Maybe we should lock his door at night so he can’t escape!

Well, since June is over tomorrow it seems like a good time to fill you in on what happened in June here in our little world.  We’ve been busy as usual and June, like every other month, seems like it went by in the blink of an eye.

Alex and Avery turned three on the 13th and we had a Handy Manny and Tinkerbell pool party for them.  The event was fun as usual and brought friends and family from all over together.  Luckily we only had a brief rain storm right before folks arrived and had decent weather for the remainder of the party.  We even got to use the pool for a while, which is where Alex decided to show off his swimming skills for the first time ever.  He, with just his water wings, was paddling all over the pool and even ventured into the deep end.  I was very proud of him and enjoyed truly enjoyed seeing how much fun he was having, and how proud of himself he was too.  All in all the food was good, the cake was tasty, and everybody had a good time catching up with each other.

The following Saturday we took the kids to a local horse farm where they got to do a 1 hour lead line horseback riding session.  The place was hard to find and because of a scheduling mix-up the class almost didn’t happen.  We hung in there and gave the organizers a chance to improvise and the kids eventually got to ride the horses.  Both Alex and Avery did great and seemed to have a blast riding high in the saddle.

Last week the kids visited our neighbor’s church for a week long VBS (Vacation Bible School).  Again, they had a blast and picked up many fun songs, worked on lots of cool projects and seemed to soak in more about the Lord in 1 week than I would have ever imagined possible.  After the first day Alex broke out into full on televangelist mode at dinner while telling us about a game they learned called Jesus Came Down.  Based on his volume and excitement level I thought he was going to give Avery an Amen! on the forehead and push her backwards in the chair or something.  They will be attending another VBS in August at our church which I’m sure they will also enjoy.

Oh, and Jen didn’t mind the quality time with just Adam from 9-12 for a whole week.  I think I saw her secretly Googling for other VBS sessions that could fill up the rest of the summer

On Father’s Day we went to Pop-Pop’s house for some burgers and hot dogs on the grill.  It was a nice day and the kids had fun posing in Pop-Pop’s garage with his hot rods and all his tropheys.

This past Saturday Jen and I enjoyed a nice dinner to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary (which was Sunday the 28th).  The night out was a nice break and allowed us to have a proper date, which we don’t really get to do anymore. It’s hard to believe that six years have gone by already!

And last, but certainly not least, we have two new additions to the family.  Last night Jen went to pickup the two new kitties that we have been waiting for for two months now.  I would tell you their names but we haven’t been able to agree on any yet.  We got a boy and a girl and are wading through long lists of names that go together. I’m confident that they’ll have names by tonight or tomorrow.

Since they didn’t arrive until last night at about 9:30pm today is their full day home and they’re already getting comfortable around the house and the kids.  And it took probably one hour for the kids to become obsessed with their new kitties.

Stay tuned over the next few days for more updates on our two new (un-named) family members!  Also, in case you didn’t catch the links above we’ve added more photos (finally).  Here are the new/updated albums:

• Alex & Avery’s 3rd Birthday
• June 2009
• Father’s Day Weekend 2009 at Pop-Pop’s

A few weeks ago, Adam and I were invited to a 1st birthday party at Gymboree Play & Music. I seized the opportunity to do something alone with him, and Don spent the afternoon with the twins at a bounce house, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, and then dinner. Adam had a fantastic time being theonly kid who could walk at the party, chasing bubbles and going under the parachute and he even seemed to enjoy a cupcake for the first time ever. I was headed home when I got a call from Don wondering if I had any clue how to help calm Avery down. He had taken the kids to a Japanese steakhouse we’ve visited numerous time before, and for whatever reason, she freaked out when they sat down – full on screaming, crying, blubbering fit. I was at a loss. So was he. I was glad I wasn’t there, honestly, though I did feel bad for them both. He finally managed to calm her down, but she didn’t eat much. I sort of figured it was because I wasn’t there and we moved on.

Fast forward to tonight, when we were planning to go to Lowe’s to stock up on some plants for me to kill over the course of the summer. I mentioned going to dinner, and normally the kids are all over going to a restaurant. Avery and I were alone by the pool when she asked me (more like clarified for me in case I had any ideas) that we would not be going to one of those restaurants where you can see them cook the food. I asked why, since we’ve been there before, she likes the food, etc. and she said she just didn’t want to go. I pressed her a little more and got this response: “Well, I’m just not a fan of Chinese food.” The kid won’t even be 3 until next week. As usual, I was left speechless, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

June 2, 2009 – a date which shall live in history! For the first time in 14+ months, Adam slept completely through the night and did not wake to be nursed at all! Don put him down just before 7 last night and I didn’t hear from him until almost 7:30 this morning. Of course, Avery is in sleep boot camp and screamed herself hoarse because we won’t re-cover her eleventy billion times a night, and Colby is having some sort of stomach issue that makes him stink and need to go out in the middle of the night, but the baby slept! Maybe I will sleep normally again someday!

