Four Year Well Visit

Today was Gigi's four year well visit to the pediatrician.

My "big" girl is now 24 pounds and 35" tall. She is still tiny, but she is steadily growing at her own pace so the pediatrician says she is doing great.

Her blood pressure was checked as well as her hearing and her eyesight. Everything was great - her eyesight was checked WITH glasses.

My poor baby was due for immunizations. I felt terrible for her, this was the first year she actually cared about getting shots. Every time before she would actually sit up and watch and just barely flinch. This year she wailed! MY poor baby!

The pediatrician says that health wise, she is doing fabulous!

So then I brought up Gigi's behavior to the pediatrician, (whici is becoming increasingly difficult to deal with) hoping to get some tips on discipline or at the very least, be reassured that this is all typical four year old behavior.

Well, this was not to be the case. Being that Gigi decided to have one of her tantrums right there in the exam room, the pediatrician had us stick around for nearly two hours, asking me questions, then asking others to Gigi. giving Gigi objects to play with just to see what she would do with them. Taking Gigi into different rooms of the building to give her a change of settings. Simply observing as she played on the floor.

In the end, this is what I was told;

Some of her behavior IS that of a typical four year old. However, much is not. The pediatrician sees signs and symptoms in Gigi that suggest the presence of

1. Gifted
2. ADHD
3. ODD

Now, she didn't mean that she thinks Gigi may have one of these, but that she has ALL of these. Further testing is needed to officially diagnose any/all of these theories, but thi the opinion at the moment. The pediatrician also made certain things very clear to me;

1. She dislikes labeling children, but to help her we need to have a written diagnosis
2. The combination of these three factors is not as common as having only one or even two
3. Due to the complexity of the combination, it WILL require professional intervention
4. Standard discipline of time outs, loss of privileges etc will not (and have not) work for her
5. Medication is an absolute last resort
6. If we do not intervene early, she will be labeled and probably kicked out of public schools

A few things I am certain of;

1. I WILL gain control of my child and give her the tools necessary to control herself
2. This is NOT an excuse for continued poor behavior
3. I will do whatever it takes; parenting classes, family therapy etc. to deal with this
4. I will NOT medicate my child
5. We will turn these "factors" into something positive that can work to her advantage in the future
6. This will NOT define my child
   

So, first thing we are doing is changing her diet. We are to keep her on an ADHD diet for two weeks, then slowly add back the forbidden foods one item at a time.

The pediatrician will be out of town next week, but I will follow up with her the week of the 14th. I wil keep everyone updated.

Four Year Pics

Cinderella Party

This year, Gigi wanted a Cinderella Party for her birthday, so that's what we did! Her actual birthday fell on a weekday this year, so we had her party the Sunday before, on the 24th.

I made Cinderella decorations and placed them around the lanai and on a birthday banner. I made a Cinderella cake and some cupcakes on the side. We rented a bounce house and I set up a craft for the kids to do, which worked out great since we got a quick storm in the midst of the party.

Gigi had a fabulous time and I'm pretty sure all of her guests did as well!

Happy Birthday my little Princess!! Mama loves you to the moon and back! ;)

Making Moves!!

This week J started crawling!! I can not believe my little boy is already making moves! Gigi didn't actually crawl until the end of 7 months, almost 8 months. She did a little "scoot" on her bottom before she decided to crawl. :)

He attempted his first moves on the night of the 11th. You can see he is kind of struggling and tires easily.




Just a few days later he was improving drastically. This video was on the 16th.

Graduation Day

Today was the last day of "Tiny Tots", the free preschool program ran by the parks department that Gigi has been attending for two years now. So, it was "graduation" day. This is the second graduation Gigi has had at tiny tots. Usually the kids go on the REAL preschool the next year, but Gigi started tiny tots so early, she still wasn't eligible for preschool yet.

So, this was her second time doing this same ceremony, so you would think she'd be a pro. Wrong. She was in quite an awful mood this morning! She did not want to even get her cap and gown on when we first got there. I pleaded, I bargained, I threatened, I bribed..nothing worked. Finally I said "Enough! If you don't want to - we're going home!" I took her by the hand and walked out. Halfway through the parking lot she started to cry, saying she wanted to go back. So, of course, we did.

