Our First Halloween!!

Ok, it was really our second. William was still in the hospital last Halloween and so I am counting this one as being the first because it is the First that we are together as a family.

Our day was AWESOME!!! They slept in and therefore, we all got to sleep in! Daddy made pancakes and we enjoyed eating them. Then the monkeys took their nap and Daddy carved the pumpkin. He did a great job.

After our nap, we ate lunch and went to Gran and Pappy's house for the first round of Trick or Treat. We stopped by The Harris House and to see Ms. Ruby. Then we came home and went around our neighborhood. Pappy, Gran, Uncle Steve and Grannie Carmie enjoyed the night with us. The monkeys rode in the wagon and were seen by most of the neighbors. Then it was time for dinner and baths. The grown-ups ate chili and cornbread made by Grannie Carmie, Gran and Mommy.

William and Teresa were asleep by 7:45. Travis was the holdout, as usual. He tried to escape with a few of the trick or treaters, but he did get to go and see the Fire Truck when the Firemen came around with candy. He was in bed by about 8:30. We had trick or treaters until about 9:45 pm!! It was the perfect day.

Travis had his swallow study and he did really well. It has been discovered that he is asperating liquid into his trachea and that he has had reflux for a long time. So, on the advice of the therapist, we are thickening his formula and his juice. I am happy to say that he seems to be doing very well with this. Next week is his Early Steps evaluation. Once that happens, we should be on the road to eating solid food.

Enjoy the pictures!!

Pumpkin Patch

One word to describe our Pumpkin Patch Experience...HOT!! Those poor little monkeys! We put them in their costumes and the misery started. William had the funniest expressions the whole time! Travis just wanted to gnaw on the stems of the pumpkins and Teresa was fascinated by the big pumpkins. We had Auntie Deana, Grannie Carmie, Uncle Steve, Pappy and Gran, plus Mama and Daddy, enjoying the pumpkin fun. Each monkey got their own little pumpkin and a big Bubba pumpkin for the house. We had a super fun time, despite the heat.

The night before, we went to our First Halloween party at the Thompson house. We had so much fun with all of our friends and William and Travis were big fans of the trampoline! All three enjoyed playing the keyboard...I see piano lessons in our future!!!

Halloween is Saturday and I can't wait to go trick or treating!!! Should be fun!!!

Enjoy the pumpkin patch pictures and the party pics!!!

Halloween Sleepover

We had our annual Halloween Sleepover at the theater where I work. The children were terrific- I say there were probably about 85 kids or so, possibly more! The stage was full during the dancing at least! Anyway, the K-Krew made an appearance as monkeys and they looked awesome!! We will be posting pictures of our entire weekend a bit later.

Since I don't blog enough...

I have been told by one of my followers that I don;t blog enough...(You know who you are...especially since there are only 4 of you). Anyway, I will attempt to do better and tel you some of our random day to day things.
Let's see...
Last week the boys got a virus. This was uncharteted territory for the Krew as we have not really been sick before. The fevers got as high as 101.8. Not high to most people, terrifying for me. Then the fevers broke and Travis gets this weird rash around his mouth. So I call the doc and off we go to the pediatrician. He looks at the boy and takes his diaper off. He puts it back on and says...

Doc: They had a virus. If the fever is gone and a rash is breaking out, the virus is gone. They got it from the diaper area.

Me: So ...This has come from the journeys of self-discovery that happen during every diaper change?

Doc: Yes. Boys will be boys.

Me: Then it is obvious that Teresa didn't get this. Since well...no wee-wee.

Doc: yes.

So...Travis has potty mouth, which is being cleared up in time for pictures.

Travis has alos turned into a biter. I can only assume that he sees this as his only means of defense against a cruel world, but let me just say, that kid has some FANGS!!! The only person that has escaped his chompers is Daddy, who I hope gets gnawed on soon so he can get the full effect. He bit William the other day whle they were playing with the giant rubber ducks.
William reached for the duck that Travis was playing with and Travis bit him. He cried and Ms.Sheryl pushed a duck over to him, which he screamed and pushed away. Yes, he thought the duck had bitten him.

William has been out of sorts this week. Kinda clingy, real whiny and a tad disobediant. The icing on the cake was yesterday. I took a shower and when I got out, I put a robe on and had a towel on my head. William was at the sliding glass door looking into our room. I came out of the bathroom and waved to him. He looked at me, screamed and cried and crawled UNDER HIS BED to escape me! It was awful!! It was hysterical!! I went out and got him from under the bed and sat with him. He pulled the towel off and was relieved to see it was me.

Our tv is dying a slow death. Everyone is green and we have it color adjusted all the way to the red. It has been a good tv.

Teresa made it through Target today with no breakdowns or hissy fits. Her new favorite snack are her brand new Mary Janes. There are little teeth marks all over them. I had no idea that that was what shoes were for. I thought they were to protect your feet. How silly of me!

