Nap Mission Conquered

We are all finally feeling quiet a bit better, still some lingering issues. During all the process of this really mean bug that swept through our house, we have truly conquered 1 nap a day to a science. All the babies went for their follow up eye appointment today... we are cleared until age 3, all eyes looked great. We have been so fortunate in the eye department, we have never had any set backs and I am truly thankful for that.

Sick, Sick

Bralee started getting sick last night, vomiting and other things. We thought maybe it was something she ate, because this morning she woke up playing and eating. Before we knew it she was sick all over again, but this time her eyes were not rolling in her head. She has no weight to lose so we got her in to the doctor, which advised us she needed to be at the hospital, because of no urine output. She came through like a trooper with hydration and medicine. Now, Joseph is sick as well. I guess this thing will run its course throughout the house. Brian and Joseph are at their Nana's, which is where Joseph started his sickness spell this evening. Sickness of any kind is horrible for parents of multiples, because the house gets torn in many different directions.

Sunday Shuffle

We made it to church on time for morning and evening service. Between services we made it to a our nephews basketball game, ate lunch with family, played in the backyard, and all managed to get dirty. While playing in the backyard, Joseph decided it was okay to get dirty and found a pile of leaves and rolled around in them. That was wonderful, due to last summer when he would not even touch grass. Tomorrow, starts yet another week semi-full of appointments, but we will be incorporating some family visits in it. We may even let them go and spend a night at Nana's!

Visiting, Making our Rounds

We started our Saturday off with everyone in good humor and ended it that way as well. Our first stop was Granny's (Shane's mother) for a very quick visit, we were running behind schedule. Then we drove for another hour and half to visit Papaw (my grandfather) where they played on the piano and he gave them great rides in their wagon. It was a great joy. Within our visit we got to see great aunts, great uncles, cousins and more cousins. It was a true blessing. Then we stopped by another Granny's (my grandmother's), which was not home, we will catch up with her later next week. To make the circle complete, we stopped by Papa's and Nana's (my mother and father's). It was great because Uncle Terry and Aunt Lindsey were their as well. When we got home all were practically jumping out of the car seats.

Oh, What a DAY

We let them relax in their jammies, due to the busy week and upcoming weekend. Bralee pulled another one of her fits about eating today, everytime we would ask her to come and eat she would start screaming and crying. This is becoming more and more frequent. It is quiet frustrating, due to all the doctors are wanting and suggesting that she gain weight, dispite the shortened small intestine issue. This will just be a battle of prayer with her, having her realize food is not the enemy. Brian, looked at her during one of her crying episodes on said "Sissy" and "Shhh", he was trying to calm her. Joseph he just looks at her like she is crazy and goes back to playing or watching tv.

Our Playmates

Here is a photo of our playmates that we go to Sunday School with. They are 4 months older than our babies: Bryce,Maddie,Cailey,Megan. It is odd that their smallest is the size of my smallest, but Brian beats them all out with his big self. The other 3 are between Joseph and Brian, which makes for a great combination. We will be wishing them a Happy Birthday next weekend!

Total Embarrassment

Brian had physical therapy this afternoon, so Nana came to help with the appointment. After therapy we decided to go out to eat. First off they did not give us high chairs, but instead booster seats, to top that off, they gave us a booth! That will set the stage of our supper fiasco. Brian decided he needed to be under the table, Bralee wanted to sit on top of the table, and Joseph tried to hang from the light over the table. Not to mention the screaming and loudness the kids created. At one point Bralee looked at Nana and point blank told her NO! I know this is a trying point in their growth, but it was very embarrassing.

Running and more running

We had a great day, as you can see our niece is in town and visiting for a couple of days. We went to Knoxville and Kingston to visit family. The babies enjoyed their journey, but was glad to get back home. It is funny, they get tired of being couped up in the house, but when we leave for a long period of time they are very glad to be back home. We are also gearing ourselves up for another busy weekend of visiting family.

Well, we made it off to church and they were all cranky. We did not go to evening service because Shane is working all weekend. At some point this week while playing with the diapers one of them found its way to the dirty clothes basket. I found it when I was transferring the clothes form the washer to dryer, oh it left a mess, thank goodness it was a clean one. We have yet another full week of appointments lined up for the week (go,go,go).

Saturday Running

This morning I went to the local Multiple Club sale, I got Bralee all kinds of clothes for 50.00 (which she automatically admired intensely). No, I did not forget about the boys, but the boy clothing selection was slim. My mom met up with me to go to the sale and felt it necessary to get them all a toy: Joseph a dump truck, Bralee some miniature dolls, but when it came to Brian (he is odd about toys, does not want anything to do with them until one of the others has it) we were stuck, finally I spotted a car pillow, bingo right up Brian's alley.

We are still trying to transition to 1 nap/day, by the time I got back home from shopping the kids were on wits end. We decided keeping them up until 12:30 was good enough, they slept until 3:00. Now, if we can continue this little pattern, all our daily lives will be simpler!

This evening the babies and I went to support my nephew at his basketball game, the babies first. Bralee cheered, Joseph watched intensely (I guess he thought it was like tv), and Brian did not pay one bit of attention. I am glad the babies got to enjoy this event of my nephews' and his little brother was a great help with the babies. We have a multitude of niece's and nephews and hope to become more active with them once again. Needless to say, in the car, Brian insures his own air bag with his pillows!

