Go West, Young Man (Part II)

If you haven’t read about our first trip taking the kids out west, catch up by reading here.

In Part I, I tried to capture some of the highlights. In Part II, I’d like to give you some snippets of the trip, so you can really appreciate a taste of what it was like.

Just watching all the cousins play together was so special. Here’s a video of them playing “Ring Around the Rosy” with Elsa, who is a neighbor.

 

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

Another fun everyday moment was wrestling with Daddy/Uncle Dave. Here’s a look at the kids in action.

 

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

And as promised, here’s a compilation of some favorite quotes we wrote down on the way home.

Favorite Quotes

• Alyssa 10 miles into the trip: "I'm boring."
• Jack after the 1st stop: "Are we in Colorado?"
• Alyssa: "Mommy, if I stand under the hair dryer [hand drier in the bathroom] will I shrink?"
• Lauren to Drew: "Say, "May I please have my train?" (after he dropped it the 100th time).
• Alyssa: "Today we are going to stay at the hotel at the side of the rectangle." (after her first lesson on maps).
• Alyssa: "I don't get it. We went to Florida and it was far away and we took an airplane and it didn't take too long. But Colorado is far away, and we had to stay in a hotel to get here. [Pause] Oh, I get it, an airplane is faster."
• Alyssa: "Drew bite-ed me."
• Laurie to the kids after we arrived: "Was that the longest car ride that you have ever been on?"
• Lauren while petting the cat, "My Daddy has whiskers."
• Alyssa: "Tomorrow we are going to hike in the mountains and maybe see some elf [elk]."
• Mike: “Alyssa, would you like to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels?”
• Drew: "Don't wash my new haircut or you'll make it dead."
• Lauren: "We're going to Bulldozer [Boulder]."
• Will to Alyssa: "When you leave, I'll be dreaming about you."
• When we told our kids that we were going to play on a bounce house they corrected us and said, "No, we are going to Bounce Town."
• Jack at Rocky Mountain National Park: "I saw a shark, elephant, alligator, snake, lion, bird and a rabbit."
• We all went out for ice cream. A kid on the bench across from us looked at us and said, "6 kids!!" [He probably thought they were siblings.]
• Jack on Pearl Street: "We're on Earl Street."
• As we left Colorado the kids said: "Bye bye mountains."

Another fun quote was when Alyssa and Will were dancing. She told him, “Put your arm in the hole.” He obliged for a little bit, but as you can see, he didn’t want to dance too long. I was so excited I had my camera ready for this!

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

I think one of my favorite moments of the week was when we were taking a shuttle in Rocky Mountain National Park. The kids started singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” thereby providing free entertainment to the whole bus (which I hope they found cute and not annoying!).

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

When you take our crazy family on a trip like that, you can’t come home without learning a thing or two. So here are some things that we learned that week (mostly about the road trip):

Things We Learned

• You can survive a trip with 4 kids and 2500 miles in the van during one week.
• Wrapping new toys up as presents to open along the way helps (I recommend 1 per 200 miles).
• It's very stressful when your DVD player breaks and you still are 2 more states away from home.
• Giving each kid their own blanket in the car was a big hit, especially for those who like to play hide and seek. (Except for those times when they fought with their blankets.)
• They actually make sinks with soap dispensers and driers all in one now! They don't necessarily work, but they make them.
• The world's largest bottle of ketchup in a town called Collinsville.
• Lauren and Jack like to sing along to Kidz Bop CDs and Lauren will tell you which songs are her favorites at the ripe old age of 3.
• Not all rest stops have vending machines.
• Don't stop in a town called Pocahontas for your daughter (who loves anything having to do with Disney princesses), because there is no food there!
• When the kids won't sleep in the car, turn on sports radio or talk shows. Works like a charm.
• When you travel that far with kids in carseats, the parents get to play fetch like dogs for every toy that gets dropped.
• Having each kid pack their own backpack of toys works really well. It's one piece of luggage they can carry, too.
• When your redheaded son goes down a concrete driveway in a toy coupe, you have to tell him not to use his toes as brakes.
• A 5 year old can figure out how to adjust all the fans and corresponding controls in the van.
• When your kids are squirmy and you try to distract them by saying: "Look, cows! Can you count them?" they won't go for it.
• Eastern Kansas is lush and green. Western Kansas is full of prairie grasslands and windmills.
• When you use the random function for the first time on a CD that the kids have listened to for 1000 times, it will completely throw them off. They will feel compelled to continually ask you when their favorite song will come on.
• Mike and Laurie are very brave for hosting that many people for that long! They were such gracious hosts!
• Long road trips make Drew scream at random intervals in the back of the van.
• Low humidity takes away Drew’s super bouncy curls and makes you evaluate when it’s time for a haircut.
• Our kids love to point out every bus they see, even after 2400 miles on the road!
• Alyssa is convinced that The Arch in St. Louis is "The Ark".
• Missouri has mile markers every 2/10 of a mile. This drives some automobile operators completely nuts.
• When you lose your atlas with 2 states left to go, that is very stressful. So is stopping at a very scary place because you don't know where you are going but have to use the restroom badly.
• Lauren can make a princess wand out of Legos.
• Having a Grammy pack a bag of toys and activities for the kids to do in the car is a lifesaver at the end of a long trip.

Speaking of the end of the trip, here’s what things looked like in our van at the end of the trip.

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

Really makes you wish you were there, huh? Still worth it! We had a great time. Thanks, Mike, Laurie, Will, Paige, and Papo & Grandma for a great week! We love you!

God bless,

Amanda

The Ole Switcheroo

As people often do during this time of year, we have been asked frequently what costumes the kids will wear for trick or treating. Our answer has been Belle (from Beauty and the Beast), a flower, a dalmatian (or "Firehouse Dog" as the kids have been calling it), and a chicken. We actually got in the attic a few weeks ago (major planning ahead for me!) and got the costumes and trick or treat buckets out. The kids had fun unpacking the boxes and getting all of our fall decorations out. I got the costumes washed this week. Therefore, I thought we were all ready to go for tonight. Wrong.

I should have known Thursday morning. That was my first warning. Lauren, Drew and Jack had Storybook Day at preschool. The kids are supposed to dress up like their favorite storybook character and bring in the corresponding book to share with their class. Well, let's face it, my kids dressed up like whatever costume we had on hand, and I found a book to go along with it. So Lauren, as the flower, took "Planting a Rainbow" by Lois Ehlert. Jack was a dalmatian, and he took a touch and feel book about puppies. Drew said he wanted to be the chicken, so I packed "Chicken Little" in his backpack for him the night before. Sounds like a smooth plan, right? Wrong again!

At exactly 8:53 am Thursday (7 minutes before preschool starts), Drew threw off the chicken costume and declared he was refusing to wear it. He had wavered between the chicken and elephant costumes we had, so I offered the elephant one last time. To my surprise, he accepted. The bad news is that I couldn't think of a single book that we had containing an elephant. We got a fun book called "Elmer" by David McKee at the library a while back. But as luck would have it, the library was closed for a big software transition anyway! So I raced through the house, praying to find something with an elephant in it somewhere. Good ole Richard Scary came through for me, with an ABC book with an elephant in it. A far cry from Drew's favorite character, but I got "my" homework done, nonetheless. This would be a great place to insert pictures of what the kids looked like at preschool, huh? Well, due to my great elephant expedition, there was no time to take pictures!

So, as I mentioned, that was a great warm up for today. At approximately 4pm (2 hours before trick or treating starts), Alyssa proclaimed that she didn't want to be Belle anymore. She wanted to be a ballerina. Since the weather was going to be in the 40's tonight, I was very skeptical about this costume. But, after she agreed to 3 layers on top (and we made sure her leotard still fit on her), we were set (again!).

