And a partridge in a pear tree

Scene from the weekend: Erin reading the Very Hungry Caterpillar (she knows most of it by heart). Gets to the page with 5 pieces of fruit and says "On Friday he ate through.." Sloane finishes the sentence with "5 Golden Ringggggs". Apparently they've been singing Christmas songs at school :)

Milestones

Ok, between returning to work and discovering how easy it is to post updates and pictures on Facebook the blog has been a bit neglected. My early New Years resolution is to make sure the blog gets updated regularly too.

We've hit a few milestones in our house this week. Cole cut his first tooth on Wednesday. Poor boy fought teething and a raging ear infection at the same time and was still a sweet little man.

Sarah.....is potty trained! Yahoo. We made the transition out of pull-ups this week and she's done extraordinarily well so far. Sloane is well on her way to being trained also.

We've also discovered that Erin can write almost every letter. She's been writing Erin and Cole for a few weeks now. A friend of hers gave her a book that allows her to trace the letters and she's done all of them without hesitation and can pretty confidently write them on her own. We're impressed - we know she's not covering this in preschool so she is apparently self teaching to a degree.

Pics to be added tonight!

Spoke too soon

Apparently I spoke too soon. After 3 days of fussiness, screaming and culminating in not want to eat, Cole has been diagnosed with his third ear infection. This time they gave him a stronger antibiotic so hopefully it will kick it out for the winter. If he gets one more ear infection our pediatrician will be referring him to the ENT for possible tubes.

Not to be left out of the attention grabbing fun Sarah decided that her glasses were so 2007. So she managed to bend both pair and then step on the more wearable of the two and pop out a lens. Thank goodness we have a great optician. Matt took Sarah and both pairs of glasses last night and he was able to fix the glasses on the spot.

Sloane has developed a new fascination with Blues Clues and reinvigorated Erin's interest in it. They both now walk around the house with pieces of paper and crayons finding clues and writing them in their notebooks.

Matt is enjoying his paternity leave week with Cole this week and I've finally gotten off my duff and submitted my proposal for my graduate school capstone project.

Pics of the kids to follow - it's a lot harder to remember to put them up now that I'm back in the office!

Mish mosh of topics

I'm hoping we're finally off the ear infection bandwagon. Sarah seems to be improving each day and the nightly screaming has stopped, although the visits to Mom and Dad's room have continued. I think our bed is just more comfortable than hers! Cole spent Friday night screaming so we took him back to the pediatrician on call on Saturday morning. He told us that he could still see infection but wouldn't give him antibiotics because he thought the underlying cause was allergies and we should see our pediatrician on Monday.

So, off to the pediatrician (I think 7 visits in 10 days now with 3 of the 4 kids?) on Monday to find out his ears are clear and she doesn't think the allergy theory is accurate. Much more likely was what we pointed out to the doc on call - he has three older sisters in school bringing home a new virus or germ every few days.

We also picked out Erin's big girl bed. My first baby is getting so big! She'll be moving into a twin bed in the early part of 09 when it's delivered.

I started back to work yesterday and it's been very, very hard. Suffice it to say that Mom is handling it much worse than baby.

Cool site for Natural Products

www.thenatureschild.com

I found this by following a link on one of the boards I post on and was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of great, natural products I would/can use with Cole and the girls.

Also, for the Moms that follow the blog, they also have a contest to win a Medela Freestyle:

http://www.thenatureschild.com/win_a_medela_freestyle_breastpump_s/128.htm

Head, Shoulder, Knees and...ears

So, this past week had three kids at the pediatrician for 3 separate ear infections.  Cole has his second in less than a month and the twins each had their second in approximately two months.  All three got the standard Amoxicillin prescription since they didn't seem to be kicking these on their own.

