Perspective

This has been a rough week. Blake's sleep habits leave quite a bit to be desired. He fights going to sleep at night and at every nap, which means there is at least ten minutes to screaming and kicking me in the ribs while I try to hold him still until he falls asleep. Then there are the nights. He sleeps for about five hours in his bed, but then he is up and I move him to our bed and he is a restless sleeper. Sometime between 3:00 and 5:30 he usually wakes up and wants a bottle and to play for about an hour.
New this week, he has decided that he hates to sit in the car and so he screams the whole time we wait in carpool line. 25 minutes of him screaming and Campbell telling him to stop - lots of fun.
Campbell is another story. Blake's demands means she gets much less attention than she deserves and needs so she has also been acting out. There has been lots of crying and whining. Anything can set her off, the wrong shoes, she can't find her bow, her bread is cut wrong...
Tonight everyone was asleep and I was both enjoying the quiet and dreading the night. I knew Blake would be up soon, I wasn't going to get to sleep well. I was catching up on FB and followed a link that a friend had posted. The story was a family who is losing their not yet two year old to stage four neuroblastoma. She probably won't make it through tonight. I read a little of the mom's blog and remembered I really do have a lot to be thankful for.
I'm going to say a prayer for their family and tonight when Blake wakes up, I'll hug him extra tight and go back to bed. He can scream all he wants tomorrow, I've just changed my perspective.

Hungry?

We have lots of nicknames for Blake - the fussy one, the difficult one, the non sleeper, the grunter. He is our most difficult child. Brandt was sweet and quiet and good natured. Campbell was sweet and a little more challenging and not quite as good a sleeper. Blake is fussy and doesn't sleep and screams, a lot. I've heard people talk about difficult children before and here he is. He is so different from our other two - 100% boy, like a bull in a china shop.
Tonight I am wondering if some of his screaming is because he is hungry. I feed him what I think should be enough and he always seems to be happy with it. Tonight I put him in the highchair and gave him some puffs. He ate them all so I gave him some cooked carrots and he ate most of those. I cut up half of a grilled cheese and gave it to him and sat down with him. He ate it and had some juice while we ate dinner and I gave him a couple of fries. In the end he had five or six fries, the grilled cheese, more puffs and some yogurt puffs before he was finally done.
When I took him out of the chair I expected to find quite a bit of food in his chair. There were three pieces of carrots in the chair and a couple of puffs on the floor. He wasn't wasting any food! Poor Blakey, have I been starving you?
He has been playing pretty well since dinner tonight, much less screaming.

The DAWG Pound

Doing great things at Pink Elementary are rewarded by being sent to the DAWG Pound. DAWG Pound awards are handed out at Friday Morning assemblies and it is a big deal. You are called up in front of everyone to get you DAWG tags while Who Let the Dogs Out plays very loud and everyone is told why you where nominated.
Last Friday Brandt was in the DAWG Pound and we all went to Friday Morning Live to see him get his tags. He has been waiting to be sent to the DAWG Pound since Kindergarten. He was sent for "always being respectful to his teacher and peers. He is an excellent helper. He is a very hard worker." He was very excited.
DAWG = Daily Actions Worth Gold

Brandt's First Game

Brandt had his first Lacrosse game last Saturday. Because of the crazy weather we have been having, his team had only had three practices before the game and we were not sure what to expect. This is a team that has never played before.
They did not win, but it was not for a lack of trying. They out ran, out threw and out shot the other team. Unfortunately none of the shots actually went into the goal. They dominated the game the majority of the time, maintaining control of the ball for most of the game. They really picked up a lot in three practices and are going to be a great team. Our Sunday game was cancelled because of weather and so was practice yesterday. In a couple of weeks our weather should return to more normal Texas weather and we should get back to a regular schedule. Until then, here are some pictures of our first game. He is #30...

Defense ready to go

Going after the ball

Defending the goal

Time for a break - cute hair!

We are - FRISCO!

Snow Babies

When Brandt was nine months old it snowed on Valentine's Day...





Now Blake is ten months old and it snowed two days before Valentine's Day...

Snow Day

Thursday and Friday we had 10 inches of snow in Frisco. Here is what we did...

Beginning Lacrosse

Brandt had his first lacrosse practice today. I wasn't sure how it was going to go. He assured us that he wanted to play before we signed up and kept saying he still wanted to play, but when we had to go and practice in the windy, 43 degree weather, I just wasn't sure.
We had to go and get his gear before practice, which helped build some excitement. He had to have pads, gloves, a cool helmet, a mouth piece, new cleats... 3 hours and two stores later we were ready for practice and he was still excited. He did really well at practice and is picking up the skills very fast. Lacrosse is a pretty aggressive game and he jumped in and played along better than I expected. He has already picked up a couple of offensive moves and used them in one on one practice. His first game is not for 2 weeks, so we have several more practices to get ready.
In my rush to get out the door this morning, I forgot my camera so pictures next time!

So What Have We Been Doing?

We have been busy lately and I have been somewhat negligent in my blogging. Here is what we have been doing...


Brandt has been studying landforms at school and had to make a model of one type of landform. He chose the iceberg and this is project:

Campbell went to a princess birthday party. She got her hair, nails and makeup done and then got to walk down the stage and got a crown.

Getting her nails done

Having her hair done

Makeup time!

With her friends from school - Liza and Caroline

Dancing after they were crowned

Blake mastered the stairs and can climb them in a flash. You can't take your eyes off of him for a second or he will be on the stairs.

He also crawls on his hands and knees now, not just scooting, real crawling and is pulling up on everything. In the last couple of days he has finally figured out how to get back down.

Brandt lost his other top tooth. This time he lost it at school (which I think he was secretly hoping for) and he got to wear it in a very cool tooth necklace all day. He has no top teeth now and is learning to eat a whole new way! He also talks with the slightest lisp, which is pretty cute.

So we have been busy. Brandt starts Lacrosse practice on Saturday, which will be a whole new world for us. He is very excited!