Reno fun!

I absolutely LOVE my husband. I think that one of the reasons that Nate and I have lasted so long is because he is my best friend. We have so much fun just the two of us and I really enjoy the time we share together. With so many little ones it's very hard to find time for just the two of us but this last weekend, thanks to our wonderful family and friends we were able to spend a WHOLE day together and 2 nights with OUT babies!!

Friday started with my (other) best friend, Barbara coming over.. She stayed at our house and watched Ethan and Jon. She was so nice to offer and because she stayed at our house I didn't have to worry about boarding the dogs.

Nate and I then drove to Reno with the twins, grandma and grandpa P were watching them. Poor Jake had a heck of a time with his ears going over the pass but the ride home was MUCH MUCH worse! This is definitely something I'll be talking to the Audiologist about next month. We made it in record time (very little traffic) and the twins immediately took off running and roaming at G & G's house! I'm not even sure they noticed that we left!!

We stayed at the El Dorado because I like being close to other hotels. We were starved by the time we got our room and I finished pumping so we went to the Seafood buffet in the hotel. It was good. Nate really liked it! I've had better but I'm also not as into seafood as Nathan is! It was so nice to just sit and take our time eating. I think we were there for well over and hour and it was WONDERFUL!! Nate then had to run back to the room so he didn't miss his 2 hour Prison Break :-) While I checked out the tables and did some gambling.

Saturday we spent the morning relaxing and then headed over the mall to do some shopping. It was so nice to walk around and just window shop. Well of course I had to buy a couple goodies for the kids.

Dinner Saturday night was AWESOME!! We went to La Strada an Italian restaurant in our hotel and it definitely lived up to it's hype! Nate got the lobster spaghetti-- chef's special. And I got the Swordfish Mediterranean style... YUM!!!

Nate's dinner...

We then decided that we had to play some games... Of course Circus Circus was right next door so we headed over to battle. Yes battle... Air Hockey was the game and the first one went to Nate. The 2nd game was all mine -- well at first, I then lost. I still can't believe I lost! Oh well it was fun. We also did some racing and bowling.

Sunday we picked up the kids from G&G's and had some good breakfast, packed up and headed out.

When we got home Jon and Barb's kids were all playing out in the sprinklers since it was SUPER hot!! It was nice to be home but I could really use a longer break next time :-)

I couldn't have had such a great relaxing time if it wasn't for Nate's parents and Barb. Knowing my kids were in such great hands made it so easy for me to have fun and not worry.



Yesterday was going to be a normal stay home day but my cousin Meg called and they were headed to the pool... She invited us and we took them up on it! It was SOOO much fun! Aly was my little fish, she had so much fun swimming around! Jake fussed--typical Jake! But he had fun towards the end.

Aly asleep in the pool!

I still have bags to unpack and so much laundry to do and things to catch up on but it was oh so worth it!

Jake at work, Mother's Day, and so much more!

I absolutely love the month of May. Our honeysuckle in front of the house is in full bloom and just smells wonderful! I can smell it all through the house and can not get enough of it!!


Nathan works from home on Tuesdays and Fridays... So last Friday we let the kids loose in Jon's room which also happens to be the office. Here are a couple pics. Jake was so mad when Nate pulled him away from the keyboard! Aly only sat there for a minute and then was off to climb the stairs!















This last weekend went by really fast, yet again! It was my best friends (Barb) birthday so I spent Saturday with her. We went to the mall without kids and it was great! It was so nice to walk in and out of stores and just be able to browse! We also went out to lunch at the new McCormick and Schmick's in Roseville. It was very good! I had their fish and chips and it was YUM! I haven't had really good fish and chips in AGES!! I remember when I was little my grandma (mom's mom) used to take me to a place in Mountain View that was really good. I can't wait to go with Nate and the family.


