A is for Apple

I have never seen Wyatt eat apples until today. Apparently they taste better when Grandpa picks them off of the tree in the yard and cuts them up with a pocket knife! Who knew?

Like Mother....Like Son

I finally have a kid that loves to sleep on his belly. He also likes to check everything out from inside of his crib. Sometimes he lifts his head up so far that I think that he is sitting up when I come into the room!

The Last First Tooth

Show me your teeth Sammy! Well here it is...a picture of the last first tooth for one of our boys. I already miss the toothless grin smile phase! My boys are growing up so fast!

First Day of School

It was the first day of school today.... well not for my boys, but for all of the kids in the subdivision. Wyatt spent about 40 minutes this morning watching all of the proud parents (we have 7 first time kindergarteners in our subdivision!) and kids swarm down to the bus stop, take pictures, chat, and wait. Wyatt seriously waved to EVERY SINGLE person that walked or drove by our house this morning. It was hysterical. When the bus finally came Wyatt and all of the kids at the bus stop let our a collective cheer! It was very cute. We then watched as many parents walked back home empty handed while crying a little bit. I even got sad thinking about sending my boys off on the bus for the first time! I can't even bear the thought of it...although peeing in privacy does sound nice?!?!

My Sickie

Sammy is sick again! It appears to be a respiratory bug, probably his version of the runny nose that Jonah had last week. Unfortunately with Sam, it is MAJOR! We did 2 breathing treatments with him today and he is lethargic and pathetic and cried pretty much all day (minus 2 hours or so). I am hoping that today was the worst of it, but I'm not too optimistic.

Saucy Fun

I wasn't sure when I was pregnant with the boys if I should get another exersaucer so that I had two, but now I am SO glad that I did!

Teeth

Wyatt still loves to show off his teeth!

My parrot

Wyatt's language has started to take off... FINALLY! His new word today was "buckle" which he only said about 900 times when he wanted me to strap him in and out of his life jacket!?!? He's crazy!

bunk mates

Wyatt loves it when I put the babies in bed with him....and they love it too!

Baby Blues

Doesn't Jonah have beautiful eyes? Maybe it is his lack of hair or his vast forehead, but all that I see when I look at him are his baby blues!

Mr Helpful

It is always nice to have help when you have 3 boys under the age of two, but "help" from Wyatt is about to push me over the edge! The following list is a sample of the "help" that Wyatt provides to make life more interesting with Jonah and Samuel every day:

1. Taking off the twins bibs from the back (so that they choke and turn red a little until the velcro breaks) and throwing them into the dirty laundry basket as soon as a new bib is put on, in the middle of a feeding, or just before burping (thus actually using the bib for spit up) at least 22 times a day
2. Using an wet rag or bib from the dirty clothes basket to wipe the twins faces if they have even a speck of drool visible at least 32 times a day, each
2. Dumping the bin of baby toys on the floor and distributing them alternately one by one to each of the boys until the bin is empty and each twin has a 2 foot pile of baby toys on their lap. Then when they show an interest in a particular toy in the two foot pile, removing said toy until it is just out of their reach and walking away!
3. Cleaning the nipple of Jonah and Samuel's bottles by licking them off if they fall on the floor before putting them back in the boys mouths.
5. Screaming "hello" at the top of his lungs to wake up Jonah and Samuel if I mention that "I may go up and check on the boys"
6. Pulling off the twins socks within 3.5 seconds of finishing dressing them
7. Secretly placing the Bumbo chairs just behind my feet while I am doing any task that requires attention to detail involving Jonah and Samuel, so that, instead of me using them to sit the boys in as intended by Wyatt, I stumble around desperately trying not to drop one of my babies while Wyatt points at the chair and cries because I am not putting a baby in it.

I have come to the conclusion that the toughest part about surviving the first year with twins is them surviving their big brother and all of his "help"!

