100th day of school

for kaitlyns 100th day of school we had to create a project and count something to 100- we counted coffee beans and made a coffee cup out of an old oatmeal container- it was very cute. Durring the 100th day they made a lot of things do with the number 100- kaitlyn wrote in her 100th day book that she would eat 100 fish! My kids love fish- where did they get that from???
She also made papa a book about fishing- it was so cute. We must remember she is 5 and has been fishing only a hand full of times.

Big sibling shirts

I had this wonderful idea for the kids to make big brother and big sister shirts to wear when Brooke comes home. Lets just say I have very artistic kids and I will be trying to find ones to buy. Calebs took 2 days to dry- What was I thinking? They also made a onesi for Brooke but it is so stiff fromt he amount of paint on it-we might just use it once for a picture.

Big Brother and Big Sister

As the amount of time ticks down before Brooke is here the kids are getting so excited to be a big brother and big sister. Every night before bed they talk to Brooke as if she were already here- Caleb gives her a kiss, a pound and a high five every night just like he does with Ryan, Kaitlyn and I. It is very hard to believe that Caleb was born two weeks from now- Both Brooke and Caleb had the same due date.

Ultrasound at 29 weeks

We had an ultrasound today and things are looking great. Brooke is an even 3 pounds and looking very healthy. We had our third fetal fibronection test which will come this afternoon but I am sure it will come back negative. (that is what we want)I also had my glucose challenge last week and it came back normal at 121. below 140 is considered normal. So one less thing to worry about now!
Our next doctor appointment is March 8th. Here are two of the 4D photos we got today!

Brooke's room

here are few photos of Brookes room- Lets hope she will enjoy it. My mom helped me get it all put together and doesn't it look amazing! It is green with red and black with butterlies and dragon flies- My friend Amanda sold us her nursery stuff so we had fun playing with it and adding to it!

Aunt Chrisie Surprise

Sunday feb. 14th Ryan had to do homework as usual and I had to go pick up a cake for a baby shower that I was having on monday so I took the kids to costco to get out of the house for Ryan. I realized minutes after I left that I had forgotten my cell phone but thought ryan was going to be home so it was no big deal and I was going to be back in a few hours so he would be at home if I needed him. Funny because when I got home he was not home and I instantly got angry- because the kids were both asleep in the car and he was suppose to be home studying. I went in and called him and he said he was going to get something for Valetines day. Funny again because we were not doing anything for valentines day so another reason to get mad. He said he would be home in 45 min. I had a massive amount of laundry to do so I left the kids in the car with the doors open and the laudry room door open. Ryan came home yelling at me that the kids were in the car asleep and someone might steal them. He said there were awake- So I went outside and low and behold aunt chrisie had flown in as a surprise for us. We had a great week and it was a huge surprise! It was so nice to see her and the kids kept her busy!

Nanny and Poppy slide show

Nanny and Poppy visit feb

It has been really busy around here- we are so lucky! Between my computer errors with the camera and our recent visitors I haven't updated the blog in a few weeks- yikes- I will make up for it in the next few days. First my parents came in and my dad was able to stay longer because of the huge amount of snow we got here again this year. Weeks later we still have snow- it is no longer fun. My mom and I worked on Brookes room and dad worked around the house- He installed a new ceiling fan in the baby's room and new hooks for all the kid coats and summer towels. We played in the snow and went to a bouncy place. Dad taught kaitlyn how to play go fish and kaitlyn taught both my Nanny and Poppy how to do mario cart on the wii and her favorite game pictuerika.

Snow and more snow

On sat we got another 10 inches or so- fun for the kids but wow more snow. Today we woke up to no school again for kaitlyn and a massive amount of snow coming down. looks like we have about 2 inches of snow on the ground and it is suppose to keep coming down all day with 25-35 mph winds- low is 21 tonight so most likely no school tomorrow. I think w ewill need to go until august now. Poor kido- she is to young to understand that it is fun now but not so fun in the summer when she is sitting in the class while Brooke, Caleb and I are at the pool. I will post photos later today. We also have Morgan staying with us again so she doesnt have to go to day care.

The neighbor kidos

From the left we have Will , Catherine Rose, Kaitlyn and Morgan- We played outside most of the day Sunday. Here is the kids enjoying a cookie break and a snow filled day.

