A rat race

(Kara)

Crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy... my house is crazy. Abby was in rare form today. I think she ran into at least 5 different objects ranging from toys, corners of cabinets, walls and other miscellaneous objects. I think she will have a black eye below her right eye because of the corner of the cabinet she ran into but outside of that we avoided any major injuries. Her nose is running and her cough is back... along with the hair pulling. It makes me wonder if perhaps her ears didn't fully recover or if she might have gotten something else. She always is a little more 'off' when she isn't feeling good.


Kiley is also making a run for the most exhausting child today. Tom thought she made the 'coolest sound' when she threw up all over me tonight. Vomit vomit everywhere. I was so covered I felt like a bath was the best decision. So I got to enjoy a nice relaxing bath reading a potty training tips book. Yep... a potty training book. (not for Kiley... I'm not that insane) Our neighbor came over to my house with her little boy this morning. It was a good visit. While he was here he wanted to use the bathroom... which made Abs want to sit on HER potty. She really really really wants to go on the potty and has started telling me when she has to go to the bathroom. Me? I cringe inside... I'm not ready yet!!! Couldn't we transition off the bottle to a regular cup? That would be much easier than from diapers to undies... though cheaper. I'm still a little unsure of how I want to proceed with this. Every fiber of my being is saying no way till summer! But if she wants to and is ready how on earth do I tell HER no? That isn't fair.

I guess we will give it a shot and see what happens.... I won't be too hard core about it. Perhaps we will try it before/after transition activities. Before we get in the car, before nap, after nap, before we go outside etc etc.

The weather was absolutely atrocious today. Rain and 30-40 mph winds. Her grandma & grandpa D drove all the way up to help get Abby's swingset put together and the first chance we have to use it we get hurricanes! (figuratively speaking)  We also got sand to put into her turtle sandbox that was given by her other grandparents. There is a little park in our backyard now! I'm hoping it will be put to use sometime this week. The cover got blown off of the sandbox so the sand will be wet. We hope Mr. Kitty our neighbor's cat will stay out of the sandbox long enough for the sand to dry out a little. If not... the sand was only 3 bucks... I'll just get rid of it.(if kitty uses it for a litter box)

I felt a little overwhelmed/tired today. Not sure if part of that is because of the weather, because Abs was running into EVERYTHING or because Kiley was puking constantly. K&K are both on the formula Elecare when I am gone. I just couldn't pump enough to keep up with them after all of the doctor excursions we have had to do the last few months. It was just too much. And frankly I didn't have the time. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep breastfeeding them but I will do it as long as possible. Even if it drives me crazy at times...

Yes my house is messy... my laundry isn't all done... but my girls are loved and my family is beautiful. God never said I had to be perfect. There will always be more laundry, more dishes to wash, more toys to pick up... they will only be young for a little while and then I will wish for the crayon on the walls again.... and the back door left wide open... the sounds of Abby pattering around in the backyard.

 I'll try to remember that tomorrow morning when the To Do list is racing through my mind. Night!

Happy Easter!

Easter has come and gone... there are 4 multicolored boiled eggs in the fridge and a bunch of plastic eggs filled with gummies in the closet (away from Abby at the moment) The girls were all beautiful in their white dresses, pink shrugs and flower headbands. Abby even left hers on for a loooong time. It gives me hope that she will let me put them in her hair again! It does help that her sisters wear them so she wants to be like them (kinda funny)

The Easter service was beautiful and just filled with joy. The girls didn't seem to enjoy sitting as much as both K&K ended up in the back of the church and Abby made several dashes to get out. She was reading her coloring book during one of the prayers and saw a chicken. "Look chicken! Bak Bak Bak!.... Chicken! Bak bak bak" Yep she was making chicken noises as loud as she could. It was really hard not to laugh. She loves to talk during church which is our hardest struggle outside of running away. Her dearest friend Layla and Abby had a great time after church. They were running around the foyer hand in hand. When we finally had to leave Layla said "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaby!!!" It was so cute! I can't wait to get together and play again soon. Our two families have just been crazy busy these last few weeks and it hasn't worked out.

Afterwards we drove up to my cousin's place 2 hours away. I was SURE Abby would sleep the whole way there. Nope. She proceeded to scream the alphabet most of the way. It was a long 2 hours. At least the babies stayed sleeping... that's always my biggest worry with her screaming while she's in the car. We had a delicious lunch with great food. There are always a bunch of people that come and this time was no exception. The house was filled with people! The guys played football, the kids had an Easter Egg hunt and blew bubbles. I spent a large amount of my time keeping the babies happy though I did get quite a bit of help from my family with them. Abby missed having a nap completely....

