Family fun!

Talk about a busy couple weeks! This is going to seem like a crazy blog but I don't want to forget anything and make sure I get in a few pictures, because I know how much you love the pictures!

On fb someone got the idea to write one thing a day that you're thankful for. So I've been doing that. All I can say is that I'm truly blessed. We have so very much to be thankful for and it's nice to be able to think about that this time of year.

Nate took a couple days off last week and we were able to get out and about. We went to the SF Zoo and it was sooo much fun! The kids did so good and the twins were able to run around (on leashes) and wear themselves out! Even the rides there and back were wonderful. I am so excited for the years to come as they get older and things get a bit easier. But here are some fun pictures.

Nate did have to work Monday and Wed so I took that opportunity to do some crafts with the kids. They love to color and do it often but we decided to try finger paints! So here are some pictures. Jake was a having a bad day but finally tried it and Aly had fun. Jon also joined us which was awesome!

And last weekend I had my family over for dinner. We had a Chinese food night and it was SOO SOO GOOD!! It was also a lot of fun, I love living close enough to family that we're able to get together like this. The kids had a great time and this was a mostly indoor event and it still went well :-) Here are some pictures...


Jake and Aly at the table, Meg with Ethan and Aly, Jake and cousin Roan eating yummy food! How did I not get a picture of Kaylin?!?!

On Friday I had Jon's Parent Teacher Conference. I know I've said it but it's worth saying again. I LOVE his teacher! So apparently when he was sick he missed a couple of the tests that helped show me how he was doing, so she sent us home with us to do over the vacation (Jon was REALLY happy about that hahaha!) But we did go over his report card and it was good. He's for sure a b student but I'm very happy with that! We then moved on to his personality... yes he's got QUITE the personality! I laughed so hard while I was there, she was telling me about having to take away his pencil sharpener, he kept tapping on it.. quietly but still very annoying. And moving his desk so he didn't have anything to distract him, yes that's Jon. I in all seriousness asked if he was really bad or a disruption and she laughed and said NEVER, she LOVED him! But he's the Jokester. Not the loud clown of the class but definitely the jokester. She actually gave me homework :-) She sent me home with a book they read in class called Findle and it's about a boy with a strict English teacher. Jon's teacher said that the whole time they read the book she thought--oh lord Jon is getting ideas :-) The kid even makes up his own words, just like Jon! Too funny! So yea I have the jokester. Can I just say right here, right now, that I'm so thankful to have a funny kid!! He cracks me up all the time and is such a cool kid! Even if he does drive us crazy most of the time, get in trouble for not speaking ENGLISH, and teaches the little ones bad things.

Today is Monday and Thursday is Thanksgiving, YaY!! I can't wait! I can't wait to COOK! This is the first Thanksgiving in TWO years that I'm not pregnant, thank god! Nate had to work today but will be home till next Monday. Tomorrow we're doing all of our shopping and hopefully getting Jakes hair cut. Wed, I'm going to start getting ready for Thursday and Jake has his therapy (which is going really well). Thursday we will be at LaLa's eating yummy food and enjoying the company of family. I grew up going to Aunt Linda's and loved playing games and hanging out with my cousins. I'm so very thankful that we live so close and our kids will grow up playing together on Thanksgiving at Aunt Lindas. Friday I will be with all the crazies, and Barb to go SHOPPING!! I'm SOOO excited!! It is seriously one of my very very favorite days of the year!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

