PAITON LOLA IS 3!!

That's right!! Our little bittle is THREE big years old!! Where do I even start this blog!? Paiton is a true, true blessing to us. She is the most absolutely perfect and beautiful girl. She was born on November 13, 2008 after 8 hours of labor. She was 2 days late. She weighed 7 lb. 3 oz and was 19.25 inches long. She was beautiful and perfect and she forever changed our lives.

 First family picture

 Headed home!

I feel like we have been through so much with Paiton since she joined us. She has lived in 3 houses and taken each change gracefully. When she was born and I held her, I turned to Matt and told him "I'm quitting my job. There's no way I can leave this baby and go to work." And in all my hormonal craziness, I did. And it was the best choice ever. We struggled a bit after that and I bounced around to a couple places where I could work from home before finally settling in my job I'm at now. I can't imagine how life would be if I had to leave my babies every day. I complain and it's hard - SO much harder than anyone who hasn't done it knows - to work from home while taking care of babies, but I would rather that and not miss a second of their life, than to have to leave every day. I am proud to say I've been there for ever single "first".  

Paiton is my very, very, best friend in the whole, wide world. We have rarely been apart from the moment she was born and when we are apart, I miss her tremendously. She is so smart and has been having full conversations with me for so many years that I can't imagine not having her to talk to. She is amazing. 

Here are some facts about Paiton at this awesome age: 

~She is so smart. She is definitely above average in intelligence and always has been. Matt and I seriously believe she boarders on being a genius. She is in preschool 3 days a week and dance class 1 day a week. She LOVES school. She already knew her numbers, letters, colors, shapes, etc., and had for quite awhile, but now is learning to write letters, etc. Any time we are driving or I have a shirt with words on it on, she loves pointing out letters and "spelling" words. She'll see a stop sign and say "S-T-O-P!" and on and on. It's very cute.  

~She is my backseat driver and it cracks me up! She says "Red means stop. Green means go. And yellow means - whoa slow down buddy!" Haha! I'll be waiting at a light and she'll yell "It's green now Mommy, go!" I'm not sure how I ever survived without her! ;) 

~She is very artistic and loves to paint and color. 

~She LOVES (read: is addicted to) watching movies. Right now her favorites are: Rio, Tangled, Winnie The Pooh, Despicable Me, Finding Nemo, Up, The Princess and the Frog, The Lion King, Tinkerbell, Strawberry Shortcake...Ok I could go on and on. At least she has good taste and most of them I don't mind watching/listening to!! 

~She is loving Tinkerbell toys, Strawberry Shortcake, books, paints, play doh, and her Lion King figures. She is a VERY good sharer with her brother and NEVER gets mad at him for stealing her toys. If I'm busy and he's upset, she gives him a toy! 

~She is the best big sister. THE.BEST. I'm not just saying that. I don't think I've ever seen her do anything intentionally mean to her brother EVER. If he starts to fuss she is the first one to run over to him, pat his back, give him his binky, etc. Just last night he woke up and she ran over and said "Mom, let me sing to him and he'll go back to sleep." She quietly sang Twinkle Twinkle to him and lo and behold, he did go back to sleep. My heart definitely melted and grew and I'm so SO thankful that this little girl is all ours. We are beyond lucky. 

Now that I made myself cry, I need to share pictures of her birthday!! Because toddlers don't have a lot of choices in their lives, I try really hard to let Paiton pick things that she can and have control over some things. I think this has really helped her to grow. She is one of the best behaved kids. She doesn't have fits where she throws herself on the ground and screams and cries - she wouldn't dare. She knows that wouldn't be acceptable and that it isn't ok. Trust me, she has her moments (daily!) but I have to remind myself that they are usually NOTHING compared to most kids her age! 

That being said, I decided to let her choose what she wanted for her party. She first said Tangled - which is what I had figured she would want. But then a couple months before her birthday she changed her mind to flamingos and was set on that! I thought it was a really cute, original, idea and we went with it! Finding flamingo stuff in the fall was hard, but we did it! 

The Birthday Girl, in all her glory! 

 I had the table set up for her when she came downstairs that morning.

 I put chocolate and vanilla ice cream in mason jars with a bunch of toppings everyone could add!

 Flamingo cake!

 The favors - flamingo suckers

 So excited!

 Time to open presents!

