Isla's 1st Haircut!

Again, it has been a long time since the last post.  I will try to come back and add some updates on our lives (along with pictures and video) in the near future, but for now I have to inform you of a milestone for Isla: she had her 1st haircut yesterday!

Isla has beautiful hair that has naturally grown in an odd way.  If you didn't know any better, you might think that we have purposely given our sweet girl a mullet.  Not so.  Isla was not a child who was born with an abundance of hair.  Until 6 months ago, her hair was not long enough to put in pigtails.  Now that it is, however, we have a daily battle to style it in some way to maximize her cuteness (usually pigtails!) and minimize the appearance of the mullet.

Here is a shot before the haircut:


Yesterday, she had all of the ends trimmed up, just enough to even things out a bit.  She did an amazing job at sitting still.  I wasn't entirely sure that she would be okay with having her hair cut, as anything that gets cut is automatically associated with cutting her finger off.  She actually seemed genuinely proud of the fact that she had gotten a hair cut!  (I WAS really proud!)  The cut helped a lot, but until it grows out and thickens up, I am afraid that she might have a bit of a mullet. Oh well.  She is still beautiful! Here are some pictures:




For all of the effort for her to get a haircut, this is all that Brooke cut off:

Santa

Yesterday, we paid a visit to Santa.  Quin has been borderline naughty list for the past week or so, which made this visit extra important.  Our elf on the shelf has actually had to bring a few notes back to Quin, directly from the big man, reminding him the importance of good behavior.  Overall, the visit seemed to have the desired effect on Quin; he has been pretty well behaved so far.  We'll see if the good behavior continues!

As for Isla, I was expecting the worst (this was her first visit to santa, and I wasn't sure she would want anything to do with him), but was pleasantly surprised!  When he first asked what she would like for Christmas this year, she said "toy".  Santa handled her vague answer well, saying that he would come up with a wonderful surprise for her.  She then amended her answer to "a car"!  Santa better get busy with that considering there are only a few days until Christmas!

School

It is amazing that Quin started school over two months ago! When people told us that time really does speed up once you have kids in school, I thought they were nuts; turns out they were right! Time has been speeding by. I can't believe that the holidays are here, we have finished the first quarter and gotten his first report card, and had our first parent-teacher conference.

The biggest challenge of our week is getting moving on Tuesdays and Thursday at 6:00am (well before the sun comes up!) so that Quin can be at school by 7:40.  He is not the speediest child in the morning, not that I can blame him, so he needs a good hour to get moving!  Activities, like getting dressed, take much longer than one would expect.

Homework has been another adjustment.  Not only do we have to read every night, but he has one or two sheets of homework to complete.  We have found that postponing the homework for a few hours once he comes home makes it less of a battle.  It is amazing to see all of the improvements and learning that has taken place since the start of his academic career.

Our parent-teacher conference went well and as we expected; he needs to work on appropriate times to talk!  We will continue to work on penmanship, but that will come with time.  As he continues to learn the rules of his class and how to contain his energy, things will fall into place.  Overall, he is doing great!

Finger Update...

So far so good! Isla seems to be doing just fine from the finger incident that occurred over two weeks ago!  Although these past few weeks have felt like forever, life is starting to get back to normal.  Her finger seems to be doing well, she is not overly bothered by it, and the stitches will come out in another week and a half.  On occasion, she will bump it a bit too hard, or she plays a bit rough, in which case she says that it hurts; for the most part, she says that it feels fine.  Here is the most recent picture (taken a week ago, before it was really cleaned up):

Snow!

So far this year, we have gotten two decent snow storms! The kids couldn't be happier, the dog loves it, and I like it in theory!  It is wonderful to wake up to a beautiful, thick, shimmering blanket of snow; it is an entirely different thing to dress two kids, from head to toe, only to find out that the use of the bathroom is required for one (or both!) before they can venture out.  That being said, we have a blast playing! Here are some pictures from the first snow of the season, which was a big one! 

Good As New!

For those family and friends concerned about Isla's finger after last week's accident.

We saw a hand and plastic surgeon yesterday who took a look at her hand. Turns out she's lucky, it looks as though her hand will be good as new! He thinks the tip will heal up and look normal, and feels confident that she will even regrow a new fingernail since where the nail grows from is deep down by the knuckle. He thinks that in several months you won't even be able to tell she amputated part of her pinky!

So the bandages are off, she can bathe and pretty much do whatever she feels comfortable with. She's still favoring her right hand, and when she looks at it she freaks out a little bit (it looks plain nasty!)