Lauren, upon hearing this, decided that she wanted to be a ballerina, too. After all, she does everything else her big sister does. So, we found a ballet outfit in our dress up box that would fit over her clothes, and she seemed content. While we were finding Lauren's costume, we also got Jack a fireman's hat. He had wanted to modify his costume to make it a dog from a fire station. That left Drew, who had already changed his mind on Thursday, so I thought I was done. Wrong AGAIN!

I took the girls upstairs to do their hair. Well, as careful as I was, Alyssa's ear took a hit off the curling iron (I think she flinched is all I can figure). So Lauren told me that she didn't want me to curl her hair, because she "didn't want to have to burn her ears". We did get her hair in pigtails for the first time, though! Guess who else chose pigtails earlier? Then, we scarfed down some awesome chili Dave made and came back upstairs to do the girls' makeup. Alyssa said the mascara "made her make tears", so she kept smearing it all over. I didn't think she wanted to be a racoon ballerina, so I had to keep wiping that up, which made our make up session take much longer than planned.

Meanwhile, it was about 10 minutes until 6pm, and Dave couldn't find Jack's costume or Drew's pants. I found Drew's pants, but the dalmatian was no where to be found. Dave made an executive decision that Jack would now be the chicken (the same thing he was last year), and surprisingly, Jack didn't throw a fit! Our friend Sue had shown up with her cousins by that point, but she's used to the insanity at our house by now (aren't they brave to want to go trick or treating with us?). After some digging, we finally found the missing pumpkin buckets, threw some shoes on and we were off.

Then we attempted the truly impossible: to get 6 kids to look at the camera at once!

We almost captured our 4 all looking at the camera and smiling!

Even just 3 people at a time proved too challenging.

  

I tried really hard to get some individual pictures, and here's the best the I could do. I should have captured them before we bundled up!

But the funnest part of all was to watch from behind. The waddle and the swaying tail were priceless.

Drew took a tumble and met the sidewalk with his forehead, but other than that the night went pretty smoothly. It was so fun to watch the kids react to how our neighbors celebrated the holiday. I think their favorite was the guy whose teeth lit up! The smoking graveyard was a close second.

Lots of candy. Lots of fun with friends. I think we'll do it again next year. Hopefully, this time without all the drama.

Also, thanks to Grammy for manning the fort for us while we were loading up on candy!

God bless,

Amanda

Photo Shoot

Well, it's that time of year again. Our local photo place offered their spring special of about 1000 pictures for $9.99, so off we went. You can see the pictures from last year by clicking here.

As I was reflecting on what a difference a year makes, I thought you would be amused at the differences as I noticed as I compared and contrasted.

The Appointment

Last Year: I made the appointment weeks in advance. Because I called so early, I was able to nab a first appointment of the day (9am) on a Saturday. This was desirable to minimize the waiting time, and to get the pictures taken while the kids were still fresh - early in the day.

This Year: I called on a Tuesday and said, "What do you have available in the next week?" I was hoping for the next Monday (when Dave was off for Spring Break), but they were closed that Monday. I ended up with a 10:20am Friday appointment, which I didn't think was too bad but would probably involve some waiting. That was the first day Dave was off for Spring Break, so I figured it would be good to get it taken care of early.

The Outfits

Last Year: Grandma and Papo took us shopping and bought the kids Easter clothes weeks before Easter. Alyssa got her pick from 5 different dresses and her choice of shoes, too. Lauren's dress was narrowed down from the most popular of two. We got the boys matching polo dress shirts and filled in the holes for matching khaki pants, navy vests and brown shoes. The end result was that Alyssa had a light blue on her dress, and the boys had light blue shirts. Lauren had a navy blue dress and the boys had navy vests. All were color coordinated. Dave and I weren't going to be in the pictures, so it didn't matter what we were wearing.

This Year: I had been washing the summer clothes that I had gotten from the attic for the kids for about 2 months by now. I figured I would be able to pull something together. I decided that this year it didn't matter if they matched. I was going for the lazier "treat them all like individuals" look. I looked at a couple of dresses that I might wear, but figured what was the point, since I didn't know what the kids were wearing. Dave has ties and shirts in a plethora of colors, so I thought he could whip something together in a hurry.

The Night Before

Last Year: To make sure everything fit perfectly, that week I had carefully tried on each ensemble twice (once before cutting off the tags and again after washing the clothes). That meant the night before the appointment, all that I had left to do were to polish the 2 pairs of hand me down shoes, and steam all of their clothes so they would be wrinkle-free. This took me about 2 hours. Before the kids went to bed, I made sure all of their fingernails were trimmed. I carefully packed a bag of toys and activities for the kids to keep them busy while we waited. I also packed the kids' favorite stuffed animals to use for props and hid them in the van. I also had a diaper bag all stocked and ready to go.

This Year: I went to bed early, figuring I could surely pull something together by 10am. I blamed it on not feeling good, because my doctor had been messing with my thyroid medicine dose. I had done a decent job of keeping up with the laundry for the week, so I figured it would all work out. Fingernails, haircuts, toys and props were the farthest things from my mind.

The Day of the Appointment

Last Year: We had a our perfectly mapped out schedule and knew what the other one was doing. We kept the kids in their pajamas and fed them breakfast. We styled their hair (I made sure Alyssa's had been freshly cut), wiped their faces, and then loaded them all into the van. The clothes came along on hangers, so as not to get wrinkled. With our best efforts, we didn't get there early to get the kids dressed like we had hoped before our appointment, but we did get there on time. We were able to quickly get them dressed and ready while the studio set up. We actually ended up waiting about 15 minutes until they were all ready to take pictures. After all that effort on our part, it was a little frustrating to have delays at the studio mess up my plan!

This Year: I got up a little early and tried to get myself ready, while Dave got the kids up and got them breakfast. When I started looking for outfits, Alyssa was ok with the dress she had worn to the Florida wedding. Jack was also pretty easy, as he wore the shirt and pants that Drew wore last year (Drew is a size bigger) and the tie from the Child Dedication. I wanted Lauren to wear a dress, but nothing in her closet seemed dressy enough, and I couldn't find a shirt to go with Drew's tie that fit well.  So while I was eating my breakfast, I asked Dave if he wouldn't mind if I checked if there was anything in the attic? He looked at me like I was nuts, but conceded as he knew I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't serious about it.

So there I was, and hour before the appointment, digging through boxes. For Drew, I looked through the stuff for the next size up, and I found two white shirts that looked good. For Lauren, I only found one dress that I liked. I knew there wasn't time to wash them, but I figured no one would be able to smell the moth balls in a picture anyway, right? But as I took a closer look, they were stained! I checked their closets one last time and all the boxes again and decided I would rather go with the stained things. In an act of desperation, I got out my trusty Tide 2 Go pen. They were stained really badly on the front, you know the most noticeable part, but the stains on Lauren's dress collar came out immediately. I couldn't believe it! It was like magic. Most of the stains came out of Drew's shirt, but I figured his tie would cover some of it. I have to admit, I almost resorted to one of Dave's tricks that I have teased him about. I actually looked for white out to put on Drew's shirt to cover up the stains, but I couldn't find it it! And instead of steaming their clothes this year, they all got a nice dousing of Downy Wrinkle Releaser.

Then it was on to getting me dressed and completely ready. I went to my closet and prayed that I would find something. One dress stood out that didn't look like it would clash too terribly. For shoes, it was down to the ones that made me look like an old school teacher or some sandals. I chose the sandals. Since I didn't have time to shave, I threw on some pantyhose. It had a runner it. I just hoped my long dress would cover it. I didn't to work on my hair or makeup to make it look as good as I would have liked, but time was up and people look at the kiddos mostly anyway, right? What was I thinking to include us in the pictures, though?