The past few nights Sarah has woken up screaming and ended up in our bed.  Where she has proceeded to scream for 20 minutes at a time, head butt us, kick and scream.  Last night she was finally able to verbalize what was bothering her - she grabbed her ear and yelled "OW OW OW OW OW".  Okay, we got it.  Back to the pediatrician today (for those keeping score, this is visit 5 in 6 business days for 3 kids) and one eardrum is bulging with a raging infection and the other was so much more infected that the doctor just winced looking at it.  She's now on a stronger antibiotic and we were smart enough to give her Motrin before she went to bed.  Hopefully she'll start feeling better soon and Mommy will get over the guilt of not realizing before last night that her ear was getting worse.

Pictures of the kids

Erin modeling her new winter coat:



Cole's version of playing on his mat - eating the mirror.



Sloane and Cole on her sick day



Sarah being just a cutie:


Cole's baptism:

Bye Bye Bo

We finally took the plunge and took the twins' pacifiers away. We've been contemplating it for awhile and our trip to the dentist for the 3 girls this morning solidified our decision.

Erin acted like such a big girl and went off alone with the hygienist to get her x-rays taken and then let the dentist clean and examine her teeth. Sarah was less convinced of the purpose of a dental visit and I had to sit with her in the chair and convince her they weren't trying to hurt her. Sloane was the most surprising, hopping up into the chair and sliding a pair of sunglasses on, reclining to watch Dora while they cleaned and examined her teeth and she never complained. Erin still has dysplasia in her enamel but they don't know if it will occur in her baby teeth. Her great dental hygiene has kept it in check so it needs no treatment. Sloane and Sarah also got a clean bill of dental health with the only other surprise that Sarah has two teeth fused together on the bottom. We don't know the long term impact - it could mean that one of her adult teeth is missing. The dentist wasn't concerned and advised that even if the adult tooth was missing there, it could be treated easily orthodontically.

Of course we received the pacifier speech and saw the damage it was causing. So, we made the dentist the bad guy and when the kids came home from school and asked for their "Bo"s and told them we left them at the dentists office. Commence screaming from school to home (poor Matt). After they were distracted with their new jump ropes, they stopped. Another 5 minutes of complaining at bed time and then to sleep. Hopefully it will stay this easy....and if it doesn't, please remind me that it was our wonderful idea to take these away the day before I have to have dental surgery and will need to rest at night tomorrow?

Sloane's sick day

A beautiful day

Cole was baptized yesterday and it was a wonderful day. Matt and I had chosen yesterday when talking with the Reverend because it was the fall contemporary service. I usually go to 8am mass with no music, so going to 10am with music was a completely different experience. Our wonderful Reverend included not only the parents and godparents but also Cole's sisters and grandparents. I'll add pictures later. One of the hymns the music director chose was just so perfect that I wanted to add it here so we don't forget:

I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry

I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold.
I was there when you were but a child,
with a faith to suit you well;
In a blaze of light you wandered off
to find where demons dwell."

"When you heard the wonder of the Word
I was there to cheer you on;
You were raised to praise the living Lord,
to whom you now belong.
If you find someone to share your time
and you join your hearts as one,
I'll be there to make your verses rhyme
from dusk 'till rising sun.

In the middle ages of your life,
not too old, no longer young,
I'll be there to guide you through the night,
complete what I've begun.
When the evening gently closes in,
and you shut your weary eyes,
I'll be there as I have always been
with just one more surprise.

I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold.

A new take on a classic

Heard from the backseat as we were driving last night:

If you're happy and you know it, clap you your hands

If you're angry and you know it you go grrrrrrr

I'll leave it up to the imagination as to which daughter updated the song!

Halloween

Ballerinas round 1 for school (dress up clothes from home so the costumes didn't get ruined)

and actual costumes for trick or treating

Because it's funny

No, we didn't do this just to be cruel - Scrabble has a lick wound on her leg we're trying to let heal. But I couldn't resist taking and posting the picture

Poor kid(s)

It's been a weekend of injuries here. First on Saturday Sarah fell backward and hit her head on the sliding glass door. After a few minutes of crying we determined she was fine. Fast forward to Saturday night when Sloane tripped over a toy and crashed to the floor. As soon as she stood up we could see the bruise on her cheek forming. She hopped up crying next to Mom on the couch while Dad got her an ice pack. She kept it on for a few minutes and then threw it at Mom. Who was holding Cole - you can see where this is going right? Yup, clocked Cole squarely in the head with a hard plastic ice pack. Cue panicked call to the pediatrician. After checking his pupils, making sure he was acting normally we were incredibly relieved.

