June 30 - Jillian is on the Move!

Happy Friday everyone-fantastic news, Jillian is crawling now! Two Saturday's ago, while I was packing up for the swim meet, she did a short little crawl and fell. It was so fast I thought I imagined in. Sunday, she did the same thing and then Monday...BOOM! She was definitely crawling! Go little Jillian, go!

Last weekend, the FM came in town. For those of you who don't remember, the FM is a family member who wants to remain anonymous on the blog. I'm not sure why since the FM doesn't read the blog and questioned why I even update it. Well, the FM may not read it, but I love chronicling the kids life (this blog is way better than a baby book) and they love looking back at pictures and reading posts about what they were doing at different stages in their life. So, for those of you out there reading, I hope you enjoy it too!!

Last week we went to lunch the Rainforest Cafe and then went on a jungle cruise there. It was super cute! Afterwards, we went to the Moody Gardens Aquarium and had fun looking at the sea animals. My favorite was the penguins and sea lions, while Julia and Luke loved touching the jellyfish (they had a tank of non-stinging fish). They also got to touch stingrays, super fun!

The next day, we went to a delicious lunch at Star Pizza (pizza buffet mmmm) and then went to the Children's Museum. It was very crowded but 90% of the exhibits were new from the last time we were there, so it was great!

Love these kiddos!

June 15 - Go Luke Go!

Incredible news everyone. At our swim meet this past weekend, Luke was on fire and qualified for the championship reserve meet in backstroke. He has dropped almost 20 secs since the practice meet. Go Luke Go!! We are so proud of him and his hard work. 

In other news, Jillian is 9 months old. She had her check up last week and she is a healthy 18lbs 3oz (back up to the 50%, the doctor was thrilled). She still has 2 teeth (appears to be cutting the top 2 front teeth), sits up by herself and is a rolling machine. She gets on all fours but does not crawl-she sees what she wants and rolls to it. She does scoot herself backwards sometimes though. She is still the best baby ever, super happy and go with the flow. 

Jericho managed to rip out his stitches for the third time (no joke, this guy is intense) so he now has a cone taped to his head. So far, the tape has held for almost a week. The wound appears to be healing properly so fingers crossed we have no more issues. He is officially available for adoption now on the Lucky Labs LLC website (and facebook page) so we'll see what happens. I spoke to someone from the Boston area who is interested last night, although he's worried Jericho might be too wild for them (they have a 10 year old bulldog, 5 year old pit bull and their 11 year old lab just passed away 2 weeks ago). Fingers crossed it works out, if not, I'm sure he will find the right home eventually. 

The diving girls all saw Superwoman together over the weekend. They loved it!

Coach Natasha (head coach for the Orcas) loves Jillian snuggles

June 9 - Really Jericho, AGAIN?

No. I'm not allowed on the couch.

Well, he made it 24 hours. I was very careful with Jericho yesterday. He was leashed every time he went outside and I made sure there was no more hydroplaning around the yard. He was completely wild inside the house but I kept checking his incision site and everything looked good. Around 7pm, I put him in his crate for 5min while I was getting dinner ready and Luke screamed "Mommy! The cone is off and he's licking!" We immediately got him out of the crate and he had already ripped out all of his stitches except for one. Lovely, just lovely. I took him to the vet this morning and the good news is that there were 4 sutures and he only ripped out 1. He did rip out all of the stitches except for 1 but the vet was able to glue him. They gave me a new cone and told me if that didn't work, I would need to duct tape a cone to his head and drug him with Benadryl. 

Well folks...it's been an hour and he's already figured out how to lick around the new cone. Looks like duct tape is the next step.

 so handsome...so devious

June 8 - The Cone of Shame

Jericho, Jericho, Jericho....what are we going to do with you?! As you guys know, Jericho is our first "real" foster experience (not including Breck, Guinness and Karma). I really thought we would keep him after I saw his sweet face. However, after fostering him for the last 2 months, we are not the best fit for him. I am walking Jericho 4x per day, 5 to 7 miles per day, and it's not enough. He goes to dog daycare once a week and does fantastic, but we can't afford for him to go daily or multiple times per week. He needs a family with older children (he's still mouthy) with a young dog he can play with. Amelia is rapidly and cannot tolerate his repeated attempts to play with her. He is the sweetest dog in the world at 11pm when he's finally calmed down, but I must shout "Jericho, NO!" over 100x per day when he's eating/stealing stuffed animals, toys, anything he can get his paws on (anything made out of wood..anything). He is an extremely smart dog-he knows how to open the garbage can, toilet lid, toy box lid and open the fridge in the play kitchen. He spent 30min trying to get the door to the garage open but even using both paws, couldn't turn the knob. He saw me flush the toilet the other day and immediately started to try to do it himself. He has so much potential and he listens very well to JD, but he completely ignores me. Arg! 