If any of our visitors are shutterbugs I’d love to hear your thoughts on a new digital camera I’m considering.

Check out this post on my other blog for the info and drop me a line if you have any advice!

Last week, I loaded the kids into the van and headed the 15 minutes down the road to the petting farm. We love this place, and I was happy to find that the car that pulled in behind me belonged to my friend Kim and her daughters, Megan and Kate. Here’s Megan… well, her fingers anyway… in the sheep head .

As always, we had a great time petting bunnies, chasing chickens, milking a cow, and feeding goats. Adam especially LOVES animals right now. One of his favorite things to do is climb up on a little stool in his room to look out his window and see if he sees any birds or squirrels in the yard. When he does find one, he points and oohs until someone comes over and shares his excitement. Half the time he sees tiny little critters off in the distance that I barely see, but he is so cute with his enthusiasm. Anyway, he really liked seeing and petting all the animals. There was one incident where he damn near squeezed the head off of a baby turkey, but disaster was somehow averted. It led to a really classic picture, though, thanks to Kim! For the record, I don’t recommend holding a 13 month old in one arm and a 2 day old turkey in the other.

Alex, however, knew the right way to pet a little turkey.

We walked over to feed the goats and spent lots of time there. I wondered if Adam would be scared but he caught on right away. Alex and Avery are old pros by now and dive right into the feed and hold it out for the goats to munch on.

The boys lost interest at some point (or maybe got too interested?) Either way, I looked over and found them halfway up the fence ready to climb in with their new friends. Who knew the baby could climb a fence?

We ended the visit with a really bumpy hayride through the woods. The wondertwins were caught being especially cute on the ride.

And just as the rain started, we made friends with a few horses. They were huge, but again my kids were fearless. Alex gets the photo credits for the next one – he does really well with aiming and capturing what he’s aimed at. Better than I do at times, actually!

Adam has grass in his hand in that picture. I’m not trying to feed him to the horse or anything. It’s kinda hard to see. All in all, it was a really fun day and I’m sure we’ll go back in June when Green Meadows is open again. I get asked all the time about taking all three out for things like this, but the truth is they are really good kids and good listeners mostly, so it sounds much harder than it ever is. And even if it’s hard at times, it’s worth it to see the happy looks on their little faces.

I feel so guilty that I haven’t kept up with Adam’s milestones on here. Sweetie, if you’re ever looking back at this some day and feeling neglected, please know that mommy and daddy cherished all your firsts as much as we did the twins’. We may not write them down and know exact dates, but we do see you growing and changing and learning new things every day!

Adam is picking up words now, which is adorable. As with crawling and walking, it seems like he’s far earlier than his brother and sister were for this milestone too. He’s had “mama” and “dada” for a long time. Around his birthday, we started hearing “dat, dat, dat” combined with a pointed finger or hand to indicate what he wanted. Usually it’s something he’s not supposed to have, and the more you say no, the more adamant his “dat dat dat”s become. At the same time, he started standing at the door and saying “out, out” because he loves playing outside. He’s also added “dis” to his repertoire as a compliment to “dat.” He has a super cute bounce with a grunt that he does when you ask him something and he tries to give an affirmative answer. It’s like he’s so excited that you get it, that his whole body can’t help but answer. Don thought he heard him say “yes” (sounded more like “ess”) today, and I think I heard it tonight. And as I was nursing him before bed tonight, he unlatched long enough to bark when Colby was heard barking his fool head off at something in the yard. His other favorite word seems to be “urse,” which is his word for “nurse.” Generally, he uses it while madly making the sign for milk and lunging at my chest. Guess we won’t be weaning anytime soon.

It’s amazing to see how much he understands now, and how much better he’s gotten at communicating his needs. He can find his ears and toes, can follow directions well enough to take an item to a designated person, and will give the yes bounce if he’s tired and you ask if he’s ready for his nap or for bed. He loves to kiss Alex, especially by climbing into his bed at naptime and crawling on top of him, smacking his lips to make a smooching sound over and over. Sooo cute! He thinks “No!” is the funniest word in the world and will purposefully grab something and take off in the hopes that you’ll chase him until he collapses in a fit of giggles.

