Almost two months with no postings, what a shame! Mom blames Facebook for the lack of posts and she tells herself she really needs to document things here to have to look back at later. It's not like you can go back two years on Facebook and find specific events or stories, but it's SO easy to do a quick photo or update. So we'll give an honest effort to be better about it the next couple months. Unfortunately, though you get to the point where it's been SO long that you really don't know what to say!
January was it's usual ho-hum self. We hunkered down and just tried to make it go fast. Zach's birthday was at the end of the month. He wasn't too excited to turn 4, he really liked being 3 he said. We celebrated with just Nana here on Sunday and then he had his preschool friends to McD's on Monday. He REALLY wanted a friend party this year, so Mom met him halfway and just kept it very simple. This kid is constantly talking about jet packs and zip lines and extendo-arms. He's all about superheros, Star Wars, race cars, and fire fighters. He's constantly full of energy and likes to be busy, he won't admit it but he misses me terribly when I'm at school. He's doing ok at preschool. He has his days where he doesn't want to go. His conferences last week were kind of what we expected ... he's a good, sweet boy, but he's not very motivated or excited to participate sometimes. He still has a love hate relationship with Fluffy. Fluffy attacks Zach a few times a week to the point where marks are left, but Zach usually instigates the attack. We're still not sure what fate will hold for Fluffy. It's a day by day experience. We really need spring to get here, Mom has daily challenges of keeping Zach entertained and stimulated. He still goes to the library, playgroups and storytimes during the week.
I had some Girl Scout activities last month that helped pass the time, plus as you know I was selling cookies this year. I met my goal of 150 boxes thanks to the help of my family. I did hit the streets twice going door-to-door, but we only had a couple decent days that month. My piano lessons are still going great. Zach and I did swimming lessons in January...we both are still just not ready to take off in the water yet. It's a constant frustration to Mom and Dad. We're going to keep at it. After the couple scares we had last year, it is crucial that we learn to swim this year. I am going to try softball this spring, sign ups are next week. Dad is really excited for me to try something other than soccer for a change. School is going great. I passed my 100 addition questions in 5 minutes test this month. I am in the 90's for subtraction and will get there soon. My conferences last week went great, my teachers like to call me "The Professor". They said they are amazed at how I am always thinking and making connections between things I have learned. They said I have good critical thinking skills and a passion for learning. And not to brag, but Mom is quoting them here when they said "I'm the child that every teacher hopes for". It's nauseating, but Mom's proud of me. If the day ever comes where I don't have an over- the-top conference, Mom will be beside herself. So that's enough of my horn being tooted.
We just got back from a trip to WI Dells. It was kind of a bust. We left on Thursday and I had a high temp and cough the whole day. We didn't do much of anything except to try a little swimming late that night. The thing I was most upset about was having to leave school early. Even though it was a half-day, I had to leave at 10:30 because of my fever. I had perfect attendance until that point. I needed 150 minutes to have the day count and I had 130. I think the school secretary helped me out though :) Anyway, the rest of the trip was less than stellar. I was chilly all the time (the water was a bit cold), the little kid stuff was too little kid for me but the big stuff was too scary. Zach was terrified of pretty much everything. Mom finally convinced us to take a family tube ride together. It was so scary! Since the ride itself has to travel outside the building for space reasons, it is completely enclosed and pitch black with lots of dips, drops and turns. We were all screaming and it was supposed to be the easiest ride there! Zach and I were both crying at the end. We were pretty much ruined after that. Dad and I had fun in the wave pool. Zach was terrified of that, too. On Friday, Zach and I ended up napping for 2-3 hours on a lounge chair while Mom and Dad sat in the wave pool and watched us. I think that was the highlight of the trip for them. We went to some corny restaurant Friday night where a train delivered our food, but the food was not very good at all, and Zach threw up on the way out of the restaurant....he loved that train though! And then to top it all off, I started puking Saturday morning and continued to the whole day. We were supposed to stop and see Nana for the day, but we ended up cashing in our chips and coming home. The only bright spot was that our 2 bedroom condo was huge and awesome which was good since we spent a lot of time there! We had about a half mile walk through the hotel to the waterparks each time though, so that got a little tiring and we fought over the stroller! We thought about doing a time share presentation there to get a free 3 day stay, but we decided not to since it obviously was NOT our thing for the time being.
We got to see some ultrasound pics of the new baby this week which was exciting. Everything looks ok so far and he is very healthy and big. Mom will have a more detailed sono in two weeks with the specialist. We had them put the gender in an envelope so that way we could open it later as a family. Mom thought just *maybe* she'd be able to not find out, but the temptation of the envelope was too strong and we all wanted to find out except Dad. Dad was happy though because he was rooting for another boy, so that made it easier on him to lose the vote. Mom and I were rooting for pink, but Mom felt very strongly it was a boy, so she wasn't surprised and this way Zach will have a little buddy. We're really just happy everything is going well. We'll try to attach the video of the opening. Mom is over halfway there now and feeling great. This baby moves a bit but not as much or as strongly as she remembers us moving around, he seems mellow. Her tailbone hurts really bad this time, but other than that she is enjoying things and trying desperately to keep exercising as long as she can. She really popped out this week and people are starting to notice she's pregnant, so it's fun for us kids to see it too.
Well that's a good start for a marathon of an update. We'll try to be better in the coming months. Mom is quickly realizing that her memory isn't what it used to be and this blog may just be the only way we can go back and find some lost memories!
Ciao for now,
Katherine
Riding tandem back to the room, don't we look excited?
The wave pool
Afternoon naps in the sun
This is as brave as I got
This is how brave Zach got...he did try a bigger one but flipped over and went down face first
Poor Zach after flipping over on the slide
Zach and "extendo-kitty"
Zach's bday
Baby brother
