Happy New Year, farewell to the gtube!

Oh lord, what a crazy day it has been. After spending the afternoon at Egleston and spending the last hour making banana pudding, I'm a tired girl, but it's an important night for reflection, so I'll do my best. Today Will decided that his gtube was no longer necessary, so he pulled it most of the way out. I wasn't really sure what to do about it. He doesn't need it since we haven't used it in a couple of months, but I was afraid to take it out without a doctor telling me it was okay. The local ER didn't feel comfortable taking the case, so we headed to Egleston around noon. I had packed a bag since I figured we'd have to stay at least overnight. Thank goodness I was wrong! The doctor found that the balloon that holds the gtube in had a leak and deflated, causing the tube to come out. He said that he couldn't take it out and leave it out without getting clearance from Will's primary physician, but if we took it out, we could take him home and he'd heal fine. So I reached over and pulled that little sucker right out. They stuck a band-aid on it, told us to follow up with the pediatrician in two days and sent us on our merry way. Between my extensive knowledge of trachs and my expert gtube removal skills, I'm thinking about going to medical school! So we now have a baby that is completely free of hardware!!!! Yay!!!! I guess will just wanted to get all of his medical drama out of the way in 2008- and that is fine with us!
We're having my family and Matt's mom over tomorrow for a traditional New Year's lunch- blackeyed peas and collard greens, along with ham, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, and the aforementioned banana pudding. Got to get our luck and money!! I've been doing this for several years now, and I'm glad I didn't have to cancel.
I truly can't believe that another year has passed. 2008 was pretty much a blur. It was absolutely the hardest year of my life, but it was also the most rewarding. When our twin adventure really started in February, I had no idea what lay ahead. I'm glad I didn't. Had I known then what we were about to face, I would have walked out the door. I would have said, "God, there is no way I can handle this. The burden is too great." I remember when I met my friend, Jessica, in the NICU a couple of weeks after the twins were born. She had already been there for 5 months with her sweet Zach, and all I could think was, "how does she do it?" I couldn't figure out how she could possibly keep going that long with a smile on her face and an attitude of endless courage. Little did I know we were about to embark on a similar journey of months in the hospital with endless fear, frustration and worry. Yet somehow, we got through it. Jessica is still miles ahead of me when it comes to faith, grace under pressure, and the willingness to persevere in the face of incredible obstacles. But I learned a great deal this year. . I learned more about faith, hope, and the bottomless capacity for love over the past year than I ever knew. I learned that a mother can do things she never thought herself capable of for the love of her child. I learned the true value of friends and was reminded once again how wonderful people really are. It was a year that brought us so many challenges, and yet so much joy, and absolute miracles. I wouldn't trade it, but I'm hoping 2009 will be pretty uneventful!
So on the last night of 2008, I want to thank every single person who has ever checked our blog, prayed for our family, been the support system that got us through all of this. We could not have done it without you. Please know that you were an essential part of the journey that brought us to this night, happy and blessed with our three beautiful, wonderful, healthy children. May your next year be filled with more blessings and joy than you ever thought possible.

We had such a nice day today. I'm sure it was due partly to the fact that the sun is finally shining after weeks of gray gloom. I got to have some time alone with Mason today, and that was great. I took him to get a haircut, then we met Matt at the Cracker Barrel for lunch. That's Mason's favorite restaurant because it has toys and pancakes, two of his favorite things!
This afternoon we were able to get outside for a long time since it was so warm and sunny. Since I had Bo, my wonderful nurse, to help me with the babies, I was able to spend more time with Mason pushing him the swing and playing baseball. The twins really enjoyed the afternoon outside, but all of the fresh air must have wiped them out because they were seriously tired and cranky when we came back in!
It was nice to have a relaxing day, because yesterday was work! I took down and packed away all of the Christmas decorations by myself while Matt was at work. And I didn't have a nurse yesterday, so I had to do it all with three kids underfoot. A more logical person would have waited until Matt got home to help, but I'm impatient. Once I decide that it's time for Christmas to go, it goes. I don't wait for anybody. I do this pretty much every year, and one year I'm going to videotape myself trying to wrestle the Christmas tree out the front door. I'm five feet tall and the tree is eight feet tall- but I win that fight every year!

Merry Christmas!




Hulk SMASH!!!!!!!!