 One of the few, specific things Paiton wanted for her birthday was a rocking chair. We aren't sure why, but for months and months before her birthday she kept telling us that's what she wanted. Ema and Grandpa got her this cute one and she loves it!

 Pai and Ryan making Patrick (Cami's boyfriend) do pushups with them on his back

 I had  HUGE surprise planned for Paiton that I was SO excited about. She is obsessed with Tangled. Throughout the movie they talk about "floating lanterns" that they do on the princess' birthday. Paiton has talked about and loved the floating lanterns since we first saw the movie. She constantly asks us to take her to the floating lanterns and references them almost daily. I went online and found where to order them and got some to surprise her. When they came in the mail I was SO excited that my eyes teared up! 

Mom and I got them ready and then we took P outside and told her we had a surprise. Matt and Dad brought them down and lit them up for her. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't fighting back tears the entire time. It meant so much to me to do that for her and make one of her dreams come true. (Another saying of hers "I've dreamed and dreamed about this!" ;)) 

I think she really loved it and we even have some left to do another time! Brandon took a video of it that I need to get from him so I can post that too. 

 (Sorry, a lot of the pictures are blurry because it was freezing outside and I was shivering, and also I was trying to watch Paiton's reaction as well as capture the moment!)

 Attempt at a post - lantern family picture - ruined by Cami and Matt.

 Here we go! :)

I love my little family so, so much and it wouldn't be the same with Paiton. 

I love you Pai Pai the Bay-bay. You are most favorite girl in the whole wide world. I love going shopping with you, I love playing games with you, I love reading books to you. You make me crazy and want to pull my hair out, but that's only because you're so much like me. Daddy stops and stares at you sometimes and shakes his head saying "You look just like your Mommy." and that is one of my most favorite things. I always wanted a mini-me and I'm SO glad I got it. You crack me up. You make me laugh every minute and you never cease to amaze me. You tell me about 200 times a day "I love you Mommy" and "I miss you Mommy" and each and every time it melts me. I read somewhere that 3 year olds ask "Why?" an average of 347 times a day. I believe that is true. I get frustrated with you, but I don't mean to. You're too smart for your own good. I'm the luckiest mom in the world and you and your brother make my life complete. I can't imagine life without you and I really don't want to. Thank you for being you, and thank you for being awesome. 

Happy 3rd birthday my sweetest Bubblegum.

The Infestation...

The Infestation of 2011 continues at the Locke House.
I don't remember where we were in the Battle of Croup when I posted last but here's a quick breakdown - Paiton got Croup. Then Quinn got Croup. Then Paiton got an inner and middle ear infection. Then Quinn got two ear infections. They were both coughing, pouring out snot, on antibiotics, and having their noses sucked out every 5 minutes. That went from the night of Paiton's birthday on. Wednesday I got the Croup - which in adults gives you a cough and laryngitis. So everyone had a good time making fun of me for not having a voice on Thanksgiving! ;) Matt also caught a cold. We had Thanksgiving (which I will post on....sometime...) and it seemed like the kids were finally going to start feeling better and being less miserable. Enter Saturday morning.
I woke up today at 4:30 am to hear Paiton throwing up. All over my bed. So. we cleaned her up, left the mess on the bed, and took the kids downstairs. (She was really scared of the throwing up. She hasn't done it before and she was crying and screaming and totally panicking - which woke up Quinn.) So we got her situated on the couch with her pillow, blanket, and barf bowl. She had a ROUGH morning. We were up running to the bathroom every half hour or so. She never got over the fear of throwing up and after 4 sets of pajamas I just let her be naked because it was getting everywhere. She finally fell asleep on the couch and slept for a couple hours. When she woke up she said "It's a little bit scary to throw up." :( Broke my heart. Poor girl was so confused. She didn't throw up the rest of the day but we made her continue to lay down and be calm. (Ha!)
In the middle of all that Quinn got sick as well. I have never seen a little baby throw up like a real person. My kids are barfers as babies and I've still never seen anything like this!! It was sooo sad. He also had a few diaper explosions on top of it. It was a rough day. We all kept having to change our clothes, I was busy cleaning up babies, floors, and bedding all day long, and trying not to be paranoid about catching it myself!!
I had a lot of stuff I needed to do today that obviously didn't get done. :( I had really hoped to FINALLY get the kids 3 year and 6 month pictures done today - it was actually nice out - but obviously that didn't happen. Along with a long list of everything else!
I promise my kids aren't sickly, even though it sounds like it! I was warned both by my personal doctor, and the kids pediatrician that there was a nasty stomach bug going around that we might catch, but I really thought "We can't have THAT bad of bad luck!" But I guess since their little immune systems were already having a hard time fighting the croup and ears, the stomach crud got the best of them. So sad. Matt's side of the family had it and, I guess, gave it to the kids. Everyone was healthy on Thanksgiving, but before Thanksgiving his mom had it, then yesterday his dad and aunt had it, and apparently today it was the babies turn.
I am crossing my fingers as hard as I can that I don't get it - mom's don't get breaks when they're sick and that is the last thing we need!! So hopefully the next couple days everything will clear up and pass and all will be better. And then we'll be set for the winter because we'll have had everything possible already! ;)
So...long story short....there WILL be a birthday update on the most important, beautiful, and perfect girl in the world, AND there will be a Thanksgiving update. Promise.

