Away To Me

Birthday stuff

I'm both sad and disappointed that the birthday party for the babies didn't work out. I'm mad that my dad didn't seem to care, actually seemed happy about it. My brother never bothered to call me back and my mom, where do I start with my mom. She claims she was never putting the friend's birthday party over the babies party. She didn't realize their party was such a big deal and that she was just trying to make everyone happy. Give me a break!

Some times I just want to scream SUCK IT. To people. That makes me laugh to say that!

Anyway, even though we aren't having a party for them I did do an invite. Here's the modified version without the time/date and contact info. I thought it was cute. Love my boys!

Happy New Year

I've read a lot of blog posts today, everyone talking about the good or bad of 2009. How they hope 2010 will be better or at least as good.

For me, well despite some challenges with moving, hubby's job, some financial issues, not being as healthy as I normaly am, etc., this has been the most amazing year. Raising twins and a 3yo is no cake walk and we went into survival mode plenty of days. Cartoons made many apperances on our TV, pizza guy made a lot of deliveries, laundry got put off often, dog poop was picked up weekly instead of daily. We all made some sacrifices. But this is what we have to show for it all. Happy kids! Nothing, and I mean NOTHING is better than that.

I love my boys. I can't wait to spend the next year with them. I took these photos this afternoon. I want to remember the perfectness of 2009!

Jake & his bigwheel and tools looking manly with his shirt off!

Wesley flashing his big blue eyes!

Nathan with a smile that lights up the room, the state, the country the world!

 
 

Favorites

I must admit when I first became pregnant I worried about the whole "favorite" child. Then I found out we were having twins and I really worried. I secretly thought Jake would be my favorite. There was no way any other child could live up the perfectness of Jake. And trust me, no child has passed Jake's perfectness in my eyes. But, his two little siblings are just as special and just as perfect as he is. I am continually amazed at wonderful and different all three of my little men are.

At 3 1/2 Jake is turning into a boy and not a toddler. He's mouthy at times, has listening issues and can be a real terror to his baby brothers. Ten seconds later he's telling me one of them is upset while trying to soothe him, "it's okay baby, it's okay, I'm here, mommy is coming she fix it". He's so sweet and caring and loving that it makes me want to gobble him up!

He loves school. He would probably like to go 5 days a week but we just cant' afford it right now and I think I'd miss him too much. Three mornings a week for 4 hours is plenty! Next year we might think about going 5 days. I think he is the only kid in his preschool that only goes half days. But he doesn't seem to mind. I did feel bad for him this past month. He's been super tight with another little boy named Cody. It was "Cody did this" and "Cody did that" every day when I picked him up from school. Well a month or so back a new boy enrolled, Lucas. Lucas is closer in age to Cody so they get along better. The three of them get along and Jake likes Lucas, but it is different. I had to take him to music rehearsal one day and I got to his school early and I was watching him out on the play ground and much like me as a child, he seemed to jump from group to group and not play with anyone in particular. It was only 10 minutes of me watching, but it sort of made me worry. I hated school, never felt connected and I hope Jake doesn't experience that. I want so much more for him.

He had a great Christmas and has enjoyed all his toys and has been careful with them. Books are always a hit around here and he got plenty of those this year. But I think the remote control car and the dinosaur puppets are right up there with the books. He doesn't quite understand Santa, but by next year I think he'll really get it. This year he snuck out of bed and ate Santa's brownies! Santa left him a note. LOL!

At 10 months the babies are just adorable. They are a lot of work but so much fun. I mean, REALLY FUN. Like cry and hold your sides from laughing fun at times. They are so different in almost every way possible, but I love them both so much. 

Nathan is brilliant. And I'm not saying that just cause I'm a proud mommy (which I of course am). But seriously, Nathan seems extremely intelligent to us and to anyone who is around him any length of time. He mimics our words and it sounds like he's talking. I'm sure he says "Hi", "mama"  and "dada". He plays peek a boo with us or by himself. Yesterday he crawled into the kitchen, pulled the dish towel off the oven and layed in the middle of the kitchen floor, pulling the towel on and off his face. He was so happy entertaining himself for 10 minutes. He loves books! He loves to "read" by himself, or have Jake "read" to him or he'll sit still for a long time if I read to him or just show him pictures. He actually gets excited when you pull out at book!  

Nathan shows no interest in wanting to walk. he likes to crawl and sit up, but he's not pulling himself up on furniture much. He's so tiny compared to Jake at this age and Wesley. I swear he's not growing at all! He is still in 6-9 month clothes. He likes different foods, but he's not the voracious eater Wesley is. He does enjoy yogurt on a toaster bagel and any fruit. Both boys are still nursing about 4 times a day. They are completely night weaned and they are starting to consistently sleep through the night. It is wonderful!