Next, it was onto Schlep's attire. He started showing me red, blue and green shirts. "How about a white shirt?" I asked. "It's in the washer - all wet," he answered. So we went with the green shirt, because all 3 dresses had a little green in it (ok, I admit I don't remember why we picked green). Then he started showing me ties. All of them were from his goofy tie collection, which is quite large since he is a junior high teacher. I asked him if he had any adult ties, and he found one that matched the green shirt pretty well. Then we had to decide if he was going to wear light brown or dark brown pants. Ugh. I thought his clothes would be the easiest!

Then we started trying to get the kiddos dressed. Alyssa's polyester dress was holding onto its wrinkles for some strange reason. She was running around trying to find tights. After digging through the laundry basket and putting aside 4 pairs of winter tights, we finally found some. They were a little baggy around the ankles, but they worked. Lauren and Drew's attic clothes weren't dry yet, so we threw them in the dryer. I wasn't sure what effect heat would have with the Tide 2 Go and Downey Wrinkle Releaser, but I guess we were about to find out. We had the worst time getting Jack's tie opened. It wouldn't fit over his head, and there was no way that I was going to find him new clothes to wear! We eventually got it opened, but couldn't get it adjusted tightly enough on his neck. At this point, we were saying "good enough" a lot. Drew was running around without a shirt on and Lauren kept asking "Where's my dress?" Alyssa came in with white shoes that were totally scuffed up. I told her to go find a baby wipe and try to polish them up. To my surprise it worked! We finally threw on the semi wet clothes, and kept tucking in the  boys' shirts (which we continued to do all morning), and headed downstairs.

Lauren didn't have any spring shoes out yet, so she wore black ones. (Of course, I found a pair that would be perfect later.) Drew wore some scuffed up hand me downs and Jack at least had the shoes that were new for Drew last year. Next, we started spraying down hair to get rid of of all the bed head. I just happened to find a purple barrette that I had just bought to match Lauren's dress. Alyssa needed a haircut, but her hair turned out ok. We decided to go with the curly look for Drew, since it was rainy and humid out. And Jack was in good shape as he had just had his first haircut. It was about this time that I found out Dave thought our appointment was at 10:30am, but it was actually 10 minutes earlier.

We managed to load up in the car pretty quickly. I grabbed the prepacked diaper bag and bag of toys that I had meant to sort through from the basement. I also found a bag of water painting stuff still in the bag from last time we took the kiddos somewhere. Dave's driving would have done Mario Andretti proud, and with the help of hitting all the lights, we made it on time! We laughed the whole way there about how insane our life is. Such a simple thing as taking pictures always seems to turn into a big production.

The girls still had wet hair when we arrived. I thought it would dry in time, but we actually got right in with the photographer. As we got ready to start our photo shoot, I did something I swore I would never do. I wet my finger with spit and wiped something off Drew's face. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

The kids did really well and cooperated much better this year than last. Alyssa even said at one point, "This is fun. I like getting my picture taken!" Our photographer didn't push the white background (they used it last year and it made the kids look all washed out). She didn't even insist on individual shots. She actually listened and focused on a good family shot, which is all we wanted to get for their $10 package. Well, guess what? We ended up liking a lot more of this year's pictures than last and bought more than we thought. But, we are really happy with how they turned out. I guess the moral of the story is not to sweat the small stuff and your pictures will turn out better!

Here's our favorite shot of all 4 kids:

This our favorite family shot(which you will recognize from the side of our web page):

We liked this family shot also:

This is our favorite of the girls:

We loved this one of the boys, too:

Just to give you a taste of what it took to get this shots, I thought that I would show you some of the not-so-good pictures. Keep your eyes open for Alyssa's solution to Drew being shy and not smiling at first.

Enjoy and God bless,

Amanda

 

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

Jekyll & Hyde Day

Yesterday was supposed to be a good day. Really, it was. First of all, I had my check and forms all ready to turn in so that the trio can go to preschool next year TWO days a week (thanks to a multiples discount we can get!) Also, you may have heard, Denny's was giving away free Grand Slam Breakfasts. So I had it all planned out. I was going to drop Alyssa off at preschool, and then take Lauren, Drew and Jack to meet my mom at a Denny's by her house. I thought it would be a great way to break up the winter monotony, and celebrate that Lauren and Drew don't seem to have any food allergies anymore and Jack can at least eat wheat now!

Enter snowstorm. On the way to take Alyssa to preschool (and, of course, we were running really late), we almost slid off road during what is normally a 3 minute drive. So that made Denny's a no go, and I was trying to convince myself that it was better not to eat all those calories anyway.

So then we got home, and as the kids were unloading from the van, I walked out to the mailbox to mail yet another letter about the accident I was in (back in November '07). I think a little angel whispered in my ear, "Keep your keys with you just in case." Yet, even after making this conscious decision - because I have just about seen it all from these kids and don't trust them a bit - I was still surprised at what happened next. Just as I was the farthest from the garage that I was going to get, down went the garage door. I felt like I was moving in slow motion to get back to the door, and by the time I got there, the door was all the way down. Did I mention that there was a bad snowstorm going on at this time? So I kept banging on the door saying, "Hit the button!!!" "Open the door!" I didn't even know who had locked me out (there is power in numbers!), so I couldn't even call a name. I knew I had the keys with me, so I didn't panic too much. But let's just say my Dad calls our house Ft. Knox for a reason - it is a pain to open the front door. But after a few minutes out in the snowy cold, someone had mercy on me and hit the button and opened the door. I didn't think any of my neighbors saw me, but I'm sure they were amused if they did. It seems to be yet another one of those sitcom moments that I seem to find myself in a lot lately. Sometimes I feel badly for our neighbors, because we haven't exactly done the best job of keeping up the house the last few years. But yesterday, I thought at least getting to laugh at us like that makes up for it!

So after that, we all went back in the house and went about our way. I set about cleaning up the breakfast mess, with a slight modification. The kitchen sink was clogged, so I had to rinse the breakfast dishes in the bathroom sink and I used wipes instead of the more environmentally friendly way of scrubbing down the kitchen table. But, at least I knew the plumber was coming after lunch.

Around 11am (an hour before I have to pick up Alyssa at preschool), Lauren lets me know that she has to use the facilities. She is doing so well with the potty training that I usually just let her in and then come back and check on her in a couple of minutes. Well, a couple of minutes later, she runs out to me and says, "Come see what happened." I thought that was a little odd as I had already heard the evidence being flushed away, but I knew I better check it out. She pointed to the toilet, and I thought said, "Look, it's blue." I thought that was strange, as all I saw was clear water. So I just kind of nodded my head. Then she got a little more emphatic and said, "No, it's blue." At least that's what I thought she said. I just played along and said something about the water. Then she got more frustrated and practically stuck her head in it trying to show me something. At this point, I noticed a toy on the counter that I hadn't noticed her bring in to the bathroom. I feared the worst. So I took a step back and sure enough, there was a screw from the "Build and Play" toy that she brought in there. She wasn't saying blue, she was saying screw!

Up until this point, I thought I did a pretty good job of handling all the curve balls and stress that had been thrown my way. But dealing with toilets like that completely grosses me out. I have cleaned up all kinds of messes since becoming a parent, but I don't do any kind of work with toilets (or clogs for that matter). Then I think I panicked a little bit. I was trying to think of a way to retrieve the screw using disposable tools, but I was drawing a complete blank. I think by then I also needed some adult conversation, too. Since Schlep was in class, I couldn't call him. So I decided to see if my old labmate would pick up the phone; he was always good with problem solving and engineering dilemmas. Luckily, he answered and helped me accept that I was just going to have to use a kitchen utensil that I could "take one for the team". Luckily, there was a pair of tongs in the drawer that were rusting and I had a dishwashing glove. So while I had some moral support on the phone, I plucked out the screw and threw away the sacrificial glove and tongs. Mission accomplished. (That was lucky for Schlep, as Plan B was to close off the bathroom until he got home to do the retrieving.)

