Dancing Queen

I remember my sister in law lamenting her pre-teen daughter "dropping it like it's hot"...little did I know Miss Katie will provide us with the same heartburn.

For your viewing pleasure...our dancing queen:

That's all tonight folks. I think it is more than enough.  :)

Loves!

When the sickness hit

As most of you know, the sickness finally hit our home.  The kiddos turned 15 months during the time of the snot invasion.  Lucky for us, that is all that is was.  Lucky also for us it was only about two nights of sleeplessness for us.  To clarify, it was two nights that we were up holding little girls who could not breathe when they were laying down, even with their crib mattresses propped.  After those two nights, there was still a LOT of waking in the middle of the night, or rather, every hour or so...but when you realize there is nothing you can do for them and that they need to go back to sleep, you just listen and watch for a few minutes until they work it out.  Sad, but really better than disrupting them with going in there as they would wake more and not go back to sleep as fast.  It might sound cruel, but I promise you it is not. 

It started with Zach, two days later Katie woke full blown and by the end of that day Addie was full blown too.  Of all our little sickies, Addie is the best trooper.  She will let you wipe her nose, suction her nose, she will just sneeze away while playing...she is just a strong little girl.  Katie and Zach, well pretty much they hate anyone even THINKING about touching their noses when they are sick.  We are talking tears at the sight of mommy walking to the kleenex box and reaching in. That was the toughest part.  Well, that and hearing Katie's sheer inability to breath.  When she would eat she would sound almost out of breath because she was so clogged up.  I can't describe how heart wrenching it is to hear and not know how to make it better.  The snot invasion lasted a week and a half.  We hope it stays away another 15 months, but somehow I don't think that will happen.

And now, what everyone is waiting for...what kids look like during a snot invasion.  Lucky for you all I didn't think to take pics of the sheer number of kleenex in the trash or anything like that.  We did have a few snot bubbles, but none captured on camera, much to the littles delight.

Katie was the worst hit.  Girl was a snot producing machine!

But she still tried to smile for the camera

What?  My nose?  Yeah, it's running...so...

This is how I kinda felt

But then I also felt like this too.  Especially when Mom was heading for those kleenex.  Worst invention ever!

Our little super trooper!

And the one who really wasn't feeling well.

 But the truth?  No snot invasion is too much for monkey climbing on the couch when daddy is outside!!

So glad we are all feeling better now.  Next mission...clean the couch.

Loves!

Addie girl

Adalyn Claire
born 7-9-11 @ 7:59pm ~ 4lb 2oz
one year checkup ~ 16lb 10oz

Addie is everyone's favorite peanut. My dad was captivated by her when he saw pictures of them the morning after they were born. I think it is her dark hair and blue eyes. That dark hair, pixie face, tiny smile, and shining eyes will captivate anyone. Although I had one person say she is the spitting image of her daddy, I'm claiming Addie as mine. She is a little me. And boy is she little! Personally, I think she puts all her energy into growing teeth and forgets to grow the rest of her. That's ok though, trust me, small is just as good as anything else.

What makes Addie, Addie:
~ her contentment, beginning even in the NICU
~ her stubbornness, if she didn't want to eat she WAS NOT going to eat
~ her dark, dark hair
~ her impish smile
~ her TEETH
~ her ability to teethe w/o fuss
~ her tininess
~ her independence
~ her smile
~ her fight, just ask her siblings, she's a tough cookie!
~ her desire to do things at her own pace
~ her laugh
~ her love of life
~ her ability to observe
~ her gorgeous blue eyes
~ her heart breaking cry, followed by crocodile tears
~ her sheer determination
~ girl can shake her boo-tay like NO other!
~ her recent love of wagging her tongue
~ her love of avocado as a skin moisturizer at any meal involving avocado
~ her ability to get food on her forehead
~ her reluctance of water
~ her love of legs in the air
~ her good morning run away, bite the teddy bear, smile
~ her tiger roars
~ her need to snuggle, from the day she was born she'd rather be with somebody
~ her desire to be helpful (she gets to boppies out when she sees bottles being made)
~ socks, who needs them? They last all of .5 seconds on her feet
~ can anyone say E.T.? She has got that gentle finger down pat.


So many of these things are new, like her getting the pillows for bottles, her good morning routine, her zipping through the house with a push walker and a crazy open mouth smile hoping someone will chase her. Addie is our little peanut, but girl is not letting size get her down at all. She is by far tougher than the other two. If she falls, she is more likely to get up than cry. But she is also just so stinking sweet and gentle. Like with the E.T. finger, she will slowly, gently, move toward what she's interested in barely touching it before exploding into her toothy grin.

I think it amazes us each day how different our children our. Here is our little peanut girl, Addie.

This is my beautiful Addie girl. 

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Today's milestones

Holy moly, Addie has another tooth. I didn't even know it was coming in until I saw it today and it's already popped through. That's how good my little tooth grower is. No real complaining. I'll try to get a pic, but it's one of her second set of front bottom teeth. Those are supposed to come in long ago. Addie decided to wait until all her molars were in first. Needless to say, when she grabbed a French fry tonight I had no worries she could chew it.

