Changing Spaces

I am so sick of picking up toys in every room of my house, so I decided to make a Play Room and keep all the kids' toys in there. In order to do that, I put Jocee in with Jordan, and Katee in Jocee's old room and now that room is the play room. I got all the toys put in the room , but there's just so much that I'm a bit overwhelmed with it all and haven't started to organize it yet. I just don't know where to put all of the big toys that don't fit in bins. I painted the room a creamy color and my Mom-in-law made some cute, bright green curtains. My sister started painting the walls last night but it's not completely finished. It's going to be so cute. I'll take some pics to post.
As for the "J&J Room", it's going to be a Surfer/Beach Room. It's going to be cool. I have been looking all over for comforters that would go with that theme but can't find anything anywhere! I want them to coordinate with each other -- so either one that would work for boy and girl or 2 different ones that match that is for a girl and one for a boy. They did have beach decor at Target a while ago, but it's not there anymore. I'm looking for stripes or Hawaiian print or anything that looks beachy. I am going to leave the blue on the wall and paint over the bottom with a "sand-y" color and paint some clouds at the top. Then my sister is goint to paint cool surfboards on the wall. I was thinking of doing something with sea shells but not sure yet. If anyone has any fun ideas or knows a good place to look for affordable bedding or beach decor, please let me know!
The "KC Room" (Katee/Callie) is going to stay yellow and I'm going to add accents of red. I already have some cute curtains up that my MIL (mom-in-law) made with the fabric I picked out. I don't know what else I'm going to do in there. Right now I'm focused on the other 2 rooms!

Fun at the Mall

So since Jordan didn't end up having his appointment, Grandma (my mom) was still here to hang out with us girls! So we decided to take the kids to the mall to play and go on the merry-go-round. We each pushed a stroller and I had Callie in a Snugli. Amazingly, they all were very well behaved! No arguments about riding in the stroller or anything! I'm sure they enjoyed getting out of the house! I know I did! Now that there's 4 of them, we don't go out much. I couldn't tell you the last time I was at a mall! Oh wait, I know--when I was pregnant and my mom had the kids and I was walking the malls to try and induce labor! It's been nice to have some "quiet" time with the girls while Jordan's at school. While he's gone, the house isn't so noisy! It's weird how just one less kid makes a difference in the noise level. I'd really like to put Jocee in preschool (she's almost 4) but she missed the cut-off by a couple of months to go to the preschool that Jordan went to. Anyone know of a free or discounted preschool for 3-4 yr olds?

Dumb Dental Office

A few posts ago, I mentioned that Jordan had dental work that was scheduled for today. Well, yesterday I got a call from the dentist's office and they said that since Jordan turned 6, that they needed to get prior authorization from the insurance and had to reschedule his appointment. Well, I was NOT happy. My mom had come to stay with us to help with the kids and now he wasn't even going. I had already notified the school and the teacher that he would not be there. Why would they wait til the day before he had a scheduled appointment (which was made 3 weeks ago!!) to tell me they had to reschedule??? Because someone didn't do their job and get the prior authorization from the insurance like they were supposed to!! I called the insurance and they said it doesn't matter the age is, that EVERY PERSON needs prior auth before a procedure. I felt like calling the dentists office and giving them a piece of my mind. They are just lucky that I didn't have to take off work or make bigger arrangements for them to just call and lie to me about why they needed to reschedule. People are so dishonest. They should have just admitted to me that someone dropped the ball and apologize and say they are very sorry for the inconvenience they have caused. Honesty goes a long way!