I would also like to stop at this time and thank my friends on Facebook who offered me support and suggestions. I thought using a bread bag was an especially good idea. But best of all, it was good to know that someone was out there who cared. Thank you. Thank you very much!

At this point, I was thinking about how the day wasn't even halfway over and I wasn't sure if I could take whatever else it might bring. My imagination was running wild with what the plumber might find in the kitchen sink. At least I was too busy to dwell on it for very long.

I went to pick up Alyssa from preschool, and a friend offered to watch the kids in the van so I didn't have to unload them. That is such a huge hassle, especially on days with snowstorms, so I thought to myself that things were starting to look up. There was only one problem - I had let one of the other kids sit in Alyssa's carseat. She lost it! We had a lovely drive home. Sounds emerged from her "new" carseat that resembled an animal with a paw caught in a trap and provided the entertainment for the entire ride home.

Next, it was time to fix lunch and I really had it in for the environment and resorted to paper plates. It was really nice to have such a simple clean up! We finished just in time for the plumber to arrive while I was getting the kiddos ready for naptime. Well, 3 hours and $178 later, the sink was fixed. It turns out that the idiots who installed the pipes in the basement didn't brace them correctly, and they had a nice curve in them instead of being straight. So that is fixed now, too, and hopefully, our pipes won't get gunked up again. I'm not holding my breath, though.

During this time, I also called to check on the status of our the loan to refinance our house. I have heard of several stories where it has fallen through, because the appraisal came back too low. We had expected to hear something earlier, so I thought it might be bad news. At this point I figured I might as well get it all out of the way today. Well, it turns out that our appraisal came out great - even higher than expected. We should know in the next couple of days if everything went through, and then we can start getting estimates on getting our basement done. Yeah! Talk about my day taking a turn for the better.

So after that, things went pretty smoothly. We had fun playing golf on the Wii with the kiddos. It is hilarious to see how they swing. Or at least try to swing. We have to work our on putting a lot, though (especially before Uncle Mo comes for a visit). I am beginning to think the kids keep overshooting the hole on purpose, so they can get another turn, though.

The day ended well, especially when my husband gave me the night off. When I got home he had even vacuumed and mopped the floor! What a man! It just goes to show you that no matter how badly your day is going, it can always end well. And if not, you always get a fresh start to try it again tomorrow.

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

I've Got Chills - They're Multiplying......

We did a little, er, ah, family bonding last night. It was one of those nights you shudder to think about as a parent to 4, but it appears the storm has passed. Some kids will do anything to watch Finding Nemo at 2am! Alyssa and I are the lone ones standing, although I think we have both had a touch of the bug. She served her time with something similar 2 weeks ago, though.

It's never a good day when you start it by doing two loads of laundry at 12:30am. But despite all the people up and down the stairs, pulling cribs apart and wiping them down, and the laundry room churning at full throttle right across from Alyssa's bedroom, she slept through the whole thing!

We'd appreciate your prayers for us during this rough time. In particular, we have had some concerns about Jack lately, and him not gaining weight. I took him last week to see a specialist (pediatric pulmonologist) about his breathing troubles, and she did give us some good tools to use to try to keep us out of the ER (4 times in 4 months is too much).

However, she also ordered some further testing to rule out other problems. We are awaiting the blood test results to see if he has celiac disease or if his immune system responded well to some shots he was given in the past. Most concerning, is that he will be taking a "sweat test" next Monday. This is to rule out Cystic Fibrosis. The doctor thinks that, most likely, his problems are due to childhood asthma, but we have to make sure these other issues aren't a problem. Please pray with us that all test results will come out well. We may not get the results for another month, so the waiting is tough, too.

Jack was also tested by an allergist. He took those 16 pricks in the back like a champ. We did confirm that he is officially allergic to peanuts, cashews, milk and eggs. There is a 20% chance he could outgrow the nut allergy and a 70% chance he will outgrow the milk and egg allergy. (Alyssa was allergic to milk and eggs and did outgrown them at age 3.) We also found out that he is allergic to a mold that is common in the fall. That was a very helpful piece of the puzzle. The last two autumns, we have had a lot of sickness. So next year, we will start Jack on an allergy medicine and hopefully avoid some of the past misery! Lauren has to go in next for allergy testing, as she has shown some problems with milk. There have been some serious reactions to milk in England recently, so we need to get on top of that, too.

The good news is that both of the boys seem to be over their last cold. I think that Jack enjoyed having the company during the breathing treatments, though. He's back to being the lone ranger (get it? He's wearing a mask.) with preventative breathing treatments twice a day now.

I'd also appreciate your prayers for me as I am still going through physical therapy for some back problems. I need prayers for good health in general! It's time to get on with life!

More fun stuff later!

God bless,

Amanda

Barely Keeping My Head Above Water

This time of year (and also in the spring), when it comes to laundry, I feel like I am barely keeping my head above the water. Back during those long days when I was on bedrest while pregnant with the triplets, I tried to imagine what life was going to be like when they had arrived. I thought through the work, chaos, and sleepless nights. One thing I didn't think about, however, was how much work the change of seasons would be. Check out all the work I have been doing at least 3 times over for the last two months (and I'm still not done yet!) Luckily, Jack is the size behind Drew, so in some ways it's like I only have to do all this for 3 kids instead of 4.

• Go through old winter clothes
• Go through summer clothes
• Store summer clothes that are too big
• Try on jackets
• Get out winter coats and snowpants
• Sort out socks
• Try on shoes
• Make sure boots still fit
• Sort and store summer hats
• Try on winter hats and gloves
• Find new homes for all the above that are too small
• Sort and store clothes people have given us
• Get out bigger winter clothes
• Wash all the new stuff!

And don't even get me started on how you have to figure out what new hats, mittens, boots, mitten straps and snow pants you need for your kids in October. If you wait much longer than that, the stores are all sold out! It was 85 degrees the first week of November. How am I supposed to get a bunch of squirmy 2 year olds to try on a winter coat in that weather? I missed the deadline last year to get mitten straps (you know those straps you use to keep the mittens attached to the sleeves of the coat so you don't lose them). So this year I bought a bunch the second I saw them in the stores. Guess who figured out how to take off not only mittens but also the straps in 60 seconds flat? Yep, you guessed it. Jackson Robert Schleper. Now he is taking them off his siblings' coats, too. (However, Alyssa is guarding hers with her life, as I found Princess mitten straps for her!)

Another thing I never imagined back in the bedrest days was that I would be here almost 2 1/2 years later having hardly purchased a single item for my kids to wear! Can you imagine? People have been so incredibly generous to us, I cannot believe it. God promises to provide, and He sure has, even right down to the swim trunks and snow pants! It's so fun for Alyssa now to go through her "new" clothes when we get them out of the attic. It's fun for me to watch her excitement, too, as she "ooohs" and "ahhs" and says, "Oh Mommy, look how cute!" It is such a blessing to enjoy these moments with her and not to have to worry about how we would pay for all of it. This has been one of the many fun surprises in this crazy journey that we have been on since the day we found out about our miraculous pregnancy. Despite the hours that I spent contemplating this time in life, there is no way that I could have imagined all that has happened to us.

So on those days when I am feeling completely overwhelmed with the laundry, or frustrated at trying to fit 6 people's things in our small coat closet, I try to remember how truly blessed we are. A couple of weeks ago, I was able to meet up with my college roommates who works with orphanages in Mexico (for more about her ministry, check out Back 2 Back Ministries). After hearing her tell a story about a man running an orphanage who fed the kids with the last of the money he had, and literally had no idea where their next meal would come from, how can I complain about a little laundry?

