Three Lees in a Pod plus the Little Sprout

Sister Love

2012-01-26T20:40:00.001-06:00

Piper and Rosemary seem to get closer and closer each day. They love each other so much, and it shows in everything they do. Now when I look at them, I wonder how we ever thought that they may not be identical. I’m so glad that we did the DNA test so that now we know that they really are identical. Everything seems to make so much more sense knowing that. This weekend at the Botanical Gardens I was able to get a few photos of the two of them together. . . .

I love these photos so much, especially because they show the relationship that these two have. I can’t imagine how it will grow over time. . . .

The Botanical Gardens

2012-01-25T20:58:00.001-06:00

We had a really busy weekend – we had a visit from the kids’ developmental specialist and speech therapist from when they were in Early Intervention. I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph an awesome 7-year-old’s winter wonderland birthday party, and we had a trip to the Botanical Gardens. It was not the best weather, but it was pleasant and there was almost no one there. The kids were most impressed with the fish (which I actually found to be a little creepy).

Smile?!!

2012-01-23T21:34:00.001-06:00

Henry hasn’t been much for the camera lately, perhaps because I’ve been trying extra hard to get some photos of him. I finally gave up getting some candid shots and asked him to look at me and smile for the camera.

Perfect. That’s exactly what I meant. . . .

Feet off the Table, Please!

2012-01-22T22:35:00.001-06:00

She can’t seem to help herself. She always puts her feet up on the table during mealtime.

But, then again, she’s so stinking cute that I may just let her get away with it.

A Surprisingly Warm Trip to Aldridge Gardens

2012-01-19T21:10:00.001-06:00

If you’ve followed my blog for very long, you know that we really love Aldridge Gardens. Since the weather was somewhat tolerable this weekend, we headed out there for a picnic lunch. The kids were so excited and we all had a great time. As you can tell, Rosemary was all about the camera on this trip. . . .

The kids are really into holding hands, and I love it! It’s so sweet.

Who is that Bearded Man?!!

2012-01-18T21:18:00.001-06:00

It’s GARY! He didn’t shave over the long Christmas weekend . . . and hasn’t really shaved since. I really like the beard. The kids seem to like it, too.

Gary keeps joking with me that he’s going to buy some stuff to dye his beard black. Well, he says that he’s just joking. . . . I sure hope he is!

The Zoo . . . in January

2012-01-17T20:44:00.001-06:00

When we woke up this past Saturday morning, the temperature was in the 20s. After checking my favorite weather blog (yes, I’m that much of a nerd), we learned that the high for the day was in the mid 50’s, which sounded to us like a perfect day to get outside! It’s no surprise that the kids wanted to go to the zoo to see the “aminals” there. . . .

Everyone was so, so happy to be there. There were so many animals out! And there was almost no one there. . . . I guess the zoo isn’t what people think about when they wake up to freezing temperatures.

Without a doubt, the kids absolute most favorite part of the whole trip to the zoo is the train ride. I used the opportunity to take a few photos of the kids while they were being somewhat still. . . .

I posted way more photos of Piper than the other kids for this outing. At almost every outing, I have one kid who is my model and gives me a lot of great photos. At the zoo on Saturday, Piper was definitely showing the camera some love.

It really turned out to be a great day at the zoo, especially for January! I think we all needed a little fresh air this weekend after all of the recent indoor activities.

The Energy Doctor

2012-01-16T21:14:00.001-06:00

Since Rosemary has been treated by our new allergy/asthma doctor, her asthma has been extremely under control. In fact, we now realize that she has been somewhat out of control for a while and we just didn’t know. Although I really hate that we had that whole incident where we ended up at the ER, I’m extremely grateful for the treatment we are receiving now.

Another thing I’ve realized from seeing Rosemary’s improvement is that Gary, who we’ve known has allergy issues that have been only sporadically treated, has asthma himself. After a little bit of nudging from me, I convinced Gary to make an appointment with Rosemary’s doctor (who treats both pediatric and adult patients). His appointment was last week. He had full allergy testing. He does has asthma as well, and is now being treated for it. I think that he is going to see a lot of improvement in the coming weeks.

The kids think it’s crazy that Gary went to the allergy doctor like Rosemary did. It’s been a huge topic of conversation. Knowing that, I was actually able to interpret the text that Auntie Ann sent me on Friday when she was hanging out with the kids:

I just told Piper I didn't have the energy to tie her shoe and Rosemary started saying, "I have energys. I go to energy doctor. Daddy have energys too. He go to energy doctor too."

Allergy doctor. Energy doctor. Eh, close enough. Regardless, we’ve all gotten a huge kick out of that one!

This Makes Me Happy

2012-01-14T22:50:00.001-06:00

It is a dining set that can sit all 6 of us. After a lot of looking and shopping and thinking, we ordered it back in December. It came in recently, but we haven’t had time to go pick it up. Gary had a big surprise for me yesterday when he came home with the table, chairs, and bench! He left work early to pick it up and surprise me. I haven’t been that excited over a surprise in a really long time. Gary and I can finally comfortably sit down and eat with the kids, and we had our first meal together this morning for breakfast. It makes me happier than I ever thought it would. Mealtime just became a LOT more fun.

And it’s pretty nice to be rid of that glass-top table that required glass cleaner 4-5 times a day. . . .

Penelope’s First Ponytail

2012-01-12T21:49:00.001-06:00

If anyone is going to tell Penelope that she is not 3.5 years old, it will not be me. She literally has NO idea that she is not as old as her brother and sisters. Like last week when she insisted on having her toes done, this past weekend she wanted Rosemary’s pigtails. Unfortunately, Penelope doesn’t have a lot of hair to work with, so I did the best I could do. . . .

Luckily, she loved it and thought she looked beautiful (which of course she did)!

Pearly Whites

2012-01-11T21:26:00.001-06:00

This morning Miss Sally and I took the kids to the pediatric dentist. The last visit we had 6 months ago was, well, pretty bad. I was prepared for the same sort of visit today, but everyone was great!! The kids talk a lot about being brave (which to them means not crying), and Henry is typically the most brave. For instance, when he got his flu shot, he barely winced. Piper, on the other hand, will be the first to tell you that she was not brave because she cried (and in fact, I had to chase her down).

The big kids even got x-rays of their teeth, and everything looks good. Rosemary has the best spacing, followed by Piper. The two of them may avoid braces. Henry’s teeth are very crowded and is probably on the way to braces. Penelope doesn’t have an appointment until the next visit, but she definitely has crowded teeth like Henry. If we could get away with 2 out of 4 on braces, I’d consider that a huge win, especially considering that Gary and I, as well as all of our siblings, had braces.

And speaking of pearly whites, I’m sure you’re all interested to know that Rosemary still has her signature smile:

But she’s now also developed a look that shows a bit of her attitude. . . .

That last shot is pure Rosemary.

Rainy Day

2012-01-09T20:48:00.001-06:00

This past weekend Gary was out of town. We played outside a lot on Saturday, but yesterday was an especially dreary, rainy day. The kids were a little bored, but at the same time very interested in the rain.

Penelope was up almost all night the night before. She’d lay down for about an hour, then wake up screaming. We’d rock for a while, then she’d want to be back in her bed, then she’d start screaming again. When she got up the next morning, though, she seemed to be fine and I just chalked it up to some unknown pain or ailment. Not long after the photo above was taken, I happened to look in her ear. She had a ton of really gross, junky stuff in her left ear. I had learned not to clean out the stuff (my pediatrician likes to culture whatever is in there when ear tubes are involved), so I just grabbed the phone to call for an appointment.

The receptionist said that I needed to get there in 20 minutes to be seen.

Me and four kids under four, to the pediatrician, in 20 minutes?!!

I heard myself saying sure.

I immediately told the big kids that we had an emergency. I said that Penelope had to go to the doctor and that we had to get there REALLY FAST. They looked at me with interest. I explained that they had to do everything that I said exactly when I said it, and they agreed. I threw their tennis shoes at them and told them to put on their shoes, then put on Penelope’s shoes, while I changed clothes then I’d be back to tie all the shoelaces. I threw on some clothes, brushed my teeth, and came back to 8 shoes on 8 feet, and quickly tied the shoelaces.

Then we walked out the front door, to the rain, and I carried Penelope and told the big kids to RUN to the car. They did and jumped in. I buckled up Penelope while the big kids started buckling themselves in. I finished the buckling and we were off! Rosemary kept yelling at me to “Go faster, Mama! Go really, really fast!!” (For the record, I did not, but I’m concerned Rosemary is going to be a bit of a speed demon when she starts driving.) On the way, I explained the gameplan for the pediatrician’s parking lot. I explained that I would unbuckle them all from Henry’s side, then close the door and go to Penelope’s side of the car. While I got Penelope out, the kids were to get out by crawling under Penelope’s seat, then we would all hold hands and run into the pediatrician’s office. To my great shock, they paid attention to me and executed beautifully.

All five of us were in the pediatrician’s office in under 20 minutes. I seriously think I deserve a medal for that. Sure, we looked pretty rough, but we did it! While we were there, a woman and her teenage daughter sat across from us and asked about the kids’ ages. I told her 3.5 and 16 months, then we chatted a bit about kids. I told her about us making it there in 20 minutes, and she seemed appropriately impressed. Turns out she has 8 kids and really understood what a feat I’d accomplished that morning! I really wish that I knew who she was – she just seemed like someone I’d really like to talk to (if she ever had time).

Anyway, Penelope does in fact have an ear infection, so she is on antibiotics and is getting ear drops. She did a ton better last night, and slept all the way through the night, so hopefully getting those meds really helped.

What’s ironic about the whole thing is that I’d e-mailed a friend on Saturday telling her that for the first time in forever I had no kids on any prescription meds other than normal preventative meds. Henry had finished up his steroids for croup on Friday, and I thought we would have more than a day. . . . Not so. Next time I’ll have to try to keep from jinxing myself.

Train Obsession

2012-01-06T20:22:00.001-06:00

Henry has recently developed a love for trains (and we’re so lucky that Santa brought him some trains and tracks). Until now, there wasn’t really anything that Henry was really “into” but now I think that trains are his thing! The biggest problem we have is keeping the girls from destroying his handiwork.

We heard from the neurosurgeon yesterday. He has reviewed Henry’s CT scans, and believes that the hole in Henry’s skull is nothing to be worried about and is probably just a natural thing that will not affect Henry adversely. He does, however, want to see Henry. We have an appointment with him on February 6 (I keep telling myself that it can’t be that bad or he would have set up the appointment for an earlier date).

When I tried to set up Henry’s appointment with the Concussion Clinic, I learned that the Concussion Clinic doesn’t see children as young as Henry. I’ll admit that I wasn't very happy to learn that the ER sent us home with completely inaccurate discharge instructions (on top of them not being as attentive as I think they should have been and telling us that we had probably “forgotten” about Henry having some sort of brain surgery). Ugh. I have, however, been laughing about how when we were at the ER with Henry that Gary told the nurse practitioner not to rule out the possibility of an alien abduction because, you know, that’s about as likely as our “forgetting” about our son having brain surgery.

Regardless, Henry is doing great and is acting like his normal self these days. He woke up Sunday night with croup (for the third time since this summer), but we were able to get it under control and took him to the pediatrician in Monday to get some meds to take care of it. The bruise on his head is still pretty bad, but it is getting better. I’m still watching him closely and can’t help but worry more than a little, but fortunately I’m not finding a lot to worry about.

My Annual Shameless Request for Votes

2012-01-05T08:42:00.001-06:00

Our fabulous photographer, Heather Swanner, has been taking photos of the big kids since we brought them home from the hospital, and has done the same with Penelope. She took some amazing family photos of us all late last year. Like last year, Heather is having a contest. If we win, we can get a free photo session (which this mama would LOVE)! I would love for you all to vote for us!

How to vote for us:

Go HERE and leave a comment on that blog post that you are voting for #46 ~ Life As They Know It. If you like Heather Swanner on Facebook, we will get two votes if you include a note that you are a Facebook fan in the comment you make on that blog post (there is NO voting on Facebook so please do not try to vote on Facebook).

And . . . that’s it!! This year you can only vote once (not once a day), and you can only vote on the blog, so it’s easy!! Plus, Heather is checking IP addresses and confirming Facebook likers to make sure that everyone follows the rules. The contest ends at midnight on January 9, 2012. We’d very much appreciate your vote!

Little Toes . . . Growing Up

2012-01-03T21:04:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was mani-pedi day in the Lee household. Gary is the official nail clipper, and I’m the official toe painter. The big girls love it when I “take paint off put new on” their toes. Penelope had never seemed to really notice the whole nail-painting thing going on. But yesterday, as she was sitting in Gary’s lap getting her nails clipped and I was taking the polish off the big girls’ toes, Penelope started screaming. I had no idea what she was screaming about until Gary said, “will you PLEASE put a cotton ball on her toes?” As soon as I put the cotton ball on her toes, she was happy.

Gary finished clipping Penelope’s nails about the same time I was painting the big girls’ toes. Penelope walked right over, sat down, and shoved her feet into my face. She would not take no for an answer – she was going to get her toes painted!

Penelope was so proud of her painted toes. She walked around all day shoving her feet into our faces and saying, “Toes!!” As soon as Penelope came downstairs this morning, she waved her feet and yelled, “Toes!” to Miss Sally until Miss Sally complimented her toes.

She’s growing up!

Gearing Up for a Project 52

2012-01-01T16:01:00.001-06:00

I have some friends who have done a 365 project, where they take a photo every day for a year. That flat out takes dedication. I remember when I made up my own 31 project earlier this year and just making a blog post daily almost killed me – and that didn’t include taking and editing a photo to post with it! I know that I just don’t have the time to do a 365 project. I’ve heard of people who did a project 52, meaning they take and edit a photo every week, but I was scared to commit to that sort of thing, too.

