TWO

My baby, Jack, had his second birthday last week!

Brother and sister were overly eager to assist Jack in opening his gifts, although in actuality, no assistance was required!

We were going to do something fun in the afternoon, but, quite surprisingly, all three kids napped! Nicole and Max have not taken a nap in over two years, so suffice it to say that I was surprised, and I didn't quite know what to do with mysef!

Daddy came home from work a little early, so we could take Jack out to dinner at the place of his choice. Out of a list of five places, he chose Red Robin...

Jack was pretty excited when the waitstaff sang Happy Birthday to him, and gave him an ice cream sundae!Even more exciting was the fact that as they were singing Happy Birthday to Jack, a familiar family was getting seated at the table right next to us. Our friend Matt and his two daughters were getting a quick bite out while mom was away for the weekend. I have to say that I was pretty impressed with Shannon's hubby that he motivated himself to get the girls out, had it all together, was calm and collected, the girls were dressed nicely, and in proper winter gear, and he had everything he needed packed in a diaper bag!When we got home, we had a little cake for Jack, and tried to teach him to blow out the candles! He got an "A" for effort, but failed miserably! But, Nicole and Max helped him out, and pretended that Jack did it, so everyone was happy!The next day, we had grandparents over to celebrate Jack's birthday! Big brother Joe came also, and Nicole and Max were very excited to see him!We had another cake for Jack, and again practiced blowing out the candles, to no avail!Happy Birthday, my little two-year-old! Jack has been such a source of happiness for us---he is always happy himself, he is so smart, full of beans, a handful, a two-parent baby, so much fun, so entertaining for Nicole and Max, so easily entertained by Nicole and Max, a cuddly, huggy, loveable little man who is growing up too fast! He is old beyond his years, and needs to slow down so mommy and daddy can enjoy his time as a "baby" for a little while longer!

MAX'S NEW OBSESSION!

Although Max has NOT given up on Lighning McQueen, and has a lot of other favorites at this point, he has recently really gotten excited about the "Star Wars" characters. After he received a few small characters for his birthday, and some lightsabres, we rented the original movie for his viewing pleasure...and his life hasn't been the same since! With a gift card he received for his birthday, he insisted we buy a storm trooper/voice changer helmet and he has worn it all over the house whenever possible! (Thank you Grandpa Powell, these pics are for you!)

His weapon of choice is the lightsabre, but he is ok with anything that makes loud and annoying laser noises.Max was happy to share with Jack...but the helmet was so big and heavy that he couldn't keep his head up! He kept on tipping over and bonking his head into walls, and since I was fairly certain I would never be named mother-of-the-year, I didn't rush over to help Jack out---in fact, I couldn't contain my laughter enough to help him, and watched him until he wrestled out of the helmet! (Oops, yes, you're right: I could contain it enough to snap pictures!)

CHEERLEADING!

After having missed the first week because of strep throat, Nicole was more than eager to get started on her cheerleading adventures! We tried to practice a little at home since she missed the first class---we were actually practicing smiles and enthusiasm, since she was a little lacking in those areas! She got it!

Of course, her American Girl doll had to get dressed in appropriate attire for the occasion!During practice before the game:During the game. Although she was far away in the middle of the auditorium, I am pretty sure Nicole saw my camera pointing at her, and started hamming it up a little!All of the girls received a star sticker to put on their megaphone after the game. (Yes, I certainly was excited that they received a megaphone with their costume. Not enough noise in the house as it is!!!) Here is a picture of Nicole receiving her star; she was awarded the star for great "LEADERSHIP" qualities at this game!

Oh, and some more good news: Jack was the only one who had the stomach virus in the house! (So far!)

NO NO NO
This cannot be happening. Is this a cruel joke? I was JOKING when I expressed concern about getting the stomach virus at the end of my last post. There is NO WAY we can get the stomach virus when we are still getting over strep, is there? Maybe it was my poor cooking that did Jack in tonight. Maybe he ate something that just didn't sit well with him. Maybe it was just a FLUKE that vomit ended up all over Jack's crib and walls and rug and blankets and pillow and pillow cases, and favorite teddy bear! Heavy sigh. Maybe it's not the dreaded stomach virus. Or maybe he will be the only one in the family to get it. (I hear it has happened in other families!) Or maybe we will bear down, get through this month, and hope that there will be one day very soon when we are all germ-free and able to return to our "normal" lives...

