Canteloupe!

Azbrielle cracks me up...We are watching a movie (on our new projector and huge screen!), and there are animals on it.  It is the new DisneyNature--(very graphic, sad) and some deer-like animals come on there.  She shouts, "Canteloupe!  Canteloupe!"  meaning of course that she thought they were antelope.  It was so cute.

Sis seems like she may be getting sick now too...not again!  What a nightmare.  Went and bought more masks today at Walgreens because we are out of my DH ones...wow! Talk about expensive!  $6.99 for 10 masks!  Crazy.  But better safe than sorry...too bad we have to keep reminding them OVER and OVER to put them on!  They love the babies so much and are always trying to get close to them and talk and sing and play...but they forget to have their masks on and they are sick!!  Scott and I are nervous wrecks that the babies are going to get sick.  Won't be soon enough to pull the out of public school where all of this sickness is going around.  Nightmare.  If we didn't have the babies it would not be as big of a deal--Azbrielle and Weston can handle it now.  But it is the elderly and babies that can be most seriously affected...we will keep praying for health in our family.

I still have not taken the babies to church..and they are three months old.  Now it is the height of the sick season, so I am not too excited about taking them yet either.  Scott and I have been trading off halfway in the middle of the second hour when he is off so that we can both at least go to a little bit of church.  But tomorrow is a new adventure...Scott will be sleeping because he is on nights, and I have to at least go to sacrament because  the kids have their primary program tomorrow!  So not only do I have to take everyone by myself, but we have to be early too!!??  Righttttttt.  I will do my best.

So I am going to go do a CE class online and then go to bed...hopefully get some sleep so I can drag my bum out of bed in the am! Oh yeah...the last two nights when Scott was home and helping me, the babies slept a lot!  Thalaney slept from like 7:30 pm til 11and ate and then til 5:30 or so and then ate and went back to bed til 7:30 or 8, and Brody did the same except from about 12.  Then last night I don't really remember the exact times, but again they slept like a 6-hour chunk then got up and went to the bathroom and then ate and went back down til 8 or so!  Wow!  Now if only they will do that for me tonight when I am here on my own...

And to my Scottie...Miss you honey!  Have a safe night and can't wait to snuggle.  Love you! 

Tooth Fairy

Azbrielle lost another tooth yesterday---it was #Q, her LR lateral incisor.  #26 is already coming in behind where Q fell out; I really think there is a good chance she will end up with braces :(.  Now #D is getting loose too.  She is totally toothless on the front; she lost E and F a few months back.  She always waits until they are seriously just hanging there (usually by the front part of the root) and won't let us pull them out.  Last night when Fran and Jake were here, she let him pull it out for her with a kleenex.  Now she has lost five total and already has 24 and 25 erupted.  Go Sis!  And she LOVES it when the tooth fairy comes.  She actually came on time last night!  Woo Hoo.  She has been showing up a few days late lately.  Maybe we move so much she cannot find us??!!  Ha ha but not really.

Oh no, please not the flu!!

Well, I think it is finally happening...the thing we have been fearing.  Weston is very sick this weekend.  His temp got all the way up to 105 today---if it would not have come down with more meds, he would have landed in the ER.  And it is even more scary because of what happened to baby Emmett.  I am sure that was just a freak thing, but it obviously happens.  Not only are we worried about Weston, who is absolutely miserable with a horrible headache, sore throat, cough, moaning and groaning, etc...but we are also terrified that the babies will end up with it and really have to be in the hospital.  It is so scary.  All this talk about the "swine flu" and everything--it will be an epidemic, get the vaccine, hurry hurry!  NO way will any of us get the vaccine--mark my words, in 10 years people will be sick or dying or something because they got the stupid vaccine and what?  Long term effects?  You have got to be kidding!  Oh, maybe that is because there was not time for research to be done before they approved the shot!  Not us...we will just suffer through the sickness and pray for the best.  But it is so widespread now that they are not even testing for it anymore last we heard at our peds office.  So does Weston have the pig flu?  Who knows.  We probably never will.  But he is definitely pretty sick, and we are praying he starts feeling better soon.  I hate seeing him so miserable and hearing him moaning in his bed because he hurts so bad.  And tonight he got up (because he had to pee I think) and came out to the living room out of the blue and gave me a hug...what a doll.  I kind of thought maybe he was disoriented or delirious or something, just because he almost seemed not all with it.  But hey, I will love those hugs however I can get them.  Scott went in there with him and got him back to bed.  Pray for health in our home...

