Michael's Mom...

I think he's such a cutie, so likable and down-to-earth.... I watched him swim that whole week... cheered from my living room... was so relieved when he finally got eight!

What an accomplishment. Amazing...

But watching this was what made me cry!

Today's The Day... For Birthdays Too!

As we are celebrating "back to school" this week... today was also my mom AND dad's birthday!

My parents (who've been married close to 40 years) share a birthday. My dad turned 61 today... and my mom didn't. HA!




Tonight we celebrated with pizza while hanging out on their lovely new furniture enjoying the Olympics in between Tanner's entertaining antics. Never a dull moment, you know.

Happy Birthday Nana and Papa! WE LOVE YOU!

Today's The Day... Again!

After Gracie's big day yesterday... today was Tessa's turn!



Tessa started her preschool today, with her new teacher (whose name we've been working on for two days), ready to "make new friends" she said.





I thought she might be a little hesitant, but she walked in like she'd been there a million times before and made herself right at home! Yeah Tessa!




Tanner won't get his turn to until the first week of September... and then it'll be "today's the day for Mommie!" HA!

Today's The Day!

After waking up every day for the last three asking "Is today the day I start school," I was finally able to tell Gracie "Yes, today's the day!"

She was up at 6:30, holding the hair accessory she'd selected in one hand, and her new lunch box in the other, ready to head out to kindergarten. She'd seemed nervous a few weeks ago about starting, but today it was fair to say I was much more concerned about it than she was.

She bounced out the door, delighted to be going off to school, and especially to be wearing her new dress and shoes that Aunt Mandy bought for her.

Nothing changed after she arrived.... Trav said she never stopped smiling, and he had to coax her out of her seat for a hug!

Busted!

After not getting any teeth until he was 14 months old... Tanner fell (from something he was climbing on, of course) yesterday and broke the first one he got! He busted his little front tooth right in half...




I never had a kid break a tooth before... and so after a quick google search on what to do, we headed to the dentist. There they determined it was fine... no nerves exposed and it wasn't loose. They can "fix it" when he's 2. In the meantime, he'll just have a crooked, but still very cute, little smile.


He is, however, very sensitive to being called "snags" or "snagglepuss" or anything of the sort! HA!

A Day To Play...

Big day yesterday for our girls... Trav had the day off, and with a few ticket hook ups from Aunt Mandy (a/k/a the best aunt EVER), we had a very full day of excitement!


We started at Magic Springs... and it was a perfect day for it - lots of sunshine, and crazy hot!!


Here is what we did all day... We like to never got Tessa off this water slide.





Gracie loved the slides too... but she was anxious to try swimming in the wave pool this time too. No matter what she was doing... she intended to be fully prepared to see underwater if needed with her goggles on!

After we managed to pull the girls away from the water slides... we arrived back in town just in time to make it to see the Backyardigans LIVE show! Woo Hoo! This was quite the dancing and singing, hooping and hollering event.

(Side note: If you're looking at Tessa's little red cheeks thinking I'm a horrible mother who forgot the sunscreen... I'm not! I must have have reapplied three times to her face... I can't believe those cheeks got so red!)

These days our sweet little Tanner is either running away from me, getting into something he shouldn't be, climbing on anything standing still, or looking up at me doing this...

So.... we missed him yesterday while he was hanging out with my mom (a/k/a the best Nana EVER) who took the day off to chase and hold him at home so we didn't have to all over Magic Springs. Bless her!


We had such a fun day!! And after taking in all the water slides and rockin the house with the Backyardigans... what we really needed after our day of play, was a day of rest.... but for me and Trav, that'll probably have to wait until school starts!!

The "Nay"

We crossed a big hurdle in our house this week – Tessa is without her “nay”.


All three of my kids have sucked on a pacifier. I’m a fan of pacifiers. They made my babies happy… and I used them! We’re not sure how it happened, but somewhere in the course of things Gracie began to call her pacifier her “nay” – yes, like what the horse says. Gracie had a big orange one that for some reason she called her “Boo Nay”.

