Peeping Sam

Samuel and Jonah share a bedroom. Their cribs are on the same wall end to end and Sammy's crib is the closest to the window. This has never been a problem until a few months ago when John opened the shade on the window next to Sammy's bed while Sammy was watching. Since then Sammy screws with the shade EVERY.SINGLE.TIME that he is in his crib. Last week he ripped half of the shade off at the bottom. Yesterday I put all of the kids to bed for the night and thought that I could hear someone crying. When I listened harder, I realized that the kids across the street were outside playing basketball talking and laughing. I went outside with my camera and managed to shoot these pictures!

Basket 'O Boys

Last Sunday was Easter. Unfortunately we were not really in the "hoppiest" of moods! Wyatt was sick and I never even got him out of his jammies all day. We didn't give him his Easter basket either because he wouldn't have cared. I had even bought matching shirts for the boys and had a great picture in mind to take, but Wyatt was way too sick to pose for that. So, yesterday John and I dressed the kids in their Easter best and posed them for their Easter picture. I think that it was worth the wait!

Phipps

Today John and I packed up the kids and headed out early this morning to visit Phipps Gardens and Conservatory in downtown Pittsburgh. Built in 1893, the Conservatory is the crown jewel from the era of Victorian glasshouses. It holds thousands of exotic plants and flowers housed in 14 rooms and surrounded by lush gardens, sparkling fountains, and shimmering pools. It was a great way to spend time together as a family and we all got some exercise in the process. Here are few of my favorite pictures from today!

Is this a test?

Wyatt: (Holding up a plastic blue Easter egg) "This blue"
Me: "Yes, it's blue good job"
Wyatt: (holding a yellow egg) "This lellow"
Me: "That's right...yellow!"
Wyatt (holding up a pink egg) "This red"
Me: thinking red was close enough "Yes that's red"
Wyatt: "No it's PINK!"

Apparently I loose the egg color contest to a two year old! Who knew?

I am posting a picture that my friend Carrie sent today of our kids at Krispy Creme on Valentine's Day. We went to celebrate with heart shaped donuts and ended up accidentally dressing our kids in matching outfits.

Special Treatment

If you want to get special treatment at your doctor's office, here's a little tip for you....bring 3 kids under the age of 2 and 1/2 that are all ready for a nap with you. I have a feeling that my doctor will be regretting the decision to let us wait for 20 minutes before calling me back after checking out the cheerios explosion that erupted over half of the waiting room. Although I scrambled to clean up the mess (mostly for effect) I was kind of secretly happy that the tornadoes were in full force...years of waiting at the doctor's office and wanting to teach them a lesson cured in 20 minutes! It was beautiful...the looks on the nurses faces...total shock! The fellow patients pretended to be surprised, but I knew that they were cheering on the inside! That's right boys...teach them to make us all wait!! Bring it on! After we got called back, my doctor gave me an ENTIRE sample prescription of my antibiotic so that I didn't have to go to the pharmacy! It was amazing! Maybe she is married to the pharmacist and was worried about the mess that would surely ensure if we had to wait for the prescription to be filled....I like to think that she felt sorry for a sick Mom with three rambunctious little boys. Either way, I am on the path to recovery! Yipee!!!! Does Sammy need a haircut in this picture or what?

Under the Weather

I think that I have strep throat now! I am going to make an appointment first thing in the morning and see if I can get in to see my doctor before I am totally useless. I will update tomorrow! Something is wrong with blogger and I can't post a picture right now, so I will try tomorrow!

Ideas???

I am running out of ways to entertain the kids! We didn't go anywhere today.... and we have no plans to venture out tomorrow either, so the boredom levels are very high. I spent about 10 minutes teaching Wyatt to do a somersault without any help from me and he can do it perfectly. Sammy rolled around on the floor and then would sit up and clap for himself because he thought that he was doing the same thing, it was too funny! I also taught the boys to hold hands with me and do "ring around the rosies". Everybody loves to fall down really dramatically and they each try and outdo their brothers! But seriously tomorrow we can only do so many somersaults and rosies! I am starting to panic!!!!!!

Who Knew?

Apparently a fever and a limp in a 2 year old means that you have strep throat! I was more than a little surprised when the pediatrician suggested performing a strep test, let alone when she said that it was positive! I am hoping that Wyatt will start to feel better tonight because dealing with the three kids today was painful! Wyatt was ultra clingy and I literally couldn't put him down to walk until 4 pm, Jonah was whiny and clingy too because he misses Grandpa, and I was tired because I was up all night worrying that Wyatt had some weird tropical disease. I am ready to get a good night sleep!

Happy Easter 2008!

Wyatt woke up with a fever and a limp this morning. We didn't go to church, get into our Easter clothes, or even check out the Easter baskets for the boys. We spent all day keeping Wyatt's fever at bay and organizing the house back to normal. I have spent some time on the internet trying to figure out what weird illness causes a fever and leg pain, but nothing that I read about seems like an exact fit. If he isn't better in the morning then I will haul all three kids to the doctor and see what they say. If anyone has any ideas I am all ears?!?! My card reader is on the fritz again too!