Then I saw this blog post by Sarah Cornish of My Four Hens Photography (a/k/a {m4h}). I thought that her concept of a Project 52 based on weekly themes sounded pretty cool, but I had already declared that I did not do such projects and I quickly forgot about it. Then I read this blog post on Clickin Moms about how Amii Wroblewski was going to use a 52 project to really “push her photography to a new level creatively.” That really interested me. Before that point, I had thought the purpose of these “projects” were to capture daily/weekly life – which is a great goal. I had not thought of it before as a way to improve photography skills in some manner. After I read that Clickin Moms blog post, I started seeing more and more comments by photographers about how much their photography improved after taking on a 365 or 52 project.

I’m in a Facebook group with some of my classmates from the Shooting 201 class I took back in October. Some of those women started talking about how they were going to do a 365 or 52 project and how great the {m4h} Project 52 looked. . . . First, I told them that I didn’t do those sorts of projects. Then I watched as the messages kept coming about so many of those women who were going to participate in the {m4h} Project 52 on Flickr. Before I really knew what I was doing, I’d signed up for the group.

The theme for our first week is Resolutions. Especially after seeing that theme, I knew that there is a good chance that many of my Project 52 photos aren’t going to fit into this blog about our family life. Because of that, I decided to start a new blog just for the Project 52. You can find my new blog by clicking here (and I also have a link to my Project 52 blog on the right sidebar of this blog). I will of course continue to update this blog on a regular basis and will probably post a lot of my Project 52 photos on this blog, but I just felt like a needed a separate place for my newest photography endeavor.

I’m pretty excited about the Project 52, but I am a little nervous about the time commitment. Ah . . . may as well just jump right in!

We Couldn’t End 2011 Without Another Trip to the Children’s ER. . . .

2011-12-31T22:46:00.000-06:00

This past Friday morning, Miss Sally was out sick, but Auntie Ann was able keep the kids for us. I got to work and at about 10:30, I got a text from Auntie Ann letting me know that Henry was sitting at the table in the breakfast nook and stood up suddenly then took a fall, landing on his head. She said that he felt nauseated afterwards and laid down for a bit, but then was acting normally. I asked her to let me know if he threw up or acted funny, but said that he probably would be fine.

Around noon, Auntie Ann texted to let me know that Henry threw up. Gary went home to get him, and I left work and met Gary and Henry at the Children’s ER. I was pretty worried before I saw Henry, but I was even more worried after I saw him. He was very wobbly standing up, and wasn’t walking well. Henry wasn’t talking much at all, and not answering my questions or responding much to me or Gary. When we got back to the room to wait on the doctor, he started falling asleep (this child always fights falling asleep) and at one point we could not wake him up. {At this point I may or may not have gone out to the nurses station and told them that I needed someone to look at him immediately. I may or may not have been mostly ignored and/or talked down to, at which point I may or may not have made a scene.}

The nurse practitioner came in and looked at Henry and asked us some questions, then Henry had a CT scan. As soon as they laid him down, I had flashbacks to when Henry was a baby and got a CT scan because his head circumference was increasing so rapidly. I’ll never forget putting my 8-month-old son swaddled up on that machine and watching slide back and forth under that CT scan machine, as still as can be, just sucking like crazy on his paci and keeping his eyes on me. It was almost the same this time, minus the paci and with a much bigger little boy.

They told us that we’d have the results in about 45 minutes. It took about 2 hours. I kept thinking that they’d have come in earlier if the results were bad, but at some point I started doubting that and wondering how bad it could be. Finally the nurse practitioner came in and said that they thought that they saw something, so they wanted to wait for the radiologist to read it. The radiologist said that he didn’t see anything other than the small burr hole from where Henry had some sort of brain surgery when he was younger.

Uhm, but Henry never had any sort of brain surgery.

We tried to explain this to the nurse practitioner, who kept telling us that we probably had just forgotten that Henry had a procedure done on his brain while he was in the NICU. Uhm, NO. We very adamantly insisted that we would have known if our son had a hole drilled in his head. Then the nurse practitioner said something about how it wasn’t an uncommon NICU thing and that if we hadn’t seen him for a few days while he was in the hospital that we may not have known about it. Again, NO, and we explained that I only missed one day while they were in the NICU when I had mastitis (and that Gary was there every day). We also explained that UAB was pretty serious about obtaining consents, and that we remembered all the consents that we signed. Finally I said that he had a CT scan when he was a baby and asked them to compare those results to see if he still had the “burr hole” then.

The radiologist looked into that and said that he saw the “burr hole” in the earlier CT scan (even though it was very hard to see in the earlier scan). The radiologist said that it could be a granuloma or something congenital, but that it still really looks like a burr hole. Regardless, the radiologist does not think that it is anything to be concerned about at all. We asked for a CD of the CT scan picked it up on the way home. We are going to call our pediatrician on Tuesday and ask him to refer us to a neurosurgeon or neurologist so that we can get a second opinion as to whether we should be worried about the hole in Henry’s skull.

Regardless, the good news is that Henry only has a concussion from his fall. We have a follow-up appointment for that at the Children’s Concussion Clinic and hope to get released after that appointment. In the meantime, it’s taking everything we have to keep Henry from running around too much and possibly injuring himself even more. The child is making me a nervous wreck.

It seems that 2011 was the year of the ER visits. Here’s to hoping that 2012 will have far fewer ER visits. . . .

Happy New Year, everyone!

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas

2011-12-27T22:37:00.001-06:00

Our Christmas was so wonderful this weekend. Honestly, I did a lot of planning for it. I knew that this was the first year that the kids would “remember” Christmas, and I wanted it to be special. I went so far as to plan our menu in advance with a spreadsheet telling me when to start what for each meal, and what things I wanted to be sure that we did over the Christmas weekend. I doubt that the kids will really remember very much about the details in the end, but I think that they will remember that Christmas is a special time.

We did a lot of traveling and going and doing leading up to Christmas, but we spent the entire, long four day weekend at home, together. It was truly a fun, enjoyable weekend. Friday morning started with breakfast and gifts with Auntie Ann. Gary’s parents arrived Friday afternoon, followed by gifts and dinner (of taco soup, our traditional Christmas dinner with Gary’s parents). Then Saturday morning, Green made his last appearance for this season. As soon as I saw the living room, I knew what he’d done. . . .

That elf sure does love some popcorn and movies!

And the kids sure did love helping Green finish off his left over popcorn. . . .

Then later on Saturday morning (Christmas Eve), we decided to put together the gingerbread house that a friend so generously gave the kids for Christmas.

The end result was probably not the most aesthetically pleasing gingerbread house ever decorated, but the kids were ECSTATIC to build a house for the “gingerman” to live in.

Check out baby girl. She would keep an eye out and as soon as she thought no one was looking, she’d snag something to eat. Like ALL of the gumdrops, the chimney to the house, etc. And this sneaky behavior is how she stayed on a sugar high the entire holiday.

On Saturday afternoon, after naptime, the big kids (mostly Henry and Rosemary) helped make some cookies for Santa. The cookies of choice were oatmeal raisin (Gary’s preference) and chocolate chip (my preference). The kids were great stirrers!

Ever since the kids’ first Christmas, every Christmas Eve night we have read The Night Before Christmas. This year was no different. It is one tradition upon which Gary insists. This year, because Penelope was so ready to go to bed, we read the book while Rosemary was taking a breathing treatment.

{Piper was also without pajamas. I made a big deal about how Santa visits when you wear your “Santa Pajamas,” which means we had to do a quick, emergency wash/dry with Piper’s pajamas after she spilled her dinner all over them. . . .}

After Penelope went to bed (the poor thing barely made it through the book), we left some of our freshly baked cookies out for Santa to eat when he stopped by our house.

The stockings were all hung and ready (except for that darned stocking of Piper’s that will NOT hang straight for anything) . . .

. . . and the tree was lit and ready for some presents.

And did we get some presents!!! On Christmas Eve, Rosemary had (tearfully) announced that she wanted a “baby backpack” just like Auntie Ann gave Penelope. She had never mentioned it before and never mentioned it again that day, but when we woke her up Christmas morning the first thing she said was that she wanted to see her baby backpack from Santa. Whew, I am so glad that Santa heard that Christmas Eve request and came through with a baby backpack. . . .

Everyone got some really great gifts from Santa!

{Notice the television in the background, playing one of the best scenes from the best Christmas movie ever – according to me.}

Notably, Santa left the kids some very special cookies straight from the North Pole!!! Until Christmas Eve when Rosemary announced that she wanted a “baby backpack,” the only thing that the kids had requested from Santa were cookies. And if you pressed them for more details, they requested TWO cookies. Santa left plenty of very special cookies:

I think I sort of expected the kids to go nuts when they saw what all Santa brought them. Their reaction, however, was more of shock and awe and amazement. I love how I can see the gears working in their little heads, and see how their little minds are wrapping around the idea that there really is a Santa, because how else did all those gifts get there?!! I tear up just thinking about it. The wonderment of children is truly one of the best parts of this holiday!

{I never saw Penelope without a cookie and/or some candy. She double-fisted sweets all day. The kids would take a bite out of a cookie and drop it forgotten, and girlfriend was right there to pick it up and finish it off.}

Nana, Papa, and Aunt Jack visited us on Christmas for lunch to see what all Santa brought. I really should have more photos, but I stopped taking them at some point. I enjoyed myself so much that I wanted to be in the moment more than I wanted to be documenting it in photos. Whatever I had hoped that Christmas would be this year, it was that much and more. Magical and fun and amazing.

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-25T07:26:00.001-06:00

More from Green

2011-12-23T14:47:00.001-06:00

Green is still with us. Sometimes his nightly escapades impress the kids, sometimes they do not. In addition to Green, the kids each received an elf from their playschool teachers. If those elves are downstairs, they come alive to play with Green. The night that Green and one of the elves drew on magna doodles was a good one.

The new elf did not show quite the artistic talents that Green possesses.

Regardless, the kids were pretty impressed.

One night Green made a HUGE mess with the kleenex.

The kids weren’t very impressed.

Then one night we found Green like this:

What a predicament he got himself into!! He had a very unfortunate fall and was actually on the floor when the kids got downstairs to see him, but luckily he was just fine and ready to play the next night. And boy did he make a mess the next night when he got into our laundry room. . . .

And then he played with the kids’ legos one night. . . .

And last night he found himself stuck on the light in the breakfast nook!

Penelope thought it was hilarious and kept pointing and laughing at him during breakfast.

Green only has one more night with us, then Santa takes him back when he comes on Christmas Eve. I can’t believe it will be almost a whole year before we see him again. We’ll have to treat him extra special tonight!

Breakfast with Santa

2011-12-17T21:30:00.001-06:00

Every year the kids’ playschool hosts a breakfast with Santa fundraiser. Yesterday marked our second year to attend the breakfast. The kids were SO excited about seeing Santa. They could hardly wait. Piper was literally jumping up and down in the parking lot in anticipation of seeing the jolly one. The kids maintained their excitement right up until the point where Santa appeared ringing his bell.

I took a photo of Santa, then immediately took a few shots of the kids to get their impressions. . . .

It didn’t really get much better. Each of the kids got close enough to Santa to grab a candy cane, but that’s it. I sat Penelope in Santa’s lap, but wasn’t able to step far enough away to even snap a photo of her screaming.

Luckily, we used this as an opportunity for a photo with Aunt Jack (my great aunt), who came along to see Santa. We managed to get one photo where all four kids were in it . . .

. . . and one somewhat decent photo with three kids.

I don’t think Penelope had quite recovered from seeing Santa, so she still needed a little time clinging to me.

There’s always next year!

Introducing Green {the elf}

2011-12-16T21:44:00.001-06:00

So this year we jumped on the whole elf bandwagon. We had been reading the kids a book about the Magic Elves since early December. Finally, this past Saturday night, we decided that we would write a letter to Santa and ask him to send us an elf. We discussed what we would name our elf, and Piper suggested Green. It’s not great, but for a family who names things “blue doggie,” “doggie,” “duckie,” and “dolly” – it’s creative progress.

Imagine our surprise when we woke up the next morning to this. . . .

Henry woke up early Sunday morning and was the first person to see Green. He couldn’t believe it. We stood there for a while with him staring open-mouthed at the elf. The poor kid literally couldn’t talk. I asked him if he knew what that was, and he just nodded. Finally, I said, why don’t you go tell Daddy about it? (Okay, I have to admit here that part of what I was doing was trying to get Gary out of bed. Sorry, dear.)

So, Henry RAN into the bedroom, screaming the whole time, “We’ve got an EFF in our house!!” (They call him an “eff” instead of an “elf,” which I love.) He got to our bedroom and still running, opened the gate and ran in and immediately fell. Gary said that he heard Henry screaming, heard the gate open, then saw Henry’s head. Then his head dropped out of sight as he fell, and Henry’s head immediately popped back up. He never stopped screaming, over and over, “There’s an EFF in our house!!”

Gary had to get out of bed to check out the “eff” and boy was he surprised (and none too happy about the mess that Green made). Then Henry insisted on waking up his sisters to tell them about the “eff” and what the elf had done. They were shocked like the rest of us!

Green does something crazy every night, like Monday night when he popped some popcorn and stayed up watching the Charlie Brown Christmas DVD.

