The Thatcher Life: When October Rolls Around, We Party

Sawyer

After Sawyer handled his surgery pretty well, I thought taking on the the flu shot would be no big deal but, boy was I wrong. I usually just have the kids and myself all get the flu shot at their pediatrician's and, in the past, it's been no big thing. Sawyer used to not even be phased by shots. This year it was like a switch had been flipped in him. They gave me my shot first so that the kids could see it was all good. Then Sawyer started screaming, "I'm not next! No! NO!" So we had Dawson go next. He watched them do it and said one little, "Ow", but that was it (Which is actually not the norm for him, he used to be all tears every time we walked into the doctor's office. Definitely some vaccine PTSD going on.) And then it really was Sawyer's turn. Cue freak out. The nurse and I tried to talk him down to no avail but I mean... this was definitely happening and we were all already there. So I tried to pin all of his limbs down but he was still able to wiggle his leg around with enough force that it just wasn't working. A second nurse was brought in and we decided to try to lay him on the table while we held him down (I know this sounds so mean but it was all done in love. Okay, future Sawyer? No holding this story against me). As I was trying to get his upper body down, he moved with the speed of a freaking ninja and grabbed the shot right out of the nurse's hand. He was so fast that I didn't even know it had happened until the nurse yelled, "He's got the needle!" and I looked down to see his little hand with a death grip on the vaccine. He let me take it out of his hand and then screamed bloody murder while we finally (finally!) got his shot administered. The nurses left the room and then Sawyer turned on me and yelled, "Never do that again! That makes kids cry!" See you in a year there, kid. Good times.

We've come to a pretty solid conclusion that Sawyer is color blind. We're not sure to what degree just yet but there's definitely some color vision lacking. He does pretty good with most of them but constantly mixes up purple and blue and generally calls green and gold things brown (which makes sense for red/green color blindness). A few things led up to us figuring that he can't see some of the colors. First, when he was looking at his picture of himself in his soccer jersey and asked, "Mom, is that a picture of me in my blue shirt or gray shirt?" They had two jersey tops for soccer, one sky blue and one a dark gray. And he could not tell which one was in the picture. Then when we were at my parents, he asked if he could have a chocolate creamy. After I said yes, he went to the freezer and brought back a red popsicle wrapped in clear plastic that he needed opened. I figured that he must have changed his mind, no biggie. But then when I pulled the popsicle out of the wrapper, a look of dismay came across Sawyer's face and he exclaimed, "I want a chocolate popsicle!" and I was like, "Then why did you bring me this one?" My mom, who had watched the whole thing, said, "Because he's color blind." And then she explained that my brother Dustin (who was also color blind) could not figure out colors if something was laminated or in a clear wrapper. The shine made it even harder I guess. After that I decided to do a color blindness test with Sawyer. I found one online that had shapes instead of numbers that were created in dots of color amid dots of gray. He had no idea what I was doing but kindly obliged when I asked him to tell me what shapes he could see. Circle, square, triangle, etc. He got them all correct until we got to a certain shade of pink then he just sat there and finally said, "There's no shape." That happened a few more times when there was clearly a shape that I could see. So yeah, pretty sure he's color blind but I mean, my Grandpa is, a bunch of my cousins are, and my brother was so it was definitely a possibility.

He enjoyed all of the October fun as usual. I let him pick his Halloween costume out at Costco and he quickly decided on "the black one". Later I found out that he thought it looked like Owen from Jurassic World. I explained to him that it was a SWAT guy outfit and he still loved it and told everyone he was a strong SWAT guy.

Dawson

Dawson had a big month. He turned three and that was the mile marker for a few things because it was an easy thing for me to reference for him. "This can happen when you are three" or "We'll try this when you turn three" etc. One of those things was his bandaid wearing. I told him that he didn't have to wear it anymore after his birthday, that his scar should be set. The first day he was actually kind of bummed to lose the accessory he'd been sporting for a little over five months but he got over it pretty quickly.

He also got to move to his big boy bed in Sawyer's room once he turned three. I've been dreading that move because he just seemed to need the containment of a crib for everyone's sanity. He surprised me, though, and took to it really well for night time with a few minor hiccups. He goes to bed better now than he has for months in his crib and he usually sleeps straight through the night now. Naptime was a different story for the first week or two. He and Sawyer decided almost on the same day that they were over naps, cold turkey, out of the blue. And it was horrible ha. Sawyer really was ready to give up naps for the most part but Dawson really, reallllly still needed them. I tried to have them do quiet time in the TV room so Wren could sleep but they just couldn't hack being in the same space and staying calm. After some trial and error we now have a new routine for "quiet time" (can't call it nap time unless I want a revolt). Sawyer gets to watch a movie in my room, Dawson lays down in their shared room and naps (which he does peacefully now after a few days of persuasion), and I hang out with Wren either feeding her or getting her to go down for a nap.

Speaking of feeding Wren, Dawson has done this almost since the day we brought her home but I've forgotten to write it down. Whenever I nurse her, Dawson comes over and asks me, "Is it regular milk? Or kwoc-late milk?" And I have to try not to laugh while I give him an answer. He gave us a good laugh too when "Don't Fear the Reaper" was playing (I can't remember now if it was on the TV or Pandora?) and he said, matter-of-factly, "I like this gong."

His costume this year was Harry Potter and it was pretty awesome. My parents grabbed it for him when they were at Costco and the smallest size they had was a 5/6 so I had to tack up a good six inches along the bottom and the sleeves of the robe. It was the tiniest wizard's robe out there and so, so cute. It came with glasses and a wand and we lucked out finding some Harry scar tattoos. All put together, Dawson was a little Halloween star everywhere we went.