Other than putting these kids in a padded room there is no way to keep these things from happening so I'm quite sure we'll have similar events in the future. I just hope they are spaced a bit further apart....

Happy Go Lucky

The change of seasons has definitely hit the H household.

Mom is recovering from either bronchitis or pneumonia (depending on who you believe - Mom thinks bronchitis, Dad pneumonia. Our doctor is wonderful, smart and not the most communicative so all I know is that I have an uber strong antibiotic, was supposed to have an inhaler and have a follow up appt for flu shot in a few weeks)

Erin and Sarah both have ugly coughs. Yes, even the pediatrician declared them ugly. Matt is congested and poor Sloane has a raging ear infection. We know something was definitely up with Sloane because she's been uber cuddly lately. Cole seems to be in the same crowd as Dad and wakes up each day with a very congested nose. Hopefully it will stay cool now and everyone will kick their colds/coughs/etc pretty quickly.

Cole got his second half of the 2 month vaccinations today and is still happy go lucky







And a rare shot of Sarah without her glasses:

I just love this picture of the girls.  It captures what we usually see of all three sticking together.   And bragging Mom showing Cole holding his rattle.  Of course he has no idea what to do with it, but it still counts!!

2-Month Well Baby

No longer just a member of the big boy club, now Cole is in the off the growth chart club. At 9 weeks old he's 16lbs 2oz and around 26 inches long. He did well with the 2 vaccinations he was given and we're going back next week for 2 more. This neurotic mom decided to split them up rather than give them all at once. He's smiling, laughing and cooing - all right on or a bit ahead of schedule. But right now he's yelling for Mom's attention so pictures will follow later.

Parenting

I never realized how many yuppie families there were in NJ until we went to take the kids apple picking on Sunday. We went to one of the less well known orchards, knowing it would be busy and were shocked to find a 90 minute wait - just to get in. These yuppies packed the kids right back up and went off in search of another activity. Before you feel too bad for the kids - we went pumpkin picking on Saturday so they had a good dose of fresh air, farm animals and fields this weekend.

It's a good thing that they had a fun weekend because I won the bad parent of the week award for forgetting that today was picture day at school. They were well groomed as usual but were in day care clothes rather than picture clothes - and yes, there is a big difference. I'm consoling myself by reminding myself that we likely won't order the pictures anyway since we're going to get professional photos with the girls and Cole in November.

She said that?

Scene: Car Ride on the way to dinner:

Erin: I want to cut my hair short.
Mom: Like Katie (a friend from school)?
Erin: No, like Daddy - really short.
Mom: That means no pigtails, no braids, no ponies - okay?
Erin: Yes, that's okay.
1 Minute Pause
Erin: Just Kidding

Scene: Sitting in the restaurant, Sarah coughs/chokes on a small piece of orange

Mom: Sar- are you okay?
Sarah - Yes
Mom: Are you sure?
Sarah: Ummm, no.

And finally, a sign that I've taken Erin shopping perhaps a bit too much. Tonight we needed to pick up a comforter we had laundered. Erin asked if she could go in and get it with Dad. I asked her where we were going to pick it up and she confidently answered "the laundro-Gap"

The Farmery....revisited

Yesterday I was one of many parent chaperones for Erin's class trip to a farm for pumpkin picking. Erin was able to pick pumpkins and gourds for herself and her siblings, got to go on her first school bus ride, see a 1 hour old baby calf, pet sheep, rabbits, ponies and cows, go on a hayride and navigate a mini hay-maze. Not bad for 2 hours, huh?

We do not negotiate with Toddlerists

Some time back, we started using the phrase "we don't negotiate with terrorists" when it came to dealing with the toddler tantrums.  We've determined toddlerists is a much better phrase because it really captures the essence of our statement.