She fell asleep within 5 minuets of our leaving the house. The babies took this as their cue to cry... and cry they did most of the way. So I spent a majority of my time in the back trying to get them to go back to sleep. Fuuuun. Tom's parent's came up to our house and Tom and his Dad are out building Abby's swing set right now. YAY! I'm so excited I can't WAIT to have that for her. She will absolutely love it. My parents bought it for her last fall as an earlier Christmas present but because we got snow so early last year it never got put up... then the drifts were so big they took up our entire yard! I'm not sure what the rest of the day holds, there are plenty of projects to get done and it sounds like Tom's mom and I will head up to town to run a few errands. I think Abby just went out to help the guys build the swingset and left the back door wide open... I think Kara is calling too. Hope everyone had a great Easter!

It's a Good Friday :)

Abby is watching Abby Cadabby so for the moment I am free... for the moment. Earlier this morning she found the dye kit that I had hidden from her in a cupboard. By the time I found her she had eaten all of the 'candies' so her mouth is very blue....

I almost thought I had mixed up the babies earlier. They were both naked and I had that brief moment of WHO IS WHO! So Kiley has a pretty pink toe now... just in case. I don't need the stress of I MIXED THEM UP! Even though in those brief moments of terror I should have realized that I would get them straightened out... I always do. 

Abby's therapy appointment went pretty well. She really liked threading the wooden beads onto the string. (Kristen was trying to get her to sit and do an activity with her) We weighed her afterwards and she is 26 pounds... riding the 50th percentile so she is doing ok. We did a little shopping afterwards because my mom had the babies. I got her cute pink dress shoes (for Easter) tights and a shrug for 20 bucks! Then I found her a swimming suit for 11 dollars (One piece finally! And a cute one!) I got her a strawberry shake and tried to find an Easter top for me... I found a shirt but when I got home I discovered it was too light and washed me out (shucks!!!!) I love the flower headbands on the girls. They are so cute! I am selling NINE of them to one person and TWO to another person. Those two orders pretty much cover the supplies of making them which is great. I need to get some more... hahahaha always something new!

Another funny tidbit.... Kara laughs when we wipe her bottom with a wipe. I don't know why but it is really funny. They really like to chew on things right now. The other day I found Abby hiding under the table with some of the Easter candy she had found somewhere... she ALMOST got it all eaten before I found her.  I need to pick up a few Easter things for Sunday morning... Hope I can do that this afternoon. What a character she is... Sounds like she opened the back door again. Time to run!

April First

One year ago today....


That one word

Changed our lives again

We just didn't know how much

Bullet Points...

(A quick candid shot... Kiley looks a little shocked)

Here is the sweet and skinny of today (I'm just too tired tonight... more to come)

• Abby ran, tripped, dove headfirst into a dresser at 12pm. 
• Ate lunch with my mom and sister while waiting for appointment; mom later got sick from food (ugh)
• 1pm: In pediatrician office getting the gash above her left eye glued 
• 2pm-4pm Abby naps while I take care of a fussy Kara and paint the bathroom (why I feel like I need more projects I'll never know)
• 5pm: While running around outside I hear Abby say "Ow mommy! ow!" I set Kara down and see that Abby has pulled off the glue/steri-strip that the pediatrician put on. Of course it's after 5.
• I call the 'on call nurse' she says to bring Abby into the ER since the gash is over her left eye. 
• I wait for Tom to get home from work while trying to keep Abby from going nuts (just crazy tonight really)
• 8pm we get to the ER. The doctor consults with 2 other doctors about what to do with Abby's cut. They collectively decide that it would be better to leave it alone because the way she is picking at the area they feel she will just tear the stitch out and make it worse. Did I mention the doctor recognized me from before? Yeeeeeep. That's not a good sign. She did check Abby's lip to see how that was healing and we chatted about 'the joys of being a mom.' The nurse also gave me pointers on how to take permanent marker off of the walls. (Must have been a slow night) Abby impressed them with her vocabulary and they sent me home with instructions on how to care for it.... again. 
• 9pm, Put Kara to bed, Tom ate supper and I proceeded to work on painting the rest of the bathroom.
  
• It's 11:37pm... there is still trim work left to do in the bathroom... along with putting everything else back. Kiley is asleep in my arms (she slept a lot today) and Tom is telling me it is time for bed (something I agree with whole heartedly)
  
  May Tonight bring great sleep... and Tomorrow a quieter day....