So, Jericho was finally neutered last Friday. He currently goes to the Banfield Pet Hospital at PetSmart and we decided to have the procedure done at the Humane Society (huge cost savings, $70 v. $350). The procedure went great and he had 2 weeks of limited activity with dissolving stitches. He did well over the weekend and earlier this week. JD and I have been checking the incision area and it was healing well. Then yesterday morning happened. He decided to sprint around the yard at full speed for approx. 30min and then hydroplane into puddles (we've had a lot of rain). And....all the stitches came out. $450 later, he is stitched up AGAIN, wearing the cone of shame, and not allowed to go outside unless he is leashed. For a solid 2 weeks, ugh! 

He's so handsome

June 6 - I am a Toothbrush

This past weekend was our first official swim meet and the kids did fantastic. Luke won both of his events and swam crazy fast (6 seconds faster in free and 8 seconds faster in backstroke). He was so proud of himself!! Julia rocked it as well. She won all her events and officially qualified (the times from the practice meet didn't count) for the championship meet. She is also less than a second off our teams girls 8 and under backstroke record. She really wants to beat it this season...we'll see if she can do it! 

It was a hot, extremely humid day at the meet but the kids and Jillian did fantastic. Julia and her friends had fun playing Headbands...and Jillian tried to join in the fun! It was so cute lol!

On Sunday, Jillian and I took our first ever solo trip to Barnes and Noble. She loves pulling books off the shelf and playing. It was a great weekend. 

Book store fun

May 30 - Kinder Graduation

I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday weekend. Julia went to a birthday party Sunday morning and then we all went to a neighbor's house to swim, otherwise we spent most of the weekend at the neighborhood pool. Not surprisingly, Jillian loved the water. In fact, she was in the pool for over 1.5h on Saturday!! Water baby alert!

Last week, Luke had his kindergarten graduation at school. They sang several songs and then were called down one by one to receive their 'diploma.' It was so cute!! Afterwards, he took a picture with his teacher, Ms. Bach and we headed out for milkshakes. 

This is the last week of school and I can't believe it's over on Thursday. We'll have a 1st and 4th grader, where has the time gone?! And Jillian is almost 9 months old. We had a fun summer jam packed with swim team, summer camps, a beach trip and visit by a family member. It's going to be a great summer!!

Luke & Ms. Bach

Jillian was great during the ceremony (Julia was doing a 'social loop' talking to people and missed the photo))

Luke's first ever swim race, from last week. So proud of him!!

May 22 - Luke is an Orca!!

Luke & Serene

After 4 weeks of swim lessons, it was time for summer (spring) swim team. Luke tried out with his friend Serene and.....he made the team!! Congrats Luke, you are now a PineBrookwood Orca!! We are so proud of him. All of his hard work paid off and he had no trouble swimming a lap in both freestyle and backstroke. Serene did not make the team but she went from zero swimming skills the first day, to stopping only 4 times when attempting a lap. She did incredible and plans to try out again next year. Her brother Omar, who is friends with Julia, also tried out. And while he had never had any formal swim lessons before, he made it across the pool. Congrats!

So far we are on week 3 of Orcas...Luke comes home from school, immediately puts on his bathing suit and cannot wait to go to practice. Zero (ZERO!) complaints from him. This is such a nice departure from soccer. They had a practice meet this past weekend and did fantastic...check back for another post with videos. 

8 and Unders getting ready

Julia and Hannah, teammates for 4 swim seasons

Jillian, the cutest baby at the pool

Jill (Julia's friend from diving is also an Orca) and she loves little Jillian

May 15 - Love and Diving

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there. I had a wonderful day on Sunday. I slept in (a rarity), had breakfast in bed (pancakes, strawberries and champagne) and then Julia and I went out to lunch together, did a little shopping and went to B&N to read. We finished off the afternoon with going to the pool (with Luke & Jillian) and then having a delicious fajita dinner. Fab day!!

Somehow it's the middle of May and I'm once again super behind on blogging. ARG! A few weeks ago we traveled to Conroe, Texas (about 1.5H north of us) for another diving meet. We shared a room with Lucy, Jill and Lucy's mom. We decided to skip the 6am practice on Saturday morning (it was 55 outside and it was an outdoor pool) and went to a delicious breakfast at a local restaurant.

We finally headed over to the pool and the girls competed on 1M and 3M. Just like the other meet, they were divided into different age groups and then tiered within each group. Julia competed in 'gold' on 1M, which was a step up from last time. She placed 3rd out of 3 and she was not pleased with her performance. She absolutely rocked 3M (silver division) and also placed 3rd. While she wasn't happy with 3rd place, there was only 1.5 points separating 1st and 3rd so it was very close, and she was happy that she 'nailed all of her dives. After the meet, Lucy drove home with us and they had a sleep over. The girls had a blast together and Lucy didn't want to go home the following day. 