I made a mistake the other night and decided to try reasoning with two 2-Year Olds.  It was bath night, so the kids were in and out of the bathroom in varying states of dress.  After everyone was in their pajamas, Sloane decided she didn't really want to leave the bathroom. 

"Ok, Sloane.  If you don't want to come out, you'll have to sleep in the bathroom tonight."  Bad idea - Sarah and Sloane promptly plopped down on the bathroom floor and informed me that "We sleep heah" (their version of here).  No amount of cajoling could get them out so eventually we just carried them to their room listening to their screams of protest about sleeping in the bathroom.

In case you didn't figure it out from this anecdote, bedtime has not improved.   We've added music  to the mix,  a nice compilation of Celtic lullabies.  Puts Erin to sleep in a flash, the twins dance to it.  We thought perhaps they were afraid of the dark so we found a nice battery operated nightlight.  This darling ladybug light projects stars and the moon on the ceiling.  The twins have figured out that by pressing buttons they can change the color of the pattern being projected so we hear "Puhple...NOOOOOO...geeeen" over the monitor.  

Yes, we have read all of the various theories and have tested just about every one.  I'm starting to think that the folks who wrote these books never had multiples in one room going through the same developmental phase in the same room.  So, we're back to our original theory - we don't negotiate.  Into bed, a bedtime story or 3, kisses goodnight, nightlight on, music on, door closed.  Last night they outlasted the 60 minute music CD.  Any guesses about tonight?

Summer to Fall

Apple picking was a hit - the girls are still talking about it. Some picture of our last days of summer and the fruits of our apple picking labor. And one of Cole practicting his new skill - smiling

The Big Boy Club

So, according to our favorite nurse at the pediatrician's office Cole is an official member of the big boy club.

At birth he was 9 lbs 10 oz. The first two weeks he spent regaining the weight he lost the first few days. As of yesterday he is 12lbs 15oz. So he's gained 3 lbs in 3 weeks. I can't tell you what percentile that puts him in because that is apparently off the growth charts. 24 inches long and a head circumference that is in the 100th percentile as well. Since my family all has fairly large heads, we're going with the standard line that the big head is to hold the big brain because he's so smart!

On a separate note, the twins have managed to stay in their rooms the past few nights - no gate crashing. However, at least one child takes up residence in our room each night so Matt his hearing a daily mantra from me - We need a bigger bed!

More pics to follow soon. If the weather holds we'll be taking the kids apple picking tomorrow and that's always good for a photo op or two.

Mommy - I'm strong!!

As I've previously mentioned, we've been having some bedtime issues of late with Sarah and Sloane. We've tried every approach to keep the girls in bed and have finally reached the point of kissing their heads, shutting their door and listening on the monitor to make sure they don't harm themselves or each other.

Last night, about 20 minutes after we put them in bed and hearing non stop chatter we heard a tremendous crash. Matt had Cole in his arms so I went flying up the stairs at record speed. Sloane and Sarah were standing in their door with huge grins pointing to the gate they had managed to dislodge from their doorway. Sarah pointed to it and said "Mama, it's down" and giggled. Sloane beamed and informed me "Mommy, I'm strong". I had two options - I choose to laugh and put the gate back up. And yes, we are now officially out of options with how to keep these kids in their beds. Interestingly enough, when the knocked down the gate they never left their room, so there is hope!

Some pictures just for fun:

Check out my chins...

Back to School Time

With back to school time always comes a new batch of ear infections, viruses, etc. Given how well Matt and I know our kids routines and behaviors we know when they are sick, right? Well, Erin and Sloane have both been congested and coughing as well as incredibly irritable so we took them off to the doctors yesterday expecting that one or both had ear infections or strep. We took Sarah along simply because if one girl is sick, usually at least one other is as well.

Yup, you guessed it - Sloane and Erin's ears and throat were fine if but a bit irritated. Sarah, who's been acting fine has a very red throat and ear infection. I guess she just gets her sisters to complain for her!