Weight updates

Holy smokes!  Brody is tipping the scales at a whopping 13.5 pounds!  Yeah Brody!  And he is leaving his twin sister in the dust---Delaney is barely 10 pounds!  But that is a long way from the 5'9oz that she got down to, so we will take it!  It is so amazing how differently they are built!  He is pretty much into 3-6 month clothes only now; he is out of all of the newborn clothes and 0-3 month stuff.  Crazy.  And he is only 11 weeks old today! 

And tonight when he was having his "tummy time"  (they both HATE tummy time and end up having a screaming match and we feel like crap but all the parenting/ baby books and doctors say they are supposed to have it!), he actually scooted a little bit.  Scott saw it not me, and he said he seriously scooted like 6 inches with his arms and knees.  Doesn't surprise me--his nickname is "Moose".   Delaney's nickname is "Squeak" or "Squeaky"--give you one guess where that one came from?!

Cheeks

Azbrielle cracks me up.  I had Brody on the potty chair tonight, and he was jabbering away.  He seems to like sitting on the potty, at least until he is done and ready to get off--which he alerts us to by screaming.  But anyways, here he sits just talking and cooing and smiling at Azbrielle.  She says, "He's got big cheeks."  I said yes he does have big cheeks...to which she replied, "He looks like a grandpa."  Cracked me up.  I kind of understand what she means though; like our other two boys, he kind of looks like a little man instead of a baby.  It was so cute.

Circumcision

A couple nights ago one of my friends who is very into AP (attachment parenting) posted an article/ blog about circumcision on baby boys.  I have always just decided to do it without thinking much of it; that's what you do right?  Well maybe not...maybe that is our problem of not thinking about it.  I mean, it is a permanent thing and a decision we are making for the boys without any input from them of course.  And you cannot tell me it does not hurt!!!  Like it pointed out in the blog, God does not give us anything on our bodies that does not have a purpose.  Low and behold, I guess the foreskin is actually an organ and has many purposes.  Great.  Now I feel like crap.  Since we had Brody circed just 7 weeks ago, I guess it is a little late.  But I feel bad---for all of them.  I am sorry guys.  I am glad of course that we did not have any infections or anything, but I am sorry that I put you through that and also that I took it away from you.  I would definitely research more and rethink it if I could...Hey Dr. Sean, can we sew that back on there????

Chase

Boy do I miss him...even with his sometimes bad attitude!  Hope he had a good week at school; I am going to call him tomorrow.  Sure would be nice if he called me; but I guess that must be "too much" to ask for?!  Probably having too much fun to think about us over here...I love him so much and worry about him and pray for him constantly.  I hope he turns out okay...and is happy...

Weston

He did the cutest thing last night.  He wanted one or both of us to come tuck him in like we always do.  I went in there a few minutes after he did, and he was laying awake in his bed with his head on the pillow but his covers down at the foot of the bed.  As it is getting mighty cold here suddenly and he only had underwear on, I asked him why he did not have his covers on?!  Of course he had the best answer: "I was waiting for you to do it when you tuck me in!"  Love that boy...

More about exercise

We really want to join the local gym; the good one around here is supposed to be the Tri City Court Club here in Kennewick.  The dues are not that expensive; like $95 or something for the whole family including karate, swimming pool, fitness classes, rock climbing, etc...great!  Cool!  Sign us up!  Wait, what?  Daycare?  Oh, how much is that?  Is it separate?  What???!!  You mean it would be another $100 for unlimited daycare for three kids under 6 EVERY MONTH?!  I think not.  Crazy. Sucks.  So there goes that idea...guess we have to stick to the treadmill and our kickboxing here--which actually is a great workout when we use the bag out back and hit and kick.  It is just that motivation thing again...and making time while we are at home to do it!  A girl at church does a great combo class two days a week at the church building; it is just that I have only been able to make it to one session in the last three weeks!  Dr. appts or Scott is at work.  And next Monday when I should be able to go because he is off, we have a homeschool info meeting at 9, right when it starts!  Go figure...

Nic

Well, I am finally motivating myself to get on the treadmill again.  It seems like a daily battle, even though I know in my mind that my body can handle it and it will drastically help me in every way.  Running helps boost my metabolism (and hence elimination schedule regularity--yeah!! :)), my mood, my feelings of well-being and self-worth/esteem, hopefully my figure at least a little, lessens my chances of getting Type II Diabetes, and is great for my heart and lungs and circ system.  I know, I know...it is great for me.  It just sucks being out of shape and going through that crappy first two weeks getting back into it. I started last week or maybe even the week before--yeah, I think it was the week before.  But then I didn't run maybe only once last week; that doesn't help much! Duh.  But I ran yesterday for over half hour and then again for 33 minutes (okay, that included my cool-down too, so I didn't run the entire time!).  I think tonight I ran without stopping  for 2.5 miles for about 30 minutes and then cooled down.  Yesterday I did sprints and got up to 8 mph, which is pretty fast for me.  Wonder if I could do 9mph on my 15 second sprint?  Maybe I will try it next time; as long as I can reach that stop button if I need it!  I just keep praying for the strength to overcome my weeniness and Satan's pull of slothfulness and laziness so that I get my butt out there every day except Sundays.  Even one mile a day is better than none!  Sometimes I need a break and just need to let my body do only one mile.  Maybe it can be an uphill mile?!  And actually walking up hills sometimes gets me just as tired as when I run; and it works different muscles more than running.  But there is something depressing about walking for me; it just seems like I have limited time and that I should be getting as much distance out of it as I can by going faster.  I don't know...that is probably dumb, because like I said walking up steep hills definitely gets me out of breath!  Probably I should do it more, because I end up getting lazy and just taking the "easy way" of running faster on 0% incline instead!  Oh well...as long as I drag my butt on it at this point that is a start.

