5 year well visit

*Disclaimer*

I know most people probably don't care about our entire well visit, however I do use this blog often for my memories.  I just want to remember.

 

Cooper had his 5 year well visit this morning.  It was quite the visit.  As soon as they called us back he got his finger prick for a CBC.  As you can see he wasn't too thrilled with that.

 

He  passed his hearing test and his vision came out as 20/30 which is fine and no concern.  All milestones were perfect.  Dr. Howell asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he said a telescope.  She looked at me and said leave it to your kids to want something educational.

 

His left ear is still infected, after 5 days of antibiotics.  She wrote us another prescription for something stronger and left it up to us on if we want to do tubes now or wait.  We are about halfway to our deductible but we have already ran out of our FSA.  So we will most likely wait until the first of the year when we can use our new FSA.   This is two infections in two months since the tube fell out so I don't want to take my chances.  We go back in three weeks for a re-check and a week after that with the ENT. 

 

We also got a referral for an ophthalmologist.  Cooper has had what appears to be a lazy/wandering eye.  It's not all the time and it has gotten better but Dr Howell has also noticed it.  We need to see about getting it fixed before school starts.

 

He got the two booster shots and did fantastic!!!  After the finger stick I wasn't so sure how he would do but it went great. 

 

He weighs 34.8 lbs (8%) and is 42 inches which is 30%.  His percentile for his height has been the highest ever!  He has a BMI of 4%  Can't we all dream!

 

Three hours after we left this house this morning we were back home with a sucker and milkshake.  I wasn't too upset with our wait time, we were the appointment right behind Beth & Josh and new baby AnnaKate.  How can I be mad at that?  Plus I got to see the precious little girl in person.  She was three weeks early, so happy for them they are all home and doing great!

Christmas Lights- the first of many

We made our first of many trips to the Charlestown Square tonight to check out the Christmas Lights.  We decided to make an evening out of it by having dinner first at Charlestown Pizza Company.

 

 

I just love what my little town has done and how's it making a name for itself.  They didn't have all this when I was growing up. 

 

Cameron reminded me of Cooper when we first took him up there to see the lights about 3 years ago. He was just looking and smiling.  He couldn't get enough.

 

I wish this one wasn't so blurry.

 

Such fun memories for my boys.

 

We skipped out on the park and just did the square.  Have no fear, I am sure we will make plenty of trips this season.  I predict at least once a week between now and Christmas.

 

 

 

 



Thanksgiving Weekend

To start my Thanksgiving weekend post I need to back up a day and begin with Thanksgiving Eve.  For the second year in a row I met up with Gretchen, Tracey, and Jaime for dinner and a movie.  Last year was Breaking Dawn 1 and this year was Breaking Dawn 2.  I know most don't understand it, but it's really not all about wolves and vampires.  It's a love story!!!  A good one too.

 

I had heard there was a twist and that twist will be fixed by the end but it didn't top me from holding my breath for about 10 minutes wondering how on Earth that twist would fix itself.  I don't know what we will do next year, I love our tradition.  I'm sure we can find something. 

We spent most of Thanksgiving Day playing around in our pj's.  I do believe I finally took a shower around 3. We all even took naps. 

 

We played with our new play-doh from Jake and the Science kit from my in-laws.  Cooper and Steve dug for dinosaur bones.

For dinner we celebrated with my in-laws at Scott's house.  We had some yummy, yummy food.  Steve's mom makes the best homemade chicken & dumplings.  I did my best to get some good pictures, I finally just gave up and went with whatever they would give me.

 

 



 

He's all mine girls, all mine.

After dinner I took the boys home and Steve went to Toys R Us with his brother.  There didn't seem to be as many deals this year as last.  We usually base what we will buy the kids on what's on sale, they are pretty easy to please. They were in and out in under an hour again. 

 

Friday we spent most of the day in our pj's again.  I made a quick run to the mall and ordered a few things online.  We are finished with the boys.  It feels good.  Cooper felt pretty miserable all day on Friday, it's probably why he took a nap on Thursday.  I ended up taking him to the Take Care Clinic.  I was sure it was an ear infection, he had some drainage and complaining of it hurting.  She said it only looked a little pink but gave us an antibiotic anyway.  I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

Steve had to work today.  It's the nature of health care, if you are lucky enough to be off on a holiday chances are it has to be made up.  Cooper seemed to be doing 100% better.  I'm not so sure 1 dose of medicine can do that, but I'll take it.  We made a grocery run this morning and the pj pants came right back on.  Are you seeing a trend here?  I made some puppy chow chex mix this afternoon.  This is by far my favorite Christmas guilty pleasure.   I only make this during the holidays and I look forward to it ever year.  Cameron took one look at it and called it poop.  Of course he said bacon was yucky too, crazy kid.

This evening we gave the kids an early bath and we drove up to Charlestown to see the lights, we stayed the car though since we all had on pj's.   They were really my best friend this weekend. 

 



 

This kid has the most squeezable cheeks. 



















 

 

A couple of things to remember from this weekend; after we ate dinner on Thursday Cooper asked when we could open the presents.  I guess the Christmas Tree up at Thanksgiving is a little confusing for a 5 yr old. 

 

Paolo the Elf made his comeback yesterday.  Cooper was so excited.  I was folding clothes today and asked Cooper to put up his pj's.  He acted like he didn't want to.  My response was, "Paolo do you hear that?  Cooper doesn't want to put up his clothes like I asked."  He immediately grabbed them and ran into his room.  I love Paolo!

 

I saw something on Pinterest this weekend that said "Stop the glorification of busy".  I couldn't agree more.   Don't get me wrong, I love going places and keeping busy myself, but there was just something peaceful about relaxing and enjoying one another this weekend.  So incredibly thankful for this little family God has blessed me with.