The babies' Santa loot







Putting out cookies for Santa








Mommy and Mason decorating the Santa cookies









Mason's Santa loot



I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a great time. We had a very busy Christmas Eve as we tried to get everything eady for Cristmas day. We went to my parents' house that day to exchange gifts with them and Mason got his favorite present- a Batmobile! It really is cool. You can push a button and it opens up and Batman comes riding out on a motorcycle. I'm not sure who's had more fun playing with it- Mason or Matt! Mason had a tough time going to sleep on Christmas Eve, and he was worried that Santa might skip our house because he was awake. But he must have fallen asleep eventually, because Santa came in a big way! If it had a superhero, or Power Ranger, or Ninja Turtle on it, Mason got it! He was so excited, and it was so much fun to watch him on Christmas morning. Even the babies got into it. They were both very excited to see all their new toys. They got several cute things, but their favorite thing is this soft, flexible plastic ball with holes all over it. They can pick it up and hold it really well, plus it doesn't hurt when they whack themselves in the head with it! Thank goodness Santa brought one for each of them or we might have some serious baby brawls!
I had given Matt several little fun gadget kind of things for Christmas, like a coffee travel mug that you can program to keep your coffee warm, a new coffee grinder, a cocktail shaker, just fun stuff that I thought he'd like. (He wanted a Wii, but I think that's going to have to wait for Mason's fifth birthday!) He gets the husband of the year awarrd for his thoughtful gift. He gave me a beautiful pair of amethyst earrings, which is the twins' birthstone. I had been teasing him about buying my present on Christmas Eve for the past few years, and basically just grabbing whatever random, girly thing he spotted on the shelf first, so he really raised the bar this year! But I truly loved them, and appreciated the lovely sentiment behind them.
Matt's mom and his brother, who was visiting from Chicago, came to have breakfast with us on Christmas morning and Mason had a good time with Uncle Jonathan. We had exchanged gifts with them and Matt's Aunt Judy earlier in the week, and Uncle Jonathan won Mason over with a five-pack on Transformers. He knows the way to a nephew's heart!
We also celebrated with Matt's dad earlier in the week, so we just about had more Christmas than we knew what to do with! We spent Christmas day with my big ol' family at my aunt's house. Everyone had a great time, and we were really glad that my grandmother was able to make it since she wasn't able to be with us at Thanksgiving. Mason got even more fabulous presents, so he's been in hog heaven ever since. Every time he turns around, he spots one of his new toys to play with. Wonder how long that will last before he starts whing that he has nothing to do!
Yesterday Matt and I had a few of our friends from high school over like we do every year. A couple of our friends weren't able to make it, so we were a smaller group this year, but it was great to see them and we had a good time.
My mom and I hit the mall for the after-Christmas sales today. We found some decent deals, but nothing amazingly cheap. I found a few things and got out of the house for a little while, so it was a worthwhile trip. We had movie night with Mason tonight and watched "Kung Fu Panda." He was trying to kung fu the living room, and it has been no easy feat to get his kung fu fanny to bed!
Matt's got the next several days off of work, so I'm hoping we can get some things done around here. But knowing us, we'll wind up lazing around, wasting time. Oh well, I guess we can just call it quality time and not feel too bad about not getting a bunch of projects done!

So we had the most bizarre accident with Hays yesterday. When he woke up from his nap Matt noticed that he had a few strands of hair wrapped around three of his toes. It had gotten so tightly wrapped that it was cutting into his toes and cutting off the circulation. His toes were purple and swollen and the cuts were pretty deep. I had been out running errands and I came home as Matt was trying to get the hair off. He wasn't having much luck and Hays was getting really upset. I was kind of freaking out and decided to take him to the urgent care center near our house. I thought about taking him to the emergency room, but I figured we'd have to wait forever. Luckily, they took us right on back at the urgent care center (once I showed them his bulging, purple toes.) The nurse practioner said that this is not as uncommon as you would think. She said that she used to work in a pediatrician's office and they would see this at least once a month! She and the doctor were able to remove the strands of hair (which was, of course, mine. Yay for the mother of the year!) and the circulation returned right away. The cuts were very deep- almost halfway through his toes- but the doctor thinks they'll heal fine. They put lots of neosporine on it and bandaged his foot. The doctor also gave him an antibiotic because it was already showing signs of infection. The really freaky thing was that all of this happened within an hour. He had been barefoot most of the morning, so we would have noticed it if it had happened before naptime. The nurse told me that it doesn't take long at all to get bad, and that if we hadn't noticed it when we did and brought him right in, he might have lost a toe or two! Unbelievable.

I had to take him back today so they could check him and make sure everything looks allright. The cuts look bad and his toes are still really swollen, but they're pink and the circulation is fine. The doctor said they should heal completely within a few days, and we just have to keep them clean and keep neosporine on them. It was just the craziest thing. I check their fingers for hair because they love to pull hair, but i never even thought to check their toes. you'd better believe I will be from now on.
As if that weren't exciting enough, we are having more septic tank issues. I noticed on Thursday or Friday that everytime I did laundry, the yard smelled like sewage. I hoped it was coming from someone else's yard, but no, it was ours. I called the guy who pumped out or tank a couple of months ago, and he was like, "Yeah, I was afraid that was going to happen. Your system is really old and you're going to need to replace the whole thing." Our house is 40 years old, and he said that's about as long as you can expect a septic system to last. Then he told me that replacing the whole system will cost somewhere between $3,000-$7,000. Yay. And in order to replace the system, you have to have a permit from the environmental health department. So the inspector came out today and told me we would need a whole new type of tank and all new fill lines. He recommended several and I found one who's estimate was between $3,500 and $4,500 depending on what was needed. It's a lot of money, but it beats $7,000. Ah, the joys of homeownership. So next week we should have guys with backhoes digging up the yard. Mason can't wait!

Thanks a lot, Milo and Otis!!

Last night was movie night at our house, and we chose "The Adventures of Milo and Otis." I remembered this as a cute little kids movie and picked it up for a couple of dollars at Walmart a few months ago. Now, if you saw this movie as a child, you probably remember that it was a tale of a cute little dog and cat who got themselves into all sorts of scrapes. As an adult, you see the darker side. You notice as you're watching a pug dog fight with a bear, and a cat go over a waterfall in a box, and the cat being attacked by seagulls, then being thrown off a cliff into a churning sea, that these are REAL animals. Not stuffed cats, or computer special effects, REAL animals. So I start wondering "How on earth did they do this? There are all sorts of regulations regarding the treatment of animals on movie sets." Well, not in Japan where this movie happened to be filmed! Matt and I googled "PETA and Milo and Otis" and it's rumored that as many as 27 cats were killed in the filming of the movie!!!!!
As if that wasn't bad enough, they also show a close-up shot of a kitten being born and a puppy being born. Mason didn't say anything right away except "gross!!!" so I thought we might avoid uncomfortable questions. Of course, we were not so lucky. About ten minutes later Mason looks at me and asks, "Mommy, how does the baby get out of the mommy?" Not wanting to get into a major discussion of the birds and bees with a four year old, I replied "It comes out of her body, son."
"Where on her body does it come out?"
Here Matt helpfully interjects, "Not out of her butt."
"Well , where does it come out?"
At this point I notice that the credits are rolling, so I'm like "Oh look, movies' over, time to brush your teeth!"
That's as far as we got, and so far, he hasn't asked again. I know we'll have to face it some day, but I wasn't ready to deal with it last night!

Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Mason is out of school for the next couple of weeks. That's a lot of time to fill! He's sleeping over at my parent's house tonight, so the morning should be a little calmer. He had his party at preschool on Wednesday and had lots of fun getting all sugared up on cupcakes and juice!
The boys and I had an adventure today. After a quick trip to the grocery store, we stopped by a Christmas tree lot on the way home to see how much they had marked their trees down. They had really nice one for $10, and since I have an extra tree stand, I decided why not put a tree in the playroom too? So I got the tree off my car, in the tree stand and into the playroom by myself, with a little help from Mason. It's tough to get a tree in the stand straight when your helper is three feet tall and has the attention span of a gnat! But we managed. And Matt was thrilled that he did not have to come home from work and deal with putting up another Christmas tree! Then I spent this evening making ornaments for it. I cut tons of family pictures with fancy scrapbook sissors, glued them to cardstock, and decorated them with glitter pens. It looks pretty cute. A five year old could have done it, but whatever. It's fun to look at all the pictures. I included some old ones from when Matt and I were kids, and in every single one of them, Matt's dad looks like Sonny Bono!

Family picture!


Our Christmas card picture



Mason with his orange belt (and cute instructor!)




Hi-ya!

Mason had his taekwondo graduation this weekend. He showed off his cool ninja moves and got his orange belt. Now he's decided he's done with martial arts and wants to play baseball in the spring!
We went to my parent's house to take the annual Christmas card picture on Sunday. Matt shot several pictures of the boys before we left, which was pretty much impossible. Since the twins aren't sitting on their own all that well, Mason had to support them, which wasn't easy. So he's complaining, the twins are crying and falling over. Yeah, it was fun. After all that, there was not a single picture in which all three kids were smiling! If both babies were smiling, Mason had a goofy look on his face. But we got one with two kids smiling and the other looking cute, if a bit solemn. And we managed to get a halfway decent family picture at my parent's house. So, all in all, it was a success.

Will's appointment went perfectly today. The doctor thought he looked great, and his only advice was to watch Will closely and let our pediatrician know if he started doing anything out of the ordinary. (I was kind of like, "Duh," but whatever.) One of the nurses hadn't seen Will since our last visit and didn't know that he no longer had his trach. When we told her the story of how he made the executive decision to remove it, she said "Oh my gosh, I'm getting goosebumps!" We swung by the TICU while we were there to show Will off. They were all thrilled to see him and couldn't get over how big he is.
I was dreading the trip there and back, but Will was an angel. And since our appointment took all of 15 minutes, we were on the road before traffic got bad. The downside was that we were on the road for a total of 2 1/2 hours for a fifteen minute appointment, but such is life. It certainly could have been worse.
Mason had his Christmas show at preschool this morning. He did a great job! He stood where he was supposed to, and sang the songs perfectly. No running around the stage and falling on the floor like last year! Matt's mom took him for the afternoon and he had a great time. When he came home, he gave me this little silver heart with a bell inside of it that had the word "joy" engraved on it. He said, "Mommy, this is for you because you are in my heart and I love you." We put it on my dresser so I can see it before I go to bed and right when I wake up. He told me to pick it up before I go to sleep so the bell will remind me that he loves me. How sweet and beautiful is that? Being his mother is such a blessing (most of the time!).

It was Mason's turn to get four shots. He had his check up today, complete with four year old immunizations. Matt had to take him because I honestly didn't think I was strong enough to hold him through the shots! He cried, but he got over it. As a reward, his daddy took him to the toy store and bought him a Transformer that requires a degree in rocket science to put together, but Mason likes it. I thought maybe he would be pitiful and sleepy after all those shots, but no such luck!
Hays was pitiful yesterday after all of his immunizations. He ran a fever and slept a lot. Will ran a fever in the afternoon, but was not so keen on the sleeping thing. If anything, he slept less than he usually does. But they were both fine and fever-free.
Tomorrow is going to be loooong. Mason's Christmas show at preschool is tomorrow morning, then Matt and I have to head to Egleston for Will's appointment with the pulmonologist. His appointment is at two, and as long as they take us right away, we'll be on the road home before traffic gets too bad. But I'm not optimistic since we had to wait well over an hour to see the doctor last time. If that happens we'll get stuck in rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon. Yuck.

Poor Will and Hays had to get their nine month immunizations today- four shots! They didn't think much of that, but their checkup went well. The doctor thought that they were growing well and doing all the things that they ought to be doing for their adjusted age. Hays is of course not even on the growth chart for a nine month old, but Will is in the 10th percentile of height and the 3rd percentile for weight. That's not bad considering how tiny he was at birth. Hays is 12 lbs, and 25 1/2 in. long and Will is 15 lbs. and 27 1/2 in. The pediatrician took Will off of his prevacid since he's showing any signs of reflux, and said that we don't need to use the pulse ox at night since he's doing so well!!!
The physical therapist came out yesterday and she was pleased with the boy's progress as well. They have come such a long way in the short time that she's been working with them. It's amazing how on track they are considering everything that they've had to deal with.
Now we just have to get through the remaining doctor's appointments this week. Mason has a check-up on Thursday (and four shots- boo!!!!) then Will has an appointment with the pulmonologist on Friday. I can't wait for him to see my amazing boy! We might even run by the TICU to show off our little miracle. They don't get too many miracls in there, and we are awfully glad that our baby is one of them.