At the same time he’s so sweet and funny, he’s also a headstrong little guy who doesn’t like it when things don’t go his way. He’s getting very good at puckering out the bottom lip and pitching a fit if his demands aren’t met right way. If I am snuggling Alex or Avery on my lap, he often comes over and pushes them away as if he were my only baby. That, of course, doesn’t go over too well with them. I wish I had the time and energy to give them all the individual attention they deserve!

Dear Mom,

I just wanted to write a quick note to say Happy Birthday!  Bob sent a text message this morning to let me know that he had put something in the Metro section of the Washington Post this morning.

I thought that was very nice and very thoughtful of him.  If you only knew how much he missed you!!

I too miss you more than you could imagine.  I think about each and every day and don’t miss a chance to tell you about something funny that the kids have done, or something that you would be proud of them for.

Speaking of the kids, they’re doing great!  Adam’s first birthday party was fun and he seems so bright and “ahead of the curve” on so many things.  He’s a master at walking and runs all over the place.  He idolizes Alex and Avery and studies their every move.  He just wants to be one of the “big kids” and gets frustrated if he can’t always do what they do.

Avery and Alex are both doing fine too.  They are enjoying preschool and show how much they’re leaning on a daily basis.  It’s so cool to see them use their imaginations more and more and to just sit back and see the games they come up with.

Alex loves being a big brother and has fun playing with Adam all of the time.  Avery’s still as smart as a whip and is getting into dolls and dressing up her beary bear.  She’s a girl without a doubt!

We all miss you dearly and love you very much.  Happy Birthday!

Love,

Donald

We finally put some recent pictures online.  Here are some from April so far.  This week we will also get up March, February and January.  Following that we have a TON of good videos to put online.

Stay tuned!

It’s been a rough few weeks since Adam’s birthday, healthwise. We’ve been to the pediatrician at least 5 times in the last 3 weeks for fun things like pinkeye and ear infections. It started with Avery waking up from a nap with her eye glued shut and looking like she’d been through a tornado on the Thursday after Adam’s party. Dr. C took one look at her and gave her eyedrops and an oral antibiotic for the upper respiratory part of her cold. She got better very quickly after that. A few days later, the boys were cranky and miserable and not sleeping at night, so we were back in the office suspicious that they had ear infections to go with their coughs and runny noses. Alex had a horrible cough and it was preventing him from sleeping. Adam’s nose was a little snot faucet – so gross. Their ears were clear, but Adam had a questionable cough and was given a 5 day antibiotic. He threw up every dose, and spent Easter Sunday glued to me, whining and not eating other than to nurse every hour or two around the clock. That Monday he was found to have an ear infection and got good old amoxicillin, and I was diagnosed with a sinus infection and got the same medicine. I’ve never had a sinus infection before – wow are they painful. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like every tooth on the top left side was going to fall out of my head. Slowly but surely, we all recovered.

Everyone seemed relatively healthy over this past weekend and we were all able to enjoy the weather as Don and Uncle Bill built the new playground – more on that to come soon. But over the last week, I’d also noticed that Alex seemed to be having trouble hearing. Don noticed it too on Friday – half the time we’d tell him something, Alex would either ignore it or look at us and ask, “What you said?” or “You said yes or no?” when we’d answer a question of his. We called the doctor and had yet another appointment this morning. I was really worried that he was losing his hearing somehow. When I got to the office, the receptionist fell all over herself apologizing because she’d scheduled me not realizing that they don’t do hearing assessments in that office for kids under 4 years old. I asked her to keep the appointment anyway in the hopes that maybe he just had a lot of wax buildup or something. Turns out, his ears are a hot mess. Both of them are infected and filled with fluid, and the left one (the one Alex said he couldn’t hear out of) is draining. Yuck. Somehow I missed that in my home inspections. But he swears his ears don’t hurt, and the nurse, doctor, and I are amazed at that. He’s really been acting fine, so maybe he has some superhuman pain tolerance. Who knows. At any rate, he’s on a megadose of antibiotics now and we have to go back in 2 weeks to see if the fluid is gone from his middle ear.

And just when we thought we were safe, Avery has developed a nasty, itchy red rash on her neck and arms. I think it’s a sensitivity to the adult sunscreen she wore Sunday and Monday, but I’m not sure since it seems to be getting worse and she had baths both nights, so it shouldn’t still be on her skin. We gave her benedryl and some hydrocortisone tonight, but if it looks bad in the morning, we’ll be back at the doctor again. Ugh. I like the doctors and staff, but seeing them this often is not fun!