Big weekend on tap. Halloween Sleepover for the theater kids, Krew crashing at Pappy and Gran's. Saturday, Halloween Party at the Thompson house. Sunday, pictures at the pumpkin patch!! We are going to wear their (and our ) tushies out!!!

Birthday Pictures!!!

So these are from both parties. We had an amazing time and Ronald McDonald House will be so pleased with all the donations. Thanks to everyone!!! Big Thanks to Carolyn for the gorgeous cakes!!!

Our First Birthday!!!!

We did it.
We survived the first year! It has been the most amazing, exciting, frightening, enlightening,exhausting and fantastic year of our lives!
We had a wonderful day that started with Happy Birthday wishes on the radio, to which Travis clapped when hearing his name. Then we played and napped and ate and played some more, while Mommy and Grannie Lettie got the house ready for our family party.
The trio did not want to take afternoon naps even though they should have. They loved seeing everyone and especially their best buddy, Graham!
They really enjoyed their cupcake...especially William who scarfed it down and looked for more. Teresa was pretty dainty for a minute and then got into it! Travis, sadly, barfed into his cupcake and was promptly cleaned up by Daddy. They loved all of their presents and had a blast trying them out.
Teresa informed us, promptly at 8:00, that it was bedtime and so bottles were had and all were in bed by 8:45.
The only negative was that Grandpa and Grandma K couldn't make it down til Friday. We can't wait for them to get here to share in the fun.
Our big party is on Saturday and it should be super fun. I will post pictures of both events in the next few days. Plus some fun stories about our forays into the technosphere!
Thank you to all that have sent prayers and support our way. We are most blessed!!!

Explorers

Last weekend, we officially opened up more of the house to the krew. William had learned how to break out of the mini-prison of the tv room, so after a trip to Orlando to Babies R Us, we got new gates, babyproofed and let them free. They have been so happy ever since. They can play in their room or in the tv room or in the nook. They love to push things around and I brought the yoga ball out too!

Thursday, William discovered that he can get behind the couch. That was my biggest fear because we can't see them when they are back there. He thought he was so smart, crawling back and forth, just where we couldn't reach. But Mommy knows his weakness...cheerios. A little bribery never hurts. The boys liked their trip to Target on Friday.

Teresa...not a shopper.

We are planning a nice no-frills weekend before the chaos of next week starts. I can't believe that Wednesday they will be one!!!

Bathtime

The trio loves bathtime, especially with all of heir new toys that I have only recently put into the sink with them. Tonight, William was highly amused by the spitting starfish.
Travis's favorite toy was the empty juice bottle that happened to be sitting by the sink.That, paired with the empty water jug and the plastic table, are the super hot toys here at the hacienda. Why get them anything shiny or blinking-a plastic doodad'lldo ya.
Anyway...
I am working on bath boy #2 (William) when I look over at Teresa. Now, Becca has stripped her down to just her diaper to facilitate the wrestling process (that is the dressing/undressing/diapering/de-boogering...basically anything that needs to happen on the changing table). I notice that Teresa is sitting on the floor with her legs open wide and she is pushing on her diaper. I ask Becca to check out what she is doing and she says " I think she is trying to take her diaper off."
I had the same thought and figured, well I am just about finished with William so...she can run around nekkid if she wants to and so that's what I tell Becca.
Becca gets to her and screams "No there's Poopy! No Teresa No NONoNoNonono!" and she proceeds to TIE the diaper back on her. Teresa thinks this is very funny and starts trying to get it off again. Becca must have been a girl scout, cause that little knot held!
William took 4..count em 4, steps to Auntie Deana today.
Travis is an amzing clapper. We start cheering for him "Yea Travis!" and he just claps and claps. He is so going to be the actor...
We also made the big switch to table food today with William and Teresa feeding themselves. They love ravioli and tortellini and veggies and Grannie Lettie's bananas. Travis is still not liking textures so he is holding strong on the baby food.
I have got to start working on my tags for the sale so this is all for now. Good night everyone.

Just a cold...

So, after being up for 2 nights with Travis, I took him to the doctor this afternoon. There was only 2 other kids waiting when we got there so that was nice, plus I didn't have to wait long.

I get him in the room, get him weighed and ready for the Dr and I give him his juice while we wait. Hoo Boy. That kid was bouncing everywhere. He was so happy to have Mommy all to himself!

The Dr. checked him out and said that, happily, it was just a cold and we would all have to suffer along with him.

I took him by the store so his Pappy could look at him and feel better. When he saw his Pappy, Travis lit up and snuggled him. It was so cute...i took a picture.

That kid went out like a light tonight...please God let him sleep thru... and the other two as well...

Teresa is perfecting her spit bubble blowing and William is almost ready to take 2 steps together.

