March stuff

Tyler continues to stuff his mouth so full, he cannot eat it!
Having a little fun by himself on the blanket the day of the bar-b-que.
Tyler has really started to take off in the walking department this week. He has started taking 4 and 5 steps at a time and is cruising all over the place. He also got another tooth this week - #7!
Whitney is my girly girl and likes to play dress-up. She likes using these teething rings as bracelets.
I fixed Hannah's hair curly the other day. You'd never know it because I usually don't take the time to fix it (bad mom :)) but Hannah actually has curly hair. Here is a back view.
Front view but the pics don't do it justice.
Craig - post surgery. Hanging out in his recliner 24/7.

Hannah is playing dress-up - wearing my purse. And she even matches!Whitney played dress-up with my necklace and shoes after church one Sunday and she loved it. She did not want to take the necklace off!


Just before our "I-got-to-get-out-of-the-house" walk. A couple of weeks ago, the babies were going through a very fussy spell. Craig had been working 6 days a week for several weeks and I was going insane so we decided to go for a walk one Saturday despite the cold temperatures!
We ventured to the park one day after Craig got home from work. Whitney going down the slide with mommy.
Tyler's turn down the slide.
Hannah's turn
More swinging pictures - Whitney
Hannah being silly.
My baby doesn't look like a baby here. He looks so grown up to me in his polo shirt and plaid shorts.

Hannah had her hair put up in her first pony tail. One of my girls is FINALLY growing hair!

This is what it looks like after taking the pony tail holder out.
Daddy and Whitney goofing around.
My two handsome men
My silly boy
Sweet Hannah inspecting my mouth.
Daddy and Hannah
What is up with that hair man???
My sweet sweet Whitney giving Mommy big hugs.
Three's A Crowd!

Every kid eats..................

...................... POOP every once in a while right???? LOL!!!! You heard correctly, Hannah had her first encounter with poop. UGH!! So, Friday during the kid's nap, I went outside and scooped all the poop up out of the yard because the weather is getting nice and it is time to get outside. We have this backyard for more than a potty for our dog right?!? After they woke up, I took them all outside on a blanket and had a nice time having snacks outside. This day was uneventful...

It wasn't until Saturday that all the fun stuff started. Craig's first Saturday off in a month and the last weekend before his surgery so we wanted to live it up - to a degree - this weekend. So we decided to have a cookout Saturday night followed by dessert fondue. Craig and I had chicken shish kabobs and the kids had hotdogs and such. We moved their chairs outside and we all ate outside followed by some playtime on the blanket. Craig and I were still eating but the kids had already eaten so we put them down on the blanket to play. A huge bonus - the blanket is an awesome babysitter for the time being. The babies will not venture off of it and onto the grass because they aren't used to it. well... Hannah will a little bit but not much. Whitney will sit on it if you put her on it but won't crawl onto it on her own. Tyler wants nothing to do with it. He holds his legs up as much as possible to avoid touching the grass. So anyway... they were playing, we were eating and just as Craig looked up, he saw Hannah putting something into her mouth and he said "what did she just put in her mouth?" I said "I don't know... I didn't see." So, I ran over and she had already spit it out. She immediately spit it out, made an awful face and started to cry. Poor baby got a hold of my dog's poop!!! UGH!!!! It was an old dried up piece that blended in to the grass and I didn't see it. It was right on the edge of the blanket so she didn't have to venture off to find it! Anyway... I picked her up right away and took her inside to scrub her hands, and brush her teeth and mouth all over. I wanted to scrub her mouth inside and out with soap but I figured that probably wouldn't be good. Hopefully human's mouths are self-cleaning! :)

Hannah's first step(s)

I have been working with all the kids more and more to encourage them to walk. They always want to crawl to get to me because they 'know' they can do that. Well, today while I was working with Hannah, I did something different. I stood her up in front of the couch facing me. She was leaning against the couch at first, then I encouraged her to walk to me and finally took a step. She only took one step but I am so proud of her! Her second step was more of a falling lunge toward me. She definitely has that first step down though. I worked with her over and over again because she was very interested in walking. She took one step at a time multiple times and Mommy is very excited for Hannah!

She almost looks like she is mid-step here but she isn't, that is just the way she is standing.

This is after the first step - post second lunging step. This is a pic I was able to capture (in the midst of our practice walking) of her standing on her own without holding on to anything. She and Tyler can do it but just for a few seconds, so it is difficult to catch on my camera.

