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spalmbos
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Name: Sarah
Gender: Female
Interests: Football, Camping
Expertise: Who's really an expert on anything?
Occupation: Registered Nurse
Message: message me
Member Since:
8/29/2006
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| My favorite two pictures from Halloween: The kids dressed up as Shaggy & Velma from Scooby-doo 
Matt's vomiting pumpkin 
It was a fun night!  | | |
| Wow! Has is really been that long since we've posted
anything?!? I spend more time now on Facebook than Xanga I
guess! We're doing good over at the Palmbos house. Alicyn's
got another cold, which means Aidan and I are sure to follow.
Seems like we just got over being sick and here we go again...
Aidan is doing well in school and seems to love it. Today I
thought it quite cute that Aidan had a bunch of classmates go out
of their way to say hi and good bye to him. He's making new
friends and enjoying his mornings with his cousin too. His first
field trip was to Wells Orchard, but unfortunately I couldn't take him
since I was working. The end of the month I get to bring him to
the 36th street Fire Station for a tour, which I'm sure he'll love as
long as they don't sound the alarms (he still hates those!).
We've implemented him doing chores to earn money. His
responsibilities are making his bed every day, picking up all the toys
before bed and clearing/cleaning off the table after dinner.
We're also trying to bribe him into trying new foods, but so far he
hasn't wanted that extra $$. 
Alicyn is growing up so fast these days. She's still not saying a
ton. Her basic vocabulary is: Daddy, Momma, Up (for cup), Yeah
and Baby. She'll shake her head no but not say the word and
she'll wave bye-bye instead of saying Bye. She can say pa-pa for
grandpa and elmo but she'll only do that if asked. I've started
to try and make her hair "pretty" by putting clips in or ponytails
every morning. They last about 30 minutes at the most until she
yanks them out. Her hair is finally to a point that she needs
something in it, or it will look wild. The whole eating with
utensils is still a work in progress. To me, this age is the
hardest because they are trying to learn so much and I just want them
to get it already!
We just got back from a family trip to Chicago a week ago. Matt's
work sent him there for a class and we tagged along and made a vacation
out of it. The kids and I had a lot of fun hiking, playing at
parks and hanging out in the hotel. Poor Matt only had time for
his class, eating dinner and then putting the kids to bed. We did
manage going swimming a few times at the hotel and the kids LOVED
that. Alicyn is definitely not afraid of the water any
longer. She even went underwater and came back up smiling.
Long story short, she jumped off the the steps and before we could
catch her from falling in, there she went. Matt's work is slowing
down, which means 45 hours a week instead of 55. We'll be fine
with that for a while because we have not had much time to take care of
things around the house. We're loving the Financial Peace
University class at Evergreen. It's an eye opener to the way the
majority of the country is living and it is helping us to budget our
money for the future. We're still trying to decide about Aidan's
schooling next year. If you asked us in the summer we would have
both said Jenison Christian next year, but now we'd probably say
Jenison Public for next year (although last night Matt said JCS again,
so who knows...) 10 more months to figure that one out!
 This is my favorite picture from Chicago. The kids are at Independence Grove Park and are actually getting along!
 This is us eating lunch at the hotel (saving $$). Alicyn thought she was big stuff sitting on the couch for lunch.
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| Quick story (& quick laugh). Yesterday I made Aidan his
breakfast and then went down to shower. I have been trying this
routine for a few weeks because we normally wake up way before
Alicyn. So, I make sure he's got what he needs, tell him when
he's done to come downstairs and play and off I go.
I'm just about done when I hear a lot of walking around upstairs.
And then I hear water running and I assume it's the toilet and that
he's gone potty. So I dry off and get dressed and head
upstairs. I turn the corner and look and find Aidan standing at
the slider door with a silly grin on his face and his eyes darting to
the door. Then I look down and see something gray, fuzzy and
furry with a tail moving back and forth. All the sudden I
realize, there's a cat in my house. Aidan says "he was
thirsty". So I look around the floor and realize there's a small
dixey cup filled with water sitting on the carpet.
I didn't know whether to let the cat out, or go and grab my video
camera. I choose to let the cat out and instructed Aidan that
although it was very nice to get the cat a drink of water, he must
never let strange animals in our house. So there you have it, our
boy the animal activist.
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| Okay, so it's been over a week since an update and we've been
BUSY. Alicyn's birthday, continuing yard improvements and oh
yeah, Aidan's been sick AGAIN. So, here's our week's recap.
