The end of swim lessons!

Last night was Millie's last swim lesson! She definitely won the "most improved" award. She learned how to kick while on her tummy and back, float on her back, go underwater, blow bubbles in the water, and jump in from the side of the pool. She loved them and said her favorite part was jumping in the water (see pic below). Shana, her instructor, was a great teacher and Millie will miss her. We definitely have a water bug on our hands and will be spending lots of time at the pool for the next few months. Pretty soon we'll have to get Blaise there as well.

Blaise is still fighting his cold. He has a runny nose, cough, and laryngitis, so when he coos or cries, it is with a hoarsy voice. He had a rough early morning today - not sure if it was from his cold or his reflux (or both). He seemed to be in pain and just couldn't sleep.
Poor baby.



I told Millie's preschool that her last day would be February 23rd. They will be very sad to see her go. She is just excelling there and I am so thankful that we found that school. She loves her teachers, Ms Ann and Ms Teresa. When I picked her up from school today, Ms Ann had the hiccups and she joked with Millie: "Millie will you take my hiccups home with you?" Millie didn't say a word, but looked up at her and started to pretend to hiccup! Today at school they made pinecone birdfeeders. We will hang Millie's on a tree at Nana & Pap Pap's rental house.

We are so glad that some of our friends and family have looked at the blog and have left us comments. Leave us a comment if you are here - we'd love to hear from you!
K

We're feeling better today!

After four days of two sick kids, we are all starting to feel better today! Millie's cold progressed to a bad runny nose and croupy cough and then she passed it to Blaise and me. His first cold, poor little guy. He's faring well though, and is in good spirits today despite a runny nose. I have only had the sore throat, so I'm not sure if that's all I'll get yet.

We ventured to the library today because Millie wanted to get some Curious George books. When we got there they were all checked out! Luckily, I found one misshelved, and she was very happy that we at least found one! Her love of books is genuine (which makes Andy and I so happy!) and immediately upon coming home from the library she ploped herself on the sofa, still in her jacket, and started reading all of the books we checked out. She is still a huge Finding Nemo and Cars fan, but we are slowly adding in other things again like, Curious George. She is also learning independent imaginative play, which I attribute to her going to preschool, where she doesn't have Mommy or Daddy to play with her. I certainly will miss her preschool when we leave Beaufort and have to start working on getting her into a preschool in Norfolk.

Speaking of leaving Beaufort, we found out this week that Ann (the woman that Andy is replacing here in SC) will be back in the U.S. on February 6th! She will take two weeks of leave and then will return to work. So, they have told Andy that he should be done here by latest, March 1st. This is great news because our apt. lease ends Feb. 25th and instead of extending it, we decided that the kids and I would go back to VA on the 25th. So even if Andy can't come home with us, he'll only be here by himself for a few days. My parents will be here visiting for the month of February and they will help me move back to VA on the 25th.

I had an appt. for Blaise to have some portraits taken on Wednesday, but had to cancel the appt. since we were all sick. I will try to reschedule it for next week. I want to get a 4 month picture of him since he can push himself up while lying on his tummy. I owe grandparents pictures of him, and a more recent shot of Millie, and will work on that when we get back home. Here is a pic of Blaise being read to by Andy. We are try to read to him as much as we did to Millie at a young age. His favorite is his truck book.

K

It was a PJ day today

Millie woke up the am with a bad runny nose and cough so we decided to make it a PJ day and stay in our pajamas all day. It was chilly and rainy here anyways, so it was a good day for it. Millie is very much in to nicknames these days. She basically puts a "ey" on the end of a name and that is the nickname. So Blaise is "Blaisey", Curious George is "Georgey", her Tow Mater truck is "Matey" (see pic above). I asked her what Daddy's nickname is and she said "Andy" and Mommy's nickname is "Kate". I said what is your nickname and she said "Mil Mil". Too funny.

Blaise has found his voice!! He has discovered squealing and it's hysterical. He squeals all of the time and just thinks it's the most fun thing ever. He is SO close to rolling over from his tummy to his back. He just can't get all the way over just yet. He was half way there this am and I was cheering him on, "come on baby Blaise, you can do it". Millie wanted to help out so she reached down and pushed him over - what are big sisters for? Blaise also found his thumb today! Not sure if this will be a new thing or a one time thing. He still loves his paci as well. Here is a pic of Blaise getting tummy time this am.

K

Pizza Girl

Last weekend, we decided to make homemade pizza. I had a recipe and we thought we would try it for something different. So I kneaded out the dough and made some sauce and then Millie spread the sauce and added the toppings. We then baked it and ate it for dinner! "It was DE-licious!" according to Millie. It actually wasn't too bad!

Today at Millie's preschool they had a "Muffins and Moms" day. I dropped Millie off at her normal time, 9:00am, and then went back to the school around 11:15am. Her class had made blueberry muffins for us! We all went into the auditorium and her class sang the mom's two songs and then we ate the muffins. It was really cute. Millie, was brave and didn't cry, (but didn't sing or dance either - nor did most of her class!) She was so proud of herself and so was I!
I had brought my camera but wound up leaving it in the classroom so I didn't get a picture of it - darn.

This afternoon when I put Blaise in his bassinet, he lifted his whole chest and head up off the mattress and just looked right up at me like..."Mom, I want to keep playing!" I couldn't believe it. I shut the door but kept it cracked enough so that I could see him and he kept looking out at me. It was so funny! After a few moments, though, he put his head down and went to sleep. His night sleeping continues to be very erratic - up at least 7 times last night.

We are looking forward to a quiet weekend here in Beaufort. Andy is on call so we will lay low.

K

Swim Lesson Update

Today I got to take Millie to her swim lesson at the YMCA. It was her 6th lesson and one of the other Mom's remarked today that Millie has gone from "Frightened to fearless" in six short lessons. She now jumps off the side of the pool, by herself, goes underwater, and then attempts to swim to the side. If I try to support her, she reprimands me "Mimi self!" Shana, the instructor, is a 9th grader on the swim team and she is very sweet with the kids. There are only 3 other kids in the class: Sammy, Rachael, and Millie. She did great today and it was so fun to see her progress. The only bummer was that there was no hot water in the locker room after the lesson so we were CO-LD!

Blaise had a rough day for some reason today. Wasn't his normal smiley self much and didn't sleep well today. Andy put him to sleep around 6 pm tonight and he has already woken up to eat - not a good sign. He got a hooded towel as a gift from Mrs. Paul (one of my mom's friends) that has a prince crown across his head. We took a pic of him with it the other night. He's our little prince.

K

Millie and Blaise in the Bob

We treated ourselves to a good double jogging stroller and bought the Bob Revolution Duallie. We love it and call it the "Cadillac". Here are Millie and Blaise in the stroller. Millie would rather ride in it than walk, if you can believe it. Blaise just likes to chew on the straps.

K

Welcome to the Van Slyke Family Blog!

I am trying to figure out this whole blog business. Thought it would be a good idea to start a family blog to keep our extended families up to date on what we are up to. The kids are growing so quickly and this will be a good place to write down all of the milestones they hit and remember the funny things they do and say. Also, I can post pictures of the kids here. I will try to figure more out and add some more fun stuff so that my blog is not so empty and boring!
K