Weather person

I am a little bit of a weather freak anyway but this weather but this is unreal!
This would mean we might get up to 3 more inches tonight and a foot more this weekend-We still have about 8 inches on the ground from last weekend. Poor kaitlyn is going to be going to school until the 4th of july with 100 degree days out and Ryan, Brooke, Caleb and I at the pool-
I love being a stay at home mom- but being stuck at home is getting to be no fun! We are going to go out to get a few things at costco for this future storm- if you wait around here you wont get milk, eggs or bread!

Precipitation from this storm system is expected to expand into Central Virginia by mid-day as a light sleet/snow mix, with a transition to rain this afternoon and evening. A transition back to some light snow late Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning will occur, leading to light accumulations in the metro, generally less than an inch. Areas to our west and north could see as much as 3" of snow, where the winter weather advisory is in effect. Another larger storm should impact the Commonwealth this weekend storm, and it looks like it could be yet another big snow for central Virginia. Snow should begin Friday morning and won't end until late Saturday. It's still about 4 days out, but this storm has the potential to be just as big as the last two, with a foot or more of snow possible in some parts of central Virginia

No School today and no school tomorrow

Ryan and kaitlyn didnt have school today- it was a good thing because after a long night of no sleep and a pain in my lower stomach we went to the doctor and they ran all sorts of tests on me- The kids enjoyed listening to Brooke move around and pushing a button every time she moved. Everything still looks good as far as pregnancy goes- I am so thankful- Everyday she decides to stay and grow is one less day we are in the NICU! I am hoping for 11 more weeks!!! We have another ultrasound on Feb 25th. We cant wait to see her again.

Kaitlyn has no school tomorrow and we are working on her Valentines day cards and playing in the 14 inches of snow we got on Saturday. There is a small chance tomorrow night we might get a little snow and then there is a large storm coming this weekend- which we heard from two different sights that it could bring us 10-20 inches of snow- CRAZY!

SNOW, SNOW and More SNOW

It is 20 degrees outside and snowing like crazy- the kids do not care how cold it is- They have been outside playing most of the morning- we now have about a 8 inches of snow and it is still coming down hard. Looks like there will not be school on monday- High today is 25 and low is 15. No melting in sight here.

Bird house

If you remember Ryan spent and entire sunday making a bird house/ feeder with the kids- painted to match our house and it was really nice. they were all very proud of it. The kids got Ryan another bird feeder for Christmas. well and it has been a battle between ryan, caleb and the squirrels. The squirrels have won- They have ate all the food several times and are now eating the bird house. caleb tries to shoot the squirrels with his bass pro shop gun- They don't even run away now when we go outside. The kids run out and have to hit the tree with their plastic shovels. One time the squirrel almost landed on kaitlyns head. The house used to have two black feeder boxes and the bird hole was about an inch- as you can see we are down to one black feeder box and the hole is huge-

SNOW Storm

So far people around here freak out more than people in seatle- The thought of snow sends people in a frenzy- although it is 60 today and we played outside for the last two hours this is what is coming- CRAZY weather- looks like we are in for a fun saturday of playing in the snow and hot cocoa! Today the kids wore T-shirts and pants and played on the trampoline, sidewalk chalk, T-ball. I love extreme weather!

FLU and STREP THROAT

Poor kailtyn was hit Sat night with the flu- getting sick every 4 hours or so and a high fever of 102.9- by sunday night she was totally miseable. Ryan carried her to bed and we thought she must be getting over this- monday morning kailtyn, caleb and I were painting and she said her throat hurt. I was thinking it was because of vomitting but I decided to look in her mouth anyway and I almost threw up myself- lets just say there was no dought in my mind that she had strep throat as well as the flu! POOR KIDO-

The doctor was able to see us with a few hours and we got antibiotic started Monday afternoon- by tuesday it was like she was a different kid-THANK goodness! Lets keep our fingers crossed that the rest of us do not get it- As I put kaitlyn on the bus I found out that one of the kids at our bus stop had a fever and strep on friday and was on the bus and at school- WHY WHY do I ask again do people send there kids to school when they are sick?????? Especially when they know about it?

Our little basketball star

She is our little star- even though when I told her she needs to wave her hands and say I am open and she replied but mommy I do not want the ball- She now has decided that she cant wait for saturdays game. Go Dukes

NO More Naps for Caleb

I was so sad to come to the realization a few weeks ago that Caleb was done with his naps. He is just so busy and doesn't want to miss out on anything- I got him to to take a nap if I lay down with him that is such a hard job! He now goes to bed at 745 and sleeps in until 7-730. I have no reason to complain. I am sure in a few months I will be begging for a sleep like that from Brooke.

