Hard Core

...um, yeah...not me! This morning I finally made it to a core class at my gym (abs, buttocks, lower back). While I'm happy to report that I survived the class, I quickly learned that my so called "core" is more of the consistency of a twinkie - soft, creme-filled, and full of sugar. The class literally kicked my butt. What did I learn from this experience? That I need to go to it at least once a week, if not twice!!! Tonight I will be vegging on the couch enjoying my recent Blockbuster arrivals: 2 discs of Gilmore Girls, Season One trying not too move too much. Oh the pain!

Happy Healthy Kids

Yes, I am getting worse at remembering well-baby and well-child checkups. Up until this year, Janelle has had her yearly checkups right on time. Spencer - well, his keep getting later and later. Oh well, at least they eventually get them, right? So Janelle had her 5-and-4-months-old checkup today and Spencer had his 18-month checkup (even though he's technically 20 months old). We totally lucked out, Janelle didn't have to get any shots and Spencer only had to get one. They're both growing great and are nice and healthy.

Janelle gained a total of 1 lb. from last year and topped out at 46 inches...lucky tall skinny thing. She's all caught up on her immunizations to register for kindergarten in a few months. Woo hoo!

Janelle's favorite things these days are swimming, preschool, building animals out of legos, the Barbie movies, jumping on the trampoline, and reading....she LOVES reading. She loves being read to and reading beginner books. She can't wait to start kindergarten, and talks about it every single day!

Spencer weighed in at 28 lbs. (80th percentile) and measured at 36 inches (97th percentile) and exactly 10 inches shorter than Janelle. He is catching up to her really fast!!! Technically those numbers are a little skewed since he's 2 months older than what he is measuring against. I'm going to really try and get him to his 2-year-old appointment on time. He's a little pigeon-toed (when he walks his legs point in a little bit), but my uncle (our doctor) said that usually once they start gaining more weight they straighten out. He said all they can really do at this point is watch it and if it doesn't go away by the time he's six, then they actually start doing tests and stuff. I just love that my uncle is our doctor. He is so patient and mindful of my questions and concerns. We totally lucked out!!!

Spencer's favorite things to say are: "Aba" - granola bar, "Boppa" - Grandpa, "Airee" - Aunt Erin, "Cookie," "Isit?" - Where's my blanket?, "Apple," "Daaden" - just means Daddy now, "Mommy," "Gigi" - Janelle, "Uh-uh" - no, "Choo Choo" - train, "Tash" - trash man, and our all time favorite: "BUS!!!" - which he calls all things that have wheels.

Spencer loves to play with his big sister, go outside, eat sidewalk chalk, get into everything, run, watch "Rachael Ray," and he does NOT like going to bed!

And in case you were wondering, Spencer's kidneys are doing pretty well. He had an appointment with his urologist in December and his hydronephrosis (the enlarged kidney) is starting to slow - a definite good sign. It's still bigger than it is supposed to be, but it's not growing at the rate it was before and it's still functioning completely normally. He has a scheduled VCUG (the catheter test where they watch him pee) in May to check to see if the other kidney's urinary reflux is gone. His last test was last summer and it just showed slight reflux, so hopefully by May it will be gone. He has been taking antibiotics since the day he was born to prevent any kind of infection and I will be REALLY happy when I don't have to give that to him anymore. Fortunately, for this test they're sending us to a pediatric specialist so they can put him out for it. He's been awake for all of them so far (all 5 times) and the bigger he's gotten the harder it has been to hold him down. Last time was horrible, he screamed and flailed the whole time - meaning they had to put the catheter in more than once, poor kid! Hopefully this time will be a little less eventful.

So that's our most recent health report. I'm so grateful for happy healthy kids!

and Janelle brings the total to 7.

(Kyle writing) Happy Holidays to us...bringin' in the new year with the stomach flu. Ugh. In case anyone was wondering why you haven't seen us around since getting back from Utah, or why we haven't done more blog posts, the answer is very simple. We've all been sick.

We got back from Utah late Wednesday night, and while opening the rest of our Christmas presents on Thursday morning Spencer threw-up right on his pile of goodies. Friday morning Laura woke up with a sore throat and bad cough. Then on Sunday I came down with the stomach bug that hit Spencer on Thursday. My parents called me that night for a pork rib recipe (not a pleasant thing to discuss with a stomach virus by the way), and I found out that my dad, my brother, and my sister-in-law all had the same thing on Friday. Finally, this evening right as I'm beginning to feel better Janelle came down with the bug.

The only thing that I can think of is that we all must have been exposed to it at church on Sunday the 23rd since that is the only common location we all had together where there were other people.

Oh well, at least we're getting it out of our systems now. On Saturday we're headed to Hawaii, and we definitely don't want to be sick there.

Sick Day

Poor Spencer got nice and sick today. He's had a fever all day long and his eyes and nose can't stop running. All he's wanted to do today is sit on my lap with his blankie and suck his thumb. (And he NEVER sits still long enough to snuggle with me anymore.) I've been at my parents' house since Wednesday night helping my dad out with my sisters while he was on a business trip and my mom was in Hawaii with her sisters. I was trying to get things a little picked up before my mom got home but Spencer was just not cooperating. So finally I strapped him in his old vibrator seat (that we let my sister have for my niece), and he just laid there and watched me clean until I was done. He looked HUGE in that seat. Here are some funny pictures I got of him.

This picture totally cracks me up! He always makes this face when the flash on my camera goes off, I guess it's too bright for him.He's actually not crying in this picture - he's just feeling pretty miserable and can't seem to get his eyes and nose to stop running.There's my big boy - feet sticking out and all!

EWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(This first part isn't the gross part, keep reading to the bottom to get grossed out!) Tonight my sweet husband handed me my purse and sent me out the door to go shopping. It was a VERY nice evening to be out all alone without any kids and look at whatever I wanted. I went to Old Navy, Belk, and Target and came home with 2 shirts, some earrings, a black and white Italian framed photograph - that I fell in love with when I saw it and couldn't pass it up (good ol' Target), and dinosaur capsules (Target dollar section). Anyway, as I was driving home I was listening to the radio and they were talking about this new study that was done that basically proved that your cell phone could be dirtier than your toilet and the bottom of your shoe. (Here's the whole story if you want to read it.) That totally GROSSED ME OUT!! Now, being the OCD cleaner I am and being terrified of germs I actually clean my cell phone every few weeks with those Clorox wipes, but now I'm going to start doing it EVERYDAY (I love it when they come up with these studies that make me even more paranoid about germs than I already am). Just think, your last cold could have come from your cell phone. Ugh.