Saturday

On Thursday we went to Chesterfield Town Center.  I got a few things at Old Navy.  We had pretzels for lunch.  Bronwyn was starting to feel better.  But she was draining a little, so a wet cough and the sniffles.  I got her some Claritin; it's helped some.  We got Chinese for dinner.  I ate way too much.

We had a pretzel left over from yesterday for breakfast.  It was a little chewy, and then I broke my tooth.  the premolar on the bottom cracked in half.  From a pretzel!  Ugh.  It wouldn't have mattered if it happened at home, as my dentist isn't open on Fridays.  It doesn't hurt.  I went to the store and got some tooth glue, and put it back in.  But it didn't last.  I took the kids to the trampoline park.  It was pretty loud inside, and both kids had their hands over their ears.  Bertram started crying and saying he wanted to go home.  It cost almost $80 for the three of us and socks.  I told him we were going to try it out for a while and if they weren't having fun we could leave.  Bronwyn got into it pretty quickly.  Bertram kept being upset so I called my mom and asked if she could pick him up.  But by the time she arrived he was having a good time.  They especially liked playing in the foam pits.  Bronwyn was pretty fearless, Bertram was more cautious, of course.  We ended up staying for our whole allotted time.

In the afternoon we went swimming at my aunt's house.  The kids had a lot of fun, and one of my cousins, who I hadn't seen in the long time, was there too.  Bertram loved the diving board.  He is still using his lifejacket.  

Some storms were coming, so we got out, and went down the road to visit Nanny.  She wasn't particularly with it on that day.  So we visited for a bit and waited out the storm before driving home.

I woke up with a lesser version of what Bronwyn had.  No fever, stuffy nose, and a cough.  Sudafed helped.  The weather was nicer today than it had been, much cooler and less humid.  I was going to walk, but didn't end up doing it.  I started drinking my coffee over ice, because it's too hot for hot coffee.  It's delightful.  We went to Target and JC Penney in the morning.  I found some really cute things.  And some baby things for Rebecca.  Mom suggested I put them away for her baby shower.  We got lunch at Panera, and then went back home for a bit.  I took a quick nap.  Then we went to Rebecca's house and swam for a while. We got gas on the way home, and got Wendy's for dinner.  I gave everyone a bath, and did some laundry.  Bron fell asleep at Nana and Papa's house.  She woke up long enough to come home.  And then fell asleep again.

Too long, again

After it's been so long, it's hard to remember what I wanted to write about.

Bertram started school last week.  It has been fine so far.  He has half days until next Monday.  He has made a friend who was sitting at his table, but then the friend got moved because they were talking too much.  But so far it's all gone well.  Aaron usually packs his lunch, which is good; one less thing for me to do.  I signed up to be the library helper for his class.  But I need to get a TB test, and do a background check. 

The kids are in the middle of swimming lessons.  Bertram was in the tot class, but got moved to the level 1 class.  It's hard for him, for sure, but he enjoys it for the most part.  Bron is in the mommy and me class.  She likes it.  It was super hot last week, so it felt good to swim.  We have this week, then they're done til next year.

Grandma's house is just about empty.  I think it's in escrow. 

The week before school started we did a lot of different things.  Two different amusement parks, park day, beach day.  It was a fun week.

Bron has become a picky eater as of late.  She used to eat a lot of different things, but now she only wants Lucky Charms, which I'm going to stop buying, crackers, apple sauce, and cheese.  She used to eat different fruit and veg, some meat, etc.  But I'll keep giving her a variety.  She was having some issues with cow milk, so we switched her to pea protein milk.  She likes it, and it has a lot of the same things as cow milk (protein, calcium, fat, less sugar).  She actually finished all the breast milk I had in the freezer, which is good.  I'm glad it didn't go to waste.

End of July

Bertram did pretty well with his Space Camp.  I should have just told him it was preschool.  I think he was expecting a real rocket, or something.  His cousin, Kaylee, was in the class with him, which was nice.  But he had a hard time with me leaving, most days.  I found a method that worked for both of us, by the end of the week.  (I go in with him.  He says he wants to go home.  I ignore that and sit down.  After a minute or so, he gets something to play with.  Then he gets really into whatever he's doing.  I tell him "I'm going in 2 minutes."  He says ok.  Two minutes later I tell him bye, and he barely looks up).  All in all, he had fun.

I think I mentioned previously, that I signed Bertie up for free preschool.  But it was every day, and not on the best side of the city.  I found a preschool program through San Jose Parks and Rec, which was just what I wanted.  Two half days a week, close enough to walk to (1.2 miles away) and doesn't cost a fortune.  ($197 a month, which is about $100 less than any other program in the area). He starts on the 28th of August and goes til May 30.  I've got to get him excited, maybe having him choose a backpack and lunch box? 
Here is the description:
This class prepares your child for kindergarten with age-appropriate
activities, learning concepts, socialization skills and fun. Your child will gain
a basic understanding of shapes, colors and pre-phonics and literacy
building (i.e. identifying letter sounds, and writing the alphabet and simple
words), as well as number recognition, and counting up to 30. The goal is
to have fun, participate and learn. Children must be fully potty trained before the start of class. Requirements for parent attendance, volunteers, snacks, etc. varies by center.