Tonight Scott was home to take care of the babies while I was on there, which was great.  The last few times I have done it I have been home by myself, and it was really hard when the babies started crying in the middle of my run.  Not like I want to stop in the middle or anything...or rather, I do want to stop but not start again! LOL.  I told him tonight I was just going to run one mile, that is all I wanted...and I ended up running almost 3!  That was so cool.  I kind of have to trick my mind I think: if I go into it thinking I am running 3 miles today, I will feel discouraged and like I will never make it.  But if I think I am just running one mile (which is really the hardest part, the beginning), then when I get to a mile I think, "Hey, I can do a little more..." and end up doing more.  Crazy.  It was 46 degrees out tonight when I ran, and it was perfect!  Wish I could run in that all the time.  I was listening to Avril Lavigne, and it was MY time...kind of nice.

Catch up: Brody's belly button

Well I will try to post this...I am crying and so sad about Emmett.  I was so excited now that everyone is in bed to sit down and post a few entries to the blog, but then I checked my email and found out about baby Emmett.  So I might try to do one or two, but I just don't really feel like blogging about my life much.  I kind of feel like throwing up actually.

I am going to do some catch-up entries on things from the past couple months; so anything from the past will be labelled "Catch Up". 

The first catch-up entry is a quick one: Brody's hernia.  We were so happy that the babies' belly buttons looked so nice after their little belly things fell off.  Such nice little belly buttons.  Then about 3-4 weeks ago, Brody's belly button looked like it was growing...and growing...and then it was definitely growing.  Wait a minute, belly buttons are not supposed to grow!  Then we finally had an idea what was going on:  he had a hernia.  How scary!  You mean all that squishy stuff sticking out is his intestines?  No way.  Sick.  Ouch.  Is he ok?  When we went to their (first) 2-month visit when they were actually 8 weeks old, he had had it about a week.  We asked Dr. Sean, and he said yes it is a hernia.  He did not seem too worried or even surprised for that matter.  He says it will resolve itself but may take up to a year.  A year!?  It sticks out way more than his penis!  A year?!  We are worried about the intestines getting strangled in there.  He said that is a rare possiblilty and we should just watch to make sure that it can still push back in.  Sure, no worries.  No stress.  Not!

So now we all push it back in when we think about it---gently of course.  He does not seem bothered by it either way.  The kids even do it sometimes.  It is kind of gross and unsightly, but as long as he is okay I guess it is okay.  Dr. Sean says as he develops his stomach muscles the hole will close; you can even feel the hole in there.  Our question is how does it close up without squeezing his guts in there?  Obviously we are keeping a very close eye on it.  We are actually going to us a penny or dime and that wrap stuff that is like an Ace bandage that sticks to itself and wrap it around his belly with a coin pushing the hernia in.  Dr. Sean actually told us about it but was not really suggesting it, just said that people in some other country or culture do that.  We think it sounds better than letting it all hang out there.  I hate to have him cry at all with it, because I am afraid he will push it out even further when he screams.  So he has not been allowed to cry much lately...not that he did much before anyways but now he really doesn't.

Okay, I took some pics but have no idea how to post them.  So as soon as I figure it out I will get them on here.

So sad...

Tonight is a very sad night.  We just found out that a family from church lost their most adorable 8-month old baby boy Emmett.  It just doesn't seem real.  It is not right.  It can't be true.  He was just here, laughing and smiling and being the perfect beautiful chubby baby boy.  How can that be?  What happened to him?  All we know at this point is that four days ago on Monday night he had to be admitted to the ER at KGH and then was life-flighted to Children's in Seattle that night.  They thought he had ADEM, which is a neurological condition similar to MS in many ways but not long-term; supposedly the patient just went through one or maybe two episodes anywhere from 5-10 days long and then that was it.  The scary part was supposed to be how much damage was done during the episode.  But no where did it mention in the description that death was an option.  That is not fair.  I cannot even imagine how they must be feeling...like Scott says, one minute your baby is sleeping peacefully and your life is wonderful with your beautiful family and the next minute your baby is dead?  How can that happen?  Why? 