Hooray for warm weather!

Babies all asleep (check); In my pajamas (check); Homework done (check); Meds given (shoot!)....

I successfully gave all three girls meds twice a day... for a week and tonight I broke my streak. But honestly I cannot bring myself to wake them up and 'shoot it' down their throats. Tonight will just have to go without and tomorrow I will start it over again.

We had a great weekend. My nephew turned two and we drove a few hours to go see him and his family to celebrate. I have discovered that driving with three young children is in no way relaxing, fun or enjoyable... but we survived four, two hour stretches and lived to tell the tale! Oh how Abby loves her cousin. They played together so well it was fun to watch. Of course there were the occasional moments where toys were taken and a wrestling match began. Sadly the air mattress we slept on was very un-airy and left us on the ground for most of the night. Something that Tom and I tolerated but the babies hated... who knew that 4 month olds could be so spoiled? lol K&K did NOT like sleeping on the floor. One of the nights I had to spread a bunch of pillows out underneath the mattress so that they could sleep on them instead...

Our nephew has grown up so much! I love the way he says "Yesssss" and "Mooooooom!" I truly truly truly wish they lived closer! Thankfully Tom's parent's are a good 'half way point' and we are able to meet up more often. We had an Easter Egg hunt in his backyard but Abby was half heartedly interested in picking up the 'balls' and her cousin was far more interested in burying them in the backyard. K&K hung out inside the house because the wind was too cold. We still had a good time watching them run around the yard.


Abby's therapy today went VERY well. The therapist was even able to get Abby to play with some play dough and she was thrilled to see how happy Abby was and involved she got. If there is one thing Abby loves it is lotion... oh how she loves the lotion 'game.' She also loves looking at the faces with the emotions. She can point out the happy face and the sad face. Mad she is still working on... but it is amazing because she realizes that the babies cry when they are 'sad'... she gets it! It is so fun to watch her learn. The therapist was also impressed that Abby counted to ten for her. Of course... she counted to three when she was 1... so ten at 2 seems normal to us.

And what about K&K... well we are holding off on solids for them until 6 months. Sad. I was looking forward to trying rice with them. Dr. D (their GI dr) said that their adjusted age (what they would be if they had made it full term) is 3 months and with the reflux/gi issues they have it is better to wait until they are 6 months to try rice. Sometimes kids with reflux can develop a food aversion if they try it too early and I guess they are just not developmentally ready for it. So we will wait. I guess it can't hurt... and it means less dishes for me. :) (This picture I think is really funny... Kiley (purple bow) has the goofiest look on her face... and Kara's is pretty funny too)

They are sleeping so-so. I think I am getting a few longer stretches for the first part of the night but the second  part of the night is still killing me. I'm hoping now that we are home that they will sleep even better. I could really use a good night's sleep. Even if it is just a few more hours! They've been on a new bottle of Prevacid for the last 4-5 days so it should be working pretty well by now. Kara is still really hoarse and I think she has the same cold type crud that I have. Hoping that is all it stays... a cold. Kara can roll from back to stomach now too! She doesn't share the same enthusiasm of doing it like Kiley does yet. I'll try to get a video of it sometime soon. They are both very ticklish and it is pretty cute to listen to them giggle. They also hate being in their carseats (FYI) I carried Kara tonight in my Beco carrier on our walk and she loved it. It was a lot easier to carrier one baby and push the other in the single stroller instead of pushing the gigantic double stroller!

Well I suppose... I've written long enough and I need to fall into bed. zzzzzzzzzzz

Kiley's video... as promised...

I'll try and get a video of Kara up soon. Kiley is now rolling all over the place. We'll lay her on her back and she'll roll to her tummy, than to her back, than to her tummy. It's pretty entertaining! Won't be long and that gate will be back up over the stairs!

"Help me! Help me!" :o)

8am and Kara and I are 'hanging out' and by that I mean she is hungry and was tired of sleeping. 8am though... that isn't bad. I can hear Abby fussing a bit downstairs and as soon as Kara is done eating I'll either have Tom come and get her or I'll go down myself.

Yesterday Abby helped me vacuum. She pushed it around the living room as I directed her. We vacuumed the living room, the hallway and later the stairs and entryway. It was a good activity, a little therapy and quite a lot of fun for us both. Thankfully the babies slept through it!

