4 Month Check-up and Registrations

I took Rachel to the doctor today for her 4 month check-up.  She smiled at the doctor the whole time.  Didn't like being weighed and measured and complained a little then though.  She's now 26 inches long and weighs 15 pounds, 3 ounces.  Her height is a little above the 95th percentile and her weight is a little above the 75th percentile, which is about what it was at 2 months.  Her head is just above the 50th percentile so she still has a little head compared to the rest of her. 

She received two shots and one oral immunization today.  Surprised me by not crying for very long with the shots.  She actually cried more on the way home because she was tired. 

This morning was Jimmy's Jr. High registration.  The councilors from the Jr. High came over to the elementary school so it was really fast for each student.  When I got over to the classroom for the registration, they asked me for my student's name to call him out of class.  Dylan saw Jimmy stand up and did a little happy dance.  When Jimmy came out of his class Dylan said, "Hi," and gave Jimmy a quick hug around his leg. 

I was surprised how quickly it went.  They pointed us to an open councilor and we sat at a desk with him.  Handed him the papers we had been sent, and he looked over them quickly and asked if we had any questions.  He handed us back the immunization record and we then took that over to another lady who looked at it and made sure everything was marked and that was it.  Jimmy will get his class schedule in the summer and they will have a kick-off day for the 7th graders to go and try out their lockers and such.

I definitely don't feel old enough to have a kid starting Jr. High.  I did realize today though that when Jimmy is a senior in high school that Rachel will just be starting with kindergarten.  That one made me feel tired.  Made it feel like it will be a really long time before I will have some real alone time.  I do know that it will come faster than I think.  I'd say that I'm sure I will miss having someone home all the time, but you know, right at this moment the thought of having all of the kids in school at least for a short time sounds kind of nice.  I'm blaming that one on the fact that the kids get out early all week and have been fighting over simple things.  Like food.

Rachel

Rachel is a little over 4 months old now.  She's a very happy baby. Getting very grabby and reaching for everything.  She started out as my biggest and if my measurements are correct, she's staying my biggest (I'll find out for sure when I take her in for her well-baby checkup).  All of her siblings are great with her. 

Here are a couple of pictures of her.  Which is my main purpose of writing this particular post.  Wanted to show off my happy and very good baby.

McD's for FHE

For Christmas my parents gave everyone a $5 coupon book for McDonald's. We finally decided to use them last night.  Despite the looks on the girl's faces in the first picture, they were excited that we went.  More because they could play than anything else though.  Dylan is mostly potty-trained now and even stopped playing to have me take him to the bathroom.  So far he has been really easy to train.  Bribery works wonderfully for him.

The playland was next to empty but the girls managed to make a friend and Dylan even played with a boy about his age.  Jimmy had fun teasing Russ.

As a side note, going to McDonald's when there has been a stomach bug circulating through the family that keeps coming back isn't really the best idea in the world.

Leaving Comfort Zones

I don't ever remember being accused of being outgoing.  I do, however, remember a few times when people have told me I'm the quietest person they've ever met (at least when they first met me).  Look up the word "introvert" in the dictionary and you should find a picture of me.  Growing up I made my sister do most of the talking for me.  I've gotten better though.  Or at least I keep telling myself that.

This month I officially started my term as vice president of Intermountain Healing Hearts (or IHH for short).  I have been very impressed with this group and when the opportunity came decided to submit my name for this position so that I could have an opportunity to give back and do my part in making sure the group keeps moving forward.  As I learn my new role I'm sure I'll make a few mistakes but I'm working with a great bunch of ladies who are very capable and talented and will hopefully put up with my errors.

With National CHD Awareness week coming up (Feb 7-14), we have been discussing what we need to do.  Every year a table has been set up on the 3rd floor of Primary Children's Medical Center by the group with brochures and things to help spread awareness.  We discussed trying to contact various media outlets to try to get the word out about CHD week and about IHH.  Well, I decided to send a message to my county's local newspaper.  A lady who works at the paper has emailed me back a couple of times,this last time requesting my phone number so that she can contact me further.  While I think it's really great that she seems interested in the story, there's a part of me that quite enjoys sitting in the comfort zone of the background starting to get a bit nervous.  If I listen close I can hear that part of me cry, "Oh, no! What if she wants to take my picture?!"  Okay, maybe it's more that I really don't like pictures of myself.  Then there's the part of me that isn't nervous.  I have to listen harder to hear that one, but I hear it roll the eyes and respond, "Oh, just put on some make-up and you'll do fine."

Is it any wonder why my favorite t-shirt saying reads, "Even if the voices aren't real, they have some pretty good ideas"?

Lend me Your Ears

Yes, I realize that this is a goofy picture.  Should have seen the other one.



For one of her Christmas presents, we gave Emma a "coupon" good for getting her ears pierced.  Well, yesterday I decided to take her to actually do it.  She was excited and a little bit nervous.  I was impressed how brave she was and that she really didn't flinch or make much noise with the piercings other than saying, "Ow."  For a kid who can be quite vocal about pain, that was quite amazing.  She picked out studs of her birthstone.  So far she's doing pretty well with them.

I asked Molly if she wanted to get her ears pierced then since she has been talking about wanting them too.  She surprised me by saying not then.  There was another girl there trying to decide if she wanted to get her ears pierced.  Emma told her it wasn't that bad to get them done.  As far as I could tell, the girl decided she wasn't brave enough to do it. 

Overheard...

The other day I overheard two of my daughters talking.  My 5 year old said to her 7 year old sister, "Jimmy's lucky.  He has 4 sisters."  Yeah, for some reason I don't think he quite feels the same way.