All in all...a good day.

Hairballs

We thought it was funny the other day when William had a shirt on that said "ALL AMERICAN BOY" and he wouldn't let go of Dora the Explorer!
So I look down at Teresa and she has something in her mouth. Now most of you know that I shed hair like a dog and my children are covered in my hair. I can't help it.
Anyway, I stick my finger in the little Piranha's mout and fish out what appears to be a big clump of hair. Either that or pieces of my leopard blanket that she keeps chowing down on. Whatever it is, it is gross.
I start looking around for what she could have gotten into, but I see nothing. I go back to the office to work on the computer.
A few minutes later, Rebecca, my helper, says "Oh No, Buddy!" and I come out to see what is wrong. She says that Travis threw up some so she is going to clean him up. I pick up the quilt where he vomited and get it ready to go in the wash. Becca brings him back and takes the quilt and other laundry out to get started. While she is out there, he looks at me and vomits AGAIN, and this time on the carpet. I call for Becca to get the other two while I clean Travis up. She puts Tr and W in the nursery and goes out to clean up the puke (she is a good helper!). A second later, Becca yells "Oh my Gosh" and askes where the clump of stuff I pulled out of Teresa's mouth is. I tell her that it is on the table. She said "Well, there is a GIANT clump of that stuff in Travis's puke!"
Now the search is on. What did they get into to be hacking up hairballs? It is not Mommy's hair and it is not part of the blanket, so what is it? I tell Becca to start looking at the toys, especially ones with fur and a minute later she comes in with a doll that Teresa's godmother sent all of them when they were born.
Shel got these adorable cloth dolls that they love. She got 2 with brown hair and one with blond.
Becca hands me the doll and I look at where it once had brown yarn hair-a small tuft right on top. Now it has 2 straglely strands of yarn for hair-the rest of its hair having been eaten by the T's. I find the other 2 dolls and compare the hair and Becca and I crack up. The mystery is solved and all 3 dolls go on the shelf with their board books-which they have eaten most of them as well.
I know that babies put things in their mouths, but I was not prepared for this.

The Poop Arena-Not a pretty story....

So this happened last week...Last Friday night. My helper had just left and my hubby was not home yet. I had put the trio into The Octogon to play until it was Jammie Time. They were having a blast, chasing each other through their play gates and laughing at what the others were doing. It was amazing to watch their interaction. They are finally starting to enjoy each other and play with each other. I pretended to read so they would not have the distraction of Mommy. But I was mesmerized watching them.
I thought that I smelled something not very pleasant, so I looked at William's tush. He had on a one piece romper and he was really cute. There was a shadow falling on his butt from our broken vertical blind, so I thought everything was ok.
A few minutes later...Teresa makes her way over to the side of the corral that is closest to me and begins to whine/cry. I look at her and tell her that she is fine and having fun with her brothers. She sticks out her lower lip (and where she gets that from I have no idea) and whines again. I pick my book up and read.
The stinky smell is suddenly very strong and I look up from my book. William is sitting in front of me in the corral with something in his lap that he is playing with. Travis is next to him and reaching for whatever is in William's lap. I am confused, not sure what he has in his hands when suddenly I see Blue the dog from Blue's Clues. That dog is on the front of his diaper. The diaper that is in his lap. The poop-filled diaper that has somehow magically gotten off of his body without his outfit coming unsnapped. The diaper that he and his brother have been playing with.
I scream.
I pluck William and the diaper out of the corral and I take him into the Nursery sink where I just start spraying him down. I have to unsnap his outfit to get him out of it and there is poop everywhere. I have to hurry too, because I have left the other 2 in the corral and as I was running I saw poop in there with them.Who knows what they could be doing? I finally get William mostly clean and slap a diaper on him so I can rescue the others.
Teresa is on the other side of the corral and she looks at me as if to say
"Mom, why did you think I was crying? Could you not smell him from over there? I was trying to tell you he was gross!"
Travis is sitting next to the poop. I go for him first and I see poop on his nose, neck, and near his mouth...I am just going to let you fill in your own blank. Needless to say, he was #2 on the bath list.
I grab the most widely used product in our home, OxyClean Carpet Cleaner, and get to work. Then I have to scrub the sink so I can bathe the boys, who are now screaming in their cribs because I have separated them.
As I finish their baths, Aaron walks in and smiles. I hand him all three and retreat to my happy place...my bathroom. I take a shower since I am now the only one still covered in poo.
I now know why I picked out cheap carpet for my home.

So....

Many people have wanted me to do this for a while. That way they could read the stories of what goes on in my insane house. Well... I did it. Now I can't promise that I will be super faithful at writing. but I can put in some of the crazy stories that happen to us on a day to day basis. I will be adding some stories from the past couple of weeks just to get started, but I hope you enjoy this.
For the record, I love my life.