The kids could NOT believe it. Henry was the most amazed. You could literally see what he was thinking in that little brain of his when he saw it. You could tell that he was thinking that there had to be some explanation for this. There just had to be some reason that Green was doing all this. And then you could see a grin come across his face as he figured it out . . .

. . . that Green the eff MUST come alive every night!!!

Penelope really loved finding Green eating some popcorn, and immediately started chowing down on what was left of his popcorn. We hadn’t let her have popcorn before due to the whole choking hazard thing, but she’d had a few pieces by the time we realized what was going on and just let her eat what she could get before the big kids ate it all.

Then, on Tuesday night, Green really made a mess. I excitedly took some photos on Wednesday morning because I knew the kids were going to just be amazed at this one!

But, eh, the kids weren’t so impressed.

They checked it out, then got in their chairs to eat breakfast. Miss Sally told me later that they wanted to take the toilet paper down immediately when they finished eating breakfast. I guess Green took it a little far on that one. . . .

The Search for a Christmas Tree

2011-12-14T21:50:00.001-06:00

Historically, I am a horrible blogger in December, and that doesn’t seem to be changing this year! There are just so many things going on that it’s hard for me to blog regularly. But there are so many fun things going on that I’m going to do my best to try to stay more caught up than usual.

This past weekend was crazy busy. We left the house on Saturday morning at 9:45, got haircuts for all the kids, looked for a table for the breakfast nook (that is large enough for us all to sit at – we found one!), ate lunch, then went to a Christmas tree farm to find the perfect Christmas tree. I was looking for a “pumpkin patch-esque” experience, and with some help from friends, found a place that offered tractor rides, the opportunity to cut down your own tree, and complimentary hot chocolate.

I very distinctly remember the trip to find a Christmas tree as a child. Things never went as planned. The fact that it never went as planned was probably the best thing about it. Each year, without fail, something horribly wrong would happen. For instance, I remember the tree that was so crooked that my parents had to tie twine to the top of it and attach it to door frames to keep it standing straight. I remember the tree that was a little taller than estimated that my dad had to chop the top off so that it fit in our house– I think it took 2 tries to get it just right. I remember the time my dad decided to buy a VERY small tree (much to my mom’s displeasure) that could be planted in our yard afterwards. And how could I forget the year that my grandfather let someone else cut down the tree that my dad had been waiting to reach the perfect height for years?

But, probably the best year was one that was caught on videotape. You could hear my aunt laughing the whole time. My dad was trying to saw down the tree and asking my brothers what they had done to his saw because it wasn’t working well. My mom wanted us all to spend a little time trying to saw down the tree, so we have some video of that. But the best part of the video was when my dad poked his head out from under the tree and said, “I thought I told you to turn that {censored} camera off.” Static followed.

It sounds like a disaster (and it was), but I love everything about that memory. Something is so right in the way that everything went so wrong, because everyone was trying to make it the perfect Christmas tree experience. To me, that’s Christmas. It’s the trying to make it special that makes it special – not the outcome. We never had a “perfect” Christmas tree when I was growing up, but I would never want any tree other than the the ones we had.

I was certainly hoping to make similar memories for our kids, but I was also thinking that we’d come home with a nice 8 foot tree that we all magically agreed was the most perfect tree in the world, and that we would all cut it down with smiles on our faces.

I have no idea why I had that expectation.

The kids were SO EXCITED and could hardly wait to find a tree and cut it down. We immediately got a saw and took a tractor ride to where the trees were ready for the cutting.

Once we made it down to the Christmas tree area, there was a great Santa’s sleigh that was perfect for a few photos.

The Christmas tree farm even had a couple of REAL reindeer. The kids could not believe it. They LOVED the reindeer.

Unfortunately, it looks like most people buy their trees more than 2 weeks before Christmas, so the selection was not quite what we had hoped for.

We finally found a tree that we liked that was about 6.5 feet tall. I’d wanted a taller tree, but that just wasn’t going to happen. I definitely considered running by Lowe’s on the way home to pick up a tree, but by God we were at the Christmas tree farm and we were going to leave with a tree. The kids all LOVED the tree (but they loved all the trees, and directed Gary to cut down almost everyone they saw).

True to tradition, Gary handed the saw to each child, VERY BRIEFLY, so that they thought they were helping us cut down the tree.

And everyone watched Gary with great anticipation as he pretended to saw down the tree.

“Pretended” being a key word. See, the problem is that we ended up picking a tree that was in a bucket and marked “dig only.” There just weren’t any trees to cut down that were even 6.5 feet tall. The kids think that we cut the tree down, and we aren’t going to tell them otherwise. Because we HAD to leave that place with a tree.

What we didn’t know about the bucket was how hard that would make it to put the tree on the top of my car. In fact, it was going to be quite a problem. That part was definitely not fully explained before we picked the tree. After some discussion, and not just a little bit of frustration on Gary’s part (okay, to be honest, Gary was downright pissed), we told them to just cut the tree out of the bucket and put it on the car.

And away we went, back home, with our tree on the roof of the car.

The kids just could not believe that we had a tree on top of our car!

On Sunday morning, we had a run to the pediatrician due to Henry’s suffering an ear injury (the whole top of his ear was purple after running into the armoire in their bedroom), and a trip to the grocery store and another store to pick up a tree stand. Then we went to a really fun birthday party, ran some more errands on the way home, and came home for baths and dinner. Penelope was exhausted and demanding bed, so we put her in bed then decorated the tree.

We actually didn’t fully “decorate” the tree. We just put some Christmas lights on it. No reason to push it. We still have 8 little hands who want nothing more than to play with the tree. Lights are all the festivity we need for now. . . .

Anyway. The kids were beside themselves with the excitement of putting lights on the tree. I honestly cannot think of when I’ve had that much fun. Piper was especially cute. She kept saying, “I love it.” And we all do.

Because it may not be the tree or the experience I envisioned, but it’s perfect all the same.

Hot Coffee

2011-12-08T21:00:00.001-06:00

Gary and I cannot hear the kids in their bedroom when we are in our bedroom, so we are still using a sound monitor. Every morning we get at least one good chuckle out of what the kids are talking about when they wake up. Their imaginations are amazing.

For instance, Piper has a (pretend) coffeemaker on the left side of her headboard. She pours “hot coffee” for Henry and Rosemary. Sometimes she is not happy with Henry or Rosemary, and then Piper refuses to pour them any “hot coffee,” which causes the non-coffee-getter to get very, very upset. Gary and I have two thoughts on this: (1) they should just get over it because it’s not real coffee, and/or (2) why don’t they just put an imaginary coffee maker on their own bed?

Regardless, hot coffee is a regular thing in the big kids’ bedroom. So, I found this morning’s conversation really entertaining:

Piper: “Henny, Henny. Get up. I pouring you some hot coffee.”

Rosemary: “Thank you!”

{lots of slurping as the kids drink their “hot coffee”}

Henry: “Oh my. You spilled your hot coffee. I need a wipe! I clean it up!”

{a little time passes by}

Henry: “There. It’s clean.”

Piper: “I need more coffee.”

As you can tell, Gary and I are coffee drinkers. And I’m a bit of a klutz and spill my coffee regularly. Still, hearing them act out these elaborate scenarios never fail to amuse (and impress) me.

Thanksgiving {part three}

2011-12-02T20:38:00.001-06:00

Finally . . . my last Thanksgiving post. When we went out to the beach on Thanksgiving, I also took some photos of Gary’s sister with her husband and sons, and some photos of Gary’s parents. Some of the photos are the traditional “clear” photos, and then I took some photos with backlighting and haze. I like backlighting and haze. I think it’s cool. In addition to learning how to shoot silhouettes, I was super-excited to learn how to shoot with backlighting and haze in my last photography class. Gary does not like it. He calls them “fuzzy” pictures and asks if I’m going to fix them. I don’t fix them.

Here are a few beach photos I took of a class of people I call “people-other-than-my-kids”: And here are a couple of “fuzzy” photos that I really love. . . .

We were in Pensacola from Wednesday until Saturday. I went to Miami for work on Tuesday, so I just flew up to Pensacola on Wednesday where I met Gary and the kids (yes, that’s right, I managed to miss a long drive with the kids). Thursday we had our Thanksgiving celebration. Friday, after many requests from the kids, we took the kids swimming in the condo’s heated pool. It still wasn’t that warm and we ended up staying in the hot tub more than the pool, but the kids were happy. On Saturday morning we went on a dolphin cruise, then we loaded up and headed home. The drive home went really well (considering that we were in a car with four little kids). I’m really glad that we headed home on Saturday instead of Sunday, because I hear that the interstate was at a standstill on Sunday.

We had a great time over Thanksgiving, and I’m really excited about getting geared up for Christmas. The kids seem to totally understand what is going on this year, and I can tell that we’re going to have a blast! I can’t wait to establish a few traditions that, hopefully, the kids will always remember.

Thanksgiving {part two}

2011-11-29T22:19:00.001-06:00

In the last photography class I took, we learned how to take photos in different lighting situations. One of things that we learned to do is to take silhouette photos. I hated my homework for that week (it’s not that easy to run across the perfect silhouette to shoot just any day of the week), but I was so glad that I’d be able to take a silhouette the next time the situation presented itself. I was pretty excited when my sister-in-law, her husband, and two sons were playing football on the beach with the sun was strategically placed right behind them!! Here are a few of the silhouette photos I took of them. . . .

I still have probably one more set of beach photos to post. . . . In the meantime, I’m just trying to catch up on laundry and work – as always!

Thanksgiving {part one}

2011-11-27T22:23:00.001-06:00

I’m very pleased to report that we had no balcony incidents this year over Thanksgiving (or anything remotely similar)! Whew. We went down to Pensacola again to spend time with my husband’s family, and we stayed in a condo again, that had a balcony. I, however, did not step out on any balcony. I doubt I will ever be able to step on a balcony again.

Seriously.

I’m still not over what happened last year.

Regardless, we were able to get out on the beach on Thanksgiving day and take some photos! I have so many photos to share, but I’ll start with these and try to do another blog post with more photos soon. . . .

We even got a photo of Gary’s parents with all of their grandchildren!

Two of the six grandchildren were quite cooperative.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Yee Hao, Bumblebee Cowboy!

2011-11-16T20:50:00.001-06:00

The other day, Piper was walking around saying “yee hao” and sort of waving. I thought she was talking about Ni Hao Kailan and waving. At some point, I realized that she was saying “yee haw” like a cowboy, but with a weird accent, and moving her hand in a roping motion. It was hilarious. And if that wasn’t hilarious enough, then she was riding around on her bumblebee wheely bug yelling, “Yee Hao!! I’m a bumblebee cowboy!!”

Absolutely hilarious. Every time I think about it, I laugh. I can’t help it.

On another note, my dear blog commenters convinced me that perhaps I’m not entirely crazy about my kids height, weight, and head circumference stats, so I pulled out the tape measure tonight. Here are Penelope’s correct stats:

Length: 31 inches (50th-75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.25 inches (50th-75th percentile)

That sounds just about right to me. And yes, I feel much better. I can stop obsessing . . . for now.

While I had the tape measure out, I measured the big kids’ height, who all just had a very visible growth spurt. I was really shocked at the results because they really did have a big growth spurt, inches and percentile-wise:

Piper: 37.5 inches (25th-50th percentile)
Henry: 39 inches (>50th percentile)
Rosemary: 36.25 inches (10th percentile)

Rosemary is really moving up her growth curve – well, actually, they all are. I’m so proud!!

Fifteen Month Check-Up

2011-11-14T21:04:00.001-06:00

Last Thursday Penelope turned 15 months old and had her 15 month check-up! All went well, and Penelope handled her shots pretty well. I was really surprised that as soon as the nurse walked in the room with the tray of shots that Penelope started saying “no” and wrapped her arms and legs around me. The big kids still don’t have a clue what is coming when the nurse walks in the room with the trays of shots, so I was not expecting that reaction. I’ll be ready for it next time. Penelope’s “stats” are as follows:

Weight: 21 pounds 2 ounces (25th percentile)
Length: 32.5 inches (>95th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17.5 inches

I put the word “stats” in quotation marks because the only stat above that I think is accurate is the weight. See, Penelope started screaming right after she was weighed. We had to physically hold her down for her length check and we had to really restrain her to get her head circumference. The length just cannot be right – she’s been on the taller side this whole time, but that seems almost too tall.

When I was watching the nurse measure Penelope’s head circumference, I knew it was wrong. The measurement looked over 18 inches to me (and I’m also quite certain that 17.5 inches is wrong because her head circumference was 18 inches at her last appointment at one year!). So, while I was at the appointment, I knew the measurements were wrong and considered asking for a re-measure, but I didn’t because I told myself that I was going to try to stop obsessing over the numbers and just concentrate on the fact that Penelope is healthy and developing appropriately.

Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time wondering what her real stats are. I’m still fighting with myself to just let it go instead of taking my own precise measurements, but I’ve stressed and worried over the size and percentiles for my kids for so long that I have to somehow manage to let it go. . . . Somehow. That’s what other parents do, right?!! Especially those parents that didn’t have three preemies, right?!! Maybe I can stop thinking about it so much now that this post is over.

To end, here is a photo of my sweet Penelope playing in her pajamas yesterday morning. . . .

The Photography Class is Over!

2011-11-08T21:22:00.001-06:00

My photography class is over. I enjoyed it a lot, and perhaps the most I’ve enjoyed a class to date. As always, it wasn’t painless. I need photography classes to keep me learning and to challenge me, but I really take them seriously (perhaps too seriously?) and they wear me out. I’m ready to recover a little bit! I’ve celebrated the class being over by not taking any photos since Saturday night, when I turned in my homework.

