in there and rock him back to sleep twice) and then we went outside to play with shaving cream.

 

 Tomorrow I am taking myself on a day date.  I am very, very, very excited to be my own company.  I don't want anybody to talk to me, touch me or ask me to make food for them.

Children's Museum on Tuesday

Spencer has been asking to go to the Phoenix Children's Museum for the last 6 months.  The last time we went was about 6 weeks before Elliott was born.  It was one of the places I was most terrified of taking Elliott when he was so sick.  Too many kids. Too many germs.  I'm over that now though and we've been planning on going on this day for a while since I'm on spring break.

 

This post is very, very, very, very, very (very, very, very) picture heavy.  I'll try to be brief with my narration since most of you have something else you need to do today.

 

We started with the indoor tree house.

 

And then moved on to the sucking and spitting tunnels.  I don't know how else to describe them.  They suck in gauzy handkerchiefs, shoot them through the tunnels and then spit them out at the top.

 

Elliott played in the baby area under the tree house.

 

He made some new baby friends.

Then it was on to the bicycle car wash. 

 

Spencer can never remember what the museum is called (which is weird because he remembers everything else) and he always says he wants to go to that fun place where you ride a bike through a car wash. 

 

 

Go Team Elliott! 

 

This was new since the last time we were here.  The fort room.  We spent a lot of time in here today.

 

 

 

Elliott in his little hobbit hole. 

 

 

Making more baby friends.

On to the painting room.  They had the same rocket the last time we were there, but it was orange and red.  I know because I looked at those pictures.  I didn't actually remember something like that.

 

 

 

Elliott played with the light sand table.  I don't quite trust him with a bucket of paint and a brush. 

 

Then it was on to the noodle forest.  Elliott loved this.  He had a great time batting the pool noodles around. 

 

Another hobbit hole.

 

Another light table- this time with plastic blocks. 

 

Both of them in a hobbit hole. 

At this point we split up and Michael and Spencer went to the play grocery store, the pizza kitchens and the ball chute room.  They had the camera.  Despite the fact that I texted Michael like 5 times and reminded him to take pictures he took NO pictures.  This is why I am in none of our pictures.  If I leave Michael totally in charge of the picture taking for this family we'd get a picture of our kids when they graduate from high school. And their heads will be cut off.

 

Elliott and I went to the baby room.  Michael brought me the camera at some point.

 

Elliott spent a lot of time in that dark corner. 

The flash made it really bright, but it's  actually quite dark in there and it looks like animal eyes are looking out from a bush.

 

 

He had a blast pulling at the plastic plants. 

Spencer also loves this ice cream stand.  It's another thing he talks about a lot when he asks if we can go back to the museum. 

 

One more trip to the tree house and then we were done.

 

Spencer is in these next 2 pictures.  See if you can find him. 

 

He's there.  I promise. 

 

After the museum we went to lunch at Cooperstown.  I forgot my camera in the car though.  There was nothing really special about it.  The kids ate grilled cheese sandwiches and mandarin oranges.  I had a burger.  Michael had a buffalo chicken wrap.  The hostess and waitress had Alice Cooper eye make- up on.  Spencer didn't even notice.

 

When we got home Elliott went down for another glorious 3 hour nap and I worked out.

 

Michael took Spencer in for his allergy panel blood draw and then out for frozen yogurt.  I had told Spencer that it was OK to cry but he had to cooperate and he couldn't throw a fit.  I didn't think he would, but having blood drawn is not my favorite thing to do and I wasn't sure how he would react.  It is pretty creepy.  The reward for doing a good job was as many junky toppings as he wanted.  We usuallly push the fruit and limit the candy.  Michael said that Spencer was awesome and it was a total non-issue.  He didn't even flinch and he definitely didn't cry. 

 

 

After Elliott got up I sanded the dining room door frames and did a second layer of wood filler.  I could not find my safety googles so I used sun glasses.  That's how I sanded the entire dish hutch when I refinished it.  It's really quite shocking I have eyes left. 

 

Despite his 3 hours nap Elliott was pretty tired at dinner.  That museum just wore him out.  I think we should get a membership and go 3 times a week.  If only it wasn't so far away. 

 

 

Tonight is Spencer's last night with his palate expander and mask.  We go to the orthodontist in the morning.  I can't believe it's done.  We already bought gum for him to chew.  I had no idea he missed gum so much.  He's had like 6 pieces his entire life.