Explosion

Tonight I was on my own with the boys while John worked late. Wyatt usually gets a bath every night, but Jonah and Samuel only get a bath every other night unless otherwise necessary. Tonight I fed everyone and then decided to give Wyatt a bath which is usually John's job. Wyatt did really well and didn't splash around much, but Samuel screamed, I mean SCREAMED, the entire time that I had Wyatt in the tub. When I would poke my head out of the laundry room and peek at him he would smile at me, but when he couldn't see me he screamed bloody murder. Needless to say that I was more than a little stressed out from all of the noise, so I decided to get Sammy squared away first so that there would be some peace and quiet. I fed Sam his cereal while Wyatt played with a truck by the tv and noticed that Sammy was sweaty from all of his crying so I thought after Wyatt is in bed I will toss him in the tub for a quick bath too. Then I told Wyatt to pick out 3 books for me to read to him before I tucked him in for the night. He picked out his 20 books and climbed up on the couch next to me, and then I noticed the smell....poop! I figured that it would be a quick diaper change...WRONG!!!! As I carried Wyatt to the laundry room, he was scooping poop out from the sleeves of his jammies and rubbing his hands together and saying "uh oh". Yes, it was a true BLOW OUT diaper....the kind you get when you are nursing a baby. He was covered in poop from his thighs to his armpits on both sides. So Wyatt had bath #2 (with Sammy screaming again the entire time), new jammies, no books, and went to bed. Then I gave Sammy a bath while he continued to scream, put his jammies on, and tossed him in bed and he was asleep in less than 5 seconds. So poor Jonah ended up getting his cereal last and I broke down and decided to give him a bath for fairness sake. So 4 baths, 3 dinners, 2 poopy diapers, 1 poopy kid, 0 books, and a huge load of dirty clothes later, I got all of the boys in bed by myself. Then John got home and asked how everything went tonight... I said "you would have croaked!" and he said "Oh, because I am going to be late tomorrow too!"

No No No!

Latest and Greatest

This is a copy of the collage that we just had made. I love it in black and white!

Teething

I don't know how many teeth are coming in right now, but Jonah is a drool monster. Just look at the front of his shirt in this picture.

Playgroup 101

Check out the new trick that Wyatt learned at playgroup today. He watched a boy do this, but never tried it out until he got home.

New Duds

I bought these shirts for the boys today at the outlet mall! Too cute!

A Boy and His Stroller

Wyatt loves pushing toy strollers. He loves closing and opening the canopy on toy strollers. He loves driving dolls around in toy strollers. It's the whole nine yards when it comes to strollers. I was going to buy him a toy stroller a few weeks ago and was searching the internet for toy strollers that were kinda "manly" (to help with some of the guilt of buying a stroller for my son when I have two other boys in the wings that will probably want strollers in a few months too). I found a couple of toy strollers that were blue or green and not pink, but they were $30! Seriously, Wyatt's real umbrella stroller was $34, so I changed my mind and started looking for used strollers. Anyways, Mom loaned us her toy stroller when we went to Michigan a few weeks ago so that Wyatt can get his stroller fix for a while and then we will bring it back. If I didn't know better I would think that John taught him this, but for the past few days he has been driving toy trucks around in the stroller instead of his baby doll. I guess that in spite of everything, boys will be boys after all!

My Aching Back

Today I pulled and hurt something in my back. I was lifting Jonah (the lightest of our three kids) into his Bumbo seat and my back gave out. It is amazing how much I must use my back muscles during a typical day. I had NO idea!!!! I practically had to teach Wyatt how to climb out of his crib in order to pick him up after his afternoon nap today. I said "ok, now put your leg up there like that and sit on the edge for a second then slither down the outside of the crib until you hit the floor like that. Good job!" The best part is that all that it takes for Wyatt to learn how to do something is one time watching someone do it. I am sure that tomorrow John and I will wake up to Wyatt climbing under the covers with us in bed....or better yet to him running the vacuum first thing in the morning after removing the vacuum bag while having started a load of candles and cd's in the washing machine and hitting the panic button on both sets of car keys. (Yes, all of those things have actually happened, but not at the same time during the day.....yet!) Lucky for us, I think that Wyatt may have a little protege in Jonah. Jonah has the same insatiable curiosity as his big brother, but is much better at getting around and has incredible dexterity and patience. Maybe the two of them can team up and build me something to fix my back!

