baseball cap

I think little boys look so cute in baseball caps.  I always tried to get Isaiah to wear one when he was 2ish (always meaning a few times here and there), but he just was never interested and rarely left it on for more than a few minutes.  Levi has recently found Isaiah's hat and enjoys wearing it often.  I think he looks so cute!  One day I took a few pictures - don't mind the mess on his shirt -- by the way this is one of our last pictures of him with a binky - but more to come on that!  I'm curious to see if this trend will continue.  It's fun to watch how similar and just how different our two boys are! 

color week

Isaiah had a color week last week at preschool - every day they were to wear a different color and then did activities to go along with the color.  Both Isaiah and Caiden were pretty excited about their colors each day.  Levi even participated most days by wearing the color of the day too.

Monday - green

 Tuesday - red

 Wednesday - blue

 Thursday - orange

 Friday - yellow

Isaiah has already said several times that they need to have color days again.  On Thursday night before yellow day Isaiah says, "we really need to have green day, I have lots of green shirts."  I reminded him that Monday was green day and he said, "oh yeah, well we need to have another green day!" :)  It's the simple things that make him happy. 

five years old.

Isaiah is five, practically 5 and one month - these months just keep flying by!  I wanted to write out a little bit about who he is now just like I did at four and  three and a half.

* Isaiah continues to be such a boy.  If it's rough and tough, dirty, wild, crazy, daring or dangerous he is all in!  He couldn't love playing in the dirt more; his favorite toys are superheros, monster trucks, dinosaurs, race cars, but his very favorite thing right now is Transformers - he's never seen the movies, but we have rented the 1980s  Transformers show from the movie store.

* But as boy as he is, he also continues to be gentle at heart.  He's gentle with babies and little ones at the park, he makes sure to watch out for the little ones around him and he truly cares about his friends.  He will often put his arm around or stroke your arm when talking to you - it's just natural to him.

* However, the side that comes out more than the gentle one is the rough one.  It's not uncommon to see him push his brother over or bump into him hard enough to knock him over just because he can.  He likes to play rough, wrestle hard, and show off his strength.  He, like most of us, wants things to go his way and if they don't - watch out - this side comes out!  And I think he knows (most of the time) when he does things hastily out of anger and does feel (at least some) regret.  So we continue to work on his response when things don't go your way.

* Isaiah continues to be a very good eater and will eat a large variety of things.  His favorites include: strawberries, broccoli, oranges, pizza, waffles/pancakes, sausage, hot dogs, ramen noodles.  He drinks milk during meals, but typically prefers water otherwise throughout the day.  If you ask him his favorite food he will always say McDonald's (what is it about that place??)

* He also continues to be a social little boy.  He enjoys playing with friends, having people over to play and going just about anywhere.  He quickly makes friends at the park or other play places, but plays very well with his brother too.

* He also loves company at bedtime.  In his perfect world, I would lay with him every night until he fell asleep, but in reality this just doesn't happen!  He asks every night for me to lay with him and many nights I will for a few minutes, but then I have to get up to get things done (unfortunately our dishes and laundry just don't do themselves!).  He does understand this now and doesn't usually get up to come check on what I'm doing, but sometimes he will get up to make sure I am doing what I say (and believe me if he catches me on the computer he questions it! haha).  Thankfully he is pretty quick to fall asleep.  Bedtime is still 8:30 and our routine has stayed the same for a long, long time - vitamin, brush teeth, 3 stories, Bible story, pray, bed.  If we skip a step Isaiah (or Levi) will say something.

* Isaiah is definitely a snuggler - but only when the time is right - when he's tired, not feeling the best or when grandma's around.  He loves to hug, but again, only when he's in the mood.  A lot of times his mood is rough and tough over the snuggle, so we take in the snuggles when we can!!