I will update!! {promise!!}

Life has been crazy over here.
And by crazy I mean insane. Beyond insane. Insaner than insane. Super duper insane and then some.
Sigh.
We are still alive. Barely.
Last Sunday Paiton turned 3. I took a billion and a half pictures. She had a party and we had a fun day. Then that night she got sick. And the hits just kept on coming. On top of Matt working all week, me working, having meetings, and editing pictures all week this is what we went through:
~Paiton to the doctor Monday for her 3 year check up. Threw in a strep throat test as well because she had a sore throat and fever. It was negative.
~Back to the doctor Tuesday night when she started a croupy cough. Sure enough - Croup for the 4th time. Gave her steroids and we were good to go. This Croup kicked our butts. She totally (and I mean TOTALLY) lost her voice. She was getting very frustrated having to point at everything and not be able to talk. And it really broke my heart. About 40 times a day I wish she'd just.stop.talking. for four seconds, and now I will try to cherish that because it was SAD when she couldn't talk and I missed my stories.
~Wednesday Quinn started getting fevers and a cough. Ugh. Even though I did my best to keep them apart.
~Thursday I had two sick and crabby kids. My mom came over in the afternoon because I had a doctor's appointment. Week before last I had my first check up with a doctor since college (oh about...8 years ago...) and I had some lab work come back abnormal with my thyroid. Thursday I had an ultrasound on it due to a family history of cancer and some funky blood work on my end.
~Friday my sweet, sweet mom came to hang out all day. She even cleaned my kitchen and did the dishes that had been sitting there for days. (In my defense I saw a BIG spider in there the day before. No way was I risking seeing it again to do dishes. Pssh.) She kept us company, brought us lunch, and repaired my sanity. She was also there when the doctor called and made me cry with my ultrasound results. No, don't worry, but I did cry. My ultrasound showed a lot of cysts all throughout my thyroid, but more on my right side than my left. I have a hard time swallowing and can feel something in my throat all the time - and it's these cysts. She believes they're benign and nothing to worry about. BUT. I have to go in the week after Thanksgiving and get a biopsy done to ensure that they aren't cancerous. Oh the glamorous life I lead. She isn't worried, so I'm trying not to be. While they're stabbing a needle into my neck anyway, they're going to drain some of the larger cysts that are in there. They're hoping this will help with my swallowing as well as change my lab work and take care of my symptoms and just maybe I won't have to go on medicine. Soo...I have the thought of a needle going into my throat in the back of my mind at all times. And I know that the waiting for the results of that will be the death of me. If you know me at all you know that my patience level is a big, fat, ZERO.
~Friday night Quinn got a terrible cough and with Tylenol I couldn't get his fever below 102. He was also having exorcist type vomiting and major diarrhea. I called the on call nurse at his pediatrician's office, mostly to ask what to do about the fever, and she heard him cough and told us to take him to the ER. His cough had me stumped. Some times it would sound very Croupy, and other times it was very wet and painful. So we dropped Paiton at my parents house and headed to the ER. (At this point all Matt and I could do was shake our heads and wonder what circle of Hell we were in and why.) The doctor heard Quinny cough and agreed that it was confusing. He did a chest x-ray to make sure it wasn't pneumonia, and it looked great. Croup it is. They gave him a steroid. He also had an ear infection in each ear. My poor kids and their terrible ears. Home we went with our sad, sick baby.
~Saturday was more of the same, coughing, running noses, sneezing, crying, whining, etc. It was pitiful. Saturday night Paiton started screaming out of nowhere that her right ear hurt. It's a good thing she's such a good communicator because if she hadn't been able to tell us what was wrong we probably would have headed back to the ER with her as a result of the fuss she was making. I can't believe the cops didn't show up on our door asking what we were doing to our kid. Alas, I refused to pay for another visit to the ER so the older kid had to suffer through the night. :/ The numbing drops I gave her only made it worse and increased the screaming.
~Today (Sunday) Paiton and I headed out first thing to the Urgent Care. Sure enough, big fat ear infection in her right ear. The doctor said it was infected clear out into her ear canal and that the whole inside was red and swollen, and that's why even putting the numbing drops in hurt. After a quick stop at the store we came home and chilled out the rest of the day. We cleaned, I worked, gave two kids Tylenol and Motrin 'round the clock,  put drops in Quinn's ears, dished out Amoxicillan (I'm too tired to try and spell that correctly), and washed 5 loads of laundry. Then Matt's mom came over and brought us dinner. Yay for not having to think of something to eat!! It was much appreciated. Both kids are sleeping now, and I'm hoping it continues through the night. HA! I'm beyond exhausted, my eyes are swollen and on fire, and I have no energy to even think about getting up, let alone actually get up. So I could go for a night without crying and vomiting. Please?