Bathing Beauties

Gotta love bath time when these two get wet!

Sleepy

I packed up the boys yesterday afternoon and we met John for lunch. We went to a restaurant near John's work so that he got to spend the whole time eating and hanging out with us instead of driving to and from the destination. Now that I think about it, that may be the first time that we have all gone to a restaurant together as a family of five! We may have to make it a regular thing. Last week was so rainy and humid we didn't get out at all. After we met John for lunch Wyatt was so tired that he fell asleep in his carseat before we were even out of the parking lot!

Storytime

I am still trying to get the video to download, so for now I will post this picture of Wyatt "reading" to the boys.

Three Amigos

It's not too often that I get a cute picture of the three boys, but sometimes I get lucky. Jonah has a new trick that I got on videotape today. He shakes his head (and most of his body) back and forth when we say "no". It is super cute and funny, so tomorrow I will try and post the video on the blog.

The Hypnotist

You are getting very sleepy.......

The Best Medicine

I remember when Wyatt was a baby and he went through a phase where he would start to laugh just because John and I were laughing.... basically for absolutely no reason whatsoever! Then of course, we would laugh more because he was laughing so then he would laugh more and we would laugh more.... and on and on and on. Well, now Jonah and Samuel are doing the same thing with Wyatt. It is hysterical to hear all of these babies laughing at the same time about absolutely nothing. My job perks just keep getting better and better!

A Night On the Town

Tonight I am going out for dinner with some girls from the subdivision, so John is in charge of the fort. I kind of felt bad about leaving 3 sick kids (oh yeah, everyone is sick again with colds this time...super fun huh?) with John while I spent a night out enjoying myself without a care in the world. I went upstairs to get ready at about 6:00 and was shocked to find that John had the kids fed, bathed, in bed, and asleep by 6:45! Hmmmmmm.....maybe I'll do this more often! Here's a cute picture of my big boy from today. I can't believe that he is going to be two years old in 2 months!

Boy Fun

My nephew Cameron is 9 months younger than Wyatt and 6 months older than the twins. He will sure enjoy spending time at our house when he is a little older...just imagine 4 boys under the age of 2 years old how fun would that be? I may, however, need to be institutionalized......

Time Flies

Can you believe that these guys are 7 months old now?

Grandparents Galore

Wyatt and the boys have seen all 4 grandparents and their only great grandparent within the last 24 hours. How special is that? They are thriving from all of the attention... which is a nice change from the norm I think. Usually they are all competing for my attention which is also good, but it is nice to see them enjoy a lot of one on one time every once in a while. I feel like their personalities come out a little more when the boys are alone with someone other than each other.

Happy Birthday Allison!!!!!

Today is Al's birthday! We spent the morning at the pool and then drove to Grand Haven to visit John's parents for the weekend. After the kids were in bed for the night, John and I walked along the boardwalk and watched the sunset! It was nice to spend some time alone together for a change! We are looking forward to some beach time and a lot of great weather with the kids! Here's a cute picture from the other day of Wyatt taking care of his baby.

Berry Fun!!!!

This morning we drove to a blueberry farm to do u-pick blueberries. Our group consisted of Me and Mom and Jackie and Wyatt (Al stayed home with Cameron, Samuel, and Jonah). I remembered to bring my camera along to take pictures, but unfortunately, I didn't remember to put the memory card back into the camera after downloading pictures last night....oh well! Mom and I joked that we brought along one little picker and one little eater.....I am sure that you can figure who was the picker and who was the eater! The funny thing is that when we got in line to weigh the berries I was turned around and didn't notice that Wyatt was helping himself to the berries in the bucket of the lady in line behind us (which was an almost full 5 gallon bucket...so she had clearly been picking forever)! Fortunately, she said that she remembered what it was like to be more of an eater than a picker since she had 4 kids of her own and laughed about it. We also celebrated Allison's birthday today. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, but we will be going to visit John's parents tomorrow so we wanted to have the birthday dinner and cake tonight and do gifts tomorrow. Jackie and Wyatt did some gymnastics for us and we enjoyed a great meal, great company, and a great ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!