Mason had a fun morning. We went on a field trip with his preschool class to see a ballet of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Now, I'll freely admit, when I heard about this field trip I thought, trying to keep a bunch of four year olds still and quiet to watch a ballet? Worst. trip. ever. But I was wrong! Mason sat with two of his little buddies, and I figured they'd cut up through the whole thing, but from the moment the lights went down, they were completely transfixed. Seriously, they did not even move! Now, the same could not be said for after the show ended. Those little boys ran around the lobby of the civic center like wild little hooligans. But they weren't being bad, just wild, silly boys.
My sister was in town today doing grad school stuff, so she stopped by to see the boys. They were all very happy to see their Aunt Ninny! Mason does not like having to share her attention with his brothers. He used to having her at his mercy whenever she comes for a visit!
Tonight was our family movie night, so we watched "The Polar Express" with Mason. He really liked it, and it gave some great explanations for how things work at the North Pole. Especially when it comes to Santa keeping an eye on the little boys and girls. Mason's been a handful over the past couple of weeks, and I've been using that whole "You'd better behave because Santa's watching, and if you're bad he won't bring you any presents!" thing a lot lately. So it was good to have the "he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake" idea reinforced!

Mason woke up this morning with the croup. He came into our room a little before six wheezing and barking like a seal. For some reason, he gets it every year. The upside of that is the pediatrician called in the medicine for me rather than making me bring him in. One trip to the doctor avoided- yay!! So we got his steroids, and hopefully he'll have an easier time tonight.
While Mason started the day very early, Hays didn't wake up until 9 am!!! I had to check on him a few times to make sure he was still breathing! I guess the past couple of weeks of practially nonexistant naps and waking up every few hours during the night finally caught up to him. Maybe he'll continue to make up for lost sleep over the next few days. One can always hope!

Well, the twins are playing happily on the floor rather than napping like they're supposed to be. Will woke up after a very short nap and then proceeded to wake his brother up with his yelling. Add this to the morning nap they refused to take, and you have two tired babies. I don't know what's up with the no sleep, but I'm getting pretty tired of it! At least Mason is asleep. Of course, that completely screws up my plan to take our down comforter to the cleaners this afternoon (our stupid cat peed on it for some unknown reason) since the twins will be ready to lay down when Mason gets up.
In spite of the lack of morning nap, I managed to get a ton of baby food made this morning. I pureed apples, avocados, mangos, sweet potaoes, acorn squash and mixed veggies. I still have strawberries, kiwi, peas and bananas left to do, but I ran out of ice cube trays. The homemade baby food has been a success. The boys love it, and they'll eat pretty much anything. The only down side is that it takes up a TON of freezer space, so that limits what I can put in there for the rest of the family. Of course, at this point, the twins are eating better than any of us!

Thanksmas

Our tree all lit up


Our beautiful Christmas tree

Mason in the trees

Here's Budda!

The boys at the tree farm

(Almost) the whole crew

The twin convention- Mack and Frank Jones, Mckinley and Hannah Lindwall, Hays and Will

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I spent the day befoer cooking like a mad woman. I love to cook and bake for the holidays, so I was in hog heaven. It was a little tough with three little ones underfoot, but luckily, Matt got home early and was able to look after them so I could finish everything up.

Thanksgiving day we went to my mom's to be with our huge extended family. The only dark cloud was that my grandmother hurt her back and couldn't be there, so we missed her and the few other family members who weren't with us. But it was a great day otherwise. It was funny because we had three sets of twins at Thanksgiving! Talk about twins running in the family! The kids were all well behaved, and the twins stayed in good spirits even though they didn't nap much.

Friday we celebrated "Thanksmas" which is my own holiday. It consists of eating Thanksgiving leftovers and decorating for Christmas! We went out to the tree farm with Matt's parents and got the most beautiful Fraser fir. It's huge! It's so big around that we had to rearrange the furniture to make room for it! So we decked the halls all day on Friday, and it looks lovely.

Today I did a little more Christmas shopping with my mom, and I'm almost done- hooray!!!! We had movie night tonight with Mason and we watched "Home Alone." Mason LOVED it!! He completely understood the movie and he laughed so hard at the antics of the robbers that he almost cried! It was fun watching it with him, and now he's been stalling to avoid bedtime by telling us his plans for defending the house should we ever accidentally leave him home alone!

Poor Haysie has his first ear infection. He's been really fuusy for the past week or two and at first I attributed it to teething pain, but it got worse over the past couple of days. He wasn't sleeping well and he'd cry and cry whenever we put him in bed. Last night I noticed that he was tugging on his ear a little bit, so I took him to the doctor this morning. Sure enough, ear infection in the left ear. The pediatrician said it didn't look like he'd had the infection more than a couple of days, and that the fussiness over the last couple of weeks was probably caused by teething pain. Thank goodness!! I would have felt like the world's crappiest mom if my baby had been sick for two weeks and I hadn't figured it out! So now he's on Augmentin for the next ten days.
He's had a rough day today. He's barely slept and I can tell his ear's bothering him. But sweet baby that he is, he still smiled and laughed most of the day. He just didn't sleep! I'm hoping that the Augmentin will kick in soon so he can get a decent night's sleep for the first time this week. (Then Matt and I can get some sleep too!) Then we can start the Thanksgiving bake-a-thon tomorrow. I can't wait!
*Update*
I just had to add that I watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving with Mason tonight. He belly laughed the whole way through it, and it was so much fun watching it with him. He has a great sense of humor, and the cutest laugh. I think having a four year old at the holidays is wonderful. He's old enough to understand and participate, and young enough to see the joy and magic in all of it. What a blessing he is.

Mason's preschool Thanksgiving feast was a success! It was a hectic morning since Hays decided he didn't need a morning nap. That made it a little harder to make the vat of macaroni and cheese , but it all got done. They sang a couple of cute little songs and Mason did a great job of standing still and singing, rather than running around the stage and doing prat falls as he did at last year's Christmas program. (Ah, the memories.)

