georgia vacation part two

Continuing where I left off...

Tuesday morning I went for a run.  The day seemed like it was going to be a gloomy one (it was supposed to rain the entire time we were there, and never did!!), so we opted for a short walk to the park instead of going to the beach.  This particular park had a new play structure put in since the last time we were there and it didn't disappoint.  The thing was HUGE!  Again, more slides I was scared of.  Not in the picture is a whole bunch of other spinning things and such that my sister and I enjoyed as well.

After the park we split up, my mom, Elsie, my sister and myself doing a little shopping, and Christopher and Ryann heading to the library.  The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the house, going to dinner, and getting some Moo Cow ice cream.

Wednesday was our last day so we decided on some more beach time.  Unfortunately the tide just wasn't in our favor this beach trip, so we were never able to just walk to the beach by my parents house.  Thankfully east beach is always accessible so we weren't out of options.  It is just slightly more annoying to have to get in the car, and the walk to and from the car from the beach is kind of miserable.  It is in some sort of no air flow vortex thing, I have no idea, but it is stupid hot in that little stretch of land.  We still managed to have a good time though.

Thursday morning, the trip home was... interesting.  We had to leave for the airport at 7am, so I told my mom to wake Ry up by 20 till (Ryann sleeps in my mom's closet, it's the size of a small room, it works :o).  I was getting things ready and texted her at 6:45 to make sure they were up.  She responded with 'yes, and Ry just threw up'.  Oh well isn't that just fantastic?  Just what I wanted to hear before several hours of travel.  I went up to check on them and Ry said she was fine.  So we carried on, got everything loaded up and headed out.  10 minutes from the airport she threw up again.  Whyyyyy.  When we got to the airport I changed her clothes, we got checked in and stood in line for security.

Usually I remove the stroller seats and send them through the x-ray machine while the base gets hand checked.  The security people didn't ask me to take the seats off so I figured yay, less work for me.  Except then the seats set off the alarm and I got my bags searched and a full pat down.  Fail.  Whatever, we got through and essentially boarded the plane.  Everything seemed to be going fine and then we just sat on the runway.  This airport has one gate.  We were the only flight.  We were not waiting in line.  Nope, apparently the bigger planes were hogging the airspace so the Atlanta airport wouldn't let us take off.  Lame sauce.  Especially since our layover was only 40 minutes.  We ended up sitting on the runway for 15 minutes, and then while we were in the air, they made us circle the airport for 30 minutes before landing.  Goodbye layover.  Goodbye flight and getting in to KC before noon.

I could drag this out, but the rest of the story short, we got put on stand by for the next flight and successfully got on it.  We were home by 2:30, the girls fell asleep in the car, and Ryann didn't throw up anymore.  Traveling with Elsie pretty much still sucks.  Despite the amount of snacks, iPad, movies, crayons and stickers, she just wanted to get up and run around.  Hopefully she gets better at it soon, but we'll keep going to Georgia anyway.  We love it! 

georgia vacation part one

I'm feeling lazy and don't want to throw too much in to one post, so I'm splitting my vacation recap in to two.  A couple weeks ago we went to Georgia for a little family vacation.  Chris had a five day stretch without any games or things he had to attend so we decided to jump on it.  Plus my mom thought this was her birthday celebration :o).

We usually fly in to the Jacksonville airport, but this time the prices to there and Brunswick (which is closer to my parents, but a SMALL airport) were pretty comparable so we switched it up.  And in a bold move we scheduled the 7AM flight out of Kansas City.  Truthfully I think it ended up working out better.  Sure it sucks to set your alarm for 4am, but I was 100% packed the night before because there wasn't another option.  I had clothes and everything laid out for the girls and I, so I just woke up, got myself ready, we packed the car and then woke the kids up and essentially buckled them in and left.  No doing any last minute things or packing any last minute things or convincing kids to get in the stupid car.  And that way we were at my parents house by 1pm, essentially giving us an extra day.  Winning.