Anyway, that is my excuse for not having put Paiton's birthday blog up. And I think it's a darn good one. That and the 7 photo shoots I still have to edit and get mailed out. And that one other job I work that's 30 hours a week. Oh yeah. Well at some point before she's 4 it will be up.
And as soon as my kids aren't walking cesspools of germs I am hoping to get a shoot in of the big 3 year old and 6 month old. I even have cute, matching outfits for them. (That still have to be sewn in my free time....but that's beside the point.) Thanksgiving is Thursday already. Oh.My. I need to stop blogging for now. I'm stressing myself out.

Matt's Blog

3 posts in a week!? I'm on fire! :)
Matt has started a new blog for his new job. If you go and sign up and leave a comment, you'll be entered to win a brand new tennis racket!! Go enter and support him!!

http://www.idtennis.com/weekly-slice

6 Months!?

Someone just turned 6 months old!!! {On November 4th} 

It's crazy how fast time goes, I still can't believe it. 

Quinn is such a sweetheart. Here are some facts about Quinny at 6 months: 

~He {like his sister} doesn't feel that sleep is necessary. He has regressed terribly and is up anywhere from 4-12 times a night. If he sleps more than an hour at a time, that's a GOOD night. But he is just so dang sweet in spite of that. He is a cuddler and I think that has a lot to do with it. He wants to be constantly hugging me, rubbing my face, touching me, even when he's awake. He is a Mama's Boy through and through.  

~He is starting to eat real food. So far he has had green beans and peas and loves both. He also eats baby oatmeal. He is definitely a little piggy and LOVES his food. 

~ He {like his sister} is pretty lazy. He doesn't care to roll or do a lot. He could care less about crawling and hasn't even attempted to get on all 4's. I've only seen him roll a handful of times, he just doesn't care. He is learning to sit on his own and likes that.  

~He is very ticklish and loves to be tickled. He also loves to be scared by us saying "Boo!" or playing Peek A Boo. He has the best little giggles. 

~His eyes are still blue, hooray! 

~At his 6 month check up he weighed 17 pounds - which is exactly 50%, so he is totally average in size and that's great!! He got 3 shots that day and took them like a champ! That night was the only night that he has slept through the night! 

~He still says "Mama" a lot but seems to be able to attach it to me now. He will look around and say "Mama?" or if he wakes up will say "Mama?" It's heart melting. 

There is so much more, he is so fun and I'm so glad we ended up having a boy! It's absolutely perfect having one of each! 

Here are some pictures on his 1/2 year birthday!! 

{I'm hoping to do a "real" photoshoot with him soon, as soon as the house is healthy and I have 4 seconds of free time!} 

{{I LOVE these little baby teeth!}}

He has a tiny little dimple on his right cheek that you can kind of see in this picture. It's very sweet.

 Just hanging out, being cute!