Egg Hunt

We took the kids to an Easter egg hunt. There were also tattoos, donut decorating, firetruck tours, puppet shows, and balloon sculptures.

Tired Out

We had a jam packed day and everyone is tired. I can't get the card reader to read the memory card on my camera, so I will have to try and post a picture tomorrow.

Up Up and Away

Sammy finally learned to pull himself up to standing and cruise furniture this week. He is so proud of himself when he is standing and is always smiling. He isn't as far behind Jonah as I thought in terms of walking. Sammy is a little more cautious and seems to let Jonah work the kinks out in a new task before tackling it himself, but catches on much quicker!

Why I shouldn't have gone to playgroup today

We were a little off our game today and I may get kicked out of playgroup if we have any more days like this....
1. Wyatt fell into a big pile of dog poop on the way into playgroup so we had to strip him down to socks and a diaper outside, borrow some clothes, and wash and dry Wyatt's clothes before we left because I forgot a spare outfit (note to self...the poopy shoes are still in the truck!)
2. I let it slip about the Easter bunny to twin 4 year old girls at playgroup...in front of their mom! (In my defense the bunny in the picture on the refrigerator DID look really creepy...)
3. We gave my friend a lawn job on the way out when I miscalculated the driveway and backed into the yard...after it has been raining for about 90 days. Seriously, the ruts that I left are deep enough to bury a casket or two!! I didn't even have the guts to go in and tell her that I did it...I suspect that she has a pretty good idea!
So, does anyone want to invite us over? I promise that you will have an exciting time with our family around!

See ya!

Wyatt pulled up a chair to watch Daddy leave to go grocery shopping!

Peek A Boo

They could do this all day long!

Sleeping Beauty

Yesterday I got up with the boys and John got to sleep in and today John got up with the boys and I got to sleep in. I woke up at 11am this morning!!! I must have been really tired! I put earplugs in and didn't even hear John vacuuming or the kids running around...like a mini-coma. I have to say that I felt really well rested all day today too!
I don't think that I posted this picture of the boys in the truck just before leaving the zoo a few weeks ago! Could they be more tired?

Happy Anniversary To ME!!!!!!!!!

My original post 1 year ago today!!!!
I decided to challenge myself with the task of taking a picture a day for the rest of the year. It can be of anything...the boys, Maggie, the piles of laundry, my house trashed at the end of the day, etc. Anything that captures a part of the days events. At the end of the year, we will have a wonderful summary of how crazy wonderful our lives have been in the year 2007 and hopefully remember a lot of the little things that we forget to appreciate. I hope that you will bookmark

this blog so that you can visit often and leave comments if you like.

Friday March 16, 2007
Garbage day at our house is really exciting. The truck is fully automated and picks up the cans with a mechanical arm which is fascinating even when you are 17 months old!
Saturday March 16, 2008
The boys all enjoyed playing play dough with Dad

Mr Sneaky

Sammy has a new game plan for bedtime....don't do it! He drinks his bottle, smiles when you zip him up in his sleepsack, and then screams bloody murder when you put him in bed for the night. This week we have had to go get him back out of bed every night. He drinks more milk and then his plan unfolds. He uses the time alone with Mom and Dad to play with all of Wyatt's toys that he can't play with when Wyatt is around. Wyatt keeps some of his toys away from Jonah and Samuel and, of course, these are the few toys that the boys are DYING to play with. Last night Sammy played with Wyatt's Matchbox cars and Little people garage.

Standing Up

On Monday night we had a speaker come to our Mothers of Multiples meeting and talk about physical milestones in a child's development. I asked her if she thought that it was weird that Sammy didn't pull himself up to standing yet and he was 14 months old. She asked me a few questions like how long he had been crawling and if he had lots of things to practice pulling up on and then she suggested that I have him evaluated just to make sure that he was progressing normally. I told John about it when I got home and we agreed to check into it asap. The very next morning, Sammy pulled himself up to standing on the step in the front hall like he had been doing it forever. I guess that I am just a worry wart! He seems to be working on his speaking skills instead of standing and walking. Today he said "Hi Jonah". It wasn't perfectly clear, but Wyatt and I both knew what he said and looked at him and laughed.

My Eyes

John and I have a perpetual war going on about how bright the lights should be in the family room while watching tv. The lights are on a dimmer switch and I like them on all the way, but John likes them on so that it appears that the room is lit by candlelight. In a backhanded effort to win this war, John taught Wyatt to cover his eyes when he walks into the family room and say "light too bright" like he is in pain. If it wasn't so funny it would be very annoying. So not only will my kids destroy my sanity and my memory, but I will be blind as well!
I am posting an old picture from the zoo

Mom 0 Kids 3

The kids are winning. Last week I would have said that it was a draw, but this week, with the time change on their side, they are winning. I have become certifiably crazy. The kids game plan for today was to eat twice as much as normal and sleep half as much! By the time that John and I caught on to their little scheme, we had no food in the house and the kids were asleep for the night. It was kind of shocking to watch such little people eat so much food...kind of like the magic trick with all of the clowns in the little car. Tomorrow I am sure that it will be something new. They will cry all of the time, but not be hungry for anything but pie, and only sleep on the floor in the playroom or something! I love it when they mix it up!
BTW, I am thinking about blowing up a picture of Wyatt to hang up in the playroom. Do you like the one from yesterday or today better?