She let me put the cap and gown on and got into line with all her little classmates, but still had an attitude. When it came time for the procession, she didn't want to walk down the aisle. When it was time for them to sing, she just stood there.

She didn't begin to lose the attitude and start to warm up until AFTER the ceremony was over and it was time for the brunch.

At least we were able to get a couple of pictures out of her at that point.

Her teacher, Miss Mindy

I was SO embarrassed though! And the worst part is, my dad had just flown in the day before so he witnessed this behavior first hand. ARRRGGHHH!!

Oh well, it's over - thank goodness! :)

Just being Cute

My mom wanted to put curlers in Gigi's hair the other night, although Gigi's hair is naturally curly...

Anyway, the little ham decided to start posing, so of course my mom grabbed the camera!

And, NO, she was not coached to pose like this! This is just her!

J's Six Month Pictures

So my little man is six months old now. :(

It was time to update his pictures. My mom just got a new camera, so I decided to borrow it and have some fun.

I am very pleased with the way these pics came out! So much so that I have decided to skip the normal JcPenney shoot.

Yes, yes...I am quite proud of myself! :)

These are just a few of the over 100 shots I did... (yeah I went a little crazy!)

Enjoy!

Eating Veggie Puffs

At J's 6 month appointment the pediatrician mentioned that we could start giving J some of the Gerber Puff snacks - mainly to help him learn how to pick things up.

So I bought the sweet potato variety (since he hasn't had fruit yet) and let him try them out.

I sat him in the swing and poured out a few puffs on his tray. He just looked at them at first, unsure of what to think.

To give him some incentive to try and pick them up I placed one in his mouth so he would realize it's a tasty treat.

Well, he liked it and decided he would try to get more for himself. Bu did he reach for them and pick them up??? NO! He decided the best way to get those yummy snacks would be to lunge at them with open mouth!

I desperately tried to get video, but was unsuccessful. It was quite a sight!

New Floors!

The front room (the room you walk into from the front door) in our house is intended to be a living room and dining room combo.

It was this for maybe the first 6 months we lived here. It has now transformed into half office, half school/play room. We have a family room and an eat-in-kitchen in the back of the house so this was just extra space in my opinion.

Well, the previous owners of this home had a dog - so between what was already left behind from the dog and the new marks left by our two cats and our then infant daughter - we eventually HAD to remove the carpet. It was so horrible, no amount of cleaning did anything. I was sick of looking at it. Unfortunately, we didn't have the money at the time to replace the floors. So instead, hubby ripped out the carpeting and we were left with plain old concrete. I didn't care! It was better than that nasty carpet! To make it a bit more livable, we stained the concrete. It was a quick fix that only cost about $40 total. It was also supposed to be temporary - just a couple months while we saved up the money to buy new flooring.

Well, a couple months turned into just over one and a half years!

Finally, we found a great sale on laminate floors a couple months ago - just $0.49/sf!! And FINALLY hubby got around to installing!

I was quite proud of him - it took him only 4 hours from start to finish! And it looks sooo much better than that bare concrete!

Another plus side of this is that I gave me a chance to reorganize and clean up. I re-arranged a few things in the school/play room and am liking the change. I'll make a separate post with hose pics though!

Standing Up!

Little man is now pulling himself up to stand on just about everything these days. The table, even a flat wall, is enough for him to get himself upright.

He can get up even faster when he's angry :)

Free KFC Chicken!!

Today only, May 6 - go here to print a coupon good for one 2-piece Kentucky Grilled Chicken meal from KFC.

The meal includes 2 pieces of their new grilled chicken (manager's choice), 2 personal sides and one biscuit.

You can only print the coupon today, but you can redeem any dy (except Mother's Day) from now until May 19, 2009.

Get your printers on!

Thank you Oprah and KFC!!!

Go Shorty, It's Your Birthday!

Ahhh yes, reliving the bar hopping days with that one! Well, it's my last year before I turn THIRTY!! Certainly doesn't feel it.

Anyway, hubby surprised me with beautiful flowers and a delicious chocolate cake on my birthday!! Yummy!! We ate the cake for breakfast. :)

Then we had family over for a little celebration where there was yet more cake. My Weight Watchers leader will just *love* this!

