Trying Something New

     Froggie is still doing great in the 1 year old room with only brief periods of fussiness as she transitions to the new schedule. She's fallen asleep at lunch 3 days in a row but I think that with time that will lessen too. Here's a picture of her working at stacking some blocks on top of a tower left by another child (sticking her tongue out and everything). 

Stacking blocks

     When I went grocery shopping this week I decided to pick up something new since I'm looking for pop replacements so that I can cut out some of my more unhealthy habits. This week I decided to pick up some coconut water. While it's a little pricy I've heard a lot of people like it and it's definitely healthier than pop so I picked up 2 of these so that I could give it a fair shot (not to mention share since I have two little scavengers that MUST have whatever I'm having). 

     I had gotten it out and sat down to have some when Froggie woke up so by time I got to my drink it was closer to room temperature than chilled (and the package clearly says to drink it chilled). Over all it wasn't bad, but I think it would be better cold. Froggie wanted a sip since I was using a straw and took a pretty big gulp of it only to spit it all over she and I immediately. Of course then, having seen his sister  drink some, Big Brother insisted that he get a sip. I warned him that since Froggie didn't like it he might not like it either only to have him assure me that he would like it. He took a sip and sat back down on the floor to resume whatever it was he was doing and never asked for another sip. He told me that he did like it, but normally when he likes something he bugs you until he's eaten or drank all that you have. I may try it again but I'll definitely drink it cold next time!

coconut water, yay or nay?

Big Kid Room

     Tuesday Froggie made the move from the "baby room" to the 1 year old room at school. This meant a more structured schedule, no morning nap, planned academic/craft time, etc. that was a little more free flowing in the infant room, it also meant that she got a new teacher - me. She was a champ about giving up her nap and only got fussy when she got bored (right before we went to the play room) and when she was too tired at lunch. She was able to sit and pay attention and play with the "big kids" and she was able to do it all without climbing all over me. 

     This is a big deal since Big Brother has a hard time being in the same room with me and not being all over me. Speaking of Big Brother, he was SO excited to see that Froggie was in "The Blue Room", the snack room and the playroom. He's such a good brother but sometimes he takes it a little overboard. Here are some pictures from her first day in the 1 year old room. 

reading a book

Snack time! Mmmmm pears

A visit from Big Brother

Coloring a star

Froggie's star

passed out after her first day with the big kids. 

Wordless Wednesday

Froggie's Final Birthday Celebration

     Today was Froggie's turn to celebrate her birthday at Chick-fil-a. We got up and ready and headed up to Chick-fil-a and got settled. We've been there for an event once a month since december so we're getting pretty good at this! We got all settled in and had breakfast and Cow came out. Froggie seemed to like the cow better last time when it was dressed as a princess but she was pretty interested in it this time too (until it was time for her to go see him herself!).
     She really seems to enjoy her newfound mobility and walked all over the restaurant and play area after she ate and cow brought her a gift of a little cow and red ball. Unfortunately both Hubby and I thought that the other had her little cow (which she really like and made him dance around and walked around with him) and he was left behind. I e-mailed the wonderful woman in charge of the events and she is holding on to her cow until Monday when Hubby is going to stop in and pick him up.

Froggie and her sign

Big Brother with his breakfast

The boys

Happy Froggie with her gift

Big Brother got a ball too

Making Cow dance

Making Cow dance

Chicken dance

getting an autograph from Cow

games

Froggie with Cow

walking around with her cow

play area

sliding

Trying to join Big Brother

checking everything out

Showing Froggie what everything does

Froggie found a froggy!

     After Froggie's birthday breakfast we headed to Big Brother's last tumbling class. He has a lot of fun before class starts playing around on the equipment but when class starts he runs around and does everything but what he's supposed to. He has a lot of fun and it seems to be a "boy thing" to just explore while the girls seem to do better at following directions. Froggie also had fun wandering around too and meeting some of the younger kids from the earlier class.

Jumping around

Walking around meeting new friends

Checking everything out

Rocking

enjoying his time rocking

What No One Tells you After Treatment

     While the pool of information about Hip Dysplasia is pretty small the information regarding the normal expectations of kids following treatment is almost nonexistent. This means that, no matter how much research you do or what you read, there is always some degree of doubt as to whether your child is supposed to meet milestones regarding mobility on track with their peers once the harness, brace, or cast comes off.
     While Froggie seemed to be meeting milestones rolling and crawling regardless of her time in the harness she hadn't shown much interest in walking (especially walking unassisted) or in standing up by herself. I really didn't think too much of it until Hubby said "Should we be worried that she's not walking yet?" the other day. At that point I realized that my answer was "I don't know". 