sick, sick, sick, sick

We have been bit by the sick bug... And we were bit HARD!! It all started 9 days ago--It was a Monday and the Sunday before we had gone to Reno, so I actually just thought the kids were a little off from the busy day. Well apparently not. Jake ran a moderate fever that day and was fussy but I couldn't tell anything was really wrong. Ethan on the other hand started refusing his bottles at about 4pm that afternoon. By 8am the next day I knew something was wrong... Oh and that night Nathan also started feeling bad. So Monday night I got maybe 2 hours of sleep and that was not consecutively! Ethan was up almost the whole night and finally at 5am I got the bright idea to stick him in the jumparoo, yep it worked he crashed out till 7am! I ended up calling the doc because I could not get Ethan to eat! I kept Jon home from school because she mentioned the flu shots were in. So off we went to the doctor at 11am or so. Nathan SLEPT in the car (poor guy!!) I took in Jake and Ethan and Jon waited int he car with Aly. She couldn't find anything wrong with either of them but we all got our flu shots and went on our way. Sounds like a quick trip huh, HA we got home at 1p. I was finally able to get Ethan to eat a little and seemed to be doing better that evening.
If only it had ended there... Thur Jake wakes up and has this HORRIBLE sound coming out of him.. It sounds like a seal and once you've heard it you know what it is. Jon had it a couple years back and it sucks. It's croup. If you dno't know what croup is it's kind of like bronchitis in kids but it usually only happens in kids under 3 because their lungs are so small. And they get blocked easily and have a lot of trouble breathing. Well Jake had it but Nate was at work so there wasn't much I could do. Poor guy seemed to feel well but just sounded awful. I had Nate stay home on Friday so we could take him in, by this time Nate and I both have the sore throat and are congested. So Friday I take Jake in and they give him a steroid to help open his lungs. It seems to help. Saturday was soccer day and Halloween!!! I knew it was too cold for the kids to be out for the soccer game and as the day progressed I realized that Ethan too had Croup... UGH!! So Nate took Jon over to Megs to celebrate Halloween and do some trick or treating. Jon was a skeleton :-)



I stayed home with the kids so I could keep them on schedule and keep them indoors. Ethan ended up getting worse as the night went on so he slept with me. I couldn't risk him not being able to breath in the night. Not to mention keeping up Jake and Aly when both of them weren't feeling well. So Nate slept on the couch and Ethan slept on my chest. Again another night of very little sleep for me. Sunday was another tough day with Ethan and his croup, Jake on the end of his croup and Nate and I feeling like crap. So Monday morning rolls around and Jon is complaining of a sore throat... RIIIIGGGHHTTTT!! I of course think he just wants to stay home from school and tell him he'll be fine and make his lunch. I walk down the stairs just in time to see him throw up all over my kitchen floor...ugh! So poor Jon was sick too. He stayed home but didn't seem to have any symptoms and didn't throw up again. I had Nate work from home on Tuesday in case I needed Jon to go to the doctor--oh yeah at 8pm Monday night I found Jon sound asleep on the recliner, with a 103 degree fever... Jon turned out to be fine on Tuesday but still with a sore throat so I kept him home. During breakfast Aly started--yep she now had croup. Poor baby!!!
So as of today which is Wednesday... Jake--still has a nasty wet cough but is in great spirits and had the best bed-head hair this morning!!


Aly is still in the middle of her croup and is okay as long as she doesn't get upset. Poor thing can't catch her breath when she starts to cry, But this should be the last day of it!
Jon went to school today with some throat suppressants, he does still have a little sore throat but has gone 36 hours without a fever and seemed perfectly fine this morning.
Nate is 2 days ahead of me with this head cold thing we have and he seems to be feeling a lot better, I feel horrible at night but am okay so far today. I can't breath very well, but hey at least the headache and earache are gone :-) I do have a tickle in my throat that is DRIVING ME BATTY!!
Ethan is doing good, he also has the really wet nasty cough but is taking his bottles like a pro, solids is a whole other story!

So that's us... I'm hoping that this weekend we can actually get out of the house and into the fresh air. I'm so tired of being trapped in the house and actually considered running away from home earlier this week.

Pumpkins and crazy toddlers!

It's happening, that special time of year. When I want to bake, lay with Nate on the couch in front of the fire watching his stupid sports. It's not quite there yet, but I can feel it coming!

So this last week was a lot of fun! On Friday we spent the day at the Pumpkin Patch. I think the twins and I had the most fun. They were able to run! And I mean RUN everywhere. They are finally learning they're names and the word "no". I guess I should clarify that they know these words but are finally acting like they can HEAR them. They first played at the playground, and then we went and played on the bales of hay. I swear Aly is going to give me a heart attack, that girl has no fear. I had to catch her as she rolled off the bales. We then spent some time looking at the pond. Yes that took literally 20 minutes. But I got some good pictures of Jon :-) We then went to the petting zoo but considering there was only 2 adults to 4 kids, I wasn't brave enough to send Nate in with the twin-ado's... So they fed them from the outside and Jon went in. It was fun to see them with the animals though. We then just let them run around and play with the pumpkins. They had a great time and were very tired on the way home.