 

Cooper is 5!!!

I can't believe my baby is 5 years old!  I'll just say it once tonight, time needs to stop!!!

 

After Cooper went to bed last night we put up a few decorations for him this morning.  His request this year was a Star Wars party.

 

 Doesn't he just look pitiful, it's your birthday Coop, smile a little.  He didn't say he felt bad but he only ate one of those muffins.  Wasn't exactly what I had planned when I pulled out the breakfast surprise.

 He had school this morning so he got to celebrate on his actual birthday.  We took on treat bags for everyone along with fruit snacks and popcorn for their snack.  The birthday child also gets to get something out of the birthday box.  He got some kind of old McDonald happy meal toy.  I'm sure he will carry that thing around all week, he is always so proud of the smallest things.

 

The yummy cake. We have plenty of leftovers if anyone wants some.

 We decided this year we would give Cooper a party at Chuck E Cheese.  This is really his first real party with friends.  I heard from Alicia that this little guy was pumped up all week.  Jake is so funny.  I went to give him some tokens, we grabbed a couple and ran off leaving me with the cup.  The whole cup was his, not just two.

 Nora is just as cute as a button.

Cooper's friend Conner from church just happened to be there with his grandma so they played a few games before Conner had to leave. 

 Once Allie & Wyatt arrived he was all about his Allie.  Who could blame him, she is pretty!

 Levi and Mags were also in attendance.  Speaking of Levi, I hope he slept well tonight.  He asked for a second piece of cake, I needed to get rid of some so Tracey should be happy he didn't ask for 3 or 4. 

 Funny story about my mom.  We didn't reserve a party, I just made sure we had plenty of pizza and drinks plus tokens for the kids.  I had about 28-30 for each kid there.   Some of the younger ones shared with their sibling so we had about 3 cups of tokens left on the table.  My mom comes up to me with about 400+ tickets.  She said it took all the tokens but she won all these tickets.  When she said all the tokens, she meant all the tokens left on the table, like for the kids at the party.  She wasn't even playing a game with my nephew who came with her.  She really used about 80-90 tokens by herself. 

 We all gave an American Idol worthy version of Happy Birthday before we dug into the cake.  Have I mentioned how yummy it was?  Forget the design, if you want a good cake go to Jay C.

 Next up were presents!!!  Jake got Cooper some more play-doh.  Which is awesome, ours was getting old and hard.  I love the feel of  new play-doh.  It's so fun to act like a kid again.

 Levi & Maggie got him a Spider-Man that shots things.

 Allie & Wyatt got a new game and twistable crayons.  He will love both.  I love birthdays and Christmas cause it gives more things to play with.  I think I enjoy it as much as Cooper does.

 Since we didn't reserve a party he couldn't do the free ticket blaster, we had to pay a $1 for it, but he is the birthday boy.  However, it's not the birthday one so it didn't have the 1000 ticket inside.  He looked so scared before they turned it on.  He figured out if you didn't move around much, the tickets will land on you all on their own.

 

We all know Chuck E Cheese can be a little chaotic at time, but when you don't have to clean up, it's so worth it!  Plus it wasn't crowded at all.  I want to thank everyone who came out to help us celebrate.  My little boy sure felt special tonight.

"Pretend" Birthday Party

We had such a fun day here, despite some sick kids.  We've actually had a really good weekend and I only got out of my pj's for a shower and company that came over tonight after dinner.

 

Cameron started with some yucky and messy diapers on Friday & Saturday.  He seemed fine after dinner last night then Cooper started complaining of a belly ache.  We went to get Cameron this morning and was almost knocked over by the stench of vomit.  Luckily he never got sick again, just a few more messy diapers, and Cooper was fine all day.  I kept them both home from church and enjoyed some morning cuddles.  Cameron craweled into my lap before lunch and fell asleep.  Can't complain about that.  Thanks to his early, long nap we got a lot more accomplished today.

 

Since we can't use stocking holders after the great stocking holder debacule of 2010, I went ghetto and used some duct tape.  You can't really see it and it looks pretty.   We also got the outside completed.  I took a picture but it didn't come out good, actually it was terrible.  I'm gonna figure out a different setting and get a better one before I put it on here.

 

 Cooper got to have a mini-birthday party tonight. Or as he called it his pretend birthday party.  We are having a small party tomorrow with a few friends at Chuck E Cheese, since Aunt Marilyn, Tina, Ricky, and Randy don't have small children, we had cake & ice cream tonight so they could come over and give him their gifts.   My mom, Steve's parents, and Scott also brought their gifts.  We went ahead and gave him ours too.  It totally wasn't supposed to be a party but it somehow turned into one.  In the end I'm sure it's easier than trying to get all the gifts home from Chuck E Cheese.

 

Scott made the cake, somehow it slipped in the car.  It may have looked messy, but it was yummy!

 It was gifts or cake and ice cream first, he chose gifts.  Who can blame him?

My battery was running low so we didn't get too many pics.  He got some craft stuff, Star Wars stuff, Batman, books, a game, all the things a fun loving 5 year old will love.  Oh, and an electonic bowling game from our cousin Ricky.  I had just seen it an ad and thought he would like it.

 I was the mean mommy who got trick candles for him.  I went ahead and posted all the pics of us singing, mainly to show the placement of his hand.  Didn't even realize this until I uploaded them.

 He loved his Bat Cave and action figures from Scott.   As well as the Pop the Pig game from my mom.  He was at her house one day and a commercial came on for it so my mom found one for him. 

I cannot believe he will be 5 tomorrow!  5 just seems so old. How did time go by so fast?  Even though the kids didn't feel great this weekend, I am so thankful it allowed us to slow down a bit and just enjoy one another.  We needed this weekend.