Dallas Zoo and Tyler's scratched cornea

We've had a very eventful week around here. Monday Jill and I took the kiddies to the Dallas Zoo. It was my first trip to the zoo with the babies and it was a great day for it. It was a little cool in the morning, but after lunch, it warmed up nicely and it was a beautiful day. I haven't been to the zoo in ages so it was like I had never been before. The babies are still a little young for the zoo but I think they still enjoyed being out of the house and enjoying new surroundings. And WOW! What a workout it was for me pushing 3 babies for 4 hours up and down steep hills and in and out of crowds of people. We enjoyed seeing the animals and had a nice picnic lunch. We got to stay a little longer because 2 of my 3 fell asleep (very rare) in the stroller and Jill's youngest fell asleep too. Whitney stayed awake but wasn't fussy at all. I am really surprised and glad it went so well especially since they didn't nap in the car like I hoped they would on the way there.

We got home and had about a good hour of playtime before Hannah hit Tyler and knocked him to the floor. He cried so hard I knew he must have been hurt in some way, not just mad. He was doing this weird thing with his eyes (rolling them sorta) and he wouldn't hardly open them. I thought she hit him so hard, he hit his head and damaged something internally. I was finally able to get him to calm down and he stopped doing the weird thing with his eyes so he went down to nap. He woke up several times crying as if he was in pain and started up the weird eye thing again. I began inspecting his eye and saw something on his cornea - it looked like a little fuzz at first so I gently rubbed my finger over his eye lid in hopes of moving it off his cornea. It kept bothering him so I kept looking at it and then after looking at it more and more, I was sure it was a scratch. I called Craig and told him to come home so I could take Tyler to the doctor. When I took him in, it was in fact a scratched cornea, so we got some antibiotics to help prevent infection and headed home. The after hours pedi referred me to a pediatric opthamologist. So, Tuesday I took him to see the opthamologist and she said it was just a minor scratch and it was already almost healed. They heal fast!! Now, I just have to take him back in on Thursday to get one last check of his eye and make sure it has healed up properly.

We have officially entered into toddlerhood around here. We have been having some problems with the babies lately - mainly Hannah but they each play a role and I have been trying to get as much reading done as I can to nip this behavior in the bud as quickly as possible. Hannah is just a bully - just plain mean - she bites sometimes, but not as much as she used to, she steals toys, she pushes the other two around and she throws fits most of the time. The fit throwing is the biggest problem. Tyler is a sweet boy but is just that - all boy! He likes to hit everything and everybody. He isn't being mean and doesn't realize he is hurting the others but we are trying to teach him to be gentle. He also likes to tackle the girls. Whitney is so sensitive, anytime somebody steals her toy, she cries; anytime somebody hits her, she cries; anytime somebody so much as touches her, she cries. We've been reading up on ways to handle these behaviors but if anybody has any good books they suggest or methods that apply Christian, Biblical principles, please let me know.

Craig is also getting ready to have his shoulder surgery next week - the 25th. Please pray for him and a smooth and speedy recovery. Also, pray for me that I can take care of the babies, him and keep up with school for several weeks or months without losing my mind.

Stay tuned for a picture post of some of our recent outings.

First Steps in the midst of the pukey's (among other madness)

So, I was having a rather rough week with fussy babies this week. Hannah will not eat much of anything these days and is getting skinnier and skinnier and losing weight I am sure! Craig came up with the perfect nickname for her.... "riblet". We haven't started using too many, if any nicknames for our kids, but this is one I am sure will stick around for a while. So, anyway... for whatever reason, she pretty much refuses to eat just about everything except fruit, crackers and waffles. She has stopped eating chicken nuggets, ravioli, vienna sausages and even her vegetables and cheese. The girl is making me crazy! I look at her and see nothing but skin and bones - she is seriously skinny! The little "riblet"!!! So, we made the decision to put her back on formula. I figured since my pedi gave us the option of staying on it til 15 months or starting whole milk now, I figured that would be what she would tell us to do anyway. So, back on the formula we went. Hopefully she will get her appetite back soon and stop being so darn picky and we can go back to whole milk with her.

The other two picked up a little cold earlier last week from Craig or maybe from some time that we were out and about. I took Tyler and Whitney both out with me on separate occasions last week and now they are the ones to get sick. Anyway... they got a little cold - nothing major. So, their appetites haven't been too great this week either, but far better than "riblet's" appetite. The babies have been extra clingy and whiny because of this and it can be pretty frustrating for me (and them) because I don't have enough hands to comfort everybody at once.