Saturday started with Jon's soccer game... They lost, again. But Jon ROCKS!!! He is so much fun to watch!! Then Nathan and I had DATE NIGHT!! It's been a long time since we had a date night just the two of us. I missed having him to myself and had a great time just being with him. I know I sound all gushy and stuff but I just LOVE him! I have so much fun with him and it amazes me that after almost 10 years of marriage we still have so much to talk about. So it was his turn to pick a Restaurant and so we went to a Japanese/Sushi Buffet. I can not remember the name or I would post a link but it was okay. Nate liked it. They had a lot of sushi and some Japanese foods but I stuck to the green bean tempura... I did try some sushi, ick. We then did all of our grocery shopping, fun stuff for date night huh :-) It was nice being able to go through the aisles as fast or slow as we wanted and only having one cart, that was nice too.



Sunday we spent the day in Reno at my in-laws. Some of Nate's Aunts and Uncles were visiting and we were happy to make the trip up to visit. It was wonderful seeing them and all-in-all the kids were great! It's always a bit hard going to a place that doesn't normally have kids in it and my two can baby-proof a house for you, really fast! But they did good and we didn't have any major meltdowns. That was huge since they all went off of no naps the entire day. I spent the drive home squished between the twins in the backseat. They were very fussy and drove me crazy throwing things and getting mad. It will be awhile before we take another car trip. But it was a lot of fun seeing family and can't wait to see them again. I didn't get any pictures :-(



My random thoughts of the day:



~I can't handle Family Guy late at night, the whining just makes me want to throw something at the tv.

~ I no longer have to check the expiration dates on milk..

~ Now that Jon is making his own lunch we go through a lot of peanut butter... I hate this, I like to have my super crunchy peanut butter to myself, not with jam mixed in.. ick.

~ I don't like sushi--I just don't. Don't tell me that there is this one kind I will like, cause I don't. Get over it, I just don't like sushi-period.

~ I thought that the "why" "where" questions ended at 6 years old... Apparently they don't, my 9 year old is FULL of them...

Vegas baby!

As I sit here I have mounds, and I honestly mean MOUNDS of clothes ALL over my living room. Getting everything tagged and ready for the Mothers of Multiples Clothing and Equipment sale on Saturday. I have to drop everything off on Friday and I'll be LUCKY if I have half of it done. Yes I procrastinated (don't roll your eyes, nobody's shocked!) but I really wanted to wait till I got home from Vegas.

Oh yes, Vegas :-) Let me just say that I have the best husband on earth. He didn't "let" me go (I'm pretty sick of hearing that btw) but he did encourage it. I had so much to do in order to go on this trip. I had to organize all the clothes for all the kids for all the days I was gone... Each set of clothes had an orange post-it so Nate knew who wore what. I also had to list all of the meals for all the kids. There were orange post-its all over the pantry, marking the days and Ethans food. There were also orange post-its all over the fridge, telling Nate what was inside the fridge for him to feed. I then had a piece of paper for each day that had specific instructions on routine... nap time for the twins, nap times for Ethan and Jon's homework info. Also when to change out the sippy cups, Ethans bottles and when to have Jon take a shower.


Now you may think that I was a bit OCD for doing all of this but it wasn't me... I of course did it all but it was Nate who wanted it. Every time I went to tell him something he asked if I wrote it down :-) So I did! My sweet husband who is so incredibly smart but lacks in the common sense department...