With that diagnosis we went off to get the prescription filled and ran into another minor issue. It seems Sloane is very jealous of Sarah's medicine. So, each night after Sarah torments Sloane by parading around singing "my medicine, my medicine" we need to mix up the magic medicine (read: water) and let Sloane have her dose.

Cole is doing well - he's gaining weight after a slow start where his weight dipped a few ounces after coming home. I pointed out the beginning of a double chin on him to Matt today but Matt thinks I'm imagining it. We're still trying to figure out if the smiles we've gotten are true early smiles or gas, which is plentiful!

The Palin Acceptance Speech

First, I know most folks come here for the pics of the kids and the family updates. But I warned you early on that I'd occasionally be sharing thoughts on other things as well.

I was already writing this post in my head when I stopped by one of my daily reads http:\\ninetexans.blogspot.com and Karen had a post about Palin's speech up as well. What she wrote made me think and flesh out some of my reactions to the Palin acceptance speech.

When I was just old enough to vote, I registered as a democrat. Part of that was being a very liberal young college student and part of it was to support a good friend of my moms that was running for Congress at the time. I tended to vote as a democrat for several years and as I've gotten older I've started voting based more on issues than party affiliation.

The last presidential election was a tough one - I really didn't like any of the choices. This time, once it was narrowed to Obama and McCain I promised myself to keep an open mind to both so I've been trying to read and follow both to get a feel for who is better choice for me.

With that open mind I watched Rudy Giuliani's and Sarah Palin's speeches. Giuliani gave the speech I expected and I agreed with many of his points. I watched Sarah Palin's speech with particular interest as determining whether I can support her as a candidate will play a large part in who I choose to vote for.

She's taken a tremendous amount of heat for being a working mom. I'm a working mom, so I obviously don't take issue with her working. What I do struggle to some degree is that she is embarking on a grueling campaign for the second highest office in the country with a 5 month old special needs child. I'm sure she has a tremendous support system in place and I would like to have faith that it will not impact her ability to parent. Like Karen, I do look at it some what selfishly - having a mother of small children, particularly one with special needs in such a high office could bring new light to issues that are currently ignored. But I do still struggle with whether or not it's fair to her young children even if it ends up benefiting many others.

I disagree with McCain and Palin on some key issues - I unequivocally support a woman's right to choose, they are vehemently pro-life. I think gun control is huge, having worked in a city where I've witnessed shootings, stabbings and other crimes - usually committed by young kids with access to illegal weapons. Palin is a member of the NRA. On the other hand, I also disagree with Obama and Biden on some key issues and I'm not impressed with how Biden presents himself or the issues.

I am definitely part of the soccer mom demographic I think McCain was shooting to reach when he selected Palin as his running mate. I represent that critical "undecided" voter. Since my husband just reminded me that I shouldn't be talking about politics or religion on the blog, I'll leave it that. I truly am still undecided. In the end, I'll have to decide which issues are the most important to me and to my family and vote accordingly.

Now I'm off to go check the swimming pool in our basement so graciously provided by tropical storm Hanna.

First Day of (Pre) School

Erin, Sarah and Sloane are all moving up to the next classrooms at school. Erin is joining the Caterpillar classroom and Sarah and Sloane are following Erin's footsteps into the classroom she just graduated from - Ladybugs. They are all very excited! (Even if Sloane doesn't look it)




In other news, Sloane finally succeeded in pole vaulting out of her crib so both she and Sarah are now in toddler beds. I'd love to say it's been a smooth transition but each night we have one or more of the following - one or both of the twins sleeping in our bed, one or both twins asleep on the floor, one or both twins stealing the others bed, every toy and piece of clothing dislodged from it's keeping place. They have been through so much change in such a short period of time, we're hoping that as we settle into a routine bedtime becomes easier again.



Cole is doing really well. Despite what the pictures show, he really is awake the vast majority of the time. He handles the constant chaos in our house with ease, sleeping through most dog barks and sisterly shrieks.