Wesley is a tank! He is such a happy baby. He just crawls everywhere slapping his hands down on the tile floor and grinning from ear to ear. While Nathan has no teeth yet, Wes has his two front bottom teeth in. And when he grins he squints his eyes, scrunches his nose and shows off his brand spanking new pearly whites! Wesley loves to pull up on the furniture or on his daddy and I. He crawls into, over or on top of anything, including Nathan! He loves to eat and he hasn't found much that he doesn't like.  He also loves to take his sippy cup and empty in no time flat. He takes a few real drinks, then he takes big gulps and then lets all the water run out of his mouth. Once his shirt is completely saturated he slaps his chest to feel the soggy shirt!

Wesley is also my critter boy. He loves the dogs! He wants to touch them or be touched by them. The other day I was outside and had the boys in the pack n play. Jake crawled in there with them and called the big dog Moose in also! Nathan had a screaming fit and Wesley just giggled and laughed and was super disappointed when I kicked her out. He is also my water bug! Nathan used to be the water bug, but now Wes is the one who gets super excited over bath time. He growls and screams and splashes and makes the very most out of it!

I love these guys so much. I never thought I'd have three boys. Heck, for a few years I didn't think I'd ever get to become a mommy. I never in a million years thought I'd be a mom to 3 kids 3 and under! And I never thought you could truly love all your kids equally, but I can't imagine loving one more than the other. They are all so perfect in their own way and I'm so glad they are all so unique.

It is a Merry Christmas

Seriously - Bah Humbug doesn't mean I'm depressed

Geeze people, relax. I'm not depressed. I'm tired, I was sick and I've got a lot on my plate, but I'm fine. No wonder I've not been blogging very much. LOL!

For the record. I got 90% of the presents wrapped tonight. We do have  a tree and it is beautifully decorated. Although we are keeping it on the front porch so the babies don't destroy it. I also have multi-colored lights and garland on the mantle and Christmas decor in the kitchen and bathroom. Oh and a wreath on the front door. So there!

Christmas cards got finished today. The photos on them suck, but hey, I got 3 kids and one out of 3 dogs in the picture and they don't have any stains on their shirts and nobody is crying. I call that success.

I made stock today for the Gumbo we are going to have on Christmas day. It should be yummy and I suspect this may turn out to be a new tradition for us. The house smells so good today just from making the stock. Jake walked inside and said, "smells good mom. You did a good job. Good job mom, I'm proud of you". Then he waves to me and heads back outside. I about wet my pants I laughed so hard. I tell you this kid is either making me cry from laughing or cry from biting my tongue and pulling my hair out!

Here's a pic of Jake the first time he met Santa. We went to the zoo on Saturday night and he was there. It was the first time Jake ever met Santa. Such a fine time!

And of course the babies had to meet him. Nathan ... not a fan yet. Wesley was just trying to figure out why Nathan was upset.

Not Allergies

On Tuesday Jake came home from school a little stuffed up. He felt fine, but was just a tiny bit nasal sounding. I gave him some allergies meds, kept him out of the pool that afternoon. Wednesday and Thursday, much the same. Today, the same except now I have two more sniffle-nosed boys.

All three seem to feel fine except the nose running thing. It's actually rather cute to hear cute baby sniffly-giggles and nasal-coos. Good naps were had by all three today, good dinner planned for tonight with hopefully lots of rest for all of them. I hope they don't take a turn downward and start feeling yucky. 

I'm okay

Sorry I've been MIA. I've been really busy with life. I've been working a bit which is hard with the twins, but they've been to one shoot with me and hubby watched them when I had the other shoot.

Still no house yet. We are 118 or so days and counting in escrow. We have also made offers on two other houses, one a short sale, the other a private sale that we hope to hear back on today.

Jake started pre-school and seems to like it. I don't like it as much as his school last year. There is less contact with me and his teachers. I don't know if we want to keep him in the program to be honest. It is extremely expensive and I'm not feeling great about it all.

The babies are well. They turned 7 months on Friday. They are enjoying food now. We have done Baby Led Weaning. I hope to write a whole post on that eventually.

Thank you to all who emailed me and were concerned. I'm sorry I took a blog break without warning. It was sort of an unexpected break and then I found it hard to get back in gear. 

Here are some photos:

Jake school (first 2 days of school, no uniform - then he had to start wearing his uniform) I have yet to iron on the school patch that goes on his shirt.  I was kind of waiting to see if this school is going to work out. 

