Bee-eee-u-tee-ful Earrings

When a sufficient amount of time had passed after Hallie's ear piercing (they say six weeks, but I went with eight weeks, just to be on the safe side), I took her back to Claire's in the mall to choose a new pair of earrings. We ended up coming home with three new pairs of earrings (buy two, get one free): pink butterflies, "diamond" daisies, and silver hearts. She FREAKED OUT the first time I took an earring out of her ear - I think she was anticipating the same kind of pain that came with piercing them in the first place - but did just fine letting me put the new styles in. 

Hallie received a few additional pairs of earrings for her birthday, so the days of changing earrings frequently and to match every day's outfit have begun!

Ear Shots

Around the time she turned four, Hallie started asking me how my earrings stayed in my ears. I explained the concept of piercing - in no way sugar-coating the fact that ear piercing feels just like ear shots - and told her that whenever she felt ready, I would take her to the mall to get hers done. Since that day, every time we'd walk past Claire's she'd stop, take a few deep breaths, and then shake her head. "No, I'm not ready", she'd state, and then she'd turn and walk away.

But last Friday, after taking her deep breaths, Hallie shocked me by proclaiming, "I'm ready", and marching right into the store.

I asked Hallie repeatedly if she was sure she wanted her ears pierced (once the employee opens the pre-sterilized earrings you have to pay for them regardless of whether or not ears actually end up pierced), and every time she response with a confident, "YES!" After I talked her out of Hello Kitty, Hallie agreed to go with (fake, but don't tell Hallie that) diamond earrings.

Waiting to get started.
(See that man, just over Hallie's left shoulder and sitting out
in the mall? I'm pretty sure he thought I was torturing Hallie.)

Only one employee was working that day, so we knew from the get-go that Hallie's ears would be pierced one at a time. For those of you who've been through ear piercing either yourself or with your kiddos, you know that this method often proves problematic because many people, after having the first ear pierced, think twice about having the second one done.

Hallie was no exception to the one-and-done ear piercing "challenge"; as soon as the first earring shot through her ear, Hallie started crying and refused to let the employee anywhere near her. I too refused...I refused to leave Claire's with only one ear pierced. So I talked Hallie down off her ledge with the promise of two lollipops and distracted her with a stuffed princess bear just long enough for the employee to administer the second ear shot.

All done! Smiling through her tears.

Getting them cleaned for the first time.

The recovery process, aided by four college girls who ooh-ed and aah-ed at Hallie's new body art, went quickly and within two minutes my girl was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

The compliments from the college girls solidified for Hallie that
getting her ears pierced was the right thing to do. No more tears!

Hallie LOVES her new earrings, and can barely wait to start changing her earrings in six weeks. She also can't wait for her daddy and brother to get their ears pierced so that "everyone in our whole family can have their ears pierced together!" I may just buy a pack of stick-on earrings for Tom and Will and let Hallie think they've joined in the fun.

The only negative in all this? My baby suddenly looks much older...

Time to Shine

Since September, every trip to Target has included a lengthy stop in front of the toy department's Disney princess display. It wasn't the costumes, the accessories, or even the dolls themselves that Hallie found so enticing…it was a plastic, purse-shaped, purple karaoke machine of sorts that played songs sung by the newest Disney princess, Sofia.

Months of practice in the Target aisles meant that when Santa delivered Time to Shine on Christmas morning, Hallie Claire already knew just what to do with her new toy.

Sofia music played on repeat every day of our stay in Nebraska - many who'd never previously heard of Sofia now know all of the words to all of her songs - and now that we're back home, we still listen to Hallie sing duets with Sofia every morning before and every afternoon after school.

We're starting to tire of some of the songs, but if the lyrics, "it's time to rise and shine, wake up and make the world mine" get that child out of bed on time on school mornings she can sing them all she wants.

Allergy Update #6

It's been quite a while since Will's last allergy appointment, but the information gained at and decisions made as a result of that appointment were pretty much what we expected and I therefore forgot to document what we'd learned until today.

Two appointments back, Will's skin test for peanuts appeared less severe than it had three appointments back. So when we went in for this appointment, the doc tested him again and found that the less severe reaction had been a fluke - Will's prick site swelled to something like 20mm by 30mm (that's HUGE for an allergic reaction on the skin). Long story short...Will is still severely allergic to peanuts, and because he's still so severely allergic at his current age, there is a less than 5% chance he'll outgrow this allergy. Boo, but it's what we expected.

For the next five to 10 years, Will will only visit the allergist for check-ups every two years, if he experiences a severe allergic reaction, or if new treatments for which Will is eligible become available. I know Will will never outgrow or be cured of this allergy, but I hope and pray that at some point research will produce a treatment that has the power to lessen the severity of peanut allergies. We'll be first in line when trials are offered.

On the plus side, Will is now smart and capable enough to self-administer both his Epi-pen and his inhaler, which means that next year, when he's in first grade, our allergist will sign off on Will self-carrying both medicines in his own backpack. It's a small victory, but one that gives me a bit more peace of mind.

In other allergy-related news and also on the plus side, Hallie Claire is NOT allergic to peanuts! We discovered Will was allergic to peanuts when Hallie was just three-months-old, so until a couple of weeks ago, Hallie had literally never eaten a nut of any kind.