Matt went back to work today so it's Cole and I! We'll try to update the blog more frequently.

After a week at home

Everyone is settling in very well. The girls are absolutely enamored with Cole and spend most of their free time now saying "Hi Brother, this is sister" or "Cole's eating?" Cole is a very focused baby - eat and sleep. But only while being held. Don't think about putting his cute little self anywhere but in your arms because he will quickly let you know - he doesn't do cribs or pack and plays!

It's been a busy medical week for Matt and I. Matt's last stress test showed a very minor abnormality that the cardiologist on call felt wasn't indicative of anything but suggested he have a nuclear stress test to make sure within the next few weeks. Apparently when the order came through to the scheduler, they told her it had to be scheduled ASAP. So, with 1 pre-schooler, 2 toddlers and a newborn at home Matt had to go for a test that made him radioactive for two days and unable to touch Cole. Of course, it was over these past two nights that all of the girls have decided to wake up in the middle of the night at some point and be up for at least an hour each. Luckily the radioactive half life is up after 5 today so we should be back to normal in that sense. We get the results on Friday and are hopeful that it didn't show any issues.

My BP has done it's normal post partum roller coaster - up, down, sideways. I came home on one drug and on Tuesday added another one to the mix to keep the BP steady. It seems to be working :)

I also had one minor speed bump with my c-section healing but it seems to be on the right path now!

More pics to follow tonight.

Baby Pics!

Our new little man

He's here!

Cole Matthew arrived at 9:25 AM this morning.

9lbs 10.6 ounces
21 1/4 inches

He looks just like Erin did as a newborn and his sisters had the chance to meet him tonight and are as in love as we are.

39 weeks and 4 days

We're almost there! If I can keep my blood pressure in check for another 18 -20 hours or so, I'll be able to deliver at our local hospital as planned. My blood pressure has been varying. Up on my feet for any period of time over 30 minutes pretty much guarantees a high reading, but as soon as I lay down on my side for 15 minutes, it brings it back into a normal range. So, I spent a lot of this weekend trying to work in short bursts of activity followed by a rest.

I have another ultrasound and dr's appt this afternoon and we're scheduled to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at 6:30am. I still haven't figured out exactly how we're supposed to get to labor and delivery at that early hour since all of the doors are locked other than the emergency room. I guess we'll be playing let's make a deal with the security guards in the emergency room to let us upstairs.

The kids are all doing well. Erin is perfecting the fine art of sarcasm. To hear it out of a three year old's mouth is both hilarious and disturbing. After watching Sarah and Sloane handle (drag? crash?) their baby dolls recently we've acknowledged that they probably shouldn't be allowed to hold the baby anytime soon :) (Kidding, of course).

We'll keep everyone updated.

Week 39

Yesterday was trip #2 to PET (Preterm Evaluation). BP was high in the office, high when they got us registered and came down throughout the afternoon so we were able to go home. Another BP check today at 3:30....

38 Week Update

So the blood pressure has started to slowly climb. I was unable to convince the doctor that it was simply that the medical technician took it wrong. Back to the doctor on Friday to have it checked again - think low BP thoughts for us!

Also, I was tagged by Karen at http://ninetexans.blogspot.com for this meme - 6 Personality Quirks:

1. I'm a control freak. It's why I don't like to fly and why I drive my husband nuts when I'm the passenger in a car he's driving.

2. I try to balance reading "fluff" with reading memoirs or classics so that I'm more well read. Silly, I know - I should just read what I enjoy and not give thought to whether it's fluff or substantial.

3. I'm frenetic - it's really tough for me to sit still. Case in point - I've spent this week scrubbing baseboards, doing laundry and moving furniture. And organizing the kids clothes. And organizing our dresser. I wake up and immediately form a to do list in my head.

4. I'm hooked on HGTV and TLC. However, if one more person asks me if I watch Jon and Kate + 8 I may have to beat them. They have 8 under 7. We will have 4 under 4 - it's very different. They had 6 at once. We had 2 at once.