I did manage to remember to pack myself (at the last minute) and it was really weird packing for just me. I actually had room for shoes and lotions... yay! So Sunday afternoon I got on the plane to go to Las Vegas to meet up with some of my very favorite people. As some of you may know I have Nystagmus, it's what makes my eyes wiggle. Well there is actually a bi-yearly conference for those with Nystagmus and many years ago I met Laura and along the way, Drew, Heather, Joe, and Scott. Some of us couldn't make it to the conference this year so we decided to make a trip to Vegas. Some of our favorite people weren't able to make it, and they were missed but the 6 of us were able to make the time and met up on Sunday. Sunday evening to be exact through Thursday/Friday. Now I'm not going to go through it step by step, mostly because I just don't have the time. But it was so very much fun!!!!! Laura was her typical beautiful self! Always with a smile and tended to be lost without a plan. Drew was his normal Drew, cracking us all up! I swear there was nothing that he didn't have a comment about, but that's what we love about him! He was so very much fun to hang out with! Scott, my married buddy :-) was so much fun to dance with for HOURS! You are one of the nicest people I know, seriously sweet! Can't wait to meet your wife!! Oh and I honestly think you have a future in uhm photography, lol. Heather was so much fun to go shopping with! I adore her and finally got to really hang out and talk this trip. I can NOT wait to get to know her better and am so proud to call her my friend. You have the best smile, and taste in purses!! And then there was Joe.. or was it Dr. Joe? I hadn't gotten to know him before and really enjoyed it this time around! He reminded me so much of Nathan and that was nice. He also was very laid back and my sober buddy :-) I loved that I got you to dance, and look forward to hanging out again!

Like I said, it was wonderful. I desperately needed a break and thoroughly enjoyed my time. It was the little things that made me happy, dancing till the pub closed (2 nights in a row), taking LONG showers... Eating and not having to stick my fingers in it, unless I wanted too! Wearing my hair down and not worrying about it being pulled. All of these things and many more made the trip glorious and a true vacation. It only could have been better if Nathan had come.






Laura and I, Scott, Drew and Joe, Heather and I.

Like I said in the previous post, it's a very busy month. Yesterday the twins had their weight check. They both only gained like half a pound so we're having to give them a can of pedia-sure once a day. Trying to fatten them up is NOT easy!

All the kids are doing wonderful. Looking forward to Halloween and the upcoming holidays!

We had a pretty big storm hit us yesterday and we lost power for about 2 hours. It felt like 10 hours! The kids ran around in the dark and Jon did his homework by candlelight--well until we pulled out the flashlights and camping lanterns (battery powered). It was fun. We did have a very large branch fall on the fence but it was the metal part of the fence so Nate was able to cut it and it's only bent a little bit. It sure was windy though and our yard is a MESS!!

Have a great week!

A busy month that hasn't even started!

Since when is the month of October so stinken busy? I remember waiting all of October for Halloween... Now I have so much to do before the 31st that I haven't even bought the kids costumes yet. So not like me.

Lets rewind a little bit...

The kids have been great! I can't begin to tell you how well they are doing. The twins turned 20 months on the 21st and are just exploding with words and personality. Jake has made such an improvement and it's so much fun to listen to him talk! His therapy is going wonderful and each week we see such an improvement. Aly is awesome and still so very little. She has absolutely no fear and will jump off and get on top of just about anything. This includes the kitchen table when nobody is looking. She also has 2 more teeth! She now has 4 teeth in front and 4 molars!

Teeth count :

Jake -- 12

Aly -- 8

Ethan - 0

Ethan is also doing very well. He's such a love. He has the best laugh, a lot like Jakes. He's also really ticklish, just like all the other boys :-) He's spending a lot of time on his tummy these days and is able to scoot around if he can find something to push off of. He's also eating some baby food. So far carrots is the fav (YUCK).



As for Jon, he's doing great as well. He had a soccer game this last Saturday and Grandpa P even cam to watch. But it didn't go well. It was super super hot!! But they were destroyed, very sad. On a good note, Jon is GREAT! He is so strong this year and showing a lot of promise. Normally there are a ton of really good players on his team and he would just stay back, but he's one of those strong players and that's awesome to see. I'm so very proud of him. He's doing good with school too. We just got his progress report and have a couple areas to work on but not much and nothing too serious. It's the same as it is every year, Jon needs to ssslllloooowww down! He rushes through everything.



