Halloween Dance Party

Last night was the school Halloween Dance.  The kids love going so much -- they've been counting down the days for the past 2 weeks.  Jon got called out of town, but I had already promised the kids we could go, so we braved it alone.  I'm glad that we did.

 

 

 

 

 Rachel is getting so grown up.  Almost from the time we got to the school, she had her eyes open for 2 of her friends.  Then, once she found them, she wanted to just be able to run around with them and not stay with the family.  It was the first time I had experienced this; normally she has been happy to talk with her friends, but then stay with the rest of us.

 The kids spent at least an hour just dancing on the stage.  They hired a DJ this year, which I thought was kind of ridiculous, but it was actually super cool.  He brought a fog machine and had all these cool laser lights flashing everywhere, and Kale was practically in heaven.

 

 Now that the excitement of the dance is over, the kids can hardly wait for tomorrow.  I've been told at least 5 times so far that there's only one more night before Halloween.  I'm sure I'll be reminded at least that many more times before the day is out.  I'm glad my kids love dressing up as much as I do.  It's fun to have the kids get excited about it just like I do.

Baby News

I went in for an impromptu appointment on Monday because I had been cramping pretty badly through the weekend.  Turns out everything is just fine with our little BOY.  Yes that's right.  We'll be adding another boy to our ranks.  We are so excited!  Jon, Kale, and Sky were all with me, and Kale was so excited when the doctor said the baby was a boy.  This is his dream come true!

Here I am at 13 weeks.  I feel like I'm way bigger this time than I was with the last few kids, but Jon assures me I look like this every time by 3 months.  I guess he's probably right.

The other night during family night, everyone was just listening to Rachel's lesson (except Sky, who kept running in and out), when suddenly Sky ran in looking like this.  She stopped and did some crazy dance in front of every person, and then sat on the couch.  Sky is so unexpectedly hilarious sometimes!

Doctor time for Hallie

We took Hallie to the doctors today to be tested for allergies.  She has been complaining about pretty bad stomach pain pretty much since she was old enough to talk, so we thought we would at least check into allergies and eliminate that as a problem.

Somehow, I thought it would just be a few quick pricks, and we'd be on our way, but it turned out to be more traumatic for Hallie.  They wanted to take some blood just to make sure she doesn't have celiac disease (which is being allergic to gluten).  And here I'd been assuring her there wouldn't be any "real" needles at this appointment.  Well, she made it through, crying heartily the entire time, but she didn't seem too affected -- the tears stopped as soon as the cotton ball went on her arm.

Then came the allergy testing.  I guess I just didn't know what to expect, because it wasn't just one little prick at a time for a quick second -- they had this contraption with 8 little pricks on it and they wiggled it around and pushed it into her arm for like 10 seconds.  And they had to do it on both arms!!  Plus, they gave her 3 additional pricks.  Man oh man, I have never heard Hallie scream like that before.
Afterward, Hallie told me that it felt like bears were scratching off her arms.  When I suggested that maybe it felt more like cats, she looked at me and said, "No way Mom.  Way more than cats.  Only bears would feel like that."  I'm glad Jon wasn't there -- he would have been passed out on the floor by the time we got through.

We don't have the results on the blood yet, but as far as allergies go, Hallie is slightly allergic to yeast.  So, the doctor is having us take yeast out of her diet for 4 days to see if it helps with her stomach.  He gave us a list of what to avoid, and it seems like yeast is in everything!  I'm sure we'll be just fine for the next 4 days, but it did seem daunting at first glance.

A few quick updates

For Labor Day, the kids had a campout in the backyard.  They suddenly realized that summer was over and they hadn't been camping once.  They all felt pretty sad about this, so we set up the tent and let them sleep in the back for the night.  They loved it!  We even tried to let Sky sleep back there, but by 10:30, we knew that she needed to come inside so the other kids could finally fall asleep.

 Also, a few weeks ago, Hallie wrote me this sweet little note.

(translation:  I love you mommy.  I love you with all my heart.  I love you.)