The only downside to the early wake up call?  Ryann didn't make it through dinner.  Whoops.  We tried to get her to take a nap earlier in the day, but she couldn't get comfortable on the plane, and by the time we were there she was just too excited.  She passed out at the table, and Chris eventually moved her to a nearby booth where she slept until we left.  She pretty much went right to bed when we got back and slept all night so no harm done I guess?  It was funny.

elsie's orange headband

Sunday morning I woke up early and went for a disgustingly humid seven mile run.  I have a serious love/hate relationship with Georgia running.  The views are so much prettier than what I usually have, and it is nice and flat.  But humidity is just plain gross.  Nonetheless, I got it done.  We had some breakfast and then headed to the marina to go out on the boat.  Our last Georgia boating experience lasted approximately 5 minutes thanks to Elsie hating it.  This time she gave us a solid 20 before deciding she was done.  I'm not a huge fan of being on the boat there, but it was very pretty.

After boating we headed back to my parents house to swim and eat some lunch.  If you are ever putting in a pool I highly suggest having a shallow deck.  The girls LOVE being able to just play easily in the water, and it is nice to be able to sit in the water as an adult as well.






On Monday we spent some time at the beach.  Both Elsie and Ryann LOVE being at the beach.  Minus the heat, they both can only handle it for so long.  But Elsie was charging the water and splashing in the waves.  Ryann loves playing in the tide pools.  And they both enjoy searching for shells.  After the beach we got changed and headed to lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.  Margaritas in the middle of the day make me kind of useless, but they sure taste good :o).

I think there was some more swimming and of course more eating that day.  Which is pretty much what our entire vacation consisted of.  And I am not complaining about that one bit.

labor day weekend

No judging.  I'm only like three weeks behind.  Whatever.  For labor day weekend we packed up and headed to my parents house to enjoy some time in the pool and on the boat.  And we ate.  Because that is what we do.  As usual we had a great time, the girls love hanging out with Grammy and Papa, and it was fun to spend some family time in the pool.  Plus we scored some Tad's (snocones, shaved ice, whatever you want to call it), which is always a win. 

Oh!  and we actually convinced Ryann to jump in the pool by herself without one of us catching her, with her puddle jumper on of course.  It only cost me a $5 bribe, but hey.  She did it.

Elsie is such a character.  I can hardly stand it sometimes.  There is so much freaking personality in our house between those two girls.  It can get a bit crazy and over the top, but I love them so much!

camera remote fun

Just over a week ago, Elsie and I were hanging out at home while Ryann was at school.  I was attempting to clean while playing with Elsie a little bit too, but she kept whining about wanting sissy.  "Ryann? Are you?!? Ryann! Sissy!" I'd repeat to her over and over that she was at school but she just kept whining.  So I ended up busting out my camera and the remote to kill some time.

I was a hot mess because I had ran that morning and didn't have a chance to shower yet, but I went with it.  First I did a couple and then showed Elsie the pictures.

Then I handed over the remote to the little miss...

Thank goodness for digital technology because she was having a blast. She kept wanting to go right up to the camera and take pictures, but of course it couldn't focus, so she'd get frustrated that it wasn't 'clicking'. But it kept her entertained.

elsie - nineteen months

I keep trying to pretend Elsie is still my little bitty baby, and then she goes and starts putting together three word sentences or phrases and has a serious opinion (and a mad temper!) and shows me that she sure as heck is becoming a full on toddler.  The fact that she is a heck of a lot of fun makes that realization a little easier to handle.

I didn't weigh Elsie this month, I'd guess she is somewhere around 26 pound mark.  She is filling out 2T leggings (legging weather, YES) from Target, though they are a little long.  Same thing with the 2T shirts.  Eventually I know she'll slim down, and I foresee her being in a 2T for a long time, but we'll see!  Shoes are still somewhere between a four and a five, and she is also still wearing a size four diaper.  All of Elsie's 1 year molars have made their way in, and has still only cut one of the canine teeth.  Teething hasn't been terrible for her, but I'll still be thrilled when we're done with it!

Elsie loves to play with doll houses and little dolls.  My parents have the big loving family doll house at their place, and she loves it.  She especially loves putting each of the little characters on the toilet, saying 'poop' and then flushing it.  One would think that maybe she is inching closer to potty training, but HECK NO.  She cries if I try and sit her on the potty.  I'm in no rush to potty train her, at all.  I learned my lesson with Ryann.  But man, it would be nice she at least had an interest.  She still hates pooping and resists it as much as she can.  She'll kill me for this when she is older, but see the don't wanna poop stance below...

