Missouri Trip

I debated whether it was even worth posting something that happened almost two months ago, but decided it was worth it...you know...for the sake of chronology.

Just a mere day after returning from Washington I took the kids (alone) to Missouri to see some of the Alger Family.  Two of my sisters were there with their kids, and of course, Grandma and Grandpa Alger.  The trip out there almost killed me (unforeseen layovers totaling 6 hrs), but seeing Rex play with his cousins made it all worth it.

LOTS OF POOL TIME

LOTS OF LAKE TIME

 

 

That video is Rex being catapulted into the air by my 17-year old nephew.  He loved it until he actually did lose his beloved, blue goggles. 

AND COUSIN TIME

 And just as we were leaving for the airport, Grandpa found a couple spare minutes to give Rex a tractor ride.

We had so much fun!  I'm relieved to know that I can travel alone with the kids!

4th of July in Washington

  We had a great holiday in Washington spending time with Josh's family.  Here are some of the highlights!

 

A quiet flight to Denver 

 

We camped on the 4th, but that didn't stop Josh from having to do a little work!

 

Rex and Great grandpa Tucker have a lot in common.  I love this pic.

 Great grandpa Tucker let Rex drive his fishing boat

 We spent a couple days at the lake - Rex loved being able to jump off the back of the boat when we stopped.  He kept asking, "hey, can we take a little dip?"

 Rex played his first ever game of mini golf and loved it.  It amazed me how persistent he was and that he never got bored or frustrated.

 

Evelyn and Grandma

On the way home a nice pilot invited Rex and Josh up to check out the cockpit.  Rex is now convinced he knows enough to fly an airplane.

We love our Garner family!

Evelyn's Doc Band

When Evelyn was about 3 months old she started developing a very noticeable flat spot on the back left side of her head, behind her ear.  She just preferred to sleep on that little spot.  Our pediatrician told us that when she started rolling, her head would round out and encouraged us each visit with lines like, "it looks SOOOO much better!" It did look better, but it still wasn't round.  And when by her 15 month check up it hadn't improved much more, we asked another doctor for her opinion.  She told us it wouldn't likely change and this would probably be her head shape.  She also said it probably wouldn't be noticeable due to her hair covering it and the fact that it was very minimal to begin with.  She did give me the name to a cranial specialist in DC who we could consult with if we chose to go that route.  Josh wanted to, but I didn't.  The thought of putting my sweet, little girl in a hideous, plastic helmet was almost more than I could handle.  I agreed to talk to the specialist and see what they thought.

 

See in the bottom left pic how her head has that uneven flat spot on the left while the right side bulges out a tad?

At her appointment they put a nylon sock over her head to get some pictures.  Their fancy shmancy computers analyzed her head and they told us she would be a candidate for a "doc band".  They actually put her in the moderate/severe category of plagiocephaly due to the fact that her left ear had shifted forward slightly. 

CRAZY that our pediatrician thought it was no big deal!  If we did nothing, it's not like she would have any long term medical problems from having a funny shaped head, so the treatment would be completely cosmetic.  I was still against it and Josh went back and forth.  Finally, after a few tears, I agreed that doing something would be better than doing nothing and we got her in for a follow up appointment to take more sophisticated measurements.  Then a week and a half later, we went up for her fitting.  Here she is with her new, shiny, WHITE helmet!

And JUST as I was thinking about how I could prevent people from staring and thinking my daughter was "special", I snapped this pic...

 Not very convincing!

 

  It's much harder to sleep in the car with the helmet :)

Luckily, these bad boys can be painted and decorated.  A few coats of pink paint later, VOILA!

All things considered, I'm really glad we are doing this now.  It's expensive, I'll miss putting bows in her hair, and not being able to snuggle her without being smacked in the face with cold, hard plastic, but at least we did everything we could to help her sweet little head!  Hopefully we'll have some awesome "after" pictures to post in 3-4 months!

Camping Trip

About a month ago, we took a very last minute camping trip with some friends.  I was nervous at first about taking Evelyn (only 14 months) with us.  The overnight temperature was supposed to dip into the 40's and I just wasn't sure how we were all going to sleep in one tent.  Luckily, and amazingly, it went pretty smoothly (thanks to our trusty space heater)!  It was really fun and made me realize (Josh loves to point out) that sometimes, spontaneity can be fun!

School is Out!

Rex had his last day of preschool (until next fall) last week.  While I'm looking forward do doing lots of morning activities (ie pool time) with him this summer, I'm REALLY sad that he won't be occupied three mornings a week by wonderful teachers and fun friends.  He had a great year and I'm so glad that we put him in the school that we did.  Here are a few highlights from his last week:

Rex starring as a pig in his Spring Concert

Accepting his diploma with sleepy eyes - only pic I got :(

Rex had the sweetest, most patient teacher this year and he absolutely loved her.  

And on the last day I was a little sad while picking him up.  He jumped in the car wearing a disguise and made me laugh out loud.  Such a character!

 

And now that Rex is home more, Evelyn is getting much more of this:

 

And this...

A Very Happy Mother's Day!

Can I just say that I love Mother's Day?  And not just for all the selfish reasons a mother might love being celebrated all day, having breakfast in bed and receiving kisses all day from her sweet 4-year old.  I loved today because I was able to reflect on some important Mothers in my life.  Like this lady, for example:

The mother that gave me birth

I cannot even begin to list all the reasons I am grateful for her.  She has taught me everything and to this day, her advice and approval mean everything to me.  She's that good.

I also love this Mother:

The one who gave birth to my husband

She's a super neat lady who raised one heck of a son!  She is easy and fun to be around and the best grandma to my kids.

I also love being a Mom.  With the help of my husband (and of course, Rex) my Mother in law made this for me:

 

And for the record, I really do not eat very many tacos.

To top off this day, my husband came up with the most thoughtful gift EVER.  Do you all remember this awesome painting of my grandpa, painted by my cousin?

He got in touch with my cousin, got a high res photo of this painting and had it printed on a canvas that we are going to frame.  It is amazing and beautiful and I cannot wait for it to be hanging on my wall!  Thank you SO much, Cristall!