Kids 3 and 4-year old check ups

We took Reese and Asher to the pediatrician yesterday for their 3- and 4-year old check-ups.  They did great, especially Reese who had to get 2 vaccines for Kindergarten next year (can you believe it? already?)

Reese's current height is 44 inches (near 100th percentile) and weight is 51 lbs (also near 100th percentile).  She turned the examination table in the room into a train while we were there and the pediatrician called her "a character".

Asher's current height is 38 inches (about 66th percentile) and weight is 34 lbs (78th percentile)

They both look great according to the doctor.  Reese went first with the examination and flu shot (they got the nasal spray this year) and I think that helped when it was Asher's turn.  He sure was paying attention when the doctor was looking in her nose and ears.  Later I asked Asher how the doctor's visit was and he said "ok, but he hit me".  Of course, he was referring to the doctor hitting his knee to test the knee jerk reflex.  I tried to explain why the doctor did that but, I have to admit, why someone cares about your knee's ability to jerk forward is kind of difficult to explain to a 2-year old.  Oh well.

Reese now has all her immunizations up to date and is ready for Kindergarten registration in January and school starting next August.  She's very excited and was asking me how long until she gets to go to school.

I snapped a few cute pictures of Asher "preparing" for the arrival of his new sister in a few weeks.

 Hopefully the new baby doesn't actually end up sleeping in the bookshelf :)

 I spent some time practicing with my camera, trying to move away from the automatic settings and get better at using the manual settings.  Luckily, the kids humored me (for awhile, anyway)...

 like I said, they humored me for awhile.  This next one screams "ok, I've had enough brother sister time"

 We had our first snowfall here in Helena yesterday.  Some pictures as the winter wonderland was forming:

 Jetskis covered in snow is a definite sign that summer is over :(

We have a tentative birth-date

At my weekly appointment, my doctor scheduled my c-section for bright and early Monday, November 12th.  So unless our little girl has other plans, we'll be welcoming our new addition sometime that morning.  Next week we'll be switching me from the Lovenox I'm on to Heparin because Heparin leaves your body in 4-6 hours while Lovenox takes almost 24.  This will give us more flexibility if I do go into labor before 11/12 to do the c-section anyway with less risk to me or the baby of excessive bleeding.  If all goes as planned, I'll stop the Heparin 1-2 days before the c-section so I am not in danger of bleeding too much during/post surgery.  Then, like with Reese and Asher, I will start back on the Lovenox about 24 hours after birth for another 6-weeks post partum.  Probably more information than any of you wanted to know.  

Anyway, as some of you know, I've been having weekly biophysical profiles at the hospital.  These consist of an ultrasound where they measure the baby's growth, check that she's moving and "practicing" breathing and check my amniotic fluid levels.  The U/S is followed by a Non-Stress Test (NST) which consists of measuring the baby's heartbeat and movement using fun sensors placed on my growing belly.  I was bored in my NST today (sometimes, if she isn't moving as much as I'd like, it can take hours) so I took some pictures of what I get to see each week.  By the way, in case you can't tell, she passed with flying colors ;)  My fluid levels are great (they were a bit high 2 weeks ago but are near-perfect now) and she is measuring just over 6 pounds (give or take a pound, of course) which is right where she should be.  

Our white (yellow?) house is turning green

CK has been busy working outside and since it's been too dry to work on the infamous road, he's been doing a lot of siding.  Slowly but surely our house is turning green (see evidence below).  The final exterior plan is a lot of this dark green hardiplank siding, some grey metal siding (to offset all the green and break up the larger faces) and some stone accents.  The green looks really nice so far and I'm not sad to see the yellowing styrofoam go.

Reese, Asher and I were rummaging through some of our storage bins last weekend trying to find holiday decorations and baby clothes that need to be washed.  Look what Reese found- my bridesmaids may recognize it!

 Asher decided he needed fuzzy slippers to ride his bike

New Wheels

I've been told there comes a time in every parent's life when they have to replace the dignity of their car or small SUV with...yes...you know what's coming next...a minivan.  Well, folks, that time is not here.  And if I have anything to say about it, it won't ever come at the LaFond household.

However, with the two new feet (and accompanying carseat) we are adding in (gulp) 42 or less days from now, we've been in the market for a larger vehicle that could actually accommodate all three of our kids and their bulky carseats.  While we did briefly consider mounting the third carseat in the storage area in the back of the Edge, we quickly determined that for safety (and to keep us both out of jail) we would need to take the plunge towards something with three rows.  For anyone who has driven up or down our new road/driveway you'll understand when I say another requirement was also 4WD and a smoother ride than the pickup currently provides.  After much research, that essentially left us with the full size SUVs out there and we finally narrowed it down to the GMC YukonXL and the Ford ExpeditionEL (we want the seating but also the ability to bring STUFF since apparently we no longer have any but our kids seem to accumulate quite a bit).

We test drove both last weekend and they actually seemed pretty similar.  CK said he liked the Expedition's ride a bit better but I couldn't tell a difference.  This was good news because the Yukons are a bit pricier for pretty much the same thing.  Anyway, CK (shocking, I know) has been researching online and keeping his eye out for a good deal as we were really hoping not to buy new but wanted something recent with really low mileage.  We had found a few great deals but of course they were in TX, NJ or 2WD.  Last weekend CK finally found one that looked too good to pass up.  A 2012 ExpeditionEL in Idaho with 11k miles and all the bells and whistles we wanted.  So on Wednesday CK flew to Spokane and drove home our new wheels.  Here they are safely in our garage

 Reese and Asher have a new row to themselves in the waaaayyyyy back

 That leaves 2 captain's chairs in the middle row for the new baby and an actual adult (yes, Mom, you will have your very own REAL seat!)