But, I’ll still post my last week’s homework. My first photo was one to show emotion and/or interaction, with a conversion to black and white. I chose this photo of Rosemary, peaking, when she was supposed to be standing in the corner. . . .

The second part of my assignment was to take a lifestyle photo essay of several photos that tell a story. Here is my essay:

The last part of my assignment was to take a high ISO indoor photo, and here is the one I took:

I think that I’m most happy about how much I’ve learned about Lightroom 3, and how much I like it. To me, it’s really much more intuitive as Photoshop Elements. It also really speeds me up. I used to spend a lot of time watermarking and getting my photos ready to post on the blog, and with Lightroom 3 that process is much, much shorter. I’m considering taking another class early next year just on Lightroom. We’ll just have to see if I’ve recovered and am ready to take another class then!

And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging activities . . . whatever that may be. . . . Thanks for hanging in here with me while I was not a very regular blogger!

The Rest of October

2011-11-03T21:20:00.001-05:00

I’m in the last week of my photography class. Hopefully in a week or two I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled blogs! So, to celebrate November, here are the photos from October that I haven’t posted!

First up are some photos from Halloween. I took these after work and tried to take them without a flash, so I shot at 8000 ISO. I’m thinking I should have just put on the flash. . . .

We had a really great time going trick-or-treating. The kids did a great job of saying “Trick-or-Treat” and “Thank you” and “Happy Halloween!” We ended up with WAY too much candy, but I think that’s just what happens on Halloween!

And from even earlier, here are the rest of the photos from the pumpkin patch:

And why wouldn’t Piper pick a GREEN pumpkin and demand a wipe to clean it off while still in the pumpkin field?!!

Seems perfectly normal to me.

The Results Are In!!!

2011-10-26T21:19:00.001-05:00

Well, I was pretty disappointed when I got home today and went to the mailbox to find that we did not have our DNA results in the mail. I texted Gary to let him know, but at the same time I was checking online with our DNA lab to see if we could learn the results online or via telephone. I learned that the results were available by telephone or by chat 22 hours a day. Gary and I decided that we wanted to find out tonight.

So, once we got the kids in bed, we sat down to call in and get our results. We tried 3 times. The phone rang and rang, and we were getting so antsy. Finally I turned on my computer and opened up a chat. And after giving them some information and our password, we learned the results. . . .

Piper and Rosemary are indeed IDENTICAL TWINS!!

The accuracy rate is over 99.9%. I can’t believe it. I mean, I can, because clearly we got the test because we thought there was a good chance they were identical, but it’s amazing to actually know. . . .

Now I have all sorts of thoughts – one of which is that we can truly see the effects of IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) in an interesting way. Rosemary was IUGR due to her velamentous cord insertion, but Piper was right at the 50th percentile for weight at her gestation. We also know that Piper and Rosemary are dichorionic-diamniotic twins (meaning they did not share a placenta or an amniotic sac). There are just so many interesting things to think about now. It will probably take some time to sink in. . . .

This is so exciting!! Thank you for participating in our poll and following along as we pondered this question and finally learned the results.

“Weekly” Update

2011-10-24T20:13:00.001-05:00

That photography class I told you about in the last post is kicking my tail. Seriously. It wasn’t as stressful technology-wise as it was last week, but our assignment this week was not easy. But, I just started my third week of the class, and it’s only 4 weeks long, so I’m halfway there. I knew it was going to be hard when I signed up, but like most all things, I never really appreciate it until I’m in the middle of it.

Last week’s lesson was on how to shoot in full sun. Typically, full sun is just bad for photography – it creates harsh lines and too many highlights and shadows, particularly on faces. Early in the morning and late in the afternoon is best, and really cloudy skies or some shade is ideal. I migrate toward shade just from sheer habit.

Anyway, there are some tricks to taking shots in full sun, so we learned those. Also, we learned how to backlight and create haze and lens flare. I think it’s something that I now feel like I can totally learn to do, and I do feel more comfortable shooting in full sun if I have to, but it’s something new to learn and it just takes practice. I’m also continuing to learn how to edit using Lightroom 3. Here is some of my homework from this week (from our trip to the pumpkin patch this past weekend):

That is not all of my homework – I also took some shots of a friend’s teenage daughter (who much to my surprise, unlike my children, didn’t run away from me when I pulled out the camera) and turned two of those photos in, but I haven’t asked permission to post those here so I won’t.

On other fronts, the DNA test results on whether Piper and Rosemary are identical are not in yet. I was expecting them last Thursday, but after questioning Gary, I learned that last Thursday was the earliest that we would have them. Gary called today and learned that the results went out by mail today, so we think we should have them on Wednesday. The lady actually almost gave him the results over the phone, but he stopped her in time. We want to open them together. :) I’ll post those results ASAP. The poll has closed, and you’ve all voted as follows:

Identical – 70 votes (81%)
Not Identical – 15 votes (17%)
Not Sure – 1 vote (1%)

We’ll find out soon who is right!

Last Wednesday, Penelope had an appointment with a pediatric dermatologist to check out a mole on her left bottom cheek. It is a congenital mole, meaning she was born with it, which is apparently a little more worrisome than the ones that show up later. The doctor thought that her mole was fine because it is consistent in color, round, etc. It is large (about 7mm in diameter), and will get larger, but it’s not a big concern right now. We will just monitor it. We will probably eventually need to remove it, but the goal is to wait until she’s much older and it can be done under local anesthesia instead of general.

Last Thursday, Rosemary had an appointment with the allergy and asthma specialist. That appointment also went well. Rosemary had been on Singulair for her asthma and Claritin for her allergies, as prescribed by our pediatrician. The allergy and asthma specialist immediately said she’d no longer be taking either of those – they are both the weakest drugs on the market for what they treat. She is now on QVAR twice a day (an oral inhalant), plus Veramyst (a nose spray) twice a day. She is off her antihistamines now only because she is being tested for allergies this Thursday. Once that testing is complete, she will go back on an antihistamine, probably Allegra or Zyrtec. We will know more on Thursday.

Aside from those maintenance drugs, when Rosemary is wheezing, she also now has a stronger Xopenex for her nebulizer and an albuterol inhaler. If she is also sick, then she has another inhaler to use. Everything was a little confusing and really overwhelming at first, but now we understand what everything is for and it’s easier to understand.

Hopefully on Thursday we’ll find out what we can expect to cause allergy problems for her. Whether right or wrong, except for the pumpkin patch, school, and a quick trip to the playground, we’ve been keeping the kids inside. They certainly don’t need to live in a bubble, but for now I can’t help but want to keep Rosemary in a bubble until we find out what causes her problems (or learn how to keep them under control).

I have more photos from the pumpkin patch – of course – but I don’t know when I’ll get those posted. Hopefully soon, but it depends on this photography class and the homework that goes along with it! It is just taking up all my free time (but I knew that was going to happen when I signed up for it, so I’m just trying to go with the flow).

Hope you’re all having a great week!

Just a Little Catch-Up

2011-10-17T21:12:00.001-05:00

It’s been a whole week since I’ve posted. It’s been a long time since I’ve went that long, but it may be a few weeks before I’m back to my regular posting schedule. Last Monday I started taking a new photography class. It’s an online class provided by Clickin Moms called Shooting 201: Beyond the Basics. It’s been a year since I’ve taken a photography class, and I’m overdue for a little learning and inspiration. I think this class will do it for me.

Last week was pretty crazy as far as the class. Somewhat related to the class, my laptop was almost full of photos and I started to get some warnings. I have an external hard drive that I keep at work (in case of fire, etc.) and I back it up about once a week. However, I didn’t want to have my photos just in one location. So, I’m okay with them on my laptop and on an external hard drive, but I didn’t want them just on one external hard drive. So, I bought another external hard drive to keep at home. I will spare you the long description of exactly what all went down, but I’ll just say that I had to buy three separate external hard drives before I got one that worked.

Nothing frustrates me, and irritates me, and upsets me quite like technological difficulties, so I was pretty testy after two days of external hard drive drama. Once I finally go that sorted out, I started working with Lightroom 3, the editing software that I’m required to use for my photography class. Again, I’ll spare you the full story, but apparently in the ten seconds I had played with the program after I downloaded it, I really screwed it up (and, of course, the manufacturer’s customer service was not available by the time I figured this out on Friday night). After uninstalling and downloading the program several times, on three different browsers, I started searching Lightroom forums for a solution. In the end I had to follow a filepath and rename a file to let it rebuild. That fixed it. And took up about 2 hours of my time on Friday night and 3 hours on Saturday. And had me REALLY worked up. I mean, I was crazy irritated. I may have scared Auntie Ann.

THEN I had to work on my actual homework which was due yesterday. I really did not like what I turned in. At all. So I won’t even post the homework here. Unfortunately I spent so much time dealing with technology issues that I didn’t have a lot of time to shoot. But, I think I have all those bugs worked out and am ready to go this week. I think. I hope.

Regardless, I will hopefully have some good photos to post from this week’s homework, once I do it. I keep reminding myself that every photography class I’ve taken is somewhat painful, but they have always been worth it in the end. And that’s why I only take about one class a year. . . .

In other news, we should get the results this week on whether Piper and Rosemary are identical. I think the estimated date to get the results is Thursday, but we are looking for them any day. Please vote if you want – the poll is on the top right of the blog. Right now we’ve had 80 votes, 67 (83%) say identical, 12 (15%) say fraternal, and 1 (1%) says s/he is not sure! I still haven’t voted. I should probably just choose “not sure”!

And now here is your reward if you’ve stuck with me for this long on this post. We had a photo session this past weekend and you can see the slideshow of images right HERE. As always, I’m so excited with the results! I can’t wait to have them hanging all over my house and office!!

The Cotton Field

2011-10-10T21:56:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we drove up to visit my parents, brothers, and their families. My dad and brothers were picking cotton, so we had a lot to see and do while we were up there. We used the opportunity to take some photos of everyone. . . .

Later that night we had our weekly trip to the ER, except this trip was even less fun than your average ER trip. I had to take Rosemary to the pediatric emergency room at Huntsville Hospital because she was having an asthma attack. When we got there her oxygen saturation was at about 95%, (which even though it was the lowest Rosemary had ever had, it was an acceptable rate). But about 10-15 minutes later (once we were settled into a room) it went down to 72%, which is just not okay. Rosemary spent about 4-5 hours on oxygen and received 2 breathing treatments – one of which was an hour long. She’s doing much better now, and we have an appointment with an allergy and asthma specialist next Thursday. I hope that we can find a way for that to never happen again.

Despite the trip to the ER, we had a great weekend visiting with family, and hope to have another good visit with everyone soon!!

Over the Monitor

2011-10-05T20:31:00.001-05:00

Yesterday morning the kids started talking around 7:15. Rosemary was first. She said:

Cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo! Cock-a-doodle-doo-doo-doo! Heeeennnnnnnnny! Wake up. Wake up, Heeeennnnnny! Cock-a-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!!!

For the record, Henry was not amused.

And right now Gary and I are sitting here listening to the kids talk to each other. Rosemary is saying:

Give me my pajamas back. Please! Please give me my pajamas!!

We have decided that we are going to give that one a few minutes before we head up there to intervene.

A Before Photo

2011-10-04T21:15:00.001-05:00

Sunday we all met my friend Adrienne, and her kids and husband, at Aldridge Gardens for a picnic and playdate. After we ate lunch, we went for a walk. Penelope got a little tired of being in the stoller, so she walked some with us.

Right after we finished up this walk, we went to our favorite wide open spot to let the kids run. And while Penelope was running, she tripped and fell on Henry’s water bottle, which has a hard piece on it that went up between her top lip and top gums. She screamed, and she bled, and she screamed, and she bled. After inspecting the area, we decided that we needed a trip to the Children’s ER.

Gary dropped me off with Penelope, and he took the big kids to the zoo to pass the time. We gave Penelope some Tylenol right when it happened, and after her initial screaming fit, she had calmed down a bit when we got to the ER. After they checked her vitals, she started screaming again. And she screamed, and screamed, and screamed. For an hour. She would scream slightly less if I walked around with her, so I walked around the ER waiting room, then I walked up and down the hall outside our room.

I finally told the nurse I needed some Motrin. He asked me if there was something wrong with her other than just her lip (which is admittedly probably a minor issue compared to why other children were there, but that comment just rubbed me the wrong way). Anyone that knows me has heard me say what an easy baby Penelope is (other than that time when she started waking up all night long from 6 months to 10.5 months, but even then she was a sweet, happy baby – just awake). I gave him my best stern look and told him that this baby was NOT acting like my baby and that I’d done all I could do and why not try some Motrin?!! About 15 minutes later she stopped screaming – so long as I kept walking her.

The doctor finally checked her out and decided that she didn’t need stitches (apparently they try not to stitch up the inside of the mouth unless absolutely unavoidable) and we called Gary to come pick us up. Unfortunately, there was some event at the zoo that day and it took Gary about 45 minutes to just get out of the zoo parking lot. Of course, that entire time I was walking Penelope. I cannot imagine how many miles I walked with that baby.

Sunday we alternated Tylenol and Motrin until Penelope’s bedtime, and then we woke her up on our way to bed and gave her one more dose of Motrin. She slept through the night and has been fine since then.

Just another typical weekend in our household. . . .

Identical? ~ Part 2

2011-09-29T21:33:00.001-05:00

I posted a few months ago about how we have wondered whether Piper and Rosemary are identical. As time has passed, Gary and I think there is a better and better chance that they are indeed identical. Then tonight I showed Gary this photo I took of the girls this past weekend:

Check that out. Seriously. What part of them does not look alike?!! Even their ears are the same. Not that you can see it in this photo, but their hair color is the same. Nose, eye color, eyelashes, lips, everything.