5. I have a really bland palette. Good restaurants are wasted on me.

6. I'm turning much more conservative as I get older. Everyone warns you it happens, and apparently - they are right!

Not sure who to tag with this, have to contemplate it....

The 80's Reign Supreme

My first question - are all of these stores targeting us as parents by re-creating clips from the Breakfast Club and using music from Pretty in Pink in their commercials? While these movies were classics for us thirtysomethings, I find it hard to believe a pre teen or teen today would even know the reference.

My second question -how did my kids become such 80's music aficienados? When you sing "a doo doo doo" all three of them pipe up now with " a da da da" - Sting would be so proud... will try to add a voice clip later to illustrate

2 of 2

Just some more pictures. I very rarely, if ever post pictures of myself on the blog - but had to add this one so that you realized I'm not kidding when I say I'm huge.

Finally some pictures

We finally got a card reader working - so here are a bunch of pics from the last few weeks including when we celebrated the girls second birthday.

And K- trust me that you aren't that out of touch - I didn't know the bags existed until I went to this store to find a sling for Bobo. Now the Bugaboo- I know that exists but haven't yet been able to justify a purchase of it with Matt :)

Spoiled

Nope, I'm not actually talking about the kids although many would make the argument that they are spoiled too. In this case, I'm actually the spoiled one. My wonderful team at work completely surpised me with a baby shower. They gave us many wonderful outfits for Bobo, flowers for all of the girls to enjoy and a gift certificate to a great local maternity/infant boutique to purchase a diaper bag they knew I'd never splurge on myself.

So courtesy of my friends at work, I'm now the proud owner of this Petunia Picklebottom diaper bag. I chose a print that I hoped Matt would actually carry without too much complaint also :)



We bought a new media card reader at home, so check back tonight or tomorrow for recent pics of the kids!

Almost 2

I can't believe Sarah and Sloane are already going to be 2 this weekend. We celebrated this past weekend with a small group (pics to follow, the photo card reader is not my friend right now). It amazes me to see how much they've grown and how independent they've become even at this early age. Both are talking a mile a minute, with Sloane taking the lead on creating sentences. Sarah is still our cuddler, prefering that to having to clean up, get a diaper change, change clothes, etc. They both love to color and play with their big sister and the three of them crack us up all the time.

As soon as I can get the media card working again I'll post pics of the girls in their adorable birthday crowns!

Matt is doing well. His check in with the cardiologist went as expected. He will be monitored for quite some time and likely remain on the medication for at least 6 months to a year. He has to go for some follow up tests, routine in making sure they have him on the right medication. I'm probably his biggest stressor right now asking him every 35 minutes if he's feeling okay!

At 37 weeks now, Bobo is getting rather big. A growth ultrasound today estimated the current weight at 8lbs 12oz. And yes, I still have 18 days until my scheduled c-section. Based on the old wives tale that babies grow 1/2lb a week in the last month or two, Bobo's size will rival Erin's at birth (she was 9lbs11oz)

Matt will be sending out an announcement when the baby is born and we'll do our best to get pics up on the blog pretty quickly for all of you out of towners :)

A family update

Sorry for the lack of posting and no it's not because the baby came!

It's been a roller coast of a week in our household with Matt being hospitalized for 4 days for a medical mystery. He developed atrial fibrillation on Sunday and was admitted very quickly upon our visit to the emergency room. Several drug cocktails later, his body responded and everything returned to normal. He's got medication and is following up with the specialists to confirm there is no underlying cause and that this was a fluke. Since he's been home we've talked to a lot of folks we work with and it's been reassuring to hear this is more common than we thought. At least 2 people I work with and 2 that Matt works with have had this same issue and a few have even had to have the surgical procedure to correct it. We're just thrilled he's back home already and we're trying to convince him to relax a bit!