Food is still a big motivator for Elsie.  She loves to eat.  But as the months go on she is less willing to eat everything.  Shrimp is a definite no.  She has tried it multiple times and just spits it out.  She isn't a huge fan of many vegetables, however she'll eat a squeezy of straight vegetables without a problem, so it can't be a taste thing.  I have no idea.  She is obsessed with bread, but isn't much of a cracker girl.  If I give her raisins and goldfish she will eat all the raisins and maybe a few of the goldfish before moving on.

Elsie is definitely a better sleeper than Ryann is and was.  E goes to bed between 7:45 and 8:15, and usually sleeps until at least 6:30-6:45, but also often sleeps until 7 or later.  Nap time has been interesting throughout the month.  She usually sleeps at least two hours, but sometimes it takes her FOREVER to actually lay down and go to sleep.  She's started taking more and more 'buddies' to bed with her and sometimes they all have to play a bit.  But aside from a few days she doesn't really complain much once she is actually in her crib.  If you ask her if she is tired or wants to go to bed she always says no and runs the other direction.

headband

E's vocabulary has been ever growing, but it is starting to explode.  The words aren't always super clear, but if you really REALLY pay attention she is speaking in two to three word sentences.  Seriously a lot of times she is just talking super fast.  It is really funny.  Some of my favorite phrases this month have been hi guys! no fun! come on and play it (with) me.  Those last two have really cut in to my dish washing time, haha.  It is hard to tell her no when she runs in to the kitchen saying "come on! mama! play it me!" and grabs my hand trying to drag me to the other room.  The other day I asked her if she wanted peanut butter and jelly or a hot dog for lunch, she replied "no ot dog, jelly! elsie eat jelly!" She'll bring me a book, aggressively throw it at me and say "mama eed it!"  We're working on being a little more gentle with that.  And if someone is upset, or a toy falls down, she'll run up and say "it's o-tay it's o-tay" in the cutest little whisper voice.  I die from the cuteness almost every time.

The first two weeks of MDO were kind of tough.  Elsie cried at the first drop off and didn't sleep that first day.  She screamed bloody murder the next week, but she took a nap.  By week three though?  No tears.  And they got to do a little dot painting project and she was so excited to show me and said "boop boop boop!" describing how she put the paint on the paper.  I wouldn't say she loves 'school' yet, but she doesn't hate it quite as much.  Last week when I picked her up, one of the caregivers mentioned she loves food and she loves her belly button.  Yep, you've got her pegged.  She really is a pretty simple girl.  Haha.

Elsie is great with her body parts, and can sort of count to 10 as long as she is somewhat prompted.  She rarely names colors correctly, but she can sort things by color and match shapes and such.  I can tell she is just getting smarter and smarter, her capacity for retaining memories is growing.  She can recount different parts of her day to me.  That has been one of my favorite developments.  It is so cute to listen to her choppy word by word description of things.

She is starting to love books.  Longer ones, that she finds in sissy's room.  She loves coloring.  She likes baby dolls.  Songs have become a HUGE hit.  Wheels on the Bus is her favorite, but really anything with hand motions gets her excited.  She loves giving hugs and kissys to her family.  Her Jayhawk obsession continues, we've talked about getting Jayhawk pajamas so she can wear them more often without me having to sacrifice days out of her adorable wardrobe.

Happy (slightly belated) 19 months sweet girl.  I'm so thankful you're in my life, I love you to pieces!

that's what she said

It's been too long since I've recorded some of Ryann's verbal shenanigans...

Ryann:  After it's done it's gonna be fun!  That's just an old phrase I found in my head.

Ryann:  Wanna hear a knock knock joke?
Me:  Sure.
Ryann:  Knock knock!
Me:  Who's there?
Ryann:  Bean stalk!
Me:  Bean stalk who?
Ryann:  Bean stalking yooouu!
Um what? Hahahaha.

Ryann:  I know we don't usually do this, but I'd like another snack now.  Pleeeeease! Bats eyelashes.

