Lorelai's hair

Lorelai's hair is beautifully long and silky, and has grown out into what looks like a perfectly layered cut without ever having it styled. She's come a long way since her reverse mullet. Just about everyone comments on how long and pretty her hair is. She loves it and calls it her princess hair. I love it. Adam loves it. The boys even love it. In fact, at Christmas, we were on Grandma and Grandpa's porch and the light and a breeze hit her just right—Logan said in awe that it looked like her hair was glowing.

That said, I'm pretty sure we're at the point where she needs her first REAL cut. And when I said as much at the dinner table last night when Adam mentioned making an appointment with our hairdresser, I got a unanimous "NO!" from everyone at the table--Aidan and Logan included. But the thing is, it tangles so easily and I'm the one who has to comb it all out every morning and every night. Her ends are crazy split. It's so long that she always has to wear it pulled back to school. We've even gotten into the habit of doing sock buns at night to keep it from tangling so much while she sleeps. But of course that ends up looking like this in the mornings, making me completely rethink cutting it at all, because holy hair envy, batman!


Too bad it doesn't look like this for long though--the curls are pretty much all gone by the end of the day.

She actually got her first official hair cut back in August, which she really needed to get rid of 4 years of dead ends. But we were all so very against losing any length at that point, so our hairdresser worked her magic and you couldn't even tell she got a cut--it just looked smoother and healthier at the ends.







Who knows--I may end up chickening out when the time comes, but for now, I'm going to start trying to convince the masses that shortening it just a few inches will really not be such a big deal. And no, it won't turn brown and lose magical powers (poor Rapunzel!).

It's still summer

Gotta be honest—all this talk of it now being fall kind of makes me mad.

I know Labor Day is supposed to signify the end of summer, but it's an unofficial end—one that I refuse to accept. While I don't hate fall by any means, I'm not eager to welcome any sort of cold weather. At all. After the winter we had last year, I can't imagine many people would blame me. ☺

So I'm hanging on to every official day of summer, right up until September 23. And every warm day after that, for that matter!













Pictures are from Aidan and Lorelai's birthday pool party. I could really use a LOT more days like that one. Perfect summer weather.

Four years old, and not a baby

This girl, oh my. Sweet, sassy, smart, funny, silly, loud, opinionated, friendly, loving. And now she's four!





When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said "I don't know." When I asked her again, she said "Grandma." Another time, she said "chicken nuggets." And then when I asked her yesterday, she held up seven fingers and said "I want to be this many. Like Logan." Well I can't help her with the last request, but the rest was done and done. We had a pool party for Aidan and Lorelai on Sunday with both Grandmas, and then we went to the pool again tonight and had a Chick-fil-a picnic.





Most of me is devastated that there's almost no baby left in my baby. A fact that she's quick to point out whenever I call her baby instead of sweetie, by the way. She just doesn't understand that she'll always be my baby.

“I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
my baby you'll be.”
-Robert Munsch



These days, she likes:

• Going to the pool
• Coloring/drawing
• Super Why
• Watching videos I've taken of the family on my iPhone
• Fairy books (big girl chapter books)
• Baby dolls
• The color purple (just not her purple shoes...???)
• Bossing people around
• Arguing/throwing fits for no reason
• Being held by Mommy

Yes, my big (43lb!) girl still wants me to hold her. And it's still the same request as when she was little--"Mommy, hold you." And even when she wants me to hold her while I'm trying to make dinner or shop for groceries, it's super hard to deny that request. It's just about the only holdover from her babyhood. Sniff.





Age 3 was certainly a challenge, as I expected. But fortunately, I don't think it was as bad as it could have been. We obviously had our fair share of ridiculous typical 3yo behavior, but nothing that made me go insane.



I know we're now out of the woods yet as far as tantrums go (as evidenced by last night's bedtime debacle). But I'm looking forward to age 4. Seeing her emotions mature (hopefully!). Watching as she learns more and gets ready for kindergarten next year. Helping her become more independent. Watching her imagination grow.

She's remarkable, and very loved and spoiled. Happy 4th birthday to my sweet baby girl!

Lorelai says

I know I've missed a bunch, but these are the Lorelai-isms I managed to write down over the past few months since the last post.



Mommy: (pointing to her right foot) Which foot is this?
Lorelai: Um, right!
Mommy: Yes! Which foot is this? (Pointing to left foot)
Lorelai: Left foot!
Mommy:(pointing to right hand) What hand is this?
Lorelai: Ummmm, yellow?
Mommy: No...try again.
Lorelai: Oh! Green!


Mommy: how do you spell your name?
Lorelai: L...E...R-S-T?
Mommy: not quite. LORELAI
Lorelai: Oh. L-O-RST
(And then we did a massive name spelling drill with all of us telling her and quizzing her, and now she can spell it correctly. Aaaand we sometimes still call her Lerst, ha!)