So as we look to tomorrow and giving thanks for all that we have, try to give thanks for things in your life that you don't appreciate the most. Get tired of cleaning out the kitchen sink? Try being thankful for the food and dishes that dirty it up instead. Annoyed that you have to put contacts in every morning when you would rather have LASIK surgery but can't afford it? Be thankful that you can see and are able to go to a doctor who can correct your vision. Hate cleaning the toilet? Be thankful that you have indoor facilities. You don't have to go back many generations to find a relative who didn't!

I also want to say how thankful I am to all of you! So many of our dear friends have helped us in big ways in small in ways that we can never repay. I hope that you feel a part of this adventure we are on, because we certainly wouldn't have gotten this far without you!Thanks for the honor of sharing our journey with you and taking precious time out of your day to keep up with our family and encourage us.

God bless you all!

With much love,

Amanda on behalf of our family

The Pranksters

Way back in July, we told you about a prank that Dave did on one of co-workers involving a stapler and some jello. (I want to state that no school property was harmed in the making of that prank.) It's a friend of his, Jessica, whom he has known since childhood and helped him to get his current teaching job.  Well, to repay Jessica for his new job (8 years later), he left her the above-mentioned present for the first day of her new job as an assistant principal at another school. Here is a picture of Jessica last summer, helping us with the kiddos when the little guys were just a year old. See how comfortable she looks with triplets? That's because her sister had twins and triplets! You can't get more experienced help than that!

Jessica decided to make Dave's first day of school just as wonderful and fun-filled as hers was (I know I am a little late posting this, but you wouldn't believe what I went through to get this web friendly!)

As I said above, Dave and Jessica have known each other from childhood. So one weekend, Jessica went back home and met up with Dave's mom. From what I hear, she was only too happy to help Jessica out. So, Jessica found (with some help from his mom) some pictures of Dave as a youngster, made a flier, photocopied it, and put one in each of the teacher's mailboxes on the first day of school. That day, people kept coming up to Dave and saying things like "Thanks for the mail" or "I like your stuffed animal collection" or "You look cute laying on that couch." Dave just looked at each person like they had the wrong person, because he had no idea what they were talking about. During a break he went down to the mailboxes and this is what he found.  Nice job, Jessica!

 

 

Dave and my Mom have also had some little jokes that they play on each other, especially when it comes to politics. My mom takes the Democratic side, and Dave the Republican side. Over the years, this little battle has shown up through everything from birthday cards to bumper stickers mysteriously appearing on a certain beloved Chevy Caprice - Lord rest her soul. (They also do things like leaving the radio in each other's car tuned to an undesirable station on a very loud volume.) So, I think about 10 years ago, we made a contribution to the Republican National Party, and we have been on their mailing list ever since. We got a picture from the McCains, and I put it on the fridge to see what would happen. Sure enough, after the next time that Grammy babysat for us, this is what we found:

When Alyssa saw this the next morning, she said, "Mommy, who put those funny ears on that man?"

But all joking aside, I hope that everyone gets out there and votes, no matter what you believe about the candidates. It's going to be a historical year, no matter who wins.  I hope you will be a part of it.

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

Snippets

Here are a few snippets from our life that don't particularly have anything to do with each other, but I have to record them somewhere so I can look back someday and laugh. You, on the other hand, can laugh about them today.

 

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We've known for a while that Lauren doesn't need as much sleep as the boys. Occasionally on the monitor, we will hear her wake up first and say, "Dack, wake up!" or "Dewww, wake up." We figure she gets bored and wants someone to play with. But Dave and I were cracking up when last weekend we heard her yelling "STAY AWAKE! STAY AWAKE!" at the top of her lungs. She may be little, but she sure can yell. The boys must have been out cold, because we didn't hear a response.

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I've told you already about the problems we had finding childproof knobs that Jack couldn't open. (Click here for Part I and here for Part II.) Now he has figured out how to climb over the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs, how to turn on a lamp (that bugged him for a whole day) and how to open the big sliding door on the van. Eye yi YI! This picture is of him working on the gate over a year ago.

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Drew, the big goofball, has now decided that it is fun to run around with his pants around his ankles. So out of the blue, he will just pull his pants down and start running around our yard until he trips and falls. I'm sure our neighbors probably wonder why we say "Drew, pull your pants up!" all the time.

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Alyssa had just taken some medicine when she realized she needed to use the facilities. She came to me to double check that this was ok. She was afraid she would wash the medicine out. I guess she thought there was a direct line from from her stomach to her bladder.

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This week, we were going through Alyssa's candy stash, trying to get rid of some things before Halloween. I was chewing a couple of pieces of bubble gum at the table while the kids finished up their dinner. Without even thinking about, I started blowing some bubbles. The kids were ooo-ing and aaaahh-ing at them and saying more and do it again. It never even crossed my mind that this would be something new and fascinating to them. So after about a dozen tries, I was able to get a really good bubble going. It was about the size of my head. Then all of a sudden it popped, as bubbles do. A ton of it stuck to my glasses (which I still haven't gotten off all the way - will peanut butter work on that?) and all over my cheek. As soon as the kids saw their Mommy with bubble gum all over her face, they broke into immediate hysterical tears. I guess I was a frightening sight. All Dave and I could do was laugh, and Dave is still walking around saying "That was awesome."

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One of the cutest things I get to watch is how Lauren just idolizes her big sister. She follows her around everywhere and tries to be just like her by putting her spoon in the sink like she does, putting her sippy cup of milk in the fridge like big sis and they even like to dress alike. One day in the back yard I noticed that Lauren was acting as Alyssa's little lackey by bringing sand back and forth between the sandbox and the treehouse on the top of their playset. That at least explained where all the sand was coming from. I love watching them play with their dolls together, though. It is too cute.

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Jack is by far my favorite to kid to clean up at the table. First of all, he is almost always the cleanest. He doesn't like to be dirty, and I can even tell when I am doing laundry which clothes were his. But I also love it when I wipe his face. He makes this "buh ba buh ba" sound as I wipe his mouth. I'll have to get a video of it sometime. It cracks me up!

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Drew is our ball fanatic. He sees balls everywhere he looks, be it a rock, cantaloupe or bald guy on the newspaper. One day in the backyard I was kind of bored and hit one of our balls with a bat. Drew looked at me as if to say "Mom, you've been holding out on me? I never knew you do that with a bat!" So I taught him how to hold the bat and swung a few times. Then I threw a ball straight up and we hit it. He got the sweetest smile on his face, like that was one of the neatest things he has ever done. So now every time we are in the backyard, he always brings me a bat and a ball. If I pitch him a beach ball, he can hit it back to me. See Mom and Dad, all those years of playing softball did help me later in life.

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Here's a conversation that Alyssa and I had recently:

A: Mommy, are you going to have any more new kids?

Me: No honey, I think I am done.

A: [Looks very disappointed and gets very upset.]

Me: Where would we put another baby?

A: Put it in the room with the rest of them.

Me: Where would we put its things?

A: In the room with the rest of their stuff.

Me: Well, how many more kids did you want me to have?

A: Five! I really like babies.

Me: I guess so! 

Once I got over the shock of this conversation, it made me feel better that she wasn't too scarred from having triplets join the family or she wouldn't be asking for another baby!

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Lately at our house, it seems like we have been having themes to our meals. One lunch became Knock Knock Joke Day. Of course, the jokes were only funny to the under 5 crowd, but the little kids at least got the jist of when to say "Who's there?" Another meal became Walrus Dinner Night. Just feed your kids sausage links and French fries, and you, too, can have Walrus Night at your house!