One of his teachers was telling us some of the funny things he said at school, and told us that he's quite a little charmer! His class was talking about what they were all going to do for Thanksgiving, and Mason said, "I'm going to be in the kitchen all morning helping my mom cook." That made me happy. How sweet that Thanksgiving means cooking with mom!

I am almost done Christmas shopping! Well, maybe half done. The kids are done, and since that's the biggest chunk of the holiday shopping, I'm sticking with almost done. I spent most of Saturday running around to various retailers, and I think the boys will be with the stuff Santa brings them.
Hays is still having a rough time with his teeth, but now it mostly bothers him at night. He feels better during the day, but now he's up every 3-4 hours during the night! This from a child who's been sleeping 11 hours at a stretch for weeks! He wakes up and eats like he's starving (looks like we're hitting a growth spurt too) but then he won't settle down. He's up right now and has been for the last half hour, but every time we put him down in his bed, he cries and cries. Hopefully we'll get past this little bump in the road soon.
Tomorrow is Mason's Thanksgiving feast at preschool. I have to bring macaroni and cheese and napkins for 50, so tomorrow morning is bound to be crazy. I have to get Mason and the twins fed and dressed and take Mason to school at 9, come home and put the twins down for a nap, make mac and cheese and get back to school before 11 for the feast. I'm tired just thinking about it.

Tummy time!


Will sitting up all by himself!



What a big boy!

Here's Hays studying his toy very intently.

Yay!!! Fun toy!

This is the first chance I've had to post anything all week because Hays has been crying NONSTOP for the past three days! I think he's trying to get a top tooth (as if the bottom two weren't enough for a two week period), and he has been completely miserable. We've been giving him a rotation of tylenol and motrine coupled with teething tablets and baby oragel. The oragel helps for 15 minutes or so- after he stops screaming from the awful taste, but then he's back to crying. Today he finally seemed better, and that was such a relief. I had almost forgotten what a sweet, smiley guy he is when he's not hurting!

So today was a much nicer day since I didn't have a baby screaming at me for 10 hours or so. Mason went over to his Nana's house for most of the day and had a big time. I stayed home with the twins and my mom came to hang out with us for a while. I'm not sure if Hays stopped crying because his mouth wasn't hurting, or if he was just so happy to see YaYa that he forgot about it! This afternoon we were able to get outside for a little while since it wasn't freezing cold. That was nice- until my dog decided to roll in the biggest pile of deer poop she could find! She was covered in deer doo all down her side, so I had to give her a bath. That was loads of fun with the babies yelling in the other room, but at least the dog is nice and clean.

We met with our physical therapist this week and she was really impressed with how well the twins are sitting up. I'm pretty sure Will was trying to show off because he sat up for probably five minutes without wobbling or tipping over! And Hays decided that it would be a good day to try to crawl, so he surprised us all by trying to get his knees under him while he was on his tummy and pushing off. I told him to put that little fanny back down, because I am in no hurry for them to crawl. Can you imagine trying to keep up with two of them crawling in opposite directions? Yikes! I get tired just thinking about it. but I'm really glad they're learning to sit up. It gives them new options for playing (good thing since they're getting tired of all the laying down toys). Plus, they're so much cuter in pictures when they're not just lying there like baby blobs!

We're at the end of a very productive weekend. Matt and I spent all day today cleaning our yucky house. You know those days when you look around and go, "holy crap, this place is a wreck!" Well, it was one of those days. It just needed a really good deep cleaning, so that's what we've been doing all day. Now everything is sparkling clean, and I know by tomorrow afternoon, it will look like a tornado blew through! Such is life with a bunch of little kids in a small house.
Hays and Will are both kind of pitiful today. Both of them were running low-grade fevers from the flu shots and their teeth were bothering them. Thank goodness we had a nurse today to help us with the cranky little monkeys.
Yesterday was really fun. I went to the Junior League holiday market with my mom. We spent a fun couple of hours checking out all the booths. I swear, I could have spent a fortune on all the jewelry, accessories, Christmas decorations, toys etc., but I showed great restraint and just bought one small Christmas gift. We spent another couple of hours downtown going into all the cool shops and looking at beautiful things we can't afford. I was pleasantly surprised when I got home to find that Matt had not only kept all of the children alive and fed, but he had also done two loads of laundry without being asked! Husband of the year!!!!!

It's been an uneventful week, so there hasn't been much to share. We're about to drown in the ocean of drool created by the two teething babies, but they're doing all right with it. They both got their flu shots today. I was so impressed by the nurse that did it- she gave those injections so fast, the babies never even knew what hit them. They didn't even cry! Hays frowned a little and looked like he might cry, but he didn't shed a single tear. Will looked slightly perplexed for a second, like "hey, did she just poke me with something?" but that was it. Total time in the doctor's office- less than five minutes. It literally took longer to get them out of the car than it did to get the shots and get back to the car! Hays had a rough time with it this afternoon. He didn't feel very good, and ran a little bit of a fever. Once he got some Motrin, he was fine. So far, no side effects for Will, but it might get him tomorrow. The hardest part of the afternoon was when they were both exhausted, but refusing to settle down for a nap. They were both screaming their heads off, and I was going back and forth between their cribs, patting their backs to settle them. I'd get one pretty settled, go to the next, and the first one would start screaming again! I was just about to start crying right along with them when they finally settled down and went to sleep.
Mason brought his class teddy bear home from school this weekend, so we have to show "Bubba Bear" a good time, so we can write about it in his journal! Since it's Friday night, we're going to have family movie night and watch Bee Movie. So I'd better go make the popcorn!

How cute!


Henry's not so sure about this trampoline thing



Charlotte in the leaves

Paige and sweet Charlotte

Too much excitement for Will

Charlotte on the trampoline

Bouncing Cousins!

