She wants to look surprised, but she had too much Botox

You know, once the kids hit four years old they just start to look all wrinkly and aged. That's why in our house we like to start them on Botox at age 5. Ha!

We went to the Dermatologist to get one of Chloe's warts frozen off. She was so very brave that the Doctor wanted to give her a treat. Since she can't have candy with the artificial colors, the doctor gave her this shirt!!! It is her favorite color purple, and its sparkly. What's not to love? Cracked me up! They also gave her a juvederm headband that matches.

Next stop the Preschool pageant Circuit!!!

Tiny Dancers

The girls started dance this week and I had to take a pick of them in their ballet outfits. Yes, that is my Christmas tree you see in the background. I haven't taken it down yet. I planned to clean out the garage first, before we put it back. But we have had massive sudden appliance failure that has taken up all my time. I am not a believer in evil gnomes who like to break household appliances, but if I were, I would swear we have an infestation!





The second picture just cracks me up! John doesn't want to be in any pictures himself, but he tries to creep into everyone else's. Its like a bizzare form of streaking with your clothes on. He keeps trying to pop up in everyone's photos.

Asthma Rollercoasters

Our allergy/seasonal cold we were dealing with has spiraled downward into asthma madness for Chloe. Serious asthma madness. I don't think that we have had an incident this serious since Chloe was three.

She can't even make it for the three hours until the next nebulizer treatment. She has coughed so much that she dry heaves and her sides hurt. It is just not a good feeling to not be able to breathe. Plus all the medicines make her so jittery she gets the shakes. So she isn't sleeping much.

Of course all this happens during a very busy schedule for Brian, so I am getting like maybe two hours of sleep a night (Oh look! is that a pink Llama in the living room?) The other two kids are also on the tail end of the cold/allergy thing.

On the positive side of things, I have a new coffee buddy in the morning. Coffee is one of those home remedies for asthma, so Chloe has been having some with me in the mornings. Let's just say that these days mommy is powered by grit, tears, and a whole lot of coffee. We curl up in my bed to watch cartoons and drink our coffee. She told me, "This is good mommy, I could get used to this". Oddly enough, it doesn't make her any more hyper, I think we may have hit the glass ceiling on the jitters with all the medications. Putting her in the shower to breathe in the steam works too... so at least we are clean? even if we are hallucinating from lack of sleep?

I can't believe she is 5...

Five is such a benchmark. Leaving the preschool years behind, graduating to elementary aged child.

Five years ago this mercurial bundle of joy was dropped into our family and we have never been quite the same. We were a quiet family with one very careful, quite child when Chloe joined us. We had never even childproofed pre-Chloe. We quickly fixed that as soon as she started crawling. Of course, it did no good, by a year, she could outsmart every device we owned.

Chloe infused us with spontaneity. She comes up with some of the zaniest whims. Beams like the sun when she smiles and when she feels something, it is with her whole heart. She is all in or all out. She regularly surprises us with how compassionate and sensitive she is. Chloe is Chloe, never anything less. She is one of the most authentic people I know. We treasure her, and while it hasn't been all rainbows and giggles (along with all this comes ideas about challenging society and ergo your parents) We are the luckiest family in the world with the addition of our own sunshine.

For her birthday we went to a hibachi restaurant called Samurai. She wanted them to "light everything on fire!!!!" and she ate with chopsticks. Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Kerri and the cousins all came out to celebrate. After that we went to Putt Putt fun house to ride bumper boats and climb the rock wall. It was such a blast!!!!!