There are no words for this cuteness

Diving meet fun

May 12 - Rascal

Don't let the sweet face of Jericho Barrons to fool you. He is 100% more work than all 3 of my children combined. No exaggeration. In good news, his fur has grown back and his coat is now shiny and soft. He was given the clearance to be neutered and it's scheduled for June 2nd. I'm hoping that will calm him down. We signed him up for PetSmart training and he's learned 'sit' and 'look at me' so far. Unfortunately, the trainer moved stores so he hasn't had training the last few weeks, but he starts up again this weekend. I am currently getting up at 6am every morning to walk him approx. 1-2 miles...BEFORE we walk the kids to school at 8am. He comes with me at pickup at 3pm and gets an hour walk around 9pm. You may be thinking "Wow, 4 walks a day? Amazing!" Nope. It's not enough for him, he is still a ball of energy. Anyone who knows me knows I despise running with every fiber of my being but I'm seriously considering taking up running with him. He is also extremely destructive in the house.

He eats shoes (he's eaten 4 pairs of flip flops in the last week), pencils, pens, wooden train tracks, likes to gnaw on the staircase and steals stuffed animals. He's extremely smart and has figured out how to open the garbage can, toilet lid, roll down the window in the car and push the handle down on the front and back door (he cannot pull the doors open, thankfully!). He does well in the crate but getting him into the crate is a real challenge. He goes 'limp noodle' and we have to manhandle in there. He likes to dig and eat plants/bushes in the backyard..really, he'll eat just about anything. He requires constant vigilance. He also has peed on Amelia several times-they both stop to sniff something and then he quickly lifts and 'marks'...hitting her in the face. And if you are wondering if it's possible for a dog to pee ON himself...the answer is yes. He's peed on himself-IN THE FACT. Don't even ask how, but it happened.

He's also super mouthy and I've had to ban neighborhood kids from coming to the house because they are unable to ignore him when he nips. The boys are the worse, they scream loudly and then run...which Jericho thinks is playtime and it escalates things. It's been a week without neighborhood kids and it's been....wonderful. My snack supply has lasted a week (it usually lasts a few days with the pack of kids here). 

Now, it's not all doom and gloom. When he's finally calm, he is wonderful-a snugly, adorable labbie! He is also getting better at fetching and very sweetly tosses the ball to Amelia (who is extremely slow these days) after he gets it. 

This was a particularly bad day..he stole the giant penguin and then ate a picture frame. I finally had to work outside and monitor him. 

Snoozing black labs

May 5 - Catchup

I'm pretty sure April was the busiest month we've had in ages. I still haven't even blogged half the month. In an effort to catch up, here you go:

Julia
Julia has been working hard at school preparing for her STAAR exams (state wide standardized tests) which are next week. She does Aquastar swim team twice a week and diving three times per week. For diving, 2 times a week are in the pool and the 3rd day is dryland training (trampoline work and diving into a mat). She LOVES it. She has a meet tomorrow and we'll be heading out later this evening to the hotel. She is also excited for the upcoming Orca swim season and for fall soccer. She's started working on her soccer drills a few times a week. She is an amazing helper with Jillian and works with Jericho several times a week on his training. She is still Harry Potter obsessed and is currently about halfway through book #2. She still plays with the neighborhood crew and they are calling themselves the 'Savage Sausages.' 

Luke
Luke has excelled at school and is above grade level for his math and reading skills. He wants to work on his multiplication tables this summer and Julia has agreed to help him. Although he was enjoying tennis, we stopped going a few weeks ago, I just cannot swing the 3.45pm start time with work and the baby. He has been in intensive swim lessons, 4 times a week for the last 4 weeks to prepare for Orcas. His back stroke looks great and he's working really hard on side breathing for freestyle. Orcas start next week and while he's not looking forward to the cold pool, he's excited to try it. His BFF Serene is also going to try out next week, so they are both pretty psyched. Luke also lost one of his front teeth in April and had a friend from school come over one day a few weeks ago for a playdate. They were so cute, they read their books when they got to the house because "We need to finish our homework before we play, mom." After complaining about soccer all fall, I was shocked when Luke told me he wants to play soccer again. So...we'll see if I sign him up. 

Jillian
Our little golden eyebrows is doing amazing. She is enjoying food now at dinnertime. And when I say enjoying..I mean I give her a bowl and let her have fun with it! I don't think she eats all that much but she definitely loves playing with it and throwing the bowl on the floor. She is quite the little chunker and the doctor is thrilled with her weight gain. She rolls all over the floor and has started to get up on all fours, so maybe she'll be crawling soon..we'll see. As of now, she gets where she wants to go by rolling pretty quickly. 

Dogs
Amelia has slowed down considerably in the last few weeks. If I think about it too much, I'll start crying. JD had to carry her upstairs one night and I had to lift her on the bed one night. She is definitely getting more exercise than she has in years...we are currently walking 4 (yes, FOUR) walks per day because of a certain crazy puppy. Jericho...well, I'll save him for another blog post. 

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!