Four year checkup for Natalie

My girls are alike in so many ways. One way, however, that they are definitely not alike is the way that they deal with doctor appointments. Natalie has had so many throughout her life that she just does what they ask, no tears or questions asked. Meagan, on the other hand, fights everything. Natalie had to have several shots at her four year checkup and the nurse was shocked when she did not even flinch. It was an easy checkup for her, but her doctor was out of the children's flu shots, so we have to go back sometime soon for that and 2 other shots that we put off so that her body didn't have to deal with as much at once. We always aim on the side of caution so that we can avoid fever. Her doctor congratulated us on avoiding H1N1 flu, which is a major victory so far! Natalie is still my little peanut, weighing at the 5th percentile for a four year old (32 lbs.) and 30th percentile for height (40.5) That is smaller in percentiles than in the past, but her doctor said as long as she is eating and gaining some then we don't need to be concerned.
After the appointment we went to get her a prize for being so good for her shots (something we wouldn't have to do if we didn't have to do it for Meagan, but Natalie remembers Meagan getting a prize!) and Nati chose a pair of fancy high heels for her dress up collection...but of course she wouldn't leave unless her sister got a set too. Sweet little one.

Parties

 
 
 

Natalie!

 
 
 
 

A few shots of Ms. Natalie on her birthday.

FOUR years old today!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Growing little boy!

WEEK 34!

OH MY GOODNESS

This is an article about a woman in Indonesia who had a 19.2 lb baby. That is bizarre. That is more than Natalie weighed at a year!
http://www.lemondrop.com/2009/09/24/indonesian-woman-births-19-2-pound-jumbo-baby/?icid=main|main&124;dl5&124;link5&124;http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lemondrop.com%2F2009%2F09%2F24%2Findonesian-woman-births-19-2-pound-jumbo-baby%2F

Testing out the bouncy house

We haven't used the bouncy house in quite a while, so since we are lending it to our sweet little two year old twin friends, we had to test it out! It worked well, which was good. Even though it isn't 100 anymore, it was still rather hot though.
We also went to services for the Jewish New Year this weekend. The girls had a very good time and loved the music. I was glad to see them enjoying it.
Saturday night we went to my favorite gelato place, Teo. That place, which is on 38th, near Central Market and Seton Main, rocks! It is so good, especially their salty caramel flavor.

Guess which child dressed themselves?!?!?

Natalie decided this is her outfit for the day. Not so sure that her teacher will like it quite as much as she does. I have been trying to get a picture of Barni and Pokie sleeping in the same bed for a while, but one of them usually gets up. We bought them each a bed, but for some odd reason they always snuggle up like this. I wish I could say it is affection, but Pokie is old and just wants her own space. The other dogs love her, or love to bug her, though.

Change of plans (and my evergrowing tummy)

A few weeks ago, during our endless drought, we booked a room in San Antonio for last night and were planning on going to Sea World. Well, the heavens opened up and our plans were changed. Turns out that when you were planning on spending a lot of money on Sea World and don't do that, you can say "YES" quite a bit around your own town. We saw Up, went to McDonalds, bought Shrinky Dinks (yes, they still make those, and they are fun!), went to Dave and Busters (where the girls loved chocolate fondue, and set up an enormous fort for them to sleep in. It was a great day, and I can't honestly say that the girlies would have enjoyed Sea World more.
I went to the dr. on Friday. Baby "Grover" is very much head down and appears to know his way out. He is measuring a little small, but that seems to be part of my pregnancies. I am having a ton of Braxton Hicks contractions (tightening of the belly to get ready for the real deal.) Next up: redecorating the nursery for a boy!

Our anniversary gift from our parents

Our parents were very sweet and bought this wall unit for our tenth anniversary. It looks great! We are really excited about it. We still need a desk, but we will do that in time.

Obama's "scary speech"

Here is the text of Obama's speech, urging children to take responsibility and do well in school. Wow. I would certainly be scared of my kids hearing that message. (I am being sarcastic.)
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obamas-back-school-message-students/story?id=8509426

Not really sure what to title this.

Getting into the rhythm of things

We are slowly getting into a routine. I was a little worried about Meagan heading into Kindergarten on her own, but our wonderful next door neighbor, Lexi, has made that a lot easier. She has been walking Meagan into her pod area, but next week Meagan will do it on her own. It has been a good transition. Meagan likes the kids at school and loves her teacher. I do think that she misses her friends that she played with so much all summer like Lexi, Avery, Wendye, etc, but we were able to go over to Stephanie's house this week to see them. Stephanie has an awesome movie room and the girls all watched a movie about stranger danger (they are at that age!) and danced to music up on the big screen.
Natalie has been doing great also. She misses her sister all day, but they are happy to see each other each afternoon and have lots to talk about. Each morning Nati gets some special time with me before she heads off to school, which unfortunately sometimes the dogs "benefit" from (as you can see from the photo of Pokie.) I think that the idea of the baby coming soon is becoming more real to both girls. My doctor and I joke about how this is the never ending pregnancy simply because it has been so crazy, but we really are down to the last part now. I am 31 weeks, so I imagine we have less than 2 months. We have a few last things planned before he comes, like going to San Antonio in a few weeks to go to Sea World and stay at a hotel, and Natalie has her birthday in a few weeks. Hopefully, the girls will transistion better to being a bigger family because they have one another.

A photo or two

Meagan showing off one of her new outfits and Lexi with Natalie. She was only three when she moved in next door, so it is hard for us to believe today is her eleventh birthday!