Preschool!

Tuesday we had preschool orientation for both kids. Today was Julia actual first day of preschool. It is the same preschool she went to last year, she is just in the next class up. Now in the 4 and 5 year old class.

She was super excited and could not wait until preschool started. She has been taking about it for a long time!

She has to "pose" for pictures now!


Her purple sparkly backpack.

In front of the school.

Writing her name to sign in.

Jude thinking he should sign in too! (He goes on Tuesday mornings)

No tubes needed!!

Jude will not need tubes after all!! YEAH!

About three weeks ago, Jude started to get Croup again, so I took him to see our new family doctor. Because of his terrible hayfever and allergies, she suggested keeping him on Claritin all summer until the first hard frost. My previous pedi did not want to put him on it. I decided to give it a shot. Within just days the constant runny nose and congestion went away. I also noticed he was talking more.

We had the hearing test last week and they said all was fine.

Saw the ENT today and he said his ears looked clear and good. We discussed the fact that Jude has had Croup many times, and he said that Jude is just one of those kids who get Croup a lot. Nothing physically wrong, he will just get Croup most every time he gets sick. The Dr. did say that can tell Jude had allergies, but the Claritin seemed to really be helping him. He said I could considering taking Jude to a Pediatric allergist if I wanted. No need for tubes or anything else.

I have also noticed that since putting Jude on Claritin, his language/vocabulary has just EXPLODED!! I think the Claritin finally cleared the constant congestion in his ears and he can finally hear clearly.

I hate having him on a medicine all the time, but if his development is going to suffer without it, I can deal with the medicine.

He can hear

We had Jude's second hearing test last week. According to the audiologist, there is no issue with his hearing. We see the ENT tomorrow to go over the results and talk about his other issues, allergies and croup.

Julia and the waves...

Julia talked about going to the ocean for MONTHS! How she was going to swim in the ocean and play in the waves. That all went out the window once we got to the beach.


First day there, this is about as close as she would get to the waves.


Daddy decided to take her out a little.
She clung on to him with all her strength. (see her foot stick out of the water, she was really trying to stay out)

So by the end of day one, this is the farthest she would get to the waves. She really wanted water in her bucket for sandcastles, but did not want the wave to actually touch her! (Someone ended up having to get the water for her.)

By day two, she got braver, and would actually get her feet wet getting the water.

By day three, so was really getting brave.



It would have been nice to finish out our vacation, just to see how brave Julia would actually get. But alas, the hurricane had other plans.

The ocean

The last time we went to the ocean, Jude was only 5-6 weeks old. So this was a new experience for him. It was so neat to see him take it in. He loves water, so he thought it was great until he discovered the power of waves and undertow!


"This is great mom, the water runs over my feet."


"What is happening? The water is trying to pull me in!"

"ACK! It is attacking me!"


Jude finally realized that if he held someone's hand, he would not get swept away and could enjoy the waves.

Looking back at Bapa, giving him an ornery grin!

Vacation!

Vacation this year was a little crazy, with having to evacuate because hurricane Irene made landfall RIGHT WHERE WE WERE STAYING! I will be back later with all the fun details, but for now, here is a family picture of us at the beach.

My baby is TWO!

My baby boy turned TWO on Sunday!! He is getting so grown up! We had a party for him at Jerry and Debbie's house.


Jude is really into "choo-choo's" right now, so we had a train-themed party!



He was not too sure about the hats though....


Great-Grandpa Carl wore one though.


Jude loves hanging out with Carl.


Jude's present from us. An electric powered Jeep! (My neighbor was selling their's super cheap and it looked almost new. I got a GREAT deal on it)


Julia is showing him how it works.


Of course Jude got a train cake. I had fun making it. It took me the longest to mix up all the colors of frosting.



Singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candles.



The reason we had the party at Jerrod's parent's.... The POOL!!



We took a break from swimming to open presents.


Jude had a wonderful time. I have a hard time believing that my baby is already two.

More fair pictures

The Shelby County fair is still going on and the kids have been having a blast going.

Julia is all ready to show her pig.


Jude decided he had to wear is cowboy boots too since Julia was. He is just too cute!


Trying to get a picture of them together. Jude is such a ham!


Jude waiting on Julia to show her pig sitting with Mimi, Bapa and Great-grandpa Carl.


Julia is all done and now they are getting a snack watching their cousins show. Jude is such a flirt!


My dad and I have birthdays only 2 days apart, so we celebrated them together at the fair.


I don't let the kids ride the rides at the fair, so I let them have a pony ride yesterday. This was Jude's first time on a horse. It took him a minute or two to warm up to it and not be scared, but then he LOVED it.

Showing her pig

Julia showed her pig at the fair last night and had a BLAST!!

Unfortunately, the pig she was supposed to show got sick and could not go, so grandpa (my dad), had to pull one out of the back-ups which he was not sure was going to make weight. The pig ended up not making weight, but showed in the lightweight class. (Basically, you get to show it, but are not considered in the judging) Julia ended up having the only lightweight pig there, so she showed in a class all by herself! Once she realized the entire audience was watching her, she really hammed it up and showed off! She had a great time and is already asking when she can do it again.


Here she is at the wash-racks, waiting on the show to start and her pig to be called.


Showing her pig and strutting her stuff!


The judge commented on how he loved her red boots!


She is so grown up! Especially once I french braided her hair back.



All done showing and back in the pen


Helping the pig eat his food. This pig weighs around 220 pounds and she shows no fear!! My, my, she sure has blossomed from my super-shy little girl!

What we did this weekend

Guess what we did this weekend?

This was a common scene at our house over the weekend......


Yep, I potty-trained Jude this weekend. He has done GREAT!!!! The first two days were a bit rough, but I remember that from Julia too. Once Jude figured out he has to hold it until on the potty, he did great. Not a single pee accident from him yesterday!! I even took him to the fair in underwear yesterday and he stayed dry and used the restrooms there!!!

I am so proud of my big boy. I was worried that it was going to be much harder to potty-train Jude since I have always heard boys are harder than girls to train. Add to that fact that Jude will not even be two until Sunday, I am AMAZED how fast and relativity easy he was.

I will be so glad to be done with diapers. (He is still wearing one at night.)

Purple Hair!!

Julia has been begging for purple hair for months now. We decided that since it was summer, we would indulge her. Bought some semi-permanent hair color and last weekend I made the front of her hair purple!! Julia LOVED it!!



I did not leave it in as long as instructed and with all the swimming Julia does, it is already pretty faded, but that was the point. We might just color it again one more time this summer.

Hello

Have has been really busy. No time to blog, sorry. I will try to do better.

Here are two pictures from last night!