So I was talking to my wonderful cousin Meg, we got on the topic of Poison Control (I have their magnet up on my fridge) and she laughed. Well I had to call PC last week because of Jake. I kind of knew that he'd be okay but felt I needed to call, just to ease my mind. I'm sure you're wondering why I had to call.... That's a good question. I don't know how it happened but somehow he managed to get a tube of diaper rash cream into his during nap time. So when I went to get him after nap I smelled it. Now normally you'd expect to see it... nope didn't see much of it but boy did it smell!! So I looked for it and realized Jake had white on his face.. not much just a little bit below his nose. Then I smell his breath.. oh yeah there was the smell. I then find the tube and it's dang near empty! How in the world did he do that? So he gets all excited that I found this tube and I hand it back to him and sure enough he puts it straight to his mouth and SUCKS it up! GROSSS!!!! So yes I decided after ingesting a tube of diaper rash cream that a call to PC must be done. Of course he's fine and apparently this is common.

So as for the future.. things are getting busy! I really wish it would cool down and feel like fall.

I leave for Las Vegas on Sunday... I can not wait! I'm trying to get everything ready, Nate will be home alone with the kids till Thursday afternoon. He's such a trooper! I can't wait to sleep in and do whatever I want for 3 whole days. I'm already worried that I'll be homesick but love the people that I'm going with and know that will help. A break.. wow.

I then come home to a whirlwind of busy-ness. The twins C&E sale is in 3 weeks and I've just barely started! I have so much to tag!!! I can't WAIT to get rid of this baby stuff!!! It makes me super excited :-) We also have 2 big twin outings and of course Halloween ending a very busy month. The twins also have a weight check in there somewhere and will have to update then. I honestly don't think Aly has gained an ounce. But we'll see.

So not much else to report, here are a couple pictures I can share of the last few weeks. Love to all.

Jake and Aly in the tub...

Can you tell who's who?

Aly wearing daddy's shoe and Ethan crashed out under his little play gym.

Deaths in 3's...

I'm one of those that thinks death comes in 3's. I'm not exactly sure why but I was so sad to hear of Patrick Swayze's death. I knew he was sick and saw his thing with Barbara Walters last year but it still was a shock to me.
Then on Sunday I read a status post on facebook from an old High School friend, it read "RIP Robby"... I'm not sure how I knew but I did. I got this feeling in the pit of my stomach and just waited patiently to hear, Robby who? It was answered by another hs friend that posted... Yep it was him. It amazes me how something that was so HUGE to me 14-15 years ago can just come flooding back after being totally buried for years!! I've spent the last 24 hours thinking about him and remembering the times we had. We were friends first, he was friends with a close friend of mine and he was there when my heart was demolished by my first love. I don't remember a lot, but I think I remember the important things. He was a part of so many firsts for me, some that may not have been the best ideas at the time but they are all part of my childhood that make me the woman I am today. We went our separate ways, and I was very much to blame for everything that happened between us. As I sit and type this I can't help but think of my kids, who they are going to be friends with, what my mom was thinking during all this.
My random thoughts on Robby.
He had beautiful eyes, but his hugs were the best.
He taught me how to drive, in his moms mini-van.
He tackled me all the time! In many random places... Parking lots usually.
We wrote letters to each other during school... I may even still have some in a box somewhere.
He bought me a cat that we named Tyler--the devils cat :-)
We laughed... a lot. to the point of tears, many times.
He used to come over in the morning and make me breakfast.
He drove everyone, everywhere...
He introduced me to GOOD music!!! I think this is one of the very best things that came out of our friendship. I'll never forget getting lost trying to get to someones house, and we just drove around and around listening to Weezer, on tape.
The many many clambakes... ;-)

I am so sorry that you were taken way too soon from your family. I heard you were just married. My heart goes out to your family and (in no doubt) your beautiful wife. RIP Robby, I will forever remember you as you were one of those that helped make me a better person. I can only imagine how many lives you touched.
Robby and I after our first double date... I always wondered why my mom kept all these pictures... I guess now I know.


As for the 3rd death.. I'd like to think it was my pump, wishful thinking I'm sure.

Labor day and a hard goodbye.