So, after seeing that photo, Gary and I ordered the DNA test that will tell us whether the girls are identical. We’ve thought about it for a while and finally went for it. Hopefully, we’ll have results in about 3 weeks.

In the meantime, please feel free to vote in the poll to the right on whether you think they’re identical or not. And comment if you have any questions you want to ask before you vote!

This is going to be fun!

First Haircut

2011-09-27T21:47:00.001-05:00

We have a photo session with the fabulous Heather Swanner coming up soon, so I wanted the kids to have haircuts beforehand. Even though Peter has been cutting only Piper and Rosemary’s hair lately, we thought that he’d do a great job with Henry’s hair as well. And since the other 3 kids were getting their hair cut, it only made sense to get Penelope’s hair cut, too. She didn’t exactly have a mullet yet, but you could totally tell that one morning we were going to wake up and it would just be there.

Penelope only agreed to have her hair cut if she was holding a sucker and sitting in Gary’s lap. And she was pretty discriminating about her haircut.

In the end, all things considered, I think her haircut went very well, and she looked great once it was done.

After Penelope’s haircut, Rosemary, then Piper, then Henry had their hair cut.

After the haircuts, we grabbed lunch at Dreamland (delicious!) then walked across the street to play on a playground. Piper had no fear. Gary, on the other hand, was a little nervous about Piper’s climbing skills and didn’t move far away.

But we didn’t have any trips to the ER this past weekend!

Definitely a great – and productive – Saturday.

A Hiking Weekend

2011-09-23T22:07:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we took the kids on two hikes. We all had a great time and really enjoyed getting outside in some cooler weather. On Saturday we went to Moss Rock Preserve, and Sunday we went to Oak Mountain. Here are some photos from our grueling 1.5 hour 0.4 mile hike on Saturday (no seriously, zero.point.four mile hike – Gary and I could have sworn it was several miles):

Best Buddies

2011-09-19T07:18:00.001-05:00

I’ve always thought that Henry and Penelope were going to have a strong relationship. At first I wasn’t sure if it would be a good, close relationship or not! When I was pregnant, whenever Henry would sit in my lap, Penelope would kick him. Enough that he noticed. Penelope never did that to Piper or Rosemary – just Henry.

After she got here it took Henry a little while to adapt, but now he is Penelope’s protector. If Piper or Rosemary takes away anything she was playing with, Henry quickly takes it back and says, “Baby was playin’ wit it!” Then Henry will go over to Penelope, put his hand on her shoulder, return the toy, and squat down and say, “Here you go, neh-oh-pee.”

Now Piper and Rosemary take care of Penelope, too, but not quite to the same extent as Henry. Henry always makes sure that Penelope is okay if she falls down, and if she is unhappy Henry will sit down and happily play with her. If she wants, sometimes he even holds her hand and they walk around a bit.

Henry is just the best big brother!

Just Some Photos. . . .

2011-09-16T07:08:00.001-05:00

(Henry really wanted my Starbucks, so I gave him my empty cup. He walked around with it, “drinking” from the cup for a while. I was shocked at the level of imitation he has mastered.)

(Have I mentioned before that our Dora undies are our favorites?)

(The kids tried to climb these trees, then Daddy jumped in and tried, too. Rosemary announced, “Daddies no climb trees! Monkeys climb trees!”)

Happy Friday!

First Soccer Game

2011-09-11T22:07:00.001-05:00

Friday night was the kids’ first soccer game. Except that we call them “playdays” instead of games because we practice for 30 minutes or so then play a short game. The kids started out by practicing by jumping over some cones.

A coach from the soccer club showed up to lead the kids through some exercises, then the kids played a game.

Looks like the kids had a great time, doesn’t it? Now, the kids keep telling us that they had a great time. But the photos above misrepresent things just a bit. . . .

Let’s start with this photo:

That’s Henry. Holding on to my leg for dear life.

He was there for quite a while.

And here’s what the kids did when they first saw those orange cones they were supposed to jump over.

Well, that’s what the girls were doing.

Henry was holding onto my leg.

And then here’s what the kids were doing as the other kids were being led through some exercises.

While the kids were doing everything except what they were supposed to be doing, Penelope decided to start kicking the soccer ball around a bit herself.

Seriously. Penelope would totally have gone out there and done everything that the kids were supposed to be doing.

There was this one moment with Henry, though, when I thought he was going to get in on some action in the soccer game.

He was accidentally standing on the soccer field during the game. And the kids started getting closer and closer to him.

I started getting excited. I mean really excited. He was practically going to be in the middle of the pack of kids playing soccer. He may even accidentally touch the soccer ball! They got closer. And closer. And closer. . . .

And he ran.

Toward us.

As fast as he could go.

Oh well. We’ve got lots more games. At least the kids had fun and can’t wait for the next game!

More Teeth

2011-09-10T22:15:00.001-05:00

Tonight I was brushing Penelope’s teeth and was SHOCKED to see that she has in 4 molars. Her bottom two molars are almost completely in and her top two molars are just now poking through. It’s strange because she’s been in a really good mood lately. She was a little fussy the last two nights, but nothing that a little Tylenol couldn’t handle (and since she has a cold, I had assumed that was the problem).

Piper and Rosemary’s teeth came in a little out of order because their top outside teeth came in before the middle teeth, making them look like vampires. Henry’s teeth came in the proper order, getting 4 teeth in at a time each time. I had wondered what was going on with Penelope because it’s been forever since she’s gotten in any teeth (and I’ve been dreading it). It seems like she’s had 6 teeth forever (four on top and two on the bottom). I’ve been waiting for some more bottom teeth to come in, and never thought to look for molars.

In addition to those other two bottom teeth, I also thought that the other 4 non-molar teeth would come in before the molars came in. When I saw Penelope’s molars, I assumed her teeth were coming in a strange order like Piper and Rosemary’s did. But my mom told me that the molars come in before the other 4 non-molar teeth do. Not that I didn’t believe my mom, but I confirmed it here. What?! How in the world do I have four kids and still don’t understand what order teeth come in? Well, I’ll probably never know if I don’t know by now.

P.S. Our first soccer game was yesterday. I have photos and stories to share – just have to get the photos uploaded and the post written. . . .

Tomorrow Night

2011-09-08T21:35:00.001-05:00

Guess what we’re getting ready for tomorrow night?

First game.

U4 Tykes.

Bring it.

First Day of Playschool

2011-09-07T21:59:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was the big kids’ first day of playschool for this year. Tropical Storm Lee came through this past weekend and brought around 7 inches of rain on Monday, and really caused the temperatures to drop. I was absolutely NOT expecting for the high yesterday to be in the low 60s. Yesterday I read on my favorite local weather blog that the average high in Alabama on September 6 is 88, so a high of almost 30 degrees lower was highly unusual for us.

I’ve been really happy that the temperatures are lower, but it caused me to panic a bit yesterday morning when I realized that the kids needed to wear some warmer clothes than anticipated. I ended up digging through the fall clothes I’ve stashed in Penelope’s closet trying to find something suitable for the first day of school. Henry pretty much will only agree to wear jeans and polo shirts these days, so he was easy. For the big girls, I hadn’t bought fall shoes yet, so that limited my wardrobe options a bit. At least everyone had some (mostly) new sneakers for the first day of school.

Thankfully, I found something and we managed to convince everyone to get dressed (the kids care entirely too much about what they wear these days). The kids had breakfast then we followed that up with the obligatory first day of school photos.

Rosemary was definitely the most excited about going to school again. She couldn’t stop smiling.

Penelope kept trying to get in on the action and wanted her photo taken as well.

I was pretty excited when I asked the kids to stand in front of the table and they actually did it.

Next year maybe all three of them will look at the camera! Since I got a decent photo of the three big kids, I got a little greedy and tried to get a photo of all four kids, which actually was really fun to the kids.

Despite the obvious technical flaws in that last photo, I think it’s possibly one of my top favorite photos that ever that I’ve taken!

The Little Sister

2011-09-06T21:34:00.001-05:00

Penelope is really falling right into her role as little sister. And Piper, Henry, and Rosemary are great as big sisters and big brother. I love seeing how the kids do things for Penelope like we do for them. For instance, they push Penelope around in her car.

They feed her yogurt.

They help Penelope out of her car.

And Penelope helps them by stealing the big kids’ yogurt, and doing such other typical little sister things.

Just how it’s supposed to be.

Last Weekend

2011-09-03T21:06:00.001-05:00

I’m way behind on blogging. I feel like I have so much to say, but not enough time to say it all, so I get overwhelmed and don’t say anything. I’m going to try to just get some things out there. I’ve been quite busy at work, which always makes everything else a little hectic. But I think things may calm down a little as we get farther into September. . . .

So I’ll start with last week. I had a work retreat in Atlanta from Thursday until Saturday. Gary got to spend some quality time with the kids and I think they had fun. He was kind enough to text me some photos of the kids sleeping each night, and send a few other photos here and there for me while I was in my meetings. Overall it was a productive work retreat, but I was glad when I got on the road to come home.

The Boudreaux Trio turned 2 on Sunday, and they had their birthday party last Saturday. We were lucky enough to be invited, and luckily the timing worked out where I met Gary and the kids at the party on my way back into town. Brian grilled some burgers which Penelope especially enjoyed.

And we had cake. The big kids are definitely figuring out this cake at birthday parties thing. They know that when people start singing that the cake is not far behind. Piper really cracked me up because I told her to sit down after the “party day song” (as the kids call it), she said, “But I need my cake!” Not want, NEED. She did get her cake, and we got to watch the birthday girls and boy enjoy their cakes as well!

It was a great party to start off my weekend. Sunday we did some grocery shopping (it was Rosemary’s turn to go with me and she really enjoyed herself), some cooking, some napping, and some laundry. And it didn’t even bother me that much that my weekend was cut short from the work retreat because I knew we had this long holiday weekend coming up. I hope you’re all enjoying your Labor Day weekend!

Eye Update

2011-08-30T21:05:00.001-05:00

Piper complained about her eye hurting pretty regularly for a couple of days after her injury. Then she only talked about it hurting when she didn’t want to do what we asked her to do. Even though we had a rough start with the eye drops, Piper quickly allowed us to give her eye drops like a big girl (so long as she received a Dora sticker right after the drop).

Piper had a follow-up appointment with her eye doctor yesterday. She was very disappointed to start out with some dilating eye drops, but she quickly recovered. Piper’s eye doctor said her eye had completely healed and said that we could stop the antibiotic eye drops, and Piper yelled “YAY!” Since Piper was already dilated, the doctor went ahead and did a full eye exam, and declared Piper to have 20/20 eyesight and otherwise perfect eyes. He did say that Piper is going to be nearsighted (no surprise as both Gary and I are) and that we need to bring her back before kindergarten and then regularly thereafter so that we can make sure we catch the nearsightedness right away to put her in glasses and avoid her squinting at the board in the classroom, etc.

After the eye appointment, I did not have enough time to take Piper home and go back to work. I knew that I could take Piper to work with me and at least get a few e-mails out. Piper was thrilled to learn that she was going to go to work with me for about an hour. She literally strutted down the halls in her sunglasses and wearing her backpack. She didn’t talk to many people, but she warmed up a bit before we left and we even walked around seeing a few people before leaving. While in my office, I set her up with one of my guest chairs and a plant stand, and she had her snack and helped me work by putting some foam stickers on a foam background.

I don’t know how I would have made it through the afternoon without her.

Again

2011-08-24T21:18:00.001-05:00

It’s probably my fault. This morning when I got to work, I was unusually excited that all I had on my calendar was lunch. The last two weeks I’ve had way too many things on my calendar. I was pretty cocky in thinking that I was actually going to get some work done today instead of running from one location to another.

I quickly learned why that line of thinking is never good. That line of thinking tempts fate entirely too much. See, earlier this morning as I was spraying Penelope’s head with one squirt of the kid-safe detangler that I’ve used on the kids for two years, Piper started yelling that I sprayed her in her eye. First of all, I did not spray Piper in her eye. Secondly, I don’t think she was close enough to get the slightest bit of detangler in her eye. I won’t say that Piper is a drama queen, but I will say that her apparent over-reaction to the detangler was not that surprising to Gary or to me. Her eye was a little red, but then she had been rubbing it and screaming for a while, so we assumed that it should be red.

I was at work when Miss Sally called later and said that Piper was still complaining about her eye and that it was red and swollen. Gary and I called Piper’s eye doctor, and were advised to take her to the local eye emergency room.

Another emergency room trip.

But then eyes are pretty important. . . .

In the end, they checked the pH of Piper’s eye and she didn’t have anything chemical going on in her eye. She does, however, have a corneal abrasion (or, as I describe it, a scratch on her eyeball). We don’t know how she got it, but I think that she probably got it when she was rubbing her eye. Regardless, the good news is that even though she is hurting a bit right now, she should be as good as new in another day or two. In the meantime, we treat her with antibiotic drops to avoid infection and some artificial tears to help keep her eye nice and moisturized.

Maybe THIS is the last ER trip we will make for a while. . . .

At least Piper seemed to enjoy the attention from the doctors and nurses (most of the time) and the unfettered access to my cellphone.

She’s Walking

2011-08-23T22:01:00.001-05:00

Tonight I put Penelope down in her room and she walked about 10 feet. I don’t think that either of us expected it. As soon as she started walking, I started yelling, “She’s walking! She’s walking! She’s walking!” Gary immediately flew up the stairs but didn’t make it in time to see her walking that time, but she quickly took another few steps so that he could witness it all firsthand.

