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We had a big earthquake tonight! It was a 5.6, centered in San Jose. Molly was already in bed, and Patrick was getting ready for bed. We gathered up Patrick and waited under a door frame (non-native Californians have laughed at me when I've done this in the past, lol!). It was a long earthquake, about 30 seconds and the house just rocked and rolled. No damage here thankfully! So now Patrick and Molly can say they are true Californians, having lived through their first big quake. Yesterday Danielle came over to carve pumpkins with Patrick. I had purchased a pumpkin carving kit, complete with tiny little carving knives, last week and Patrick was just about to bust with excitement over finally getting to open the package (after carrying it around and even sleeping with the sealed package one night). Patrick got his pumpkin done but both knives ended up broken in the process, oops! Check out Patrick's super cute apron from Danielle. Molly has a matching orange one for next Halloween. Molly didn't help with the carving but she looked cute!
Today Patrick's preschool had a Halloween sing and wow, Patrick is quite the social butterfly. Instead of singing along with his classmates, he played the air trombone, complete with puffed out cheeks. My mom says he does this every week in art class too, usually encouraging the other students to join in his air band, then he starts conducting them. Several of the other parents commented to me that their child talks about Patrick all the time, and one of his little friends has even started calling him Patches. Awwww...
And today the director of Patrick's school was dressed up as a dalmatian. Aren't they a cute pair?
This just in: Molly has her first tooth! I discovered it this morning when she bit me. Ow.
My little guy is still having a tough time breathing. We were back in the pediatrician's office today for check-ups, but it turned into a 2 hour visit with oxygen saturation measurements and a breathing treatment by nebulizer. We came home with our very own nebulizer for breathing treatments for the next 2 days and then it's back to the doctor on Friday to check in. At least Patrick is pretty good about taking the treatments, I was never good at doing them.
Today our little Miss Molly is 6 months old. It's bittersweet (like so much of motherhood). I thought the time flew by when Patrick was a baby but now I know what it really feels like to fly through the months. Molly continues to be a sweet and dreamy baby. She absolutely adores her big brother, and he will do anything for a laugh from her including dancing like a monkey. Molly is a pro at rolling (but only from back to tummy), is starting to sit unassisted, and is thisclose to getting some teeth (note to self: take more gummy grin pictures before they are gone). We tried rice cereal this week, and while Molly was thrilled at the spoon the idea of it but the cereal made her completely gag and her first reaction is to spit it out. We got the same reaction on another try with butternut squash, I guess I'll just keep trying. She's still measuring in at the upper end of the charts, today she weighed 16 pounds, 14 ounces (75th percentile), measured 26 3/4 inches long (90th percentile) and those Murphy genes must have kicked in because her head has jumped up to the 90th percentile (44 cm). Patrick weighed in at 33 pounds (fully clothed) and 38 inches. No clue what the percentiles are on that. He had his first vision test today, instead of letters they used symbols. There was a heart, a star, a circle and other easily recognized shapes. There was also a + sign, and I wasn't sure if he knew what it was called. When the nurse asked him what it was he said "A band aid!" and he repeated it again with the other eye. We both kind of laughed and I wondered where he got that from. One of the doctors was near the nurse's station when this happened and she overheard the exchange. She laughed about it but then realized that there is a red cross on boxes of band aids, and he was associating the cross with the band aids. Isn't that strange and cool? Almost every day I am amazed at how his little mind is working overtime and soaking everything up.Oh, and I spent another $120 on copays today. That brings our total out of pocket costs this week to $208. And we still have another appointment on Friday. I need a rolling eyes smiley.
Why was is cold in September when we didn't have any cute fall clothes yet? And why is it now warm (80+!) in October when we have lots of cute pumpkin sweaters to wear? And how am I supposed to dress Patrick for school when it s 50 degrees at 9 am when I drop him off but 80 degrees at noon when I pick him up?Being cute is hard work.
So last week I mentioned that Patrick has been sick. He was still coughing and wheezy this morning so I called the pediatrician and was able to get him in today to see a doctor. The doctor listened to his lungs and did her exam and told me that Patrick has asthma :( I suppose it shouldn't have come as a big surprise because I have it, my brother has it, and my mom has it. The same thing always happened to me when I got colds as a kid (and actually, it still does). Patrick now has an inhaler, and an aero chamber and a nifty duck mask to cover his nose and mouth so he actually breathes the medicine in. Patrick couldn't be more pleased with his new duck mask and medicine. This coming from the kid we have to sneak cough syrup to mixed in with Sprite. The good news is that he isn't contagious.But I have a rant. We have good medical insurance, probably even great medical insurance. It's a PPO so we have deductibles and co pays but we also have the freedom to self refer and all that jazz. Despite having great insurance, I shelled out $88 today for the copay for the doctor, the aero chamber and mask (devices not covered), and a $30 copay for the inhaler. Seriously? And I know we're fortunate.And the icing on the cake, I just realized that both kids have checkups on Wednesday, so we had plans to be at the doctor in 2 days and my brain is apparently just that mushy I forgot. I'll have the pleasure of shelling out $40 more in co pays. Sigh.