Mommy: Let's brush your teeth, Lorelai.
Lorelai: I'm not Lorelai, I'm a cow!


Lorelai: Ew, what is this, I don't like it!
Teacher: Fruit cocktail. It's got all the fruits you already like, just try it.
Lorelai: Oh! I like fruit cottontail.
(Her teacher was so tickled by this, she had to tell me all about their conversation. I guess Lorelai kept calling it "fruit cottontail" for a while, cracking everyone up.)


Lorelai: Don't stand on your phone, that would be terrible. I'll call the police if you do that. (A friendly warning while I was doing some ab exercises in front of my phone on the floor, ha!)


After I had put Lorelai to bed like I do every night, she gets up and comes into the boys' room.
Lorelai: When am I going to bed?
Mommy: Ummm, now. I just put you to bed a minute ago...
Lorelai: Oh! I'm crazy!


Lorelai: (while watching the Super Bowl) I really don't like football. I like Ariel. 



Lorelai: Mommy did I tooted? Smell my butt! (Classy alert--she said tooted instead of farted.)




 (Check out more Lorelai-isms here.)

3rd annual peanut allergy update

Lorelai had her annual allergist appointment at the end of January and exactly like last year, there's good news and not so good news.

First, the good news. We did a full nut panel (skin and blood tests) for the first time, which I requested because I really wanted to know whether she was also allergic to any tree nuts. The skin tests for pecan and brazil nut came up slightly positive, but the blood tests on all nuts came back negative. Woohoo, no tree nut allergies!


Marks for all the other 5 nuts were not measurable.

And she was also really good for the entire appointment, even though we had to wait FOREVER and they took a bunch of blood from her. She didn't shed a single tear! She still won't let any doctor near her ears with the otoscope, but she's come SUCH a long way since her early days of sheer terror at any kind of doctor visit.



HOWEVER. She still can't actually have any tree nuts on the advice of her allergist, since there's a high probabability of cross-contamination with peanuts, and the high co-existence of peanut and tree nut allergies. The doctor doesn't want her to develop any new nut allergies. So we continue to avoid any and all nuts (except coconut, which she's negative for, and it's a fruit) until/unless she grows out of her peanut allergy.

More bad news: the dip we saw last year in her peanut allergy levels that gave me such hope that she'd outgrow it were apparently a fluke. She's back up to her initial level when we first had her tested. According to her doctor, "The dip in the level in 2013 is not uncommon in food allergic children as there is some variation in the annual levels seen. The reasoning for this fluctuation is not well documented in the literature. This peanut IgE level of 5.06 along with the skin test greater than 5x5 mm screens out offering Lorelai a challenge to peanut this year."

Component Value
• IgE Allergen Peanut 5.06
• IgE Allergen Almond Nut <0.35
• IgE Allergen Brazil Nut <0.35
• IgE Allergen Cashew Nut <0.35
• IgE Allergen Hazel Nut <0.35
• IgE Allergen Pecan <0.35
• IgE Allergen Pistachio <0.35
• IgE Allergen Walnut <0.35
• IgE Allergen Coconut (Fruit) <0.35


REFERENCE VALUES for serum IgE levels
Class IgE kU/L Interpretation
0 <0.35 Negative
1 0.35-0.70 Equivocal
2 0.71-3.50 Positive
3 3.51-17.50 Positive
4 17.60-50.00 Strongly Positive
5 50.10-100.00 Strongly Positive
6 >100.00 Strongly Positive

Big fat bummer. Although it doesn't change anything we're currently doing to manage her allergy (avoidance, epi pen on hand), it just means that she's much less likely to outgrow her allergy before she enters kindergarten, where she'll be in a much less controlled environment than her peanut-free daycare. I know there's so much more awareness these days, but that still doesn't ensure her safety. If someone could tell me without a doubt that she won't have an anaphalactic reaction to peanuts, I'd feel better. But there's no way of knowing, so I picture the worst case scenario and get all mama bear scared for her. :(

At least we haven't had any scares (knocking on all kinds of wood here!!) or problems with avoidance, and the boys are still really good about looking out for her, so she's got lots of people around to protect her. Fingers crossed for a legit downward trend soon though!

Big girl in an even bigger bed

Look at that--it's a big girl in an even bigger bed. :)



Lorelai has been in a toddler bed since last June when we took the railing off her crib. I was in no hurry to upgrade to a full size bed because she was still regularly wetting through her diaper/pull-up. It's way easier to change a small crib mattress in the middle of the night! But as of Christmas, she's officially nighttime potty trained and in underwear all night with no accidents, so it was time for a new bed.