Labor Day weekend. Friday Nate went to work and I decided to let the kids play with markers and color. Here are a couple pictures. Jake did awesome and really seemed to enjoy it. Aly on the other hand preferred to eat and SUCK on the marker rather then draw with it. Thus the pretty markings on her face.



That afternoon I guess I had left a marker in their playroom and I found them drawing on themselves. Here are the beautiful markings :-)





Saturday we went shopping... really not very exciting. Sunday however was a BLAST! I had my Aunt Linda, cousin Joey, and the Jacoby family--Cousins Megan, Ron, and Kaylin (3y) and Roan (16.5 months). The weather was beautiful, and the kids were all great!! Nate bbq'd some wonderful food and we just sat around eating and playing outside.
The kids love the trampoline and Aly is always the first one on! The girl can go forever!


She also has some great balance, it's pretty funny cause the boys (Roan and Jake) joined her and Kaylin and could not keep standing. They had such a hard time, the girls were just way too busy for them.


The bigger boys played catch and frisbee and it was a lot of fun to watch. We had the all too familiar ball stuck in the tree and got another ball stuck (trying to get the other down) and a pogo stick broken because Nate kept tossing it in the tree to get out the two balls. Finally Ron saved the day by climbing the tree and getting the original ball.



I also have to add some pictures of Aly with her tomato. Roan, Jake and Aly all had them but boy did she like hers!


Ethan just hung out in his little excersaucer and was so very sweet. He also took a nice long nap during the day so that was very helpful! It's so nice being able to hangout and not have to hold a baby the whole time.


Nate and I have discussed numerous times moving out of state and days like Sunday remind me why I want to stay here. I am so very blessed to have the family that I do. We may not be big in numbers but we sure are big in love and support, oh and a bunch of really precious BABIES!!!!

The second half of this blog is not easy to write and if there are any men reading this it might be hard to read :-)
My breast pump died. Let me rewind a little bit. I decided when I found out I was pregnant with the twins that I would exclusively pump. So having Nate as a husband I went out and did ALL of my research. I wanted the 300$ pump... but having Nate as that husband of mine, I chose the 150$ one... I pumped for the twins until they were 5.5 months old and I had to stop because I was pregnant with Ethan and my milk just dried up. So I of course knew I would pump with Ethan and have done so for 6.5 months. It died the other day and Nate went out and bought a manual pump which just does not even come close to working as well as my Medela Swing pump. I am so very torn by this whole thing. It's no secret that I've seriously gotten abusive with my pump and have a very strong LOVE/HATE relationship with it. But when it died, I cried. I get teary just thinking about it. At 6 months I did cut down a pumping session so I was only pumping 3x a day and that helped me so much! I think I'm just mad because I didn't get to choose when to stop, my pump chose for me. Which may have also been a blessing because every time I wanted to quit I had a huge wave of guilt rush over me. Now I know that I shouldn't have any guilt, hell all Jon got after 5 weeks was formula. And so did the twins, I can't explain it. So every time I pump I see less and less milk... It won't be long before I stop all together. I do have a LOT of milk in the freezer and am hoping that can last another month but at some point it will end. My sweet husband even offered to run out and buy me another 150$ pump but I of course hugged him tight and said I'd be okay. I can't believe that this is so tough for me. I hate this pump... well maybe not as much as I thought I did.
Let me also add that I'm so incredibly proud of myself for going this long... For the first 3 months I pumped every 3 hours around the clock!! That's 4 hours of pumping a day... I then went to pumping 4-5 times a day until 6 months. Pumping has been such a huge part of days... finding the time, the place, making bottles, freezing milk, timing the pump for when we had plans or I had to be out for more then 3-4 hours. Things got very tricky. I also had a horrible Lactation Consultant at Marshal Hospital that looked very poorly on pumping. She gave me such a hard time when I had the twins and when I had Ethan and saw her again she didn't even offer me the pumping stuff. Pumping is JUST as good as breastfeeding and NOBODY can convince me otherwise! But it was all worth it and I did it!! I could not have gotten this far without the wonderful support of Nathan. Every morning he gets up with the kids and changes diapers because I'm pumping.
So long, my yellow pump...