Gracie and her Boo Nay had some good times… she became quite attached to it. As she was approaching two, I was pondering how to take it away from her when she woke up one morning and had bitten a hole through the tip. She brought it in to me, very distraught, and thinking fast I told her she had “broken” the nay (a tip I had gotten from a friend). She was very sad. It was pitiful. I cut the remainder of the pacifier’s tip off and she carried the plastic base around and slept with it for about a week… that was it. No big deal.

Tessa has been another story. Tessa came out screaming and was less than an hour old when she became so upset that her heart rate got high enough that the nurse was afraid they were going to have to take her to the NICU. Finally the nurse asked Travis if we had brought a pacifier. We had. The nurse popped that thing in her mouth, and soon she was fine.

Tessa’s love for her “nay" has never wavered. We were more focused on other issues at the time, and missed the ideal “two year old window” to take it from her, and so now, at age 3 (and counting) she still had it.

All parents know that pacifiers can stir quite the debate… especially as children get older. Opinions about how old is “too old” and when and/or how to go about taking it away are plentiful (especially from unsolicited sources). But in Tessa’s case, it wasn’t just about whether or not she was too old to have the pacifier. The speech therapist told us it was most certainly a factor in her articulation issues and she’d benefit more from therapy if she didn’t have it.

So, I knew this summer I would have to get this accomplished. I’ve been dreading it… and putting it off. Running out of time, I finally settled on using an idea a friend gave me and had decided that this past Sunday night the “Nay Fairy” would come. I had explained to Tessa that now that she was a big girl, the “Nay Fairy” would come and take her nay to a new baby that needed it. And because she was such a good girl, she would get a new toy to replace her nay.

Yes… it’s a stretch, I know… but I was desperate. Tessa was skeptical, but seemed to grasp the concept to some degree, and so I was sticking with the plan. Then last Saturday we were driving home from a birthday party and had to stop at Wal-Mart. Tessa had fallen asleep in the car after our busy morning - and she never wakes up pleasant.

So, with her being already grumpy as we headed into the store, she ultimately landed a major fit in the checkout line. There were princess hair bows, she wanted them, couldn’t have them… it was ugly. And somewhere in the process of her meltdown, Tessa lost her nay. We were already in the car when I realized neither one of us had it. Oh, the agony.

She cried the whole way home. She’d scream at me that she needed her nay. I’d say, “No. You lost it. No new nays.” Gracie would chime in about the importance of keeping up with our stuff. Tessa would scream at her. They both would cry. I wanted to cry. It was quite painful.

Upon arriving home, Tessa snatched her blanket up and plopped down in her bean bag to pout. She was asleep before I even had the groceries put away. Two hours later she awoke, and she didn’t ask about her nay the rest of the afternoon. Could this be possible?? As bedtime approached, she still had not asked about her nay again. She climbed into bed and as she began to get settled….

Tessa: “Oh, no! I need my nay!”

I’m thinking, oh, crap… here we go.

Me: “Remember, Tessa, you lost your nay.”

Tessa: “But I really need my nay. Could Daddy get me a new one?”

Me: “No. No new nays, Tessa. I’m sorry.”

And then, in what can only be described as God’s great mercy on me… Tessa slept… without her nay. It's been a whole week - no nay. WOO HOO! I'd been dreading this for months, and you cannot imagine my relief that this is done - and with minimal drama. The car ride home from Wal-Mart was the worst of it. She has asked for it a few times and shows the saddest face when reminded that she lost it.

Tanner is only getting his pacifier at nap and bedtime now – which he is quite bitter about. He had already started diving under his bed to search for it first thing in the morning, and so to avoid a repeat issue, (plus avoiding reminding Tessa of hers) we’re trying to limit his “nay time” already.

And just as a side note… I cannot begin to tell you how many random strangers we have encoutered over the last year that have felt compelled to comment on Tessa's pacifier. So, should you fall on the “take it away” side of the pacifier argument, you should know that if you see a child out somewhere (especially one you do not know), in the store, a restaurant, or wherever, and you feel they are too old to have the pacifier in their mouth – you might just keep that to yourself.

Speaking from experience, I can assure you that your opinion on the issue (on any issue really) is irrelevant to the child's mother, and random comments expressing that opinion (especially in front of her children) is, shall we say, frowned upon. And in doing so, depending on how tired and/or irritated that mother may already be… you might end up on the receiving end of a smack down!! HA! Just a thought…