* At his 5 year appointment he weighed in at 46 pounds and 47 inches which puts him at the 57th and 54th percentile.  Right in the middle!  He has been in  the lower half for his height since he was a baby - so he has done some growing thing year!  The doctor had no health concerns at his appointment but his hemoglobin level did come back slightly low (10.6 and normal is 11-16), but the doctor just had us switch his multivitamin to include iron hoping that will bring it up - we've also been working to encourage him to eat more meat at each meal.

* He also had to get his 5 year shots at this doctor's appointment - this was quite the experience.  I decided not to warn Isaiah of the shots before going to the appointment as I didn't want to worry him or have a fit getting him to the doctor.  He did ask before we left if he would have to get shots and I said that he would if the doctor thought he needed them (not exactly a lie, right??).  We got through his appointment and then the doctor says, "I'll have the nurses come in with your shots."  He immediately started SCREAMING.  We tried to calm him down, Mark even offered Angry Birds on his phone (one of Isaiah's favorite things that he next to never gets to do unless we are with my sister and her Ipad), but nothing worked, he continued to scream and cry.  The nurses finally come in at least 5 minutes later with his three shots.  Levi, by this point is upset that Isaiah is still crying and seeing the needles, Caiden was holding his hands to his ears saying, "Isaiah you are too loud." and Mark and I are just trying to figure out what in the world we should do.  The 2 nurses  have us try to hold him down while they get his legs ready for the shots.  He kept pushing with his hands and kicking with his legs that they couldn't get him in the right spot so the one nurse leaves to get a third nurse!  They come back quickly and Mark, the nurse and I hold him down as hard as we can while the other 2 nurses give him the shots.  He starts SCREAMING and crying even louder!!  The shots were in, the bandaids were on and I thought we had made it through.  Just as the 5 of us were leaving the room the nurse says, "don't forget to stop at the lab to have his finger pricked."  Isaiah immediately starts in even louder, but we make it to the lab.  The tech has Isaiah sit in a chair and Levi gets even more upset and starts sobbing, "don't do it to Zay-ya, don't hurt my brother."  Caiden is sitting in the hallway with his hands still on his ears and practically yelling himself, "Isaiah you are being too loud."  And Mark and I couldn't really do anything but laugh.   The lab lady isn't the most kid friendly and took about 2 minutes trying to ask Isaiah which finger he wants pricked and we finally had to tell her to just pick one so we could get this over with.  She finally gets the blood she needs and out the door we flew.  It was quite the appointment.  My friend Gretchen just happened to be waiting for an appointment in another patient room and said she could hear the whole thing -- I'm sure the entire building did.  Thank goodness he doesn't need shots for several years!  Unfortunately Levi will be getting these shots at his 4 year appointment in less than a year, we will see how that goes!!

I asked Isaiah to name his favorite --

Food - McDonald's
Color - Yellow ... and red and blue...that's all.
Animal - ummmm lion and tiger and cheetah
Thing to play -games and to play with Caiden
Place to go - the jumpy house
Shape - uhh I don't know
Song -Kickin' It Old School
Toy - the trucks.

What are you thankful for?
A long pause, I'm thankful for everything I have.

Isaiah's 5th birthday!

On September 11 Isaiah turned 5 years old!  It seems so old to me - 5!  We celebrated Isaiah all day long! His birthday happened to be on a Sunday so we got up and I made cinnamon rolls to eat while we watched a show before church.  After church we let Isaiah pick out anything he wanted for lunch and it was no surprise that he wanted to go to McDonald's!  So we went and ate at McDonald's.  The boys were both very happy to find out that the kids meals had Ben Ten characters as the toys.  Ben Ten is a cartoon character that can turn into superhero type guys.  I'm not sure I really understand it, but they love it.  The McDonald's cashier was very nice and let the boys pick out whichever one they wanted.  Then a couple girls who had kids meals at the table beside us asked the cashier for girl toys for their Happy Meals (since they were given boy toys) and she informed them they were out of girl toys so the girls let our boys have them.  The cashier was nice enough again to let them switch for different characters - the boys couldn't have been happier going home with 4 new Ben Ten toys!  