We went with a full size bed since the crib converts to a full size headboard, so she's got plenty of room. And some to spare for when she wants me to snuggle when I tuck her in at night. :) Which is nice, since we sold the glider/ottoman on Craislist to make room for the ginormous bed, so I can't rock her anymore after story time. Sniff. My baby is growing up.

She's been in it for a month now, and although there was a brief period where she said she hated her room (not her bed, just her room) and would rather sleep in the guest bedroom instead (SO frustrating!), she loves it. We got a new chair for her "reading corner" from Target on clearance for $15, regularly $50. We also hung a pink butterfly from the ceiling that was a bribe gift from her teacher for staying in her own bed for five nights in a row.



I really wasn't ready to part with her nursery decor, so I picked out some clearance sheets at Walmart that coordinate, and got a plain white down alternative comforter (and later added this white duvet I got on sale) to keep things simple. In the near future, I really want to repaint her headboard white, and her furniture as well. But "near future" really means "when I find time to get off my lazy butt on the weekend and tackle a DIY project" so...not soon? Don't hold your breath.


I also need to make and hang some art (or something) and her letter L on the blank wall to the right of the mirror. I bought the canvas, so maybe that'll happen soon.

And maybe in a few years, we'll completely re-do her decor and have her help decide what she wants. Probably something purple. But it was hard enough for me to completely dismantle the crib and ditch the glider that we've had in that room for almost 10 years, so baby steps. I don't like change, ok? :)

But I do like her new and improved room.

Sometimes I cry because I'm so happy

The other night, I checked on each of my kids before I went to bed, just like I always do. I took a snuggly sleeping girl to the potty, and gave each boy a kiss and fixed their covers. And as always, I whispered in their ears how much I love them, how amazing they are, and how lucky I am to have them.

I always hope that my loving words will make it into their subconscious or their dreams or something. I don't know. But that night, by the time I made it back into my bed, I was literally in tears (and I may or may not be in tears again as I write this). At that moment, I was so overwhelmed with the love I have for those 3 special people.

I cried to Adam, marveling about how happy I am because of them. How much I love and cherish our family. How awesome our kids are. How did we get so lucky to call them ours?

What a good feeling.

Lorelai says

Lorelai: I need a haircut.
Mommy: What kind of haircut?
Lorelai: A purple haircut!
Aidan: Purple??
Lorelai: What, you like me blondie?


Her daycare school pictures. I died from the cute.


Teacher: Lorlelai, why are you being so bossy?
Lorelai: I'm not being bossy, I'm being you!



When we still had her tent set up in the living room from her birthday, where she put her mostly deflated birthday balloon: "I can't even deal with that balloon in my tent!"

After I had said earlier that her water bottle smelled funky: "That smells funky funky-licious." It was particularly hilarious because we have never said anything like that (that I know of).

While playing UNO: "I'm freaking out, I don't have any matching cards!"

Pulling up my shirt and grabbing my (squishy) belly: "Mommy, I got your chubby belly." (Guess we should stop saying that to her, huh?)

She frequently answers requests to do something with "okay, sure!"  (When she's not saying no, of course...)

Hallelujah is "Hamma-lujah" and Mike Wazowski inexplicably comes out as "Mouskey Wiper."




Love her so much.

(Check out more Lorelai-isms here.)

Backpack obsessed + a Yak Pak giveaway

Remember how Lorelai seemed so jealous of the boys when we were back-to-school shopping? She had her own backpack picked out and everything. For at least a month, every time we walked by the backpack section, she'd point to one and say "I need that" (heavy emphasis on the need). I always put her off by saying "you don't need that now, we'll put it on your birthday or Christmas list" and moved her along.

So when Yak Pak contacted me about reviewing one of their products, of course I jumped at the chance and knew exactly what I wanted to get. I chose the deluxe backpack in this fun star pattern (the purple was a must for Lorelai) and it's safe to say my girl is obsessed.



The first thing Lorelai did with it was pack it up with her baby doll, teddy bear, blanket, shoes, plastic kitchen fruit--you know, the essentials ;)--for a day trip to Grandma's house. Then we used it again last weekend on our trip to the beach. It's obviously big on her now, but it's a great size to hold whatever she needs for short trips away from home, and she'll grow into more by the time she goes to kindergarten in two years. The material is nice and sturdy (much better than the cheapo backpack we got Aidan and had to return...TWICE...to Target) so I know it'll last for a while.


Whoa, a glimpse into my future with her first day of school photo or what?!


But don't even try to tell Lorelai that she has to wait two years. As soon as she loaded up her backpack, she headed straight to the car saying, "okay, let's go to kindergarten now!"



