A new school year for both my babies!

So it is another school year and both of my kids will be in school. Oak will be starting her first year of Preschool, going two days a week and Mac will be starting Kindergarten half days.

I have had mixed emotions about it all. With Oak being gone I will have an empty house, for 2.5 hours, twice a week. That sounds awesome and at the same time makes me sad. Awesome because hopefully I will get alot done and sad because I was hoping I would at least have a baby to be taking care of.

With Mac, I was very excited for him to have the new adventure. At first I was a bit worried about how he would do academically and behaviorally. He is pretty smart, catches on quickly, gets bored easily and is quite the class clown. Seems like a recipe for failure, but as time went by, I realized he will be just fine. What my main concern and great source of anxiety was sending him off to the care of others when he has a severe food allergy. I just didn't know what to expect on how to handle it and how they would handle it. To say I have been stressed about it is a super understatement. After a blessing from my Hubs and talking with his teacher and the school office and preparing Mac I am feeling much better about it. Now onto setting up a good routine for us and making sure I am making our home and family a safe haven from the world that I have just sent my son into.

For FHE Monday night we did Father's Blessings. And daddy gave me one too to help ease the anxiety I have had. 

Mac sat so reverently while he got his blessing. 

Oak sat on my lap to get hers.

Then the next day was Preschool.

Oak is going just across the street where big brother has gone for the last two years. 

I tried to make it a special morning like I have done for Mac the last two years, but I failed miserably.

Thankfully, I don't think she noticed. The morning went by so quick and then before I realized it, it was 8:25 and she wasn't dressed, hair wasn't done and she hadn't eaten breakfast. Did her hair and got her dressed quickly and got a text from her teacher at 8:35 asking if we were coming. What?!? Looked at the calendar on the fridge and I had totally forgot she had changed the time from 9am to 8:30. So she scarfed down her breakfast. Took one quick picture then headed over as fast as we could. I HATE being late for anything and I am usually more on the ball than this. I am blaming my anxiety! 

What I thought would be me just dropping her off, turned into her clinging to me. She knows her teacher (our good friend and neighbor) and plays at her house at least once a month. She knows all the girls since they are all neighbors. It just was bizarre that she was being shy and clinging to me. Then I realized that maybe she didn't really realize that WHAT preschool actually was. After about ten minutes she was distracted enough to let me leave.

When it was over she came out running, giddy and just so excited about it. She had loved it!

(Today when I took her she clinged to me for just a couple of minutes. I sure hope this part gets better!)

Later in the day her teacher texted me this cute picture of her class.

While sister was at school I took Mac to get a haircut and over to his school to see who his teacher was and to see who was in his class.

Later in the afternoon we cleaned out and organized Mac's room to where it would be easier put his toys away and keep clean. And we added the nine cube shelf. He has loved it! And he is doing so great at putting his toys away when he is done playing. Hopefully it will last. 

Then the next morning was Mac's first day (and only day this week) of Kindergarten. It went a lot more smoothly. We started right off with the morning routine we hope to have. We will tweak it if necessary. But so far so good. He let me take pictures with out any problem! 

I seriously swoon when I see little ones wearing backpacks.
And my Mac, oh he is so handsome and cute!

Then off to school. Daddy came with us too!

A picture in front of the school sign.

Then to find his class room. 

Mac was so excited and not nervous one single bit!

He seperated all of his school supplies on the table for the teacher. I talked to his teacher about his allergy. We looked at her cute gerbal. Then it was hugs and goodbyes.

We were very excited about his teacher. We live in the little "one-stop-light" town my husband grew up in, and two of his sisters had his teacher when they were in grade school. I have heard great things about her.

Then when it was time to leave, this is how Oak reacted. Not out of jealousy but because she does not like to be without her brother. She did not want to leave without him. 

She was a sad girl. But we had plans for a donut date, just her and I.

And to help Mac and Oak in the morning with his routine so, I whipped this up. We don't have a color printer so it isn't all fancy. But they both already really enjoyed looking at it to see what to do and checking things off. If you couldn't tell the pictures mean: getting dressed, make bed, say prayer, read scriptures, eat breakfast, and brush teeth.

Oak at three!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFUL BABY GIRL!

WE LOVE YOU!

Her stats:

Height 41.5" 99%

Weight 40 lbs 98%

Doc says she is really smart and really healthy.