1st Day of School

Yea!!! Back to school! Now we can get back to a routine. Jordan started all day kindergarten today. He took his lunch in his Superman lunch bag. He had a million questions about whether or not the other kids would be taking their lunch too. I managed to talk him into taking his! We went to the bus stop right on time and the bus was like 7 minutes late! Since they are the last stop on the route, they were probably close to being
late for school. At least it wouldn't have been my fault!
His bus after school was supposed to drop him off at 3:19pm so I was there with Katelyn and Callie at 3:15pm in the 110 degree heat! We waited, and waited, and waited! NO BUS!! I thought maybe I missed him and it came early so I called my friend to see what she thought. She she called her friend whose son rides the same bus but gets off 2 stops before Jordan's and her son hadn't come home yet either! So I called the school and they said there were too many kids to fit on the bus so she had to take half the kids and drop them off then come back to the school and pick up the rest of the kids. Unfortunately Jordan was on the 2nd half of kids! The bus didn't come until 3:50pm!!! I sat out there in the heat with the 2 girls for nearly 35 minutes!! It was SO HOT!! We were all drenched in sweat and poor Jordan was too! After a traumatic experience with riding the bus home last year, I wanted to make sure that his first time this year would go smooth, but unfortunately he is insisting on my picking him up after school. He refuses to take the bus home. He said "I
had to wait an hour to get home!! And I was BORED on the bus because there's a hundred stops before it's my turn to get off and plus it's hot!" I don't know what to do. I feel bad for him but he gets out of school right when Katelyn is napping and there's a ton of traffic after school too. As we speak, he's begging me with tears to "please, please, please, Mommy, pick me up." I'll probably end up giving in and picking him up.

Callie and Toys

"Here I am, nicely playing with my toys..."

"That mean ol' toy stuck his tongue out at me!!"

Another Birthday!

Mom and Aunt Lexee made a Spiderman cake for Jordan's "real" birthday!

He's proud of his cake!

He's so excited to be a cowboy!

Jordan's 6th Birthday Party

Jordan wanted a Ninja Turtle cake so Mommy did her best to make him one!

Jordan and his friends Taylor, Diego, Kyle, Tanner, and Jocee waiting for cake!

Jordan got a new backpack just in time for school

His favorite present of all---Spiderman Shooting Web Blaster! He was even nice enough to let each of his guests have a turn to shoot webs! Good job Jordan!

Callie's Blessing Day

Mommy, Daddy, & Callie

She looked like a little angel sleeping through the blessing & pictures!

Grandpa & Grandma Gardiner's newest grandbaby! #10!

Grandpa & Grandma Whitcomb's 4th adorable grandbaby!

Callie and Mommy

Aunt Trini's favorite baby!

Upper GI for Callie

I just got off the phone with the hospital and Callie's appointment for the x-ray is August 24th at 10am. We have to check in 30 minutes prior and she has to be "fasting" for 3 hours!! She will have to drink barium (sp?) and then they will take an x-ray of her stomach. I don't know how long it will be until we know the results. I will ask when I get there. Poor baby!! I'm going to need earmuffs because I know she's going to be screaming a ton since I can't feed her for 3 hours before and during the time we are there. I will have to make sure to nurse at like 6:30am so she will have enough to last her until after the procedure. Pray that everything will be okay. Thanks!

Doctor Visit

So I went by myself with both babies to see the doctor. Kate hasn't been to the doctor since she was 12 months old so, she was freaked out and wouldn't let the doctor touch her and she screamed the whole time it was her turn! She weighed 30lbs and was 32 inches tall!!! She's in the 90% for her weight and like 35% for her heighth. She has ezcema on her legs and arms so she got a prescription for a cream to put on it. The doctor said she should see an allergist but I think she's too young to be tested. Since she hadn't been in such a long time, she also had to get 2 shots--which we had to hold her down because she is so strong. Poor girl!

Callie was a whopping 9lbs 14oz and 21 1/2in long! She had been projectile vomitting quite a lot before her last dr visit a couple weeks ago so I told the doc about it and she said she could have an obstruction and so the milk is just coming back up. They way to check this is to have her not eat for 3-4 hours (YIKES!!!) and then they give her a drink to drink and then they take x-rays of her belly to see what's going on. If there is an obstruction, they have to operate!! I'm SO nervous!!! I'm sure she's fine but you just never know! It's going to be so hard just to take her to get the procedure done!! I'm supposed to call the doc on Friday morning to see if they got the approval from the insurance to get it done and then I will make the appointment. Please pray for her to make it through ok! (It's not that big of a deal considering what other people have to go through, but for me and her it is!) We've never had to do anything like this before with any of our kids!