Where has the time gone?

I have decided that I am going to be on daylight savings time all of the time from now on. I think that it is stupid to do all of the "move your clocks ahead" "move your clock back" garbage every 6 months, so I am opting out now. Every time you move your clocks ahead you lose 1 hour, which means that in the last 35 years of my life I have lost 1 hour per year which equals 35 hours! I have lost over a day of my life screwing with my clock! This is absurd! I can get a lot of things accomplished in 35 hours! So we may be late to some stuff next October after you all change your clocks back, but I'm ok with that...I have broken that cycle!
I can't even begin to explain how completely messed up my children get when I change our clocks (not to mention my own sanity!).The kids all woke up at 8:30 am this morning...woo hoo! Then the twins were ready for lunch at 10:30am...which I thought was ok because that was really 11:30....but then I realized that 10:30 was really 9:30! So the boys ate breakfast at 8:30am and then lunch at 10:30 (9:30 old time), which was a little unusual. The twins never took a morning nap, so I put everyone down for an afternoon nap at the same time. The twins slept from 1-4 and Wyatt never napped at all. He just jumped around in his bed for an hour yelling and throwing stuff out of his crib. After the boys woke up we skipped the afternoon snack and just ate dinner at 4 pm (3 pm old time)! Then I left at 6:30 for a Mothers of Multiples meeting so I have no idea what happened after that. I didn't press John for details when I got home...I don't want to know!

Getting Close

Today is exactly 1 week away from my one year anniversary of blogging! I started this blog last year on March 16 and have posted every day since! Pretty amazing huh? I am trying to come up with something really special for my blog birthday, so stay tuned! No gifts please (unless it's more memory for my computer...which is necessary if you have a year's worth of posts with pictures stored on your computer...but that would cost too much....unless you all pitched in....anyways I have digressed). Tomorrow I will attempt to explain the inhumanity of a time change in the lives of people under the age of three, but tonight's post will be short. Wyatt's new favorite phrase for the day was "Sammy... no messes" with an emphasis on the "s" sound at the end of "messes". The pot calling the kettle.......yeah!

New Shirt

I am posting yesterday's picture a little late because we were having trouble with our card reader on the computer and I couldn't upload any pictures yesterday. It seems to be working fine now, but I have a feeling that this may happen again. Wyatt showing off his new shirt!

mini pancakes

This is one of Wyatt's favorite snacks....little tiny pancakes and syrup for dipping.

Girlie Boy

Yesterday I took my daughter Wyatt to a kids clothing and equipment re-sale at a local preschool. He picked out a lovely double doll stroller for $2 and pushed it around the sale for 45 minutes or so. Then when we got home Wyatt loaded his stroller up with 2 dolls (yes, he has 2 dolls) and parked it next to his highchair so that his "babies" could watch him eat. At nap time I had to put the stroller in his bedroom so that Jonah and Samuel didn't touch the it while he was sleeping. After his nap, Wyatt told me that his "babies are thirsty...right there" and pointed to the dolls mouths so that I would get 2 bottles for them. They drank milk while Jonah and Samuel ate their snack. The house was quiet. After dinner Wyatt attempted to take both of his dolls into the bath with him, but John made them sit in the bathroom and watch. Then before bed, Wyatt spend about 20 minutes teaching his dolls how to work the "Wyatt little remote". He was exhausted. It's hard caring for twins you know!!!! With all of this practice though, he is going to make a great Dad someday!

More

Chocolate pudding gives Jonah the perfect motivation to use sign language for "more".

Get Out Of Work Free Card

We have, with very little effort, accomplished the impossible... interstate infection. In record time too! My boys managed to infect my Mom with the same stomach virus that plagued us for the past two weeks when she came to visit last weekend. Apparently, John and I are running a state-of-the-art germ factory over here. The kids spend their days licking everything within reach and I spend my time ordering Lysol by the truckload! These are the days that I wish that I didn't know quite so much about microbiology! Truthfully though, our house would be a perfect place to conduct some really cutting edge microbiology experiments without all of the human subject red tape!
Example Questions:
1. If Child A has a cold how many minutes of brushing with Child B's toothbrush is sufficient to infect said child?
2. If Child B gives their toothbrush to Child C, how long will it be before Child A uses said toothbrush to flush the toilet?
3. What happens if you swallow the little suction cup at the bottom of a toothbrush?
4. If Child A has a horn, how many times can Child B and Child C blow on it in 30 seconds?
5. If Child B eats half of his lunch in his highchair and half of it on the floor under his highchair, is his immune system better than or equal to Child C's?
Example Answers:
1. 18 hours
2. 13 seconds
3. Comes out the other end....hopefully!
4. Eleventy billion!
5. Equal

See what I mean? No red tape!

Zoo Day

It was 68 degrees here today so we spent the day at the zoo!

Dry Humor

Wyatt has such a dry sense of humor!

The Fox and the Hare

Literally in our yard this morning........

Snowy

Wyatt's new friend!