K&K's doctor appointments yesterday went good I suppose you could say. I was right about their weights, I knew they were off from the pediatrician. The funny thing is I nailed what they really were, somehow I knew. But they were both 12lb 8oz. Kara was 23 1/2 inches and while they SAID Kiley was 26 inches I think her head slipped during the measurements (oops that was my fault) but it IS hard to do measurements while holding two babies lol. But you ask, what difference do a few ounces on the scale make? Why does it matter if the diapers are clean and the scale is set correctly. Well this is why: at the pediatrician they had K&K on the charts at the 40th percentile in weights.... at the GI doctor they were in the 25th percentile. This doesn't mean there is anything wrong with their weights it just means that this really nice jump the pediatrician saw... isn't there actually. The girls are growing just fine, they are just smaller.... but they started out smaller!

As I suspected the form of the medicine is running out on me, aka it has a short shelf life so is less effective over time. Dr D seemed to like my idea of filling only one prescription at a time so that we went through the bottle faster. He gave me two boxes of the solutabs to use later if this doesnt seem to work. Honestly I hope the solution works because the solutabs are a pain. I hate chopping it in half and trying to mix it! Dr D also wanted me to thicken their milk to see if that helps with the puking... uh... sure. I can't pump every feeding. There is absolutely no possible way I could. I tried last night and got 2 oz. I haven't gotten more than 2oz in a LONG time. I'm afraid my supply would really dry up! So for now I'm going to be extra dilligent on the Prevacid and hope that it takes care of our issues.... and yes. They did puke on us last night... I think they would like it if I just went to formula but I can't and am not ready to do that yet. It's as much an emotional attachment to the girls as a needs fulfilling one. I get so little one on one time with them as it is. So no... I'm not stopping yet.

Abby has another therapy appointment today and then we will finally be done with running around. I hope it goes a lot better than yesterday. One activity that we do (that I came up with) is kinda fun. I sit on the floor and she will come tackle me with a hug and 'knock me over.' Then I lie on my back like a turtle saying 'help me, help me, help me." So she will work to pick me back up and the cycle repeats. Not only can I give her deep pressure hugs (which I think would feel good to anyone) but we get to play and she thinks it is funny. I like it when she lies on her back and says "help me! help me!" The weather has been gorgeous so she loves to go outside and play. There are puddles and most of the time she comes in wet and muddy. I felt a little bad for her yesterday because she could see the kids playing at the park and really wanted to go join them... but I couldn't let her because Kara and Kiley were upset and there were no adults at the park with the kids. She's certainly not old enough to go alone!

Well today there is plenty to do. I'm going to give Kiley another neb treatment because she is starting to really cough and I'd like to help get the junk out of her lungs a bit. I also need to get some coffee going!

Have a great day :)

Yes... this is the right blog.

I had been debating whether to change the name... and finally caved. I decided this blog was about all THREE of my girls... and our journey as a family. So for now... Crayons on the Wall.... and all manner of other joys of being parents of three young girls...

Has Spring Arrived?

Today was significantly better in many ways. It was nice to stay home and just ... stay home. That said I am still exhausted. Abby did NOT take a nap and no nap Abby= overly exhausting Abby. She just gets so naughty when she is tired. It's like she just can't handle it. Even therapies don't seem to help. Of course... she is an almost 2 year old... and no nap will make any 2 year old cranky!!! I tried to get her to sleep for an hour and a half. When I went to check on her at 2:30 she was naked... thankfully I caught her before she had another 'accident' in the crib. AND this time I REALLY used the duck tape! I need a new strategy...

She fell asleep in her highchair during supper today. It was really cute and while I SHOULD have gotten pictures my first reaction was to scoop her up in my arms and just hold her. Do you know how few those opportunities come for me anymore? She is not a cuddler nor has ever been. I really liked how she snuggled up in my arms and slept for 30 minuets... I miss holding her. She woke up hard and it took me awhile to convince her that I was holding her and that I was mommy. After her brief nap she never really recovered and by 9pm it was time for bed.

On a side note... K&K are really puking. Not spitting up, not drooling... puking. I am so tired of being soaked! Their GI appointment tomorrow cannot come soon enough in my opinion! I think they might want to up the dose (hehehe) of Prevacid. I would love it if that helped.

At least the weather was gorgeous! Abby had a blast playing outside today. She of course ended up soaked from all of the water... she was running a low grade temp this evening. Hope the antibiotic will help soon. Poor thing.

Well I hope you enjoyed the new pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them. Always something new with this crew! I think they are beautiful though (as always)

Love, a mommy of three beautiful girls...