We haven't given up our beloved Edge (CK and I agree it's the best car we've owned to date) so our house currently looks like a Ford used parking lot (except I think even used car dealers keep their cars slightly cleaner than that...)  By the looks of the two navy blue vehicles perhaps you can see why we went with white for our newest purchase :)

More Rhode Island pictures

I relied on Jeff and Michelle to take most of the pictures on our trip to RI over Labor Day and wanted to share some of the great ones he captured.

 Sarah and Mom

 Jeff, Michelle and Grace (yes, she's always that happy!)

 Nana and Granddad- celebrating 64 years!

 What a great family picture of the Joynts!

 Grace and her daddy

 CK entertaining Grace (or maybe the opposite?)

 Granddad and Grace- all smiles

 Reese blowing out her candles

 Reese's birthday party

 Playing with the new toys

 Reese and Asher loved the mini pool

Labor Day in Rhode Island

We made a last minute trek to Rhode Island the week before Labor Day to see Mom, Jeff, Michelle and Grace, who were visiting from London, and Nana and Granddad (and celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary!).  We also got to see Sarah and Fred, Dan and Venus, Tom and Jane and Steve, Judy, Alison, Nick, Andy, Alona and many of the Joynt extended family.  The kids had a great time at the beach and we had fun seeing everyone in one place.

Happy 4th Birthday Reese!

I can't believe it's been four years already (I'm sure parents say that every year but it's so true).  Our little girl is not so little anymore.  Next year (likely on her actual birthday) she'll be starting Kindergarten (one of the youngest but possibly still one of the tallest if she continues on her current trajectory :)  Unfortunately I can't spend Reese's actual birthday with her this year (likely the story for many birthdays to come, sadly) but she is in Rhode Island with CK, Asher, Nana, Great Nana, Granddad, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Michelle and Cousin Grace so I have no doubt she's having a great birthday.  Until I can get there myself tomorrow night here are some observations for my little girl on her 4th birthday.

• I recognize that I am slightly biased as your proud mother but I think you are still a very precocious child.  Recently you started showing interest not only in reading books, but in having us teach you the words and sound them out.  You want to learn to read and we are doing our best to start teaching you, hoping it becomes a lifelong habit and hobby that will take you far.
• Perhaps because you are the oldest child of 2 oldest children it was inevitable that you would start to show leadership (a.k.a. bossiness) at a young age.  Not only do you tell your brother Asher what to do but you like to take charge in a room, whether it be a group of kids or a group of adults.  You have no fear at all.
• You love to sing and dance.  I often refer to you as a walking "Glee" episode (there's a fun culture reference that you can look up when you're 15 and reading this).  You break out into song and often sing instead of speaking, much like a musical.  You love to dance and will do so with or without music.  You actually have a pretty good voice (unlike Mommy) so you can probably thank Grandpa Craig for that.
• We moved into our new house in July so that has been a pretty big milestone.  We don't yet have a yard yet but you love to go to the park or your cousins' house to play in their backyard.  You especially like the trampoline and have no fear of jumping (I, of course, can't watch, because I see broken bones and head injuries).
• You have started to show a lot of interest in babies.  Not just the dolls, but younger kids we see.  You coo at them and try to help them walk.  Hopefully this is your way of preparing to be a big sister again and help Mommy and Daddy out in 3 months when your baby sister shows up.  
• You love the water and probably would have stayed in the lake all day this summer if we let you.  You haven't learned to swim yet but hopefully next summer you will.
• Dress up is one of your favorite things to do.  You like to wear ballerina dresses and sparkly shoes, hats, necklaces, etc.  You also like to wear Mommy's clothes and shoes and even invented (on your own) an ingenious way to keep Mommy's shoes on your feet by putting hairbands around them to secure them to your feet.  Pretty adorable.
• Even though you fight with Asher (like any sister/brother would) you are also very thoughtful sometimes with him.  When we were shopping in Costco for Dora underwear for you, Asher said he wanted some and you, very thoughtfully, replied, "No, Asher.  We need to get you vacuum underwear." referring to your brother's ongoing obsession with vacuums.
• You still love Dora and drawing and princesses and all the other things little girls typically like.  You requested a princess cake for your birthday with pink and blue flowers.
• You were probably officially fully potty trained this past Spring and once you decided you were ready, you've barely had any accidents. [I'm sure you'll love reading about that one when you're older.  You're welcome.]  You now basically dress yourself (and have strong opinions on everything from your underwear to what barrette you'll be wearing that day).
• You like to paint your toe and fingernails.  Purple, pink, red...sometimes all three.
• You're still very tall and very big for your age.  You're wearing a size 6 or 6X in clothes.  Kaitlyn (who's 8) basically just hands her clothes directly down to you these days.  You speak really well, though, and I think Asher is speaking well for his age because he listens to you.  It's cute when I can't understand what Asher is saying but you interpret it for me.
• You're stubborn like your parents (sorry, that one was inevitable given your genes) but you do well when we sit you down and explain something to you.  You may not want to hear it (especially if we're saying why you can't do something) but you do some to thoughtfully consider what we're saying (most of the time anyway).  I can tell that little mind is racing a million miles an hour.

Happy 4th birthday Reese!  I hope it's as wonderful as you.  We can't wait to watch you this next year as you become a big sister again and get ready for school.