What do we do for them?  How can we possibly do anything that will make a difference?  Do you talk about it?  Do you just give them hugs?  How do you not cry with them?  Is it ok to do that?  What would I want people to do for me?  Talk about it?  Or not?  I really cannot imagine...that is a parent's truly largest nightmare.  And it happened so fast.  Gloria from church said earlier today or yesterday that Emmett was out of pain and opening his eyes but still did not recognize anyone.  How agonizing.  We will pray for them and pray that God will help us know what to do for them.  At least we know that Emmett is home with Heavenly Father now...he is the lucky one.  Such a beautiful baby boy.

Chase

Well it was kind of a shock when Chase got out of the Tahoe and came walking towards me.  He really has grown in the last 6 weeks!  I cannot believe that he is taller and broader--in that short of a time period.  He is going to be barrel-chested just like his dad.  Of course he thinks it is great that he is getting bigger and bigger than his mom.  I think he was glad to be at home at first, but then he got bored--big surprise.  He had a great time holding the babies though and still seems so attached.  Azbrielle and Weston miss him a ton and were wrestling with him and soaking up any attention he would give them.  They had a good time and were sad to see him leave.  He seems to be doing well in school and at his dad's--which is good for him but makes me a little sad if I am totally honest.  Of course I want him to succeed and be the best person possible, but it still hurts that he would rather be over there.  I tried to give him so much and raise him as well as I could---but I guess I do understand him wanting to try living with his dad.  And of course there are way fewer rules there--and no siblings to share attention or anything else with.  Kind of like a permanent Disneyland.  And he got a new puppy, which is cool.  Better them than me right now!  That is one thing I cannot do for him--get a new puppy! 

I miss him tons and am sad he is not here--but I am glad he is doing so well.  He seems to really be happy there, at least so far.  Love ya bud!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and brought Chase home!

We got lucky enough to see Chase and Grandma Sally and Grandpa Gary this weekend!  They made the long trek over to visit, and we had a wonderful weekend with them.  We all miss them SOOO much!  They could not believe how much the babies had changed in the last month and a half.  Chase of course was glued to the babies and kept asking if they were done eating so he could hold them and burp them.  Amazing how attached he is to them.  Azbrielle and Weston kept bombarding Grandpa with card games to play; they miss their grandparents so much.  If Scott could get a good job over there, we would move back to be closer--even though the rain sucks and we love it here!  We will see how it goes after this job is over; maybe Scott will become a journeyman mechanic and more doors will open for us.  Until then, guess we have to miss each other and just make the most out of every visit.  The cool thing is that if we do go through with the homeschooling, we will be able to go visit and stay a while on Scott's week off once a month or so.  How nice.  It is just hard to make the trip with the babies being so little and having to take so much stuff.  Now that we don't need our air conditioning though, we should be able to drive the suburban.  So we will have more room! 

I have to figure out how to add some pictures onto this blog---I am not sure how to do it.  I know you can, because all of my friends have them--and even music!  I am so behind on all of this stuff. 

Bedtime

It is amazing how different Brody and Delaney are in so many ways.  We can lay Delaney down wide awake in her bed and not hear a peep other than her sucking on her fingers (whichever ones she can get into her mouth), and then Brody is a whole other story.  He is so high maintenance!  I always make sure he is topped off, taken to the bathroom, dry diaper, completely burped, feet covered, right temperature...and he still fusses when I lay him down!  I am hoping that he will learn to soothe himself like she does...but it is really hard for me to stay out of the room and not just go pick him up and rock him or top him off again!  I hate hearing him cry--I know, what mommy does not  hate hearing their baby cry--but I know that I cannot be his pacifier forever, nor do I want to.  He is full and dry and warm, and there is no reason that I need to go in there...  He finally went to bed after about 15 or maybe even 20 minutes of crying...after I went in there and did rock him and top him off once already!  And I went in and patted his tummy to try to comfort him once; I think he cried harder after I went out!  So much for that great advice.  Supposedly his crying will get shorter and shorter...Scott says we did this with Azbrielle really early and she did great.  I vaguely remember this, and she was in her own crib sleeping most of the night at around a month or so.  But Scott also says I fell off the wagon with Weston and would not let him cry at all.  That period of time is a blur in my memory with two babies so close together and Scott on nights all the time at the mine...but I do remember holding Weston and swaying with him right by his crib singing my goodnight song that I made up.  So he is probably very right.  I am trying to save my sanity by teaching the twins how to self-soothe.  We'll see how it goes...