(picture to come)

Then on the way home we ran into a car show so of course we stopped for a bit.  Isaiah enjoyed all of the cars and was especially excited about the green Camaro which we like to call Ben Ten cars -- after the car that the cartoon character Ben Ten has (or someone in the show has).  All I know is it is in the one Ben Ten book that we have.  The owner of this car found out it was Isaiah's birthday and let him sit in the driver's seat!  Isaiah was very excited about this! Levi also wanted his picture by the Ben Ten motorcycle that we saw.  (can you tell they like Ben Ten??)  The car show happened to be near the big Army helicopter that we can see from the highway so we made another stop to see that.  

 

By the time we got home it was naptime for Levi so Isaiah had some alone time with Mark and me.  We gave him the gifts from Grandma Michele and Great Grandma Mary.  He was soooo excited and happy to open a Batman Batcave and Riddler Car.  He played this this while watching some professional football with daddy and eating some of the cheeseballs out of the huge bucket he picked out as his special birthday football treat!  

As the afternoon went by we got everything ready for the birthday party!  Isaiah invited several friends and family members over to help him celebrate with a pirate birthday party.

Isaiah was so excited and couldn't wait to get into his pirate costume - Levi, on the other hand, all out refused to put on his costume - but I made him anyway.  (And then didn't want to take it off that night and has talked many times since about wanting to have another pirate party and dress up like pirates!:) As the friends arrived they picked out a few pirate tatoos to put on and were given their eye patches.

Once (almost) everyone had arrived it was time to say the pirate pledge to become official pirates!  The kids did a pretty good job repeating after Mark and saying the pirate sayings.  Each new pirate received a pirate certificate.

Then it was time for the treasure hunt.  Mark had created a clues that he hid all around the yard and a couple in the house for the kids to find.  At many of the clues there was a game to play too - including Captain Says, a pirate ship pinata and pin the treasure box on the map.  At the very end of the treasure hunt was a big treasure chest full of, well, treasure of course -- candy, gold dabloons and treasure necklaces.  I think all of the kids were amazed by the treasure box and loved the treasure hunt!

After the hunt it was time for food and cake.  I was pleased with the treasure box cake that I made the night before and Isaiah loved it too - which is what really mattered!  Then the kids had fun playing together outside in the beautiful weather!  The party was a whirl-wind for me - it seemed to fly by!  Thanks everyone for coming!!

Isaiah had a few more gifts to open after the party - the gifts from us and Levi.  Levi gave him a airplane and we gave him a Discovery Toys game called ABC junior and Motor Works toy (a racecar, motorcycle and airplane that are put together with screws that can be taken apart and put back together).  Below are a few pictures from opening these gifts and then pictures from the birthday hats that Isaiah and Caiden, who share the same birthday, made at school to celebrate their birthday the Friday before.  A local business also will post happy birthday if you call and ask them to so I had Isaiah's name put up for that too.  It was full for his birthday so they put it up the following Tuesday - he thought it was pretty cool!

I think Isaiah had a great birthday and had lots of fun celebrating!  I still cannot believe that he is five -- but he sure can, he is already talking about when he turns 6!!

25, 26 & 27

Week 25

This was quite the week!  My poison ivy was TERRIBLE - so very, very, very, very itchy right on my belly!  Between when I started the medicine Saturday to Wednesday it had gotten much worse so I called my doctor. He prescribed a tapering dose at a much higher rate.  It helped, but was still awful this week!  Otherwise, I was feeling good!  Getting big - some of my smaller maternity shirts started to get snug (already!!) and I get lots of comments from strangers about my belly.  Baby boy likes to be on the move which is lots of fun to feel!  Mark has been able to feel him move lots of times - very easily this week!  I also experienced my first charlie horse cramp this week in the middle of the night. I remember these pains with both of my other pregnancies and really, really hoped they would not show up for this one, but it wasn't the case.  After about 15 minutes the cramping was gone and I was able to go back to sleep, but did have a sore leg for several days afterwards - I have been trying to drink lots more water as I read this can really help with these pregnancy leg cramps.  Hopefully that will be the only one this time around!!  