Sunday was of course Mothers Day -- I hope all the moms reading this had a GREAT day!! As I look back on the day, it was great for me. It also brings some tears to my eyes. Nathan has this wonderful habit of treating me like royalty on my birthday and Mother's day... I of course do the same for him on his birthday and Father's Day. So I chose to take a drive and go on a hunt for fresh strawberries. Nate had read an article in the Sac Bee about Strawberry stands in the Florin area of Sac so that's where we went. It took about an hour to get down that way and found one right away. We only got a couple baskets cause I wanted to check out another. As we were driving I remembered that my mom used to LOVE LOVE taking drives. I really miss that! If she could do anything on Mother's Day (besides be in Vegas :-) ) it would have been taking a drive. I felt her with me all day. Some of my best memories are when we were in the car. I can easily count on one hand how many times we had to pull over to wipe away the tears from laughing so hard. It's funny how things turn around on you though... Now I have Jon who is the funniest kid around! The things he comes up with are just hilarious! He's made me laugh so hard I cried numerous times! Back to Mother's Day... We also went to the mall and let the kids run run run! It was pretty empty so we let them loose! It was really funny though... Aly was ALL over the place... She didn't stop moving once, she just walked walked walked. I ended up just walking behind her because she kind of went back and forth and there was no "following" her. Jake on the other hand was SLOW haha! He felt he had to push the cart the whole time and then would stop and play with the wheel and then go back to pushing. I think Aly walked up and down 3 times before Jake caught up to her. It was a lot of fun and very funny to watch. Jon did great go back and forth between them and I think he really enjoyed chasing Aly around. We then came home and had some yummy steak fajitas... all in all it was a great day.
Here are a couple pics of Aly and Jake on Mother's Day...

















Our new thing this week is CLIMBING!! Must they climb on EVERYTHING?!?! It's driving me nuts! It doesn't help that they see the other climb and then they want to do it first so not only do I have to worry about the one climbing but also the one trying to take them down so they can climb... The lovely life of twins.


Stay tuned for next weeks blog--We're going away for the weekend and I'm SUPER excited!! It's my Mother's Day gift from Nate and we can't wait! There's a strong possibility that we'll spend the entire time in the room sleeping. I'm not happy about the fact that I still have to pump every 4 hours but oh well...


Here are a couple pictures of Ethan at 2.5 months...

2 month check-up

Jake and Aly 13 months ago... Same age as Ethan

Little E had his 2 month check up yesterday and he is doing great! He's such a big boy! He weighs 13lbs 13oz and is 23 in tall. To compare Jacob was 10lbs 15oz and 21.5in tall. Miss Aly was a pound lighter and an inch shorter then Jake! Who knew that our last would be our largest?! He's in the 90th percentile for weight and 75th for height!

Of course we can never make it out of an appointment with follow up tests and this time we got two! Nate and I have both noticed that Ethan has a heck of time tracking things with his eyes and he doesn't seem to focus. Of course with my Nystagmus this has me worried but I really doubt I have the genetic form of N... However it's always better to be safe then sorry! So he's seeing a great Pediatric Opthamoligist, I've actually seen her myself.

The other referral was for Mr Jake. He doesn't have very many words in his vocab (especially compared to Miss Smarty Pants) so we're going to an Audiologist to have his hearing checked. I really don't think he has anything wrong since he seems to be able to hear us and the dogs that he barks back at... but again it's better to be safe then sorry. However with Jake if his hearing comes back normal then we'll have to get him evaluated for speech.

At least it's not Aly this time! The girl deserves a break :-)

Nathan is driving me bonkers about what to get me for Mothers Day! I honestly have everything I could possibly ask for and my life is so full of love and smiles. He drove me crazy for my Birthday and because I didn't want anything he feels he Really has to get me something for Mothers Day. I'm sure I'll think of something. I honestly would just love to spend some alone time with him. I miss just hanging out with him, he is truly my best friend and sometimes we just need our alone time. But on the other hand it's so hard for me to let go of my little ones. Sometimes I close my eyes and fast forward 20 years and we're off traveling the world...

We finally got a crib for Ethan so that will keep my next couple days busy making room in the nursery for it.