I had a great time and received TONS of awesome gifts!

So thanks to everyone for making it a great day!

Product Giveaway From Scrubbing Bubbles

The first 3000 people to respond to this offer will receive one full size sample of Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel.

I have already responded. Hurry, go!!

http://www.rightathome.com/offers/0905RAHgift/?sid=offer&cid=rah200905pet&rid=117712492&om_rid=-N-eWv&om_mid=_BKAKx4B7tvrHIv&

"...they just walked away."

This was the response I received this morning when I asked Gigi where her glasses were, "I don't know...they just walked away."

Great.

And so the search begins.

Kmart Doubles Again!

Kmart is doing double coupons yet again. I was a bit disappointed at first when the ad stated that they would double coupons up to only $0.75 (meaning $1.50 off the item) - hardly seemed worth my gas to get there. But then after a quick call to corporate to see if my store was participating, they informed me that the ad was a misprint and that stores were actually doubling up to $2, just like last time!

So, I went through my coupon binder, got a list ready and made it to Kmart just before it opened this morning. I left the house telling hubby my goal was to spend no more than $10.

I came home with two bags of stuff and spent $9.70 out of pocket - that's including the almost $4 in tax. :)

This is what I came home with:

1 Sani Hands wipes for kids
1 Listerine
1 Lysol Neutra Air
2 Renuzit sprays
3 Carpet Fresh foam
4 Pledge dusters
4 Glade scented candle holders
2 Quaker mini boxes
2 Arm & Hammer dryer sheets
1 Huggies wipes

Not too shabby! I was pretty mad though because lots of shelves were empty, and since I was literally the second person to walk into the store, I know it's because they never restocked after the last doubles event. Grrrr!! Makes me mad!!

Anyhow, between this trip, the last Kmart doubles and all my Walgreen's shopping, I'm prety well stocked up on cleaning supplies and smell good stuff for a while. Nice to know I won't have to pay full price on any of this type of stuff for a lonnnngggg time! :)

6 month Well Visit

J had his 6 month well visit on Friday May 1st.

He now weighs 14 pounds, 8 ounces (10%) and is length is at 25.5 inches (25%).

Developmentally he is doing excellent and the pediatrician estimates he is at the normal development of an 8-9 month old.

She says were are doing great with introducing foods and should continue the same way we have been. Her only suggestion regarding his sudden dislike of cereal is to try different types of cereal (we've only given him rice cereal so far.)

He did get some shots :( but has had no fever or other reactions from them :)

All in all he is doing great!!

My New Clothesline

To further our attempts at becoming a more "green" family, hubby hung a clothesline for me recently.

I will admit first that I do not plan on using this exclusively. I do love the convenience of our dryer and I am just not ready to give that up. However, I do plan on using it for linens and of course for diapers.

It is hung below our fence line so it can't be seen from the street since our homeowner's association ( I don't like them much) does not allow them. It's not very long, but there are actually two lines hung so it's enough space for what I plan on using it for.

It does get full sun during the day (the pics were taken in the evening) and so far everything has usually dried in under 10 minutes. Plus there is the added bonus that the sun actually "bleaches" out the poop stains from J's diapers :)

Yet Another Cloth Diaper

So I still had fabric left over from my last cloth diaper making attempt, so I decided to try another making the adjustments that I noted last time I felt would be beneficial.

I somehow managed to sew on the Velcro crooked, but it's there. But I did add laundry tabs to keep lint from getting caught when it's washed. :)

I am happy to report that it held in a major poop perfectly as well as the pee! Nothing leaked out from anywhere - back, top or legs - and nothing seeped through the fabric.

On the other hand, I am a bit disappointed by how it washed - it is very pilly now - and I am not too happy with how bulky it is. It seems like a lot of extra padding on such a little boy!

I am trying to get a hold of some PUL fabric and I will try that out when I get it. Until then, I may try out a different type of fleece. I have read that the Anti pill microfleece fabric from Joann actually works well. We'll se!

Also, I have just ordered a set of snap pliers (and some snaps to go with it) so I don't have to use Velcro (which I have read does not last as long). I will definitely post when I get that, but it will take a while since it's coming from China!