Henry with the wagon

Tuckered out Hays

Well, it's just tooth city over here. Will's first tooth finally came through this morning, and Hays is already working on tooth number two! The tip of it just poked through today. I couldn't figure out why is was being so pitiful and acting like his mouth was hurting all the time, but I guess that's why. He's going to have a mouth full of teeth before we know it. Will doesn't seem to be having as tough a time as Hays, but Will's probably got a higher tolerance for pain considering everything he's been through in his short life. That's both pitiful and a blessing!

We had a fun weekend because we got to introduce our twins to my cousin's twins! My cousin, Chris, and his wife, Jane, were visiting from New York with their two year old twins, Charlotte and Henry. They are so cute, and Mason had a great time playing with them. It was neat to see what we can expect in a couple of years. I already knew that one two year old would keep you busy, but two is going to be exhausting! I can only hope that mine will be as sweet and well-behaved as Charlotte and Henry!

So here's a disgusting little story. Yesterday I had Hays and Will out on the front porch in their bouncy seats. We have a lot of trees in our yard, and consequently, a lot of birds. Well, apparently one was sitting right over Hays, because it pooped on him! It got his seat, his head, and his shirt! How gross is that? I washed everything (of course) and it came out of the bouncy seat, but not his shirt. One of our trees has some kind of purple berries on it that the birds love, and they have been kind enough to cover our cars and deck, and now our baby with dark purple bird poop. Thanks a lot birds!!!! So now I'm a little hesitant to sit on the front porch with them!
Other than that, all the boys are doing great. Will is his usual sweet, smiley self. He is babbling all the time now. He says mama, dada and baba, the problem is, he has no idea what they mean! I can't wait for the day that he makes the connection. Hays is still gnawing on everything he can get his mouth on. That little tooth is only about halfway out, so it's still hard to see. But you can sure feel it as he bites the crap out of you! Mason is still loving taekwondo. He got another black stripe on his belt today. I have no idea what that means, but apparently, it's good.
I'm almost done painting our bedroom. It's such a pretty shade of beachy blue. I can't wait to finish it so I can get my house back in order. I looooove redecorating, but man, does the rest of my house suffer!

What an exciting election!!!! Matt and I are thrilled that Barack Obama has been chosen as the next president. But I am even happier about what this says about America and how far our country has come. no matter what side you're on politically, I think we can all be proud that we finally live in a nation where, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, "A man can be judged not by the color of his skin, but by the strenth of his character." I am glad that my children are growing up in a society where when we tell them "you can be anything you want, even president of the United States," it is true for every child. Go America!!!
Okay, so now I'll step down from my political soapbox and tell you about my hilarious Mason. The other day he got the world's best toy. Matt's grandmother had a small vacuum cleaner with an adjustable handle in her apartment. On its lowest setting, it's just Mason's size, so we brought it home for him. Mason has always loved vacuum cleaners and has had his own toy one since he was two, so he was thrilled to get a real. But not nearly as thrilled as I was when I walked into the living room after putting some stuff away in my room to find that he had cleared the floor of all the toys and was preparing to vacuum the rug! Best. Toy. Ever.

Hays finally has a tooth!!!!!! He's been trying to get that thing in for months now, and it has finally arrived. You can see the top part of it and you can definitely feel it. No wonder he's been gnawing like mad on anything he can get in his mouth. I'm sure Will won't be far behind. I can't wait until it comes all the way in. Hays is going to be too cute!
Mason had a fun-filled weekend. He went to a birthday party yesterday at Pump It Up, which is a place with all these inflatable slides and bouncy things. He had a ball, but that was one tired little monkey by the time we got home. Then I made his day when I returned from a grocery shopping trip at Walmart. I found an Optimus Prime Halloween costume for five dollars, so I got it for him to play in. He loved it and wore it the rest of the day yesterday, then wanted to put it on first thing this morning.
And let me tell you, first thing this morning came a little too early at our house. Someone neglected to tell my children that the time was changing and they should sleep an extra hour, so they were up and raring to go at 5:45 am. Hopefully they will adjust quickly and not start the day well before the crack of dawn!

Happy Halloween!

Spidermason!



Sweet little honeybees!




Mason on the hayride

Matt's very cool Barack-o-lantern

Mason's monster pumpkin (carved by mommy)

My scary haunted house pumpkin

We had a really fun and busy Halloween. Mason had his preschool party this morning, complete with a hayride and a little pumpkin patch set up at the school. He got to wear his Spiderman costume to school, so he was very excited. This afternoon we took all the boys trick-or-treating Downtown at all the little shops. There were tons of kids down there, and the twins seemed to be fascinated by all of the brightly colored costumes! Mason got lots of candy and had a really good time. After dinner, Matt took Mason trick-or-treating in my parent's neighborhood while I stayed home and manned the door at our house. It was a long day, but a fun one.

It was a bittersweet day for our friends, Kyle and Jessica. Today would have been their sweet baby Zach's first birthday, so this was not a real easy day for them. Everybody just say a prayer for them that they will find comfort in the memories that will surround them today.

It's been an exhausting weekend. Matt and I went down to Macon yesterday to move his grandmother's stuff out of her apartment. It took quite a while, and we're all tired and sore. Especially Matt and his dad who had to move all the big, heavy furniture. They didn't finish until 11:30 last night! Packing the stuff up took most of the day, then pieces had to be dropped off at different houses, so it made for a full day's work. We took some of her bedroom furniture and an entertainment center for the playroom, so I've spent today trying to reorganize our house. And poor Matt has to move more furniture tonight when he gets home! We have to rearrange the playroom to accomodate the entertainment center and bookcase.