Grandparents visit VA

Grandma Lynda and Grandpa Kim flew out to visit for four days and we had a great time. They brought McDonalds to Kaitlyn's school on Friday then came to the dental school to check out the new clinic. Saturday we took kaitlyn to basketball practice and had a great dinner at Maggianos. Sunday rained most of the day so we hung out inside, watched football, and played the Wii. The pics are of dad playing Mario Kart with kaitlyn. Kaitlyn totally demolished dad with a record of about 10-2. Dad also played Rock Band. I think he will be sticking to his day job.

Wii improves dexterity- Ryan is so proud!

This article was in the Dec issue of Ask ADSA (a dental news letter magazine)- I didnt think ryan could wait for me to get out of bed on monday after he read it to give it to me- Ryan and I have spent many hours over the holidays but are proud to say we have beat Super Mario bros and have improved his dexterity!

Ask ASDA

Can Video Games Improve Dexterity in the Dental Chair?

Dear ASDA,

I found out that some of my dental student friends put "playing video games for manual dexterity" on their list of interests for their resume to dental school. I'm wondering, can playing video games really improve your dental hand skills?

Sincerely, Mario

Dear Mario,

You are probably thinking that your video game-obsessed friends are a little crazy from too much time in Mushroom Kingdom, but you might want to think again. Last year Iowa State University psychologist Douglas Gentile presented a study showing that playing video games can help surgeons improve their manual dexterity, resulting in being able to complete surgical procedures faster and with fewer mistakes.

The study showed that laparoscopic surgeons who played video games were 27% faster and made 37% fewer errors while performing advanced surgical procedures, compared to their colleagues who did not play video games.

Gentile mentions that while this study specifically deals with laparoscopic surgeons, these findings might hold true for dentists too.

"Surgeons need to be able to make fine motions, and dentists too, need to make small motions under tightly controlled conditions," Gentile said. "The mechanics of game play may help improve your coordination. Mechanics and structure are not entirely separate. The feedback loop between what you see and how you move and how you move in response to what you see is what we call hand-eye coordination. There is a link between those two levels of effect."

For those dental students who do not have much experience playing video games as a youth, it is not too late. Gentile mentions that anyone can start playing and

begin reaping the benefits.

Video games have already been used in dental schools to help teach dental skills. Video game developer BreakAway has developed the "Virtual Dentist Implant Training Simulation Program", a video game that helps students examine and interact with virtual dental implant patients. Feedback from dental students at the Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry was instrumental in developing a game that would be interesting and engaging.

So if you are looking to improve your dental skills over the winter break, you might want to treat yourself to a little rest and relaxation while playing a few of your favorite video games.

Sincerely,

Jim

Editor-in-Chief

Lets

Funny picture

Ryan is finding it funny to take photos of people while they are sleeping-Here is merlin on me taking a nap on sat. We all need an animal like

Merlin.

Helpers

Ryan and I cleaned out Brookes room which was ryans study room/spare room/ junk room and play room all in one. We have moved all the toys down to the downstairs playroom and got rid of alot of (stuff). Thinking that in less than a year and half we would be downsizing a lot anyways- why not early- Ryan hates stuff--I truely would like to know what people do with stuff like wrapping paper, games, areobeds??? Here are two helpers painting the room- Lets just say it would have been nice to send them somewhere for a few hours and get it done- it took us longer to get them ready to paint and cleaned up than they actually spent painting- They truely throught they were helping-

Caleb has big muscles

Caleb always says he has big muscles like his daddy- I finally got it on video this am.

Back into the swing of things

We are now on day 4 of the real world swing of things with bith ryan and kaitlyn busy at school. Kaitlyn had a daisey troop meeting last night, she earned 5 new badges for her vest- PLEASE someone come sew them on for me. I now start weekly doctors appoitments ,which is very time consuming and not a lot of fun but we would like Brooke to cook more than 31 weeks 6 days like Caleb. We are experiences colder than normal weather highs in the 30's lows in the 20's for weeks now- this weekend in the teens-and let me tell you we are looking forward to spring. I am sure this summer is going to be a toasty one but at least we can just hang out at the pool- Me and three kids- Can you imagine- three kids under 5 for most of the summer. CRAZY-Both Kaitlyn and caleb will be able to swim and kaitlyn is going to do swim team so it truely will be just caleb and Brooke that need close surpervision. Kaitlyn also starts basketball next week and I just signed her up for t-ball that starts in march. We hope the new year is being kind to all of you!

My kids love each other

Check out this photo they are so darn cute I cant help but just love them. They were playing on the floor and I was lucky enough to get this photo.