THIS... IS ...WAR
OK, strep throat. You've hit us all once (except Max, who is still going strong and fighting that nasty little bug!) and now....you've invaded Nicole a SECOND TIME!?? I don't think so. Apparently we were a little too nice around here, but no, you cannot stay! My poor little girl woke up feeling pretty poorly today, and started to get a rash, with a minor complaint of dry throat. The rash was enough that we took her to the doctor. He took one look at her throat and said "strep throat for sure!" I said, "how can that be??? She just got over it....and I am just getting over it." Apparently this nasty little bug can come back again and stay in the family for a while, before leaving for good. I probably got it from Nicole or Kurt, and now Nicole probably got it from me again!! So, Nicole missed her first official cheerleading game today. And the family missed a fun night out at a friend's house tonight! THIS....IS....WRONG! Here are a few finer points for any of you facing the strep bug: it lives on inanimate surfaces for a very short period of time, so while washing sheets and clothes and dishes is always good, that's not how it is primarily spread. The singlemost thing you can do for prevention is WASH your hands! You also need to CHANGE your toothbrush about 3-5 days after you start antibiotics. Of course, don't share utensils and dishes and eat off each others' plates and all of those wonderful things. But here's the kicker, we have done ALL of that, and Nicole still got it a second time! The good news is that once you have been on antibiotics for 24 hours, you are supposedly no longer contagious. The bad news, the incubation period can be up to 10 days (i.e. it can be in your body for 10 days before you get symptoms!)! I am going to fight, fight, fight to make sure no one gets this again. And I don't know what's going on with Max, but he has slept next to Nicole when we didn't know she had strep; he has eaten off her plate before we could remind him not to; he has breathed her air and touched all her toys, and done everything that would make any other human being contract this bug, but so far he as been our anti-strep superhero! So we will fight for another 10 days to ensure this nasty little strep bug doesn't take down anyone else. So far, not a very good start to 2009 in the Dungan house, but we all know that it can always be worse, so we are still counting our blessings!

In the meantime, there is a nasty stomach virus going around that has touched almost everyone around us. I can only cross my fingers and hope it doesn't pay a visit to our house!

PARTY ON

It has been pathetically long since I last posted! I won't try to offer excuses, just a mea culpa and I'll be on my blogging way! I am "recovering" from strep throat right now, which wasn't a huge ordeal---just a pain in the neck (throat!) because I got it so long after the rest of the family. (Well, my Max is still strep-free and we're hoping he will stay that way!) No aches, no pains, no fever, no time out for me to rest---just a scratchy throat that didn't go away, a prescription for antibiotics and 24 hours of feeling a little out of it. So far. Hopefully that's it!

We had a party for Max's 5th birthday last weekend at a bouncing place--what a blast! Max and his friends had fun too, but I was jumping, sliding, and bouncing like one of the five year olds. I really can't believe how much fun I had. But about Max...he was really in his element with over 20 of his friends around him running and playing! The party was in danger of being "snowed out" by a forecast that never materialized. I really should stop listening to the weather forecasts, poor Max was near tears at the thought of his party not happening! Pictures of his party were tough to come by, since no one sat still long enough to get a clear shot--but here he is in the lobby as his friends started to show up:A break between bouncing:Nicole took a moment to say "hi" to the camera (had to wear a skirt, of course!):Although Jack has been at bounce places before, this was the first time he really "got it" and we had each other running around like crazy people!

Complete surprise here that Max chose Lightning McQueen for his cake! (Thank you again Wegmans, for a cute and tasty cake. And thank you, this time, for having the cake ready when I went to pick it up, as opposed to Nicole's party when you had no record of it ever having been ordered, despite my receipt, and had to make it on the spot 30 minutes before the party!)I loved this so much---all the boys put their hands on top of each other and shouted "we are....beeeesssstt friends!"Happy birthday dear Max!

FIVE

My little Max turned 5 years old yesterday, and I really can't believe how quickly he has gone from here:

to here:

to here:

to here:to here!!

It's funny how time does not seem to be flying by that quickly with Nicole, but I just can't get over the fact that my little Max is already five! He has gone from being scared and anxious to being free and easy going; he has gone from being shy to being extremely social; he has gone from being very whiney to...well, we all need goals to work on in our next year! He is a sweet and caring little boy and perfect in almost every way!