Week 26

Another good week - still feeling pretty rested and well.  Baby is moving like crazy this week!  Mark and I were laying in bed one night and my belly just happened to be right at his tush, I felt him move several times and then Mark says, "is our baby kicking me in the butt?" and he was - even before he was born he was kicking his daddy's butt haha.  it was pretty funny.  I've noticed my belly move from the outside a couple times this week so I know his kicks are getting much stronger.  Levi started talking to the baby this week.  He said to my belly one day, "hi in there you goo goo baby."  Isaiah really hasn't shown too much interest in my belly, but knows to be careful with it.  My poison ivy was still very, very itchy this week, but has faded quite a bit - I am so ready for it to be gone!  My maternity pants make it itch more so I've been squeezing my belly in my regular jeans and they do fit - just a bit tight - by the end of the day I end up unbuttoning them! :) 

Week 27

Still feeling good, but I can tell I'm a bit more tired this week.  I even caught a nap one afternoon!  Baby continues to move like CRAZY and has kept me up late a few nights - he really likes to kick and kick and kick hard at like 11pm.  I had a doctor's appointment this week (my 26 week appointment, but it worked out to have it this week at the same time as Levi's 3 year appointment).  This was the week with the glucose test and go figure I failed.  The maximum passing level was 140 and I was 147.  I failed miserably with Levi (if I remember right like 180) and did the 3 hour test and failed all 3 hourly checks, so failing this time was no surprise.  My doctor told me ahead of time that if I failed (which is to be expected) we wouldn't take the time to do the 3 hour test I would just begin checking my blood 4 times a day.  I go back in 2 weeks so we will see what my sugar levels do.  With Levi I took my blood 4 times a day for several weeks and it was well under the 140 limit every.single.time except one shortly after I ate an entire large strawberry shake with no diet change at all!  So I'm hoping for the same results this time around!  I did gain 4-5 pounds since my last appointment at 22 weeks which brings me to a total gain of 11 - I'm good with that! Baby's heart was beating strong at 152 bpm and his head was down so the doctor has no concerns about me or the baby!  I am so blessed to have such a healthy pregnancy!

Farewell 4 ... UNI Volleyball game

On September 10, the night before Isaiah turned 5, Mark took Isaiah to the UNI volleyball game.  It was a fun way for Isaiah to spend some alone time with daddy and celebrate his last night as a 4 year old.  It sounds like Isaiah had a great time and enjoyed every minute of it!  He got to watch the girls play volleyball, eat some yummy snacks, play with TC and he even check out his loot that we brought home for him from the Adrenaline X birthday party we had earlier that day (the mom of the party was so nice and made extra birthday bags for our boys - they were army themed and both boys loved them!) that he had stashed away in his pocket.  I can see many more UNI events in their future!  (It was also a nice night for Levi and me to hang out and make Isaiah's birthday cake!) To top off the night the Panthers won the volleyball game!  Go Panthers!

Click on the collage to enlarge.

University Avenue Cruise

On Sunday of Labor Day weekend the 5th annual University Avenue Cruise was going on and I knew the boys would LOVE it so we made sure to go.  We parked the truck along University and sat in the back in our lawn chairs, but first we stopped at Wal-Greens and each picked a yummy treat for the show.  I'm not sure if you have to enter to be in the show or if anyone with a car they want to show off just joins in, but  there were TONS of cars.  The boys were amazed with all of the cars driving by.  And of course things couldn't go without something crazy happening to Levi - he grabbed the handle for the tailgate and pulled up on it - flew out of the truck and did a complete flip in the air and landed on the grass in front of us!  He was definitely startled and sat on my lap for about 5 minutes, but then was up and jumping again enjoying the show! :)  I could have taken a picture of just about every car because the boys loved them all, but here are a few of their favorites! 

What a fun event - I can't wait to do it again next year!