Despite the fact that she is my fourth child to walk, and the fact that a 12-month-old starting to walk is hardly anything extraordinary, I can’t help but be incredibly proud of her. I’m probably way more proud of her than is reasonable, but I can’t help it. I’ve felt this way when each of my kids started walking. It’s just amazing to me that little babies turn into little kids. I can’t even begin to imagine them turning into anything bigger than little kids. . . .

Penelope’s First Birthday Party ~ Post Four

2011-08-22T21:07:00.001-05:00

The kids couldn’t wait for Penelope to open up her gifts! We had to keep reminding them that the presents were for Penelope and NOT for them. I don’t know that they ever really understood that concept, but they do seem to realize that Penelope’s toys are hers and that they can only play with them if she approves.

If you could say that Penelope had a favorite gift, it would probably have to be Dolly (we are so original with names) from Nana and Papa. . . .

But she also enjoyed her cards and all of her other great gifts.

She even got some help from Grandma and Henry to put together some of her toys!

This finally concludes the first birthday party photos! Thanks again to Cathy and Amanda for these photos! Back to our regularly scheduled blogging activities after this. . . .

Penelope’s First Birthday ~ Post Three

2011-08-21T20:26:00.001-05:00

It’s taking me way too long to get these birthday photos posted! I’ve been pretty busy at work, and then we’ve had a busy weekend. Piper, Rosemary, and I went to a princess birthday party yesterday, Piper and I went to the grocery store (it was her turn), we’ve played outside, we’ve gone to Costco and out for yogurt, and last night Gary and I even got to fish an English pea out of Henry’s nose using a bulb syringe and a pair of tweezers. Fun stuff.

Anyway – here are some more photos from Penelope’s birthday party, the cake edition.

As soon as Penelope saw her smashcake, she had no hesitation. She knew that it was hers and it was going to be good.

She dug right in. . . .

And then she started shoveling the cake into her mouth, which was a source of great entertainment to the big kids.

At one point the big kids could no longer control themselves. They had to have a little taste of Penelope’s cake.

Penelope really loved her cake!

And boy was she a mess to clean up. It took both Gary and I to get her clean.

As always, thanks to Amanda and Cathy for the awesome photos! I think I’ve got one more post from the birthday party, and hopefully I’ll get that up early this week and move on to current life!

Penelope’s First Birthday Party ~ Post Two

2011-08-18T22:17:00.001-05:00

Penelope had a lot of family and so many great friends come to her birthday party. Here are a photos of some of the party guests. . . .

Thanks again to Cathy and Amanda for the awesome photos!

Penelope’s First Birthday Party ~ Post One

2011-08-16T22:54:00.001-05:00

Penelope’s first birthday party was this past weekend. I think it was a great success! Penelope had a great time – and so did Gary and I, and the big kids. I hope that our guests enjoyed themselves as well.

I’m absolutely thrilled with how everything for Penelope’s party turned out. For this post, I’ll focus on the “party things” and save the guests and events for later posts. Unlike the kids’ birthday party, I was actually able to take some of the photos in this post myself. Luckily, Cathy and Amanda were kind enough to serve as photographers for the party so that I could focus on the party while knowing that the party would be properly photographically documented.

I started the process for Penelope’s birthday party by contacting Kristy with Allison Powell Designs. I gave her some vague idea of what I was thinking for Penelope’s birthday party – pink and gray, maybe some yellow, birdies, etc. In response, she sent me some fabulous party printables! I can’t say how much I love what she designed for Penelope’s party.

I received digital files of every type of party item you can imagine, and I used almost all of them. You will see them again and again in the party blog posts. Kristy’s design served as the inspiration for our entire party.

My biggest worry was the cake. I knew what sort of cake I wanted, but just wasn’t finding the right person to make it happen. I worked very hard on finding just the right person to make the cake. I got very, VERY lucky when I found Malinda Nichols. All I did was send her a copy of the invite that Kristy designed and a few links to cakes I found on the internet and liked . . . and I got this. . . .

Malinda also provided a fabulous smashcake for Penelope!

Penelope’s party hat was designed by Prop Shop Boutique using the decorative papers provided by Allison Powell Designs.

I think that the whole party set-up was just perfect for Penelope.

When we were kids, for our birthdays, my mom let us pick out what we wanted for dinner and for dessert. My brothers and I ALWAYS asked for spaghetti and strawberry cake. Always. I’ve wanted to incorporate strawberry cake into our kids’ birthday parties, and finally found a way to do that by using the cake recipe for cupcakes.

It just made everything seem more like a birthday party with the strawberry cake around.

For our party favors, I ordered some fabulous bird-shaped bird seed favors from Nature Favors.

And the most important decoration was for Penelope. She was very stylish in her custom retro ruffler from Rae Gun!

The retro ruffler was nicely complimented by a bib from Bean Pickle Sprout.

Penelope seemed to approve.

What a happy baby! I just love everything about this birthday party – especially the birthday girl!

More soon. . . .

Rosemary’s Style

2011-08-11T21:10:00.001-05:00

Rosemary picked this one out all by herself.

She was more than happy to smile for the camera.

And more than happy to pose and dance for Daddy’s iPhone camera.

Big Girl!

2011-08-11T21:09:00.001-05:00

Today Penelope had her one-year check-up. Here are her stats:

Weight: 20 pounds 4 ounces (50th percentile)
Length: 29.5 inches (50th – 75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18 inches (75th percentile)

Not only is she a big girl, but she also is acting like a big girl. Tonight, in the big kids’ room before we read our book, I told her to go get her diaper (across the room) so that I could change her. She did! Now that makes for a much easier diaper-changing routine.

{one}

2011-08-10T20:40:00.001-05:00

I love hearing the kids talk over their monitor. This morning they woke up and were talking, then all of the sudden Piper said, “It’s baby’s party day!” {translation: birthday} Rosemary and Henry followed that up with excited voices saying, “Oh!! Party day! Happy party day!” Then they sang, “Oh Party Day” a few times. {translation: the “Happy Birthday” song}

I can’t believe that my baby girl Penelope turned one today. It seems like just yesterday that I was in and out of the hospital and then on bedrest with her. I’m still amazed that she was born term at her scheduled c-section. She has been a true joy. Well, that time from 6-10 months when she didn’t sleep at night wasn’t entirely pure joy, but we managed and at least I was spending time with a wonderful baby! She is the happiest, sweetest baby I could ever have asked for. And of course she’s pretty darn cute, too!

What I love most is watching her with the bigger kids. From the time they first met her at the hospital, they are so careful around her, but at the same time they treat her like she is one of them. And boy does she think she is one of them. She now eats every meal with the big kids, and as soon as they start crawling into their seats at the table she crawls over to her high chair, stands up, and bangs on it until we put her in it. She always wants to be with them, right in the middle of everything and laughing. If she isn’t with the big kids, like when they go to school or church camp, they are always asking where she is and why she isn’t with them.

I know that Penelope could walk, but so far she has only taken a couple of steps on her own. She can stand without pulling up on anything, and will walk everywhere just holding on to one of our hands, but she hasn’t quite figured out that she can do that on her own. Once she does, I’m quite sure that she will never sit down again.

Penelope talks a good bit. In addition to the words she’s had, she now says, “eat,” “done,” “book,” “shoes,” “door,” and so many other words.

Right now Penelope still has only 6 teeth. It seems like she hasn’t gotten any new teeth in months. Part of me wants her to just get in the next set all at once again. It’s rough for those few days, but then it’s over. . . .

We have Penelope’s one year check-up in the morning, so we’ll get her stats then. I had to take her to the pediatrician a couple of weeks ago for a sinus infection, and she was 19 pounds 14 ounces then, so I’m hoping she will be over 20 pounds tomorrow. She is now wearing clothes that Rosemary wore last summer. She has outgrown most of her 12 month things, and wears a lot of 12-18 month or 18 month clothes. I have a feeling that she will be as big as Rosemary pretty soon and it will look like we have either two sets of twins or quads.

One thing that makes Penelope very different from her siblings are her hair color and eye color. Her hair is now strawberry blonde and her eyes are green. I do think that her eyes seem to be turning brown, but I suppose that only time will tell whether they do turn brown in the end.

At Penelope’s appointment tomorrow we will also find out whether she is able to start on whole milk. Then I’ll start weaning myself off the breastpump and will just nurse Penelope in the morning when she wakes up and at night before bed. Honestly, I don’t think that I’m going to have a hard time weaning off the breastpump as my supply has taken a complete and total nosedive the last two weeks. I haven’t fought it much, mostly because I know that will make things easier later when I quit. I was hoping to maintain enough of a supply to nurse Penelope in the morning and at night for a while, but I don’t think that will happen once I stop pumping. Despite my worries throughout this past year about running out of breastmilk, I never even used frozen breastmilk for Penelope. We have a freezerful of it, plus some more in another freezer. Luckily, I have a friend who is going to take it off my hands to use as a back-up supply for her baby.

Saturday is Penelope’s birthday party, and I can’t wait. We are going to have so much fun. And I’ll have TONS of photos then, too!

Happy Birthday my sweet Penelope!!

Saturday Shopping

2011-08-06T21:41:00.001-05:00

Today was Rosemary’s turn to go shopping with me. We went to Party City (a/k/a the “party store”) and Publix (the “store”). We started with the party store and were just picking up a few last minute things for Penelope’s first birthday party next weekend. Rosemary really loved the party store, and was especially excited about all of the balloons that were there. We walked through the back of the store where the Halloween decorations were, though, and Rosemary immediately began saying, “I don’t like it.” I told her to cover her eyes, and she did while I rushed out of the Halloween section. Once we were back in the bright and happy party area of the store, I told her that she could open her eyes and she did, looked around, and declared, “I like it!”

One of the sweetest moments today was when we were about to turn into Publix, and Rosemary told me, “I want to see Pipe-ah, Henny, and baby.” I asked her if she would be able to make it to the grocery store before she saw them, and she said yes.

When Rosemary found out this morning that we were going shopping, she said that we needed to “buy some bananas.” She reminded me of that repeatedly until we got home and she was able to look in the fruit bowl and see that we did indeed come home with bananas.

Sadly, all those bananas may not even last us the week. . . . We eat LOTS of bananas in this house.

We had a really nice time together today, and I enjoyed getting to talk with Rosemary without much interruption. These individual trips out are so much fun, but whoever I take with me always really misses everyone else, which makes for fun when everyone is reunited and hugs as if they haven’t seen one another in days. Rosemary was very, very happy when we got home and she could see her brother and sisters. I love their bond.

A Good Day

2011-08-02T21:45:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday was just a good day. We had lots of things go right. First, we got up and went to Cracker Barrel to have breakfast with Nana and Papa.

Penelope did not disappoint. She shoveled the hashbrown casserole into her mouth as fast as she could. And when that was gone she started grabbing the hashbrown casserole off my plate and Nana’s plate. No hashbrown casserole was safe around baby girl!

We went back to the house and played around a bit, then had lunch and it was naptime. The kids didn’t nap for very long, so it didn’t take much for them to persuade us to grab some frozen yogurt for the afternoon snack.

After yogurt, the kids all went into the backyard to play soccer with Gary while I worked on dinner. Between what Nana and Papa brought us from the garden and what I had gotten from a local farm that delivers fresh veggies to our office, we had a great summer meal of corn on the cob, squash casserole, fried okra, and sliced tomatoes. Yummy.

I think that was the first time that the kids had fried okra. They were a little suspicious when I first offered them a piece before dinner, but they all immediately wanted more. Those kids know good food when they see it.

So Saturday was a good day. A very good day.

Sunday was still a good day. Mostly. Sort of. It was a hard day. The kids woke up in a bad mood and pretty much refused to do anything we told them to do. We decided to press forward and try to force everyone have a good day regardless, and headed to the zoo. After a few meltdowns, we explained to the kids that if they couldn’t get it together and behave that we’d have to leave the zoo early. They made it to the sea lion show, the monkeys, and the splash pad. It all went way downhill after that, and ended with Gary carrying a kicking and screaming Rosemary under his arm and out of the zoo. I was behind him with Penelope in the stroller and Piper and Henry holding on to each side of the stroller, while Henry said over and over, “Rosa no ‘have. We go home.” (In case you need an interpreter, that’s “Rosemary didn’t behave, so we have to go home.”)

We were totally “those people” at the zoo on Sunday. If you saw us, we’re sorry for the scene. It wasn’t pretty.

A New Era . . . for the Nebulizer, Anyway

2011-07-30T21:43:00.001-05:00

Giving Rosemary a nebulizer treatment used to be quite the job. We would sing, play pat-a-cake, and generally do whatever we could to keep her occupied. Yet we’d still spend a good part of the treatment pretty much forcing her to take it. Now we just turn on some Dora and leave her alone to handle it herself. Times have changed.

Did you notice our guest in the chair? Isn’t our friend the bear cute? Gary’s sister, Cindy, and her family gave the bear to the kids for their birthday. We call him “Bear” (because we’re creative and all). That is his chair. He goes to sleep at night and wears a sombrero over his eyes. Rosemary initially was not very fond of Bear, so we had to make him go to sleep for her to get a little more comfortable with him. Now she’ll even touch him when he’s awake. Progress all around.

Forks

2011-07-28T21:06:00.001-05:00

We started giving the kids forks when they were about 18 months old. There’s no real reason that we gave forks to them at that age. Honestly, it’s just when we sort of thought to do it. Since I’m already fixing plates and handing out forks for the big kids, I’ve just started fixing Penelope her own plate and giving her a fork. She usually dumps her plate pretty quickly, so I take that away. But she holds on to her fork. Imagine my surprise the other day when I turned around and saw her with this:

Penelope ate the great majority of her meal with her fingers, but she ended up managing to get about 3 pieces of food on her fork to eat. I’m pretty impressed. She is such a big girl!!