Allright, so that was Monday's entry that I didn't get posted! We got the furniture rearranged, and it looks awesome! The playroom looks ten times bigger. So I'm excited about it. My next project is the master bedroom. We got Jean's dresser and nightstand, so now we need new bedding. I ordered some last night off of e-bay and it's really pretty. It's stripes of blue, green, cream and brown, but they're really beachy coloers. I think it will look nice, but it does mean that we'll have to paint. Once again, Matt will be thrilled!
Today is Jean's memorial service. Matt is there with his parents, but I had to stay home with the babies. There was no one available to help my mom today, and these three little monkeys are a bit much for one person to handle, so I had to stay behind. I hate not being there, but I think everyone understands.

We are sad to say that we lost Matt's grandmother today. Jean passed away at her home some time last night. She was a wonderful lady who did a lot for our family. She was supportive, kind, and incredibly generous. She had great faith and was a shining star in her community. She will be missed by so many people, and we thank all of you for your prayers.

We finally have the twins in the same room! Will's been out in the playroom since he came home. At first it was because we couldn't fit all his equipment in the nursery, but then we kept him out there because they wake up at different times and we didn't want them waking each other. However, since our playroom is an addition, it's the last room on our heating and air circuit, so it's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. We kept it cool this summer with a window AC unit, but now that the weather's turned cold, it's too cold for him to sleep out there. I guess we could use a space heater, but I'm scared of those things. The only other option was to buy a bigger house, and that didn't exactly fit into the budget! So the boys are now roomies. So far they've done pretty well. They don't wake each other up too much. Though Hays decided to wake up from his afternoon nap crazy early and babbled and squealed so much that he woke Will up too. But I figure they'll get used to it. Will's pulse ox monitor went off last night when his heart rate dropped a little, and it liked to scared poor Hays to death, but when it went off later, he didn't even stir.

It's been a hectic week. I haven't had a nurse at all this week, so I've barely had time to breathe, but we've been allright. Today I got some downtime when a couple of my girlfriends came over with their kids for a long-overdue "three martini playdate." (with the recession and all, it's been downgraded to a "two beer playdate," but it's still lots of fun!) Tomorrow I have a nurse, so maybe I'll get the floors swept and the laundry caught up!

Toga, toga, toga!


Little baby thugs!


Mommy and her sweet boys


Hays and Will at the fall festival


Mason with his new marshmallow gun at the festival

The lovely Paige


We had such a fun weekend! We took the boys to the fall festival on Saturday and they were all great. The weather was perfect and the twins were content to ride in their stroller the whole time and check out the action. That afternoon I went over to my parents to help Paige get ready for homecoming. I did her makeup, and she looked lovely if I do say so myself! Saturday night, we left the kids with Matt's dad (the twins were already asleep!) so we could go to a toga party! We had a great time getting out with actual grownups, and we got to see several of our friends from the NICU. And let me tell you, a bunch of adults in togas makes for a funny party! I was pleased with the way ours turned out, though mine was harder to make than I thought it would be!



Sunday we had to recover from the party- we weren't bad off, just tired. But that afternoon we decorated the front porch for Halloween. I can't wait to get some pictures of the boys in front of the hay bales.

Mason appears to be going through a little kleptomania phase. We thought we had the whole stealing thing under crontrol after the Power Ranger incident a while back, but it's reared its ugly head over the past week. We had not one, but two incidents of petty theft. First he swiped some little toy out of his classroom at school, then lied and told me his teacher gave it to him. When I told him I was going to ask the teacher about it, he said "Um, no, don't." Dead giveaway. Then as we were leaving Publix a couple of nights ago, I heard an odd rattling sound coming from his pocket. I asked him what was in his pocket, to which he replied "nothing." Nothing turned out to be a box of tic-tacs. So I marched him right back in to the store and up to the customer service desk to return them and aplogize. We had another talk about why taking things that don't belong to you is wrong, then I told him if he ever did it again, I was taking his superhero toys away for an entire week. We'll see if it works!
Tonight I have been hard at work making togas for me and Matt. We're going to a toga party tomorrow night and I can't wait. Though I must say, making a toga is much harder than you would think! Mine still doesn't drape quite as gracefully as I would like, but it will have to do.

It's been several days since I've posted, but it's honestly been pretty boring around here, until yesterday that is. we were getting ready for Mason's dentist appointment yesterday and while he was going to the bathroom he told me, "Mommy, my pee-pee hurts when I go tee-tee." All I could think was oh no, urinary tract infection! So we got a pediatrician appointment after the dentist. His dental appointment was great- no cavities, and the opediatrician confirmed a mild UTI. We think the culprit was a bottle of Transformers bubble bath I bought him the other day. Bubble bath has been known to cause UTI's in kids. It's more common in girls, but it can happen to boys too. Mason also got the flu mist vaccine while we were there. He didn't think much of that, but it beats a shot. While we were at CVS getting Mason's prescription filled, the pharmacist asked him, "Mason, what's wrong with you today." So he announced in a loud voice, "My pee-pee hurts!" Of course, everyone in a ten-mile radius heard and laughed! I wanted to melt into the floor, but what can you do?
The fun started for me at CVS. I'm trying to change health insurance companies because I found a better plan with a different company. But the new company needed a recent blood pressure reading, so I decided to check mine while we were there. It was sky high! I had my nurse check it again when I got home with the home machine I used while I was pregnant- still through the roof. So my mom sent me off to the doctor before I stroked out or something. The doctor checked me out and put me on a low dose of blood pressure medication. It wasn't really surprising since I have a strong family history of high blood pressure on my dad's side of the family. But today I have suffered every side effect that's common with this medication. I woke up with a headache so bad I couldn't even get out of bed. I was sick as a dog to my stomach and so tired I could barely lift a spoon to feed the twins. I'm feeling better now, but it was rough this morning. But I guess it beats a stroke!

