Development

One of the things the teachers do at Rainbow Station is developmental evaluations twice a year.  I feel like I talk with Em's teachers enough on a daily basis to know what's going on, but I like the dedicated time to hear their input and ask questions.

Ms. Kathy, who we've known since Em started Rainbow Station two years ago, is actually leaving in a few weeks, so this was our last teacher conference with her.  Em will really miss her, and we will too--she has a great connection with Em, and Ms. Kathy is great with structure and discipline in the class, which we appreciate.

Em will be moving to her next class (Gold Room) in August, so she would have left Ms. Kathy's room anyway, and she really likes her other teachers now too (Ms. Nancy and Ms. Cheryl).  Ms. Nabila, who was in her room earlier in the year, will also be coming back now, so I'm glad Em will still have all familiar faces!

Easter

On Saturday morning, Em was almost completely back to normal--it was crazy!  I was on the planning committee for our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt, and it was supposed to rain all day. 

We moved the entire event into the clubhouse, which turned out fine.  We had a good number of people show up, despite the weather.  The kids enjoyed face painting, pictures with the Easter Bunny,

 and an indoor egg hunt!

We also incorporated a cupcake contest, and there were some great entries!

Em and Brady (who lives next door to us) were some of the cupcake judges.  Em even ate a cupcake and felt fine, so we were pretty sure we were completely out of the woods.

I forgot to take a picture of her Easter basket on Sunday morning before she found it, but it was full of every chocolate bunny I could find (Em is totally a chocoholic!), along with a kite, a badminton set, and a butterfly net.  The weather is starting to warm up, so she's looking forward to getting outside--especially after being sick for a week.

The butterfly net was a hit--she spent the morning outside trying to find a butterfly!  We even went next door to the model home where they have all these beautiful tulips, thinking there might be one.  They must have seen her coming, because we didn't see one butterfly. 

Sunday afternoon, she wanted to dye more eggs!  This was a tye dye kit, and she really liked using the little dropper to make the eggs different colors.

Sick Days

Last Saturday, Em woke up around 1:30 AM and came in our bedroom, saying her tummy hurt.  I went in her bedroom with her and around 2:00 AM, she started throwing up.  She said her tummy hurt on Friday night, but really had acted fine and went to bed okay.

She was sick all day Saturday, and must have thrown up 20 times--she couldn't keep any liquid down, and had no appetite for solids at all.  She had no other symptoms (not even a fever), but couldn't stop throwing up.  Sunday was more of the same, so we knew she wouldn't be at school on Monday.

I called her doctor Monday morning and we got her a 9:30 appointment that morning.  She didn't get to see her regular doctor, but the one she saw checked her out and determined it wasn't her appendix and there were no signs of strep, so we were assuming a virus.  He prescribed an anti-emetic so she could get over the nausea enough to at least stay hydrated.  It worked a little, but she kept throwing up anytime she drank too fast or a large quantity.

On Wednesday, we took her back to the doctor.  She saw a different doctor who told us she was really dehydrated--he tested her blood and urine to rule out anything more serious, and said we needed to double her fluid intake or our only other option would be IV fluids.  Her vomiting had slowed a little, but we still had to be careful with her drinking too fast or too much.

I found some apple flavored Pedialyte that she really liked, so I bought every bottle they had at CVS.  Mick and I were taking turns staying home with her all week.  She was so pitiful with no energy at all--she really only wanted to lounge around and rest, and didn't get out of pjs all week.

On Thursday, I stayed home with her again, and she had a quart of Pedialyte by 10:00 that morning.  She hadn't thrown up in over 24 hours, was feeling much better, and really wanted to go to the Easter Egg hunt her class was having that day.  I called and talked to her teacher, and we headed over--she was weak from not eating, but felt up to running around with her friends and playing for a few minutes.

We were there for about half an hour and then headed home.  I could tell she was wearing down fast, but was glad we made it for the little while we were there.

Soon after we got home, she threw up again.  I regretted taking her at that point, because I think it was just too much activity before she was ready.

That afternoon, she felt terrible and stayed in bed.  She was so happy that Bella wanted to come upstairs and comfort her.  Bella would gladly take over any of our beds, but isn't usually allowed upstairs. 

On Friday, I kept her at home again.  When she threw up again that morning, we decided to take her back to the doctor.  We saw someone different (they only had a sick clinic open since it was Good Friday), and she reassured us that she looked good, and didn't show any signs of dehydration anymore.  What was funny is that Em started feeling better while we were in the doctor's office.  She asked her to do some jumping jacks, and Em went to town--the doctor explained that any major stomach issues would have prevented her from jumping like she did.

By Friday night, Em was almost back to normal!  She wanted hot dogs for dinner, and was dying to get into the Easter candy from her school egg hunt.  Instead, we made mashed potatoes together and she ate some of those.  Just to have any appetite back at all was a relief for us.

By Friday night, she was dressed as a princess and wanting to dye eggs! 

This kit had glitter and sequins for the eggs, so she really made them beautiful.

Finally, we were doing something that felt normal again after a terribly long week of sickness!

Fun Stuff

Mick's parents weren't able to make it to Em's birthday, so they planned a trip the following weekend.  As if Em hadn't already gone through enough birthday presents, there were more to open!  One of her favorites was this cowgirl outfit!  We had a fun weekend, but hardly took any pictures at all.  I really need to get my camera fixed.