It is really hard to remember that this girl has been just TWO this last year. I feel like she should be turning at least four and then at the same time I don't know how three years could have gone by so fast. If you have met Oak, you know she is spunky and has quite the personality. She acts shy but once she trusts you she will talk your ear off and ask at least a million questions. In general she talks non stop, and she is the worlds biggest interrupter. She is a bit of a show off too and will grace you with her talent to get your attention back on her. She is a great sleeper and still does not get out of her bed unless we come and get her. Which is pure heaven! Most days she takes naps, sometimes she won't fall asleep at all. She used to be a great eater, not so much anymore. She isn't a huge breakfast eater, eats lunch great, but at dinner time she doesn't eat much. Maybe she is too busy, because she gets out of her seat at least thirty times while we are sitting down for dinner. If she does eat, she eats all her veggies and fruit first, her favorite. Her favorite foods are blueberries and plums and broccoli and cauliflower. But really she loves all fruit and veggies. She talks and acts like she is four or five which goes well with her size since she is wearing size 4/5(S) or 5T in most of her clothes. And her shoe size is 9/10 which happens to be the same size as her older brother. She loves to get dressed for the day and usually has an opinion on what she doesn't want to wear. She loves to wear skirts and at about 4 or 5 pm she always wants to put jammies on her comfies and also her socks. She always thinks she is cold even if it is 80 degrees in our house. She also loves sweaters like her mama! She can offically take her self potty with out any help from me, yahoo! When I do her hair she always asks for one big pony tail or for me to just comb it out. She dislikes when I would like to do more. Her hair is reddish and when done right is full of ringlets, but most of the time it ends up looking like a lions mane. She is really good at getting her brother in trouble or trying to get her brother in trouble. She is a big tattler! She also know just what to do so that it bugs her brother so that he will do something to hurt her and get into trouble. Drives me NUTS! She loves to cuddle and hug and kiss. She is always telling us she loves us, and it melts me every time. She can write her name all by herself, she gets all the letters right but usually has them out of place just a bit. She is obsessed with writing letters and she constantly has a pencil or crayon and piece of paper in hand. Her favorite colors are pink and purple and brown because her eyes are brown. She is very aware of her brother's tree nut allergy and asks everyone if the food has nuts in it and then will state that she is NOT allergic to nuts but her brother is. She loves to mother her babies and her brother. She is naturally a nurturer. She constantly talks about the babies in her tummy and we are required to keep a safe distance as to not hurt them or we are to be quiet so we don't wake them. She loves to pick raspberries from our garden, and she will search and search until she finds every last one. Her favorite movie is Despicable Me, and she quotes it constantly. She doesn't really like princess movies except Tangled. She loves worms and bugs and will search and pick them up. She knows how to have a good time and loves to rough house and be silly. She makes the best faces, especially when she is annoyed or mad or frustrated. We die laughing when ever she does them. She has the sweetest little voice and love listening to the sound of it because it makes her seem so little still. She rarely throws fits but she is down right stubborn and will stand her ground when she doesn't want to do something. She is so loving and protective of her family and friends. We love this beautiful girl so much and are so grateful she is in our family. She is truly a miracle and we are so grateful and love her birthparents and birthfamily. 

Another Dentist visit!

It has been six months and the kids had another dentist visit for cleaning. This was Oak's second time and she did even better this time than the last time. She let the hygenist do everything and the hygenist even had her giggling. However when the Dentist came over to look in her mouth she got scared and almost didn't let him look. She braved up and and opened her mouth just enough. 

Mac has been going since he was three. He got x-rays this time and I assume he has no cavities since they didn't say. The Dentist was however concerned about a two-year molar that has not fully erupted. We are going to have to go to an oral surgeon to get a second opinion on what to do. (which will get expensive since we have NO dental insurance!!) They just want to make sure it isn't going to interfere with his adult teeth coming in. I hope they won't have to do anything, although I am concerned that they will end up doing surgery and pull it. YIKES on a lot of different levels! 

A little bit about our Oak...

 Oak is in a stage I think a lot of kids, probably mostly girls, go through. I knew it would happen eventually with her. She likes to changes her clothes...A LOT! On average she goes through about three outfits a day. At least one of those outfits is her ballerina clothes, and another would be a skirt of some sort. Sometimes she has such an urge, like this morning, that she gets down in the middle of breakfast to go find something else to wear. I feel like my laundry load has doubled all of a sudden and there are clothes strewn about the house constantly. Most of the time I just go with the flow and let her change as much as she wants, but someways it just wears on me. But mostly I am just grateful I have this beautiful little girl in my life and I get to watch her go through all of these cute and typical girl stages.