Our septic tank issue has been resolved. The people we bought the house from told us it had been pumped out about six years earlier, but that apparently was not the case. The guy who came to fix it said it had not been pumped in at least 20 years. I'll spare you the disgusting details and let it suffice to say that it was gross. Really freakin' gross. But hey, it's fixed and will hopefully stay fixed. I can think of many other ways I would have liked to spend $600, but I guess that's a small price to pay to keep sewage from backing up in the house!
But Mason had a big time watching the guy dig up part of the yard with a backhoe. He was underfoot the entire time. When the guy was leaving he said "That little fella shore is a mess ain't he?" All I could do was agree. Even the babies seemed entertained by the backhoe, when Will first saw it, he just started laughing like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen!
And I have a very cute Mason and the babies story, two stories actually. This morning Mason wanted to feed Hays his bottle, so I went in the kitchen to fix a bottle for Will. While I'm in there I heard, "Okay Hays, let's see if you need to burp." I ran in the den to see Mason sitting Hays up in his lap, patting his back. I came in just in time to hear Hays let out a huge man burp, so all I could say was, "Wow, way to go Mason!" Then later this afternoon I was feeding the babies while they were sitting in their bouncy seats. Mason was doing some taekwondo drill that involves lots of running in place while pretending like he's running through the jungle. Will and Hays were watching him intently, and everytime Mason would start running, Will would start kicking his legs furiously like he was running too! It was hilarious. Those babies sure do love their big brother. Their eyes light up and they grin like fools every time he talks to them!

We have some sort of septic tank issue. What could possibly be more fun? Today I noticed a random puddle in the yard and wondered, "What the heck is that doing there?" Upon furthur inspection I discovered that it was definitely from the septic tank. We have no idea what the problem actually is, we just know we have one. So the guy is coming out tomorrow, and I'm praying that it will be something that's easy (and cheap) to fix.
On the up side, My mom, Mason and I finished painting the deck and it looks great. I also got all of my pansies and mums in their lovely fall colors planted. Now if I can just keep them alive! I have a notorious black thumb, so if they survive, I'll be lucky.
One more exciting development is that Will finally decided that he likes baby food! Even though Hays has been eating like crazy for quite a while now, Will just wasn't in to it. If you tried to feed him baby food, he'd clamp his lips shut and turn his head away. But the other night he just started eating it like he'd been doing it all along! And they LOVE the baby food I've been making for them. I have quite a stash of colorful, frozen cubes in the freezer. Yesterday I made sweet potatoes, pears, butternut squash and avocado, and this morning I made turkey. Pureeing meat is, admittedly, kind of gross- it makes a grayish paste. But tonight I mixed turkey with avocado and mango and they ate every bite!
Finally, I want to thank the lovely and talented Jessica Kirk for fancying up the blog. She is responsible for its lovely new format and I am very grateful to her!

We've been busy little bees today. we scraped and painted our front deck. Well, Matt scraped and I painted. But we got it almost completely finished. We'll have to wait until morning to see whether or not the floor will need a second coat. But so far, it looks great. Mason had a great time helping. He loves to help us psint, and since we were outside we could let him do more than we can inside. By the end of the day, we were all covered in paint!
It was a nice weekend. Yesterday we went to Matt's boss's daughter's wedding. It was outside at an old farmhouse and it could not have been a prettier day for it. The wedding was lovely, and we had a great time hanging out with Matt's co-workers. It was so nice to get out and hang out with grownups for a while!
This week we go to three days a week of nursing care. I'll have a nurse Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, so tomorrow I'm on my own. Wish me luck!

Tonight I embarked on a new project- making my own baby food! Yesterday on Good Morning America they said you could save $300 a year by making your own baby food, so I got curious as to how difficult it would actually be. After finding some recipes on the internet, I decided it didn't look too labor intensive and it was worth a shot. Plus, the only investment I had to make was a few ice cube trays and ziploc bags, so if it turned out to be a total pain in the butt and I never did it again, I'd only be out a couple of dollars. It was actually really easy, and I now have frozen cubes of applesauce, blueberries, mangos, carrots and peas in the freezer. Next up is sweet potatoes, chicken, turkey, bananas, pears and guava (which is Hays' favorite). I told my sister that I felt like Laura Ingalls, though she probably didn't have a blender! But the true test will be whether or not Hays eats it. I'll be crushed if he prefers the stuff in jars!
Of course, he may not eat much of anything, because I think his bottom tooth is finally coming in! I can see the top of it, and he's drooling like a faucet. He's also in a fair amount of pain, poor baby. I've been using these homeopathic teething tablets that seem to help, but he was so pitiful tonight that I had to dose him with tylenol. Hopefully the tooth will come through in the next day or two and stop hurting him. Then I guess it will be Will's turn!

We've been nurseless for the past couple of days, but it's been okay. It's kind of nice to just be here by myself with the kids. It's nice to have another adult to talk to, but it can be tiring to never have any time alone with your family. I think I'm going to cut down to having a nurse three days a week. That way I'll have help a couple of days during the week and one day on the weekend so I can get out of the house and not leave Matt totally stranded with the kids! I don't want to completely stop the nurse care because I like having Will checked out by a medical professional every couple of days just to be on the safe side. And our pediatrician probably wouldn't appreciate it if I brought him in every week!

It's hectic being by myself with three little kids and I feel like I never sit down, but the day passes quickly. There was one hard time today around 4 in the afternoon. The twins were tired and I was going to put them down for a short nap, but neither one went right off to sleep. They were both crying and I was running back and forth trying to settle them and whichever one I wasn't with was screaming his head off. That was tough. I kind of felt like running away from home at that point. But it only lasted about 20 minutes, then Will fell asleep and all was well. But, Lord have mercy, I was tired by 6:00!!! I barely had enough energy to eat dinner!

We have a nurse tomorrow and it will be nice to have another pair of hands, but I'm thinking next week we'll cut it down and see how it goes.