Em's school has a Scholastic book fair at least once every year, and the PTO members are the ones who volunteer to work at it in the afternoons.  I try to volunteer when I can, especially now that I can be there so quickly after I leave the office.  I went To Em's class to get her both afternoons when I was working, and she was so excited to come out and help me scan books!

We also did our family pictures recently--I had a couple of spring dresses for Em to choose from, and she chose the white one, saying it was her wedding dress!  She asked "can you and Daddy get married again so I can hold flowers and stand up there with you?"  She's quite upset that she missed our first wedding :).

I like this photographer, except her pictures tend to be a little over-posed for us.  We do better with candid shots I think, but this is still nice to have pictures of us together.

And some of the pictures of Em turned out really sweet.

 She loved all the flowers!

Frozen Birthday Party!

Em had an easy decision to make when it came to deciding about her birthday party theme this year!

Frozen stuff is really difficult to find because of the crazy popularity of the movie, but luckily, I found lots of great printable templates on Etsy, and we made most of our decorations, including the banners and popcorn boxes that we filled with popcorn and cheese doodles.

It was a beautiful day, so we filled up a bunch of water balloons and had a big picture printed of the snow monster from Frozen.  The kids had a great time throwing water balloons at the monster!

I don't think any of them even threw balloons at each other :).

It took them a fraction of the time to throw the balloons as it did for us to fill them all!

About 30 minutes in, we started the movie.  I wasn't expecting all the kids to gather around to watch it, but they did!  The movie was just released this past week, so we had to make sure we had it in time for the party.

Captive audience!

I got the cake from Publix for the second year in a row, and again, they did a great job!  I don't think I'll buy cakes anywhere else from here on out.

Here's the birthday song--Em is such a silly girl when the attention is all on her! Click Here

Here's Em with her friend Emma.  Even her outfit was handmade from Etsy, and she loved it!

One of the best things about the party was that Em's cousins made it!  Jason and Jenn were heading to my parents' house and were passing through Charlotte on Saturday, so Cody and Chase got to enjoy the birthday festivities!  The three of them really enjoyed spending time together after all the party craziness ended.  This was the craft table we had set up, where kids could either make tiaras or reindeer antlers.

The tiaras were long gone, but there were some antlers left for the three of them to decorate when the party was over!

 It was chaotic, but a fun party.

Sunday was a fun day to open birthday presents!  We did a pretty thorough cleaning out of some old toys too, and returned a few things that were duplicates.

Birthdays, Birthdays and MORE Birthdays!

It seems like all of Em's friends at school have birthdays around the same time, and this month has been really busy for birthday parties!

This was her good friend Aamani, who regularly plays Anna to Em's Elsa--they were singing and dancing to "Let it Go" in this picture :).

The party was at a place that just does music, lights and games for kids--they had a great time.

Another one was for two kids in her class who are twins.  It was at Monkey Joe's, the bounce house place. She had a good time bouncing, but just as much fun in the arcade games.

Her friend Evan had Party Pets at his party--this is the same guy who came to a birthday party she went to last year.  Honestly, if I had known this was the one at the party, we might have skipped it.  Em loved it (as you can tell), but the man is a little strange.

Em had the boa constrictor wrapped around her waist...again!

But regardless of how comfortable she was with the snakes, she loved the furry animals more.

She would have held this bunny and hamster all afternoon!

In the middle of all this, we took some time to go to the ballet yesterday and see Cinderella!  Em really liked it, but a little while into the first half, she asked "when are they gonna start talking?"  Probably not an ideal first ballet--but she'll definitely be ready for the Nutcracker this Christmas :)!

We're also getting ready for Em's party next weekend.  She was helping me make favor bags for her friends, and we were probably halfway done when Em said "I'm getting sleepy of this job--will you finish them?"  Ha! She's great at knowing what she wants to say, and will sometimes swap out words that mean the same thing, but doesn't quite understand why they aren't interchangeable.

What's Happening This Spring!

Em is so quickly developing into a very bright, intelligent little girl.  She learns fast and often tells us about the things they're doing at school--whether it's a song or a book they've read--it seems like she retains everything!

Mick's parents gave her a Tag/Leap Reader at Christmas, and she loves it.  I walked into her playroom one day and found her dressed in all of these fancy clothes, sitting on her beanbag reading!  She can play really well by herself, but I think she prefers for us to be with her to interact.

We've gotten in the bad habit of sitting in her bedroom with her at night until she falls asleep--or worse, lying in bed beside her (which usually means I fall asleep too).  I love the extra time with her, and she usually wants to snuggle or hold hands--one night, we were talking as she was trying to fall asleep, and she said "when we get up, can we snuggle?"  Of course, I answered yes, and she said "I'm gonna dream about it."  I know she should be falling asleep by herself, but I hate to think about missing those moments :).

Mick has been really excited for the weather to get warm so he can get outside with Em and start some planting.  One afternoon, they decided to plant some bulbs that we bought--Mick threw away the package, so I don't even remember what they are, but I think irises.  We'll find out when they start to bloom!

Em gets so excited to see seeds or bulbs start to sprout after she had a hand in planting them.  It's really cool to see her reaction!

She continues to love crafting, and will quickly get into any project we suggest.  She and Mick picked up pine cones one day and decided to paint them.

It was kind of a nasty day outside (we've had a ton of rain!), so it was a great indoor project.

We found a bead kit on sale and picked it up--she and I made necklaces and crowns for each other one night.  She wanted me to braid her hair like Elsa in Frozen, and I crowned her queen of Arendelle :).