I think some of it may be boring for him.  He knows colours, and shapes, and he reads fairly well.  But the socialization will be good, and counting.  He can get to 12, then skips a couple numbers going to 30. And phonics will be good.  He knows the letter sounds, but doesn't seem to associate them with words.  His reading is about 90% sight reading.  So it's exciting.

Bronwyn turned one last week.  She had her well check on Friday.  She is still a tiny girl 16lb12.4oz, and 28 inches tall.  I think that is 8%ile for weight, and 16%ile for height.  But she is good on all developmental issues.  She's just a tiny girl.  She has 4 teeth, and it working on a couple more.  She got three shots: MMR, Hep A and chicken pox.  She was grumpy immediately following her appointment, but was fine the rest of the day.  (Poor kid, she cried so hard).  I'm feeding her meals first, then nursing after, to see if that will help her gain a little weight. 

We had her party on Saturday.  It was low key, just family.  I had some water stuff for the older cousins (they are 4, 5, and 6) to play will.  We had Eggrolls, rice, watermelon, veggies and cake.

She liked this little splash pad.

She wasn't a fan of her smash cake.

She was very tired at the end, because she'd missed a nap.  

My mom is here (because of Bronwyn's birthday).  I love having her around.  I wish she lived closer.  But I'm glad I get to see her as much as I do (especially because 3000 miles is far away).  

The kids started swimming lessons last week.  (It's 2 weeks mon-thur). Bertie is in the tot class (Turtles) and Bron and I are in the baby class (Whales).  This is the first time Bertram has done swimming lessons without me.  He's doing very well, from what I can tell.  I watch him while I'm doing things with Brony on the otherwise of the pool.  Bronwyn is really too young for the actual instruction.  But she enjoys being in the water.  She really likes jumping in.  At the side of the pool, she climbs out.  And stands up, holding my fingers.  I help her jump in, she smiles and wants to go again and again.  I dunked her under a little bit, and it didn't bother her at all.

I bought our plane tickets to go to Virginia.  We'll be going to Myrtle Beach from there.  I'm really excited.  I love the beach, and both kids love the beach.  Aaron could take or leave the beach, but likes vacation.  It took forever to get the tickets sorted out.  We had $800 in travel certificates from United (from when Aaron chose to get bumped last year).  But I have to do Aaron's reservation separate from me and the kids because he comes back sooner.  So I had two screens going at once, so we could have seats together. But I got to the end, and it wasn't accepting the certificate (an error message kept popping up).  So I called customer service, and got Aaron's done.  I figured mine would work, but it didn't.  So I had to call back and do it again.  All in all, it took almost an hour to get it all done.

The Whole30, and the whole other stuff

Bertie finished swimming lessons today.  We did 8 lessons through parks and rec.  He loved it.  He is more independent than he should be.  He is over-confident of his abilities.  Which is a little scary, but he's not afraid, which is good.  He's not actually able to swim, but we have some good foundation stuff (blowing bubbles, wall crawl, tummy floating, kicking etc).  Next week we're starting a tumbling class.  I somehow, stupidly signed up for a class at nap time, but it's only once a week.

I got a new bible.  The bible my church uses is KJV.  And, in all honestly, I don't like KJV.  It's too hard to understand.  So my mom bought me the NIV Once a Day Bible for Women.  It has daily readings from the old testament, new testament, and psalms.  I'm enjoying it.  I'm trying to read the book of mormon daily too.

I think I'm cutting all my hair off on Saturday.  Time will tell.

I'm on day 3 of the Whole30.  I hate it.  It's hard, and I hate it.  And today I cheated a little.  I had a diet coke, and a bacon cheeseburger from Wendys without the bun.  (Cheese is a no-no, and I'd guess their mayo is non-compliant).  But I think I'll try to finish out the 30 days.  But I'll need to adjust a little here and there, otherwise it;s not going to work.  Eating that many eggs is hard.  I have a hard time eating as much protein as is required.  I made myself chia puddings for breakfast.  This morning I tried a sweet potato and fruit thingy.  I don't like sweet potatoes enough.

I've been tired lately, been going to sleep before 10 most nights.

I met my new GI last week.  I like him a lot.  He ordered some vaccines for me.  Hep A&B, meningitis, and pneumonia.  One of them hurt a lot, but I have no clue which.  I'm pretty excited though.  I like having extra protection, especially since Humira makes me immeunosuppressed.