She also has a favorite sweater that she has to be wearing at all times. Awake and asleep. She calls it her "cozy sweater" because, as she says, "It's SO comfortable." She has to show and tell everyone about it.

She is starting to learn her letters. She recognizes about ten letters correctly (A, B, W, T, F, L, O, S, V, M are the ones I can think of). She can write the letter A, although it is usually upside down.

She can quote movies really well. She will just randomly blurt them out through out the day. The other day she had gone potty and hadn't put her underwear on yet but was up at the sink washing her hands. As she was playing around in the sink and trying to wash her hands, she started shaking her little bare bum and started yelling, 'BEST DAY EVER!" from Tangled.

She can do the whole potty thing pretty much on her own, with out much help. Although, playing in the sink and making a huge mess when she should be washing her hands has been a bit of a problem.

She talks REALLY well!

Big words I have heard her use recently: comfortable, disappointed, respectful.

Phrases she uses that crack me up: "You betcha!" and "Sure is!"

She doesn't say her R's very well and words like "more" sounds like "maww".

She has a great memory and remembers everything.

Funnies:

Grandma Wilma was staying the night and Oak kept on asking her (as if she was worried that she wouldn't stay) if she was staying the night. Daddy was taking Oak to bed and asked him if Grandma was staying the night and he said yes. Then she said, "Don't let her leave, okay?" We were cracking up!

Oak woke up in the morning and I went to get her. She asked if Grandma was still at our house (because she had stayed the night). She then said, "Mom, don't let me forget, I have a presentation for her, but I need to color it." A little while later I was getting stuff out for her to color her "presentation" and told her she could color it now, and she said, "Not right now mom."

I went to get her out of bed one morning and she said to me, "Mommy, my nose isn't working!!" and then said she couldn't smell anything. So cute!

Oak 2.5

Oak's stats:

38 lbs (97th %tile)

3'2.5" (38.5 inches) (95th %tile)

Can I just say how much I love this girl?! Oh my, she drives me crazy in so many different ways, good and bad. But I wouldn't change a thing about her. I pretty much could kiss her cheeks all day. And her smile pretty much kills me on the spot. 

AND she will be two and a half tomorrow! Seriously, why is time going by so fast?! She won't be a toddler much longer, she will be closer to three than two and she will start preschool in the fall. In two short months she will be the same age McCoy was when she was born...what?!?! (I sure hope she gets to be a big sister soon, because she will totally rock at it!)

Oak at two and a half is quite the firecracker.

--It is her mission in life to do exactly the opposite of what she should or shouldn't do.

--She makes it very hard to get out the door to anywhere and I have to give myself extra time for chasing her around, putting her coat on three times and/or a temper tantrum about leaving just so I can get some place on time.

--She is obsessed with "bad" words. Hear's every "S-word" in every movie or show, and tells us when someone says something they shouldn't. (We are talking about little kid "bad" words here).

--She loves the movie Tangled and she has to watch it while Mac is at Preschool. She has a bit of a crush on Eugene (she never calls him Flynn Ryder).

--She also quotes movies constantly and repeatedly retells her favorite and not favorite parts of the latest movie we have seen.

--She is obsessed with peoples emotions and body language. She is constantly asking why someone says something, or makes a certain sound or face when they do something. We can hardly get through a book without her interrupting asking why someone's face looks like it does. 

--She HAS to run and give her brother a hug after he is done with Taekwondo. He really hates that she does that.

--She hates waking up in the morning and finding out daddy has already left for work.

--She can give quite the stink faces when she is mad.

--She is quite good at pouting and does the whole arm folded and head hanging, whimpering thing. Very dramatic.

--She is a great eater, except when she wants to act like her brother and pretend to be picky.
--He favorite food is veggies, she even downed some brussel sprouts the other night and asked for more. But her favorite veggie would be cauliflower and broccoli is a close second.

--We just took the side of her crib off and she seems to be doing great. 

--When she is put to bed, she has to have all her favorite stuffed animals surrounding her, her two favorite blankies on top of her, her bear of course and her dream light going and you have to sing her favorite song (for the week) which is currently "I am like a star". Sometimes she asks for us to blow the spookies out of her room if she is a bit scared.

--She doesn't move much when she sleeps and usually still has her blankies on top of her in the morning.