Here she is right after we got home from the hand surgeon. She was pretty upset since he had to take the bandage off and mess with it a bit. But waiting on our doorstep was a cookie bouquet from my employer, so she felt much better!

And she was treated to a real treat this morning...snow! We got about ten inches last night and today, and she was very happy to play in it.

So now we just wait until the next accident!

Accident Prone?

I will start off this post with a warning that there are pictures of Isla and a missing digit, along with a description of what happened yesterday!!


Yesterday morning, Quin was not feeling great (or perhaps he was just a bit too tired to function), so we made a deal that he could stay home sick as long as he stayed on the couch resting.  After an hour and a half or so, he said that he was starting to feel better (or perhaps bored from sitting on the couch?) and wanted to try eating breakfast and get ready for school. The kids ate, we got 90% ready to leave, and the kids went upstairs to play while I finished getting ready.

Not a minute after I went to put my contacts in, I heard screams. This, in itself, is nothing new in our house. The kids steal toys, hit, and generally act like siblings.  For some reason, I decided not to let them work it out; I wanted to stop the screams since Tim was on a call and figured that I should intervene (not to mention they actually sounded like real screams!) so he could get some work done. When I opened our bedroom door, Isla was standing in front of it screaming and crying. I picked her up, carried her to her room, and tried to comfort her;  I was not immediately aware that anything was REALLY wrong. The second I sat her down, I saw the blood.  Her right hand was covered in blood and it was streaming down her wrist.  I grabbed the closest thing I could find (a cloth diaper insert- don't worry, it was clean) and tried to clean her up to see what had happened.  That is when I saw it: she was missing the top portion of her pinky finger. While holding her, I searched the upstairs hall for the piece of finger, finally finding it stuck to the door jam.

Poor Quin was crying and saying he was so sorry.  At first, I didn't understand what he was talking about.  After calming him down enough for him to explain, he told me that he had asked Isla to leave his room and then shut his door.  He didn't realize that her finger was in the door.  He felt responsible.

Realizing that we had to get to the ER, I called to Tim for help and tried to get the kids together to leave.  We brought the piece of finger with us and headed for the hospital.  Poor Isla was in shock, Quin couldn't stop crying (nor could Isla) and apologizing, Tim drove as safely as he could around all of the crazy people on the road, and I had to keep pressure on Isla's finger (and keep myself together).  I tried to reassure Quin that it wasn't his fault and keep Isla calm.

Once we got to the ER, it was decided to try and reattach the piece of finger and hope for the best.  After nasal versed to sedate her, they gave her two nerve blocks in the finger.  She did great for the 45 minute surgery and remained fairly calm in my lap. After the finger was reattached, it looked pretty good, considering the trauma.  After applying a huge bandage, they had done all they could.  The waiting and watching began.

The odds that the tissue will stay healthy and allow her finger to remain whole are not the best, but she doesn't seem to be in nearly as much pain as I would expect.  She is on antibiotics to try and prevent an infection, along with Advil for the pain.  Since the finger was severed just below the fingernail and bone was exposed (but amazingly, not broken!), there is a great risk of infection; this could be very serious.  Also, there is little chance that the fingernail will remain.

Today, she is in remarkably good spirits, acting relatively normal, and even running around.  Quin still feels terrible about what happened, although we keep reassuring him that she will be fine and it is not his fault.  Could we maybe stop shutting doors? Maybe take all of the doors off of the hinges?  I think I might be freaked out about doors forever more!

We have an appointment next week with a hand specialist and we will see where we go from here.  We had hoped to get an appointment earlier, but have not had any luck.  I guess we will have to wait until next Wednesday, watching her closely to make sure she is doing alright.  At the appointment, we will hopefully learn if the tissue is healthy or not.  The speculation at this point is that she will more than likely need other procedures to fix the finger.  Unfortunately, this is probably just the beginning for this tough little girl.

Okay, I know I am smiling in this picture, but I was trying so hard to keep Isla calm, happy, and reassure her that she would be okay.

Poor little girl is still healing from splitting her ear open on the coffee table a few weeks ago.  Between Isla's head being split open when she was a baby, Quin's lip, Isla's ear, and now this, I have to wonder: Are my kids accident prone?  Perhaps this is normal and we simply need to buy stock in 3M.

our newest adventure

About a week and a half ago, we started a gluten free diet. As you may know, I love bread; I love Quin a million times more, so I am happy to try anything to make his poor tummy feel better.

