First Hair Cut for Jackson

Although Jackson did great getting his hair cut - I wasn't a huge fan of how it turned out. Oh well....it will grow back. And honestly - who is gonna see it? The kid is in a hat 24/7!

My big boy - so sweet!

Buy One Get One Tubes?

Well I figured this was going to happen.  After 20 days of antibiotics, Elli is still infected in her ears and she is miserable.  So, off we go to the ENT and we have a surgery scheduled for this Friday.  Elli will have tubes placed and have her adenoids removed.  I'll admit, I'm not looking forward to it.  I have promised her lots of things:  a new doll for the bath tub, ice cream with sprinkles, and movie night with mom.  Still, its going to be hard for her and I hate it.  But I know in my heart she will feel better.  The girl has had at least 6 infections since Christmas and that is what I actually remember - probably more.

In more positive news, I went to Elli's preschool today for a Mother's Day celebration.  It was soo sweet.  There were refreshments, the kids sang, and they gave us sweet gifts.  I love that preschool and I love Elli's teachers.  She has grown and learned so much there.

She learned how to write her name (granted it is all lines so fairly easy!)

He's Trying

Jackson has started trying to take a few steps.  It will be a while I'm sure before he is really off and going, but progress is being made.

My First Parent/Teacher Conference

I had my first parent/teacher conference this week as the parent instead of the teacher.  Elli got good reports from her wonderful preschool teacher!  We love preschool and are so pleased with the program.  Elli may try to be a teacher herself since the only negative we received is that Elli can sometimes try to take on the role of the teacher.  (Hmm...I wonder where she gets that bossiness from?!?!)  I was proud of her report so I decided to give her a bit of ice cream with sprinkles to celebrate.

So proud of you Elli!!

Yep...

Well we were back at the doctor today.  Elli hasn't gotten over her ear infection yet.  It only clears up when she is on antibiotics and as soon as we stop them, she is in pain again.  So today they decided the only option left was a shot - not just a shot - but one a day for THREE DAYS.  Are you hearing me people??!?!?  I'm going to have buy a lot of bribes to get through this.  Tonight her first "Elli got a shot prize" was a princess pony.  Wonder where it will go from there?!?  And to top it off?  They put her back on the steroid that makes her CRAZY because her breathing is asthmatic.  Fun times at our house!

In the meantime, as if it wasn't crazy enough around here, Jackson has mastered the art of pulling up.

On. Everything.


















Is it spring time yet?!?

Bender Christmas Eve Eve Party

We had our annual Christmas Eve Eve party last night and it was a blast!  

Christmas is soo much fun through a child's eyes.

The Bender Girls + Jackson!

The whole crew 

The annual sing-a-long!  Jacob LOVES it!

Love the look on her face here...

I think she likes it!

Christmas wears me out!

And He's Off!

Almost a Year Ago Today...

My birthday last year (December 19th) was spent in the doctor's office while Elli got chest x-rays.  Guess where we were this morning?  Almost exactly a year later and we were back in there about to have the same thing done.  Luckily, the doctor decided to just go ahead with medication and not take time to do the chest x-rays.  Elli has a major ear infection and a horrible chest cough.  The doctor said it may be bronchiolitis.  She has been sick ALL weekend with a high fever and just feeling awful.  We even tried to go see Santa when she seemed to be feeling better, but when we got there she told Santa she couldn't sit on his lap because she was too sick.  She was right, when we got home she looked a hot mess. I took her temp and it had spiked to 103.1.  It has been over 101 for the past three days.  Hopefully the medicine will help...

On top of that, my boy Jackson has been SUPER busy.  He learned to crawl this weekend and even pulled himself up twice.  Add that to the new teeth and this is a great place to be.

Sleep is over rated anyways right?!?!

Bye Bye Bumbo!

So Bumbo recalled their chairs because kids were throwing themselves out of them.  Guess what? It can really happen as I witnessed just the other day.  Luckily it wasn't a big deal, but Jackson did hurl himself out of the seat.  It could have been a lot worse - he wasn't hurt at all, just scared.  Nevertheless, Jacob and I decided we should probably put it up and start putting Jackson in the high chair.  The problem with this plan is that Elli still uses the high chair because we always eat at our counter.  I guess this is the problem with having babies 26 months apart =)  We will be looking for a booster for Elli and I guess have to start eating at our kitchen table.

Here is the thing, I realize that I baby Jackson.  By the time Elli was 7 months, the Bumbo was long gone and she had been sitting in her high chair.  But I keep slowing Jackson down.  I feel like he is still an infant.  Maybe its because he is my last and I'm savoring it.  Maybe it is because Elli is so growny and that makes Jackson seem so small.  Whatever it is, I can tell I'm giving him a little more babying than I gave Elli at this age.  Poor thing, he won't ever get to do anything if I don't let go a little bit.  So I let go this morning and put him in the high chair.  Doesn't he look big?