I was SO looking forward to the weekend and having a little "break" and "help" because of my unusually rough week. Friday, Craig told me he was being forced to work Saturday which we had been expecting all week but didn't know for sure until Friday. Of course, I had something planned Saturday morning and couldn't go, but such is life... See, for those of you who don't know, my husband works A LOT of hours. He works so hard to provide for our family and I appreciate that, but the demands of the phone company can be very hard on family life for sure! He almost never feeds them a single meal during the week. I get them up, change their diapers, feed them, clean them up, clean up the mess from the meal, clothe them for the day and then do all that again for lunch and dinner. Sometimes he gets home in time to see them for a short time before bedtime so he can help me with putting them to bed, but let me tell you... it is UTTERLY exhausting to do that day in and day out with very little help! And mind you, I am also a part time student trying to keep up with 6 hours of school. But, sometimes I feel like a single mom I tell ya! And since it is so difficult for me to get out with the babies, I don't see too many people - I am pretty much at home by myself most of the time. It can get pretty old sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love being home with my babies but sometimes it gets pretty lonely. I just wish it wasn't so difficult logistically and just physically exhausting to get out and about with three babies in tow. I look so forward to the weekend, it isn't funny. And when Craig has to work unexpectedly, sometimes I lose it, like Friday evening. Sometimes I feel like such a bad mom when my kids "need" me and I just don't feel like I have anything more to give and I can't wait for naptime/bedtime. Caring for 3 babies 24/7 is a very draining (but rewarding) job. So, Craig got home and "relieved" me so I could get a break. I decided we had to make some kind of change in order for me to remain sain. So we decided everybody would start getting up earlier to have family time in the morning before Craig goes to work (since as of right now, we NEVER sit down together to eat, not one meal) and so daddy could help with the kids (at least one meal) before heading off to work.

Then, some time in the middle of the night Friday night, we wake up to the sound of Tyler's cry. Craig went to check on him and he seemed fine by the time he got to their room so he came back to bed. We get up Saturday morning to start our day - Craig gets ready for work, and we get the kids up and ready for breakfast. We go in their room to find Tyler and Whitney both laying in a bed full of vomit! Now this made me feel just horrible. My poor babies had been laying in vomit through the whole night. Whitney's was only on a small portion of her bed but Tyler's was ALL over the bed and ALL over him. We got them changed, cleaned up, started with breakfast and the sheets changed then Craig headed off to work. I cried as Craig left for work because I knew just what my day would entail and I still hadn't yet re-charged my batteries from the week. Yes, I know, I sound so selfish crying about ME when my babies are sick, except they didn't seem to feel bad at all - they would play like normal, vomit, then go back to playing as usual. Anyway, I started cleaning them up from breakfast and not five minutes later, Tyler puked in the floor - GREAT! I couldn't figure out if they had a stomach virus or if they were vomiting because of the flim from their colds. So, I cleaned that up and him and proceed to clean up the other two from breakfast. All seemed fine after that - and everybody played as usual. They go down for their first nap and then after they woke up from that, I went in to get them and find Whitney with puke ALL over her and ALL over her bed. She never even cried during her nap. I felt SO bad for HER (not me). So, I had to get her an immediate bath in the kitchen sink before lunch while the other two were eating. Another load of laundry started... Then, we had play time. Whitney was playing just fine, when all the sudden she started crying out of no where. It was a different kind of cry - I can't explain it. So, I grabbed her up and just in time, leaned her over the gate and she proceeded to puke on the tile in the kitchen. Poor baby - it was so sad. So, I got her cleaned up as well as the big mess. Then, not too long after that, the same thing happened with Tyler - crying out of no where, I snatch him up, but I made it to the sink this time. Both times, I managed to save their outfits, so that was good. Luckily, Craig was able to swing by and bring me some pedialyte so I had them drinking that to help with dehydration. After that, we had no more episodes... thank God!

And no, this post isn't all about puke and my self-pitty - there is something positive and exciting to post! At some point during the afternoon, Tyler took his first step. He has been standing more and more unassisted and is able to stand for longer periods of time. He stood up and balanced himself and I called him to come to me with my hands out and I got him to take one step toward me. It was so cute - he was so proud of himself. Then, today, he did it again for me while Craig was home and he got to see it too. He won't take more than one step before dropping to the ground to crawl to me, but it won't be long before he is walking everywhere! He is also starting to point (with his hand, not one finger yet) for something he wants. He will talk his baby language as he points, trying to tell me something and it is so cute. He is also starting to wave, as is Hannah. I think I may have already said in a previous post, but if not, Whitney waves very well and knows how to say "bye bye". It sounds more like "ba ba". But she knows the two go hand in hand (bye bye and a wave) so if I do one or the other, she starts doing the opposite.

So, that was our weekend pretty uneventful. :):) Hope yours was as uneventful as ours was. ;)