I don't know if the changes in eating have really helped Quin, but we have been trying hard to be creative. My first attempt at making bread didn't go as planned yesterday. First, I forgot the three eggs (a hazard of cooking post concussion). Second, the lack of eggs caused it to cook a bit funny (Quin still thought that it tasted pretty good). Well, the my gluten free baking experience ended with Chloe (Carl and Gwen's dog) eating the entire loaf of bread off of the counter! I forgot what a lab can do in two seconds!

Today, I will make another attempt at gluten free baking. I am going to make gluten free focaccia bread and see how it goes! Hopefully this time Chloe can stay off the counter!

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Kindergarten!

Yes, I know...the posts have been few and far between.  I guess that happens when life gets busy.  Well, Quin started school about a month ago. He is now a kindergartner! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. He loves school, his class, his teacher, and all of the wonderful things that he has been learning! I love helping him with homework, seeing him learn and progress, and watching him grow. In the few short weeks since school started, it really is amazing how much he has turned into a little boy. I will be amazed to see the transformation from the start of school to the end of the year.

Breckenridge

For the past week, we have been enjoying the mountains with my dad. The kids had a great time, as did Talisker! It was nice to get away, without needing Tim to take vacation time (since he works from home now)! The hikes were nice, the weather was perfect, and the kids got to see their Grandpa (whom they haven't seen since last August). All together, it wasn't a bad way to spend a week!

Kindergarten!

I never knew that it was such a big deal to figure out kindergarten. I, along with countless other parents, figured when kids turn 5, they go to their neighborhood school; this is not necessarily the case! Not only do yo have to decide when a child will enter kindergarten, but you have to decide where.

In Colorado, it is common practice for kids (especially boys) to be held back if their birthday falls after late spring. Quin, having an August birthday (only a month prior to the cutoff), was advised to be held back. After a lengthy discussion with Quin's preschool teacher, we decided that the right choice for Quin is for him to enter Kindergarten this fall.

In today's society, there are more options than you can possibly consider. Some of these options are prestigious, come with high cost, long waiting lists, and offer highly superior education to public schools. Other options actually preform at a level below the public schools, but are still sought after with great competition. The school that we hoped for Quin to get into is a charter school in Fort Collins. Ridgeview Classical School ranks #15 in the nation and fills the open spots by a lottery system. Every spring, there are hundreds of applicants for only 30-40 kindergarten spots. This year, Quin was chosen for one of those spots!!

The schedule is a little different than most kindergartens, as he will go two full days each week and half of a day on Friday. This schedule works out well for me, since I will have to drive 20+ minutes each direction to take him and pick him up from school! I am happy to only drive up there three days a week, for now. The drive is worth the education though. We couldn't be happier that Quin got into such a great school!

Teeth!

Isla has been getting teeth at a rapid rate! She has gone from 1 to 11 teeth in just a few months and has handled it remarkably well. The molars were hard, but doing them 2 at a time got them in faster. Now that she has a mouth full of teeth, eating is much easier. She really enjoys eating apples, and will even take a giant bite out of a whole one! She isn't a huge fan of meat at the moment, but will happily eat an entire pint of blueberries. She also loves green beans and avocado.

Initially, we had to fight a little to brush her teeth, but Tim came up with a great way to get her to open: ask her what a piggy says! Her response is to snort, which opens her mouth nice and wide! Brushing her teeth is a breeze now; she actually gets mad if someone else is brushing their teeth and she doesn't get to! Not a bad problem to have!

Showcase!

I am so proud of Quin!! Today was his big dance recital called Showcase. He has been getting ready for months for this and all of the hard work paid off; he totally rocked and was the star! Of all of the performances we saw (20+), the boys did the best! They had so much fun and looked great.

Now that showcase is done, we will be taking a break from dance to try out karate. It was fun while it lasted, however, and he is a natural performer!

Check out the video:

Teacher Appreciation Week

This past week was teacher appreciation week for preschool, which Quin was really excited about. I am not sure he realized the implications of school ending, but he was really happy to get his teacher, Mrs. Olson, a gift. He choose to get her two candles and donate in her name to Heifer International, where we choose to donate a flock of ducks. When he gave it to her, we got the best reaction we have ever gotten! She was so excited about the donation. It was cute, especially since Quin felt really good about giving ducks to someone that needs them!

Quin Swimming

For the past few months, Quin has been taking swim lessons through the city. He has really enjoyed them, done pretty well, and even went off the diving board a few times! I wasn't thrilled with his teacher, but he still progressed and had fun. At first, it was a bit odd to have Quin go off into the water without me! Lessons have been getting increasingly difficult since Isla is less than thrilled to sit in the stroller or stay in my arms for 45 minutes! She gets especially mad seeing a pool that she can't play in (she is even more of a fish than Quin)!

