3 Down, 1 to Go!

I just realized I have not updated since the first day of school! School started on September 8th. Lucas started pre-school this year. He loves the school part of it, but hates the naptime part. The mommy in me wants to run to his rescue everyday so he isn't subjected to the torture of a daily nap, but the daycare provider in me says he needs to suck it up and get used to it because he truly needs it since daddy takes him bright and early every morning before work. Anyway, I'm loving the little pages of "homework" as he calls it. We'll give him some time to adjust, and if he's still having problems with nap, we'll find a solution.



The girls both love their teachers and look forward to going to school everyday. Hopefully it continues!



In Aubrey news, she is still trying and I use that word loosely, to potty train. In other words, she gets to sit on the potty a few times a day and when I have some down time (very rarely), I'll let her go diaperless and take her to the potty every 15 minutes. I'm not pushing this whatsoever, but if she's ready and willing, I'm going to follow her lead. My little girl is growing up right before my eyes. I do "school time" with Aubrey and my other daycare children just about everyday. For Aubrey this means, coloring, painting, singing the alphabet, days of the week, months of the year, etc...My smart little girl can already count to 10! Ok, so it's not perfect, but I think she does quite well for not even being 2 yet!

Just a few more years and all 4 of my babies will be in school! Where does the time go?!

Coincidence? Who cares!?

I'll spare you the pictures, but here's my biggest news as of yesterday:

AUBREY POOPED ON THE POTTY!!

So, it was probably a huge coincidence that I just had the timing right due to the signs she had given me, but I don't care! If she's potty trained by 3, I'll be happy. However, at 22 months, I'll take any step in that direction!

One more thing...

I'm trying to rename my blog. Tails from the Sims isn't really fitting since none of this blog has anything to do with our animals or at least the ones that have tails anyway... And I'm guessing some that come across my blog think I just don't know how to spell.

So, if you have any catchy ideas, send 'em my way via comment or email!

No fancy photography...

I have to say, this has been a pretty enjoyable month. We haven't done anything extraordinary, but I think that's the reason why it's been enjoyable. I've found that despite the work it entails, saying yes is so much more fun than having to constantly say no. We've taken quite a few field trips, go to the pool every Wednesday, stay up just a few more minutes, have a popsicle or two, you get my drift... I am finding myself a much happier person with much happier children!


Of course, I couldn't leave you hanging without photographic proof! Remember, these are completely unedited, unposed, unprofessional images capturing the happiness that is found around my house lately!

Enjoy! We are!





Lucas' Mean Face. Scary huh?

But those butt dimples...To die for!

I had to include this action shot!

She was watching the water spray right past her!


Good aim Sydney!

I'd never let my kids play in the dirty car wash water.

Never. Not me.

Here's that popsicle or two. And isn't that baby yummy too?

LOVE HER!

Dressing up like Daddy!

Daddy has spoiled her and she only likes him to put her to sleep!

If you are on Facebook, you might have read about my

excursion with 10 kids and the faulty play-doh...

I know it's been a long time and I'm not doing a fantastic job keeping up with the blog, but I just can't apologize! LOL! We have less than a month left till school is back in full swing and I want more pictures just like the ones above! If I'm on the computer, no pictures are being made...

Part of my promise is fullfilled!

I posted 27 new pictures on my flickr site.

Here is the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolesims/

This doesn't include some of the recent ones because I need to get them onto the computer, but this does catch me up on Birthdays, Easter, and some outside fun!

Enjoy!

So so behind!

Despite the fact that I should be folding laundry and doing daycare paperwork, I am sitting here because it's been entirely too long since I've updated. I'm not even sure where I should begin!

Well, I left off being scared of Lily's lump...It's still there. It's been rechecked by another Dr who swears it is a lymph node and nothing to be worried about. So, we wait.

Sydney made her First Communion last weekend. It was very moving! I was almost brought to tears when Gerald leaned over and whispered, "can you believe our baby is old enough to be having her First Communion?" She looked gorgeous. I promise pictures will get here eventually.

The inlaws came down for the big event and while it was a good visit, it could have been MUCH better. It rained almost the whole time and while we were at the Botanical Gardens, there was a wheelchair malfunction and Gerald's father fell out of it. Hours and multiple x-rays later, they found a broken collar bone.

Daycare is going wonderful. I still have the little boy that started in March and he's a dream. I wouldn't trade him for anything! I'll have 2 part-time children over the summer. The younger child has already started and her older brother will come when school lets out.

And for the best news of all, I'm going to be an aunt of TWINS! Gerald's brother and sister in law that lost their precious little girl last fall just found out they were being doubly blessed! God and baby Natalie really knew what they needed! They are due around Thanksgiving but will be here earlier I'm sure. We are going to take a few days off around then to go visit. I can't wait!

So, as soon as I get some pictures uploaded, I will do my best to either post them, or upload them all to Flickr and provide a link.

Love to all!

The scare of our lives!

This rates right up there with Lily's birth, Sydney eating the bloodpressure pill, and Lucas getting sick in the NICU.

Saturday morning, I woke up and as usual, some of our kids had joined us in our bed. Gerald was already awake and downstairs. I looked over and Lily had taken her shirt off in the night because she got hot. Lula is just a tiny thing and you can see every bone in her body. Well, she had her arm stretched up over her head and from way across our king-sized bed, I could see a lump just a few inches below her armpit. First, I felt it, and it was surely a lump, not a bug bite or scratch or anything else. Then I flew out of bed and ran downstairs. Gerald was sitting there in the chair and immediately said, "did you see that lump on Lily's side?" Ok, now I knew that this wasn't all a bad dream. I told him I was taking her straight in. So, I somehow managed to get a hold of the people at JCP to let them know I wouldn't be in to work, and in my panic, I vaguely recall getting dressed, putting my contacts in, and getting clothes on Lily. I got pulled over on my way out of housing for using my cell phone while driving and the poor gate guard, he must have been able to read my face because all I said was, "I'm on my way to Urgent Care." and he was like, "go go go, I'll tell them you need to go."

We got to Urgent Care and first we saw the nurse that takes vitals and all that good stuff. She felt it and said that the fact that it moves was a good thing. BTW, my 2lb 10oz baby is now a whopping 43lbs! I don't know where those 43lbs are, because she is skin and bones! Anyway, we then saw the PA and he said the same thing the nurse said, he didn't think it was anything to worry about because it moves (we'd be much more concerned if it didn't move because tumors usually attach themselves to something), but he wasn't sure that it was just a swollen lymph node either, so he wanted the Doc to see it as well. A very nice woman Dr came in and she felt Lily's neck and said she could feel her lymph nodes there as well and the lump and she said that while she can't be certain, she's pretty sure it's just an infected lymph node due to all of the illness we've had in the last few weeks. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in all of my posts, but Lily did get hit pretty hard with all of it. She did both Strep and the puke bug. She also said that seeing swollen lymph nodes in children in the armpit area wasn't very common. So, we are treating it with antibiotics, watching to see if it goes down, making sure more lumps don't appear, and praying that it's gone in a week or two. If not, we will be getting it evaluated further.

I am still worried about it and it consumes my thoughts pretty frequently, but I'm holding on to the fact that it moves and it seems to fit the description the Dr gave us. I will keep y'all updated!

P.S.
Now that we are all healthy so to speak, I will get pictures up this week for my birthday babies! I promise!