Last night we walked the Light The Night walk for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with Team Izzy. Izzy is my cousin Isabel, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when she was just 5 years old. She went through many years of difficult treatments, and is now a happy and healthy 12 year old. In her honor we're happy to raise money for such a worthy organization in the hopes that a cure will be found very soon.Patrick and Molly rode in the bike trailer which oh-so-conveniently turns into a bulky double stroller. Patrick had to be bribed to stay in with chocolate. That worked for abut half of the walk. Sigh.
Long time no blog. It's been a tough week, Patrick came down with a nasty cough on Monday evening and he is still fighting it. So we've been housebound all week which is not so much fun. He's still in good spirits and thankfully the rest of us have been spared of the bug. Tom came home a little early from work today so I got to go out and run errands. I even sneaked a quick trip into the new Michael's that opened up in town. It is HUGE, and so nice and shiny. Me likey.Since we have no adventures to report on this week, here's a few pictures. 
Did you know that today is the last day of Fire Prevention Week? Some of the local fire stations had open houses today, so Nana and Papa took Patrick to a fire station to check things out. And it wasn't just any old station, it was one with a fire truck (moms of wannabe firefighters know that fire trucks have ladders and rescue equipment, fire engines have hoses and pumps). Patrick went in his firefighter costume and was apparently quite a hit. They let him sit in the driver's seat, hold the hose (with real water coming out of it!) and they may have even let him ride around the block in the fire truck after he begged them, insisting that there was a fire that needed their attention that was getting bigger. 
As if that wasn't a big enough day we took Patrick and Molly to the pumpkin patch. We had to find a new pumpkin patch this year as the farm we used to go to has been razed in order to built high density housing (imagine me rolling my eyes here). But, we found a great new patch that had tons of activities, and best of all it wasn't crowded at all. While Molly was trying to eat hay, Patrick picked a pumpkin for him and one for Molly. This is the first year that he's really aware of what Halloween is and he is so looking forward to it. He asks just about every day how far away Halloween is and when can he go trick or treating. I'm almost as excited as he is, the kids will have very cute (and coordinating, duh if you know me) costumes. Can't wait!
Patrick seems to have turned into quite the little artist (yay!). Between preschool and an art class he's been taking with Nana he brings home quite a bit of artwork, always with some interesting story about what it is. Here's a few of his masterpieces from the last few week, along with Patrick's description of what each one is."This is a bird in a nest" (Medium: cornmeal and pasta on construction paper)
"This is my favorite bubble monster" (Medium: cotton balls on construction paper)
"This is me with a lot of eyes" (Medium: googly eyes on construction paper)
"This is me, I am wearing a striped shirt and I have brown hair" (Medium: crayon and googly eyes on a paper plate and construction)
"This is me and mommy and daddy" When asked where Molly was he answered "Um, I think she's in your tummy" (Medium: paper on paper)
"This is a kaleidoscope" (Medium: sequins, foam, buttons and pom poms on cardboard)
"This is me and Molsie" (Medium: yarn, felt and googly eyes on cardboard)
"This is a beach ball" (Medium: tempera paint on paper)
"This is my favorite underwater sea family" (Medium: sand on construction paper)
"This is my family. This is me, this is daddy, this is mommy, this is Molly, this is Ella, this is Louie, and this is daddy's hair glue" (Medium: play doh on construction paper)
You must be asking yourself "hair glue"?
Yes, Patrick's family apparently includes hair glue. And since Tom's not sporting a Britney style weave or a Travolta toupee, we think Patrick is referring to hair gel. We have no idea why it made an appearance in the family portrait. Patrick's art teacher was both amused and impressed!
This afternoon we went to a little fall festival in town, they had lots of games and fun stuff for the preschool set so Patrick had a blast. Is it bad if I admit I had both kids wear matching sweaters when it was like 75 degrees out? You all know how I love the anything matchy :)
Awwwww
This morning out of the blue Patrick started talking about how Molly used to live in the sky, that she used to live in heaven and when she was born she came down to live with our family. My heart started bursting with pride, the tears were welling up and I was feeling all warm and fuzzy. Then he said... "Can we send her back?".
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