Here is a video from the last time he went of the diving board:

Talisker and The Kids

When we picked our puppy, a year and a half ago, we knew that a Golden was going to be awesome with kids, but I couldn't have asked for him to be as good as he is. Talisker really is the best dog ever.

Isla, beyond a doubt, loves him. She climbs on him whenever she is presented with a chance, snuggles him daily, and grins ear to ear at the site of him. Now that her car seat is facing forward, she loves for him to come on car rides so that she can watch him (he inevitably peaks around the seat at her, making her laugh uncontrollably).

Quin loves his dog, but they have a brotherly relationship. Talisker is, after all, a puppy still. Our daily routine is usually as follows: Quin provokes Talisker, Talisker gets riled up, Quin gets bit because they are playing rough, Quin cries. Maybe Quin will learn?

Check out this video to see Isla in action:

A Girl and Her Zebra!

Isla got a bouncing zebra for Christmas and she loves it! When she got it, she was a little too small, and a little unsure, but now she has figured out how to get on it all by herself! This fun little toy can actually keep her entertained for minutes at a time (which is especially unusual for Isla).

Learning how to get off and on without help took a little trial and error. She may have fallen off once or twice, but she kept trying! Ever since Isla got the zebra, Quin has been very helpful. He tries his best to carry her to her zebar (but it is hard to carry a 20 lb girl who wiggles, squirms, and kicks!), lift her on, and protect her while she rides. He loves his sister, this much is obvious, but he is a little jealous that she gets to ride such a cool critter!

Check out this video to see her in action!

Happy Birthday Nana!

We just wanted to wish Nana a happy birthday!

Lack of Updates...

Sorry for the lack of updates in the preceding months, but maybe that could be my New Years Resolution: I will actually post blog updates on my fantastic kids! I realize that it is almost the end of January and this is the first for 2011, but I will give it a try. For now, here is a general update:

Isla is now 14 months old and growing like a weed, albeit a very pretty weed! She has turned into a very silly little girl and loves attention; that doesn't sound like anyone else, does it? Her favorite way to get around is either by hopping on her bottom (often with a bright green bucket on her head) or scooting (we call her our little silver back). She is amazingly fast and her knees have remained silky smooth (although the same cannot be said for the side of her leg).

Quin is full of energy, as always, and still loves to be the center of attention. He is enjoying pre-K and is looking forward to starting kindergarten next year. His life seems to revolve around learning the sounds that letters make (it's obvious that he wants to learn to read) and learning to tell time (Santa brought him a Spider Man watch). He has been busy with ballet and swimming, although I think we are ready to take a break from ballet and switch to karate (perhaps). The fear of Santa not appearing curbed his behavior up until Christmas, however the Easter Bunny doesn't seem to have the same effect.

I will post more soon, along with some recent pictures!

Isla's First Birthday Shot

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Fall in Rocky Mountain National Park

We took a little hike up to Rocky Mountain National Park last weekend to enjoy the fall weather and changing aspen trees. Here's a short film from our day. If you're seeing this in your email, click on through to see the video.

Day At The Park

We got a new camera this week that takes high definition video. What better way to test it out than to use our favorite subjects!

Here's "Day At The Park". If you're seeing this in your email, click here to see it online.

Quin's Playdate

Since some of Quin's friends did not come back to his school this year, we have been making an effort to have more playdates (although we really need to have more!) so he doesn't miss his friends! Recently, Quin got to play with his friend Nayah. They had a great time and even danced in the backyard!

Now that Quin is getting older, playdates are a lot of fun since the kids can play in the backyard and I don't worry about them getting into trouble!

Quin's in Pre-K!

This is sort of old news by now, but Quin is officially back in school! Lately everything has been old news by the time I get a blog post done, but at least I occasionally make updates!

Another year at Loveland Preschool has officially started and Quin loves his new class. He is still three days a week (MWF), but with all of our other activities we seem to always have something going on. He does miss some of his old friends that decided not to come back this year, but he is making new friends! His new teacher, Mrs. Olson is great and he loves his big boy classroom.

So far, he has been doing really great. His teacher has already commented on how much he grew up over the summer!

Still Playful...

Isla loves to play, either with us or sitting by herself. Her favorite things to do are play on the swings, play with Quin's farm, play with her animal toys, and play in the water. Words cannot express how much she loves the water; look how happy she is in these pictures:

Other than Quin and the rest of her family, Talisker and the cats make her very playful and excited. When she does finally crawl forward, it will either be Quin or the animals that motivates her enough.

(Talisker is so great with her! We could not have asked for a better dog!)