Zach is a true monkey child. He learned how to pull himself onto the dining room chair by shear force of strength. Standing at the side of the chair he puts a hand on the back and just forces himself up. Of course, why stop there when the dining table is RIGHT THERE?!? So of course, up he went. Twice today. How did I finally stop him? If you move the chair so it's not in a normal table placement he gets confused and can't climb it. Haha, that's actually kinda funny if you think about it. Of course, I don't expect that confusion to last long.

Katie is getting better about walking for walkings sake. She is also becoming very aware of how clothing gets on and off. She tries to help take her clothes off I'm not sure this will be a good thing in the end, but she will need to learn eventually I suppose.

We went to dinner at the community center here on base tonight. A place they can roam some, get a dinner with no dishes to clean that mom didn't have to cook, and eventually watch people bowling. I'm hoping to spend a touch more time there this winter.

My week on my own 24/7 is almost over and really it can't end soon enough. Don't get me wrong, I love my littles but my gosh I AM TIRED!! I just want to get to late Sunday afternoon, then sleep sleep sleep. Now I need to plan my week at a spa - only fair right?


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Library Laptime

We went!! So exciting for me! I know many people understand we live in a small town, but maybe not just how small. There is very little to do here aside from taking them to the park. Which, with Mother Nature's anger at me these past few weeks that hasn't happened for a while. (as I type the wind is howling, yet again. Still. Always.) but back to it - there are no malls to walk, no gyms with daycare, no Y. Aside for going to laptime, I could go to MoPs, but as that is from 10-12 I don't know how much that will happen this winter. 10 is usually when we are just finishing up our morning routine of diapers, bottles, breakfast, diapers. Although I think tomorrow I'm going to try sippys of milk w/breakfast, but again I digress...

I left the house a tad late, had about 10+ minutes to get there. Great except my lucky butt got stuck behind the two trucks going 45 miles down the highway. Seriously!?! And our highway is not very passing friendly. It seems right when the chance arises either a car or a bend arises as well. So we were moseying. I felt like I was going to be late for a first date! Not a good first impression, especially since I wasn't sneaking in with my one child. Lucky for me, our friend Kristin and her daughter Ember, who came to our bday bbq, arrived at the same time. She offered to carry someone, so Katie was handed off. Yep, she cried until we were inside, but it worked. In we trod, two adults, four children. It was JUST getting started so I didn't feel too bad. We sat around the carpet and I introduced my littles. Mrs. Angie knew about the triplets (just not that we were coming today), so that helped.

Laptime starts with songs. She asked where the body parts were, then sang, head, shoulders, knees, and toes. Tidbit: John thought I made that song up myself the first time he heard me sing it. Little did he know I tortured my middle school students with it if there were too inactive! :). Then star wands were passed around and we sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and another star song I don't remember. Then the elevator song. Standing you ride the elevator up ( toes, knees, hips, shoulders, sky). I know Addie is our shy girl, so let her just watch. Katie wasn't comfortable standing yet, she was still just observing, but I helped Zach do it. Proud Mama.

Book time! Mrs. Angie had her stuffed frog to pass around for all to give hugs to. Zach hugged, Katie tried to eat the eyeball, and Addie copied her and smiled because she knew they thought Katie was funny. Then Mrs. Angie read the kids this book:




about a frog who is too big for the book. Her friends help her by making a bigger book. notice how the back cover is bigger, clever story. We then moved to the tables to make our felt frog faces. Yep, due to us showing up she was two short for the activity. Sigh. Kristen, from above, helped quickly cut more pieces. Here are our frogs from today:



My kids FIRST EVER refrigerator art!!!

After craft time it was play time. My kids were drawn to the balls, big soft ones *note to self, gotta find some of these*, and these cool round Lego type toys. They are Lego type in that they can attach, but they are round with four legs. It's at the legs that they attach. I'll have to find out what they are as all the kids liked them. Zach was also interested in the floor puzzle being put together because he liked watching the older boys. He was cute in trying to see what they were doing. One of their mothers offered to help me get everyone to the car, so we put our coats on and Katie once again went into a strangers arms. All in all a GREAT morning.

Can't wait for next week.

Funny out takes:
~ I was offered a big beanbag type pillow for the kids. Hello, thanks but no. They wouldn't all fit and I can see frustration written all over that thing!
~ class is cancelled....at...wait for it......30 degrees BELOW zero. LOL
~ ssshhhh, mommy created the refrig art. ;)

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Zach man

Zachary Michael
born 7-9-11 @ 7:58pm ~ 4lb 5oz
one year checkup ~ 19lb 11oz (29 7/8")

Zach's name was chosen years ago.  I remember the conversation.  We were eating at Boston Pizza in Fairbanks.  Not the greatest service, so we had lots of time to talk.  Not sure why we were discussing baby names, but we decided that night to name our child Zachary.  Much like Katie's name, we like names that can be formal or informal.  And yes, we considered what his name would sound like as we yell it at an athletic event.  I have known for even longer that my son's middle name would be Michael, after my dad and my dad's dad.  Luckily for us we both really liked the name Zachary Michael.  Unluckily for me, the name had extra special meaning when he received it as my dad was in the hospital not doing so great.  I'm glad my dad knew Zach's name before passing away. 