Ryann:  used in the correct context WHITE TRUCK APPROACHING!! Mom, what the heck does approaching mean?

while I was bending over, putting on Elsie's shoes
Ryann:  Mom, I gotta tell you something.
Me:  Ok...
Ryann:  I love pickles.  Wanna hear something else?
Me:  Sure.
Ryann:  I can see your bum crack!
Well at least I know she'll tell me if my butt is hanging out.

elsie's unfortunate dentist visit

Confession.  Ryann is nearly 4.5 years old, and she has never been to the dentist.  I don't know why I keep putting it off, I just have never made her an appointment.  Major mom fail.  I'm completely aware.  I don't need anyone to tell me how horrible that is.  Moving on.  Elsie is the one who pushed us to make our first pediatric dentist trip, but unfortunately it wasn't for a regular check-up or cleaning.

On Thursday the girls and I met up with a friend at their neighborhood pool.  With school in session now, we had the place to ourselves.  It was great.  The girls all played in the pool, we brought our lunch, I had some adult conversation.  Winning all around, right?  Well while we were getting ready to go, all the girls were laying on their towels drying off, so naturally I decided to take a picture.  I was trying to convince them to look at me, so in true toddler fashion Elsie stood up and walked away.  Just walked, not ran, for the record.  I continued to take a picture of Ryann and Kamryn, but before I could even press the button, Elsie tripped.

She fell inches before reaching a lounge chair, so despite putting her arms out to catch herself, she took the brunt of the impact on her mouth, directly on the end support of the chair.  Her hands slipped just underneath the chair.  I quickly scooped her up and saw blood pooling on her lip.  I could clearly see two teeth marks on her bottom lip so I cuddled her while holding a towel over the wound to try and stop the bleeding.  After just a little while that mark didn't seem to be bleeding all that much, but E was still spitting out a fair amount of blood and screaming.  I opened her mouth and pulled back her lips to get a better look inside her mouth, and that is when I noticed her teeth didn't look right.

I started to panic on the inside, while trying to keep it together and quickly pack up our things.  Thankfully Chris's morning clinic had been cancelled, I had a text message saying he was at home.  I called him and told him that Elsie had fallen and I needed him to look at it.  Basically, don't even think of leaving for your afternoon until I get home.  Elsie continued to cry and spit out blood.  I felt so bad for her.  She went in and out of sleep during the 15 minute ride home, screaming every time she woke up.  When we got home I laid her down on her changing pad so Chris could take a look.  He confirmed what I already knew, her teeth had been pushed up into her gums.  He said it was worse than he thought it was going to be.

After giving Elsie a dose of Tylenol I called our pedi's office, they told me a nurse would call me back.  Chris went to work searching for a pediatric dentist to call.  In the meantime I sat with Elsie in her room and she passed out.  Chris ended up finding a dentist close by that said yes we needed to bring her in, they'd work her in when we got there.

We let Elsie sleep for about 20 minutes before loading everyone in the car.  After this point Elsie did great.  The Tylenol must have kicked in because she didn't really cry much for the rest of the afternoon (until she got so incredibly tired from only getting a 20 minute nap).  When we got to the dentist we were quickly called back.  They did a quick exam of her mouth and took an x-ray.  The image showed a better outcome than I was expecting.  Her right tooth had barely moved up at all (and honestly I can't tell much of a difference in that one now).  The left had shifted the most, moving up and twisting sideways a bit.  But her permanent tooth buds were still in line with each other and didn't seem to have been disturbed.  He noted there is a possibility of her teeth turning grey because of the bruising that occurred in the gums, and something about the blood, but otherwise she should be just fine.  He said that if he attempted to reposition the tooth there was a good chance it would just fall out.  So now she's left with this...

Oh that makes me so sad.  I know it is just a tooth, and eventually it will fall out and her permanent teeth will come in, and their are always braces to straighten those.  But we've spent a little time mourning the loss of her old smile.  And really seeing it just makes me cringe thinking of how much it must have hurt for her teeth to get shoved up like that.

Overall she has done great.  She is on antibiotics just in case any bacteria was shoved up in to her gums with her teeth.  And occasionally she has said her mouth hurts, so we've given her Tylenol.  But she hasn't complained at all today.  We've also avoided any harder foods, just because I don't know, I'd think her teeth would still be sore?  It sounded like a good idea.  A little bit of exploration on google gives me hope that her tooth might come back down in to place, but I don't know if it will since it is so crooked.  I'm just glad she didn't get hurt any worse.