--She goes to bed at 8pm and will wake up between 6:30 and 7:30. She takes one nap but I think she is gradually growing out of that. A couple of times a week she won't fall asleep at all after I have put her down for a nap. Not excited about that.

--She talks in full sentences and can completely communicate exactly what she wants to. She actually talks alot like a 3 to 4 year old does.

--She wears size 4T shirts and dresses. And is still okay in size 3T pants but is starting to grow out of some of those, but 4T pants are too big still.

--Her hair is curly but thin, so I have to comb it out often so it doesn't look so scraggly.  She is great about sitting and letting me do her hair. It  has red highlights so in some light it looks pretty red.

--She is fully potty trained day and night and has been since October  She is really good at telling us when she needs to go, so I don't have to be asking her all the time. She still needs a bit of help in the bathroom, but we are working on her being a bit more independent with that.

--She likes to put on her own clothes by herself most of the time.
--She asks everyday if she can wear her "Go Beaver" shirt, which is obviously her favorite.

--She loves her baby dolls and takes really great care of them. She loves to wrap them up and feed them and is always patting their heads and backs.

--She also loves real babies and when she sees one she goes crazy excited.

--She loves dogs just as much and also gets crazy excited when she sees one.

--She is getting better at not stealing food, but she still has a problem with mooching food from others.

--She loves to help with housework and anything that I don't really want her help with. But when it comes to helping by doing what I ask her to, like clean her room or take stuff to her room, she refuses.

--She is so fun and funny and when she isn't throwing a fit she is laughing or trying to make someone else laugh.

--She can say prayers completely on her own and mimics most of her brothers prayers. Her and Mac always fight over who GETS to say the prayer.

--She can tell you the month of her birthday when you ask her and will hold her two fingers and say two when asked how old she is.

--She never stops moving, and is just a busy busy girl.

--She is constantly telling us she loves us and that we are her favorite or her best friend, or just the best in the whole world.

--She has a love/hate relationship with nursery at church. She talks about it non stop and can't wait to go, but then once it is time to go, gets scared, then gets talked into it and is usually fine while in there. She also is the escape artist and escapes a few times every week. The door handles are such that they can't put the safety things on them. She loves her two nursery leaders and always says hi to them at church.

--She loves to shake the Bishops hand. One week he didn't come by and shake our hand like he usually does and Oak noticed and asked why. So I took her up to the stand right before church started so she could shake his hand. The bishop loved that and thanked me for bringing her up.

Can you tell she has quite the personality? I could go on and on about her.

She is so amazing and we love her to bits.
I can not believe she is two and a half!

two big girls...

I finally decided to be a big girl and let my baby girl be a big girl too. Oak has been very ready for us to make her crib into a big girl bed. I however, have not been ready. But last Saturday I all of a sudden decided I wanted to do it and when I told Oak she was very excited. She played right next to me as I tried to figure out how to get the railing off. And destroyed her room in the process, my little tornado. Once the side was off she could hardly contain herself (either could big brother). 

She did much better with it than I could have anticipated. She only fell out with a thud once. Although she didn't sleep very soundly and she kindof had a grumpy week because she wasn't getting enough sleep. But I think she is good now. She also knows to not get out until we come and get her. Which was my biggest fear in the transition.

I also saw the idea on Pinterest to put a pool noodle under the sheet to help them not fall out. Oak hates having it on her bed, so she takes it out usually and we put it back in after she falls asleep. But really I don't think she needs it much any more. Our biggest problem so far has been her dropping her bear and she knows she can't get out of her bed so she yells for us to come and get it for her. 

Oak's first dentist visit...

Oak had her first dentist visit last week. She did so great! I have been continually impressed with the hygienists at this office, they are serious miracle workers when it comes to getting kids to cooperate. Mac has been going since he turned three and he is always SO excited to go. He cooperates for everything they need to do to clean his teeth. And if any of you know my son, you know how amazing that is. 

Anyway, Oak let the hygienists count and polish her teeth. We had to wait awhile for the dentist to come since he was doing actual work on a patient. So by the time he got to her, she wouldn't open her mouth. Mac was helping trying to coax her and show her what to do. And as soon as the dentist was telling me how we would sit knee to knee and lay her down between us, she opened her mouth for him to see. The first thing he said was, "Is she a right thumb sucker?" It is pretty obvious when you look at her teeth. When she smiles her top teeth aren't sitting flat to her bottom teeth. But the dentist said we don't need to worry until permanent teeth come in. I am grateful that she only sucks her thumb with her bear and that we can get rid of the bear at any point to get her to stop. Right now she only gets it when she takes a nap and goes to bed for the night. 