The kids are all doing well and really starting to get excited about their new sibling. At 36 weeks today I realized this is when I gave birth to Sarah and Sloane! We're hoping to make it to 39 weeks+, which is when my c-section is scheduled for as it will allow me to deliver at the more local hospital. If I go into labor on my own prior to that, I'll have to deliver at the larger hospital that is a bit further away. Both are excellent hospitals, so we really can't go wrong :)

More later with pics of the kids!

High School French

When I was in high school, I took 4 years of French and then took another in college. Every year when I signed up for it, I would ask myself and probably my poor mother too - what in the world am I going to use this for and why can't I just take a study hall? I did use it for one trip to Paris and then my french knowledge was promptly tucked away. Except for the curses of course!

Well, Mom can say "I told you so" yet again. Part of my job has been working to get a site translation done for a major web build. The current translation is into French and I've spent the past 3 or 4 business days translating minor phrases and helping our team understand the larger manuscript in french (created by a much more experienced and talented lingusitics team).

On the kid front - Sarah and Sloane seem to have recovered from their bouts with strep/viruses. Erin is surprising us with how well she is handling the transition to new teachers - especially with her friend B. not there. Sarah is beginning her language explosion and speaks in a much softer tone so we often have to ask her to repeat herself. The exception to this is of course when she's screaming "No, MINNNEEE" or "Uppie, Out, Uppie, Out".

The kids are starting to get excited to have another sibling. If you don't want to know the gender, don't ask to speak with Erin any time soon as she announces it to everyone within a 20 mile radius! Matt and I are preparing - you'd think we have the routine down by now!

Great Allergy Article

Since Erin was diagnosed with her peanut allergy we've read many articles - some scientific, some personal accounts. My mother in law came across this and shared it with us and I had to post it. This author put into words what I haven't been able to when trying to describe the impact of Erin's allergy on her life and all of our behaviors. I could not have said it better myself...trying to get it to hyperlink, but for now please cut and paste - sorry!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/139437

Crash, Boom, Strep

Believe it or not, we had a decent run of not having to run to the pediatrician's office every other day. Key word - had. Sloane has been not quite herself for a few days and has been doing a fair amount of coughing so I took her in Friday afternoon and was happy to be told it seemed like just a cold.

Saturday morning Sloane promptly launched herself over a toy and into the corner of the coffee table. As this particular hit was awfully close to her eye, it was back to the pediatrician. Her eye turned out to be fine, but we discovered she had developed a fever since her visit 18 hours before and she promptly tested positive for strep.

Being the smart parents we are, we kept Erin and Sarah in the car while Sloane was in the doctors' office - don't want to expose them to any nasty bugs, right? Well, as Matt came out with Sloane and her prescription, we went to pick up something out of Sarah's car seat and saw that within the previous 10 minutes she developed hives all over her extremities and torso. Commence putting Sloane into her car seat and carrying Sarah into the pediatrician's office. Um, yup - Strep.

So far Erin has come through this one like a champ. She's dealing with her own issue in that her best friend is leaving school - and this is compounded by the fact that her friend's mom is her teacher and is also leaving. I still remember at 4 when my best friend moved to Washington, so I really feel bad for our little bean - but she's being a trooper.

Right Dere

Sloane is officially going through a language explosion. After hearing a word once or twice she promptly assimilates it into her vocabulary and attempts to use it in context. We must apparently use the phrase "right there" frequently because it's made a new and oft repeated appearance over the past few days.

In fact, she used it to illustrate her power over Mom and Dad last night. We had her sitting on our bed after a bath and I asked her where Mommy slept - "Right Dere" she pointed to my side of the bed. And Daddy? "Right Dere" again as she pointed correctly to Matt's side. I repeated the question about Erin and Sarah and she accurately pointed out and repeated her phrase for their rooms. When I asked her where she slept, she hesitated, looked over at her room, back down at our bed and smiled as she pointed to the middle of our bed and proclaimed "Right Dere!"

The pics from Great Adventure are still on my camera but I'll put them up soon. The kids favorite part was by far the Wild Safari. Of course the fact that we could ride through it in an air conditioned car on a 94 degree day made it our favorite part as well! pics to follow....

Happy Father's Day!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com