Aug 31-Sept 27: Coughers & Hackers

I'm posting only 1 blog entry for the month of September.  This month has been fraught with illness and exhaustion, so I decided that the blog entries were something that I could skip.  Of course, I then carried around procrastination guilt for the past month!  Hmm, trade-offs!  The month started with Elin and I both having a persistent cough.  That cough hung on all month and has finally, in just the past few days, released its hold on us girls.  Kent caught the cold a few weeks after Elin & I, but it still has a pretty good grip on him - he actually spent the past weekend under the influence of a fever.  Erik has also succumbed to the cold, which earned him a whole week off of school the last week of September.  There were nights when all 4 of us were lined up to use the nebulizer to get our breathing treatments!!

In order to get caught up (and to keep you from going cross-eyed reading a super long entry), I'm going to save most of the detailed kiddo update for next week's blog entry (ooh, did I just build some suspense there?!!) and instead show you lots of pictures!

Erik's class at school performed as Shabbat Stars on Friday, Sept 5.  Kent was able to attend the mini concert; Erik is always so pleased & proud when Kent comes to see him at school!

Erik with some of his classmates - Renner, Lars, Erik & Vance

Our main man

Cuties Pies in the audience - Kent & Elin

Elin loves to wrestle!  Whenever I lay down on the floor, she will immediately come over and climb onto my belly or back and sit there like a conquering hero!  She laughs and will then bounce up & down - which does wonder for my poor bladder!!  Elin will also try to "tackle" Erik if he lays on the floor:

I know it looks like hugging, but it's really wrestling!

Getting Dada

Who's winning?!

Erik has started to give Elin rides on the plasma car.  It is super cute and a great way to share a toy that is much in demand!

Erik & Elin sitting in the "treatment" chair, waiting for their turn on the nebulizer.  They get to watch Baby Einstein or Beginner Bible videos on YouTube while taking the treatment.  The socks on their feet are because they have Baby Vicks on the soles of the feet to help fight the cough.

Elin & I went to a birthday party for our Sabbath School friend, Kennedi, early in the month of September before getting super sick.

Elin, Victoria & Addison

Birthday Girl Kennedi

A visit to a local playground with more friends from Sabbath School. We had a wonderful & delicious pancake breakfast.  One of the little girls, Nora, just loves Elin and is a great little playmate & babysitter!

We visited a new indoor playground for kids called Lucky Monkey with the Zbaraschuks and the Cochran's.  It was raining outside and our power had just gone out before we left the house.  It was a great time to leave the house since the A/C was off and it was almost immediately evident!

Pictures of how Elin "helps" me in the kitchen:

Yep, that's a box of granola dumped all over the floor

Elin loves to take things out of one cabinet, carry them around and hide them in another cabinet (I've got to keep a close eye on where she goes with stuff!)

I've been taking the kids on lots of walks lately as the cooler fall weather has arrived. Ha, ha, I have to laugh as I type that!  Cooler weather means low 90's and slight breezes; it's really the storm fronts that have come through and not fall!!  Erik has a silver BMW pedal car and Elin rides in the red sportscar.  Erik is getting really good with steering in the past few weeks; I only have to tell him to get back to the side of the road a few times rather than constantly.  We live on a street with a slight hill down to the lake and Erik "helps" to pull Elin up the hill - check it out!

Red Sportscar

Uh oh, the Beemer ran off the road!

Erik pulling Elin up the hill

What it really looks like!!

One of Elin's Sabbath School teachers brought a rabbit to class this past Sabbath; we are doing a Noah's Ark theme right now.  The rabbit is GIANT and pure white; when it was purchased, the pet store told them it was a Norwegian Miniature rabbit! Ha, ha.  The store went out of business about 2-3 days after they bought the rabbit!

Random shots:

Cutie

Obligatory Hair shot - Nothing much on top, but lots of curl in the back!

A very common 

Elin is more interested in potty training than Erik!

Elin loves to lean on furniture and then look at toys or books!!

Erik wanted to hold Elin "like a baby".  She wasn't too keen on the idea.

Erik learning the American Crawl

Elin outside

A few more shots from our trip to the lake that Gramma Johnson sent me.