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Alyssa is now asking deep questions before she goes to bed at night. One night she asked me "Is Santa Claus real?" I started explaining about a man named Kris Kringle, and then she asked more questions. To one of them I answered, "Well, let's see what Daddy thinks." Then I ran downstairs, grabbed Dave by the hand, and said, "Help, she is asking questions about Santa Claus!" Tonight she was asking me all kinds of questions about how the sun comes up and down. The nerd in me couldn't resist talking about the rotation of the earth. She said she claims she understood it. We'll see. But who says you can't use a Biology degree when you are a full-time mom!

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Mondays are always tough days for me, as I am missing the help of my amazing husband as well as facing the prospect of me and the kids for the week. This Monday was particularly awful, though. The kids all had colds, and two of them were throwing up the day before, so a playdate was out. I'm not brave enough to take them many places by myself, so that meant another day at home. I happened to look outside as I was getting the kids breakfast, and my eye was drawn to a fluffy white tail. As I looked closer, it turned out to be a dead rabbit in our backyard. We do have a rabbit that visits us occasionally, and I wondered if it was him (that's him a while ago under the swingset like he owns it).

But I thought we were on good terms! How could he up and die on me with no husband around to rescue me, especially on a day when I needed the kids to run around in the back yard for all of our sanity? So after two hours, I decided I couldn't let it stop us from going out. So I approached it with a shovel. It took me two tries (with coming back in the house in between) before I could get within two feet of it. Then I got the idea to try to shove it into a box so I wouldn't have to look at it. The flaps got in the way, though. I tore those off and tried again, but ended up shoving the thing halfway under the fence. I screamed like a girl, I jumped up and down, and I ran away several times, but finally went at it with a shovel. I got it back from beneath the fence, but flipped it over. At least the eye on that side wasn't staring at me. Then I got it almost in the box (after more girl screaming, parading and the kids asking what I was doing), and then when I went to lift the box upright, it fell out again. It was one of those moments that I am sure would have cracked everyone up if I really was on a reality show. I was so girly it was unreal! Finally, I got it into the box and dragged it just outside the fence and ran inside and scoured my hands (even though I didn't touch the thing). Yes, I have a biology degree and did research for 9 years, but I never dissected anything  and I never killed anything that had eyes that could look at me (that was my rule). But I conquered my fear and it seemed like everywhere I looked the rest of the day were toys or books with bunnies on them. What a terrible Monday. That's not all that happened, but it was the worst of it. Am I imagining it, or did stuff like this start happening to me when I had triplets?

 

Hope your Monday was better than mine!

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

The Crib Wars

It all started one Wednesday morning, when I found all 3 little kids out of their cribs, still in their jammies and sleep sacks. Lauren and Drew were cuddling teddy bears, and Jack was holding a toy cell phone and trying to fix it. They were standing there shoulder to shoulder in front of one of the cribs waiting for me. You know something is up when you see 2 year olds standing still like that (I wish I had a picture of it). I think they were huddled together in hopes that they were safer that way. They were sitting perfectly still and not moving a muscle. I asked them why they were out of their beds, and not surprisingly, they didn't have a good answer. They looked so cute, though, it was all I could do to keep from laughing.

Fast forward to nap time, and I put them back in their cribs and went to read Alyssa a story. After I left Alyssa's room, I heard something that told me to check on the trio. I opened the door, and no kids were anywhere to be seen! I had just heard Lauren say "Shut the door." All 3 of them were enclosed in the closet and boy was I mad when they came out! I put them in different cribs to try to mix things up. I was hoping against hope that they would stay put.

I've been holding off and hoping it wouldn't come to this, but during nap time I finally ordered 3 crib tents. My friend Linda is a genius who found a site to order them from that is buy 2 get one free! Too bad I couldn't "beam them up" instead of waiting for UPS, though.

After their nap (which is a misnomer, because I don't think they slept at all) I found Jack and Lauren out of their cribs again. This time they had destroyed the closet and thrown everything on the floor. They got into a box of cards I had saved, safety/childproofing devices, they threw a picture frame on the floor, Lauren's party dress was on the floor and they barely looked up at me when I came in, because they were so busy going through their loot. Needless to say, sweet Drew, who stayed in his crib, got lots of attention and got to go first at everything that day. He was my favorite of the day. (Whoever is easiest to take care of is always my favorite.)

The next morning, I found all 3 kids out of their crib again. Lauren was by the reading chair, Jack was in the closet, and Drew was climbing the outside of his crib. No fear whatsoever! Well, Grammy had spent the night, because there was a bat in her house (that's a long story) so I had to usher them quickly downstairs so we didn't wake her up. It was tough to think of a way to discipline them quietly, but I told them their day was coming! 

Later, it was time to put the kids down for a nap again. I told them sternly to stay in their cribs or I would get out the crib tents. Well, after I got done with Alyssa, I heard the squeaking of the chair again. I went upstairs, and sure enough, they were all out, running free. So I got out the portable tents, set them up in the toy room and ushered their little mischievous bodies them into them.

A little bit later, Alyssa came and got me and said that Lauren was running around everywhere. The little stinker had figured out how to open the zipper! Not only that, but Jack was in his tent, but flipped completely upside down, and Drew was starting to crawl out of his. I remember Linda the genius saying that she used safety pins to keep the zippers together. I couldn't think for the life of me where the safety pins are these days though (we have moved so many sharp things like that up high, that I can't remember where they landed). I finally remembered they were in the sewing kit, way up high in our closet. So, I crammed them back in their tents, pinned all the zippers together, and left. The kids may have won the first two battles that nap time, but I was about to win the war!

After Jack flipped his tent over (sorry I don't have a picture of that one), we put the portable beds into their cribs. That worked out pretty well, but I think the tents get a little hot. Then a couple of days later the crib tents arrived. I have never tracked a package and watched for it's arrival like I have for that one! It killed me to see that it sat all weekend. I almost went and got it. They arrived late in the afternoon, so I only had time to wash them and set up one. It took a while, but it was so worth it! We figured if anyone would get out of it, it would be Jack. So he got to sleep in it the first night to test it out. It worked great! I love these things. They even have a loop on the end of the zipper that you can attach to one of the latches on the side to keep the kids from unzipping it.

Now, the crib tents are all in place, and the kids are used to them. The first few days, they actually slept more, too, (probably catching up from the nap that they missed). They think it's kind of a fun game to help us zip them shut. Drew is able to zip it shut all by himself now. I also like how they allow us to arrange the cribs however we want, without having to worry about them jerking the blinds down or ripping the border off the walls. If only I had bought them sooner, it might still look like a cute nursery with safari animals on the walls. Live and learn! At least I can claim victory in keeping them safe in their cribs during nap time!

 

 

Stay turned for the next saga: from nursery to nudist colony!

 

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

Let Me Tell You About My Day Today

Well, I had one doozy of a day today. I am exhausted just thinking about it, and I haven't had a day this bad in a long time. It reminds me of a journal entry I wrote a while back, called I Knew There'd Be Days Like These. I tried to keep from getting too gross in my description below, but there were just some details I had to include to describe the full horror of my day. So if you have a weak stomach, you may not want to read on any further.

Last night was one of those nights where we had a bad thunderstorms. So we had one of those "Sound of Music" nights where we piled all three of the wide-eyed and not moving much little guys into our bed for a while. So needless to say, they didn't sleep too well last night and we didn't either. Then Alyssa came in some time during the night after having a scary dream. She woke Dave up this morning by pounding on his stomach in her sleep. So after all that, I was glad that they slept in a little bit in the morning.