     If you know me you know that "I don't know" doesn't sit well with me; I have a ton of fairly useless knowledge stored away and I will look for the answer if I don't know it. However, with this issue, there is no looking up the answer. I decided not to panic about it and to call her doctor next month if she still wasn't walking (since she is supposed to be walking before her next X-ray and that is scheduled for April). Noah started walking right when he turned one and all kids are different so I wasn't overly concerned that she wasn't walking yet. 

     Well she showed us that she was just waiting until she was good and ready. Thursday she walked across the room and got us all excited. She wouldn't do it again though so I couldn't take pictures/video. Friday though, she walked all over the place and she hasn't stopped moving since!

Froggie was bit by the walking bug!

Friday Lunch Date

     After work I typically head home with the kids so they can nap. Today, however, we decided to go visit with Hubby so he and I could get some lunch while the kids (who had already eaten) had some snacks. So we headed to Hubby's office to pick him up and then went across the street to Panera, which was delicious! The kids had a blast with their fruit cups, Froggie even tried to drink her fruit!

Froggie tried to keep me from going to work with the big kids.

Froggie with her Fruit.

     After we were done eating we returned Hubby to his office to finish working and headed to Target, since it's my favorite store and we were nearby. We didn't really need anything but I picked up a few things for Easter baskets, a care package and some toys for the kids just because. They were pretty well behaved until it was time to go and they started getting cranky. They really liked sitting side by side in the cart!

The kids in the monster cart at Target

Froggie giving her new fish "kisses". 

Sibling Side By Side

Ok everyone, I need some help! Hubby and I are having a disagreement about whether the kids look alike. He says not at all and I say yes. I blame my sister and her fiancé for this since they're the ones that said they do. I pulled a picture out of Big Brother when he was the same age as Froggie is now, what do you think?

Big Brother (1 year)                     Froggie (1 year)

Sweet Dreams Froggie

There is something sweet and peaceful about sleeping babies. Froggie is tiny compared to her peers so I get to look at tiny fingers

And toes a little longer than some.

Not to mention all those soft sleepy features...

When you put it all together it looks a little like this:

Introducing Our Youngest Artist

     Tonight is windy and cold and we've retreated back into the house (is winter winding down yet?), so what did we do to entertain Froggie while Big Brother was napping? Break out a brand new box of crayons and see what she would do with them! She just moved them around her tray for a little bit until I drew on her paper, then she colored away. She did pretty well and didn't start putting the crayons in her mouth until she had exhausted her attention with it.

Coloring

Investigating the crayon

back to coloring

No More Cabin Fever!

     With the SUPER COLD weather and snow that we've had (not anything we aren't used to, but an annoyance none the less) we haven't left the house much. Froggie doesn't have snow pants (and we can't find Big Brother's old ones) so we don't go out to play in the snow much which means that we spend A LOT of time in the house.
     I think at this point we have all started to experience a little cabin fever. We leave for school every day but then once we come home re rarely leave the house. Big Brother gets pretty rambunctious since there isn't a lot of "run around space" where he isn't running over Froggie, a dog, or me.
     Today we went to tumbling like normal but decided to get out of the house in the afternoon as well. However, Big Brother decided he didn't want to go with us. He normally doesn't get a choice but my mom said he could stay with her. So Hubby, Froggie and I headed to the mall, a place we typically don't go to unless we need something so it was kind of a strange trip all around.

Testing out the set up for tumbling

Playing with Froggie before tumbling started

Hula Hoop

Hula Hoop!

     Our first stop was the craft store where we picked up some yarn for some new projects, some St. Patrick's Day craft materials and Hubby even picked out a pretzel baking kit. Then we walked around to a few other stores and picked up some small stuff (including some much needed coffee) before heading into the book store. They didn't have the book that Hubby was looking for but we got Big Brother an AWESOME dry erase work book, and we started heading back for our car.

Mmmm Oatmeal cookie from Starbucks!

     Froggie got antsy in the stroller asked to get down so we let her out and she walked a pretty long stretch of the mall holding hands with either Hubby or I. 

Walking at the mall

     When we got home we had pizza and gave Big Brother his new book, which he started using right away and did REALLY well with. He's a lefty so Hubby and I have some issues teaching him since we're both right handed. While he worked in his book Hubby and I made some pretty delicious pretzels! They turned out a lot better than I thought they would. Overall it was a nice change to sitting inside, but now I have some yarn to use up!

Big Brother testing out his new book.

pretzels before

pretzels after