Oh we went to Jon's Open House for school yesterday and that was AWESOME! What a wonderful kid he is! He's always amazed me with his imagination (not always in the best of ways) but I love seeing his mind at work! I also adore his teacher, she definitely brings out the best in him. All I can hope is that she follows him to 4th grade... really is that too much to ask?! All of his projects were out and a lot of his writing. I stood and talked with a couple other moms and his teacher for quite sometime and it was so uplifting to hear how great the whole class was. They have another field trip on Thursday, Farm Day at the fair.

It's also time to register Jon for Soccer!!! YIPPEEE!!! I LOVE soccer!!! I'm a little disappointed because a lot of Jon's teammates are now playing Select but being that Jon was one of the youngest on his team (always has been) he's just not there yet. Maybe next year but even then I'm not sure it's his thing. Oh well. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun chasing the twins around while Jon practices!! haha.

Yesterday ended with Nate making us tacos... You HAVE to have tacos on Cinco de Mayo!

Today's my grandma's birthday-- Happy birthday Nana, we miss you!

The start of May...

Aly and Ethan in the swing on the same day!! Aly in Ethan's bouncer, Aly hated it when she was a baby, now I can't keep her out of it!

May is a crazy busy month in the Poehlman house! It always has been, even before the 3 babies came along :-) It revs me up for the summer and I LOVE it!

I've been in a spring cleaning frenzy the past week and Nathan is a very happy man. I've been throwing a ton of stuff away! I even went through Jon's clothes and ended up having to throw a lot of things away... Poor kids been wearing them so long they have HOLES, haha! The rest will be donated. Boy does Jon need to put on some weight! The kid is killing me! I have 4 pairs of shorts for him and NONE of them will fit this summer, so I have to go shopping for SMALLER sizes... There's something wrong with that picture. Pants are worse, he's in a size 8 length but even the adjustable waist on the 8's are too small, so he's always wearing "high waters". I've also discovered that I need to start buying him high quality shoes. He DESTROYS his shoes but he continues to wear them forever and ever... He finds one pair and wears those till their dead, or disappear at night somehow :-)

We had a great day yesterday at our cousin's 1st and 3rd birthday party!! Kaylin turned 3 last week and she is just the cutest, smartest little girl! I can NOT get enough of her! Her brother Roan turns 1 on Mothers Day and he is such a big boy! He weighs more then Aly and pretty darn close to Jake if not more. He's also such a BLONDIE!! I LOVE IT!! He thoroughly enjoyed his cake, it was adorable. I did end up having to send my twins home to hang with dad because it was just way too busy for them. It was supposed to be an outdoor party but it rained.. Luckily we see them often so they understood. It was nice to just be with Ethan and hang out, even if he was fussy!

Ethan has started the 6am wake-up call. I have to tell you I kind of miss the twins. Then BOTH Nate and I had to get up and help, well since it's only one it's ALL me. Nate tries for about 10 minutes and then goes back to bed, punk! I've started bringing Ethan to bed so I can pump and hold him at the same time and I make sure the tv is on a little louder so Nate can't go back to sleep too easily :-) I really shouldn't complain though, Ethan is sleeping from 10p to 6am without interruption!! He's such a good baby! He does have a temper though, he can go from happy to RED faced mad in a matter of a second. He really looks like he's going to explode, Nate laughs and backs up away from him!

He has his 2 month check up (quite a bit late) tomorrow so I'm sure I'll post again later this week. Jon also has his Open House tomorrow at school. He can't wait! He keeps making sure that we're going to bring Ethan (who's his favorite at the moment) so he can show him off to his teacher and friends. We keep telling Jon that Ethan looks just like he did when he was a baby so that might be why. I am looking forward to it though, I love seeing all the art work and friends.

Jake and Aly are doing great. They've been trapped inside the past couple days so I'm sure they'll be happy when we see the sun again! Their new favorite thing is graham crackers. I can't give them to them when their walking around because Jake steals Aly's. She then knocks him down (he's not too steady on his feet) and they break so she can get a bit more. It turns into a screaming match so now they only get them in their highchairs or in the car.

Here are some pictures of the twins destroying the nursery while I was trying to re-organize some things, HA!

I love my twinados!