A few months back, Will's allergist endorsed going ahead and giving Hallie peanuts, but I just hadn't gotten around to doing it because she eats so many of her meals right next to Will. Then at her four-year-old check-up, her pediatrician also endorsed giving her peanuts, and actually pushed me to do so sooner rather than later; apparently we'd reached the point at which prolonging exposure could make the situation worse (as in her body would reject the peanuts simply because they were new, and not because she was allergic to them).

So on a Friday morning, while Will was at school, Hallie and I whipped up a batch of peanut butter cookies. (I hated every minute of the baking process - I was so paranoid about contaminating my kitchen.) She loved the batter, which was a good sign - kids tend to dislike the flavor of foods to which they're allergic - and loved the cookies even more.

Getting ready to take her first bite.  I was hyperventilating.

Chowing down.  I nearly threw up.

Clutching the Epi-pen.

That evening, another little sister at Will's baseball game shared her cheese and peanut butter cracker sandwiches with Hallie and Hallie gobbled them up like she hadn't eaten in weeks. And then last week she ate a few bites of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

So I think we're in the clear with Hallie and peanuts. Now the challenge is fitting them into her diet when she's not at school (her preschool is peanut-free) and not around Will...

Hallie's Birthday

Hallie's 4th birthday festivities began the weekend before her birthday, with her first official birthday party.  She chose to hold the party - to which she invited nearly 30 friends - at Brazos Valley Gymnastics, where she takes gymnastics lessons.

Just before her party we gave her a new leotard (you might remember it from this post), which she loved and made her feel "dressed up" on her special day.

Big brother crashes the photo shoot.

Big smile.

Posing.

Dancing.

Tom and I threw a big party at our house for Will's third birthday.  We decorated the main areas of the house and the backyard, made all of the food (Tom grilled hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill), baked and decorated the cake and cupcakes, planned games, and put together favors.  Will had a good time, but the party was SO MUCH WORK; the week before, the day of, and the day after the party were completely party-focused and I didn't get a chance to really enjoy my friends who were in attendance or watch Will have fun with his friends.  It didn't help that it rained the night before and we ended up having to move a bunch of cold, muddy kids and their parents inside the house for lunch and cake.

We switched gears for the next few years, having simple family parties for Hallie's 1st, Will's 4th, Hallie's 2nd, and Hallie's 3rd birthdays; a two-friend miniature golf party for Will's 5th birthday; and a one-best-friend movie and sleepover party for Will's 6th party.  Hallie's 4th birthday party was her first real party and our first real party in more than three years, and because I wanted to avoid a repeat of Will's 3rd birthday party, I tried to keep things as simple as possible.

Everyone showed up at Brazos Valley Gymnastics and played on the equipment for close to an hour.  Then we sang "Happy Birthday" and enjoyed cake/cupcakes and juice before heading back out onto the floor to play for 10 more minutes.  As her friends left, Hallie gave each of them a "fishing under the sea" net as a party favor.  We didn't do a meal, we didn't do presents, and we didn't do stress.  It was fantastic.

Kennedy and Will on the trampoline.

Logan doing tricks on the rings.

Hallie, Caroline, and Jerra in "the pit".

Levi, Matt, Hallie, Will, and Kara listening to instructions.

Tom and Aaron (below) showing off their rope-climbing skills.

They work out.

And being the dutiful dads they are, they both (along with Chris on the right) helped
Coach Carlos demonstrate one of the games to the kids.  These are their submarine legs.

These are their shark fins.

And this is their rowboat.

Crazy games.

More crazy games.

Lots of submarine legs.

Will and Logan in their rowboat.

I don't know what they're doing, but I'm pretty sure they're doing it wrong.

I think they got it right the next time.

Getting ready to blow out her candles.  Will wanted in on the action.

Listening as her friends sing.

Blowing out her candles.

As always, Hallie was the last one at the table.

Ariel.  Yes, I know she looks ape-ish.  Ugh.

I also made under-the-sea cupcakes.

So easy.  So fun.  So not stressful (except for Ariel).  So worth it.

Later that same afternoon, Tom brought Hallie flowers and we let her open a couple of presents.

The girl LOVES flowers.

ARIEL!!!

The cutest gymnastics/dance outfit I've ever seen.

The night before Hallie's actual birthday, Tom and I filled her bedroom with balloons.  It looked fantastic, but I was really worried about what would happen if she woke up in the middle of the night and started accidentally popping balloons on the way to the bathroom.  Traumatizing...

Tom had to go out of town on Hallie's birthday, so he unfortunately didn't get to join us for any of the festivities on April 10th.  We had to make the day extra special in an attempt to make up for his absence.  First up, donuts for breakfast.

Then I dropped her off at school, where she celebrated with her friends as the classroom "Star of the Week" and with Ariel cookies (from my favorite shop in Utah).

Working on her Star of the Week poster the day before.

After school we opened the rest of her presents.

Watching in awe as her Ariel card sang and danced.

A beautiful bracelet.

Homework books!  She loves homework!

More homework activities!

Frog and princess tic-tac-toe.  

Will wiped the floor with Hallie.  She cried.  I had to take the game away.

Modeling her new outfits.

Spinning in her new fairy dress.

And finally, Hallie blew out the candles on her giant cupcake after enjoying dinner from Chik-Fil-A.  Yum!

Happy 4th birthday, Hallie Claire!