P.S. Yes, she is wearing a boy’s bib. We’ve gotten to where we don’t pay much attention to such things – at least when we’re talking about bibs. A bib is a bib is a bib, after all.

Again with the Zoo

2011-07-27T21:47:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we decided that we needed to get out of the house, so we took the kids to their third trip to the zoo in a week. They didn’t complain, though. First we went to see the sea lions, then we stopped by to see a show where they brought out a big snake and an owl. To my shock, the kids sat mesmerized for the show.

And of course a trip to the zoo is not a trip to the zoo without stopping to see the monkeys.

After the monkeys, we grabbed a bite to eat. Once we sat down to eat, we realized that we forgot a sippy cup for Penelope. I decided that I would just let her drink a little water out of my cup. She surprised us by yanking the cup out of my hands and drinking from it herself. Sure, she got a little wet, but overall did a great job.

Then the kids ran around and played a bit, and Rosemary had some extra Daddy time after the hand dryer unexpectedly went off in the bathroom.

For the finale, we took a train ride. I think Rosemary was the most excited.

Penelope wasn’t that excited about it at first, but she finally settled in and enjoyed herself a little.

For some reason, the zoo just never gets old for any of us!

It’s Been a Week

2011-07-24T21:39:00.001-05:00

It’s been a week since my last blog post. Thankfully, it’s also been a week since we went to the Children’s ER. And it has been a really busy week at work. I feel like I don’t have much to say other than those things, but then I also feel like there’s too much that I’ve missed blogging about. I went well over a week without taking a single photo, and the lack of photos seems to directly affect my inspiration for blog posts. . . .

The one thing that I remember the most from the last week are the new things that the kids have been saying. Every day they say so many funny things. For instance, the kids will often tell me when something is funny. If something they think is funny happens, they say, “It funny!” Sometimes they think something is funny that is not funny (like when someone decides to spit out their milk). Piper has now taken to saying, “Not funny!!” when something is not funny. I very much appreciate that. It’s quite helpful to have someone on my side.

When I tell the kids to do something, if they don’t do it, I count to three. Henry has started doing the same thing with his sisters when they don’t do what he wants. I don’t think it’s been working for him yet. His manners are improving though, because the other day he and Rosemary were fighting over something and he was yelling, “Please! Please!” Unfortunately that didn’t work for him either.

One morning Rosemary told me that Penelope needed some panties. After I explained that Penelope couldn’t wear panties until she was potty trained, Rosemary promised to potty train Penelope while I was at work (unfortunately, Rosemary was not successful).

Penelope is also saying lots of things. Just yesterday she developed two new words -- “Mama” (finally!) and “teeth” (after dinner when it was time to brush her teeth). These words are added to her others: "bye bye,” “dada,” “Dora,” “backpack” (Penelope shares her sisters and brother’s obsession with Dora the Explorer), and “high five.” She’s also getting very close to saying, “Sally” for our Miss Sally. I’m sure she’ll have that perfected in no time!

And I’m quite sure that I’ll remember about 20 cute things the kids have been saying that I could have blogged about once I publish this blog post. . . . Isn’t that how it always works?

I hope you’ve all had a great week. I finally broke my photography break and took some photos today, so hopefully my blog inspiration will return.

We Really Have to Find Something Else to Do on Saturday Nights

2011-07-17T22:12:00.001-05:00

Last week was a busy week for us. Early on in the week I went to the doctor for some ankle issues I’ve been having, and was diagnosed with an anterolateral ankle impingement. For now I’m taking anti-inflammatories, wearing my orthotics (which only fit in my tennis shoes, so I’m rocking that style with my work clothes), and starting physical therapy in the morning. On top of that, work was pretty hectic, so I was really looking forward to the weekend.

We had a fun, but busy, weekend planned. One of Gary’s work friends got married here in town this weekend, and one of Gary and my friends from law school got married in Chattanooga. Luckily, it worked out so that we could go to both of the weddings, and left the reception of the first wedding to drive to the second. We left the kids at home. Auntie Ann took the first shift watching the kids, and Miss Sally took the second shift. We went to both weddings and had a wonderful time.

Except Gary didn’t let me take my camera in to either wedding or reception. I kept trying to convince him that there were plenty of people at the weddings with dSLRs, but it turned out that every time I showed him someone else with a big camera, they were indeed the wedding photographers. So, I guess he had a point. Anyway, that’s part of the reason you don’t have any pictures in this post.

We had considered staying overnight in Chattanooga since it was just the two of us. In the end, we decided to come on home last night mostly because we wanted to spend all of Sunday with the kids since we didn’t see them much on Saturday. We knew it wouldn’t be an ideal drive home, but we knew that once we got home that we’d be glad we went ahead and made the drive. I had no idea how right that would be.

We got home around 10:30, checked on all the kids while they were sleeping (we love doing that every night before we go to bed) and we went to bed around 11:00. About 11:30 Henry started coughing pretty badly. Gary went upstairs and gave him a breathing treatment then came downstairs. Henry was still coughing, and Gary said that he thought I should check him and see what I thought. I went up to check on him. As I was walking up the stairs I could hear him trying to breathe from the stairwell. I knew this wasn’t good. I got in his room and sat down on his bed and held him for a few seconds. He sounded really bad. Then I grabbed him up and ran downstairs and told Gary I thought we needed to go to the hospital. Gary took one look at Henry and agreed. Henry’s breathing had gotten much worse even since Gary was upstairs with him. I didn’t even brush my teeth, and didn’t even get Henry dressed, (and later noticed that I was wearing some not so awesome clothes) and we got in the car to head to the Children’s ER.

I had considered calling an ambulance. The only other time I’ve even considered dialing 911 was this past Thanksgiving. But I remembered that our pediatrician said that typically for it’s better for us to just drive there than call the ambulance unless it’s a situation where we just know we need an ambulance. I wasn’t sure, but I decided to just go and keep a close eye on Henry during the drive. We left the house around 11:45. About halfway there Henry got worse and I put on my hazards and drove faster. Thankfully, people were pretty good about moving out of my way and letting me get to where I needed to go.

We got to the Children’s ER and went in. Henry was actually better by the time we walked in the ER (I later learned that was probably due to being out in the cooler night air), but we were still taken back immediately for treatment. We were told pretty much immediately that Henry had croup. Henry received 5 stickers from his nurse and an oral dose of steroids. We were sent home with directions to come back if he sounded croup-y again at rest, and I made it home by 2:15, just two and a half hours after I’d left the house. Gary was waiting on us (he stayed awake texting me for most of the visit to the ER), and Penelope started crying about the time we got Henry in bed. I don’t know what was wrong her her (I suspect gas and a tummyache) but she was up crying until around 4:00, when we finally went to sleep for the night.

Even though it was a really long night, I’m really really really glad that we were home for it and didn’t spend the night in Chattanooga. I’m also thankful that we had the weddings planned, because I didn’t go on the annual girls’ spa weekend trip. I can’t imagine what Gary would have done had I not been at home – I guess he really would have had to call 911 then wait for someone to get to the house to watch the other kids so that he could meet Henry – or he would have had to take all 4 kids to the ER, and I would have taken off for home in the middle of the night. Regardless, it would have been horrible for all of us. If an ER trip has to happen, I much prefer it to happen with both Gary and I there with the kids.

Today was a very laidback day. Gary and I took shifts – I had the kids for the morning shift while Gary slept and then Gary had the kids for the afternoon shift while I slept. I slept like a rock. Henry has been almost perfect today. We’ve heard only a few minor croup-y sounds coming from him.

For dinner tonight, I made some comfort food – a hot dog and baked beans dish in the crockpot. Henry especially enjoyed his dinner. One of the things they told me at the ER is that if the kids start sounding croup-y to give them something really cold to try to help with the inflammation. So after dinner when Henry asked for ice cream, we quickly gave in. Piper and Rosemary couldn’t finish their ice cream, so Henry was happy to finish theirs off for them. Gary and I stood by watching and relieved that Henry was eating so well.

We went upstairs for bedtime and Henry and Rosemary started running from one end of the room to another. They had so much fun. Then Henry walked over to me and told me that he needed a bucket. I replied that he didn’t need a bucket, at which point he promptly threw up all over me. And it was not just a little bit of spit-up, I completely and totally got full-on thrown up on. I hollered for Gary, and he came out to help while I continued to get thrown up on.

At this point, Gary and I were laughing. Really laughing. Because, in the end, no matter how many crazy things happen this weekend, at that point in time our kids were really okay. Sure we shouldn’t have let Henry eat so much ice cream at dinner, but we’re all mostly okay even after the scare not too many hours earlier.

We told Henry that he was okay and he only threw up because he had too much ice cream, and Gary gave Henry a quick bath while I changed clothes and took a quick shower. We resumed the bedtime routine and everyone is now in bed, Henry with his bucket.

The thing that worries me most now is that we end up back at Children’s ER with a different child tonight. The ER doctor told me that one virus is typically responsible for causing croup. All four kids (and I) have that cold virus, and Henry was the first one who came down with it. On top of that, the ER doctor told me that it is usually early night when it hits – just like it did for Henry last night. Hopefully everyone will sleep soundly and breathe well all night.

So, that is our second Saturday night in a row at the Children’s ER. We really need to work on finding something else to do on Saturday nights!!!

DeSoto Caverns (Part II)

2011-07-12T20:58:00.001-05:00

After we rode the train, our next activity at DeSoto Caverns was to pan for gemstones. To my great surprise, Henry especially REALLY enjoyed panning for gemstones. And he was very good at it!

{Just in case you’re interested, you can find hats like Henry’s hat on Totsy (a site similar to Zulily) for another day or two. If you need an invite to Totsy (or Zulily), just shoot me your e-mail and I’ll send you one.}

Piper and Rosemary enjoyed panning for gemstones, too.

But I don’t think they could possibly have enjoyed it as much as Henry!

The kids loved having the little baggies of their gemstones and they insisted on holding them for the hour-long drive home. When we got home, Gary took the kids upstairs to bathe them then we got them settled in for naps.

Then Piper – who I refer to as a teenager due to her love of sleep – called for me to go upstairs. When I got up there, she told me that her tummy hurt. I gave her some gas medicine. About 15 minutes later, the same thing happened again. I gave her some gas medicine again and told her that if she couldn’t go to sleep to call for me again and I’d come get her. Well, she finally slept. But when I got downstairs again, Gary told me that when he got the kids out of their carseats that Piper didn’t have all of her gemstones.

Uh-oh.

I went out to the car and found several gemstones that had been dropped, but there was just no way to be sure that we had all the ones we found panning. When Piper got up from her nap, she started talking again about how much her tummy hurt. The problem is that Piper will answer almost any question in the affirmative. I tried to lead her into telling me whether she’d eaten the gemstones, but she didn’t fall for any of my questions. I finally had to flat out ask her if she ate any of the “rocks” and, as I had fully expected, she said yes.

So at about 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night, Piper and Gary took a trip to the Children’s ER. She had an x-ray, but the doctors told us that the gemstones wouldn’t show up on the x-ray unless they were all glass. What?!! I still don’t understand how that works, but we weren’t able to get any confirmation of whether she actually ate any of the gemstones. We did learn that the biggest risk (based on the size and shape of the potentially eaten gemstones) is that they are stuck on the way into her tummy. The doctors eventually determined that the gemstones, if indeed any were eaten, had made their way to her tummy and would make their way out eventually.

Gary was home with Piper (and her requested dinner of fries and chicken) by 10:00 p.m. The poor child was almost drunk from lack of sleep (in full “I love you” stage) and covered with bribery stickers. I couldn’t stop laughing when she walked in and just fell into my arms to hug me and say “Maaaaamaaaaaa” as if she hadn’t seen me in days. Piper certainly had a great time that night.

In the end, despite not making it through the cave tour, the busted lip, and the trip to the ER, we still had a really good time on Saturday. Just a day in the life, right?

First Trip to DeSoto Caverns (Part I)

2011-07-11T22:20:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday we decided to go to DeSoto Caverns. I’ve seen several billboards for it lately, and the thought of a cave that stays at 70 degrees sounded pretty good this past very hot weekend. Since it is about an hour from our house, we left pretty early and decided to let Penelope take her morning nap on the way there. We got the kids up and took turns showering and getting ready and packing up whatever we needed for the drive. Gary loaded the kids up in the car while I tried to be sure we had everything we needed ready to go. At some point I realized Gary wasn’t wearing his shoes. I asked why and he said that he needed some socks. I said that I’d run in and get them, but he wanted to do it himself. So, I settled in the front seat with the four kids in the back of the car while Gary went in to get the socks.

And we waited. . . .

It’s not unusual. Typically, after everyone is loaded up and ready to go, Gary inevitably has to go get something that takes far longer than it should. This time, however, the kids wanted to discuss it. Henry started by telling me that he was ready to go. I explained that we were waiting on Daddy. Rosemary asked where Daddy was, and I said that Daddy was inside getting his socks. Piper asked why, and assuming that she was asking why he was STILL inside getting his socks, I told her that he was just slow. Then all the big kids agreed with me and repeated, “Daddy’s slow,” a few times. I agreed. Then Gary showed up and started getting something out of his car. That took a while. Again, the kids noted that “Daddy’s slow.”