One of the trio had a nice runny little diaper for me this morning. That was a nice way to start my day. So we wrestled through diapers and getting dressed and I finally got them ready to eat breakfast. Then the phone rang, and, of course, the kids were screaming until I got off the phone. I was lucky that the kids were in a mood to eat a quick breakfast this morning. I also had a breakfast conversation with Alyssa about how much people talk. She asked me if I liked to talk and I said I was somewhere in the middle, but I didn't think I liked to talk as much as she did. She said, "Yeah, I like to talk a lot." I couldn't agree more.

So with the kids sleeping in getting us off to a late start, we were late getting Alyssa to preschool. Maybe just a few minutes, so that wasn't too bad. But I must say how much I love the drop off in the front of the building where they come and get her! (Yikes, I still have to show you first day of preschool pictures, huh?) Because we were running late, I left the kitchen as is. That means sticky oatmeal and applesauce covered bowls and bibs, and applesauce artwork and chunks of oatmeal on the table, among other things (I'm trying not to be too gross). Also, I am supposed to give Jack a breathing treatment 1st thing in the morning, but I hadn't done that yet, either. Since we were late, we had to leave without doing that, too.

As I pulled the van back into the garage, I pulled over to the side a little since Dave and his car weren't home. I did this to make more room on my side of the van (it's a tight squeeze sometimes). Bad idea. I hit the ladder as I was parking.

Then I unbuckled the child who was behind me. We'll call him Nick, to protect his identity. Then I went around to the other side, and opened the door. There was Nick standing there saying, "Poopy." He had it on his hand, forehead and it leaked over the top of his diaper onto his clothes. I screamed in horror at the sight, and then put him under my arm to keep him from contaminating anything else. I was able to unbuckle the other two with my other hand, and I am so glad that they are big enough to climb out of the van by themselves. Once I shepherded them all inside, I went to detoxify Nick right away. By then I realized he had leaked onto my pants too and he needed a complete change of clothes. After I cleaned him up a bit, I washed him off with cold water, reminding him not to touch the poopy anymore! Then when I put him down, I realized that he had dripped diarrhea onto the carpeting. Yuck! Then I cleaned that up with a baby wipe, which worked really well. Then I went to go get new clothes for Nick and me.

Then it was time to give Jack a breathing treatment. I decided to let the oatmeal go a little longer to reach the concrete stage. While I was cleaning up Nick, his siblings had crawled behind the couch (their new favorite hideout) and were turning his nebulizer off and on anyway (I hid it in the corner behind the couch thinking it was safe there). So I guess that was a sign to do the breathing treatments now.

The only way to get Jack to sit still for the whole time is to turn on a Baby Einstein movie and point out everything I can in it. I don't really feel like talking too much, because I have bad allergies and a sinus infection, but it works for a good 10 minutes. Jack is to the point where he will hold the mask to his face himself. But today, I guess his teddy bear (Baba) was pretty sick, because apparently Baba needed more breathing treatments than he did. (Oh, did I mention he fell and hit his head recently?)

At this point, I was still trying to figure out if the kids were having an allergy reaction to a food or if they were sick, so I emailed my husband asking him if they had eaten anything new. But while I was writing the email, I remembered that I forgot to check the van to see if Nick had leaked all over his carseat. But on the way there I saw this. Another mess on the side of the couch where Nick had leaked on our way into the house. Ewww! That was fun to clean up. So I started working on it when I realized I had grabbed the carpet cleaning spray instead of the upholstery cleaner. Uggh! The kids were so curious the whole about what I was doing and wanted to touch the foam. I kept saying "Gross. Don't touch. It's diarrhea." My kids have now perfected saying the word diarrhea. Now that's something you want your 2 year old walking around and saying. I was very frightened to check the van after that, but I was spared again. It looked like Nick didn't touch anything or mess it up. But what do I know? I can't smell anything as my nose is completely plugged.

After that I tried to clean up the kitchen. I swear it took me an hour between all the fights, time outs and boo boos I had to kiss, not to mention all the times I had to pull a kid out from behind the couch. Then they started to escape under the baby gate, which someone decided didn't need the boards under it anymore to keep them in. Maybe I should have used the cushions from the couch that they put into one big pile.

So then I shooed them all upstairs. By then, they did something that made me mad, and I made the very mature decision to vent my frustration by slamming a door. But guess what happened. The door responded by spitting out screws and 2 of its 3 hinges came off. I had brought the kids upstairs so that I have could work on some laundry. Looks like I hit another detour. I quickly ran to the toolbox, but by the time I made it back with a screwdriver, they were all 3 sitting on the floor playing with the screws. Oh, what a great mom am I to let my 2 year olds play with those! So I finally got took them back from their hands and shooed them away, so that I could put the door back together before it fell on them. However, I am still missing one screw. I hope they didn't swallow it. It will pass through though, right?

We have been living out of laundry baskets all week, so I was back to my goal to get a little done now that I was down to only 3 kids! We have these 3 red Elmo chairs upstairs and there were fights over those. I don't get it. There are 3 of them. There are 3 chairs. They all look identical. What is there to fight about? But somehow with things like that going on, I actually did get one load of laundry put away and another one started, especially after they decided it would be fun to play in a different crib (go figure why that would be fun).

Then it was time to leave to pick up Alyssa from preschool. I started with putting shoes on. Simple enough task, right? Well, apparently they had their own idea of what shoes they wanted to wear. Drew kept grabbing a tennis shoe, Jack wanted to put on Lauren's black Mary Janes, and Lauren kept saying no to what I offered her. So I went ahead and put Jack's crocs on him. I put Lauren's clear sandals on her, but discovered that one strap had broken free on one side. (I blame Jack, who is always trying to put those shoes on, but his feet are too big for them.) I decided that they were good enough for what we needed. By that time, Jack had pulled his crocs off already and was crying "No no." I finally convinced Drew to let me put his brown sandals on, but the whole time he kept saying, "Drew do it. Drew do it." He said that last time, meaning that he wanted to put his sandals on by himself. But then when he figured out he can't work those tricky Velcro straps, he asks me to help him put them on, so I thought I was just saving some time by doing it myself. By that point, Lauren had taken off her sandals and brought them to me saying, "This. One. This. One." It was as if she had come up with the brilliant idea to put the clear sandals on all by herself. Whatever. At least the 2nd time I put them on they stayed on. I finally convinced Jack the fashionista to put on his brown sandals. And it was about this time that I discovered that I had another Nick blowout to clean up. We were officially going to be late for preschool pick up now. I quickly changed Nick's diaper and put him into new clothes. I ushered the kids out into the garage and said "Hurry hurry. We have to get Alyssa." I was completely shocked when they actually got into the van and into a carseat quickly. It seemed to make them feel important to be in a hurry.

Another thing I love about this preschool is that it's a short drive. I have clocked it at 3 minutes. So we parked, and I went to get the kiddos out of the van. Drew got out of the van before I did, but luckily didn't run off. I had his and then Lauren's hand, then Jack got out. I have figured out how to hold two little hands in one of mine, and I was holding out my fingers for Jack to grab. But noooooo. Jack had his mind made up that he wanted to be picked up. I told him no and he threw himself down on the ground. I picked him up and sort of dragged his limp body to the back of the van. But then I saw other people and decided I didn't want to deal with the stares or the "I'll call CPS" looks, so I moved Lauren over to share Drew's hand and picked him up. (I hate caving in like that, but we were late enough already!)I had meant to grab a snack to eat on the way, but in the midst of The Great Nick Clean Up, I had forgotten, so by this time I was also starting to shake from low blood sugar (I have hypoglycemia). It just really adds to the fun when you are shaking and dragging 3 toddlers into preschool, let me tell you.

So since we were late, we had to wait in line to pick up Alyssa. I felt like I was hearing a bomb tick. It was only a matter of time before at least 1 out of 3 of the little people I was with didn't want to stand in line anymore and exploded into a tantrum. But they actually did pretty well (or God had mercy on me and sent and angel to keep them in line). The utter chaos and craziness of pick up time in the small hallway seemed to keep them entertained. Also, my neighbor works at the preschool, and I ran into her. She kindly offered to help me with pick up time, too. So things were looking up!

