Finally....an update and a few random things

I haven't been in the blogging mood lately. Mostly because it's the same routine day after day with the kids in school and there's really nothing new to talk about.

But here's what's gone on in the past few weeks:

* Helene turned 9 months on the 16th. She loves to be on the floor playing and is a slowly crawling around. She still isn't too sure about it--and I'm totally okay with that. I'd rather have a less mobile baby than one who is all over the place. She is still the happiest baby I know despite the continual constipation issues and napping-around-everyone-else's-day nap schedule.

* I had a birthday. Yep. I'm officially a year older. (GASP! I know, I don't look a day over 24, right? haha. Although funny story, I DID get carded at the movie theatre last summer. Ummm, thanks for the compliment movie-ticket-taker-guy, but I really don't think I look under 18. Especially since I'm pregnant, but thanks for thinking that I'm a knocked up teenager.)

* Found out that the cyst in Hannah's neck needs to be removed. You can read more about that here. We met with her ENT last week because I noticed that there were 2 or 3 little lumps next to her cyst. The doctor thinks that they are lymph nodes reacting to the cyst or possibly little satellite cysts feeding off the first one. Either way--they need to be removed. I am planning on having it done while she is out of school on her Christmas break.

* Had a Parent-Teacher conference with Sammy's new teacher. I really like her--she is friendly, nurturing, and enthusiastic. Who knew that would be so hard to come across in a Kindergarten teacher? She mentioned that Sammy was really advanced in his academics (thank you Pre-K!) and that he was one of the class leaders. We also discussed what he needs to work on most which is holding a pencil/crayon/etc. correctly.

She gave me a few tips to help with his fine motor skills, so we will see if that helps. I've noticed since Pre-K that he has had problems with that, but was hoping it would work itself out by Kindergarten. I've heard it's also a boy/girl thing, which especially shows true as Hannah has never had any problem holding a pen or crayon since the first time she picked one up.

* Had a Parent-Teacher conference with Hannah's teachers. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that there has been pretty much no drama from her. She had one minor tantrum the first month of school and she's been great ever since. She is also quite advanced in her academics as she already knows the alphabet by sight and knows the sounds they make. Her teachers were nice and tried to give me credit for it, but I had to give the credit to Sammy and Starfall. Well, okay, we do read quite a bit everyday, but I still think it's more Sammy and her computer time (i.e. mom is going back to bed so entertain yourself with this).

* Hannah's favorite CD is the Wicked soundtrack. We listen to it on the way to and from school. She loves to sing along, and while "Popular" was originally her favorite song, she has now moved on to "Defying Gravity" as the song of choice (i.e. put on repeat). She asks to listen to "Glenda" and "Alphabet" everytime we get in the car. Sammy really like "Popular" as well, but doesn't like any of the other songs. I'd like to take her to see Wicked if it comes back to LA.

* This is totally random, but speaking of music. My kids have three favorite songs that they ask to hear almost all the time. These are songs that they have either heard me play in the car or they've heard on the TV (e.g. when Samuel is watching a Clippers game). Either way, they are pretty random and I'm not sure what they say about my parenting. They are: So What'cha Want by the Beastie Boys, Yeah by Usher, Crazy in Love by Beyonce.

In my defense, the Usher song is the lead in/out for all the Clippers games, so Sammy just calls that his "basketball song." The kids like to watch Wow Wow Wubbzy on Noggin and one week last year they had a bunch of episodes featuring Beyonce as "Shine" from an all-girl band called the "Wubb Girls". One day while listening to a mix CD that Dana made, the Crazy in Love song came on and Sammy recognized that it was the same voice as "Shine" and so he wanted to listen to it over and over. And What'cha Want...well..what can I say? I like the Beastie Boys.

Don't worry--it's not all they listen to. We still hear plenty Laurie Berkner and Primary songs too.

* Just an FYI: Eggnog shakes are back at Jack in the Box! YAY!

Ok--that's all I have for now. I'm sure there will be the obligatory Thanksgiving Day post at the end of the week. See you then!