Monday: 6/2/08: Alicyn decides that she wants to eat her
pacifier. So, after naptime on Monday, my poor mother-in-law goes
and and sees her pipe chewed to pieces. Yeah, about a quarter of
it gone. She pieced together as much as she could, but some of it
was missing. Ali had an angel on her shoulder because she could
have choked. I still have it sitting upstairs because I want to
snap a picture of it. Matt said it looks like a dog got a hold of
it.
Tuesday: 6/3/08: Aidan starts coughing and running a fever
Wednesday: 6/4/08: Crabby kids and trying to get ready for a party (and Aidan's still got his cough and fever)
Thursday: 6/5/08: Aidan's fever is gone and he's hardly
coughing. So, I'm thinking we're turning the corner. We had
a nice play date with his buddy Logan and the rest of the day I spent
cleaning the house.
Friday: 6/6/08: The three of us ran errands and picked up Ali's
birthday cake. We got caught in the Thunderstorms and had to wait
it out at Aldi's. About 20 minutes after we got home, I realize
that Aidan's burning up and he's got a temp of 102. So, we start
round the clock Motrin. That night, Matt & I got woken up to
the sound of Aidan yelling "I puked Mom" and a continuous cough.
A bed sheet change later and time in the rocking chair with mom helped
(not to mention more Motrin for the fever).
Saturday: 6/7/08: Ali's big day!!! Aidan still had a temp
off and on but seemed to be acting okay. My mom and I argue all
afternoon about taking him into the urgent care but I had too much to
do and didn't think he was that bad anymore. We had a great party
and Ali was spoiled with lots of gifts. A bunch of neat clothes,
a new Princess ride a long and Princess Stroller, and a Shopping Cart
with groceries. And right now her favorite new toy is her talking
purse. It was so much fun to have a pink girlie party!! She
loved her cake and successfully smeared it all over. Now she's
totally off bottles and drinking milk like a big girl.
Yeah!!! She's also cutting two more teeth and oh yeah, no more
pacifier. She's been cut off cold turkey from that ever since she
chewed it to pieces. Night time is a little rough without the
paci, but I'm hoping she'll get past it in the next week or so.
I've been trying really hard to play around with her hair and put pony
tails or pig tails in, but they only last a little while because her
hair is so thin.
And the last piece of update is that on Sunday, I finally took Aidan
into the Urgent Care (another night of throwing up and fevers was
enough). Ends up that he has bronchitis and they put him on oral
steroids and an antibiotic for five days. Hopefully he won't hold
it against me that I waited so long to get him to the doctor.
It's hard for me to take him in (being a nurse I always think I can
manage at home). Next time I'll follow my Mommy gut instincts
and take him in sooner. Plus, it will make my mother happier (she
of course had to give me the "I told you so" lecture Sunday afternoon).
So, we're all doing much better over here now and are looking forward
to a healthy weekend (I hope!). I'll leave you all with a picture
of our cake eater...
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| That's the burning question of the moment.... Alicyn is trying
more and more to be a one nap a day baby. Some days that is fine
and she's content the entire day. Other days she is so cranky and
she tries to pull what little hair she has out. Of course today
when I want her to take a nice long afternoon nap, she's upstairs
playing in her crib. So, I'm trying to remain off the main level
of the house in hopes that she and Aidan will fall asleep so I can
clean and pick up the house. I didn't think at this age that they
starting manipulating their nap schedule...
We've been hard at work doing back yard landscaping. Matt and I
had fun at Countryside picking out new perennials. Two weeks ago
he planted them, and last weekend we decided to put bark mulch down
instead of lava rock (to save some $$). So, that's taken care of
and it feels great to have one project checked off our list.
Hopefully we'll get the fishing boat uncovered this weekend and get it
ready for it's maiden voyage of the summer. We found the infant
life jacket too, so Alicyn gets a ride in the boat this year.
I'm trying to be organized to get things ready for Ali's first
birthday party next weekend. It's so weird to me that she's one
already. I pretty much have a huge pink party planned (code
name: Pepto Party) and the food is planned. It will be the first
girl birthday party for both sides, so I'm excited to see what girly
things Ali will get as presents. I already know the clothes that
she'll get (both Grandma's still LOVE to spoil her). Matt and I
bought her some little Disney Princess wind up cars, so she'll have
something to push after Aidan's cars. The best moment will be the
cake eating. My dad has been working hard to have her do "so big"
and mess up her hair with food. Aidan didn't get too messy, but
he's a picky eater. Alicyn will eat dried worms from the driveway
if I let her (oh, and bark mulch has been eaten a few times too).
What do you know, sounds like things are quieting down upstairs. Time to clean!!
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