Boycotting Naps

Today was trying for all of us due to the babies only took an hour nap! Here is a picture for every one to see how much taller Brian is than the other two. During bath time Brian decides he was going to turn the tub into a swimming pool, flip flopping around and dunking his head under water. Oh, I so much want pretty and warm weather to hurry, then they can run outside and not be on top of one another.

Recap

As you can see, Bralee's fish was about the same size as she was; Brian's lamb was pretty big for him; You can image what Joseph's frog looked like compared to him. Zoom time forward and you see what a blessing we are dealing with.

I sometimes wonder what my daily life would be like if I did not have children.... boring! I would not take into consideration the blessings we are blessed with on a minute to minute, never the less daily basis!

Today, I decided, Joseph has the loudest ever going scream of all three. He is loud and does not want to stop until he knows he has the last sound in. I am also convinced he is going to be a tattle tale! Brian's greatest joy today was looking at everyone's bellybutton; he checked out Shane's and mine as well as Joseph's and Bralee's. He will casually come and sit on your lap, lift up your shirt, and poke!

Something New

Yes, we lounged in a jammies all day.We let them start practicing feeding skills with their spoons and bowls. The main problem with anything anymore, is that they (especially Joseph) are becoming more and more possive of their things. Brian and Joseph are starting to show favorites toward certain colors of sippy cups. With naps, I tried just laying them all in the living room floor for a different change of scenary. The time change has affected our dog more than the kids, she thinks she does not have to come in until dark. Also, here is a picture of her before she became the babies food vaccum cleaner, poor thing is now bigger than a barrel. Yes, our dear Leslie sometimes feels deserted. Although, with her and the kids, you mention Nana's name and all ears perk up!!

Beautiful Weather

We had speech and occupational therapy this morning. Although, the weather was beautiful and we got to get out and enjoy it. Brian is an accident waiting to happen with his clumsiness, he fell going up our front door brick steps. I can feel it in my bones, that due to clumsiness we will be visiting the ER. Wow, take a look at them in their PJ's, Brian is sooo much bigger than the other two. Joseph became very good friends with the bear to watch tv with. By all means do not feel sorry for Bralee for being in the caboose, she loves it back their.

How we have grown

We started our day out great. Brian had physical therapy at 11am, which by the end of the session he crashed. After a 30 minute nap the kids and I shuffled out to another appointment at 2pm. We went out to eat with Nana, which helped with the afternoon appointment. We all made it in the door for about an hour to spare before the kids went to bed. While doing some organization in the kids closet, I ran across their little stuffed animals that they had in the NICU at about a week old. When they first got them, they were almost bigger than they were, look at them now in the photos! Joseph has a frog, Brian a lamb, and Bralee a fish.

Sunday Shuffle

Today we went to church morning and evening, the kids absolutly love going. Shane volunteered us to take home 250 easter eggs and fill them with candy, not so bad because it only took about 30 minutes (the kids were in bed)! Between services, we went to visit the grandparents (Shane's parents). The weather was beautiful and they played outside. Bralee is so funny, every Sunday when I put on her dress, she constantly walks around admiring her outfit. The boys, well they have clothes on, either way to them, clothing is clothing (typical boy).

Here they are at Papa's and Nana's. They had a grand time. Brian got in a fight with some grass, which left a mark on his face, but he is very tough. They got to see some horses again in living color, which was a hit for about 5 minutes. They pretty much had another day without no tv.

Here they are in that crazy changing table cabinet. Here are also a couple of photos of them in their playroom. Joseph realized the tv was not coming on, therefore he explored outside of the den. We have daily sippy cup scavenger hunts (trying to find the missing ones), today during that hunt, I asked Joseph where his cup was, he got out of the swing and went to the refrigartor in their toy kitchen and got it out (pretty smooth).

Lounging & No TV

Yesterday, we were on the go almost all day. Today, we will stay in our pajamas and get as messy as we want. We are trying something different today, especially for Joseph's sake, we are leaving the TV off. In spite of this 1 day trial, he is constantly going and turning on the tv himself or bringing the remote to us to turn on. The flip side is, he is playing more and being more creative with the few toys we have out to play with. The downside: I was in the garage working on some storage boxes, I came back in because it was too quiet (which is always a bad sign). I came into the den, Brian came out from behind a chair, Joseph crawled out of the dog cage (which is a no,no), but Bralee was not to be seen. Finally I went searching through the house thinking she had climbed over the gate, she tends to be quiet, but for the most part stays with the pack. I come back to the den to see Brian standing at the changing table, Bralee has locked herself inside the cabinet. The poor thing is so small she can wiggle into anything she puts her mind to.

Sleeping and Dr. appointment

Last night, Joseph decided to stay up watching tv in his bed until 10. This morning, fear of missing something on his cartoon, decided to wake up at 6am (urghhh). Little did they all know that today they had an early doctor appointment for rsv shots. Joseph was a nightmare the entire doctor visit, he was sooo sleepy. After the appointment we got in the car to come home, he decided he would finally get his nap in (wrong). We only live 20 minutes away and they still needed breakfast. Every time Joseph would close his eyes we would roll down the window, he would angrily startle back awake, after numerous times doing this he finally gave up and stayed awake. This afternoon we will be meeting up with Nana because Brian has physical therapy and Daddy will be at work. Life without Nana would be appointment suicide. The upside to all this, Pulmonary says they are looking wonderful: Joseph 24 lbs, Brian 27 lbs, Bralee 19 lbs (YEAAA she is gaining weight).

Boycotting Naps

Today, the babies decided it would be okay to take an afternoon nap. Maybe they will realize that boycotting naps is as hard on them as it is on the parents.