We have a 12 year old now + Happy "Leap" Day!

January and February have been busy with "life."  Back to normal... 

School is in session.  It's back for both the kids and for me.  I've also started my classes again for the certification that I'm required to get.  Unfortunately, back to a few hours of sleep a night.  (sigh)

Mercer played basketball this season again.  He seems to improve each year.  The season was OK -- they didn't go quite as far as a team as he's been a part of in the past, but they did pretty well.  Mercer played Center - under the basket.  Todd took a some cool shots / enclosed here.   




I especially like the ones where he is jumping.  He has such a high vertical leap compared to the other kids his age!

Isabella is still doing her dance class.  There will be a recital later in the school year.  We'll be sure to post lots of cute pictures when that does happen, but until then, there's really nothing to share.  The rehearsals are closed and only rarely do parents get invited into the studio to watch.  

She just said that she wants to play basketball next year... we'll see if that still holds true when sign-ups are next fall.

She also wants to do gymnastics and drama club.  Whew~

Baseball has begun for both kids, sort of.  It is off to a slow start and cancellations due to a few things:

1.  Both kids' practices have been cancelled due to LOTS of rain.  (Official total in January was 18 inches.  In February, we've had another 17.5 inches!) 

2.  Mercer had an allergic reaction to something DURING his first baseball practice (his pitching hand swelled up -- the fingers were about twice the normal size!)  Todd took him to Urgent Care and a follow-up pediatrician visit.  No allergy tests are required just yet -- but he now has an epi-pen.  

3.  More of Mercer's practices were missed because he had surgery on his mouth.  (More on that below....)


4. We had ONE tiny flurry this season.  It was so underwhelming!  And - it didn't happen on a school day, unfortunately... it happened on a Saturday morning.  It was gone later that same morning.   Mercer was excited to watch it.... from inside.  Isabella was excited to watch it from inside as well, but she actually got outside in it for a little bit.  

5.  Finally, today's opening ceremonies / opening day games were postponed to next weekend due to cold temperatures and high winds.  (Wind chills in the 20s and 30s today / strong gusts)





We hosted a couple of small soup nights in January.  The tradition is definitely not as well attended, but... it's still the perfect time to get the house clean (after the holidays) and make our favorite soups for the season.  We do get to catch up with some folks that we don't get to see often as well.

We hosted a family last weekend for soup (who used to come over for soup nights in the past).  I saw the dad about a year ago - visited him in the hospital during a really scary bout with cancer.  We haven't seen him and his wife or son for several years.  (A few things have changed since the last time they came over for chili!)  The boy was a miracle baby -- born about a year before Isabella, but he spent his first year of life in the NICU.  He's still a little smaller than Isabella, but I'm sure he'll catch up eventually!


The first picture is cute.  The second is hilarious.  Christopher looks petrified.

The funny thing about this particular soup night... the kids were playing great together, then later came to the table an announced they were going to get married..... and that they had kissed "like 23 times~"  YIKES!    We said we didn't believe them... and they kissed in front of us 4 adults!   ummm... ?!


Isabella has had "boyfriends" before but she said she's never kissed one.  DOUBLE YIKES! 


And... he's not petrified anymore.  EEK!~

One sort of sad thing happened over the course of January / February:  all of the remnants of little boy stuff are pretty much gone.  His bedroom set from 7 years ago has been replaced (the bedding and chair were his Christmas gift, but took awhile to get in place).  It's inevitable... it just takes some adjustments.  He seems happy with it though... especially the comfy lounge chair!  

Here are some before-and-after photos. (5 years old VS almost 12 years old.)

The "major" stuff this month is all about Mercer.

We had winter break -- a week off!   Mercer had a friend spend the night at the beginning of the week + a friend spend the night at the end of the week.   Mid-week, Mercer had a minor surgical procedure:  a double frenulectomy.   The main reason why he went for this is because of his speech.  The little muscle that attaches his tongue to the bottom of his mouth was constricting his range.  The oral surgeon we saw - instead of just snipping it - actually moved it.  He also suggested to fix the upper frenulum as well while they were in there and his mouth was open / he was under sedation.  Mercer has a gap between his front teeth.  It's cute, however, the frenulum was causing his teeth to spread and could cause possible gum recession eventually.  The oral surgeon suggested we do this one because it could possibly prevent the need for braces in the future.  

Mercer was NOT a happy camper.  It hurt.... and.... it really restricted what he could eat.  (And as he's a growing boy, he requires a lot of food!)   He was pretty (h)angry for a number of days following the surgery.  He also would not talk.  We were told his recovery would be a day or so.  24-48 hours.  He was not making the progress as hoped, so we went back to the doctor at the end of the week -- before the weekend.  The doctor said he was being "guarded" -- basically overprotecting his mouth and not pushing through.    That was still true over the weekend, but as he started back as school this week, he pretty much is getting back to normal. 

His birthday was at the end of the week.   He was not totally recovered in terms of his eating, but he did OK.  The only thing he asked for was to go to the monster truck rally!  He took a friend (courtesy of grandma and grandpa in Florida who offered to contribute to an experience -- for his birthday).  He invited the kid who he went to the monster truck rally with a few years ago. 

This kid was one of his baseball team members previously, but he (Owen) has not played baseball in a number of years.  Unfortunately, they have drifted apart, but Mercer said he had a good time.    We went to lunch first (we were going to go to a place with good milkshakes since Mercer was consuming a lot of ice cream this week).... but he caught a glimpse of this game-room style restaurant and wanted to go there instead.

I was hoping that Isabella and I could go do something else while Todd and the boys went, but she wanted to go too.  So... we all went as a family.    It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was different.  I thought the trucks would race and smash and it would be muddy. 

It was more orchestrated than that... they basically held rounds of events such as making jumps off a hill, turning and doing it again before crossing the finish line with the lowest time.  Another round was for them to use all of the obstacles and the crowd would judge.  The last round was for tricks.... and the crowd judged again.  (the judging was done via cell phone)  There was one thing that was impressive:  they could do flips!  (by running up a very steep ramp that eventually goes flat / they push off of it and catch air!) 

Afterwards, we came home for pizza (cut into tiny tiny bites), cake and ice cream.   Something of note:  he's now wearing glasses too!  

His major gift:  Mercer is now an owner of his first phone (sigh).  He's got a lot of restrictions on it, though and knows he's being monitored.  Hopefully this new phase goes well.  (Not ready for it, but.... here we are~)   He got it the day before his actual birthday -- which worked out well for the monster truck rally.  His friend had his own phone too, so they could vote on the trucks.

The thing that has made him smile the most, though, (I think) was marking his height on the wall and surpassing where I am in height!  He's not too far off of where Todd is.  He'll likely be taller than Todd by the time he's 13!  (He's already wearing men's 12 shoes.)



Today is Leap Day... February 29th!  Thankfully, he was born on the 23rd instead of the 29th or else he would only be officially 3 years old today.  ha!