Oh girl. You may be ready for that, but I'm SO not. Let's just stick to pretend kindergarten with your cute backpack for now. :)




Would you like a chance to win a YakPak product? Not only do they have cute backpacks and messenger bags in lots of fun patterns, but they've got lunch totes, pet accessories, headphones, iphone cases and more. Just enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Full Disclosure: I was provided the backpack for a review. All opinions are my own.

The Cheeto Meltdown

It's no secret that Lorelai has some seriously hilarious moments that I love to document and look back on fondly. But she also has some batshit crazy moments where she cries and throws tantrums for no reason whatsoever. In these moments, sometimes all I can do is laugh (when I'm not wanting to cry or scream). Oh, the joys of toddlerhood. She's 3 for sure!

Inspired by Reasons My Son is Crying and a comical meltdown over Cheetos, here are some of the 4376 reasons why Lorelai is crying.




...because I wouldn't let her have only Cheetos for dinner.

...because daddy poured her milk instead of mommy.

...because I put her hair in a pony tail.

...because Aidan said "hi" to her when she walked in the house.

And my favorite meltdown recently:

...because the sink was in the bathroom and not the bedroom, so she didn't want to wash her hands after going potty. She laid on the floor of the bedroom, kicking and screaming, wanting me to move the sink. Cray!


To be continued, I'm sure...

Lorelai says

Lorelai, 3 years old.


Shortly before her birthday, I caught her sitting on the potty "talking" on her phone (I told you she does it all the time), asking for presents. "Hi Ms. Kim. Yeah, hi. You gonna get me presents? Grandma, you're getting me presents. Yeah?"

She was holding her potato head toy from the treasure box at school when she fell. She scream-cried "My 'tato broke me! You're a mean boy, 'tato head"

For dinner one night, I took off her shirt since we were having messy spaghetti. While pointing at her chest, she said "look, boobies!"

And of course the potty talk continues. Tonight she said "Bless you! I just farted out my butt!"

I'm hesitant to admit this one because it shows how crude we can be (go ahead, roll your eyes), but it was seriously hilarious(ly wrong). Lorelai started saying "sack and crack" over and over again after overhearing the boys, who were repeating after Adam. #parentingfail

She also says sunscream and bathing soup and it's too cute to correct, so now that's what we say, too.



And this is one of my favorite exchanges, which happened in Old Navy when Lorelai started throwing a tantrum and was on the floor taking her shoes off.

Mommy: Lorelai, get up. You're being rude.
Lorelai: Complicated order.

Apparently we quote the infamous Bon Qui Qui a bit too often. :)

Since she said this a few months ago, it has somehow morphed into "complicated Lola" which she says regularly and completely randomly now. Love it.


Side note: I'm STILL working on the beach pictures little by little. One of these days I'll post them...

(Check out more Lorelai-isms here.)

Sunday sillies

Last Sunday morning I caught Lorelai "calling" people on the phone. Usually when I get the camera out to record her, she devolves into a mess of gibberish and potty talk (see? what's that all about?!) but this time, I actually caught what looks to be a very in-depth conversation with grandma. Note that she's not really talking to anyone--she likes to play with our old phone.

I always forget to turn my phone to landscape when I record, gah!

And then she decided to call her cousin Luca, who lives in Atlanta (and apparently yell at her? ha!). I love how she's swiping the phone like it's a smartphone. :)

Check out that 'tude. A glimpse into the teenage years...and I'm scared ;)

A new (to her) bike

Lorelai got a new (to her) "big girl" bike for her birthday, and I'd say she's pretty excited about it. :)





The best part to me was that all I spent was $3 on a roll of pretty duck tape to turn Logan's old bike and helmet into something fit for a girl. Woooo to the hooooo!




Logan got this bike on his 3rd birthday (almost 4 years ago, whoa!), so we figured it would be a great gift for Lorelai's 3rd birthday as well. Aidan has moved up to a bigger bike, so we had an extra smaller one laying around. No point in spending money on something new if we can use what we've got, right? A little decal peeling and some good cleaning left us with a perfectly unisex red and black bike, but the boys and I wanted to do more. So I hit up Michael's where I found the most perfect coordinating duck tape.



With Aidan and Logan's help (they were SO into this project for their sister!) I just put some of the tape on wax paper and used my heart-shaped cutter to create some pretty little heart stickers. I free-handed the points on the long strips so they're not perfect, but the boys and I love how it turned out. I even used my exacto knife to cut out some flowers for her helmet to match! Once Adam put the training wheels back on, we were good to go.



We unveiled the gift on Sunday morning before her party and she couldn't WAIT to jump on and ride. With daddy's help getting started, she got the hang of it really quickly. A few hours later, she was an old pro, showing off for the grandparents at her party.



I love that this was a personalized gift created by us with love. I love that we were able to upcycle something to give it a new life for almost free. And I love that she loves it and feels like such a big girl when she rides. A definite win-win-win in my book! :)