Wren

Since I fell behind a little, Wren didn't get a weekly update but instead got her three month post written up. So go ahead and read that for her new stuff :)

Dillon

We've had to stay on top of Dillon's protein intake because it would appear that his body burns through it like crazy. To donate plasma, protein levels have to stay within a certain range and Dillon kept dipping just barely too low. He asked one of the workers about it and they said that some people just have a body that uses it faster, especially if they work out in addition to donating. So we're proteining it up at this house.

It got cold enough that I decided to use the heater in the van and it would not get warm, just kept blowing frigid air on everyone. That was a terrific discovery to make just before winter. But after filling up the antifreeze and Dillon basically playing with a few different things, it was ready to to do it's job again. We had fun with our other car too when we discovered that the key fob was freaking out and had made the escape lock/unlock itself all night long, which made the battery die. Dillon opened up the key fob to find that some of the buttons had slid around and gotten stuck in places they weren't meant to be. So he super glued those and we got our car jumped and all was good as new.

DaNae

My biggest thing this month (besides all of the fun things) was that I stopped my daily pumping session. My goal was to make it to three months doing that so that I would have a decent milk stash built up and I am so, so glad to be done. Nursing itself is such a time suck and it was getting really tricky to get things done in the morning that really needed to be done while having that pumping time in there too. Now I just pump as needed whenever Wren gets a bottle if I'm gone or something. It's been a nice change.

Wren talking to Dillon

Cute brothers at the pumpkin patch.

A shot of all of us tagging along on Sawyer's field trip.

I was so glad that she snoozed for most of it and didn't need to be fed.

Dawson very obediently listening to the rule of "hands behind your back" that was given to Sawyer's class while looking at the goats.

Playground/picnic stop on the field trip.

With our cute little neighbor Felicity.

Her outfit that day. Had to snap it outside of the sling.

The things babies do are so funny. She was having a good time giving her play mat toys a good lick.

Tried my danged-est to give these kids activities that would allow me and Dillon to glean something from General Conference.

Build your own temple (turned treat holder) was a hit.

As were the Halloween bags.

One of the pictures that Sawyer couldn't see a shape in.

His official soccer picture.

Cute baby girl.

Just capturing some of his cuteness.

The boys were invited to Sam and Ellie's birthday party and Amy had the cutest set-up for the kids. Drive-in movie with their own individual cars and snack trays.

Got his head stuck in the railing and, like the good mom that I am, I decided to take a picture before rescuing him.

These are the moments that feel chaotic. Trying to contain two bathtub boys and stop them from fighting while also nursing the baby. Doesn't seem like it should be that crazy but oh man, it is.

Slept through the night! (Still not the norm)

He snuck these"treasures" from my parents bathroom and then told me about them when we got home.

Baby girl and I ready to play at the Haunted Homestead with our boys.

This is quickly becoming one of our favorite family nights. It's inexpensive and has perfect activities for the ages our boys are at.

Snuggly sleeper.

Pictures of the three-year-old on his birthday!

At the New Harmony Apple Festival.

Sampling a honey stick.

My boys.

Wren's first outfit that day that was destroyed by a diaper mishap resulting..

..in her second outfit that day.

Eating his birthday treat at Red Robin. I asked the waiter if they would sing to Dawson because I thought Daws would be super into. He didn't seem to love it and even had to be persuaded to try his birthday treat. Kids.

Continuing checking off Dawson's birthday list with mini-golf.

He was pretty upset that there were no "lello" apples to be purchased at the Apple Fest so we made a special stop at Harmon's and let him pick two of them. Because he always needs two of whatever, one's never quite good enough.

His new Harry Potter watch we got him. So cute!

Plus it lights up. Definitely a win.

His balloons for his party.

And his Hagrid cake.

Cake #2.

Rocking his birthday shirt from Aunt Bridgette.

Not the best picture but, showing off his chocolate from from Grandma Paula and Grandpa Dale.

Happy Birthday song

Some preschool pictures of Sawyer.

The sweetest little view.

Dawson crawled up on my lap while I was holding Wren and, without a word, reached over to hold her hand.

Sawyer's drawings of velociraptors.

Got the bandaids off! Now we just need the scar tissue to calm down a little.

I took Dawson to the store to let him use some birthday money he got from family and he came home with a remote control dragon, a stuffed Simba, and a unicorn purse. I love the diversity and I love this kid.

Pictures from preschool, playing in the leaves.

Tasting different flavors during the "five senses" week at school.

Wren's first costume.

Little Harry.

Just practicing some spells.

Sawyer SWAT guy!

I love him.

Ready to hit up a trunk-or-treat with G.

Harry Potter was a pretty popular category at all the Halloween things this year. This is "Pin the nose on Voldemort" at our first trunk-or-treat.

Platform 9 3/4.

They loved all of the decorated pumpkins.

Found a Harry!

So many pictures in the sling but I can't help it. Gotta document that she was there too. Plus, look at that face.

Three months!

Sawyer loves his baby sister so much and asks to have her lay by him on the couch when we watch movies.

She sleeps with her eyes open like this a lot. It's kind of unnerving ha.

Preschool pictures.

I only decided to keep this video of Sawyer being upset because little Dawson tries to hold Sawyer's hand and comfort him, but is rejected. And Dawson does not appreciate it haha.

This was when Wren very first started to be loud with her vocals. The boys were running around being crazy and she wanted to participate.