Wacky hair day 2016

Rose was really excited about "wacky hair day today." She decided she didn't want any "ponies," but did want lots of barrettes. (I think the bangs are her pièce de résistance.)

As we were leaving the house this morning, she turned to me and said "but Mommy, you forgot to do your wacky hair!" :)

photos

I haven't posted many photos recently (perhaps due to the Burcusa pink eye epidemic of 2016?), so here's a few on this fine Sunday:

The Mothers Day present I got from Rose :)

Children First Ice Cream Social!

Rose, just being silly :)

 Hope you had a great weekend!

summer vacation countdown

Only a few more weeks until we head out for our massive two-week family road trip!!!!! I can't believe that, after about a year of planning, it's almost here. So excited!!!

You can see the interactive outline of our trip HERE.  (For some reason I can't figure out how to insert a screen shot or to embed the google map, so you'll just have to click on the link to see the details.)

Yellow pins show where we're sleeping, black pins are restaurants recommended from a "road trip foods" book I read awhile back, and the other pins are activities/hikes/sights in each general areas we're staying. (Restaurants near our campsites/hotels are all tagged in my guidebooks, in case we don't have cell service in the national parks.)  As you can imagine, I've read more than a couple guidebooks and read more website recommendations than you can shake a stick at. Hopefully I will have achieved my goal of having a "good enough" sense of what our options are in each area, without going overboard and micromanaging our schedule either. Knowing the three of us, we will need the chance to be a little spontaneous or we just might kill either other after 16 days crammed in my little Subaru and our 3-person pup tent! Besides, if we like it, we can always plan to go back again in a future year. :)


If you have any last-minute tips for us, please let me know!  I've already started a packing list, a to-do list for Mike the week before we leave, and a things-to-buy-with-our-dividends-during-the-Memorial-Day-sale-at-REI list...

Rose-isms

Rose has always had the habit of twirling her hair as a self-soothing strategy, ever since she was a baby. We never discouraged it because we thought it was cute and, to be perfectly frank, we were just relieved that she wasn't sucking her thumb. But now it's turned into a problem because she is starting to get snarls in her hair from twirling it and then she is pulling out the snarls...resulting in a couple bald spots on her head!  So we're trying to gently remind her not to twirl her hair, to encourage an alternative behavior (clasping her hands "to give them a hug" instead), and to style her hair differently to discourage the twirling.


Last night I put "ponies" in her hair again for the first time in over a year. She looked in the mirror and said "I look like a new woman!"   :)

4yo "well child" appointment

I put it in quotes because Rose and I have been anything BUT "well."  We found out at this appointment that I have pink eye in both eyes (really bad in my left eye) and she has mild bilateral pink eye as well as bad ear infections in both ears.

I look like Bob Costas at the 2014 Olympics!

Antibiotics for both of us!

She is still managing to smile!

Hopefully we can keep up the R&R and get TRULY better soon!



Two months
weight:  12# 6.4 oz (85th %ile)
height:   23.5"  (86th %ile)
head:    15.5" (66th %ile)

Four months
weight:  15# 10oz (86th %ile)
height:   26"  (95th %ile)
head:    16.75"  (85th %ile)

Six months
weight:  17# 7oz (78th %ile)
height:   27.25"  (93rd %ile)
head:    17"   (72nd %ile)

Nine months
weight:  19# 9.6oz (65th %ile)
height:   28.75"  (87th %ile)
head:    17.5"   (66th %ile)

Twelve months
weight:  20# 9.6oz (61th %ile)
height:   30.5"  (89th %ile)
head:    17.75"   (55th %ile)

Fifteen months
weight:  23# (70th %ile)
height:   32.25"  (91st %ile)
head:    18.25"   (67th %ile)

Eighteen months
weight:  24# 9.6oz (72nd %ile)
height:   2'10" (98th %ile!)
head:    18.5" (68th %ile)

Twenty four months
weight:  27# 12.8oz (66th %ile)
height:   2'0.25"  (98th %ile)
head:    19"  (72nd %ile)

Thirty months
weight:  31# 6.4oz (80th %ile)
height:   3'3.25" (99th %ile!)
head:     19.5" (83rd %ile)

Three years
weight: 32# 12oz (71%ile)
height: 3'3.75" (96%ile)
BP: 86/50

Four years
weight: 38# 3oz (74%ile)
height: 3'7.75" (99%ile)
BP: 88/52

Rose's new kite

After almost a week stuck in the house (she and I have both been sick the entire time it's been rainy), we finally had a little energy and a bit of dry weather with a spring breeze. Perfect for flying a kite!

Happy spring! Fingers crossed that some warm weather arrives and the runny noses leave soon!

Rose's 4th birthday: Weekend of celebrations!

Rose is loving her birthday more and more every year. This year, since her birthday fell on a Friday, she ended up having multiple days of celebration!

Thursday evening Grammy picked her up from "school," per usual.

But this Thursday was anything but usual since Grammy had arranged for Rose to receive a birthday phone call from a princess!!!

 It was a call from Aurora! Aka Sleeping Beauty! Aka Briar Rose! Aka Rose's favorite princess!!!

The festivities continued bright and early the next morning with an "immediate family" celebration. I had run out to Cub at 5:30am to pick up flowers and donuts, and Mike had wrapped her big pile of presents. She obviously thought it was a great way to start her day!

On Friday afternoon, my parents picked her up! Somehow I managed not to get a single picture of them with Rose this past weekend, but I did get this one shot of her dressed as a bride and opening her presents from Ninja and PopPop.

Then Saturday was Rose's "cousins party!"  Really it was a party for all her extended family (we missed you, Sara/Dave/Eleanor!), but she was so focused for weeks on wanting to play with her cousins...and then she proceeded to be too shy to talk directly to them for the first two hours of her three hour party. :)   

 They did color, play dolls, and play at the park all side-by-side for awhile.

 The adults mostly enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. Some day our lucky streak will come to an end, but so far we've had great weather for her parties! (See: 2013, 2014, 2015)

 

See the construction out there?!

I also like to get a photo of Rose with her cousin Annie each year. Annie is about 5 weeks older - and
their height discrepancy seems to increase each year!  I love seeing the normal variations of their respective growth curves.

 Rose had requested a special meal of  "salad with cucumbers, sausages, fruit, and ice cream cake" for her party. Her favorite part ended up being the Cheetos that her cousins brought for her!

 Although I think the "princess cake" was a close second. (I amused myself by calling it a "Frozen cake" -- note the double entendre!)

 Rose got some WONDERFUL gifts. She has slowly been playing with each of them - coloring books, princesses, games, etc.  (Thank you, everyone!!)

 

 She is especially in love with this dress from Grammy and Grandpa.

Maybe she'll be a "princess scientist"  when she grows up???

Then Sunday was her "friend party." We paid for a short nature program and space for dessert at our local nature center. 
 

 

The naturalist seemed like he might have been a little comfortable with a slightly older audience, but the kids had a great time seeing (and touching!) the turtle and the salamander, and some of them really loved watching the turtle poop on the floor. Ahh, that's what four year olds really love, apparently.

As you can see the weather was a bit cold and drizzly on Sunday, but we still went on a VERY short nature walk.

All in all, we had a great time! In fact, a little too great of a time. As is our tendency, unfortunately, we did a little too much over the weekend and now we are all recovering. Rose came down with a slight fever, headache, and runny nose on Monday, so Mike stayed home with her yesterday (Tues) and I'm staying home with her today. I have a scratchy throat too, so I'm also appreciating the R&R! 

Thank you to everyone who helped make Rose's birthday so special and memorable for her!!