We purchased annual memberships to the local zoo. I got a sitter for the babies early Friday morning and took Jake over there. I had a blast, he got tired quickly. Good thing it is close and we can go back frequently for short visits.

Here are a few pics of the babies. Nathan is sitting up well. He loves to crawl upside down. You really have to see it to believe it. Wesley is my happy go lucky guy. He is so close to a real crawl I can't stand it. Still no teeth, but I'm in no hurry for them to have chompers!

And one last photo to show you it's not all fun in games here! LOL!

My morning view

Who needs coffee when you get to wake up to these beautiful faces! 

Because we are still in this furnished rental, we are compromised on both space and the use of our own things. I handled things pretty well for the first 60 days, but last week, I put my foot down. I needed my own bed and the babies either needed to co-sleep with me or they needed their real cribs.

Hubby went to the storage unit and easy found our king size mattress. So I settled on using that on the floor with the babies and we put away their pack n plays which they have totally outgrown. The Master bedroom here is so large that it easily fits both the king mattress and the queen bed that hubby (and sometimes I ) sleep in. No, it is not ideal. I never intended to co-sleep. But I have to admit, when Jake wakes up in the morning and comes into our room to crawl into bed with the babies, it's wonderful. I love seeing my three little men engaging one another!

New Pediatrician

I took all 3 boys to the new Pediatrician yesterday. I had told hubby he didn't have to come, but he said he'd try to make it. Boy was I glad he did. It was super helpful to have him there for Jake. There was no way I could juggle the twins by myself and have Jake pee in a cup. Evidently "not a drop was spilled and he enjoyed the process". 

I wanted to try to get a ped established in this area as soon as possible in case someone gets hurt or sick. You know how it is when you need a doctor and your not yet an established patient. Plus, in our area, the snow birds arrive in the fall and the valley doubles in size, from about 200,000 to 400,000 population and it's even harder to get into a doctor. I'm sure this population growth doesn't effect pediatricians as much as other docs, but all the same, I was glad to now have one. Besides, Jake needed a 3 yo check and the babies hadn't seen a Ped since their 2 month check.

Jake is perfect! Seriously, perfect. 50th % in weight and height, 36 " tall and 31 pounds. He was a stud when he had his finger pricked for his iron levels, which were normal, no anemia. His Blood Pressure was good, his hearing and eye site good (trust me, I knew those two things were good this kid can hear a whisper 100 miles away and he can spot a tiny piece off a toy from the same distance! He was a super good sport about the whole doctor experience.

Wesley is not the big boy I thought he was, it's just that Nathan is so tiny it makes Wes seem huge. He's very average, weighing 15 pounds 3 ounces and I think they said 25" long. He's in the 50th% for weight and height. The doctor used the 4 month charts for the boys because they were about 3 weeks early and she said at this age, 3 weeks is a big difference during the first 6 months or so. Developmentally he is right on track.  

Nathan, my teeny boy was really funny to watch during his exam. He's always moving, kicking, reaching, wiggling, etc. Just putting a diaper on this kid is an adventure. And if he's in a good mood, you couldn't wipe a small off his face. Luckily for us, he was in a good mood at the appointment and was grinning the entire time and laughing when he was measured.  He is small, but the doc was not worried at all because his weight was in proportion to his height. He's 15th % for weight, 13 pounds 3 ounces and 10th% for height, 23 1/4".

We mentioned his stuffy nose and what we have been doing for it and she said that's about all we can do. I also asked her about sleep and how we can get more of it. Hubby and I both feel that Nathan wakes up  lot in the early morning hours because his nose is bothering him. She went through a list of things that may help us with sleep, all of which we have been doing. Basically she told us there is no magic, that eventually Nathan will catch up with Wesley and start missing one meal a night which is normal at this age. At this point, if both boys could give me one 4 hour stretch I'd be ecstatic!  I left feeling rather down over the whole sleep issue. Being tired makes everything more dramatic. 

When we got home we had dinner and then took all three boys swimming. It was a lot of fun but also a lot of work. Hubby handled Jake and I handled Nate and Wes. Which includes getting them bathed after swimming. I was pooped out after all that.

Here are a few pics of swimming last night. Oh and tomorrow I hope to have a post about encountering one of the rudest women I've ever been around, who happened to be a mommy. So sad!

Nathan with his non-smiling, but happy self.

Wesley, about to blow raspberries face.

4th of July pictures

You have to have a hot dog on 4th of July!

And then freak your parents out, by braving the diving board!

Nathan and his famous smirk look.

Wesley and his amazing grin.

Mommy with her famous twin juggling act.

And finally, Nathan holding Nathan and John holding Wesley John! Our son's name sakes. It was a very fun day.