 

What makes Zach, Zach:

~ he's our boy - 'nuff said

~ he LOVES music

~ he was the only one to need some extra loving, in the form of caffeine, in the NICU

~ he was SUCH a stinker about eating while in the NICU

~ was the first to joke around with daddy while in the NICU

~ was the first baby to receive kangaroo care from mommy
~ sported the best gangsta look in his too big hats while in the NICU

 ~ took the longest to master breastfeeding

~ was the only one to go through a MAJOR fussy stage

~ suffered from some reflux 

~ he LOVES to dance

~ has the BEST smile

~ first to roll onto his belly

~ first to stand on his own

~ first to take a few independent steps

~ has the BEST laugh

~ is such a sweetheart and sympathetic to his sisters

~ taught his sisters to pound on their crib rail when they wake up

~ loves showing he knows where his belly and nose are

~ tends to put his finger *in* his nose when showing you

~ knew his version of the sign for "more" the very first time he saw it on Baby Signing Times

~ his version is fist in palm, more like a "put it here NOW" sign

~ boy loves his dance moves

~ often needed a good 5 minute snuggle before going to bed

~ had lungs on him like no other if he didn't want to go to bed

~ has the best pondering looks

~ has/had some texture issues

~ didn't feed himself with his hands until I tried to show our Infant Learning rep that he wouldn't feed himself with his hands (stinker!)

~ he is very determined

~ he is the only one we still have to strap in the high chair otherwise he will literally crawl out

~ mastered crawling when he saw something he wanted

~ the first speed crawler

~ he plays "chase me" very well and with a great smile on his face and glint in his eyes

~ he can dance and loves music like no other and has from a very very early age

Both Katie and Zach are working on walking.  Katie will only walk for a purpose, like to get from the couch to daddy and back.  Zach is trying to walk anywhere.  Had a stranger been watching in my window today they would have sworn I plied my son with alcohol!  He wobbles a few steps, falls sideways, looks through his legs, spreads them super wide to stand back up, falls backward, laughs, rolls onto his belly, stands with arms spread wide for balance, takes three or four steps and starts the process all over again.  All on his own.  Headed nowhere in particular.  Just learning how to walk.  A wondrous thing about Zach is that you can see the gears turning is his head as he learns.  He is very determined and will keep working at it.  The best part about when he walks to you?  He falls into your arms at then end, looks up at you, and his whole face lights up in a smile.  I love him.

                        

My sweet boy

Fun Family Catch-Up

Just a fun family catch-up since I am too tired to write out Zach's post tonight.  Yes, I do everything in birth order.  I'm sure I will have to change at some point because I don't want Addie to think I always put her last.  I don't, but my brain just runs in birth order.

New Milestones:
> Zach is starting to take one or two steps on his own.  At the moment only to get from one object to another one.  It will be fun to see what develops this next week.

> We tried pizza tonight.  Hawaiian pizza.  My kids get enough "just cheese" stuff, so we decided to go Hawaiian.  I would say it was a hit.  Especially if you consider the fact that Zach looked like he had a bad spray tan and Addie had sauce on her forehead. 

> My kids LOVE watermelon.  No surprise.  Dad went to give them more, he started with just ONE small piece for Zach.  I laughed.  He gave Zach three.  By the time he got from the table to the counter (which really just means he turned around) there was no watermelon on Zach's tray.

> I believe Zach and Addie know the sign language sign for "done".  Why do I not include Katie you wonder?  Because Katie will make the done sign, smile, then bang on her tray because it is empty and she wants more food.  Silly girl.  Zach and Addie however were shaking their little hands at me and they really WERE done.  Momma pride. (and excuse to keep watching Baby Signing Times)

> Katie has two new top teeth.  Addie is getting her first set of bottom molars.  Of course, she hasn't broken her second set of bottom teeth, but molars they are a-comin.

> We are finally calling it quits on the 6 mo clothes for Addie.  She is almost 14 months.  They do still fit.  However, since they are becoming snug and we have more than enough 9 mo and 12 mo, it's time to say goodbye.

*Random info - my husband is watching wrestling on tv.  I can see  the reflection in the window.  My husband NEVER watches wrestling.  I believe this is a sign of how tired we all are.

> We had a great trip to Fairbanks today.  Minus the lunch, kinda.  We timed our trip to leave at their morning nap.  We were able to use the double stroller and put one lucky child in a cart at each location.  We got everything on our list, except contact lens cases which never make the list because I always forget until I take out my contacts.  We even picked up dinner, pizza, see above milestone.  The kids took a nap on the way home, so we let them stay up a bit later, but all in all a GREAT trip.  Minus the lunch, kinda.  :)


That's our life at the moment.  We are doing ok with the laundry and dishes every night.  I did take one night off, and tonight John moved towels from the washer to the dryer so I called it complete.  Haha.  Sometimes those little breaks are just needed.