Then Gary finally got in the car and told me that I didn’t even want to know what took him so long. For once, after being married to the man for more than 10 years, I decided that I did want to know. And this is the story he told me:

Gary went in his closet to get a pair of socks. {I have NO idea why he would go to his closet to get his socks instead of his sock drawer.} While Gary was looking for his socks, he saw a Slim Jim packet. {Again, I have NO idea why there are nasty Slim Jims in his closet.} He decided that he should eat one, but quickly because we were all in the car waiting on him. Because Gary was eating so quickly, a piece of the Slim Jim got stuck in his teeth. So he started looking for some dental floss. We had no dental floss in the bathroom at all. {Gary later confirmed that he did not look for dental floss in the bottom drawer in the bathroom where we keep the extra toothbrushes and dental floss.} So he looked for dental floss in the kitchen. Because there was no dental floss in the kitchen {imagine that!}, he looked for dental floss in his car. Then he decided to just suck it up and deal with the Slim Jim wedged in his teeth and got in the car with us.

I cannot imagine all the stories that he has of what he was doing when the kids and I were sitting in the car for 5 minutes while he ran inside to get just one thing. In a way it’s disturbing, but then it’s also very entertaining. Maybe I’ll just start asking what was going on each time. If nothing else, I can probably get some blog material out of it!

Then we left for DeSoto Caverns. Gary and I really liked that we had that hour drive. The kids enjoy rides and usually stay pretty quiet, which gives Gary and I some time to just sit and talk. It may seem a little silly, but we really enjoy that time.

The kids were excited as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. While Gary went in to buy our tickets for the tour caves and attractions, the kids and I waited and watched some water.

Henry has worn that hat for days. He loves it. I think he looks quite dapper in his hat. He certainly gets a lot of compliments on it. It makes me think of my granddaddy who always wore hats.

First, we decided to go on the cave tour. We got in line . . .

. . . and went into the cave.

Almost as soon as we walked in, it was dark Rosemary told us that she wanted out. But she held it together quite well and we stayed for a while. Not surprisingly, the tour guide wasn’t really doing a great job of keeping the kids’ attention. Even though they weren’t supposed to climb on anything, the kids had a hard time not climbing on all the great rocks. Then Penelope started discovering that her singing sounded really great inside that big cave. After about 20 minutes, we decided to give the other folks on the tour a break and we left.

Despite Rosemary stating that she wanted out the whole time, we left and she immediately announced that she liked the cave. You have to to love kids.

We grabbed some hot dogs for lunch then had a seat at a picnic table.

Poor Rosemary fell and busted her lip on the picnic bench, but she was tough despite the fat lip (which she is now quite proud of and shows everyone).

A ride on the choochoo train made her feel better.

To be continued. . . .

A New Pool

2011-07-09T22:42:00.001-05:00

Our pool from last summer was great and it lasted through the summer. Granted not all of the pool lasted the whole summer, but we were able to use it as a pool for the whole summer – which is the main goal. So, I started looking for a pool to use this summer. I had told myself that I was going to get something simple, but I had a hard time making myself do that. We need a large pool for all of the kids, and those pools with all the cool stuff are just fun!

Sooooooo . . . I went with a big fun pool with a slide and everything. After I bought it, I had a little buyer’s remorse – mostly because it was more expensive than what we really needed. Well, let me tell you, every bit of that buyer’s remorse went out the window when those kids saw that pool. All four of them loved it. It was a ton of fun to watch them play, and I can’t wait to watch them play in it all summer.

Church Camp ~ Pirates, Princesses, and Fairy Tales

2011-07-07T20:48:00.001-05:00

Last week the kids had church camp. The theme was “Pirates, Princesses, and Fairy Tales.” Next week is another church camp on “Beach and Ocean Fun” and I know the kids are going to be really excited. The kids loved getting to spend some time away from home this summer while school is out. Here’s what the kids’ camp teacher had to say about them in some notes at the end of the week:

To Piper’s Mommy & Daddy – I have really enjoyed getting to know Piper this week :) ! She is such a talker and has enjoyed camp, and has really enjoyed puzzles too! I love hearing her say “I need help!” :) She is doing great on the potty – keep up the great work and I will see you in a couple weeks!

To Henry’s Mommy & Daddy – What a sweet soft spoken boy! Henry has been so much fun to have this week – I am glad that we only had a few tears initially :) ! He had a great time – and is doing so good on the potty. What a big boy! I can’t wait to see you at camp in a few weeks!

To Rosemary’s Mommy & Daddy – Rosemary has such a sweet smile – she has been such a joy to have this week :) ! She really enjoyed sitting with Piper and working on puzzles – and also was the first to check on her friends! Keep up the great work on teh potty – you are doing awesome :) !

The kids had a great time, and brought home lots of loot that they made during the week. The favorite were some magic wands that Piper and Rosemary made.

But I eventually had to take the magic wands away. See, the kids started using them to turn each other into frogs and bunnies. Sometimes one of them didn’t want to be a frog or bunny, and they were really upset when they all of the sudden became a frog or bunny and the person holding the magic wand refused to reverse things. After much screaming and crying, I took away the magic wands and turned everyone back into little boys and girls. Problem solved – for now!

Three-Year Check-Up

2011-07-06T20:58:00.001-05:00

Today we had the kids’ three-year check-up. I think it went really well. No one had ear infections, and everyone was declared healthy! Henry was particularly funny. Each time the doctor tried to examine Henry, Henry insisted that it was Piper or Rosemary’s turn, which was quite entertaining.

The biggest news is the kids’ height and weight changes. We’ve always kept a close eye on the kids’ growth and, consequently, the food they eat. I think it’s probably just how one reacts to having three really small babies. Basically, we had a 4-pounder, a 3-pounder, and an almost-2-pounder when the kids were born. For a while we looked at the growth charts and developmental milestones based on two ages -- the kids’ actual age (how old they really are) versus their adjusted age (how old they would be had they been born at their due date). By around 18 months, the doctors expect that they should be mostly caught up and adjusted age should be disregarded. Our kids have been slowly, but surely, moving up their curves on the growth chart. Rosemary was 2 before she hit the growth chart (meaning she was above the 3rd percentile for anything other than head circumference), but she is definitely moving up.

Based on last year’s statistics, the kids have fallen on the growth chart for height. But they’ve gone up the chart for weight! The way I see it, the only thing that we can really attempt to control is weight, and that’s going well. The kids certainly have the genes to be not-so-tall anyway.

So, without further ado, here are the stats from today:

Piper:
35 inches tall (10th percentile)
30 pounds (50th percentile)

Henry:
36 1/4 inches tall (25th percentile)
29 pounds (25th percentile)

Rosemary:
34 inches tall (3rd percentile)
27 pounds (25th percentile)

Now, according to the pediatrician, Rosemary’s 34 inches puts her in the 3rd percentile range. I’m not saying that’s not right, but I saw that chart. It only went down to the 5th percentile and Rosemary was waaaaaaay below that line. But we’ll go with the 3rd percentile for now!

Their next check-up is when the kids are 4 years old. If only we could go that long without trips to the pediatrician’s office. . . .

Happy 4th!

2011-07-04T21:19:00.001-05:00

I hope you all had a great 4th of July! We had an amazing weekend. The last couple of months have been really busy: packing and vacation, kids’ birthday party, potty training, some big work stuff going on. . . . And I knew that this weekend could be a laidback weekend – the first in a long time. I hoped to do some laundry and some cooking, and I did. I hoped to avoid work, which I’ve almost done. I was so looking forward to such a great weekend that I just knew something was going to happen to ruin it – for instance a day in the ER. But, nothing ruined it. It’s been a great weekend.

We went to our neighborhood pool twice – Saturday and today. We went to Costco. We grilled out. We played in the yard a lot. We painted toenails. We took some great naps each day. I managed to make a dent in the piles of stuff sitting in the kitchen and I think I’ve mostly stayed caught up with laundry. Sure I forgot to make that breakfast casserole that must be made the night before every single night, and I completely forgot to make the dinner I’d planned for tonight, but we managed. Mostly, we just had fun being together as a family.

Sunday afternoon I pulled out some red, white, and blue pinwheels that I thought ~~would be a good photography prop~~ the kids would enjoy. Henry was hilarious. He kept trying to blow on the pinwheel to get it to spin, but he had a hard time getting the angle just right.

Poor Penelope was not happy about not being able to climb up the slide like the big kids.

All day yesterday Rosemary kept asking to go “pimmin’.” It took us a while to figure that one out, but she was saying that she wanted to go swimming! She is definitely our little fish. Today she had an inflatable ball that she refused to put down. She will swim by herself, and Piper will a little bit as long as Gary or I are close enough for her to grab. Henry prefers to play outside of the pool or on the pool steps, but Gary swam off with him today and Henry really enjoyed it.

We stayed at the pool for about two hours, then went back home for a late lunch and baths. Then the storms set in. I know that the storms probably disappointed a lot of people and ruined some holiday plans, but I was thrilled to have some storms move in for our afternoon naps. Unfortunately the electricity went out, but it was only out for about two hours and didn’t get too warm before it came back on. Perfect napping conditions.

Gary and I watched some fireworks on the television tonight. Maybe next year we’ll get everyone out to actually watch the fireworks, but this year we thought the late bedtime would be too much for Penelope to handle.

Now back to work tomorrow. . . .

Work Phone Call

2011-07-03T20:59:00.001-05:00

This past Thursday Miss Sally had to leave early so I came home from work to watch the kids. A couple of hours in, I got a call from someone at work saying that a client – who I had never spoken to before – needed to talk to someone that afternoon and I was the best person for the call. Piper and Rosemary were asleep, and Henry was watching television while Penelope played quietly, so I quickly called.

A few minutes into the call, I saw Henry go into the hallway to use his potty. Not long later, he yelled, “I teetee’d in the potty!” Henry was not that nearby, so I decided that my client probably didn’t hear him and tried to continue my call. Then, while standing at the potty with his underwear (or “panties” as he calls them – we’re working on that) around his ankles, Henry yelled, “MAMA! I teetee’d in the potty!” I gave him a big smile and held up the teetee treats to let him know that I was on it.

But that wasn’t good enough for Henry.

He started shuffling to me, underwear still around his ankles, yelling, “MAMA! I teetee’d in the potty!! I TEETEE’D IN THE POTTY!! MAMA!! I TEETEE’D IN THE POTTY!!!!” At this point he was standing right next to me, and my client on the phone cracked up laughing. I said, “I’m sorry, but I’m working from home this afternoon . . . and my son just teetee’d in the potty.”

The list of things that I say that I never thought I’d say on a work call is getting longer and longer. . . .

As an aside, potty training is going extremely well. In fact, I think we can go so far as to say that the kids ARE potty trained except for naptime and overnight. We felt confident enough to take them in panties and underwear to Costco today, and last week at church camp we did the same and they just had a few very minor accidents while they were standing in line to use the potty. There have been several naptimes when Piper or Rosemary wake up dry, so we may be on our way to naptime independence as well. I’m pretty shocked at how well – and quickly – this has gone. Fingers crossed this continues.

Partying It Up

2011-07-02T20:41:00.001-05:00

The day after the kids’ birthday party, we drove up to Laramy’s second birthday party! It had an Olivia theme, and my sister-in-law Kimberly did an awesome job with the party. I especially loved the cake!

The Whole Family at the Birthday Party

2011-07-01T22:06:00.001-05:00

Cathy took this photo of us toward the end of the birthday party.

All six of us, looking at the camera, and no one is crying. A huge success!!! I absolutely love this photo and know that I will cherish it for years to come.

And this concludes the third birthday party blog posts! We all had such a great time. But I am so ready for a nice, boring, three day weekend. . . .

The Birthday Cake

2011-06-30T21:19:00.001-05:00

The birthday cake was my favorite part of the birthday party, which surprised me a little bit. I think it was because for the first time that whole day I didn’t have to do anything but sit back and sing “Happy Birthday” to my kids. And I was standing there, singing, and watching my kids gaze at their birthday cake and lit candles with little smiles on their faces and I couldn’t help but just think a little bit.

I thought back to when I was not even 23 weeks pregnant and was hospitalized for preterm labor. I thought back to all those weeks in the hospital when we were terrified that we were going to have our kids too early.

I thought back to the day when I actually had them, and how everyone was running down the halls with me just laying there on the bed and the nurses kept telling me not to move just in case I accidentally had a baby before we got to the operating room.

And I thought back to those days in the NICU when Rosemary was getting a lumbar puncture to check for infection while I sat outside the NICU crying and waiting for a report from the doctor. Then there was the rest of the time in the NICU when things were going okay but we were on edge all the time knowing that in a matter of seconds things could be not be okay.

And I wished that someone had shown me any of these photos back then. Just one photo to reassure us that things really were going to be okay and that we could stop worrying so much.

While I standing there taking all this in, I was trying not to cry because how do you explain crying during the “Happy Birthday” song?!! And with the three big kids there celebrating their third birthday, and my husband standing nearby holding our fourth child, I was just quite simply happy, and the happiness has stayed with me since then. It was a powerful moment.

And then we ate cake.

Again, thank you Cathy and Amanda for the awesome photos.

The People at the Party

2011-06-29T20:53:00.001-05:00

We were very lucky to have many of our family and friends come to our party. Of course, the six of us were there. Plus we had grandparents, aunts, uncles, and many friends and their families (our blog friends present at the party were Auntie Ann, the Boudreaux Trioux, the Turners, Cathy, and Amanda).

The bouncy house was a big hit. Piper and Rosemary especially loved it on the party day!

Henry was a little less impressed with the bouncy house (but loved it the next day when it was just the ~~six of us~~ kids playing on it).

I think that of all of the kids, Rosemary liked it the best.

A special thank you to Cathy and Amanda for the photos in this blog post!!!