We survived and got to see my friend girlfriend on her way out. It's always nice to talk to a mom who is in the trenches with you. Then  during the walk out to the van, the other side of the strap on Lauren's sandal gave out. So that turned it into more of a flip flop with an ankle bracelet on it. She loved those shoes and it freaked her out a little bit. She kept saying "broken" but my friend convinced her to put her foot in anyway.

 

RIP Clear Shoes: 2005-2008

We made it to the van, the kids jumped in, and then proceeded to pummel each other fighting over who was going to sit in what car seat. I was so fried by then I didn't care and let them have it at. I was also too busy venting to my friend about some highlights from my fun day.

So then we headed home for lunch. This time parking in the garage, I not only hit the ladder, but the ladder hit something else that fell and hit the van. I was in the middle of explaining to Alyssa our elaborate scheme to get Jack to the doctor while Dave helps me with the kids and coaches a tennis match, and had to jump out and check the van. So I left her hanging and she didn't like that to much. Luckily, there is just a little ding in the hood. We'll fix that when we repair the paint that came off when we tried to back out of our driveway during the blizzard of '07 (it was more like a tunnel than a driveway).

So back in the house, I tried to get the kids to take their shoes off. I was only halfway successful when Alyssa started screaming in terror. Apparently Jack had slammed her thumb in the coat closet door. He was standing in the corner with his own look of terror on his face - terror of what was going to happen to him, that is.

After that was resolved, I struggled to get some lunch on the table amongst all the screaming and crying. So I decided that this would be a good time for the kids to leave Daddy a voicemail at work. So after 3 tries, because my frustrated and fried nerves prevented me from dialing a phone correctly, I held up the phone without saying anything to each of the 3 crying kids. Then I gave the phone to Alyssa, who was whining to talk on it, and had her say "Daddy, everyone is crying here." Ahh. That made me feel better. Misery loves company. This is something I do often; call his work and don't say anything, but let him hear the 3 crying kids. Then when he gets home he thanks them for calling. Anything to vent! Sometimes I leave messages of him snoring when I can't sleep, too.

Then after I threw the food at the youngest 3 kids, Alyssa threw another fit about something. I think it was something about cheese. She threw herself onto the stack of couch cushions. I think she looked like an imitation of The Princess and the Pea. I finally used the "don't mess with me" voice and got her back to the table. I still hadn't eat by this point and was feeling really badly, so I just went ahead and made my lunch while the princess was finishing her royal fit. She finally did eat part of the tortilla with peanut butter and a cheesestick creation she had asked me to make, though.

Then it was time to go back upstairs. That wasn't so easy as I think someone else got injured there, too. It is all starting to blur now. Then I went to change Drew's diaper and Alyssa yelled that Lauren was with her. I started to hear a sound that I thought was crying, but Lauren never came and got me so I thought it was laughing maybe. Then I heard someone or something hit the wall. Drew said, "Thunder. Boom. Boom." (I think he is still a little scarred from last night.) But then I heard the laughing/crying sound again, so I figured it was ok. I went to check Jack's diaper, and I heard the same sequence of sounds again. So I went into Alyssa's room and said it was time to change Lauren's diaper. I asked Alyssa if Lauren had been laughing or crying. Alyssa said, "I made her laugh." I said, "How did you make her laugh? Show me?" Alyssa paused, and then Lauren started jumping on the bed. Then Alyssa smiled and admitted that they had been jumping on the bed until they ran into each other. I was picturing bodies flying through the air, banging heads and landing in a crumpled heap on the floor. Then I pictured me trying to get all 4 little bodies to the ER by myself. But apparently the girls didn't picture any of this. They just saw it as completely hysterical.

So then being the mean Mommy that I am, I took Lauren away from the-most-fun-she-has-ever-had-in-her-entire-life and I put her on the changing table. Can you imagine the nerve that I had in doing that? She kicked and flailed and screamed, which I didn't appreciate as my back already hurt like someone was stepping on it with a golf cleat (remind me to give you a health update, too). But, we managed to get through it, and I rounded up the kids to put on their sleep sacks. We have to put them on backwards and inside out now to prevent them from taking them off and removing their diapers (like they did last week). Then I put them in their cribs. However, I didn't put Drew in the crib with his Baba. So as I turned to get another kid, I see Drew out of the corner of my eye falling out of his crib. Luckily, one of the Elmo chairs was right next to his crib, and that gave him a soft landing. Apparently, he was on a desperate search and rescue mission for his Baba. I was just glad that he wasn't hurt and that I didn't have to return to the plan in my head of how to get all 4 munchkins to the ER. We have already been there once this week, after all! (Yeah, I really need to give you a health update.)

After that, I came downstairs and decided it was time to send my husband one more email. All I sent was a link. It was to one of my favorite blogs, called "Because I Said So" and it's written by a mom of 6 kids. The entry I sent him was called "I Resign." She said it so much better than I could have. If you would like to read it, click here.

I knew it was going to be a tough week this week, as Dave is coaching tennis matches on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. But I didn't know it was going to be this bad. All of this happened before 1:30pm! And we haven't even gotten to the part where we try to take Jack to the doctor yet. That's usually when the real fun begins!

Pray for us!

God bless,

Amanda

Jack vs The Doorknob

So as you know from my previous post, I have been freaking out a little bit about Jack's new "magic trick" (as a good friend of mine calls it). Well, I thought I'd give you a little more detail on what that means behind the scenes. Here's Jack with the first safety doorknob we tried: As you can see, Lauren has learned to use his new skill for her own benefit. She goes and gets Jack now anytime she wants to get her boots out or play in the bathroom (which they call the potty). One day Lauren went up to Jack and said "potty." He looked at her as if he didn't understand what she said. Then, after she said it again, he repeated it back and started to open the door. All the while, they were both yelling "Potty, Potty!" getting louder and louder like a crowd ready to start a riot. This continued until the grand finale, when the door was opened and they both rushed into thier new playground. And why is the bathroom such a big deal? Well, they get to do stuff like this (don't their little faces look guilty?):

So, for some reason, two days later, Jack he couldn't get the door opened and was getting very frustrated. [In case you can't see it in the video, Lauren has her favorite boots on (which she has learned to put on by herself now). Alyssa also has her winter boots on and some orange goggles around her neck, along with purple shorts and a white shirt with princess castles on it.] But, that didn't last for long, and he was opening the door again in no time. So then we moved onto safety doorknob number two, which was given to us by our friends, and it looked tougher to open. It was more accordian style and I thought it would do the trick. Well, here's what happened the first time Jack tried to open it. (I think he's very patient with Alyssa, too.) Yet, ironically, here he is a few minutes later, trying to invade Alyssa's privacy (probably getting her back for what happened in the previous video) while she was in the bathroom. I think it's so cute how he knocks and calls her name, and the surprised look on his face at the end when the light gets turned on. (So sorry about Lauren's yucky cough.)

Well, that didn't last long either (about a week). So, being the determined person I am - refusing to let someone who isn't even 2 years old yet outwit me in my own home - I headed to Babies 'R Us today. I found a 3rd type of safety doorknob to try. This one has two parts at the bottom that you pinch together to open the door. We tried it out the way Jack opens doors, and it did open one time. We think the problem is that our doorknobs are too big. Or least they are bigger than the average door knob, allowing them to "stick" to the safety knobs, making it easier for Jack to open them. So here's what happened with the new safety knob.

So far so good! Wish us luck! I really don't want to put hooks at the top of every door of our house!

God bless,

Amanda