ANOTHER DAY TO CELEBRATE!

Kurt and I used to be big New Year's Eve celebrators...always a party night out, with fancy outfits, friends, dinner, cocktails, fun hats and sparkly things, and a very late start to our New Year's Day! Until Max was born. On New Year's Eve! We haven't been out to celebrate like the old times since Max was born five years ago! How could we be those parents who ditch our son on his birthday to go out and have a good time without him?? Can't do it! He could be scarred for life! (Oh, and we also moved to the 'burbs shortly after Max's first birthday, which certainly changed things for us, almost as much as having kids did!) So, now the celebrations are family-based and close to home. We went to a neighbor's party last year, and were intending to go again this year (and perhaps stop at another party before that, also pretty close to home) but we had to cancel all plans this year because we had a house half-full of sick and likely contagious people! Nicole had strep! Jack had a rash! Kurt thinks he has strep! At least the birthday boy was feeling good! And who I am kidding, I was pretty happy that I wasn't sick too! Poor Max (and poor me) was stuck in most of the day on his birthday, but I took him to Toys R Us to choose some birthday toys (couldn't you have found something from those clearance racks that were EVERYWHERE in the store the week after Christmas, honey?) and then the whole family rallied to take him to his favorite restaurant for his birthday...On the Border! We had another delicious meal (very poor service again!) and then went back to our house to celebrate with a birthday cake! We let the kids stay up to watch a movie of Max's choice, and then put them to bed. They were asleep before 9 and Kurt (who was not feeling very well) was asleep by 10. I sat alone in a quiet house and watched NewYearsROCKINEve and rang in 2009 with my loved ones safe and sound around me. Markedly different from my prior life, but I can't really say the old way to celebrate was better...

THEY PARTY ON

Nicole, Max and Jack were all invited to a birthday party at a bounce place they haven't been to before...MONKEY JOE'S. Nicole and Max took off shortly after we arrived, and we barely saw them the entire party! They did surface when food was offered...

The pictures say it all!

FAMILY

In the days after Santa's visit, we also got to visit with relatives who we don't see very often! Aunt Lynn (my sister) came to visit, after driving cross-country from Texas with all her "stuff," two dogs and one bird! She stayed with my mom, so we didn't have to worry about the kids being scared to death of the dogs. (Really. Any kind of dog, big or small, hyper or mellow, sends them into a panic!) Aunt Lynn brought some presents and spent the afternoon playing with the kids.

The next day, Kurt took the boys to his parents house because his brother and kids were in town! Nicole and Max used to LOVE spending time with them, but the cousins moved to Virginia about a year ago, and the kids haven't seen them since! Poor Nicole woke up that morning not feeling well, and was very unhappy that she had to stay home with mommy to rest. She ended up having a fever and barely got off the couch, but the boys had a great time! (Camera did not accompany them!)

THE NUTCRACKER

Nicole and I went to see the Pennyslvania Ballet's presentation of the Nutcracker, at the Academy of Music in Philly the day after Christmas. This was her first "real" ballet and she was excited and nervous at the same time! She insisted on dressing up in her best dress, and putting on jewelry and carrying a little purse around with her. We went into Philly early so we could have a nice day out. We went to see the light show at the old Wannamaker's department store (Macy's now) but she was about as impressed as I have always been with it---not very. (And I did not broadcast my lack of enthusiasm of it to her---I always discussed it with excitement!) I had intended on having a quick bite somewhere casual and running around the city, but Nicole insisted that she did not want to walk around and that she wanted to eat somewhere "fancy." We had a leisurely lunch at the semi-casual Italian Bistro before the matinee. I was pleasantly surprised when the waiter asked whether we were seeing a show, and offered a 20% discount on lunch for show-goers!

Right before we left the restaurant, we started talking to a mother/daughter sitting near us. The daughter was about 20 years old, and she was saying that she has gone yearly to a ballet or show with her mom since she was about Nicole's age. It is not always the Nutcracker, and it is not always in Philly (one year it was a weekend in Atlantic City) but it has always been a special mother-daughter thing for her, to spend time with her mom without her three brothers! I am going to try to make this happen for Nicole as well!

Nicole really enjoyed the Nutcracker, and chattered away with excitement through much of it (despite my reminding her 100 times to be quiet!). Our seats weren't perfect, but the day certainly turned out to be!