Erik & Kent jumping into lake

Erik jumping by himself

Elin "swimming"

Erik & Kent on the paddle board

Aug 24 - 30: Does that Make You Happy?

I'm getting close to being caught up - this is the last entry that I need to post to be done - I'm so excited!!  Let's see if I can catch you all up on what the kids are doing/acting lately.  Both kids have adapted to being back at home for the past week and a half very well.  Erik started a new "school year" on August 18 (he missed the first day); he is in a class for 2 & 3 years old and has 2 new teachers, who are wonderful.  When I took him on Wednesday, he had no qualms about me leaving him (that didn't happen last year); his new classroom has Thomas train toys which I'm sure helped ease the pain of being left!!  I think that Erik is one of the older kids in the room this year, which is great by me since he has always been the youngest in the past.  By the end of this week, his teachers told me that Erik acts like a big brother to some of the other kids in the room, particularly to one little boy who is blond & blue-eyed.  Erik will direct the little boy to where he needs to go and will hold his hand when the class has to go to assemblies or other rooms for various classes (music, Judiaca, etc).  So proud of him!

On the other side of the equation, Erik has been trying to use kisses, pouting and hugs to get out of time-out!  When he is in time-out, I let him sit there until I'm ready to talk to him about why he was sent there and then he can get up.  Lately, when I come to talk to him, he will listen to me talk for a few minutes and will then lean forward and give me a kiss & a hug.  He refuses to answer questions or admit to misbehaving.  What a little turkey!  The first few times it happened, I had a really hard time not laughing, but then the humor wore off!  We told him that he couldn't get up until he answered our questions about what he had done wrong.  It is so frustrating when we ask him questions and he acts like he can't hear us or says "what?"!

Kent has been teaching Erik about family relationships and I will often hear Erik tell Elin that she is his sister, Kent is his Daddy, etc.  When we got to the lake and Erik saw Mary & Roger, he told Kent "There is your Mommy and that is your Daddy!"  Super cute.  Other funny things that Erik has said lately is "My ears are growing", "Daddy is so sad that I hurt myself", "I can't until I'm older", "when I'm grown, I'll try to eat [insert any new food item here: soup, vegetables, etc]".  We've also been working with him on the various emotions - happy, sad, disappointed, upset, etc.  When Erik is naughty or sassy, we tell him that we are not happy with him or that his behavior has made us upset.  Erik seems to be picking up on it and after doing something (or not doing something), he will often ask us "Does that make you happy?"

A picture I left out of the lake posts.  Erik sitting "in" a tree at the lake!

Elin has also started to offer kisses when she is told no!  What is it with these kids?!  Elin started her trick the week before we went to the lake.  She likes to drop her water cup onto the kitchen floor; when Kent or I tell her "no-no" her response is to pucker up her lips, lean towards you and say "na-no"!   Elin likes to hold her hands out, palms up, with a hopeful expression on her face, when she wants something/someone.  I think that I've posted a picture of her holding palms out in a previous blog, but we finally got some better shots of her doing it when we were at the lake.

Elin continues to struggle with teething.  She now has 11 teeth - all 8 of her incisors plus 3 molars. However, the last few molars to pop out caused sleeplessness, fever and some congestion.  While we were at the lake, she started waking up a few times each night as well as coughing.  As a result, both she & I were a bit worn down by the time we got home (I got up with her every night to help her get back to sleep and to hopefully prevent her from waking up everyone else in the cabin).  Elin's cough kept getting worse, so I finally took her to the pediatrician and we were prescribed nebulizer treatments of Albuterol.  Elin also had some slight fluid build-up in her ears, but nothing that would require antibiotics.  By the end of the week, Elin's cough is getting much better and she is sleeping through the night again.  She still has audible chest congestion and she has shared enough of her germs with me that I'm also sick with a sore throat and ear aches.  I cannot wait until we are done with teething!

I didn't take many new pictures since we got home from the lake, so I'm including some more photos from the family photo shoot that we did in early July.  Enjoy!!

Elin's walking skills - she loves to carry things on her arm and walks with her arms upraised!

Erik's latest haul from the library!  We are allowed 25 books and so we got 25 books!!!