Mac had his teeth cleaned at the same time. He did great and I wasn't even with him, because I was helping Oak in a different chair. I was a bit disappointed that our favorite hygienists wasn't there. But the other two that worked on my kids were still great. Neither of my kids got x-rays. Mac had them done his last visit in June. 

This girl...

Look at her!! Could I be any luckier to be her mom?!

Let me tell you, cuteness and spunk radiate from this girl.

She is way smarter than any barely two year old should be.

She can sing every word to at least 10 Primary songs without any help.

(A typical face Oak makes when she is talking)

Her vocabulary is amazing and she speaks in full sentences without a problem.

She pretty much can talk non stop, especially in the car.

Her facial expressions while talking are to die for, seriously.

She mimics EVERYTHING her big brother does.

She loves her bear and there is no tricking her if you swap it out for a clean one.

She only sucks her thumb when she is holding her bear.

She is great at sitting still while I do her hair.

And the best of all she is now FULLY potty trained!!!(day AND night)

I love this girl with every fiber of my being...I don't ever want to live with out her. EVER!!

Things Oak at two!

She had her 2 year check up:

Weight: 32 lbs (95th percentile)

Height: 36 in (95th percentile)

Head: 20 in (off the chart)

She didn't have to get any shots because her appt was one day short of the six month mark in between her needed Hep shot. I will take her in next week to get it real quick.

About Oak...

Some words she has recently added to her vocabulary and uses regularly and correctly and it makes me laugh everytime because she is just too young: "maybe", "though", "forgot"

she is really into changing her clothes constantly. I find several pairs of clean and dirty pants throughout the house each day. She also really loves to put socks on.

She wants to get dressed herself. She knows she can't do it sometimes and whines for help and you try to help her then she freaks out because she wants to do it herself and it goes back and forth until the new clothes item is finally on and she is happy until she wants to change them again.

she is a food stealer and really much rather eat the food on someone elses plate. We have gotten her to eat numerous times by sneaking her food onto our plate and telling her not to eat our food.

she is quite the mess maker in every aspect of her cute little self. If she is eating she either makes a mess on purpose or on accident, if she is playing she dumps out anything she can find to dump out, if she wants to change her clothes everything in her drawers is dumped and there will be discarded clothes throughout the house.

She has quite the temper sometimes and has thrown little fits when she doesn't get her way. We have also started time outs with her.

She is very smart and remembers everything.

She is a very busy girl and does not hold still ever.

She can count to 15.

Her hair is getting longer and I have been having fun doing it in something other than a piggies.

She loves her big brother. Every time he gets done with Taekwondo she runs to him and gives him a big hug and tells him, "I so proud of you!" in the cutest high pitched voice.

She hits, pulls hair, bites and scratches her brother alot!

We hear "I do it!!" alot!

She talks non stop, especially in the car. She hardly ever sleeps in the car, so you are in for it when you take her anywhere in the car. She asks question after question and you have to repeat and acknowledge everything she says or she repeats it. It actually drives me crazy sometimes, but is cute too.

She has started asking "Why?" alot...already. I thought that didn't happen until about three.

She pretty much talks in complete sentences.

She loves to help clean or do chores around the house.

She mimics EVERYTHING her brother does, especially if it is something I would prefer children no do, like potty talk and garbage words.

Filling out the 24 month questioneer from the doctor, I was able to mark that she could do everything on the list.

Some funnies from her lately:

She was at the fridge playing with her Leap Frog magnetic letters. She all of a sudden realized they weren't straight in order ( I put them in alphabetical order to make sure I have them all.) and scattered all over the fridge. She started yelling, "Acoy NO! NO!...all messies! NO! NO! Acoy! All messies!!" Then she went into Mac and starts yelling the same thing to him and then wanders back to the fridge and starts straightening the magnets. Hubs and I were dying laughing and thought it was hilarious that she was blaming Mac for something.

Mac just got home after being gone for two night with Daddy. And Oak was so excited that she kept on licking Mac's head. Mac thought it was hilarious!

As i was telling Oak to not stand on the couch, she looks at me very serious and says, "Mom, it's FINE I stand on the couch!" Umm excuse me?! What a firecracker! ♥